Listen To Jesus

Did you hear what God said about Jesus in today’s reading,

“This is my Son, whom I love;

with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

That’s right

Listen to Him…

Listen to Him….

Listen to Jesus

When was the last time you listened to Him?

Well most of you have been hearing Jesus speak this morning and you hear him at least every Sunday.

We hear in the Bible readings, in our singing, prayers, even in your conversations with other people, in the sermons and in fact we hear Him throughout worship.

But listening involves more than just hearing noises.

Over the last few weeks we have been exceptionally busy, settling in, meeting people and trying to get organised,

I have many things on mind

And so occasionally, just occasionally I might hear my wife’s voice

but I am not actually listening to her.

I heard the noise….but not what she said.

What she says, doesn’t always get through to me.

So you guessed it two days later I find out I missed some very important information.

Ever experienced that??

So I am learning that listening is very essential, for a harmonious relationship.

Likewise it is essential for our relationship with Jesus.

And when we listen to Jesus he has some wonderful, some exciting things to tell us.

Now let’s listen to him, from

Matthew 28:20 Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age”

in Luke 6:35 He says, “your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

from John 10:9 I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved

And in John 6:35, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me, will never hunger, whoever believes in me will never thirst

John 8:12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Aren’t these wonderful words!

There are heaps more where they came from…

So how about listening to Jesus .

Pick up a bible and start listening to Jesus by reading, say, Matthew or by following the Daily Walk with God devotions as found in your bulletin.

But why does God say Listen to Him?

Well for a start He is truly the Son of God.

God wants Peter, James and John to know this

and he wants you to be sure of this.

So in today’s Gospel reading he gives us four images that say no matter what happens.

No matter how successful

How ordinary or even how hard up you are.

Jesus is always truly the Son of God, God’s chosen one and He will always be God

The four images are:

Image one: The mountain top

Jesus says, “come on Peter, James and John come up on this mountain and pray with me”

Mountains are not just wonderful places, away from the hustle and bustle of the world.

They are also good places to pray to talk and to listen to God.

By the way, have you noticed that frequently when Jesus prepares for a difficult time he spends time in prayer?

But the mountain is important.

In the Old Testament we discover that God had a habit of appearing to people on mountains.

Remember today’s Old Testament reading.

Where did Moses meet God??

On a mountain.

So for people who knew the Old Testament when strange things happened on a mountain, it was mostlikely God at work.

Image two: Jesus began to look different

As Jesus was praying to God his clothes began to change, they became extremely bright.

Something very similar happened to Moses when he saw the Lord on the mountain, except that Moses face glowed.

Image three: the appearance of Old Testament prophets who had a history of pointing to a Messiah.

The appearance of Moses and Elijah, two characters from the Old Testament is very interesting.

They are major characters in the Old Testament.

Both have met God on a mountain.

Not only are they representative of the Law and the Prophets

But in their ministry, as we find out in the Old Testament they pointed to the Lord and to a new Messiah.

This occurred through what they do and say.

They also were good listeners of the Lord.

Image four: The Lord appeared in a cloud.

The Lord appearing in a cloud, was something the Lord had a track record doing

In Exodus 34:5 we read Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD

But so what you might be saying???

We know that???

We know that Jesus is the true Son of God?

But do we really know that in our hearts?