Jan and I had lunch today after our Sunday service with two lovely Vietnam expats who have been here for years. The restaurant is in a modern mall. As we walked through the mall following lunch we bumped into a Japanese woman from our fellowship. She told us she had just come from a Bible study (must have been over lunch) with two other women. They had been discussing my morning sermon and she showed me her two pages of notes from this morning's sermon.
I preached today from James, including James 1:19: "Everyone should be quick to listen" and 1:21: "humbly accept the word planted in you." I mentioned how God wants us to listen well to the Word of God, for it is meant not just to inform us but to transform us. So I was delighted to bump into this Japanese Christian just two hours later, who evidenced the fact that she indeed was quick to listen to God's Word and to humbly receive it.
Too often I have not listened well because I already knew (I thought) the answer. Humble listeners are the best learners. They know that they don't know all they could know. So they listen well, they learn and they grow.
I hope we have more people in our fellowship who are listening to the Word like the woman we met in the mall. I hope you are one of those kinds of Christians. I hope I am.
I preached today from James, including James 1:19: "Everyone should be quick to listen" and 1:21: "humbly accept the word planted in you." I mentioned how God wants us to listen well to the Word of God, for it is meant not just to inform us but to transform us. So I was delighted to bump into this Japanese Christian just two hours later, who evidenced the fact that she indeed was quick to listen to God's Word and to humbly receive it.
Too often I have not listened well because I already knew (I thought) the answer. Humble listeners are the best learners. They know that they don't know all they could know. So they listen well, they learn and they grow.
I hope we have more people in our fellowship who are listening to the Word like the woman we met in the mall. I hope you are one of those kinds of Christians. I hope I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment