LOSING JESUS

Have you ever lost something that you didn’t realize you’d lost until you were far away from the place you’d lost it?  You know, like leaving something in a hotel room and not realizing it until you get home and start unpacking. 

Now imagine that the something you lost is someone, and imagine that the someone you lost is your child.

Now imagine that the child you lost ------------ is Jesus.
LOSING JESUS.

Listen well.

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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

 

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 13

Proverbs 29: 13     The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

Proverbs 29: 13.  This scripture highlights a contrast and a connection between two socioeconomic classes.  The classes here are the poor and the people who keep them poor in order to profit from their poverty. 

Now, immediately something rises up in some  of you that says, “Wait a minute now.  Poverty isn’t somebody else’s fault.  Some people are poor because they are lazy or because they make bad decisions.” 

Granted.  And the Bible speaks to those situations, but the Bible also speaks to the very real situations in which poverty is the product of oppression, not laziness, not stupidity, not sin. 

The whole counsel of God demands that we see the poor in a more nuanced light.  They aren’t all simply the lazy dregs of the far-right or the innocent invalids of the far-left.  The Bible points out poverty is a bit of both.

The poor and their oppressors are contrasted in Proverbs 29: 13 as the robbed are contrasted to the robbers.  But they are also connected by the common work of God. 

God’s light shines on the poor and oppressed just as brightly as it shines upon the rich and corrupt. And, vice versa.

God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s longsuffering offer of another chance to do things right are always available to the bottom rungs of society.  That same mercy, grace, and another chance are equally available (and needed) at the top of ladder.

When the opposing classes meet in the course of business they assume positions of spiritual superiority.  The tenant thinks, “God will definitely let me into Heaven because I’ve suffered so much , and He will definitely send my landlord to Hell because he’s made me suffer.”

The slumlord thinks, “God doesn’t care about these people or why would they suffer?  Surely God loves me more because He’s kept me from being like them.”

Both are wrong.

God shows the same light and Truth to slumlord and to tenant, to disenfranchised citizen and to corrupt politician, to middle-classed drug dealer and to homeless addict.  The light of God’s Word shines on the Truth that: ALL are sinners.  ALL  have come short of God’s standard (Romans 3: 23).  ALL need to repent and be saved in through Jesus Christ because God loves ALL of us (2 Peter 3: 9).

---Anderson T. Graves II

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

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 29: 12

Proverbs 29: 12     If a ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked.

Proverbs 29: 12.  You are going to get lied to.  And, if you are in any position of leadership, influence, or perceived influence, you are going to get lied to ------- a lot.

Sometimes, while the liar is lying to you, everyone else will know that the liar is lying----- but they won’t tell you.  They’ll  wait to see how you respond. 

If you discern the lie and act on the truth---- you can develop a culture in which honesty is the preferred policy.  If you act on the lie, you’ll create an atmosphere in which lies are rewarded and (consequently) honest people are unwelcome.

But if you think about it, when leaders act on a lie it isn’t usually because the leaders were tricked, but it’s because the leaders were scared.   Afraid to question the story.  Afraid of checking the facts and facing their own assumptions/ insecurities.    Scared of hearing more than one side of the story because the other sides might reveal inconvenient truths.  Most of the time leaders accept lies at face value it’s because the leaders are afraid that by checking into the story they  heard, they’ll look uncertain, out of control, or weak.  That’s pride.  That’s fear.

Pride and fear make leaders susceptible to lies.   Leaders who function from pride and fear have subordinates who function through pride and fear.  Thus, corruption.

The only people who are afraid of looking like they aren’t in control are people who aren’t in control.  The only time someone’s scared that asking a necessary question will make them look stupid is when they’ve been too stupid to ask the question when it first became necessary.  If you are a leader who can’t handle the truth about your organization then the truth is---- you can’t handle leading that organization.

People are waiting to see how you handle liars because that’s how they’ll decide whether or not to be liars. No, it shouldn’t be that way, but that’s the way it is.

But truthfully, even at your best sometimes you will be deceived.  Sometimes, you will get tricked. So here’s what you do to immunize yourself against the effects of deception:  Always, no matter what you hear, no matter what you think the facts are---do right and do right by people.

Always.

Maybe So-and-so is out to get your job.  Maybe not.   Treat So-and-so fairly regardless.  Don’t withhold rewards when due.  Don’t look the other way when reprimand or correction is proper.

Maybe Such-and-such doesn’t like you.  Maybe he/she does.  Treat Such-and-such right regardless.  Listen to Such-and-such as attentively as you listen to any of the others.  Weigh the merits of the ideas not what you think you might know about Such-and-such’s feelings.

Humble yourself  and you take care of pride.

Seek the truth even when it makes you uncomfortable and you nullify fear.  Consistently do right and consistently do right by folks and you cancel any benefits the liar hopes to gain.

That’s how you keep from lies from controlling you and your team.

Or, don’t.

Just keep on believing the first thing you hear.  Just keep on shrinking your circle to a small crew of people who know just how to tickle your ears.  Just keep on believing whatever lies let you stay out of situations in which you feel uncomfortable or less powerful.  Keep on and one day you’ll look up to find that all the honest folks have left you and you’re surrounded by a pack of liars.

Just imagine how much safer you’ll be surrounded by a pack of liars?

---Anderson T. Graves II

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

A QUOTE WORTH READING A NOVEL TO FIND

From the last page-and-a-half of the noel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell:

Belief is both prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind's mirror, the world. If we believe humanity is a ladder of tribes, a colosseum of confrontation, exploitation & bestiality, such a humanity is surely brought into being, & history's Horroxes, Boerhaaves & Gooses shall prevail. You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the ...fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What of it if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage & our legacy Why fight the "natural" (oh, weaselly word!) order of things?

Why? Because of this: — one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, sefishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.

Is this the doom written within our nature?

If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth and claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass.

If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Tortuous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president's pen or a vainglorious general's sword.

A life spent shaping a world I want [my son] to inherit, not one I fear [my son] shall inherit, this strikes me as a life worth living.

...He who would do battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him! & only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!"

Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?
---David Mitchell

 I'm not sure whether the book is a brilliant novel or a haphazard collection of short stories trying to look like a brilliant novel, but this quote alone was worth reading all 509 pages.

 

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

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at 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.

 

 

THE PERFECT GIFT

Every shopping-hating husband wants to know, what is the perfect gift for my wife cause then he can get it and quit shopping.

Interestingly enough, the Bible actually has an answer for that. 

Oh, yeah.  From our continuing series of 4^th Sunday sermons on relationships, here a timely message called THE PERFECT GIFT.

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II

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

 

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 29: 11, "Venting"

Proverbs 29: 11     A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.

Proverbs 29: 11.  Sometimes you just need to vent.

Sometimes you don’t need advice or a solution.  Sometimes there’s no solution to advise.  You’re just hurting and you need to vent some of the pain and pressure before you implode.

That’s O.K. 

When Jesus faced the grave of His friend Lazarus, He wept and groaned (John 11).  Eventually, Jesus prayed and changed the situation, but initially Jesus just needed to vent.

It’s O.K. to vent sometimes.

Sometimes, but not all the time.  And not to everybody.

Job vented his anguish to 4 friends and they spent the next 30 something chapters making him feel worse.

Eleven disciples went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, but when the time came for Jesus to pour out His heart about His passion, Jesus only took 3 disciples with Him, and He kept those 3 a stone’s throw away while He vented to His father (Matt. 26:36-39; Mark 14:32-36; Luke 22: 41).

Mary carefully observed young Jesus, how people responded to Him and how He answered people; but Mary didn’t tell everybody everything she saw or was told.  A lot of things she kept to herself and pondered them in her heart.   (Luke 2:19; Luke 2: 51)

Practice thinking before you vent.  Consider whom you’re about to tell and what you’re about to tell them.  Are they likely to help or to make matters worse?  Can you trust everybody in the room with your pain or do you need to pull a few people aside and vent alone?  

Think before you vent the most intimate details of the ongoing argument between you and your husband/ wife/ boss/ parent/ child/ whomever.  Will telling the entire planet by posting your business online help or harm the ultimate goal of solving the problem and healing the relationship?

Emotion can compel you to react immediately, but remember that the root of the word emotion is motion, which refers to movement.  In other words, feeling come and feeling go.   Emotion is temporary, but venting emotion has permanent consequences.

Once you’ve spoken, you can apologize; you can explain.  But, you cannot un-speak what you’ve said.  And your audience cannot un-hear what you’ve told them.

Once that rant or that pic is posted, one share, one copy/paste later and it’s out there---- forever, for the entire planet to relive and repost at will.

It’s O.K., to vent sometimes; but sometimes, probably most of the time, you need to hold back and be thoughtful about how you share your emotions.

Now, don’t share false emotions.  Don’t say you’re happy when you’re really broken-hearted.  Don’t say that you don’t care if they leave when you really want them to stay.  Speak truth or be silent.

Wisdom  means knowing when to do which.

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

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at 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.

YOUR MOVE

Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?

Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses… (Exodus 4:10-14).

We pray, “Lord send someone to help them.”

The Lord responds , “I did.  I sent you.”

When the day began to wear away, the twelve [disciples] came and said to [Jesus], “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”

But [Jesus] said to them,  “You give them something to eat.” … (Luke 9:12-13)

We pray, “Lord Jesus, send them somewhere to get some help.  Show up in their lives, or show them how to seek You for what they need.”

The Lord’s replies, “You help them.  Instead of waiting for Me to come to them, you come to Me, and then you go to Them, and you help them.”

Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.   For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him,  “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:6-9)

We say, “Lord, You have all power and all authority. Speak to their situation.  Call your angels to bring deliverance from their circumstances.”

The Lord’s answers, “I gave you power when I sent you the Holy Spirit.  I gave you authority to bind and to loose.  I don’t need to call more angels.  I called all of you to go to them and deliver deliverance from their circumstances.”

What if we’re not waiting on a move of God in this nation?

What if God has already moved, and now He’s waiting on a move of us?

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

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at 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.

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 10

Proverbs 29: 10     The bloodthirsty hate the blameless,but the upright seek his well-being.

Why did Cain get mad at Abel (Genesis 4) ?  Because Abel pleased God.

Why did King Saul hate David so much that he murdered a city full of priests (1 Samuel 22)?  Because David had pleased God.

Why did King Ahab call the prophet Elijah his enemy (1 Kings 21)?  Because Elijah spoke the truth of God.

Why did the false prophet Zedekiah slap the true prophet Micaiah (2 Chronicles 18)?

Why did the rulers of Jerusalem call Jesus a devil worshipper (Matthew 12: 22-30; Mark 7: 37)?  Because He was righteous, and He did all things well.

Now stop right there.  Before you insert your name in place of Jesus, Micaiah, Elijah, and the other righteous men who were persecuted by haters;  take a deeeeep breath----- and get over yourself.

Who are you mad at because their work was praised while yours was ignored?

Did you talk bad about ole boy’s/ ole girl’s friends, children, spouse, mama, or dog----- because you can’t stand ole boy/ ole girl so you don’t like whomever’s with them either?

Are you still mad at that old lady from 2 months who pointed out that your underwear was showing from over your pants (or from under your skirt) when in fact, your underwear was showing?  (How else did she know what brand you were wearing?)

Whom did you accuse of cheating, or sleeping with the boss, or getting somebody else to do their work, because “there’s no way that anybody is really that good at their job”?

Remember when you were so hurt that people can’t stop judging you for old stuff and recognize that you’re not that person anymore.  Well, why do you keep looking sideways at so-and-so and telling everybody about what he/she did back in 1998?

Instead of asking why other people can’t just be happy for you when good happens; ask yourself why you aren’t happy when there’s so much good happening to others around you.

You can’t fix them, but if you fix that about you---- you’ll feel much, much better.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.(Romans 12:15).

---Anderson T. Graves II

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

DEEPER THAN CRAZY: What the story of Jesus’ birth can teach about the Connecticut school shooting

The Sandy Oaks Elementary School murders happened geographically far away from Montgomery, Alabama, but aspects of this assault still touched close to home.

I was wrestling with the why and how of the Newport, Connecticut tragedy at the same time I was wrestling with a message God was giving me about the birth of Jesus.  In a way that only God can do, the Holy Spirit opened the Word and showed what the Biblical story of Christmas has to say to us about the tragedies that are becoming increasingly common in our society.

It’s not your usual December sermon, but it may be just the Word we need.  The message is called: DEEPER THAN CRAZY.

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II

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