The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message which God designed to be communicated. Jesus commissioned His apostles to go and preach the gospel to the world (Matt. 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16). Paul said that believers are saved through a message that is preached (1 Cor. 1:21). A Gospel Meeting is a time in which the gospel is preached, and it is fitting that the Lord's church provide such opportunities.

Communication requires two parties - a sender and a receiver. In order for communication to take place, each party must function properly. We have invited a preacher to come and communicate the gospel unto us. This week, brother Galloway is the "sender," which means that we are the "receivers." Since you and I are going to spend a good portion of our time this week listening to gospel preaching, it would be good for us to remember what the Bible says about the way in which one must receive God's Word.

James 1:21-22 says, "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

The first step in receiving God's Word involves me putting off my sins. Receiving instruction from the Lord requires me to listen with my heart, and I cannot do this if my heart is polluted with sin. I must lay or put aside all sin from my heart. While the Parable of the Sower is given from the "Sower's" point of view (he went forth to sow the seed in different kinds of soils), the different kinds of soils represent the hearts of men. I must make sure that my heart is prepared to receive the Word of God. One type of soil was unable to bear fruit because it abounded with thorns which choked the good seed (Luke 8:7). Jesus identified these thorns as the cares, riches, and pleasures of life (v. 14). The only way that I can hope to benefit from the hearing of God's Word is to first empty my heart of sinful distractions.

Second, I must receive God's Word with the proper attitude - meekness. The word "meekness" is translated from the Greek word prautes which means "gentleness" or "mildness." W.E. Vine says that this word describes "an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting."

Meekness is the desire and willingness to accept God's Word - regardless of what it requires of us. God often referred to the Israelites as "stiff-necked" (Ex. 32:9, Deut. 9:6), which conveyed the idea of a stubborn ox which refused to wear his master's yoke. God had given them a law which was for their good (Deut. 10:13), but they stubbornly rejected it. King Hezekiah admonished the people, "Now do not be stiff-necked , as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord" (2 Chron. 30:8). Likewise, we must yield ourselves to the instructions found in God's Word.

Gospel preaching involves convincing, rebuking, and exhorting (2 Tim. 4:2). As we listen to brother Galloway this week, we will likely be convicted and rebuked. How are we going to respond to such instruction? We are not to be like the Children of Israel who frustrated God's efforts to bless them with beneficial instruction. We are to receive the yoke of God's word as that which is best for us. In meekness, we are to be receptive and yield to the instructions found in God's Word.

Finally, James exhorts us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. No period of Bible study and instruction is complete until we make personal application of that instruction to our lives. Jesus concluded His Sermon on the Mount with the illustration of the wise and foolish builder.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall" (Matt. 7:24-27).

If we think that we can be saved simply because we are attending services and hearing Gospel preaching we are deceiving ourselves. "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke 11:28).

Brethren, a great opportunity lies before us this week. While we strive to have visitors present for every assembly, Brother Galloway has chosen good, basic topics which will challenge us as Christians in different areas of our lives. Communication only takes place if information is received. Will we be listening the way that God wants us to listen this week?