Why is it that some people come to church and walk away uplifted, confident, and fulfilled? They fill complete and excited about what God is doing for them in this very moment and they have a sense of great anticipation for the upcoming weeks. They have been comforted, they have been assured, and they have been challenged. And then there are others who come in that very same church service and they sit unmoved, without any apparent benefit from the service and they leave out just as empty as the way they came in. They are not excited about anything, they have the same burdens that they came with and still have the same concerns about life with no apparent relief in sight. What's the difference between the two?
 
Well it could be a number of things, but one of the primary reasons I believe people have a difficult time coming to church and yet still walk away the same as they got there; is because they have a difficult time hearing and understanding the Word of God. This is because they don't know how to listen to this book. They don't know how to listen to the Word of God with a desire for it. Therefore, what I want you and I to perceive today in this teaching is the importance of, "Learning to Listen to God's Word."
 
So, I want you to be honest and ask the Lord to help you to establish a heart that is ready and excited about listening to His Word. I want you to ask Him so that you will glean from it all that it holds and how fruitful it can become within your life. If you are going to spend time listening to someone expound on the Word of God. If you are going to spend time in worship or in a Bible study somewhere; you want to make the most of it. So I want to help you get the most from it by offering a few simple tips. If you will be willing to listen carefully and follow a few suggestions then I believe it will help you realize the joyful experience that you can receive from God's wonderful Word every day. Go with me to the eighth chapter if you will in the book of Nehemiah.
 
Let me set some ground work for our lesson. What is happening here is that the nation of Israel had been in captivity for some 70 years. First the Babylonians came in and took control of them and then the Medes and Persians. So, it was just as Jeremiah and the other prophets had prophesied that Israel would be in captivity for 70 years. Now, many of them had returned back to their homeland to Jerusalem. And many that had returned found things were not very good. In fact, the walls had been broken down and the gates had been burnt to the ground and their enemies were still a great problem. 
 
Then we find the Scriptures takes us into a dramatic scene where Nehemiah who was the cupbearer for the king of the Persian Empire. Come's in before the king one day but his countenance was sadden for the news that he had received from his countrymen. Because of the sad face of Nehemiah the king asked him what was wrong. Nehemiah began to explain how his friends had returned to Jerusalem and they told me that the walls of my city are torn apart. How the gates have been burned to the ground and that foreigners are plundering all that is within Jerusalem. And so what happened? Nehemiah who had been praying and fasting found God had heard his prayer. The king asked "What can I do for you? And Nehemiah began to give a list of things that he would need to be able to rebuild the city and accomplish what he believed it would take.
 
Well, the king said to Nehemiah all that you have need of, count it done. He even sent an escort of soldiers to ensure that he would be safe in his travels. So, Nehemiah began to layout his plans before some faithful and hand picked people that he could count on for their skills. And Nehemiah and these workers did an impossible work. With persistence, organization, determination, guarding and even fighting if necessary. They rebuilt the city in 52 days. Even their enemies said about them, "They had to have the help of God to accomplish such a work as this." So now the Israelite people are all together in their newly rebuilt city with Nehemiah who was the governor and Ezra the scribe who was the priest. And within the rubble that had been cleaned up from the city of Jerusalem they discovered the genealogies. One of the things about those times was the meticulous and accurate record keeping that they kept. The Scriptures tell us that when they opened the scrolls they shouted with enthusiasm their desire to hear the Law of Moses. So, they had a strong passion to listen to the Words of God.   
 
So in retrospect to our text, how are we to listen to the Word of God? How are we to listen in such a fashion that we glean the most out of it and that we profit the most from its pages? Please let me distinguish something here for you. There is a difference in reading this book and hearing a message from this book. If you are listening to a message from anyone no matter who they are, you want to make sure first of all that that they believe this book from cover to cover. If a minister stands up in front of you and says that some of this is right on the mark, but some of it is out dated or no longer applicable. You need to get yourself another pastor or find another church. This is the revelation of the Living God who inspired men as they penned these words. It is a holy and infallible book and it was carefully governed by the Holy Spirit in every detail so as to be written in divine and perfect dictation within its entirety. Can't God give us a book that is perfect and without flaws? Sure He can. He did!
 
I want you to hear this again, "Its one thing for you to read the Word of God and something else for it to be used to make a sermon." So, I can tell you this in all humility of heart. I will be as honest and absolutely truthful as I can to present this teaching with as much revelation as the Holy Spirit will allow me the privilege to teach you. I promise to yield myself to the Holy Spirit's interpretation so as to be as accurate as I possibly can when I share these words with you.
 
So this is what I want us to do today. I want us to ask the question. How do I read the Word of God and be able to hear it in such a way that something happens marvelous within me? I believe in order to do this we need to look at a few words that we can examine from our text so we can clearly learn how to listen to God's Word and get something life changing from it everytime we read it or hear it spoken. Therefore, the first word I want us to look at is:

 

(1). Eagerness. We need to be eager about what God has to say to us personally in His Word. Let me remind you of what our text tells us. The children of Israel had been without the Word of God for 70 years while being in captivity. Many of them for example had never heard it because of being from a generation that had never been exposed to God's Word at all. Therefore, never hearing it for themselves they were eager to listen to it eagerness.
 
Nehemiah 8:1-2 (AMP)
1 THEN ALL the people gathered together as one man in the broad place before the Water Gate; and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of both men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first of the seventh month.

The people of Israel wanted to hear the Word. They were eager. So ask yourself this question. Do you come to church with an eagerness to listen to what God has to say? In other words, "What does God have to say to me?" Don't come to hear the Word because you think so and so needs to hear that. That's not what God wants you to do. You need to personally be eager to hear it for yourself. Another thing I want you to remember is this. If you don't have any desire, no eagerness in your heart to learn God's Word then you really don't want to know Him personally. If you don't have a hunger for His Word you don't have a hunger for Him. This is the way we discover who He is. Who His Son is and what is He all about. Desire is that I am anticipating something that I am very interested in. So much so that I will do everything possible to remove all hindrances or distractions. The second word I want you to remember is:

 

(2). Attentiveness. Listen to what the Scriptures tells us in verse three.

 
Nehemiah 8:3 (AMP)
3 He read from it, facing the broad place before the Water Gate, from early morning until noon, in the presence of the men and women and those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

 

They read from around 6am until noon. I want you to remember that. I have rarely found many people who were willing or interested enough in the Word of God that they would regularly sit and listen to the teachings for very long. Someone said that two old ladies walked out of a morning service and one said to the other. "My! that pastor preaches long." While the other replied back, "No! he doesn't preach long, it just seems like he does." We are to listen attentively, why? Because we don't want to miss what He has to say to us personally. We are not to listen for someone else's sake, but we are to listen for our own benefit. In other words, "What are You saying to me Father? What is it that You are desiring me to know?" Remember this! My attention span will be determined by my desire. And my hunger and thirst to know God more will be revealed by the intensity and focus of my desire. So, if you have know desire to know Him; no real desire to walk in fellowship with Him then your attention span won't be very long. I know that there are many people who love going to a theater to see a movie (and I am not contesting or opposing that form of entertainment) yet, they will sit for an hour and a half or more and come out excited and glad to tell their friends how they need to go watch that movie. Sadly, when it comes to the Word of God these folks are not all that excited, much less are they excited enough to share it.

 

Our third word that I want us to look at is:

 

(3). Trust.

 
Nehemiah 8:4-5 (AMP)
4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden pulpit which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
5 Ezra opened the book in sight of all the people, for he was standing above them; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

 

There was a rich and deep reverence for His word. Because they displayed it by the fact that they stood up while it was being read. They were demonstrating their respect, faith and trust in those Words. They knew they were about to hear from the Word of God and they wanted to know all that He would have to say to them. They believed it completely and therefore, they were willing and excitedly ready to put their trust in those very Words that were being read from the Law of Moses.

 

In closing our fourth word that I want you to notice is:

 

(4). Expectantly.

 
Nehemiah 8:5 (AMP)
5 Ezra opened the book in sight of all the people, for he was standing above them; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

These people were so expecting something from God's Word that they stood up with great desire when it was being read. So I would ask you, "Do you come ready to hear what God has to say to you?" There are many people who go to church just for social reasons. They think I will see so and so and I would like to see them every chance I get. There are a lot of singles today and they come to church to look for a mate. Let me say two things about that. Number one it's a good place to find one. Number two that better not be your first and primary reason for coming. Why? Because first off, your motive is wrong. You better get right with God and learn to listen to His Word so you can grow spiritually, and then you may be able to recognize the person God has in mind for you. If your there for simply to find a mate you are going to be there for the flesh, lust, sex and all the wrong reasons. Now, that's enough said about that.

 

But when you come to church you need to be ready to listen and hear what God desires you to learn from His Word. We need to come expectantly! Some might be asking this. "What am I going to hear? I'm going to tell you. Are you ready? You are going to hear what you want to hear! That's right! You hear what you want to hear and that can become your worst problem, especially when your desires are on something other than God's Word.

 

This is why not everyone hears the same thing. Once in awhile someone comes up to me and says, "You know pastor, you said such and such this morning and it just so blessed my soul." I look at them smiling and I don't have the heart to tell them I didn't say that. Some come up with some pretty fantastic things that they say I had spoken. I'm thinking to myself I wished I had said that. That would have been a very good point. But listen to me, God had spoke those words to them. That is what is so awesome! When we come ready to hear from God's Word, He will not disappoint us. He will speak things to our hearts that maybe was not even in the sermon at all. If we will just come and be ready to listen to the Word of God with all eagerness; being attentive to every word spoken, trusting in faith for His guidance through it, and expectantly receiving it's truths. We will experience the most incredible relationship with God that you could ever imagine.

 

God's Word is essential in getting to know who He is. Yet there are more people who just find it very hard to listen with any desire to what God is saying. No wonder that there are so many believer's who end up quitting or moving on to something else. No wonder there are so many believer's who sit frustrated, discouraged and lacking any enthusiasm in the things of God. They simply find no desire in hearing and listening to the Word of God. This is the reason that so many walk faithless and unable to do the works of God. If faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Then why don't we passionately allow ourselves to be absorbed within it? Why do the many believer's in Christ complain that God is not speaking to them about such and such and yet avoid or neglect to read His Word which holds the very answer.

 

Friends, my deepest prayer for you today. Is that you will persuade your heart to desire the Word of God above all things pertaining to this life. His Words are truth, and they are life. Remember, "Listening is a lost art in a society that loves to hear itself talk."