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Is it just me, or does it seem the majority of people have a hearing problem?

More to the point, does the Church have a hearing problem?

All of us have heard stories of husbands or wives who have selective hearing. You know, the man who is listening without hearing, until his wife says she is going to buy that $100.00 outfit she saw at Macy’s the other day.

It is the child who hears the parent telling them it is time to clean up their mess and get ready for bed. They don’t hear until the parent, with a red face, yells their first, middle, and last name; then they pick up and get dressed for bed.

Maybe it is not selective hearing but distorted hearing.

The sounds do not come through clearly.

Certain tones, letters or syllables are not heard clearly, distorting the communication.

It results in misunderstanding and sometimes wrong steps are taken all because the instructions were not clear and what came through was completely different from what the speaker was saying.

Many times a person cannot hear because their hearing is blocked by something in the ear canal or there is damage to parts of the ear.

In this case, the sound of the person speaking is muffled or cannot be heard at all.

Does the Church Have a Hearing Problem?

God has been speaking to His church.

He has sent prophets and messengers but she has been like the child at play waiting for the parent’s voice to reach a certain pitch before they respond.

• Some have heard the portions they wanted to hear and ignored that which is not pleasing or unimportant to them.
• Others have demonic hands covering their spiritual ears.
• Still others have placed their own hands over the ears,  they just do not want to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Yes, there are those who have allowed the Holy Spirit to develop their spiritual ears. They are listening carefully to what the Spirit is saying and seeking to obey.

They want to hear the voice of the Great Shepherd and will follow Him wherever He leads.

Jesus spoke well of this generation.

We are not unlike Israel when the prophet Isaiah saw the glory of God fill the temple and God spoke to him, “Go and tell this people: Keep on hearing but do not understand; keep on seeing but do not perceive” (Isaiah 6:9 NKJV).

Seven hundred years later, Jesus was speaking to the crowds in parables.

The twelve disciples and others who were following Jesus regularly did not understand the message He was sharing.

When they were alone with Him, they asked why He was teaching the people in parables. The answer He gave is powerful and extremely relevant to the time and season in which we are living.

“To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything is said in parables, so that ‘seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand’ lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them’” (Mark 4:10-12 MEV).

The Lord went on to say that understanding this particular parable was critical to understanding all of His teachings.

The parable began, “A sower went out to sow…” Jesus explained the seed to which He was referring is the Word of God (Mark 4:3, 14).

However, there were problems with the manner in which the seed was being received.

• Some of the seed fell on blocked ears and the enemy stole the seed so it would not bring fort