"How to Hear a Sermon" from Pastor David Jeremiah

Sometimes things are just too good not to pass on. That's the case with today's e-mail devotional from Pastor David Jeremiah:

Friday, September 12
How to Hear a Sermon
"They received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" Acts 17:11.

Recommended ReadingPsalm 119:73-80

Mortimer Adler wrote a little volume in 1940 that has since become a classic: How to Read a Book. Many who thought they knew how to read books learned all over again how to skim, analyze, comprehend, dissect, and absorb a book's message.

The same concept can be applied to sermons. Every week, thousands of pastors stand with a Bible in their hands to teach God's Word. But much of their ministry is wasted by careless listening in the pews.

Here's how to hear a sermon:

(1) Pray for your pastor's message and prepare your heart to hear it;

(2) If you know the text in advance, read it;

(3) Sit near the front;

(4) Bring your Bible, and follow along with the Scriptures;

(5) Make notes of the outline, main points, quotes, and illustrations;

(6) Take away at least one truth to apply in a practical way to your life; and

(7) Try to share something from the message with another person as soon as possible.

Of course, we mustn't rely on a once-a-week sermon for all our spiritual nourishment. Let's remember those faithful Bereans who received the Word with readiness and searched the Scriptures daily.

"A love for the Word in the pulpit is bound to produce a love for the Word in the pew"

—Merrill F. Unger

Questions Jesus Raised: "Four months until harvest?"

Sunday I'll be preaching on John 4:1-42. Here are some things to think about from that message:

The Bible says that Jesus "had to go through Samaria." We don't know why this was. Most Jews avoided this route, going far out of their way, down several thousand feet of elevation on the dangerous road to Jericho, crossing Jordan, going up the east bank until opposite Galilee, then recrossing into Jewish territory again. All to avoid people they disliked! Possible reasons Jesus "had" to go through Samaria--
>>>He was in a hurry to get to Galilee and didn't want to take the time for the longer route. I think this unlikely, since He took the time to spend some days at Sychar before going on to Galilee.
>>>He knew supernaturally that he had a 'divine appointment' at Jacob's well. This is certainly a possibility.
>>>He was guided by God's Spirit, and followed the Spirit's leading. To me, this is the most 'useful' interpretation. Seldom do we everyday Christians have spiritual precognition of events toward which God is leading us. But all of us need to be sensitive to the pulling (and sometimes pushing!) of God's Spirit in certain directions.

Notice Jesus was physically tired, and He opened conversation with the woman by asking for a drink. Have you thought about the contrast between His humanity and His sovereignty?

Jon Clore shared with me some thoughts he heard from Pastor Johnny Hunt of Woodstock on buckets of water. Bro. Johnny was talking about having a bucket of hot water, and how if you add just a glassful of lukewarm or cold water, suddently the bucket's water isn't hot anymore. Remember Christ's taste in water? (See Revelation 3:16) Hot or cold is infinitely preferable to lukewarm...and I'm afraid most Christians today are pretty lukewarm.

Ever considered the possibility that the "spring of living water" can be a hot spring?

Sunday one of the things we'll consider together is the question, "What are you doing with your spring?" Some scriptures to look at are Jeremiah 2:13, Judges 10:13, Psalm 36:9, Isaiah 55:2, and Galatians 1:6-7.

In his encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus uses his prophetic insight ("go call your husband"/"you have had 5 husbands, and now are living with someone not your husband"). The woman, like many folks without a personal relationship with God, tries to deflect the conversation into side issues and unsolvable religious disputes, but Jesus reveals Himself as the true object for worship, "I AM."

When the disciples return, they are confused by Jesus' behavior and His lack of hunger. In contrast, the woman now has a certainty...she must share the news about the Messiah she has encountered. But wisely (or more likely, inspired by the Spirit) she simply asks, "Could this be the Messiah?" Witnesses must always allow people to make up their own minds, and come to their own encounter with Christ.

The end of this passage is a wonderful discourse on food and harvests. Jesus asks His disciples, "Don't you say, 'There are still four months, then comes the harvest?'" But He commands, "Open your eyes!" In their day, a harvest of souls was "white unto harvest" right then and there! Is it different in our day?

Matthew 9:36-38 is the prayer we need to pray over our own harvest of souls. "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest."

See you Sunday!

More on Women in Public Life

If you read my previous LONG blog on this topic, you might be interested in reading the comments that have come in on ERLC's website. Here's the link:
http://erlc.com/article/the-role-of-women-in-public-life

A really long post about women in government

The other day I was going on a day trip with some other pastors. We began talking about the remarkable choice of Sara Palin as the Republican VP choice. Several pastors commended her personal faith and views, but one pastor surprised me by citing Isaiah 3:12 as what he called "God's curse on a nation when women are in leadership."

Today, there was an article posted in the Faith and Family Values newsletter of our Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, titled "The Role of Women in Public Life" by Barrett Duke.

I feel this is important enough to copy his entire article, and also my comment that I posted on ERLC's website.

Here's his column:

The Role of Women in Public Life

By Barrett Duke - Nov 8, 2007 - comment

The question about the role of women in the political life of our nation is an important and certainly timely one. I do not believe that the Bible prohibits women from serving at any level of public life. The Bible’s instructions about the proper roles of men and women apply to the church and the family. The Bible does not speak directly to differing roles of men and women in public life.

Some people have developed principles from the Bible’s instructions about the proper roles of men and women in the church and family and applied them more broadly. Depending on the setting, the application of these principles has varying degrees of validity. In the church and in the home, the Bible teaches clearly that God has appointed the man to serve as the primary leader. In these environments the issue of spiritual headship figures prominently. As one moves further from roles where the exercise of spiritual authority is involved, it becomes more difficult to apply these principles.

Public service is essentially a secular role. While a person can certainly express spiritual opinions in that setting and can influence public policy related to spiritual activities, there is little, if any, assertion of spiritual authority. Some people choose to apply the biblical model of male headship to all activities in life, including public service, as a means to reinforce the biblical teachings on the proper role of men and women in the church and the family. The Bible does not prohibit this, but neither does it require it.

In fact, there are a number of biblical examples of women providing key leadership roles in the public life of nations. Consider the very affirming depiction of Deborah’s role as a judge in the book of Judges (Judges 4-5). The Bible says “the Israelites went up to her for judgment” (Judges 4:5). It even says that Barak refused to meet Sisera on the battlefield unless Deborah accompanied him (Judges 4:8). Some may note that the text does not explicitly state that God established Deborah in her role as judge and conclude that she did not occupy that role with the same divine authority as the other judges (cf., Othniel, Judges 3:9-10). But Deborah is not the only judge where the divine appointment language is not used. It is also not used for Shamgar (Judges 3:31), Tola (Judges 10:1-2), or Jair (Judges 10:3-5). It is evident that the divine appointment language is not needed to validate for the reader the divine appointment of the judges. Interestingly, the book of Hebrews singles out Barak’s accomplishments without mentioning the role that Deborah played, but this is understandable in light of the passage’s emphasis on the heroic and spectacular (Hebrews 11:32-33).

Some people have claimed that God calls women to leadership when He can’t find a willing man. Certainly, the vast majority of examples of leadership in the Bible are male, but that should not be interpreted to mean that women should be excluded from leadership in public life if a man can be found to do the job. The Bible gives no hint that Deborah was a judge because adequate male leadership could not be found. Indeed, we can be glad that Deborah wasn’t afraid to exercise leadership, since she is the one who summoned Barak and told him that he needed to obey God’s command to fight Sisera (Judges 4:6).

The Bible is clear about the leadership role of men in the home and in the church. Neither the example of Deborah nor any other female leader in, or outside, the Bible should be used as a means to undermine that design. In the same regard, God’s design for male headship in the home and the church does not require the exclusion of women from leadership in public life, where spiritual headship is not involved. Such extrapolation carries the biblical teaching about the role of women beyond the Bible’s own application.

Here is my comment that I posted to the ERLC website: (I later had to condense this as it was too many characters for their system)

I'm a pastor, and the other day had occasion to ride with some other pastors to a meeting. I was surprised that one of them cited Isaiah 3:12 as a prohibition on women serving in public office.

Here's the verse from HCSB: "Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you; they confuse the direction of your paths."

The pastor stated, "Every time a woman in the Bible was a prophet or judge or ruler, it was a curse from God."

Naturally, I wanted to check this for myself. Not being a very good Hebrew scholar, I did some comparisons of translations first.

Here's the KJV: "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths."

NASB: "O My people! Their oppressors are children,And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths."

NIV: "Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path."

The Message: "Skinny kids terrorize my people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley. They're sending you off on a wild-goose chase."
It seems to me that given the background of this passage (God 'taking Judah's leaders to court' for their leading the people into sin) that the verse is either 1) stating the actual course of affairs or 2) using sarcasm to compare the leaders to children and women. [New American Commentary, Vol. 15A p. 149 tends to confirm this last.]

Bottom line--I agree with your interpretation, and disagree with the other pastor's position. The Bible does not speak authoritatively either way on the role of women in government leadership roles.

By the way, Dr. Duke is VP for Public Policy at ERLC.

Questions Jesus Raised: "Do you want to get well?"

The sermon for this Sunday has the title above. It's taken from the 5th chapter of John's gospel (as are all the texts for this sermon series.) In a way, it's a strange question...asking someone who's been sick more than 30 years if he wants to get well. But notice, if you read the passage, that the man doesn't answer Jesus--he gives him an excuse as to why he isn't already healed!

Don't we do that in our own lives, and in our church lives? This Sunday's sermon will have a section where I "quit preaching and go to meddling" (the old saying I used to hear from my Dad.) It's a 'timeout' where we look at seven deadly sins of dying churches...

Here's a list of the "classic" seven deadly sins, formulated during the very early days of the Christian church: Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.

Here's a list of the seven sins of dying churches (from the book Essential Church, pp. 16-19)
1. Doctrine dilution
2. Loss of Evangelistic Passion
3. Failure to be relevant
4. Few outwardly focused ministries
5. Conflict over personal preferences
6. The priority of comfort
7. Biblical illiteracy

Here's my personal take on how the 'classic' deadly sins line up with the sins of dying churches:

Doctrine dilution: Failure to teach what the Bible really says, to supposedly make it more 'palatable' for today's society. This seems to me to involve some aspects of pride (thinking WE know better than God), lust (so that we can conform to today's lax moral attitudes), and even gluttony (we "want it all" without the restraints that sound doctrine lays upon committed Christians.)

Loss of Evangelistic Passion: Sloth, definitely! But also maybe some hidden pride (if we've doubted the truth of Scripture that says those apart from Christ are condemned to hell.) Maybe even a little wrath (if you've ever thought, "Let those worthless sinners just go to hell!")

Failure to be relevant: Some may doubt that this is even a sin for churches. Doesn't the old song say, "Gimme that old-time religion, it's good enough for me"? But a look at the New Testament book of Acts quickly reveals that the church had to adapt to different cultures as it pushed out from the Jerusalem base. Was this easy? No. Did it bring conflict? You betcha! But if we don't make the unchanging gospel speak to the changing needs of people in our society, we shouldn't be surprised if they ignore us as unimportant. To them, we are, and because we are, they think Christ Himself is unimportant. God help us! So which 'deadly sin' relates to this? Greed. We want things the way WE like them, and if that keeps us from sharing the gospel as it should be shared, too bad! Doesn't that sound greedy to you?

Few outwardly focused ministries: Greed rears its ugly head again. But hey, aren't we a society of consumers? Isn't everything really driven by greed? Is it so bad? You know it is. Selfishness is the antithesis of the spirit of Christ. How can we focus on our own comfort while souls He died for are being lost?

Conflict over personal preferences: This is a stewpot of sins.
Greed (I want things my way!),
lust (don't forget that this is not just sexual lust...you can also lust for 'the good old days' or 'my favorite hymns' or 'if we only had a preacher as good as the one I saw on TV last night'),
sloth (I'm too lazy to change, I'm 'set in my ways'), and maybe even
envy (Why can't we have a beautiful new building like xyz church?)
But the worst thing brought out by conflict in a church situation is wrath. Which you already know if you have ever experienced church conflict!

The priority of comfort: This hits lust, sloth, and envy just as the church sin above does. Maybe hits a little in gluttony, too, don't you think?

Biblical illiteracy: Pride, definitely pride. We remain unknowing of what the Bible teaches because we think we are sufficient in ourselves. Or maybe sloth is crawling out from under the covers--we're simply too lazy to "study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed."

See you Sunday!

Hey, don't forget that Sunday night we host Hemptown Baptist for a joint worship service. Our youth group will present their drama again, and Bro. David Whitener will preach. Bring some goodies for the fellowship afterwards!

Judges but no judgment

At church, I'm doing a Wednesday night 'series' on the book of Judges. Some well-known folks there, like Gideon, Samson, etc., but also some lesser-known folks.

The frustrating thing is to see that Israel slid back to idolatry after every judge. Maybe they'd be free from opression for a generation or so (40 years) but then they'd go after the idols again, and God would punish them again. They had judges, but no judgment.

It's amazing that God continued to have mercy on them when they cried out to Him...but then, maybe that's not so amazing. I have a little caligraphy card framed in my office..."O God of second chances, here I am again."

Fun things about being a pastor

News flash--Some things about being a pastor are not so fun. But today there are two things that I really enjoy.

Earlier today, I got to counsel with a couple who are planning their wedding. It's always fun to hear how God brought two people together.

In a few minutes, I'm headed home from the office to drop by Fannin Regional hospital on the way home to visit the Cormonas and their newborn son! Irma and the baby are doing fine, I hear from Bro. Freddy Gomez.