Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
For almost 20 years, I’ve had a beat up old trumpet that I hang on the outside of our cabin on a nail. Before we eventually got cell phones, and walkie talkies, I would use this trumpet to contact my children. My son told me that he had been a couple miles away fetching firewood, and he could hear me blow on my horn. I would stand on the deck, and blow on the horn three or four times, just to make sure that if they were on the four wheelers that they would hear me. About 10 minutes later, sure enough, everybody would show up. They recognized the sound of my old trumpet.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Jesus teaches us that His sheep will hear His voice. If you truly are Christian, you will listen to His voice found throughout the teachings of Holy Scripture.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Many years ago, I had read about shepherds who dwelt out in the east. They had many different call signs to bring their flocks back home to them. I read that when there were five or six different flocks at a watering hole somewhere, a shepherd could give a distinct call that was just his own, and all of his sheep would separate from the rest and come over to him. I have a cat who does the same kind of thing. I have a special call for him, kind of like a whistle. Every time he hears it, he comes running, because he knows it’s me who is doing it. It’s very similar to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Those who are of God will hear the voice of God through His Holy Word.
In the Old Testament, a shofar was a ram’s horn trumpet used by ancient Jews in religious ceremonies and as a battle signal. When you heard its sound, you paid attention. Think about students at a school, who are sitting in a class waiting for the lunch bell to ring. They wait patiently until the buzzer goes off, and then everybody immediately runs to the lunchroom. You listen for things that are important to you, whether it’s a trumpet, a shofar, or a bell at a school district somewhere. When you hear a policeman coming down the highway and his sirens are blaring, what do you do? You pull over to the side of the road. If you are in a fishing boat with your children, and one of the children starts screaming and yelling that they have caught a fish, what do you do? You grab the net so you can land the fish in the boat. Well, Christianity is about listening to God.
The voice of God is spoken throughout the teachings of the New Testament. The Bible was not written by men but by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. Everything written in it can be taken as God’s Word to us. There are many people today who simply will not listen to what it teaches. The truth is it’s going to get worse and worse and worse. People will be deceived, and will deceive others. That happens because they won’t hear the truth.
How many times as a child did your parents come into your bedroom and tell you that it was time to get up? They explained to you that dinner was ready, but you rolled over and fell back asleep. At the breakfast table they told you that they tried to wake you up about four times but you just wouldn’t listen. When you hear something, it means that you understand and perceive it, resulting in some sort of activity. To increase our faith, we need to listen to what scripture says.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Listening to the words of Christ are very important in regards to our salvation.
Proverbs 19:20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, thatthou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Matt 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Luke 8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”
James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
If you’re going to really hear something, you’re gonna pay close attention to it. My cat knows that when I whistle for him, he’s got food coming. He shows up pretty quick. The Lord Jesus teaches my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me.
Heb 3:7-8 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Jesus teaches that his sheep follow him but what does that mean? What does it mean to follow somebody?
1 Cor 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Matt 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
If you follow, it means to walk or proceed along a certain path. It means to be or act in accordance with certain directions. It means to obey or act as ordered by somebody else, or to follow their directions. God wants us to follow the things that Jesus taught. He wants us to become obedient to Him. Following Christ means to do His will.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
We learn from this verse that Christianity is more than just saying, I believe in Jesus, it’s more than saying, I believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins, Christianity is about doing the will of the Father in heaven. This means submitting to the teachings of Christ.
1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
God wants us to obey His Son and wants us to follow the things that He taught.
1 Pet 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
Instead of listening and following the things of the world, (like all of us have done in our past), when we become a believer, we can be forgiven for our past so that we can begin a new future. This requires obeying the teachings of Christ.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
The sheep of God will come to Him when He calls them, because they recognize His voice, just as my own family recognizes the familiar sound of…..
….. My Old Trumpet
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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