"Consider Carefully How You Listen"

Rev Dr Mark Chua

Luke 8:18 "Be careful, then how you listen; because whoever has something will be given more, but whoever has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he thinks he has."

consider carefully how you listen
*shapes your response
*seed is the word of God-word that proceeds out of the word of God
*seed has the power to transform life and bring forth new life (powerful word of God)

The seed is the word of God
1 Peter 1:23 For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

Isaiah 55:11 So also will be the word that I speak-- it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.

Isaiah 55:12 "You will leave Babylon with joy; you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy.

*people are looking for hope
*allow the healing of power to transform them

4 Responses
Pathways
Rocky Places
Hedges of thorns
Good soil

1. The supplanted response
Luke 8:12 The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear; but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved.

Matthew 13:19 Those who hear he message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them.

Luke 8:5 "Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up.
goes in one ear, comes out another

2 Corinthians 4:4 They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them from seeing the light shinig on them, the light that comes from the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

2. The Superficial response
Luke 8:13 The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly. But if does not sick deep into them; they believe onlyu for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away.

3. The Stifled response
Luke 8:14 The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasuers of this life crowd in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens.

Luke 10:42 but just one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her.

Luke 12:15 And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person's true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be."

4. The Solid response
Luke 8:15 The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

*focus, listen to his word
*take every opportunity to hear the word of God
*prepare yourself, praying for sunday-anointing of God's spirit upon them
*word that can save us from many heartaches
*study, memorize, meditate, go for classes to really hear the word and retain in
Joshua 1:8 Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

*grow the passage of word until it burns deeply
*2 much people are spiritually undigested.

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**