It's Time To Listen

Introduction

• A little boy was in a relative’s wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd (alternating between bride’s side and groom’s side). While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and growl. So it went, step, step, GROWL, step, step, GROWL all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was also near tears by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear.

• Sometimes we don’t quite understand what we are to do.

• A preacher was once asked, “Do you have a deaf ministry in your church?” He replied, “There are times when I think the whole church needs a deaf ministry—they just don’t seem to hear me.”

• Now that Thanksgiving has passed many of us are now in the Christmas spirit. Just take a drive to Springfield during the weekend if you do not believe me.

• How many of you got up at before 5 am to go shopping on Friday?

• We are drawing near to the time in which we celebrate Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a time where we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son!

• Over the past three weeks I have hit on the basic theme of being committed to Jesus. As we start to consider what the Christmas holiday is all about, I hope that we start to see why it is important for us to be committed to Jesus.

• God has used Jesus to speak to us, but the question is; are we listening to Him. Are we really listening to Jesus or are we just living life and then asking God to bless this mess?

• Today the title to the message is, “It is time to listen.” This message will be taken from the book of Hebrews chapter one verses one through four.

• The early Christians were having some of the same troubles we have today. They had trouble letting go of the old and letting the new come in. Most of the early converts were Jews. When a Jew became a Christian, many times they lost all they had. Life was not easy for them. Many were struggling with staying with the faith. They wanted to go back to the old “easy” way.

• The purpose in writing the book of Hebrews was to encourage these Jewish Christians to remain steadfast in their faith and this was accomplished by showing the superiority of Christ and the New Covenant

• The Hebrew writer does not slam these struggling Christians for their struggle, but instead he chose to teach the people about the Lord they were considering forsaking.

• The Hebrew writer wants us to know the Lord we serve. If you know Jesus, then you will not leave Him and you will truly live for Him and you will make Him the number one priority in your life.

• I still believe one of the main reasons we struggle so much is because we really do not know Jesus. The more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we know Him, the easier it is to let Him be the Lord of our lives.

• Why can’t I listen to Mohammed? Why not Buddha? Why do have to listen to anybody?

• In our text today we will see eight reasons as to why we need to listen to and follow Jesus.

SERMON

I. JESUS IS THE AUTHORIZED SPOKESMAN FOR GOD - VV. 1,2

• Before we get into the seven attributes that we need to understand what verse 1-2 are telling us. READ VERSES 1-2

• In the past, God spoke through the prophets. 2 Peter 1:20-21, Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

• The people were supposed to listen to the prophets because they spoke the words of God.

• He also used many different ways to communicate with His people. From burning bushes to animals to dreams and visions. Today that all has stopped. Today God is speaking to us through Jesus.

• This is one of the reasons the Christmas holiday is so special. God did not just send some prophet but He sent His Son to speak to us, to reveal His will to us, to show us the way. Remember John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.