The personal blog of Anderson T. Graves II. Education, Religion, Politics, Family, and TRUTH------ but not necessarily the truth you want to hear.
I still love ya' though.
Chapter 10 in the book of Daniel brings
our series into the prophet’s final vision, and a reminder that when it looks
like God isn’t listening, it only LOOKS that way.
This sermon is about GOD MAKING MOVES YOU CAN’T SEE.
--Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
In our series in the book of Daniel,
chapter 9 goes back to a time when Daniel had (another) new boss and a really
bad mood. The solution, Daniel finds, is
to do a thing we don’t want to do.
The title of the sermon is: NO
MORE “ONE DAY THEY.”
--Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
The increments by which we measure hours, days, weeks, months, and
years are invented things which we alter according to need and import. In the world before fast-moving trains, international
shipping lanes, and global communication forced standardization with Western
time-keeping, a major cultural change, like a new king, a new religion, or a
natural disaster was frequently commemorated by changing the calendar. God participated
in that tradition, marking the emancipation
of the Old Testament Hebrews by changing the count of time.
Freedom is revolutionary, so God cleverly ordained that the Jews
should equate their national liberation as a new year, a new “revolution”
around the sun.
This month shall be your
beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you (Exodus 12:2).
But, at the beginning of Exodus chapter 12, freedom for Israel did not
feel imminent. Pharaoh had resisted Moses, Moses’ God, and their radical
progressive agenda of liberation and ethnic self-determination. Through 10 rounds of negotiation, Pharaoh
had refused to let God’s people go. When last Moses had approached Pharaoh, the
king ended talks by threatening to have the prophet executed.
Then Pharaoh said to him,
“Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the
day you see my face you shall die!” (Exodus 10:28)
Yet, God promised that within 2 weeks of the beginning of their new,
new year Pharaoh Pharaoh will let you go
from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether
(Exodus 11:1).
Pharaoh had grown more and more hard-hearted with each cataclysm God sent
upon Egypt. Why would he change his mind
now? How could the times change THAT
quickly?
Why did the United States of America abolish slavery after a century
of protecting the wicked institution? It wasn’t because the leaders of the
United States suddenly felt morally convicted by the abolitionist sermons
they’d ignored all their lives.
America freed its slaves because the Civil War killed or wounded more
than 5% of the population (1.5 million
reported casualties, not counting civilians, of an 1860 population of 31
million people). The Civil War was the great
plague necessary to force the liberation of God’s Black people in America.
Some times only change because the times are made so brutally hard
that the powers at the time are forced to change.
At midnight on the 14th
day of the first month of their changed time, God would send a final plague
upon the Egyptian slaveholders. A deliberate,
intelligent spirit, an angel from God, would kill every man, woman, child, and
domesticated animal in Egypt that was the firstborn of its family. The
casualties would be so high that Egypt, like 1860’s America, would let God’s
people go.
Some times only change because the times are made so brutally hard
that the powers at the time are forced to change.
Without the great plague that was the Civil War, American abolition
would have been delayed indefinitely.
Without the horrors of the first Passover, Pharaoh would not have let God’s
people go.
PASSOVER is the celebration, the sanctification of blood shed in the
revolution of liberation. On the
10th of their new, new year’s month, the descendants of Israel held in Goshen were to gather as families and eat
their LAST SUPPER as slaves.
Speak to all the
congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall
take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a
household. . . Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or
from the goats (Exodus
12: 3 - 5).
PASSOVER was offered to every member of God’s community. No one, no matter their socioeconomic
condition was to be excluded from the table.
And if the household is
too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it
according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall
make your count for the lamb (Exodus 12:4).
The enslaved community came together, pooling their resources around
the Lord’s table as a united community.
A community union. A COMMUNION.
PASSOVER, COMMUNION, THE LAST SUPPER of a people in bondage took place
under THE BLOOD.
And they shall take some
of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses
where they eat it
(Exodus 12:7).
People who prefer their steaks and chops rare claim that the meat is
“juicy.” That’s not juice, though. That’s blood.
In our “civilized” era, most people are far removed from the bloody process
of taking an animal and turning it into meat.
Ancient people couldn’t delude themselves about the ugliness required to
provide for their families. Israel’s new
ritual required them to take a sheep (representing innocence) or a goat (representing
mean guilt) slit its throat, drain the blood into a basin, take that blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the
lintel of the houses where they eat it (Exodus 12: 8).
Up-and-down and then across, every Hebrew home was marked with THE
BLOOD. The blood of the innocent who
took upon Him the guilt of a people.
Up-and-down and then across, the people of God marked the change in the
revolutionary change in their times by coming under THE BLOOD of the Innocent
who was killed like the guilty are killed; who gave body and blood to His
people to set the people free. On a night of wrath, and death, and
revolution, the blood of the lamb purchased mercy for those in a believing
household.
Redemption is freedom from sin and the condemnation of eternal death. All freedom is revolutionary, and every
revolution is an ugly, brutal thing. The
Civil War, the death of the firstborn in Egypt, the Cross.
Jesus, as God manifest, transcends time. He is “I am.” He is present, future, and past;
so His death as the innocent lamb of God was the revolutionary sacrifice that liberates
believers across time from the slave wages of sin. The judgment of God passes over us who are
under the blood of Christ. It is a new
birth. A new life. A new beginning that extends into all time.
Times change, but more importantly, Christ changes ---- everything.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME
Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word
to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
A
Word about destinations and destiny and how to avoid taking the long way ‘round. I am preaching through the book of Exodus and
this message is from Exodus 23:20-33.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor
of Miles
Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance
Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National
Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
First
in the Advent 2017 preaching series is the story of a family that waited so
long for their blessing they didn’t believe it when it came. Inspired by a classic r & b song, the
title of the sermon is: A CHANGE
GONE COME.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor
of Miles
Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance
Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National
Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Jacob and his family
were on their way. They had cut the cord
that bound them to Big Daddy Laban and his familia in Syria. They had gotten out with their money and
investments (sheep, oxen, cattle, camels, etc.). Now they were on the way to Canaan, where
Jacob would collect his inheritance and they would live the good life that God
had promised.
On the way, a band
of angels met Jacob. It reminded him of
the dream he’d had at Bethel when God had promised him land “to the west and
the east, to the north and the south,” descendants as numerous “as the dust of
the earth,” and a share in the destiny of Abraham that “in you and in your seed
all the families of the earth shall be blessed “ (Genesis 28:13-15).
It was a powerful
moment for Jacob. When he’d left Canaan 20 years earlier he didn’t even have an
extra bedroll to use as a pillow. Now
his family and possessions were twice the size of a typical caravan (Genesis
32:10). “. . . And he called the name of that place
Mahanaim” (Genesis 32:2). Mahanaim
means double camp.
Jacob was so caught
up in this double-sized moment because he sent riders 100 miles south to find
Esau and describe how successful he had become.
You remember Esau,
right? The brother from whom Jacob had
purchased, or extorted, or defrauded (depending on your perspective) of his
birthright as firstborn. Remember that the
last time they’d seen each other 20 years earlier, he’d promised to murder
Jacob? Jacob the not-warrior leading a
double-sized camp of women, children, and non-warrior goatherders sent servants
to THAT Esau bragging about how rich he was and where his unprotected camp
could be located.
Clearly he didn’t
think that through because when the messengers returned to inform him that yes,
the brother who swore to kill you is on his way to your unprotected camp with
400 men, Genesis 32: 7 says “Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”
He thought about
running.
“ . . . he divided
the people that were with him, and
the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. And he said, ‘If Esau
comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left
will escape’ “ (Genesis 32:7-8).
He tried praying.
Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,
the Lord . . . Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my
brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. (Genesis
32:9-12).
He tried bribery.
“So he lodged there
that same night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his
brother. . . For he said, ‘I will appease him with the present that goes before
me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.’ ” (Genesis
32:13-21).
Night dragged on and
Jacob sent his family away while he stayed where Esau knew to find him. He was
waiting for Esau to kill him. The attack
came, but not from Esau.
A Man, an angel, THE
Angel wrestled with Jacob all night long (Genesis 32:24), and Job repeatedly lost,
but he refused to tap out.
The “Man” dislocated
Jacob’s hip but Jacob wouldn’t stop grappling.
He said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” The Angel replied,
“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled
with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:25-28).
The Angel could have
dislocated Jacob’s shoulder or snapped his neck. He could’ve just poof! disappeared. Jacob didn’t “prevail” by winning. He won by not giving up.
“But he who endures
to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
Now, compare your story
to Jacob’s:
Has anyone believed greater
for you than you believed for? Don’t
give up.
Have you gotten caught
up in your family’s drama? Don’t give
up.
You ever been bullied? Don’t give up.
Ever thought you
were too smart to be played, but you weren’t?
Don’t give up.
Did you think they’d
be happy for you, but realize they weren’t?
Don’t give up.
Ever press against
God’s will even while you were praying for God to save you? Left that one limping, didn’t you? Get right.
Get humble. But don’t give up.
You will face
overwhelming odds. You will be pressured
to alter your path by people who don’t understand your destiny. You will feel compelled to tell people what
they want to hear. Don’t give up.
Just keep going
until all the world has been blessed by the life you live.
Oh, and don’t forget
to praise God along the way.
“Then he erected an
altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.” (Genesis 33:20)
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T.
Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
My great-grandmother used to say, “Some people know all and no nothing.” This was the problem among the disciples on Resurrection
Sunday. They were so sure that they knew
all they needed to know about what happened to Jesus that they almost missed
the most important Truth in history.
Hear how they came to accept the Resurrection and learn how we can
experience powerful revelation in our lives, even what God is doing goes beyond
what we know. It’s a message for Easter and every day called BEYOND WHAT
YOU KNOW.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a
writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;
executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
And I [Daniel] heard
a man’s voice between the banks of
the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”
So he came near where
I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me,
“Understand, son of man, that the vision refers
to the time of the end.”
Now, as he was
speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he
touched me, and stood me upright. And he said, “Look, I am
making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the
indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be.” (Daniel 8:16-19)
I
know that as a Christian and especially as a preacher and minister to the community, I’m supposed to be like
Jesus. That is my ambition, but
honestly, most of the time I feel a lot more like Gabriel.
I’m
a messenger, just the messenger, but I’m doing my best to make the people
understand. Still, my people have fallen asleep. Some are mentally off in la-la
land. Others (and this is the most
frustrating group) are spiritually asleep and unconcerned for the state of
their souls and all the souls around them.
I
want to do like my brother Gabriel. I
want to snatch them up and say, “Look, man! I’m trying to help you out here. I’m telling you what’s coming!”
he touched me, and
stood me upright. And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what
shall happen
I
feel Gabriel’s pain. He got frustrated
dealing with us humans.
I
mean, you keep going out and telling these people what God told you to tell them. And even when the message is literally the
answer to their deepest prayer (Luke 1:13), they have the audacity to demand another
miracle to validate the miracle of revelation you just delivered.
And Zacharias said
to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is
well advanced in years.” (Luke 1: 18)
Sometimes
you just want to say, “Shut up talking to me.”
And the angel answered
and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was
sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be
mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you
did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” (Luke 1: 18-20)
I
understand Gabriel’s reaction. But that’s
not what messengers are supposed to do.
It’s
not for me to cut off communication when my God-assigned task is to
communicate. Discourse can be
irritating, but dialogue is and has always been the best way to make this man understand.
And
that, I think, is why Gabriel was so much nicer when he talked to Mary six months
later. (Luke 1: 26,27)
Mary
asked basically the same question that Zacharias had.
Then Mary said to the
angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1: 34)
But
Gabriel didn’t tell Mary to shut up for 9 months. Instead, he patiently made the woman
understand.
And the angel answered
and said to her, “The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Now indeed, Elizabeth your
relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth
month for her who was called barren.
For with God nothing
will be impossible.” (Luke 1: 34-37)
I
think God rebuked Gabriel after the Zacharias incident. I think that Gabriel did some serious
introspection in the months following his blow-up in the temple, and by the
time he came to Nazareth, the angelic messenger was back on his game.
The
people to whom he was sent had not heard God’s voice the way he heard it. They had not spent the same hours in the Presence, studying,
reflecting, praying, and wrestling through the message he had to deliver. By the time he started speaking, the Word
was a part of him, as clear and obvious as breath and light.
But
they had never heard this message before.
Not exactly like this. They
needed to process the Word. They needed
to test the Word against life. They
needed to go see how the Word was operating in other lives, like Mary going to
see how miraculous pregnancy looked on Elisabeth. (Luke 1: 39,40)
We
messengers want our messages to bear fruit.
But sometimes the message is a seed.
And seeds take time to take root and grow before fruit is evident.
God
had to tell Gabriel to calm down and be patient.
I
know how Gabriel feels.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director
of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
