BLIND FAITH, NOT DEAF FAITH (Genesis 22)

 Blogging Genesis 22

Genesis 22: 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

We know.  But he didn’t.

We know the stories of God bringing the dead back to life (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:35; Luke 7:13-15; John 11:43-44; Matthew 28:5-7;etc.).  We know that God provides a substitutionary sacrifice for those who trust in Him.  We know that it was all a test of how deep Abraham’s faith was.  We know that God wasn’t really going to let Abraham kill his son. 

But Abraham didn’t know any of this.

Abraham only knew the stories from the first 21 chapters of Genesis.  He didn’t have pslams singing of God’s grace, mercy, and love, or apostles explaining the sacrifice of Jesus the lamb of God. All Abraham knew was that he was over 100 years old and he had exactly 2 children.  He was estranged from Ishmael, his firstborn and now God wanted him to kill the only son he had left. 

But Abraham also knew that God had promised him descendants through Isaac, and Isaac had to be alive for that to happen. So despite what he didn’t know, Abraham knew enough about God to BELIEVE something new.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-18)

Abraham had believed God would give him the land of Canaan, but 30-plus years later and he was a still glorified squatter who didn’t even own a place to bury his dead (Genesis 23).    Abraham had believed God would give him children.  But Ishmael took 11 years and an unauthorized polygamous marriage, and Isaac came 14 more years, a full two-and-a-half decades after God’s original promise.

Abraham believed God but he didn’t know how long he would have to go on believing God over his son’s charred, dead body.    Abraham BELIEVED that no matter how horrible things went on the mountain, the lad and I will . . .  come back to you (Genesis 22:5).

So you could argue that Abraham walked Isaac up Mount Moriah as an act of blind faith, but you have to recognize that it wasn't an act of DEAF faith.  

Abraham LISTENED to God’s promises. He LISTENED to God’s command to take Isaac up on Mount Moriah.  And in the midst of the emotional turmoil of that horrible moment with the knife upraised, Abraham was still LISTENING.  He heard the voice of the angel and then he knew.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham. . . Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22: 10-12)

Like Abraham, you and I spend a lot of time not knowing, and not knowing that we don’t know.  

Sometimes the task God sets before you right now seems to disagree with the promise God made back when you started this path.  You don’t know how in the world THIS can lead to THAT.  Sometimes you can’t understand how, but you can be sure of WHO. 

Focus on God.  Pray the way you prayed when you first believed, when you first KNEW that God was speaking to you.  Serve, worship, fast, study, meditate, LISTEN like you did when you KNEW that God was calling you a new path.  Cut out all the distractions.  Be still and KNOW that He is God and you will know if this new pursuit is of God.  When you know that it’s God WHO is telling you to climb the mountain, BELIEVE, but keep LISTENING. 

Before you SEE what else God has waiting, you have to HEAR what God has to say about what you’re doing now.

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

FAITH? OF ABRAHAM

Blogging Genesis (Genesis 15)

⁵ Then the Lord brought Abram outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Genesis 15: ⁶ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

In the Bible, Abraham is a heroic figure.  New Testament writers reference him as an example of faith that Christians should emulate (Romans 4; Galatians 3; Hebrews 11).   Abraham’s faith is on display in Genesis 15 when God appeared to reiterate the give the land of Canaan as an inheritance to Abraham’s descendants.   Genesis 15: 6 says that Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” 

By faith alone God imputed righteousness to Abraham.  In other words, Abraham believed in God, and God believed in Abraham.

 

But 2 sentences later, the patriarchal paragon of faith asks, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will

inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8)

“How shall I know?” 

After all that “faith” stuff in verse 6, Abraham was back to wanting proof, evidence.  Lord, give me a sign!

And God did. In a vision and in a prophetic revelation, the Lord reassured Abram that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan as their inheritance from the Lord.  Because the Lord believed that Abraham would be faithful.

Later, God assured Abraham and Sarah that they would conceive a son --- together.  And Abraham and Sarah, both of whom are in the Hebrews 11 faith hall of fame --- Abraham and Sarah both laughed,  in God’s face and behind His back, respectively. 

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17 )

Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”( Genesis 18:12)

Abraham believed God, but then he needed a sign.  And then Abraham believed God, but then he thought the whole thing  was falling-out-on-the-floor ridiculously funny. 

Saving faith can act in a moment to move us to repent of our sins, confess with our mouths, and truly believe in our hearts that Jesus rose from the dead.  In that moment, God imputes the righteousness of Jesus to our eternal account.   But then we walk out into the world.

In the world, you face the stress of making a life with your (literally) old, running a business west of

Sodom and Gomorrah, supervising a household of hundreds, and keeping everybody alive in between famines and raids by whichever king was out looking for slaves that afternoon.   

Nothing in human life is absolutely constant, not even faith.  And that is why Christians NEED the experience of regular worship and the fellowship of other believers.  We are not greater than Abraham.  

Like Abraham, we refresh our faith in worship where we re-experience fellowship with God and where we are reminded what the Word of God says.

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064 

DO YOU LOVE JESUS? YES OR NO. MARK ONE.

A message for the opening night of Youth Revival at Greater Saint Paul CME Church.

The title of the sermon is: DO YOU LOVE JESUS? YES OR NO.  MARK ONE.

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

MASSUH OR THE MESSIAH?

Why do you still do that?  That thing, that sin which you hate doing but can’t seem to stop.  Should you just accept it?  After all, like they say, “nobody’s perfect.” But, what if “they” are wrong?   What if it doesn’t have to be this way? 

Consider a new perspective on your same, old sin.  But first you have to understand that Jesus and Harriet Tubman have a lot in common.

It’ll make sense when you listen.  The title of the message is: WHO WILL YOU BELIEVE: MASSUH OR THE MESSIAH?

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

YOUR TIME IS NOW

What do you have in common with Jesus’ little brothers?  Well, are you waiting for God to show you a sign to prove His calling on your life?   Maybe you’re waiting for the right moment when the Lord will make all of the pieces come together and make all your opponents leave you alone  so that you can move into the blessings He has promised. 

That’s what Jesus’ sibling experienced.  They were worried, unsure, and full of doubt, but Jesus had a Word for them, a message that you need to hear as well.  The title of the message is:  YOUR TIME IS NOW!  

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

A CRISIS OF FAITH

Many Christians go through a period when they feel like they’ve lost their faith.  If you have gone through or are going through a time like this---- you’re not alone.  One of Jesus’ bravest and most loyal disciples experienced a season of profound doubt so deep that we call him “Doubting Thomas.”

Hear Thomas’ story.  Learn how a believer becomes a doubter.  And learn how to come out of doubt with stronger, life-changing, miracle-working faith.  The message is called A CRISIS OF FAITH.

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BURNING BIBLES

 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.

… So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, …and Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.

Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. (Jeremiah 36: 4, 21-24)

An English teacher friend gave me an old 1979 reprinting of Fahrenheit 451.  I opened it last night before the game and finished it this morning.

I really needed to read that book.

In the back of the book comments, author Ray Bradbury talked about how critics, publishers, producers, and representatives of different interest groups pushed him to censor, reword, and otherwise politically correct his work.  Bradbury recounted the many letters he had received and then replied:

How do I react to all of the above?.... By sending rejection slips to each and every one. By ticketing the assembly of idiots to the far reaches of hell.

The point is obvious.  There is more than one way to burn a book.

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO BURN A BOOK.

And there’s more than one way to burn a Bible.

In Jeremiah chapter 36, Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned an original copy of the book of Jeremiah.  He burned it because the words were unpleasant, convicting, disruptive, and true.   

The king of Judah was supposed to defend God’s people, God’s temple, and the truth entrusted to the people and the church (temple).  Instead he used his position to attack and try to silence the truth of God.

But he didn’t just burn the book. 

The king first attacked the book with the weapons of a scholar.

And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife (Jeremiah 36: 23)

Which is how most Bibles burn.

Read the most popular textbooks, listen to a few seminary lectures, pay attention to the most popular preachers on tv, and you realize pretty quickly that the kings of contemporary Christian theology are attacking the text that is the foundation of the Kingdom they’re supposed to defend.

They slice at the divinity of Jesus.  They stab at the Resurrection.  They cut the throats of Moses and the prophets and cast whatever is left into the fire of “re-interpretation in light of our current social realities.” 

And we just let them. 

Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. (Jeremiah 36: 24)

They may not literally snatch away our Bibles and cast them into bonfires, but there’s more than one way to burn a book.

If we let them cut God out of the Bible, if we lounge by the fire while they revise away miracles and moral absolutes, if we brush lint from our clean clerical robes while they disparage every inconvenient truth the Holy Spirit ever spoke and reduce Jesus to a skinned, deboned, demarrowed, scarified, melted, rendered down, and destroyed^* motivational speaker----- then what do we have left of the Scriptures BUT ASHES?

The Word of God is bread and life.  These ashes cannot sustain us. 

He feeds on ashes;

A deceived heart has turned him aside;

And he cannot deliver his soul,

Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”  (Isaiah 44: 20)

So, how should the church react to all of the above? 

By rejecting the rejection of God’s Word. 

Read it yourself.  Feed yourself of the fullness of God’s Word.  Struggle through the uncomfortable parts.  Cringe at the disturbing parts.  Talk about  it.   Build fellowship around wrestling with the Bible as Truth.   And when someone tries to make you believe that your faith is in vain, listen carefully.  Nod politely. 

And tell them to kick rocks.

Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. ---- Jesus (John 6: 61-63)

---Rev. Anderson T. Graves II   (email:  atgravestwo2@aol.com )

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 Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, 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).

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

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

*Paraphrased from the 1979 author comments in Fahrenheit 451 ,p. 176.

RIGOR & EXPECTATIONS

We say some things that make no sense, but because they have been said so long by so many important people, we just keep on saying them.  For example, in education we constantly use the terms Rigor and Expectations.  And the way we use those words makes no sense.

We say things like  "increased rigor will increase performance" or "high expectations get results."

These concepts express the assumption that if schools make work harder then students will do better work.

You know that's garbage, right?

If you pass out trying to run 1 mile in 30 minutes, telling you that now you have to run 2 miles in 20 minutes is not going to grant you magical new powers of speed and endurance.

Raising the level of rigor and expectations does not CAUSE better performance because rigor comes from outside but expectations come from within.

Let me explain. 

Within the educational system, verbs/ action words are very important.  Educators are trained to use verbs that express physically observable actions:  external actions.  Educators are trained to avoid verbs that express less observable actions ---- feelings and stuff.  So, teachers are mandated to COMMUNICATE high expectations because you can observe what and how people communicate. Teachers aren’t required to HAVE high expectations because that’s internal and unobservable.

The problem is that there's a huge difference between teachers who COMMUNICATE high expectations to their students and teachers who HAVE high expectations for their students.   It’s the same the difference between a man who SAYS he loves you and a man who LOVES you.

Regulations and procedures can mandate the expectations that teachers communicate, but they cannot change what teachers actually feel.   

High expectations only work when the teacher genuinely believes that his/her students are smarter and better than they’re past performance indicates.  That teacher will push himself/herself to deliver better instruction while inspiring, motivating, and darn near stalking students, parents, and administrators into delivering nothing less than their A-game.   A teacher who believes that his students are performing below their potential will HAVE & COMMNICATE higher expectations.  She will give harder (more rigorous) assignments, AND she will relentlessly teach, re-teach, explain, demonstrate, tutor, and contemporize the information for the students.

On the other hand, a teacher who’s forced to COMMUNICATE high expectations and assign more rigorous work but who doesn’t really HAVE any higher expectations for his students---- that teacher won’t put forth an ounce more effort than he did last year.  And no one can make her.

NO.  YOU CAN’T.

You can require a teacher to read a script, but you cannot regulate sincerity.
You can dictate the number of times a teacher walks around a room per quarter of the class period, but you can’t change the look in her eyes when she looks over the room.
You can make a teacher post two dozen inspirational posters in his classroom, but you cannot make the teacher believe any of it, and no box set of 24 posters can fool children into thinking that a teacher believes in them when they can sense every day that she doesn’t.

Harder work (rigor) can come from a mandate, but higher expectations must come from the heart.

Now read Hebrews 6: 1-12, because that scripture is all about rigor and expectations.

In verses 1-3, Paul COMMUNICATED a coming increase in the rigor of their Bible study.  He said that they would be leaving elementary principles of Christ and going on to deeper, more rigorous spiritual concepts.   In the next few verses, Paul talked about some of their spiritual classmates who had dropped out.  He said that he didn’t think they’d make it (a big no-no for any teacher today).

it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit…     if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.  (Hebrews 6: 4-6)

But Paul doesn’t just SAY he wants them to meet those higher expectations.    Paul really believes in their ability to succeed where so many of their peers had failed.

But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you (Hebrews 6: 9)

And so, Paul pushed them.  In verses 11 and 12, Paul demanded diligence, and consistently high levels of effort all the way until the end. Paul didn’t tolerate them becoming sluggish but he offered them multiple models to imitate those who through faith and patience met rigorous standards  and went on to successful inherit the promise.  

Paul pushed them and he pushed himself.  He didn’t push because it was mandated.  He pushed them because it was necessary.  Paul pushed them because he could see that they were better than they had allowed themselves to be. 

Paul communicated higher expectations and instituted increased rigor because he first HAD higher expectations.

The process begins in the heart of the teacher not in the regulations of the mandate:

1.      See greater in them.

2.      Communicate greater to them.

3.      Give greater to them.

4.      Demand greater from them.

But if you don’t see it in them when you communicate it to them, you won’t get it from them because you won’t give it to them.

Exclude the heart of a teacher and the practice of teaching will fail.

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, 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).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to  

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

6 KEYS TO POWERFUL FAITH

Faith is the essential element of the Christian life.  But if the truth were told---- and it is in this message---- most Christians have no idea how to develop deeper, greater, and more powerful faith.  But the Bible tells us how.

In this sermon, Pastor Anderson T. Graves II leads us through the Scriptures and shows us how the Disciples grew in faith.   Learn the lessons the Disciples learned directly from Jesus Himself in a message called: 6 KEYS TO POWERFUL FAITH.

Listen well.

---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, 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).

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

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064