The personal blog of Anderson T. Graves II. Education, Religion, Politics, Family, and TRUTH------ but not necessarily the truth you want to hear.
I still love ya' though.
Welcome to the
online Bailey Tabernacle CME Church worship experience for June 14,
2020. The #preachingexodus series brings us to the end of
chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. Engage.
Share. Comment. Rejoice in the Lord.
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of you who continue to be faithful in supporting the ongoing ministry of Bailey
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This is the meditation I delivered at
Hunter’s Chapel AME Zion for their 2019 church anniversary and pastor
appreciation for my Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Steele.
The title of the message is: THE PROMISE, THE POSSESSION, & THE
PASTOR.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a pastor, writer, community organizer, and
consultant
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.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 Bailey
Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the
popular blog: A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.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).
A
Word about destinations and destiny and how to avoid taking the long way ‘round. I am preaching through the book of Exodus and
this message is from Exodus 23:20-33.
---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).
In
our Exodus preaching series we come to Exodus 23:14-19. What seems like a simple holiday schedule turns
out to be an ingenious example of God’s strategic planning. Through three agricultural celebrations, the
Lord reveals principles of successful community life and stretches our thinking.
It’s
a message equally important for those who are living in the overflow of
blessing and for those who are waiting on their blessing to arrive.
---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).
---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).
---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).
Despite the drama
between the boy’s mom and Abram’s first wife, Abram the Hebrew loved his son,
his only child: Ishmael. So, in Genesis 17, when God appeared to Abram
promising that this time next year he and Sarai would have new names and a new
baby boy, Abraham’s initial response was, “Nah.
Nevermind.”
And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael
might live before You!”
(Genesis 17:18)
Abraham tried to
laugh off God’s offer. Well, actually it’s more like Abraham fell out laughing AT
the idea of turning a 100 year-old man and a 90 year-old woman into new
parents. (Genesis 17: 17).
God didn’t think it
was funny. And, it wasn’t an offer. It was a covenant. And this was not a negotiation.
For all of Abraham’s
ha-has, God was so serious that He imposed a special ritual to show how very
much He meant business. “Abraham,” God
said, “Take a sharp rock and cut skin off your penis.”
Laughter abruptly cuts off.
“I’m sorry, Lord,
what?”
The mark of the
non-negotiable covenant held by the descendants of Abraham and Sarah would be
circumcision.
“And,” God said, “the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,cut off from his people; he has broken My
covenant.” (Genesis 17:14)
that person shall be
“Cut off.” Get it? Circumcision was God’s way of saying,
“Remember My covenant or I’ll cut off more that.”
But wait. There was more.
In Genesis 12:2 God
promised Abram that he would be the father of a great nation. In chapter 17, right after changing his name
to Abraham, God said, “I have made you a father of many nations”(Genesis 17: 4).
Christians and Jews
revere Abraham as the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, who was the
father of the 12 patriarchs, who were the fathers of the 12 tribes of
Israel. Isaac was the promised child
whose line would receive, record, and remember the law and the prophets.
What advantage then has the Jew, or what is
the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because
to them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1-2)
The covenant of the
Word of God and of the incarnate, Living Word of God ---- Jesus--- rested with
Isaac, but the promises of nation-sized greatness and favor was good for all
Abraham’s kids. And Abraham had lots of
kids.
Ishmael, his oldest
son, begat 12 tribes of his own, each of which became a nation (Genesis 25:
12-18). After
Sarah died, Abraham remarried and had 6 more sons by Keturah. One of them founded the Midianites (Genesis
25:1-4). Isaac’s other son, Esau,
founded the Edomite nation (Genesis 36).
True to His word, God, made Abraham and Sarah the patriarchs of multiple
nations.
A couple of lessons:
1)We have
the free will to accept or reject God’s offers of grace, but some of those
offers are non-negotiable. There may be
certain things in this life that God has decided you ARE going to do ---- or
else. There are some things in this life
that God has decided you or I will do and there is no “or else.”
Jonah didn’t want to preach to
the Ninevites. He was willing to drown
to avoid preaching to the Ninevites.
Jonah would rather have died in the desert sun than preach to the
Ninevites. Jonah preached to the doggone
Ninevites.
Figure out what the non-negotiable are in your
calling from God, and do them because
God isn’t going to let it go.
2)Abraham
had assumed he would be remembered by one nation through one son. God preserved Abraham’s name through many
sons who fathered many nations.
On the way to fulfilling your
non-negotiable mission, God can do great things for and through you. AFTER
you have run your race and finished your course, God can do even more great
things for and through you.
Instead of waiting for that ONE magnificent thing
you’re going to do, do all your things magnificently.
Don’t just leave a
legacy. Leave legacies.
---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).
As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden
Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that
the Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the
magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according
to the prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth.
In Matthew 5 while arguing
with the Pharisees, Jesus went on a rant about people swearing by this and that
all the doggone time.
“Again you have heard that it was said to
those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the
Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is
God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for
it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you
cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But
let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these
is from the evil one. (Matthew 5: 33-37)
“For whatever is more than
these is from the evil one.”
Earlier in His ministry,
Jesus had said that the devil “is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:
44).
Anything beyond the simple truth
is lie.
Therefore “whatever is more
than these” simple truths is from the devil.
So, Jesus ranted, don’t swear by this or that. Just tell the doggone truth.
Without the simple truth, an
oath is just a ritualized lie--- bearing false witness.
Jesus didn’t prohibit Christians
from taking oath and then telling the truth.
He condemned taking an oath and then telling a lie. We know this because Jesus Himself testified
under oath in a court of law.
Matthew 26 explains that
after being betrayed by Judas, Jesus was put on trial before the Sanhedrin
Council. Initially, Jesus refused to
speak but then He was “sworn in” by the high priest.
But Jesus kept silent. And
the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the
Christ, the Son of God!” (Matthew 26: 63)
The tribunal Jesus faced was
illegally assembled, improperly conducted, and corruptly concluded. Jesus response wasn’t about the integrity of
the court or the 1st century Judean justice system.
The official oath in that court
didn’t compel Jesus to tell the truth; Jesus always told the truth. The court couldn’t compel Jesus to violate
God’s law; Jesus also always kept God’s law.
But, Jesus did answer when the high priest put him “under oath by the
living God.”
Jesus said to him, “It is
as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son
of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of
heaven.” (Matthew 26: 63-64)
Jesus’s actions demonstrate
the application of His words.
Like Christ, Christians should
speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth without embellishing
our words with “I swear,” “I promise,” “I put that on my
mama/daddy/grandma/life..” Like Christ,
Christians should just say what we mean and mean what we say.
Like Christ, Christians can
also speak the truth under oath, in court, in response to a judge’s
request. Like Christ, our testimony
doesn’t depend on the integrity of the legal system. We tell the truth because that’s what
Christ-followers are supposed to do.
An oath itself isn’t
necessary, but it also isn’t a sin.
---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).
