How To Listen To A Sermon

[Music] [Music] I'm going to be very disciplined here very regimented very disciplined about giving myself only seven minutes of review okay so I'm gonna try and review the first three parts of the series and the reason for that is is it's going to segue us in to our fourth part in the church 101 series how to listen to a sermon so here we go a 7-minute review the first presentation that we had was titled how to read the Bible and have devotions the first thing that we noted is that the Bible isn't a rulebook a code book or a text book it certainly contains rules and it does have a kind of prophetic code and you can study it as a text book but the Bible if we're to take it as it was intended to be read is a storybook and Jesus Christ is the hero can somebody say Amen that's what Jesus meant when he said in John chapter 5 verse 39 you search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life but all of those stories all of those proverbs all of those Psalms all of that narrative is about me we went to Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 this from the New Living Translation for the word of God is one of those next words they're the Word of God is alive and powerful which is a wild thing to say about a book sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword cutting between soul and spirit between joint and marrow and it exposes the innermost thoughts and desires so something about the Bible is alive and powerful reading the Bible we noted is less about being a scholar and more about presenting yourself to whom to God now we're thrilled for those people that have their PhDs and THD s in theology and philosophy it's great it's absolutely great and there certainly is a depth of scripture that can be plumbed to that effect but you don't have to be a scholar you don't have to be a PhD you don't have to be a theologian to present yourself to God in Scripture and we noted how to read the Bible how to read the Bible number one we said make time time doesn't just you know magically appear we have to make time you don't find it you make it number two turn everything what's the word turn it off say a simple prayer of surrender we even gave you a model for that prayer remember that Jesus is the point put yourself into the text look for that one personal takeaway and then number seven ask God to make what you studied that morning a part of your life so there you go number one how to read the Bible that was our review and - was how to attend church how to attend church and we noted that you should come to church as a connector and as a contributor and not as a mere what's that final word not as a mere consumer we'll come back to that a little bit you come to connect with one another and especially with God and also to contribute to serve to love and to be with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ clearly as we read the Gospel accounts Matthew Mark Luke and John Jesus was warm welcoming and approachable can somebody say Amen he's just not avoidable I mean clearly Jesus was was able to be approached people were comfortable approaching Jesus and so what's the takeaway the church the body of Christ should also be warm and approachable and available can somebody say amen to that okay very good first Corinthians chapter 10 verses 15 to 17 here the Apostle Paul gives us this important understanding of unity we are all one but also diversity we are individuals within that oneness notice what he says when we break the bread aren't we sharing the body of Christ and though we are many there's diversity we all eat from one loaf of bread showing that we are how many bodies one body and there's the unity and so when we come together we are unified we talked about the the root word of community it comes from two words common unity and so when we come together we don't have much in common right all we have in common is things like God and our hope and our faith and and morals and a desire to let me this is a huge amount that we have in common and so when we come together we celebrate that unity we noted that we need God like we need what is it we need water but not just do we need God like we need water we need community like we need water and not just vertical community but horizontal community that is to say brothers and sisters in Christ we were created to be what's the word created to be connected very good here number three was how to worship this was last week and I want to say if you can finish this sentence for me let's see if anybody was here last week it could finish this there is no such thing as not blanking very good there's no such thing as not worshiping everybody this is easy everybody worships very good we talked about that there was no such thing as not worshiping everybody worships and we went to Webster's 18:28 for this fantastic and sublime and rich definition of what worship is worship says Webster is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission can somebody say Amen I mean come on are you kidding me what a definition of worship to to honor with extravagant love it is like this language and with extreme submission we noted in our sermon last week that it is essential that we distinguish between the essence of worship that is to say the honor that's taking place between my ears the love that I have forgot in my heart and the expression of worship how that works itself out in my day-to-day life or in a corporate situation such as we were just singing a moment ago worship is an attitude that leads to a what everyone say it with me leads to a life it's an attitude that leaves two leads to actions and if we do those actions habitually enough consistently enough you can lead a worshipful life so that everything you do can in some significant way be an act of worship you can sleep to the glory of God you can read to the glory of God you can recreative the glory of God you can come to church to the glory of God you can play music to the glory of God it's not just that you come to church and worship begins and then when you leave church worship stops there's not the beginning and then the cessation of worship worship is an attitude worship is a way to live your life you could say it's a lifestyle a worshipful lifestyle Romans chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 is the very point this is the very point that Paul is making therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy offer your life offer your everything offer your body as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to god this is your true and proper what's the word this is your worship we spent a little bit of time and I enjoyed last last week looking at those five music myths and I enjoyed some of the feedback that I got some of it was extremely positive some of it was like they are you sure those are myths I'm pretty sure they're mists I'm still waiting on some Bible text to come my way we noted that music can create a focused venue for worship but music is not itself the worship can somebody say Amen what's happening when you're singing is that those reverberations in those melon and those lyrics are happening inside of you and it gives you a forum it gives you a venue it gives you an opportunity to be focused on worship but we sometimes think that that is the thing it's not the thing Jesus is the thing God is the thing and this is simply a venue or an avenue to give us focused access to the thing and the thing is God can somebody say Amen very important that we bear that in mind so music can create a venue be very careful what you worship the right thing will save you but the wrong thing will kill you that sets us up now for our fourth installment in the church 101 series which is titled strangely enough unusually enough surprisingly enough how to listen to a sermon and you might be tempted to think well that's got to be the easiest thing possible right to listen to a sermon I mean this is an exercise in passivity and in futility all you have to do to listen to a sermon is stay awake which some of you struggle to do but let's just pretend for a moment here let's just pretend for a moment that it really is just that easy you just stay awake and the sermon sort of comes to you not so much I'm going to hazard a guess here that there are a great many of you that are coming to this church and other churches that you are frequenting and you are not extracting the full nectar that God has for you in a given sermon and so today I'm going to teach you something it's a skill it's a skill that you can learn like learning to ride a bike or learning to do the backstroke or learning to rock climb it's a skill to learn how to listen to a sermon and so that's we're gonna talk about today we're gonna start just as we have with most of the other sermons in this series by asking a number of questions and those questions are number one what is a sermon number two what is the point of a sermon anyway number three why pastor asscherick should I listen to a sermon and then the kicker this is the one we're really gonna spend our time on how should I listen to a sermon so let's start with number one what is a sermon well I started by looking at the word sermon in the Bible but the word sermon actually does not occur in the Bible did you know that not in the New King James Version in fact there's really no version of the Bible that I could easily find that actually use the word sermon so to try to get to the to the heart of the matter of what the word actually means I went to the dictionary I went to three dictionaries in and they all gave this sort of schizophrenic bipolar definition of a sermon you'll see what I mean by that there's a it's like positive and then it's really negative right so watch this I'll give you three definitions here the first one from Oxford English Dictionary the first definition is a talk on a religious or moral subject especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible well that sounds reasonable but notice every one of these dictionaries had a biting razor like serrated element in the second definition a long or tedious piece of admonition or reproof a lecture and I suppose that some of you would say all pastor Eric is really good at the first and others would say are you kidding all he does is the second right I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder notice this one from merriam-webster a religious discourse delivered in public usually by a member of the clergy as a part of a worship service that sounds alright that sounds fairly straightforward fairly Orthodox fairly conventional but notice this one a speech on conduct or duty you had better and I saved my my favorite for last from the Cambridge dictionary first definition a part of the Christian Church ceremony in which a priest gives a talk on a religious or immoral subject hold on to that we'll come back to that a little bit later often based on something written in the Bible that's okay we'll take that fairly conventional but notice this one a long talk in which someone advises other people on how they should behave in order to be better people right and I suppose that how you view this sermon and how you view my sermons or any sermon that you listen to is going to be a matter of perspective is it definition one or is it definition two is it definition a or is it definition B and it's from these sort of pejorative and negative views and versions of what a sermon is that we get verbs like sermonize to sermonize and notice this back to the oxford english dictionary to sermonize can be number one not too bad fairly conventional and straightforward to compose or deliver a sermon okay but notice the second one here to deliver an opinionated and dogmatic talk to someone anyone who is willing to listen I remember when I was young growing up the pop star du jour the one that everybody loved was Madonna and she had this song Papa don't preach Papa don't preach that's how we use the term today we use the word preach and even the word sermon with this negative connotation this pejorative comedy don't preach to me don't give me a sermon and even within the very English dictionaries as this sort of bipolarity this schizophrenia is it this lovely beautiful talk on Scripture and what the Bible teaches or is it a long and tedious admonition on how you should be living your life different than you are now though the Bible does not use the word sermon you if you're familiar with Scripture would be aware that the Bible is filled with many many dozens perhaps even hundreds of different things that could qualify as sermons here are just some of the best known sermons in the Bible just seven of them the blessings and the cursings the clothes of the books of Moses there Deuteronomy chapter 20 chapters 27 to 30 Joshua's final address in the last chapter of the book of Joshua where Joshua family says famously says you know you choose who you're gonna serve you probably could finish this many of you but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord see it's a sermon you know it many of you there are many prophetic excitations and admonitions in the Old Testament from Ezekiel and Daniel and Jeremiah and Isaiah lots of what you could call sermons we come to the New Testament the Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known and most loved of all sermons Matthew chapters five six and seven what's called the Olivet discourse was Jesus discourse just before his crucifixion in Matthew chapter 24 Peter on the day of Pentecost three thousand baptized and people speaking in languages and tongues that were not their native tongues and then of course the many sermons that we find of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts and so the word sermon isn't there but there's lots of sermons in the Bible lots of these sermons which kind of raises the question okay what exactly is a sermon according to scripture now this is what we're going to get to the heart of this idea a sermon is God's urgent and scripturally grounded appeal this is key by his people to his people okay this is key God is speaking not just to but through his people okay let's unpack this idea at the heart of the concept of a sermon is this idea that God uses people to reach people can somebody say hey man this idea that it's this idea that that someone has met with God someone has learned from God someone has experienced God and now that someone has something to say they've had an experience they've been as it were with Moses on the mountaintop they've been as it were with Elijah on the mountaintop Mount Carmel and they've come down in their own personal Bible study in their own personal witnessing in their own personal journey to Africa or someplace they've they've gone somewhere and they have they've met with Jesus and now they got something they want to say and our job as as congregants and our job as brothers and sisters in Christ is to what are we going to do we're going to but many of us don't know how to listen so that's what we're gonna talk about how do you listen to a sermon whenever I teach classes on preaching at arise or some other venue I'm often invited to teach around the world on how to preach how to communicate effectively to a public situation and I say preaching it's really simple three syllables three words and they all rhyme I tell the students preaching is what is true through you you take that text you take that passage you take that story you take that experience you take that narrative and you digest it you absorb it you spend time with Jesus you spend time with the spirit and then when you get up to say something it will be different even if it's the same passage same verse even if we went on the same mission trip your sermon will be different in my sermon because when that sermon passes through you it takes on all of the wonderful nuanced individual idiosyncratic person that you are and so preaching is not just what's true in some didactic sense or in some informational sense no a sermon is what is true through you so that personality is preserved and individuality is preserved and even style is preserved I love this statement from the desire of Ages which were studying in one of our Sabbath school classes our confession of God's faithfulness is heavens chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world so what's the plan what's the way what's the method that God is going to get the message of his goodness and His faithfulness out to the world well it's going to be our confession of his faithfulness this is right at the heart of what it means to preach this is right at the heart of what a sermon is the sermon is somebody who has met with God and now has something to say she continues we are to acknowledge his grace as made known through the holy men of old oh yeah that's important the Old Testament is important the New Testaments important of course but notice this that which will be most effectual is the testimony of our next two words every one our own experience our own experience notice it continues we are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine or I love this part I love this part I get giddy every individual has a life distinct from all others and in experience differing essentially from theirs we're all different we cut we have different genetic makeups we have different we've raised in different ways we have different interest we have different attractions we have different weaknesses we have different struggles or different people to notice this God desires that our praise shall ascend to him marked by our own individuality oh just let the glory of that let the sublimity of that soak into your soul when you pray it's different fundamentally than when I pray even if our words are the same even if you pray the Lord's Prayer and I pray the Lord's Prayer God hears those as two very different prayers because one passes through me and the other passes through you when you sing come thou fount of every blessing it is fundamentally and in substantively different it's it's it's significantly different than when I sing it not because of the quality of your melody of your harmony or you know the the timbre of your voice no what makes it different is that the singing of that song the praying of that prayer the preaching of that sermon passes through you and I can't sing a song through you I can't preach a prayer through you I can't I can't reach out to God and desperation through you I can only do it for myself and God longs God desires not just that the congregation sings in fact I'm persuaded God doesn't even hear congregational singing what God hears is a group of individuals singing and so you might think well I'm not going to sing I'm not going to pray I'm not going to listen I'm not going to participate but in so doing you robbed not only God not only heaven you Rob yourself of the experience of praising God as only you can as preaching as only you can praying as only you can you have something to bring you have some giftedness you have some contribution to make these precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace when supported by a christ-like life I love this have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls when people stand up and say I don't know much but I know one thing I used to be blind and now I see it has an almost irresistible power the power of a personal testimony a personal song a personal experience a personal sermon a personal prayer can somebody say Amen the scoffers can scoff and the naysayers can can can argue but now you cannot take away from somebody that has met with God and so sermons require preachers they require preachers not just people to read not just be able to deliver information in a you know professorial sense know somebody needs to be moved by the spirit somebody has to have had a meeting with God on high somebody has to have been through the valley with God they can stand up and say I had an experience in scripture I had an experience in ministry I gotta tell you something I have something to say and so if there's a sermon to be preached there must be a preacher to preach it this is exactly the point that Paul makes in Romans chapter 10 verse 14 how are they gonna call on somebody in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard oh that's a good question Paul that's the sound of one hand clapping right that's that doesn't make any sense and how shall they hear without a preacher Paul understood that somebody has to say something because the preaching of an individual the testifying of an individual the proclamation of an individual is heaven's chosen modality for communicating God's goodness to the yes technology has its place technology has its role and we're exploiting to the best of our ability the technologies that are available to us through video and through the internet and through various social media platforms yes yes technology has a role and I've seen many people hundreds and thousands of people come to faith through my ministry and the Ministry of others but but technology cannot supplant or replace your testimony the thing that you can say and by the way you think well I'm never gonna get up front preach it and preach to two or three or four hundred people you don't have to you can sit down at a dinner table you can sit down in a living room you can sit down at a park park bench and preach a sermon not that second definition of preach the long tedious exhortation to live your life differently than you are know but to open up Scripture and your own experience with God which raises the question then what is the point of a sermon and the corollary why should I even listen to a sermon right I'm here under compulsion some might feel oh I gotta listen to that long-winded fast-talking enthusiastic American again here we go well let's see what scripture says Romans chapter 10 verses 15 to 17 picking up from the very passage that we were just at a moment ago where Paul asks a series of questions how will they believe if they haven't heard and how will they hear if somebody doesn't say and how will they preach if there's not someone to tell the message this is what continues just after that how will they preach unless they are sent there's a fourth question as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace who bring I love this glad tidings of good things so when when Paul is sort of giving the definition of preaching gospel preaching biblical preaching he says when you're done preaching a biblical story in correctly and in enact with accuracy which people should say man that guy had a lot of glad tidings to say about good stuff people should go away see a man that's a whole lot of good news that's a lot of good news such good news that even his feet are beautiful have but they have not all obeyed the gospel Isaiah says Lord who has our report and then this so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God who here by the raising of their hand can say that you have attended a sermon or sermons and had your faith increased by the preaching that took place some camp meeting some church some yeah of course because you heard the word preach and there was a passion and there was there was somebody wasn't just expositing scripture exegete inscription or they were telling their story they were laying their life over the text and the text had moved them and the spirit had moved them and Jesus had done something and so they told what is true through you they projected it through and and Paul says when when that happens when the word is preached and when hearts have been touched and when the Holy Spirit has done a work in somebody's life man it creates faith so one reason you should listen to sermons is that sermons create faith podcasts are great I listen to podcasts but podcasts don't create faith unless they're a certain kind of podcast right and the nightly news programs don't create faith and a lot of things that you might be inclined to watch actually diminish faith they actually are actually are at variance with faith no I'm not suggesting here that everything that you do in your spare time is listen to sermons I'm not suggesting any such thing but I'm saying you should cultivate a love for the preached word you should be like man I love it when the gospel is preached I love it when the goodness of God is preached is it you should have a desire so it's an acquired taste it's only an acquired taste if you're unconverted if you're converted you'll say man I want to hear someone testify about God's goodness the Angels just stand around and and rejoice in heaven and their the thing they love to do is to sing the praises of the goodness of God to tell their story to tell their testimony and so yes sermons create faith several passages now Acts chapter two this is one of the sermons one of those seven that we talked about earlier Peter on the day of Pentecost there in Acts chapter two now when they heard this sermon this is at the end of that a marvelous sermon there in Acts chapter two they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the man that sermon pierced us in our innermost soul and they cried out in desperation what shall we do what should we do that sermon pierced us that sermon convicted us and Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you too shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit can somebody say Amen Peter's like repent even you can repent then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about three thousand souls were added to the church through a sermon through a sermon in my own ministry I've been privileged and frankly humbled to see hundreds and thousands of people come to faith and come to deeper understanding of faith through my preaching I tell you there is it's just the most humbling amazing terrifying wonderful thing in the world to know that you can stand up as it were between the living and the dead tell your story of your interaction with Jesus as it's rooted in Scripture and see people say you know what I want to follow the Jesus that that guy is following I want to obey the Jesus that that guy is obeying I want to I want to live the way it's a beautiful amazing thing people come to faith how so because in this supernatural transaction it's not merely elocution it's not merely a narration it's not some extemporaneous you know exercise to speak as best as I can when somebody myself or anybody begins to preach in spirit and in truth filled with the word and it biblically sound way a supernatural transaction takes place where the Holy Spirit in fills the preacher then the Holy Spirit in fills the listener and this frequency thing happens where I can preach one message and you can hear message Zach and he said man that was just the message that I needed to hear and David can hear a message say man that's just the message that I needed to hear and Courtney can hear message and they've all gotten different points and it's not because David is an amazing orator or because you know I put hours and hours of preparation and though I do my best to stand here in front of you prepared but the point is is that the Holy Spirit does something the Holy Spirit does something that I can't do the Holy Spirit speaks to Zak in ways that I can't write they're not because it's David's words but because it's the words of Scripture and the Holy Spirit speaks to David and speaks to Cortney and God does this supernatural thing this amazing thing where you're like man I need to change this in my life I need to be more committed I need to change my financial situation I need to quit looking at those websites I need to be faithful to my spouse I need to give up the video games I need to whatever it is now I didn't say that now sometimes I do say those things sometimes I do say those things because some of you are hard of hearing and you have to actually hear me say them right you just have to hear the oh is that what he's talking about oh I guess he is talking beloved listen the Holy Spirit makes application where the preacher never could the Holy Spirit knows the recesses and the cavities and the the clefts of every individual soul and heart and he makes application to the individuals circumstance preaching is a supernatural reality acts after to verse 42 and they the newly converted those brand-new people 3,000 baptized that one day continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers why should I listen to sermons well number one they create faith and number two sermons bring repentance and you need repentance so do i by the way repentance is something that that I need it's something that you need repentance is not a one-off that I repented back in nineteen you know 79 i repented back in 1984 repented back in 1999 no repentance the deepening of our repentance is an ongoing experience the word repent just means to turn to turn to turn more deeply to turn more thoroughly to turn more honestly and sincerely to God and sermons bring about repentance biblical sermons bring about repentance anybody here ever repented had some situation he went to a sermon who that man the Spirit of God spoke to me I need to stop fill in the blank I need to start fill in the blank anybody yeah the Spirit of God did that it wasn't just the the skill of the orator the the the elocution of the preacher no but the text also says that they continued with joy that continued with madness and sermons bring joy the sermons bring joy because sermons are our biblically based sermons are filled with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love anybody know what the second one is that of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit love then what joy so sermons bring joy one of my favorite things when I've heard a great sermon or list read a great book or heard a great testimony I want to tell people I remember it was probably a year ago mail you came to me said oh I've read this book you've got to read this book remember that you said you gave me like some deadline you have to read this book in the next five days I failed but anyway it was a good book it was a very good book but what had happened was is that Mel had read a book and her heart had been moved I like I'm looking over here at Jill Jill sends me lovely texts lovely statements and I don't think she's just probably randomly selecting I'll send this one to pastor Eric know what's happened she has read something her heart has been moved her heart has been stirred her heart has had a joyous perhaps a repenting experience and so what does she she wants to pass that on in the same way that if you've eaten it a good restaurant you say oh have you eaten over at Zozo let me tell you you got to get to Sozo the key the vegan key lime pie is out of this world oh you've got to eat the you know artichoke pasta or whatever it is because you've had an experience Oh have you seen that movie oh that's such a good movie you see when you've had an experience that's brought joy that's brought meaning to your life you want to pass it on so sermons bring faith and sermons bring repentance and sermons bring joy and sermons even bring fellowship can you say Amen when we come together and sit right there on X chapter 2 it says that they were all with one Accord well what had happened well they'd all heard a sermon and it all said hey I want to follow the Jesus that Peters following when we begin to follow the the Jesus of Scripture and the Jesus of the apostles and the Jesus of today then we have that common unity that we talked about on how to attend church sermons bring joy and fellowship one of my favorite passages and the last church that I that I pastored we actually started small groups and we had a number of small groups but one of those small groups we called two to two groups two to two it's kind of a funny name two to two and it came from this verse second Timothy chapter two verse two two two two right he said what was the small group about see if you'd be able to pick it up from the text so first one says you then my son Paul writing to Timothy be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus that's verse one now here's verse two two two two and the things that you have heard me say Timothy in the presence of many witnesses witnesses entrust to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others Paul says the stuff that you heard me say I want you to say to somebody else who can say it to somebody else it's as if the baton has been handed to Paul Paul says I received a baton I've given the baton to you Timothy you're gonna take the baton of the gospel and you're gonna put it into the hands of people who themselves are gonna take the baton and put it in the hands of still others who are themselves gonna take the baton the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses teach to faithful men who will be able to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well who will be able to teach others who will be able to teach others who will be able to teach others this idea that the sermon is is the domain of the one pastor the single pastor the no no no we're gonna see that just a second now look at this Revelation chapter 12 verse 11 they speaking of the redeemed they triumphed over him that is the accuser Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their the word of their way the word of their own testimony what is true through you this is the point that Jesus is making this isn't in my notes but it just comes to my mind this is the point that Jesus is making when he tells the story of the ten virgins and five our foolish and five are wise and what's the one thing that separates the wise from the foolish you know the answer to this many of you what would it be the foolish don't have oil in their lamps and you might remember in that parable that that as they're going out to meet the bridegroom the the the foolish virgins aren't there their oil is running out and their lamps are beginning to flicker and they say give us of your oil and they say we can't because that's not trends you can't you can't transmit that you can't you can't share the experience that you've had with the Holy Spirit with somebody else you can share it but it can't be their experience when we share an experience we're inviting people to have similar experience their own experience and so those that overcome in Revelation chapter 12 they don't say and these are those that overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of pastor asterix testimony these are the ones that overcame by the word of Leon's testimony Leon nobody's going to overcome by Leon's testimony except Leon the only person that's gonna overcome by Sara's testimony is Sara Trinette testimony by Trinette Carolyn's testimony by Carolyn you can be encouraged by other people's testimonies but you have to have your own oil your own sermon your own testimony remember God desires that our prayers and our praise and our testimonies and our sermons will ascend to him marked with your own individuality stems with Jill Marshall stamped with Courtney stamped with Wayne stamped with Landon and Judith stamped with you sermons make preachers it's amazing just the most ordinary people can become powerful preachers when they have something to say right you don't have to have a theology degree I don't have a theology degree did you know that you don't have to have a theology degree you don't have to be a PhD or any other such thing you can if you have had an experience with Jesus you might be a 29 year old mother of four and a scenographer and you can stand up and say I got something I want to say and I tell you last Friday night Mel stood up and she had something to say to the young people Luke can I get a witness back there is it was that a powerful sermon that Mel preached yes that's it that's a that's a very enthusiastic amen okay I want you to read that what he really means is yes but in Luke language it's yes okay it was powerful it was absolutely so powerful and preachers can look like this to preachers can look like 19 and 20 year old surfers did you know that Ruben preached the sermon recently and it was good and Carl Dennis why don't thinks here today is Carl here somewhere preached a really good sermon a few weeks ago Ruben I hear the rumors you're getting ready to preach again Joel's got you all conscripted is that right oh he's sinking in his chair doesn't want to don't want the church to know that but the point is is that preachers look just like that if you want to know what a preacher looks like turn to your right or your left you don't have to look up here preachers look like this as well preachers look like Lorraine and preachers look like Annabelle and preachers look like all of us I see a roomful of preachers can somebody say Amen sermons lift up Jesus when they're done right now everybody in this room let's be honest everybody in this room has heard a sermon that did not lift up Jesus everybody in this sermon everybody in this room has heard a sermon they thought you know I would have been better off I'd never heard that sermon but sermons when they're done right and sermons when they're done biblically and sermons when they're endorsed by the Holy Spirit lifts Jesus up and they don't just lift Jesus up they direct us to Jesus can somebody say Amen I want you to know that's what I strive to do I have things that I want to say to you I I have this certain sort of educational component to my preaching I want you to know what the Old Testament teaches and I want you to better understand the book of Acts and I want you to have a feel for the shape of the book of Matthew or of Jonah or whatever we might be going through I feel compelled to increase the biblical literacy of this local congregation and by extension those that listen in through the various platforms that are available I do feel an educational compulsion because I feel like biblical literacy is lower than it should be I feel that okay but listen to me at the end of the day when I sit down I say yeah I want them to better understand the Bible but the reason is not just for information sake it's not just for some traffice oriole purpose I want you to see Jesus more clearly and to the degree that I'm successful in that endeavor or to the degree that any preacher is successful in that endeavor he or she is a good preacher might have nothing to do with elocution nothing to do with oration nothing to do with perfectly well articulated words in fact on one occasion the Apostle Paul says man when I came to you I didn't come with fancy words and all of these you know you know anecdotes or I came to you I just came he says with the spirit and with power when people are overcome by the Holy Spirit and the word has infused them they preach in ways that sometimes make them seem a little wild a little zany I mean listen it's not without purpose that on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up to preach and the other stood up to preach the accusation was these guys are drunk well because they were wild they were filled with the spirit they were enthusiastic it's not that they were stumbling around it's that they had a zeal they had an enthusiasm they had a passion there's a passage in second Corinthians chapter five or the Apostle Paul says if I'm out of my mind it's for you all right if I'm beside myself it's it's actually says if I'm beside myself it's for God and if I'm on my right mind it's for you what he means by that is sometimes when I'm preaching and I start talking about God becoming a man and hanging on a Roman cross I get and doing it all for love and doing it all for us I just get a little bit excited and it kind of overtakes me and I just want people to believe in Jesus and he says sometimes I start acting a little crazy and he says when I do that I'm sorry I hope I don't offend you with my enthusiasm and my zeal I'm just standing before God between the living and the dead and he says other times you know if I come off as poised and you know dignified and reserved and I conduct myself in a way that you find to be you know culturally appropriate I'm doing my best but sometimes the good news is just too good to sort of wrap it up in a conventional packaging sometimes you just have to let people know that God is good and he deserves your worship your love your attention and your affection he's got to let people know we got a direct people to Jesus because I don't know if you've noticed this or not but Christianity does not work without Jesus oh oh my heart goes out to people who just go to church and who just have the skeleton the husk of Christianity and don't themselves have an actual vital living connection with Jesus it is the most torturous form of cruelty do yourself a favor don't do it just get in or out this is Jesus point when he says man I wish you were hot or cold this whole Luke one thing isn't working for you or me because you're miserable and you're not converting right and so the desire that that every one of us should have is not just to be good people it's to just get closer to Jesus because this whole Christian thing this whole church thing this whole Church 101 thing this whole religion thing does not work without Jesus in fact it stinks without Jesus it just becomes rites it just becomes ritual it just becomes ceremony but when you and when you put Jesus into it man everything becomes beautiful every becomes all it's just absolutely amazing notice this I just give you a tour de force here through the New Testament on how passionate the New Testament writers in particularly Paul were about preaching Christ Acts chapter three verse 20 Jesus Christ who was preached to you chapter five verse 42 and daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease to teach and preach what-what-what wouldn't they shut up about Jesus Christ Acts chapter eight verses 4 and 5 therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word what did they preach when they preached the word Luke then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached wha what did he preach preach Christ to them Acts chapter 9 verse 20 immediately he Saul of Tarsus preached what did he preach in the synagogue's he preached the Christ in the synagogue's that he is the son of God action after 10 verse 36 preaching peace through Jesus Christ he is Lord of all action after 17 verse 3 this Jesus whom I preach to you he is the Christ Romans chapter 15 verse 19 I have fully preached the gospel of Christ can somebody say Amen we're not done we're not even close to done Romans chapter 16 verse 25 now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ here we go 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses verse 23 but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews hey that's a stumbling block into the Greeks they regard it as foolishness 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 12 Christ is preached 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 19 jesus christ who was preached among you by us Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8 I preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Allah what is he preaching he preaches Christ to whoever will listen Philippians chapter 1 verse 18 Christ is preached and in this I rejoice Colossians chapter 1 verse 28 our final verse here in this little section him we preach who's him in context it's Jesus I mean he just can't get away from it when the New Testament church when the Apostles when Paul had something to say you can bet that if you had a conversation that was longer than about five or six minutes with him he was going to start talking about Jesus he preached Jesus he preached Jesus he preached Jesus and are all of these wonderful nuanced and creative ways he talked about we're just trying to get the message of Jesus out we just want people be directed to Jesus because when people are directed to Jesus the Jesus who is God in the flesh that Jesus who forgives that Jesus who saves that Jesus who is filled with loving compassion and mercy that brings hope can somebody say Amen anybody here this morning need hope you need hope you need hope in your finances you need hope in your health you need hope and your marriage you need hope anybody who needs help I need hope and Jesus brings hope which brings us at last how do you listen to one of these things well sometimes how can you not right when I'm fired up you're gonna have to listen I hear you're like a captive audience right there the doors are not locked by the way you can leave if you need to how should I listen to a sermon well just as I did with how to study the Bible I'll give you seven steps I'm gonna give you seven steps seven steps and it's not just sitting passively idly you know in some state of torpor in your seat no yeah to be awake to be alert to be attentive this is how you listen to a sermon number one you have a humble and surrendered what's that word everyone humble and surrendered attitude let's go to the scriptures for that action after 17 verses 10 and 11 then the Brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea and when they arrived they went into a synagogue of the Jews these the Bereans were more fair-minded and I giving you several different translations here some translations that one translation says they were better disposed they were more open-minded they were more willing to listen they were more receptive let me translate another one they were awake he were three they were more awake than those in Thessalonica how were they more open-minded how are they more receptive they received the word with all readiness so that's step one you receive the word you're ready like okay someone's gonna preach somebody's met with Jesus I'm ready and this is key that's the first part they received the word with all readiness of mind and they searched the Scriptures to find out whether or not these things were so so they didn't just take Paul's word for word or Peter's word for it or my word for it they said hey we're gonna hear you out we're gonna give you the benefit of the doubt but then we're gonna go check you out we're gonna we're gonna hear you out and then check you out and it's number two this is key think of the preacher appear and not as a priest you might remember in one of those definitions that we put up at the beginning it said talk given by a priest and there is broadly a sense in which that's true because in the the broad sort of stroke of Protestant theology we believe in what we call the priesthood of all believers and so to that degree I will accept that I am a priest but so are you to the same degree that I am a priest you were a priest whether you know man or woman or child or older whatever you too are a priest but I want you to think of a preacher whether it's me or Levi or Mel or Joel or whoever it might be I want you to think of the priest not as a the preacher not as a priest but as a peer let me give you biblical reasons to do them March after 10 verses 42 and 43 so Jesus called his disciples to him and he said you know that the rulers in this world they lord it over their people and the officials flaunts their authority over those who are under them but among you it will be different can somebody say Amen it's not gonna be this hierarchy of the top the so-called clergy and the so-called laity the clergy laity distinction is a distinction you should disabuse your mind of it's artificial it doesn't exist in the New Testament all our priests all are followers of Jesus the idea that somebody has a little closer a little more special a little more connected he is a conduit through which God works no no no not in any not on any point of access or or advantage over you now everybody has the same footing before God among you Jesus says it will be different whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your what's that word must be your servant this hierarchy thing he says no jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 15 one of my favorite verses in all the New Testament no longer do I call you servants a servant doesn't know what his master is doing but I have called you one friend Jesus just flattened the whole hierarchy right there he just said hey that's all you know me and you and he's this is the God of the universe who says hey you guys are my friends and then I love this one Matthew chapter 23 verses 6 to 11 Jesus speaking of the religious leaders of his day the Pharisee said oh they love the best places at the feasts the seats in the synagogue's greetings in the marketplace they love to be called rabbi rabbi which is esteemed teacher Oh esteemed teacher a word with you please but you do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher the Christ you are all brothers and sisters do not call anyone on earth your father and this doesn't mean your biological father that's not what's referring to here it means in the religious sense in the spiritual sense Oh father incidentally just as an aside you may or may not know that the word Pope the word Pope is the Italian word it's very similar to the Romanian word for Papa Papa it means dad is the dad of the whole church and Jesus says no no don't say that don't don't call a man father in a spiritual sense one is your father one is your father he who is in heaven do not be called teachers for one is your teacher the Christ he who is greatest among you shall be your servant amen so don't think of the person that's standing up to preach is somehow fundamentally different or mork closer I don't have any access to God that you don't have now I don't have any special pass i got nothing i got a bible and i got a pair of knees and i that's what i got i got a brain all right i got eyes that are working less and less well with every passing here i got what you got i got the same hardware that you got right i don't have any access that you don't have name i said well i can never speak like you speak well you're not supposed to speak like i speak you're supposed to speak like you speak you're supposed to speak like you speak when Ruben preached it was very different than when I preached right I say I stand up in front of thousands of people on hundreds of occasions you would expect that this is a skill that can be learned but when Ruben stood up to preach II was powerful because it was all Ruben if Ruben had stood up and tried to act like me it would have been artificial and ridiculous but when Ruben preached like Ruben it was powerful and when Levi preached like Levi it was powerful and when Mel preached like Mel it was powerful and when joel preaches like joel is powerful can you say Amen you have something to say you have something to say that it's no less valid no less authentic and no less godly than what I have to say or any teacher or preacher or Pope or father has to say Jesus says it's not like that the way it is with the Gentiles but that's not the way it is with you number three how to listen to a sermon being a connector and not a mere consumer we've made this point earlier and we've made it several times in the series if you come and think I'm sitting down here and I want to connect with my sister that's next to me I want to connect with my brothers that's next to me and we as a community want to connect with God we want to connect with God this is one of my critiques of some of the both of modern pray songs and the hymns some of the old hymns one of my critiques of many of them is that they use the singular I mean my I me my no no no all of our songs when we come together as a unit like this should be us and we and our Savior our God our hope and so don't come thinking in terms of consumer based materialist based you know modernity no come think I'm connected with my people here and I want to connect with them with God can somebody say Amen number four ask this question is or was this sermon that I just heard biblically sounds now of course this assumes a basic level of biblical awareness and if you're brand new to this you'll grow ill you'll figure it out but you want to listen and you want to hear as the Bereans did we're gonna hear you out but then we're gonna check you out and I like that last week when I stirred the pot a little bit about music I had a few of you reach out to me and say I'm not so sure and I said hey maybe I was wrong but you bring me a text bring me something from Scripture let's get together iron sharpens iron right let's have that conversation I don't expect you to take what I say as the gospel truth I would really appreciate it if you would hear and say hmm that's an interesting idea I like David's insight on that I wonder if it's true I wonder if it's true and I invite challenge I invite different perspectives in fact I I love it I don't get nervous when people ask me hard questions to be totally honest I get nervous when people ask no questions when people ask no questions I think they're not thinking they're not thinking number five asked this question after you've heard a sermon really simple question here's a good litmus test ask yourself this question number one was Jesus lifted up and number two in a way that made him seem attractive was it glad tidings of good news notice this Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 o foolish Galatians the Apostle Paul rebukes to the churches in Galatia who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified if you pull out a map and look at where the churches of Galatia were this is Derbe and Lystra and Antioch and you look at where Jerusalem is it's hundreds of kilometres away what is Paul talking about here the people that were there did not see Jesus crucified in Jerusalem they didn't what he says is that Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified let me translate that for you Paul says when I came and I preached under the influence of the Holy Spirit when I came and preached Scripture with power you saw in your mind's eye the crucified Christ you saw look at these other translations here that make it even clearer new English translation you foolish Galatians who has cast a spell on you before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified and not just by the skill of the order not just by the skill of the preacher but by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit did something that no man or woman can do Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 in the New Living Translation o foolish Galatians who has cast an evil spell on you for the meaning of Jesus Christ death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross that's what happens when the gospel is preached and the Spirit fills that you can feel like all of heaven is staring at you you can feel like the whole sermon I've heard there's so many times in my ministry of if I had a dollar for every time I heard this I'd be a millionaire people say man that sermon was preached just for me well that's not because I knew you know I don't know anything about you particularly but the Holy Spirit knows everything about you and he made application and you came as it were face to face with the Living God face to face with God and Paul says Galatians what happened to you you saw Christ crucified in the preaching of the gospel that's why Paul could say I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified so ask the question was Jesus lifted up and made attractive and here's another very important list litmus test number six ask yourself this evaluation question what was the primary motivator in the sermon ooh this is a big one I hear a lot of sermons and fear is the motivator we're phonce ability is the motivator duty is the motivator and I'm not suggesting that these are not motivators in some limited secondary or even tertiary capacity but the great motivator is the love and goodness of God and if you've heard a really good sermon you should walk away glad tidings of good things you should be like man god is good god is amazing Jesus is awesome first John chapter 4 verse 18 there is no fear in love perfect love drives out fear 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind the most frequently repeated command in all of the Bible more than 400 times is this command do not be afraid so be very nervous be very suspicious if that preacher that you love or that preacher that you're listening to or that series that's been recommended to you uses fear as the primary motivator if you come all right if you come away from a sermon you come away from a series and you come away from you know a book and your primary sort of instinct is fear put a throw in the chuck it in the trash literally chuck it in the trash I don't care who preciate her who wrote it chuck it in the trash because perfect love casts out fear and Jesus says again and again in both the old and the New Testaments do not be afraid God is that good and finally then make application and notice these last two words here I'm gonna end on make application in one of those two words to yourself oh I love it when people come to me say ah pastor Eric that was a great sermon I wish my wife was here yeah I wish my mom was here she needs to hear that one no no no no that's too easy make application to yourself friends when you go to hear a sermon when it's all said and done and you might have thought man I love the way that guy preached or maybe I didn't like the way she preached or whatever it might have been just bypass all of the stylistic elements bypass all of the things that might attract you or even distract you and ask yourself this question at the close of a sermon what is the word of the Lord to me today amen Church 101 series beloved we are doing our best to move all of us including the pastor from crisis to casual to committed and finally to contributor God make us contributors to the kingdom not mere consumers Father in heaven today we humble ourselves before you you are God in heaven and we are dust but father we are precious dust we're not any ordinary dust lord we are dust that had an infinite price and illimitable price that was paid for us his father teaches how to attend church father teachers how to come to contribute and to connect and not just to consume father teach us how to worship father not just to sing though some of us need to sing like frogs to your glory father teaches how to lead lives of worship how to worship with our checkbook and how to worship with our free time and how to worship in our job and how to worship in our relationships father teach us how to hear a sermon how to read the Bible how to hear a word from you father it's important this work that preachers do but father the more important work is the work that your spirit does through the preacher and so today we pray that your spirit would make individual application for this one-size-fits-all message for every person here young or old male or female today may we hear the word of the Lord to me today and father may that word draws to you through Jesus and in whose name we pray let all of God's preachers say [Music]

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Id: 1RYYaEhj-kc

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 05 2018