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More Than Turkey

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Once again that favorite American holiday is upon us!  Thanksgiving!  I can almost smell the baking pies and roasting turkey now.  Can you?  It’s an iconic day that holds special things for nearly everyone.  Folks who like parades wait all year for Macy’s extravaganza.  I don’t know anyone who isn’t excited to eat too much and then there’s football for that time when you can’t move anyhow.  And we certainly can’t forget that Black Friday starts on Thursday now…. or sooner.

In school we were all taught about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.  Some families still talk about the actual traditions surrounding this day.  But what if we look further back than that?

In nearly every culture there are harvest festivals of some type, offering thanks for the bounty of the year.  In Christianity, we are taught to be thankful for more than just a bountiful harvest.  Because Jesus came into the world and paid for our sins, we believe that following His teachings will give us eternal life.  THAT is a pretty big thing to be thankful for!  He doesn’t promise that our lives here on earth will be perfectly smooth with no problems, but He does tell us that God knows exactly what’s going on & that He hears us when we call out to Him.

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 that we should worry about nothing.  Instead we should pray “with thanksgiving” and trust in the Lord.  He repeats this message in his first letter to the Thessalonians (1Thes 5:16), the Colossians (Col 4:2), and in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph5:20).  This is a pretty serious teaching to be repeated so many times!

Praying with thanksgiving is simply trusting that God not only hears us, but that He cares and responds when we ask for His help or blessing, according to His will.  We serve a God who hears us!  We serve a God who responds to us!  Giving thanks in our hearts and with our mouths before our prayers are answered acknowledges His relationship with us.

If you’d like to hear more about this, we encourage you to join us tomorrow morning at 10:50 a.m. as Pastor Ann brings us the fullness of His message!  We look forward to seeing y’all then.

Would You Say Yes?

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Imagine for a moment that its mid-day and you’re going about your usual routine.  Suddenly, your phone rings. Without checking the number, you answer.  The voice on the other end is one you recognize, but don’t believe would call you.  What you’ve heard is:

“Hello?  This is President Trump.”

How are you going to respond?  Would you say:

“Yeah, right” and hang up?                       “I think you have the wrong number” … and hang up?

“Let me give you a piece of my mind!”     “Stop fooling around (friend’s name)!”

Or….

“Hello sir.  Are you certain you have the right number?”

If you have the courage for the last response, his next words will knock you off your feet.

“Yes, I have the right number.  I was meeting with my security council this morning and they’ve informed me that we have invaders on the east coast.  I need you to take care of this for your country.”

“Oh, and by the way, the armed forces aren’t available.  So it’ll just be you and whoever will answer your call.  We’re behind you all the way, so just let me know how many people you get and we’ll talk again.  Thanks!”

I don’t know how you’d be feeling, but I’d be shaking in my boots!  Maybe now would be a good time to move to Canada or Mexico, or take a slow boat to China.  Anywhere but here!  Then again, it’s possible he called you because you served in the military or play Fortnite, Call to Battle or another game in that genre that he thinks has equipped you to handle this kind of pressure.  Obviously he believes you can handle the situation.

Did you say yes?

Pastor Lisa Palmer will be our guest speaker this Sunday.  She has a message about a situation like this and how God is able to use the most unlikely person to accomplish amazing things.  If you’d like to hear how this story ends, please join us Sunday morning at 10:50 a.m.  We look forward to seeing you then!

Common words and strange meanings

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It seems that every group of people with a specific area of interest develop their own sort of language.  They seem to be using words we know but not in a way we understand.  We’ve all been to the doctor and had him toss out a term like “diet”… Explaining we aren’t “on a diet” just muddies the water more.  He’s really just wanting to know what we’ve been eating.  So why doesn’t he say so? 

Churches are a great place for this to occur.  We talk about freewill, saving souls, lifting people up, gifts and calling.  It can be pretty bewildering and a bit scary.  We aren’t putting souls in a jar, we don’t have any weight-lifting contests, we aren’t handing out presents with pretty bows and we frown at people using their phones. 

Here’s what we are trying to say, in plain English (I hope).   When we say “save” or “saved” we are talking about accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior; about recognizing Him as God’s Son; about admitting that we are spiritually broken and need Him to straighten us out.

The simple definition of “freewill” is choice.  God created us so that we can think and choose for ourselves.  We can make good choices and obtain good consequences.  If we make bad choices in our life, we get to live with those consequences too.  Either way, God lets us decide what we want in our lives.

When we say “lifting people up” we mean that we are asking God to help those folks in their situation.  This might mean we are praying for healing, but could also mean that we are asking for endurance and patience.  We may be asking for wisdom and insight, but the bottom line is that we are asking God to focus His attention on that person or family.

God’s “gifts” to us are discussed in 1 Corinthians 12.  We believe that the Holy Spirit gives every person gifts that we can nurture and use to help others.  In the world, people talk about their potential or talent.  There are people who are gifted in every area of life so that humankind can thrive and support one another.  People who are “saved” use these “gifts” to help others in such a way that God receives the glory, credit and praise for every result. Finally, we talk “calling” or “being called.”  In some churches this only applies to the pastor, as in “being called by God to preach.”  We believe that God “calls” each of us to fulfill His will.  We believe that He has given us our “gifts” so that when He calls us we will have all the tools we need to serve in whatever way He asks.  This might mean we do something as humble as emptying the trash and sweeping the floor.  It might mean we cook meals for those who can’t.  Sometimes it means being a taxi.  For others it means teaching.  I hope you’re getting the idea.

Name of Praise

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In ancient times names held great meaning.  A child would be named to commemorate an event, to encourage a direction for his life or possibly to acknowledge a patriarch.  The old Hebrew families often incorporated God into their names.

Thus, Judah was blessed by his mother, Leah.  She chose his name to praise God.  Later his name became the name of the southern portion of what we now think of as Israel.  Jerusalem lies within the territory of Judah. 

So why does that name stuff matter today?  It matters because God chose the Hebrew people to be His people.  It matters because He chose Judah as the family line that Jesus would descend from.  It matters because one woman chose to praise God through the name of her child.  And God chose to honor that by placing His Kingdom throne in Judah, thus becoming enthroned by His people’s praise.

Why does it matter to us?  It matters because it guides us in how to think about our approach to God.  If we are truly seeking a relationship with Him, praise encompasses a big portion of that time we spend with Him.  We all know that in human relationships praise creates harmony and open communication.  So it is with God. 

Next time you reach for God, praise Him for all that he has done for you; praise Him for all that He is doing for you; praise Him for all that He will do for you.  He designed us for relationship with Him.  He designed and created us in the love and joy that is Him.  Let us celebrate and rejoice in that design every time we think of Him.

Praise Challenge

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On the 27th of September we offered y’all a challenge.  We invited you to find something to praise God about every day for 30 days.  We’re hoping that you took us up on that challenge and that you are beginning to see the impact that praise has had in your life.

If you missed that post**, you can try praising Him for the next 30 days and see what happens.  If life looks bleak right now and you don’t think this is possible for you to do, consider the fact that you have life.  That means you have an opportunity to change things and circumstances, if you are willing. 

Not everything in your life is under your control.  Other people are not under your control.  The weather is not under your control.  You have no control over decisions made above your pay grade.  You DO have control of your thoughts, emotions and actions. 

Praising God is an act of love that comes from your ability to recognize His blessing.

When we praise God we are letting Him know that we recognize His Kingdom and His sovereignty (right to rule) over our lives.  Praising God focuses our attention on Him.  It reminds us of who He is and who we are or who we want to be.  As we praise Him our love for Him grows.  Once we begin looking for a reason to praise Him, we find more reasons each day. 

If you don’t know Jesus as your personal savior yet, this may seem like a foolish thing to ask of you.  It may not make any sense to you to give God credit for anything.  All we ask is that you try this out and see what happens.  At the very least, nothing will happen.  But we believe something incredible will happen.  Do you want to know what?  Take our challenge.

If you are curious about what praising God looks like in a church……

Join us Sunday morning at 10:55 in the sanctuary, if possible, or on Facebook as we livestream the amazing message Pastor Ann will bring us about praising our most high and awesome God!

**That post can be viewed at covenazarene.org