Active preaching needs active listening

How is your listening?  How do you approach listening to the sermon or bible talk on Sunday morning or/and evening at church, or in CU, or at the conference?  What do you do to maximise the talk?  How have you trained yourself to make the most out of it?  Have you trained yourself to listen well?  Is your listening active or passive?  Have you recognised what stops you listening and how you can counter that?

I'm just toying with the idea one Sunday of preaching in the same style in which many people listen, rather than being active and passionate, imploring and explaining, I might be passive and inattentive to what I preach.  I might meander a bit, let my attention wander (that might be dangerous given some of the potential digressions that might lead to - it may even be more boring!), drift off.  Except I wouldn't because preaching is a serious thing, presenting the word or God, imploring God's people to hear and respond is a joyful task.  And I think I'd be out of a job pretty quickly.  So why if we wouldn't accept that from a preacher do we accept it in our own listening?

The Bible doesn't just say that those who preach will be held accountable but also those who listen, that is a sobering thought.  So how could you train yourself to listen better, here are a few ways:

- Read the passage before you come, note down questions and see if they get answered.
- Pray before you come asking God to make you expectant and open your eyes, ears and heart.
- Have your Bible open and keep on checking out what is being said.
- Follow cross references and look them up.
- Take notes - we do it for anything else we want to retain or reference again, why not for God's word which is the very word of eternal life!
- Agree with some friends or family that you will discuss the questions or talk over lunch afterwards.
- Create the expectation that you will revisit the talk with others at some point in the week.
- Be self controlled - stop yourself when distracted by the fly or the background or your week ahead.
- Pray afterwards asking God to help you weigh up what you have heard and respond to it.