Are you listening ? ( 2 ) ( Revelation 9 v 20 - 21 )

 When Stephen was contending for the faith before Jewish leaders,there came a point ,that they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him ,and when he said, ''I see heaven open and the Son of  Man  standing at the right hand of God'',they covered heir ears.It appears to me that I live in a society that has covered their ears to the voice of God.Oh yes their ears are uncovered to what the world is saying,and what Satan is saying.Why did people listen to the rantings of Hitler?, they were blinded by their prejudices and their pride, and that he had taken them out of poverty. Stephen said to those Jewish leaders,''you always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute,'' (7 v 51 - 52) and he adds how they murdered Jesus the righteous one ,Jesus.I wonder are your ears covered,Martin Luther was a brilliant law student,one day as he was riding a horse,he was caught up in an electric storm.Lighting bolts were everywhere,when suddenly one struck the ground near him,and he fell of his horse,uninjured but   shaken, he cried out to God,'' I will become a monk''.I wonder what it will  take for this world ,this nation,this town,and you, before you listen to God?.

Are you listening?. ( 1 ) ( Hebrews 4 v 7 )

 I had finished reading ,but had not really concentrated on what I read, I am sure we all do this,when I was working,which involved  a lot of driving,sometimes  one didn't concentrate. How many people pray and sing hymns without concentration ,mouth the words,but that's all they are doing,just mouthing words.  In Matthew 11 v 15, Jesus says this,''Whoever has ears,let him hear''.Your wife is talking to you ,when  suddenly she stops talking, and says ,''you are not listening to me'',and then you reply,'' I was'',but you weren't. We smile, because we have all done it,but when Jesus spoke ,and speaks,it is vital that he is listened to. Many of the people Jesus dealt with, had their own agenda,a mind set that refused to listen to what he had to say .When the J Ws  call at ones door, they have a mind set,the result is they are not really listening,to what you have to say,they are  spiritually deaf of course.Often people turn off, when one witness'es to them,they don't want to hear.There will come a day when people will stand before Christ,and protest we did not hear you speaking,Jesus will reply,every time you passed by a church building ,I was speaking, every time Christmas came I was speaking,every time  Easter came, I was speaking,every time you saw a cross I was speaking,every  time you where offered a gospel tract I was speaking, every time you attended a funeral I was speaking Yes I was speaking,but you were not listening.

Are you Jesus? ( 1 Samuel 12 v 1 - 5 )

 Jeremiah that OT prophet who was called to minister to Judah which included also the small tribe of Benjamin ,although they are anonymous.So for 40 yrs he did just that,it was a very difficult calling,he is called the weeping prophet.The wonderful thing was ,he was faithful,faithfulness is what God requires from those who know Christ as Saviour. That was a big challenge for Jeremiah,he experienced many difficulties,he had to tell the people things they didn't want to hear.Again dear Christian we are all called to tell people things they don't want to hear. R.K.Harrison writing about the true prophet says, they laid exemplary lives,and that the divine word within them was like a fire which consumed whatever was unworthy and made them persons of absolute integrity'. Likewise for all Christians ,our lives should show the reality of what it means to be a Christian,What does that mean?, it means we are to be honest, morally upright,manifesting good works ( Mt 5 v 16). A little boy went up to a missionary and asked him,are you Jesus?,of course he wasn't Jesus,but we should show forth in some degree Jesus in our lives.

It is raining. ( Psalm 30 v 5 )

The summer is gone,so we are getting more grey wet days,it  seems we have an attitude that its only a nice day if the sun shines.I suppose that's why many people go and live in sunny countries. Sometimes when it  rains I am reminded of words from an old Al  Jolson song, called, 'April showers', 'Though April showers  may come your way ,they bring the flowers that bloom in May.So if it's raining have no regrets,because it is'nt rain you know,it's raining violets. And when you see clouds upon the hills,you soon will see clouds of daffodils.So keep on looking for a Blue Bird,and listening for a song,when ever April showers come along'. What the writer is saying look beyond  those showers,as to what they produce,take those who are enduring terrible trials,I have just been reading about recently ,how Christians in Islamic countries who are   suffering dreadfully.It is the apostle Paul who suffered so much,was guided by God's Holy Spirit to write  'we also glory in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance,  perseverance,character, and character, hope.( Romans 5 v 3 - 4 )John Stott writes,' Suffering can  be productive,if we respond to it, positively, and not with anger or bitterness'.Most of all it produces ,hope,a hope that does not disappoint us.J S further writes,'What is the ultimate ground on which our Christian hope rests, our hope of glory.?. The reason our hope  will never let us down is that God will never let us down. His love will never give us up', Charles Swindoll writes,'We need to listen. In the sound of the rain, the Spirit of God sings silent lyrics with a distinct rhythm,discernible only to our souls through the ears of faith'.

Wisdom ( 2 ) ( James 3 v 13 - 18 )

It is William Shakespeare who wrote of the,' the quality of  mercy', but what about the quality of wisdom,  that other wisdom, that comes from God. This is a different type of wisdom from the earthly wisdom, William Barclay  writes,  'Wisdom  is not philosophic speculation, and intellectual knowledge.Wisdom is for life'.It is vital to  the Christians well being.How do we acquire this wisdom?well we turn to James 1 v 7 ,which reads,'If any  of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God,who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it shall be given him',he stresses that we should ask in faith not doubting .(v 8) Remember God's  wisdom is  very important,and we have a whole book to prove it ,Proverbs.Consider the qualities that this wisdom will  bring to you,'purity,peace love,considerate,submissiveness,mercy,good fruits,impartiality ,sincerity and last  but not least, being a peacemaker'. My, what wonderful  qualities they are,and if we are to be  the Christians we should be, these are the qualities we need, I know I do, what about you?.

Wisdom (1) James 3 v 13 - 18 )

I recently heard  a preacher mention ,'The perfect wisdom of God',Many who suffer loss of a love one,may wonder why,  because it seems so unfair, they may even might think God is cruel,..The perfect  wisdom of God,comes from the God who is love, he is never cruel.In James 3 we are told of two types of wisdom,one we are told is earthly,unspiritual, demonic,from where you have envy selfish ambition and evil practices.  The world is full of that kind of wisdom, John Blanchard calls it the wisdom from Hell,it is a wisdom that follows man basic instincts ,they are following their fallen nature,and William Barclay says,''it source is not God, but the devil. Douglas J. Moo,says,' Some who pride themselves on their wisdom and understanding are displaying a jealous, bitter partisanship that is the antithesis of the meekness produced by true wisdom''.This is wisdom does not only display itself in the world, where you would expect it to, but unfortunately  in the church of Christ,as was evident in the church of Corinth,it may be evident in your church,and you may be the one who is manifesting it.

Desperate ( Luke 13 v 22 - 30 )

 When I young, a long time ago ,we used to buy a comic for children,and one of the characters in the comic was called Desperate Dan,a big brute of man, it was harmless, but I don't know why they called him Desperate. That was his name,Desperate,what does the word mean?,it is an adjective,meaning a sense of hopelessness,that one is in a situation that is bad, that is impossible to deal with. I quote what follows from an article ,by  a minister  Roderick Strange,he was writing about a person called Bartimaeus who was blind,and he was a beggar,we read about him in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10 v 46 ff .He lived in Jericho,he heard that Jesus was passing,  Jesus the healer,the teacher,the Son of David,here was  an answer to his prayers,so he cried out, 'Jesus, Son of David ,have mercy on me'.The crowds were not interested in a beggar ,and so told him to be quite,but he would not shut up,he kept calling out all the more,you see he was desperate,this was not a game of trivial pursuit .Roderick writes the following,'There is a moving line in the prophecy of Jeremiah, it reads''If you seek Me with all your heart, I will let you find  Me'. The search with all the heart does not refer to effort, but rather to deep longing. The prophet is not saying'' Providing you work hard enough, you will succeed'', offering a reward in proportion to effort,.but rather,when your longing is deep- seated ,you will discover what you desire. Yet the discovery will come as a  gift;''I will let you find Me''. Just in closing ,Jesus did heal him.