Lane Gilbert: Was gonna tell you one of my greatest fears is that, like, I'm gonna get up here and I'm gonna trip, and then not only am I gonna drop everything, I'm also gonna knock everything over. And that is fair because one time, I convinced a pastor at a church I was serving that we should do a children's communion service. I also convinced him that Goldfish would be a great idea to really, like, connect with children. And I tripped. And it was Rainbow Goldfish.
And I tripped as I was walking up in the sanctuary. And, I mean, goldfish flew everywhere. And so, so now I'm scarred for life that that's gonna happen again. But today's scripture is from the 3rd chapter of Exodus, verses 1 through 15. Let's, let's share in scripture together.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flames of fire within a from within a bush. Moses saw that though the the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I will go over and see the strange sight.
Why the bush does not burn up? When the Lord God saw that he had gone over to look, God called him from within the bush. Moses. Moses. And Moses said, here I am.
Do not come any closer. God said. Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
At this Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I've indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I've heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering. So I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land. A land flowing with milk and honey.
The home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me. And I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go. I am sending you to pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
But Moses said to god, who am I? That I should go to pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you.
And they ask me, what is his name? Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you.
God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. The name you shall call me from generation to generation. It's not in there, but it feels like there should be an amen at the end of that. So amen.
We're entering a sermon series that's called Coffee Talk. I know that everybody got excited that we were going to be giving out coffee, like, in your seats and stuff. That's not how this is going to play out. Fun fact, I didn't drink my first cup of coffee until I was, I believe, 42 years old. I you if you went back on social media, you would see pictures of me with a coffee mug.
Right? And and I may even call it coffee, but if it was before I was 42 years old on a mission trip to Hinton Royal Center, that was hot chocolate in that mug. Okay? That was, the gas station, French vanilla. You cannot call that coffee or anything, because it is just like sugary milk that's hot.
But my my first time drinking coffee was because I decided I wasn't gonna drink soda anymore, and then I was like, man, I'm I'm so tough. I I won't drink sweet tea anymore. And at the time, I was drinking about a gallon a week. And so, so I thought, I need something because of this craving of caffeine was overwhelming me. And I was on a mission trip to cut wood in the middle of July, and I had teenagers with me.
And they were running, like, wood splitting machines and axes, and I was, I can't do this just on my own. So I need a little something extra. And so that's how I first started drinking coffee, and now I really enjoy coffee. And I've always loved coffee shops, Even before I liked coffee, but I would always go in there, like like, here in town, Noble and Maine, they had a frozen hot chocolate. Right?
So I sip on that. And, again, basically, a chocolate milkshake, but you can't call it a chocolate milkshake if you get it from a coffee shop. And I love the idea of of coffee shops have become just a great place to have conversations. I got to preach, I guess, a few weeks ago. I don't even know the timeline.
And I I said in the sermon that I wish I could take everyone to a cup of coffee. And we could talk about what God's doing in your life, and then I could tell you my story, and and but more than anything, I wanted to hear other people's stories. And so when Latham said, hey. How about you preaching in September? And I was, like, cool.
I'm just gonna take everybody out for a cup of coffee, and that'll be all the sermons. And I realized that that wouldn't work at all. But if I could, like, let's envision that we're having a 1 on 1 conversation. The lights are in my eyes, so if you raise your hand, I won't be able to see you. So, just just imagine that if we were able to leave here and go sit at a coffee shop, I would ask you these questions.
And I wanted to share the questions that I would ask that I would ask anyone that is wanting to sit down with me and have a spiritual conversation. The first one is always, what does God's voice sound like to you? I love the story of Moses. I love how god god comes and and speaks to Moses. But what does god's voice sound like to you?
So in this little, fun sermon slash thought experiment, I want you to picture that we're at a coffee shop, and, I'm probably buying, and so mainly I get all those stars later. And so at one point at Noble, I mean, I had, like, a 1,000 stars. And then and then the people that worked here figured out my phone number, and they would go and get coffee. And then I went, and one day, they're all gone. But has nothing to do with Jesus or what I'm gonna talk about today.
But I'd ask you, what does god's voice sound like to you? And I'd let you share, and I and I'd tell you about about how god's voice sounds to me, and we'll talk a little bit more more about that in a couple of minutes. But I'd ask you, what do you believe or know or hope about God? Because sometimes when people are sharing their hopes you really can see their heart. I'd ask you, how does your belief about God shape how you understand yourself and others?
And so in this little thought experiment, we're all at the coffee shop. There's actually coffee in this cup. So that was the other reason I'm worried about spilling it. Ask yourself, and and think in your head, like, how does your belief about God shape how you understand yourself and others? And the last question that I hope would lead to multiple more questions and conversation would be, how does your knowledge about God motivate you to action in the world?
And I'm saying that for the sake of, like, I'm on the stage, and this is technically a sermon. I might ask it like this, what are you gonna do about it? If you know these things and you hope these things are out of God, what are you gonna do about it? When I was looking at scripture, I did kick the idea around about coming up here, you know, in my sandals. For those of you that have known me for a long time, I like long walks on the beach, I dislike closed toed shoes.
Right? I am happiest barefoot, and it like, one step below that is in some sandals with some real freedom for my feet. Now, it's also funny because I really dislike feet as a whole, but I I don't like to wear shoes. And so there A lot of times, there's always jokes about, like, oh, look. Wayne's growing up.
He's got on closed toed shoes. You know? He wore a belt today. But mainly, it's the shoes. A long time ago, another church, so that y'all don't think that somebody here said this to me, a sweet lady asked me one time, like, do we not pay would we not pay you enough to buy socks?
And I said, yes, ma'am. And so it was probably because I also had shorts on and, like, a choir robe. So, but I I like to be barefoot, And I've had a couple of times the the privilege and the blessing of of standing with my feet on the ground, on holy ground. Sometimes, like, you know, I could take my shoes off, and I can I can feel holy ground, and I and I feel more connected? It makes me a little bit more mindful.
It makes me aware of exactly what's going on around me. I become a little bit more aware. I become a little bit more intentional. I love to be outside. It's one of my absolute favorite things.
I love to to walk in the grass. Right? When I was growing up, my mom's common frustration was that we would get to Kmart. Some of y'all will remember what a Kmart is. Some of y'all are like, what is a Kmart?
I think you mispronounced wall. Kmart had, you know, no shirt, no shoes, no service. And invariably, we would leave the house, and my mom she'd make sure I had a shirt on. It's pretty common. Right?
You just look in the back seat. We'd be about to walk in, and she'd look down, I'd be barefoot. You know? And so my mom's walking in, and it's just like I feel like I'm like, this is the greatest crime in the world. Right?
I'm barefoot in your store. And so but, like, I love to walk through graphs. I love to feel that connection. And in some ways, it helps me have a deeper awareness of god. Like, I feel connected to my surroundings.
I feel like like I'm moving about in the world, and I and I'm reminded of how God created the world, and that that at some point, Jesus probably had his feet in some grass or some sand. But if you're thinking about Moses, right, you have their night that 5th verse, where it's like, remove your sandals, you're standing on holy ground, which doesn't make a lot of sense, because that is very rocky ground. Now, again, after years of walking around with no shoes on, I had pretty tough feet, but I still didn't like to walk across gravel. Right? Or a hot parking lot.
Not to mention, like, god just commanded him to take his shoes off on rocky ground, right, with with the the ground maybe there's sharp rocks. Maybe there's other things. Right? And there's a burning bush. Like, a hot ember on your toe is a possibility here.
Right? You wouldn't go camping and sit around a campfire barefoot, prop your feet up. Is it safe to remove your sandals? I wonder if Moses thought that. But if Moses didn't, if Moses didn't remove his sandals, maybe he misses a holy encounter with god.
We have a pretty good idea of, like, what is holy ground. Right? This this is holy ground. It's it's funny, because you read this in the bible, and it feels like, oh, does that mean I should take my shoes off? But also, like, it feels incredibly disrespectful.
That's why I did not come up here barefoot, because it is holy ground. But holy ground is any place we encounter God. And sometimes, maybe even most times, it's beyond church walls. I've had the the blessing of of being in ministry for a couple of decades now. And I've seen a lot of holy ground.
I've seen holy ground in coffee shops. I've seen holy ground in people's jobs. I've seen holy ground at schools, at middle schools, at elementary schools. I've seen holy ground at colleges. I've seen holy ground in parking lots.
I've seen holy ground speaking to someone that was that's struggling with homelessness. I've seen holy ground with someone that just experienced a great loss. And it's because I've got a chance to see people encounter God in all kinds of ways, in all kinds of places. There are so many everyday places that are holy ground because holy ground is where we encounter god. And it's not just the places, it's more than that.
It's more than just everyday holiness, it's more than ordinary. When when we become aware and open to the Holy Spirit, our everyday conversations become God encounters. Remember those questions I started out with? Now that we've talked a little bit, you know, this is the point where where I have now finished my coffee. Maybe you have.
And let's think about them again. What does god's voice sound like to you? What do you believe? What do you know? What do you hope about God?
How does your belief about God shape how you understand yourself? How does it shape how you understand others? How does your knowledge about God motivate you to action in the world? Or for friends, what are you gonna do about it? These questions, they they help us become more aware of our readiness to experience God in the holy ground that we are on.
We open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to the holy. I, like I said, I love to be outside, and and I encounter God's voice a lot of times when I am outside. I like to go kayaking. I love to go on a, like, somewhere where there's not a lot of people around. It gets harder every day.
Right? I love to paddle a river and not hear anything but the nature around me. I love to hear the water running over rocks because in that, I hear God's voice. And that I hear God speaking to me clearly, because there's not other things drowning it out. Some people, experience God through bold signs.
Some people experience God in silence. Some people it's the opposite. Right? They experience God when they're driving in their car. Imagine that, your car can be holy ground.
Sometimes we experience god through the voice of others. Someone that's pouring into our life. That's a holy encounter and wherever it happens can become holy ground. And also, this is holy ground. Because this is where we're we're invited.
Like, we have a regular outlet for spiritual growth that we are invited to. If you forgot what it's like to be invited to church, I'm glad you're all here. I invite you back next week and the week after that. It's really too much work and too expensive for me to mail your invitations to you, so I'm giving you a verbal invitation. I hope that you take that invitation and you you share it with someone else.
But we're invited to a place where where we can have growth and spiritual rest. Right? We can come and we can we can quiet out the noise of our world and we can just listen for God. But past that, past this building and the hours that we're in here, god calls us to experience the holy and the everyday ground that we walk in faith. So when we leave this building, god has asked us to carry that holy ground with us.
He's asked us to go and not only for us to experience god in our everyday lives, but also to help others experience that, maybe even through us. And the way you do this is you keep your hearts turned on in a way that they are always listening for the holy. Again, I've I've been super blessed from my years of of serving teenagers in that it's easy to have a spiritual conversation with them because, like, as an adult, you just ask them these questions. You know? It's pretty common.
You ask, like, what were what were your God sightings today? You know, there's different ways to say it. Right? Where did you see God today? Especially like on a trip, especially like a mission trip.
How'd you how'd you see God at work today? Sometimes it's really weird stuff. Right? Well, when a guy rode by on a bicycle with a with a with a weed eater over his shoulder, you know. And I'm like, you want to explain that to me?
And they're like, I don't know. I just I just felt God in that. Maybe he was going to to weed eat the church, you know. Sometimes it's bizarre, but sometimes you have someone that's 13 years old, you know, telling you how they experienced god, and then you feel it. Right?
God's calling us to experience the holy in the everyday ground we walk in faith. And so we keep our hearts turned to the holy so that we see every day the all the many ways that God is moving in our life. Because when we do this, we find out that there is more holy ground than we're conscious of or it can even be aware of in our daily life. It's not just here. It's everywhere we go.
We change the way we pray. Right? So we ask God. We pray to God to make us aware. Make us aware of the holy ground that we're standing on every day just like he did Moses.
The point in Moses is that we're supposed to learn that we don't have to have a burning bush. And when we realize how much holy ground we stand on every day, we learn how to savor it, and then we learn what God wants us to do with it. What does God want us to make of this? Then that question I ask you, you know, what are you gonna do about it? Becomes real.
Because like Moses, you're standing there and you realize you are on holy ground, and that God is speaking to you in a way, maybe it is a burning bush, but maybe it's that feeling in your heart that you're supposed to say something to this person right now. Maybe it's that you have a concern for a coworker or somebody you go to school with, and you don't really know what it's about. You just know that you do. Look down at your feet. You don't have to take your feet off.
I mean, take your feet off. Please don't take your feet off. You don't have to take your shoes off. Right? But you're standing on holy ground.
Right now, you're sitting, but your your feet are on holy ground. Not just up here, there too. And when you walk out of here, you're carrying that holy ground with you. I'm gonna invite the band back up as and I'm gonna pray for us. So let's pray together.
Father God, as we gather, we think we think about your voice. And we we thank you for an opportunity to be in a place where we can hear your voice, where we can experience you speaking to us. And as we sit and we think about the things we know about you, the things that we believe about you, but more than anything, the things that we hope in you. You fill our lives with hope. And that belief changes us.
It changes us and how we see ourselves. It changes us to remind us that that we were created in your image, And so was everyone else. And so we treat people differently and and we act differently. And it moves us. It doesn't just move us spiritually.
It doesn't just move us in our hearts, but it moves our bodies to go be a lot for you. To carry holy ground to where we walk. To where holy ground is is everywhere our feet are planted because we are spending every day in you, every moment in you. Sometimes we need a little bit of work to get there. I just pray that we are receptive to that, that we begin to ask for it.
We thank you for the sacrifice of your son so that we could experience the holy in every moment. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.