Theme: Listen Up!

I Just Heard and Now What?

 

How many pieces of information will you hear today?  Hundreds probably. 

Your order is ready.

We have it in your size.

You will be contacted in five business days.

They won it all!

Honey, can you help me with this, please?

Dinner is at seven tonight.

It’s a boy!

We need to start chemo as soon as possible.

Your check is in the mail.

We will be closing in 60 days.

These aren’t the only kinds of messages we get on a regular basis.  We encounter lots of messages that are beyond what you might call our immediate life atmosphere.  Everyday, we are exposed to streaming news about strange events, tragedies, and unrest that we can’t do much about.  We just hear the info, think about it for moment and change the channel. 

But, one thing is common to all information:  Whether a piece of information has a large or small impact in our lives, every message connects us to a potential decision of some kind.  A purchase.  A opportunity.  A responsibility.  A goal.  A new future.  A forewarning.  A pay day.  A relationship.  The list is endless.

When Jesus spoke about the gospel, he presented it as a message that was alive with opportunity.  He described it as a seed.  At first glance, seeds don’t look like much.  But, put them in good soil, water them a bit and let the sun do its work and suddenly…germination…life…stalk…fruit!

In Luke chapter eight, Jesus illustrated the power and opportunity that comes with hearing the gospel by telling a simple story.  He took a page from every day.  It is about a sower who sowed seed in different kinds of soil.  But, the story is about a lot more than agriculture.  It illustrates how people receive the seed of the gospel message. Luke 8:4-8 reads:

   4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in   a parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus’ point?  The seed of the gospel falls on different kinds of hearts.  Some reject it out right. “Non-sense” they say.  Others take in the message quickly but don’t think it through carefully.  Life pressures eventually wear their faith down and they revert back to a “live for now” attitude.  Similarly, other people grab it up but have difficulty allowing God’s reign to mature in their lives because the carnal world has too big a grip on their hearts.  But, some hearts take the message “to heart” and choose to wrap their lives around it every day. 

Has this seed fallen into your life in some way?  The real question is what kind of soil are you?  Remember!   Information always connects us with something.  And, that’s exactly what the gospel does for anybody who “has ears to hear.”  “And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” 

Father, thank you for the gospel.  It is truly an indescribable gift.  May our ears be open to the blessing that is found in the good news about Jesus Christ and what only he can offer us.  May we seek it , surrender ourselves to it and live with its confession on our lips everyday.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas 

Discerning the Word

Word of God speak
Would you pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your Majesty.

To be still and know
That You’re in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your Holiness.
Word of God speak. 

Mercy Me  “Word of God Speak”

The Bible is the #1 best seller of all time in the world with no other book even close.  In fact it continues to be the #1 best-seller each year of all books.   Estimates are that 2.5 billion to 6 billion copies of the Bible have been sold.   Why is this when it seems so many dismiss it as being irrelevant.   Read these combined passages from John 1 and Hebrews 4. 

In the beginning was the Word.  The Word was with God and the Word was God.   God’s Word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword.  It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. (John 1:1, Hebrews 4: 12).

The Bible is more than a book on the best seller list.  It’s alive, God breathed, knows us and reaches into our innermost being.  It is powerful, it is eternal, and it provides true life.  It is the Word.  No wonder it dwarfs any other book in sales, because we are not dealing with a book but the embodiment of God Himself.

When the Word is understood as being God, being alive, and being something that judges our thoughts and feelings a different view is revealed.  Instead of me examining the Word it is examining me.  How can I stay in tune and discern this awesome, amazing Book?  Instead of just reading the Word, approach it with reverence and see it as holy.  This is a spiritual experience to be taken in with all my senses.  Spiritual listening with the heart attuned to the Spirit’s leading.   Be open and aware expecting something will be revealed, inviting an encounter with the Word God and the Word Jesus Christ.  When I enter in this posture the Word speaks.  More than reading the words it is holding them, touching them with my senses, and feeling them while being led by the Spirit.  Take it as bread and drink hungering and thirsting for its righteousness.  Ingest it tasting its goodness and receiving its nourishment.  It is through this sensory experience of taking in the Word that we experience God.  It is so powerful and so personal that with His Spirit in us we cry out “Father”!  (Romans 8:15)  A deep yearning with deep feelings, a call of affection, of help, of submission, of assurance of the knowledge He is there and He is fully with me.  This is a new way of thinking of and seeing scripture.  It is God Himself.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14)

This approach and understanding of the Word does not come easily and requires effort, attention and practice.   After you have spent time reading scripture try to be quiet.  God Himself said through the Psalmist: “Be quiet and know that I am God.”  Not just being silent but quieting your mind.  Not thinking about yourself, others, work, play, school, kids, parents, nothing.  Your mind is quiet.  Open, listening, meditating on staying quiet yet alert to the revealing of God through His Word.  Being quiet is an acquired skill that requires practice and consistent attention.  Over time the fruit of this exercise is an amazing delicacy of revelation.

Discernment of the Word is like the Emmaus story where the two disciples’ eyes are opened to recognize Jesus and know the “resurrection” was in fact true.  He is in the flesh, and in front of them.   This is the journey to see the Word for what it is: Jesus Christ as God Himself and the realization of the kingdom.  As I read the Bible I want to make it about me, about my comfort, my success, my prayers being answered, and many times my glory.  My awakening and the true revealing of being in tune with Scripture is the realization that it is about God the Father, about His glory, and His promises of true life which is a perfect relationship with Him and His son Jesus Christ.  Until I look to Him, and view all from the perspective of seeking, asking, knocking, looking, listening, and longing so that I can know Him, I will miss the reality of life in Christ.  The disciples, apostles, and those who walked with Jesus spent days, months, and years with Him.  Yet they did not understand who He was or what He offered until after He was killed, raised, and then appeared to them. 

Lord open my servants eyes and let him see.  II Kings 6: 15-17
Teacher I want to see.  Mark 10:51

If His own disciples misunderstood who He was how do I find Him?  I must stop all that I am “doing” and be still, silent, fallen before my Father in heaven, completely submissive and say here I am.  I trust Him and allow Him to transform me and show me what the true life and abundant life is really about.  Communing with God, discerning His Word, following His Spirit’s leading allows me to know Him.  Being present in the Word, listening, seeing, hearing, and knowing His voice when it comes is from my Father.  I bow in worship, I thank Him and He is glorified.

Father, thank you for your Word that is beyond our comprehension.  Give us wisdom, discernment and understanding.

Scotty Elston
Shallowater, Texas

Theme: Listen Up!

How Can They...?

Small words can make big impacts.  The following text from Romans 10:13-17 has such a word.  That word is “how”.  It reads this way:

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

How.  It is a small word but it poses a series of pivotal questions in this scripture text from Paul.  How people listen to the gospel and, in fact, whether or not they have the opportunity to listen to it depends largely on how the Christian community engages the gospel as those commissioned to share it.  “How?” Paul asks us.

It is difficult nowadays to travel anywhere and not encounter a spiritual prompting of some kind.  “God” messages are on billboards.  Television programs air around the clock.   There is the occasional devotional guide in doctor waiting rooms and hospital emergency rooms.  Pithy bumper stickers abound.  Church marquees are laced with spiritual messages.  Necklaces and bracelets sporting crosses and the fish sign are more common.  Yes, spiritual “promptings” are everywhere. 

Though they are interesting and usually communicate something truthful about God and the gospel, these promptings have a shelf life of a few seconds in someone’s mind.  

The text from Romans reminds us that people usually listen – really listen – when another person talks to them.  God has always worked through…people.  Person-to-person.  He SENT a person to save us.  Prophetic messages were dispatched through people.  The first disciples were commissioned to go into the whole world and preach.  Mark 3:12 says Jesus chose twelve disciples to be with him that he might sent them forth to preach.

Paul’s “how” questions remind us that God still needs people to be His instrument to reach other people.  The most beautiful feet in the world are feet that carry the gospel of peace to another person.  Are we listening Christian community?  Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Father, may your word be in our mouth and prompting our hearts to be aware of the people we encounter everyday.  May they mean more to us than consumer interactions that help us on our way with the satisfaction of our needs.  Give us eyes and ears for their spiritual needs.  Help us to walk with beautiful feet every day.  Because of Jesus....Amen

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Theme: Listen Up!

“FOCUS!”   I have heard that word used numerous times during my existence.  In my profession alone, it is used several times daily.  I was also told to “Focus” several thousand times growing up! We are overwhelmed by so many distractions in our world today that it is easy to lose sight of the tasks at hand.  We are prone to make mistakes – most of the time because we aren’t focused.

Proverbs 4:20-23 says:

“My child, pay attention to my words; listen attentively to my sayings.  Do not let them depart from your sight, guard them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and healing to one’s entire body.  Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life.”

As I read this I understand God to be saying to read the Bible, His words and to keep what we read deep inside…in our heart.  We have to focus on Him and block out all the day to day stuff that distracts us.  I (like many of you) have read scripture over and over again, and the more I read the more I sense that His spirit…the Holy Spirit, mixes with my spirit deep in my heart…my inner self.  When this occurs my body and my mind responds in healthy ways.  The more often I read the Bible the better I appreciate what God has in store for me – the better I understand how much He loves me.

I believe that is one of the secrets to living a really full life…understanding the love God has for us as an individual.  When we really believe this we begin to live it out.  By that I mean that we are better able to develop and sustain habits that honor our body and honor God.  We also are better able to keep our mind on things of God and not things of this world – we are able to FOCUS!

I’m reminded of a song that has been sung many times.  The verse is as follows:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.”

So, allow God’s words…His truths…found in the Bible, to penetrate your heart.  This will bring you a richer and fuller life…and good health, in spirit, mind and body.

Father, thank you for your Word.  Help us to focus and to listen closely to what you have to say to us.  Help us to turn our eyes and our hearts to you.  Thanks for Jesus and His wonderful sacrifice.  It’s in Him that we pray – amen.  

Casey Dacus

Graham, TX

Theme: Listen Up!

Don't let anger get the best of you! 

This you must understand, my beloved brethren. Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20

As I read these verses, the words, “You must understand,” stood out to me.  I realized how very important these scriptures are to my life.  They have the power to change my life and help me achieve righteousness.

The beloved brethren in these verses are you and me.  You may say, I have read these verses many times.  But, can you say, I was slow to speak in every situation the last few days?  When someone corrected your mistakes, did you speak quick words in your defense?  If someone took a “tone” with you that wasn’t appreciated, did you reply with a “tone” of your own?  As I read this scripture and think of the emotions that boiled inside of me in different situations over the past several days, I can say I have not mastered being “Slow to speak and slow to anger.”

Showing anger takes away our ability to bless the other person.  Developing anger disrupts our ability to listen.  Next time I feel anger brewing I plan to be quiet and listen and let the thoughts develop in my mind, while at the same time asking God to help me sort through the words I have heard.  I will also work hard to be certain my tone of voice demonstrates no anger.  There will be nothing easy about it.  I expect it will be hard!  I also know with full confidence that nothing is too hard for God.  He really wants us to ask for help!  When we succeed at controlling our anger we will reflect the righteousness of God.

Prayer

Most Holy Lord,   Help me today to be a good listener and to listen to the still quiet voice within me that comes from you. If I am angered today help me to gain control. Bridle my tongue and calm my thoughts as they churn inside of me. I want to say at the end of the day that I reflected your righteousness. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Terry Smith

Stephenville, Texas

Theme: Listen Up!

“Don’t Run In the House”

My 3-year-old granddaughter, Posey, is a feisty little thing.  A bit too independent for her own good.  She isn’t accident-prone she simply races to the beat of a different drummer.  Don’t run in the house, Posey; watch where you’re going.

She already has a scar on her tiny chin, but the most recent consequence of failure to heed instruction happened in my living room last week.  Running and giggling – ignoring previous warnings – she tripped face-first into the corner of my armoire.  Ouch!

Much blood and many tears later…but enough about me.

We comfort our little ones when they hurt.  We teach them how to avoid getting hurt again.  We hope they’re listening and pray they’ll obey.  We discipline them when we must, and we do it because we love them.  So it is with our heavenly father.

We are 3-year-olds at heart.  We’re headstrong and willful.  We don’t run in the house anymore, and painful tumbles have taught us to watch where we’re going.  Still, we often get hurt and hurt others because we ignore our Father’s instruction.

Sin has painful consequences.  God’s word tells us how to avoid those consequences, and helps us not inflict that pain on others.

Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;

teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning (Proverbs 9:9).

What does God call a grown-up who ignores his instruction?  A fool.

Listen to Wisdom:  For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm (Proverbs 1:32).

Abba Father, in the words of King Solomon, ‘I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.’  I am your servant.  Give me a wise and discerning heart.

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas