FIND YOUR IDENTITY

You know, everybody has an opinion about who you are or who you should be.  But don’t feel bad. Jesus went through the exact same thing.   Take another look at the Biblical story of a wedding and Jesus’ first public miracle. 

Discover the spiritual power that’s only possible when you FIND YOUR IDENTITY.

Listen well.

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

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

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

WHY IS JESUS HOMELESS?

In Malachi chapter 3, God told His people:

⁹     You are cursed with a curse,

     For you have robbed Me,

     Even this whole nation.

¹⁰     Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

     That there may be food in My house,

     And try Me now in this,”

     Says the Lord of hosts,

     “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

     And pour out for you such blessing

     That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Wait.  Wait. Before you rehearse the same clichéd and selfish response, read it again.  Only this time, listen to what God actually said. 

WHY did God say He wants the tithe?

That there may be food in My house

Food for whom?  For you? 

Dude, you ain’t hungry.

Food for whom?  For God?

God already said: 

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?  Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.  (Psalm 50: 13, 14)

So who’s the food in God’s house for? 

It’s for those people who don’t have food:  the needy.

This prosperity passage isn’t primarily about how to get money from God.  It’s about the church’s obligation to be a house of ministry and outreach to the least of these.  That’s the kind of house God wants.

Build the temple, build God a house, the Lord commanded in Haggai 1: 7-9.  But build Him a house in which He feels comfortable.     

Build God a house in which Jesus has what we all expect to find at home:  food, clothing, shelter, and company.

And how do we provide food, clothing, shelter, and company to God in His house?

Read Matthew chapter 25. 

^37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ^38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ^39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ^40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  

The church is supposed to be a storehouse out of which God’s people help the needy and the lost.  The church--- a church is NOT supposed to be a showcase for our own aspirations to affluence.

We talk and sing about a Jesus who was not found with the rich and great in palaces or in the grandest temples.

But, we expend our energy and treasure building personal palaces and the grandest churches we can or cannot afford.

We lament how few people find Jesus when we preach and worship in those expensive places.

But we talk about and sing about how Jesus WAS FOUND with the poor and the sick, the lowly and the sinners, NOT among the rich and powerful and self-righteous.

So, maybe it would be easier to for them to find Jesus where we are if we built more homeless shelters instead of larger sanctuaries.

Maybe Jesus would be found in our fellowship halls if we used them to feed the hungry instead of ourselves.

Maybe the reason people can’t find Jesus in the churches we build is that we didn’t really erect them for God.  

We bought the places for us.

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head because the houses we’ve built in His name are places where He doesn’t feel welcome.

The reason so many churches can’t cover their overhead is that we’ve built houses in Jesus' name but left Jesus outside and homeless, and God has gotten tired of paying for houses in which He doesn’t feel welcome.

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9: 58)

So if we want God to

open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Then we should repurpose our buildings to make Jesus feel more comfortable in all of his homeless, hungry, needy, incarcerated, sick, and impoverished glory.

Then Jesus would come on in; and the lost would be able to find Him where we are.

---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 (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) 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

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to  

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

LIVING WRONG IN THE NAME OF JESUS

The closing chapters of the book of Judges record events that weren’t very ------ godly.  These are not the accounts of Biblical role models.  These are the what-not-to-do stories.  Judges chapters 17 & 18 in particular shows how good, loving, family-oriented people end up setting in motion generational cycles of sin that consume them, their descendants, and their community.  The lessons of this cautionary tale can change the trajectory of your life and the lives of those you love. 

Listen well so that you don’t end up LIVING WRONG IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

---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

Proverbs 31: 10. A WOMAN WORTH?

Proverbs 31: 10     Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. (NIV)

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. (NLV)

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. (ESV)

Proverbs 31: 10. On the one hand this verse is a Divine affirmation that there are good women out there.  On the other hand, it is a Divine warning that every woman out there isn’t a good one. 

Esau, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, had no problem finding a wife/wives.  All around him, there were girls who made themselves “available.”  They were available, but they weren’t the kind of women that you could “bring home to mama.”  (Genesis 28: 8; 27: 46)   The family Esau’s built with those women became synonymous with idolatry and absolute destruction.  Edom, Esau’s line, was wiped out by God (Ezekiel 25: 13).

Jacob, Esau’s twin, made the right choice in a wife.  It took him 7, then 14 years of hard, hard work to win his wife/wives.  But through them God raised up a great nation.  (Genesis 29)  Jacob’s wives became the mothers of the nation of Israel, the biological line of Jesus (Genesis 49).

So, we have twin brothers raised in the same house by the same parents.  One of them picks the wrong women.  His legacy is destruction.  The other twin ends up with the right women.  His legacy is Jesus and the Jewish people.

What made the difference?

The difference was value and effort. 

Esau, according to Hebrews 12:16, had a messed up sense of value.  That’s value not values.

I’m not talking about moral values.  I’m talking about the internal calculator that tells a man which opportunity, activity, or woman to “spend” his time and energy pursuing.  I’m talking about the sense of what a good woman is “worth.”   (Cue Alicia Keys here.) 

Who can find a wife of noble character, a  virtuous and capable wife,  a woman who is just excellent?  The answer is:  A man who understands what a good woman is worth.  A man who understands what makes a woman WORTHY.

Not in dollars, but in every other sense. 

If she’s like every other girl you’ve slept with, then she’s “a dime a dozen” and that’s not wife value.

If access to her bed can be purchased by any man willing to spend the necessary funds---- regardless of the man’s character, intentions, or marital status----- she may be expensive; but, bro., she isn’t worthy.  She isn’t worth it.

If the sex is good, but the price of being with her is constant drama and unpredictable bouts of “seriously, how freakin’ ignorant can one woman be,” then you really need to re-calculate your sense of value.

And ladies, a really good man---especially one who paid attention to the advice of a wise mother----- will see your true value even when you don’t.

When you think you can’t, he’ll be absolutely, maybe nonchalantly certain that you can---- because he knows your true value.

When other men only smile at the sight of you boobs or your butt, you’ll catch your good man staring at your face, looking sideways into your eyes with a silly grin on his face.  (Now he’s also gonna smile at your boobs and butt.  A good man is still a man.)

Ladies, a smart man with a good sense of value, will see your true worth.  So if you say that  you’re worth/ worthy of a commitment; but your price is actually a trip to the mall------ he’ll see that, too.

If you say that you’re saving yourself for “the husband God sends me” when you’re really trying to hit the baller lottery and luck up on some random rich guy------ your could-have-been-the-one good man will see that, too.

Jacob, for all of his issues, knew what a good wife was worth.  He didn’t have money, but that wasn’t a problem, because an excellent wife cannot be appraised in dollars like something in a pawn shop jewelry display. 

A wife of noble character is worth your time.  She’s worth your effort. She’s worth building your family and fortunes together.   She’s worth betting everything you have.

Who can find a woman like that?

The man who knows what he’s looking for.

---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