7 Ways to Get the Most Out of the Sermon.

How to become a better sermon listener.

Image Created in Canva.

It’s hard to prepare sermons.

But, having listened to many sermons in my life, I think it can be equally as challenging to listen to sermons.

Listening to and benefiting from a sermon requires listeners to focus on what is being said. It also requires the right attitude toward God and His Word. The responsibility doesn’t entirely lie with the audience - the preacher also plays a role in helping the audience understand and benefit from God’s Word.

Here are seven quick tips to help you get the most out of the preacher’s sermon and become a better sermon listener.

Prepare Yourself to Hear God’s Word.

Be prepared to listen to whatever God says to you through His Word. Preachers are commanded to preach God’s Word whether people want to hear it or not (2 Timothy 4:2). As listeners, we should prepare ourselves to hear and submit to God’s Word - even if it’s a hard message for us to hear.

Listen to Preaching with Other People.

While there’s nothing wrong with listening to a recording or live stream of a sermon, we need to hear God’s Word alongside other people. Part of our responsibility to the body of Christ is to stir each other up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25). We need encouragement from other Christians to practice what is preached from God’s Word.

Maintain the Proper View of the Preacher.

Don’t think too little or too much of the preacher. There is nothing special about the preacher - he is simply a Christian, the same as you. The apostle Paul reminded Timothy that he also needed God's mercy and grace (1 Timothy 1:12-17). No matter the talent level of the preacher, the message is what matters (Romans 1:16-17).

Listen for the Main Point.

The preacher will hopefully try to communicate the main point from God’s Word to you in his sermon. While there can be many side points, usually, there is a single main point being made in a passage of Scripture.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. (Hebrews 8:1-2)

Once you’ve identified the main point, the surrounding material will be easier to understand - such as understanding that the writer of Hebrews’ main point is to show Jesus as the exalted one.

Be an Active Listener.

Write down notes from the sermon. Let your mind imagine the scene that’s taking place if a story is being told. Hopefully, the preacher helps you be an active listener in how he presents the sermon, but do your best to keep your mind engaged in the sermon.

Make Personal Application.

God’s Word is not just meant for information - it’s meant to change how we live. God’s Word is meant to make us like Christ. We must look into the “mirror” and be willing to change our lives.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)

Review the Sermon.

After the sermon is over, and you have a few quiet moments to yourself - take time to go back and review the sermon. Whatever notes you wrote down, go back and reread them. If the preacher had a primary text, read that passage. Reviewing what you heard again will make parts of the sermon more likely to stick in your mind.

---

Expect to hear God’s Word when you hear a sermon - no more and no less.

I’m grateful so many people are willing to listen to sermons from God’s Word. If you apply these seven tips, it will help you become a better sermon listener, and you will grow in your faith.

I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. (Psalm 119:15-16)