"Still We Rise"

“Still we Rise” Isaiah 40

• African-American poet Maya Angelou, offered the following words at the Million Man March in 1995

• “God promises to strengthen us and lift us into a world of justice and equality” .

• She said, “the ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain, We are a going-on people who will rise again. And still we rise”.

Angelou’s words are Powerful words. Hopeful words, Inspiring words, “And still we rise.” These are the same type words our God offers the people.

1. And still we rise because our God is Powerful. Isaiah says, “10See, the Sovereign (Supreme, almighty, dominate) LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

• God is the one “who sits above the circle of the earth, 21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 22He sits enthroned and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers … who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing” (Isaiah 40:22-23).

• God is powerful God blows upon the rulers of the earth, “they wither,” promises the prophet, “and the tempest carries them off like stubble” (v. 24).

• God s power is evidenced by his nostrils “when God blows upon the rulers of the earth, they wither, promises the prophet, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. Vs 24

2. And still we rise because our God gives us a Dream

• Isaiah said, “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; ‘and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together’” (Isaiah 40:5, KJV).

• “I have a dream,” said Dr. King. A dream of God’s justice on earth. A dream of rough places made plain, with all flesh seeing it together. A dream of blacks and whites sitting down together at the table of brotherhood. A dream of oppression and injustice being transformed into freedom and justice.

• God has a Dream God says, “cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).

3. And still we rise because our God gives hope to hopelessness

• There is also a promise of divine help. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” asks the prophet. The Lord “gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless” (40:28-29).

• Despite injustices discriminations, bullying there is hope” Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,” says Isaiah (v. 31).”

• The same is true today. God continues to give this gift of hope or strength, whenever we faint or grow weary, wherever we face injustice or discrimination.

4. And still we rise because our God inspires while we wait

• “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,” says Isaiah (v. 31).

• Notice it is those who wait for the Lord who will find their strength renewed.

• Those who wait shall mount up again

• They shall mount up with wings like eagles

• Spiritual solutions always begin with waiting for the Lord, and listening for what God wants us to be and to do. Those who “wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,” promises Isaiah. “They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (v. 31).

• IN conclusion and still we rise because God gives Power, God gives us a dream, God give Hope, and God gives us inspiration.