Rev. Dr. John D. Tolbert
Senior Pastor
Pastoral Reflection
Sunday, November 25, 2018

Praise the Lord Trinity! I pray that you and your family have had a wonderful Thanksgiving experience and that you have come ready to enter His gates with thanksgiving in your heart and praise on your lips. This morning as we gather to worship God in spirit and in truth let me express my gratitude to our guest worshipping with us today. You are welcome here at the Trinity Church and I pray God’s richest blessings upon you and your families. If you and/or your family are looking for a Church home, we welcome you with open arms to this versatile ministry & multi-generational experience. Everybody needs a church family and a pastor. We want to be yours!

The essence of our thanksgiving deserves careful evaluation today. We are challenged to consider how much thought is attached to the thanks we offer our eternal God. When we tell God “Thank You” is it out of habit? Do we do it without considering the holy nature of the One our thanks is directed towards? When we offer thanks is it ever offered in a way that reflects the integrity of the context that God has blessed us to triumph in? It is one thing to thank God for a meal, however it is something quite different to thank God for healing, deliverance from adversity, or for the salvation of our soul. And even when we pay our thanks to God for the everyday blessings our thanks should yet reveal an exulted appreciation of who God is, and what God truly means to us as the Divine and Eternal Creator. Perhaps, we must come to a place of recognizing that whenever we pause to tell God thanks we should first reflect upon His nature. God is holy, awesome, righteous, merciful and gracious. He is our creator, and He alone sustains us through each new day of life.

Whenever we tell God thank you we should remember something about who God is. Something about how wonderful He is to us, and that His grace and mercy are our constant attendants throughout life. Our thanks to God should be saturated with a sense of the blessing it is just to be able to enter into His presence. The essence of our thanks to God should demonstrate our awe of God.

Perhaps, the Psalmist helps us best when he paused to reflect upon what God meant to him and first asked the question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” After consideration he determines, “I will offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving!” The essence of thanksgiving unto God is about our sacrifice. It is about us giving ourselves first and then giving our thanks.

Still Amazed by God’s Grace!
 
Dr. John D. Tolbert
Senior Pastor

One Hundred Years of Reaching a City to Touch the World