Alan Beck from the West Carrollton, OH church, was able to be with us again this month and his topic was “Listening Generously”, a topic he picked up from a work event recently. What does that mean? Here’s what he had to say…

Our level of quality listening is often undone by letting our minds wandering and us jumping to conclusions. Or we filter what we hear. So we need to start by really listening to others. Just as his passages suggest, we need to be quick to hear and slow to speak or be angry. We also need to love one another.

Alan shares that we often hear what we want to hear, not what is stated. Or we just listen until we disagree with what is being shared.

As Christians, we need to be sure we put God first and actually listen to Him! Because without God we have only ourselves to guide us and as scripture says, our end is certain if we trust ourselves. God on the other hand can help us do anything! We can all gain much in this life, but if we lose our souls, what value is anything?

Peter says that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” so when we need to know what to do with our life, we can know that Jesus is the answer. Listening to Christ and the words he imparted to the writers of the New Testament will help us grow the church.

The church is made of up others of like precious faith. How can we know this? We need to listen and react to what we hear in a positive way. What are we to be listening for? The cries of the lost or those in need and help them, while giving ourselves to God.

You can hear Alan’s lesson below and see the slides from his PowerPoint show below.

Recording: Listening Generously – Beck

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