Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Commercial: Verizon guy saying: “Can you hear me now?” It has to do with reception. Are you receiving this message? Many times we love to talk but we rarely listen. Be slow to talk and quick to listen. The same guy recently did a commercial for Sprint to get people to switch to their carrier.

James 1:19,20

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

When God is calling, do you send God to voicemail, or do you get reception?

The Throne Room

Isaiah 6 - (Throne Room - woe is me for I’m undone - seeing they do not see)

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Some people never realize that they are sinners - if you ask them they will say they are a good person.

If you were to stand in the presence of our Holy God, you would surely notice your sinful state.

Isaiah was already a saved person, so the seraphim did not save him, only took away the guilt and sin - even after we are saved we still commit sin - until we get to heaven where we will be made new.

You must repent (turn away from) sin daily.

Some people don’t want to hear that - they want to believe that instead they are perfect already.

We must renew our minds and believe the truth.

1 John 1:8-10

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Isaiah 6 continued...

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

Isaiah was called to preach to a people who could not hear or see the message.

Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13 - (Parable of the sower - telling in parables - seeing they do not see)

[different people seeds]

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Many of you have heard this before so perhaps you understand it.