Ears to hear?

Often we see Jesus in the Gospels telling a story or teaching a principle, followed by the words, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear". Did you know we honor God (or not) by how we hear His Word? My role in preaching is to teach God's Word Sunday by Sunday. But you (ClearView attenders) also have a role ... to hear in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.

Here are a few principles to practice to help with your listening.

1. Come with a prepared heart. Come to the service ready to hear. Double check to make sure you are ready spiritually to hear what God might say. Sins confessed. Distractions eliminated. Mind and heart open to whatever God may say to you through His Word.

2. Make personal application. I always attempt to make application of the passage we are studying. But there is no way I can know or speak to every personal situation in the group gathered on any given Sunday. But the Holy Spirit can. As you listen you will do so through your own filter of experiences and life situation. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make application.

3. Take notes. Every study ever done related to communication and retention tells us that taking notes (writing it down) assures greater retention. Jot down the thoughts the Holy Spirit prompts in your mind as you are listening. Write down scripture references if they are not already in your notes. Underline words and phrases emphasized in our study.

4. Review the notes during the week. Any student will tell you if you don't review the notes from class, you will not do well on the test. Well, we are all students of The Word. If we walk away from Sundays but never return to the things God taught us that day, we will not assimilate those lessons into our lives.

5. Teach what you learn to somone else. "And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."
2 Tim 2:2 (HCSB)

You may think, "I'm not a teacher." We are all teachers. There are people in your life for whom you are in the best position to be a teacher. That new believer at work. That lost person open to spiritual conversations. Your child. Your spouse. Your parent in an assisted living facility.

6. Put it into practice. "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22 (HCSB)

Warning: this is for serious disciples only! We see commercials on TV that say, "Don't try this at home". Well, my challenge is, "Try this at home!" Today we learned that a life of impact is a life full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, faith, and power. What will you do with that? Do you have all of the wisdom you want? All the faith you want? All the power? Controlled by the Holy Spirit every moment every day? Me neither. So, what will you do to pursue each of those?