Do We Have Ears?

“Do We Have Ears?”

Luke Chapter 8

Last week we finished up a five week series on the Impact of the Cross. I don’t know about you – BUT I really was impacted by the cross this Easter season like never before.… I don’t want to be unmoved or distressed by the cross ever again – rather I want to be saved & transformed by the cross of Christ – because the cross is the power of God. Thank you Lord for the cross…

Next week we are going to begin a 3 week series that I am very pumped about – called; “Rediscovering An Essential Truth.” Actually I was so pumped about it that I thought I was supposed to start it this week…

You see, I plan to preach the last message of this series on Mother’s Day (a message entitled, “How much are they worth”) And let me tell I hit the ground running on this message series – Monday morning at 3 am. And then on Tuesday afternoon I looked at the calendar and realized that – to end on Mother’s day I had to start not on the 22nd but on the 29th of April.

So then I had to figure out what I was going to talk about today. And after much deliberation I decided to talk about communication. I think Communication is an important topic.

And communicating is something that we find ourselves doing everyday. Therefore, we are all very familiar with it. And I am sure that most of us have found that in effective communication you need to have more than a message/you need more than mere words going out – but you also need to have those words received clearly by whoever it is you are talking to – AND if the message for whatever reason, is not received the way the sender intended, you then have a breakdown in communication…

Have you ever experienced a communication break down? (once or twice, right?)You know, this reminds me of a couple of stories I have heard about MISS-communication.

There was a man who lived up in upstate New York and he was getting tired of the cold weather, so he decided to go to Florida. His wife was on a business trip at the time so he called her to let her know what he was doing and to tell her not to go back to New York but to meet him in Florida.

When he arrived he sent her an e-mail to let her know he was there, but he got a few letters wrong in the address and instead of going to his wife the e-mail went to a little old lady in Iowa, who was a pastors wife. And whose husband had died the day before.

The little old lady turned on her computer – read the e-mail, screamed and fainted right on the spot. Her family and friends who were there came in saw her on the floor – and when they read the screen they understood why she fainted..

 Dearest darling just wanted you to know I arrived safely

 Looking forward to you being with me, tomorrow

 Signed, your husband – PS, it sure is hot down here…

Communication – is important… And I think you will agree with me, that it is important, NOT, just for the message to go out, whether it is an e-mail, a letter or spoken words - BUT it is also essential for the message to be properly received.

Poor communication can led to all kinds of problems and miss-understandings. Now, it is fun to laugh about it – but when you are the victim of poor communication, it rarely is a laughing matter.

Today, I want us to talk about the most important communication of all (the sending and receiving of the word of God) in a message called, “Do We Have Ears?”

Luke 8:4-8

[once of first times Jesus said – he who has ears…]

The word parable comes from the Greek word "parabole" and literally means that which is cast along side," or something placed parallel. Someone has described parables as " earthly stories with heavenly meanings."

When Jesus taught in parables he placed spiritual truths in familiar settings, He put truths in every day scenarios that people could both understand and relate too. And by so doing Jesus fired up the imaginations of the people, allowing them to view the truth many times from an entirely different perspective...

Another advantage of teaching in parables, is that BY positioning spiritual truths in neutral settings, people were not immediately threatened by what Jesus was saying and turn him off -- but rather they would have their attention grabbed by the story and before they even realized it; they would be involved.