SERMON: SACRED MOMENTS WITH GOD

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
26 February 2006

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Samuel 3

1. The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
2. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
3. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
4. Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am."
5. And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.
6. Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."
7. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8. The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.
9. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

-- the other day I was doing some research and I was reading about the reproductive habits of the Mexican free-tailed bat -- these are common bats in our area -- a lot of people find them roosting in their attics or in their walls or in trees in the forests -- and you can see them during warm summer nights flying around under the lights catching insects
-- as I doing my research, I found out that these bats form large maternal colonies -- huge groups of adult females that gather together in one place to give birth and raise their young -- these colonies stay together until the babies are weaned and are ready to go out and hunt for food on their own
-- these maternal colonies can have up to 100,000 adult female bats in one location -- and they typically all give birth around the same time -- usually sometime in June
-- now, once the baby is born and is safely clinging to the side of the cave or tree or where ever they are roosting, the mother leaves and goes out to forage for food
-- but, when she comes back to the cave, she has a monumental task to accomplish -- there can be up to 100,000 little baby bats in that cave -- and she has to find her own baby in the midst of the thousands of baby bats clinging to the side of the cave -- to us, that would seem to be an impossible task
-- let me just give you an example -- in an area about the size of this piece of paper, there could be as many as 400 baby bats all clustered together
-- but, when the mother bat comes back into the cave, it usually takes her less than 30 seconds to find her baby in the midst of that mass of confusion
-- how does she do it? -- well, it turns out that the mothers and their babies can recognize each other's unique voices from a distance of at least three feet away -- and when the mother bat comes back into the cave and gets near the place where she left her baby, she begins calling -- and her baby begins calling back -- and despite the fact that there are thousands of other bats calling at the same time -- the mother hears the voice of her baby and goes right back to where her baby is anxiously waiting for her

II. Hearing the Voice of God
-- when I read that, I started thinking about us and our spiritual lives -- you know, we live in a world filled with cacophany and noise -- it is almost impossible to go somewhere and find solitude -- it seems like no matter where we go, there are always other voices calling or other types of distractions that catch our attention -- especially now with cell phones and ipods being so prominent it is almost impossible to get away from the chaos of the world
-- but in the midst of that chaos -- in the midst of all that noise and activity and the distractions that we face on a daily basis -- there is one special voice that is always calling out to us -- the voice of God
-- the only problem is, the Bible tells us that God speaks to us in a whisper -- His voice is a small quiet voice -- and if we're not tuned in to His voice -- if we're not actively listening for it -- then it can quickly get drowned out in all the chaos and noise of the world
-- but, as Christians, we are called to hear God when He speaks to us -- to be listening for His voice and to be prepared to respond when He speaks
-- in this passage that we opened with, we read about the boy Samuel, who was ministering in the temple under the priest Eli -- now Samuel had been dedicated to God by his mother Hannah, and he was learning what it meant to serve God at the feet of Eli
-- one night, after Eli and Samuel had fallen asleep, Samuel got woken up by the sound of a voice calling his name -- he thought it was Eli, so he ran to Eli and asked him what he wanted -- but Eli said that he hadn't called him and to go back to sleep
-- so Samuel went back to sleep and it happened again -- he heard his name being called and so he ran in to Eli once again -- this time, Eli figured out what was going on -- he realized that God was calling to Samuel -- so he sent Samuel back in to the temple with the instruction to listen for the voice and to respond when he heard the voice calling again
-- so Samuel went back and did just as Eli told him -- and this time when he heard the voice calling his name again, he responded to the voice of the Lord -- look back at verse 9

9. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

-- now I think there are a couple of important lessons that we can learn about hearing the voice of God from this story about Samuel
-- first, notice that Samuel was in a place where he could hear the voice of the Lord calling -- he wasn't out in the town square -- he wasn't down at the market -- he wasn't sitting in his room surfing the internet or watching t.v. or listening to his ipod -- he wasn't even talking on his cellphone
-- he was by himself -- he had isolated himself away from the noise and the hustle and bustle of the city and he was in a quiet place where he could hear the Lord if the Lord spoke
-- and that's a very important point -- if we're going to hear God, then we're going to have to get in a place where we can hear His voice calling to us -- we're going to have to isolate ourself from the world -- from the noise and the chaos and the distractions and everything else that keeps us from hearing that still quiet voice of the Lord calling
-- that is the pattern of Jesus that we see in the New Testament -- throughout the gospels, we read about Jesus going off by Himself -- getting away from His disciples and from the crowds -- and going to a place of solitude to pray all night -- to talk to His Father and to listen as His Father spoke to Him
-- the first instance of Jesus going off by Himself in such a way occurs right after His baptism by John in the Jordan River -- the Bible tells us that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness and He spent 40 days in the solitude of the desert -- fasting and praying and listening for the voice of the Father
-- in fact, the season of the church that we are about to enter on Wednesday commemorates this event in Christ's life

II. Lenten Season
-- this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday -- it marks the start of the 40-day church season known as Lent -- Lent is a season of penitence, reflection, prayer and worship -- it is a time when we reflect on our mortality -- our sinfulness -- and our need for the Savior who suffered and died so that we might be forgiven of our sins and gain eternal life with Him
-- Lent was started in the early days of the church as a remembrance of Christ's time in the wilderness and as a time for Christian converts to be prepared for baptism, which traditionally took place on Easter morning -- during this time they would be instructed in the faith -- they would undergo catechism and would receive intensive lessons on who Christ was, what it meant to follow Christ and on the ultimate sacrifice that He made for us on the cross of Calvary
-- for those who were already Christians, Lent was a time of reflection on their lives and their Christian walks in preparation for the rededication of their lives to Christ on Easter morning

-- now we should always be listening for the voice of God calling to us -- but Lent is a special time in the Christian calendar when we do all that we can to isolate ourselves from the distractions of the world so that we can earnestly listen for that special voice of God calling out our name -- for that still small voice that calls out to us in our daily lives
-- during Lent, we need to try and copy the pattern of Samuel and Jesus -- we need to do whatever we can to find a place of solitude -- a place away from the noise and the chaos and the activity of the world -- a place where we can hear the voice of God and respond to His voice

IV. Sacred Moments
-- getting back to Samuel, the other thing that we see in this passage is that when we hear and respond to the voice of the Lord, then we are actually in the very presence of the Lord God Almighty
-- verse 10 tells us that the Lord came and stood there as Samuel sought His voice -- Samuel entered the presence of God through his active listening and response to the Lord's call
-- now I know the scriptures tell us that God is always present with us -- Jesus Himself said that He would never leave us or forsake us -- and we know that if we Christians -- if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- then we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within us
-- but, there are moments in our life where the presence of God becomes so tangible -- so real -- so powerful -- that they stand out as special moments of time -- we call these "sacred moments" -- times when we are ushered into the very presence of God -- when we clearly hear His voice and are led to respond -- and when His grace and love and mercy pour down around us
-- when the Lord came and stood there in the temple and called Samuel and he responded, that was a sacred moment -- when Moses stood in the desert listening to the voice of God call from a burning bush, that was a sacred moment -- and when you listen and respond to the voice of God and you sense His grace and His presence in your life, that is your sacred moment

-- Lent should be a season of sacred moments for us -- Lent should be a time when we draw near to God and He draws near to us -- when we intentionally seek His face and His presence in our lives
-- there are two different ways that we intentionally seek sacred moments during the season of Lent -- the first is through fasting and prayer -- the second is through participation in the sacraments of the church -- I want to spend just a few moments and talk about each of these as we prepare ourself for this Lenten season that we are about to enter

A. Fasting and Prayer
-- first, let's talk about fasting and prayer -- when you think of Lent, probably one of the first things you think about is fasting -- this is the traditional practice of willingly giving up something during Lent to draw you closer to God
-- Jesus expected us to fast -- when He taught on these subjects to His disciples, He didn't say, "If you choose to fast, do this" -- He said, "When you fast, this is what you should do" -- in other words, this is something that Jesus expected you and me to do -- this is something that we need to do -- in order to enter into a sacred moment with our God
-- when we think of fasting, we usually think of giving up some type of food -- early Christians usually abstained from eating meat during Lent -- but fasting can also mean giving up something else in your life that is distracting you from hearing the voice of God
-- this might be food -- you might choose to give up meat or to abstain from drinking coffee or coke or something else during Lent -- but if might be something else -- for you, it might mean turning your cellphone off when you get home to your family at night -- it might mean giving up your television or your music or something else that you really enjoy, but that you know is using up time that you could spend listening for the voice of God
-- and when you fast, you want to use that time to listen for God's voice -- to meditate on His word and to pray to Him -- so that you might experience a sacred moment in your own life and so you might prepare yourself for baptism or for rededication of your life on Easter

B. Sacraments
-- the other way to intentionally seek a sacred moment with God is to participate in the sacraments of the church -- these are sacred moments that the church has traditionally recognized as being times when God's presence is realized and recognized and when His grace pours out on us
-- in our church, we recognize two sacraments -- baptism and the Lord's Supper
-- I think we're fairly familiar with both of these sacraments in the church , so I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about them in detail this morning -- if you want to know something more about them, please come see me and we can talk about them in detail
-- like I said earlier, Lent ends on Easter -- and it was on that day that new converts were baptized -- when the presented themselves before the Lord and before their brothers and sisters in Christ to publicly declare their faith in Christ and to receive God's grace through this sacred act

-- also, during this day, the church would traditionally participate in the Lord's Supper -- in fact, the early church celebrated the Lord's Supper -- or Holy Communion -- or the Eucharist -- whatever you want to call it -- every single Sunday -- a lot of congregations in the Methodist church are going back to that practice as they recognize the importance of these sacred moments in the life of the church
-- when we participate in the Lord's Supper -- when we break the bread and eat it -- and when we take the juice -- we are identifying with Christ's words at the Last Supper on the night He was betrayed -- the bread is symbolic of His body, which was given for us and which was broken for us on the cross -- and the juice is symbolic of His blood, which was shed for us on the cross as payment for our sins
-- communion is a sacred moment -- a sacred meal -- in which the community of faith, in the simple act of eating bread and drinking wine, proclaims and participates in all that God has done -- all that God is doing -- and all that God will continue to do for us in Christ
-- through communion, we remember Christ's life and His death and resurrection -- we are united with Christ and with our fellow believers -- and we are nourished with the transforming grace of God
-- in the Methodist Church, we recognize this as the Lord's table -- and it is our understanding that the Lord allows all who will come to feast at His table -- for that reason, no one is excluded from participating in communion in our churches -- all who wish to enter into this sacred moment with God are invited to come

IV. Closing
-- in closing, I just want to make sure that you understand what the overall purpose of the season of Lent is -- it is a time for us to get away from the world -- to get away from the noise and the chaos and the activities and the distraction of the world -- so that we can hear God's still small voice and so that we can enjoy a sacred moment with Him
-- it is a time for us to reflect on our own mortality and sinfulness and the grace of God that has come to us through His Son, Jesus Christ
-- the official start of Lent is this Wednesday -- we are going to have a short Ash Wednesday service here on Wednesday night to mark the start of the season of Lent -- to mark the start of the time that we are going to intentionally seek to hear the voice of God and enter into sacred moments with Him
-- in preparation for the season of Lent, we are going to do two things this morning -- first, I am going to pass out some cards for you to keep with you -- these cards say, "Because Jesus sacrificed so much for me, for the 40 days of Lent I am going to ..." -- and the rest of the card is blank for you to fill in what sacrifice you are going to make for Him this season -- whether that is fasting from food or fasting from television or radio or something else -- you might choose to read through the Psalms or to read through the gospels -- it doesn't matter -- but I strongly urge you to do something to help you hear God's voice during this next 40 days
-- the second thing we're going to do is share the Lord's table together -- as I said before, the Lord's Table is open to all who wish to partake of His body and His blood -- His life and His death was for all -- so all are invited to come and share in this sacred moment
-- I am going to close in prayer and then we'll share communion
-- Let us pray