Hearing God's Word

Pastor Mark Hogan teaches on hearing God's word as a distinct act of gospel worship, drawing on the confession, Archibald Hall, and Jeremiah Burroughs. He shows that Scripture ties hearing to heeding, from the Shema to Christ's call that he who has ears to hear, let him hear, and centers the lesson on Luke 8's parable of the four soils, where Jesus' warning to take heed how you hear shows that four hearers reveal four heart conditions. He lays out five qualities of hearing: understanding that we gather because God commands it, mixing hearing with faith (Hebrews 4:2), reverence since God magnifies His word above His name (Psalm 138:2), godly fear that trembles at His word (Isaiah 66:2), and humility receiving the implanted word with meekness (James 1:21-22). He warns against rejecting the word through the hardened wilderness generation of Psalm 95, Jehoiakim burning Jeremiah's scroll, the thorn-bearing field of Hebrews 6:7-8, and Hebrews' caution against becoming dull of hearing. He also cautions against judging preaching by style or listening from wrong motives like custom, fault-finding, or using worship to pacify unrepented sin. The application is to prepare prayerfully, come rested and engaged rather than sleepy or passive, and hear Christ through faithful preaching with a willing heart that answers both comfort and correction, so the word nourishes obedience in the week ahead.