As you listen today to your pastor’s sermon either in person or online, listen carefully to what the Bible says. As he invites you to read the text and consider its meaning, try to pay special attention to what it is teaching and how he explains the text. Take notes either in your Bible, on paper, or electronically so that you will remember the key points of meaning from the text. When he is finished, ask yourself these 5 questions to make your pastor’s sermon personal. These questions will help you move from the meaning of the text to its personal application to your life.
5 Questions to Make Your Pastor’s Sermon Personal
1. What have I learned about God today?
As disciples of Christ, we follow God. We learn about Him from the Bible. Although the Bible is full of various characters, people groups, and stories, the purpose of the Bible is to reveal God and help us have an authentic relationship with Him. Of course we do this through Jesus Christ. Therefore, as we listen to the sermon, we want to learn and make observations about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
2. What sin do I need to confess?
Sin robs our joy in Jesus Christ. Sin places a fellowship barrier between God and us. When something is wrong between a child and his or her parents or between spouses, the awkwardness and uneasiness hurts the joy of being with each other. Conversations may seem forced where they are normally delightful. However, when the problem is resolved, everyone can enjoy each other, the awkwardness clears, and the elephant in the room is gone. In a similar way, when we have unconfessed sin in our lives, it creates a fellowship barrier between God and ourselves – on our end, not God’s. In light of this, we want to confess our sins and stay current with God. After today’s sermon, you can ask yourself if there are any sins you need to confess.
3. How does my position in Christ, the cross, and the Gospel impact my thinking?
As you go back and reflect upon the passage or text that your pastor used in the sermon today, ask yourself, How does my position in Christ, the cross, and the Gospel impact my thinking? You will want to focus on the results of your justification in Jesus Christ and your union with Christ. As a Christ-follower, who is an in-Christ person, you will want to consider all of those implications from the morning’s sermon. What does it mean to be forgiven? Adopted? Empowered? a son or daughter of God? What are the implications of Jesus taking the wages for your sin on Himself, bearing the guilt, enduring the shame, and dying as a substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross for you?
4. What response should I have? What should I do? What is my plan? How must I change my behavior to be fully obedient to the Word of God?
Given what was preached today at your church, what response should you have? What does this text call upon you to do? In what areas of your life should you change? What will be your plan for change? Who do you need to tell and establish accountability? What does today’s sermon passage teach to which I should obey? All of these questions and more should drive our thinking. We do not want to simply be hearers of the Word of God, we want to be doers of the Word. If you just listen and consider where you need to change, but then never do anything, then you will never change.
5. Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
The final question, Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?, brings these to a crescendo. You need a saving relationship with Him. Have you ever asked God to forgive you of your sin based upon the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, the One Who paid for your sins? If you have not, then today is the day. For those of you who have, then you need to also ask what the state of the relationship is between you and God?
The Sum Effect
When you listen well to your pastor’s sermon for the meaning of the text itself, take good notes, and then ask these five questions, then you will be in a strong position to change. None of us want to be simply listeners. We desire God’s Word through the preaching service to help change our hearts in every way, and then to change our behavior as well. For this reason, we want to take responsibility for our part of the application of the text to our individual lives.
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