Bulletins - Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church

Hearing God: Listening in a Noisy World
Last week I asked if you ever had a problem praying to God, knowing what to say, what to think, what or who to pray for. Prayer is our ultimate deep relationship with God, so it is the best way that we can individually and collectively mature and deepen our connection with God. This week we will discuss how to hear God in a very noisy world.
Hearing God means we are actively listening and in-tune with God’s voice, God’s prompting, God’s encouragement, God’s motivation, and God’s Spirit. Listening is an intentional act of inviting an outside force into your mind that will offer new information, new data, that could possibly change who you are, confirm who you are, and encourage your present day walk.
Think through your life and how so much has changed, yet one force that has change, and yet remained, is the noise of life. When you are younger, you have the noise of your ever developing body, your parents/guardians, grandparents, siblings, extended family, friends from the neighborhood, friends from school, rules of school, rules of home, rules of the community you live, and the list goes on and on.
When you get older your noise changes into adult responsibilities. You have the noise of paying bills, the noise of fixing things that are broken, the noise of family, employment, government, neighborhood, other people’s opinions, and the list goes on and on.
In your retirement the noise changes again but is still present. You now have noises much like when you were younger and your body is doing things that you’ve never experienced before and you may not like it. You also have the noise of hoping you will have enough money to live on, wanting to be available to have fun, desiring to be with family, more medical appointments than you desire, traveling to new places, and the noise of silence as you see more friends start to leave you one by one.
God speaks in many ways
In all of noise of life, in every stage of your life, God still speaks. When you’re younger God speaks in a way that is relevant to a youthful age, in your busy adult years God is speaking above, in between, and beneath the cracks of life, in your maturing years of retirement God is speaking in the silence, the mundane, the unwanted, the joy, and the freedom that this life stage provides. God is always speaking but does so in many different ways so that every age and every culture will be able to hear, and hopefully listen.
So, in the noise of your life, in whatever stage you are in, how does God speak to you? As a United Methodist Christian how does God speak to you? Looking upon our United Methodist heritage, God is said to speak to us through Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.
God’s voice is heard through scripture as it is a collection of 66+ books/letters/poems/songs that were constructed to evidence God engaging in relationship with humanity throughout many millennia. Scripture is one of our ultimate guides for reflection of religious interaction with a holy God and humanity on the onward and upward holiness progression of love. Mark Twain said,
Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand.
Mark Twain
For non-Christians scripture can still speak to their existence but other religious or humanistic writings may play a larger role, this is to be expected but for us United Methodist Christians, scripture is still essential in our overall understanding of how God can speak through the generations.
Tradition is another way God can speak to us. Tradition in the USA in 2024 is going to be different than Tradition in Rome in 1200 or Babylon in 300BC. God will speak through the present day culture in a way that is significant, symbolic, while emphasizing God’s holiness and illuminating human understanding through the ever-present and moving Spirit. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said,
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Traditions can come and go depending on the nature of what is needed and necessary for the people, at the time. Some Traditions can also last too long where no one understands why we do this specific act anymore. Traditions can also be good and deepen a prayerful relationship with God. God definitely speaks through the ritualistic acts that we, as a people, choose to do.
Reason proclaims the active and ongoing knowledge that humans gain over time. You may have heard the phrase before, “we don’t check our brains at the door of the church”, this should be true of every church that you enter. If something simply does not make sense and new knowledge or data on a certain topic proves otherwise, especially if it speaks against a traditional interpretation of scripture, then reason should be highly considered as more relevant. Francis Bacon said,
A little philosophy inclines men’s minds to atheism, but depth in philosophy brings men’s minds about to religion.
—Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (Philosopher)
God speaks through education as we learn more about this world, we do learn more about God and can learn to hear God’s voice in new and exciting ways. Reason is good so don’t easily cast it away when you may not fully understand something new.
Experience is not new but was an addition from Wesley to the people called Methodists. Wesley added experience to the 3-fold Scripture, Tradition, and Reason from the Church of England. Experience is the active voice of the Holy Spirit in the daily life events, activities, and ever evolving culture of humanity. Humanity must listen to God through experiencing life for the maintenance of old relationships and the establishment of new relationships all consists of new and maturing experiences of life. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said,
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
God definitely speaks through experiences that are new, frightening, uncomfortable, and confirming.
Tradition, Reason, and Experience all speak to Scripture, as Scripture also speaks to Tradition, Reason, and Experience. God throughout time has spoken when there was no Scripture, no Tradition, and very limited Reason and Experience.
The Role of Discernment
This bring us to discernment. We all have the ability to perceive or recognize differences to judge what is right and wrong, good and evil, the voice of God and the will of humanity. Unfortunately, we’ve all come across people who who have very little discernment. There is a quote from an unknown author that says:

Little [people] with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
Unknown
In other words, there are some people who simply do not have any common sense to see life with another person’s vision or walk through this world in another person’s shoes. In our 1Kings scripture reading , we have the story of Elijah running for his life after the prophets of Baal were killed. Elijah proclaimed God’s word, held to his cultural traditions, reasoned with his real life circumstances, and experienced God anew in a relational conversation. The bookend of this experience was God questioning Elijah, “Why are you here?” God spoke with Elijah to confirm who he was, confirm his prophetic action, confirm that throughout all the noise around him that God is not in the noise of the world. God is ultimately received and heard in the thin, quiet moments of reflection, discernment, and interpretation while journeying in all the noise of this crazy world. Catherine of Siena said,
The core of pride is impatience and its offshoot is the lack of any discernment.
Saint Catherine of Siena
Discerning God’s voice, while in the noisy moments of life, help us to do what the Psalmist invites the readers on multiple occasions-SELAH, to pause, to sit, to reflect, and then act. When one has a prayer life whose foundation is built upon divine discernment then you will have a pray-er who intentionally seeks God’s will as God’s ambassador not the world’s warrior. When we take time to discern we then will be able to hear the voice of God. John 10.27 says
John 10:27 CEB
My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.
In the stillness of life we are able to be attentive to the voice of our Savior, to hear, to listen, and then to follow.
God desires genuine relationships
The busyness of life can be so noisy that we, at times, choose to deny God the relationship of his desire. That relationship is to give and receive love with you. The God/human relationship is one of intimacy in prayer, intimacy in action, intimacy in private, and intimacy in public. God never stops pursuing you for there is not an end point to a relationship. In prayer we continue to communicate with God and time with God is needed especially when the world’s noise can be too distracting. Thomas Schreiner says,
Love for God cannot be sustained without a relationship with him, and such a relationship is nurtured by prayer.
Thomas Schreiner
A deeply held prayer life does not have to be one that is outlandish where you are always the person asked to pray in public settings; don’ worry that is always reserved for the pastor, even if the pastor don’t want to do it. A deeply held prayer life can also be very subtle. A deeply held prayer life can be very private. A deeply held prayer life is true prayer. R.T. France says,
True prayer is not a technique nor a performance, but a relationship.
R. T. France
A true relationship with God must have true prayer from the believer or the seeker of the divine. Prayer enters one into the presence of God. Prayer strengthens the relationship with God. Prayer emboldens the faith of the believer in a noisy world. When you are soaked in prayer then you are transformed into your prayers. Warren Wiersbe says,
Prayer is not something that I do; prayer is something that I am.
Warren W. Wiersbe
As we continue to develop our prayerful skills, we develop our listening skills, which develop our divine loving skills. A prayerful heart that listens to and connects with God is an act of love. Saint Augustine said,
What you love you worship; true prayer, real prayer, is nothing but loving: what you love, that you pray to.
Saint Augustine of Hippo
As we pray to that which we love, our words and our actions will unite together as one. Our relationship with God will grow, the deafening noise of the world will extinguish, the words from our tongue will be praise, and people will see a prayerful life of love in action. So whether we are asleep or awake a life of prayer will guide us and help us to hear God more. John Wesley said,
The moment I awaked, ‘Jesus, Master,’ was in my heart and in my mouth; and I found all my strength lay in keeping my eye fixed upon Him, and my soul waiting on Him continually.
John Wesley (Founder of the Methodist Movement)
Silent Reflection and Mindfulness
As we enter into a new week, I encourage you to take time in silent reflection and mindfully focus upon God in prayer. Last week I invited you to pray the open-hearted disciples prayer. This week I invite you to say a prayer that has been said for many generations, The Jesus Prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
Amen.
Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
Here I Am, Lord
- - Isaiah 58:1–9aESV
When Our Rituals Ring Hollow
Have you ever gone through the motions of something important while your heart wasn’t really in it? Maybe you’ve shown up for a meeting, nodded along, even participated—but later couldn’t remember what was discussed. We’ve all been there. The prophet Isaiah confronts something similar in today’s text, but the stakes are much higher. God’s people are showing up, fasting, bowing their heads—checking all the religious boxes. Yet God says through Isaiah: “I’m not impressed.”
This isn’t about God being petty or impossible to please. It’s about something far more profound. The people are asking, “Why do we fast, but you don’t see? When did we not visit the sick? When did we not clothe the naked? When did we not feed the hungry? Why even bother humbling ourselves, when you don’t notice?” They’re treating worship like a transaction—a spiritual vending machine where you insert your religious coins and expect God’s favor to drop out. But God sees through the performance. On the very day of their fasting, they’re exploiting workers, picking fights, and they kicked the dog. Their worship has become disconnected from their lives.
Isaiah doesn’t deliver this message with a gentle whisper. God tells him to “shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!” This, my friends, is uncomfortable work. Nobody wants to be the messenger who calls out hypocrisy, especially when it’s embedded in the religious establishment. But sometimes love requires us to name what isn’t working—not to shame, but to invite something better.*

The Liberation God Longs For
Here’s where the text becomes beautifully subversive. God isn’t asking for more religious intensity, you know—longer prayers, stricter fasts, louder worship songs; the type of intensity where you sweat out sin and soak in holiness. Instead, God paints a completely different picture: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” That is what I desire you to do.
Notice the language of liberation woven throughout these verses. Loose the bonds. Undo the straps. Let the oppressed go free. Share your bread. Bring the homeless into your house. Cover the naked. This language strongly suggests that we are the ones who have the power to initiate the freedom, which also suggests we may be the ones who control the oppression. This is the worship God desires—not performance disconnected from compassion, but faith that flows into freedom for others.
God is inviting—not coercing—the people into a different way of being in the world. This isn’t a divine ultimatum threatening punishment if they don’t comply. It’s God’s luring presence, drawing them toward what will actually bring life. God knows that authentic worship transforms how we see our neighbors. When we encounter the Holy, we can’t help but notice the hungry, the homeless, the oppressed. Our prayers and our justice work become inseparable. It is that undeniable divine pull from within our chest that smashes our comfort zone and guides us to the least, lost, and lonely.
Think about what this meant in Isaiah’s context. These weren’t abstract concepts. Real people were trapped in economic systems that kept them poor. Real families were homeless. Real bodies went hungry while others fasted for show. God was saying: “Stop pretending I care more about your empty rituals than I do about my beloved children suffering in your midst.”*

The Promise of Divine Presence
But here is the goodness of God, God doesn’t just critique—God offers hope. Look at the promise tucked into verse 8: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”
This is the language of transformation and protection. When we align ourselves with God’s vision for justice and liberation, we participate in our own renewal. Not because God is rewarding good behavior like a cosmic scorekeeper, but because living justly opens our eyes to see where God has been at work all along. We become conduits of divine light rather than obstacles blocking it. Leaning into the presence of God helps us to lean away from the self-centeredness that takes our eyes off of Jesus.
And then comes verse 9’s stunning conclusion: “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’”
Here I am. Three simple words that echo throughout Scripture—from Abraham to Moses to Mary to Isaiah himself. It’s the language of availability, of presence, of relationship. God isn’t distant or indifferent. God is right here, ready to respond when we genuinely seek divine guidance. But we have to be positioned to hear that response. We have to be ready to humbly walk with God and not against God. When our hearts are hardened by superficial religion and our eyes are closed to suffering around us, we miss God’s voice even when it’s speaking directly to us. And when we miss God’s voice, it feels like God is nowhere to be found; but we are the ones who create our own hellish wilderness.*

The Invitation Before Us
So what does this mean for us today in 2026? We’re not ancient Israelites fasting and bowing down. But we’re still capable of performing religion while missing its heart. We can sing the hymns, say the prayers, serve on the committees, donate money—and still ignore the systems that keep people oppressed.
God is inviting us—not demanding, not coercing, but inviting—to let our worship spill over into liberation. To ask ourselves: Who is hungry, and how can we share our bread? Who is homeless, and how can we offer shelter? Who is clothing deprived, and how can we provide coverage? Who is trapped in cycles of injustice, and how can we loose those bonds?
This isn’t about earning God’s approval or manipulating divine favor. We can’t do it, no matter how smart we think we are; remember, God sees right through those actions. It’s about accepting God’s invitation to co-create flourishing in our community. It’s about aligning ourselves with what God is already doing to bring freedom and healing. We don’t have to ask God to come, God is already here. We don’t have to ask God to hear God’s voice, he’s already speaking. We don’t need to pray for revival, we just need to act like Jesus and the gospel call will open up eyes and ears through our service.
When we do this—when we let our faith become active in love and justice—we position ourselves to hear God’s response: “Here I am.” Not because we’ve performed the right rituals, but because we’ve opened our eyes to see where God has been present all along, working for liberation and inviting us to join in. Amen.

Hearing God: Listening in a Noisy World

God speaks in many ways

The Role of Discernment

God desires genuine relationships

Silent Reflection and Mindfulness

Isaiah 58:1–9aESV

When Our Rituals Ring Hollow

The Liberation God Longs For

The Promise of Divine Presence

The Invitation Before Us