Hearing The Music Of God Series

John 8:28-29

So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."

How could Jesus achieve that, unless He was in constant CONNECT with the Father?

• How could He speak nothing or do nothing on His own, except what the Father says or tells Him to do, UNLESS He is LISTENING to the Father.

• He knows the Father’s heart. He knows what the Father wants. He does what pleases Him, always!

Mark says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

• Luke says, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16)

• Luke 6:12-13 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called His disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” He needs to consult God in choosing the 12.

• When He was arrested in the Garden, He tells Peter, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53)

• Jesus walks on earth with the whole hosts of heaven backing Him. He has a direct line to the Governor of the Universe, straight into the throne room of God.

This explains why Jesus wasn’t too disturbed or stressed out by the demands of His ministry and the challenges from nasty oppositions.

• There was this serenity about Him. There was this sense of composure and peace. Why? He was constantly in touch with the Father.

• Frankly, if there is one thing that I think Jesus does not need during His earthly ministry, I would have thought it is prayer. Anyway, He is the Son of God.

• Yet, it was exactly the opposite. Jesus made this communication with the Father a priority. He spent much time in it; to the extent the disciples were impressed and asked Him to teach them how to do it.

Jesus LISTENS to His Father! Jesus makes time to LISTEN to His Father.

• If this is the way to know what to say and what to do, to please the Father and completes His good plan for Him, then we ought to do the same.

• Joan of Arc was wrongly accused of heresy and burnt at the stake in 15th Century, France. The religious people mocked: "She says she hears God's voice; why, I don't hear His voice!" Joan replied, "Don't you wish you did?"

• Yes, we want to. He speaks. We know it. We want to and we need to LISTEN to Him.

• Listen to His voice and know that everything is fine. Listen to His voice and be not overly perturbed by what is happening to you or around you. Listen to Him and you will have peace and confidence.

• Who can be against you, if you are in touch with the Governor of the Universe?

Many today are too busy to really listen to what God has to say.

• We need to compete with the many noises around us – the media, the internet, our friends, the desires of our own flesh… Not to mention the devil’s suggestions.

• No wonder Jesus punctuates his sentences many times with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

• In the book of Revelation, the Spirit says the same: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

• What an irony. Ears are made to hear but we are not hearing God. Our ears do not have lids (unlike our eyes); they are always open, but we are not listening.

Tell Him today that you want to LISTEN to Him, MORE THAN what people are saying, what my friends are saying, what the world is telling us.

• If Jesus needs to listen to the Father in order to please Him, we must do the same today. It will not be easy. It is always a challenge to spend quiet time with the Lord.

• There are many ways to work for God, but only one way to work with God – through time spent with Him.

Jesus already warns us of this difficulty in the parable of the Sower.

• The sower sows – God speaks, but only a portion of them lands on good soil (receptive heart). The rest falls on hard road, rocky places, and among the thorns.