Sermon Tone Analysis

Redigging The Wells Of A. B. Simpson; Genesis 26: 1-6, 12-22

 

God Wants To Flood The World With Blessing Through The Christian And Missionary Alliance, And We Will Best Do That By Redigging The Wells Of Our Heritage.

!! A.    Verse 1: There Was A Famine In The Land

 

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*Verses 2, 3: Blessing Comes With Covenant Faithfulness*

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A B Simpson Was Motivated By A Total Love For Jesus Christ

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A B Simpson Believed In The Total Sufficiency Of Christ For Every

Believer To Fulfill All God's Expectations (Fourfold Gospel)

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A B Simpson Valued Interdenominational Ministry

 

!! C.    Verses 4, 5: All The Nations Of The Earth Will Be Blessed As You Obey

      4.

A B Simpson Centered His Ministry On Matthew 24:14: Total Commitment

To World Evangelization To Hasten Christ's Return

5.  A B Simpson Taught And Trained An "Army Of Irregulars" For Missions

6.

A V Simpson Tried To Minimize Local Expenses To Fund The Work

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!! D.    Verses 12-14: We Sow And Reap Abundantly In The Land Of Our Spiritual Father

7.      A B Simpson Espoused A Holistic Gospel And Started Many Social Ministries

8.      A B Simpson Practiced Sacrificial Giving To Support The Missionaries

 

*E.

**Verse 15: People Of A Different Spiritual Heritage Have Stopped Up The Wells Of Our Father*

9.      A B Simpson Wanted Minimal Organizational Centralization

10.

A B Simpson Encouraged A Loosely Organized Group Of Autonomous Churches

11.

A B Simpson Did Not Bar Women From Prominent Ministry Roles

 

!! F.     Verses 16, 17: Some People Are Afraid Of The Spiritual Power That Comes With Covenant Anointing

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12.

A B Simpson Was Not Pneumaphobic.

Cease Not; Compel Not

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!! G.    Verses 18, 19: We Are Blessed As We Redig The Wells Of Our Father, For There We Find Living Water

13.

A B Simpson Believed In Holy Spirit Filling For Empowerment For Holiness And Ministry Effectiveness

14.

A B Simpson Motivated People About Missions Through State-Of-The-Art Media And Through Passionate Preaching About Missions.

!! H.    Verse 20-22: God Will Help Us Dig New Wells In Our Father's Land, Wells Of The City

15.

A B Simpson Wanted To Reach The Neglected Masses Of This Country

\\ Redigging the Wells of A. B. Simpson; Genesis 26: 1-6, 12-22

 

God wants to flood the world with blessing through the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and we will best do that by redigging the wells of our heritage.

What does it mean to be a denomination with movement-like qualities?

Similarities to the days of Isaac:

!! 1.      VERSE 1: THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND

Little question that there is a great famine in our land, a famine for hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11); People thirst for living water.

Not by any stretch of imagination can we be considered a Christian nation any longer.

We have banished God from our public life.

~/wor days after 9~/11Jane Clayton interviewed Ann Graham Lotz on the CBS Early Show : “If God is good, how could God let this happen?”

In other words, “Where was God on 9~/11?”

Ann: “Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, ‘God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business; we want you out of our marketplace.’

And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, removing His hand of blessing and protection.

We need to turn to God first of all and say, ‘God, we’re sorry we have treated you this way, and we invite you now to come into our national life.

We put our trust in you’.

We have our trust in God on our coins; we need to practice it.”

There is a famine in the Alliance for the wells of AB Simpson.

Many of his values, beliefs, experiences and practices have been abandoned, and we are parched for the blessing the C&MA experienced under his leadership.

Maybe you think the wells of AB Simpson are out-moded and we should ignore them.

I disagree.

I believe the further we drift from our heritage, the further we drift from the Lord’s blessing.

!! 2.      VERSES 2, 3: STAY IN THE LAND I COVENANTED WITH YOUR FATHER (BLESSING COMES WITH COVENANT FAITHFULNESS)

God gave Israel a mission to be a light to the nations, and he gave them a promised land from which to be the light.

Similarly, he gave A. B. Simpson a global vision, and had him center it in NYC.

Now don’t worry; I am not going to regale us for leaving NYC, but I do want to suggest that God wants us to stay connected with our heritage.

Perhaps there’s a spiritual principle at work here.

God owns the whole earth and has given it as a bridal gift to his son, an inheritance.

It has fallen into enemy hands and he is recovering it one people group at a time as we effectively achieve our Great Commission.

But he wants us to walk in the covenant blessing of our forefathers.

We were a city-born, minority-focused, multi-denominational holiness movement.

Does that characterize us today?

Not long ago I spoke with an elderly man who has relatives in the Alliance and who has watched us for decades.

Without meaning to be nasty, he said to me, “The Alliance is becoming more like a cult now, isn’t it?”

I challenged him about this, and he clarified that he wasn’t referring to our doctrine, but to our rabid separatism and feverish denominationalism.

We may disagree with this diagnosis, but the fact that a sympathetic and thoughtful onlooker would observe this ought to cause us to wonder.

What were some of the key components of our heritage that looked like a movement?

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*A B Simpson Was Motivated By A Total Love For Jesus Christ* #. *A B Simpson Believed In The Total Sufficiency Of Christ For Every *

*Believer To Fulfill All God's Expectations (Fourfold Gospel)*

#. *A B Simpson Valued Interdenominational Ministry*  

 

!! 3.      VERSES 4, 5: ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED AS YOU OBEY

            Certainly, we have followed both Christ’s commission and Simpson’s vision.

We have taken Simpson’s evangelistic  passion and circled the globe with a very effective missionary movement..  Since 1887, a movement has spread which Donald McGavran described as "without doubt the leading missionary society of the 20th century."[i]

Will it be that in the 21st century?

We could take hours to recount exciting, up-to-date tales of God’s work through the Alliance overseas and in this country.

I will let others lead the celebration.

I am looking down the road.

Today, though our USA church is quantitatively stronger than ever, we struggle to support a declining missionary force.

Our missionary candidate pool is the lowest it has been in decades, and financially, we are budget, and sometimes crisis driven, rather than being vision driven.

Have we as a movement lost our passion for the overseas work?

Certainly not the leaders, but what about the membership? 

 

4.

A B Simpson Centered His Ministry On Matthew 24:14: Total Commitment

To World Evangelization To Hasten Christ's Return

*5.

A B Simpson Taught And Trained An "Army Of Irregulars" For Missions*

*6.

A B Simpson Tried To Minimize Local Expenses To Fund The Work Overseas*

 

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*VERSES 12-14: WE SOW AND REAP ABUNDANTLY IN THE LAND OF OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER*             The year was 1879.

"A young Presbyterian clergyman, well aware of the world he lived in, realized that his future lay not in Louisville, Kentucky, despite his impact on that gracious city of southern refinement.

Only one place answered to the dimensions of the vision growing clearer to him: abrasive, explosive and progressive New York City."[ii]

That vision was to reach the world from what was already becoming the cultural capital of the world.

He stirred the hearts of thousands to be impassioned about global evangelism, and we are his children.

But we need to recall an oft-neglected fact about our spiritual father.

While Simpson's arms reached around the world, his heart continued to beat in the city.

Orphanages, soup kitchens, healing homes, hospices for unwed mothers, missions for the homeless, ethnic language services, and havens for women of the streets were as important to AB Simpson as the tabernacle ministry and overseas missions.

His alliance of ministries occupied such venues as the South Street Mission, the Berachah Orphanage, the Twenty Third Street Armory, the Caledonian Club, the Academy of Music Hall, the Steinway Hall, the Abbey Park Theater, the Grand Opera Hall, the Hippodrome, as well as the Gospel Tabernacle.

*7.

A B Simpson Espoused A Holistic Gospel And Started Many Social Ministries*

*8.

A B Simpson Practiced Sacrificial Giving To Support The Missionaries*

 

*5.

**VERSE 15: PEOPLE OF A DIFFERENT SPIRITUAL HERITAGE HAVE STOPPED UP THE WELLS OF OUR FATHER*

Many of Dr. Simpson’s spiritual children have chosen a different vision than the one that drew him into covenant with God.

Some have moved away from his view of the Holy Spirit’s activity in the life of the church.

Some have sacrificed the mysteries of the four-fold gospel for a more respectable, denominationalized creed.

Some have denigrated his appreciation for women and minorities in ministry.

Some have accepted a dumbed-down version of higher education.

While the Alliance should always, in the spirit of A. B. Simpson, welcome people from other spiritual traditions, we should not be persuaded to conform to the doctrinal baggage they bring with them.