Skip to main content

Oh Hear Them

  I wonder at times if I developed reverse speaking in tongues.  Instead of the ability to speak and the person hear me in their native language, it seems when I speak to a person it is as if I am just speaking gibberish.

  Ok, I know it is not really that. It is not my language that is off but people just are not paying attention. If a person is unwilling to listen it does not matter if I am speaking English or Cantonese they will not understand.

  When God wanted to separate people, he confused their language (Genesis 11). When he had a message for the entire world, he made it so everyone heard it in their own language (Acts 2).

"And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?  …—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God."

Acts 2:8-11 

  Are we listening to those who are telling us God’s message today? I often hear people criticize preachers that they are not preaching the lessons they should. That may be the case sometimes but I know that often it is not the lack of content but the lack of listening. I have been told you need to preach on such and such and I’ve just recently done a lesson on that very topic.  It is not that it has been said but rather we are not hearing it.

  An open heart is as important to hearing as open ears. The problem isn’t we are speaking two different languages it is we are not listening to the one we are hearing!

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mighty Gulf

  It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding.  To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two.   Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God?   In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...
Post a Comment
Read more