Introduction
Today, the message of my speech is "A Listening Heart." A listening heart. I am reading the Bible, and suddenly the Holy Spirit says to me, "Do you have a listening heart?" Do you have a listening heart? A listening heart means the ears of your heart are open, so that you hear God with your heart. That you hear God with the ears of your heart. The saints, the children of God, heard God with the ears of their hearts. We physically have two ears, we listen; right now as I speak, you are listening, you hear with your ears. But God speaks to us in spirit. God is Spirit. We must hear God with the ears of our spirit. Amen.
Are the ears of your spirit open, beloved soul? Today my theme is: are your spiritual ears open? There is a hearing ear, and there is a deaf ear, you know? There is a hearing ear, and there is a deaf ear. We must hear the word of God with our ears, with all our mind, with all our soul.
The Prophecies of Matthew and Isaiah
I read in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, there Jesus speaks about ears, beloved people of God... Matthew 13 from verse 13. Jesus was speaking to the people in parables. 13, 13...
"Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."
It's interesting, isn't it? Seeing they see and do not see; hearing they hear and do not hear. They are spiritually blind, they are spiritually deaf, seeing and not seeing, hearing and not hearing. That is why He speaks in parables, to open their minds.
"And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.'" Amen.
So where does healing come from? From hearing. Those who listen will be healed. Those who listen; and listening brings not only faith, but also healing, and listening brings obedience too. We must listen so we can obey... we must listen to the Lord's word so we can be healed and gain understanding, beloved people of God. That is why it is very important for every single one of us, individually, to say, "Lord, open the ears of my heart so I can hear Your voice." Amen. Open the ears of my heart so I can hear Your voice.
Abraham's spiritual ears were open, dear people. Do you remember Abraham's test? God told Abraham, take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham didn't doubt; he didn't say, "Satan is putting this thought, this word into my mind." Because his hearing was spiritually developed, he took Isaac and went to offer the sacrifice... Oh, a listening ear! Amen. May God give us listening ears, beloved people of God. It is very important, very, very important that we have listening ears, and we must ask the Lord, saying, "Lord, give us a listening ear"... Give us a listening ear so we may hear Your voice.
Solomon the Wise and the Listening Heart
Satan speaks too, you should know... Satan whispers. And for example, to Solomon. In 1 Kings (Third Book of Kings), 1 Kings chapter 3, it speaks about hearing, that Solomon... God said to Solomon... God appeared to Solomon in Gibeon, and God said to Solomon (1 Kings chapter 3, verse 5):
"At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said..." The Lord says to Solomon. "Ask! What shall I give you?" And Solomon said: "You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne... Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart..."
An understanding heart... below it says an understanding heart... The Armenian translation says 'understanding heart', but the Hebrew says "Give a listening heart." The Lord... Solomon answers the Lord, he says, give me a listening heart! That is, open the ears of my heart so I can hear. Solomon understood that he was entering into a heavy task, and he needed a listening heart from the Lord to make decisions, to make the right decisions. That's why he asked the Lord: give me an understanding heart, meaning, give me a listening heart. Did the Lord give Solomon a listening, understanding heart or not? And he says: "Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"
This word, this request of Solomon, pleased the Lord. God said to him... "Because you have asked this thing..." meaning, what did you ask? You asked for a listening heart. You asked for this—it pleases me... It is pleasing to God that we have a listening heart, a listening ear, so that like Solomon we make right decisions, beloved people. Especially those of us who serve need a listening heart to make the right decisions, beloved people of God...
"Then God said to him (verse 11): 'Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice... behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.'" Hallelujah, amen!
Do we see that after this Solomon... they brought two women before Solomon, do you remember? After this, what a right decision Solomon made! Why? Because he had an understanding heart. We need an understanding heart. We need listening ears from the Lord, beloved people of God, so that we can hear the Lord's voice; we must ask and say, "Lord, give us a listening ear."
Give a listening ear so we can hear Your voice. Lord... Satan speaks too, you know, Satan whispers. And for us to have a listening heart, we must ask, saying, also give us an appetite to eat Your word, because Your word opens us up, Your word gives us wisdom, Your word is a lamp to our feet, Your word illuminates us. We need it, don't we, dear people? May God help us and have mercy.
God as Our Healer and Shepherd
And I want to read Exodus chapter 15, the thought is about listening. Exodus chapter 15, those who have Bibles, please open them... Please, Exodus chapter 15, verse 26. It says the following... Exodus 15, verse 26 says the following:
"And said, 'If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.'"
In another translation it says, "I am the Lord your healer." Do you want the Lord to be our healer, dear people? So, for the Lord to be our healer, what must we do? We must listen to the Lord's voice. Today, division and destruction in churches happen because they do not listen to the Lord's voice. Jesus told His disciples: "My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me." Is it true or not? Gospel of John chapter 10... The Good Shepherd, Jesus says this, right? And they will be one flock when they listen to the Lord's voice. Gospel of John chapter 10, verse 27: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." My sheep will hear My voice and follow Me. When should we follow Jesus? When we hear the Lord's voice, beloved people of God.
So, beloved people of God, when Jesus was speaking and saying that for you to be one heart, one flock, one shepherd, they must listen to My voice. So unity comes from listening. Why is there no unity? Because ears are not open... If they listen to the Lord's voice, there will be unity. There must be one flock and one shepherd, Jesus says, beloved people of God. Therefore, we need to ask the Lord, "Lord, help us, just as You told Your apostles; if you hear My voice, you will be My sheep and follow Me." You will not follow another! I have kept lambs, kept sheep... When I took the lambs to graze, if they mixed with other lambs, I would call with my voice, I would call, and the lambs would listen to my voice and come. Why? Because I spent a lot of time with them, I took them out to graze a lot. They recognized my voice. But they didn't recognize a stranger's voice. In the same way, Jesus' children do not listen to Satan's voice. They hear Satan's voice, but they do not answer.
Being Deaf to Sin
Isaiah chapter 42, verse 18 says... "Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see..." How does a deaf person hear, dear people? A deaf person doesn't hear. What won't a deaf person hear? He won't hear Satan's whispers... "Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger..." Who is this talking about? It's talking about Jesus. Jesus was deaf; He did not listen to Satan. Do you remember Jesus' temptations? Matthew chapter 4, the temptations of Jesus, three temptations, where Satan spoke to Him. He approached with words, tempting Jesus. But what did Jesus answer? He answered with the word of God. He did not submit to Satan; He was deaf, His ears were closed to Satan. That is why God wants us to be deaf to sin. Amen! But our ears should be open to the word of God.
"Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable..." How did Jesus exalt and honor the Lord's law? By fulfilling the Lord's word. He fulfilled righteousness, glorified it, exalted it. Beloved people of God, if we are deaf, we will lift up the Lord's law. We will glorify the Lord like Jesus. That is why God wants us to be deaf to sin, like Jesus. Are we deaf? Do we accept Satan's whispers or not? Do we distinguish the word of God, the word of the Holy Spirit, from the word of Satan?
But Jesus did not listen, and He justified. Do you remember when Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized with water? Gospel of Matthew chapter 3... John the Baptist said, I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? What did Jesus answer? He said, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Did Jesus need salvation, water baptism? So what did He say? "Permit it to be so now, to fulfill all righteousness." That is, what righteousness? It means, to fulfill the Lord's word. Because the Lord had sent John to baptize Jesus with water, remember? And Jesus said, allow us now to fulfill righteousness. Therefore, the Lord's law is not only for salvation but to fulfill righteousness, just as Jesus did. If we do not do Satan's will, we lift up the Lord's law. The Lord is glorified and magnified, just as Jesus glorified Him... There was no deceit in Jesus' mouth, there was no sin in Him... The Lord's law was in His spirit, in His heart, and He answered with the word, He answered with the Lord's word. So in the course of our lives, during all temptations, we must use the Lord's word, beloved people. We ourselves cannot conquer sin. We cannot overcome sin by our own efforts, our cleverness, or our knowledge. Instead, we must keep the Lord and His word in our hearts, so we can fulfill righteousness and lift up the Lord's grace, just as our Savior did, beloved people of God. May God help us and have mercy.
Entering the Lord's Rest
And in Psalm 95 it says the following, beloved people, verse 6 speaks about listening:
"Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 'Do not harden your hearts...'" As in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness... "'When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work... For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.' So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.''"
To enter the Lord's rest, what must we do? We must listen to the Lord's voice. To enter the Lord's rest, we must hear the Lord's voice, beloved people of God. Just as the people of Israel did not listen... and did not enter the Lord's rest. Will we listen? Will we enter the heavenly kingdom? Amen! May God give us a listening heart, a listening ear, so that we may hear the Lord's voice. Hear the Lord's voice so we can walk behind our Shepherd. David says, "The Lord is my Shepherd..." in Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters..." Are you the Lord's sheep? David says, the Lord is my shepherd. So he was also the Lord's sheep, right? Do you want the Lord to be our shepherd? Amen! We must listen to the Lord's voice for the Lord to be our shepherd. So He can deliver us from Satan's hand; and He has delivered us, for we were dead in sin and iniquity... What did He do? The Savior gave us resurrection, made us alive, so that we would listen to the Lord's voice, dear people.
Have you prayed all this time saying, "Lord, give me a listening heart"? If you haven't prayed, today is the time to say, Lord, give us a listening ear... Give us a listening heart like Solomon, so we can make the right decisions. It's important for us, isn't it, dear people? Lord, give us a listening ear to hear Your voice, so we may be healed. Hear Your voice so we have faith, because faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Without listening you cannot have faith, without listening you cannot be healed, without listening you can do nothing. We have heard that next Saturday is communion, the brother says... those who don't come, don't listen. Who listens? He who hears and does. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." Whoever hears and acts puts their foundation on the rock, on Jesus. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall. Why? Because it was founded on the rock. Why? Because they have a listening ear! Amen.
But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, what are they like? Jesus says they are like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The winds come, the floods rise, the winds blow and beat on that house, and it falls and is washed away... because it is on the sand. The Rock is Jesus... The sand is Satan. It's not worth building a foundation on Satan's ground, because it will be destroyed and lead to ruin. Jesus came to save, but Satan to destroy; that's why he is called the son of perdition, because he deceives people and leads them to destruction. But Jesus leads to eternal life. Amen!
Summary, Call, and Prayer
What should God give us? A listening heart. May God give us listening ears. Am I boring you, dear people? Don't sleep! I see a few are already sleeping. Don't sleep, wake up, God is speaking to you today. Did we come here to sleep, or to listen? We have a house to sleep in, but we came here to listen, dear people... One day I asked someone, "Brother, are you listening to what I'm saying?" I saw he was asleep. He says, "Yes." I said, yes, what am I talking about? He says, "You're talking about Jesus." I said, what thought am I speaking on? He says, "You're talking about Jesus." Let it not be that I ask from here, brother, what am I talking about, and you say "the mountain neighborhood" [a distraction]... Don't be offended if I say, wake up sister, or brother. Or if I fall asleep, wake me up too, say, where did you go, you're talking about the mountain neighborhood.
Beloved people of God, there is a song like that, right? "Lord, I will hear Your voice today," right? We have a song like that. Angels, I'm telling the choir you are angels... Truly angels, you make me rejoice. We should also pray at home for our angels to bring us joy. Amen! I rejoice for them, because they make me cry a lot. Why? Because I open my ears. When I open my ears, I cry; when I have them closed, I don't cry. How can a sleeping person cry? A sleeping person is in a mystery, or in a dream. But a listening person hears and cries. I want my people to have a listening ear. Amen! I want my wife to have a listening ear, my children to have a listening ear, to hear God's voice. Amen, dear people.
Let us stand before the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to give us a listening ear. Amen! Who agrees? Do we all agree that God should give us a listening ear?
Blessed glory to You... Our King God, our refuge God, our healer God... Glory be to You, Jesus. For giving us listening ears, glory to You... For we are the people of Your pasture, we are Your lambs, Lord... Glory to You, give us a listening ear, give us an understanding heart, so that we may hear Your voice, that You may be our healer, You may be our shepherd, and lead us. Glory to You! Help us not to listen to the voice of a stranger; let us be deaf like You... Help us not to hear Satan's voice, just as You did not hear... Help us to lift up Your law, Lord, to fulfill righteousness, my Savior. Glory to You. I pray for my people, and for myself, Lord, give us a listening ear, Jesus... give us a listening heart...
