IMPROVING YOUR HEARING
The goal of this series to discover the secrets of great relationships, to challenge you, and above all equip you, to grow in your ability to conduct healthy, loving, lasting relationships.
Why is hearing important?
John 15:14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
There’s no true friendship without effective listening, hearing and doing (in that order)
I believe it’s the reason couples say, “I do” to be married, as opposed to, “I hear”
Faith comes by Hearing
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Furthermore, no matter how much some try, they can’t hear. Mark 4:11
Thankfully, Jesus said, “To you it has been given to know that mystery of the kingdom of God;”
Now this leads us into the relationship between sensitivity and identity
(Mark 7) The disciples of John the Baptist would be less sensitive if they recall their leader was The Messiah’s forerunner as opposed to His sidekick.
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Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Isaiah 6:9-10
And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
“Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
Hearing with your Heart
Jesus said that heart content determines if our heart get content
John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."
Do you believe the one you’re listening to and are you listening to the one you believe?
The heart is made for believing
Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
MARK 4
In the parable of the sower, hearts that were too stony thought the seed was too dry - no moisture of compassion to cool seed.
Hearts that were thorny, thought the seed was too broken to grow.
Some fell by the wayside. This happens when friends have been replaced by (social media) followers. Your post is only another feed on their way to buying and selling. No room for you in the soil of their hearts.
John 14:28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Mark 4:9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
What you retain is a function of what you contain.
What you make of things depends on what things you are made of.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
Jesus loved him, because Jesus listened with His eyes to see the weight of treasures the rich ruler was under.
Romans 10:14 says how will they believe if they haven’t heard. However, to better understand how they will hear, we need to look at.
John 4:48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
Hearing with your Deeds
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Doing usually requires more steps than the preamble
When one listens with the heart of doing, deeper understanding is sought, keener attention is paid and more genuine engagement with the speaker obtains. Remember how much details are in scriptures describing the temple - it had to be built, that’s why.
Coming up at Influencers...
