A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27:12 "True Story"

Proverbs 27: 12     A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. The simple pass on and are punished.

Proverbs 27:12.  Last week, I took a call at the church office from a young lady in financial crisis. She was in her late 20’s with 3 children between 3 & 10 years old.   She had no job, no leads, no high school diploma, and no money, but she did have prior felony convictions.  She’d received food stamps and a welfare check but she lost all of that when she missed the appointments for the required job training.  They’d lost their section 8 apartment because she didn’t sign the lease renewal in time.  She didn’t sign the lease renewal because she was in jail for unpaid traffic tickets.   For reasons I don’t know no one in the lady’s family, including her own mother who lived a couple of miles, away would take her in.

On the day she called our church, this lady and her 3 children were being evicted from the flea-bag motel where they’d been crashing for the past several weeks because in the previous 2 days she hadn’t been able to come up with the $35.00 per night rent.

Now, when you get behind on the rent at a legitimate or semi-legitimate residence they put your stuff out when they put you out.   When  you get behind on the room rent at a flea-bag motel that focuses on shady and semi-homeless transients they put you out and keep your stuff until you pay them what you owe.

Whether you feel sympathy or anger toward this young mother the reality is that at the moment in her life that intersected mine, this family of one parent and 3 children quite literally had nothing but the clothes on their backs.  

I worked the phones and my contacts.  I activated this whole beautiful, hidden network of not-very-well-known people and organizations in Montgomery who have dedicated their lives to  helping folks they’ve never met.  We put together a package of help for the mother and her children.  There was safe, secure shelter and a plan for her to become employable and financially independent.  The process was going to be long and difficult, but Bam! Here it was.

All she had to do was call me back the next morning or walk the 1 mile distance from where we’d placed her for the night down to the church office.

No call, no contact the next day.  No call, no contact the morning after that.   Near the end of the business day, after 2 more days of “What happened to the lady you called us about?” phone calls from our ministry partners, she called me.

“What the crap happened?  We had you all set.  Why didn’t you call me back?  I tried to reach you and couldn’t find you.  What happened?”

“Oh, somebody paid for 2 more nights at the hotel.”

She squandered the chance to fix her life because she had a bed for 3 more days.  All of the fundamental problems in her life still existed.  Still no diploma, still no job, still no source of income, still 3 kids with no food and no means of buying groceries, still no idea how she’d even make it through the rest of June.

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. The simple pass on and are punished.

Now, this lady isn’t intellectually disabled.  She could see and articulate all the problems I’ve described.  She and I saw the same trouble, dangers, and difficulties.  Yet, instead of looking down the line and taking a rugged path out of her long-term situation, she chose to do nothing and stay on the same pitiful track.

Now, if I can get you to put down your righteous indignation for a moment, I’d like you to pick up a mirror.

How many things about yourself or your life do you hate?  How many sinful, self-destructive, counter-productive, or simply un-productive practices have become your habits?  

How many of those issues have you wanted to change---- for years?  

In that time you’ve connected with things, people, programs that really would have helped you fix that issue, but here you are still dealing with the same crap.

How many times did you walk away from the solution because for a couple of days the problem didn’t feel quite as bad?

How many heart-attack patients go back to pork ribs and french fries when they get out of the hospital because “I feel fine now”?

How many reconciled spouses go back to the club and infidelity because “Oh, we’re back together now”? 

How many churches lose their new members because after a season of growth, the culture of the church reverts back to the old mentality and practices that had put the ministry on its deathbed in the first place?

It’s stupid to keep going in the same direction when you’ve already seen that you’re going in the wrong direction.  Just because it feels a little easier doesn’t mean that it’s gotten any better. 

The best way is the long, hard row that leads out of your crap.

Stop!

Just stop it.

Suffer through the transition from the old, comfortable, and wrong into the new, unfamiliar, and difficult but right.  Let those who want to help you help you, but don’t be deterred when they don’t help you the way you want to be helped. 

Clearly your way hasn’t been that successful.  Try another way. 

You’re not alone, though you may not yet know the names of those God has already positioned to work with you. 

Connect with God’s network.  Let them connect you with His resources. 

Just don’t keep going this way.  You don’t want to see where you’ll end up.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 11

Proverbs 27: 11     My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me.

Wisdom begins with the fear of God (Ps 111:10; Pr 1:7; Pr 9:10; Pr 15:33).  That is, if you want your child to be good/ you want them to “mind,” then you have to raise the child to be wise.  Train a child to have a good & wise mind and you train a child to mind/ to be good.

But don’t confuse raising a child to be wise/ good and raising a child to just be popular/“good at.”

Sometimes parents obsess over their child being good at some particular thing because it fulfills the parents’ childhood dreams.

It’s psychologically and spiritually unhealthy for a parent to try to relive childhood through their children.  Dad and Mom could wind up fighting their children and God as they push the kids onto a path that fits the parents’ aspirations but ignores the children’s individuality and God’s will for the individual young person.

I expect my children to make A’s in school.  (They’ve been tested; they’re more than capable of it.)   I do and I will continue to push them to their highest academic potential; but I have to be careful that I don’t obsess over them being valedictorians to the point that I excuse cheating, sabotaging classmates, or manipulating school officials.  I’d be making them “good at” school without making them “good” people.    I could prove them smart in the eyes of people without making them wise in the eyes of God.

And that’s not what I want for my kids.  Any parent who is a Christian should be most concerned with raising our children in such a way that we fulfill our obligation to send godly adults into the world. 

Malachi 2:15 But did He not make them [husband and wife] one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring… 

You should holler like a maniac when your talented child shows himself/herself good at sports, but you should be even more excited when your good child shows himself/herself to be godly in the way he/she deals with conflicts on and off the field.

You’re supposed to feel pride that your son is handsome and your daughter is beautiful, but outward glory should never excuse moral foolishness or inward ugliness.

Don’t buy into the foolishness of helicopter parents who’s ruthless drama creates adults with old rooms full of childhood trophies and grown lives full of sin and broken relationships.

Dad and Mom, choose to love wisdom in your children.  Teach it.  Train it.  Correct them when they stray from it (and they will). 

Let your children’s good-ness be your glory. 

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 10 "Old Friends & New"

Proverbs 27: 10     Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better isa neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

Proverbs 27: 10.  “Family first” is a good principle, but “family only” is not. 

Great family dynasties from the pharaohs to the Kennedys have had generational allies outside the biological family.    These great houses apply the wisdom of Proverbs 27:10.   Children meet their parents’ friends, and learn to values and nurture their parents’ friendships.  When the children come of age and need someone to help in ways the biological relatives cannot,  it is those old friends of the family who watch out for the young ones because, “I knew your father.  He was my friend.” 

In 1 Kings 4: 1-6, when the newly crowned King Solomon appointed the chief officers of his kingdom, he exercised his wisdom by including many men from his father David’s circle or their sons.

In the world of fraternities and ivy league schools it’s called being “a legacy.”  It’s also called nepotism.

In 1 Kings 4, beginning at verse 7 Solomon appointed governors whose names and whose fathers’ names are largely unfamiliar. These men were unconnected but competent.  That’s merit-ocracy.

Solomon understood the wisdom of having new friends while maintaining the old family network.   The wise, prosperous, blessed & highly favored king also understood that you can't allow the network to overwhelm you, your will, or God's wisdom.  Allies and advisors offer help and advice.  The decision (and its consequences) remain yours alone.

Now, most of us won’t get to see this delicate dance practiced first-hand by actual kings or Kennedys; but you know which easily accessible cultural demographic are masters of the friend network? 

Rednecks.

Turn up your nose if you want.  But my loud, rebel-flag-license-plate having, country-music-blasting, way-too-many-guns-owning brothers and sisters can pick up a phone and get an entire driveway cleared, leveled, and paved in an afternoon for little more than the price beer and the mutual love of a wide network of personal and family friends.

Learn what they know.

If you have been successful in your work (whatever that work may be), it has been with the help and support of many people, most of whom probably aren’t biologically close relatives.  Introduce your children to those connections. 

Teach them to value their “legacy” but not to rely on it to the exclusion of merit.  Daddy and Mama won’t always be there.  Brothers and sisters can’t be everywhere.  You and your children need friends.

Friends are worth something.  When it’s 2 A.M. on a dark road and your family doesn’t own a tow truck, but your uncle’s buddy does--- then friends are worth a whole lot.

Don’t just leave an insurance payment to your children.  Leave them with a valuable network of generational friends to nurture and to expand. 

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 9

Proverbs 27: 9     Ointment and perfume delight the heart,


And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.



Proverbs 27: 9. It is good to have friends to talk to, to be connected to people who are genuinely interested in you and in the goings on of your life. Whether you are dressed for success or wearing the rags of a beggar, the voices of friends who care enough to share their thoughts with you can freshen your day like the sweet scent of a fine cologne.

But----

You know there’s a concept in personal hygiene that every (or most every) teen or pre-teen boy has to learn: Cologne doesn’t cure stank.

The kid who layers himself in body spray instead of showering after gym class may smell good to himself, but to the rest of the living world he smells like funk------and perfume. But mostly funk.

It is supposed to do your heart good to hear all your buddies’ advice. It is sweet that all your girlfriends are so concerned and have so much to share. But, if their counsel is stupid----- it ain’t gonna help.

Judge all advice not simply by how much you care about the advisor, but by how wise the advice actually is. Wrong is never right, however sincere and loving the person who advises wrong. Violating the Biblical principles of wisdom is never smart no matter how long you’ve known the person giving the foolish counsel.

Scented oils and perfume are not a sufficient substitutes for a bath. Friendly advice isn’t a sufficient substitute for good advice.

Ideally you put perfume/ cologne on a clean body. Ideally, the counsel of friends is good and wise.

But it’s you who have to take the bath, and it’s you who have to take (or reject) the advice.

Listen to your friends, but decide (and decide wisely) for yourself.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27:8.

Proverbs 27: 8     Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place.

Proverbs 27:8.  A bird feels safe in the place where it was hatched.  Mama brings it food, and in the established pecking order of its nest-mates the bird may become important, even dominant.  But---- birds only stay in the nest if they never fly.   

Flight is scary and risky.  You might fail, and failing means falling.  Nevertheless, flying is what birds are supposed to do,

If the bird never flies, it’ll starve because mama will abandon it.  Even If mama doesn’t, if she keeps bringing food to the earthbound chick then eventually the “baby” will outgrow the nest and fall anyway.

Flying may be risky, but it’s what birds are made to do.

From the very beginning God meant for man to go beyond the comfortable nest where we were created. 

“Fill the earth,” God commanded, but humanity didn’t want to go.  Our ancestors clustered together at Babel (Genesis 11) and tried to stretch their necks into heaven  to reach God’s provision for themselves.   Didn’t work though.  We ended up leaving the place in confusion and division.  

Birds and people are meant to go beyond their comfortable zones of origin.  It is risky.  Failure is a distinct possibility, but you’re not supposed to only be what you’ve always been.

Growing up in the projects shouldn’t mean living in the projects once you’re grown. 

Being a victim of abuse or neglect as a child shouldn’t mean perpetuating the cycle of abuse as an adult.

Committing a crime & serving time for it doesn’t automatically mean you to live a life of crime until it kills you. 

Sinning & walking outside of God’s doesn’t mean you have to wallow in misery and darkness until you close your eyes in death and open them in Hell.

A history of hypocrisy, stagnation, & complacency in a church doesn’t mean that the ministry can’t become authentic, prosperous, & powerful.

We were not created to stay where we are to remain only as we were.  You don’t have to stay in your lane.  Sometimes you need to get out of your lane and take a ramp that leads to someplace unfamiliar and risky.

Leave the nest and fly.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577

Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com

Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Rd.,

Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 7 "Hungry"

Proverbs 27: 7     A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

 Proverbs 27: 7.  When you get really full (physically speaking), you feel lazy.  And if you get really, really full  then the very idea of eating more makes you sick---even if what you think about eating is a food you like.

The same kind of thing happens in personal and spiritual arenas.  Once you’re full of success, when you conclude that you got yours and you got all you wanna get, then you don’t feel motivated to get out there and get anything else.

If you ever get really, really satisfied with your level of success or you spiritual standing then not only do you see no need for additional effort, but you may even be bothered by the very suggestion of doing something more or different for Jesus.

You see this when church folk respond to new initiatives with, “I don’t see why we need to do all that.”  When church-folks turn up their noses at new and newly-active members it’s because the idea of the church adding fresh energy, ideas, and activities makes them a little emotionally nauseous.  They’re too full, too satisfied.

It’s better to be  hungry.

When you want to succeed so badly that you’re willing to endure any hardship, face any obstacle, when in fact you relish the appearance of opposition because every adversary and adversarial situation is interpreted as proof that you are enroute to your goals----it’s called being HUNGRY.

When you’re hungry you exert more energy,  put forth more effort, and produce more excellence than anyone thought was possible.  And then, you immediately think, “Yeah, but the next thing I do is gonna be way better than that.”

Hungry athletes make custodians stay way later to turn off the lights in the gym.  Hungry artists, performers, and writers save bad reviews, frame them, and memorize the most condescending quotes ---- as motivation.

When you’re hungry even the bad, the distasteful things add fuel to your  fire.

The Apostle Paul was hungry.  He told the Philippian church that he had set his sights on achieving the “mark of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3: 14).  He knew that he wasn’t there yet/ hadn’t apprehended it, but “Forget my old stuff.  I’m gonna be way better than that” (Philippians 3: 13).

It’s a beautiful thing as a Christian to be as hungry as Paul was.  We ought to mock the bad reviews like Paul did in his letter to the Romans 8: 33-39, asking “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?   Who ishe who condemns?” 

I want to be hungry like Paull was.  I want to be so hungry to do great things for my Savior, so focused on my Kingdom mission that I tell the world, “Bring it on!  I don’t care if it’s tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.  Come on if it’s  life or death, angels or principalities or powers, things present or things to come, height or depth, or any other created thing.  You can’t do nothin’ to separate me from the love of [my] God which is in Christ Jesus  [my]Lord !”

When you’re hungry you eat problems for breakfast.  Setbacks, are like Wheaties that fuel your further progress.  Or as James 1: 2-4 puts it, you count it all joy when you go through different kinds of trials; because, you know what?  The testing of your faith is just going to produce patience, and when that patience is worked all the way out you know that you’ll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

It’s a beautiful thing to be a hungry Christian.  Hungry Christians don’t back down from suffering, because they are focused on the goal. And besides,  the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8: 18). 

So let’s get hungry, brothers and sisters. 

Let’s glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.  Perseverance gives you character.  Characters leads you to hope. And hope never lets you down, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5: 3-5).

Moses worried in Deuteronomy 8 that when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; that somehow the people would  forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, cause if they did that then they’d surely perish.

But Jesus Himself said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. (Matthew 5: 6) 

Stay hungry, my friends.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577

Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com

Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Rd.,

Montgomery, AL 3611

THE ESSENTIALNESS OF FATHERS

A special Father’s Day message called THE ESSENTIALNESS OF FATHERHOOD.

Listen well.

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Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com  
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves 

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 6 "False Yes-ers & True Friends"

Proverbs 27: 6     Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27: 6.  Frequently repeated advice for leaders is to build a team of people who buy into and support your vision.  That’s decent advice, but the danger is that in doing so you end recruiting yes-men and yes-women. 

And that makes you vulnerable to false yes-ers.  False yesers act as though they believe in the vision, when they really just want to be on the team.  So, false yesers don’t focus their gifts and energy on accomplishing the objectives of the organization.  Instead they  focus all their powers on maintaining and advancing their personal positions and prosperity within the team, even if their actions destroy the vision..  False yesers will undermine the strength of the team by sacrificing/ sabotaging good, sincere colleagues in order to make a profit for themselves. 

False yessers are the enemies who smile in your face and betray you with a kiss---- like Judas.

(There are some sincere yes-folks. There are some people who so sincerely believe in your vision/ believe in you that if you asked them to jump off a bridge, they’d be halfway to the ground yelling back, “How’s my form?  Should I point my toes more?”)

The greatest team assets for a leader are not folks who always say “yes” whether or not they accept the vision.  Leaders most of all need people who believe in the vision, but always tell the truth.   And sometimes the truth is, “No, Mr. Leader, that’s a bad idea.”

King David had a man on his team named Joab.   Joab always had David’s back.  When David went into battle, Joab fought at his side.  When David went into exile, Joab went with him.  When David became king, Joab became David’s general. 

Joab always believed in David’s anointing, but Joab didn’t always agree with David--- especially when it came to David’s son Absalom. 

When King David wasn’t giving enough attention to his son Absalom’s issues, Joab reprimanded him for it and engineered a meeting of reconciliation (2 Kings 14).  But Joab’s plan wasn’t a yes-man’s plan, so David didn’t follow through with it, and that set in motion Absalom’s drift into full-fledged military rebellion against his father. 

David, the leader, had consistently ignored Absalom’s issues.  Joab, a loyal member of David’s team, consistently advised David to directly deal with   Absalom.  David didn’t want Joab’s opposing advice.  Through it all, Joab stayed on David’s team.  He continued to fight at David’s side,  watch David’s back, and take David’s orders; but he never gave David a false “yes.”

 Because David didn’t heed the sincere, opposing advice of this man who’s gifts, wisdom, and loyalty had been proven again and again, David’s family & kingdom experienced tragedy.

Absalom took his father’s David’s throne in a coup (2 Samuel 15), publicly slept with/ raped his father’s wives, and launched a bloody civil war aimed at killing David.  After all this, David wanted to spare Absalom, but Joab disagreed and killed him---- against David’s orders (2 Samuel 18) but restoring David’s leadership/ vision over the nation.

Again withdrawing --- this time in grief--- on the Absalom issue, David put his newly regained kingship at risk.  Joab’s honest, loyal, but hard advice again saved David’s kingship/ saved the vision God had given for David as king (2 Samuel 18: 33- 2 Samuel 19: 18). 

Joab’s words and actions wounded his friend David, but those wounds were for David’s own good.

You, brother leader/ sister leader, may be most comfortable surrounded by yes-folks.  But, you will be most productive and most secure surrounded by honest folks. 

Don’t require blind, stupid loyalty or you end up with a team of blind, stupid people. 

Observant, wise, & honest loyalty is much better for your inner circle.

Yes, dear leader, you will have to make the final decision because the final responsibility for success or failure rests with you.

But, think of it like this:  If your people are observant, wise, and honest enough to be on your team, shouldn’t you at least consider their ideas?  Cause if their honest ideas aren’t ever observant or wise enough for your consideration--- why in crap are they even on the team?

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 5

Proverbs 27: 5     Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.

Proverbs 27: 5.  There is an implicit progression: 

Concealed love is not good. 
Open rebuke is better. 
Open love is best.

A marriage, for example, isn’t most at risk when the husband and the wife yell at one another from time to time, but when they are silent to one another.  When they never say anything to each other---- that is when the relationship is in critical danger. 

Worse than mutual fussing is the choice of both or either spouse to  just not say anything anymore, to not ever worry about it anymore, to not even care.   It’s in this way that couples find themselves before a judge saying that they’ve “grown apart” or “I just don’t love him anymore.”

The solution isn’t for silent couples to start yelling; but for every couple to start talking, to start forgiving, to start sacrificing themselves for one another and openly declaring and displaying their love. 

I have complained about the meanness of certain social programs that tell folks on welfare to quit being lazy and get a job.  But, if those programs offer a job and I offer -------- nothing, then honestly the mean get-a-job-any-job people are demonstrating more love than I am.    At least they care enough to actually engage with those in need.

The best answer though, isn’t to spread blanket blame on all the poor for their poverty, but for those of us who’ve been indifferent to get involved, to complain less about how others help and to start helping ourselves.

1 John 3: 17     But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

We need to strive toward the highest level of the progression, that is OPEN LOVE.    If we don’t then the principle of Proverbs 27: 5 is applied but perverted. 

Perversion of Proverbs 27: 5 is why so many good women end up with doggish men instead of the nice guys who’ve been relegated to the friend zone.     The nice guys conceal their romantic love behind the veil of platonic friendship.  The dog openly rebukes the sister, telling her that she’s not good enough, not pretty enough, not sexy enough.  The sister responds to the open rebuke, because they reason, “Since he notices all these little things, he must really care about me.”  

These women recognize that open rebuke is better than concealed love, but they fail to see that what they should seek (and demand as a minimum) isn’t open rebuke.   It’s OPEN LOVE.

In the church, we sometimes withhold forgiveness under the disguise of withholding judgment.  We see people doing wrong, doing us wrong, and we fear to directly go to them and rebuke them for their sin against us.  Instead we just don’t say anything.  We choose not to worry about it anymore.  We say, “I don’t even care.”  

That’s not love.  That’s actually silent hate.

Leviticus 19: 17     ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.

When you refuse to deal with your brother’s or sister’s sin against you, it’s an act of hate, not an act of love.  Because you never deal with them, you never forgive them.  So, silent bitterness builds up inside and you end up hating them in your heart.

1 John 4: 20     If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21     And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God mustlove his brother also.

Is the solution to “go off” in the name of Jesus?  No.  Seek the highest progression---- OPEN LOVE.

Talk to the one who hurt you.  (You’ll probably find that you need to change at least as much as they do.)  Forgive them, whether they apologize or not.  Reconcile with them.  Don’t bear sinful hate in yourheart because of what they did.  Instead, love them.  Love them openly.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116

MY LAST DAY, GOD'S NEXT MOVE

Today is my last day at work as assistant principal of Stanhope Elmore High School.   I’m not going to another school to be principal.  I’ve not accepted a position at the central office.  I’m not returning to the classroom.  I’m taking leave to serve my church full-time.  

Why?

Because God told me to.

Yeah, that’s what I said.

For a long time now, I’ve heard the Lord calling me into His full-time service.  I thought I’d heard Him wrong ---- actually, no.  I didn’t think I was hearing God wrong.  I hoped I was hearing God wrong, but the message has been persistent and consistent.   

It’s been as clear to my spirit as the still, small voice that told Elijah to come out of the wilderness and go raise up a network of men who would accomplish God’s will (1 Kings 19: 11-18).    This calling is as clear to my mind as the voice of Jesus bidding Peter to come out of the boat and to join him in an impossible walk --- on the water, in the middle of a windstorm (Matthew 14: 25-33).   I know that this crazy move is what God wants me to do as clearly as I know what I’m to preach when I stand up in the pulpit. 

A year ago, I discussed all of this with my wife, my boss, and my bishop.  I fasted and I prayed, and God told me to wait.   But now it’s time to come out of my little cave.  It’s time for me to step out of the boat, onto the not-solid-looking-at-all waves and do what God’s told me to do. 

I’ll be developing FaithWorks, our state incorporated non-profit into a federal 501( c)(3) agency.  I’ll be expanding the jail outreach & in-reach ministry, and developing programs and networks that address some of the many problems facing our communities and schools.

There are problems in the Montgomery area that I’m supposed to be part of solving.  There are tools that can save our public school students and parents from the seemingly unstoppable spiral of apathy, ignorance, immorality, and failure.  I’m called to dust those tools off and offer them to the people whose labor is frustrated without them.  There are men and women cycling in and out of city and county jails who will either becoming legal, productive citizens, or will become more-hardened, more destructive, more violent offenders---- depending on if and how well we can meet them where they are and walk with them out of the darkness. 

Somebody asked me yesterday if I was worried.

Duh.   Of course I’m worried. 

For the last 17 years, I’ve worked in public education.  Each month I’ve known exactly (down to the penny) what my next check would be and when that check would arrive.  I’ve done my job very well and built an excellent professional resume and reputation.  But today, I am a husband and father with a mortgage and other bills who is voluntarily stepping away from a tenured position as a school administrator in a very good school district to commit my time and skills to an organization that doesn’t pay ½ what I make now.

Elijah was worried about Ahab, and Jezebel, and going it all alone.  Peter was worried once he got out on the waves and felt the wind hitting him full force.  But, from the prophets to the apostles to the preachers, those of us who’ve been called to proclaim God’s word have told everybody else to trust God. 

I’m smart enough to be worried.  But, I’m wise enough to trust God. 

Preachers like me talk about having faith even when you can’t see the full solution.  We go on-and-on about following God even when God doesn’t make sense.  I happen to be one of those preachers who has to walk what he’s talked. 

God connected Elijah with 2 new kings, a prophetic protégé, and 7,000 brothers he didn’t know where on the same side.  There is a lot of work to be done.  I’m excited about getting it done.  And, I’m excited about all the people and resources that God will bring out to make a difference in this community and to meet the needs of my family. 

Maybe God’s calling you to be in on this new thing.  (Nah, that doesn’t mean you leave your job.  That’s my particular path.) But, you do have gifts and time and resources that we can connect to make a difference.  Email me, and we’ll put it all to work together. 

Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email me at atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Send all contributions and regular mail to:

541 Seibles Rd.,

Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27:4

Proverbs 27: 4     Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy?
KJV Provebs 27: 4  Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

Our culture has twisted and diminished the concepts of love and hate.  Today, most uses of the word “love” really mean“to like” or “to be entertained by.”  Likewise, “hate” has been subsumed by the idea of “haters,” which can refer to anybody who doesn’t like you or who isn’t properly impressed by whatever you’re doing.   

You really should care a lot less about getting everybody to “love” you (in the weak contemporary sense).   And your haters?  Well they aren’t the ones you should be most worried about.  Most haters (as we call them) just don’t agree with you.  They think you’re wrong, or stupid, or ugly, or talentless; but they’re not out to get you.  They don’t think you’re worth the effort, and they don’t want to spend enough time close enough to you to cause you harm.  

And that’s O.K.

The ones who should really concern you are the ones who are filled with jealousy/ envy. 

Recently I came across a very old story.  (It’s either an ancient Jewish tale or a medieval Christian story.)  

In the story, a jealous/ envious man and a covetous man met a king as they were walking along the road.    The king promised to give them both any gift no matter how expensive or difficult the request.  However, they could only ask one at a time.  Whomever asked first would receive his request, but the one who waited to ask would receive twice  as much of whatever the first man got.  
The covetous man wouldn’t ask first because he wanted to get double.  The jealous man wouldn’t ask first because he couldn’t stand the thought of his companion getting more than he had. 
Finally after long silence, the jealous/ envious man spoke up.  He asked the king to pluck out one of his eyes.

Jealousy doesn’t just hate you or hate on you, it hates the idea of you having anything other or more than it has.  So the person who envies you will get to know you.  Envy/ Jealousy will try to stay close to you.  It will keep careful tabs on what you’re doing, how you’re succeeding, and what you’re gaining from your success.   Given the chance Jealousy/Envy will wait and watch for just the right moment to pluck out one of its own eyes if doing so might leave you blind.

Just because someone just “loves” your new purchase and wants to hear all about it doesn’t mean that she  actually really loves you.   Just because some “hater” doesn’t get all excited over every little thing in your life doesn’t mean that he’s out to bring you down.  Shoot, he might just genuinely not give a crap.

But-----

Beware the brother/ sister who always wants to know exactly how much you just made.  Beware the brother/sister who wants to know the price of everything you own.  Maybe he/she is just nosy and tactless.  Or, maybe he/she is tallying up exactly how much they need to take you for so that you end up with nothing.
 ----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order made out to: Hall Memorial CME Church

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,

Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 3 "UnTrapped"

Proverbs 27: 3     A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but a fool’s wrath is heavier than both of them. (New King James Version)
The NIV says:  Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.
The NLV says:  A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

Proverbs 27: 3. Remember the Japanese couple from the news article I attached with Proverbs 26: 27?  The ones who died when they fell into a pit on the husband’s birthday?  Remember that it wasn’t the fall that killed them.  They didn’t starve or die of thirst.  They died because the sand filled in around them and the weight of it choked them to death. (click here for the article)

In April 2003, a hiker named Aron Ralston became trapped in an isolated canyon in Utah when a boulder fell on his arm.  He tried chipping away at the boulder in order to free himself, but  the stone was too big.  After 4 days, he resigned himself to dying there with his arm trapped under the heavy stone.

Try to quantify the sense of desperation felt by that Japanese couple and by the young man trapped in that canyon.  Now add the totals of their emotion. 

When you are dealing with an angry fool, an idiot with a nasty attitude who is determined to make your attitude just as nasty, when you are pursued by the drama caused and promoted by some jerk who feels justified & just in stirring up all the mess he/she can; then the level of frustration that rises up inside you may exceed that of a man trapped under a rock and a couple trapped in a sand pit--- combined.

You want to get away.  You want to make it stop.  You want it to be a dream. 

You think,  “Did he really just say that?   Nah.  I must have misunderstood him.  Wait.     Really?   Am I seriously having to deal with this?   Now?   Oh Lord, don’t let me punch this person in the face.  Oh Lord, please let me punch this person in the face.  Does this fool want to make me punch him in the face?  Somebody PLEASE get me out of here!  Help! Help!  Somebody!   Anybody!!”

The couple trapped in the sand perished because every time someone moved a handful of sand out of the way, another filled the space.  Nobody stopped the pit from refilling itself, so they remained trapped until it was too late. 

Aron Ralson couldn’t change the size of the stone enough to get it off him-------- so he cut off his arm.   He had to break the bone and saw away with a dull pocketknife.    He lived and went on to marry, have a son, write a book, and hike again.

If you want to extract yourself from the weight of that fool’s drama, then (1^st) you have to stem the flow of foolishness into your life.  Don’t sit quietly up under their gossip.  Tell them that you don’t want to hear what they heard--- and don’t.  Don’t delude yourself into thinking that you can check in with them on a little “news.”  You’ll just be filling in the pit, and soon you’ll feel trapped again.

(2^nd) You have to be willing to accept that the stone won’t stop being a stone.  In other words, once you’ve tried to get them to change their ways and they haven’t, you have to cut yourself off. 

Matthew 5:.^29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ^30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

You can’t change them.  Change yourself.  Oh yeah, this’ll hurt--- a lot. 

Seek, confess, and deal with the reasons inside yourself that make your susceptible to this fool’s mess.  Deal with the stuff in you that has made you afraid to properly (Biblically) confront the crushing flow of dirt that they bring into your life.

The thought, “Why do I keep going through this?” isn’t a rhetorical question.  To answer it you may have to be broken; you will have to cut down to the bare bone and tear off some stuff you thought you couldn’t live without.

Or, you could stay in exactly the position you are in ----- and die (inside).

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order made out to: Hall Memorial CME Church

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116