HOW ARE YOUR EARS?
ARE YOU WILLING TO HEAR?
Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a resounding NO for most folks!
Along life’s way, our spiritual ears become clogged and shut. Many, including those who consider themselves “believers,” do not want to hear the Truth when it conflicts with their hard-core beliefs, even and especially when the Word they hear is solidly anchored in the Gospel of Jesus. This is so, even if their beliefs are false.
After teaching the “Sermon On The Mount” or “The Beatitudes,” JESUS SAID THIS:
“HE WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR, let him be listening and consider and comprehend by hearing.“
(Matthew 13:9)
Jesus implies a willingness to learn, understand, receive, and act on His Words. The statement reminds me of when Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda if he actually wanted to be healed. (John 5:2-8) In one of His most intense talks, Jesus told us this:
My Words are Spirit and Life! The flesh counts for nothing.
(John 6:63)
False beliefs and opinions are rampant today, especially on social media. Every day, people post, share, and repost religious nonsense not based on TRUTH, and their posts have no positive value because they are not the Words of Jesus. They are, in fact, opinions, cliches, and non-Gospel-connected hooey.
They are precisely what Jesus meant when He declared,
“THE FLESH COUNTS FOR NOTHING.”
JESUS WENT ON TO DECLARE THAT UNLESS WE EAT HIS FLESH (Consume His Words) AND DRINK HIS BLOOD (Believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus guaranteed His every utterance with His blood.) WE HAVE NO LIFE IN US.
(John 6:53)
Jesus described the state of the people of Israel, at the time, He walked the earth in an earth suit like this:
“For this nation’s heart has grown gross, (fat and dull)
and their ears heavy, and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.“
(Matthew 13:15)
Holy Smokes!! I frequently run across people who exactly fit Jesus’s description. Many are front pew sitters at the first church of Unbelief and Works. That is not a statement of judgment or condemnation. Bless their hearts. We all sin and come short of the glory of God. Much of the nonsense they believe was fed to them by the same type of folks standing behind pulpits.
THE WILLINGNESS TO LEARN AND CHANGE IS ONE OF THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM.
It brings us growth, joy, gladness, peace, health, prosperity, eternal salvation, and life with the Holy Spirit.
Before we can learn, understand, and become willing to employ the Words of Jesus, we, individually, must make a commitment to surrender all of our thoughts, holding them captive to the Truth of the Words of Jesus, which are the ONLY TRUTH. Then, we must ingest His Words. Not the opinions or words of others.
Think about this: JESUS IS HIS WORD! (John 1:1) JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY TRUTH AND THE ONLY LIFE! (John 14:6)
Remember the old hymn that says, “ON JESUS THE ROCK I STAND ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND.”
The first step to opening our eyes and ears is to become willing to change. The second is to learn the Gospel of Jesus (The red letters) found in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The rest of the Bible is a pathway for Jesus and what happened after He finished His earthly assignment. We need to learn the red letters before studying other Bible books.
HOW IT WORKS:
WE ARE SPIRITS
GOD THE FATHER, GOD JESUS, GOD HOLY SPIRIT, created us in their image. Some very wrongly believe that God has a body because we do, and we are made in His image. (Genesis 1:26)
JESUS TEACHING THE WOMAN AT THE WELL:
“A time will come, and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and, in Truth;
For the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshippers. GOD IS A SPIRIT, AND THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH!“
(John 4:23:24)
WE SPIRITS LIVE IN BODIES:
We need our bodies to walk on earth and perform the good works that God created for us to do while we are here. Our bodies also house our souls:
WE HAVE A SOUL:
Our souls contain what we call our hearts and our minds.
Our souls are fed by many sources we allow and give access to. We can choose to feed our souls good things or evil, THE TRUTH or untruth. We may feed our souls with the Words of Jesus, the lies of the evil one, or the musings of our flesh.
One of our partners is one of the greatest financial managers and minds in America. He is also a Ph.D. in Psychology.
He teaches us that we are the sum of the things we learn, our life experiences, and, in my opinion, most importantly, the stories we tell ourselves.
All of these components are, in part, the product of what we choose to believe. They are fed by our spiritual ears and eyes and the other sources we ingest. Jesus talked about the good or evil deposits of our hearts. What we deposit in our hearts comes out of our mouths and dictates the pattern of our lives.
(Luke 6:45 and Mark 11:22-24)
We can create and walk in the lives that Jesus died to give us by opening the Spiritual eyes and ears of our hearts and flooding them with the “GOOD (not bad) NEWS OF GREAT JOY, WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE.”
We can also fight to close our ears to the negative bombardment of the cares of this world. Our well-being depends on the quality of the fight we fight against the powers of darkness:
THE POWER OF CHOOSING TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT
Check out this power teaching through Paul as dictated by Holy Spirit:
“Though we live in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. The weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds (one of which is false teachings and non-biblical cliches. Others include negative thoughts and psycho-babble from our minds and listening to the messages of the evil one.), We refute arguments, theories, reasonings, and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we lead every thought and purpose away captive to the obedience of Jesus.”
(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
AN EAR AND EYE EXAM:
Take this exam and ask yourselves if you have open and Spirit-filled eyes and ears. Ask if you believe these truths.
GOD IS NOT IN CONTROL! He chose to give us free will.
(Deuteronomy 30:15, John 3:16, and many others)
JESUS GAVE US THE POWER TO LIVE WITH HIM IN HEAVEN FOREVER. THERE IS ONLY ONE REQUIREMENT: WE MUST BELIEVE IN HIM, PERIOD!
(John 3:16-18, John 6:28-29)
JESUS ALREADY GAVE US EVERYTHING WE WILL EVER NEED OR WANT.
(2 Peter 1:1-4)
ASKING JESUS TO FORGIVE US IS REDUNDANT AND AN INSULT, As He suffered and died to forgive all of our sins past, present, and future once and for all, and He chose to put our sins out of His memory and is unable to recall them.
(Zephaniah 3:17, Isaiah 53:4-5, 1Peter2:24, Psalms 103:1-3 and 12, Revelation 1:5, John 1:29, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:10-18)
JESUS GAVE US HIS POWER, and we can do the exact same things that He did and even greater than them!
(John 14:12)
JESUS GAVE US HIS HOLY SPIRIT! And He will guide us into all Truth and show us the things that are to come!
(John 16:13)
JESUS HEALED EVERY DISEASE, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, BY TAKING THEM AWAY.
(Isaiah 53:4-5, Psalm 103:1-3, Matthew 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:24)
JESUS GAVE US THE POWER TO SPEAK THINGS INTO AND OUT OF EXISTENCE!
(Mark 11:22-24)
JESUS THREW THE EVIL ONE TO EARTH, DEFEATED HIM ON THE CROSS, AND GAVE US DOMINION OVER him AND ALL OF HIS MINIONS, AND NOTHING SHALL IN ANY WISE HARM US!
(LUKE 10:18-19)
So, since Jesus has given us all of our needs and wants and infinite power, how do we pray? Exactly like He did!
Jesus had a huge problem! He was looking at more than fifteen thousand people following Him for several days and now were hungry and needed food.
All He had was five loaves of barley bread and two fish.
Jesus didn’t assemble a prayer group, beg God, or even ask Him to give Him the food He needed! HE SIMPLY GAVE THANKS!
(John 6:11)
So, how did your ears do? If this message rocked your theology, wait until you dig into the meat of the Gospel. You will be amazed at what you learn that you have never known.
