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A.B. Simpson

Albert Benjamin "A.B." Simpson (1843 - 1919). Canadian-American preacher, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Raised Presbyterian, he experienced conversion at 14 and studied at Knox College, Toronto, graduating in 1865. Ordained, he pastored in Ontario, then Louisville, Kentucky, where his church grew to 1,000 members. In 1881, after a healing experience, he moved to New York, founding the independent Gospel Tabernacle to reach the marginalized. In 1882, he launched The Word, Work, and World magazine, and in 1887, merged two ministries to form the C&MA, emphasizing the "Fourfold Gospel": Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. Simpson authored 101 books, including The Fourfold Gospel, and composed hymns like "Jesus Only." In 1883, he started Nyack College, training 6,000 missionaries. Married to Margaret Henry in 1866, they had six children. His global vision sent 1,500 missionaries to 40 countries by 1919. Simpson’s teachings on holiness and divine healing shaped modern Pentecostalism.
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Sermon Summary
A.B. Simpson emphasizes the profound significance of waiting on the Lord, which he describes as the 'practice of the presence of God.' He explains that this habit of continual prayer and communion with God not only involves asking but also receiving His answers. Simpson encourages believers to embrace this waiting period as a means to renew their strength and deepen their spiritual lives, ultimately leading to a fuller experience of God's love and power. He highlights that true spiritual depth comes from living in God's presence and absorbing His life, urging listeners to wait patiently and attentively on the Lord.
Scriptures
Wait on the Lord
Wait on the Lord. How often this is said in the Bible; how little understood! It is what the old monk called the "practice of the presence of God." It is the habit of prayer. It is the continual communion that not only asks, but receives. People often ask us to pray for them and we have to say, "Why, God has answered our prayer for you; now you must take the answer. It is awaiting you, and you must take it by waiting on the Lord." It is this that renews our strength until we "mount up with wings as eagles, run and are not weary, walk and are not faint." Our hearts are too limited to take in His fullness at a single breath. We must live in the atmosphere of His presence till we absorb His very life. This is the secret of spiritual depth and rest, of power and fullness, of love and prayer, of hope and holy usefulness. Wait, I say, on the Lord. I am waiting in communion at the blessed mercy seat; I am waiting, sweetly waiting on the Lord; I am drinking of His fullness; I am sitting at His feet; I am hearkening to the whispers of His Word.
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Albert Benjamin "A.B." Simpson (1843 - 1919). Canadian-American preacher, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Raised Presbyterian, he experienced conversion at 14 and studied at Knox College, Toronto, graduating in 1865. Ordained, he pastored in Ontario, then Louisville, Kentucky, where his church grew to 1,000 members. In 1881, after a healing experience, he moved to New York, founding the independent Gospel Tabernacle to reach the marginalized. In 1882, he launched The Word, Work, and World magazine, and in 1887, merged two ministries to form the C&MA, emphasizing the "Fourfold Gospel": Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. Simpson authored 101 books, including The Fourfold Gospel, and composed hymns like "Jesus Only." In 1883, he started Nyack College, training 6,000 missionaries. Married to Margaret Henry in 1866, they had six children. His global vision sent 1,500 missionaries to 40 countries by 1919. Simpson’s teachings on holiness and divine healing shaped modern Pentecostalism.