Pay Attention!

Over the years it seems like I’ve found myself in front of groups of people from the very get-go!  From singing a solo in my Kindergarten class graduation to leading the entire division at Hewlett Packard in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” (which I started off in a key that was too low… oophs! – where was Piper when I needed her!) on the occasion of the Division Manager’s birthday.  I have ended up in a leadership role in just about every job, family activity or church ministry we’ve been a part of.  Many of these positions just happened!  It wasn’t even like I was planning on interviewing for the job or activity.

For instance, after I had been at Hewlett Packard working as a silk-screener and darkroom tech for about six months in 1980, my supervisor who was transferring back to a division in the Bay Area came up to me at the coffee station and stated: “Well, are you going to apply for my position or not?”  That one threw me for a loop as I was told that one normally doesn’t apply for a management position until you’d been with the company for 1.5 years!  So, I sort of stammered out a weak “I guess so…” and found myself in the position a few weeks later!

The same thing happened with the church we were volunteering at about ten years later when we were leading the Praise and Worship and the Children’s Ministry.  The Pastor’s took us out to dinner and asked me to become his Assistant with a nice part-time salary that enabled us to purchase Piper’s long-awaited, wanted and prayed for Suburban!

A similar event had occurred with the first church we attended a few weeks after Piper and were married, when I was asked to join the staff as the Youth Minister.  And to be honest, I could go on sighting various times that this happened to us… but I think you get the idea!

One thing I learned rather quickly though, whether it was leading a meeting with my team at Hewlett Packard or Home Depot, teaching the Youth, working with their parents, planning and then leading a large Children’s Church event or preaching on Sunday morning to the church congregation, not everybody who is involved always looks like they really want to be there!

So… over the years I have honed the task of getting and then retaining the students or adult’s attention.  Now don’t get me wrong here… I am not saying that I have fully perfected this because every situation is different from the last one.  But I’ve gotten better over the years, thanks in a big part to my long-suffering wife who would stand in the back of the youth meetings or volunteer team meetings at church and regularly give me the “cut it off… NOW!” sign by making a cutting motion with her right hand under her neck!

But it wasn’t just the hand motion, it was the look on her face that belayed her true feelings and how far off I’d gotten from my lesson or how specific my timing was to be… ie; “time to wrap it up” or “STOP NOW!”  So, not only am I thankful for Piper’s discretion, but so should all those who were in attendance to our ministry over the years… as Piper was quietly and unnoticed behind the scenes (or the chairs in the room) directing the event!

Some of the funniest times would be when a member of our team at my secular job would doze off during a meeting… or a member of the congregation would nod off during a sermon.  In the meeting format I would usually ask the sleepy (or hopefully not bored) member a question in order to rouse them from the temptations of a nice warm nap! 

Since I’ve always enjoyed walking around when I preached, it was easy and seemingly not too evident of my motives, to walk over toward the eye-closed congregationalist in church.  This usually did the trick, but I also learned (with Piper’s constant encouragement) to keep on track and avoid rabbit-trails or too many personal examples! 

Another key is that I have always enjoyed using humor when I teach or preach.  A good hearty laugh keeps one’s focus on the speaker and also tends to send a surge of adrenaline into a tired listener!  Of course, all the years in Children’s and Youth ministry has also enabled me to use lots of tangible examples and a large array of hand and body motions!  Who says that an adult can’t enjoy a good laugh on a Sunday morning!

And what’s my point here?  Well, just as I work to keep my audience in tune, excited and expectant of my message at church, we should work to approach our time in God’s Word with the same enthusiasm and expectation!  Romans 10:17 declares: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (KJV)  Wuest’s Word Studies explains to us “That as the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit engenders faith in the gospel message in the hearts of those who believe.”  I would think that the key thoughts in this statement are “in the power of the Holy Spirit” and “of those who believe.”

Adam Clarke seems to agree, in discussing our intake of the Word he declares “if heard attentively, faith will be produced…”  Once again, the key being our “attentiveness” to the Word that we are studying or hearing through a preacher.  I believe that Paul had this in mind when he penned this verse as he used the Greek word “rhema” to define the Word he was referring to.  Rhema “(pronounced RAY-MAH) means ‘the spoken word.’ In the Bible, the Greek translation for rhema is “God’s Word revealed.” (https://rhemashope.wordpress.com/the-rhema-word/)  In other words, it is a word from the Lord that He has given you with some special and personal meaning, insight or revelation for your life.  It means that your coming to attentively “hear” the Word that your studying or hearing preached with expectation is rewarded by the Holy Spirit’s revelation in your own heart.

But if you’re not expecting to receive, then most likely, you’ll leave with that expectation met!  So like I always say… “What are you expecting” when you go to study God’ Word?

I would encourage you to keep that thought or question in mind every time you grab your Bible, go to church or listen to a minister on TV.  Remember “Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1 God’s Word ©) 

Have a great week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting from my time in God’s Word today?”