Showing posts with label son. Show all posts
Showing posts with label son. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Sunday, August 25, 2019
LOSE YOUR CHAINS & REMEMBER YOUR FATHER ( audio)
From Romans 8: 14-18, a story about you,
about me, about us. The title is: LOSE YOUR CHAINS & REMEMBER YOUR FATHER.
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
Monday, September 24, 2018
INVESTING IN THE BOSS'S KID
I wrote this post 4 years ago, on the eve of my daughter's 16th birthday. Tomorrow she turns 20, and what I said then is even more true today.
Tomorrow
my daughter turns 16. For the last
couple of hours I’ve been looking at her picture and feeling all wet in the
eyes.
Which
made me think about Eliezer and Abraham.
Genesis
15: 1-3 says that Eliezer was the chief servant in Abraham’s household.
The household of a Biblical patriarch was a lot like a family owned corporation. For example, in the house of Abraham, the patriarch had more servants (employees) than actual relatives by blood or marriage.
Yet
the entire household depended on one another. Together they weathered storms and
famine. Together, they fought marauders
and rival tribes. Together they would either prosper or die in
the Canaanite frontier. And when God
gave Abraham the sign of circumcision in Genesis 17, EVERY male in Abraham’s
house became a Jew---- the hard way.
But
you could say that was all just good business.
You
have to be nice to the boss. You have to
work together. If the company
(household) fails then everybody’s out of a job. In Old Testament days, being “out of a job”
meant death or enslavement, so doing a good job was simple self-interest. Genuine love wasn’t necessarily part of the
job description.
But
sometimes it was.
Before
Abraham and Sarah had children, Eliezer was the designated heir of Abraham’s
entire fortune. So when Isaac, the promised
son, came along Eliezer had no objective economic reason to love the boy.
But
he did.
We
know that Eliezer CARED ABOUT Isaac because Eliezer INVESTED IN Isaac.
In
Genesis 25, Abraham sent his chief servant to research and negotiate a
marriage-merger for his son. This was a
lot of trouble. There was no match.com
to sign onto, no Instagram full of selfies to peruse, not even a postal system
to send letters asking, “Hey, do you know any nice single women around Isaac’s
age?”
Eliezer
had to take ten camels and basically wander around the sparsely populated
Canaanite and Mesopotamian wilderness looking for “the one.”
And if the woman is not willing to
follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son
back there.”…Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed,
for all his master’s goods were in his hand. (Genesis 25: 8, 10)
At
this point Abraham was old and Eliezer had power of attorney over the whole
family business. All he had to do was “not
find” the right woman or ship Isaac off to Syria and he could have taken over
the family.
But
he didn’t.
Instead,
he risked his time, the peril of his own safety (wandering around the dessert
with a caravan of provisions at his age), and his personal self-interest; and
invested it all in his boss’s child.
Then he said, “O Lord God of my master
Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master
Abraham. (Genesis 25: 12)
In
my career as an educator and pastor I’ve worked with, for, and over a lot of
people. Especially on faculties when I
was a department chair or administrator (boss), teachers had an economic
self-interest in being nice to me because I performed their evaluations and
managed their personnel files.
They
didn’t have to really love me. They didn’t
have to really love my house, my family.
But
they have.
My
daughter turns 16 tomorrow. When I posted the announcement online and looked at
the range of people who commented and liked I realized how expansive my
household has really been.
Over
the last 20 years, teachers, counselor, pastors, co-workers, colleagues, church members, and employees have invested in their
time, their gifts, their favor, and their love in me, my wife, and our children.
They
have gone far, far out of their way to protect my children when I could not be
there to protect them.
They
have prayed for my family. They have
looked out for my wife. They have sought
our good when our good wouldn’t do them any good. They helped me and mine when undermining me would
have been easy and profitable.
I
know what you did.
You
loved my house when you didn’t have to.
Thank
you.
Thank
you all.
---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 18, 2018
FATHER, ABRAHAM
A Father's Day Follow-up Blog
Abraham was a father.
Abraham was all kinds of fathers, well 5 kinds.
1. Abraham was an uncle who was like a father.
Haran begot Lot. And
Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
. . Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their
possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in
Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan (Genesis 11: 27, 28;
12:5).
After Lot’s dad and grandad died in the city for which Lot’s
father was named (or the city named for Lot’s father), Abraham took his nephew into his
household. When God called them to complete the journey their father Terah
had begun (Genesis 11:31), the patriarch brought his nephew along.
Abraham loved Lot. He gave Lot herds and flocks and land out of what he gained in Egypt and Canaan. When the young man and his staff started to chafe under Abraham’s rules and closeness, Abraham offered him first choice of the available pastures and his blessing. When warring kings kidnapped Lot, Uncle Abraham immediately launched a rescue mission and in the aftermath of the mission, when the other kings tried to acquire Lot and his people as slaves, Abraham refused to sell them out even though it cost him his share of the spoils of the battle (Genesis 14). When Lot became an adult, Abraham referred to him as his “brother” (Genesis 14:14), but he provided for and protected him as a father would a son.
Abraham loved Lot. He gave Lot herds and flocks and land out of what he gained in Egypt and Canaan. When the young man and his staff started to chafe under Abraham’s rules and closeness, Abraham offered him first choice of the available pastures and his blessing. When warring kings kidnapped Lot, Uncle Abraham immediately launched a rescue mission and in the aftermath of the mission, when the other kings tried to acquire Lot and his people as slaves, Abraham refused to sell them out even though it cost him his share of the spoils of the battle (Genesis 14). When Lot became an adult, Abraham referred to him as his “brother” (Genesis 14:14), but he provided for and protected him as a father would a son.
When the Lord told Abraham of His plan to destroy Sodom,
Gomorrah, and the other cities of the valley Abraham must have thought of his
nephew living in Sodom because Uncle Abraham negotiated with God for
the salvation of the wicked city. Though there
weren’t even 10 righteous men in all of Sodom, the faith of Lot’s uncle and
surrogate father saved Lot and his family from dying with the sinful citizens
of Sodom.
And it came to pass,
when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in
which Lot had dwelt (Genesis 19:29).
A father is an agent of spiritual covering for his
children. When a man steps into the
space left vacant by a father who died or walked away, that man, like Uncle Abraham, can administer spiritual covering to his surrogate children.
You may never replace your nephew’s/ neice’s/ grandchild’s/
little cousin’s/ foster child’s biological father because losing a parent is a lot of pain to
process. Young adult Lot’s rebellion against
Abraham might have reflected the lingering grief of and anger of a child whose
father and mother “died on him” while he was still young. Nevertheless the man who stands in the gap
as a father figure can, like Uncle Abraham, cover their surrogate child in
prayer with the same faith that covers their own biological children.
2. Abraham was a mentor who was like a father.
Eliezer worked for Abraham.
He became Abraham’s steward, his right-hand man, but Eliezer wasn’t just
a trusted employee. Eliezer was for all
intents and purposes, a member of Abraham’s family. No.
More than that.
Before Abraham’s first biological child was born, Abraham had
named Eliezer as his legal heir.
But Abram said, “Lord
God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is
Eliezer of Damascus?” (Genesis 15:2)
Eliezer was like a son to Abraham.
When Ishmael and Isaac were born, Abraham changed his will
to direct the inheritance to his son; but Eliezer never lost his place of trust
and significance in the house of Abraham.
Through all the drama that arose in the family, Eliezer remained loyal,
and when the time came, it was (apparently) Eliezer whom God guided to the
woman who would marry Isaac and become the literal mother of Israel (Genesis
24).
Abraham was over 147 years old when Eliezer brought Rebekah
out of Syria and into Isaac’s arms. It
may be a long time before the young ones you mentor, teach, train, advocate
for, and love are in a position to help
you. It’s likely that you’ll never have
to call on them for aid. But, by mentoring a younger generation, you
develop a pool of future leaders who can bless you and who will bless the
world.
3. Abraham let
becoming an ex-husband make him an ex-father.
Because Sarah couldn’t get pregnant, Abraham took a 2nd
wife, an employee named Hagar.
So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his
son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael (Genesis 16: 15).
Abraham loved Ishmael.
He didn’t even want another son.
When the Lord appeared to remind Abraham that the promised descendants
were still to come through Sarah, Abraham
said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” (Genesis 16: 18)
But when Isaac was born, Sarah demanded that Abraham divorce
Hagar and disown Ishmael. Therefore
she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this
bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac” (Genesis
21:10).
Abraham didn’t want to lose Ishmael, but God allowed the
breakup, promising to take care of Ishmael and make a nation of the son of the
bondwoman, because he is your seed” (Genesis 21:11-13). God’s response indicated that though
Abraham’s and Hagar’s marriage needed to end,
Ishmael was still under God’s favor and, thus, Abraham and Ishmael could
stay connected without threatening the covenant God would execute through
Isaac.
In other words, Abraham had to divorce his 2nd
wife but not his eldest son. But based on
what’s in scripture, Ishmael didn’t see his father again until his
funeral.
Millenia later, the descendants of Ishmael founded a new
religion and called it Islam. Central to
the Muslim faith is a narrative of the life of Father Abraham in which Ishmael
is the promised child and the Jews, as descendants of Isaac, are usurpers of
Ishmael’s rightful place.
Because Daddy Abraham let baby mama drama estrange him from
his eldest son, Osama Bin Laden funded the 9/11 attacks. Because Daddy Abraham allowed the break-up of
his marriage to Hagar to be the breakdown of his role in his son’s life, the
term “radical Islamist terrorist” is part of our common vocabulary.
Sometimes, the dissolution of a marriage or relationship is
so bitter that one party keeps the child
away from the other. Sometimes that
separation is warranted. Most of the
times I’ve seen, the separation isn’t. If you CAN’T see your child, neither God
nor I fault you.
But if you just DON’T see your child ---- bro, you’re
wrong. You’re as wrong as Abraham. Maybe more wrong because at least Abraham had
a Divine guarantee that his son would be all right. Ishmael lived 137 years and became the
patriarch of 12 nations of his own (Genesis 25:13-18), but thousands of years
later the pain of Dad’s abandonment still afflicts those of Ishmael’s blood.
As far as it is in your power, don’t let the differences
between you and your ex prevent you from seeing, teaching, rearing, and loving the
children you and they share. It’s so much
harder when you two aren’t together, but the extra effort may save the world a
lot of trouble in the long run.
Every father has a legacy through his children. That legacy may be good or evil. Abraham’s legacy with Ishmael is negative.
But his legacy with Isaac is positive. Not perfect, but positive.
4. Abraham became a faith-full father.
When his relationship with Ishmael fell apart, Abraham
focused all of his paternal affection on Isaac.
He loved Isaac like he was his only
son (Genesis 22: 2). Abraham loved
Isaac so much that you had to wonder if he loved Isaac more than he loved God. So, God devised an extreme test. He told Abraham,“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom
you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2).
Abraham obediently took his son to the sacred site, but before
he and Isaac went up to the altar, Daddy Abraham told the rest of their party, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I
will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).
Abraham’s whole heart was tied up in Isaac: all of his hopes, all sense of purpose for
his labors, and struggles, and losses resided in the life of the only son he had
left. But Abraham’s FAITH was tied up in
God. Abraham believed that the Lord had
not brought Isaac this far to leave him.
Abraham believed that God would fulfill all the promises He’d made, and
God had promised to make a great nation out of Isaac’s descendants. Abraham believed that even if he gave his son
to God, God would give him back. This
was Abraham’s legacy of faith.
(Note: If YOU take
your child out to sacrifice them to God, you’re going to a highly secure psychiatric hospital and your child is going
into foster care. In fact, if you
believe you’re hearing God tell you to sacrifice your child, call the
department of mental health and after you explain and give your address ask
them to transfer you to DHR.)
As a father, Abraham failed in several spectacularly tragic
ways. But with Isaac, Abraham
successfully combined a bottomless store of fatherly love with unerring faith
in his God into
such a deep and immovable foundation that the family’s
religious faith survived being surrounded by pagans and polytheists. It survived famine and the betrayal of
brothers. It survived immersion in
Egyptian culture and centuries of discrimination and slavery. The faith bequeathed by Abraham survived
wilderness and war and exile and the attempts at eradication by the greatest
empires of man.
Abraham’s love and faith were so genuine and absolute that
after seriously intending to stab and burn Isaac on a sacrificial altar, father and son still had a strong relationship.
Think about how deep your father-son connection has to be to walk out of
that incident together, continue living in the same camp, and trust your father
to arrange your marriage.
LOVE and FAITH.
Love your children with all you have. Be good to them. Be good for them. And trust God. In thought, word, deed, and demeanor be the
greatest example of faith in God that your children could ever experience. Be a loving father full of faith so that no
matter what happens to you or between you all, your children will KNOW beyond a
shadow of any doubt that Daddy loves them and God is real.
But DON’T offer your kid as a human sacrifice.
But the Angel of the
Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I
am.”
And He said, “Do not
lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him (Genesis 22:11-12).
5. Abraham was a human father. He failed, but he kept trying to do
better.
Abraham didn’t like being alone. After Sarah died and Isaac started their own
family, Abraham again took a wife, and
her name was Keturah (Genesis 25:1).
Yes, he was somewhere north of 147 years old at the
time. And yes, they had children: six
boys (Genesis 25:2-4).
But the time Abraham’s and Keturah’s boys came of age, Isaac
was established as the primary heir to Abraham’s lands and connections. Abraham
gave all that he had to Isaac (Genesis 25:5). But, old Daddy Abraham didn’t make the same
mistake he’d made with Ishmael. He
didn’t leave them with nothing. He gave them enough wealth to set themselves up out of town. Abraham
gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was
still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of
the east (Genesis 25:6). Abraham
tried to balance the favor/ favoritism toward Isaac with fatherly love and
fairness to his youngest children.
One of Abraham’s and Keturah’s sons founded the Midianite
nation. The Midianites eventually fell
into general idolatry and tried to spiritually sabotage Israel in the
wilderness (Numbers 25). However, some
of the children of Midian remembered the faith that Father Abraham had taught
them. One of them was a shepherd-priest
named Jethro, or Reuel.
Jethro did for Moses what Abraham had done for Eliezer and
Lot. (Exodus 2; 4; 18). Jethro took Moses in, mentored him in the
faith of Abraham and the ways of a good shepherd. He made Moses part of his family (Exodus
2:15), supported Moses in his calling (Exodus 4:18), celebrated Moses’ success
and with his wife and children, and shared wise advice (Exodus 18).
Through 500-plus years, Abraham’s faith endured among the
descendants of his 3rd wife.
Even Ishmael’s descendants, after centuries of apostasy, remembered
Abraham and returned, in Islam, to reverence for the Old Testament.
Abraham was a great and imperfect man, a human and,
therefore, flawed father. But he tried
and kept trying. It paid off.
Eliezer did well. Ishmael
did well. Isaac did well. Midian did well. Even after the craziness that happened to Lot
after Sodom (Genesis 19:30-38), his descendants Ruth (book of Ruth) and Naamah (1
Kings 14:21) joined the royal and messianic lineage of Abraham.
HOPE, FAITH, LOVE.
No matter what kinds of father you are, you will be an imperfect
one. Recognize your failures but never stop trying to
do better.
Love your children and your adopted children and your community
proteges and your children by your ex and your children by your baby’s mother and
your stepkids and your other kids. However
you are made their father, love them. Love them and trust God.
Believe that the Lord has power, grace, and favor enough for
all your sons and daughters.
Teach your children to believe. Fill all of them with a sense of hope, with
the knowledge that no matter how their family is built or broken, God has a plan
for them, a plan for good and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope.
--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. He writes a blog called A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Email atgravestwo2@aol.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.
Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
Sunday, June 3, 2018
YOU NEED TO KNOW
How
is the book of Hebrews like a spy mystery movie? What is the critical information that the anonymous
source revealed?
The
answers can change your life and save the world, but it can only be revealed on
a need to know basis.
The
title of this 2nd message in the Hebrew preaching series is: YOU NEED TO KNOW.
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).
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
Saturday, September 9, 2017
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DADDY'S SINS
There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”
8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”
10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” 11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
In February 2017, I blogged about Abraham and Sarah’s Bonnie-and-Clyde days. Long story shorter, when there was a famine
(recession) Abraham and Sarah would move somewhere like Egypt or Gerar of the
Philistines, pretend they were only brother and sister, and defraud the local
king (Genesis 12; 20).
Isaac was 75 when his father, Abraham, died
(Genesis 21:5; 25:8). The twins, Esau and
Jacob, were 15 (Genesis 25:26). That’s
15-75 years of advice and stories and family history, meaning Isaac had heard about his parents’ criminal
past. He told his sons, too; and they
passed the stories down until they were written into the book of Genesis.
When famine struck in Isaac’s time, he
thought about what his dad had done and moved his family to Gerar of the
Philistines --- just like Abraham. He
considered sliding down to Egypt as well, but the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt”(Genesis
26:2).
Isaac repeated his father’s journey. God repeated the promises to Isaac that He’d
made to Abraham (Genesis 26:3-4). And,
when Philistine men started checking out Rebekah, big papa Isaac got scared the
local guys would kill him and take his wife so he and his wife repeated the family
lie.
(Can we just take a moment and reflect on
what a crazy world they lived in? Polygamy
was totally acceptable. So, apparently,
was murdering immigrant men with pretty wives.
You could buy or kidnap a man’s sister and force her to be your wife,
but you couldn’t touch a guy’s wife while he wasstill alive ---- cause that would be wrong. Of course if you made her a widow by murder, then you were totally clear for the kidnapping and marriage-rape. Cultural frickin’ norms.)
Isaac and Rebekah weren’t as slick as the
previous generation so they got caught.
Abimelech (named for the ancestor who’d dealt with Abraham), king of the
Philistines saw Isaac and Rebekah making out.
He called Isaac and said, “Quite
obviously she is your wife” (Genesis 26:8,9).
Isaac and Rebekah were WRONG.
They broke covenant. Not THE covenant, another one.
Abimelech said to Abraham, “Now therefore, swear to me by God that you
will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but
that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and
to the land in which you have dwelt”
And
Abraham said, “I will swear.”
(Genesis 21:23, 24).
If Isaac knew the story of Abraham deceiving
the older Abimelech, he also knew that Abraham and Abimelech had a solemn,
multi-generational covenant under which he should have gone to Abimelech and
told him the truth. Abimelech honored
their fathers’ treaty. In fact, the King of the Philistines was angry that
Isaac had put him in danger of accidentally breaking his family’s word.
Abimelech
said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain
with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” So Abimelech charged
all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be
put to death.” (Genesis
26:10-11).
This Abimelech wanted no part in the part of
the story where the king is rendered infertile and God threatens to kill
him.
In this case, the pre-Israelite Philistine
acted honestly and honorably. The
ancestor of Jesus was a liar and a cheater and at least a little bit of a
coward.
It was all daddies’ fault. (spelling intentional)
When Abimelech #1 told the story to his son
and grandson from the Philistine perspective, the message was: don’t mess with a man’s wife even
accidentally because the man’s god will get you. Even if you ALMOST commit adultery,
apologize, give the husband gifts, and make it right with his god.
When Abraham told the story the message
was: this is how I got rich getting over
on people.
But when dad tells the story like his sin was
a good thing, there’s a strong chance (not a certainty) that his son will make
the same poor choices that daddy made like Isaac did when he lied about Rebekah
being his wife and when he and Rebekah played their children against each other
the way Sarah and Abraham made Ishmael and Isaac into opponents.
Abimelech despite being a religious pagan,
learned repentance from his forefather. Isaac,
despite being a pre-Mosaic Jew, learned how to lie just like his daddy.
Our children will either learn to repent of
our sins or they will learn to repeat our sins.
When we pass to our children a spirit of
repetition instead of repentance, we are assigning an inheritance of sin, and God
complies by visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the
fourth generation of those who hate Me (Deuteronomy 5:9).
Abraham lied.
Isaac lied. Jacob lied. Abraham’s sons were rivals. Isaac’s sons were rivals. Jacob’s sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery
and faked his death. To the third and
fourth generation of those who act hatefully toward God by refusing to repent.
If,
however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and
considers but does not do likewise; . . . who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and
not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments and walked in My
statutes, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live (Ezekiel 18:14, 17)!
It’s a hard thing to confess your imperfections
to the only people who think you’re perfect. Find the strength. Deliver them from the sins that so easily
beset you. Break the cycle before they
repeat the cycle.
---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
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, June 18, 2017
JUST LIKE DADDY
To understand
what fatherhood really is and really should be we go back to the original
father, I mean the ORIGINAL original.
The title of the
message is JUST LIKE DADDY.
Please comment.
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
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
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