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Sunday 24 May - Listening
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Thank you for joining me this week. I want to look back over the last three weeks a bit before digging into the message this week. Our theme will be Listening but first let’s read our Bible passages from 1 Samuel chapter 3 and then Psalms.
1 Samuel 3 (NIV) The Lord Calls Samuel
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel”! And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Psalm 19:1-4 For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Understanding - how to follow instructions
Over the past three weeks we have looked at a number of things:
It should not be a surprise then when I say, this week I want us to look at the biggest part of prayer, listening! Listening in its broadest sense, as our readings show us, includes listening with our ears obviously, but also includes listening:
Take the story of a man, caught in a flood and the television and radio said everyone living in his area should evacuate to higher ground. The man thought he would pray for God to help. The police turned up in a big 4 x 4 and said they would take him to the shelter on higher ground. The man said he would stay and pray to God to help.
The flood level continued to rise and when the man had to move to the upstairs in the house the Fire and Rescue Service came in a boat to take him the shelter on higher ground and again the man said he would pray to God to help. Eventually the man had to climb into the attic and out of a skylight. A helicopter flying overhead saw him and offered to take him to the shelter on higher ground and once again the man said no, he would ask God to help.
Well you guessed it, the man drowned and went to heaven. There he complained to God for not answering his prayers to which God replied, "I knew there would be a flood so I had the radio and television play warnings, I sent the police and fire service, I even sent a helicopter, why didn’t you listen?"
Apparently, our ability to gather information is only about 40% verbal and of that the intonation and punctuation makes up more that half. Only 20% is down to the words themselves. That is why we need to understand through honest reflection, the ways in which our prayers have been answered.
If I didn’t know the love God had for me, that would have been terrifying. But this experience means I can now tell you, that God will be gentle with you as you learn to listen to his still small voice as it is often referred to. I don’t know if you are in the habit of sharing testimonies here or not. Some churches are, whilst other churches don’t.
By praying, listening and reflecting, then sharing we can build the faith of the body of the church.
That is why I would like to share another example of my prayers being answered! First, let me explain: -
I have a bad memory, particularly for people’s names. I am mildly dyslexic. Not enough to stop me getting on but it means reading is a major challenge for me, almost piecing together the letters into words and the words into sentences. It means I may read a paragraph four or five times before I understand it. I flunked languages at school, from doing really well with French I was given both French and German classes the following year. I was the first person my teachers had seen who could apply French grammar to German words and as a result failed both. You can imagine then what my feelings and my thoughts were like, when folks suggested I should be a minister.
I couldn’t remember what the Bible said.
I couldn’t remember who was who in a congregation.
I couldn’t study Greek or Hebrew let alone both at the same time.
I couldn’t give up work to go to university as I had a family to keep and bills to pay.
I couldn’t be a minister!
When I learned to listen, when I learned to pray humbly, sincerely and earnestly however my prayer became I will push on this door and if it is your will please allow it to open but if it is not your will please hold it firmly shut!
God actually opened the door, he met me in my studies, he has been my constant companion since, even when I ignore him. Google books gave me the quotations I needed to pass my exams. I did do my part and read around the quotation to check the context was appropriate. God found a way for me to continue working and study part time.
God found a way to help me with Greek and Hebrew when I needed to explore these languages.
I can’t, is still in my vocabulary, more so now, but in a different way. I now know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me to be a truth. A short quotation out of my love letter. Now before I say “yes” I listen as best I am able for God saying come! If I believe God isn’t telling me to come, I say no, and then it is usually because he has me doing something else instead.
In finishing then, you will have heard the saying, "When someone says jump, the response should be, How high?" I would suggest that biblically that is a miss understanding! A bit like Samuel thinking it was Eli calling him! It should be, that when God says jump, we should respond with - was that high enough?. That way we will always be ready to follow his instruction and that is the basis of my covenant with God. I will do my best if he will do the rest. He always has, so I know he always will.
I pray you too can find that same truth.
1 Samuel 3 (NIV) The Lord Calls Samuel
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel”! And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Psalm 19:1-4 For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Understanding - how to follow instructions
Over the past three weeks we have looked at a number of things:
- On the 3rd May we looked at “Confession or Conversation” and conversation implies listening!
- Then on the 10th May we looked at Expectancy and how we should “Ask” and expect to receive! I made the suggestion that having asked, we should reflect on our prayers to see when they are answered and I would also suggest that could constitute a form of listening just as we were told in the reading from Psalm 19!
- Then last week, the 17th May, I was looking at Partnership and one can’t have a partnership without conversation so, once again we have listening as a core theme.
It should not be a surprise then when I say, this week I want us to look at the biggest part of prayer, listening! Listening in its broadest sense, as our readings show us, includes listening with our ears obviously, but also includes listening:
- to what we see
- what we smell and
- what we feel.
Take the story of a man, caught in a flood and the television and radio said everyone living in his area should evacuate to higher ground. The man thought he would pray for God to help. The police turned up in a big 4 x 4 and said they would take him to the shelter on higher ground. The man said he would stay and pray to God to help.
The flood level continued to rise and when the man had to move to the upstairs in the house the Fire and Rescue Service came in a boat to take him the shelter on higher ground and again the man said he would pray to God to help. Eventually the man had to climb into the attic and out of a skylight. A helicopter flying overhead saw him and offered to take him to the shelter on higher ground and once again the man said no, he would ask God to help.
Well you guessed it, the man drowned and went to heaven. There he complained to God for not answering his prayers to which God replied, "I knew there would be a flood so I had the radio and television play warnings, I sent the police and fire service, I even sent a helicopter, why didn’t you listen?"
Apparently, our ability to gather information is only about 40% verbal and of that the intonation and punctuation makes up more that half. Only 20% is down to the words themselves. That is why we need to understand through honest reflection, the ways in which our prayers have been answered.
- We can discern answer to prayer from what others can tell us, which we call testimony. My story of Alan last week is a true story, it did happen to me as I told you. That story is an example of testimony!
- It can happen through a feeling. Take for example when my dad would say “someone had walked over his grave” – a shiver to be more exact. I can often feel the mildest and most gentle shiver when I am praying. In reflecting on my prayers, I have come to realise this feeling is a bit like that still small voice of God saying “I hear you”. On one occasion as I was about to go on a short prayer walk, I felt this feeling start but it changed until it felt as if I was being held back, almost crushing in power, but somehow not in the least scary. As I stopped trying to step forward, the crush stopped. “Wait”, was what I discerned that I was hearing from God.
If I didn’t know the love God had for me, that would have been terrifying. But this experience means I can now tell you, that God will be gentle with you as you learn to listen to his still small voice as it is often referred to. I don’t know if you are in the habit of sharing testimonies here or not. Some churches are, whilst other churches don’t.
By praying, listening and reflecting, then sharing we can build the faith of the body of the church.
That is why I would like to share another example of my prayers being answered! First, let me explain: -
I have a bad memory, particularly for people’s names. I am mildly dyslexic. Not enough to stop me getting on but it means reading is a major challenge for me, almost piecing together the letters into words and the words into sentences. It means I may read a paragraph four or five times before I understand it. I flunked languages at school, from doing really well with French I was given both French and German classes the following year. I was the first person my teachers had seen who could apply French grammar to German words and as a result failed both. You can imagine then what my feelings and my thoughts were like, when folks suggested I should be a minister.
I couldn’t remember what the Bible said.
I couldn’t remember who was who in a congregation.
I couldn’t study Greek or Hebrew let alone both at the same time.
I couldn’t give up work to go to university as I had a family to keep and bills to pay.
I couldn’t be a minister!
When I learned to listen, when I learned to pray humbly, sincerely and earnestly however my prayer became I will push on this door and if it is your will please allow it to open but if it is not your will please hold it firmly shut!
God actually opened the door, he met me in my studies, he has been my constant companion since, even when I ignore him. Google books gave me the quotations I needed to pass my exams. I did do my part and read around the quotation to check the context was appropriate. God found a way for me to continue working and study part time.
God found a way to help me with Greek and Hebrew when I needed to explore these languages.
I can’t, is still in my vocabulary, more so now, but in a different way. I now know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me to be a truth. A short quotation out of my love letter. Now before I say “yes” I listen as best I am able for God saying come! If I believe God isn’t telling me to come, I say no, and then it is usually because he has me doing something else instead.
In finishing then, you will have heard the saying, "When someone says jump, the response should be, How high?" I would suggest that biblically that is a miss understanding! A bit like Samuel thinking it was Eli calling him! It should be, that when God says jump, we should respond with - was that high enough?. That way we will always be ready to follow his instruction and that is the basis of my covenant with God. I will do my best if he will do the rest. He always has, so I know he always will.
I pray you too can find that same truth.