BRIDGE FELLOWSHIP: AN MARBC MINISTRY
  • About Us
    • Our Executive Director
    • Church Directory
    • Join Us
  • Resources
    • Bridge Fellowship Church News
    • Bridge Fellowship Blog
    • The Messenger
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Protect Young Eyes
    • CPR Ministry
    • For Sale or Giveaway Items
  • Events
    • Regional Associations
    • Annual State Conference
  • Revitalize
  • Plant

 The Messenger Newsletter

Organization News & Updates

The Baptist Testimony – Volume 53 – Number 9 – October 2007

9/30/2007

0 Comments

 
The Word Has It
"Strengthen me according to Your word,” Psalm 119:28
Ken Floyd
MARBC State Representative

October's Word: “Listen”

“I will hear what God the LORD will speak; for He will speak peace to His people, and to His saints.” Psalm 85:8

Back in the days when the telegraph was the fastest method of long distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background.
A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to the inner office. The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other anxious applicants in the waiting area.
​
After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you for coming, but the job has just been filled.” The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last to come in, and we never got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair!”

The employer said, “I'm sorry, but the last several minutes while you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out a message in Morse Code. The message stated, ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. Therefore, the job is his.”
The newly employed young man's situation illustrates how important it is to be listening for the right message. Today's world is a very noisy one. We are so immersed in a sea of sound waves, that there is a growing market for “sound conditioners” and “white noise machines” to provide proper working and sleeping environments.

The external noise of our environment parallels a similar situation internally. There is a wave of noise and clatter in the personal life of the average person. Mixed signals and messages abound. And in the noisy background, God is talking to us, constantly sending us His messages of love and guidance. Jesus declared, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

Often in His Word, God discusses with His children their need to listen to Him. In one short paragraph in Psalm 81, God challenges the people of Israel regarding their easy distractability: “O, if you would listen to Me (81:8) … But my people would not heed my voice (81:11) … Oh, that My people would listen to Me”(81:13). James comments on this critical spiritual need in James 1:19-25, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Three times in the Book of Hebrews (3:7; 3:15; 4:7), God warns believers who are tempted to turn from God and His voice through His Word, “Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Christ reaffirms this in His message to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:19-20, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

In a noisy, tumultuous world, it is important for us to develop the good discipline of listening to God's voice through His Word and in prayer. In a noisy world, the best antidote is to “be still, and know that I am God,”( Psalm 46:10). You have His Word on it! (KEF)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    November 2015
    June 2015
    November 2014
    July 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    June 2009
    April 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007
    December 2006
    November 2006
    September 2006
    August 2006
    July 2006
    June 2006
    May 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    January 2006
    December 2005
    November 2005
    October 2005
    September 2005
    August 2005
    July 2005
    June 2005
    May 2005
    April 2005
    March 2005
    February 2005
    January 2005
    December 2004
    November 2004
    October 2004
    September 2004
    August 2004
    July 2004
    August 2003

    Categories

    All
    Annual Conference
    Annual Conference 2012
    Annual Conference 2013
    Annual Conference Audio 2014
    Annual Report
    Articles
    Audio
    Baptist Testimony
    Book Browsing
    Calendar
    Church Ministries Conference
    Church Partnering Relationships
    Church Strengthining Seminar
    Day Of Prayer
    Events
    Feature
    From Where I Stand
    Ken's Road Report
    Links
    MARBC Churches
    MARBC News And Notes
    Men Modeling The Master
    News
    Ordination
    Pastoral Meditation
    Practical Ideas For Growth
    Resources
    Retreats
    Talents For Christ
    The Barnabas File
    The Word Has It
    Video
    Welcome

    Subscribe



    RSS Feed

The Bridge Fellowship is a regional partner with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
5760 Cannonsburg Road NE
Belmont, MI  49306-9089
​(616) 364-5688

Site powered by design.faith
© 2022 The Bridge Fellowship, a ministry of the Michigan Association of Regular Baptist Churches. ​
  • About Us
    • Our Executive Director
    • Church Directory
    • Join Us
  • Resources
    • Bridge Fellowship Church News
    • Bridge Fellowship Blog
    • The Messenger
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Protect Young Eyes
    • CPR Ministry
    • For Sale or Giveaway Items
  • Events
    • Regional Associations
    • Annual State Conference
  • Revitalize
  • Plant