What Are You Hearing? – Pt. 2 of 2

Date: 12/03/06 P.M.

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Then He said to them, Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.”

Mk. 4:23-24

Hindrances to hearing the voice of God.

I. Our Willingness To Accept Mediocrity

 A. An Attitude of the Heart

·         “Our contentment has become a place of containment!”

II. Familiarity

 A. Jesus’ Ministry was Exploding

 B. Yet, in Nazareth, the People Could Not Get Beyond Their Familiarity! (This “carpenter’s” son)

III. Traditions

 A. Jesus Speaking to the Religious Leaders of His Day

  1. They had invalidated the Scriptures through their traditions!

IV. Hurts and Offenses

·         “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city.”

…Proverbs 18:19

 A. Walls Around Our Hearts

  1. Offenses are the brick and mortar we use to build walls around our hearts.

·         When wounds and hurts enter your heart, you begin to shut down your capacity for listening. (i.e. – someone involved in a an accident – in shock…unresponsive)

  2. It then becomes easy to be preoccupied with who is to blame rather than hearing what is needed to be free.

 B. Offenses Will Come to Everyone

·         “It is impossible that no offenses should come.”                    …Luke 17:1

  1. Sometimes they are deliberate.    

  2. Sometimes they are accidental.

·         Your ability to handle them properly will determine your success in having a listening heart.

1)      The child who is offended because the parent has upset their plans.

2)      The wife is offended because her husband didn’t respond as she wanted in a given situation.

3)      Or the church member that’s offended because they weren’t chosen to be lead a committee.

  3. By harboring an offense, each of these people are hindered in their ability to hear.

 C. What Do You Do?

  1. Resolve to “clear the air” in this situation.

  2. Pursue the one who offended you and seek reconciliation.

   a. Don’t allow your hurts to drive you “in-ward” (self-centeredness / self protective)

   b. God is working in your life to bring you to a desired end…let Him work!

V. Pride

·         Pride is like bad breath – when you have it no one will tell you that you have it; they just stop coming around.

 A. Naaman – 2 Kings

  1. 1 Good man; 2 Man of authority; 3 Commander of a great army…he was a great man, but he was a leper.

·         You may be like Naaman; you have many great qualities…but there is a “B-U-T” in your life! (No doubt, this isn’t something we want anyone else to see!!)

   a. He desired to be healed yet, there was no remedy found in his homeland.

   b. Word was given by a “servant” “girl” of a cure in another land…hard for him to hear because of the source from which it came. (a lesson in humility)

 B. He went to visit Elisha – 2 Kings 5

  1. When he arrived, Elisha wouldn’t come out…this infuriated him. His problem wasn’t just leprosy…it was also PRIDE!

  2. “Go wash in the Jordan River 7 times” – v 10

   a. His pride and anger almost robbed him of receiving the cure he desperately needed.

·         He was ready to a GREAT thing, but he was too prideful to do a menial task!!

·         1 Maybe God has been after you to lay down your image and worship Him with passion and expression! 2 Or to forgive a friend from which you are estranged. How often our pride keeps us from our breakthrough!

III. What A Listening Heart Will Do for You

 A. A Listening Heart Will Change the Atmosphere of Our Lives

  1. When Nehemiah stood to read God’s Word, the people stood to “hear” the word.

   a. The result – the atmosphere of the city changed from weeping to one of joy! -  Neh. 8:10

 B. A Listening Heart Will Open Doors for Us

  1. The employee that is quick to listen to his employer and respond with action.

  2. He gets the PROMOTION.

·         For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

…Ps. 75:6-7

 C. A Listening Heart Will Give Us Direction

  1. A practical advantage – arrive at your destination – Listening to the wife on a trip…(humility)

·         Decision-making becomes more simplified when we have a listening heart.

·         When we begin to “tune in”, God will respond, and we will hear clearly.

Conclusion: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear…”