How To Get The Most Out Of A Sermon Series

Sue Hammons, from Lubbock, Texas, talks about four-year-old Jason, who was visiting his grandparents. Grandpa was in his study intently reading. Jason walked in carrying a peach, said something Grandpa didn't catch, and handed the peach to him. Thinking his wife had sent him a snack, Grandpa took it and ate it. Just as he swallowed the last bite, Jason, with lip quivering, said, "But, Pap, I didn't want you to eat it. I just wanted you to get the worm out!" (Sue Hammons, Lubbock, Texas, "Lite Fare," Christian Reader).

Ooops! But that’s what happens when you don’t really listen. You can swallow stuff that might make you sick.

That was happening to a group of believers in the First Century. They stopped listening to the Apostle Paul and started swallowing the lies of some false teachers, which made them spiritually sick. So Paul urges them to turn away from those false teachers and turn their hearts back to him. He defends himself against these so-called “super apostles” and in the process, shows us how to benefit from listening to the truth.

Do you want to benefit from listening to today’s message (or any message based on God’s Word)? Then I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12, where the Apostle Paul urges his readers to listen to him, not the false teachers.

2 Corinthians 12:11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing (ESV).

The Corinthian believers forced Paul to boast about his credentials, because they gawked at the credentials of the false teachers. It made Paul feel like a fool, because apart from Christ he was nothing. Even so, he will boast, since that is what impresses the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works (ESV).

Paul performed the signs of a true apostle when he was with them. He did miracles, which demonstrated his authenticity as one with God’s message.

You see, every time God gave new revelation to the world, He accompanied that new revelation with signs, wonders, and miracles. When God gave the law to Moses, Moses and his successor, Joshua, performed many miracles surrounding their exodus from Egypt and entrance into the Promised Land (Exodus, Joshua). When God gave new revelation to the prophets, Elijah and his successor, Elisha, also performed many miracles as recorded in 1st and 2nd Kings. Then, when God spoke through His Son, Jesus, He and His successors, the Apostles, performed a lot of miracles to demonstrate that their message came from God Himself (Acts 2:22, 43).

Hebrews 2 warns us to pay attention to God’s message, which “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard (i.e., His apostles), while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles” (Hebrews 2:3-4).

It had been hundreds of years since God spoke, but with the coming of Christ and His apostles, God was speaking again, confirming His Word with “signs and wonders and various miracles.”

Paul was urging his readers to believe him, because he performed the signs of a “true apostle, “ demonstrating that his words were God’s words. And that’s what you must do if you want to benefit from this message, or any message, based on God’s Word.

BELIEVE IT!

Trust what God has said through His servants. Reject the words of the false teachers, and rely on the words of those who teach and preach God’s Word.

Now, I’m not going to perform “signs and wonders” for you today, because God has already confirmed His Word with signs and wonders through Jesus’ apostles in the First Century. However, His Word is no less reliable today than it was then, so trust it with your life. In as much as my words conform to God’s Word, you can depend on those words to change your life for the better. So, if you want to benefit from today’s message, just believe it.

When CBS News featured Jacob Smith three years ago (2022), he was a 15-year-old legally blind freeride skier. Jacob has extreme tunnel vision—and no depth perception on top of that. What he does see is blurry. His visual acuity is rated 20/800, four times the level of legal blindness. Think of the big E on the eye chart. He would need it to be blown up four times in order to see it from 20 feet away.

So how does Jacob ski like this? His family keeps him on course. On competition days, Jacob’s little brother, Preston, patiently helps him hike to the top of the venue. It's so high, the lifts won't take you there. Then his father, Nathan, helps him get down. Jacob has a two-way radio turned up high in his pocket. His dad is on the other end at the base, somehow, calmly, guiding him down.