Amen!

"Hold tight, you who are listening to what I say through the preaching of the prophets..." Zechariah 8:9

"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." I Timothy 4:13

How many of us sit in a church service on Sunday morning noddling our head and saying amen?  We all probably do.  Now, how many of us leave service and forget all about it?  Again, we all probably do, at least at some point.  We feel the Spirit moving during our worship time, then the pastor's words touch our heart and stir our soul.  We stand up at the end of service feeling refreshed, revived and ready for a change.  Then we get home, back to 'reality' so to speak.  By the time we get home we have forgotten all about the wonderful service we were just in.  The sermon notes stay inside our Bible not to be touched until we finally one day trash them.  I hate to admit it, but there are times by Sunday night I can not even remember what my pastor spoke about just that morning. 

Why are we like this?  We (at least I say this) say our kids have selective hearing, maybe we have selective memory.  We think it wasn't that important or we don't know how to apply to everyday life or we just choose to ignore it.  For whatever reason, we leave church at church.  Are we going to church just to have that good feeling on Sunday morning?  No, we shouldn't be.  Not only are we supposed to go to church to fellowship, encourage and be encouraged by other believers, we go to hear what God has given to our pastor. 

Dr. Tony Evans says this, "Don't forget that God is calling us to put into practice on Monday the truth that we said "amen" to on Sunday."  I so love that!  We sit in our comfy chairs saying amen, but is that all we are doing with the words God gives our pastors?  Just saying amen?  Our pastors are not listening to God and working hard all week just for our Sunday morning amens.  They are up there to tell us what God has for us, to teach and encourage us. 

I have a challenge for you this week.  At least once a day think about what your pastor spoke on this Sunday.  If you have to, break out the sermon notes and even add to them as God speaks to you!  Pray that God will help you to see where you can apply this teaching to your everyday life.  And when you get a chance, share your struggles and encouragements on this with one another.  Let's not just say amen to the sermon on Sunday, but everyday as we think about the teaching.