Ecology for Christians - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Colossians 2:6-19 NRSV

2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 

2:7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.

2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

2:10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;

2:12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

2:13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,

2:14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.

2:17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

2:18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,

2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

I get fascinated with the process of development as I get older. I think about what goes on behind the scenes before we see the big show. When I listen to a musician play an instrument, I wonder about the hours of practice they put in before the performance. When I see an actor on the stage, I wonder how long did they rehearse? I will look at a business being successful or relocating to a new city, and I wonder about the negotiations that took place to get the company there. 

Why? Because I learned that no matter where you see someone standing, they did not get there by themselves and did not get there overnight. We are looking at a finished product without knowing how much work it took to get there. 

For that very reason, I appreciate trees more now than I did in the past. I have learned that trees work together. Suzanne Simard, an ecologist, has studied trees extensively and discovered that underground, trees communicate with one another with their roots and fungus underground. Trees in the sunlight send nutrients to trees in the shade. Trees will let other trees know if there are bugs nesting in them so that the other trees can produce more sap to keep bugs from climbing the other trees. 

Mycorrhizal (Mike oh rise ah) networks create a community in the forest. In them, a fungus assists the trees by helping to supply their needs, and the trees help the fungus by providing it with sugar. 

The bottom line is this: Trees are not competitive organisms. Instead, “each tree invests in the well-being of the forest as a whole

When Paul was writing to the followers of Christ in Colossae, the apostle Paul sounded a great deal like a forest ecologist: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:6-7). Christians are not to live as isolated individuals but to be rooted in Christ, nourished by Christ, and built up in Christ. Paul was writing his letter to the Colossian church because deceitful philosophies were going around and other views on how religion was supposed to operate. People were promoting the deceitful philosophy that the knowledge of God was supposed to come from within the individual. Paul, however, is saying that knowledge of God comes from God. 

Paul is preaching against the myth of the self-made person, the rugged individualism, and the thought that we all suffer alone and the only way out is to do it yourself. Paul says that we have to do more than just live together; we ought to communicate and help one another on the Christian journey. 

Paul is saying this Christian Journey is not an individual journey but a communal one. We are in this together, with one another, loving and helping one another. Not only are we supposed to work together, but we are supposed to work together right now. Paul says not to worry about ascending to God. Paul wants the church to take action right now to help your neighbor live in gratitude. 

We begin by being rooted in Christ. Nothing is more important than Christian formation, which starts in childhood and continues until our lives on this earth end. Most of this happens in the home, where parents are challenged to show their children. Christlike love and spouses are to be as faithful to each other as Christ is to the church. The church can help families do this by assisting them to form the qualities that Paul lays out for the Colossians: “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (3:12).

Then we communicate with each other. Like the fungal fibers, we carry information between different parts of the body of Christ. This is done best in face-to-face conversation, but it can be done carefully and gently through other forms of communication as well. We must be willing to speak to one another, not just the pastor. It is much easier for 100 people to have conversations with one another than for the pastor to have 100 different conversations. 

“Faith communities speak lovingly but truthfully to their members,” wrote journalist Robin Givhan in a column about congregations. “In that way, they are, one hopes, like family. None of that is possible without a willingness to take a risk, to open oneself to a wounded ego, slings, and arrows, a broken heart.” When we do this, we try to take people at their word and avoid being judgmental. We make room for everyone’s flaws and failures and try to build each other up.

Then we nourish each other and sacrifice for each other. Mycorrhizal fibers carry water, carbon, and nitrogen from tree to tree. In the same way, we are to carry encouragement, guidance, and support from person to person. We do this when we lift the spirits of people who are feeling discouraged, mentor teenagers, struggling with their faith, and support people who have lost their spouses.

As members of the Christian community, we invest not only in the welfare of individuals but in the well-being of the church as a whole. This involves gifts of time, talents, and money given in support of the mission and ministry of the church. In all of this, we follow the sacrifice of Jesus, who was killed when people “put him to death by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 10:39). Growing deeper and larger: That is “a growth that is from God” (v. 19). We grow deeper when we study and reflect on the Bible, when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us pray “with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26), and when we enter deep-spirited friendships with people around us.

But we also need to grow larger by planting seeds in the community around us. We do this by sharing the gospel through podcasts, blogs, and live-streamed services of worship, and we do it by knocking on doors and getting to know our neighbors. And we do it best by sharing the love of Jesus with our family members and friends.

Just Words - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Psalm 52

1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

2 You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

4 You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.

6 The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at you, saying,

7 “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”

8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

9 For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.

Something I've been working on is watching what I say and resisting the urge to say something right away. There are meetings where I will purposely let multiple people speak before I provide my input, and there are situations where people ask me for advice, and instead of giving them direct advice, I ask questions. The reason is that I am working on controlling my speech and being more measured with my words. I want to get the most bang for the buck when I speak; to do that; I realize I have to spend a little more time thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it. I spend time reading psychological counseling and business leadership/coaching books, and they say the same things; less is more. The tongue is powerful, and we should care how we use this organ. It is amazing what one of the smallest organs in our bodies can do. 

Just think of what the tongue can do. It's more flexible than any other part of the body. It can enlarge, it can contract, and it can twist itself into any number of shapes. The tongue is essential to the digestive system. When we eat, it churns food around in our mouths, coating it with saliva. Then, when we swallow, it pushes the food on its way down the throat to the stomach. The tongue is also home to our taste buds; it tells our brains whether food is sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. The tongue is an early warning system, helping us avoid harmful foods and leading us toward foods that foster health.

The tongue resembles a muscle in many ways — mainly composed of muscle tissue — but it doesn't function like any other muscle in the body. It's not anchored to bone by ligaments like the muscles that move the skeletal system. The tongue moves freely on its own. The tongue has another, completely different purpose besides its essential role in the digestive system, and it's our principal organ of speech.

We all can be better about controlling our tongues or controlling our speech. I know I am not the only one who has had something happen and later thought, "I wish I had not said that," or maybe, "I wish I would have said this." We are all at some level, thinking or rethinking what we let come out of our mouths at a particular time. We can all think of someone we feel does not talk enough, or maybe someone we think talks too much. 

A woman known as a harsh critic of other people once told John Wesley, "Mr. Wesley, my talent is to speak my mind."

"Madam," Wesley replied, "God wouldn't care a bit if you would bury that talent."

Words are the common coin of our social relationships. Sometimes we belittle them, disparaging political speech as "only rhetoric." We complain about trivial "small-talk" conversations, not realizing how subtly they function as the glue in many relationships.

Yet, words can be so compelling. Just think of what it means to hear someone say, "I love you" — or to hear that same person say, "I never want to see you again." Words can be as airy and insubstantial as dust motes floating in a sunbeam, or they can be deadly daggers, running us through to the heart.

Psalm 52 is what biblical scholars call a "psalm of imprecation." The target of the singer's righteous rage is anonymous, but it's not hard to discern that this enemy — "O mighty one" — is powerful. This adversary is treacherous in spirit and relentless in battling people of faith: a villain who loves evil and delights in "plotting destruction." Sometimes we need to verbalize our gripes and issues. Psalm 52 mentions a no-good, down, and dirty person. Someone who was a conniving politician that lied his way to the top, someone who loved evil more than good, someone who had a lying tongue, someone who trusted in riches and sought wealth. 

To understand Psalm 52, you have to go back to first Samuel chapters 21 and 22. David was on the run for his life, hiding from Saul. While David was hiding, Doeg told Saul where David was hiding. Doeg snitched on David; scholars believe David was talking about Doeg when he mentioned all those bad things about them. 

David was on the run for his life, and the priest Ahimelek helped David and gave David a sword and some food. Saul called for Ahimelek and got mad that Ahimelek helped David, so Saul had his conniving snitch/politician Doeg eliminate all the priests, women, and children in that town. 

Be careful of political leaders or leaders in general who want to punish the pastors, priests, and prophets that don't blindly follow their program. God is not beholden to a political party, and a politician that tells you otherwise is lying. Politicians and political parties switch sides and platforms at the drop of a dime, so they can't always be aligned with God.

We don't have to get revenge. The psalmist says that God will break them down, and God will snatch them from their tent; it may look like they won for now, but if we just wait a bit longer, the righteous will see victory in the end. Won't he fight your battles? Won't he make your enemies your footstools? You have joy in sorrow and hope for tomorrow when you know it is not your battle to fight. 

David says he is not going to trust the words of man; the psalmist says they will trust in God's steadfast love. We need to depend on God and God's love. The righteous reward is being grounded in God and connected to the source. We can choose to live for ourselves, or we can choose to live for God. The psalmist is like a green olive tree in the house of God. I have learned that green olive trees grow year-round in different conditions, and they don't get bothered by pests. 

David is going to trust in the words of God, not man, stay connected to the source, which is God, and not let the pests bother him. I can only think that some of what David lived in Psalm 52 rubbed off on his son in Proverbs 3 because the father says, "I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever," and the son says, "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding" we have got to stay connected to the source. 

I like the word in verse 8; some translations say unfailing love, some say loving kindness, some say steadfast love, and some say mercy, but the Hebrew word they use is hesed. We know hesed whether we have ever said the word out loud or not. Hesed is a solemn promise, a covenant, a devotion, a willingness to not only feel someway but make a record about it. 

Hesed is when I used to take my son to get haircuts, and they would be a problem; he would scream, cry, kick out of his chair, and try to grab the clippers, something about them and the haircut experience bothered him. So, when he got a little older and could understand, I would make a promise to him. I would say, son, if you don't kick out the chair or don't scream or throw a fit, I will take you to the toy store, and I will get you some candy after we leave the barbershop. So little Johnnie would repeat to himself all the way to the barbershop; I am the haircut champion, I am not going to scream, I am not going to cry, I am not going to kick out the chair. Johnnie would say this over and over until we got to the barbershop, and then he didn't scream, cry, try to grab the clippers, or kick out of the chair. After we both got our haircuts, I would take him to the toy store and buy him something, and then we would get lunch, and he would get what he wanted, usually ice cream or a cookie. 

That promise I made to my son on the spectrum who does not like people touching his head was hesed; I, as a father, went on record with my commitment to my son because I had hesed for him. Your heavenly father has gone on record with his promises to you. 

God has given us tongues to use as tools of righteousness. The words we fashion, using those tongues, can serve the cause of justice or injustice; of kindness or callousness; of compassion or exploitation; of love or hate. In choosing our words, may we choose wisely!

Once we have chosen wisely, we can be thankful; the psalmist says that he will thank God forever, not for just a little bit of time but forever. Forever is a long time, but that is how long God loves us and how long we should praise him. 

Where Are We Going From Here? - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

I prefer to leave things better than I found them for two reasons. First, I want to feel like I accomplished something, and second, I spend time thinking about the future. Whenever I buy something, I want to ensure that I don't have to make another purchase immediately if I grow. For example, when we purchased a new audio mixer for the church, even though we use about 20 inputs or less, I selected a 32-input mixer because I was thinking about future expansion. We have three cameras connected to the video mixer; I chose a video system that supports eight cameras because I was thinking about the future. I try to take that kind of approach to everything I am involved in, don't just plan for what we need now, plan for what we need in the future.

 

We all make plans, and even if we assume nothing will change or stay the same, we plan for the future.

 

When he wrote this letter to the church, Paul was planning for the future in Colossians.

Based on the first verse, some scholars think that Paul and Timothy wrote this book together. Paul did not start the church in Colossae, modern-day Turkey; Epaphras did. However, Paul had a close connection to the church, which is why he wrote a letter to them. Paul is an apostle, meaning someone sent out, and he is writing to the saints, which means someone set apart for holiness.

 

Paul wants to tell the Colossians how they are supposed to operate as a church; he is thankful for them and prays for them regularly.

 

The problem is that people are spreading false teaching around the area, telling the people that they missed the resurrection and there will not be another one.

 

In the apostle Paul's prayer for the Colossians, he asks that they "may be filled with the knowledge of God's will" so that they "may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work" (1:9-10).

 

We have to be able to pray for more things than just asking God to fix something; we can pray as a form of thanksgiving, we can pray just to be in the presence of the Lord, and we can do more than just bring our petitions to God.

 

Paul does not long for "the good old days." He is not fixated on the past. He does not ruminate on what happened last week, month, or year. Instead, he looks to the future, praying that the followers of Christ in Colossae will be equipped to face the challenges. He wants them to continue to be filled "with the knowledge of God's will." He prays that they "may lead lives worthy of the Lord." And he hopes they will "bear fruit in every good work."

 

Paul is creating a ministry for the future based on the conviction that decisions should be made today with an eye toward people's needs tomorrow.

 

Paul's prayers for the Colossians invoke the three theological virtues of faith, which initiates and sustains their friendship with Christ, love, which guides the ordinary life of the congregation, and hope, which directs them to their ultimate end in Christ.^[1]

 

So why are so many Christians reluctant to pray? For some, the reluctance results from experiencing persons who use prayer to portray themselves as "holier than thou." After all, Jesus warned against the hypocrites who prayed publicly to bring attention to themselves. Others may fear imposing their spiritual practices on friends and family members who may not believe as they do. Some view prayer as a quaint and outdated display of personal piety that more "mature" Christians have outgrown.^[2]

Either way, we must pray and keep praying.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

17 pray without ceasing,

 

Philippians 4:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

 

Holy people are missional people.

Paul prays they may "be filled with the knowledge of God's will." This is not philosophical knowledge; but instead, it is practical knowledge. This wisdom is "the ability to choose right conduct," says New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln; 

 

At the same time, we are challenged to "bear fruit in every good work" (v. 10). This means following Paul's guidance to the Colossians in showing each other "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience." It means bearing with one another, forgiving each other, and — most of all — practicing love, "which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (3:12-14).

 

Paul doesn't want us simply to talk the talk. He wants us to walk the walk. That means you honor your marriage commitment, care for the children in your family and the wider community, try to see God's image in people with a different point of view, and then work together for the common good.

That's the kind of ministry that will make for a better future. Ministry is based on the right conduct, grounded in wisdom with an ethical dimension.

So, where are we going from here? We need to make decisions as a church not just for Sunday but for the years to come, even if we don't think we will still be around during that time.

 

Christ redeemed us.

 

---

^[1] Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. The New Interpreter's Bible One-Volume Commentary . Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

 

^[2] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

 

The Repairability Index - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"  5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

If it's not broken, don't fix it. We're familiar with this time-tested adage, but why does it ring true? Because we know that when something breaks, it can be challenging to fix.

Usually, when something goes on the fritz, we know what to do. If the car breaks down, we take it to a car dealer or our favorite local mechanic. A bicycle goes to a bicycle shop, and we might even repair it ourselves if we're handy. Sometimes a malfunctioning smartphone or computer can simply be handed to the nearest teenager for a quick fix. Even if something more complex, like a marriage or relationship, goes off the rails, we can go to a therapist, counselor, or pastor.

But what do we do when a device isn't working, and we don't know how to fix it? Even if we find a skilled tech who can deal with it, we might discover that a repair is too costly and not worth the time and effort. We're better off shelling out the cash to buy a new device … which will fail within 18 months … and we swap out again, parting with more cash … until it fails, and the pattern continues. We know how it goes.

To break this cycle, France stepped to the forefront on the world stage in 2021 and, according to one source, began to require "makers of certain electronic devices, including smartphones and laptops, to tell consumers how repairable their products are. Manufacturers selling these devices in France must give their products a score, or 'repairability index,' based on a range of criteria, including how easy it is to take the product apart and the availability of spare parts and technical documents. … The repairability index represents France's effort to combat planned obsolescence, the intentional creation of products with a finite life-span that need to be replaced frequently, and transition to a more circular economy where waste is minimized."

It is easy to fix electronic items, but what about when a person needs fixing? Some people tend to believe that when a person is broken that they cannot be repaired. That certain sicknesses or issues make a person irredeemable. Leprosy was one of those types of illness in the Bible. 

Leprosy was a disease that made you a societal outcast. People did not want to be around someone with leprosy, nor did they want to be around someone who had been around someone with leprosy. Does that sound familiar? People had to announce they had leprosy when they were in public; they would have to go around yelling unclean! Unclean! The book of Leviticus devotes two whole chapters in the book, chapters 13 and 14, regarding how people were supposed to clean themselves after catching leprosy. Contracting leprosy in the Bible would turn your life upside down. No matter your education, social status, or position, anyone could catch this sickness. 

Naaman was a commander in the Aram military, and Naaman had leprosy. Naaman went to Israel looking for healing. Naaman put on fine clothes and brought gifts. Had a letter from the King of Aram. Ten talents 15-16k

6k shekels 13-14k

When Naaman arrived, the King of Israel was upset at the letter. He said, "am I God that I can heal this man?" The King of Israel feared war because Aram had already defeated Israel. Israel had a new King right now because the father, Ahab, died in the last war, and his son Jehoram was King now. The new King tore his clothes, thinking the King of Aram wanted the King of Israel to heal Naaman himself. After that miscommunication, Naaman got sent to Elisha. 

Naaman was upset that Elisha didn't come out. Naman was a part of what I would call the pastor-only crowd. The people who feel like if the senior pastor isn't giving them direct personal attention that it doesn't matter. The pastor-only crowd thinks only the pastor is supposed to care for them and visit them when they're sick. Only the pastor is supposed to call them and check up on them; only the pastor is supposed to give them their undivided attention. 

The pastor-only crowd wants to know which week the senior pastor is preaching because those are the only weeks they want to attend church. Sometimes the church folk need to take care of the church folk, and you can't leave everything up to the pastor. Sometimes, you might also need to take a hit to your ego. You look at the Bible, and nowhere does it have the pastors doing everything for everybody; through the Bible, the people worked together to make something happen. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, the priest, prophets, pastors, etc., were out front, but a group of people was behind them. Naaman went to Elisha, and a messenger came out and told him what he needed to do for healing. 

Help can come from unexpected places, 

There is a play on words when they describe Naaman in Hebrew, they use phrases that mean big man, and this big man has to get help from this little girl. You never know who is around you and what they are capable of doing. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. How many good ideas have we shot down because they didn't come from the person we expected? How many opportunities have we missed because the opportunity didn't fit in the box we made for it? Naaman, by most social standards, would have ignored the servant girl and kept looking elsewhere for healing, but this big man got help from this little girl. We have to be open to getting help from unexpected places. We don't even know the girl's name, but none of this stuff happens without her. 

God does not leave us when tragedy strikes

God does not leave us when tragedy strikes; God does not cause tragedy to happen to us. God is here to tell us that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. God is grieving with us. God is supporting us when we are hurt. Elisha wanted to ensure that Naaman knew there was a prophet in Israel. God will never leave you nor forsake you. The Bible says he who has begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Christ Jesus; God was with Naaman, God is with you. 

Do common things consistently 

Naaman got mad at Elisha, telling him to dip himself in the water; Naaman expected a bunch of bells, whistles, and some sort of performance to get healed. The prophet said dip yourself in the Jordan River. Sometimes, the simple things get the job done, not the complicated ones. When I was working as an engineer, I was introduced to something called the universal troubleshooting process. The universal troubleshooting process had a bunch of steps that you could take to fix any piece of broken equipment, and we were supposed to apply the universal troubleshooting process to our day-to-day duties. One of the tenants of the universal troubleshooting process was to keep cutting the problem in half; as long as you kept cutting the problem in half, you would get down to the root issue that caused the object to break in the first place. Every time we broke an issue down, the solution became simple. Naaman was ready to leave until one of his men stopped him (another unnamed person). They said if the prophet asked you to do something complicated, you would have done it; why not do something simple? 

God loves all his children

God loves all his children, Naaman is the main character in this story, and God heals Naaman by Naaman following Elisha's instructions. Something we forget is that Naaman is not a believer before this situation. God loves all his children; God did not say well; Naaman is not a believer, so Elisha doesn't have to heal him; God healed Naaman anyway, and later on in the same chapter, Naaman becomes a believer. We have to be willing to help people before we worry about conversion because we didn't worry about conversion first. Naaman was healed. 

And so, the mighty Naaman, reduced to humbling himself before the God of Israel, enduring the snub of a prophet of the Most High, walked down to the muddy Jordan, removed his clothes, and in so doing, revealed his scabrous and broken body to his servants, and then lowered himself into the water until he was seen no more. Then, he shot up out of the river, gasping for air, and took a second plunge and repeated this until the seven-fold baptism was complete. Naaman was not too broke to be fixed.

This is good news for those who feel their relationship with God is broken or beyond repair. Rather than attempting a repair, the owner is issued a completely new phone, or, as the Bible puts it, a new nature, a new creation — a fresh start with an entirely new outlook and perspective.

Problematic Predictions - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

⁵¹ As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him;⁵³ but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” ⁵⁵ But Jesus turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ Then he and his disciples went to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

 

I don't like making public predictions; I have come to terms with the fact that I don't know what the next person will do, and I just have to be ok with that knowledge and live accordingly. I don't like when people try to make me give a public prediction about something because I know I don't know what the next person is capable of doing. I know I am not good at making predictions, and I also know I am not alone.

People are not very good at predicting the future.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, many of us thought we'd be home for a few weeks. The virus would pass through the country, and then we'd all be back to school, work, and church.

 

We thought we'd surely be able to gather for Easter Sunday in April!

Well … it didn't exactly turn out that way.

Most of us did make it back for Easter … in April of the following year.

 

Washington Post columnist John Kelly lists several wrong predictions. In the year 1486, a royal committee was gathered in Spain. The committee said it would be wrong for the king and the queen to provide funding for an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus. The committee members insisted that sailing west to Asia would take a ridiculously long three years. And why would anyone want to spend so much time at sea? They believed there was nothing between Europe and Asia but a vast and featureless ocean.

 

A congressman from New York named Orange Ferriss couldn't believe that the United States would be willing to pay Russia $7 million for the Alaska Territories. That might have seemed like a lot of money, but it was still a good deal — just two cents per acre. Ferriss complained to his fellow congressmen, "Of what possible commercial importance can this territory be?" Alaska turned out to be worth more than two cents an acre.

 

We see a prediction in scripture when Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. Jesus has been talking about sacrifice in the gospel of Luke up to chapter 9. Jesus has prepared for the journey in chapter 9, verses 21 through 50. Jesus now sends the disciples James and John ahead of him to a village in Samaria. Why Samaria? Samaria is fertile ground; Samaria has some diversity in it. There are potential new converts in Samaria. We get the term good Samaritan from the parable Jesus told today, but the church folk would not have wanted that name back then. Samaria had people there who weren't born and bred believers, and that is where Jesus sent his disciples to reach new believers, not just be complacent with the people already in the kingdom.

 

The people in the first village rejected the disciples, and their response was to call fire down; we cannot respond to everything with violence. If you have to resort to violence to teach people about Jesus, you are doing it wrong.

 

Jesus then goes to another village and meets someone on the road that says they will follow Jesus wherever he goes. Then another person comes and says he wants to follow Jesus, but needs to bury his father first, then another comes and says they want to follow Jesus but let them say goodbye to everyone else first.

 

The first man envisions a place to rest. The second assumes he will be able to bury his father, and the third is anticipating a chance to say goodbye to his family. They seem like reasonable expectations. So why does Jesus consider them to be problematic?

 

All three potential disciples fail to see that a future with Jesus is very different from the past. They cannot imagine a time in which they don't have a bed to sleep in, the opportunity to go to a funeral, or the chance to visit with their family.

 

Is Jesus saying you need to be homeless, forget about funerals, family and friends to be a Christian? No, Jesus is not saying reject your responsibilities, but look at your duties in the light of Christ. I also see a call out about excuses in this passage. The text doesn't specify that his dad is dead but could mean he wanted to wait until his father passed to follow Jesus.

I want to be more active in church, but I just don't have the time now. I want to be in ministry, but I don't want to be in charge, or the only volunteer. I want to help, but I want to wait until we create a committee to plan it, then a committee to plan the plan, then another committee to critique the plan before we do something. I want to attend church more often, but brunch is out there. An adage says that after all is said and done, there is usually more said than done.

 

Discipleship is costly; you will face rejection, you will face uncertainty, and there will be hard work. The kingdom's work is not easy, it's not simple, and it's not always going to go the way you planned, but Jesus was resolute when he turned his face toward Jerusalem, and we should be resolute about doing the work of the kingdom of God. Following Jesus means following some radical demands, talking to some people you may not always talk to, doing some new things, and doing some old things differently. We must be resolute in our journey, just like Jesus was resolute in saving us.

 

When Jesus looks into the future, he sees the kingdom of God coming near. He doesn't see comfortable beds, respectful funeral services, or satisfying family visits. Jesus envisions a future that is very difficult for us to predict because it is a future being created by God.

Looking to the future, we followers of Jesus often fail to see what he desires for us. Like James and John, we assume that Jesus wants to destroy the people disrespecting us. Like the three potential followers on the road, we cannot envision that discipleship will disrupt our regular routines.

 

The truth is that our assumptions and predictions will cause problems for us unless they are in line with the coming of the kingdom. But if we act in ways that are in response to the words of Jesus, we will be adding essential building blocks to the kingdom of God.

Jesus is resolute in saving us; he set his face toward Jerusalem because he has accurately predicted what he has to do and what it will do for us. Jesus taught about sacrifice because he knew he would have to make one.

 

Jesus, the sum total of all of creation wrapped up in human flesh.

Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Jesus, the one enduringly strong and immortally graceful

The king disguised as a kid

Divinity in dermis

eternity in epidermis

The loftiest idea in literature

The highest personality in philosophy

The wheel in the middle of the wheel

Hyperlinks of Faith - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Romans 5:1-5

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

I spend a lot of time reading electronic documents; one thing I love to have when I am reading is hyperlinks. You can click on a word or phrase, and it takes you elsewhere. I like to read documents that have them and send out stuff with links in them. One hour before the virtual worship starts, church members get an email that says the worship service will start in an hour. Monday morning, church members get an email with a link to all the church videos, the 10 am, the 11 am, and a link for just the sermon. When we have Church Council meetings, the church members also get a link for that. I am fond of this technology because it allows someone to access a lot of information without taking up a lot of space. They also allow you to connect items that would typically be far apart. One-click and what they need is at their fingertips. 

At first, they were called "embedded menus."

The invention of these menus occurred before we had even heard of something called the internet or the World Wide Web, and it happened in the early ages of computer technology.

Ben Shneiderman, a computer scientist at the University of Maryland and the inventor of the embedded menu, quickly gave these menus a new name: hyperlinks. It caught on, and without them, researchers, librarians, grad students, parents, and countless others in every occupation would be floundering and perhaps still looking for help in the venerable Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.

Hyperlinks are so natural that they've become invisible unless we make a special effort like this to appreciate them. Hyperlinks were one application of Shneiderman's theory of direct manipulation, which also led to the tiny touch-screen keyboards on mobile devices, tagging family photos, gestural interaction, and other visual interfaces." All these developments served the purpose of communication and connection. 

Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church for that exact reason. The book of Romans is the apostle Paul's longest letter in the Bible, and Paul wrote this letter before he visited the Roman Church. 

Paul was laying the groundwork before he visited because he might have been worried about how the visit would go. Paul wasn't sure the Roman Church would receive him, and he wasn't sure the Roman country would accept him.

Paul collected offerings from Gentile churches in Macedonia and Asia, and Paul was worried the Roman church would not take a gift from the Gentiles. This idea is funny because the Romans were oppressing the Jewish-born Christians while the Jewish-born Christians had trouble, including the Gentiles. 

This church is also in the city of Rome, Roman leaders did not let their military generals come close to Rome because they feared a potential takeover, yet these people who professed to follow a king of kings lived in their city. The Roman Government was always scared of being overthrown, so much so that their military leaders couldn't come back home with their soldiers because the Government would see that as an attempted takeover. Now you have this group of people living in the city who were not treated warmly. 

Paul used the Roman letter to address these issues and many more. First, Paul lets the believers in Rome know that the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians are justified by faith, not by some sort of social status. As believers, we are made right in God by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

So now, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith in God's promises, we can have real peace with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of the highest privilege, where we now stand. We confidently and joyfully look forward to becoming all God has in mind for us to be. Paul is showing the people how to connect to something peaceful in the middle of the tests and trials. 

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. Patience develops our strength of character and helps us trust God more each day until our hope and faith are strong and steady. We can then hold our heads high, no matter what happens, and confidently know that all is well. We know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with God's love. We receive that love even while we are suffering. 

Suffering

Suffering comes in many forms. For the early Christians, physical torture at the hands of authorities, impatient crowds, and bloodthirsty mobs challenged and fearful of the "different" among them was not uncommon. Today, people worldwide still face the threat of bodily harm because of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or their gender.

But we also know that the people in your congregation might be suffering mental anguish, emotional pain, and chronic bodily pain. They might know the pain of loss — the loss of a spouse or a child, the loss of income, the loss of a home, the loss of health.

People are suffering today, and often we don't know it; this may be because, as the Bible suggests, "Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains" (Proverbs 14:13, NLT).

Yet, embedded in the biblical discussion of suffering is another link that reveals an interesting truth about suffering: There's a positive byproduct to suffering!

Endurance 

The "endurance" Paul speaks of is a far more active experience than the sometimes-translated "patience" would suggest. While "patience" seems to denote passivity, perseverance reveals the activity involved in such an experience. "Enduring" does not suggest quietly "waiting it out." Biblical endurance requires "wading right in." Endurance races test the ability of the competitor to keep on going, despite exhaustion, obstacles, and genuine suffering.

This word is sometimes translated as "perseverance." Some people seem to be good at this. It is listed as a virtue on many lists of values and strengths. Endurance might be a product of your DNA — who you are — but the apostle suggests that when we experience suffering or what other translations call trials and tribulations, it produces endurance. It is one of the unique byproducts of suffering.

A person with endurance has learned how to gut it out daily. I tell you that endurance is not built overnight. Endurance builds over time by just doing one more. Working out one more time, praying one more time, saving one more time, fasting one more time, practicing one more time, speaking one more time, getting up one more time. No one masters anything overnight; it is a collection of all those times you did it one more time. 

Character

The Greek word used for the word character in this passage could be said better as experience, and the term refers to a metal or precious gem that has gone through a trial by fire to test its worth. Character is not just who we are or what we are when no one is looking, it is also who we are while probed, vetted, observed, thoroughly examined, and tested, and all know the results.

Hope

I have heard hope described as faith with the lights turned on. Paul is telling the people to have hope because they have been through the suffering, had their endurance built up, and developed character, so they know that God loves them and has poured out his love into their hearts. This is not a fly-by-night feeling that will fade, they have been through some things and know that God will bring them out, and while they are waiting, they know that God is with them. They are connected to God so that, even though it seems far away, the connection is as fast as one click. 

Holy Ghost Power - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,

    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

    your young men will see visions,

    your old men will dream dreams.

18 Even on my servants, both men and women,

    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

    and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the heavens above

    and signs on the earth below,

    blood and fire and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned to darkness

    and the moon to blood

    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

21 And everyone who calls

    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

I am interested in power, the power that we use to energize devices like cellphones, cars, computers, and many other items. I imagine that my interest in energy is why I wanted to be an engineer growing up and would tinker with electrical things. I respect anyone who works in those fields dealing with powerful elements. 

Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, coal mining started in China. Then, about 800 years later, the first windmill was constructed in Iran. Human beings have always needed power, and for centuries, they have pulled it from both the ground and the air.

Around 1700, the Maori people began to use geothermal power for cooking and heating. In 1868, the first modern solar power plant was built in Algiers. We think of geothermal and solar as new technologies, but they're not. Today's technology works on the same old principles, just with new ways to use it. The Bible tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. 

We join the disciples in the text seven weeks after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus or 50 days. "Pentecost" is shorthand for the festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, one of the three pilgrim festivals (see Exodos 23:16; 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10). Followers of Jesus were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate a Jewish holiday called Pentecost or "The Festival of Weeks." It was a harvest festival and a time to give thanks for the gift of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. The people of God were thankful for this law, which gave them inspiration and structure for their lives. The law was, in many ways, their historic power plant.

The Feast of Weeks is a festival, so the town is full of travelers and immigrants. The disciples walked and talked with Jesus were there, and they continued to worship privately. The disciples are still to themselves, not connecting with the outsiders. The church people are still being private, the church people need power, and that power is about to come to them. 

The apostles needed power. And they got it unexpectedly. In that private worship, the Holy Spirit came on them all and gave them power.

The Holy Spirit entered a house full of Jesus' followers, and it created a new kind of power. It filled the apostles with new life, enabling them to communicate with a diverse group of people, speak boldly to a large crowd and fulfill the prophecy of Joel. The Spirit generated a more energetic and vibrant community of faith, connected in new ways with the surrounding community.

The outpouring of the Spirit is anticipated by John the Baptist (Luke 3:16) and Jesus (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8). Peter told the crowd that God's Spirit was going to change their lives for the better: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," he said, "and your young men shall see visions" (v. 17).

Embrace the power of the Holy Spirt

The disciples didn't run from the Holy Spirit, nor did they run from what the Holy Spirit could do. The disciples embraced the work of the Holy Spirit to further the church. New things can be scary. Too much too soon can be a lot to deal with when you are repeatedly used to the same thing. The Disciples didn't say this is not what we are used to, so let's quit. The Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and started acting like it. Peter could have said, I denied Jesus three times, so I am not qualified to do this work, but it was the opposite. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, which allowed him to speak to all the people and respond to those who just thought the disciples were drunk. 

Birth and broaden the church

Acts chapter 2 is considered the birth of the church, the church's birthday if you will, but it is also the broadening of the church. Notice that the text says they all spoke in different languages, and everyone was able to understand. The disciples did not require the outsiders to learn their language; the Holy Spirit made way for the disciples to speak the outsiders' languages. At Annual Conference, our denominational gathering, I heard confirmation from leadership about something that had been in Spirit for a few months. Based on the state of our churches and society at large, they said that every church would have to start operating like they are a brand-new church. No matter how old the church is, no matter how long the members have been there, if you want your church to survive, you will have to treat it like it is a brand-new church starting from scratch. That means doing new things and dealing with new people.

Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and quoted Joel 2:24, an inclusive prophecy from the ninth-century B.C. prophet Joel. Joel's prophecy describes the true nature of the new age that has now dawned with the Holy Spirit's arrival. The Joel text goes beyond the boundaries of nationality and geography to declare that there no longer will be any spiritual distinctions between men and women, old and young, servants and free, or a special spiritually gifted priesthood and the ordinary laity. There is no exclusion in Joel's prophecy, and all can receive the Holy Spirit, not just a select few. 

"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty, and there is strength."

— Maya Angelou, poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist

God created a Powerhouse on Pentecost, which gave the apostles a clean and sustainable energy source. Unlike coal, oil, or natural gas, the Spirit does not contribute to climate change. Unlike the wind of the air, it is constantly blowing. Unlike geothermal, it does not require drilling. And unlike solar, it is available even on cloudy days. All we have to do is ask for it.

Such spiritual power is needed today if we are going to be part of a church that brings life, joy, and hope to the world. Men and women have been drawn to "the Way" (Acts 9:2) since the church's earliest days. They have tapped into a source of power that comes from beyond themselves: A power that is not found primarily in programs, policies, or institutions but in the Holy Spirit of God. This Pentecost power is an energy source that can keep people burning with love for God and those around them while radiating warmth and light to a cold, dark world.

We can be part of the Christian Way by turning our church into a powerhouse. When we do this, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, an energy source that gives us both the courage and the ability to connect with people around us in life-giving ways.

Call on the name of Jesus. 

Those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved.