Sermon Recap

Just like Monday rolled around again today, Sunday rolled through yesterday like the University of South Florida moving through Gainesville. Here in Crossett, it was time for another sermon. We'll leave the Gators to weep softly on their own...

Stranded!

Doug Hibbard

Psalm 61

 

The Setting

Psalm 61 NET 2nd ed.

For the music director, to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David. 

O God, hear my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer. 

From the remotest place on earth I call out to you in my despair. Lead me up to a rocky summit where I can be safe. 

Indeed, you are my shelter, a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. 

I will be a permanent guest in your home; I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. (Selah) 

For you, O God, hear my vows; you grant me the reward that belongs to your loyal followers. 

Give the king long life. Make his lifetime span several generations. 

May he reign forever before God. Decree that your loyal love and faithfulness should protect him. 

Then I will sing praises to your name continually, as I fulfill my vows day after day.

The Psalmist

David. And even if it’s not, it’s someone in trouble. Someone who feels distant. Who feels that God has left them alone. They feel lost at the ends of the earth. In fact, this Psalm is where the phrase “The Ends of the Earth” entered English usage—starting with Wycliffe in the Middle Ages. Envision someone feeling that they are so far that they’ll never be found, never even be blundered across.

The Struggle

Psalm 61:1–2 CSB

God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer. 

I call to you from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to a rock that is high above me,

Ever been where you think your prayers aren’t being heard or listened to? Where you are in despair? Be honest, because lying to God doesn’t work and lying to yourself...well, it just makes it worse. No one is strong all the time. If you knew someone that never struggled, then they hid it from you. 

Realize, too, that the solution is to follow the Lord upward, to the rock that He provides. Which is still going to require you climb, but you do not have to find your own way.

The Point

Psalm 61:3–4 CSB

for you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower in the face of the enemy. 

I will dwell in your tent forever and take refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

In all those issues, the strong refuge is the Lord. The presence of the Lord. Note the Tabernacle

The Praise

Psalm 61:5–7 CSB

God, you have heard my vows; you have given a heritage to those who fear your name. 

Add days to the king’s life; may his years span many generations. 

May he sit enthroned before God forever. Appoint faithful love and truth to guard him.

The Practice

Psalm 61:8 CSB

Then I will continually sing of your name, fulfilling my vows day by day.

Fulfill

Your

Vow.

What was your vow?

Jesus is Lord  (Romans 10:9–13 “because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” )

Exported from Logos Bible Study, 3:27 PM September 8, 2025.

Historical Thinking: The Long Arc of History

Today marks the anniversary of the Little Rock Nine, those original Black students who attempted to access their rights to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. One could make many observations about the situation itself, from trying to justify the unmitigated hatred that was heaped on teenagers who were attempting to do what the law required (go to school) where the law specified (their assigned high school) the way the law allowed (see Brown v. Board and other rulings).

Crazy that teenagers trying to obey the law drew hatred from adults, adults in government, and trickled-down hatred from their peers. Because, honestly, would those teens shown as mobbing and shouting at these students have known to be angry if their parents hadn't taught them? Or their pastors? Kids choose hatred to please the people they love--kids tend to copy their parents. Eventually, maturity drives us all to reconsider who and what we hate. That is, if we are confronted with alternative viewpoints.

The challenge here is that we do not naturally encounter those alternative viewpoints. Generally speaking, we believe what our parents believed, who believe mostly what their parents believed, and so forth.These beliefs become the filter through which we see evidence in the world. Stats from social scientists like Ryan Burge demonstrate that folks deviate from the general religion of their birth in the United States by less than 2%. Admittedly, he does not account for Baptist Type 2 changing to Baptist Type 9, but he is looking at professing "Christianity" vs. other religions, including atheism. Some people do change, but often we notice them because they are outliers, not a massive movement.

That change is usually spurred by education, whether formal or informal. Informal can be something as basic as picking up a book at the library because the cover draws your attention. Formal is the planned schooling you are supposed to have. Museums tend to hit the mix of formal, because of planning, and informal, because you might just be visiting for the fun of it.

Either way, one thing we all need is that exposure. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., expressed the view that the "arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," an idea drawn from abolitionist ministers in the 19th century, but it is important to remember that he brought this up to urge people to act to bend that arc. He would agree with the idea that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good to do nothing," usually attributed to Edmund Burke but not in his writings at all. The arc of the universe only bends if we bend it. If we act.

And those actions start with seeing the troubling images of who we once were as people. We have to be confronted to change our thinking, from being locked into a past that was not what we want our future to be and into being what God has called us to make in this world.

The "Long Arc of the Moral Universe" changes with the actions of people. And those actions start with minds listening. Minds growing and changing.

Ultimately, we have to be exposed to differing viewpoints. There is no value in teaching that simply echoes what you already think. Facts and their interpretation should be on display, and we should learn the critical thinking skills to separate the two. (A basic example? It is a fact that the Confederate Army lost the Battle of Gettysburg. It is an interpretation that the fault lies with Jeb Stuart for not being closer to the Army of Northern Virginia.)

To come to the point:

1. You should be paying attention to history, including looking at and being aware of things that make you uncomfortable. I look at Central in 1957 and have to ask myself: where would I have been? As a student? As a parent? I need to think about how I would have handled myself. And I need to think honestly, because we do have a tendency to make ourselves the hero. It's worth remembering that many of the crowd involved in shameful moments in history were just normal people, doing what they were taught was normal. But you need to be aware of what it was.

2. You should be considering right and wrong. Especially if you are a Christian, you should be taking the Biblical standard and looking back at history. Certainly people were behaving as they were taught, and there is forgiveness, but you can and should still look back and say "this was wrong." It was wrong that parents met to pray at Central High that the Black students would go away. Plain and simple. It was wrong that their pastors encouraged it. It was wrong then, and it would be wrong to repeat similar actions now. We are supposed to grow forward.

3. You should be looking now for the good that must be done to bend that arc of history. It's not about being "on the right side of history." That's nonsense. History is not your judge: God is. Do that which is right, and make sure history comes to the right side.

Sermon Addendum Sept 3 2025

So the point of the "Sermon Addendum" posts is to pick up things that may have been interesting to me in preparing the sermon but it fell to the need to edit. After all, the preacher cannot put everything in the sermon any more than the listener can listen to that whole sermon!

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Lord's Supper as a church. In the Baptist tradition, we generally hold to what's known as the "Memorial View" of the Lord's Supper, indicating our understanding that the elements of the Supper are intended to remind us of Jesus' sacrifice, His death, burial, and resurrection. The elements do not become something else, but they remind us. 

Other traditions hold other views. Some view the elements as being transformed into the literal body and blood of Christ; others that the elements themselves are not changed but that Christ is present in them in a way He is not in the rest of life.

There are several good books (and a few bad ones) that dig into this, I won't try to sort it out here. Take a look at Understanding Four Views of the Lord's Supper in the Counterpoints series for a good introduction. The bibliography will open up deeper reading.  I think there is something more than mere snacking happening, but I think the power of God's presence is mediated through the Spirit and the presence of one another more than anything else.

That greater debate is one thing that was left out of the sermon. After all, there's only a few hundred years of debate involved. It is a good example of how your introduction to a subject tends to hold on through the years. Likewise, we have divergent traditions of how often we do the Lord's Supper. Somewhere between every time the church gathers to only every so often. Southern Baptists tend to fall into the every so often tradition.

We also did not spend much time this time around about deep reflection before partaking. Many times we do spend effort there, based on 1 Corinthians' charge that we not take the Supper in an unworthy manner lest judgment fall. And that's a good warning.

But we should also remember that we are celebrating the Grace of God. So that was more of my emphasis this time around. It's worth remembering that we are now forgiven. That we are now part of the family.

While we should never take for granted what it cost to put us in the family, we should live like we are in the family. Grateful, not arrogant, but not afraid of our place in the family being taken away.

Book Thoughts: Time to Stretch

So I don't have a book to highlight today, partly because my brain is task-switching back and forth between too many things right now. It's taken about an hour to produce this sentence. Now, is this because my brain has a weird concoction of Autism Spectrum Disorder issues and ADHD issues? That may be part of it--at least 2 mental health professionals would support that idea, so I won't argue too much against it.

But I will also say this: it's also partly from letting my brain go slack for the last 4 months. About mid-April of this year, I defended my dissertation and officially could add "Ph.D." at the end of my name. Which I do in cases where adding that is useful, but I'm not roaming around calling myself "Doctor" very much. I'm afraid I'll get wrapped up in a malpractice suit.

After finishing the doctoral work, I dropped reading serious books. Which was necessary for a little while to let the brain relax. I reread a couple of longer novels, but honestly I could half-read them because I remembered most of what was there. Okay, honestly, even with the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo I already had it down pat from the first time I read it. The result of this was that I let my brain go into a standby mode that I now have to get it out of.

The neurodivergence issues (remember that first paragraph from 2 hours ago about ASD and ADHD?) are ones I have long dealt with--you don't go to bed one night and wake up with these the next morning--so I have learned methods to cope. I learned how to power through large assignments. I have read and retained excessively long books.

But it's a learned skill, it's like building muscle. In truth, it's a lot like building muscle if you add to the idea that muscles only work in certain directions: you can't just build a massive quadricep that goes any direction. There are limitations on the direction of movement. Training a brain is like training muscles amid the joints they connect to, and neuro issues are like having sketchy tendons or missing cartlidge: the muscle is powerful but you can blow out with other problems.

My muscle, and its accompanying connective tissue, was allowed to slide past recovery and into a vegetative state. "Was allowed" here is me using lanaguage the way politicians or CEOs use "mistakes were made." I allowed it. I did it. So, now, I have to push a little harder to get it back in shape. The last time I was mentally slack like this, I forced myself into a doctoral program to shape up. That's a bit like deciding to train for an Ironman Triathlon because you're overweight. It's great if it works...

I don't think I'm going full-bore into another doctoral program. Instead, I will work on my own diet and exercise, adding some heavier lifting into the reading. I mean, Word Nerds Unite! by Webb Garrison is turning out quite fun, but it's not really challenging me very much. 

In truth, we all need to challenge ourselves. Grab some heavier reading alongside your fun reading. Push yourself. Bit-by-bit. Hopefully in this space I'll get some other encouraging thoughts as well as some book recommendations posted.

But in the meanwhile: I'm going to get back to reading like I want to learn something. I already know I don't know enough, I need to treat that problem like it can addressed.

Sermon Recap for August 2025

 Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast

Audible Link is https://www.audible.com/podcast/Doug-Hibbard-Sermons-and-Thoughts/B08JJND2RP  https://bit.ly/3WnLNR2

Spotify is here: https://doughibbard.libsyn.com/spotify

The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

August saw the wrap-up of the first half of Ephesians. We will detour to the Psalms for Psalm Pseptember (yes that's silly spelling) and look at Psalm 61 and a few others in the 60s. Then, October and November will see the wrap-up of Ephesians just in time for the Advent Season.

Here are the videos:

Book Briefs: August 2025

Okay, I have recovered from the dissertation experience as much as I ever will! Now, on with the posts. Instead of doing a single book review today, I'm going to give you a quick look at some of the books I've been reading or have recently finished. All of them are available at a variety of booksellers.

First, Overnight Code: The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman who Revolutionized Naval Engineering. It's by Paige Bowers and David R. Montague, Raye Montague's son. She was the first person to design a US Navy warship via computer. She accomplished several other things, but you need to read the book. She did all of this with a business degree from what is now the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, because the doors of the engineering schools in Arkansas were welded shut tight against both minorities and women. And she was Black Woman. 

I first learned about Raye Montague when reading a children's book, The Girl with a Mind for Math by Julia Finley Mosca, but Overnight Code is a more complete biography. Montague is the featured Arkansan in the U.S Mint's American Innovation Dollar Coins. Montague passed away in 2018. Definitely worth the reading.

Next, let us turn to one I'm in the middle of reading, Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman. (Translated by Erica Moore.) Bregman does not write from the same theological positions that I hold. For that matter, I was introduced to this book through Ryan Holliday's blog/email list, and Holliday and I do not hold similar theological positions. However, you will find that all three of us hold similar practical positions, so wait until I recommend someone for their theology before you copy author theologies.

Bregman's primary thesis is that we human beings ought to be setting our sights higher in terms of making the world a better place than we often are. He illustrates this idea well and (I'm about 70% through it) also gives practical guidance on how to be better about changing the world. One note he makes that I think is valid if properly bounded: make your ambition that you will improve the quality of life, address a wrong, not that you will pick your cause because you find the cause attractive. That's a good starting point, but you should adopt as "life work" something that is actionable and practicable. The background on the Against Malaria Foundation is part of the highlight here: it was started after someone took on a smaller cause that he was passionate about, then said "I could do more good!" and went and found malaria as something to fight. He was British and hadn't had to give malaria 2 brain cells his whole life, but saw it as a big issue (it's huge, Americans) but one that could be tackled. 

Anyway, a good challenging book for me to work through. I would need to make some adjustments to bring the recommended practices in-line with Christian theology: he doesn't recommend anything "wrong," but I would add that the Christian must choose causes of good that are aligned with the Gospel. There's a bit more constraint. Still, Christians, he's got this straight up right: we should be trying to change the world. Why aren't we?

Finally, for a bit of fiction: I return, again and again, to Patrick W. Carr and both The Staff and the Sword Trilogy and The Darkwater Saga. These have been individually reviewed on this blog in the past. It's always good to have some fiction to rest in.

Sermon Recap for August 17 2025

 Here is what you’ll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You’ll also find the embedded YouTube videos of each sermon.

If you’d like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougHibbardPodcast

Audible Link is https://www.audible.com/podcast/Doug-Hibbard-Sermons-and-Thoughts/B08JJND2RP  https://bit.ly/3WnLNR2

Spotify is here: https://doughibbard.libsyn.com/spotify

The video is linked on my personal YouTube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons