Maintain a posture of humility and submission to the Word. We can easily get distracted or think, “I know this already!” when a common passage is preached. We are always under the authority of God’s Word and our focused listening and submission to His Word will serve as worship to our God. Apply truths from the message to yourself—and write them down. We don’t want to be top-heavy Christians–that is, have disproportionately big heads from Bible knowledge but a small body from not walking it out. 

“Pay attention to what you hear.”
Those were Jesus’ words to his followers shortly after sharing the Parable of the Soils in Mark 4, a parable that explains the different results of Word proclamation.
In that parable, some hear the Word, only to have it snatched away by the devil. Others do not receive the Word due to tribulation on account of the Word or are choked out by daily life and the cares of this world. The ones who hear the Word and accept it are the only ones to bear fruit. As believers, we are to pay attention to what we hear so we can bear fruit of “thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20).
How we listen to and receive the preached Word will greatly impact our Christian maturity and fruitfulness. 
Jesus wants us to be active listeners—men and women who work hard at understanding God’s Word with their minds and applying it to their hearts. This truth can be applied in many different settings but perhaps none more obvious than from the pulpit on a Sunday morning.
On any given Sunday, there are countless distractions that can hinder a hearing and receiving of the Word: crying babies, a bad night’s sleep, thoughts from earlier in the day, or a short attention span. This is not to mention the spiritual war taking place as the Word is preached. That is why gospel proclamation is part of the armor of God (see Ephesians 6:15, 19). It advances the cause of God against the enemy.
How can we best listen to a sermon so we will receive the Word of God?
15 Practical Tips for Receiving the Word
1. Prepare your heart in prayer. Pray to have listening ears and that the Spirit would sow the Word into your heart. Confess your sin and examine yourself to see if any cares of the world might be choking out your desire to receive the Word and obey it (Mark 4:18-19).
2. Pray for the proclamation of the Word. Pray for your pastor to faithfully proclaim the Word in the Spirit’s power. Pray that the congregation would be challenged, instructed, and built up from the preaching of the Word.
3. Read the passage to be preached before the service starts. This is done preferably at home to set your mind on the eternal truth you will receive during the message. Humbly pray over the passage for the Spirit’s illumination and help applying it.
4. Prepare your mind and body for receiving the Word.
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So sin is a lose (offends God), lose (hurts people), lose (hurts you). Nobody is perfect. But if we think more deeply about the multi-dimensional impact of sin, we’d be more eager to avail ourselves to the means of grace to grow in love for our Savior and hatred of our sin.

Vertical (offends God)
First and foremost, your sin — whether in act, attitude, or nature — is an affront to a holy God. “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. . .,” (Psalm 51:4) King David says, after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. Before we talk about how sin hurts the people in your life or is a form of self-infliction, we must say that sin offends God. Commit one sin, and you are guilty of violating the entire Law (James 2:10). As born sinners (Psalm 51:5), sin doesn’t just involve the wrongs we commit (sins of commission), or right actions we neglect (sins of omission), but also involves our nature, our very being. We are totally depraved, born as rebellious, God-haters, self-lovers, glory thieves who rightly incur the wrath of God apart from a Savior. Of the five points of Calvinism, total depravity is the easiest to prove.
Horizontal (hurts people)
Sin is willful treason that offends a holy God but also hurts the people in your life. The more you sin, the more people you hurt. The more influence you have, the greater the effects your sin will have on others (hence, why it’s particularly hurtful when sinned against by a leader).
Let me say this a different way. Your unrighteous anger hurts your children.
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The size of our giving is not to be a matter of revelation, but of devotion. In other words, each of us should “do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Now think about that carefully. God likes giving to be as far removed from drudgery and duty (though it is our duty), as possible. It is to be pure joy.

It would be difficult to imagine any giver doing so often or generously without joy in doing it.
I began to be curious about giving early on. In fact, I can still picture the book on giving that my mother read to me, one of only two children’s books I remember. My first book on George Muller, the man who fed and clothed over 10,000 orphans, made the deepest impression. I was drawn into a lifestyle that was so attractive that I could not resist it. I immediately began to live out what I had learned in a radical way. That pursuit still enchants me.
On the one hand, I’m enamored with the promises related to giving. How is it that we can give and give and give and still have enough to give more? Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Lk. 6:38). He was describing what has happened in my experience so often, so dramatically, so regularly, and so faithfully, that its validity as a promise is unquestionable. He has the right to change that for higher purposes without my complaint (He is sovereign after all), yet I can say that God has graciously allowed an increase for giving steadily through the years.
The size of our giving is not to be a matter of revelation, but of devotion. In other words, each of us should “do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Now think about that carefully. God likes giving to be as far removed from drudgery and duty (though it is our duty), as possible. It is to be pure joy. The word “cheerful” is hilaron— from which we get the word “hilarious.” But the meaning in that day would be more like “ready because of a heart full of joy.” Remember the Macedonians who “begged us with much entreaty for the favor of participating in the support of the saints” (2 Cor. 8:4)?
And secondly, giving is a sign of something. You give according to your own desire, not begrudgingly and mournfully as if you are parting with your vital organs. It is the expression of your love. God likes to keep it on this basis. Attitude is every bit as important as amount—no, much more so. You should want to give.
Have you ever dreamed of giving more? I mean, have you dreamed of giving a lot. By “a lot” I mean “a lot compared with what you have, not what somebody else has.” What about 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% or more? You wouldn’t do that without love and God wouldn’t want you to do it without cheerfulness. But it can happen.
Years ago I decided that I would try to give more every year. I’ve not done this perfectly nearly every year since that little whimper of a desire was voiced to God. It wasn’t a vow and I’m under no obligation, but I am free to do it. Jesus never puts down radical givers.
I have to keep in mind two other matters: First, “Am I taking care of my family in a reasonable way as the Lord has instructed me?”
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