Jeremiah 29:13

We’re going to be looking at listening to God… …in the silence …in community …through Scripture But first… …we’re going to check our hearing.

“Whoever have ears to hear, let them hear.”

"'Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'

1.Distracting junk 2.Distorted pictures of God

1.Hard—don’t receive seed 2.Stony—give up in times of testing 3.Thorny—choked out by cares, riches, & pleasures 4.Ready to hear We are all selfish, arrogant, and short-sighted most of the time—until God changes our hearts. But we may be the last to catch on, and we may have little idea how much our selfish and short-sighted choices are hurting us and the people we care about. What kind of soil are you today?

We probably won’t care about hearing from God if… …we think God is angry at us …we feel like we have to earn God’s approval …we feel like God doesn’t care about us

Yelled at us a lot or hit us… Praised us when we achieved and seldom at other times… Were not there for us, physically or emotionally… We may find it hard to believe that God feels great affection for us, just because we’re his kids. We may see God as angry and impossible to please. We may feel like we always need to do more to to earn God’s approval.

We may not be interested in hearing from God if we picture God not as a loving parent, but as a clockmaker who wound up the universe and then went on a long vacation, leaving us on our own. What is God like? “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

…I first need to trust that  God loves me—wants what is best for me even more than I do  God is wiser than I am, knows better than I do what choices will truly satisfy me. We can only find deep satisfaction when we live for something much bigger than ourselves. We are too small to make satisfactory gods.

Jesus came to show us how to live in tune with the Song universe with the Creator of the universe..

Next week: Listening to God in the silence. “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

To be a reproducing family living out together by the Spirit’s power the countercultural way that Jesus lived and taught— loving God, loving one another, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.