CHILD WORSHIP

Eli was high priest of Israel before Samuel.  Eli had two sons, but the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. (1 Samuel 2: 12 )  Eli’s sons took advantage of the hereditary title of priest.  They were so corrupt that people thought, “If this is how men of God act, I don’t want anything to do with worship.”  And that made God MAD.

Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.  (1 Samuel 2: 17)

Eli heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting (1 Samuel 2: 22)
But all Eli did was scold his sons a little.  He didn’t punish them.  He didn’t demand that they confess.  He didn’t take away their priestly duties or withdraw any of their privileges; even though Eli knew that his sons, priests, were actually causing more sin.

No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. (1 Samuel 2: 24)

The Lord sent an unnamed prophet to deliver a message to Eli.  The Lord said: Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me? (1 Samuel 2: 29)

Why do you honor your sons more than Me?

When you stop calling it wrong when you find out YOUR child does it, too; you honor your children more than God.

When you ignore the way the Bible tells you to raise your children because you don’t want to upset the child, never mind how it makes God feel; you honor your children more than God.

When you treat your child as infallible and incapable of any wrong and you rebuke everyone who tells you otherwise, regardless of evidence and logic and the fact that you've heard the same things from multiple teachers in every grade at different schools; then you have made your child a holy god in your eyes and you honor your child more than God.

And when you honor your child more than God, then God says:  Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Samuel 2: 30)

When you honor your child more than God, then God says:

Generations of baby boys will die young.

I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house (1 Samuel 2: 31)

Kids from good homes, surrounded by “saved and sanctified” family, in a land full of opportunity will die young.

Despite all the good which God does for Israel, … there shall not be an old man in your house forever (1 Samuel 2: 32)

And the ones who live will disrespect you, shame you, and break your hearts.

Any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart  (1 Samuel 2: 33)

The tragedy will happen non-stop.

Your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them (1 Samuel 2: 33)

And all the potential you saw in them, all the good you “claimed in the name of Jesus” for your own, will go to another.

I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind  (1 Samuel 2: 35)

And your children and the children of your children will borrow and beg at the feet of others

Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread  (1 Samuel 2: 36)

All because you honor your sons more than God.

Think about it.  Think about it.

Of course you love them so much that you don’t want to deny them anything.  Of course you love them so much that you want to believe everything they say.

But do you love them more than that?  Do you love them enough to discipline them into morally strong men instead of morally empty boys?

Do you love them enough to make them be respectful to all adults because it’s right not because it’s earned so that they grow up knowing that right is not relative?

Do you love them enough to distrust them a little and check their stories before you act on them?

Do you love them enough to  repent of your sins and walk right before them so that they understand that even Daddy and Mama submit to God?

Do you love your children enough to place the love of God, His Word, and His ways above their wants and yours?

Do you love your children enough to honor God more than you honor them?

Well if you don’t, at least you know what to expect.

And the expectation isn't hypothetical. 

Eli continued indulging and enabling his sons for years.  But before his grandchild was born, Eli lost both sons and the ark of the covenant that had been the great charge of his ministry.  After 40 years of ministry, Eli passed out, broke his neck, and died knowing that he’d lost everything he’d been trying to hold onto (1 Samuel 4: 1-18).

And the legacy of Eli’s cursed parenting did not end with his sons. The curse passed to another generation, a generation led by a single mother filled with bitterness over the failings of the men in her family.  With her dying breath, Eli’s daughter-in-law poured that bitterness out on her son.

Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.  And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.”

But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.

Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” (1 Samuel 4: 19 )

We see this curse at work all around us.  The death, the immorality, the epidemic of shameless failure--- they aren’t coincidences.  They’re consequences.

The consequences of honoring our children more than we honor God.

---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).

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.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

THE OTHER TRUTH THAT HURTS

           Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

 And He said to the man who had the withered hand,  “Step forward.”

 Then He said to them,  “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

 But they kept silent.

 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man,  “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  (Mark 3: 1-6)

Jesus was and is God Himself manifest for us in the flesh.  As God, Jesus knew what the people around Him were up to.  Jesus fully understood the principles of human behavior and what to expect in response to His action.

But when Jesus actually personally experienced those realities, the truth hurt.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”

Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. (Mark 6: 4-6)

In ancient prophetic revelation, God had already predicted that Jesus, like every prophet before Him, would be least understood and least appreciated by those He most personally loved.   But when Jesus experienced that directly and personally, it still blew His mind.  The truth hurt.

When we say, "The truth hurts," we usually mean that it hurts the ones hearing the truth about themselves. That's true, but there's more to it.

Sometimes the most hurtful truth is the revelation you receive about others. 

What hurts most is that moment when you realize:  Wait.  This is who you really are.  This isn't an act or a ploy to get your way or an error based on you misunderstanding me.  This is it.  This is you.

That truth hurts ----- no matter who you are.

So what do you do?

You do what Jesus did.  You hurt, and you keep right on healing.   You hurt and you feel useless, and then you keep right on preaching.

The truth is that the truth hurts.  But the Truth set the example of going on anyhow.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  (John 14:6)

Find your strength in the Truth and you’ll be able to handle the truth about anything and anyone else.

---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).

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.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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 31: 25. "The Warrior Wife"

Proverbs 31: 25     Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.

Proverbs 31: 25.  I feel really bad for a man who, day after day, has to wake up to weak coffee and/or a weak woman.  Neither one is going to help the brother get through the day.

And, sisters, I know that there are a historical and cultural forces that encourage you to dull your intellect, atrophy your strength, and let your boobs speak for you.  Fight against those forces.

It may be easier to project a perpetually wretched attitude.  It may be easier to pretend to be stupid until it’s no longer pretending.  It may be easier to let men pass you around like an unmarked cup at a frat party.  But in the end you will have only misery.

It’s more difficult for a woman to walk in her strengths, to lead with her brains and not her body, to be honorable in relationships rather than being gossipy, messy, and cliquish.  Yeah, that is much harder. But God promises and experience proves that you will be happier in the end.

God made you to be both strong and honorable. 

Not miserable and wretched.  Not weak and silent.   Not dumb and promiscuous.  Strong and honorable.

Strength refers to the ability to perform her tasks.  Honor refers to trustworthiness and loyalty.

Strength and honor sounds like a warrior traits, don’t they? 

Of course they do.

After all , a man needs a wife who will watch his back, much like a king needs bodyguards to watch his.

A king doesn’t ask the cook to watch his back if the cook is just a cook.  A king doesn’t leave guard duty to the butler if the butler is just the butler.  A king doesn’t dispatch the janitor to cover the flank while he charges toward the enemy, not if the janitor is just a janitor. No.   Unless------ the cook, the butler, and the janitor are really warriors undercover.   

Under the cover of marital submission, a man’s wife is really his most trusted and loyal warrior.

Now, I don’t need my wife’s physical protection.  Physical protection is my job. (Yes.  It is.) 

But I do need somebody to spot (and sometimes quietly eliminate) the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual threats that I miss.   That’s the job of my warrior-queen.

When I look at the woman God gave me to watch my back I know that she will and I know that she can.   I hear it in her conversation.  I see it in the clothes she chooses (and chooses not) to wear.  I feel it in the way her body tenses and her eyes narrow when untrustworthy people step into my personal space.   It’s all over her.

She wears strength and honor like clothing.

And that looks good on a woman.

---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).

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.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

Proverbs 31: 25. "The Warrior Wife"

Proverbs 31: 25     Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.

Proverbs 31: 25.  I feel really bad for a man who, day after day, has to wake up to weak coffee and/or a weak woman.  Neither one is going to help the brother get through the day.

And, sisters, I know that there are a historical and cultural forces that encourage you to dull your intellect, atrophy your strength, and let your boobs speak for you.  Fight against those forces.

It may be easier to project a perpetually wretched attitude.  It may be easier to pretend to be stupid until it’s no longer pretending.  It may be easier to let men pass you around like an unmarked cup at a frat party.  But in the end you will have only misery.

It’s more difficult for a woman to walk in her strengths, to lead with her brains and not her body, to be honorable in relationships rather than being gossipy, messy, and cliquish.  Yeah, that is much harder. But God promises and experience proves that you will be happier in the end.

God made you to be both strong and honorable. 

Not miserable and wretched.  Not weak and silent.   Not dumb and promiscuous.  Strong and honorable.

Strength refers to the ability to perform her tasks.  Honor refers to trustworthiness and loyalty.

Strength and honor sounds like a warrior traits, don’t they? 

Of course they do.

After all , a man needs a wife who will watch his back, much like a king needs bodyguards to watch his.

A king doesn’t ask the cook to watch his back if the cook is just a cook.  A king doesn’t leave guard duty to the butler if the butler is just the butler.  A king doesn’t dispatch the janitor to cover the flank while he charges toward the enemy, not if the janitor is just a janitor. No.   Unless------ the cook, the butler, and the janitor are really warriors undercover.   

Under the cover of marital submission, a man’s wife is really his most trusted and loyal warrior.

Now, I don’t need my wife’s physical protection.  Physical protection is my job. (Yes.  It is.) 

But I do need somebody to spot (and sometimes quietly eliminate) the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual threats that I miss.   That’s the job of my warrior-queen.

When I look at the woman God gave me to watch my back I know that she will and I know that she can.   I hear it in her conversation.  I see it in the clothes she chooses (and chooses not) to wear.  I feel it in the way her body tenses and her eyes narrow when untrustworthy people step into my personal space.   It’s all over her.

She wears strength and honor like clothing.

And that looks good on a woman.

---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).

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.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

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 29: 23

Proverbs 29: 23     A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

Proverbs 29: 23. To succeed you need CONFIDENCE that is equally yoked with HUMILITY. 

You know that this is worth doing, you know that you can get it done, but you know that you can’t do it alone. 

You know that failure is a real possibility, but you won’t let incremental failures stop you from pressing toward ultimate success.   

You’re not as smart as you thought you were, but you can and will learn everything you didn’t know you needed to know when you first started.. 

There are other people just as/ more gifted than you.  O.K., so you’re going to meet them and bring them onto your team. 

You aren’t entitled to anything, not even the thing you want most; so you can’t just claim it, you’re going to have to earn it or create it.    

Confidence tied to humility is leads to success.

Once you taste success, be careful that you don’t keep the confidence and lose the humility.  The remainder after losing humility is PRIDE.   And pride will take you down faster than the jealousy of haters and the fickle shift of circumstances. 

Pride makes you forget that what you attain is based on what you do not who you think you are.

Pride makes you think that you deserve success just for being you. 

Pride makes you think that you built this --- by yourself, that you put this thing together --- alone, that by the might of your own arm you established your empire (Daniel 4: 29-33).

Pride turns you from all the people and practices that got you to where you are.  You become “a different person,” a dumber person.   In the worst cases, pride takes such a strong hold that you continue declaring your own worthiness even while you fall down, down, down to rock bottom.

Keep confidence tied to humility.  Confidence is what you say to yourself when you fail.  Humility is what you don’t say about yourself when you succeed.

Confidence is what you see in you.  Humility is what others see in you.

Don’t let confidence become unequally yoked without humility.

If you are the only person who thinks you’re humble, then you’re not.   If you feel the need to remind people how humble you are, then you aren’t

If you do not regain a genuine perspective of humility, you will soon suffer the ravages of runaway pride.

And that will suck.

---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 29: 23

Proverbs 29: 23     A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

Proverbs 29: 23. To succeed you need CONFIDENCE that is equally yoked with HUMILITY. 

You know that this is worth doing, you know that you can get it done, but you know that you can’t do it alone. 

You know that failure is a real possibility, but you won’t let incremental failures stop you from pressing toward ultimate success.   

You’re not as smart as you thought you were, but you can and will learn everything you didn’t know you needed to know when you first started.. 

There are other people just as/ more gifted than you.  O.K., so you’re going to meet them and bring them onto your team. 

You aren’t entitled to anything, not even the thing you want most; so you can’t just claim it, you’re going to have to earn it or create it.    

Confidence tied to humility is leads to success.

Once you taste success, be careful that you don’t keep the confidence and lose the humility.  The remainder after losing humility is PRIDE.   And pride will take you down faster than the jealousy of haters and the fickle shift of circumstances. 

Pride makes you forget that what you attain is based on what you do not who you think you are.

Pride makes you think that you deserve success just for being you. 

Pride makes you think that you built this --- by yourself, that you put this thing together --- alone, that by the might of your own arm you established your empire (Daniel 4: 29-33).

Pride turns you from all the people and practices that got you to where you are.  You become “a different person,” a dumber person.   In the worst cases, pride takes such a strong hold that you continue declaring your own worthiness even while you fall down, down, down to rock bottom.

Keep confidence tied to humility.  Confidence is what you say to yourself when you fail.  Humility is what you don’t say about yourself when you succeed.

Confidence is what you see in you.  Humility is what others see in you.

Don’t let confidence become unequally yoked without humility.

If you are the only person who thinks you’re humble, then you’re not.   If you feel the need to remind people how humble you are, then you aren’t

If you do not regain a genuine perspective of humility, you will soon suffer the ravages of runaway pride.

And that will suck.

---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