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Listen up!

Good Book Company
9781906334673 | 32pp
Size: 148(w) x 210(h) mm
£1.50
booklet cover


Why on earth does anyone need a guide on how to listen to sermons? Don't we simply need to 'be there' and stay awake? Yet Jesus said: 'Consider carefully how you listen.' The fact is, much more is involved in truly listening to Bible teaching than just sitting and staring at the preacher.

Christopher Ash outlines seven ingredients for healthy listening. He then deals with how to respond to bad sermons - ones that are dull, or inadequate, or heretical. And finally, he challenges us with ideas for helping and encouraging our Bible teachers to give sermons that will really help us to grow as Christians.

> Where does the authority of a Bible teacher come from?
> Why is Bible teaching offensive?
> Why is it important to hear Bible teaching in church?
> How can we actually enjoy Bible teaching more?

These (and more) are the questions answered by this practical guide, which includes effective, hands-on suggestions for implementing each idea. All with the aim of helping us learn how to listen properly, so that through His word, God will make us more and more Christ like.
Table of Contents
Seven ingredients for healthy sermon listening:

1. Expect God to speak
2. Admit God knows better than you
3. Check the preacher says what the passage says
4. Hear the sermon in church
5. Be there week by week
6. Do what the Bible says
7. Do what the Bible says today - and rejoice!

How to listen to bad sermons

7 suggestions for encouraging good preaching
Other Info
Read a review:
Unashamed Workman
Evangelicals Now
XI Marks

Commendations:

'We just don't have teaching and training on how to LISTEN to sermons. Christopher Ash shows what a gaping hole that omission leaves'
- Rico Tice, All Souls, Langham Place, London

'New, fresh, wise, and personally convicting. A must-read for anyone serious about growing as a Christian'
- Andrew Reid, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia

'Provides crucial theology and practical advice about listening that can make the difference between life and death in the church.'
- R Kent Hughes

'A great resource to help grow a new generation of believers who both tremble at God's word and are changed by it.'
- Vaughan Roberts, St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, UK

Customer Reviews

excellent book
Review by Ruth Boyd | 30.01.2010

I really was so blessed by this book. It was recommended to my church by our minister. Easy to read and well worth reading a few times again. This book re-inforced my approach to sermons as well as teaching me how to glean more from the sermons. I found it so beneficial in learning me how to react to a good sermon as well as talking to others in the church about spiritual matters. A tremendous book, a great blessing to the soul.

I was so pleased I was able to purchase it on-line as I was not able to source it in the local Bible book shop.Thank-you so much for sending it to me so quickly. I would have no trouble in recommending the book to any-one.

God bless,

Ruth Boyd.

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Excellent and balanced guide to listening to sermons
Review by Julie Jolly | 19.01.2010

It was suggested that our church should buy a copy of this booklet for all its members, so as a Deacon I read it to see whether I could back the suggestion. I found it to be easy to read with many suggestions that might help us all to get more out of the weekly sermon. A good guide for new Christians of all ages, and a real motivator for those of us who have lost the expectation of hearing God speak through the Sunday sermon. Perhaps we don't hear because we've lost the art of listening. Listen up!

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Great resource not just for church-goers
Review by Robert Kinney, Director, Charles Simeon Trust | 24.11.2009

Listen Up! is not only a great resource for regular church-goers who listens to their pastor's sermons, but is also a great resources for pastors. Christopher helpfully articulates healthy expectations that a preacher should keep in mind when preparing his sermon. We are excited that this booklet is now available and will be giving one to everyone who attends our Workshops on Biblical Exposition this season.

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Every Christian, who is serious about the Word of God, should read it.
Review by Chris Durrant | 19.11.2009

Listening to a sermon is not something I'd expect to read a book about, but it's so important. I found this very easy to read, easy to understand and helpful. I guess like all the things we read, it's putting it into practice that's the hard part.

We're going through it as a home group, so hopefully the accountability will be useful there.

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Very readable, warm and helpful
Review by Gareth James | 11.07.2009

This is a timely and useful little book. It deals with the listening to God's word through and in the sermon by contrasting the right and wrong ways to do so. Christopher Ash has a warm and very readable way of presenting this important matter on listening and benefiting to God's word as it is preached. This book is great for young people, new Christians and all Christians of all ages to remember that we need to listen to, heed and live out God's word in our day by day lives.

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Every Christian should read this
Review by David Harvey | 19.06.2009

This is a little book that packs a big punch. It tells us why it is vital that we take sermons seriously - they are God's way of speaking to us. As well as the theological background which is explained simply, there are practical helps for improving our listening. There is also advice on how to deal with poor, and even heretical sermons. As a preacher and a listener I found this book invaluable. At £1.50 each every churchgoer ought to buy it and read it, or better still churches should buy it and give it their members.

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Excellent! Meets admirably a clamant need of our day.
Review by D L Cook MA, BD, PhD | 15.06.2009

"Listen Up!" meets a clamant need of our day and does it admirably. There is nothing in print to match it.

The book covers every aspect of the subject: expectamt preparation, active listening to learn, not only hearing but doing, coping with bad preaching.It is full of wisdom and clearly written in language easily understood by any reader.Every chapter leads logically to its application in practical steps.For good measure the last page has 7 suggestions for encouraging good preaching.

Every Christian should read it and take its message to heart. It will prove to be beneficiial to individuals and churches and will stimulate preachers to bring the word of God to congregations with power and immediate relevance.It is all that a practical guide should be.

Its author has in these 31 pages made an outstanding contribution to the well-being of all churches.

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Excellent. A concise and very readable booklet.
Review by David Thompson | 10.06.2009

ALL churchgoers should be encouraged to read this booklet to ensure that they get the maximum from listening to a sermon.

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Get several - hand them out
Review by Dominic Stockford | 10.06.2009

1. The implications of this book demand that preachers put more effort into their preaching - Saturday preparations are no longer good enough (and the Word deserves more than that anyway).

2. This teaches people to listen and learn - then to seek to apply Scripture. it also teaches them to be critical of what they are told. Both of these are excellent.

3. Buy them and hand them round the congregation, then buy some more and hand them round people who go to congregations where preaching is not truly of the Word.

Stand back and watch the saving power of God's word have an effect.

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A great easy read and worth every penny and much, much more
Review by Nick Winther | 11.05.2009

Christopher Ash writes with his usual clarity and skill to help challenge us to listen properly to sermons. This book covers a lot of important areas in a short number of pages but never feels too demanding, complicated or rushed. Importantly it covers truths that we all need to learn/remind each other of - all too many of which I need to learn to live out.

The only minor critique I have is that I felt the case studies were just a bit too strawmanlike - to me it feels a little unlikely that many would identify with the "negative" example in each pairing but if you can grit your teeth through that, the rest of the book is pure gold.

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Every church-goer should read this book
Review by Jonathan West | 20.04.2009

This us an excellent guide on how to listen to sermons. Christopher explains the ways in which we should listen and gives pratical tips on how to get the bnest out listening to sermons, whether they're good, bad or indifferent!

This book will also help preachers to consider how they preach and the awesome God-given responsibility involved.

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