Did You Hear What I Am Saying?

  Once at the Leadership Training for Christ convention, I was needed to help judge the sermon delivery.  A sheet is given to each judge to write down comments to help the young men improve their presentations. As one of the young men spoke, I was busy writing down things he could improve and attempting to encourage him on his fine work.

  Then it hit me that even thought I was judging his lesson, I was not really listening to it. Now I could have told you his topic and main points, but I was so focused on the details of his delivery I never thought about the message he was saying. Now that was part of that was my job as a judge, but it causes me to realize how easy it is to put style over substance.

  Is it more important to have a person with lots of energy and flair but no substance or one that proclaims the truth? (See 1 Corinthians 1:2-5 to see Paul’s answer to that) It is easy to criticize and critic without listening. One can have a lot to say about a message without ever trying to take any of the points to heart.

  This should make us think about how we judge a lesson. Are we more concerned lesson was boring or was Biblical?  Are we more conscience of length of the lesson or the depth of it? Are we more focused on the articulation of the lesson or the application of the lesson?

  I know that next time I am listen to anyone preach the word of God, I will try to listen to the message before I do anything else.