Faith Comes By Hearing

He came out of nowhere.
He didn't look like them.
He was strange and yet there was something very familiar about him.
He didn't come and mingle in their midst trying to curry favor.
He didn't smooze with the leaders or look for opportunities to advance his own career.
He didn't perform any miracles.
Seas didn't part.
Ax heads didn't float.
No one was healed.
No one was raised from the dead.
Giants weren't slain, but the very foundation of an entire nation was shaken to the core by this man, and the words that he spoke.

John the baptizer.
He came armed with a message.
Repent.....change your minds, your hearts and your ways.
The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He stood on the outskirts of a major city and they came to him.
From all walks of life.
From every socio-economic level you could imagine.
They streamed forth to hear and to see for themselves.
What did they see?
A man.
Dressed in ways that reminded them of the prophet Elijah. In fact some believed that it was Elijah returned.

This man revealed the cracks and holes in a religious system that was strangling the very life from a nation. What once was good and Holy was now corrupt and pretentious.
This man did it with words.
He did it with language.
Spoken forcefully and not held back for fear of what others might think or do.
Words.
Oh these weren't just any words.
These were words spoken through this man by God Almighty Himself.
This man was merely a conduit for God to act through.
But it was the Words....
Never had such truth ever been spoken before about the coming Messiah.
The crow heard.....
But did they understand that the very one they'd been searching for was now among them?

When the religious rulers approached to hear this man for themselves, they were met with "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Not the way to influence people and win friends. Now they were without reason to see the truth. It had been spoken to them.

Words.....
We want flash and glitz today.
We want current and hip.
What we need are words.
Stripped down, unadorned, truth from the Word of God.
We need to "hear" God for ourselves.
We need to return to His written word.
We need the foundation of Jesus to be laid...the solid rock.
Then we need to take the words and build our house as we apply them to our lives.
Hear...
Build....
Do.....
Act....
Change.

We need to be awakened.
How does this happen?
Listen.....
You'll hear the Word of God saying, "Wake up!"
We want miracles but we will not invest the effort to see the greatest miracle of all.
A life changed.
A life changed by Words.

"Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest."

God on you........

mb