Sermon Brief: October 4, 2015 “Tell Them the I AM sent You”

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

Before health education and restrictions on the tobacco industry nearly everyone smoked . People who did not smoke often carried light to share for others as a courtesy. As a kid, I was fixated on the Zippo Lighter. They clicked, flicked and snapped into a flame that did not consume the fibers in the center of the little chrome grid. This was cool and weird at the same time, just like the “burning bush” that confronted Moses. God had a mission and a direction for Moses. He had a cool-weird Zippo lighter moment and had the presence of mind to listen and follow.

Our smoking habits have changed. Lighters are not as commonplace BUT Jesus is still the way, the truth and the life. He is the God of all creation and that does not change with the whims of culture. God is the source of direction for our lives. Even when we lose our way, God is still speaking to his people. The greater question is, are we listening?

Click here for our Sermon Text: Exodus 3:1-15

Here are some of the high points:

Moses has lost his way. Born into hiding, prayed into being a prince of the most powerful nation in history. He had everything all figured out until he killed a man.
He fled Egypt at about age 40, he could be 70- or 80 years old, trapped in the sheep business. His direction is to water and pasture for the sheep. The Big picture direction of his life was lost
God called through an angle in the guise of a fire. Like a zippo, the flame is alive with sound sight and the very voice of God but it is not consumed This is a holy moment on a holy patch of ground.
The message: GO to Egypt, bring the message of victory and release, deliver them. Your marching orders, your credentials and your provision is simply from “I AM. Tell them I AM sent you. This is a derivation of the Yahweh, the name of God. They would understand.
There is no question that this burning bush moment is God’s direction, authority, and provision. He may question his sanity or his faith but this is to far out there to be anything less than God. He shows more than a little doubt of self or his ability but the mission is all there.

Wouldn’t you and I have a less anxious life if we followed God’s clear direction with such surefootedness.

A young man that is now a certified lay minister and holding down a church asked me a question. We were have a parking lot conversation with another pastor who was accustomed to saying “God told me” this and that, whether choosing a song, sermon, or a car. He often spoke this way and I knew him as a man of God committed to the Gospel and prayer. The young lay pastor was quiet in this conversation as our neighbor was telling us what God had told him to do. After this pastor left, my friend quietly asked. “Brother Joe hears from God? How does he know its God and not someone else?” This is a great question .

Moses has some hints for listening for God’s voice in this story. I have never heard Charlton Heston’s voice booming a message out of the rafters or had writing magically appear on the wall but I hear God’s voice in my spirit. Many of my friends and colleagues have been re- assured of their life’s direction in many different ways. How do we hear? How do we know it isn’t a misleading voice?

Good questions! People are dying from a lack of direction. Suicide, depression, missed opportunities, lost wages to unproductivity burden us when we lose our direction and flounder in our faith. It can all be crushed by simply knowing and following God’s direction by faith. Before you get too excited though, God makes us work for it and we will battle with doubt most of the way!

We are seldom blessed with an angelic and fiery message. We live by faith and not sight. God’s message is subtle, silent and sure we have to listen for it. Consider these when you are discerning your life-direction.

Walking in faith and seeking God’s direction begins when we pay attention to God in your everyday life, create time and place for prayer, know your own story. The light of Christ is your, portable, powerful and shareable. Jesus isn’t I was or the I will be he is the ever present and eternal “I AM”. Jesus is your portable, powerful, eternal and living flame. Carry it well and share!

You have the authority, God has the direction for you! I AM knows you by name

Click here for our website

Thoughts from the Back Porch: A work in progress…

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

The view from the porch

This is a book outline and a work in progress. The hope is to describe a way to grow closer to God and, as a result, have a less anxious and more fulfilling life through establishing a sacred space and time to train your body and mind to be aware of God’s presence. My example of this is my back porch.

Everyone needs a back porch. This is any place of solitude where you can shake photo_4 off the world’s garbage and think God sized thoughts. Mine is actually my back porch, complete with a desk and prayer benches. It is my “Friday office”. It is where I write and study on my off days. Yours might be anywhere but if you don’t have a sacred space of your own, I hope this blog can be your back porch and provide you a safe starting place to seek God. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to recognize God wherever we are.

Follow along and comment where you wish and see where this goes. Better yet, apply the principles and watch your awareness of God grow.

Read it and use it thoughtfully but remember, “Thou shalt not steal”.

Thoughts From the Back Porch: October 1, 2015

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

This is the view from my 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. It makes a life of difference. Here’s whats on my heart today………

Just past the full of the “Blue Corn Moon”

Establish your sacred space out of doors whenever possible. I am blessed to have a large yard that backs up to a wooded property to charge me up with calm. This is the view from the space that is engineered to center me on God Dawn and dusk provide the best time for me to be immersed in the presence of God. Amazing things happen as God creates a new day right before your eyes.
This morning is dark, 60 degrees and silent. No air conditioners or wind interrupt the stillness. The only traffic is from farm workers and night shift-ers. I hear my first flock of geese for the year fly overhead. The only light is the full moon hanging high but still they cannot be seen. In that moment the unseen Creator is as real as those unseen geese

The early risers go about their day

My scripture meditation is Exodus 3-Moses and his angelic messenger found in the burning bush. There is a difference between being still and simply being outside. Moses, the prince of Egypt and convicted murderer, was now a humble hired son-in-law working at the family sheep business. His wandering was God ordained and went on for many years. However, when the voice of God spoke through this angel, he recognized both the speaker and the holiness of this place.

Moses was on Mr. Horeb, the mountain of God! A sacred space set aside for the spiritual searcher. How many other hired men might have grumbled about their work all self absorbed and missed this moment with God almighty? Did it take more than one try to get Moses to notice? After so long Moses was blinded by self pity and poor self esteem, as suggested in Verse 11 suggests. It would be easy to lose sight of God in the midst of it all.
How many of my neighbor’s this morning rushed out and missed this sacred time and the connection of the invisible honking geese with the majesty of God? How many bad days could be avoided by a mere 15 minutes of intentional stillness. God brought Moses to that moment and changed his world. Where will God meet you today and change yours?

My sacred spot is a covered porch but yours could be a hammock, car or a spot near a window. I keep plants to nurture in my sacred spot, you might choose to surround yourself with icons, artwork or a place to write or study instead. A bench in a public park can be as holy as a pew in a sanctuary.

Actively Seek your space and surround yourself with things that point you to God. Rise a little early and intentionally give God some time-as little as 15 minutes make a difference.

Search your Bible and other books for those images and activities that lead you to true prayer. The ultimate life skill in these matters if to craft your sacred spot wherever you are standing.

The point of this is not what you do in your sacred space but what being in that sacred space does to you.

c. Alan Van Hooser 2015

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!