A Real Big Voice | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.

8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.

And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.

11 The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

I spend some time thinking about the times in my life that I hear God's voice, I am grateful for the times that voice saved me grateful for the times that voice kept me when everyone around me was falling apart. The voice of God kept me from dangers seen and unseen, opened doors no one else could open, and kept doors shut for my protection. I get happy when I think about the God speaking to little old me. 

I don't think I am alone in this, many of us listen for the voice of God, in our prayer time, in our dreams, in our gut reaction to events that happen. As believers, we all long for the voice of the lord and want to know what the plan is for our lives. Even if you are not a believer, I see more people talking about what the universe has in store for them or what the universe is saying to them. We are all looking for some guidance from someone other than ourselves.

There are people in scripture looking for guidance from something other than themselves. Psalm 29 is one of the oldest Psalms, some scholars think it is an adaptation of an ancient Canaanite Hymn to Baal. Canaanite priests are mentioned in other Old Testament books several times. As I have said time and time again, I don't care who does what first, I care who does what right. Yeah, there was some competition for worship in the days of the Bible, and there is some competition for worship today. There is a temptation to be caught up in things besides God, (technology, humanism, prosperity, etc.) people are in a pandemic and are worried about the economy first. People during the time of the text may have thought that Baal or something other than God was in control. 

God invites us to worship

The text says in the first couple of verses to ascribe, to give someone their due, to acknowledge that is glorious, and strong, that God is holy. Our purpose is to worship God, not our political parties, not our bank accounts, not our social circles, not our positions, we are supposed to worship God. While someone may think that Baal or something else is powerful and in control, God is in control. God is powerful, God gives us true peace, God has the glory, God triumphs over chaos. Acknowledge the Lord.  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century, insisted that awe is critical for not taking the world for granted and thus losing the ability to experience it with depth and reverence. That means awe is a pathway not only to knowledge but also to wisdom and God.

The bible says to let everything that has breath praise the Lord. God is all-powerful, wonderful, amazing, excellent, altogether lovely the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

God invites us to listen

The phrase "the voice of the Lord" is repeated 7 times in the passage of scripture. God's voice is powerful, and God's voice is something we should listen to.  When we hear the Lord, we must be open to what God may be saying to us in our lives.  God's voice is powerful, the psalmist describes it as something powerful enough to rip apart trees and make the earth move.  Where has the voice of the lord been in our lives? Where could we use the voice of the lord now? 

God invites us to his inheritance

By the end of the Psalm, we see the glory of the Lord and want to be a part of it, to experience the glory for ourselves. The Lord is enthroned forever, and we want God to pass that glory on to us. The glory, the weight of the Lord we want some of that in our lives today. God uses various ways to come into our lives and being in awe of God and worshiping God is one of those ways. God is inviting us into his family, and this is an opportunity to worship him and listen to what God has to say for our lives. 

Having Peace | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

1 John 5:1-6

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

Stress, something I deal with from time to time, I don't enjoy it, but I understand that it is a part of my life and I must figure out ways to deal with it. How do I know I am getting stressed? Sometimes I eat, probably too much, I get short with people, speaking in a very direct manner. My neck gets tense, I hurt my next a few years back, went through physical therapy for it, but even though I recovered, whenever I get tense, I feel it there first. The fact that I know this about my body allows me to pay attention to it and take a step back when I feel it, do some stretches, take a walk, watch something enjoyable. 

We all get stressed; I have someone I know that tells me they do not get stressed. They may play it off, but I also know that person will have blood pressure issues from time to time and get migraines. I say that they may not get stressed, but their body does. We all do especially in the United States and especially during these times. 

Even before this pandemic, over the last several decades, the United States has become the leader when it comes to stress.  According to the American Institute of Stress, stress-related illnesses cost the American economy $300 billion in medical bills and lost productivity every year. Forty-four percent of Americans feel more stress than they did five years ago, and one in five people experience "extreme stress," which includes symptoms like heart palpitations, shaking, and depression. Three out of every four visits to the doctor are for stress-related ailments. 

A lot of that stress is hitting us earlier in life as well. In the early 2000s, psychologist Robert Leahy said "The average high school kid today has the same level of stress and anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s." I can only imagine what reports will come out later as we move on. 

According to the CDC Stress can cause:

• Feelings of fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, or frustration

• Changes in appetite, energy, desires, and interests

• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions

• Difficulty sleeping or nightmares

• Physical reactions, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, and skin rashes

• Worsening of chronic health problems

• Worsening of mental health conditions

• Increased use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances

People will do many things to reduce stress, some good, some not so good. Yoga, mindfulness, seeing a therapist, changing diets, cutting out toxic people, possibly changing companies or careers. All those things may be good, they may even be needed in certain situations. I don't want someone to think I don't believe in those things. I practice some of them myself. I realize though that they are all temporary, they don't eliminate stress and they don't put my life on easy mode. They are things that make me happy, but they don't give me peace. The truth is, however, that, despite the billions of dollars we're spending on this stuff, you just can't buy peace. In a world that feels out of control, no amount of time or money spent on these things will give me peace.  The world is still out there, and we will still have to deal with it.

The people to whom John was writing had every reason to be stressed. While the author's audience isn't identified at the beginning of the letter, the early Christian churches of John's day were harassed and persecuted. People were losing their livelihoods and their lives because they were connected to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At a minimum, they would have been ostracized by their communities for believing someone who was executed like a common criminal was the Lord of the world. With such turmoil and stress surrounding the new believers, it would have been very easy for them to stop believing in Christ.

However, the early Christians thrived during stress and persecution. The first few centuries of Christianity saw it explode in numbers and influence so much that, by the early fourth century, it was the dominant faith of the Romans who tried to destroy it earlier. The early Christians thrived because they held on to some major points that gave them peace. 

Peace that we are children of God, and that God loves us. 

We are all God's children because God loves us, and because God loves us we are his children. The two are intertwined, love makes us family. That is not something that someone else can take away. 

Belief in Jesus as the Christ is evidence that we are children of God, the parent (v. 2).

Love of God and love of the children of God are intertwined and linked. One cannot love one and not the other (v. 2). We are all in this thing called life together, and in the body of believers, we must love God and love God's children. We are all God's children because God loves us, not because of any task we completed, any position we hold, it is as I have said before the love that makes us family.

Peace in obedience to God

Evidence of the depth of our love of God is the level of our obedience to the will of God (v. 3). We cannot just say we love God we have to act like it, we must do what God says. If we want what God wants for us in our lives, we have to do what God told us to do in his word. That may sound like a burden but obedience to God's word is not burdensome, we just have to spend more time practicing it. I made a career out of technology but the first time I got around it, I had no idea how to turn most of the stuff on. We can spend more time practicing doing what God says instead of expecting everything to be perfect on the first try. If at first, you don't succeed, try, and try again. With the love of God and obedience to God's word, we can do more than we ever imagined. We can become world-beaters when we do so, that is what the text is talking about in verse four, that love and that obedience give us the power to conquer the world, gives us the boldness to speak truth to power, and walk in our authority. It is a lot harder to be stressed when you know you have the victory. The children of God are winners, world-conquerors (v. 4). We have faith as our weapons, a belief in God, and a belief that Jesus is the Son of God. 

We are connected by water and by blood, by water when Jesus was baptized, and when we are baptized, we reject the power of sin and begin our path as disciples in Christ Jesus. That is one reason the UMC baptismal vows ask if you reject the spiritual forces of wickedness and reject the evil powers of this world. We are connected to new life in Christ, connected by water and connected by blood. Jesus willingly laid down his life for us so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. 

There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains:

Peace to know that I am, you are, we all are connected to the one who was, is, and is to come. We are connected in Christ Jesus. 

Love Makes Us Family | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

1 John 3:1-7

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

I remember growing up and visiting my grandparents during the summer. I would spend time with my grandmother in Freeport Illinois and my grandmother in Chicago Illinois. I would be in Freeport and go to the gas station, or the pizza place, or the park, and my grandmother, I called her Grandma Bruce. Grandma Bruce would say "that's your cousin" she introduced me to so many cousins that I grew up thinking I was related to everyone black in Freeport. I would go to Chicago and at my grandmother Grandma Hargrave as I would call her kept a picture on the wall of the stairs between the basement and the ground floor of the house, that picture had little squares on it with names, children, parents, grandparents, great grandparents going as far back as what had to be sharecroppers and slaves, I talk with my aunt all the time about this picture. Both Grandma Bruce and Grandma Hargrave instilled something in me, the importance of knowing who my family is. 

We all have ways to identify who is in the same family, some people have the same shaped nose or same eye color, natural athletic ability, accents, freckles, style of hair and/or hairlines, the list goes on and on, there are many ways to identify who all are in the same family. Even with ways to tell who is in the same family, sometimes people can be excluded from a family

There is an example in scripture about identifying family in 1st John. 1st John is attributed to John the Elder, written just like the Gospel according to John, it is written to a community or person scholars say that with this book we are reading someone's mail-in this book. This was written after the resurrection of Christ and the people of God were waiting for Christ to return but doing nothing while waiting. While they were sitting around doing nothing, they were also trying to determine who was in and who was out. They deciding who were children of God and who were not. Not only were the church folk trying to keep people already in the family out, but there were also people on the outside who couldn't get in. 

Those who are born of him are true “children of God.” We are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). At the beginning of the gospel of John, we read that Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the perfect image of God, the one who has “made him known” to the world” (John 1:18). John 1:12-13 tells us that those who receive him have been given “power to become children of God, who were born not of blood or the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

All of this is at God’s initiative, out of God’s imagination, and through God’s love. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). But we aren’t merely God’s children now, John goes on to say. We are to imagine something more. “What we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (vv. 2-3). In other words, the children of God are to imagine that they can and will become like Jesus, the perfect image of God!

We can't just sit around waiting for Christ's return, we can work while we wait. Christ beat sin now it’s our turn to act like it. The community is being encouraged to dwell where they are but prepare for Christ's return. Preparing for Christ's return mean just sitting around doing nothing,

The Love of God makes us nothing less than the children of God. I am a child of God because God loves me, you are a child of God because God loves you, we are all children of God because God loves us. We are all God's children because God loves us. God's grace is his love bestowed on us without us having to earn it. 

Whose love do we want to claim? 

 I was sinking deep in sin,

Far from the peaceful shore,

Very deeply stained within,

Sinking to rise no more;

But the Master of the sea

Heard my despairing cry,

From the waters lifted me–

Now safe am I.

How a True King Acts | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷ When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

¹⁰ “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

 

I like to pay attention to new leadership when they start to operate. When there is a new president, governor, mayor, city council, a new pastor, a new fraternity, or sorority president, I watch how they operate to see if I can learn any new leadership lessons from them.  What plans and programs will they put in place? What kind of team will they put together? What problem will they work to solve first?

 

We all look at new leaders to see how they are going to act, what kind of hope and change they will bring about. I imagine that is why people watch inaugurations even if they did not vote for that president, why when a new pastor comes to a church all the business meetings and Bible Studies have strong attendance. I see city council meetings standing room only at the beginning of a new administration, everyone is waiting to see how the new people are going to work.

 

We see a new leader coming into their own her in this scripture passage, the Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the four gospels, it was written to be read in an assembly of believers. I wonder if that is why it is the shortest Gospel? This Palm Sunday passage is a story found in all four gospels; each gospel emphasizes certain parts of the story more than others. In all the stories Jesus and the Disciples are going into Jerusalem for Passover. Historian Josephus says that many people would come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, so many that the city of Jerusalem could not hold them, and the visiting worshipers would have to stay in neighboring cities, we don't know exactly where Bethpage was, but we know that Bethany was about 2 miles southeast of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives was east of Jerusalem.

 

We are drawing near to the end of the Gospel story but there is still a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus is coming in announcing himself as the Messiah, the savior who takes away the sin from the world.

 

This Palm Sunday story takes place at the height of oppression for the people of God. By the time we get to this passage, the people are looking for a savior, practically begging for one. Hosanna literally means save now, or save I beg. Have you ever been so low that you didn’t care where your help came from as long as you got it?

 

Many have tried before Jesus practically going to war with Romans and they have failed over and over again.  There were plenty of people who claimed to be the Messiah before Jesus, but the people were never saved. Judas Maccabeus and many others came looking to overthrow the Roman government with military might, and the people cheered them on, even shouting hosanna, hosanna to some of these other messianic claimants, people who claimed to be the saviors before Jesus did. However they all failed, the previous people looked to save the people by military might, Jesus sought to save the people’s souls.

 

Jesus put care into his entry, Jesus thought about what he was going to do before he did it. Jesus considered where he was going, who he was going to, and put some care into how he was going to go to the people. Oh, I wish the church would put some effort into how they could reach out to the community instead of always expecting the community to come to them.

 

Jesus started from the Mount of Olives because Zechariah 14 prophesied that the Messiah would come from there. Jesus told the disciples to go to Bethany and get a colt, a donkey because he knew it would be there and when we look at the old testament kings, they rode on donkeys during peacetime. Taking a donkey during this time would have been like taking a car today. Jesus said if anyone asks you what you are doing? Tell them "the Lord needs it" watch the text here, Jesus hasn't been called Lord in this way until now, that was scandalous because the people would have been hearing Lord when talking about Caesar, not some man from Galilee. Romans would take people's stuff and take people all the time just because they could. However, when Jesus takes something, he is going to return it. A true king doesn’t just take and take, they give as well.

Up until now, Jesus had been operating in secret, heal somebody, tell them to keep it a secret, now he is coming into Jerusalem with fanfare. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, people put out their coats before their king, their ruler because that is what they did in 2nd Kings 9. We call this particular Sunday "Palm Sunday" but the coats and the donkey have a biblical significance to what was happening when Jesus was coming into town. The text doesn't mention palms directly it just says branches. Jesus put care into how he was letting the people know your savior has arrived.

 

Jesus is letting the people know a true king has come, a true savior has come, not for military victory but a spiritual victory over all of creation. Jesus is here to set the world right with a new world order. Jesus came during the Passover, a time when the Jewish people celebrated being delivered from slavery in Egypt, celebrated freedom from bondage, freedom from oppression. Jesus was here to save the people from the bondage of sin and death.

 

We can look at how a true king acts, how a real ruler carries themselves. Jesus came to Jerusalem this time to give himself willingly for us. We are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation. Jesus knew what was going to happen when he came into Jerusalem and he came anyway. Jesus knew he would be betrayed but he came anyway. Jesus knew that Peter would deny him, but he came anyway, Jesus knew the people would choose another criminal over him to go free, but he came to Jerusalem anyway. Jesus knew that he would be beaten, bloodied, and bruised but he came anyway. Jesus knew what he had to do, who he had to do it for, and came into town with his head held high to see the Temple and to save the people.

A Magnetic Messiah | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

John 12:20-33

20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”

30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

I am interested in people with what I would call magnetic personalities, people who have others naturally gravitate toward them. If there is someone who people naturally want to follow. I wonder what is it about that person that draws people to them? When I was growing up in school I wondered why certain kids were popular and what made them so popular. What drew others to that person? Also, I would wonder what drew people to some of the more famous activists?  What draws people to follow a Martin Luther King, a Mahatma Gandhi, what draws people to a Mother Theresa or a Harriet Tubman?  I recently finished watching Judas and the Black Messiah a movie based on the life of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. Chairman Hampton said that he was high off the people and that he lived for the people. He said he might have to die for the people. Hampton helped form a Rainbow Coalition, Hampton was able to get people from the Young Patriots organization, a group of Southern Whites living in Chicago, Latino leaders, and African Americans to come together to help the people in the community. 

Hampton caught the attention of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover who wanted to prevent the rise of a Black Messiah that could bring unity and coalition among black political groups, so they did to Hampton what they have done to so many black leaders during that time. Attracting people sometimes attracts people that don't have your best interest at hand. Hampton was killed by police officers in his apartment at 4 am in 1969. My mother and grandmother tell me that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, I had another friend tell me that sometimes the squeaky wheel gets removed. Hampton was too loud for J. Edgar Hoover’s tolerance and Hoover sought to get rid of him. Magnetic personalities have positive and negative consequences. 

We find someone with a magnetic personality in scripture here in the gospel according to John. Jesus comes to Jerusalem a week before Passover. Jesus has been living for the people, he has been helping the people. Jesus has been healing the sick, raising the dead, this is not too long after Lazarus was revived. People in the community are attracted to Jesus because Jesus is out there in the community helping the people. Some Greeks have come to see Jesus. These Greeks are different than the Greek-speaking Jews that would make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover feast, these are people not born into the faith. The powers that be, the Pharisees don't like that, in verse 19 they say that they are worried the world is coming to this man. We hear the Pharisees' fearful prophecy in verse 19, we see it come true in verse 20. The powers that be have their status quo messed up and they don't like that. 

Jesus knows with all the change he is bringing out, along with the fact that he is here to free us from penalty, power, and presence of sin, that he is going to have to die for the people. Jesus says that his hour is coming, his time is almost up, he does not have long for this world. 

When Jesus says that the ruler of this world is going to be driven out, a more literal translation of the Greek phrasing for “the world” means system. Jesus came to tear down the systems in place that are not like God's kingdom. God is on the side of the oppressed and has been since as early as Exodus when he told Moses to tell Pharaoh "let my people go" he was with the oppressed when the kingdom was in captivity, he was with the oppressed in the New Testament under Roman captivity, God is with those who suffer, and will be with them in victory. 

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” That’s spiritual magnetism at work! On the one hand, he repels; but he also attracts. Once the power of his love gets hold of you, there’s no resisting. He just brings you along.

At Jesus' birth, he attracted shepherds to a Bethlehem hillside, and later on, attracted wise men from afar. In the temple when he was 12 years old, the wise were attracted to Jesus listening and asking questions. Jesus called to his side fishermen who left their nets and tax collectors who put down their account books. Even the wise Pharisee, Nicodemus, came to him by night, in John chapter 3 to learn how to be “born again.” Jesus attracted to his side women like Mary and Martha, and men like Lazarus. Even the Roman governor, Pilate, felt the pull of his magnetism as he interrogated him.

Jesus can do the same thing for you today. Have you felt the pull of his love in your life, calling you out of ungodly habits? Have you experienced the fascination that comes from hearing his story, the timeless story retold by the church in every age? Have you ever turned to him in grief or worry or fear, and discovered at the center of your being a calm and peaceful place, where none of life’s storms can harm you? If so, you’ve felt his magnetism. Very likely, it’s what has drawn you here today.

Jesus understood that there has to be some sacrifice, the seed of wheat is sacrificed to make more wheat. Jesus was willing and able to make the most impactful sacrifice that would change the world.  Jesus is God in the flesh looking to reconcile humanity back to God. Jesus is going to do this by sacrificing himself so that all of creation can have access to eternal life. 

I remember a scene from Judas and the Black Messiah where Hampton was put in jail, and the Black Panther’s headquarters blown up. Hampton expected to come out of jail to a pile of rubble, but the community banded together to help rebuild the headquarters. People rise and make a change in their community or the world at large, and sometimes those in power do not like change. Sometimes those in power seek to destroy the person, that magnetic personality creating the change. That is why so many of our great leaders get killed, however putting Jesus on the cross was just the beginning, death could not hold him down. Jesus boldly walked into his sacrifice, boldly into being a ransom for all our lives. 

The Foolishness of the Cross | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 New King James Version

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

There is a picture used online when people are making fun of others in a meme the picture is of a man during different stages of transforming into a clown. The picture is 4 smaller pictures the first of the man without makeup and by the time we get to the last picture, he is a fully outfitted clown. People use this picture to make fun of someone else's views on a matter to indicate that this person, or what they said, makes them look like a clown. The picture is meant to represent the view that whatever that person says or believes, is so silly that they should be working in the circus. 

The other funny part about this meme is that joke is that the person offering this silly opinion does not realize what they are saying is wrong, they believe what they are saying makes sense, which makes them look even more like a clown. Oh, what a bad place to be in to think you know what is right but be completely wrong. We all have been there, we all have opened our mouths and put our foot in it. If you have not said something embarrassing in your life, I am pretty sure you are an infant or toddler and don't know how to speak yet, sooner or later we will all say something incorrect, no one is right all the time.

Even though we all mess up sometimes I submit to you that messing up is not as important as how you respond when you find out you were wrong. We have an example of people getting the wrong idea in scripture. 1st Corinthians was written around 54CE, it is a Pauline letter, there is no doubt that Paul wrote this one. Scholars believe that even though we call this letter 1st Corinthians, there is evidence that this letter was Paul's second letter to the church, the letter we call 2nd Corinthians is probably Paul's 4th. This letter comes about 10 years after the area was established as a Roman colony. In 1st Corinthians Paul had to let the people of the Corinthian church know they had gotten the wrong idea about some issues. Paul spent some time with the people of Corinth, started a church, taught them, then left. 

Corinth was a metropolitan city by a harbor with a diverse population, Corinth had recently freed slaves and some wealthier people making lots of money all living in the town. While from diverse backgrounds the people of Corinth had some similarities. No matter where they were in life, social status, economic status, education, the people of Corinth thought they could do whatever they wanted. The people of Corinth were concerned about their freedom and wanted to act out. The people in the city of Corinth wanted to have their freedom and act however they felt and the people of the Corinthian church wanted to have their freedom and act however they wanted. 

The church had started to become divided when Paul wrote this letter, not just between Jew and Greek, but they had started to divide based on who they followed, and economic and social status. Verse 12 says that the people were going around saying, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. There is pressure outside of the church with Corinth being a Roman colony and the church folk separating themselves. This kind of behavior hurt the church and made the church look strange to the rest of the world when they already were not fitting in. It is popular and easy to be a Christian now it was not back then. Jesus was executed like a common criminal, someone who the Roman government was worried would overthrow them and people started setting up churches to follow this man. 

We need to step back and look at how our faith looks to others. The things we think are important, the things we think are wise, are not as important as we think. The cross is scandalous, our king of kings was executed like a common criminal and we use a symbol of the executioner's tool for representing our faith on logos and jewelry, we use it in symbolism when we say everyone has their cross to bear. 

Human wisdom does not compare to God's wisdom it is so far apart that God's "foolishness" is better than the best of human wisdom. God works in our powerlessness, what we think is wise is foolish. Paul understands that what he has in comparison to God is minor. Paul is responsible for sharing Jesus with so many people around the world, most of the New Testament are books credited to Paul, yet he thinks that he is not eloquent, and a terrible speaker. With the help of the power of God, working through Paul many lives are changed. 

The gospel challenges our human intellect, the gospel challenges us. Christ crucified to the Romans is not important but to Christians, this is a source of power and wisdom. To believers the cross is more than just an emblem or logo for church shirts, this is the symbol of true freedom from the bondage of sin and death. 

Though we know better, Christians sometimes fool ourselves into believing that we can rely upon our abilities, our expertise, our planning, and sophistication. Degrees, insurance policies, master plans, and systematic theologies are good things unless we pile them up to convince ourselves that we have life all figured out and our future neatly planned. In the shadow of the cross, such “wisdom” and thinly veiled attempts at control seem foolish.

The cross also reminds us of our unity as a church. Though we may sometimes hate to admit it, we are all tied together—liberals, moderates, conservatives—united under the cross. Our community of faith is formed around what seems to be utter foolishness—an instrument of torture and death used for the salvation of the universe. The savior has already won, the power of the gospel comes from God not social status. 

Faith is Messy | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Romans 4:13-25 New King James Version

13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 

15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 

17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 

18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 

19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 

20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 

21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 

22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 

24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 

25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Do you want to know what word I am tired of hearing these days? Unprecedented, everything going on now seems like it is happening for the first time with no end in sight. When we think we have something under control here comes something new and improved to add another unprecedented complication to the situation. Unprecedented pandemic, unprecedented economic conditions, unprecedented political conditions, unprecedented weather, unprecedented electrical infrastructure failure, it seems like the hits just keep on coming and each issue is unlike any issues we have ever seen before. The problems keep piling up and the pressure keeps coming and I can't see my way out. I am reminded of the adage "if it isn't one thing it is another." How do you press forward when you cannot see your way out? How do you keep going when it seems like you have run out of road? How do you trust God when everything around you is falling apart? We have to have faith, we all need faith and faith is not this perfect sequence of actions faith is hard, faith is strange, faith is messy.

We find a messy situation in Romans, Romans is Paul's last letter that we know of, Romans is written somewhere around 57-58 AD. Paul was writing to a church that was a community of Jewish-born Christians, people who were born Jewish, followed the Biblical laws and believed Jesus was the Messiah. The other part of the community were the Gentiles, people who were not raised Jewish, but heard about Jesus and decided to follow him. This Roman church was made up of Jews and Gentile coming together into one community to follow Jesus, this was something they had never done before. Two communities coming together who would not normally deal with each other, are now together operating as a church. In this community, the Jewish-born Christians thought they were better than the Gentile Christians because they were descendants of Abraham. 

The Roman church was divided, the church folk was trying to decide who is in and who is out. There were people putting barriers up to block others from getting in. People came together to create this church, in Rome, in the middle of Roman oppression. They are trying to start a church, not just any church but a church following the man the Romans crucified, Jesus, in the capital of their oppressors, following someone that could get them all killed, even with all that going on, the church folk still got something to argue about, just messy. A whole bunch of rules put in place that no human being can complete all on their own. How are the people of God going to find their way? 

Paul says that even though this church is doing something unprecedented, there is someone else in scripture that did something unprecedented for God and that person is Abraham. Paul is writing Romans, however, Paul is writing this Roman letter with Genesis in mind. God told Abraham in Genesis that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would number the stars in the sky. Abraham had to have faith, Abraham had Isaac, then Isaac had Jacob and Esau, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and Israel had 12 sons, who would later become the 12 tribes of Israel and be a great nation of people, there it is wrap up the story in a nice little bow and everyone can go home...or maybe not. 

Abraham wavered when faced with a situation he had never seen before. Yes, we applaud Abraham for his faith now, just like Paul did in Romans, but the situation was not so clear back then. God told Abraham and Sarah they were going to have a child, and from them, many nations would come. On two separate occasions, Abraham was traveling with his family in a foreign land, and while traveling Abraham lied and said that Sarah was his sister, so someone tried to take Sarah from him only to give her back when they found Sarah was already married. Abraham and Sarah's actions could have messed up the promise. 

Another time Abraham and Sarah came up with a plan, Abraham and Sarah were going to help God by having Abraham have a child with Hagar instead of Sarah because God must not have meant it when he said Abraham and Sarah because she was "too old." Hagar had Ishmael who goes on to be a great man and nation as well, but he is not who God was talking about when God made the promise to Abraham and Sarah, not Abraham and Hagar.

Another time Abraham laughed when he heard God tell him he was going to have a child. After he finished laughing Sarah laughed too. Abraham knew what was going on in his and Sarah's body when he heard the promise, he was 99 years old and Sarah 90, and even though Abraham stumbled, he didn't stay down, he trusted God in his weakness and it still worked out for his good. In Genesis we see the man mess up over and over again, by the time we get to Romans, it is the result that is remembered over everything else. That is the legacy the people of God are willing to fight over, that is what he is remembered for, that is the legacy and family people want access to. While the people are looking at bloodlines and who begat who, Paul came to let them know that it is faith that gets us in the family, not blood, not laws, not people, faith. 

We are heirs of Abraham not by blood but of faith. We are adopted into the family by the work of Jesus Christ and faith. The many nations that Abraham is the father of is not limited by geography, it is unlimited by faith. We are justified by faith through grace. We don't earn this access we are given it by God when we believe. We can have faith even if it is not this picture-perfect example of how to behave in certain situations, even if it is messy. You may be in a Genesis moment in your life right now but keep pressing forward your Roman's victory is on the way. It may look bad right now, it may be very messy right now but, in the end, God wins. What is going on right now is just a snapshot, a single picture, the world hasn't seen the whole album yet. This is just a quarter, we still the rest of the game to play. We just need to keep the faith.

God who brought life out of Abraham when Abraham was as good as dead also raised Jesus from the dead can breathe life into your present situation no matter how dead the situation seems to you. The work is finished through Jesus Christ, the many nations come through Christ, and the barrier between Jew and Gentile was lowered by Jesus. Christ gave himself up for us all. We can have a messy faith in God. 

Such faith means that we can trust God to work through us, even when our bodies fail us. It means we can trust Jesus to lead us, even when we wander through a thicket of difficult moral choices. It means we can trust the Holy Spirit to uplift us, even when we disappoint ourselves and others. Being righteous does not come from moral perfection, but it is based on being made right with God through our faith in Jesus.

Following the Right GPS | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Psalm 25:1-10

1 In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.

2 I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

4 Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.

5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

7 Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good.

8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.

Many of us have spent time traveling long and short distances, to places we have been to before and places we have never been before. When I go places, I like using GPS, sometimes even when I know where I am going, a GPS will let me know about any road closures, traffic jams, the GPS lets me know exactly how long it is going to take to get me there. Something I have learned using the GPS, speeding doesn't save me as much time as I thought it does. It might if I have to go 40-50 miles, but going on a short trip, not so much. I might get 1-2 minutes back. I still like to go fast, I just know I'm doing it to feel the speed, I am not saving any time...or gas. There are so many options for GPS and I may use a different GPS depending on the situation. There are tons of different GPS apps out there to choose from, each app offers a different look, feel, and different features besides just telling you how to get where you are going. There is one GPS app I don't like because if I am listening to something like music or a podcast while that app is open, it pauses them says the next direction, then restarts the music, over and over again, keep right and take this exit, take this exit, stay on the feeder road, all while my favorite song has stopped 10 times in 5 seconds. One GPS app I like to use won't pause the song but turn it down, and on that one, you can turn the voice completely off and just have the visual directions. 

People have their favorite GPS, they come with so many features now, like the ones that tell them where the police are located, so they know when and where to slow down. There are GPS apps that tell you where the traffic is and when to take a detour, some GPS apps let you know about car accidents. There are even GPS apps that allow you to program the voice giving you directions, one parent I know has her GPS programmed to her child's voice when they were 7...and cute, the GPS serves as a reminder now that the child is much older...their voice is not as cute

People have their own system to get from point a to point b, some use a GPS, some like to write the directions down, some like to just drive around the general area until they find where they need to be. All kinds of ways to get somewhere. Some people seem better at finding their way than others. All of us form “cognitive maps” of locations we travel to frequently. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even be able to find our way around our house. But some people form “cognitive maps” even for places they’ve visited only once. If they ever go back there, they can navigate easily and have an inner sense of where things are in relation to other things. For example, “McDonald’s is here, so the library is to the left, and the street beside that should take me back to the highway.”

Author Erik Jonsson, in his book direction-finding titled Inner Navigation, says “Our natural curiosity, the interest with which we look at new things, especially those that stand out as landmarks, is enough to create the cognitive map without any conscious effort.” Basically how curious we are about our surroundings determines the quality of our cognitive maps. Whether we are writing directions down, using a GPS app, or just exploring until we find a way, there are so many options out there our focus can be shifted to so many things. How do we know if we are on the right path? How do we know that we are not embarrassing ourselves? 

David was dealing with the same question in scripture when he wrote the 25th Psalm.  David wrote Psalm 25, an acrostic poem, or a poem that uses each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. Psalm 25 is also a prayer about focusing on God because David was worried about being put to shame. Our focus should be on God. Faith and hope mean being open to God's instructions. Focusing on God brings the spirit into our lives and the power to stay on the right path. David asks God for a few things in his prayer. 

First David says to God, protect me. 

Protect me (25:1-3)

Following the right GPS keeps you protected from dangers. David says he will put his trust in the Lord and his enemies will not triumph over him. When you are on the right path you will not run into enemies you can't beat. The text says trust in the NIV, the NRSV, King James, and New King James says I “lift up my soul.”  David trusts the Lord with his life and because he trusts the Lord with his life he doesn't believe he will ever be put to shame. When David talks about shame in the text this is not an internal feeling, this is public humiliation. We follow God to keep us protected, there are times in my life where I heard a voice tell me to go the other way told me to go home, and I am standing here today because of God’s protection. 

That hope in verse 3 could also be translated into patiently waiting, those who hope in the Lord won't be put to shame. We can wait on a host of things, people, places, politicians, organizations, systems, sometimes they may work out other times they may not, however, waiting on the Lord will always work out. 

I know it is rough right now but when you are hurting and don't know where your help is coming from, God sees your pain. God sees your suffering. Wait on the Lord and his protection as David did, God will protect us like he did David. 

Pilot me (25:4-5, 8-10)

Following the right GPS keeps you in better company, the text says “make me know your ways” David had the presence of mind to ask God to teach him God's ways. I remember seeing bumper stickers and signs that would say "God is my co-pilot" then later on I saw bumper stickers and signs that said, if God is your co-pilot, switch seats." David is saying he doesn't have it all together, that he has not arrived yet. David says he still needs God to guide him, help him, pilot him on this journey called life. When we have the right pilot, we take ourselves and others in the right direction. We have to let God and God's word lead us, not political beliefs, not greed, not the chance to score points on our so-called haters. 

When we have the wrong pilot, poor decisions are made. Here in Texas, we saw firsthand when greed, and a refusal to plan ahead meet a natural disaster. Not the natural disaster itself but how the so-called leaders responded to it. Politicians were told to prep their plants for cold weather 10 years ago but didn't because they thought it cost too much. Politicians blaming wind turbines and the new green deal for the whole state being out of power when the new green deal hasn't even been put in place. Politicians deciding to go to Cancun while their constituents are freezing without heat, power, and water. Politicians saying that Texans would rather put up with days without power than connecting the Texas Electrical grid to the rest of the country...Naw bruh. 

When our pilot is greed, people suffer, when our pilot is political, people suffer, when our pilot is division, the people suffer. The Bible tells us over and over to love God and love our neighbor. David is following the right pilot when he said that God guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. We have to follow the right pilot; the right pilot uses the right GPS. 

Pardon me (25:6-7)

David asks God for forgiveness; this forgiveness is based on God's steadfast love (hesed). Hesed means covenant loyalty, kindness, and mercy, as well as steadfast love. It is used as a synonym for the word verse 6 with rahamim (tender mercy/compassion), which is also related to a Hebrew word for womb. What David is saying with all these words related is that God's mercy and steadfast love have been there since the beginning, as a matter of fact, God's love and mercy "are old as time." David fervently yearns for God to forgive him rather than to remember his sins. God is a merciful God; God's love is steadfast. 

When you are struggling and cannot find your way there is a GPS that is better than the rest. Following the right GPS will get you to the right destination. Even the sinners can follow the right GPS. God's love is available for all. Following the right GPS will lead us to God’s pardon. 

Something Worth Waiting For | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Isaiah 40:21-31  King James Version

21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23 He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24 Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

One thing I don't like to do is to wait. Pre-covid if I had to wait for a table at a restaurant I don't want the staff to keep coming by telling me that it is going to be a little longer. These days if I order food on DoorDash or Uber eats, I don't want to see the estimated time for my food to arrive, keep going up. I hate waiting. I don't like waiting on this pandemic to come to an end, I don't like waiting on certain situations in my own life to change. I don't like waiting in general for anything. 

There are those who are waiting for loved ones to return home, 

for a report from the doctor, 

for the right person to become their spouse, 

for a home to live in. Some are waiting, and while they are waiting, it seems the only news they keep getting is the wrong kind of news. 

We all are waiting on some good news, especially when the bad news keeps coming. We all have a little bit of “news fatigue” that leaves us sometimes feeling depressed, powerless, and distrustful of news sources. It seems like the more news we take in, the more anxiety we feel or, on the other side, the more desensitized we are to the news. We hit a point like the Wicked Witch of the West did in the musical The Wiz, don't nobody bring me no bad news!

The People in the Book of Isaiah were waiting and it seemed like all they kept getting was bad news. The people in Isaiah were waiting for deliverance in the scriptures.In the book of Isaiah the Isralites were down and out, beaten up, and tired of waiting on something they could not see. 

The people of Jerusalem had by now been in captivity by the time of this writing for over 70 years. For many of these people, all they knew was Babylon. The Israelites had been captured by the Babylonians, who took them from their homeland. The Babylonians tried to take the place of the God that the Israelites worshiped. Isaiah 14:13 says that the leaders of Babylon said “I will be like the Most High”. These Israelites only knew of a corrupt government looking to remove their culture, heritage, and religious values. They know they are loved by God but they are currently captured by a government. The Israelites were waiting on a savior and deliverance that seemed like that salvation and deliverance would never come. These people were down and out, beaten up, and tired of waiting on something they could not see, then here comes the prophet Isaiah for 39 chapters telling the people how some of this was their own fault. 

The prophet Isaiah basically told them, “you wanted to worship government over God, this is what it got you! You want to be in the world and of the world, how is that working out for you?” The Israelites are waiting for deliverance. Isaiah is there to help. Yet Before he can do that, he tells them what they did to get there in the first place.  After letting the people have it for 39 chapters we transition into chapter 40. 

Isaiah is pleading his case for them to keep waiting on the Lord. He’s saying, Let me tell you what God is going to do... just wait on him. This is an appeal that Isaiah wants on the public record. “I know you have been waiting for some time now, I know you are tired of the bad news over and over again,  but let me tell you about how good God is.” 

Isaiah wants the people to activate their faith by activating their  memory! We can remember our history and know that God fulfills promises. Isaiah reminds the people what they should know and what they have heard. They may not have experienced it for themselves but God still has a history and that history has been passed down through the generations. 

Even though the people were suffering under Babylon, governments are not God, politicians are not God, kings are not God. Anything a government, king, or politician can do is temporary in the eyes of the Lord. The text says the princes will fall, they are like grasshoppers, they cannot reach the level of God, wait on something that is substantial to pull you through. The enemies are but a drop in the bucket, or dust on scales, they are less than nothing when compared to God.

God is a long term God and God is worth waiting for. God's word stands forever, God's word has prominence, and is timeless. God's word is worth waiting for. God created in the beginning and is creating now.  God does not suffer from “news fatigue.” As Isaiah says ,  in verses 28-29 “He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint And to those who have no might He increases strength

Not only does God have  the long term view in history, God offers power and strength to those who feel the fatigue of bad news in the present. Human beings tend to try to fix every problem or tell those who “should” be doing something to fix them. But as life in the pandemic has taught us, there are limits to human knowledge and ability. If we trust only in ourselves, we are bound to get tired of waiting when we fail or reach the end of our ability. Life can have us feeling disappointment and exhaustion when the reality sets in that we cannot “fix” everything on our own no matter how hard we try. But in all things, God is still worth waiting for. 

The Message translation of Isaiah 40:28-31 says

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. 

We have waited on things that were definitely worth waiting for, there are those who have waited on their spouse, thought they would never get married and found the right one. There are those who waited on the right house, tried over and over to get one only to fail time and time again but then the right house for the right price became available.  There are those who waited on children, thought it would never happen and now have blessings in their lives biological or adopted. There are those who waited on personal growth and success, struggled in business, struggled in personal development, but when they look at where they are now versus where they were back then, they know the phrase well, "if had not been for the Lord on my side where would I be..." and there are those who waited on many other blessings. If those things were worth waiting on, how much is the Lord himself worth waiting on? 

Waiting is hard when we are waiting on the wrong things. How much better would our stress levels be if we spent as much time praying as we do worrying about what someone else thinks? If we spent more time reading the Bible as opposed to watching the news? I am not saying we should not be informed but spending more time with God can't hurt. We have to put our time, talent, and treasure into things that will last for the long term. The Word of God lasts forever and God is worth waiting for. We can wait on the Lord. Waiting means that we are not always in control but when we let go, and let God we can experience God's power more fully. You might be tired now but wait on the Lord, he will renew your strength, he will recharge your batteries, he will give you the ability to keep waiting. Letting go and letting God will give you the energy to keep on keeping on. 

God Works, Praise Him | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

111 Praise the Lord!

1 I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

2 The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.

3 His work is honorable and glorious, And His righteousness endures forever.

4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

5 He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant.

6 He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure.

8 They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness.

9 He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

     

Can I share something with you? Sometimes I find it hard to praise God. I imagine that may be strange to hear from a pastor… someone that teaches people the Bible, and encourages others, and praises God for a living, but it happens. Work stress, family stress, financial stress, internal stress. Sometimes I spend so much time pouring out, that I miss out on being poured into. Sometimes I also get into a routine or a rut of doing things and the time gets away from me. The monotony of this pandemic behavior, dealing with sickness, death, people making the situation worse with their anti-science, anti-mask, antisocial opinions. 

I know that I am not alone though. We can all get caught up in our emotions sometimes; we are human, and we have emotions. When we get sad, sometimes we focus on the fact that we are sad. When we get mad, sometimes we focus on the fact that we are mad. Sometimes we just get into a routine and praise gets thrown by the wayside. If we’re being honest, some may go several days or weeks without talking to God unless it is the routine of  'bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies" prayer or another routine prayer before bed. Sometimes it is hard to praise the Lord

Fortunately, we are not the only ones who felt like this. The people of God felt down during the time of this Psalm. God gave us some ways in scripture to remember God's works and some reasons to praise him. Even if you are not a believer there is reason to praise. Church folk will say praise God! But outside of the church, it’s really popular to have a positive outlook or an attitude of gratitude. No matter the circumstances a person’s mindset is important. In Psalm 111 the people have an answer to this routine, this rut we may get into and the answer is to remember that God works, so praise him. Psalm 111, which scholars believe was combined with 112 is also an acrostic poem. This means that the poem follows an alphabetical pattern in the Hebrew Alphabet. Each half of each verse starts with a different letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Psalm 111 has 22 phrases in it not counting verse 1a and the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in it. Psalm 111 was written in this poem format so that the people during the Bible times learning this scripture could remember it better. Just like learning the English alphabet, A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat, D is for dog, and so on and so on. We do that with the kids all the time. Patterns like that work because it makes it easier to remember and recall for later. So when the people of God got into a rut, when they got a little down, they had a pattern, almost like a nursery rhyme      to remember. They needed to remember that God works, and God is worthy of praise. 

The translation loses a bit going from Hebrew to English. The text says to praise the Lord, give thanks with the whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Praise is something everyone can see, when you are praising God there should be no question what you are doing. And then the hallelujah there for praise is one that the "Halle" is repeatable and gets louder before we get to the yah part. Like a child calling out to their parent over and over again. Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad dad!! There is no doubt about who they are talking to and whether or not they are excited about it. There is real genuine praise coming forth. 

What are things were they praising God for? God provided food for them. God gave the Israelites manna while they were traveling in the wilderness and took them into the land overflowing with milk and honey. God made sure the people back then had food to eat, and he is making sure we have food to eat now. God works, praise him. 

God gave them the promised land; God took them from slavery to possessing the land. God works, praise him. You may be oppressed in your current situation. The oppressors have been keeping you down so long you cannot even think about getting up let alone see it. But the Lord will fight your battles just like he fought the Israelites battles. The Lord will make your enemies your footstool. God works, praise him. 

God protected them; there were plenty of times the people of God could have and should have been eliminated but were protected. Sometimes I think about the phrase I heard growing up about being protected from dangers seen and unseen. These people knew that God protected them before and can do it again. God Works, Praise him. 

God made a covenant with them, a promise. God promised to redeem the people, and the text says that he commanded this covenant forever. God is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should seek a cause to repent. If God said he is going to do it, his word is good. God works praise him. The text started and ended with praise. We can start and end with praise. I think about a song by Marvin Sapp from time to time called Praise Him in Advance. 

I've had my share of ups and downs

Times when there was no one around

God came and spoke these words to me

Praise will confuse the enemy

So I started singing, I started clapping

I started dancing people were laughing

They knew my problems, they knew my pain

But I knew God would take them away. 

Sometimes we have to praise God in advance, praise God beforehand. We have to make an effort to remember how good God is and how good God has been to us. Remember all the times God worked for us before and hold on to them until we see him work again. Even if it isn't happening fast enough for our liking or doesn't come the way we want it to God's track record is more than enough reason to praise God. God Works, Praise Him! 

Alpha and the Omega, -Beginning and the end, Creator of everything -Dominion and power

Excellent in all his ways-Father to the Fatherless-Great and Greatly to be praised

Holy -Immaculate -Just-King of Kings- Lord of Lord-Magnificent in all his ways

Near us at all times-Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient -Powerful beyond measure

Qualified to run my life-Righteous-in Him, I put my Trust-Unchanging-Victorious

Wonderful in all his ways-Xristos -His Yolk is easy and his burden light-Zenith of all creation

God Works Praise Him

We praise him because God is God all by himself! We praise Him because of His grace, God provides and protects, and promises us out of grace. We could never be obedient enough that we deserve anything from God. The obedience is for us to be better believers, his grace is a reason to glorify him. 

Imagine what your spiritual life would look like if we remembered reasons to praise God more? I would like everyone who is hearing this message to write down 1 thing to praise God for, and look at it at least one time for the next seven days. This is more than a gratitude journal. It’s a practice of praise, of remembering how God works and why we praise him.