Showing posts with label cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cross. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Sunday, April 19, 2020
THE POWER OF LOVE (EASTER 2020 WORSHIP SERVICE at BAILEY TABERNACLE CME CHURCH)
The title of the message is: THE POWER OF LOVE
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves
Connect with Bailey Tabernacle CME Church by
visiting baileytabernaclecme.org
Click
here to support this blog with a donation. Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and
click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.
Family, friends, and supporters of Bailey Tabernacle CME
Church, now have several options for supporting the ongoing ministry of the church:
1) From your computer or phone use the Givelify app or
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TABERNACLE CME Click on or copy this link
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3) Mail your check or money order to:
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P.O. Box 3145
Tuscaloosa, AL 35403
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
DYING TO BE FREE (audio)
From chapter 6, this installment of our preaching
series in the book or Romans is titled DYING TO BE FREE.
Listen well.
If you can’t get the audio on your
device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/
---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
Click here to support this blog with a donation.
Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and
click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
Bailey Tabernacle CME Church with a donation through Givelify
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Bailey
Tabernacle CME Church
1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Thursday, November 15, 2018
CHANGING TIME: The 10th Plague
Blogging Exodus 12
Times change.
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
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves
Click
here to support this ministry with a donation. Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and
click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.
Visit the ministry’s website at baileytabernaclecme.org
Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Bailey Tabernacle CME Church
1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Friday, March 30, 2018
I THIRST: from the 7 Last Words of Christ
The
5th of Jesus’ 7 Last Words from the cross was, “I Thirst.” Wrapped
up in those two words is a lesson about pain and the power available when you
learn how to embrace it --- the right way.
Listen
well and leave a comment.
If
you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/
---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).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Click
here to support this ministry with a donation. Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand
sidebar.
Support by check or money order may be
mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, AL 35064
Sunday, April 16, 2017
AFTER THE LAST WORDS
The
4 gospels record that Jesus uttered 7 statements from the cross. We call them His 7 Last Words. But they kinda weren’t.
Whatever
you call it ---- Easter, Paschal, Holy Week, Resurrection Sunday ---- the
message of the season isn’t about how things end, but about how they should
begin. So here is a sermon about what
happens: AFTER THE LAST WORDS.
Listen
well.
If
you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/
---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).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and
clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P
O Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
Sunday, July 31, 2016
CELEBRATING THE CROSS
The title of the message is: CELEBRATING THE CROSS.
Listen
well.
If you
can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/
---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).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You can
help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support by
check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O Box
132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
Monday, June 6, 2016
OUR GOOD TO HIS GREAT
The church needs more . . . ambition.
No, not that kind of ambition. Oh, didn’t you know that there was more
than one kind. Jesus explained in a
conversation with one of the most ambitious families of the gospels. Put down your self-help books for a moment
and pick up your Bibles.
This message, originally delivered at Real Chapel CME in Guin, Alabama
is: OUR GOOD TO HIS GREAT.
Listen
well.
If you
can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/
---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).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You can
help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support by
check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O Box
132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
DO-GOODER: The 2nd General Rule
The 2nd General Rule of the Methodist Societies
Secondly, by doing good, by being in every kind merciful after their
power as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far
as possible, to all men.
To their bodies, of the ability which God giveth; by giving food to the hungry; by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick or in prison.
To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all that we have any intercourse with; trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine that "We are not to do good unless our hearts be free to do it."
By doing good especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be; employing them preferably to others; buying one of another; helping one other in business, and so much the more because the world will love its own, and them only.
By all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed. By running with patience the race set before them, denying themselves and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ; to bear the filth and off-scouring of the world; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them for the Lord's sake.
To their bodies, of the ability which God giveth; by giving food to the hungry; by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick or in prison.
To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all that we have any intercourse with; trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine that "We are not to do good unless our hearts be free to do it."
By doing good especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be; employing them preferably to others; buying one of another; helping one other in business, and so much the more because the world will love its own, and them only.
By all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed. By running with patience the race set before them, denying themselves and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ; to bear the filth and off-scouring of the world; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them for the Lord's sake.
Let’s begin with an assumption. I
assume that every Christian knows that he/ she is supposed to help people.
…
Well, now I’m thinking about that…
Let me begin with a statement: Every Christian is supposed to help people.
The apostle John said, “Whoever has
this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from
him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
(1 John 3: 17) And for when you respond that, “I LOVE everybody,” John
adds, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed
and in truth.” (verse 18)
We worship in spirit and in truth
(John 4: ) but we love in DEED and in
truth. In the 2nd General Rule of Methodism,
John Wesley put it like this:
It
is therefore, expected of all who continue therein that they shall continue to
evidence their desire of salvation,…secondly, by doing
good, by being in every kind merciful after their power as they have
opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all
men.
In other words,
 |
| Technically, this is a popular misquotation, but it does accurately reflect Wesley's sentiments. |
In John 6: 1-14, Jesus fed people
because their bodies needed food and they weren’t in a place to provide food
for themselves. But in John 6: 22-59,
when those same people showed up looking for more free food, Jesus didn’t feed
them. He preached to them about the
bread of life. Sometimes there’s a
need of the body. Sometimes there’s a
need of the soul.
And sometimes your body is tired,
your soul is exhausted, and you don’t feel like helping anybody.
The good news is that it’s O.K. to not feel like helping people. The other good news is that you have to help
anyway. Jesus fed 5,000+ hungry people
even though the people had found Him while He was trying to take a few days off
to rest and grieve for His cousin who’d just been beheaded (Matthew 14: 10-13).
We must, as the General Rule states,
“[trample] under foot that enthusiastic doctrine that "We are not to do
good unless our hearts be free to do it."
During His earthly ministry, Jesus
gave priority to helping His people, the Jews (Matthew 10: 5, 6) because in
that time, Israel was the household of faith.
But Jesus healed the children of foreigners in pagan cities (Matthew 15:
24-28). He evangelized immorally living
women in Samaria (John 4). Jesus helped
officers of the heathen military that was occupying His nation and oppressing His
people (Luke 7: 1-10).
As a spiritual family, Christians
ought to give priority to each other.
But, like our Lord, we don’t use religious or cultural preference as an
excuse to turn our backs on Mormons, Muslims, Hindhus, Sikhs, Atheists,
conservatives, liberals, Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners,
Africans, rich, poor, straights, gays, or whomever we have power and opportunity
to do good.
Therefore, as we have opportunity,
let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
Doing good is exhausting. It always has been. “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary
in doing good” (2 Thessalonians 3: 13).
Do good anyway.
Doing good is inconvenient and
expensive. It always has been.
Jesus said to Philip, “Where shall
we buy bread, that these may eat?”
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred
denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may
have a little.” (John 6: 5-7)
Do good anyway.
The calling to Christian good-doing
requires what Wesley called, “all possible diligence and frugality.” In the law, God commanded Israel to leave the
gleaning of their fields (Leviticus 19; 23: 22) for the poor in their
communities. The practice of gleaning
meant that a hard-working Jewish farm had to budget for less than 100% of his
harvest.
The principle of gleaning is: You can’t help all the people you can if you
spend all the money you make.
We aren’t generous when we’re broke. Hence, the need for “diligence and frugality.”
Roughly translated, that means working hard and being cheap.
The surrounding culture tells us to
consume and accumulate, but Christians are called to transcend the influence of
culture and to be DIFFERENT.
In a sermon called, “The Use of
Money,” John Wesley offered these 3 simple rules: “Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly
saved all you can, Then give all you can."
Does that sound crazy? Does that sound radical or un-American? Are you thinking, “Graves, it doesn’t take
all that?”
Then you’ll love the last part of
this General Rule. Christians do good “by
denying themselves and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear the
reproach of Christ; to bear the filth and off-scouring of the world.”
Well, if that sounds crazy, remember
whom Wesley got it from.
Then Jesus said to His disciples,
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16: 24)
---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).
Subscribe to my personal blog www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves
#Awordtothewise
You can help support this ministry with
a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.
You can help support Rev. Graves’ work
by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand
sidebar.
Support by check or money order may be
mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
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