FOCUS ON THE DREAM (audio)

From the beginning of Romans chapter 8 we have a message in the series through the book of Romans.  The title of the sermon is: FOCUS ON THE DREAM

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/   

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---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer, and consultant  

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

Email: BaileyTabernacleChurch@comcast.net

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Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Bailey Tabernacle CME Church

1117 23^rd Avenue

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST(IANS)

Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 

2 Corinthians 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 

1 Pet 4:13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

The Bible repeatedly says that we Christians suffer with Jesus.  We participate in Jesus’ suffering.  Jesus’ pain is our pain.

How is that even possible?

In the past, Christians have misunderstood this concept to refer only to Jesus’ physical pain.  Some went so far as to whip themselves and physically nail each other to crosses in order to partake of Christ’s suffering.  We have to admire their commitment to the process, but they missed the point.

Jesus’ suffering didn’t begin with physical torture and crucifixion, and it didn’t end there (Hebrews 6: 6).

Every day that Jesus walked in a world that He had created and loved and experienced rejection (Luke 13: 34) ----- He suffered.  Every time Jesus told people the Truth, the liberating, soul-saving, life-abounding Truth, and they called Him crazy (Mark 3: 20, 21), and they called Him possessed (Mark 3: 22), and they talked about His mama (John 9: 34)----- Jesus suffered.

The sufferings of Christ were not limited to the excruciating physical pain of the Passion.   They hurt Jesus’ feelings.  They broke Jesus’ heart.  They betrayed Jesus.  They refused to receive Him.  They cut Him off from the support of the established institutions of worship.  And it hurt because He loved them.

Most Western Christians won’t ever have physically suffer for the gospel, but  to the extent that we expect to participate in Jesus’ glory, we should expect to also partake of Christ’s suffering (1 Peter 4: 13).

Today, Christians generally understand that they don’t have to be physically beaten or fed to lions in a coliseum as a condition of church membership.   But somehow we have adopted the incorrect idea that the absence of physical suffering means also the absence of ANY suffering. 

It’s an enticing view.  The problem is that it’s exactly the opposite of what Jesus said.

Jesus said In the world you will have tribulation (John 16: 33).

He promised that we would overcome this world and it’s tribulations, but in the meantime---- it would still hurt.

Paul preached that There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8: 1).  Believers are exempted from eternal condemnation.   We are not exempted from earthly pain.

Isaiah declared that no weapon formed against us can shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment has to face the condemnation of God.  But read the rest of Isaiah and see that the weapons will strike you.  Read the rest of Isaiah and see that those hateful tongues will speak their hateful words.  Those words and those weapons will hurt.

In Christ, we cannot be defeated.  But we can be wounded.

In Jesus there is no condemnation.  But, there is suffering.  

The power of the Christian life is that though we suffer from time to time, we have consistent, crazy, doesn’t-make-sense-to-feel-so-good-while-things-are-going-so-bad peace that passes understanding.

The power of the Christian life is that though bad things happen to good people, good people do not have to become bad.

Our victory is already assured, but so also is our suffering. 

When we misunderstand the Biblical truth of suffering then we force ourselves to live lies of self-inflicted suffering or self-deluding denial of suffering .  The Lord does not want you to hurt yourself.  It is not piety to make yourself miserable.   But the Lord does want you to endure suffering when it comes instead of blaming yourself for not being invulnerable to it in the first place.

It’s O.K. to hurt. It’s Christian to feel pain.  Stop pretending it doesn’t hurt “in the name of Jesus.”  Jesus wept.  It’s all right if you want to do the same.

Two truths that are true at the same time:

     Weeping does endure for the night.
     And JOY DOES COME IN THE MORNING.

As Paul wrote,
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;

We are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
Struck down, but not destroyed—
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
(2 Corinthians 4: 8-10)

---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 SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST(IANS)

Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 

2 Corinthians 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 

1 Pet 4:13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

The Bible repeatedly says that we Christians suffer with Jesus.  We participate in Jesus’ suffering.  Jesus’ pain is our pain.

How is that even possible?

In the past, Christians have misunderstood this concept to refer only to Jesus’ physical pain.  Some went so far as to whip themselves and physically nail each other to crosses in order to partake of Christ’s suffering.  We have to admire their commitment to the process, but they missed the point.

Jesus’ suffering didn’t begin with physical torture and crucifixion, and it didn’t end there (Hebrews 6: 6).

Every day that Jesus walked in a world that He had created and loved and experienced rejection (Luke 13: 34) ----- He suffered.  Every time Jesus told people the Truth, the liberating, soul-saving, life-abounding Truth, and they called Him crazy (Mark 3: 20, 21), and they called Him possessed (Mark 3: 22), and they talked about His mama (John 9: 34)----- Jesus suffered.

The sufferings of Christ were not limited to the excruciating physical pain of the Passion.   They hurt Jesus’ feelings.  They broke Jesus’ heart.  They betrayed Jesus.  They refused to receive Him.  They cut Him off from the support of the established institutions of worship.  And it hurt because He loved them.

Most Western Christians won’t ever have physically suffer for the gospel, but  to the extent that we expect to participate in Jesus’ glory, we should expect to also partake of Christ’s suffering (1 Peter 4: 13).

Today, Christians generally understand that they don’t have to be physically beaten or fed to lions in a coliseum as a condition of church membership.   But somehow we have adopted the incorrect idea that the absence of physical suffering means also the absence of ANY suffering. 

It’s an enticing view.  The problem is that it’s exactly the opposite of what Jesus said.

Jesus said In the world you will have tribulation (John 16: 33).

He promised that we would overcome this world and it’s tribulations, but in the meantime---- it would still hurt.

Paul preached that There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8: 1).  Believers are exempted from eternal condemnation.   We are not exempted from earthly pain.

Isaiah declared that no weapon formed against us can shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment has to face the condemnation of God.  But read the rest of Isaiah and see that the weapons will strike you.  Read the rest of Isaiah and see that those hateful tongues will speak their hateful words.  Those words and those weapons will hurt.

In Christ, we cannot be defeated.  But we can be wounded.

In Jesus there is no condemnation.  But, there is suffering.  

The power of the Christian life is that though we suffer from time to time, we have consistent, crazy, doesn’t-make-sense-to-feel-so-good-while-things-are-going-so-bad peace that passes understanding.

The power of the Christian life is that though bad things happen to good people, good people do not have to become bad.

Our victory is already assured, but so also is our suffering. 

When we misunderstand the Biblical truth of suffering then we force ourselves to live lies of self-inflicted suffering or self-deluding denial of suffering .  The Lord does not want you to hurt yourself.  It is not piety to make yourself miserable.   But the Lord does want you to endure suffering when it comes instead of blaming yourself for not being invulnerable to it in the first place.

It’s O.K. to hurt. It’s Christian to feel pain.  Stop pretending it doesn’t hurt “in the name of Jesus.”  Jesus wept.  It’s all right if you want to do the same.

Two truths that are true at the same time:

     Weeping does endure for the night.
     And JOY DOES COME IN THE MORNING.

As Paul wrote,
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;

We are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
Struck down, but not destroyed—
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
(2 Corinthians 4: 8-10)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proverbs 31: 8 "JUDGE & ADVOCATE"

Proverbs 31: 8     Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.
9     Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8, 9.  A king had the authority to order an execution.  He was also the last hope of appeal from a death sentence issued by a lower authority in the kingdom.   It was the king’s right and responsibility to HEAR appeals from those who’d been appointed to die, but read carefully the message to/from King Lemuel.  

The king’s job wasn’t just to hear appeals from the ultimate condemnation.  The king’s job was also to MAKE THE APPEAL, to open his own mouth on behalf of those who did not have the resources, power, or eloquence to plead for their own lives.

Basically, whenever the condemned person had no one else to plead his/her case, a righteous king was supposed to try to talk himself out of ordering the execution.

Now, to be clear---- justice demands the ultimate penalty in certain cases (Romans 13: 3, 4).  A ruler who just lets everybody go is just as unjust as one who arbitrarily punishes everybody.

Justice is not automatically served by severity or by leniency.  Justice, godly justice, demands that somebody speaks for the prosecution and somebody speaks for the defense.  A leader, a godly judge, seeks justice so when no one speaks for the defense, the judge himself must be both judge and advocate. 

That wouldn’t work in America’s court system; but it works just fine for God.

Jesus is the Supreme judge, the last seat of appeal for the sentence of eternal condemnation.

John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son

When we stand before Him, the indisputable evidence of our sins condemns us all. 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…

When we stand before God in judgment we stand already condemned, and we stand alone----- without defense and without an alibi.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

But God is absolutely just.  So Jesus -----if we have received Him by placing our faith in Him----- acts as our defense attorney in judgment.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

That’s why the Holy Spirit showed a courtroom scene to the Old Testament prophet Zechariah’s.

Zechariah 3:1     Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

2     And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3     Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4     Then He[the Lord acting as advocate] answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5     And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”
So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.

Notice in Zechariah 3:2, that the Lord is talking about the Lord.  Jesus, who is God, King, & Judge, is talking Himself out of condemning His condemned servant.

What is the greatest punishment within your power to assign?  Firing? Cussing out?  Assault? Destruction of a reputation?  Divorce?  Death?

Sometimes, the ultimate judgment is fitting (Matthew 25: 46).

But you must never issue that ultimate judgment lightly?  Even when the accused seems obviously deserving, especially when the accused has no power to stop you or to protect themselves----- you must pause in judgment and try to talk yourself out of issuing your ultimate sentence?

And if you can’t, if justice demands the highest condemnation, then execute the judgment soberly, with a heavy heart.  Since holy, sinless, perfect God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33: 11);  then neither should we.

---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 .

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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 31: 8 "JUDGE & ADVOCATE"

Proverbs 31: 8     Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.
9     Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8, 9.  A king had the authority to order an execution.  He was also the last hope of appeal from a death sentence issued by a lower authority in the kingdom.   It was the king’s right and responsibility to HEAR appeals from those who’d been appointed to die, but read carefully the message to/from King Lemuel.  

The king’s job wasn’t just to hear appeals from the ultimate condemnation.  The king’s job was also to MAKE THE APPEAL, to open his own mouth on behalf of those who did not have the resources, power, or eloquence to plead for their own lives.

Basically, whenever the condemned person had no one else to plead his/her case, a righteous king was supposed to try to talk himself out of ordering the execution.

Now, to be clear---- justice demands the ultimate penalty in certain cases (Romans 13: 3, 4).  A ruler who just lets everybody go is just as unjust as one who arbitrarily punishes everybody.

Justice is not automatically served by severity or by leniency.  Justice, godly justice, demands that somebody speaks for the prosecution and somebody speaks for the defense.  A leader, a godly judge, seeks justice so when no one speaks for the defense, the judge himself must be both judge and advocate. 

That wouldn’t work in America’s court system; but it works just fine for God.

Jesus is the Supreme judge, the last seat of appeal for the sentence of eternal condemnation.

John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son

When we stand before Him, the indisputable evidence of our sins condemns us all. 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…

When we stand before God in judgment we stand already condemned, and we stand alone----- without defense and without an alibi.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

But God is absolutely just.  So Jesus -----if we have received Him by placing our faith in Him----- acts as our defense attorney in judgment.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

That’s why the Holy Spirit showed a courtroom scene to the Old Testament prophet Zechariah’s.

Zechariah 3:1     Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

2     And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3     Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4     Then He[the Lord acting as advocate] answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5     And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”
So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.

Notice in Zechariah 3:2, that the Lord is talking about the Lord.  Jesus, who is God, King, & Judge, is talking Himself out of condemning His condemned servant.

What is the greatest punishment within your power to assign?  Firing? Cussing out?  Assault? Destruction of a reputation?  Divorce?  Death?

Sometimes, the ultimate judgment is fitting (Matthew 25: 46).

But you must never issue that ultimate judgment lightly?  Even when the accused seems obviously deserving, especially when the accused has no power to stop you or to protect themselves----- you must pause in judgment and try to talk yourself out of issuing your ultimate sentence?

And if you can’t, if justice demands the highest condemnation, then execute the judgment soberly, with a heavy heart.  Since holy, sinless, perfect God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33: 11);  then neither should we.

---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

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

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