Noise

silenceWhy is so hard to deal with ?

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noise183 million people are regularly exposed to levelslabeled as excessive by the Environmental Protection Agency

Do you have a cell phone ?

A pager ?

Voice-Mail ?

Do You have a cell phone with voice-mail and email?

Do you have a TV ?

More than one TV ?

Do you have a radio on all day ?

On at the office, in the car, at home ?

noiseIs there such a thing as visual ?

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Do you wish there were more billboards

along the roads you drive ?

Do we have enough strip malls yet ?

distantDo you feel that God is ?

louderDo you wish God’s voice would be in your life ?

noiseA bedlam of shocks the senses and perverts

that which if conducted aright might be a blessing.

Ellen White, 2SM p. 36

SUV’s and minivans come now come with

separate CD and DVD systems for the back seats

You can buy “wired” clothing now

coats and jackets equipped with cell phones and MP3 players

Try this

slowly

Make yourself comfortable in your chair

and begin breathing as you read

silent

Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites

Said to all Israel, “Be , Oh Israel, and listen”

Deuteronomy 27:9

silentSearch your hearts and be

Psalms 4:4

silent

But the Lord is in His holy temple

Let all the earth be before Him.

Habakkuk 2:20

Come to Me all who are weary and burdened

and I will give you rest.

Jesus in Matthew 11

stillIf I am not and if I don’t listen,

How is Jesus going to give me rest ?

silence

Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking

about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent

in listening to what God might have to say ?

listeningWhy is talking so much easier than ?

withdrewBut Jesus often to a lonely place and prayed.

Luke 5:16

Those were regular disciplines that Jesus had

Silence Solitude

When was the last time you were in a solitary place ?

What is it about silence that is so difficult ?

noise

silent

Why is it easier to surround myself with and keep moving

Than to stop, be and listen ?

noiseHow much do I voluntarily subject myself to ?

Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person

who wants to hear God’s word ?

healingMaybe the and guidance we desperately need

Is not going to come from one more Board of Education

meeting or sermon or self-help book

listeningBut from simply for the voice of God

voiceDo you really believe that God’s is more interesting

than the voices around you ?

searchingIs it possible that you have been for God in the winds,

the earthquakes and fires

silenceAnd He is waiting to speak to you in the ?

silence

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• “Noise” was created by Richard Carey Superintendent

Southern California ConferencePacific Union

• Narrated by Dennis FarleyPastorStoneham Memorial ChurchStoneham, Massachusetts