Jacob's Superpower-Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

I Said What I Said - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Gray Rocking For Spiritual Health - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

She-Spies of Israel - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Sing a New Song - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

I have an interesting relationship with music, my wife will ask me a lot of times what am I thinking about, and usually a song is playing in my head.

We all appreciate the value of a good song, educators will tell you that music is a way to learn new things. We learned the alphabet by singing the letters, most children’s shows have music incorporated into them.

Singing as a form of communication is deeply rooted in the African American culture. It began with the African slaves who were kidnapped and shipped across the Atlantic during the Middle Passage. Slaves from different countries, tribes and cultures used singing as a way to communicate during the voyage.

Music was a way for slaves to express their feelings whether it was sorrow, joy, inspiration or hope. Songs were passed down from generation to generation throughout slavery. 

These songs were influenced by African and religious traditions and would later form the basis for what is known as “Negro Spirituals”

Songs were even used in the Underground Railroad to communicate the path to freedom. Songs like Follow the drinking gourd, and people think that Wade in the Water referred to the way Harriet Tubman would take people to freedom. Song is important.

Today’s reading includes a passage (vv. 1-4) that scholars once identified as one of the four so-called “Servant Songs” in the book of Isaiah (along with 49:1-6, which repeats lines from today’s reading; 50:4-11; and 52:13–53:12). Isaiah is written to people in captivity.

Isaiah is talking to the crowd about a conversation he had with God. This crowd is suffering a disaster on two fronts, their homeland has been destroyed, and they are in exile, trying to make due in a foreign land. These people feel like God has abandoned them, and here is a man who has not been successful in trying to talk to them.

The people are  held captive by the Babylonians and away from their homeland. Isaiah spend the first half of the book telling the people how this trouble is their fault, like a true friend should. Hold people accountable for their actions. After Isaiah tells the people how they got themselves into trouble, he tells them how they are going to get out of this tough time for the second half of the book.

605 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem, which resulted in tribute being paid by the Judean king Jehoiakim.

The people of God decided to stop supporting Nebuchadnezzar and start supporting Egypt.

The fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, Jehoiakim refused to pay further tribute, which led to another siege of the city in Nebuchadnezzar II's seventh year (598/597 BCE) that culminated in the death of Jehoiakim and the exile to Babyloniaof his successor Jeconiah, his court, and many others;

Jeremiah and other prophets warned the people but they didn’t listen.

hundreds of miles away from home. Your king is gone. Your temple is in ruins. Jerusalem's walls are destroyed and wild animals roam the streets. Many family members and friends are dead or missing. Everything you hold dear is uprooted. Where is your God?

Although the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, other parts of Judah continued to be inhabited during the period of the exile. Most of the exiled did not return to their homeland, instead traveling westward and northward.

God is going to send them a savior

The savior will bring justice

The people of God where caught between a rock and a hard place Babylon and Egypt, their political situation was tough.

Rolling back rights

Banning water breaks in one of the hottest summers

More concerned about what books are in libraries when we can't keep the air on in the summer or the heat on in the winter.

Isaiah 10:1-2

10 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, 2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.

Isaiah 1:17

17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.

Proverbs 21:15

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

Deuteronomy 16:20

Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Amos 5:24 

24 But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

He will not falter

I know you are tired now, but God is going to send you someone who does not get tired. His power doesn't come from some man-made source, that is why it won't fail. Only what you do for God will last.

(Interview with Russell Simmons. Where the DJ could not recall the top 10 songs from last month or year.)

He will take our hand

(Layla and I at the Dickinson Festival of Lights)

The road may get dark and bumpy

1 Time is filled with swift transition. Naught of earth unmoved can stand.

Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Refrain:

Hold to His hand, God’s unchanging hand.

Hold to His hand, God’s unchanging hand.

Build your hopes on things eternal.  Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

2 Trust in Him who will not leave you. Whatsoever years may bring.

If by earthly friends forsaken, Still more closely to Him cling. [Refrain]

3 Covet not this world’s vain riches That so rapidly decay.

Seek to gain the heav’nly treasures. They will never pass away. [Refrain]

4 When your journey is completed, If to God you have been true,

Fair and bright the home in Glory Your enraptured soul will view. [Refrain]

In the Access Business - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Romans 5:1-8

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.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I am a bit obsessive about access. 

“My door is always open.” That statement sounds like good news to most of us. If an employer, teacher or elected official speaks those words to us with a welcoming smile, it means we enjoy access to that person — that this worthy personage will make time for us, no matter what else may be going on.

That’s the policy many of us operate under as pastors. A few of us publish office hours, but most of us are prepared to make time if the need is urgent. Figuratively speaking, our study doors are always open. A big part of ministry is offering people access to ourselves.

Access is a precious commodity in our world. In Washington, D.C., lobbyists pay big money in the form of campaign contributions to buy access to elected officials. Whenever a former senator or member of the president’s cabinet signs on with one of those lobbying agencies a few blocks from the Capitol, ethical alarms go off. Such a move causes consternation along the banks of the Potomac River. These former officials have recently had extraordinary access to the highest levels of government. It now appears they’re trying to sell that access to the highest bidder.

Access is an issue for members of racial-ethnic minorities trying to move into certain neighborhoods — just as it is for businesswomen seeking access to male-dominated social clubs where so many business deals are cut over power lunches.

People want to have exclusive access to a person, if only for a few moments.

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. 

I. A SUMMARY OF JUSTIFICATION (5:1-11): Paul lists five results of divine justification.

A. The believer has peace with God (5:1): This is accomplished through the work done by Jesus

Christ.

Therefore 5:1 is a transition phrase. Paul spent the first four chapters laying the groundwork for what he wanted to say in chapter five. That we are justified by faith.

B. The believer has access to God (5:2): This high privilege brings about great confidence and joy concerning the future.

Christ has removed a barrier so that we can have access to God. The Greek word Paul uses for “access” literally means “having an introduction.” It’s as though we were travelers to a foreign land, carrying with us letters of introduction to the court of the king.

A great many of us already possess such a letter of introduction to a foreign government. That’s what a passport is, literally: a letter of introduction. If you, as a citizen of the United States, open your passport, you’ll read these words on the first page:

“The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid or protection.”

It’s a letter of introduction. When Paul celebrates “access to grace,” he’s picturing a small scroll, rolled up and bearing the wax seal of a king or governor. You can’t cross the border without a passport; and you can’t experience the grace of God without presenting your “letter of introduction” — your confession of what Christ has done for you.

C. The believer has assurance from God (5:3-4).

1. The fact of this assurance (5:3): It helps us in time of suffering.

2. The fruit of the assurance (5:4): Suffering produces perseverance, which produces character,

which produces hope.

The power of sin is broken.

Being justified by faith makes us at peace with God, gives us hope for the future and power for the present.

Being reconciled means a change in the relationship.

Boast in our sufferings - appreciate the hard work we have done.

D. The believer is indwelt by God (5:5): The Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of believers.

E. The believer is preserved in God (5:6-11): A believer's salvation is secure, guaranteed by:

1. Christ's past work on Calvary's cross (5:6-8)

a. What he did (5:6): He died on the cross for us.

b. Why he did it (5:7-8a): He died because he loves us.

c. When he did it (5:8b): He did it when we were still helpless and hostile sinners.

The God who justified also glorified

Christ died for the ungodly when people rarely even die for the worthy. While we were still in our mess, Christ saw fit to save us. 

What Christ did freely and gladly is a love higher than any human could ever attain. Some people won't give up their place in line or their lunch, and Christ gave up his life. 

Just to be clear: “salvation” describes the future of God’s people in terms of their rescue from a terrible fate; “glorification” in terms of the status they will enjoy; “resurrection” in terms of their new embodiment of the other side of death. 

God has established true peace, so different from the pax Romana, on the foundation of true justice, so different from the Roman Iustitia, and has done so through the Lord Jesus, so different from the lord Caesar. 

When you know that you win in the end, the current situation doesn't seem so bad. 

The grace is unilateral and unconditional, it can’t be bought by conditional methods.

May we all come to learn, day by day, to rely on God’s grace alone. Trusting in God’s promises, may we know ever more fully God’s grace as we have seen it in Jesus Christ. May you realize, in the deepest part of us, that our Lord truly offers access to grace!

The Windcatcher - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Acts 2:1-4

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.

A Norwegian company is developing this new system to generate electricity from wind power. Fast Company magazine reports that when it becomes operational next year, "it could deliver five times the annual energy of the world's largest single turbine. That's because the system is three times taller than the average turbine, exposing the blades to higher wind speeds."

They will call it "Windcatcher."

The structure will be large, as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

And it is wide, stretching the length of some of the world's largest cruise ships.

Built as an enormous metal grid, it will contain 126 wind turbines. It will float on a platform anchored to the ocean floor using the same technology the oil and gas industry employs.

Imagine 126 turbines spinning in an enormous grid. The Windcatcher blades will be smaller than those on a typical windmill, enabling them to turn faster. And the position of the grid in deep water will allow it to catch the strongest of winds.

Numbers. Size. Location. Put these elements together, and you have a single structure that will generate enough electricity to run 80,000 European homes.

That's a lot of power.

Windcatcher is still on the drawing boards, so its performance is uncertain. "What happens when a big storm or hurricane hits it?" asks Dave Makichuk of Asia Times. "Would it withstand a hurricane or freak storm or even rough seas? Would these blades chop up sea birds at an alarming rate?"

Such questions still need to be answered. 

The wind is a staple in our lives, we cannot see it, but we feel its effect. We appreciate the wind on a hot summer day when the breeze feels just right. We use the word wind in our daily conversations. When we hear rumors, we say something is blowing in the wind. When we get new information, we say we just got wind of it. When a task is easy, we say it will be a breeze. When someone has too many alcoholic drinks, we say they are three sheets to the wind. The wind is a part of our everyday language, and I assume that is why the author of Acts chose to describe the coming of the Holy Spirit using language about wind. 

The text describes the day of Pentecost. Pentecost = 50 Days after Passover, the Jewish feast of Weeks (a week of weeks). Pentecost was the occasion for celebrating the harvest and particularly for giving thanks to God for graciously bringing forth fruit from the land.  

In Acts 2:1-21, we witness an extraordinary event—the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The disciples gathered in one place and experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit powerfully and visibly. The outpouring of the Spirit is anticipated by John the Baptist (Luke 3:16) and Jesus (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8). 

One of the most remarkable aspects of this event was that the apostles began to speak in different languages, enabling each person to hear the message of God in their native tongue. This miraculous occurrence teaches us a profound lesson: we are called to meet people where they are in life. God broke down language and cultural barriers through the Holy Spirit to ensure His message reached all people's hearts. It reveals the importance of embracing diversity and recognizing that different individuals have unique experiences, backgrounds, and languages.

As followers of Christ, we are commissioned to extend this same love and understanding to those around us. We must seek to understand people's perspectives, their struggles, and their joys. By doing so, we demonstrate the inclusivity and grace that Christ embodied during His earthly ministry. The Gospel transcends boundaries and invites everyone to experience the transformative power of God's love.

This festival would have been a large gathering of Greek-speaking people, but the disciples still spoke in languages other people would understand. Don't look at people speaking in tongues strangely if you are unwilling to talk to your neighbor. 

As the disciples began speaking in various languages, some onlookers misunderstood the situation and accused them of being drunk. In their ignorance and skepticism, they sought to dismiss the profound work of the Holy Spirit. This episode reminds us that there will always be naysayers and haters in our lives—those who misunderstand and ridicule our faith.

We live in a world that often fails to comprehend the ways of God. Just as the onlookers judged the disciples without understanding, so too will people misjudge us for our beliefs and actions. However, let us take courage in the face of opposition, knowing we are not alone. The Spirit of God dwells within us, empowering us to respond with grace and love.

Remember the words of Jesus in John 15:18: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." Jesus Himself experienced rejection, persecution, and hatred. As His followers, we are called to endure and respond to such opposition with steadfast faith, knowing God is with us.

In response to the accusations, the apostle Peter boldly addressed the crowd. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, he fearlessly proclaimed the truth and defended the disciples' actions. Peter, who turned his back on Jesus, is now filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking boldly to the naysayers. Peter, who cussed and ran at the mention of Jesus during the crucifixion, is now out front and center defending him. Peter Quotes Joel 2:28-32

"The story of Pentecost indicates that the coming of the Holy Spirit represents a new order that is manifested as a leveling power that destroys privilege: the Spirit is poured upon "all flesh," sons and daughters, young and old, male and female servants."   

Peter's transformation from a fearful disciple to a courageous preacher demonstrates the profound impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The same Holy Spirit that transformed Peter's life is available today. It equips us to speak the truth, proclaim the Gospel boldly, and stand firm in our convictions. We can draw strength from the Spirit dwelling within us when we encounter opposition or challenges. As redeemed individuals, we have a powerful testimony of God's love and grace, which should encourage us to share His message without fear or hesitation.

Peter's defense was not rooted in his abilities or knowledge but in the power of the Holy Spirit working through him. It was through the Spirit that Peter could eloquently and persuasively articulate the truth of Christ's redemption. In Acts 2:14-21, we see Peter quoting the prophet Joel, emphasizing that the pouring out of the Spirit fulfilled God's promise and was a sign of the last days. Peter understood that the Spirit's work was not limited to the present moment but had far-reaching implications for the salvation of all who would call upon the name of the Lord.

This Spirit that swept through the house gifted more than those disciples at Pentecost and those with whom we minister today. That Spirit has been loosed into the world, and its creative and life-giving power is now the gift of families and communities, of churches, and nations. The relevant question becomes not just "How will I respond to these party gifts of the Spirit?" but "How will we respond to these gifts?" 

The climax of Peter's sermon in Acts 2 is the proclamation that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:21). This powerful statement encapsulates the universality of salvation through Jesus Christ. It reaffirms the fundamental truth that no other name is given to humanity by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).

In a world filled with diverse religious beliefs and philosophical systems, the message of Jesus as the only way to salvation may face opposition and criticism. However, let us not waver in our conviction, for the truth remains unchanging. Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

While exclusive, this truth is also inclusive in its offer. The invitation to call upon the name of the Lord is extended to everyone. Regardless of our past mistakes, social status, or cultural background, Christ's saving grace is available to all who sincerely seek Him. The Holy Spirit empowers us to boldly proclaim this message of hope and redemption, assuring those who hear that they, too, can experience the transformative power of God's love.