Hearing = Produce

Updates:

• Aubrey is still attending Suzuki training in Austin. Please pray for safe travels as she visits with friends in Texas.
• Dwayne’s surgery on Tuesday went very well, he is recovering beautifully, and the doctor is optimistic. Thank you, everyone for your prayers!
• Ken’s eye continues to heal and he recently had a few more stitches removed.
• Shirley is recovering, and doing very well. She should start physical therapy soon.

Praise Reports:

• Aaron will be going to camp next Sunday for two weeks! Please pray wisdom and safety on him during that time.
• Cameron and Abby had a great trip to Saint Louis, read about it here.
• Harbor House has some new neighbors!
• Vanessa has moved into a new house!
• Vivian and Dwayne a nice trip before the surgery.

Prayer Requests:

• Brandon is in need of a job, may he find the perfect one for him.
• Continue to pray for Vanessa, Gary, and their families.
• June plans to be back in Sulphur on Friday, so she needs traveling mercies. She is also dealing with some breathing issues.
• Keep Sandra and her son, John, in your prayers.
• Mark James and his family: encouragement and salvation.
• Mary, Byron, Pam, Rita, and Charlotte need prayers for physical, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual well-being.
• Philip Kyle: that he would come to God and be freed from sin.
• Remember Johnnie Lee.
• Remember Rebecca.
• Richard had a mysterious bite on his arm, please pray for no complications and speedy healing.
• The annex at Harbor House is empty and we pray that God will bring a renter who needs to be here.

Can You Hear Me?, a photo by AdamSelwood on Flickr.

Luke 8:16-18 (and its parallel in Mark 4:21-25) is a passage of scripture that can seem very off-topic. We're talking about sowing seeds and all of a sudden Jesus brings lamps into the story. These three verses are often put in a section of their own, but they're really part of what comes before, if we read things a little differently.

You find the same word in Luke 8 vs. 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15 (and 21, but that's another subject). The word is "hear." Hear, hear, hear, hear, hear, and hear. This is obviously an important point. The seeds are "hearing" the Word, then having it stolen, scorched, choked, etc.

Then Jesus tells us about a lamp that is set on a stand and reveals everything. Nothing can be concealed, "therefore, consider carefully how you listen." Back to hearing again! So what is the lamp? It could be an analogy of Jesus Himself, sharing the Word with us. We are now without excuse; the lamp has been lit and there is no turning back. If we don't receive the light (or "hear") we will be called to account. We must respond like the seeds in the parable. 

Jesus goes on to share another mystifying tidbit, "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them." Has or does not have what? Let's turn back to vs. 15 where we see that production is key. We can't casually receive the Word, we have the responsibility to produce. Reading all of this in context it seems that production is what we "have" or "have not". If we have produced we will be given more as a reward, and if we have not then even our seed will be taken from us.

There is a "double law of increase" in the Kingdom of Heaven. It's a principle. If you plant a kernel of corn in the ground and it grows, matures, and ripens, then you have thousands more kernels that will in turn produce thousands more. As the parable says, "some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown." Now, what makes the difference? Why do some yield 30x and some 100x? Well, what is the only variable that Jesus talks about here? Hearing. "He who has ears to hear, let them hear." He doesn't really say to "do" anything, but if we're hearing right then right-doing should result.

So production is not determined by our abilities, our skills, our location, the economy, etc. It has to do with what or who we're listening to. The children's book by Max Lucado, With You All the Way, is a beautiful illustration of listening for "the song of the king" to reach our destination. 

Last but not least, here are a few practical tips for increasing effective hearing:

• Select your associates: don't spend a lot of time around people who drag you down and/or distract you from following the Lord. Listen to people who will make you a better person.
• Keep things quiet: sometimes you need to get away from distractions in order to focus on God's small, still voice.
• Cultivate selective hearing: become so familiar with the Word of God that you can immediately recognize counterfeits.  
• Be open: God may be telling you something, but you've already discarded it as a possibility. Be ready to have your mind changed by new ideas; don't automatically close your ears to them.