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Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts

Sunday, October 15, 2017

WINNING WORSHIP

After speaking the 10 Commandment, God gave very specific and restrictive directions on what type of altar the Israelites were allowed to make.  A few chapters later, God gave a very specific and entirely different set of directions for building an altar.  And a little while after that He delivered a third, different-from-the-first-two-times design for an altar.

What? Why?

This is not a case of contradictory information.  It’s a powerful lesson on how the power of worship.

We continue our sermoninc journey through Exodus with a message about THE WAY TO WIN WITH WORSHIP.

Listen well.


Please leave a comment.


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


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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

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