Taking Notes in Church

Satan's great joy is to steal the Word of God from the minds and hearts of God's people before they ever leave church on Sunday. A quick errand at the grocery store or chore before work on Monday will erase the lessons learned earlier in the day. If this is your problem, try buying a Composition Book or Steno pad. Carrying it with your Bible and a pen on Sunday will help you gain the following advantages:

• Focus your attention during the message. Write down sermon points, important quotes, illustrations, etc.
• Minimize distractions. Write chores and errands in the margin so that you can get them off your mind and bring you back to the text.
• Add to your retention. Before the service, read through last week's notes. You'll begin to see the larger picture- how the passages and the sermons are connected. Read through the passage again in the coming week, using your notes as a guide. Add to your notes any new discoveries.
• Rejoice in God's provision. After you have been taking notes for awhile, you will be able to look back on the men and messages that God has used to shape your spiritual life and bring you to maturity. God has used many different voices to make you who you have become in Christ.
• Increase accountability. Practice the attitude of the Bereans. Write down questions that occur to you as you listen and search out the answers later. Make sure what you are hearing matches what you are reading in the Bible.
• Add prayer concerns in the back so that you can keep running prayer list of needs mentioned during the church gathering.
• Note action points in the margin. How would the Holy Spirit have you apply what you have learned? Any points of conviction, encouragement, or compassion?

Speakers are all different. Some speak with complex outlines, others with memorable turns of phrase. Even the worst sermon can provide spiritual help when you actively listen to the Word being preached. Whatever you write down is for your profit. Try taking notes and see what the Holy Spirit will do with your Sunday morning worship!