Sermon overload?

[Jim Monck]

I have had some time to give to Naznet and so I'm probably driving some of you nuts. Sorry!

One more question and then I will sit back and just read the thousands of responses people post to all my challenging thoughts.

Is it possible to hear to many sermons, get to much impute? Can we keep adding more and more information that actually serves as a barrier to us thinking through what God may be trying to say to us and wanting us to apply?

Can we spiritually overeat and never really have to digest what we have taken in?

If it is true, could a church having less services a week really be the spiritual think to do? Do we ever approach this issue from this point rather than just feeling defeated and saying "no one comes any more."

Ok, I'm going to sit back and read what all you smart people have to say about the things I have got you thinking about.

[Joanne Vergin]

Is it possible to hear to many sermons, get to much impute? Probably. I think it is hard to perfectly gauge this. Some people need more, some less. Paul said this I believe with the milk for new Christians.
Can we keep adding more and more information that actually serves as a barrier to us thinking through what God may be trying to say to us and wanting us to apply? Yes, I really think we can, I am trying to read more of the bible and less of the "life application" stuff. I think too many opinions can be a barrior. Look at God's word and meditate on it.

Can we spiritually overeat and never really have to digest what we have taken in? Never thoughtof it that way. I think maybe that is why I changed my Bible study habits. See above.

Anyway there is my 2 cents worth on at least part of your question.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

... Can we keep adding more and more information that actually serves as a barrier to us thinking through what God may be trying to say to us and wanting us to apply?

Can we spiritually overeat and never really have to digest what we have taken in?

I was shopping the bookstand at M7 and picked up a book I was interested in. I put it down and my daughter asked why I wasn't buying it. I told her I had a large accumulation of stuff I needed to implement rather than keep reading about it...

If it is true, could a church having less services a week really be the spiritual thing to do?

One weekly "plenary" gathering, with less formal gatherings between (small groups or one-on-ones, etc.) might be ideal. Especially, if the the "between" gathering included ministry. Like: "Hey Jim, why not join Scott and me working at the soup kitchen on Tuesdays. We meet together at 11:00 for prayer and bit of sharing on what God has been saying to us through his word then at 11:45 we head over to the kitchen..."

Wilson

[Jim Franklin]

By using the term "overeat," Jim, I would have to wonder if you then conclude that there are those who are "spiritually obese." Our heritage comes from people who went to every service of campmeeting for a week or two and revival campaigns also lasted two weeks but I have never heard any of my preacher parents, uncles or grandparents suggest that they were "spiritually overfed." However, I can see that some could become like monks in a monastery when it comes to study of doctrine and the incracies of theological viewpoints to the point of obsession and thus use it as an excuse to avoid spreading the Word and compassion to the needy. Time spent with Jesus in whatever venue is what Christ like living is all about, whether it is where the Word is being preached or with our Christian brothers or sisters serving the needs of others as Wilson suggested at a soup kitchen and every possibility in between.

[Barb Bouldrey]

I have always amazed at the evangelist's spouse who sits week after week and hears his/her spouse preach the same messages and yet seems to enjoy it...even saying "Amen!"

Can we hear too many sermons? No. We should learn from every sermon we hear. Learn, be encouraged, be blessed, be challenged...something.

Some people hear sermons faithfully all their lives but never change. They shovel the message over their shoulder to the guy behind them "who needs it" instead of raking it in for themselves.

At the end of a 7 yr. pastorate, I was teaching the adult class and a man who had been raised in that church said, "I have never understood sanctification the way the church teaches it."
WHAT? He heard my husband preach it for 7 years. He heard me teach it for 7 years. He heard, but his heart was hardened to it. He did not understand because he did not want to understand.

Just a couple of months after we left that town we heard that it was discovered that he was visiting a bar regularly and having an affair with a waitress. No wonder he did not "understand" holiness. And he was a board member.

Barb

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

It would have a lot to do with whether or not one delights in attending a church and hearing a sermon. Dwayne's parents are very old now, but they were always excited if a revival was going on near enough for them to attend. They were still like this in their eighties. His dad is a retired ordained elder.
God chose the foolishness of preaching to: What?

[Billy Cox]

Can we spiritually overeat and never really have to digest what we have taken in?


Taking the food analogy, let's consider another angle. Some people eat and are not well-nourished by the food because it's junk food.

Take that analogy where you will...

[Hans Deventer]

I told her I had a large accumulation of stuff I needed to implement rather than keep reading about it...

Yes. So that is the answer, Jim. Yes indeed one "can keep adding more and more information that actually serves as a barrier to us thinking through what God may be trying to say to us and wanting us to apply?"

We are not saved by more information, but by applying the information we got. Perhaps, the most spiritual thing to do on a Sunday would be not to have a service at all, but to be of service in some way.

[Barbara Moulton]

I don't think you can get "sermon overload" per se. Good preaching which challenges your heart and helps you think and inspires your spiritual life, it's good to have this in your life. Carl and I often put "Preaching Today" tapes on in the car when we travel.

Having said that, I do think you can develop a mindset that your spiritual growth is linked to hearing the gifted speaker who is visiting this church and the annointed speaker that is doing a series at that church.

I have been concerned over the years of my ministry with people who are continually "doing the circuit". If another church has a special speaker, they'll attend. If they hear about an anointed speaker doing a revival three towns over they'll make the drive. And they come back with tapes and books which they listen to and read avidly.

I am not saying it's wrong to go hear different preachers at different events. It just seems that some individuals seem continually driven to hear the next "great message" or "anointed teaching". There seems to be an empty spot in their life that they are trying to fill. I sometimes wonder what would happen if they simply slowed down and allowed God to minister to them right where they are.

[Jim Monck]

I don't think you can get "sermon overload" per se. Good preaching which challenges your heart and helps you think and inspires your spiritual life, it's good to have this in your life. Carl and I often put "Preaching Today" tapes on in the car when we travel.

Having said that, I do think you can develop a mindset that your spiritual growth is linked to hearing the gifted speaker who is visiting this church and the annointed speaker that is doing a series at that church.

I have been concerned over the years of my ministry with people who are continually "doing the circuit". If another church has a special speaker, they'll attend. If they hear about an anointed speaker doing a revival three towns over they'll make the drive. And they come back with tapes and books which they listen to and read avidly.

I am not saying it's wrong to go hear different preachers at different events. It just seems that some individuals seem continually driven to hear the next "great message" or "anointed teaching". There seems to be an empty spot in their life that they are trying to fill. I sometimes wonder what would happen if they simply slowed down and allowed God to minister to them right where they are.

That is part of my point and maybe buying thousands of dollars worth of books fits the same catagory.

Would we rather attend Sunday night and forget Sunday morning's message than actually apply truth?

Now this would not be such an issue if we had not seemed to convey that simply attending will make you spiritual and this does have a real impact on how we feel about church in 2007.

I have a line in a sermon that says, "I would like to talk to my neighbors but I've got to go to a seminar at church on how to reach my neighbors."

If I preach on building friendships with your neighbors on Sunday morning would it be better you came and heard a message on the Second Coming Sunday night or had a bbq with your neighbors? It may be the only night they have free.

Now these are the kinds of real issues our people are struggling with and if my only real choice is to attend all the services or be made to feel really guilty maybe I will just quit period, because I'm not sure you really have figured out what it is you want me to do.

Thousands of people have not rejected church completely, they are choosing to attend those that seem to have figured out what they really feel is their mission and excited people to be a part of it. (Now clearly this is not the total reason; music, preaching, etc. enter in, but it is the begining place.)

[Billy Cox]

Is it possible to hear to many sermons, get to much impute? Can we keep adding more and more information that actually serves as a barrier to us thinking through what God may be trying to say to us and wanting us to apply?


Yes, (imho) it is possible to hear too many sermons. Here are the two cases that spring to mind for me:

1. You are hearing too many sermons if you are so busy hearing sermons that you have neither time nor energy to apply any of them to your life.

2. You are hearing too many sermons if your attempt to apply one preacher's sermon application cancels out another preacher's application. (this is why I refuse to listen to Christian radio/TV)