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.
Did you understand it the first time you heard it or was explained it?
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
This echo’s what Isaiah said earlier.
People’s eyes and ears are dull and they don’t try to understand.
Having a big brain is an advantage.
There’s a reason why we’re at the top of the food chain - the size of our brains give us an advantage.
But if we don’t use our brains, what good is it?
If we use our brains but use it for the wrong purpose what is it?
Seeing things the way God sees them is an extreme advantage.
Are you using your brain, and are you using it in the right way?
James 4:7-8
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Matthew 13 continued...
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Some people are prepared to hear and others have a hard heart and cannot get reception.
Which are you? When you hear God’s Word, what do you do with it?
Do you cherish it and meditate on it, or does it go in one ear and out the other?
Does it at least rattle around in there?
Or are your ears so closed, it just bounces off and doesn’t even get in at all?
Pharoah had a hard hard and God hardened his heart.
Many of us, our hearts get harder and harder to God and our ears close up and our eyes become covered over.
Jeremiah 33:3
3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
If you supernaturally are tuned into Him, He will show you things that will blow your mind!
Conclusion:
Is your heart hard or soft to God?
Are your ears able to hear the salvation message of Jesus?
Are your eyes able to see the great and wondrous things God has done that He sent his Son to save you because He loves you so much.
Are you able to “switch” from the ways of the world and to the ways of God?
Revelation 3:14-20
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Are you getting closer to God or farther away? It’s not Him that’s moving.
Can you hear your Savior calling? Go with him all the way.
