Title: How Should We Hear God's Word?
How should we listen to God's Word?
1 Thessalonians 2:11-13
As you know, we exhort, comfort, and rebuke each of you as a father does his own children, so that you may walk worthy of the God who called you to his kingdom and glory. is, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God, verily, this word also works in you who believe.
1. We must receive it as the word of God, not through the words of men.
Until I am here today
There was such a sermon
I believe that my faith has grown without me even knowing it.
Because I want to record it because it seems to be an important content while listening.
When you record it, you cannot hear the important words at the moment of recording
Because a lot of times it will pass.
Also, even if you write it down, if you go home and read it
There were hardly any.
So I focused on listening.
In order not to miss a single word, I turned on the lights and looked at the pastor.
As soon as the pastor’s word fell, I accepted the word with ‘Amen’.
I looked at the pastor and looked at God at the same time.
I believed that God spoke through the pastor.
Then I really heard the voice of God.
Hallelujah!
But little by little, I get to know the Bible and gain knowledge, so I feel proud.
I look at the pastor and think of him as a close friend to me.
I couldn't hear God's voice because I thought I was an ordinary human being.
Listening to the pastor's words makes me think differently.
Why does the pastor say this?
Is that pastor telling me to listen?
Since then, there has been no grace. I don't know how much later I repented.
Today's sermons are not accepted as the Word of God.
People who evaluate and interpret based on their beliefs and knowledge
I don't know how many.
Such a person cannot receive grace.
You may be smart, but there is no grace.
There is only one way to receive grace from God. You have to be humble.
God does not give grace to the knowledgeable and clever
I believe in giving grace to the humble.
“God opposes the proud,
He is gracious to the humble.”
Let's find Matthew 13:54-58 together.
When he returned to his hometown and taught in their synagogue, they were astonished and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and such power? Is this not the carpenter's son? His mother is Mary, and his brothers are James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Aren't all his sisters with us? Then they said, "Where did all these things about this man come from?" They rejected Jesus. And Jesus said to them, "There is no prophet without respect except in his own hometown and in his own household." He did not do many mighty works there because of unbelief.
Families and relatives who knew Jesus as a child
And some of the townspeople would not listen to Jesus,
I didn't believe in Jesus.
Why?
Because they received the words of Jesus as human words.
Because they looked at it from a human point of view.
At the time of Jesus, God spoke through Jesus.
Everyone who heard the word of Jesus and believed in him was saved.
So, what will God say today?
He speaks through the Bible.
He speaks through the Holy Spirit.
I believe that you are speaking through the servant of the Lord who preaches the word.
2. We must listen to the Word with an obedient heart.
He said that he preached the same sermon over and over again.
The saints do not tithe because they do not have faith.
So I pray until God tithes
It is said that he moved me to preach until I obeyed the Word.
So next week you will be preaching tithing.
It is said that he preached tithing the following week.
Then, the saints were forced to tithe.
Everyone!
We believe that we must obey the word of God even by force.
Obedience is being tamed.
When you tame a horse, you can see how tough it is at first.
I don't know if I'm struggling.
However, once tamed, they listen to their owners.
In the same way, we also thank God
You don't know how much you don't listen and insist.
He insists to the end to do his own will and his own thoughts.
Then if God strikes you as poverty and sick
Then I regret and try to obey.
Look at today's text from the second half of verse 11 to verse 12.
We exhort, comfort, and rebuke each of you, as a father does his own children, so that you may walk worthy of the God who called you to his kingdom and glory.
The Apostle Paul said, as parents do to their children.
He said to exhort, comfort, and warn the saints.
It is said that this is so that we may walk worthy of God.
What is the purpose of God speaking to us?
We're not saying it's good to hear.
Many people say that they received grace after hearing a good sermon.
But there is no change. This is the big homework of the Korean church today.
During that time, the members received a lot of grace, but there was no change in their lives.
This is because we have lost the purpose of God speaking to us.
Why does God speak to us?
Not only do we hear the word and receive grace,
by obedience to the word
I believe it is to make us walk worthy of God.
3. In order for the soul to live, we must listen to the Word.
John 6:63
It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Studying at school is learning knowledge.
Knowledge must be learned with the brain and diligently recorded.
But the Word of God is not about learning knowledge.
It's not about thinking with your head and trying to figure it out.
God's word saves me.
When I hear the word of God, my spirit comes to life.
I believe that dead spirits will come to life when they hear the word of God.
A dead soul is lifeless.
There is no joy. helpless. There is no hope.
But when a dead soul comes to life, it comes alive.
Joy abounds. vitality arises. I am full of hope.
Therefore, preaching is not the transmission of words, but the communication of the spirit.
The Spirit of God and my spirit meet each other.
As my dead spirit touches the word of life
It is to gain vitality, to gain strength, and to obtain hope. Amen
If you have a cold, go to the pharmacy and tell them that you have these and other symptoms.
When a cold virus enters our body
Headache, cold, fever, body aches, etc.
Because it shows several symptoms.
Likewise, our souls sometimes get sick.
Joy is gone, depressed, powerless, irritable, angry.
This is a sign that our souls are sick.
Not many people today say
Each of us is living with a disease of the soul.
Where do you go when something is wrong with your soul and you are sick?