Sermon Central
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Can't You Hear Me Now? Series
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Aug 22, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: When it comes to prayer, do you ever feel like you are talking away to God and the call gets dropped? What makes us lose the connection? Some lessions from the cell phone might help us in our prayers!
Can’t You Hear Me Now?
“…ye have not, because ye ask not.”
(KJV)
A 24-year-old man literally dreamed of the phone number of his future wife one night and then, driven by his instinct, sent her a text message. Random recipient Michelle Kitson first appeared confused when she saw a message on her phone from an unknown number that read, "Did I meet you last night?"
However, the 22-year-old woman chose to reply to David Brown’s text message and their romance kicked off. "It was really weird but I was absolutely hooked," Kitson told the Daily Mail newspaper.
After a couple of face-to-face meetings they fell for each other and decided to marry each other ending their long courtship period. Brown, who is six foot seven inches tall, took Kitson, who is just five foot four for a honeymoon in the Indian resort of Goa.
"I’ve no idea how I ended up with her number in my head -- it’s only a few digits different from mine," Brown told the British newspaper.
I saw an unusual sight the other day. An antique object by today’s communications standards – a pay phone!
Cell phones have changed the world! More than one out of every two Americans owns a cell phone... 180 million of us are now "hooked on" them. The U.S. Census Bureau reported last month, the percentage of households with landline telephones has declined while the number of cell phone increased. From 1998 to 2003, the percentage of households with landline telephones fell from 96.2 to 94.1. In the same five-year period, the percentage with cell phones nearly doubled, from 36.3 to 62.8. Over the past 20 years cell phone ownership has increased massively, to the point where over 80% of the world’s population has cell phone coverage. The technology needed to provide adequate signal has not kept up with demand, which is why 69% of Americans have experienced dropped calls and poor signal.
Tom McNichol says he can authoritatively say that people are talking more and saying less. The three most common phrases in cell phone conversations are, "What did you say?", "You’re breaking up; I’ll have to call you back,” and “Can you hear me now?”
Have you ever had a cellphone call dropped? While most companies will credit you for dropped calls, you may spend many minutes simply talking to yourself. And then, have you ever lost the connection and tried to call the person back, only to reach their voicemail because they think they are still on the phone talking to you? In those times, maybe the thing to say is, “Can’t You Hear Me Now?”
When it comes to prayer, do you ever feel like you are talking away to God and the call gets dropped? Do you ever feel like asking the Lord,”Can’t You Hear Me Now?” What makes us lose the connection?
1) Straying too far from the Tower
Mobiledia.com’s guide to Cell phone reception states that “signal strength fades the farther a user strays from the tower.” When you get too far away from the “Tower”, reception becomes weaker. We lose “signal strength”. We don’t have enough “bars”! We are too far away. We need to get closer to the Tower!
10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
(NIV)
We sing it and the scripture says it! When it comes to prayer, the question to ask is, “How is your relationship with God?” Does your lifestyle show that you have signal strength with the Tower?
29 The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
(NIV)
9 God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him.
(The Message)
2) The problem may be corrosion!
Generally, non-repairable internal corrosion of parts results if you get the phone wet or use wet hands to push the buttons. My daughter, Julie, has a cell phone that was unrepairable because it had gotten wet. I’ve even heard of people expecting their cell phone to continue to work after dropping it in water! If the phone does get wet, be sure it is totally dry before you switch it on so you can try to avoid damaging internal parts.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
(NIV)
Spiritual corrosion happens when we allow sin to remain unconfessed.
The word translated “cherished” is one of the most commonly used words in the Old Testament, appearing over 1300 times. The root of the word means “to see”, as if to gaze upon, to look intently at something, to take a second look! In other words, we are not talking about a passing thought; we are talking about “hanging onto” and “hugging the sin”, treating it as if God doesn’t care.
