Session 5

Synopsis

Feasting on the Word:  Session Five Synopsis and Homework

Helps for healthy sermon listening:

1. Show up. Hebrews 10:25 instructs us not to neglect the assembly of the saints. God’s people are to gather together to hear the Word taught and preached. The corporate gathering is the primary way in which we grow and mature together, and serve and encourage one another by teaching, admonishing, and singing to one another. 
2. Pray.  Pray for the pastor as he prepares the sermon. Pray that God would grant him understanding, that he would be able to clearly communicate the truth of the Word and stir up our affections for the Lord.  Pray for yourself and the congregation that God would open our ears to hear the Word and that we would humbly receive and respond to it with obedience.
3. Prepare.  Read and meditate on the passage to be preached ahead of time.  Come expecting to hear from God through the teaching of His Word.
4. Listen actively.  Take notes to help you stay focused and actively engaged in the sermon.  Even if you never look at them again, writing notes will help you remember what was taught.
5. Listen with humility.  James 1:21 says we are to “receive with meekness the implanted word”.  As you listen to the sermon, submit yourself to the authority of the Word and apply the truth to your own heart.  It is easy to think about how others need to hear and apply the truths of scripture; pray for them, but primarily evaluate your own heart in light of the message.
6. Meditate on the passage throughout the week.  Think about the implications and applications of the passage that was taught.  Community Groups are a great forum for group meditation where we chew on and digest the sermon together, seeking to better understand and live out the truths of the passage.
7. Talk about the sermon with others.  Go to lunch with other members and discuss the sermon, discuss it with your family throughout the week, and, again, discuss it in your Community group.  
8. Be obedient.  As the spirit teaches and convicts, confess your sin to God, pray for the strength and wisdom to walk in obedience, and seek accountability and prayer support from your CG members. We are to “be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves” and James 1:25 promises  that “ the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Homework

1. Read and Study Chapter 4 of Colossians.  Use the reading strategies and Bible study tools you have learned in previous sessions. 
2. Use the cross-references or a concordance to learn everything you can about the people mentioned in Chapter 4.  Then use your Study Bible notes and a commentary to find out more about them. 
3. Meditate and pray through portions or all of Chapter 4. Think about the people in your life who serve and worship alongside you as part of the body.  Pray for them and thank God for them. 
4. Continue to work on your memory verse or verses.  
5. Commit to corporate worship. Incorporate some of the helps for listening to a sermon next Sunday.

Other sessions in this series

• Session 1
• Session 2
• Session 3
• Session 4

Resources

• Listen Up! A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons by Christopher Ash
• What is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti M. Anyabwile
• True Worshipers: Seeking What Matters to God by Bob Kauflin

Commentaries

• Captivated by Christ – Seeing Jesus Clearly in the Book of Colossians by Richard Chin
• The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Colossians and Philemon by John MacArthur
• The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon by Douglas J. Moo

Online Resources and Apps

• An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture by Andrew Davis