QUIT NOT ARGUING. JUST ARGUE THE RIGHT WAY.

A rocky road isn't necessarily a dead-end.  You're out of road when you hit the softness of water, the silence of air, or the sudden stillness of a wall or a tree.  An argument doesn't mean the end of a relationship.  It is persistent silence that you should fear.  So, when Christians of different backgrounds and perspectives disagree about politics, economics, music, law, etc., it doesn't mean that the church is dying, or irrelevant, or broken.  Our disagreements mean that we are diverse and normal---which is O.K.  

I’m not scared of an argument.  I fear the times and circumstances when Christians who disagree just don’t speak to one another. 

I believe that satan relishes the moments when we use denominations and politics to give our brothers and sisters the silent treatment because, if we won’t communicate then we can’t coordinate and while we’re in disarray the enemy can pick us  off a few at a time.

We don't have to agree about everything.  We can argue about it as brothers and sisters sometimes do, but when Daddy calls, siblings stop fighting and say, "Yessir."

Just because your application of a particular verse is idiotic does not mean that I can't work with you to do God's will as stated in the other 31,000+ verses on which we do agree.  And just because you mistakenly think that I'm wrong about a particular social issue, my brother/ sister in Christ, should not prevent you from loving me and coming alongside to do what we both agree the Word of God calls us to do.

Keep in mind that a huge portion of the epistles are dedicated to disagreements between Christians on socio-economic issues or issues of ritual and religioous preference.  Yet those disagreeing believers are the Christians who "turned the world upside down." (Acts 17:6)

Our differences should not end our relationship because our relationship isn't based on common politics.  Our relationship is based on common faith.

Galatians 3: 28     There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4: 4     There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5     one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6     one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.   

Read Colossians 3: 8-17

1.      Colossians 3: 8-9.  These verses tell us how notto act when we argue with one another.

Colossians 3: 8     But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9     Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

2.      Colossians 3: 10-11.  If we have really been changed by Christ, then our old priorities of politics and preference become less important than our identity as Christians-- not Conservative christians or Liberal Christians or Evangelical Christians or Progressive Christians, but as sons & daughters of the Living God Christians.

Colossians 3: 10     and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11     where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

3.      Colossians 3: 12-13.  These verses lay out how we are supposed to act with each other even when another Christian ticks us off.

Colossians 3: 12     Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13     bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

4.      Colossians 3: 14.  The bond that joins us is not opinion or interpretation of the data.  The thing that makes me a Christian is the fact that I love God and I love you.  What makes you a Christian is the fact that you love God and, like me or not, you love me.

Colossians 3: 14     But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

1 John 3: 14     We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15     Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16     By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

5.      Colossians 3: 15.  As Christians, neither of us has the right to get so heated in an argument that we “lose our religion.”  Whenever my disgust with your position rises to the point that I want to cut you off (or cut you) then I need to remember that it’s only because of God mercy that He didn’t cut me down and cut me off from eternal life.   I need to be so thankful to God that I can’t be hateful of you.

Colossians 3: 15     And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

6.      Colossians 3: 16. When it gets right down to it, we are supposed to be able to publicly worship together because we each live in a constant state personal worship.   Jesus saved you.  The same Jesus saved me.  Who are either of us to act as though Jesus was mistaken.

Colossians 3: 16     Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
 

7.      Colossians 3: 17.  In the end the way we treat one another, the way we serve others, the way we argue with our opponents isn’t about the other person.  It isn’t about ourselves either.  True Christians do what we do the way we do it because even in our conflicts, it’s all about Jesus.

Colossians 3: 17     And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 The journey of Christian love is often a rocky road.   We walk it together anyway.  We walk the road of Christian love and fellowship imitating the walk of Jesus Christ  because He first walked it for us.

----- 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: 22 "Their Grind Isn't Your Grind"

Proverbs 27: 22     Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

Proverbs 27: 22.  Nobody’s grind can change you.  You have to get on the grind for yourself.   

As a school administrator, I don’t know how many times I’ve looked a kid straight in the eyes and said, “Do this one more time and you’re gone.  Understand me?”

“Yessir, Mr. Graves.”

Sometimes that’s it.  I never see that student for another disciplinary referral. 

Sometimes though, before the next class period ends the same kid’s in my office for doing exactly---exactly  what I told them not to do.  And the crazy thing is that virtually every time, the kid argues with me that I’m being unfair when I issue precisely the punishment I said I would.”

Sometimes the former conference goes more like, “Do this one more time and you’re gone, but if you do the right thing and maintain good behavior for the next week, I’ll reward you with whatever-whatever-whatever.  In fact, I’ve put the following processes and people in place to help you change your behavior.  Can you handle that?”

“Yessir, Mr. Graves.”

Sometimes the kid receives the help, gets straightened out, and goes on to be successful.

Other times though, even when offered the choice between a reward for good and a punishment for bad, with added interventions to show them how to do well, and influences to lead them in the right direction, some kids still choose to screw up.  And, then they argue that I’m not being fair.

Influence matters.  It really matters.  The weight of positive interventions and influence can be enough to move a child’s/ a person’s life from bad to good.

No amount of help, threats, opportunities, opposition, potential rewards, promised punishments, yelling, pleading, berating, or encouraging can override the final deciding factor:   Free Will.

They, you, and I have to want to do right and to do well.  If I don’t want it, nobody can give it to me. 

They, you, and I have to want to do all the stuff that must be done to achieve the good goals we’ve set. 

It’s wise to surround yourself with successful, positive, godly people; but their positive influence alone isn’t enough.   If I don’t do put in my own work then it doesn’t matter if I have lunch every weekend with the President and the First Lady.  Being around success won’t automatically make anyone successful.  

Their grind won’t change me.  I have to get on the grind for myself.

Changing a person’s life (theirs, mine, or yours) from bad to good/ from good to great involves changing the heart and mentality of the person.   Influences, rules, rewards, & rebuke are simply tools for touching the heart. 

They, You, and I have to come to the place where we want to be different on the inside. 

Until the individual wants change for himself/herself no change is going to happen no matter how much everyone else wants it for them, for you, or for me.

----- 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

PANCAKE BREAKFAST at HMCME

Hall Memorial C.M.E. Church

Second Annual Pancake Breakfast

Sponsored by

The Adult Choir

August 25, 2012

7:30am – 10:30am

Menu

Pancakes w/Syrup

Sausage or Bacon

Orange Juice

Coffee

Water

$5.00 Donation

A WORD TO THE WISE: Provebs 27: 21 "Praise In, Praise Out"

Proverbs 27: 21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives. (NIV)

Proverbs 27: ²¹ As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. (KJV)

Proverbs 27: 12.  Depending on your Bible translation, this proverb refers to either the praise you get or to the praise you give. The point’s valid either way or both.

We worry often about critics/ haters.  But, the greatest danger to your characterdoesn’t come from being criticized.  It comes from praised.

Luke 6: 26      Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

27     “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you

How many artists and professionals can you name who were strong, and deep, and admirable when they were struggling or just beginning to taste success, but, when they became consistently popular, turned into buttholes who are self-destructively stuck on themselves?

When success makes you the object of praise, you have to be very careful that you don’t compromise the morals and spiritual disciplines that produced your success. 

God pulled down King Saul because Saul cared more for his image in front of the people than he did for obeying God (1 Samuel 15).  The serpent drew Eve to sin and lose Eden not by attacking her but by convincing that she was entitled to be like God (Genesis 3: 4-6).

The way you deal with receiving praise reveals your true character, and God judges you for your character not your image (1 Samuel 16: 7; Jeremiah 17: 10).

Also, the kind of praise you give shows who you really are.  Think carefully about why you care more about the bling and the ballin’ than you do about the message and the morals.    Consider what it says about the sickness of your heart if your first impulse is to say something that fuels drama and conflict, and you get mad when somebody “dips in” to stop a fight because now you’re bored.

Matthew 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

The praise you give can speak more truth about you than the praise you get.

Know who you are.  Let the Word of God, not the words of other people, tell you who you are supposed to be.  Accept and give praise accordingly.

----- 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

Bible Study #1 in the Book of Proverbs

Our Bible Study at HMCME is walking through the book of Proverbs, looping back to the beginning and following through all the principles in this powerful book.

Download the study guide (right click and save)

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

EDU5506EA SU12 FINAL PROJECT- ACTION PLAN

1.When I began this course my personal learning network consisted of Facebook friends, and  the followers of my church blog www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com. In the course of this course I’ve created a new blog, A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com and created a twitter account.  I also created a podcast, but I’d been podcasting on a weekly basis through www.hallmemorialcmechurch.podbean.com .

I’ve learned about a number of educational blogs, twitter accounts, podcasts, and other professional learning network opportunities.  My awareness has grown of  how mind-bogglingly diverse are the opportunities to interact with educators whom I’ve never actually met.  That has been intriguing, encouraging, slightly intimidating, and very, very cool.

My plan is to expand the use of A Word to the Wise, and twitter.  In particular I’ll  be blogging about RtI and my idea for re-conceptualizing the principles of the pyramid. 

2. In Elmore County schools, the policies on social networking range and fluctuate from a total ban to open season.  The biggest challenge to incorporating social networking tools is the apprehension some have with the technology tools and legitimate concerns that they’ll be misused.

As this course has delineated some of the approaches and uses of social networking, I’ve come to believe that the best approach to policing the use of social networking is to ignore the technological aspects of social networking.   

Yes, that is what I meant to say.

Technologies emerge, trend, disappear, and evolve too rapidly for any school system to say what technologies are and are not worthwhile.  Some school boards just got around to writing policies on MySpace usage.  .  Besides, it isn’t the tech that’s the problem.  It’s the content in the post and the context of the upload that really matter.

I’ll use my blog to promote a tech-blind policy.  Forget about chasing brand names.  (It’ll be 2015 before most anybody’s district policy mentions Instagram.) Focus on the content of posts regardless of the medium. 

There are certain kinds of things that a teacher should never ever say in any kind of recorded, repeatable, or public medium.  So, when Mrs. Soandso calls little Johnny “a whiny little butt-munch whose white trash parents should just hitch to a plow because he sure can’t pull his weight in algebra class,” the administrator in charge of her formal reprimand won’t have to decide whether she posted, tweeted, blogged, texted, emailed, painted it on a t-shirt, or wrote it on post-it note that’s pinned to the bulletin board in the teachers’ lounge.  The administrator only needs to determine that the statement made its way from Mrs. Soandso’s head and into the ears or eyes of the general public.    That kind of content is unacceptable for a public conversation, regardless of the technical means by which it became public.

Context of the upload is the other consideration of a tech-blind social networking policy.  Again, regardless of the means, if the activity involves the teacher transmitting information to persons outside of the classroom when the teacher is supposed to be supervising within the classroom, then the teacher is wrong.  The A.P. need to much concern himself/herself with whether the teacher was sending personal emails instead of monitoring the progress of students doing research, texting his/her spouse when he/she should have been listening to group presentations, uploading photos to facebook instead of making sure kids weren’t making out during the classroom movie, or venting about a friend in his/her diary instead of posting attendance.  If the information was transmitted when the teacher should have been doing something else, then for those moments of transmission the teacher was negligent of his/her duties. 

Of course content and /or context could also absolve a teacher.  If the post was to the class’s blog,  if the text was a digital “note to your mother,”  or if the status update was a “3^rd period is awesome” on the class facebook page parents follow throughout the day, then despite the use of technology, the content and context was completely appropriate and relevant to legitimate instructional ends. 

With a reasonable policy in place, educators would be able to find the collaborative uses that are content and context appropriate and instructionally beneficial to them. 

3.I also see the new blog and professional learning network as a means for educating parents about parenting.  I want to engage parents, especially parents of unsuccessful students in real conversation about some harsh realities and real solutions.  It’s been difficult to use the traditional/ real-life parent conference format.  The parents of the “worst” kids don’t generally join the PTA, and the typical parent-teacher organization isn’t exactly a good format for frank discussion.  I’ll be developing a PLN that serves that purpose.

Through my PLN I will be able to say what my administrative colleagues who still occupy a school office can’t say but oh so desperately want to.  I want to give voice to assistant principals who bite their tongues when what they want to say would really help but isn’t, professionally speaking, “their place to say.”  The PLN will be their place to say.  That may even be the name of a feature, “My Place to Say.”

When you have finished your blog post, post the URL of your blog in the class wiki so that your colleagues and facilitator can respond.

- Anderson T. Graves II

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 20. "Never Enough"

Proverbs 27: 20     Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Proverbs 27:20.  It’s never enough. 

People, animals, plants, and stars consume and when they are incapable of consuming more they are consumed themselves.

Even in humanity, made by God the Creator in His image, the engine of consumption churns, hungering for more---- more cupcakes & compliments, more gossip & gadgets, more attention & income, more sex & more shoes.  Tastes change, we look at different things but the eyes   hunger for whatever objects they view.

The lust of the eyes to have, the spirit of covetousness to take , the greedy heart that wants to be higher than----it’s a black hole that can grow but that can never be filled.

We seem to be a species incapable of saying and truly meaning, “O.K.  I’m good.  I don’t need anything more.”

And yeah.  I understand that we need, actually do physically need---the next meal, the next glass of water, another coat for winter.  I know that my desire for my wife is intentionally built into me by God.  I can even almost comprehend the explanation my wife gives for why she “needs” so many pairs of black shoes.

I’m not telling you, “Want nothing and you’ll have all.”  I’m telling you that the Bible says over and over that you can’t get or give enough stuff to fill the hole that you have inside.  (Ecclesiastes 5: 10, 11; James 4: 1-3; Matthew 6: 25-27)

Give people enough money that they don’t have to work for the rest of their lives and they’ll spend the rest of their lives working on how to spend the money.

Offer to do for someone every sexual favor he/she requests and they’ll stay up trying to think of what you haven’t done yet. 

You cannot bribe someone into happiness.  You cannot acquire enough things for yourself that you feel safe and satisfied.

Whoever dies with the most toys----is consumed by death just like whoever died without any.

James 4: 2     You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3     You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

We want it all, but no matter how much we accumulate, our accumulation never equals ALL.   Therefore, we are never satisfied.

Ecclesiastes 5: 10     He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase.  

God, however, actually, literally does have it all.

Matthew 6: 33     But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

If you link yourself to God then you connect to the only source capable of satisfying you in a complete way.  Once you find contentment in God, you become capable of living in a consumer universe without being obsessed with consuming. 

You can have and not lust.  You can obtain without murdering and coveting.  You can ask the right way for the right things not  so you can spend it on your selfish pleasures but so you can use it for the glory of God who is the source, the only source of contentment.

Jesus has defeated death and hell (1 Corinthians 15: 26, 54-57; Revelations 20: 14; .  Therefore, in Christ, we don’t have to live like those insatiable elements.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

You can actually be satisfied ------ with Jesus.

----- 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

FINISH WHAT THEY STARTED

The message this Sunday at 11 A.M. is a Word of encouragement and challenge

FINISH WHAT THEY STARTED!

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

IT'S ALL ABOUT CHEMISTRY ( Relationship Series, Message #1)

Many marriages explode or implode in divorce.  Some others remain technical intact but unstable. Yet, this is not the result God intends for that which He has joined together.

 In this first message in our monthly series on relationships, we go back to the beginning to understand what the basic elements of God really are and how to put them together in a way that yields happiness, joy, prosperity, and … well listen and you’ll see what else.

Marriage---- IT’S ALL ABOUT CHEMISTRY. 

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: 19 "Passing of Your Character"

Proverbs 27: 19     As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.

Proverbs 27: 19.  On yesterday I had my character passed. 

Now, for those of you not familiar with the particular administrative working of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, let me explain.

Every year in the CME Church, the pastors in the various regions across the globe come together and stand before their bishop, fellow pastors, and non-clergy delegates representing all the churches in their respective regions.  We pastors have to stand before God and them and one-by-one give a public “account of our labors in the last year.”   We answer a set of questions about our ministries, the state of our churches, and our progress within the church’s overall mission statement.

Question #13 (Interesting coincidence, huh?) is, “Are all the preachers blameless in their lives and official administration?”  

When that question comes up the Bishop calls your name, and in front of God and everybody asks, “Is there anything against Rev. Graves?” 

Dude, yeah.  She actually said “any thing.”

I could have protested, “Who are you to judge me?”

The answer from Bishop Teresa Snorton would have been, “I’m the bishop.”

We can complain all we want about critics and haters and hypocrites and how unjust and judgmental people are, but here’s the reality of my life and yours:  We will be judged. 

People will pass judgment on our character every doggone day.   In reality, as uncomfortable as it makes us, many of them---bosses, bishops, spouses, children, people we pastor---- have a legitimate interest in understanding what kind of fool they’re dealing with.

When the bishop asked the question of my character, I thought about a bunch of things that I should have included in the report of my ministry in the last year.  I’d forgotten the technology training I took, and I didn’t mention our church’s decision to show grace through radical hospitality. 

In other words, my character was being questioned without all of the relevant details of my history.  But that’s just the way it is. 

When other human beings judge you (legitimately or not), they’re probably judging your history, not actually your character. 

History is what you did.  Character is who you are.  And the difference is crucial.  See, God has used the bad I did back in the day to make me a much better man right now.  A person can take the good accomplished in the past and use it to fuel all kinds of evil and stupidity in the present. 

History affects character, but history doesn’t define character.

Before asking question #13, Bishop Snorton told all of us pastors to “First consider yourselves.”  Her full statement basically advised any pastor who knew that his/her character in the last year was wrong to put himself/herself in check so she didn’t have to. (At least that’s how I took it.)

You know all the details of your history and the whole truth of your character.  So, the greatest injustice isn’t when you think someone else has judged (or even misjudged) your character.  The greatest offense is when you misjudge yourself.

Even if your public history is full of damning details, you know --- you know if Jesus has cleansed your heart of all that garbage and you’re not that person anymore. 

If so, “Your character is passed.”

1 John 3: 21     Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

Even if you’ve moved through life in a way that has created a commendable publicly history, you know if your heart is actually full of hate, jealousy, filth, or unforgiveness.  You know if/that you’re really a horrible person but you’re too scared or too sane to do the dirt you want to.

If that’s the case, “Your character does not pass.”

No matter what you make everybody else believe about you, you know if you have some issues that you need to deal with.  And think: If you see that much against your character (not just your history), how much more does God see.

1 John 3:  20     For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

At the Conference, Bishop Snorton looked at me and asked, “Is there anything against Rev. Graves?”  There was a moment, just a beat, but it seemed like a loooooong moment before an Elder replied, “Nothing against him, Bishop.”

The bishop looked right in my eyes and said, “Rev. Graves, your character is passed.”

Find a mirror, take a hard look at yourself, and ask the questions you need to ask.  Don’t be quick to condemn yourself, and don’t be quick to absolve yourself either. 

Pause and consider your heart, your character. 

If your character passes, move on and let the judges judge based on whatever reports they receive. 

Whatever. 

You know who you are and Whose you are.

But, if your heart can’t pass your own character, remember that God is greater than your heart.  He knows how to create in you a clean heart and how to renew a right spirit within you. 

Let Him.
----- 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

PODCAST ASSIGNMENT FOR EDU5506EA

Here is the podcast assignment for EDU5506EA. 

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Anderson T. Graves II 

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 27: 18 "There's More to Reaping Than Sowing"

Proverbs 27: 18     Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit;
so he who waits on his master will be honored.

Proverbs 27: 18. In the church we talk much about sowing and reaping. That’s good.  However, we talk far less about tending and laboring, and that’s tragic.

Until my older sister and I moved out, we were the full-time labor force of the Graves family farm.  Daddy drove the tractor and I walked behind it dropping seeds and plants (sowing).  I added fertilizer to the soil to encourage growth.  In the months that followed planting season, my sister and I watered and weeded the young plants---- all so that we could come back in to the field and pick the fruits and vegetables of our labors. 

After Janifer and I moved out, while Daddy was still in good health he kept planting the same fields, but he never reaped the kind of harvest we had in the past.  He still had the same knowledge of agriculture.  The seeds and seedlings he used were good, in fact better every year.  The ground of Bassfield, Mississippi was as fertile as ever, but the increase at his harvests was less and less every year.

The problem was that he no longer had laborers to tend his fields.  He hired some part-time help from time to time, but that wasn’t the same; and Daddy was not inclined to shift from “supervisor” to daily, full-time field laborer.  Sometimes, whole crops were lost to the weeds.  Over time, the woods reclaimed most of the family farmland.

Good seed.  Good ground.  Good intentions.  But, without tending and laboring--- no harvest.

In Mark 4 & Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable(s) of the sower.  Jesus said that this story was foundational for understanding all of His metaphors (Mark 4: 13).    

But there’s a major point in this key parable that we often overlook: The Parable of the Sower teaches that: Sowing doesn’t necessarily lead to increase. 

Sometimes  seed sown from a noble heart with the best of intentions never even begins to produce profit (Mark 4: 4). Sometimes (Mark 4: 5,6) the seed begins to grow with great promise, but ultimately comes to nothing. 

Even when the conditions are good and the seed you’ve sown grows and blossoms, the promise of fruit is still in jeopardy because the enemy is active in all seasons (Matthew 13: 19, 24, 25), and he wants to sabotage the harvest.

So, a sower must also be a laborer.

If you expect increase from your sowing then you can’t walk away from the seed and expect the harvest to just happen for you.  You have to do what Adam was commanded to do in Genesis 2: 15, 16.  You have to tend and keep the garden.

(And by the way, the act of reaping is itself an act of labor.  Reaping/ harvesting is hard, dirty work.  We’ve gotten “reaping” confused with “receiving.”  So when modern Christians says, “I’ll reap what I sow,” too often in their heads they mean, “God will hand me stuff because I was a blessing to somebody one day way back.” 

Nah, dude.  Reaping means you go out there in the dirt and sweat with everybody else.  Otherwise, your fruit/ your increase stays on the vine and either nobody or somebody else takes your profit.)

Even if the seed you sowed into a ministry by your praise, or by your encouragement, or by your financial donation does not bear as much as you expected you can still walk in the promise of increase, because you are God’s servant, and  “the laborer is worthy of his wages” (Luke 10: 7; 1 Timothy 5: 18). 

But writing that check to that ministry does not guarantee that you will reap increase.  You’ve sown into the Kingdom, but if you don’t also labor in the Kingdom vineyard then there’s a good chance that nothing will come of your sowing.

Christians must shift from being supervisors-only to being laborers as well, from being spectators to being participants.  We’ve become a bunch of spiritual spectators or cheerleaders.  Cheering is a great activity.  My daughter’s a cheerleader and she is good at it.  But, as much as I enjoy the athletics of cheering; cheerleaders don’t win games. 

Shout and praise.  By all means shout and praise.  Encourage and rejoice.  That’s right.  That’s good. That’s necessary and commanded.  But a Sunday morning shout doesn’t feed the hungry on your church’s block.

Give.  Pay tithes.  Give offerings.  Make donations.  But even if some of your money goes to places where you don’t live, your time, talents, and tending need to go to a local ministry.

Once the seed is sown, even in the best of soil, there’ll be no fruit for harvest unless you and I work the fields.

Why hasn’t the seed you sowed into the ministry of such-and-such yielded the “increase” that was prophesied?  It doesn’t necessarily mean that the Word wasn’t legit.  It may be that weeds sprang up or were planted by the enemy around your  blessing.  When’d you last get out and pull weeds in God’s garden? 

Only God can give the increase, but make no mistake: increase is conditional upon labor over what has been sown.

1 Corinthians 3: 6     I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7     So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8     Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9     For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

Proverbs 27: 18. Whoever will tend and keep that which has been planted will reap what he/she sows.   Labor as your Master commanded and your wages are assured.

But do nothing, and you sow in vain.
 ----- 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

WORRIED ABOUT THE WRONG THING

“Worry” is a term that is troublesome to Christians in part because many believers think that worry, any kind of worry is sin.  That’s an error.  In truth, Jesus doesn’t tell us not to worry.  He tells us what to worry about.

Follow the message from New Testament to Old.  See the connection between Martha & Mary in the Old Testament and King Saul, his daughter, and King David in the New Testament.

The message is called Worried About the Wrong Thing

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