22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
All of you that are my friends on Facebook, know that every morning when I make my posting, I talk about my cup of fresh home brewed FOLGER’S Coffee. You all know the FOLGER’S advertizing jingle, “The best part of waking up, is FOLGER’S in your cup.” Over the years due to what my taste-buds tell me, FOLGER’S has become the coffee of choice that I and my wife brew at home. When I go on a trip or a vacation, I take my own 4 cup Mr. Coffee® with me. I bring coffee filters FOLGER’S Coffee and even bring a large size ceramic cup for myself and my wife to use in our room. I do like my FOLGER’S coffee in the morning. When I am in position to make coffee at home, I make it in the morning, afternoon and evening times. If I am traveling I make it in the morning and evening. I usually stop one or two times during my travels for a good cup of Java at a place that has freshly brewed coffee. There is something about FOLGER’S it brings with it a delight for a real coffee connoisseur. Yes, when I was introduced to FOLGER’S I had been looking for the real thing for years and when I began to drink it on a regular bases I experienced a coffee that was good to the last drop of every pot. FOLGER’S is more than just coffee there is a fresh coffee experience in every cup.
As a boy growing up in southwest Louisiana, I was introduced to coffee at an early age. In our home we smelled the aroma of freshly dripped Community coffee all the time. My grand-parents used Seaport coffee. I drank a taste every now and then from both of these and did not really like either. They were just coffee to me. I always felt there was more to drinking coffee than the bitters that were left with these two coffee brands. No matter what I felt about these coffee’s they were still just coffee.
After I married and went to working shift work in the local Conoco Refinery, I started drinking Dark Roast Community with so much cream and sugar, that it tasted like dark roast syrup. I developed some stomach problems and the doctors told me it was from too much coffee, sugar and cream. I started drinking Community black and I detested the bitter after taste. Yes, with all the fixings that I would add this was still just coffee.
I attended some meetings in New Orleans and was introduced to Café au Lait, a hot cup of coffee blended with hot milk, this was dark, bold coffee blended with chicory also the cup had as much hot milk as it did coffee. I could sit there and add no sugar, but I was eating and dipping their French New Orleans-style beignets in my cup as I sipped. But at the end it was still just coffee.
I started traveling as a minister of the gospel in 1987. I left Louisiana and traveled into Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, everywhere I went they had their different favorite coffee blends. I ended up in the state of Washington, while there we preached around the Seattle area. A friend of mine that I was with took me to several little coffee shops and I was introduced to café latte, this is steamed milk with about a half shot of espresso. I was introduced to cappuccino, an Italian coffee drink prepared with espresso and hot steamed-milk, steamed into a thick foam. Cappuccinos have steamed milk like the café latte but it is less textured with more body, then there is a full shot of espresso in the cup. I like all of these different blends of coffee, milk and even added syrups and flavors. But, at the end of the day, this is still just coffee.
I remember my grandmother making coffee in a little white sock pot. This pot had a filter that was made like a sock, or some folks just used a white cotton sock, (by looking at these old socks looked as though some individual had wore the new out of them before they became a coffee filter, (lol.) The sock was filled with dark roasted coffee then the hot boiling water was poured over the coffee just a little at a time; spooned sometimes. When this coffee was dripped and you drank it freshly brewed it had a punch that would wake you up, because it was very strong. Most folks only drank this type coffee from a demitasse cup, this is a small cup, or French for half cup. But in the end it was still just coffee.
In our home when I was growing up and even in my early adulthood we used the old stove top drip pots. These were metal pots that would make four to eight cups of coffee. You would put your measurement of coffee grounds in the receiver. You would boil water in a kettle and fill the top with the hot boiling water. The water would slowly drip through the coffee grounds and make your coffee as strong as you wanted it to be. When the coffee is freshly made in a drip pot it is really good, but to me when it is reheated, it changes tastes. But again with all of this said, it is still just coffee.
I can remember when the percolator type pot came into existence. This type pot was a method of heating water causing the heated water to rise through a perk tube to flood over the coffee grounds in the pot and trickle back through into the same pot, extracting the soluble contents from the grounds. When perked coffee is fresh it has a good flavor. The longer perked coffee sits it gets a burnt taste and gets old fast. In the end it is still just coffee.
Then in the 1972 the Mr. Coffee® brand coffee makes reshaped the way we make coffee in the USA. It is an electric brewing method that drips coffee quickly while you wait. This method of coffee dripping is very good when fresh, and keeps the coffee hot and fresh longer than any other method. If a person brews the same ole same ole coffee in this method they still end up with just coffee.
We are living in the era when designer coffee makers have hit the market. We have the one cup coffee makers and the gourmet coffee pods. These coffees can be brewed to your specialty taste and flavor. You can drink different flavors in each cup. But at the end of all this it is still just coffee.
We have gone through the era where coffee was served in just good thick ceramic type coffee cups or mugs. We have gone through the days of Styrofoam cups, paper cups, plastic to-go cups and stainless steel to-go cups. Can you believe that grown-ups like myself are drinking coffee today from Sippy lids, on our cups. No matter what type cup is used it is still just coffee.
It is thought that the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant was first recognized in Yemen, in Arabia and the north east of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee first expanded in the Arab world. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas. Coffee has played an important role in many societies throughout history. In Africa and Yemen, it was used in religious ceremonies. As a result, the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption until the reign of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. It was banned in Ottoman Turkey during the 17th century for political reasons, and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe. It took the place of drinking a spot of tea in the US after the Boston Tea Party. Many of the earlier Christian religious groups forbid the drinking of coffee calling it an open rebellion of sin. But no matter what the creed or the culture it was still just coffee.
Coffee comes from the seed of coffee cherries that grow in about seventy countries of the world. These Coffee cherries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. The two most commonly grown are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and Coffea arabica. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee that is packaged in need packages, sold to us in various places. We then take it to our home or offices to use with many fashioned pots to drip the coffee that we drink. But when it is all said and done, it is still just coffee.
I have come to the understanding, that everyone who is a coffee drinker has their favorite blend of coffee. They routinely prepare their fixings and drink their blend by themselves on a regular basis. I do know that real coffee drinkers, love to drink a cup or more of their java in the morning while they are starting their new day. Some coffee drinkers drink a cup during the day, in the afternoon and even at evening time. They often prepare their friends a serving of freshly brewed coffee that they keep in their home. But at the end of the day it is still just coffee.
Now, if the coffee drinkers are like me, they have a special place to purchase coffee that has been brewed in a public place of business. Starbucks® Coffee, Dunkin' Donuts® Coffee, McDonalds, Pilot Travel Centers LLC, Seattle drip coffee , so many other fast-food restaurants, eating establishments and coffee outlets in our communities, towns and cities. But no matter what establishment you purchase your brewed coffee beverage, it is still just coffee.
When I am traveling I usually start out with a cup of coffee that is equivalent to a Grande or medium size coffee at Starbucks, in my stainless steel Nissan Sippy Cup. I look for Starbucks when I am driving through areas that have them. When I am traveling on the Interstates or even US Highways I look for Pilot Travel Centers LLC, these two places of business are consistent on the making of their coffee. They always have fresh coffee and many different types to choose from. The worst of the worst for me is McDonalds, their employees refuse to keep good fresh coffee brewing except at 6:00 AM then you still cannot guarantee it to be consistent. (Kind of the same way with their meals, cold and taste like cardboard warmed over.) But no matter where you purchase your brewed coffee beverage, it is still just coffee.
When we think about coffee, we think of all the changes that have taken place over the years in bringing a cup of Java to your lips. The methods of getting it to you have changed. The methods of preparing it have changed. Coffee it one of the top three beverages sold in our world today. Coffee is up there with soda and water. But in the end no matter how they got it to you, no matter how they brewed it, it is still just coffee.
Now that I have you licking your lips and thinking of a way to get your next cup of Java, let us get to the real message today. So many folks deal with their soul salvation the same way they do their coffee. They really think it does not matter with the Lord just as long as they are believers.
These folks tell me that we are living in a day of change preacher, everything has changed and God does not expect us to do what He expected the Disciples and the early church to do to be saved. They say at the end of the day, church is still just church, and salvation is just salvation. Preacher, it really makes no difference as to what we believe as long as we are a believer.
Let me make this statement and make it very clear. “We are living in a day of so much change. I am in full agreement, our methods of reaching people does have to ever be changing to keep up with theses changing times. But the message of salvation will never change for anyone it does not matter how much everything else changes.”
I will be 62 years old in just a short while. I have watched the Christian World change its Doctrinal stand on salvation over the short span of my life. The average Christian denominational group has taken on the Roman Catholic adherence to the Trinity, which is not biblical doctrine at all. The Bible is clear that there is only One God and Jesus is His name. Baptism, in most Christian denomination if done, is done in the titles Father, son and Holy Ghost. Nowhere in the New Testament church did they baptize in any other name than Jesus Name. Today they have blended themselves into a nice little group of Believer’s, there is no real doctrine of repentance, baptism or infilling of the Spirit of God any more. There are very few lines that differentiate the denominations as they once did, every group now is Believers. There is no real experience of salvation preached in most churches anymore. Just give your heart to Jesus, Believe on Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you are eternally saved. That all sounds good, but when there are no lines of biblical doctrine, this is not salvation it is just religion.
Only 53% of all American people feel like religion of any kind should play a role in their lives or their families. Therefore the number of Christians who never attend church is now at an all time high. I receive e-mails from people all the time who are in search for answers to problems, needs and family situation who say I am a Christian Believer, but not a church attendee. I want to be very kind today, but when people have no church involvement or fellowship in their life, they are not Christian at all, they are just religious.
When people claim they are believers, they cannot root their salvation back to and encounter or an experience with Jesus Christ. If they have never made them an altar of repentance, never been baptized in Jesus Name for the remission of sins and have never received the gift of the Holy Ghost, they are just religious.
Yes, I will be the first to admit at this time, we are living in an ever changing world. Because the world is ever changing, we the church of the living God, must ever be changing our methods to reach them with this Good News of Salvation. We must be every changing the way we receive these people into our houses of prayer and worship. But we cannot ever change the message. There is only One God His Name is Jesus, there is no such thing as a Holy Trinity. There is only one way to Christ and that is thru the cross of Calvary or thru His death, burial and resurrection. Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Death = Repentance, Burial = Baptism in Jesus Name, resurrection = receiving the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. This is biblical doctrine, not man-made idea, if you have not found yourself with this experience, you have only experienced religion. Salvation is from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Religion is mans ideas and man cannot save you.
We are living in the Emerging Generation or the day of the Emergent Church. This is a day that many church leaders are trying to blend Christianity in such a fashion, there is no experience with Jesus Christ, just involve yourself in social workings, live a decent life and believe in Jesus and you are okay. Again without the biblical experience of salvation you only have religion.
Here is where we are in this hour. We have to get people to the place of repentance. I know that scares many Christian folks to say we have to get people to do anything to get to heaven with the Lord. I understand we are not saved by our works. But we do have to follow the plan the Lord has laid out for us to receive from Him Salvation. When we get people to start repenting, then we get them thru the step of baptism in Jesus Name, they will then be filled with the glorious gift of the Holy Ghost. We have to disciple them with wonderful Bible teaching. We have to feed them from the Word of God, which will bring them into a deeper relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, they have to have a continual experience with Jesus Christ over and over again. When they experience this great salvation for themselves nothing else will satisfy them from then on like Jesus.
Here is the final statement I want to make, FOLGER’S is not just coffee to me anymore, it is about the experience I have in every cup. To this generation church cannot just be church anymore, but it is all about people having a continual experience with the Lord, every time they congregate to worship with the children of the Lord.
For a person to have a great cup of coffee, especially in the morning time, there must be a fresh experience that comes to me only from FOLGER’S, because it is still the best part of waking up. When it comes to church, it is no longer about who attends; it is not about the building, but it is about the experience we have with Jesus.
