As we reflect on our spiritual growth through the years, we may realize that even after many years of listening to sermons, our spiritual growth is minimal. Worse, it maybe stagnant. Even worse, its in degradation. Where does the problem lie? Often, its lies in our listening to God's Word.
Luke 8:8 "...He who has hears, let him hear."
We listen, but we don't receive. We listen, but we do not yearn for it. We listen but we do not retain it. We listen, but we do not practice it. Hence, what we listen, we forget. When we forget, our lives immediately are filled again with the worries and concerns of the world.
Luke 8:5,7, "The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell into among the thorns and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out."
Hence, when we listen, let us YEARN to listen. THIRST to listen. Yearn for the Word of God. In the parable of the sower, Jesus says in Luke 8:8 "Other seed fell into the good soil and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great. " Good soil does not happen automatically. We become good soil when we yearn for the nutrients and fertilizers given to us.
Next, PREPARE your HEART for the Word of God. Good soil is only good soil because someone has previously dug it to soften it making it fit for planting. Prepare your heart to listen. Be in good condition to listen. Do not come hurriedly, come late, go hurriedly, with your minds full of thought of doing something else, that you are distracted from listening.
Lastly, RETAIN the Word of God through NOTE-TAKING, MEDITATING and PRACTICING the Word of God. Take notes of sermons. Follow along with the preacher. Listen actively. Mediate on what you have listened. Mediate repeatedly. Practice it. Obey it. Live it.
Luke 8:21 "...My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and DO IT."
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