THE EMPHASIS IS ON "YOU"

Emphasis says a lot when you’re talking.  The choice of which words to stress in a sentence can alter the emotion and even the meaning of the conversation.   

So it’s interesting that though the Bible tells us a lot about what people said, it says very little about how they said it.  Word emphasis is left to the reader.  And that, like everything else about God’s holy anthology is intentional.

I teach my Bible study students to re-read conversational passages, changing the word emphasis around.  When they do that, they get to hear the nuances of deeper meaning embedded in the Scripture.

Those nuances are important, because we tend to hear certain verses quoted over and over in the same tone.  Over time we subconsciously think those verses the way we’re used to hearing them. 

And the way we think the Bible becomes the way we live the Bible.

Jesus said:  For the poor you have with you always…. (Matthew 26: 11; Mark 14: 7; John 12: 8)

Typically this scripture is quoted with emphasis on the words poor and always.  Hearing that over and over reinforces the idea that poverty is inevitable, incurable, and, in a sense, acceptable.

Mark gives the fullest version of this quote.  Read the verse aloud with new emphasis.

Jesus said: For YOU have the poor with YOU always, and whenever YOU wish YOU may do them good; but ME you do not have always.  (Mark 14:7)

How does that sound in your head?

Imagine yourself in the scene.  Can you feel Jesus’ eyes on you?  Can you see Him leaning forward and pointing at your chest with every “YOU”?

Poverty is an old and chronic social problem.  But we don’t get a pass on dealing with it.   The poor are not an unfortunate part of the  background of our lives.  They are our problem.  We don’t get to pray for the poor and walk away as though prayer is our full and complete Christian duty.

YOU do them good. 

Yes, the poor are always there.  Which means that they’re always YOURS to deal with. 

We say we love Jesus.  We say we want to please Jesus. We say we worship Jesus.  Well, Jesus isn’t physically present with us right now.  So, how did Jesus say He wants to be worshipped and taken care of in the time of His physical absence.

I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

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.’  (Matthew 25: 35, 36, 40)

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1: 27)

For YOU have the poor with YOU always, and whenever YOU wish YOU may do them good; but ME you do not have always.  (Mark 14:7)

Read it again.  And hear the emphasis on YOU.

---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

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 31: 4-7

Proverbs 31: 4     It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink;
5     Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
6     Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.
7     Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Proverbs 31: 4-7.  Talk about an endorsement!  With Lemuel and his mother speaking in this passage, we have a king, a former prince, a queen, and a woman who fought for her place as 1^st lady of the nation all  endorsing the message: Getting drunk is not a good look for a success.   Getting high is not what you do if you want to stay on top.

God blesses people to attain success and power so that they can use their success and power to help others.  The chemicals make you forget that.  The chemicals make you selfish, immoral, and unjust.  The buzz and the high draw you off the path of God’s favor and place you on track for destruction.   Outside of God’s favor there is personal and spiritual poverty.  Outside of God favor there is misery.  Outside of God’s favor there is death in spirit and in truth.

The sad irony is that the closer you get to bottom (to the point of perishing) the more miserable you become and the more you need the buzz to forget how poor and miserable you’re becoming.  And yes, while the chemicals are active in your system, you do forget; but you don’t change.  You’re still impoverished.  You’re still pitiful.  You’re still dying.

And the kings and queens of the culture look down on you and say, “He’s got nothing else.  Let him have another drink.  She’s not doing anything with her life anyway.  Pass her another blunt.  But oh, no.  Nothing for me.  I have a meeting in the morning.”

It doesn’t matter how you categorize your drug of choice. It doesn’t matter if it’s liquid or leafy, synthetic or “social,” packaged or prescribed.  If it’s intoxicating then it’s not helping you succeed.  It’s holding you back.

Since you’ve been intoxicating yourself, you’ve not gotten better have you?  Your relationships aren’t more stable are they?  For all the stuff you’ve dreamed you haven’t actually achieved anything more, have you?

And when you look closely at the bottle-popping, drug-passing imagery you notice that the ones who are fully intoxicated are in the background, servants to the one pouring into their glasses or sitting sober and clear-headed while everybody else gets drunk and high, trying to forget how successful they are not.

Yeah, I know what the songs say.  But  pay more attention to what God says.

Pay more attention.

If you want to be a king, if you want to be a queen -------- you’ve gotta get sober.

---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

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: 4-7

Proverbs 31: 4     It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink;
5     Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
6     Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.
7     Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Proverbs 31: 4-7.  Talk about an endorsement!  With Lemuel and his mother speaking in this passage, we have a king, a former prince, a queen, and a woman who fought for her place as 1^st lady of the nation all  endorsing the message: Getting drunk is not a good look for success.   Getting high is not what you do if you want to stay on top.

God blesses people to attain success and power so that they can use their success and power to help others.  The chemicals make you forget that.  The chemicals make you selfish, immoral, and unjust.  The buzz and the high draw you off the path of God’s favor and place you on track for destruction.   Outside of God’s favor there is personal and spiritual poverty.  Outside of God favor there is misery.  Outside of God’s favor there is death in spirit and in truth.

The sad irony is that the closer you get to bottom (to the point of perishing) the more miserable you become and the more you need the buzz to forget how poor and miserable you’re becoming.  And yes, while the chemicals are active in your system, you do forget; but you don’t change.  You’re still impoverished.  You’re still pitiful.  You’re still dying.

And the kings and queens of the culture look down on you and say, “He’s got nothing else.  Let him have another drink.  She’s not doing anything with her life anyway.  Pass her another blunt.  But oh, no.  Nothing for me.  I have a meeting in the morning.”

It doesn’t matter how you categorize your drug of choice. It doesn’t matter if it’s liquid or leafy, synthetic or “social,” packaged or prescribed.  If it’s intoxicating then it’s not helping you succeed.  It’s holding you back.

Since you’ve been intoxicating yourself, you’ve not gotten better have you?  Your relationships aren’t more stable are they?  For all the stuff you’ve dreamed you haven’t actually achieved anything more, have you?

And when you look closely at the bottle-popping, drug-passing imagery you notice that the ones who are fully intoxicated are in the background, servants to the one pouring into their glasses or sitting sober and clear-headed while everybody else gets drunk and high, trying to forget how successful they are not.

Yeah, I know what the songs say.  But  pay more attention to what God says.

Pay more attention.

If you want to be a king, if you want to be a queen -------- you’ve gotta get sober.

---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 30:7. "Enough is Enough"

Proverbs 30:7     Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die):
8     Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches. 
Feed me with the food allotted to me,
9     Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30: 7-9.  One of our dilemmas here in the “1^st world” of Western civilization is deciding how much we want versus how much we can handle.

More cake?  Will I really work this of at the gym?

Another degree?  Can I handle the extra course work?
Buy a (bigger) house?  Can we make the higher mortgage?
Take on this new ministry?  Can we sustain it over the long run?
Try for the promotion?  Will I be as successful with the greater responsibility?
Pop the question?  Am I ready for that kind of commitment?

On the one hand, don’t sell yourself short.  The fullness of God’s destiny for you will force you beyond your comfort zone and into the place where you have to depend on God rather than yourself.   God’s grace is sufficient to deliver victory though you’ve reached the limits of your own strength (2 Corinthians 12: 9; Philippians 4: 13). 

On the one hand: Ambition?   On the other hand: Ability?

On the other hand, we have to be careful not to think more highly of what we will/can do that we should (Romans 12: 3). Some battles are not ours to fight, and therefore not ours to win.  King David felt capable of building the 1^st temple, but God said that it wasn’t his to build (2 Samuel 7).   Rehoboam had it in his heart to reunite the kingdom of Israel, but God told him, “No” (2 Chronicles 11: 1-4).

It’s a lie when anyone or anything tells you to settle short of the greatness to which God has called you.  It is equally a falsehood when someone or something pushes you up to pursue what God never meant for you to have.

Falling for either lie will lead you to sin because your ambition/ your desires will rest outside of God’s will.  And outside God’s will is where you find sin.

The solution is to seek what Agur sought in Proverbs 30: 7-9, to pray as Jesus taught in Luke 11: 3; to plan  as James explained in James 4: 13-16. 

Lord, don’t let me fall for the lies.  Give me each day what you want me to have.  Show me day by day what you want me to seek.  Speak to my spirit so that I don’t sell myself short or exalt myself beyond what I should.  Give me all that I need, but never more than I should have. 

If I should ever overreach beyond what you have given me to bear, then provide me with the way of escape that you promised. (1 Corinthians 10: 13)

If I should ever shrink below what you’ve called me to do, then light a fire under me/ in me/ around me so that I have to move up to what you called me to ( Jeremiah 20: 9; Exodus 3: 2, 3).

The answer to Ambition vs. Ability is the same answer:  Develop your relationship with Jesus.  Listen to Him.  Grow in Christ and learn how to let the Holy Spirit lead you.  Then your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.  (Isaiah 30:21)

---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 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 30:7. "Enough is Enough"

Proverbs 30:7     Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die):
8     Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches. 
Feed me with the food allotted to me,
9     Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30: 7-9.  One of our dilemmas here in the “1^st world” of Western civilization is deciding how much we want versus how much we can handle.

More cake?  Will I really work this of at the gym?

Another degree?  Can I handle the extra course work?
Buy a (bigger) house?  Can we make the higher mortgage?
Take on this new ministry?  Can we sustain it over the long run?
Try for the promotion?  Will I be as successful with the greater responsibility?
Pop the question?  Am I ready for that kind of commitment?

On the one hand, don’t sell yourself short.  The fullness of God’s destiny for you will force you beyond your comfort zone and into the place where you have to depend on God rather than yourself.   God’s grace is sufficient to deliver victory though you’ve reached the limits of your own strength (2 Corinthians 12: 9; Philippians 4: 13). 

On the one hand: Ambition?   On the other hand: Ability?

On the other hand, we have to be careful not to think more highly of what we will/can do that we should (Romans 12: 3). Some battles are not ours to fight, and therefore not ours to win.  King David felt capable of building the 1^st temple, but God said that it wasn’t his to build (2 Samuel 7).   Rehoboam had it in his heart to reunite the kingdom of Israel, but God told him, “No” (2 Chronicles 11: 1-4).

It’s a lie when anyone or anything tells you to settle short of the greatness to which God has called you.  It is equally a falsehood when someone or something pushes you up to pursue what God never meant for you to have.

Falling for either lie will lead you to sin because your ambition/ your desires will rest outside of God’s will.  And outside God’s will is where you find sin.

The solution is to seek what Agur sought in Proverbs 30: 7-9, to pray as Jesus taught in Luke 11: 3; to plan  as James explained in James 4: 13-16. 

Lord, don’t let me fall for the lies.  Give me each day what you want me to have.  Show me day by day what you want me to seek.  Speak to my spirit so that I don’t sell myself short or exalt myself beyond what I should.  Give me all that I need, but never more than I should have. 

If I should ever overreach beyond what you have given me to bear, then provide me with the way of escape that you promised. (1 Corinthians 10: 13)

If I should ever shrink below what you’ve called me to do, then light a fire under me/ in me/ around me so that I have to move up to what you called me to ( Jeremiah 20: 9; Exodus 3: 2, 3).

The answer to Ambition vs. Ability is the same answer:  Develop your relationship with Jesus.  Listen to Him.  Grow in Christ and learn how to let the Holy Spirit lead you.  Then your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.  (Isaiah 30:21)

---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 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: 13

Proverbs 29: 13     The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

Proverbs 29: 13.  This scripture highlights a contrast and a connection between two socioeconomic classes.  The classes here are the poor and the people who keep them poor in order to profit from their poverty. 

Now, immediately something rises up in some  of you that says, “Wait a minute now.  Poverty isn’t somebody else’s fault.  Some people are poor because they are lazy or because they make bad decisions.” 

Granted.  And the Bible speaks to those situations, but the Bible also speaks to the very real situations in which poverty is the product of oppression, not laziness, not stupidity, not sin. 

The whole counsel of God demands that we see the poor in a more nuanced light.  They aren’t all simply the lazy dregs of the far-right or the innocent invalids of the far-left.  The Bible points out poverty is a bit of both.

The poor and their oppressors are contrasted in Proverbs 29: 13 as the robbed are contrasted to the robbers.  But they are also connected by the common work of God. 

God’s light shines on the poor and oppressed just as brightly as it shines upon the rich and corrupt. And, vice versa.

God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s longsuffering offer of another chance to do things right are always available to the bottom rungs of society.  That same mercy, grace, and another chance are equally available (and needed) at the top of ladder.

When the opposing classes meet in the course of business they assume positions of spiritual superiority.  The tenant thinks, “God will definitely let me into Heaven because I’ve suffered so much , and He will definitely send my landlord to Hell because he’s made me suffer.”

The slumlord thinks, “God doesn’t care about these people or why would they suffer?  Surely God loves me more because He’s kept me from being like them.”

Both are wrong.

God shows the same light and Truth to slumlord and to tenant, to disenfranchised citizen and to corrupt politician, to middle-classed drug dealer and to homeless addict.  The light of God’s Word shines on the Truth that: ALL are sinners.  ALL  have come short of God’s standard (Romans 3: 23).  ALL need to repent and be saved in through Jesus Christ because God loves ALL of us (2 Peter 3: 9).

---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