Devotion: Pursue Clarity in Teaching

[0:00] So, we are into chapter 14, and just kind of back up to chapter 12 and 13, I am going to say that there may be some things that I say today that if you haven't heard 12 and 13, you might be feeling a little bit lost.

[0:20] I'm going to do my best to help you, but don't be afraid to pause me, stop me, and say, wait, what? But it's okay to interrupt me, don't worry about that.

[0:32] But chapter 12, 13, 14, the Corinthians have asked Paul a question, and their problem is probably related to the idea of speaking in tongues or speaking in languages, because one of the things that we've done is we've defined that as known languages somewhere in the world.

[0:51] And they think because they're able to speak this way, they're super spiritual, they're better than other people, they want to see these manifestations of the Spirit, or they want to see things moving and happening.

[1:07] And so, they've asked some sort of question. So, what Paul has done is he has answered the question. He's really going to chastise them and help them get to the right place. But in chapter 12, what he does is he says, okay, listen, the whole nature of spiritual gifts is this.

[1:24] But a better way to live is chapter 13, love. And then chapter 14 is sort of the final say, like, so, here's what you need to do. You need to pursue prophecy.

[1:38] That's the end goal of what he's after. If you go back to chapter 12, then, the nature of the gifts is such that a gift is something that is in conjunction with an office.

[1:54] So, there were extraordinary offices, like apostles and prophets. Those offices had extraordinary gifts. Those offices have been replaced with ordinary offices.

[2:09] So, the office of a pastor is not extraordinary like the office of an apostle. I mean, like, I'm nothing like Peter and Paul, right? The things that God did through them because it was the beginning stages of establishing the kingdom of God, we're now in the maintenance phase of the kingdom of God, right?

[2:31] It's this changeover from the extraordinary to the ordinary. And so, in that light, when he gets to chapter 14, he says that we should pursue love, earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but especially that you prophesy.

[2:52] Now, as I put this together, I am saying that what we need to do, instead of saying it this way, instead of saying we should desire prophecy, I'm saying we should desire clarity in the teaching of the word.

[3:10] Now, why would I say that instead of prophecy? Well, I'm going to tell you, but then as we go through today, I think it'll make the case itself, right? The reason I'm saying that is because what Paul's after throughout chapter 14 is that the body of Christ, when they gather, can hear and understand all that's being said without any trouble so that they are built up.

[3:39] And as we read through chapter 14, you're going to notice how often he wants to see the body built up, edified, instructed. And so, because I think prophecy has ceased, because the office of a prophet has ceased, we can't really have prophecy in the same way they had prophecy.

[4:01] So, I say we need to desire clarity in the teaching of the word. So, does that make sense, kind of the way I'm going? Because if you don't understand sort of my presupposition there, kind of my assumptions that I'm making, then what I'm saying may not make sense.

[4:19] So, everybody's good? Awesome. So then, I think chapter 14 gives us four reasons why we should desire the clarity in the teaching of the word, okay?

[4:31] So, the first one is because clarity in teaching builds up the body. So, I'm basically just going to repeat myself here, but in more detail. So, let's look at verse 1 through 5, and then 13 through 19.

[4:43] He says, Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a language speaks not to men, but to God, because no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit, or by the Spirit.

[5:02] On the other hand, the one who prophesies speak to people for their own up-building, encouragement, and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

[5:17] Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

[5:30] And if you skip down to verse 13, Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

[5:44] What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit. I will sing praise with my mind also.

[5:55] Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you're saying?

[6:06] For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in languages more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct than 10,000 words in a language.

[6:27] Okay. So, you notice how often he talks about the idea and the concept of building people up. Now, there's more throughout this chapter, but I just wanted to capture these.

[6:40] You can see in verse 3 that this speaking and prophecy is for the upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation. So, upbuilding or building people up.

[6:50] This is a Greek term that comes from construction. It's like building a house. It's like edifying. So, an edifice is something that is built.

[7:01] Somebody had to edify it in order for it to exist. So, if you think of your life as a construction project, when you were lost, when you were not a Christian, you started out as bare land without anything but just thorns and thistles, right?

[7:20] Maybe a few trees. The Lord, when he saves us, cultivates the land, develops and preps the soil, and begins to build a foundation and walls and roof and begins to build something in your life.

[7:35] So, it goes from bare land to finished building. Let's change that analogy for just a second. When you were saved, you became a babe in Christ, and now you're going to mature to full adulthood, right?

[7:55] That's the only thing that this means. This idea of edifying, building up, is the idea of progress and maturity, okay? You can see in verse 4, verse 5, prophecy is greater than tongues interpreted because it builds up the church.

[8:15] Now, there's a little aside here that I'm going to take. Verse 5, he says to them, now, I want you all to speak in tongues. And many people will read that and say, okay, so everybody ought to speak in these tongues.

[8:28] Everybody ought to speak in these languages. But here's the thing. Paul's not giving that as a command. He's not saying you should all speak in tongues. It's one of those things that Paul often talks about things that he wishes that he's not saying, okay, this is a thing that's going to happen and must happen and should happen.

[8:48] And here's your example. Back in chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians, he said this. He says, I wish you all were like me, which is meaning single and not married.

[9:02] Right? Right? So it's almost the exact same Greek structure in the way that he wrote these two phrases. So the point is, is that clarity in teaching is what he's after.

[9:17] And the reason is because it builds up the church. It's clarity in teaching that is the way the church is discipled and matured.

[9:28] And so what a church ought to be involved in in today's time then, as we think about every member ministry, is for the congregation to desire, because that's his whole point in chapter 14, desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, right?

[9:46] You should desire the clear teaching from the scriptures because that's how we're going to be discipled. The church is discipled, built up, encouraged, challenged, convicted when the body is taught in the most clear manner.

[10:02] And that means any format, right? That's not just the Sunday morning sermon, but that can mean other parts of the lesson time as well. And so it makes me say this, sermons, sermons are necessary for discipleship, but they're not sufficient.

[10:25] There really is the need to have layers of teaching. There should be the layer for the whole church. That's when we gather together to hear God's word.

[10:36] And it's a good thing to be under the preaching of the word because it does build you up. It does disciple you. But there's also the layer and the need for a small group teaching time because it's like this.

[10:49] You know, we can dive into something a little deeper. You can raise your hand and say, wait just a second. I don't understand what you're saying. Help me. Because in a sermon, it's hard to do that because I probably won't call on you.

[11:01] You know, I'll just ignore you and just keep going. And so you have the whole church. You have the layer of the small group. But then there's the need for an even smaller group, one-on-one, maybe three at the most, so that what you're learning can get applied deeper and deeper.

[11:21] So you can think of it this way. On a Sunday morning, we may preach about what it is to love one another. We come into a small group, and we talk about that same concept, and you can ask questions about, you know, what does that mean about this?

[11:36] Because, you know, often we have questions that say, what about this situation? And what about this situation? And what about that situation? What about this person who's a jerk? Do I have to really love them? You know, and so we get some clarity from God's word in that way.

[11:49] But then when you get to a small group, you've got someone who says, now, how are you doing? Loving that person in your life that's really difficult. It wouldn't be appropriate to ask that question on a Sunday morning from the pulpit.

[12:02] You know what I'm saying? Like, I probably shouldn't look out there and say, so, Faireen, listen, you were saying that you were struggling with gossip. How's it going? You know, that's just not going to be a good thing.

[12:13] So there really needs to be those layers, and in each one of those layers, we pursue that clarity from the word because that's what's going to build us up. So let me pause there, see if you have any questions about the building up aspect.

[12:35] Okay. The second reason we should pursue after the clarity in teaching is because it manifests the Spirit, or it's a manifestation of the Spirit, I should say.

[12:46] We'll go back to verse 6 through 12 now. He says, now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in languages, how will I benefit you unless I bring a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

[12:56] In other words, tongues by itself, uninterpreted, doesn't bring anything useful to the hearers. It has to be interpreted in order for it to be useful.

[13:09] Verse 7 is an analogy. Even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, do not give distinct tones. How will anyone know what's played? Or if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

[13:22] Okay, so you get the image of that. If you've ever listened to 1970s modern classical music on the piano, it's extremely postmodern, and it sounds like a toddler runs up to the piano and just starts banging on it.

[13:37] Like, there's no melody, there's no rhyme or reason to it. It doesn't make sense as you listen to it. And that's what he's saying, is that if you don't know what's being played, you don't understand it.

[13:50] And he says, so with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that's not intelligible, a different language, how will anyone know what is said? We went to Tanzania, and we were there ministering on a mission trip, and you go into a worship service, and they're all speaking Swahili.

[14:10] They understand each other perfectly. And I'm trusting, as I'm preaching, and my translator is speaking in Swahili, excuse me, I'm trusting that he's saying what I'm saying.

[14:25] Well, I couldn't tell you. It's completely unintelligible to me. I don't understand it, right? Okay, verse 10, there are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.

[14:36] But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I'll be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. Verse 12, so with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, let's just pause right there.

[14:50] This is the problem of the Corinthians. They're eager for manifestations of the Spirit. They want more. They want more and more and more and more and more and more.

[15:01] And not just that. It's interesting because he says in verse 23, and I know that's not in our section, but if you drop down to verse 23, he says, If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and an outsider, an unbeliever, enter, will they not say that you're out of your minds?

[15:20] So here's the image of the situation in the Corinthian church. When they gather together, you've got some people who think they're super spiritual because they can speak in other languages and use this gift, and they want manifestations of the Spirit, so they're all doing it at the same time.

[15:39] Now, in the modern church, there are many groupings in some denominations who believe that this gift is still operable today, and if you watch their services, it looks just like what the Corinthian church seems to be described as.

[16:03] There are others that believe that these gifts are still operable, but they're very, very active making sure, no, we're not all speaking at the same time.

[16:16] Does somebody have an interpretation of that tongue? Well, then you can't speak it. Like, they're pretty rigorous about how they handle it. So there are those charismatics who have that seatbelt on, who really keep things regulated tightly.

[16:28] I want to say that because I just don't want to disparage anybody. But what I find fascinating is that they want this manifestation of the Spirit. Well, listen to what else Paul says.

[16:40] He says, So with yourselves, since you're eager for manifestations of the Spirit, notice what he says, strive to excel in building up the church. Strive to excel in building up the church.

[16:56] Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, here is what you do. Make sure the church is edified.

[17:13] A manifestation of the Spirit happens not because we act spontaneously because of some idea that pops into our head.

[17:25] A manifestation of the Spirit happens not because we do something that the world would deem goofy or silly. A manifestation of the Spirit happens not because we feel emotionally affected by what's going on and it feels powerful and it feels something.

[17:48] The Spirit is manifest when the clear teaching of the Scripture comes into the heart of the church and it grows God's people in maturity.

[17:59] Here's what I'm saying. A lot of churches that I've been a part of and a lot of people that I've talked to about churches over the years, the number of times I've heard people describe that church is alive and that church is dead, nine times out of ten, what they mean or what they're using to determine that is that when they attended, they came out with an emotional response to what happened and it was a pleasant emotional experience and because they felt that pleasant emotional thing, they're saying that was a manifestation of the Spirit, that's a church that is alive.

[18:45] But here's the truth. My affected emotional state does not mean that that was a manifestation of the Spirit.

[18:56] An affected emotional state is not a bad thing. It's not bad to come to worship together with God's people and feel that emotional affected thing because of what you're seeing. But that is not determinate and that is not a sign, that is not a true sign that that church is alive or that there was something that really took place because we watch movies all the time and my wife will attest to you even though I hide it as often as I can, that I cry during movies.

[19:24] I'm emotionally affected by what I see but that is not, for sure, a manifestation of the Spirit because I'm watching a movie. The point is is that God says that the upbuilding of the church is what is a manifestation of the Spirit so we trust Him even though we may not feel it.

[19:48] So you can't determine if a church is alive or dead based on what you feel as you walk in. It has to be built upon are the people being discipled through the clear teaching of the Word?

[19:59] Are they growing in their faith? Are they becoming more mature? Are they more like Christ than they were a year ago? If so, that's a church that is alive. Okay.

[20:11] Now that's my hobby horse there. I'm going to preach and just because I have fallen prey to saying those same things myself. I've had people say that about churches that I served and yet I think about my first church that I pastored.

[20:29] It was a little bit like this church vast majority of the congregation were in their 70s plus and younger families didn't want to come because they were like I don't know that church there's just a lot of old people and it's just kind of dead.

[20:48] And I was like oh yeah we should we should be more excited. So you begin to think to yourself introduce lots of new and younger more exciting things and the people in the congregation are going like what is going on like what are we doing and there's lots of confusion and nobody really knows what we're doing right but if you had examined the lives of those people you would have seen they were reading the word they were growing in their understanding they were open to learn new things they weren't closed off they never said to me well I've never heard that from any preacher before I think you're wrong I'm not going to listen they weren't closed off at all it wasn't a dead church it was a church that was alive because church was being built up that leads to the third reason we should pursue the clarity in teaching and that is that it brings conviction of sin verse 20 through 25 brothers do not be children in your thinking be infants and evil but in your thinking be mature and the law is written by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners

[21:56] I will speak to this people and even then they will not listen to me says the Lord just pause about that that quote that's from Isaiah Isaiah is leaning on Deuteronomy and in Deuteronomy God says he has both blessings and curses and warnings to the nation of Israel before they go into the promised land and one of his warnings is that if you abandon me and if you walk away from me I'm going to send other nations to punish you the book of Judges is an example of that because the book of Judges you have the cycle okay if you've never read the book of Judges or if you have you all wonder what am I reading here it's a book full of cycle built on a cycle the cycle is sin slavery sorrow salvation sin slavery sorrow salvation the people sin against God he sends them into slavery by some other foreign nation they are sorrowful for what they've done so God sends a judge to save them and after they're saved for a season of time they go back into sin and so it's this repeating pattern but the point is is that the pattern of the way God works is his theocratic nation sins against him so he sends foreigners to be judgment upon them so Isaiah built upon that talks about how nations will come and speak and my people won't hear they won't listen because they won't understand it and so it becomes for them a judgment that says

[23:36] I'm going to speak truth to you by foreign people but you're not going to be able to understand it because it's going to be in a language that you can't hear and so it's a judgment upon them so you take that and you keep reading verse 22 thus tongues are assigned not for believers but for unbelievers so tongues speaking in another language would have been a judgment for unbelievers if there's no interpretation because they can't understand the truth that's being taught to them right while prophecy is not assigned for unbelievers but for believers and now this is just the opposite it's clear what the prophecy is saying right they can understand it if therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and an outsider or unbeliever enter will they not say you're out of your minds in other words they're not going to grasp it they're just going to think you're crazy but if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters he is convicted by all he is called to account by all the secrets of his heart are disclosed and so falling on his face he will worship

[24:38] God and declare that God is really among you so what he's saying is that the clear teaching of the word is what brings conviction in a person's life it is not it is not the fantastical but it's the clear teaching of the word that conviction is what that sinner needs and so what we can say then is that evangelism is done best when we have the word of God being clear in what it says as a matter of fact some may say to us well you guys are not evangelistic because you're not out raking leaves or you're not out feeding the hungry or you're not out doing these other things and I would say that is not what brings conviction those are good things to do those bring open doors what brings conviction is the clear teaching of the word and I would say we are absolutely involved in evangelism every single

[25:47] Sunday because as we preach I make application to the Christian and the non-Christian preaching the gospel calling for repentance Mark Dever says that the greatest tool that Christians Christians have or one of the greatest tools that Christians have in doing evangelism in the lost and dying world is to attend to the preaching of the word on a weekly basis because you're telling the outside world I can't participate with you today because we have this and this matter of fact you stop doing that too and come with me and come listen to the gospel you need to come hear what's being said because clarity in teaching brings conviction it brings conviction and then the last thing okay you know what actually before we get to the last thing let me see if you have any questions because this last one it's got some weird things in it and so

[26:49] I'm not sure that I'll be able to clear it up for you but it's just weird so before we get to the weird stuff do you have any questions about the last two points the manifestation of spirit or the conviction yeah exactly exactly you know that's one of the things that I putting this together trying to come up with an outline is difficult because you it's this chapter is a lot more messy than my outline my outline is very crisp and clear but the chapter is really a lot more messy than that so yeah okay so this last one is that clarity in teaching kind of helps establish orderly worship and that that's really kind of a bad way to say this so we're just going to kind of go with it though and see what happens beginning of verse 26 he says what then brothers when you come together each one has a hymn a lesson a revelation a tongue or an interpretation let all things be done for building up if any speak in a tongue let there be only two or at most three and each in turn and let someone interpret now let's just pause right there and say that if we believed that the gift of tongues still existed today this is the way it should function and only the way it should function so anybody who's not doing that anybody who's having multiple people speak in tongues at the same time they're violating scripture okay they're violating scripture verse 28 but if there is no one to interpret let each of them keep silent in the church and just speak to himself and to God so you have a word to say in a tongue or in a language and there's no one to interpret it then just say it to

[28:53] God himself verse 29 let two or three prophets speak now we've moved from tongues to prophets right and let others weigh what is said in other words they're going to speak prophecy so somebody's got to judge is this true okay verse 30 if a revelation is made to another sitting there let the first be silent for you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all be encouraged and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets for God is not a God of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints the women should keep silent in the churches for they're not permitted to speak but should be in submission as the law also says if there's anything they desire to learn let them ask their husbands at home for it's shameful for a woman to speak in church now don't you love that okay verse 36 or was it from you that the word of God came or are you the only ones it has reached if anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual he should acknowledge that the things

[30:00] I'm writing to you are a command of the Lord if anyone does not recognize this he is not recognized so my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues but all things should be done decently and in order so this last section that's his whole point is things being done in an orderly way and so the clear teaching of the word happens because of what Paul has written right what he's written is that clear teaching of the word and he's telling them here is the things you need to do in an orderly way he says first of all how a service is supposed to proceed these people with these gifts can't all be talking at the same time there cannot be chaotic pandemonium there's one at a time this means that this is completely in their control if you had if a person back then had the gift of languages the gift of tongues even if this gift of tongues was not what I think known languages even if it were some sort of babbling thing that is a heavenly language that nobody knows he is in complete control of it because he's looking around saying I've got a tongue but there's not an interpreter so I'm just not going to speak it's completely in his control it is not an out of control sort of tranced experience where all of a sudden

[31:29] I just start saying things and my eyes roll back in my head that's probably possession but you know I'm just saying that it's something in their control it was to be done one at a time not talking over each other so that people could hear so that people could learn so that people could be edified and built up orderly worship not confusion okay then the second point is kind of a sub point of this but it I'm going to have to deal with the women for just a second because you got to be quiet so here's here's what I think is going on I think that this I mean he tells them three times to be quiet right keep silent in the churches not permitted to speak and it's shameful for a woman to speak in church but I feel like this falls under the section of verse 29 where he's talking about judging the prophecy judging the prophecy because as he goes and he moves because he he starts that section verse 29 and it seems like the rest of it just sort of folds right into it until you get to verse 36 the other thing is that there is in some manuscripts that of course for Paul the word woman could also be the word wife okay that one

[33:01] Greek word means either one and in this case the women should keep silent they're going to ask their husbands at home so this is considered to be wives there's a word in verse 34 that some manuscripts have and it's the word your wives let your wives keep silent in the churches I think part of the issue is that as somebody would get up and prophesy and they're going to determine is this a word from the Lord or not because they didn't have completed scripture he's saying the women should not participate in that moment they should not be the ones to make the judgment about whether or not that is from scripture or that is a word from the Lord or not and part of that I think this is just what I think I can't really be dogmatic here is because when you have a woman who's speaking about maybe her own husband's prophecy that he just gave often times what she's going to think may be different from the rest of the church depending upon if she can go past the relationship she has with her husband there are many times

[34:08] Michelle and I will talk about my own preaching and I will ask her what she thinks then I'll ask other people what they think and there's often some correlation but there's often a lot of differences in that because my wife loves me enough to tell me the hard things a lot of other people say oh that was a great sermon and they'll never tell me the harder things but my wife is good to me and says you know that was really not a good point there you know that just didn't really hit home I need that and we're going to talk about that kind of thing here in a second but I do not think that what he is saying is that a woman should not because if you think about speaking in church he connects speaking and singing in a lot of ways there are some people who would say this means at any point and so there were many times in church history that women were forbidden from singing the praises in the church I don't think it's that I don't think a woman is forbidden to pray or to ask questions or to be in here and say well what about this what about that I think this is about here's the clear teaching of the word this needs to be criticized it needs to be critiqued that should be something that should be for the elders for the leaders of the church and not not for just random people and not for the wives now I could be totally wrong about that so take that for what you will that's a very difficult passage it's a very difficult passage one of the reasons it's difficult is because it's actually found in a couple of different places in other Greek manuscripts like in some places it's found after verse 40 so this is just some strange things with that but I do want to get to the end of this because I think this is really interesting the very last part of this Paul's asking them a couple of rhetorical questions like did the word of God originate with you the expected answer is no are you the only ones who have the word of God looking at these super spiritual

[36:15] Corinthians the answer is no and then he says here's the condition to know that you're truly spiritual to know that you're a prophet that you're someone who is someone then you're going to recognize my writings are commands from God in other words if you're truly spiritual Corinthians if you're truly the kind of people you say you are you're going to acknowledge that what I have written is from God and that's how you keep order in the church you keep order in the church by everyone coming and recognizing what is in scripture is from God not from man not man's opinion we may not understand it but we go with what God's word is and so he closes it with earnestly desire prophecy but to do everything in decent and in order so with all of that

[37:22] I just will close it with just a couple of application thoughts and we'll pull back from last week just a little bit because these chapters are used in order to help by a lot of people to try to help churches know how the church body can be involved in ministry tasks so that the church can grow and they accentuate chapter 12 and I think that they should be accentuating chapter 13 and 14 that the kind of things ministry tasks that we should do is number one chapter 13 love one another love one another we talked a lot about that last week so I'm not going to say much more about that but the second thing is chapter 14 and that is to demand clarity in the teaching ministry of the church think about those three layers the whole church small group and one on one right that as a member of the congregation it is your responsibility as every member ministry to demand that the teaching of the word is clear that the teaching of the word is as clear as it can possibly be and that means then having the courage to say when it's not clear so

[38:54] I preach on a Sunday morning and you find about you know 75% of what I said just went whoop and didn't understand any of it maybe that's a your problem maybe that's a me problem but we ought to get together because maybe you need to tell me things that I'm doing that make it difficult for you to listen to me we have a friend of ours she was in our church and she she's very intelligent woman but she just had some hangups about certain things and one of those hangups was if I said the words verb noun preposition her brain turned off and she just stopped listening because she had baggage from school about those things now she was a very intelligent woman she read more than I read and she could read she works in law and so she could read legal documents and understand them she's smart but you say the word now this is a verb in the

[40:00] Greek and she would go blink turn off so she tells me now it's really hard for me not to say words like verb down and preposition because I think that way but I did my best to stop saying those words this word in the original is a word that means this and I could say that without saying verb it's a verb and it's action right right exactly so so that was a way in which she was not having clarity of teaching she was struggling to be fed from the word because of a thing that I was doing so she lets me know so that I could make a modification a tiny little modification and I want you to think about that because here's the thing I think that if there's something in the way that I'm teaching that you struggle with there's probably somebody else right now sometimes the problem could be with you sometimes the problem could be that you don't know how to listen because

[41:03] I think a lot of people listen to sermons and what they do is they tend to listen to the emotion and the stories and they feel something and they remember something that happened because of some story or illustration I gave and they don't remember I read the verse I explained the verse what was the explanation of the verse I give pretty detailed outlines they're pretty easy to follow this coming Sunday there's going to be three things for us to understand I'll have a three point sermon almost always have three point sermons but that's beside the point and the thing is you can tell when I go from one to one but you may not grasp the way that I'm doing that and so you still find yourself not really grasp come talk to me and let me show you what I'm doing matter of fact I have no problem if you say you know help me if I had your sermon in my hands I'll print you a copy you can hold it in your hands while

[42:04] I preach I'd be glad to do that if that will help you learn how to take the notes right how to kind be built up so you can grow and so I think that we have to demand that there be clear teaching in the church at all the levels but another thing that I think would help with all of this is to learn to love sermons to live and the way to love sermons is to listen to sermons a lot finding other people besides me and listening to other people preach and there's some great godly men out there who have some great preaching and some of it is going to be at a higher level and a little bit more difficult to understand than where

[43:10] I am and some of it's going to be easier to understand than where I am and so you find those two or three people that really meet where you are and if you want names and that kind of thing I'll be glad to give you some things because the more you listen to sermons the more you learn to listen to them and the more you can get out of them and that is the goal because it's the clear teaching of the word that builds us up and the disciples us and then then you're ready right you're armed you've got this now you can help other people to do the same somebody comes to you and says I'm just not getting anything out of the sermon well now you know that there's a responsibility to come to me and this gives you that ammunition to pour into somebody else's life and help them to grow as well well that's it any questions thoughts