EASTER SERMON: KNOWLEDGE vs. EXPERIENCE

It’s one thing to know.  It’s another thing to go through it.   It’s quite another and deeper thing to go through the experience the way you’re supposed to.  The difficulty and power of these 3 processes shed new light on the Easter story of Jesus’ Crucifixion & Resurrection. 

What you know matters, but it’s not just what you know.

The message for this Easter Sunday is all about THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWING & EXPERIENCING.

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

A WORD TO THE WISE. PROVERBS 30:7. "Enough is Enough"

Proverbs 30:7     Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die):
8     Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches. 
Feed me with the food allotted to me,
9     Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30: 7-9.  One of our dilemmas here in the “1^st world” of Western civilization is deciding how much we want versus how much we can handle.

More cake?  Will I really work this of at the gym?

Another degree?  Can I handle the extra course work?
Buy a (bigger) house?  Can we make the higher mortgage?
Take on this new ministry?  Can we sustain it over the long run?
Try for the promotion?  Will I be as successful with the greater responsibility?
Pop the question?  Am I ready for that kind of commitment?

On the one hand, don’t sell yourself short.  The fullness of God’s destiny for you will force you beyond your comfort zone and into the place where you have to depend on God rather than yourself.   God’s grace is sufficient to deliver victory though you’ve reached the limits of your own strength (2 Corinthians 12: 9; Philippians 4: 13). 

On the one hand: Ambition?   On the other hand: Ability?

On the other hand, we have to be careful not to think more highly of what we will/can do that we should (Romans 12: 3). Some battles are not ours to fight, and therefore not ours to win.  King David felt capable of building the 1^st temple, but God said that it wasn’t his to build (2 Samuel 7).   Rehoboam had it in his heart to reunite the kingdom of Israel, but God told him, “No” (2 Chronicles 11: 1-4).

It’s a lie when anyone or anything tells you to settle short of the greatness to which God has called you.  It is equally a falsehood when someone or something pushes you up to pursue what God never meant for you to have.

Falling for either lie will lead you to sin because your ambition/ your desires will rest outside of God’s will.  And outside God’s will is where you find sin.

The solution is to seek what Agur sought in Proverbs 30: 7-9, to pray as Jesus taught in Luke 11: 3; to plan  as James explained in James 4: 13-16. 

Lord, don’t let me fall for the lies.  Give me each day what you want me to have.  Show me day by day what you want me to seek.  Speak to my spirit so that I don’t sell myself short or exalt myself beyond what I should.  Give me all that I need, but never more than I should have. 

If I should ever overreach beyond what you have given me to bear, then provide me with the way of escape that you promised. (1 Corinthians 10: 13)

If I should ever shrink below what you’ve called me to do, then light a fire under me/ in me/ around me so that I have to move up to what you called me to ( Jeremiah 20: 9; Exodus 3: 2, 3).

The answer to Ambition vs. Ability is the same answer:  Develop your relationship with Jesus.  Listen to Him.  Grow in Christ and learn how to let the Holy Spirit lead you.  Then your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.  (Isaiah 30:21)

---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

MAKE WAY FOR THE KING

One week before the Resurrection, Jesus entered Jerusalem as guest of honor in a grand parade.  People tore up trees and messed up their clothes.  Once Jesus got into the city, He tore up the Temple.  All of this upheaval had a grand purpose. 

The shakeup on the first Palm Sunday in Jerusalem was a model for the kind of upheaval you and I need today in our lives.

Listen well to see what that means.

(Oh, and that metallic crashing you hear in the background isn’t a recording error.   That’s the sound of me kicking over chairs in the sanctuary.)     
The message is called MAKE WAY FOR THE KING.

 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

LOVE LIKE IT’S YOUR LAST CHANCE

Coincidentally, Palm Sunday this year falls on the day of our early morning sermon series on marriage.   Actually, it’s not a coincidence.  Like everything else in God’s kingdom, there is plan and purpose.

Speaking out of the tears of Jesus, the Holy Spirit ordained a powerful Palm Sunday message about loss, regret, and potential.  
The message is called: LOVE LIKE IT’S YOUR LAST CHANCE.

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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30: 6

Proverbs 30:6     Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:6.  Centuries later, in Revelations 22: 18, the Apostle John said the same thing.

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; Iand if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book (Revelations 22: 18, 19)     

John’s warning is found in the last chapter of the last book of the canonized Bible.

At the time Agur wrote Proverbs 30: 6, the Bible, the written canonized Word of God was far from complete.  None of the New Testament had been written, and most of the Old Testament prophets hadn’t even been born.  Agur wasn’t writing the last book of the Bible.  This wasn’t even the last chapter of the book of Proverbs.

So, Agur isn’t warning against adding text to the Book.  Agur is warning against attaching unauthorized ideas to the Word.

When someone preaches, prophesies, or teaches from the Bible, he/she is speaking the Word of God.  To deliver the Word in a way that makes sense, you use stories, analogies, and references that are not in the Bible.  And that’s fine.

We can expand on the illustrations and applications of Scripture; but we must never change the point, message, ideas, or ideals of the Scripture.  We can use our personal experiences to explain meaning in the Bible; but we must never allow our personal experiences to define meaning in the Bible.

If you, or I, or anyone adds meanings to God’s Word that God didn’t put there, then we are lying on God.

Let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3: 4)

This is what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for doing.  He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition”. (Mark 7: 9)

We have our old traditions, and we have our new and emerging traditions.  Trends.  We call an emerging tradition a trend. 

When personal/ social trends and traditions disagree with the Word of God, Christians have 2 choices:

(A)   Reject the tradition (be it old or emerging) and hold to the eternal and infinitely applicable Truth of God; or
(B)   Add unauthorized ideas to the Word of God and attach to the scriptures meanings that God didn’t put there.

Jesus said that the 2^nd option means making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. (Mark 7: 13)

We make the Word of God of no effect when we hop up and say “The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not,’ but God really means ‘Thou shalt go ahead because social norms have changed.’ ”   That's lying on God, and that’s a dangerous thing to do because God does not take it well when anybody---you, me, or angel (Galatians 1: 8)--- lies on Him.

God has not changed His opinions on sin or life in general (Malachi 3: 6).    God has said what He meant and He still means what He said (Isaiah 40: 8).  

Human cultures, laws, traditions/trends do change with the times.  But, God doesn’t.   

Rituals, forms, languages, and styles of worship do evolve.   But, the Truth of God’s Word doesn’t. 

Don’t change it.  Don’t lie on God.  If you do, the lie will only hurt you and those you convince. 

Let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3: 4)

Not the other way around.

---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

YOUR PERSONAL CROSS

In the country church I grew up in, the older men used to line an old song that began with a question: 
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go free?

The verse continued by answering the question:

No, there’s a cross for everyone
And there’s a cross for me.

These lines reveal an important spiritual truth about the kind of relationship that Jesus calls us to, about the power of becoming a disciple. 

Learn how in a message called YOUR PERSONAL CROSS.

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

NO NEW WHEELS, BUT A NEW MONTGOMERY CITY JAIL LITERACY MINISTRY

It's one thing to want to save the world.  That's reasonable.  It's another thing to try to reinvent the wheel.  That's unnecessary. 

As part of the continuing in-reach ministry to the Montgomery Municipal Jail, we will be bringing adult literacy classes to the local and federal inmates incarcerated there. Rather than unnecessarily reinventing a program from the ground up, we were blessed to connect with an existing program. 

All we need now is for you and/or the people you know to sign up to help.  The only requirements are that you be at least18 years old, responsible, literate, and able to pass a criminal background check.  Training starts March 23rd. 

Here are the details for training.  When you sign up, let them know that you want to participate in the Montgomery City Jail Literacy Program.

CENTRAL ALABAMA LAUBACH LITERACY COUNCIL

2048 WEST FAIRVIEW AVENUE

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36108-4198

264-1239

The Central Alabama Laubach Literacy (C. A. L. L.) Council is a nonprofit volunteer organization. We train adults to tutor other adults in basic reading, writing and spelling. C. A. L. L. began in 1985. Since that time we have served hundreds of adults in the Montgomery area who wanted to improve their basic reading skills.

If at all possible, we ask volunteers to make a commitment of one year. Once you have completed the tutor training workshop, you will be matched with an adult learner. Tutoring usually takes place twice a week for an hour-and-a-half each session. All materials will be provided for the tutor and adult learner.

The next workshop will be held:

Saturdays, March 23 & April 6, 2013
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  BOTH DAYS

Participants must attend ALL SESSIONS to become certified.

This workshop is scheduled to be held at:

C.A.L.L.

St. Jude, 2048 W. Fairview Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36108

Note: Since the lunch period is half hour, we recommend that you bring a sack lunch.  And, the room can be cool, so bring a sweater.

So that we can adequately prepare for this workshop, complete the registration form and submit it to C. A. L. L., 2048 West Fairview Ave. Montgomery, AL 36108. For further information or to cancel your registration, please call the Adult Literacy Center at (334) 264-1239.

You may register at our website: www.laubachliteracyal.org

E-MAIL director@callmgm.org

Pre-registration is necessary.  We cannot accommodate walk-ins for this workshop.

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30: 5

Proverbs 30:5     Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Proverbs 30: 5.  The word translated “pure” refers to the work of a goldsmith who has heated and refined and cast his precious metal.     This verse is basically saying:

The Word of God has come through the fire.

The Word of God s tried and true.

The Word of God is good as gold.

The Bible has come through the fire of authors and conquerors, languages and  translations, religious realignments and cultural upheavals; and it has come through pure as gold. 

Scholars argue over the original intent of the Bible’s human authors.   God Himself has watched over and preserved His Word so that we have what God originally intended.   Academics debate interpretations for cultural relevance.  The Holy Spirit is present in every believer to deliver accurate interpretations of Divine revelation.  Despite all the grubby fingers that have handled the Bible, the Word of God remains pure, precious, and good as gold.

But the golden Word is not an accessory; it is a necessity.  The Bible is not some extra collection of ornamental ideas to shelve in the corners of your lifestyle.  These are more than pretty words. The Word of God exists and speaks with purpose, great and eternal purpose.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.  (Isaiah 55: 11)

The Word goes forth now as it has gone forth for millennia: to show us how to live, how to love, how to see, how to think, how to perceive so that we experience the Divine purpose.  The purpose of all this living isn’t just to experience this and that; it is to experience a relationship with HIM.

Jesus said: You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  (John 5:39)

The Bible is the written Word of God.  Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1: 14).   The whole purpose of the written Word is to turn us to Jesus.

When Agur scratched out the words of Proverbs chapter 30, the majority of our Bible had not been written.  Most of the Biblical authors hadn’t even been born.  But God is eternal; He transcends time.    And so, 9 or 10 centuries before Jesus was physically born in  Bethlehem, the Holy Spirit inspired the son of a scholar to write about God’s SON (Proverbs 30: 4) and to call the “Word of God” by the pronoun HE. 

Not “it.”  HE.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Don’t neglect God’s Word.  If you do, you’ll never know Jesus like you could.

Don’t let anyone or any institution diminish the value of God’s Word to you. If you do, you’ll miss the deepest and most powerful principles of life and life abundantly.

Don’t allow any argument or philosophy to make you doubt the integrity of what God Himself has sent forth into the world.  The Word is tried and truth. 

If you trust Jesus, then trust the Bible.

 ---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