Neighbor Brunch Sundays are good Sundays.
Join us at 10.15 for breakfast tacos + treats, before or after Sunday Service.
we would love to see you
listening for dummies
one friday night i was out with the Good News Truck at a really cool event... a 90's youth group style lock-in at a local park district. we had 3 kinds of ice cream .. chocolate, butterscotch, and cherry. i yelled out what we had over + over + over as the line of 70 or so kids wound toward truck.
‘we have chocolate, butterscotch, or cherry’
when kids made it to the front, inevitably one of two things happened. they either said 'i want chocolate' or 'what flavors do you have?’
even though i had yelled the flavors a biz-illion (actual number) times and some of the kids around them knew, they still didn't hadn't heard.
it’s like when you go through security at the airport and people leave a laptop in their bag or coat off. the person running the line has been saying for 5 straight minutes with plenty of volume,
‘laptops out of the bag, shoes in a bin’
yet somehow, many people don’t start thinking about getting their stuff situated until they are already frustrating everyone and holding up the line.
hearing is inevitable, listening is a choice.
Jesus is discussing this phenomenon in the middle of Luke 8 when at the end of his discussion on how people respond to the words of God He says ...
as he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
lots of people have access to the information about Jesus, only some understand it and respond. the point today is quite simple ... are you choosing to be a hearer of Jesus or a listener?
that choice is ours ...
“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-and God knew.” –Exodus 2:24-25
This verse stopped me in my tracks the other day. Since most of us don’t spend our Bible time in Exodus, let me give you some context. The Israelites were living in Egypt under Pharaoh with much oppression. And yet God was working on their behalf. These people were known as God’s chosen people and yet they knew pain, heartache, trial and oppression. Interestingly enough, this verse comes right before God speaks to Moses through the burning bush.
God hears. Just as he heard their groaning, he hears ours. He knows the weight of the things on your plate. Maybe that feels a little scary to you, that God can hear your groaning? Although I agree that it can be humbling, I take comfort in 2 Corinthians 1:3 that tells us that God is the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction. Isn’t that how he knows how to perfectly care?
God remembered. His covenant to Abraham was full of blessing in promising him descendants like the sand on the sea shore. To Issac, God promised to multiply his offspring as the stars of the sky and in his offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. God’s covenant with Jacob was multiplying his offspring like the dust of the earth and that He would be with him and keep him wherever he goes. God keeps His word, He always has and always will. We can see his fulfillment for these promises all over scripture which gives confidence that He is the same God to us as he was to them.
God saw. The Hebrew name of the God who sees is El Roi. Not in that creepy way that parents use to bribe their children into good behavior at Christmas time, but in a very real way. David says in Psalm 56:8, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.” He sees your joys, your troubles, your pain, your courage, your faith, your doubt.
God knew. We serve a just God who moves in power but allows trials in our lives. Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” So often in scripture the beauty comes in the context. We see that God was on the move to work in and through Moses, he took the effort to speak to him through a burning bush to make sure it was clear that he wanted to use him to lead His people. He knew the difficult path and yet he provided every step of the way.
Can you see how much He is in your/my/our midst? We cry out to him and beg for the difficulties and heartache and frustration to stop and there is no doubt that he hears us but there is also no doubt that he also allows these things. Nothing gets to us that didn’t first pass through his hands. Whatever you have faced this week, in your trusting, waiting, praying, wondering where He is, take comfort in the fact that He hears you, remembers His promises, He sees you and he knows what you are walking through.
Last Sunday’s Sermon
giant killing secrets.
What God’s Teaching Me - Monica Pearson
this is good news,
luke + kristen