Responsibility of the Listener in Preaching - Part 2

Responsibilities During the Preaching of the Word

Worship

The value of the music preceding the preaching should not be underestimated. Your singing, prayer, the giving of tithes and offerings, listening to Scripture reading before the sermon, all of these are important acts of worship which you should engage in earnestly. The sermon is not something separate from all of this, but it is the culmination of it. Reverence and responsiveness are critical.

Think

You should carefully evaluate and process all that is expounded from the pulpit (1 Corinthians 14:29). Do not be critical in a negative way; rather, be “positively biased toward the message of Scripture and the messenger.” (from Jay Adams – A Consumer’s Guide to Preaching)

Take Notes

Taking notes can greatly impact the influence of a sermon on your life. The purpose in note-taking is not to produce a transcript of the sermon – we have that available on CD. No, the purpose of taking notes is that it is a statistically proven fact that it helps with recall. Listeners who take notes are much more likely to remember a sermon longer than those who don’t.

Use Your Bibles

Bring your own Bible to church. Just turning to a passage and orienting your mind to where it falls in the text is an important part of the service – it will help you commit it in whole or in part to memory.