From 10 Rows Back

From 10 Rows Back...
(Written from the perspective of an anonymous congregation member)

Pastor Steve has been preaching about the 3 understandings that bring fulfillment to our journey: What we see, what we say and What we hear/listen to. These caused a lot of thought in me after church on Sunday, but I am going to expand on the third understanding with a few thoughts.

Be aware of your body language. Be aware of what is going on around you. Listen for wisdom; not listening can cause a downward spiral. When you come to church on Sunday, come ready to hear and listen for God's message to you. Pastor Steve expanded on listening, talking about 5 Ways we can Listen:

1. Gain wisdom by listening for insights on the world around you
Wisdom is crying out at the crossroads in our life. If we don't follow God's plan, which is wisdom, the stuff "we build" eventually breaks down.

2. Listen to instruction (for some reason I have no notes on this one???)

3. Listen to Success-
Ask questions and see how they made it happen

4. Listen to other people mistakes-
Mistakes shouldn't be wasted
"Our greatest mistakes can become our greatest wisdom"
"Don't judge other people mistakes, learn from them"

5. Listen to correction-
Don't be defensive. If you are wise, you'll listen and acknowledge what the person correcting or rebuking you is saying.

Here's my favorite quote from the day: "Listen with the intent to grow, to be bigger, and to be transformed." Pastor Steve finished up with a challenge to "Determine what you think about; it will direct your destiny." As we live our lives everyday, let us think on this: How could our world be different if what we saw, what we spoke and what we listened to were the way that God intended?


Feel free to add your feedback/commentary in the comments below!

3 comments (Add your own)

1. Anonymous wrote:
this is great! love that the message is spreading outside of the Sunday morning! so cool!

Sat, January 14, 2012 @ 2:13 PM

2. Marie wrote:
Tony, I've actually heard him make laimsir comments out of frustration before, so I'm not sure he's waited this long to address it. I'm not sure what triggered this particular tweet, but this type of comment is actually not that out of the ordinary for this particular guy.One time, I heard him say from the pulpit that he was angry with God because the higher I set the bar, the lower God jumps. I still shudder when I recall hearing that.ded, no secret that I would agree with your last sentence. I have more thoughts about that, but am waiting to give others a chance to respond even more before I give my more thorough thoughts.Alan, I think your comment about preaching not being all it's hyped up to be is very laimsir to ded's closing statement. So, again, I agree.Mike and Alan, yes too many expectations are put on preachers.Scott, you certainly gave a different spin on this. I hadn't thought of it from that angle before. I'll have to mull that over some more. I don't immediately agree with your comment, but I also don't immediately disagree. At any rate, I would agree with the difficulty in knowing what satisfied means in his mind. Without knowing what made those two times different, it's hard to say.

Wed, March 28, 2012 @ 4:06 PM

3. Rayven wrote:
John and Judy! Great to hear from you. Our company (Insight CRE Services and Insight 360 Solutions) alucatly has a lot of business in Charlotte-Raleigh areas of NC so I may be there soon. Suppose to do a renewed 360 tour of Southpark Mall soon so I may be stopping by for supper.

Mon, April 16, 2012 @ 9:39 PM

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