How to listen to sermons better

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A friend left this question on our website…

What advice do you give people in the pews to be better listeners? I admit I have listened to a wonderful sermon and by mid afternoon may have trouble with recall of the major points. I have found jotting some notes can help. Your thoughts? We have a gifted pastor and I want to honor him and our Lord by my listening and learning.

My first thought is to say to my friend, “This isn’t rocket science.  It all boils down to pay attention, take notes, stay focused.”  That sort of thing.

Those who listen to sermons regularly have noticed that a successful listening experience usually involves a number of factors:

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What the pastor prays just before he unloads

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At the end of every radio broadcast, the inimitable J. Harold Smith would quickly pray, “Father, take this message and use it for Thy glory. Amen.”

I’m not sure what he prayed at the start of his sermons.

Sitting on the front pew throughout the first half of a worship service, what I pray goes something like this: “My Lord. Thank you for this privilege. Please anoint my lips and speak Thy word. Give me good recall for this message.  Set a guard upon my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to Thee, O Lord,  my Rock and my Redeemer.  And Father, use me to draw people to Jesus.  For Thy sake. Amen.”

I may pray all or a part of that, but that’s my constant prayer.

A friend says he heard that in the moments before Charles Haddon Spurgeon rose to preach, he could be heard whispering repeatedly, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.  I believe in the Holy Spirit.  I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

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The ultimate proof is the strangest test

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“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.  He who does not love his brother abides in death” (I John 3:14).

You see those Christian people meeting in that little cluster there?  They’re a strange lot, aren’t they?  They have odd customs and their own language, and some can be perplexing.  Okay, I want you to love them.

You say it’s hard?  Friend, you don’t know the half of it.  But that’s what you’re going to be doing.

And when it happens, when you find yourself cherishing this oddest of people on the planet, that’s when you will know you are born again and destined for eternal life.

But not until then.

There is one way and one way only you are going to be able to love all Christian people.  You’re going to have to be born again.

You’re. Going. To. Have. To. Be. Born. Again.

Because you cannot do this in the flesh.

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When a pastor does not know his Bible

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I’ve known of pastors who were basically ignorant of Holy Scriptures for one reason or the other, and who fed their sheep little to nothing from the pulpit.  In this day, however, there is no excuse for a pastor not knowing his Bible.  Resources literally bombard him from all sides, offering numerous ways to get help in learning this most precious of all Books.

When a pastor does not know the Word of God, he will….

One. Preach his pet scriptures over and over again.

Two. Surf the internet for catchy sermon titles and messages which he can recycle.

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Preacher, be careful about deceptive come-ons!

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Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock….  (I Peter 5:2-3)

If anyone on the planet should hold to the highest standards in dealing with people, it should be those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Alas.  The Elmer Gantrys have always been among us. Those who are in the work for the basest of reasons: money, recognition, other kinds of gratification.

Unto whom much is given, much will be required.  A warning if there ever was a warning to those who occupy the pulpits. (Luke 12:48)

Lack of integrity permeates our culture.

I had to cancel a credit card this week. The monthly statement showed six or eight fraudulent charges.  Where did that come from and how did it happen? I don’t know, but no one is surprised anymore.

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How God’s people stray and what He thinks of it

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My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.  –Jeremiah 2:13

The Heavenly Father thinks His children do some truly stupid things.

And He doesn’t mind saying so, in no uncertain terms.

Put yourself in God’s  place….

God sees us turning away from Him–with the provisions and blessings of Heaven before us–and trying to improve on what He has given.

God said to David, “I’ve given you everything! And if that wasn’t enough, I’d have given you more. But no–you had to take Uriah’s one wife and destroy him in the process!”  What is wrong with David?  (2 Samuel 12:7-8)

Imagine how God feels, watching us…

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Worship: the ultimate DIY project

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Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.  — Ecclesiastes 5:1

Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.  –Psalm 50:14-15

If your primary worship takes place on Sunday morning at church, you are doing it all wrong and in all likelihood endlessly frustrated.

If the main worship you do takes place on Sunday morning at church, you’re putting too heavy a burden on your church’s worship leaders.  They cannot do for you in one hour what you should be doing for yourself seven days a week.

If the only worship you do takes place on Sunday morning at church, even at the best you are anemic and undernourished and will often find yourself faltering during the week.

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When you write a book

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This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.  Psalm 102:18

People who write books are paragons of faith. They have no proof anyone will ever read what they write or if they will recoup the investment of their time and money.  And yet, they write on.

Aren’t we thankful for people who write books!

After all…

When you write a book, you give away a piece of yourself.  You have spent countless hours secreted away laboring over a pad with a pen or typing away on the laptop.  If you’re like me, you have wept and fussed, stopped to look something up, asked your spouse if this is the right word, and sent up periodic prayers that this would work and make a difference in someone’s life.

When they hold the book in their hands, they’re holding a piece of you.

When you write a book, you touch parts of the world you will never travel to, people you will never see, and make a difference you will not learn of in this lifetime.  This is a faith venture of the first sort.

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Things I did once–and never again–in a 58 year ministry.

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On her Facebook page recently a friend asked, “Tell us something you have done which no one else in our group has done.”  She got the type of responses you might expect: hang gliding, jumping from planes, singing in Carnegie Hall, etc.

That started me thinking about these years of service to the Lord since He called me  in 1961.  I’m confident I’ve done nothing no one else has, but it may be worthwhile to reflect on some of the almost one-of-a-kind things that have taken place in my ministry. (I’ve not ever done this kind of reflection before, so we’ll see how it goes. Smiley-face here.)

For what it’s worth, here are some that come to mind…

I have drawn a comic book for the missionaries in Singapore. 

In the mid-1970s, I saw a note in The Commission magazine where they were looking for a cartoonist to draw an evangelistic comic for their work in Singapore.  While I mulled it over, the phone rang.  My wife said, “Honey, have you seen this? They need a cartoonist in Singapore!”

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For those who think “People are naturally good”—Are you serious?

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“There is none righteous.  No, not one.”  –Romans 3:10

A basic tenet of the liberal philosophy–at least with liberals I’ve encountered–holds that people are naturally good, and all things considered can be counted on to do the right thing.

You wonder what planet they live on.

In last night’s news, a man bought up a hundred nursing/rehab facilities across the country, then neglected maintenance and upkeep, drained their finances of millions of dollars, and holds that he did nothing wrong.

After the news, Bertha and I watched the 1939 James Stewart movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” an indictment on corruption in the highest levels of government.  I’m recalling that when a preview was given in the nation’s capital, everyone came expecting something good. Instead, they were highly offended. The very idea that they would be so depicted.  And then…

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