Welcome to another week on Things Unseen. The other week we were thinking together about

preaching. It's certainly an important subject and for any of us who preach is endlessly

interesting. And it's also important for all of us because the knowledge and application

of God's word to us is so vital. But when we began reflecting on preaching, I think

I mentioned that Jesus not only said, take care, take heed what you hear, but also in

lookate 18, he says, take care how you hear. And then he adds this intriguing comment

for to the one who has more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he

thinks that he has will be taken away. You see what Jesus is saying? Hearing God's

word rightly, that is what increases our capacity to rightly hear God's word. There's

a kind of exponential growth, but on the other hand, there's a reverse graph. Not hearing

it properly, rightly, isn't a neutral thing. It actually makes it even more difficult

to hear it properly the next time. And there's a sting in the tail. The person who doesn't

hear God's word rightly may not know it. He may think he has all he really needs already.

But says Jesus, even that will be taken from him. It's really a very sobering statement.

I feel fairly sure that most of us who are part of our things unseen podcast community,

I think we do want to hear good preaching. We think it's vital for our spiritual health

and for the spiritual health of our church family. But I wonder if we give the same

attention to how we hear, what we hear, as we give simply to what we hear. When we were

talking about preaching earlier we can mention those preaching grids so beloved of professors

and teachers of budding preachers. But you know the wisest preachers also had hearers

grids. Perhaps the most famous of them is found in a book by the 16th century English

Puritan William Perkins. It has the deliciously reformed title, the art of prophesying.

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