Thanksgiving, Celebrating The 19th Year of Our Covenant To God
We, brothers and sisters prepared for this day like a married woman who seeks to renew our wedding vows to God. But not like any other wedding vows we are gathered to give thanks and be reminded that God is consistently faithful to his promises. Our covenant which is stated in John 3:16 that…
“For God so love the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
These are the words that fortify our faith to God’s promises, words that we consider foundation in living our life with Agape. The core essence of celebrating our covenant to God as Christians is to not just for God to remind us about his promises but for us to be willingly submit ourselves and do what God tells us to do under the Covenant. If you will scrupulously understand the verse, God already did his part by giving his only son for our salvation. God is now giving us the favor to do our part and that is to be an obedient companion in disseminating his words.
As the brethren enter the Makati, all dressed in white and excited until someone signaled that the event is about to start and decided to enter the place and be part of this yearly celebration to our covenant to God. To set the mood the opening performance was outstanding and it’s not like any other performances I have seen from the previous gatherings. It was ethereal and makes us feel the presence of the Lord. To organize the crowd Bishop Sear Jasub read a letter from the General Bishop Hiel that reminds brothers and sisters about the quintessence and true meaning of AGAPE (great love) and tell us about colossians 3:14 that
“over all these virtues put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity.”
This verse is a reminder that we are bonded by love of God and continue to live and serve with agape as our fuel to our engines. Succeeding performances happened until General Bishop Hiel stood in front and started speaking about the message of God. The Covenant of God which is covered in John 3:16
“For God so Love the World that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
The whole preaching revolves around this verse. The verse that reminds us to hold on to the covenant, that this verse should be the basis of our spiritual survival. But first, General Bishop Hiel reiterated that every single member of the church should be familiar with Jeremiah 31:3 meaning, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” We Christians must follow and have everlasting love like Jesus. God is trusted to his promises because his Godliness is at stake in it. He transcends time. He promised the covenant of love and he will be true to it and expects us to do the same. MP Hiel asked the first question which is who is the first one to experience the love of God. It is a rhetorical question and he answered by saying Abraham. God considered Abraham as his true friend because Abraham is his great follower and the General Bishop pointed out that Trust bears love and obedience to God. Another question is what is under the covenant of God? He said that covenant of God is a covenant of blessing and multiplication. When we endure to follow, multitudes of blessing will be given to us. Third question is why does the covenant happen to Abraham? The answer is in Genesis 22:2 wherein God challenges Abraham’s faith to him by offering the life of his only son to God. He then, followed God and offered his son but at the moment that he will stab Isaac the voice of God stopped him. That is a proof of a sacrificial love. God will challenge your faith; of how long will you be so truthful in the covenant that you are able to sacrifice even the most important person or thing in your life. The covenant is another term for love for God before anyone and anything else. He also tackled the seven ingredients of the covenant of God. First is the author of the covenant, second is what it is trying to attain, and third is conditions, objectives, to who is it for, its curse and blessings and each of the ingredients has its pros and cons. He completed the message with Galatians 5:13 “You, my brother and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” The freewill that has bestowed upon us by our Lord gives us the opportunity to choose whether we spoil ourselves in worldly pleasures or follow him and live with his covenant. Let us look at us and our church as a married woman who will always willful to renew vows with our Lord. Just like what our MP Hiel said we are now living the eternal life that God promised us. We just have to prove to this world that our God is a living word through the real salvation. It is indicated in John 1:14 that “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
To wrap it up, we as Christians must live and respect our covenant to God like Abraham did. May we all have the courage and enormous faith to cross the path less traveled. And by our devotion may God help us to guide those people who are not yet part of the covenant.
