So, this morning, we're gonna be talking about listening,
primarily in the area of soul wanting,
but it's a skill we need to learn to apply
to all areas of our Christian life,
whether it's in church, at home, at work.
You know, to be a good soul winner,
you must be a good listener.
You know, and I struggle, to be honest,
I do struggle with this.
If you've ever talked with me,
sometimes I might zone out
and not really listen to what you're saying.
And I know it's a hard thing.
It should be one of the easiest things we'd ever do.
But for most of it, it's very hard.
So, tip number one this morning
is good listening requires patience.
James chapter one, verse 19 says,
"'Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath.'"
Be swift to hear, eager, quick.
You wanna hear and then just wait till they finish.
You don't wanna speak right away.
So, at soul winning, after you do your introduction,
you invite them to church.
And what do we do? We ask the question.
If you were to die today,
are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven?
Don't get anxious. Let them answer.
Don't give them words. Don't put words in their mouth.
But people can tell if you get anxious.
They're looking at your body language.
They can tell, so just relax and give them space to answer.
Proverbs 18, 13 says,
"'He that answereth a matter before he heareth it,
it is folly and shame unto him.'"
It's foolishness and shameful to interrupt somebody
when they're speaking.
But why do we do it? No patience.
While most people are talking,
most of us, if you'd be honest,
you're already thinking about what you're gonna say.
You're already thinking about,
this is what I'm gonna answer.
And I call this kinda listening, like half ear listening.
You're only just listening with about half of your ear.
Because in your mind,
you already know where they're going with it.
You already know what they're gonna say.
And I know at the door, most people give us the wrong answer.
They're gonna give us something we know
that goes against the Bible.
And we wanna just get to it.
We wanna fix it and correct it.
But you need to patiently listen to them.
So hopefully if they give you a chance,
you can give them the gospel
and they're gonna listen to you.
Go to 1 Kings 3, verse 16.
Tip number two is good listening
also requires remembrance, requires remembrance.
So not only must you be patient,
you must remember what was said to you.
This is critical for sowing incense.
There must be a change of mind or repentance.
I mean, when you show up, if they say something to you,
and then when you get done, nothing's changed.
Well, either they were already saved
or they didn't get saved, they didn't listen.
There must be a change.
But you need to be able to remember
what they said in the beginning, the quote back to them.
And here's the example of something we do a lot.
We'll say something like, when I got here,
you believed that you had to be a good person
to go to heaven.
But do you still believe that
now that after I showed you what the Bible says?
So here in 1 Kings, we have an example of Solomon.
He patiently listens to both sides of the story.
And he quotes back to everyone listening
and what both women said.
And he hears, he speaks, and then he gives judgment.
1 Kings chapter three, verse 16.
"'Then came there two women that were harlots unto the king
"'and stood before him.
"'And the one woman said, O my Lord,
"'I and this woman dwell in one house,
"'and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
"'And it came to pass the third day
"'after that I was delivered,
"'that this woman was delivered also.
"'And we were together, there was no stranger with us
"'in the house, say we too in the house.
"'And the woman's child died in the night
"'because she overlaid it.
"'And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me
"'while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom
"'and laid her dead child in my bosom.
"'And when I arose in the morning to give my child suck,
"'behold, it was dead.
"'But when I had considered it in the morning,
"'behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
"'And the other woman said, nay, but the living is my son,
"'and the dead is thy son.
"'And this said, no, but the dead is thy son,
"'and the living is my son.
"'Thus they spake before the king.'"
So Solomon here now, he's gonna quote back to them
what they said before he gives his judgment,
which means to me that he really listened,
and he wants to let them know, I heard both sides of this.
So verse 23, it says,
"'Then said the king, the one sayeth,
"'this is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead.
"'And the other sayeth, nay, but thy son is dead,
"'and my son is the living.'
"'And the king said, bring me a sword,
"'and they brought a sword before the king.
"'And the king said, divide the living child in two,
"'give half to the one and half to the other.
"'Then spake the woman, who's the living child was,
"'unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son,
"'and she said, oh my lord, give her the living child,
"'and know I slay it.'
"'But the other said, that it be neither mine nor thine,
"'but divide it.'
"'Then the king answered and said,
"'Give her the living child, and know I slay it.
"'She is the mother thereof.'
"'And all Israel heard of the judgment,
"'which the king had judged, and they feared the king,
"'for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him
"'to do judgment.'"
Because isn't that what we do at the door?
Aren't you judging?
I mean, you're listening what they're saying, hopefully,
and then you're judging it,
running it through the word of God,
seeing whether or not it aligns with the word of God.
So this morning, as we go out and we knock on these doors,
let the wisdom of God be in you when you are listening.
To do judgment, as far as you're gonna judge them saying,
hey, are they saved?
They gave me kind of a wrong answer
based on what I heard you say,
and you're gonna do judgment
by hopefully giving them the gospel.
But let's truly listen with patience.
Be patient.
Don't be in a hurry to get them to the next door.
Be patient.
If someone's gonna give you the time,
if you ask that question, can I show you?
And they're gonna give you the time
to go through the gospel.
Be patient.
And remember, good listening requires patience
and remembrance.
And remember that we're there for them.
We're ministering to them.
But we must first listen before we can preach to them.
Let's pray.
Your heavenly Father, Father,
thank you for allowing us to go soul winning, Lord,
to go out and reach the lost.
And I pray you help us all to be good listeners,
to be patient with people,
and to remember when people speak to us,
to truly listen so we can know where they're at
and what their needs are.
Lord, thank you for all that you do.
May you keep us safe
and bring us all back to church tomorrow.
In Jesus' name, amen.