Preparing for the Preached Word (An Excerpt)

Below is a short excerpt from a little book called, "The Family at Church" by Joel Beeke. Within this book there is a helpful section called, "Preparing For the Word Preached" which offers some key insights into how to prepare our hearts and minds to receive the crucial ministry of God's Word during Lord's Day worship.

For some, this subject may seem completely unnecessary. They might retort, "Who needs to read about how to listen?" But, in fact, listening well—especially to the Word of God—is not something which we are as proficient in as we may like to think. I would venture to guess that not a Sunday goes by in which you do not find your heart wrestling with numerous distractions and competing thoughts from the cares of life during the worship service. We may be tempted to think that this is of no effect, but is that really true?

If the ministry of the Word of God is the primary means by which God nourishes and sustains the faith of his blood-bought children in Christ—and it is!—then taking time to consider how to prepare ourselves for the Lord's Day by planning ahead and removing competing distractions is a wise and helpful subject for our consideration. If you find the snippet below helpful, you can find the book for purchase here.

Preparing for the Preached Word (p. 12-13)

"Remember as you enter the house of God that you are entering a battleground. Many enemies will oppose your listening. Internally, you may be distracted by worldly cares and employments, lusts of the flesh, cold hearts, and critical spirits. Externally, you may be distracted by the temperature or weather, behavior or dress of others, noises, or people moving about. Satan opposes your listening to God's Word with might and main, knowing that if you truly hear it, he will lose you. So Satan tries to disturb you before the sermon begins, distracts you during the sermon, and dismisses the sermon from your mind as soon as it is finished. Like a bird plucking away newly sown seed, Satan attempts to snatch the Word from your mind and heart so that it cannot take root..."

May the Lord give us "ears to hear" and hearts which are like the good soil of our Savior's parable; hearts that receive the Word with all meekness and eagerness and produce in turn a harvest of true righteousness 100-fold of that which was sown.