Do You Have A Listening Heart

WE NEED TO HAVE A LISTENING HEART?

So, in your earliest waking moments of the day, consciously start praising God right away, first thing, for good things that He is and for good things that He’s doing. Focus your heart on Jesus as the only One you’re doing things for, as the source of your joy, as your reason for living. And aggressively look for Him all over, all through your day. As long as your attitude is lined up with the holy horizon of the God who has your life, your flight will weather any

storm and arrive home safely.

Did you know that Jesus said the same words eight times in the Gospel records and that He used these same 10 words eight times in t he book of Revelation. Listen to the ten words, “Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Could that possibly mean that he wants us to use our ears for something else besides am adornment on the sides of our heads?

I would like us to visit a parable that Jesus gave and it is the one about the sower who scattered the

seed. Two things that are constant in this parable are the sower does not change, and the seed is the same. I would like us to look at the soils of which I would liken them to our ears. The Sower went out to sow the seed. Mt 13, Mk 4, Lk 8. Some of the soil it fell on was hard. We can have ears like that to God’s Word. There are people who go to church and listen to the Word of God but they do not hear it because they have hardened themselves because they will not let themselves be open to the Spirit of God. There

are many reasons and I do not want to discuss them because ti does not matter was they are if I let

anything block my way of hearing the Word of God it is my doing and not God’s nor can I blame another

person. I have to make the decision that I want to hear the Word of God. The next soil is the rocky soil. This is the ear that hears the Word of God but is cluttered with rocks so that the Word can not take root. This talks about those things in our lives that we put there as rocks that keep the Word from taking root. The Bible speaks of the Word of God as a hammer so all we need to do is let that hammer bust all those rocks so the Word can take root. The test here for the roots is this: “Is the Word of God growing in you?” “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” The seed also falls on the weedy soil. This soil receives the Word and the Word even grows. So this would be one who believes and is born again, repents of their sins and starts following Christ. They have a great start but there are many examples that we have in the Bible of people who made a great start but did not finish. Akhwari, of Tanzania, entered at the far endof the stadium, pain hobbling his every step, his leg bloody and bandaged. The winner of the Olympic marathon had been declared over an hour earlier. Only a few spectators remained. But the lone runner pressed on. As he crossed the finish line, the small crowd roared its appreciation. Afterward, a reporter asked the runner why he had

not retired from the race since he had no chance of winning. He seemed confused by the question. Finally, he answered, "My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish." This parable says that the seed grew but had the life choked out of it by the cares and pleasures of this life. What are we allowing to choke out the life of the Word? The good soil were those ears that heard the Word of God and it grew and yielded a crop and the book of Luke says it produced hundredfold.

Now I would ask as we know this truth that Jesus gave does it mean that 3/4 of you that hear this word

tonight are not listening well? Would it be better if I could say that you are the 1/4 that hear the Word of

God and the 3/4’s are those who are not here?

Do you have a listening heart? Dt. 6:4-6 Neh. 8:3 Pr. 8:34. Jn 10:3-5

Does it seem interesting to you that all 7 of the churches in Revelation hear the

words, “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says.”