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Hearing and Listening

by Mary Turbet

 
Hearing and Listening - Listening is more than simply Hearing.

 
Today I would like to talk about hearing and listening. There is such a difference between the two. When l first started work in the country, there was a lot of Old System title around - in fact there was just as much of this as there was of Torrens Title. Now the difference between the two was quite simply that one was the Old System of transferring title to a property and Torrens Title was the New System and of course this was before there was such a thing as Strata Title.

With the then new system, your title to land was just one sheet of paper but with the Old System you could end up with a stack this high.  Every time a property was sold, a new deed was drawn up and the purchaser received this together with all the other deeds that had been drawn up when the property was previously sold.  After these Conveyances had divulged the name of the vendor and purchaser and the price, they described the land as e.g. All that piece or parcel of land situate in the County of Cumberland Parish of Bong Bong Municipality of Bowral commencing at the corner of Shepherd Street and Lamb Road bearing twenty six degrees forty minutes thirty seconds in an easterly direction for a distance of Eighty eight feet six inches and thence bearing Thirty four degrees, twenty minutes, nineteen seconds in a northerly direction for distance of twenty-two feet eleven and one half inches and thence north easterly for so many feet etc. 

After you had typed this out firstly for the Conveyance and then again for the Registration Copy you needed to check both with the description on the previous deed, one person reading, the other checking. These descriptions could be very long depending on the twists and turns of the boundary line and so after you had read degrees, minutes and seconds as well as feet and inches one hundred and one times the mind would begin to wander and you would start to think of all the things you would do after you got home etc.   In later years I have found this an extremely difficult habit to get out of and so more often than not, have to re-read what I have just read.

We listen to the radio, T. V., people - we hear so much information, but do we take it in?  Are we concentrating or are we all wandering off into our own little world as I used to do. It is just so much more important to listen than just to hear.

There is the story of the country man who was walking down a city street and suddenly he stopped and said to his companion "listen" and his companion said. "Listen to what? In all this traffic that's all that you can hear."  But our friend said. "No, just listen - I can hear a bird chirping". This to him proved that you can hear what you want to hear. You can hear what is most important to you.

Isaiah 42:20 says, "You have heard many things but have paid no attention. Your ears are open but you hear nothing."

Samuel was a good listener.  He heard God's voice and as it was the first time that God had spoken to him, he thought it was Eli calling him.  After God called the third time, Eli realized that it was God who was speaking to Samuel and when God called again he told Samuel he should say, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening". As you know when Samuel grew up he was recognised as a prophet of the Lord.

Then there is the story of David, Nabal and Abigail in 1Samuel 25:14 etc.   David had looked after Nabal's stock and then when he, David was in need of food and asked Nabal for some he was refused.   A servant listened and told Nabal's wife what had happened.  Abigail listened, took action and saved the lives of all of her male relatives.

The lord also listens, Proverbs 15:29 says the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous."

It pays to hear and accept.

Matthew 7:24 says," Everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock".

John 8:47 says, "He who belongs to God hears what God says."

John 9:31 says, "God listens to the godly man who does His will."

In John 18:37 Jesus says, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me".

Matthew 11:15 says, "He that has ears, let him hear".  Matthew is not suggesting that you wander off with your own thoughts; he says "Let him hear".

Mark 4:1 tells the parable of the sower.  Like the seed in the good ground, it is those who hear the word, and accept it who will produce a good crop.

Proverbs 8:34 says "Blessed is the man that heareth me. Watching daily at my doors. waiting at my doorway, for whoever finds me, finds life."

In James 1:22 we are told that it is not just a matter of listening. He says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, Do what it says."

Acts 28:27 is a bit disheartening, except for the last sentence.  A...People's hearts have become so calloused they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them."

John 10:27,28 Jesus said "My sheep listen to my voice.  I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.  No one can snatch them out of my hand."   What a wonderful statement - to know that Jesus will never give up on us.  No matter what our sins may be, if we are repentant and ask for forgiveness we will be forgiven.  I hope none of us here today will just willfully walk away from Jesus.

We have every opportunity to hear and read the Bible but there are those who don't, and who long to hear more about Jesus and the gospels (the Good news) or to be able to read it. I'm sure everyone here owns a Bible - many have two or three - some probably have more. Do we

really appreciate them or are they collecting dust on the shelf and what  are we doing to help spread the good news?  You will now have the opportunity to help some of these people as we take up the offering.

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