Rating the sermon

Numbers 12: ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to my words.

“Suppose one of my prophets is among you.
    I make myself known to him in visions.
    I speak to him in dreams.
⁷ But that is not true of my servant Moses.
    He is faithful in everything he does in my house.
⁸ With Moses I speak face to face.
    I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles.
    I let him see something of what I look like.
So why were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹ The anger of the Lord burned against them. And he left them.

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“I didn’t get anything out of that sermon” were the words I said many times after leaving various churches. I mean I sat for an hour or two or three, the least thing they can do is say stuff that I can use!

• Sometimes my pride makes me not hear what GOD is saying.
• Sometimes my heart is too stony to hear what GOD is saying.
• Sometimes my ears are closed to hearing what GOD is saying.

When I think I am the one who needs to be entertained by GOD’s messengers then my pride gets in the way of really hearing HIS message. I find myself rating church instead of applying what GOD is saying to me. I even get bold enough to critique the person who said the message.

• GOD wants me to respect HIS messengers because I don’t know how HE is using the message.
• GOD wants me to listen to every message and test it with scripture to understand how to apply it to my life.
• GOD wants me to reduce the judgment of HIS messages and figure out how to apply it to my life to draw others to HIM.

Listening to GOD takes ears on my heart.  I must be open to hearing what HE has to say no matter who is saying it.

• Are you critiquing GOD’s messages?
• Do you feel it is good to be a church critic?
• Can you stop for a moment and listen to what GOD has to say no matter who is saying it?