Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
When Falsehood Wears the Mask of Truth

  • 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.
  • Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days
  • Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

      • Matthew 4:1–11NRSVUE

  • The Spirit Leads Us Into Unexpected Places
    We don’t typically associate the Holy Spirit with deserts. We prefer to imagine the Spirit leading us beside still waters, through green pastures, into places of abundance and comfort. Yet, here in Matthew’s gospel, immediately after Jesus’ baptism—that moment of divine affirmation when the voice from heaven declares “This is my beloved Son”—the Spirit leads Jesus straight into wilderness.
    This matters for how we understand Lent. The wilderness isn’t divine punishment or abandonment. It’s sacred space. God invites Jesus into this season of testing not to break him but to clarify his mission, to strengthen his resolve, to help him discern truth from the clever imitations that will constantly surround him throughout his ministry.
    The same invitation extends to us. Lent becomes our wilderness season—not because God wants us to suffer but because God knows we need space to hear clearly, to see truly, to resist the voices that sound almost right but ultimately lead us away from life.
    The Temptation to Manufacture Our Own Provision
    Jesus is hungry. Forty days without food will do that. And the tempter’s first suggestion seems almost reasonable: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
    Notice the if. The tempter plants doubt right where God just spoke certainty. At the baptism, the voice declared Jesus’ identity. Now the question arises: will Jesus trust that identity or in his physical weakness feel compelled to prove it?
    But there’s something deeper happening here. The real temptation isn’t about bread—it’s about trust. Will Jesus rely on God’s provision in God’s timing, or will he use divine power to bypass dependence? Will he trust the relationship or manufacture independence? Is this something that Jesus could even do, or was he being tempted to believe the messianic hype that he had a magical ability?
    We face this same testing constantly. When life feels empty, when we’re waiting for provision that hasn’t come, when the hunger—literal or metaphorical—becomes unbearable, we’re tempted to take matters entirely into our own hands. We’re tempted to believe that flourishing means never having to wait, never having to trust, never having to depend on anyone or anything beyond our own resources.
    Jesus responds with Scripture: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” He chooses relationship over self-sufficiency. He resists the lie that security comes from control and embraces the truth that life flows from connection with God.
    God doesn’t coerce this choice. God simply invites Jesus—and invites us—to discover that trust sustains us even when bread doesn’t. That bread isn’t always the stuff you eat but is also the bread that’s green and pretends to proclaim “In God We Trust” yet, the trust is ingrained in the “full faith and credit of the United States”.
    The Seduction of Spectacular Faith
    The second temptation shifts location and strategy. Now the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and quotes Scripture himself: “Throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up.’”
    This temptation appears to be more sophisticated by being wrapped in biblical language. It sounds spiritual. It promises vindication, visibility, and proof that God keeps promises. Who wouldn’t want to demonstrate God’s faithfulness so dramatically that no one could doubt?
    But Jesus sees through the manipulation. Faith that demands proof isn’t faith—it’s performance. Relationship with God isn’t validated by spectacle but by presence. The truth that guides our path doesn’t need to prove itself with fireworks; it reveals itself through faithful companionship.
    This testing exposes something we all face: the temptation to confuse faithfulness with impressiveness. Churches sometimes fall into this trap when we believe bigger, louder, and more spectacular means that we’re more blessed. Leaders fall into it when we measure ministry by visibility rather than integrity. We fall into it personally when we feel we must constantly prove our worth, our faith, our belovedness through achievement or drama.
    Jesus simply refuses. He won’t manipulate God or turn relationship into transaction. Again he quotes Scripture: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” He resists the falsehood that God’s presence must be proven and rests in the truth that God’s presence simply is.
    The Allure of Power Without Love
    The final temptation offers everything at once: “All these kingdoms I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Every nation, every throne, every system of power—instant access to change the world. No cross is necessary. No suffering is required. Just one small compromise.
    This is the pinnacle of seductive falsehood. It promises the right goal through the wrong means. Jesus could rule the world—but only by abandoning the very heart of God’s kingdom, which is self-giving love rather than self-serving power.
    We encounter this temptation whenever we’re convinced that the ends justify the means. When we believe we can build God’s kingdom through coercion rather than invitation. When we think lasting change comes through domination rather than transformation. When we grasp for control instead of cultivating cooperation.
    Jesus sees clearly: God’s kingdom doesn’t function like earthly empires. It grows through participation, not conquest. It expands through invitation, not compulsion. It transforms through love, not force. He responds with finality: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” The truth that lights our way refuses shortcuts that compromise love.
    Two Ways of Being Human
    This is where Romans 5 illuminates the wilderness story. Paul contrasts two patterns of human life: the way of Adam, characterized by grasping and independence, and the way of Christ, characterized by trust and dependence. Where one brought death through isolation, the other brings life through connection.
    Jesus in the wilderness embodies this new way. He demonstrates that even in suffering, scarcity, and temptation, flourishing remains possible when we live in responsive relationship with God. He shows us that righteousness isn’t about perfection—it’s about participation. It’s choosing cooperation with divine love rather than competing with it.
    Jesus is the full manifestation of God in human flesh, yes—but also the full manifestation of what humans become when we align ourselves with God’s kenotic, self-giving presence. He doesn’t coerce transformation; he invites it. He doesn’t demand our obedience; he woos our trust.
    The Wilderness Forms Us
    When the testing ends, angels come and minister to Jesus. The wilderness hasn’t destroyed him—it’s prepared him. He emerges with clarity about his mission, his identity, his relationship with the Father. The false voices have been named and resisted. The true voice—the one that speaks belovedness, presence, and calling—remains.
    This is Lent’s gift to us. These forty days aren’t about punishing ourselves into holiness. They’re about creating space to hear truth more clearly. About resisting the clever falsehoods that promise satisfaction but deliver emptiness. About remembering that God never forces our transformation but constantly invites us toward the flourishing that already waits for us in divine love.
    Yes, you will face testings. Trials and tribulations will come. Temptations will arrive dressed as solutions, offering temporary relief while opening doors to deeper adversity. The grass often looks greener on the other side of the fence. The pinnacle of power appears visually attractive even when it’s spiritually and emotionally hollow.
    But when you resist—when you say no to the imitation and yes to the truth—you’ll find something stronger than willpower emerging. You’ll discover the Spirit’s guidance lighting your path. You’ll experience strength renewed not through your own effort but through relationship with the One who walks beside you through every wilderness. Amen.
Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
sterlingfirstumc@yahoo.com
(740) 869-3577
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