{"id":1274,"date":"2009-03-13T09:05:29","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T17:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2009-07-19T06:28:32","modified_gmt":"2009-07-19T14:28:32","slug":"how-to-listen-to-a-bad-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2009\/03\/13\/how-to-listen-to-a-bad-sermon","title":{"rendered":"How To Listen To A Bad Sermon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lis\u00adten\u00ading to a bad ser\u00admon is like eat\u00ading crab legs. It\u2019s a lot more trou\u00adble than it should be, but you can still get a lot of meat if you are dili\u00adgent.<\/p>\n

So how do you do it?<\/p>\n

Here are some tips that I some\u00adtimes find help\u00adful, in order of pref\u00ader\u00adence. I don\u2019t want to make you too excit\u00aded: noth\u00ading is going to make a bad ser\u00admon good. But these might help mit\u00adi\u00adgate your suf\u00adfer\u00ading.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be mer\u00adci\u00adful.<\/strong> Preach\u00ading con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly good ser\u00admons is a lot hard\u00ader than it seems. Think about your worst day on the job and how you would like your cowork\u00aders and cus\u00adtomers to respond with com\u00adpas\u00adsion and under\u00adstand\u00ading. Now extend that same com\u00adpas\u00adsion to the preach\u00ader.<\/li>\n
  2. Over\u00adlook the stu\u00adpid stuff.<\/strong> Every once in a while even sol\u00adid and reli\u00adable preach\u00aders will say some\u00adthing that\u2019s com\u00adplete\u00adly ridicu\u00adlous \u2014 usu\u00adal\u00adly when they ven\u00adture out\u00adside their area of exper\u00adtise. This is par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly true when preach\u00aders begin using sto\u00adries to illus\u00adtrate a point they are try\u00ading to make. It can real\u00adly throw you for a loop. Tune it out the same way you tune out that one cousin at fam\u00adi\u00adly reunions. Even your favorite book has some bor\u00ading pas\u00adsages, but you judge the book on its high\u00adlights. Judge ser\u00admons like\u00adwise.<\/li>\n
  3. Be ran\u00addom\u00adly inspired.<\/strong> I learned this from Dary Northrop in a sem\u00adi\u00adnar: you should bring a note\u00adbook to ser\u00admons not because of how insight\u00adful and mag\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcent the preach\u00ader is going to be, but because the Holy Spir\u00adit will spark new and amaz\u00ading insights in you which are only tan\u00adgen\u00adtial\u00adly relat\u00aded to what is in the speak\u00ader\u2019s notes. Few ser\u00admons are so bad that there is no good\u00adness in them \u2014 even a three-year-old will say some\u00adthing pro\u00adfound and\/or hilar\u00adi\u00adous if you lis\u00adten to them long enough. So wait for a clever turn of phrase, an obscure or unex\u00adpect\u00aded Bible ref\u00ader\u00adence, or a fact that you were hith\u00ader\u00adto unaware of and begin writ\u00ading furi\u00adous\u00adly. Doo\u00addle as well. Repeat as nec\u00ades\u00adsary.<\/li>\n
  4. Pre\u00adtend it\u2019s oppo\u00adsites day.<\/strong> don t look now free down\u00adload<\/a> <\/u>\n
    down\u00adload the oth\u00aders movie<\/a><\/div>\n

    secret diary of a call girl online<\/a><\/u> Curt Har\u00adlow<\/a> <\/p>\n

    down\u00adload in the val\u00adley of elah dvd<\/a><\/p>\n

    had a tra\u00addi\u00adtion in his Chi Alpha min\u00adistry. Once a year he would preach oppo\u00adsite: \u201cWhy You Should Not Pray\u201d, \u201cWhy God Is Untrust\u00adwor\u00adthy\u201d, etc. He did it dead\u00adpan (well \u2014 as dead\u00adpan as Har\u00adlow ever gets). The first time he did it he was wor\u00adried his stu\u00addents would\u00adn\u2019t catch on that he was mere\u00adly exag\u00adger\u00adat\u00ading and then repeat\u00ading their own doubts back to them in order to demon\u00adstrate how ridicu\u00adlous their doubts were, but it was a huge suc\u00adcess. Even the guests got it. It became an insti\u00adtu\u00adtion. Ever since he told me that sto\u00adry, I game\u00adly pre\u00adtend that a real\u00adly bad ser\u00admon is mere\u00adly the results of \u201coppo\u00adsites day\u201d.<\/p><\/li>\n

  5. Improve the ser\u00admon.<\/strong>\n