DAY #42: November 13, 2010

God's dream for your life. What is it? How do you get it? Some more thoughts today...
Let's look the next few days at the parable of the sower and the seed.

Believe it or not, God wants to speak to you today. He wants to reveal to you Hi plan for your life. His purpose for creating you. He wants to speak to you and me.
(BTW, just so you know, I have never hear God’s audible voice – I have never heard Him say “MIKE, I WANT YOU TO DO THIS OR I WANT YOU TO DO THAT” But, I have heard Him speak to me thousands of time as a Christian – so, how does He do it?)

Primarily, God speaks to us through His word. The Bible is no mere book. This is God's word. The purpose of the Bible is for God to speak to you. That's what it's about. Someone says, "I read my Bible. Why doesn't God ever speak to me?" Maybe it's because you're just not tuned in. The fact is you could go out and buy the finest radio around. A Bose wave radio. But if you don’t tune it in you’re still not going to receive anything. That’s what we want to talk about today and tomorrow – how to tune in to God’s voice, so you can hear from Him.

Look at what Jesus says in Luke 8:8 - "When Jesus said this, he called out, `He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'" Jesus says, If you've got ears, listen!” If you have a heart to hear from me, tune in – dial in - to my voice and message.

In this parable, Jesus explains the four steps of how to hear God speak to you. Luke 8:4 says, "While a large crowd was gathering the people were coming to Jesus from town after town, He told this parable. `A farmer went out to sow seed. As he scattered his seed, some fell along the path and it was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock. When it came up the plants withered because they had no moisture. Others fell among thorns which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still others fell on good soil and came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than what was sown.' When He said this He called out, `He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'"

Jesus is using an illustration of a farmer. This farmer uses the same seed in all four instances but there are four different kinds of soil. The disciples, in verse 9,asked for an explanation. Jesus says that the farmer represents God, the seed represents God's word, and the soil represents my heart.


HOW TO HEAR FROM GOD four steps:
STEP #1: CULTIVATE AN OPEN HEART!

In order to hear God speak, first I've got to want to hear Him speak. I must desire it, be teachable, be receptive, eager and ready to learn, open-minded to God. Many people don't hear God speak because they're close-minded. They don't even consider the possibility that they could hear God speak. They've closed their minds and hardened their hearts. God never gets through.

v. 5 "... some seed fell along the path: it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up."

v. 12 "Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes along and takes away the word from their hearts, so they cannot believe and be saved."

In every field there are footpaths that the farmer walks on between the furrows. Over the period of time, through all the trampling and walking, those foot paths become very hard, almost baked like concrete.

As the farmer threw his seed out in the field (they didn't plant them one by one, they just threw them out there) inevitably some would fall on the hard path. Because it was so hard the seed was not allowed to penetrate the ground. It laid on the top and birds came along and ate it. It never got the chance to take root.

Jesus says the hardened path represents a defensive heart. This is the person with a closed mind. He's unwilling to listen to God. God never gets a chance in his life.

What causes us to be defensive? Why is it that sometimes we don't really want to hear God speak? Three possible ideas:

#1. Fear. Fear makes us defensive against God. We're afraid of what He might say. He might alter my lifestyle. He might make some changes in me. I might have to make some restitution. I might have to do something I really don't want to do. Fear causes us to be defensive against God.

#2. Pride. Pride causes us to be defensive. Maybe I don't think I need God's advise. I can make it on my own. I'm doing OK. I'm my own boss. I don't need God. You know what? I've discovered that pride is just a smoke screen for insecurity. I'm so afraid of my weaknesses I don't want to even admit them to myself. So I become defensive.

#3. Bitterness. Life experiences cause pain. We all get hurt. Sometimes in response to hurt we want to withdraw into a shell, build up a wall and put a crust around us so nobody can get close. We don't want to be vulnerable. "I don't want to be hurt anymore. I was hurt too badly." We put up a wall and even God can't get through that wall. We're bitter and become cynical, callous, hardened. "Why did God let that happen?" We become defensive.

Some of you have been hurt very, very badly. You’ve been betrayed. Some of you have been mislead. Some of you have been abused physically or emotionally or verbally. Some of you have been rejected. You’ve been hurt by a former girlfriend or boyfriend or an ex husband or wife. Or even somebody in the name of Christianity said something to you – a so-called Christian hurt you. Those things pile up in our lives, and we become bitter.

First as your pastor, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you hurt. And God is too. God grieves with you and God hurt when you hurt because God hates to see His children hurt. I don’t know why but when we get hurt sometimes we turn away from the only person who could help us – God. I would say, don’t turn from Him. Turn to Him.

I love you guys. Stay the course. Stay faithful. ENDURE!