Listening to God

Listening to God
James 1:19-22
Listening to God
Not listening to God has eternal consequences
- Exodus 7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
God’s blessing if they would listen
- Deut 15:5 the Lord will certainly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

Listening to God
Israel would not listen
- Isaiah 6:9-10 “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not understand; And keep on looking, but do not gain knowledge.’ 10 Make the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes blind, So that they will not see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
- Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.


Listening to God
Would we make the same mistakes
- Hebrews 3:7-8 “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Listening to God
Listening is the way to wisdom (or folly)
- Proverbs 1:5-7 A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel…7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- 8:6-8 Listen, for I will speak noble things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things. 7 For my mouth will proclaim truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
- 23:19-21 Proverbs 23:19-21 Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way. . 20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; 21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

Listening to God
Sometimes not hearing is due to stubbornness
- 2 Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Sometimes failing to hear is just due to carelessness
- A matter of courtesy
- Listening to others shows respect
Listening to God
Do we show respect for God?
- Hebrews 1:1-2 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world.
- Heb 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.

Listening to God
We don’t hear because we are distracted
- Luke 10:38-42 He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
- Luke 8:14 And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked by worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

Listening to God
The way to focus on the important
- Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Listening to God
We serve a God who is a good listener
- Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me on the day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
- Jeremiah 33:3‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
- Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!



Listening to God
James 1:19-22
Listening to God
James 1:19-22