What Are You Doing For God?

Beloved, Here we are, almost into the last quarter of the year, a time when we approach major holidays and transitions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Through all that we have been going through, one thing that is true and sure, God has been with us and God has been blessing us. Now, you might be able to list all of the problems, trials, tribulations, and troubles that seem to plague you, bother you, make you uncomfortable and lead to worry, anxiety and doubt; but, because you are still here to go through all of that, you should still have one thing, hope. Hope in God should help us to understand that no matter what we go through, good or bad, God is always there for us. We have been preaching and teaching about that the last three Sundays. Now, when our hope is rewarded and God is blessing us, keeping it real, we can sometimes forget about God. Sometimes, we reach out to God when we have difficult times and we forget about God when we have all that we think we need. Let me remind you. Remember when you or someone you love got sick and you cried your tears while simultaneously crying out to God and then God blessed you? Remember when you or someone you love had a job you or they did not like or when you or they did not even have a job not to like and God provided you or them a job after you and them had to go through the stressful time of praying and waiting and then God blessed you or them? Remember when your family was a mess, your marriage was in distress, when your friends had become frenemies if not outright enemies and you felt all alone and wondered if life was worth living at all and then God blessed you? Your story may not be the same as all of these examples but I feel confident that you have had some experience, directly or indirectly, with all of these types of situations. The one constant is that God blessed you or blessed someone who you love. Now, after God blessed you or blessed someone you love, what did you do for God? Did you go ghost on God? Have you gone ghost on God? Are you doing anything for God? You see after you have gone from being stressed to being truly blessed, you can look at your blessings and look right past God. Does it matter? Oh yeah, it matters. In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus explained in Luke 12:19-21, "And I (the rich fool) will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods (God has blessed you) laid up for many years; relax (stop going to church so much), eat (go to brunch instead of making church a priority), drink (fill yourself with worldly pleasures), be merry (forget about how you got blessed and just enjoy yourself). But God said to him (it got real), 'You fool (acting like God is not real)! This very night your life is being demanded of you (good times always come to an end). And these things you have prepared (living life like it will never end), whose will they be (the good times may roll on for some but not always for you)? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." Beloved, for all that God has done, is doing, and likely will do for you, what are you doing for God? It may not seem to matter today; but, trust, one day it will. We will be gathering to be rich towards God at Noonday prayer. What will you be doing? We will be gathering to hear Zion's message on The Light radio/internet broadcast at 3pm. What will you be doing? We will be gathering for HOPE Wednesday via Zoom this evening at 6:30pm. What will you be doing? We will be gathering for Sunday worship service at 11am. What will you be doing? Beloved, for all that God has done, is doing, and likely will do for you, what are you doing for God? It may not seem to matter today; but, trust, one day it will. And, remember, God loves you and I love you too! Be blessed, Rev. Cain