Thad Bergmeier is a friend from my days at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. A few years after we graduated we ran into each other at a prominent pastor’s conference in California. I was pleased to see him there and to hear of how God was blessing his ministry. As we have kept up over the years I was encouraged about his continued education and happy to find out in the midsts of his doctoral studies he had his dissertation published by Wipf and Stock (before he defended it, I might add).

I’m the kind of person who likes to mark up my books. I love to find sentences and paragraphs that convey truth concisely. Helping Johnny Listen (hereafter HJL) is full of these great nuggets. Not only this, but one can find practical helps throughout the work, that can be applied to both those of us who listen to sermons and to those of us who preach them.

In the first chapter “The Preaching Intersection” Dr. Bergmeier offers helpful insight into the realm of the preacher.  One cannot hope to understand how to listen to a sermon well, if one is not familiar with the task of preaching and the work of the preacher. He gives us great lines such as, “When the preacher is faithful to preach the message from God’s word, it is as if God is speaking to the audience…” Bergmeier goes in to support this claim through half of the rest of the chapter by breaking down the preachers responsibility to accurately represent the word of God to the hearer. The last half of the same quotation states, “and the listeners, when the Bible is preached, are placed at a crossroad with every sermon.” This makes up the meat of the last half of the first chapter and is what Bergmeier concerns himself with in the rest of HJL, challenging the listener to consider reasons why they may not enjoy the preaching (stating the possibility of no true conversion) and the responsibility believers have to be good listeners.

In chapter two, “Receiving the Preaching of God’s Word” Bergmeier encourages us to be prepared to receive. One might think lightly of this, since the burden of making the sermon acceptable seems to be borne by the preacher, but we find quickly this is not the case. We are challenged to come rested, filled, healthy, focused regularly and thoughtfully. Under the category of being focused we are urged, “When the preacher stands up to preach, lock in on him, focus on him, and tune out all other things except the preacher and his voice.”  We are also commended to come spiritually prepared with hearts that are hungry, worshiping, praying, expecting and forgiving. Bergmeier wisely declares, “Showing up at church is one thing, but having the burning passion within us that longs for God’s word is quite another.”

In chapter three we are asked to “Examine the Preaching of God’s Word.”  In this chapter we are invited to listen in various ways. Bergmeier emphasizes the need for the listener to be a good Barean and search out the Scriptures. The most well intended preacher, gets it wrong sometimes. Because of this the listener must have a discerning ear and the author gives us great insight into ways in which we can accomplish this, without being overly critical of our pastors. One helpful insight was stated in regard to relationship. If we have the privilege of knowing our pastors, getting to know them and their hearts, always aids in the listening process.

Chapter four entitles, “Live the preaching of God’s Word” is best summed up with the author’s statement that, “There is no biblical listening to preaching if we do not live the preaching of God’s word.” With this thought Bergemeier suggests that we respond with, thoughtfulness, specifics, dependence and completeness. One chilling statement that the author makes in regard to this last area is that we should “not be half-hearted. Good intentions will not do at this point. Hell is filled with people with good intentions.”

Lastly we are encouraged to “Persevere the Preaching of God’s Word” where Bergmeier explores hindrances we have to listening to preaching. Everything from a low view of preaching to our tendency to look to the internet for good preaching is addressed. One area that was quite helpful, was when the author explored learning styles, and although he admits these differences do present their challenges, the author also states, “we should not use our learning styles as an excuse for not listening to the preaching of God’s word.”

Dr. Bergmeier has done an excellent job of capturing and codifying a much needed study of the listening responsibility of the believer.  I have no reluctancy in recommending this book for preacher and listener alike!