Coffee cup Bible study 3 minutes wirh God- "latte with Luke"

[Dr Denis O'Callaghan]

Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. (Luk 8:18)

Gentle reader,

With your latte today, we want to look at a wee bit of this verse “Take heed therefore how ye hear. . .” This is not the only place where our Lord refers to the way people hear the preaching of the truth. Again and again He punctuates His teaching with “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear” cf. Matt 13:9.

He evidently realized with much concern that His biggest problem was not the subject of His preaching, but the way people heard it. Hence, in the parable of the sower (His explanatory introduction to all the parables of the kingdom). He likens His hearers to different soils, and shows how the seed sown is largely at the mercy of the soils.

This matter of the way people hear is still the Bible preacher’s nagging concern, and often his most dishearting problem. Many a pastor has preached his heart out on Sunday, only ready to give up on Monday (hence why most pastors take Monday as their day off). It has been a heartbreak to prophets and apostles. When God sent Ezekiel, He said, “But the house of Israel will not harken unto thee” (Ezek. 3:7). Then why send him? Because the people must be given the chance to hear; for God never inflicts judgement until a fair chance to hear and respond has been given.

In the Book of Acts Chapter 7 we have seraphic Stephen’s address to the Jewish supreme council. Those Jewish leaders heard only too clearly what Stephen said, and had they responded the whole course of history would have been affected; but in another sense they did not hear at all; they would not hear. See “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,” (Act 7:57) Ah, the problem that day was not in the preacher, but in the hearers! When they “stopped their ears” they were symbolically acting out what they had already done with their hearts.
No people are so deaf as those who will not hear! In 2 Corinthians we find Paul realizing how solemn is this matter of hearing, especially in the relation to the gospel; “To the one[ kind of hearer] we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other[kind of hearer] the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2Co 2:16)

Many a preacher goes home heavy-hearted, wondering why his preaching has failed, when it is not the preacher who has failed, but his hearers. It is a subject which has many tears in it. We often talk unworthily about preachers, but do not reflect seriously enough on our unworthy hearing. What is the use of preaching without hearers? And what is the use of hearing if there be not the right response? No, it is even more serious that: there is no higher privilege and no bigger responsibility than that of hearing the very Word of God And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (Mat 13:14-16) Well may we pray “Lord, help me to hear and to listen and give me an ear to really hear your voice to make a difference for all eternity” Those who truly seek Him will hear, the others . . . .

There was a young man from Kilkenny who was anxious for his salvation when he heard the pastor speak, but he wanted to be a Mill owner and no amount of distraction would take his mind off his goal not even Salvation. For years he worked inordinately until in his forties, he owned a big mill and much money. Then he became ill and as he lay dying. He died frantically muttering, “Jesus... saying something... but I cannot hear Him ... for the sound of the Mill".

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

You hit the nail right on brother. This is one of the big reasons the AOCI is here....To encourage preachers to go on...To show them that they are important.....To love them with the Love of Christ......Thank you for writing this blog ....God bless you Dr. Denis.

[Christopher R. Dockrey]

Another excellent article, Dr. O'Callaghan. I encourage all of our members to read this one.