Instructions After Lift-Off | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Luke 24:44-53

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

I have always been fascinated with the concept of space travel, I would watch Star Trek, and Star Trek the Next Generation. I remember being in a club learning how to make model rockets and was so happy to launch the model rocket that I picked out of a catalog, put together, and painted. I can visualize being in the Rocket club room carefully putting my Rocket together. Great memories for me and the type of memories I want to create with my children.

I don't think that I am the only one that is fascinated with space travel, there are many popular space movies, the news outlets cover NASA launches, and we even have private companies launching people into space.  Politicians run campaigns on improving space programs, countries compete on who would get on the moon first, society holds the astronaut profession in high esteem, we enjoy the thought of space travel. 

We have a space launch of sorts in scripture, we find Jesus in the Gospel of Luke talking to the disciples after he has shown them proof of his resurrection, and after the walk to Emmaus. Jesus knows his time with the disciples is short so he must give them some instructions so the church can continue thriving after Jesus returns to the Father.  This is no simple task, we as believers already know how the story ends, we are standing here today because we know how the story ends. However, the disciples are in a different situation, the disciples are fresh off a crisis. The disciples saw their savior crucified; we wear crosses now as a symbol of Christianity today, but the symbol was not as glamorous back then as it is today. 

James Cone said that “Unfortunately, during 2,000 years of Christian history, this symbol of salvation has been detached from any reference to the ongoing suffering and oppression of human beings" James Cone says that the cross to the people of God would be like the lynching tree to black people today. The disciples are trying to recover from the trauma of seeing their Savior lynched and figure out how to go forward. Jesus has risen from the dead, showed himself to the people, and looking to cover a few things before his ascension. Jesus knows he is about to be carried away to heaven, higher than any spaceship can go, but before Jesus leaves, he wants to prepare the disciples one last time.

Word

Jesus tells the disciples that his ministry on Earth fulfilled the prophecies in scripture. The Gospel of Luke constantly mentions the Old Testament prophecies Jesus was fulfilling when he fulfilled them.  Over and over in the Psalms, and Isaiah, and other OT books, the writers said a savior is coming, and this what the Savior is going to do, over and over in Gospels, Jesus did what the prophecies said he was going to do. We should get and keep the word of God in us, in our hearts and minds. 2nd Timothy 2:15 says study to show yourself approved; a workman need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to know what the word says if we want to know what God wants. 

The text says that their minds were opened, Jesus reminded the disciples of what they already knew. The word used for mind in the Greek language also means intellect, Jesus was activating the ability within the disciples. I like this verse and others like it because this verse means that it is ok to keep your brain on when you come into the church. I am a man of faith, and I think that there is a place for science within being a believer, I don't them as exclusive, I don't see faith and science as an either/or but rather a both/and. Have a little talk with Jesus...and a therapist, pray for healing...and go see the doctor and take some medicine. 

Witness

Now that the disciples have the knowledge and the power, they must put that knowledge and power to use. Jesus tells the disciples to go out into the world and let the people know that their sins are forgiven. Proclaim the name of Jesus to all the nations, start in Jerusalem, then go out to the rest of the world. Jesus tells the disciples that they are witnesses, to be a witness in the court system you must have seen something, or know something, and you must be willing to tell someone about it. A witness to a crime or another event gives testimony about what happened because they were around when the event happened. Attorneys will also call expert witnesses because they know about a particular subject and can speak on the subject with authority. No matter if someone was around when the event happened or they know enough about the subject to speak on it, the witnesses have something in common, they still must talk to other people about it, they have to tell it, and tell it all. The disciples were around Jesus when he healed the sick, raised the dead, opened blinded eyes, and now they have to tell the world about it. We all know the grace and mercy of God through his only begotten son Christ Jesus and we out to be able to tell somebody about it. 

We cannot have churches that are not consistently connected to the communities they are in, we must witness and be out in the world. 

Worship

Once Jesus ascends into heaven the disciples go on praising God. This is not a singular event, the text says that they worshiped Jesus and were continually in the temple blessing God.  Praise is participatory and is ongoing. Psalm 34 says “I will bless the Lord at all times, his praises shall continually be in my mouth.”  Hebrews 13 says let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise. Psalm 113 says from the rising of the sun until it goes down, the Lord is to be praised. The disciples worshiped the Lord and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 

The disciples had something to be joyful about and we all have something to be joyful about, that we can know Jesus Christ in the pardoning of our sins.

Study God's word, witness to the world, and worship the Lord. If we can do these things, and do them well, the church will rise to levels we have never seen before. 

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. 

Who is Really Working? | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Acts 4:5-12

⁵ The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶ Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. ⁷ They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed,¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,     which has become the cornerstone.’

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

 

When someone who is not working very hard is put next to someone who is working hard you can spot the difference easily. There are real workers in Acts chapter 4, the Book of Acts tells the early history of the church. Peter and John are in this part, two disciples with different personalities going around preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter, a brasher, and louder person, while John is calm, cool, and collected. There is a place for both types of people in the church. Peter and John are going around preaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the church is growing. The Church is growing by leaps and bounds, Jesus started with 12 disciples, by the time we get to chapter 1, there are 120, by chapter 2, we have 3,000 and by chapter 4, another 5,000 souls have been added to the Kingdom.

 

Peter and John regularly go to the temple to worship while they are growing the Kingdom of God, one day on the way to the temple there is a man at the temple gate called beautiful down on his luck. This man was lame from birth and is at the gate looking for some help, seeing if anyone can spare him some change. Peter says to the man silver and gold have I not, but such as I have is this, in the name of Jesus take up your bed and walk. Immediately this man is healed, and he went into the temple courts praising God for his deliverance. That is a great testimony, however, those actions did not get Peter and John celebrated, Peter and John were incarcerated.

 

Acts 4:4-12, Peter and John are arrested and put on trial before the Priestly family, Annas, his son-in-law Caiaphas, and others, a family that controlled the area. The Romans were in charge but they made sure that they had some insiders helping them keep the people in line. Peter, John, and the other disciples are out here growing the Church of Jesus and that is upsetting the powers that be. Annas and Caiaphas were some of the same people that persecuted Jesus and now they are coming after his followers.

 

Chapter 1-4 proves to us the disciples know what they are doing and that they are effective, however people will resist change especially when it seems like that change is going to make them lose power and control. Peter and John were raising a church of believers and it stood to take the Pharisees and Sadducees out of power, so the Sadducees had Peter and John arrested. This is not the Roman Government that arrested Peter and John, these are the Sadducees, these are the church folk. These are oppressed people because everyone is under the Roman Government, but these oppressed people are oppressing others.

 

First, the priestly council has a problem with the disciples preaching that there is resurrection in Jesus Christ. Then the council wants to know by what power or name did Peter and John heal this man. The council moved the goalposts, they said I may not be able to get you this way, but I will get you another way. In verse 2 they had a problem with the teaching, in verse 7 they had a problem with the actions, I would submit to you that they had a problem with the loss of control. Thousands of people were being filled with the Holy Spirit and the old guard had to take notice. The old guard thought they were going to stop this Jesus problem before it got any worse. The Sadducees believed if they did not fix the Jesus follower problem, they would soon have a Roman soldier problem to deal with. The Romans kept the Sadducees and others in power to stop any potential Jewish uprisings and people are following Jesus by the thousands after he has been crucified. The Priestly council probably thought if they could bring Peter and John to court, that would shut this thing down, oh but they were wrong.

 

Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit when he answers. If you want to make a difference in your life, if you want to make a difference in the world you are going to need the Holy Spirit's help. The Holy Spirit will make you speak when others are quiet, the Holy Spirit will make you quiet when everyone else is running their mouths. The Holy Spirit helped Peter in his situation and the Holy Spirit can also help you. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and that helped him answer anything the Sadducees wanted to know.

 

Peter focuses on the good work being done (a man was healed), instead of worrying about who is in charge, who has the power, who is in control, worry about the work being done. Peter points out the stone which they rejected turning out to be the cornerstone. Peter was quoting Psalm 118 when he said that phrase, the High Priests rejected Jesus, now he is the most important person. Peter who also rejected Jesus is out here working hard for him now. If there is hope for Peter, then there is hope for me.

 

There is power in the name of Jesus

There is healing in the name of Jesus

There is salvation in the name of 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.