WE NEED TO HAVE A LISTENING HEART?
So, in your earliest waking moments of the day, consciously start praising God right away, first thing, for good things that He is and for good things that He’s doing. Focus your heart on Jesus as the only One you’re doing things for, as the source of your joy, as your reason for living. And aggressively look for Him all over, all through your day. As long as your attitude is lined up with the holy horizon of the God who has your life, your flight will weather any
storm and arrive home safely.
Did you know that Jesus said the same words eight times in the Gospel records and that He used these same 10 words eight times in t he book of Revelation. Listen to the ten words, “Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Could that possibly mean that he wants us to use our ears for something else besides am adornment on the sides of our heads?
I would like us to visit a parable that Jesus gave and it is the one about the sower who scattered the
seed. Two things that are constant in this parable are the sower does not change, and the seed is the same. I would like us to look at the soils of which I would liken them to our ears. The Sower went out to sow the seed. Mt 13, Mk 4, Lk 8. Some of the soil it fell on was hard. We can have ears like that to God’s Word. There are people who go to church and listen to the Word of God but they do not hear it because they have hardened themselves because they will not let themselves be open to the Spirit of God. There
are many reasons and I do not want to discuss them because ti does not matter was they are if I let
anything block my way of hearing the Word of God it is my doing and not God’s nor can I blame another
person. I have to make the decision that I want to hear the Word of God. The next soil is the rocky soil. This is the ear that hears the Word of God but is cluttered with rocks so that the Word can not take root. This talks about those things in our lives that we put there as rocks that keep the Word from taking root. The Bible speaks of the Word of God as a hammer so all we need to do is let that hammer bust all those rocks so the Word can take root. The test here for the roots is this: “Is the Word of God growing in you?” “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” The seed also falls on the weedy soil. This soil receives the Word and the Word even grows. So this would be one who believes and is born again, repents of their sins and starts following Christ. They have a great start but there are many examples that we have in the Bible of people who made a great start but did not finish. Akhwari, of Tanzania, entered at the far endof the stadium, pain hobbling his every step, his leg bloody and bandaged. The winner of the Olympic marathon had been declared over an hour earlier. Only a few spectators remained. But the lone runner pressed on. As he crossed the finish line, the small crowd roared its appreciation. Afterward, a reporter asked the runner why he had
not retired from the race since he had no chance of winning. He seemed confused by the question. Finally, he answered, "My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish." This parable says that the seed grew but had the life choked out of it by the cares and pleasures of this life. What are we allowing to choke out the life of the Word? The good soil were those ears that heard the Word of God and it grew and yielded a crop and the book of Luke says it produced hundredfold.
Now I would ask as we know this truth that Jesus gave does it mean that 3/4 of you that hear this word
tonight are not listening well? Would it be better if I could say that you are the 1/4 that hear the Word of
God and the 3/4’s are those who are not here?
Do you have a listening heart? Dt. 6:4-6 Neh. 8:3 Pr. 8:34. Jn 10:3-5
Does it seem interesting to you that all 7 of the churches in Revelation hear the
words, “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says.”
Another note you might make is that our ears do not have lids on them like our eyes. So we all can listen.
How do we fail to hear? Pilate (wife, Jesus). He let other voices prevail. “Faith comes by hears the Word of
God.
I. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE GOD HAD ALL OF YOU? I mean a time that was undiluted,interrupted when you were alone with Him and only listening to Him? Jesus when He was on the earth chose to take time to listen to God. Mk 1:35, LK 5:16 That causes me to ask if Jesus who was the Son of God, who came from heaven, who never sinned and was tempted in all points like we are had to spend time alone with God who do we think we are that we can make it with little time with Him? We are also told that Jesus spent much time in the Word of God. He said, “It is written,” “You have heard it said.” LK 4:21 If you desire to be like Jesus here are two habits that He had all His life
Praying and Bible Reading. Rm 12: 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”,LK 18:1 The moral and ethical teaching of Christianity, which is based on the OT moral law, as embodied in the Ten Commandments, but brought to completion (perfection) by Jesus Christ. freedom. In contrast to the sinner, who is a slave to sin, obeying the
moral law gives the Christian the joyous freedom to be what he was created for. Now there are some that would
say wait a minute, “isn’t that what we pay the preacher to do?” Then we can come to church for an hour or two during the week and get the message we need from God. That is the reason we have many sick and
weak Christians and churches in our land. I Co. 10:30It causes one to think what if we did this with other things in life. That is let someone else give us a second hand information? Vacation, Tell me about the sights and the fun that you had. Romance, tell me about the words you spoke, the great date you had. Eating, How did the food taste? No that is not what we want and so it is that God wants to be alone with you personally.
II. WE NEED TO LEARN TO LISTEN. Let me suggest what tools we need to do this with.
A. A regular time and place. Suzan Wesley. Some find it better to spend time in the morning, for others it is the evening and still others can take time during the day. Ps 55:17 Daniel. Just find a time that will work for you and keep at it. How much time should you take? I know that we would be a lot better if we would say as much time as I need that day. We need quality over length. It should be long enough for you to talk with Him and also time that you can hear from Him.
B. You will need an open Bible. God has chosen to speak from His Word. Read the Word for quality.
When you have a verse write it down and look at it many times during the day. Use it for your life. I hope we are not like the little girl that came home from School and was asked, “Did you learn anything?” “I guess not I have to go back tomorrow and the next day and the next day.” We do not learn everything we need to know at one time. Just go to church one time a year.
C. We also need a listening heart. JM 1:25 Phil. 4:9,
If you want to be more like Christ you must be listening. We need to spend time in letting God love us. Jer 31:3 RM 8:39 It is impossible to get beyond God’s loving reach. nor anything else in all creation. Includes all created things. Only God is not included, and he is the one who has justified us, Zeph 3:17 Who is signing, resting, rejoicing? So there are times that God just wants us to be still and let Him
love us. We need to be still long enough to let Him have us and let Him love us.
