Are You Listening?

I have a very sobering word for us today. It's, it's not a pretty sermon. It's not going to be floral and it's delivery, eloquent in its wording, but it's truthful nonetheless. Matthew 11, Jesus was speaking in verse 15 when He simply said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." I don't know about you, but that pretty much qualifies everybody. And if you look around the room, I feel safe to say that 100 of us in the room have ears, and I would dare say that the overwhelming majority of us can hear with said ears. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Revelations 3:22: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Again, the qualification for inclusion was ears.

This message came, burst out of a simple passing comment that Brother Morgan gave on the Saturday morning session, the senior pastors, and it has just settled in my spirit. I can't get away from it. I've molded over, I rolled it around, and usually when it hangs around long enough, I'll go ahead and decide, "Well, Lord, You probably put it there for a reason. I guess we'll talk about it." So I want to preach for just a few minutes today: Are you listening?

If I had to sum up the world we're living in today and was only given two words to use, I would use this phrase: organized chaos. For a while, I worked at Vanderbilt Medical University Hospital. I had done my clinical rotation for school there for a couple of semesters, and they hired me on as a student, and I worked and actually was able to get myself a full-time position before transferring to the hospital here in Murfreesboro. I enjoyed my time there. It was quite an eye-opening experience to be at the main trauma center in the metropolitan area. If you want to go and learn and see all that there is to do in the medical field, you want to go to where all the action's at.

Someone asked me one time, "How would I describe working in the trauma unit up on 10 North at Vanderbilt University Hospital?" I said, "Organize chaos. That's the best way I know how to describe it." Because, man, when it comes at you, it comes at you all at once, and you just kind of got to hang on, and you got to go back to your training. You got to go back to what you know, you've been taught to do.

And I feel like if I could sum up our world today, it would be organized chaos. And I use those words on purpose. It's very chaotic, and it's organized. It's intentional. There's a spirit behind what's going on. It's okay. You know, you don't have to be loud today. I just be sure that you're listening.

So many distractions. So much information. Such a fast-paced world that we live in. Noise, information, chaos, distraction. Noise, information, chaos, distraction. Noise, information, chaos. We are constantly talking, texting, tweeting, chatting, snapping, clipping, blipping, burping. Stuff's going on all the time. People say they're doing things now, and it almost sounds offensive, and I don't know if it's a technical term or if they're just meaning to be offensive.

Even when we're listening, we are continually chattering in our brain, formulating answers or reaching to what is being said. We are all talking. We are all communicating. But who's really listening? We may hear what's being said, but are we really listening?

What is listening, anyway? I can tell you what listening is not. Listening is not reacting. That's not listening. Listening is not talking. No, that's not listening. Listening is not thinking. It's not what someone tells you it is. I could describe it to you, but my description is not listening. It's merely a description. I could describe water to you, but me describing water will never quench your thirst.

When a person is listening, there are no reactions. There are no thinking. There are no talking. There are no judging. There is me listening. There is only you. There is no what I want to say. There is simply being present in the moment to absorb what is going on.

Preaching, what I'm doing right now, assumes listening. As a preacher, I want people to listen. In church, often I'll even raise my voice so that people can hear me. We have a sound system installed here. We have devices that help people hear if they need assistance in their listening. Right now, as I'm preaching, there's translation going on to people who, who need a translation into the Spanish language. We record our services. We, we archive them. They are being live stream right now. People are watching us right now, and they are enjoying our church service along with us.

Seven times in the Bible, John wrote, "He that hath an ear, let him hear." He was writing that to the churches as he was writing the book of Revelation. Why the repetition? Why did he say it repeatedly in just a couple of chapters? The reason is simple: because nobody was listening. Nobody was paying attention to what was going on. It had nothing to do with him having a muffled voice or it being an audible. People were choosing to not listen. People were intentionally not hearing what God was wanting to say.

Did you know this, this is, this is a little, little, little piece of trivia for anyone in here who likes having little nuggets of things to hang on to. Do you know how many times the English word listen is, is translated in the King James Version Bible? Listen was only put in there one time in the KJV. Now, you can go to the New King James and other, you know, you'll see listen more often, but it's only one time in the King James. That English word, there is shema. Now, it was actually translated many times. In fact, 785 times it was translated: 196 of those it was harkin, 81 obey, 17 published, nine understand, eight obedient, eight diligently, six show, three sound, three declare, two discern, two noise, two perceived, two tail, and two reported.

But what are we supposed to be listening to? What are we supposed to be hearkening to? Take Adam and Eve, for example. After all, we like to point fingers in the sign blame. Let's go back to where it all started, there in the Garden of Eden.

They had been given instructions. Genesis 2:16 says, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."

I know about you, but I mean, I read that, I feel like it's pretty self-explanatory. I feel like God was really direct. I don't think He beat around the bush. I don't think there would be a real reason to question on what the directive was. It's there. That's what God said directly to him. But Adam and Eve failed. They heard the voice of God, but they did not follow His command.

In fact, we read in chapter 3 simply this, verse number 6: "And when the woman" — this is Eve — "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did." He, they, they were only restricted from one tree, only one. And it says that Eve saw that the fruit was good. She was seeing, but she wasn't hearing.

We've got to be careful, because the enemy's going to do his dead-level best to get you to see things, to forget what you've heard. Oh, right, right here in it. And I'm not going to do a deep dive into this for the sake of time today, but the servant distracted them and had five things that he wanted them to see.

Number one, he wanted her, she wanted, he wanted Adam and Eve to, to question whether or not God's Word was true. Because God said in chapter 2, of all the trees you may freely eat, except the tree of the knowledge of goodness — one exception. And then the enemy shows up, and his first question — you can study out later, just go to chapter three and just start reading, you only right there from the beginning, the, the serpent simply says this right off the bat. The very first thing he says is, is, "Did God say you can't eat of any of these trees?" Now, what had they heard? You can freely eat of every tree. But in that moment, the enemy, the very first thing he did was to cause them to think about what they heard, and the first thing he did was draw their eyes to something.

Oh, I'm speaking in the Holy Ghost to somebody. Some of you have said a long time in a church service, and you've heard a whole lot of good word to be taught to you over the years. You have heard a whole lot in your life, but yet your enemy has drawn your eyes to see something that you're missing. It's okay, you get on board with me in a minute.

Second thing he wanted to do was for them to, to think about, could God actually be good? Why would He withhold this from you, if He's a good God? Why would he, why would he keep that from you? Why would he prevent? The third thing he wanted him to see, if God truly was generous. The fourth thing he desired for them to see and believe, that sin had no consequences. "Thou shalt surely die." "You're not going to die, if you do that." But what did they hear? What did God say to them? "If you do it, you shall surely die." And the first thing the enemy comes back there and that whole little dialogue is, "You're not going to die." And the last thing, the fifth thing he did tied into that, and that was for them to get to see that they had an opportunity to become God themselves. "For He knows, in the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God."

See, he's, he's constantly coming at you and I to get, to get it to where you and I forget what we've heard and focus on the right now, what we see. When God didn't come after your eyes, He says, "Are you listening?"

There's going to be a whole lot of distractions in life. There's going to be a whole lot of things that are going to vie for your attention. There's going to be a whole lot of, of stuff that's going to go, that's going to try to captivate you and get you to turn your head. But don't forget what you heard. "He, the, hath and ear, let him hear."

Let me go a little deeper with you. I'm going to take your quietness as your processing. Their punishment for not listening is recorded in chapter three. The long-term penalty included pain and childbirth, accursed ground, hard labor, thorns and thistles, and finally returning to the dust from which they were created.

Because God's Word is true. God's Word is true. It doesn't matter if you and I agree on it. We could all say that this word is not true. It doesn't negate it one bit. His word is true. God said, "The day you eat it, you're gonna die." And from that moment they took the bite, they started dying. In the short term, they were exiled from the garden and forbidden to come back.

There has always been, and there always will be, a steep price to pay for ignoring the voice of God. Always. It may not be in the immediate moment, but I promise you, there is always a very steep price to pay when you choose to ignore God's voice.

Israel didn't listen to Joshua and Caleb and spent 38 years in the wilderness. Pharaoh didn't listen and was punished by the plagues and loss of the firstborn. Moses didn't listen, it was kept from going in the promised land. Ahab didn't listen and was slain in battle. Manasseh didn't listen, he lost his kingdom. Jehocam didn't listen, and he lost his kingdom.

But the question is why? Why, why, ladies and gentlemen, why do people not listen? Why do people discount what God has to say? Jesus talked about this in Matthew 11, verse 12: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if we, and if ye will receive it, this Elias which has come. From he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus is saying, the prophets came, the word spoke to it, everything was pointing to this moment to happen, but nobody was listening. Why can't people hear? Why can't people here? Like, I think this is a question that, that's begged to answer.

Why can't people — now, to answer the question, I don't know how you are, but my analytical brain goes this way, that, well, some people just physically can't hear. They either were born with inability to hear, or some life circumstance happened to them through sickness, or some other out of control, and it caused them to lose the ability. They physically cannot hear. That answer is one of the — that answers the question to a degree. There are some people who cannot hear. Would you agree with that? All right. I was making sure y'all was still alive, all right. So obviously you don't fall into that category, because you responded, okay. So that's, that's one.

But as I begin to think about it, that answers that one. That was the easy answer to the question. But that doesn't answer all the question, because there are still some people who don't listen, and they do have the ability to hear. Why do they not hear? Could it be that they're distracted? Could it be that there are other noises that are louder, that cause them not to hear what, what God has going on? Or are they making a choice not to hear?

Now, there, there's some technology that's available to us today. I was just on an airplane this week, and every time I get on airplane, I, I'm so thankful for my noise-canceling headphones. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I mean, is that not a godsend, if you travel? Because sometimes you just get a yapper beside you. You know what a yapper is? They go right away, and they're still talking, but I don't hear you. You know, sometimes there's babies crying on the plane. There's things that are beyond your control. But technology gives you the ability to put that in your ear and push that little button, and then comes that cone of — it's great.

But how are you using that? Are you in some way allowing other circumstances in your life to quiet out the voice of God? Because what I just described to you is a choice that I make when I get on an airplane. I have the ability to control the noise. See, here's the deal, ladies and gentlemen: you have the ability to control the noise. Are you choosing to drown out the voice of God when it takes you to a place that's uncomfortable?

See, there are times when the Word of God is, is talking about blessings that are coming into your life. There are times when the Word of God meets you in, in a circumstance that is dire, and you need it, so you, you, you listen and tune in intently to, to glean what the word is trying to say to you. But sometimes the Word of God is coming to you for reproof and instruction, for disciplinary matters, and you have the ability to control the volume, and you willingly tune it out. Or you can simply say, "I just don't like it, so therefore I'm not going to listen to it," as if somehow that negates your responsibility to it.

See, go back to the garden with me. Adam and Eve both knew what God had said to them, yet in a moment we see their attention was drawn away from what they had heard to what they are seeing. She seen that the fruit was good. She seemed that the fruit was good and pleasant. And all of a sudden, the voice went quiet, because that's what happens.

Have you, have you noticed this? Don't think I'm crazy. This is what you do. This is why — I guarantee you, the, the majority of you do this — if you're driving down the road and you're trying to find a place that you've never been, and the radio is on, you will turn the radio down. Why? Because it helps you see. Does it really help you see? No. I answer the question. Does it help you see? No. But does it make you think you see better? Yes.

Now, that was silly, but now I'm going into a spiritual implication. The enemy knows this about you, and he will distract your vision. He will allow things to come in front of you, to present themselves for you, and you will tune down the noise so that you can better focus in on what you are seeing. You got to be very careful. I'm in the Holy Ghost right now. You got to be very careful, because you'll tune out the voice of God as you try to focus in on what the enemy has presented.

It is not a blatant wrong. It is not a big sin. It is something small and subtle. But he accomplished what he wanted. He presented you with something that was appealing and pleasant, and you tune out the voice of God. And when you do, you'll find yourself walking down paths you never intended to go, because you muted the voice of God in your life.

You wouldn't have done that if I would have scripted out the mistake you made and put it on paper and presented it in front of you and said, "This is what you're fixing to do, A, B, C, and D," you would go, "There is no way I would ever find myself in that situation. There's no way. That is blatantly wrong." Yet some of you have found yourself in circumstances that there is no way you would have willingly walked in, but they, but yet you did. You did. You muted the voice of God. You were not being obedient to His word, because sometimes it's inconvenient for you. Sometimes you just don't like the truth that's there, and you tell yourself, "That can't be right," because that truth makes me uncomfortable. Just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't make it any less true.

It's no different than when you go into the doctor, and the doctor says, "Here's the lab work. It says your cholesterol's up, your blood pressure's up. It says you're fat." And you can say, "Well, doc, I don't appreciate that." I had, I worked with the doctor. His name was Poe. He's died now, Kenneth Pogue. Oh, country doctor in the ER I worked over here. I heard him tell people, "Your knees hurt because you're fat. You're 100 pounds overweight. Your knees weren't meant to carry that. That's why your knees are. Lose weight, and your knees will feel better." And I'm over there going, "You, doc, you can't say that." But was it the truth? Oh, yeah.

People can choose to walk out on the truth. It doesn't make the truth any less true. And some of you will put more stock into what your doctor says to you then what thus saith the Lord. I hope you love me after this message over, because I'm really fixing a plow in a minute.

Why can't people hear? Because some people deliberately interfere with their ability to hear, because they believe the words to be unbelievable, or the words are just too uncomfortable. These are the people that Jesus was talking about. Look at Matthew 13, verse number 13: "Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias," which is Isaiah, "which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing" — boy, I've met some of those folks — "and their eyes have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

Waxed means grown callous. You ever had a callus? You ever had on your hand, or on your feet, or somewhere, you know, repeatedly over, when you builds up that resistance, your body will do it. It'll build up some cows. There was a guy named Chubb. My brother, remember Chubb? He laid blocks his whole life. He came out my dad's, uh, store, and when we were working, when they were younger, man, his hands were basically like 90 grit sandpaper. I mean, he could just, he could sand wood, just dust flying. It was just his hands, because he, because he handled those cinder blocks all day long. He just built up a callus.

See, Jesus is saying here that you, you can, you can build up such a resistance to the Word of God. You can tune it out and tune it out and tune it down, too, now that you grow calloused to it. It loses its effect.

Now, can I, can I just — the way you know that you might be calloused is when you can sit for weeks at a time where the Word of God is being preached and taught, and it doesn't affect you. You've heard me say this before, if, if it's been, if it's been four, six, maybe eight weeks, and you, you haven't been challenged by the Word of God, you're wrong, because you're not that good. I'm not that good. You're not that good. You're just not, just. Just go ahead right now and turn to your neighbor and say, "You're not that good." Yeah. And you can say this, "I did judge you." Yes, because the Word of God says I can judge with righteous judgment by the fruits you bear. So therefore, I just settled all you in your doubt: "Judge not, thou shalt not be judged." Read the rest, candy stick burst memorizer. You're not that good.

You want to know if you're calloused, is if you, if you're here, and it's been, it's been a couple of months, and there hasn't been something come across this pulpit that's got you, you're getting calloused. You're, you're resisting.

How does a person become callous their hand? That's because they're up to their ears and gossip and garbage and carnal pleasures and, and problems. They're talking about people, and frustrations, and heartache, and they become obsessed with things that they shouldn't be obsessed with, like politics, or sports, or news, or houses, or cars, or purses and shoes, or physical health, or worried about what's going to happen if God doesn't come back in the apocalypse, and zombies, and all kind of crazy mess. It doesn't matter. You get all mixed up in that, and God's trying to speak, but you can't hear anything.

Paul said to Timothy, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." Demons, what happened? He started turning down the voice and turning up the things he shouldn't be paying attention. I'm not telling you live ignorant. I'm not. I'm not. Be aware of your surroundings and what's going on. But some of you know way, way, way more about the world than you do about the Word of God. And it's not because you don't have intellect, because, man, you can rattle stuff off that doesn't make one consequence in eternity. You can rattle off sports figures and stats, and baseball stuff and junk, and basketball, and recipes, and all kind of stuff can just spill out of you. You get caught on the spot, and somebody asked you to quote three verses of Scripture, which one's better, having knowledge of man?

Pastor Kevin, you're being tough today. I am. First Timothy 6:9: "But they that would be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and in the many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money" — for the love of money, money's, money's not the root — what's the root? — "which while some coveted after, have aired from the faith, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows."

How do people grow dull of hearing? When they stop their intake of the Word of God on a regular basis. You can't just get it here. All right, if this is the only word you get for this week is what you get right now — and this is a good word. It ain't a good word because I'm preaching. It's a good word because it's the word. It makes no matter who it is delivering it, it's good. But if you're only getting the good word here — let me just ask you a question. Is the only meal you're going to eat for the rest of the week today? Now, you're in the house of God, so don't be liar, liar, pants on fire. Some of you gonna combust. Liar, liar, skirt on fire. That way, I'm an equal opportunity offender. No, you know, you know you're probably going to eat a couple of times before the sun goes down. So why would you only ingest the word once?

When you listen to voices that can beat with the voice of God, God will not override that in you. He's a gentleman. He wants to be invited. He's not going to come in and barge in as an intruder. That's what intruders do. Intruders barge in. Guests knock, and they only come in if they've been invited. Are you going to invite the Word of God?

And now here's the difference between God and the enemy. The enemy is going to bombard his way in. He's going to push his way in. Which one's going to win? When rebellion rises up in your heart, it will contradict the voice of God. When you lose interest in spiritual matters and the eternal, it'll drown out the voice of God. When your prayer life fades into non-existence — coming to church and hearing preaching and teaching, it will keep you spiritually sharp, but that's not enough. You have to be focusing on this some yourself.

Second Corinthians 5 and 7 says, "For we walk by faith, and not by sight." We know Hebrews 11 says, "Without faith is impossible please Him." So we got to have faith. But guess what Romans 10 and 17, Paul says, "So then faith cometh by — " what are you listening to? Because what you listen to is going to build your faith in something. What are you building your faith in? Are you building your faith in the Word of God? Are you listening to the Word of God? Is this — because I'm going to tell you right now, you can build your life on this. It won't falter one bit. It'll, it'll stand the test of time. It has already stood before we got here. And if He tears, it'll be, it'll be still be standing along after we're gone. You can build on this.

But listen to me, hearing alone is not enough. You got to apply it. It's not that just you have knowledge of the word. There's a lot of people in the world who have knowledge of the world. I'm surprised how many times I run into people who have a great knowledge of the Word of God, but yet they're not applying it in their life. Knowledge itself is not enough. Application of the knowledge.

Listening is why we come to church. We don't come to look. We come to listen. But did you see what she was wearing? How about you close your eyes and praise God? How about you get on the front row? You don't see much up on the front row, if you just can't stand what so-and-so's got on, or how they're acting, or did you see another. Just move right up here. You know what I love? I would love if y'all were fighting over the front row, but instead, instead, like all those things, it feels from back forward. Nothing against people in the back row. I love y'all. God loves you too, all right. Don't say anything bad. Don't tear up the seats back there.

We become, or we come to church because Jesus has the only words of eternal life. Can we make people listen? You know, try as you may, you can't. We know this. I mean, how many of us have raised kids? How many times we said, "Are you listening to me? Are you listening to me? Are you listening to me? How many times have I told you?" That's funny, because some of y'all in that season right now, where you're just like — some of you are laughing because you're not there anymore, and you're like, I know. Some of you in that season, when the grandkids are like, "I don't even try. Do it. Do it. Tear it up. Yeah, you can have all that. Go home." Tries you might, you can't.

Hearing occurs whenever the ear perceives sound waves, because listening is an act of the will. They are — okay, I know I'm going slower today, and I'm not, I'm not far away, I promise. Just a couple of minutes. I'm going to bring this to a close. But see, Jesus, our God, is such a — He's, it's a brilliant God, than all that He does He knows. And you've heard me say this before, that the only way love is truly given and received is, it has to be a choice of the free will. Anything less, it's forced. That's not free will. That's not love. It was forced, okay.

So the same thing applies. He's just manifesting His love when He says, "He that hath ears, let him hear," because to do so is a choice of my free will. I can either tune in or tune out. It's completely up to me. Now, He loves us enough that He's given us His word. He loves us enough that He's going to constantly desire to talk to us. But you and I have to choose to listen. The enemy, he knows, he knows, he knows there's, there's not an option for this, because when he tried to exercise his ability, he didn't have the option. So he, he got booted out. So he understands how the game plan works, to a degree. So guess what he tries to do is to convince you to not listen, to try to put enough distractions in front of you so that you see things that are going on, and somehow you, you end up convincing yourself to tune out the voice of God.

Are you okay? Are you okay? It's a, it's a freewill choice. Hearing is a free will choice of love. It can't be forced. People have to choose.

Communication experts tell us that the first aspect to consider in getting people to listen is to have a purposeful message. Now, I mean, I know how I could get you listen today. I could get you — some of you have been listening, some of you have been sort of listening. And what I mean by sort of listening is, you're kind of like, you know, when your spouse says, "Are you listening to me?" and you can regurgitate everything back they just said, the last six minutes, but you weren't listening. You were just able to recall from your short-term memory what was said. You wasn't listening.

But I could say things. I could, I can, I could drop names like, you know, Derrick Henry, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, President Biden, Donald Trump, and I throw names out there, and all of a sudden you'll tune in. I could, I could keep going down and listen to names. At some point you'd perk up a little bit, be like, oh, well, because I would get to somebody that you would identify with in some way, shape, form, or fashion. Nothing else. I talk about gas prices, or go by lumber.

The church can't listen if the pastor isn't talking. And so the job of a pastor is to talk. But pastors can't afford to talk about things that don't matter, because I have to realize that all of my words are going to be weighed. And the more often than not, that every time I stand here behind this sacred desk, life and death are in the balance. So even though there are times I can be humorous, and times I can be bold and harsh, just know I weigh everything out that I say. And I promise you this, that I relive every one of these moments by myself before the sun goes down, and I ask God, "Please forgive me if anything I said took away from any of Your words," because I understand the implications of what I'm doing right now.

But I have to decide. I have to decide, am I going to make people laugh, I'm going to make people cry? Am I going to, am I going to slap people in the back, or hit them over the head, or try to comfort them, or try to scare them, or try to point them to the past, or establish a future? Is their grace today, or judgment? Is it a faith message? Is it works messages? Afflictions? Is it healing? Is it salvation? Is it trials? Is, is it shearing the sheep, or throwing a lifeline? All these things I weigh out every time I stand up here, and I ask myself, "Are they listening? Are they listening? Are they just doing time and waiting on me to stop so they can go eat?"

The greatest tragedy is not that people go to hell from a bar stool. The greatest tragedy is that people go to hell from a church pew. See, I'm afraid some of you have heard more word than it was ever needed to hear, to know what it is you should be doing, yet you're still deciding. You're still deciding what parts you listen to and turn up, and what parts you decide to turn down. Yes, it's, it's just this. And the great thing about it is, is, it's a choice of the free will, and He'll let you choose whether you turn His voice up or turn His voice down.

II Timothy 3, verse 1: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanders, without self-control, brutal, despisers are good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers are present pleasure, rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. And from such people turn away."

Of all the verses in the Bible, I don't know that any that apply more to right now than that word, that passage I just read you. There's winds that are blowing against the church, ladies and gentlemen. There's winds blowing, and they're winds of men. They're blowing self-centeredness, self-preservation. All these things are blowing against the church, and it's just falling into what's, what, what God has lined up to be our last days.

And I know I've preached a very different Sunday message, and I know this is more like what I am on Wednesday nights, but I felt very strong to bring to you and ask you this question: Are you listening?

It's not amazing that the people of the world would get caught up in all the things that are out there — materialism, sports, pleasure, hobbies, social functions, and, and cars and houses, and all that stuff. It's, it's, you know, that's just part of being worldly. There's a lot of, a lot of people that I know that are, that are genuinely good people, but they're just worldly people. They are — there's, they're — again, I say that, that doesn't mean I'm saying they're, they're, they're bad people, okay, from like they're going to murder or anything like that. Just saying they're worldly people. We're just going to leave that out there for just a second. There's worldly people.

But I'm going to come right in here where we are. I'm getting down right where we are right now. How many of you are choosing to live a life that you know, you know God disapproves of? You know He disapproves of it, yet you willingly choose to tune His voice out. Let me ask you a few questions, as to get ready to close. Musicians can come.

If messages aren't going to be heard, then why would I preach them? I didn't ask to be in this. Just be transparent with you. I didn't ask for this. I didn't, I didn't grow up in a preacher's home. I grew up in church, but I didn't always live for God. But I didn't grow up in a preacher's home. I didn't desire this. Even when I realized what was going on, I, I ran. I ran from it. Ashamed, that's nothing for me to brag about. I want you know, there's shame, shame for what I did. I ran from God. But I didn't desire this. I could go get a job. I'm reasonably intellectual. I can operate Velcro shoes. I mean, I got some skills. But I couldn't, I couldn't silence His voice. I couldn't, Brother More. I didn't want to do this, because I was afraid. I was scared. I was scared I'd let Him down, and I mess it all up, and I'd fumble the ball, and lives would be at stake. And you know what, I have messed up. Even, even in pastoring, there's been things that I didn't do right, I didn't handle right.

I remember laying one time, and I was just — man, I had mishandled a situation. You know, I didn't, I didn't have a moral failure. I didn't cheat on my wife or do anything like that. But I just missed this situation. It just didn't go right. I remember laying there, and I was just so frustrated with myself. He said, "I didn't ask you to be perfect. I didn't ask you to be all things to all men. I didn't ask you to babysit them. I didn't ask you to be their financial counselors." He, he went down the list. He was just, man, he just was raking me over the coals good. I mean, I was having a little moment. Not quite as bad as Joe, but I feel like I was, I was there. And he was, man, he was, he had the machine gun. He was just firing them at me. And I was just — he said, "All I ever ask you to do was to give them the words I put in your mouth. If you'll stick to that, we'll get along all right." Okay.

Because he said, "The only way you're going to have blood on your hands is if you refuse to tell them what I put in you, and then I'll hold you accountable."

So if you're looking for a pastor is going to make you feel good, I'm not your guy. If you're looking for somebody that's going to tell you that you're living contrary to the Word of God and you're still going to go to heaven, I'm not your guy. As much as it goes against everything in me, I want you to like me. But that's not a requirement either. I promise you, I'll tell you what the truth is.

Some of you need to cut His voice back up, because you know, you know you're not living right. You know, you leave here today if you want to, but you'll leave running over me telling you, "Turn His voice up." It's not time to be taking chances today. It's not about your preference. It's about what thus saith the Word of God.

I gotta, I'll leave you with a story, okay. Get back in my notes. Jesus warned us about listening, and he used the example of two cities, Matthew 11: Sodom and Capernium. Sodom, most everybody knows, we know the atrocities of Sodom and Gomorrah, things that went on there. And it wasn't just homosexuality. They didn't take care of the poor. They were self-centered, self-focused. They were, they were a lot like you and I today, the world we're living in.

What about Capernaum? Capernaum is where the centurion servant was healed. It's where Peter's mother-in-law was healed. Demons were cast out. And Capernaum, every sick person, every sick person recorded in Scriptures that was brought to Jesus at Capernaum was healed. Every one of them. But Jesus compares Sodom, who never heard the gospel, to Capernaum, who had all these, these mighty, marvelous acts take place. Why? Why would He put those two together? That seems like such — this makes sense. But because all those evidences of the power of God that took place in Capernaum, having seen with their own eyes, Capernaum refused to repent. They refuse to listen.

Matthew 11:23: "And thou, Capernium, which are exalted into the heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee have been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, there shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and the day of judgment than for thee." Because you had an opportunity to hear, and you've seen, and yet you refused.

Psalms 18 and 6: "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God, and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him." Psalmist is writing that, saying, "I listened, and I cried out, and got hurt." But on the other hand, if people don't hearken to His voice, Jeremiah says He won't hear them when they cry. Listen to this, Jeremiah 11 and 11: "Therefore saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which say, well, shall not be able to escape. And though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto him."

The only way to know if people are truly listening is if they allow the words of God to penetrate the hard shell of indifference and callousness that builds up in a life. "Wherefore I take to you record this day, that I am of pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shown to declare unto you the counsel of God." I've delivered my heart today. What will it be? Will you be glad you listened, or will there come a day that you wish you had?

Revelations 3, my last verse, and I'm done, 22: "He that hath and ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches." Once the rapture takes place, you're never going to be asked if you hurt again. It's up to you. What do you choose to do?

Father, I come before You right now. I haven't delivered my heart to Your church. This is Your church. These are Your people. And I know Your Spirit is moving and drawing right now. God, I pray that would continue to do that. Oh, in Your name I pray, in the mighty name of Jesus, that there would be right now a release of Your Spirit in this house. Drive back every dark force. Let it be gone from this room. There to be a freedom right now for people to surrender to You, in Jesus' name. This decision time, this altar is open. I would invite you to come. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow. I would take advantage of the opportunity that is presented to you today. If you're not sure there's a chance or possibility that things are not quite the way this should be, then I would invite you to come, get things right with God. Listen, listen to what the Spirit says. It's prayer time.