Sermon Resources on being heard

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Luke 8:18, Proverbs 18:2, James 1:19

E.M. Forster, an early 20th-century novelist, remains widely read across the world. Beyond his talent for writing significant books, short stories, and plays, he was renowned for being an exceptional ...

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God Speaks, God Listens Too

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Genesis 18:22-33, Exodus 3:1-12 , 1 Kings 19:9-13, John 5:19-30, John 16:12-15, Psalm 116:1-2

The God who shares power is a listener. Listening is not something that becomes necessary for God only after the world is created. Listening is who God is. In God’s very being, communication does not ...

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Rescue from the Dark

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Max Lucado

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Acts 2:1-4, Acts 1:8, John 16:13, John 14:16-17, Romans 8:26-27

Max Lucado likens the coming of the Spirit to a dramatic rescue. Recall the twelve boys trapped in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand in 2018 for eighteen days? Imagine how they felt when the first rescu...

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The Conversational Topper

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James 1:9, Philippians 2:3-4, Proverbs 3:18, Romans 12:15, James 1:19

Have you ever been guilty of being a “conversational topper”? The topper is someone who, when another confides a challenge or shares an exciting event, immediately connects that event to their own li...

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Discipleship Begins with Active Listening

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1 Samuel 3:9-10, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 , Matthew 4:19-20, John 10:27, Luke 11:28, Psalm 85:8

The interplay between listening and obedience expresses itself in our lives all the time. Sound has the ability to “command” us, to summon a response in us, forcing us to take notice. Unlike visual ...

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The Eternal Question: “Why?”

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Job 38:42 , Exodus 3:1–14 , Ecclesiastes 3:1–14, Romans 11:33–36, John 14:5–6 , Psalm 139:1–6

If you’ve been around a kid who’s just learned to ask “why?”, it can be a bit much. You’ll be asked, “why is grass green?” “Why do birds fly?” “Why do I get hungry?” and much, much, more. Pa...

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Review: How to Know a Person

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Richard Herman

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There are there a few books that I come across now that I’m officially “retired” from the pastorate that I sincerely wish I had been able to read, digest and act on as a young pastor. David Brook’s la...

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Listening Leads to True Obedience

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Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

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Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Exodus 19:5-6, Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 11:28, John 14:23, Psalm 40:6-8

It would seem that hearing is but a narrow channel pouring into the deep sea of doing. Yet the etymological dictionary taught me that the sharp distinction between hearing and doing is the result of h...

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The Gentle Whisper of God

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Richard J. Foster

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1 Samuel 3:1-10, Isaiah 30:21, 1 Kings 19:11-13 , John 10:27, Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 32:8

In the early days of my experiments in listening to the Lord, I sensed a distinct word to call a friend, a chaplain at a local college, and see how he was doing. The word carried with it the marks of ...

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Still our minds, God, and calm our hearts

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Steve Garnaas Holmes

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Isaiah 30:21, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Deuteronomy 31:8, John 14:26-27, Romans 8:26-28, Psalm 119:105

Still our minds, God, and calm our hearts, so that we may hear the Word that comes from you that leads us in life, that protects us in struggle, that guides us in doing your will, that strengthens us ...

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Stephen Covey

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Empathic listening takes time, but it doesn't take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you're already miles down the road; to redo; to live wit...

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Hear my prayer, O Lord

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Psalm 86:6-7, Psalm 46:1, 10, Psalm 63:3,7, Psalm 51:12, Psalm 86:11-12, Psalm 70:4, Psalm 28:9, Psalm 86:6

Pastor: Hear my prayer, O Lord; People: listen to my cry for mercy. Pastor: In the day of my trouble I will call to You, People: for You will answer me. Silent reflecti...

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Speaking and Listening

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Ecclesiastes 3:1 , 1 Kings 3:16-28 , Proverbs 25:11, James 1:19, Colossians 4:6, Psalm 19:14

In 1963, the politician, ambassador, and one-time presidential candidate Adlai E. Stevenson addressed the students of Princeton University with a touch of humor. “I understand I am here to speak, and ...

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When Rulers Refuse to Listen

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1 Kings 12:6-16 , 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 , Jeremiah 36:20-31 , Luke 23:1-25, Acts 7:51-60 , Psalm 2:1-12

The kings Of history are rewarded with many impressive descriptors: majestic, exalted, glorious, sovereign. Men and women bow before such heights of nobility; even the eyes of wealth and status fall t...

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A National Day of Quiet

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Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

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The fascination with silence took root early in the life of composer John Cage. In 1928, during a speech contest at Los Angeles High School, he argued for the establishment of a national day of quiet....

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What Angels Sound Like

Author

Halford E. Lucock

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Judges 6:12-14, 1 Kings 19:5-7, Genesis 19:15, Matthew 28:5-7, Acts 12:7-8 , Psalm 91:11-12

We so often hear the expression “the voice of an angel” that I got to wondering what an angel would sound like. So I did some research, and discovered that an angel’s voice sounds remarkably like a pe...

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This is the confidence we have

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Psalm 119:33-40, 1 John 5:14-15, Psalm 119:33-35, Psalm 119:36-37, Psalm 119:38-40

Pastor: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we as...

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Finding Grace after Contracting Leprosy

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Micah 6:8, 1 Kings 19:11-13 , Genesis 16:13, Luke 14:11, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 34:18

Peter Greave (1910-1977) was a British national who endured a challenging and tumultuous life, which took a severe turn in 1939 when he contracted leprosy while stationed in India, also his birthplace...

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Listening to God and Others

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Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Isaiah 55:3, Matthew 11:15, Luke 8:8, James 1:19-20, Psalm 46:10

The very first word of the Rule of St. Benedict, that famous text that has guided the life of monastic communities since the sixth century, is listen . I want for us to put listening back where i...

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The Cleverest Person In England

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1 Thessalonians 5:11, Philippians 2:3, Colossians 3:12, Luke 14:1-14, Romans 12:10

Tradition has it that Jennie Jerome, who would eventually become Winston Churchill’s mother, once had dinner with the British politician William Gladstone. She left the meal thinking Gladstone was the...

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John Wesley’s Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer

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