HOW YOU BUILD A BETTER YOU

Most of us want to be better----- better husbands, better wives, better at our jobs, have better relationships, have better finances.  The demand for improvement creates an abundant supply of advice from everyone about how you can be better at being you.

But what advice does Jesus give?

In a brief parable Jesus, the master carpenter, provides a powerful framework for constructing the kind of life that you’ve been seeking.

Hear a message about the parable of the two builders and learn what the Word of God says about HOW YOU BUILD A BETTER YOU.

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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30: 24. "When Smaller is Better"

Proverbs 30: 24     There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:
25     The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26     The rock badgers [hyraxes] are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags;
27     The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks;
28     The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings’ palaces.

Proverbs 30: 26.  God shows a lot of love to the little guy.

God chose the nerd over the jock (Jacob over Esau);

the runt of the litter over the big brothers (David over his 7 elder siblings);
the “other son” over the elder princes (Solomon, 2nd son of Bathsheba, David’s 7^th? wife);
the country girl over the metropolitan princess (Mary of Nazareth, not Mary of Jerusalem);
the minority over the majority (Israel over Egypt and everybody else).

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7: 7)

It’s a basic principle of personal growth that you should associate with people who are “better” and “better at” stuff than you are.  But when you look at Proverbs 30: 24-28 and the rest of scripture, you should notice that God has a very different concept of “better” than we do.

Bigger isn’t always better.  Sometimes (a lot of the time), it’s the little guy you need to watch and learn from.

Instead of begging for an appointment with that 3,000 member mega-church pastor, have a sit down with the storefront preacher whose 30 person ministry is morally, spiritually, and creatively powerful.

Instead of letting the old core of tithers run EVERYTHING in your church, listen to the wisdom of the broke members and the young members whose hearts are full of genuine love and empty of ambition and the lust for titles.

Instead of imitating the lifestyles and buying imitations of the fashions shown by celebrities, heed the advice of the “regular people” who have quietly worked regular jobs, peacefully raised normal and non-dysfunctional families, humbly prepared for old age, and without any pretense of being ballers, sent their children off into the world fully prepared to live righteously and independently while doing even better than their parents.

The wise man in the palace notices that for all the “great” king’s power, his armies cannot stop the locusts and his guards cannot keep out the spiders.  For all of the rich king’s treasures, and deals, and accountants, the ants save more.  For all the weapons, and fortifications and hardened soldiers the king employs, fuzzy little rodent-like creatures in the rocks are better protected.

We become better people by learning from better people.   Just remember that sometimes (a lot of the time) the better person is the little guy.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

---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.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

More personal postings and insights are available on Pastor Graves's personal blog http://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 30: 24. "When Smaller is Better"

Proverbs 30: 24     There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:
25     The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26     The rock badgers [hyraxes] are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags;
27     The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks;
28     The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings’ palaces.

Proverbs 30: 26.  God shows a lot of love to the little guy.

God chose the nerd over the jock (Jacob over Esau);

the runt of the litter over the big brothers (David over his 7 elder siblings);
the “other son” over the elder princes (Solomon, 2nd son of Bathsheba, David’s 7^th? wife);
the country girl over the metropolitan princess (Mary of Nazareth, not Mary of Jerusalem);
the minority over the majority (Israel over Egypt and everybody else).

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7: 7)

It’s a basic principle of personal growth that you should associate with people who are “better” and “better at” stuff than you are.  But when you look at Proverbs 30: 24-28 and the rest of scripture, you should notice that God has a very different concept of “better” than we do.

Bigger isn’t always better.  Sometimes (a lot of the time), it’s the little guy you need to watch and learn from.

Instead of begging for an appointment with that 3,000 member mega-church pastor, have a sit down with the storefront preacher whose 30 person ministry is morally, spiritually, and creatively powerful.

Instead of letting the old core of tithers run EVERYTHING in your church, listen to the wisdom of the broke members and the young members whose hearts are full of genuine love and empty of ambition and the lust for titles.

Instead of imitating the lifestyles and buying imitations of the fashions shown by celebrities, heed the advice of the “regular people” who have quietly worked regular jobs, peacefully raised normal and non-dysfunctional families, humbly prepared for old age, and without any pretense of being ballers, sent their children off into the world fully prepared to live righteously and independently while doing even better than their parents.

The wise man in the palace notices that for all the “great” king’s power, his armies cannot stop the locusts and his guards cannot keep out the spiders.  For all of the rich king’s treasures, and deals, and accountants, the ants save more.  For all the weapons, and fortifications and hardened soldiers the king employs, fuzzy little rodent-like creatures in the rocks are better protected.

We become better people by learning from better people.   Just remember that sometimes (a lot of the time) the better person is the little guy.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

---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.

Call  334-288-0577
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 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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 20

Proverbs 29: 20     Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 29: 20.  At some point, someone is going to confront you and ask for your reaction to something that you know little or nothing about.  The demand may be from a reporter shoving a microphone in your face, or a pushy bystander holding a camera-phone, or a peer with hand on hip saying, “Well, So-and-so said that they heard that you said......”

However the query comes, your interrogator will demand that you give an immediate answer.

The Bible calls it a hasty answer, and reflects upon the mentality of those people develop the  habit of giving hasty answers.  Proverbs 29:20 calls such people worse-than-stupid.

The endless cycle of news and the endless supply of supposedly-expert testimony-givers creates pressure to post/text/tweet/blog/give an answer as hastily as possible.  Everyone else has something to say, so you also feel compelled to say------ something. 

The problem is that you cannot speak intelligently when you don’t have the intelligence (in the military sense of “information”) to speak from.  Therefore, to answer hastily is always to answer un-intelligently.  Unintelligent=foolish=stupid.  Once you’ve said/tweeted/posted/ blogged something stupid------ it follows you forever.

The same people who pressured you to give a hasty answer will crucify you for giving a stupid answer.

If you don’t believe me, ask the University of North Alabama football player who got kicked off the team for a hasty (and racist) tweet posted when the President’s speech pre-empted a football game.

Ask Ambassador Susan Rice, who missed out on the nomination for Secretary of State because of a hastily prepared interview about an attack at an embassy.

Ask the kid who will get suspended today for a fight that started when he told her that he would kick his butt after she told him that she heard that he was scared of him and she just wanted to know if he was really scared and all she did was tell him what he said.

If you don’t know the necessary facts, the only intelligent answer is, “I don’t know------ yet.”

“Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” --- Abraham Lincoln

---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.

Call  334-288-0577
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@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy this blog, 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

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 29: 9. "You Can't Fix Stupid----Can You?"

Proverbs 29: 9     If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.

Proverbs 29:9.  Comedian Ron White said that you can get laser surgery to correct your vision; you can get plastic surgery to tighten your skin; you can get ear implants to restore your hearing------ “But you can’t fix stupid.”

Now Mr. White isn’t exactly a theologian, but his bit does hit on a recurring idea in the Bible. 

Passages like Proverbs 29: 9; Proverbs 26:4; Ecclesiastes 10: 13 seem to say, “You can’t fix foolish.”

And that’s a hard saying, especially for us preachers, teachers, change-the-world type crusaders.  We’re out there every day and up late into the night trying to find an actual, non-rhetorical answer to the question: How do you help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped?

People keep telling us that the answer is: You can’t.

But we just keep asking the question anyway.

And then we come to what Jesus said: Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Matthew 7: 6)

We want to teach.  They don’t want to learn.  We can’t both have what we want, so we argue. We rage.  They rage.  Or, we argue at them, and they laugh at us for arguing with ourselves.

What’s ironic is that after all the trying to teach, all the casting of pearls, all the begging the boy to listen, the person who’s most frustrated is the wise would-be teacher who has the knowledge and therefore, supposedly, the power.

(P.S.  Knowledge and power don’t always = PEACE)

You can tell people what they need to learn.  You can show people the solution to their problems.   You can explain, illustrate, and demonstrate by living example the way to better, the truth about progressing, and the life that pleases God.   But, if they don’t want to learn, then they won’t be taught.      

Told.  But not taught.

You/ I/ We can’t fix foolish.

It’s impossible.

Which brings us back to God.

And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18: 26, 27)

The Biblical principles are:  (1) You can’t fix foolish; and (2) With God no problem is unfixable.

Therefore, the solution is to bring the fools to God, and to bring God to bear on the foolishness. 

When the right intellectual, social, financial, political, and personal resources don’t solve the problem, it means that the main problem isn’t  intellectual, social, financial, or political.  The primary problem is SPIRITUAL. 

When the proven programs and policies aren’t making a dent in the dilemma, then you don’t simply have a troubled community, you have a SPIRITUAL stronghold. 

Now, it’s laziness and sin for the church to neglect physical needs under the supposedly Christian slogan of “Just Give ‘Em the Gospel.” (James 2: 15-17; James 4: 17)

But it’s also foolish for the church to forget that our greatest resource, our final and first line of defense and plan of attack is the invisible power of PRAYER. 

Then Jesus spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart  (Luke 18:1).

When they’re like pit bulls attacking you for the holiness you represent, PRAY because God can transform a dog into an example of miraculous faith (Matthew 15: 26-28)

When you’ve exhausted your most valuable resources but they keep turning on you and wallowing in their old mess, PRAY because God can transform an unclean life into a clean one.  

What God has cleansed you must not call unclean (Acts 11: 9).

You can’t fix foolish.  

God can.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made 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 29: 9. "You Can't Fix Stupid----Can You?"

Proverbs 29: 9     If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.

Proverbs 29:9.  Comedian Ron White said that you can get laser surgery to correct your vision; you can get plastic surgery to tighten your skin; you can get ear implants to restore your hearing------ “But you can’t fix stupid.”

Now Mr. White isn’t exactly a theologian, but his bit does hit on a recurring idea in the Bible. 

Passages like Proverbs 29: 9; Proverbs 26:4; Ecclesiastes 10: 13 seem to say, “You can’t fix foolish.”

And that’s a hard saying, especially for us preachers, teachers, change-the-world type crusaders.  We’re out there every day and up late into the night trying to find an actual, non-rhetorical answer to the question: How do you help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped?

People keep telling us that the answer is: You can’t.

But we just keep asking the question anyway.

And then we come to what Jesus said: Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Matthew 7: 6)

We want to teach.  They don’t want to learn.  We can’t both have what we want, so we argue. We rage.  They rage.  Or, we argue at them, and they laugh at us for arguing with ourselves.

What’s ironic is that after all the trying to teach, all the casting of pearls, all the begging the boy to listen, the person who’s most frustrated is the wise would-be teacher who has the knowledge and therefore, supposedly, the power.

(P.S.  Knowledge and power don’t always = PEACE)

You can tell people what they need to learn.  You can show people the solution to their problems.   You can explain, illustrate, and demonstrate by living example the way to better, the truth about progressing, and the life that pleases God.   But, if they don’t want to learn, then they won’t be taught.      

Told.  But not taught.

You/ I/ We can’t fix foolish.

It’s impossible.

Which brings us back to God.

And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18: 26, 27)

The Biblical principles are:  (1) You can’t fix foolish; and (2) With God no problem is unfixable.

Therefore, the solution is to bring the fools to God, and to bring God to bear on the foolishness. 

When the right intellectual, social, financial, political, and personal resources don’t solve the problem, it means that the main problem isn’t  intellectual, social, financial, or political.  The primary problem is SPIRITUAL. 

When the proven programs and policies aren’t making a dent in the dilemma, then you don’t simply have a troubled community, you have a SPIRITUAL stronghold. 

Now, it’s laziness and sin for the church to neglect physical needs under the supposedly Christian slogan of “Just Give ‘Em the Gospel.” (James 2: 15-17; James 4: 17)

But it’s also foolish for the church to forget that our greatest resource, our final and first line of defense and plan of attack is the invisible power of PRAYER. 

Then Jesus spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart  (Luke 18:1).

When they’re like pit bulls attacking you for the holiness you represent, PRAY because God can transform a dog into an example of miraculous faith (Matthew 15: 26-28)

When you’ve exhausted your most valuable resources but they keep turning on you and wallowing in their old mess, PRAY because God can transform an unclean life into a clean one.  

What God has cleansed you must not call unclean (Acts 11: 9).

You can’t fix foolish.  

God can.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116