A little girl asked her mother, “Mommy, why do you cut the ends off the meat before you cook it?” The girl’s mother told her that she thought it added to the flavor by allowing the meat to better absorb the spices, but perhaps she should ask her grandmother since she always did it that way.
So the little girl found her grandmother and asked, “Grandma, why do you and Mommy cut the ends of the meat off before you cook it?” Her grandmother thought a moment and answered, “I think it allows the meat to stay tender because it soaks up the juices better, but why don’t you ask your Nana? After all, I learned from her, and she always did it that way.”
The little girl was getting a little frustrated, but climbed up in her great-grandmother’s lap and asked, “Nana, why do you cut the ends off the meat before you cook it?” Nana answered, “I had to - my cooking pot was too small.”
The Pilgrim who landed at Plymouth Rock over 300 years ago knew nothing of the affluent times we experience. They could never imagine the availability of such modern technology enjoyed in America, the abundant prosperity encompassing our nation and the awesome freedoms etched on every human heart in this country!
The next time you and I are tempted to complain about the state of our economy, our modern inconveniences and fighting for our liberties - remember the following:
• They left England in September 1620, and after 66 days in the fierce Atlantic, they made it to Cape Cod. The horrible overcrowding of the small Mayflower made the Atlantic crossing a nightmare. Midway across the Atlantic the Mayflower was engulfed in a terrible storm. Huge waves and screaming winds threatened to tear the masts from the deck. Seasick passengers shivered below deck, getting sicker by the day.
• They originally were sailing for Virginia but because of a terrible storm it landed them on the shores of Cape Cod. Had they landed in Virginia, historians predict that the Pilgrims would have been slaughtered by the hands of the cruelest Indians on the East Coast.
• During that first long winter at Plymouth Colony, 7 times as many graves were made for the dead as homes for the living. The next ship which was to bring food and relief brought 35 more mouths to feed, but not an ounce of provisions.
• But 4 years prior to the Pilgrims arrival, a mysterious plague had broken out among them, killing every man, woman and child. So complete was the devastation that the neighboring tribes had shunned the area, convinced that some supernatural spirit had destroyed the Indians. The land had rich, fertile soil and it is recorded by the Pilgrims that, “There were four spring-fed creeks with the sweetest water any of them had ever tasted.”
• There is nothing Americans cherish more than their freedom; and the origin of that freedom can be traced directly back to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact.
Religious freedom (the right to own and read the Bible, to worship according to conscience, to form one’s own church); political freedom (the right to frame a constitution and form a government); even economic freedom (the right to own one’s own property and keep the fruit of one’s labors). No such thing as socialism!
• The Mayflower Compact, was based on the biblical covenants, is recognized by scholars as the founding document that led to a whole series of covenants and compacts - culminating in the United States Constitution framed in 1787.
• Before they got off the Mayflower on November 21, 1620, 41 of the men huddled in a compartment below deck, and drafted this amazing document and all 41 signed it on behalf of all 102 people on the Mayflower!
• In part it reads...“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten....having undertaken, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith...”
• Don’t tell the ACLU this!
William Bradford, described the first landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth that December:
“Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth...what could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace?”
Everyone knows why the Pilgrims came ashore at Plymouth Rock - NOT SO! Most school education is chiefly responsible for this widespread ignorance. A few years ago Paul Vitz documented the “washing-out” of religion in public school textbooks.
He looked at the top 60 social study textbooks and found that not one of them portrayed the spiritual meaning of the Pilgrims. He cited, “One teacher told a first grader that it was the Indians to whom the Pilgrims gave thanks on that first Thanksgiving.”
Governor William Bradford, who served as the Pilgrims governor for 35 years, wrote in his famous historical work, “Of Plymouth Plantation”, “They cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations...and advance the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.”
Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morrison placed the Pilgrims in proper historical context. He wrote, “They were a simple people inspired by an ardent faith in God, a dauntless courage in danger, a boundless resourcefulness in the face of difficulties, an impregnable fortitude in adversity: thus they have in some measure become the spiritual ancestors of all Americans.”
Daniel Webster speaking on the bicentennial of the Pilgrims’ arrival, he cautioned fellow citizens in 1820, “Forget not the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.”
George Washington said, “The Pilgrims didn’t have much, but they possessed a great gratitude and it was upon this very thing that America was built. These stalwart people, strong, devout and sincere were the timbers upon which our nation was founded.”
Folks - our country cannot continue to exist prosperously financed, abundantly favored and religiously free if we fail to be grateful to our God, thankful for His blessings and respectful to His leadership!
In 1777 the Continental Congress encourage every American... “With one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts...they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins...and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance...”
Again in 1790, the Continental Congress declared a “Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer” recommending that citizens, “…confess our unworthiness of the least of his favors, and to offer our fervent supplications to the God of all grace...to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth.”
February 29, 1892, in opinion of Justice David Josiah
Brewer America once had a Supreme Court which stated, “From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…that this is a Christian nation...We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth.”
Folks, I believe it is a dishonor to the humble Pilgrim’s courage and a disgrace to our founding father’s bravery if we don’t speak up and stand up for a Christian America once again! If we don’t, America will soon be just a fleeting shadow of the glory of God!
Alan Keyes said, “Is this what we shall allow our country to become, a shadow-play of freedom for the benefit of those who mean only to oppress? This is what we shall become, if we surrender to this slavery of lies, to this tyranny of passion.”
Not many know about the tradition the Pilgrims also had of putting 5 kernels of corn upon each empty plate before a dinner of thanksgiving was served. Each member of the family would pick up a kernel and tell what they were thankful for. It was to remind them that the first Pilgrims were in such dire straits that their allowance was only 5 kernels of corn per person each day.
Then the father in each home would read from Psalm 103
Let’s take 5 grains of corn, and using Psalm 103:1-5 express 5 areas to praise God for.
In this Psalm, David calls upon his body, mind, soul, and spirit to join in one grand symphony of praise for the benefits God has so graciously bestowed upon him. Can you see them?
1. The Kernel of Forgiveness.
Verse 3a: “…Who forgives all your iniquities…”
Verse 10, 12
One day a fellow was visiting with his pastor in the parsonage. He picked up a book that was on a stand and began to read. Suddenly he shouted, “Glory! Praise the name of the Lord!” The pastor asked, “What’s the matter with you?” The visitor replied, “This book says that in certain places the sea is 5 miles deep!” “Yes, that’s right,” said the pastor. “So what?” The visitor answered, “The Bible says that my sins have been cast into the depth of the sea, and if its that deep, I’m not afraid of their coming up again. The pressure of the water is so great there that if the largest battleship could be sunk to that depth, it would be crushed like an egg shell.”
There’s no mistaking it—God offers forgiveness today - you need not wait to die to know if God forgives.
This forgiveness is … a promise of the Father, a provision of the Son, primed by the Spirit, proclaimed in the Bible and practice in the church!
From the depths of our hearts, a sense of gratitude should well up. Gratitude should ascend like incense to the throne of God.
We should get to where we hate sin because of the damage it can do!
Billy Sunday once said, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless, footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory...”
2. The Kernel of Healing.
Verse 3b: “…Who heals all your diseases…”
All healing is divine healing - the result of the healing properties that God has built into our bodies. Medicine, surgery and therapy are merely extensions of God’s healing ministry. There is no disease or sickness that lies beyond His healing power.
In Exodus God reminds Moses, “I am that God that heals you.”
If you don’t believe in healing, why do you pray to God for it?
The main truth I learned is that the Psalmist is speaking to his soul. “Bless the Lord, O my soul...who heals all your diseases.”
3. The Kernel of Redemption.
Verse 4a: “…Who redeems your life from destruction (pit, ruin)…”
You can judge the value of the painting by the price paid for it and we can judge our value by the price Jesus paid for us — the depths into which He had to reach into our lives in order to redeem us.
The Lord not only redeemed our souls from hell, but He also redeems our lives from the clutches of the devil. Satan is bent on damning our souls and boastful in destroying our lives. But thanks be to God who redeems our lives from his power. All one has to do is take a look at our prisons, hospitals, and half-way houses - they are filled with people whose lives are being destroyed by our enemy.
Psalm 40:2,3 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud
and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth - a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and trust in the Lord.” NLT
4. The Kernel of Love and Mercy.
Verse 4b: “…Who crowns you with love and mercy…”
In one of Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman’s meetings, a man rose to give the following remarkable testimony: “I got off at the Pennsylvania depot one day as a tramp. For a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, “Mister, please give me some money so I can have something to eat.” As soon as I saw his face, I recognized him as my father. ‘Father, don’t you know me?’ I asked. Throwing his arms around me, he cried, ‘I’ve found you! I’ve found you! All I have is yours!’ Think of it - as a tramp, begging my father for a few cents, when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all he was worth.”
God wants to crown us with love and mercies all the days of our lives!
5. The Kernel of Satisfaction and Renewal.
Verse 5: “…who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good...”
Psalm 107:9 “He has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.”
Jill makes the best cheese cake in the world. I’m always satisfied when I eat it, but I always want more because what I’ve experienced makes me want to taste it again and again. So it is with God.
But that’s not the end. Verse 5 also says that God will renew youth like the eagle’s. The eagle lives the longest of all birds and when one is nearly 100 years old, it casts all its feathers and fresh ones come, so that she becomes young again. Do you see it - God uses the power of forgiveness, the touch of healing, eternal redemption, unconditional love and divine grace and mercy to keep our spirits from decaying and renew our souls with joy and peace everyday!
