I worked out recently that I have now heard over 1000 sermons…
Now you may be wondering why I would even try to figure that out, but I was curious.
I wanted to know.

It reminds me that we can hear lots about God.
We can hear lots about what God can do in our lives.
And we can hear lots about what our response can be.

In fact we can spend a lifetime ‘hearing’.
Now that is a good thing!
I want us to ‘hear’.
But there is always a next step. Something else that needs to happen otherwise we get good or bad at ‘hearing’.

Something I am have always tried to do with any sermon, preachit...teaching thing, is I ask myself what I can do with what I have heard?
What can I learn?
And then how can I do something with what I have just learnt?
That is the step that bring our ‘hearing’ to life.

James 1:22-24 (niv)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

The Message version help explain it better...
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

My encouragement to you is to make the most of what you hear.
Take it on board. Ask questions of yourself.
Then what you hear will make even more sense.
It will grow you beyond just a ‘hearer’ of the word into a ‘doer’.

I am looking forward to the next 1000 sermons I hear...because I will hear lots that I can live out loud!

Something to think about...