Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hear (07/08/10)
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TITLE: Do You Hear Me? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ken Ebright
07/11/10 -
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After he stared at the congregation for a second he said, “Today we are going to talk about if we hear. I wanted to test you and make sure that you heard me,” some people understood his joke and started to laugh. The mood in the congregation eased a bit.
“Let’s stand for the reading of the gospel,” everybody rose and gave Gary their attention as Gary lifted his Bible off of the podium. “We are going to read two verses from the gospel of Luke the eighth chapter. Were going to start with verse thirteen then skip to verse fifteen. Here is Luke four-thirteen, The seed that fell on rock is like those who hear God's teaching and accept it gladly, but they don't allow the teaching to go deep into their lives. They believe for a while, but when trouble comes, they give up. Now verse 15, and the seed that fell on the good ground is like those who hear God's teaching with good, honest hearts and obey it and patiently produce good fruit.”
After he read those verses he put his Bible back down and looked at the congregation and started to tell the following story. “There was this elder of a church who had to take a road trip on a Sunday afternoon. His plan was to go to church and after church he would go to the airport and pick up a rental car. The sermon that morning was on the fruit of the spirit which is in the book of Galatians. In chapter five verse twenty three the Bible speaks about gentleness and self control. When he got to the airport all he needed to do when he checked in, was give them his driver’s license and sign the contract, because his rental car was prepaid. When the lady called his rental up on the computer she told him there was going to be an additional twenty dollar a day charge. When he heard that he went through the roof. He started to yell at the person behind the desk.”
Pastor paused for a moment, “Think about what just happened he just heard a sermon about self control. Do you think he really listened to the sermon he heard earlier? Do you think he learned anything?"
Gary paused for a moment and looked across the congregation. "He was like the person in verse thirteen he did not allow it to go into his life. We need to show other people that we are Christians by our actions. If we are going to say that were Christians, we need to act like Christians. We need to walk the talk. When we hear a sermon on what ever is preached we need to hear and to eat up that teaching. Friends we can do something about that today. We can repent and become Luke four thirteen Christians."
Pastor walked over to the side of the podium, "Today I am going to ask you to get out of you seats and come forward and repent and do business with the Lord if you are not producing fruit.
The music started to play as Gary paused for a moment, “Come today and repent and start to walk the walk.”
Pastor knelt down right beside the podium as people came forward. That day in three services three hundred people came and committed themselves to a new life in Christ.
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Great job.