From The Problem to the Solution
#4 - LEARNING TO LISTEN
This morning, we are continuing our series of messages where we’re talking about going "From the Problem To The Solution"
And we’ve been talking about the steps that it takes to get from the problem to the solution
And so far, we’ve discovered the sources of all of life’s problems
And we’ve told you that in order to get from the problem to the solution, you must…
--1. Acknowledge the Problem
--2. Make a Decision
--3. Find Your Evidence
And to compliment these messages, on Sunday nights, we’ve talked about…
--Thank God for Romans 8:28
--Faithing It
--Above and Beyond
--Salvation – The Main Thing
And so this morning, we come to the 4th step in going from the problem to the solution and that is LEARNING TO LISTEN
Have you ever thought that there might be a reason that God gave us TWO EARS and ONE MOUTH?
Indeed, there is – and if we’re going to go from the problem to the solution, not only must we…
--acknowledge the problem
--make a decision
--find our evidence
But we must also LEARN TO LISTEN
Let’s read…
•Proverbs 1:5 (KJV) "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:"
•Proverbs 4:10 (KJV) "Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many."
INTRODUCTION
The wisest man who ever lived, in our texts this morning, gives us beautifully and wonderfully and simply the secret to all of life’s wisdom – and it’s found in these words…
A WISE MAN WILL HEAR
In other words, in order to avoid…
--sin
--set backs
--disappointments
--problems
We need to "LISTEN UP" to what God is saying in our lives
Don’t you just hate it when you do something wrong and your…
--wife
--parents
--coworkers
Say I TOLD YOU SO!!!
Well, to be honest with you, when we look at all of life’s problem, GOD HAS ALREADY TOLD US SO
He’s already told us…
--how to avoid them
--how to recover from them
--how to go from the problem to the solution
And one of the ways is to make sure that we are hearing what God is speaking to our lives
Understand, that God wants to…
--personally
--powerfully
--pertinently
--prophetically
Speak into your heart and life
C. S. Lewis, the very popular Christian thinker and writer, some years ago said, "We should not listen to those people who say that God does not communicate with His creation. It is just not right to exclude the idea that God, who made us, will not talk with us. We cannot believe those who say that God does not reveal Himself because you cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, believe that reason can evolve from unreason or that by chance God’s Word says, ’Come, let us reason together.’"
The question is not if God is longing to speak, the question is are we learning to listen
And so, this morning, I want to talk to you basically about 2 things
Let’s first of all talk about…
1. HEARING PROBLEMS
Because if we’ll all be honest, we can all say that we’ve got in some form or measure or sort HEARING PROBLEM
You see, we’ve got to realize that there is a solution to the problem
You’re not the only one that’s gone through this problem
There’s nothing new under the sun
There is a way out, there is a solution
And quite often the solution presents itself when we deal with our hearing problems
Now, what are some hearing problems we all have…
A. SELECTIVE HEARING
We all know what selective hearing is!
We hear what we want to hear, and act like we haven’t heard what we should have heard!
It’s like people who say "I hear you when it comes to heaven" but, when I talk about TITHING that’s another story
You have to ask the teenager 7.3 times to take out the trash, but let the phone ring and thy may be outside in the barn and they’ll run in a get it!
Not only is there "selective" hearing, but there is…
B. UNFOCUSED HEARING
This is where we listen to someone but we’re not really focused on what they are saying and we’re not hearing them
We are all familiar with the scene of a husband reading the newspaper while his wife is trying to talk
His response is "Yes, dear. Uhuh. Mmmm. Is that so?"
But we all know he’s not really listening
Suddenly she pulls down the paper and says, "Have you heard a word I’ve said?”
•Two men were talking one day. One of them said, "My wife talks to herself a lot." His friend answered, "Mine does, too, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks I’m listening."
•President Franklin Roosevelt was weary of the mindless small talk of White House receptions. Wondering if anyone was engaging in any real conversation, he conducted an experiment at a White House gathering. As he shook a hand and flashed that big smile he would say, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." With one exception, the people would smile back and say something like, "You’re doing a great job." Or "How lovely." The exception was a foreign diplomat who responded quietly, "I’m sure she had it coming to her."
There are times when we’re listening, but we’re not hearing
I have this problem all the time as a preacher of the Gospel!
A man walked out of church one Sunday morning and said to his preacher, "That was a good sermon. I couldn’t find myself pointed out one time."
That’s why over and over, you find the words HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT IS SAYING TO THE CHURCH
Don’t…
--be clueless
--be absent minded
--have your head in the sand
Listen and focus in on what God is speaking in your life!
There’s…
--selective hearing
--unfocused hearing
And then, there’s
C. HARMFUL HEARING
Because there is some things that you hear, that you listen to, that could actually harm you
There are times when there are voices that are trying to speak to you in your life that if you listen to, you’ll get messed up quick!
I got to thinking about the very first sin of man
It didn’t get started by…
--man’s hand
--man’s eyes
--man’s mouth
It all started through man’s ears when Eve listened to the wrong voice in her life and Adam listen to Eve
Listen: WRONG VOICES, WRONG CHOICES
There’s a story in the Bible that says…
1 Kings 22:20-22 (KJV) "And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. (21) And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. (22) And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so."
In other words, there would be a VOICE that would persuade Ahab to go into battle which would end his life
WRONG VOICES, WRONG CHOICES
And we need to be very careful…
--who has our ear
--who has our children’s ear
--who we’re listening to on TV
--who we’re listening to PREACH
Because WRONG VOICES, WRONG CHOICES
We can’t listen to the world when it comes to…
--raising children
--our finances
--our marriages
--our jobs
We need to hear THUS SAITH THE LORD
That’s HEARING PROBLEM
Now, let’s talk about…
2. HEARING AIDS
We all have hearing problems, and therefore we all need hearing aids
Now, I want you to understand that at this moment there are signals coming in from radio stations and TV stations
Right now, in this sanctuary there are…
--songs
--TV shows
--police calls
--wavelengths
That are all coming into this place right now
Why can’t we hear them? Because we’re not tuned in!
And if we want to go from the problem to the solution, then we need to TUNE IN to what God is doing and what God is saying and what God is speaking to our lives
In other words, it’s not going to come automatically
Listen to our text again…
Proverbs 4:10 (KJV) "Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many."
We need a "receiver"
We need to "tune in" to…
A. The wisdom from others
Because no matter what problem you’re facing, there’s without a doubt somebody somewhere who’s gone through the same problem, and it would do you good to listen to what they went through so that you can get the faith to make it through yourself
Now, I’ve talked to you about the wrong voices, but these would be the right voices
And we need to humble ourselves and listen to…
--parents
--Sunday school teachers
--pastors
--friends
And don’t be too proud to listen to someone who wants to help you
Dr. Joyce Brothers, the famous psychologist, said she had counseled many people through the years but she was really angry with her husband. She said, "Maybe not angry, but in a way, I am." She said he was a wonderful doctor and had helped many people, sometimes just writing things off and not charging. But he smoked. She said, "I just kept telling him ’Quit smoking.’ " He said he would and he wouldn’t smoke around me but I knew he did smoke and it got him and killed him. Now, when I reach over and touch an empty place where he had been or I go by one of our favorite restaurants the tears rise in my eyes; I just wish that he had made the right choice, that he would have listened to what everybody was telling him to do. But, he didn’t listen." She went on to say, "There
are a lot of people in our culture who don’t listen and because they don’t listen they often make wrong choices and then end up aggravating a lot of problems in their own and other people’s lives. Just because they didn’t listen."
The story is told that when Napoleon was making plans to invade England, he was told that an American wanted to see him. "I can give him two minutes," Napoleon said. But two minutes was not long enough to understand the revolutionary idea of a ship propelled by steam. Had Napoleon listened longer to Robert Fulton the history of the world might have been altered.
And how many battles have we lost because we thought that nobody else could help us
It’s like driving in a city you aren’t familiar with and you just don’t want to ask for direction!!
You know, it’s one thing to learn from experience
Someone said that experience is the best teacher – no
Someone else’s experience is the best teacher
We need to "tune in to others"
And then, secondly, we need to "tune into"
B. The spiritual disciplines
And by that I mean, worship, prayer, and fasting
Acts 13:2 (KJV) "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."
In other words in that atmosphere where they were ministering to the Lord and praying and fasting, God began to speak
And that’s why coming to church is so important, because in this atmosphere God can begins to speak softly into our hearts
And then, thirdly, we need to "tune into"
C. The Word of God
Because all other experiences – the wisdom of others, and the spiritual disciplines of life will always be confirmed by the Word of God
Psalms 119:105 (KJV) "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
Psalms 119:130 (KJV) "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."
Romans 10:17 (KJV) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
To the…
--troubled, His word says "Fear Not"
--storms of life, His word says "Peace, be still"
--sick, His word says "I am the Lord that healeth thee"
--husband, His word says, "Love your wife as Christ loved the church"
--preacher, His word says, "Be instant in season, and out of season"
--teacher, His word says, "Study to show yourself approved unto God"
--worried, His word says, "Cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you"
--failure, His word says, "A righteous man falls seven times and gets back up again!"
--dying, His word says, "To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord"
Let His Word speak to you today!
I’ll never forget when I interviewed at Living Waters
I’ll never forget praying that morning in my office about this Church
And the Lord spoke to me…
1 Chronicles 28:10 (NKJV) ""Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.""
God speaks through His Word
IN CLOSING
The issue is not weather or not God is speaking, but the issue is whether are not we are listening!
I told you at the beginning of this message, that listening to God would keep you from AVOIDING trouble and problems
But listening to God will also help you to RECOVER from trouble and problems!!!
But here’s the key – you’ve got to want to hear God
Are you familiar with the story about Socrates where a young man came to him near a lake and asked Socrates to teach him how to acquire wisdom? Socrates grabbed the man and plunged his head under the water. As the young man struggled for his life, Socrates continued to forcibly hold him under the water. Finally, Socrates let him up to breathe, and when the man, gasping for breath, asked why Socrates nearly drowned him, Socrates replied, “When your desire for wisdom is as great as your desire to breathe, then you will find wisdom.”
