Thoughts From the Back Porch: September 11, 2015

September 11, 2015September 11, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / 1 Comment

This is the view from the back porch, my sacred spot. This is where I feel closest to God and can separate for a few quiet minutes each day. I Hope you have a sacred spot and find your time with God today. Here’s whats on my heart…………

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

-Psalm 92:12-13

Today is a mild and foggy day that brings the hope that the Texas furnace of summer wont last forever after all. Each year I learn something new and this year it is plant propagation. My classroom is an array of pots and benches which hold the survivors of the herbs that I have tended since Easter. I have read books and studied article and videos but today I am thinking of the many gardeners that have encouraged and taught me. This is my partial list. It is a good exercise for us all to make one of our own

Granny Mitchell could “steal” a pinch off of anything, stick it in a chipped coffee cup and make it grow. Homer Johnston, Raymond Daigle, Herb and Mary Beth Stafford and St. Cecil Vincent could grow vegetables on a parking lot while I fought my crop of nutgrass in the richest soil. My thoughts then go to those who could raise people like Jim Turley, Keith Witaker, My Dad and a thousand others… and ultimately to the master Gardener of hearts, Jesus Christ.

I tend to these plants to point me to the tending of disciples, especially myself. How do I help tend God’s garden in such a way that faith is multiplied and roots deepen? How about you? Who is counting on you for tending and who is tending the garden of your heart?

This is not something left to the preacher. You have someone in your life that needs encouragement, correction or education and, like me, you need the same tending. Plants you tend bear fruit for you. You will receive these same spiritual blessings in the same measure when you give them to others in Jesus’ name!

My prayer is that you have a few minutes on your “porch” to recognize those people that need you and ask God to provide someone to be your heart-gardener.

May God’s grace grow lush and healthy around you, with an abundance to sack up and share.

Great Site to learn: Free Plants.com Great Video: Free from Propogation

herbs 5 herbs 1 herbs 2 herbs 4 herbs 3

www.cheathamumc.net

Sermon Briefs: September 6, 2015 “How to Pray for A High School Football Game” 1Thessalonians 5:1-19

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / 2 Comments

So, how do you pray for a Friday Night Football Worship Experience? In general, here are three basic ways to pray for a football game. The coaches have their way, the players on the field have their way and the alumni in the stands have their way. All three want to God to know it is His will for us to win. The educators pray for good sportsmanship and their players to be better people for the win, the players pray to be stronger athletes more popular for the win, and the alumni pray to live bygone days and are more open to the visitors leaving blood on the field

How do we pray for God’s will in our lives? Where do we start. Deep down we want that win. OUR win. Deep down we want to become closer to His Son Jesus for the experience and keep us on the high moral road as we do it. However, if some force were to viciously smite the opposition that’s ok, as long as we can claim it as God’s will and not any doing of our own hands. That is not discernment. What is the real deal? How can we discern what God wants without feeling like a loser.

Discernment is seeing what God Wants, Mission is doing what God wants

The reading today, from First Thessalonians chapter 5, Gives some clear direction for us in how to find God’s will to perform our mission!

At the cross we have a clue,Jesus asked for deliverance but cried out, “Not my will but thine be done” It is a personal skill, lived out in the Church and can be learned

1. God’s will is found by those who live urgently.

The game is uncertain certain until the clock runs out. Faith is being uncertain and trusting God anyway. We must choose darkness or light, ignorance or wisdom, fear or certainty. Take action now.

2. God’s WIll is found by the awakened and the intentional. Jesus died for you and me and we his church, he is the light to our cloudy path. Grab hold of His hand

Study is Armor for the head, faith is armor for the heart. Our eternity is protected by the covenant of Salvation

3. God’s will is found in community

We are not a loose collection of individuals, we are a team, we all win or none of us win. Respect the co laborer, wake up the lazy, encourage the bashful and help the weak. This letter was written to the Church.

4.God’s will is found in a life of integrity

We do not always agree what is truth.
Live the truth on the outside from the truth we know on the inside
Rejoice always, Pray ceaselessly, be thankful in good and bad times, this is the fruit of faith and not the compromise of weak resignation. God’s will is not just getting what you want, and is seldom discernible by how we feel.
EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS WITH PRAYER.

5. HOW!

Do all of the good that you can, Abstaining from evil and staying in Love with God, This scripture reflects our Methodist “general rules “

6. SO WHAT

Discernment is way Bigger than just words and church attendance, it is hard work and many won’t do it, It is scary and many more will ignore it. Do it!
Many of us walk in uncertainty. YOU DON”T HAVE TO! in these bullet points, taken from this letter are the starting points for aligning our vision and mission with God.
This is our Proposed vision Statement a statement of who we are, whose we are and a standard of testing for God’s will in our ministries for our Congregation. This is how we will test our ministries as a group, a family at Cheatham Memorial UMC!

SO…….. How do you pray for a Bulldog Football Game? You ask boldly, by faith and in the name of Jesus Christ for God to win regardless of the score instead of telling God what to do! I am a competitor! But when God wins, we all win.

This is the first of Five Sermons on discernment. See you next week.

Thanks for reading this post. I pray it encourages your life and leads you to worship in the church of your choice.

We would love to have you visit us at Cheatham Memorial UMC!

Cheatham Memorial Youth in Ministry

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

September’s Sermons!

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

What is God’s Will? How do I discern it and more important, how do we, the Church, Discern God’s will as a group? It isn’t as easy as you think and cannot be settled in a 20 minute message. We are discerning our “Vision Statement” and have proposed God’s “Christ’s Love in Action: Following, Serving, Uniting”. We will Teach this in worship as a personal skill as well as a church-wide action! Come and see us at 10:oo worship!

September 6: 1 Thessolonians 5:1-22 “How to Pray for a High School Football Game” (Ceaseless Prayer)
September 13: John 21:1-19 “They Won’t Know it ‘Til You Show it” (Passion)
September 20: Romans 1:1-17 “Me Neither (Motivation)
September 27: Exodus 3:1-15 “Tell Them I-Am Sent You” (Direction)
October 4: Matthew 28:11-20 “Therefore GO!” (Purpose)

Sermon Briefs: August 30, 2015 “A Listening Calling”

August 31, 2015September 3, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

This week’s service honored our Teachers as they kick off a new school year. Click here to read the text for today. James Chapter 1

There is a difference between Teaching and learning. It is not measured in Words. The entire messages of James 1 might be best taught in this one Charlie Brown cartoon?

What little I know about educational theory can be summed up in three concepts. There is a difference between teaching and learning-you hope they both happen at the same time, The self-fulfilling prophesy-people often become exactly what you tell them, and the “Null” curriculum-what you teach people whether you mean to or not as you teach a stated lesson. God, the ultimate educator uses all of these in the curriculum of Scripture, the working deads of the church and the “null” curriculum in the witness of the holy Spirit. God teaches to all of our learning styles

God’s lessons are EVERYWHERE and the means of wisdom, not just the words of wisdom. This is the fuel and motivation of our holy calling as Christian Disciples. The holy calling of our teachers is a witness of this calling being worked out in everyday living.

As writer Rafe Esquith said…

Not all of those in this holy calling are as famous but are just as important?

I asked some of our educators to answer the question, “What drives you out of bed in the morning to do the work of education?” Here are some of the answers

Yeah Right! If you are in education for the bucks or the easy hours you are crazy. I wish that teacher pay reflected the impact they have on every corner of our lives.

Sadly, the holy calling of teaching does not pay in accordance to the talents and education levels of our teachers. The thousands of dollars and hours spent by teachers without anyone knowing about them speak of a passion that goes beyond just having a J-O-B.

Being relevant, having impact, getting to watch the world change, one child at a time is the real motivator. Often the payback is in hugs.

More often our heroic teachers send a student out into the world without knowing how it will work out. Still, you get to watch that student, “get it”, and know you fulfilled your calling and mission.

James, the writer of the book, did it all wrong as an educator, he had no credentials but that of a servant, assumed the worst trials and immaturity of his students, was paranoid about temptation, exalts the poor, insults the rich, crowns those barely hanging in there and assumes that no one understands God. But the real lesson God has for us here is simple. Faith is something you do, something you work on, something you live in and not just something you know. He says simply, DO YOUR FAITH and you will have it. He drives it home!

SO WHAT? That’s all fine but once we are saved , what does it matter. Our master teacher, Jesus Christ comes to each of us with a holy mission to share Him with passion and purpose. It is personal. Our salvation, “done” and not talked about influence others to the healthy, live giving, practical and eternal life in Christ. It is not just for us, it is to go through us to all of those bulldogs around us and beyond that need Christ’s love so desperately. Someone is counting on you and I to faith into practice.

Thank you for reading. I hope this post inspires you but it is not substitute for attending church worship, whether here at Cheatham Memorial UMC or your own home church! Blessings to you on your journey in Christ.