Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30: 17. "Your Parents Through Your Eyes"

Proverbs 30: 17     The eye that mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.

Proverbs 30: 17.  Jesus said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness..” (Matthew 6: 22, 23a)

In other words, “It all depends on how you look at it.”

Your perspective-----the way you look at what you’re doing and what has been done to you-----helps decide whether you begin your journey full of light or full of darkness. 

When I was an English teacher at Capitol Height Jr. High School, I started the year with my students seated in alphabetical order.  One kid, a skinny, self-avowed thug regularly skipped school.  He never did homework. He never brought a book or paper to class. He was disruptive and disrespectful.  I called his parents every day that he was in class, but they were more frustrated and desperate for a solution than I was.

The young man in front of him was exactly the opposite.  He was a chubby, geeky, honor student.  He was quiet, polite, and focused.  He and his best friend, a little Asian kid, drew manga comics and designed video games as a hobby and sometimes for extra credit.

We were halfway through the first semester when I realized that the thug and the honor student were brothers.  Not stepbrothers.  Not half-brothers.  Brother brothers.  They both lived in the same 2-parent, working class home.  They shared a room.

Most of the kids in the class didn’t know they were brothers even though some of them had been classmates since 3rd grade.  The boys didn’t mention it because each of them was ashamed of the other.

One brother saw their parents and their home as a place of light.  The restrictions and imperfections encouraged him to learn and to succeed in every positive way available.

The other brother saw their family through eyes full of darkness.  His parents were “lame.”  Their marriage was “lame.”  Good grades were “lame.” School was “lame.”  Only the guys in the streets were real.

The thug brother was actually older, but he’d failed so many times that he ended up in the same class as his “good” little brother.  He didn’t pass that year either.

Your perspective on your parents is crucial.

Even if your parents failed you, your perspective on them matters.  You cannot go back and change their dysfunction, addiction, abuse, neglect, absence, immaturity, incarceration, or incompetence.  But you can decide whether or not it poisons your mindset.  

You can determine that daddy’s and mama’s sins will be a lesson in how not to live and a motivation for you to break the cycle.  You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with light.

Or, you can choose to see their failures as a precursor to your own.  You can repeat the lie that, “I’ll never be anything, either.” You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with darkness.  But you don’t have to.

They’re YOUR eyes.  It’s your mind and your mindset.  You choose, but be careful.

Jesus went on to say, “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6: 23b)

The last half of Proverbs 30: 17, warns that a dark-filled eye will become prey for ravens and young eagles.  The word here for eagles can also refer to vultures.  The point is that filling your eyes with darkness will turn you into food for scavengers. 

Living your life filled with hate for your parents and empty of hope because of them------ will kill you.

Don’t let the darkness destroy you.

Where there was right, remember it.  Where there was wrong, forgive. 

Where they were wise, respect them.  Where they were foolish, forgive.

Where they spoke life, receive it.  Where they spoke death, decline it.

Choose your perspective.

Be filled with light.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email
atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at
www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

Monday, April 22, 2013

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30:15. "Unleeched

Proverbs 30: 15     The leech has two daughters— Give and Give!
There are three things that are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough!”:
16     The grave, The barren womb, The earth that is not satisfied with water— And the fire never says, “Enough!”

Proverbs 30: 15, 16.  “Give me.”    “Help me.”

People use these statements interchangeably, but they are very, very different.  Different in DEFINITION.  And different in DEFINING.

“Help me” can men mean “HELP me.”  Work with me.  Teach me what I didn’t know before I put myself in this situation.  Show me what I had not seen so that I don’t end up like this again.  Contribute whatever or however you choose to, but hold me ultimately responsible.  Please, HELP me be more responsible. 

But, the phrase “Help me” can also be defined as “gimme.”  Gimme what I want.  Handle it so I don’t have to.  Release me from responsibility for my actions and circumstances.  Gimme, and then be ready to gimme some more.

What matters isn’t the words, but the DEFINITION/ the meaning behind the words.  Titles aand terminology can be a disguise but the real DEFINITION behind what comes out of our mouths will soon show.

DEFINITION is important, but what’s more important though is the difference in DEFINING.

In Matthew 7: 15-20, Jesus said that a tree, a prophet, or a person is DEFINED by the fruit he/she bears.  It is our fruit/actions/output that DEFINES us.

So, if what comes out of you is always “Gimme.  Gimme. Gimme,” then according to the definition in Proverbs 30: 15, you are A LEECH.

You’re not a victim.  You’re not a little down on your luck.  You may say “all I need is a little help,” but if your idea of help is somebody else handing you money while you do nothing more or different------ God says that you’re A LEECH.

Rev., that’s harsh.

Bro., that’s Bible.

Leeches suck the life out of their host, pausing their consumption only long enough to reproduce.  Other than that a leech will drink until it dies, or the host does.

The grave never says, “Enough death.”

The barren womb is never filled.

The parched earth does not believe that it will ever get enough rain.

The fire never reaches more fuel and stops because it has consumed enough.

So it is with the leech, whether animal or human.   He doesn’t know when to quit.  She doesn’t know how. 

Consider yourself:

1.      When they tell you that you’re asking for their last, do you ask anyway?

2.      Will you change the way you live to get the help you need, or do you think “I’m doing good, I just can’t pay my bills”?

3.      Do you believe that sacrifice now will reward you later, or do you feel like you have to ball while you can because “I ain’t never gone have nothing anyway”?

If the description fits, there is a reason why your life sucks.

You’re a leech.

But wait. 

You don’t have to stay that way.  You can be unleeched.

God can remove the consuming character from fire, like He did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abengo (Daniel 3).

God can send rain on land that has known only drought for years, like He did through Elijah(1 Kings 18: 41-45).

God can speak life into the barren womb, just like He did for Sarah (Genesis 21: 1-7).

God can command the grave to give up its prey, as He did when He called Lazarus forth (John 11).

The Lord can make that which is never satisfied declare “Enough.”  God can unleech you.

Stop making excuses.  Stop waiting for someone else to give you something else.  Stop living a life that sucks.

Submit to God.  Give yourself to Jesus.  Walk according to the Living Word.  Be transformed.  

Be UNLEECHED.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email
atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at
www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

Sunday, April 21, 2013

IF YOU DON'T KNOW JESUS BY NOW....

The Christian life and the power of the Christian life come from our relationship with Jesus.  Yet, we so often live without power or peace or purpose.  We let everyone except Jesus tell us who we are.  We let everyone except Jesus tell us who God is.   Why?  

Often because even after years in the Christian life we just don’t know the Lord as well as we should.

Well consider why that it is and what you can do about it.  Follow a message from the book of John that begins with Jesus crying out in middle of a temple Bible study, calling out a message that can be summed up in the line:  IF YOU DON’T KNOW JESUS BY NOW…..

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com   
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

 

Sunday, April 14, 2013

I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS & I’VE GOT BAD NEWS

The good news is that I found a way to increase my upper body strength and balance in just 6 weeks.  The bad news is that it involves me breaking my left leg and getting put on crutches for a month-and-a-half.

Good news.  Bad news.

Jesus used the pattern of good news and bad news in the earliest recorded sermon/ Bible study He preached.  That message was/ is critical for our understanding of the foundational spiritual principles of life.

So listen well, church.  I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS & I’VE GOT BAD NEWS

Podcast Powered By Podbean
---Anderson T. Graves

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com   
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

MY FEAR, MY FAITH, MY FUTURE


MY FEAR, MY FAITH, MY FUTURE.

Sometimes you may feel trapped by your past and therefore uncertain about your future.   You may feel like your situation right now is a locked room and you’re afraid that you’ll never get out.

There is a solution.  This message is about how the right kind of fear combined with the right kind of faith can lead you out of the place where you are and into the right kind of future.

The message is called MY FEAR, MY FAITH, MY FUTURE.

Listen well.


Podcast Powered By Podbean

---Anderson T. Graves

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com  
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 39: 11-14. "Young People Today"

Proverbs 30:11     There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.
12     There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness.
13     There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14     There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Proverbs 30: 11-14. O, how we lament the problem of  “young people today.”

Young people today have no respect for their parents.
Young folks today think they know everything.
Young people today.  They commit any and every  sin they can think of and act like it’s O.K.
These young people today will kill you as soon as look at you.
Young folks these days don’t care about anyone but themselves.

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates even said, “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”

When we complain about TODAY’s kids or THIS GENERATION, we’re implying that the problem is the day/ the times, that the problem is our particular cultural context.

But, the same issues we have today existed in ancient times.

The same complaints about young people were voiced in the conservative, overtly godly culture of Old Testament Israel, a time and place where parents could legally stone their children for disrespectful language (Exodus 21: 17; Leviticus 20: 9).

The criticisms we make of our younger generation are the same which were made in the religiously pluralistic, sexually liberal squares of ancient Greece.

The problem is not the times.  The problem is not the culture.  The problem with “young people today” is not TODAY.

And, the problem isn’t that they’re young. 

Solomon called children an inheritance from God, a reward, a source of the parents’ strength like arrows in the hand of a warrior. (Psalm 127: 3-5)

In Matthew 19: 13, 14, Jesus called children the model for the people of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The problem with “young people today” isn’t that they live in today’s culture.  It isn’t that they are young.  The problem is that they’re PEOPLE.  Each young person is a complete PERSON.

If my son cusses me out, it’s not the nation’s fault for taking prayer out of schools.  It’s not the media’s fault for playing Lil’ Wayne records and airing episodes of “American Dad” and “Family Guy.”  It didn’t happen because we are living in the end times and such behavior is inevitable (not that we aren’t living in the end times).   And it isn’t because my boy got in with “the wrong crowd.”

Listen.  If my son cusses me out the problem is MY SON.  It’s not the culture.  It’s not the times.  It’s the person.

Young people today sin for the same reason that old people today sin and for the same reason that people have sinned in every time and culture since Eden--------because they individually choose to.

Stop making excuses.   Stop looking for labels and diagnoses to excuse what they did.

Your child’s sins are your child’s fault.

Deal with it.

Seriously.   Do something to deal with it.

Don’t acquiesce dominance in your house to the screaming, hitting 2 year old.  Check them and teach them not to scream and hit.

Don’t believe the hype that every teen yells at his/her parents and slams their bedroom door.  It’s not inevitable.  It’s not a necessary part of the maturing process.  It’s mean.  It’s disrespectful.  It’s sin.  Deal with it while the kid’s still short and cute and you won’t have to suffer with it when he’s awkward and tall.

When your child throws a pencil in class, stop blaming it on ADHD.  ADHD makes your child’s brain change the subject.  Choosing the subject of pencil throwing and then acting upon that subject isn’t ADHD.   

It’s free freakin’ will.

Young people may not be fully developed, but young people are fully human.  And every human being has full access to his/her free will. 

Free will exercised contrary to God’s will = SIN.

Whatever the age, whatever the times, sin is the real problem.

Deal with it.

How can you deal with it?   How can a young man cleanse his way? (Psalm 119:9a)

By taking heed according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9b)

The Word says that Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— …much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  (Romans 5: 12, 15)

The problem with kids today is sin.  The solution to sin is Jesus. 

O.K.? 

Good.  Now deal with it.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email
atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at
www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116