From my reading in James 1 in the One Year Bible New Testament.

Church-goers spend thousands of hours listening to sermons.

Unfortunately, many of us let them go in one ear and out the other. James tells us how to listen to sermons in a way that will actually change our lives!

1. Humbly accept hard truth.

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” James 1:19-12

A humble listener will be eager to hear what God has to say. If the Word of God is faithfully preached, eventually your world will be rocked.

Don’t get mad when you hear something you don’t want to hear. Your opinion doesn’t really matter when you compare it to God’s. In order to properly understand the Word you must get under it’s authority. Tweet This

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Humility is the prerequisite for life change.  If it is God’s Word, then humbly accept it because it has the power to save your soul.

2. Don’t deceive yourself, do something!

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” James 1:22

You may know a lot about the Bible, but unless you do something it won’t change your life.

Information without application leads to stagnation. Inspiration without application leads to frustration. Tweet This

If you are getting a lot information, but have no outlet to apply it you will be like the Dead Sea.  Because there is not outlet the Sea is “Dead.” Don’t be a dead sea Christian.

A healthy Christian will be more like the Sea of Galilee. The same river flows in but it also flows out. To stay fresh spiritually you must apply scripture to your life.

It is possible to become spiritually fat on spiritual food if you don’t exercise your faith.

“The Scriptures were not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.” DL Moody Tweet This 

3. Think deeply about Scripture and don’t forget what you heard.

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” James 1:23–25

I had acne as a teenager. I would often look in the mirror and pop white heads. TMI I know. But what if I saw a fresh white head and just ignored it. I would go through the whole day with it on my face.

That is what it’s like when we look at the word but don’t do anything about it.

We are instructed to get a long hard look at the Word.

Scripture is like the stars on a clear night. The longer and harder you look, the more you see and the more beautiful they become. Tweet This

One of the best ways for me to remember what I have learned in scripture is to memorize verses. Through memorizing you can think about that verse throughout your day. We are to take pains to remember what it says, then we will be blessed for doing it.

The blessing does not come from merely knowing the Scripture the blessing comes from doing it! Tweet This

Why do you think it is so hard for us to listen well to the sermons we hear?

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