Sunday, July 28, 2013

A SIMPLE QUESTION AND A COMPLICATED ANSWER

Sometimes you ask a very simple question, but the answer you get is more than you bargained for.   Jesus’ disciples had to deal with that.

This one time, they asked Jesus, “Lord teach us how to pray.”  It was a simple request, but Jesus’s answer took them way farther and deeper than they’d expected. 

Go deep with them.  Learn power principles about prayer.  Discover why prayer works.   See how prayer actually works.  And understand why a powerful prayer life requires a bit more than just the right words.

Sometimes, it’s good to ask A SIMPLE QUESTION & get A COMPLICATED ANSWER

Listen well.

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---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 and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

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

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
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

Thursday, July 25, 2013

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 31: 11. "A Formula for a Profitable Marriage"

Proverbs 31: 11     The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.

Proverbs 31: 11.  The NIV says that he has full confidence in her.  Regardless of translation, the verse describes a marriage in which the husband totally believes in his wife, and his wife is a woman he can totally believe in.

Thus, this verse gives a two element formula for marital prosperity:    Trust + Safety = Prosperity

Trust is a choice, an unearned gift.  A husband doesn’t trust his wife because she has earned his trust. He trusts his wife because he chooses to have faith in her.   That’s why one man repeatedly gives his means and heart to a woman whom he knows is betraying him, while another man doubts and decries a woman who has always been absolutely faithful.

Therefore, my brothers, the first ingredient in your marriage’s profit margin is entirely up to you.

The second part, sisters, is up to you.

It’s up to you to make it safe for him to trust you.  It’s up to you to deserve his trust.

If a man doesn’t trust his wife, he’ll never be as successful as he could be, because he can’t enjoy the fullness of God’s favor.
Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.  (1 Peter 3:7)

It isn’t safe for spouses to trust one another if one of them is being deceptive.   Such a breach of trust is also a breach of God’s favor. 
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying; [but God] does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  (Malachi 2: 13, 14)     

When a husband trusts his wife AND the wife is worthy of his trust, then the two work together as one.  And oneness in marriage is the path to dominion, to success, to prosperity.

Husbands and wives, my brother and sisters, ya’ll are in this together.  There is no more “I” in your team.  If you want it, then YA’LL go get it ------ together.  Have each other’s backs.  Hold each other’s hands.   Trust one another.  Make it safe to trust one another.

It’s not just good for your relationship.  It’s also good business.
---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, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).


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

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. 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, July 21, 2013

AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT

The book of Amos is named for a man who didn’t have time to spend away from his business.  But, he did.
Amos didn’t have time to pursue a full-time religious vocation. But, he did.

The result was a prophetic adventure, a dire warning, and a challenging message for modern American Christians.

Prepare to reassess your priorities and your expectations. 
The sermon is called AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT.

Listen well.


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---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 and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

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

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

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
 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

BARACK OBAMA & THE DEATH OF PROTEST

Real quickly, let me explain why protests don't work anymore.

 2 words: Barack Obama.

 Every politician with a gram of sense has studied the logistical genius that was the Obama campaign machine. They all know that you can win a national election even when most of the people, most of the vocal public apparently hate your guts.

 President Obama taught politicians how to look past the impressive numbers of the huddled masses and see down to the microscopic levels of who was actually voting and in which districts.

Politicians know that they don't really have to please or pay attention to their constituents. They only have to please and pay attention to the registered and likely to vote constituents who make up the base and swing votes in the key zipcodes they need to carry next election cycle. The rest of you chanting sign wavers can kick rocks.

 So, when a few thousand people show up on the capitol steps and the elected knuckleheads inside look out and see a bunch of out of county and out of state tags, when their own undercover street teams survey the crowd and find that 3 in 4 of the in-state adults aren't even registered to vote----- they just laugh and vote like you weren't even there.

 Yes, you're an American. Yes, you have a right to have your voice heard. But, the days of voices changing policy are pretty much over. One of the many lessons of the Trayvon Martin trial is: Voices change media coverage. Voices do not change law. Votes change laws.

 Wanna make a real difference. Instead of standing among 5,000 generic protesters who are only gonna boost tax revenue over the weekend when they check-in and eat out; stand among 500 Alabama residents who are all registered to vote in the same congressional district. In this state, that's enough to change the outcome of an election.

They'll listen then. The age of protests is over. The age of Voting Precincts has begun.

---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, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).


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

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .
If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. 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

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

SPIRITUAL HOUSING CRISIS

We talk much about spiritual prosperity and increase.  We pray for and prophesy about the great things that God can do for us.  We want more.  We want bigger.

But what do we do if we actually get it and then discover that the blessed life requires more than we expected to have to pay?

What do you do when your life is threatened with spiritual foreclosure?

Originally delivered on the opening night of revival at Abraham Baptist Church, we present a message on the SPIRITUAL HOUSING CRISIS.

Listen well.

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---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 and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

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

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

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, July 7, 2013

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON


The title of this Sunday morning sermon is KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

Listen well.  


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---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 and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

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

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

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