WHY I FAILED FIRST GRADE MATH

My first report card in 1st grade included an F in math.  I was a smart kid.  I had a great teacher.  I understood the concepts, and I had ample opportunity to practice the concepts as taught.  The reason I failed math is that I liked addition, and I didn’t like subtraction. 

Addition was cool.  You take two little numbers and turn them into one big number.  That was nice.  But subtraction turned two big numbers into one little bitty number.  That was mean, and I didn’t like it.  So I decided to add all of the math problems, even the ones that contained a minus sign.  Once I'd made that small reinterpretation of the principles, math became one of my favorite subjects.

In my mind, I had good reasons for changing the directions of the problems, but my reasons didn’t change the reality of the assignments.  Hence, the F in math on my first grade report card.

The Bible contains some uncomfortable directions.  There are things in scripture that sound uncool, even mean.  Many of us have really good personal reasons why we’d rather do, teach, and believe something other than what the directions in the Bible tell us.   We have the freedom to do that, but  neither our reasons nor our liberty change the reality of God’s revealed Word.

What a sad, sad shame it would be to spend a life joyfully and sincerely doing and teaching the opposite of what God’s Word, to exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1: 25) only to discover that the big red “F” doesn’t stand for “fine” or “faithful.” 

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.   As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.  (Galatians 1: 8, 9)

True Biblical doctrine isn't always as nice or as cool as we imagine it could be; but it’s still the Truth.  And we owe it to God, to the world, and to ourselves to deliver the Truth no matter how much we dislike the problems that come from faithfully speaking what the Bible honestly says.

 Jesus said: Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5: 19)

---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

NOBODY'S PERFECT?

I AM NOT PERFECT.  I'm really, really, really far from anywhere near perfect.

But, we do a great disservice to the Christian walk in how we use the mantra that "Nobody's perfect."   On the one hand, knowing that "nobody's perfect" reminds us that we all need a Savior because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Remembering that "nobody's perfect" reminds us to stay humble,, to constantly examine our own lives, and to continually seek the grace of God .  After all, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1: 8-10). 

When we say "nobody's perfect" we are saying "everybody sins."  And that’s not necessarily true.  It’s true that everybody HAS sinned.  But the way we mean “nobody’s perfect” we draw every single human being in history (excluding Jesus) into the circle of spiritual imperfection and sin; and it extends the presence of personal sin across every moment of every life past, present, AND FUTURE.

When we say "nobody's perfect" we are saying that "nobody can be perfect."  We take the doctrine that everybody has sinned and add to it the doctrine that everybody's going to.

We are hold the idea that NOBODY has, does, or will live for any significant amount of time without violating God's law, grace, Word, or will.  We make sin a universal inevitability.  

We even go so far as to project sin onto people when we don’t see any. 
We say, “Everybody’s got something.  You don’t know what they do behind closed doors.”   True. We don’t know, do we; but we assume that it must be something bad.  They can’t really be good.  They can’t really be holy. 

We say that nobody can be perfect. 

But that’s not what God says.

God says that  the man named Job was blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.( Job 1: 8)

God says that Elizabeth and Zacharias were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Luke 1: 6).

Jesus said didn't say "nobody can be perfect."  He said Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.  (Matthew 5: 48)

Yes, we will all be perfect in Heaven; but in Matthew 5: 48, Jesus wasn’t talking about Heaven.  He was talking about the way His disciples were to  live day-by-day in this life. 

Jesus told us to BE PERFECT---- in this life.  In the midst of suffering  like Job. In the midst of uncertainty about God’s revelation, like Zacharias. 

And sometimes we will get it wrong, but that doesn’t mean that we have to sin.  Job made mistakes.  Zacharias made mistakes.  But those mistakes, those errors in human judgment were not sin.

Perfection, as Jesus commanded does not mean the absence of human error.  It doesn’t mean that you’ll never add up your change wrong, or pick the wrong investment, or take the wrong exit off the interstate, or  draw the wrong conclusion about what’s happening around you.   Perfection as commanded ----- COMMANDED!-------by Jesus means that you don’t choose any action that breaks God’s heart. 

At the point we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we are cleansed from ALL  unrighteousness and we stand before Him made new, made clean, washed, purged, reconciled, and justified.  In other words, PERFECT.
We can choose from that moment or from the next moment we receive forgiveness to live in spiritual perfection.  Not without error, but without sin.

Perfection is a much higher standard than being just a little bit better.  It is a scarily high standard.  But that’s why it’s called the upward call or the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3: 14)

We prefer the lower standard because when we believe that "nobody can be perfect" that "everybody sins" it comforts us.  It softens the pain of our spiritual faults and moral failings.  "Nobody's perfect" gives us a standing excuse for being less that the Lord saved us to be.  It allow us to set our standards for ourselves lower than Christ set His standard for us.  We don't have to pursue perfection.  We don't have to groan after it.   Instead we press toward the mark of "a little bit better than we used to be."  And we generally hit that mark.  Which is good.  It's good to be better.  But better is supposed to be the beginning, not the end.

The doctrine of "Nobody's perfect" has become a shield to protect us from judgment and guilt.  We throw it out with self-justifying zeal such that you'd think we were doing God a favor by sinning and thus proving that "we all fall short sometimes."

We have all fallen short, but we're not supposed to keep falling for the same sins.  We have all sinned, but we are not supposed to keep on sinning. 

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us ( Hebrews 12:1)

I AM NOT PERFECT.  I'm really, really, really far from anywhere near perfect.

But I'm not the standard am I?  I'm not the author of the standards, am I?  You may not know anybody who’s spiritually perfect.  But they’re not the standard are they?

The pressure of our peers’ surrender to a sense of inevitable future sin does not override the express Word of God------does it?

Lay aside the sin.  Press toward the mark.  Not in your own strength, but looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12: 2)

Jesus wrote the story, and He will personally bring the final chapter to a close; and the Author says that your role and mine in the tale is to  be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

What difference would it make in the Church’s impact in this world if we Christians no longer accepted our own sin but fought it?  What difference would it make if instead of shrugging at our sin, we wept over them?  What difference would it make if we pursued personal holiness more than we pursued public pettiness and prettiness?

What a difference it would make if we stopped listening to what we say about being perfect and started listening to what Jesus said.

---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

WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

It’s a simple question but the answer can both deepen and elevate our praise, our worship, and the day-to-day way we experience the presence and power of Jesus Christ.

No matter how much or how little you have in material riches, this Thanksgiving can be a transforming moment in your life, if you learn the lessons of a message wrapped up in the question: WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?
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

WHY WOULDN'T YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Before my kids leave for school in the morning, we read and discuss a passage from the Bible.  Recently the scripture was Proverbs 11: 15.

He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure.  

I explained that surety is collateral, something you put up for a loan to assure the lender that if the debt isn’t paid, then he can take the collateral/ surety as payment.   In ancient times, people could actually pledge themselves as collateral/ surety for someone else’s debt.  If the borrower defaulted (couldn’t pay) then the lender could take your stuff or even sell you into slavery.

The modern version of being surety for someone is called CO-SIGNING for a loan.

Being an educator, I followed up the explanation with a review.

Me:  So, do you understand what surety means now?

My 10 year old son:  Yeah----- RANSOM.

A pause.  A tilt of my head.  A nod.

There are people who say that the Bible isn’t relevant to our modern lives.  I think those people aren’t paying very much attention to what the Bible says.  Maybe they’re only listening to what people say about what the Bible says.

Today, there are a ten year old and a fifteen year old in central Alabama who already understand the danger of co-signing for a loan, apartment, or credit card.  Before they get their first jobs, credit cards, or checking accounts they understand the gravity of asking somebody to “just co-sign for me.”

That lesson in financial literacy didn’t come from a course in school, or a workbook on household economics.  It came out of this ancient book, written over thousands of years, by dozens of different authors, then translated, collated, and reissued multiple times as  holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.(2 Peter 1: 21)  

So if you don’t think that reading the Word of God is “relevant,” then you must be doing it wrong.

ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3: 16)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

THE TRUTH ABOUT HEAVEN

So everybody knows what Heaven’s going to be like, right?  Clouds, and wings, and elevator music?
The Bible presents Heaven as the ultimate goal and reward for believers, but how much of our image of this place is truly based on scripture, and how much is well----wrong?

Be prepared to challenge your assumptions.  Take a look at what the Word of God says about our eternal destination. 

Hear a message called THE TRUE STORY OF HEAVEN.

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

I'm not saying Whom, but Somebody's Wrong

Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar...(Romans 3: 4)

It is absolutely true that anybody can be wrong about the Bible.  That’s why you should never totally just take a preacher’s word for what the Bible says or means.  You should listen carefully, check the Bible for yourself, read the full context of the scriptures, cross-reference the quoted verses against other verses,  and pray.  Pray, pray, pray for God to show you the truth or error of the preacher’s message. 

The sermon is where your truth-seeking can begin, but the sermon is never where your personal truth seeking should terminate.

Anybody, even the most highly-credentialed and well-intentioned man/ woman of God can be wrong about the Bible.   That is absolutely true.

But.

It is absolutely WRONG to say that everybody is RIGHT about God and the Bible.

Who am I to say that somebody else is wrong in their interpretation of God?  I’m nobody. 

But God said that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation (2 Peter 1: 20).

It sound quite progressive and enlightened to talk about every individual finding his or her own truth in scripture.  That sounds good, but it is absolutely incorrect.

I’m not the ultimate judge of whose interpretation of any given is closest to the original Author’s intents.   Multiple interpretations are right, but multiple other interpretations are wrong.

And just because an interpretation is sincere doesn’t mean that it’s accurate.

In 2 Samuel 7, the prophet Nathan sincerely endorsed David’s plan to build a temple to God.  Nathan was sincerely wrong.
In Kings 13, an old prophet sincerely sought out another prophet, telling him that God wanted him to dine at his house that evening.  The old prophet contradicted the Word of God that had been given to the younger prophet.  Only one of those interpretations was correct.  Following the wrong interpretation cost the young man of God his life.

Jeremiah 27 relates the powerful and inspiring words of prophets who said declared an decreed that Israel would not go into exile in Babylon while Jeremiah sadly proclaimed that exile was inevitable.   They weren’t all right.

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you…(2  Peter 2: 1)

 

No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation (2 Peter 1: 20).

Each of us has to test their words against the whole counsel of The Word.  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1)

 “This works for me” does not validate scripture, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1: 21)

Ultimately, what’s supposed to happen is that the Bible interprets our lives more than our life experiences interpret the Bible.

Anybody can be right, but everybody can’t be.

---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 Whisper and a Nudge

Sometimes it’s what people say that makes you stop and listen more closely.  Sometimes it’s how they say it. 

The same thing is true about God.

1 Samuel 9: 15     Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, 16     “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

17     So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.” (New King James Version)

It was the wording of verse 15 that made stop and re-read this morning.  …the Lord had told Samuel in his ear…    Of course not every translation uses this exact phrasing.  You could say simply that the Lord told, said, or revealed to; but the word in the original language means to uncover the ear.

So the right image to have in your mind is of God leaning down, cupping His hand around Samuel’s ear, and whispering, “Don’t worry, Sammy.  In about twenty-four hours, I’m going to send you guys some help.”

And then.  The next day as Saul (who doesn’t know about any of this) is wandering past, God nudges Samuel in the ribs and whispers, “Pssst.  Sammmy, that’s  him.  That’s the guy I was telling you about yesterday.  That’s the one who’s going to help you.”

Now, imagine God leaning down, cupping His hand around your ear, and whispering to you in a still, small, voice.   Imagine the Lord standing by you, gently nudging you as your blessing passes by,  even when the bearer of the blessing doesn’t know why they’re there.   We know Biblically that God does that, but are you sensitized to God’s whispering voice in your ear?    

Sure, you can hear a prophetic word when it’s declared from a pulpit.  Of course you notice great healing and miraculous provision.   Thunder and lightning, tongues, and dreams, and all spectacular forms of revelation:  you know about those. 

But what about the soft whispers?  What about the gentle nudges?

How many blessings have you missed because you weren’t used to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit?  How many more blessings will walk right past you because you shrug off God’s little nudge in your side?
Learn to hear Him in the quiet times when you’re not even asking for anything in particular.  Learn to feel His touch when you’re not begging for a healing hand.  Over time you’ll be able to hear His whisper even when everyone else around you is screaming.  And then, you won’t have to miss any more blessings.

---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