PRAISE BY THE BOOK

What does it actually mean to “praise the Lord”?
Set aside your assumptions, and prepare to learn what the Book actually says about what God does and does not want in our praise.
Learn how to Give God PRAISE BY THE BOOK.

Listen well.

The message is called  PRAISE BY THE BOOK.

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 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

HOW CAN YOU BE AN ATHEIST AND BELIEVE IN CLIMATE CHANGE?

I'm perplexed that so many scientific proponents of climate change are avowed atheists.  The basic concept of climate change is that human beings have polluted and mishandled natural resources to the point that we've thrown the planet's systems out of whack.

Well, if human beings along with our technological developments are simply random products of mindless evolution, then our polluting behavior is just as valid an expression of our evolutionary capabilities as ballet or building shelters to protect your family from the weather.

And, if the planet and it's intricate climatic systems are simply the random result of chance accumulation of particles at this particular distance from the sun then there's no whack to be thrown off.  Our climate isno more special than the methane rainstorms on one of Saturn's moons.  It's all is just random. 

However, if there is in fact a way that the climate is SUPPOSED to behave then there is a standard.  There is a right way.  And this little blue ball of rock is where it is and operating the way it does for a reason.  For Somebody's reason.

Psalm 148: 4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens,

 And you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

 For He commanded and they were created.

6 He also established them forever and ever;

 He made a decree which shall not pass away.

...8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; 

 Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;  

And if human beings have a universal obligation to preserve or to restore the climatic standard, then we have purpose, purpose that supersedes any "evolutionary" tendencies or capabilities.  We have  purpose that is more important than our natural lives.

Climate change theory actually proves that earth and humanity have SUPER-NATURAL purpose.

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens,

 And you waters above the heavens!

---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: 16. "She Invests"

Proverbs 31: 16     She considers a field and buys it;
From her profits she plants a vineyard.

Proverbs 31: 16.  She doesn’t buy the property just because it’s cute.  She doesn’t want the field because, “So-and-so bought his wife a field, and all the real ballers got fields now.”  She gets the field because she is going to plant the field and work the field, and once the field becomes profitable she can upgrade to a vineyard which will gain her family entry into the lucrative wine market.

This isn’t a vanity purchase.  It is an investment in her family’s future.

Investments take her time and her labor work and her perseverance, but over time, investments appreciate and pay off. 

Bro, you don’t need a woman who only brings back purchases.  From time to time she should bring home an investment.  

The sister ought to come home with a new degree or certification so she can get a raise, a pack of seeds so you never have to buy vegetables again, , a new book  she just wrote, a ball of yarn for the sweaters she’s gonna sell, a mixer for the cupcakes she peddles out of the back door, a set of tools for the cars she fixes on the side, a job, or something.  Something that appreciates and adds value for your family’s future.

Notice that the woman described in Proverbs 31: 16 doesn’t expect her husband to do all of the work.  She appraises the land.  She negotiates the purchases.  She plants.  Not because she’s needs a backup plan in case this marriage thing doesn’t work but because she knows that this family is forever and she is investing in that future.

When my wife and I got married neither of us had finished college.  Since our wedding she has earned 4 degree, including 2 master’s degrees and an Ed.S.  You have to understand that my wife doesn’t really like taking classes, and she HATES writing papers.  She has 2 master’s degrees and an Ed.S.  That’s a lot of classes and a loooooot of papers. 

She didn’t put herself through all of that because it was required for a high school science teacher nor was she satisfying a sense of vanity or competition.  She pre-calculated the career raises and retirement benefits, factored in job satisfaction from the changing job titles with the 2^nd masters and compared it all to tuition costs over time.  The investments were worth it.  Well worth it.

So, bro, before you trip about her going back to school, writing that music, getting that industrial sized mixer, or ordering pizza on Thursday because she’s got an extra-large order to fill by the weekend------ chill.  Take a breath and consider the return on her investment.   She isn’t neglecting her wifely duties.  She is fulfilling them.

---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: 16. "She Invests"

Proverbs 31: 16     She considers a field and buys it;
From her profits she plants a vineyard.

Proverbs 31: 16.  She doesn’t buy the property just because it’s cute.  She doesn’t want the field because, “So-and-so bought his wife a field, and all the real ballers got fields now.”  She gets the field because she is going to plant the field and work the field, and once the field becomes profitable she can upgrade to a vineyard which will gain her family entry into the lucrative wine market.

This isn’t a vanity purchase.  It is an investment in her family’s future.

Investments take her time and her labor work and her perseverance, but over time, investments appreciate and pay off. 

Bro, you don’t need a woman who only brings back purchases.  From time to time she should bring home an investment.  

The sister ought to come home with a new degree or certification so she can get a raise, a pack of seeds so you never have to buy vegetables again, , a new book  she just wrote, a ball of yarn for the sweaters she’s gonna sell, a mixer for the cupcakes she peddles out of the back door, a set of tools for the cars she fixes on the side, a job, or something.  Something that appreciates and adds value for your family’s future.

Notice that the woman described in Proverbs 31: 16 doesn’t expect her husband to do all of the work.  She appraises the land.  She negotiates the purchases.  She plants.  Not because she’s needs a backup plan in case this marriage thing doesn’t work but because she knows that this family is forever and she is investing in that future.

When my wife and I got married neither of us had finished college.  Since our wedding she has earned 4 degree, including 2 master’s degrees and an Ed.S.  You have to understand that my wife doesn’t really like taking classes, and she HATES writing papers.  She has 2 master’s degrees and an Ed.S.  That’s a lot of classes and a loooooot of papers. 

She didn’t put herself through all of that because it was required for a high school science teacher nor was she satisfying a sense of vanity or competition.  She pre-calculated the career raises and retirement benefits, factored in job satisfaction from the changing job titles with the 2^nd masters and compared it all to tuition costs over time.  The investments were worth it.  Well worth it.

So, bro, before you trip about her going back to school, writing that music, getting that industrial sized mixer, or ordering pizza on Thursday because she’s got an extra-large order to fill by the weekend------ chill.  Take a breath and consider the return on her investment.   She isn’t neglecting her wifely duties.  She is fulfilling them.

---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: 15. "First Up. First In."

Proverbs 31: 15     She also rises while it is yet night,
And provides food for her household,
And a portion for her maidservants.

Proverbs 31: 15.  The manager of a hotel or restaurant is up and on duty hours before breakfast begins.  He/she makes sure that the staff are all in place, equipped, and on task to provide food and hospitality for the guests.  The manager probably never flips a single pancake or takes a single order, but he/she takes care of everybody ---- all of the guests and all of the staff.   

Why would “a boss” get up so early and work so hard when he/she has employees to do that stuff?  Because that’s what it takes to be a boss.

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

That’s how King David lived (Psalm 119: 147).  That’s how Moses operated (Exodus 8: 20; 34: 4).  Joshua got up first and got it started (Joshua 3:1).  And Jesus was always up and rolling before his disciples (Mark 1: 35), even if He’d ended the night before literally dead (Matthew 28: 1, 2).

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

I remember the many cold mornings that my father woke me to do some early morning chore.  I remember that he was already fully dressed and he’d already been up and outside working before he came to get me.  I remember carefully stepping over the freshly shined shoes that Daddy changed into for the day job he sandwiched between early morning and late evening working on the farm.

I remember my mom flicking on the light switch and hollering for me to get up and get ready.  I remember that she had the housecoat on over her workclothes, her makeup was already done,  and the house already smelled of biscuits (homemade from scratch), and grits, and bacon that were almost done.

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

That’s what it takes to be a leader.  That’s what it takes to be “a boss.”

And ladies (as Proverbs 31 states), that’s what it takes to be a queen.

---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: 15. "First Up. First In."

Proverbs 31: 15     She also rises while it is yet night,
And provides food for her household,
And a portion for her maidservants.

Proverbs 31: 15.  The manager of a hotel or restaurant is up and on duty hours before breakfast begins.  He/she makes sure that the staff are all in place, equipped, and on task to provide food and hospitality for the guests.  The manager probably never flips a single pancake or takes a single order, but he/she takes care of everybody ---- all of the guests and all of the staff.   

Why would “a boss” get up so early and work so hard when he/she has employees to do that stuff?  Because that’s what it takes to be a boss.

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

That’s how King David lived (Psalm 119: 147).  That’s how Moses operated (Exodus 8: 20; 34: 4).  Joshua got up first and got it started (Joshua 3:1).  And Jesus was always up and rolling before his disciples (Mark 1: 35), even if He’d ended the night before literally dead (Matthew 28: 1, 2).

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

I remember the many cold mornings that my father woke me to do some early morning chore.  I remember that he was already fully dressed and he’d already been up and outside working before he came to get me.  I remember carefully stepping over the freshly shined shoes that Daddy changed into for the day job he sandwiched between early morning and late evening working on the farm.

I remember my mom flicking on the light switch and hollering for me to get up and get ready.  I remember that she had the housecoat on over her workclothes, her makeup was already done,  and the house already smelled of biscuits (homemade from scratch), and grits, and bacon that were almost done.

First up.  First in.  Last to leave.  Last to bed.

That’s what it takes to be a leader.  That’s what it takes to be “a boss.”

And ladies that’s what it takes to be a queen.

---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

YOU DON'T KNOW BUT YOU KNOW

Sometimes we think we know when we really don’t.  Sometimes we say we don’t know when we really do. 

The results of this common confusion can be tragic, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

A look at some of the last words of Moses provides the answer to our confusion and the only means to experience the blessings of the promises of God.

The message is called  YOU DON'T KNOW BUT YOU KNOW.

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