DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHOSE WORDS ARE COMING OUT OF THEIR MOUTH?

The first sermon in the new series, preaching through the book of Hebrews. 

The title is a question you may (kinda) recognize: DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHOSE WORDS ARE COMING OUT OF THEIR MOUTH?

Listen well and leave a comment.

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---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

SO?

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy  (Psalm 107:2)

Take the first part of that verse and read it with a different inflection.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say, ”So?”

Please, allow me to share an example.

In John chapter 2, Jesus performed the first public miracle of His ministry by turning water into wine at a wedding. (Don’t you just love alliteration.)  This miracle was instigated by Jesus’ mother, who was concerned that the happy couple would be embarrassed that the open bar had run dry.

When Mary broached the topic to Jesus (whom I maintain did not even want to accompany His mom to this wedding), the Lord replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with Me?”

Mother Mary said, “They’re out of wine.”

And Jesus replied, “So?”

There are times when the most lovingly Christian reply is sarcasm.

Yes. Yes, that’s what I said.

I’m not talking about the kind of sarcasm that crosses or straddles the line into verbal bullying.  I’m talking about lovingly and succinctly responding in a matter that communicates that you really don’t give a crap what they think because God has made it clear what you’re supposed to do.

Examine Jesus’ response in John 2 and you’ll notice that it involved:

-          No personal attacks;

-          No passive aggression to destroy the mood of the party;

-          No long justification for his attitude;

-          No direct or indirect efforts to grab attention;

Also, note that Jesus fixed the wedding couple’s wine problem.  He did so quickly and rather anonymously.  We know that Jesus didn’t draw a bunch of attention to Himself because John 2: 9, 10 says that the wedding coordinator thought the bride and groom had pulled the 2^nd batch of wine out of their secret stash.

Saying, “So” doesn’t mean that you don’t care. 

Saying, “So,” doesn’t mean that you won’t help.

Saying, “So,” means that you won’t argue.

Jesus-style sarcasm requires that when it’s all said and done, you’ve DONE a whole lot more than you’ve SAID.

Saying, “So,” doesn’t mean shutting THEM up.

It’s means shutting YOURSELF up.

In fact, a more literal translation of that opening clause in Psalm 107:2 would read: Let the redeemed of the Lord say.

That’s it.  End of sentence.  Literally say------- NOTHING.

Maybe Jesus discerned that the wedding party was too drunk to appreciate a theological exegesis of the transformation of water into new wine.  Maybe Jesus knew He’d just be casting verbal pearls before drunken swine (so to speak).

There were many times when Jesus meticulously explained His identity as the Messiah, the Son of God.  But not THIS time.

This time Jesus just said, “So,” and worked the miracle.  And as far as we can tell from the text, after working the miracle, He said------ NOTHING.

The redeemed of the Lord are they whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

If WE understand who we are then we won’t waste so much time trying to prove our spiritual credentials to everybody.

Somebody needs to hear your testimony, but everybody doesn't.

Everybody doesn’t need to hear "your story" EVERY doggone time you perform a good work.

Sometimes they just need sarcasm and service.

Say, “So,” and work your miracle, and then just shut up.

Let your actions speak louder than your words.

---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 listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

BIBLICAL RELIABILITY & THE MYTH OF SHAKESPEARE

On the bookshelf in my home office is a book titled The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  This book claims to contain the word of a 16^th century British author.  However, the copyright date makes it abundantly clear that this book was published in 1980.  On top of that, further analysis shows that the book is the 3^rd edition, clearly a copy of a copy copied by an earlier scribe.

If my house was the main site of research into this alleged “Shakespeare,” and the third edition of his Complete Works was the only copy found in excavations, would we still believe in Shakespeare?

Would we conclude that since the oldest surviving copy was printed in 1980 then obviously its quotations were unreliable?    

Would professors of the Shakespearean mythos profess that our belief in Shakespeare as an author is far too literal since multiple editors writing hundreds of years after Shakespeare’s death had obviously added their own words to his plays?  

Would experts argue that the same man could not have written of honest witches in the book of Macbeth and of a peacemaking priest in the book of Romeo & Juliet? 

Would scholars applying critical literary analysis conclude that Shakespeare was a myth, that no one could have written that many plays in a time before laptops? 

Nah. 

Because obviously the copyright date doesn’t give the original date that a text was written.  It only tells when a particular company pressed another set of books.  Obviously finding a copy of an author’s words doesn’t tell us when his words were originally written down.  Obviously, finding copies made 100 years after the fact only proves that 100 years after the fact people were STILL making copies.  Obviously, a circa 1980 copy of Shakespeare’s words doesn’t mean that Shakespeare didn’t live and speak in the 1600’s.  It just proves that what he wrote was important enough for people to preserve it over hundreds of years as opposed to all the other things written during the same time period that have been ignored and lost to time.

Obviously.

Obviously?

Then why isn’t it obvious that the date of a copy of the gospels only tells you the date the previous copy was copied down?  It doesn’t tell us the date of the original eyewitness’s narrative.

Why isn’t it obvious that finding a 2^nd century copy of a copy of Jesus’ words doesn’t prove that Jesus was misquoted?  It just proves that Jesus’ words were important enough to keep repeating and sharing via the only printing method available----- hand scribed copies.

It’s obvious that only fool or a rabid conspiracy theorist would use my 1980 copy of Shakespeare to question the authenticity of the Bard of Avon?

However, if you use a single scrap of a single page which doesn’t even claim to be the original manuscript and just happened to not get lost with the millions of other undiscovered 1^st century scrolls  to claim that you know when the Bible was ORIGINALLY written down, you’re not a fool.  You’re not a rabid conspiracy theorist.   You’re a scholar and a theologian.

Obviously.

---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 29: 19. "MORE THAN WORDS"

Proverbs 29: 19     A servant will not be corrected by mere words; for though he understands, he will not respond.

Proverbs 29: 19.  Accountability is an often used but too-seldom applied term in organizational leadership.  What we call accountability is often just reporting. 

At best, reporting shows that your people know what they were supposed to do, but it doesn’t ensure that they did/ will do it.

Reports are the summary and spin that one party gives to his leaders and supervisors.  Reports can clarify questions with numbers and narratives, or reports can cloud results with excuses and empty oration.  Either way, reports are mere words.  REPORTING IS NOT ACCOUNTABILITY.

Accountability begins when the leaders peer into and through the reports and see the actual results.  ACCOUNTABILITY OCCURS WITH LEADERS RESPOND TO RESULTS WITH CONSEQUENCES. 

If a leader never drills down through the ritual of reporting to the spirit and truth of the actual results, then the leader doesn’t have an accurate basis for holding people accountable.    Once they get down to the actual results, leaders have to take the next difficult, painful, courageous, unpopular, and messy step.  They have to apply real results-based consequences.

A cashier who gives back too much change won’t stop giving back too much change because the manager asks him to.  But f the manager retrains the cashier AND docks his pay, the over-changing will stop, or the cashier will quit---- which will stop the over-changing.

A child who screams in the grocery store will not stop screaming because a parent tells her to stop one time. She’ll stop screaming when she has been taught proper behavior and shown that painful consequences follow her parent telling her to stop more than one time.

Many of our families, our schools, our communities, and our churches are corrupt, powerless, and declining because we don’t hold people accountable.  We take reports at face value and never look for the real results.  They say, “Everything fine,” so we ignore the smoke pouring out of the building.  No accountability.

We see the destruction and the decline, but we don’t want to hurt feelings, challenge political strongholds, or risk retaliation; so we leave people the way we found them in the positions where they can do the most harm and accept the empty report that, “God is good.”  No accountability.

From Congress to the county to the local church, we call for committees to write and deliver reports.  But reports are mere words, and mere words are not enough to alter the inertia of failure.  Accountability is the most difficult way, but it’s the only way.

Jesus modeled the practice of accountability.

Luke chapters 9 & 10 begin with Jesus ordaining and appointing 82 leaders.  The 12 apostles and the 70 others were given specific evangelistic appointments and assignments. 

They reported back to Jesus on their work (Luke 9: 10; 10: 17), and Jesus drilled down for spiritual, ministerial, and personal results. 

• How well did they handle the resources/ lack of resources?  (Luke 9: 3-5)
• When put on the spot could they organize and execute a feeding ministry in the field?  (Luke 9: 12-13)
• Had they grown in their understanding of Jesus despite the views of the prevailing culture? (Luke 9: 18-20)
• Could they show actual spiritual results? (Luke 10: 9, 17

When an appointed or potential leader some showed less understanding or less commitment than Jesus required, He applied the consequence of direct Divine rebuke. (Luke 9: 54-55; 9: 62; 10: 17-20)

Reports + Results + Consequences =  ACCOUNTABILITY.

It’s difficult way, but it’s Jesus’ way---- the necessary path of accountability.

---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: MORE THAN WORDS

Proverbs 29: 19     A servant will not be corrected by mere words; for though he understands, he will not respond.

Proverbs 29: 19.  Accountability is an often used but too-seldom applied term in organizational leadership.  What we call accountability is often just reporting. 

At best, reporting shows that your people know what they were supposed to do, but it doesn’t ensure that they did/ will do it.

Reports are the summary and spin that one party gives to his leaders and supervisors.  Reports can clarify questions with numbers and narratives, or reports can cloud results with excuses and empty oration.  Either way, reports are mere words.  REPORTING IS NOT ACCOUNTABILITY.

Accountability begins when the leaders peer into and through the reports and see the actual results.  ACCOUNTABILITY OCCURS WITH LEADERS RESPOND TO RESULTS WITH CONSEQUENCES. 

If a leader never drills down through the ritual of reporting to the spirit and truth of the actual results, then the leader doesn’t have an accurate basis for holding people accountable.    Once they get down to the actual results, leaders have to take the next difficult, painful, courageous, unpopular, and messy step.  They have to apply real results-based consequences.

A cashier who gives back too much change won’t stop giving back too much change because the manager asks him to.  But f the manager retrains the cashier AND docks his pay, the over-changing will stop, or the cashier will quit---- which will stop the over-changing.

A child who screams in the grocery store will not stop screaming because a parent tells her to stop one time. She’ll stop screaming when she has been taught proper behavior and shown that painful consequences follow her parent telling her to stop more than one time.

Many of our families, our schools, our communities, and our churches are corrupt, powerless, and declining because we don’t hold people accountable.  We take reports at face value and never look for the real results.  They say, “Everything fine,” so we ignore the smoke pouring out of the building.  No accountability.

We see the destruction and the decline, but we don’t want to hurt feelings, challenge political strongholds, or risk retaliation; so we leave people the way we found them in the positions where they can do the most harm and accept the empty report that, “God is good.”  No accountability.

From Congress to the county to the local church, we call for committees to write and deliver reports.  But reports are mere words, and mere words are not enough to alter the inertia of failure.  Accountability is the most difficult way, but it’s the only way.

Jesus modeled the practice of accountability.

Luke chapters 9 & 10 begin with Jesus ordaining and appointing 82 leaders.  The 12 apostles and the 70 others were given specific evangelistic appointments and assignments. 

They reported back to Jesus on their work (Luke 9: 10; 10: 17), and Jesus drilled down for spiritual, ministerial, and personal results. 

• How well did they handle the resources/ lack of resources?  (Luke 9: 3-5)

 

• When put on the spot could they organize and execute a feeding ministry in the field?  (Luke 9: 12-13)

• Had they grown in their understanding of Jesus despite the views of the prevailing culture? (Luke 9: 18-20)

• Could they show actual spiritual results? (Luke 10: 9, 17

When an appointed or potential leader some showed less understanding or less commitment than Jesus required, He applied the consequence of direct Divine rebuke. (Luke 9: 54-55; 9: 62; 10: 17-20)

Reports + Results + Consequences =  ACCOUNTABILITY.

It’s difficult way, but it’s Jesus’ way---- the necessary path of accountability.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Call me at 334-288-0577

Email me at 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.