According to one widely told legend, an East African goatherd discovered coffee, when his goats ate the red coffee berries from a wild coffee shrub and became frisky and were kept awake. A coffee bean is actually a seed, but when dried, roasted, and ground, it is used to brew coffee. There are 10 steps to making coffee: the coffee bean is planted, harvested, processed, dried, milled, exported, tasted, roasted, ground, and finally brewed. There are over 500 billion cups of coffee consumed in the world every year, and coffee makes up about a third of tap water consumption. Brazil is responsible for 30-40% of total world coffee output. It takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity. Beethoven and Bach, the great composers, both loved coffee.
About 50% of Americans drink coffee every day. In 1773, the Boston Tea Party made drinking coffee a patriotic duty in America. The expression “Cuppa Joe” was first coined during WWII, when American servicemen (G.I. Joe) were identified as big coffee drinkers. During WWII, ‘Maxwell House’ instant coffee was issued in American soldiers’ ration kits. In the US Navy today, coffee is often referred to as “Lifer Juice,” because many of the old Chief Petty Officers who spend their ‘entire life’ in the Navy drink coffee continuously.
In 1860, J. A. Folger founded ‘Folgers Coffee’ in San Francisco, CA. Folgers is the largest-selling coffee in America. Leon and Joel Cheek in Nashville, TN developed the ‘Maxwell House’ blend in 1892. Nescafe’ coffee was introduced in Switzerland in 1938 after being developed by Max Morgenthaler. The original Starbucks Coffee shop opened in 1971 in Seattle, WA. Juan Valdez is a fictional character, but the real name of the character in the coffee commercials is Carlos Sanchez, and the name of his donkey is “Conchita.”
Many Americans often use a cup of coffee to give them an early morning jump-start. Just as coffee helps wake up our bodies, the Word of God wakes up the soul of man and shows him his true condition (sinful), and his deepest need (the forgiveness of sins). The eternal destiny of your soul is something you need to “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” about. The Bible says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Eph 5:14) Every lost man is spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins (See Eph 2:1). Only Christ Jesus can give you light and life.
There are 10 great Commandments of God, and it may be that you think you have never broken Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, but if you have broken 7, 8, 9, or 10, you have snapped the Golden Chain asunder and it is really as if you had broken all its links! Every sin you commit breaks God’s holy law (lies, thefts, gossip, lustful thoughts, pride, hatred, guile, selfishness, greed). Any one offense against God’s Law (in thought, word, or deed) breaks the whole Law and spoils any hope of you being saved by keeping it. (Galatians 3:10) If you fall short of God’s Commandments, or go beyond them in any point, God’s Law is then broken, and you are guilty. (James 2:10) The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The ‘glory of God’ is absolute, sinless perfection. If you’re not perfect, you’re a sinner, and all sinners need a Savior. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
There are only two religions in this world: “DO” and “DONE.” If you are trying to work your way to heaven, your religion is “DO.” But if you come to your senses, and realize that God requires ‘absolute sinless perfection’ from you; you will then submit to God, and trust Christ Jesus’ finished work alone – this is “DONE” religion. But the hardest thing for a self-righteous man to do is to give up all he has done or ever will do, and submit to Christ’s Righteousness alone.
First, the Law of God must convince a man that he is a hopeless and miserable sinner. After that, He must understand by the Holy Spirit that he is ‘condemned already,’ because he has not believed on the Son of God (by neglecting Him and rejecting Him). Next, the poor sinner must forsake all his hopes and efforts to save himself, totally give up his ‘DO’ religion, and look only to the bleeding Lamb of God that died as the sinner’s Substitute on Calvary’s Cross. The lost sinner must receive the living Christ and rely only on His power to save Him. The best you can ‘do’ just won’t do in the sight of God.
The Good News: God came to earth in human form – His name was Jesus Christ. In infinite compassion, He that possessed the throne and royalties of Heaven, laid aside His kingly robes and crown, and came down to dwell among us in human flesh. Christ Jesus lived a sinless life, suffered, bled, and died, and then He rose again the third day; the Just for the unjust, the Righteous for the rebels. Christ died for the ungodly, not for the self-righteous.
Your sin deserves the wrath of God. But God in His rich mercy laid His wrath upon His only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and, therefore, God is ready to forgive you freely for Christ’s sake, not because of anything good in you, or anything you ever can do, but ENTIRELY by God’s free mercy.
God asks you to trust yourself in the hands of Jesus that He may save you. Come sinner friend, and rely merely upon what Christ has done, and is still doing, and believe in the mercy of God through Christ Jesus, and not in ‘yourself’ at all. Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. God had to become a man and suffer and bleed to death for your sins. God’s love for your soul cost Jesus Christ His life. For God made Christ to be Sin for you on Calvary’s Cross, that you might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Ye must be born again. The next time you reach for a cup of coffee think about these truths: Coffee is black – so are our hearts without the blood of Jesus applied to them. And coffee is hot – so is Hell where lost sinners end up without Christ as their Savior. A life lived without Christ is a wasted life, and Hell is the end of a Christ-less life.
Nothing you can do can change God’s mind towards you, Christ has done all that needs to be done, or that ever can be done. Repent of your ‘dead’ works that cannot save you, TRUST Christ now, submit to His righteousness, give your heart up to Him. You may have sinned against Christ’s love in the past, but He is still willing to receive you and save you, if you will only LET HIM. Turn your case totally over to Him, rest in His finished work. Don’t look IN now, but look OUT to Christ’s precious blood alone for peace with God, and you are saved forever. TRUST in the Blood of the living Christ and be saved ‘now’
