Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

EP.111: Sermon "In The Name of Jesus" presented to North Central Jurisdiction Conference of the United Methodist Church July 11, 2024

In this powerful episode of "To Be Encouraged," Bishop Julius C. Trimble addresses the myriad challenges faced by individuals who have been incarcerated and the critical role the church plays in promoting healing, liberation, and justice. Drawing from his extensive ministry experience and poignant anecdotes, Bishop Trimble urges the congregation and listeners to advocate for systemic changes and embrace the power of faith and community action.

**Key Takeaways:**

**1. Advocate for Justice and Equal Opportunities:**

Bishop Trimble passionately discusses the barriers that formerly incarcerated individuals encounter upon reentry into society. These challenges include difficulties in securing employment, housing, and voter registration due to discriminatory practices and the pervasive stigma of a felony conviction. Trimble calls for the removal of questions about past convictions from job and rental applications and voter registration forms. He emphasizes the importance of equal justice, highlighting the need for policy changes that allow for genuine reintegration and the restoration of dignity and opportunities for these individuals.

**2. The Church’s Role in Promoting Healing and Liberation:**

Throughout his sermon, Bishop Trimble underscores the essential role of the church in addressing societal injustices and supporting those in need. He draws a powerful parallel with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s denouncement of Nazism and fascism, encouraging the church to be a beacon of hope and a voice for the marginalized. By promoting public policies that serve the common good, such as affordable housing and feeding programs for children, the church can contribute to both immediate relief and long-term systemic change. Furthermore, Trimble shares the inspiring story of a woman who, driven by faith and vision, started a prison visitation ministry with limited resources, leading to significant positive impacts such as reduced recidivism rates.

**3. The Transformative Power of Faith and Prayer:**

Bishop Trimble emphasizes the profound impact of invoking the name of Jesus Christ for healing and empowerment. He shares a moving narrative from the book of Acts, where Peter and John heal a crippled man through their faith. This story serves as a reminder of the ongoing work of Jesus that the church must continue to pursue. Trimble also refers to a walk for peace, where they encountered homeless individuals, highlighting the urgent need for stable housing solutions. By shifting from acceptance of the status quo to active change through prayer and faith-driven action, the congregation can help bring about tangible improvements in their communities.

Join us in this episode as Bishop Trimble shares his wisdom, experiences, and a heartfelt call to action for justice, compassion, and faith-driven community support.

A full transcript of this sermon is available below and the video is available at this link: https://vimeo.com/982680761

The Lord be with you. And so with you.

Let us pray. Gracious,

loving God, for the gift of this day, we give

you thanks and praise

for the beauty of the Holy Spirit.

We give you thanks and praise. Now,

Lord, your will, nothing more,

nothing less, nothing else.

Amen. I'm inclined to, take a few

moments to say thank you for, over

4 decades of ministry

in the north central jurisdiction.

As a 19 year old college student in

Central Illinois, I met a young lady who was a

Baptist, and I was a lifelong Methodist

or am a lifelong Methodist. And, 5

years later, we were married. And 45

years later, we are still married.

I'm still a United Methodist. And she's

also a United Methodist. But she didn't

leave her baptist behind. So I know I can hear first

lady Raysell over here say amen. If nobody else says

amen, she will be saying amen. Thanks be to

God for all of the places as a pastor, as a lay

person, as a lay person,

nurtured in Chicago, and then

becoming a clergy member in the Northern Illinois Conference, and then

transferring to the East Ohio conference for 20 years,

then being elected a bishop and living in the great state

of Iowa for 8 years, serving with

the beautiful people of Iowa, then being assigned to the great state of

the Hoosier State of Indiana. Amen.

And I wanted to say thank you to my wife again. We moved 7 times.

Some people thought I couldn't keep a job, but we as United

Methodists, we moved 7 times. And she said, this is

it. We we we stay in here. Thanks be to God

for all of you. I wanna just say to you that there is

great power in the name of Jesus Christ.

I'm not raising this as a resolution or a petition or

something to debate about. I'm not inviting you to a

conversation where you can play the devil's advocate because I don't believe

the devil needs an advocate. If you wanna be an advocate, be a child

advocate, be a justice advocate, be a peace advocate, be a love

advocate, be a hope advocate. I'm not raising the

point that Jesus Christ is Lord and that there

is power in the name of Jesus Christ to cause

any disruption only to remind us

that there is great power in the name

of Jesus Christ. You heard the scripture

read from the book of acts. I

wanna read a few verses from Eugene's

Peterson's The Message. One day at 3 o'clock in the

afternoon, Peter and John were on their way to the temple for a prayer meeting.

And, a certain man who was crippled

from his birth was carried up every day and

sat down at the beautiful gate in front of the temple.

He was there for the purpose of begging

of those who were going into the temple. And the Bible says, Peter

and John when Peter and John who are about

to enter the temple, saw him

and looked at him. They looked straight at him and said, look here.

He looked up expecting to get something from them.

Peterson puts it this way in the

message Bible. Peter said, I don't have a nickel to my name.

But what I do have Yes. I give you

in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

He grabbed him by the right hand. He pulled him up. His

feet and ankles became firm and strong. He jumped up his

feet on his feet and walked. The man went into the

temple with them walking back and forth, back and forth,

dancing and praising God.

Everybody saw him praising God, recognized him as the one who had been

begging at the temple's gate. Beautiful.

They were astonished, scarcely believing what they

were seeing. The story of Jesus

does not end with Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

It is Luke's task in the book of Acts to

prevent us from becoming mere historical spectators of

the mighty works of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and

the early believers. We,

who are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, those

who are cheering us on. The great

cloud of witnesses, those who have graduated to the

church triumphant are now cheering us on.

We stand upon their shoulders.

We who have received the baton of greater works.

Those of us who are in the church militant, the church

pilgrim, the church that is still doing that work, we have received the

baton of greater works including those of healing,

restoration, reconciliation and liberation.

I'm halfway through my introduction.

We know through the echoed words of Jesus Christ

in the gospel of John, truly, truly I say to you, whoever

believes in me will also do the works that I

do and greater works than these

will they do. We know from the Apostle

Paul in Ephesians that we are God's handiwork created in

Christ Jesus to do good works.

It happened a few months ago on a cold

Saturday morning. I joined the reverend doctor

Ensign Peebles. I don't know if she's still here or not. And deaconess

Lisa in Bloomington, Indiana with a

diverse group of United Methodist and others. They were not just Methodist

and they were not just Christians. And we were on a

walk through the 8 Mile Park in Bloomington, Indiana.

We were walking with others around the country and literally around the

world calling for a ceasefire in

Gaza. And as we walked

through this beautiful park with hills and trees, we

crane came across a long stretch in the park

where dozens of unhoused men and women were living

in the park.

As we walked through this beautiful park, we came across a

man who was walking his dog, who also was part of the unhoused,

the homeless living in the park. This was

his community, community of homelessness.

I remember you could ask doctor Peebles if I'm telling the truth. We talked

briefly with the man. He kept going on with his dog. We were trying

to make it to the gathering spot for those who will be gathered for

the press conference around peace in

Gaza. But we were unable

to unsee what we had just seen. Can I get a

witness? In this beautiful

park, dozens of men and women,

family members if you will of the church

living under tarps and cardboard and tin that they had put

together as their own community.

And even though our purpose this day was a peace walk and a

press gathering, a press conference focused on the humanitarian

on crisis that was unfolding thousands of miles away and

still is, we were reminded that housing and

shelter is not a basic right in this country. Did you know that?

And the lack of stable affordable housing and access to income and

mental health services all contribute to the problem.

Beloved, since we last gathered

in Fort Wayne as a

jurisdictional conference. There's been an

increase in the number of unhoused people in this country.

And just a few days ago, the supreme

court made homelessness a crime. Can I get a

witness? Such that dozens of men and

women we saw in that park

are now subject to force removal and arrest.

Today's theme is doing good.

I wanna say that we ought to do good. It's part of

our general rules. But in

tandem, we're doing good. We also be should be doing justice.

Bringing blankets and soup and sandwiches

to the homeless in the park is doing good and we need to do that.

But advocating for affordable housing, public policy,

support for housing as a basic human right is doing justice.

We ought to be sharing food with the hungry and having hot

meals at our churches. We lead the way in the United

Methodist Church. We should be packing meals

to to to eradicate hunger across the world.

That's doing good. But we should also be

advocating for a living wage and adequate nutritious

nutrition for thousands of children this summer doing justice. That's doing

justice.

15 states this year in our country

refused to accept federal dollars

bipartisan supported bill. 15 states

said, no, we don't want that money. The money was designated to feed

children during the summer. This summer

here in the country, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We ought to be feeding children in our after school programs.

I'm simply saying doing good should be in tandem

with doing justice.

Visiting the sick and in prison is doing good,

but removing barriers to restorative justice is also our

work. There are over 1,300,000

people in prison in the United States of

America. And I just

found this out this information out little more than a week and

a half ago. I was invited to serve on a panel,

discussion sponsored by Reform Alliance.

Didn't know this information. Thousands of people

several thousand people meeting in Indianapolis who work in the area of

probation and supervision. Probation officers and parole

officers and people who are working with diversion programs.

I didn't know that there apart from the 1,300,000

1,300,000 in prison, there are an additional 4,000,000

listen to me, 4,000,000 people, men and women who are

under parole, probation and

supervision. 4,000,000.

4000000. And they told stories, the

probation officers, of why people end up going back to jail and

back to prison. They say if they come out and they have

a substance abuse problem and there's no treatment for them,

they return to their communities. If they don't show up for their

first appointment, they violated their parole and

probation and they are subject to be arrested and go back to prison.

If they get a job when they come out of prison and they don't

have transportation to make it to that job, if they miss 2 days of

work, they're subject to lose their job. They were in violation of

their supervision and they go back to prison.

I'm simply saying, friends, that there's more than just doing

good. We've got to keep doing good but we ought to ought to be embracing

our ministry of restorative justice. There is

power in the name of Jesus Christ.

We ought to remove the question. When

people come out of jail, listen to me friends. We should just remove the

question on on applications. Have you ever been a convicted

felon? Stick with me now. Stick with

me. We ought to remove it from job applications and rental

applications and voter registration. Friends,

if a man can remain on the ballot for the highest

office in the land,

Listen to me. Listen to me.

Yes, sir. Listen to me. If a man can remain on the ballot for the

highest office in the land after being found guilty on

34 felony accounts, how can we discriminate against those

who have done the time after they've been convicted of their

crime? This is not a political statement. It's a

question of equal justice.

Those of you who who have been to seminary probably studied

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But it's

scary if you read it. He

denounced the rise of Nazism after his transformation

through reading the Bible. The Bible is a dangerous book to

read. He

denounced the rise of Nazism and fascism

after his transformation from reading the Bible. He

referred to the Bible as the great liberator.

Historians write and in fact, Bonhoeffer himself writes that

his reading of the Sermon on the Mount and the acts of

Jesus Christ resulted in him saying that the church

must be an instrument of healing and liberation.

Christianity rises and falls on its revolutionary protest

against violence.

Denouncing the rise of authoritarianism came at the

price of clarity, truth

telling, the risk of his own freedom. He was

arrested and executed.

United Methodist believe that love

requires resistance

and

participation in political action

that promotes the common good. Now you think Trimble made that

up, but I just read that's a excerpt from our social principles.

Can I get a witness? You think that's Bishop Trimble up

here starting some mess. That's from our social principles.

We believe that love requires a response

for us to promote public policy that promotes

the common good. The

church is the church, Bonhoeffer

and others have said and it comes through in this

passage of scripture. The church is the church only when it exists

for others. Well, I know we are concerned

about our future, but this is no

time for us to be drunk on the eve of

reconstruction. This is no time for us

to be sleeping when others are

pushing back the wheels of progress before

our very eyes. The Bible says that the lame man saw

Peter and John about to go into the temple.

Well, I like it the way the Bible makes it so clear. It says, Peter

looked intently at him.

And we can learn something from this encounter with the lame man

and Peter and John. The man who was begging for

alms begging for some money begging for some response

We can learn something. Number 1, the courage It takes courage

to face the reality and also the real request.

Sometimes we're answering questions that our communities are

not asking. Can I get a

witness? We need to ask

our communities how we as a church

can be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in ways

that they can and we can all do this together. Courage to

face the reality and the request. Second

thing we learned from this encounter with the lame

man and Peter and John was they offered what they had,

not what was requested.

The third thing we can learn is that they gained credibility not from

proclamation alone, but from proclamation plus

demonstration. Well, I

know we need to worship as a church, but church

including worship and preaching is not to make you feel good but to make

us do good. Can I get a witness? We go

to church not so that we can feel good so but so that as

followers of Jesus Christ, we are sent forth

to do good and to do justice and to

love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

It took him by his right hand. The lame man

took him by his right hand and his feet and his ankles were

made strong. And what follows in the text

is not typical United Methodist worship.

Go read it again. The Bible

says, when his ankles

and his feet were made strong and he stood

up, he entered the temple with them,

walking and leaping and praising God.

Bishop Trimble. Bishop Trimble. Yes.

So I heard that you are retiring.

I heard you say you're pivoting with passion. Yes, sir. Well,

what you gonna do when you leave Sioux Falls?

What you gonna do when you leave the NCJ

conference? I'm gonna leave praising god,

leaping, and praising.

I I didn't say I don't love you now. I didn't say it. I didn't

say I don't like conference or anything like that.

A couple of years ago, was at a United Methodist gathering

and I encountered reverend Dennis Oglesby. Some

of you from Minnesota in Chicago know

Reverend Dennis Oglesbee. He was a great

sharp dresser and he he liked nice watches. And he saw I had a nice

watch on, Bishop Palmer, and he he asked me about my

watch. I told him I have a collection of watches and some of

the watches are no longer no longer, I wear them because

the band is broken. Some of them, the face of the watch is

scratched so I I don't wear the watch.

Some of them need maybe a part replaced on the band

and and he said, but you still keep the watches. The reason that I keep

those watches is because they still work.

Turn to your neighbor and say, it still works. It still

works. Peter and John

said I don't have any money to give you. But

in the name of Jesus Christ,

rise up and walk.

I'm here to tell you sisters and brothers, I stopped by

on the doing good day to remind us that the

power in the name of Jesus Christ still

works. Still

works. Silver and gold, you

may not have. Sometimes we complain we don't have enough resources.

I remember going to Nigeria, leaving as we were leaving Nigeria and

they were celebrating, bishop Malone, how many new churches they had

started. I said, how did you start these churches? Did you have a

conference, church and building location grant? They said, no. We didn't

have no grant. I said, well, where did you get the

missionaries? They said, we sent people out.

We dug a well. And when people found

clean water, they came to the well. We

put a church there. We didn't need a building. We just needed some people.

Then we decided when we got enough money, we will put a clinic and a

school there. And we sent a lay minister there.

And we started the church. He said, the problem with you in

America is that when you speak the name of Jesus, you

don't expect anything to happen. Say, when we speak the

name of Jesus, we expect something to happen.

Seal and gold. You may come from

a little church. You may come from a

church that has a small budget or so you think.

You may come to a church that's had some conflict and we've got districts

that had lost churches. But I'm here to tell

you, we need to stop telling God how big our problems

are and stop telling our problems how big our God

is.

Cecilia Whitfield, I'm done after

this in a few minutes. Cecilia

Whitfield of Indianapolis, Indiana

started use what you got ministry,

keeping families connected with those who are incarcerated. It's

a prison visitation ministry. They take families to

all of the prisons in Indiana for visitation.

My wife is the chair of the board. The board the board chairperson

for use what you got, keeping families connected prison

visitation ministry. And so I interviewed her just

a week ago about how this ministry really

got started. She shared her vision of

what God wanted her to do and she has a bigger vision

now. She said what happened was some years ago,

her son was arrested for armed robbery

and sentenced to prison. She

went to visit her son and as she was going to visit her son, she

saw families were having difficulty getting to visit their loved

ones in prison. Her vision

that God gave her was to purchase a bus

and to hire a driver to take families to visit

their fathers and mothers and husbands and daughters.

But she said she had never been to college.

Her husband was retired military. She didn't

have a grant. She didn't know how to start a nonprofit organization.

All she had, she said, was a vision and a testimony.

She said God had given her the vision that families should be able to

visit their loved ones in prison. And she was gonna

make that happen. So she went and talked to her her

elderly mother about the vision God had given her.

She said, mama, I don't have any money, you know, and I'm not trained. I

don't have a college degree or graduate degree on on

how to operate this. But God has given me this vision

that families should be able to visit their loved ones in prison.

She said her mother told her, use what

you got. Use what you got. So she took her money.

Her husband pulled out of his retirement, and she pulled some

resources together, asked a few United Methodist and others to

invest in this ministry. And they bought 1 bus.

And they hired a part time driver who volunteered initially.

And they began visiting families for

35 years, sisters and brothers.

Never had an accident. And

she has the data to prove that those people who have family

members who visit them, the recidivism rate is 21%.

She said those who don't have family members visit is about 70%.

All she had was a vision. And she said, but I believe

in the name of Jesus Christ. Yeah. I can do all

things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm here

to tell you sisters and brothers, it still works

when you speak the name of Jesus Christ and you are

doing good and doing justice and loving neighbors, it

still works. In the name of Jesus, your

burdens can be lifted. In the name of Jesus,

your sickness can be healed. In the name of Jesus,

your friendships can be fortified. In the name of

Jesus, your church can be edified. In the name

of Jesus, your soul can be sanctified.

In the name of Jesus, your witness can be magnified.

In the name

of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, our God can be

glorified. In the name of Jesus, the devil

will be terrified. I'm here to tell you there

is power in the name of Jesus. The lame

man at the gate of the temple had been lame

since birth. He probably was resigned to

praying the prayer. You know, the serenity prayer. He kept

praying that same line from the serenity prayer. Lord,

help me accept the things I cannot change. But

Peter said, silver and gold have I none. I give you what I

do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Listen to me. That Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he didn't say

Yeshua from the west side of Samaria. He said Jesus

Christ of Nazareth, the one who was

arrested, the one who was crucified, the one who

bled and died, the one who was buried in the

grave, the one on the 3rd day who rose from the

dead, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,

stand up and walk. This is the

season to change praying. Lord, help

me accept the things I cannot change. We need

to pray the prayer. Lord, help me to change the things we cannot

accept.

You don't hear me. You don't hear me.

The name of Jesus has power

and it still works. It still works.

Andre Crouch phrased it this way. The

blood that Jesus shed for

me way back

on Calvary. The blood

that gives me strength from day.

Today, maybe y'all didn't seen this, but I grew up a Methodist church. It was

a black church, Black United Methodist, but we sang this song in our church.

I thought it was a Methodist hymn though. Methodist hymn

way back on get the blood that Jesus shed for

me way back on Calvary. The blood that gives me

strength from day to day, it

will never lose

its power. It reaches

to the highest mountain. Yeah. It flows

to the lowest valley. The blood

that gives me strength from day to

day will never never

never lose its power. It still

works. The blood still works.

The name still works. The church still

works. In the right name of Jesus.

The power in the name of Jesus. When sorrow invades

without invitation, it still works.

When you have burdens that are too heavy for human shoulders, it still

works. When the doors of opportunity need to be

broken wide open, it still works. When the wicked won't

cease from troubling Yes, sir. And the weary cannot find rest,

it still works. When you are sick and tired of being sick and

tired, it still works. Dear beloved

United Methodist, the power, the

name of Jesus still

works.