What can makes us ineffective or unresponsive to God's word? Preoccupation with other things can distract us from what is truly important and worthwhile. And letting our hearts and minds be consumed with material things can easily weigh us down and draw us away from the heavenly treasure that lasts for eternity.
Underlined are five ways in which we've cause the word of God not to sprouts in our lives.


1. Many take offense at the preacher.
Many take offense at the preacher thinking he's speaking on his own accord. They despise the message due to familiarity of the preacher.

2. Many take offense at the word of God.
Instead to take solace in the word, they'll rather become angry at it because it hurts their pride and makes them discomfort.

3. The shallow hearer.
He or she fails to think things out or think them through ; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction, but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else.

4. We exonerate ourselves.
When the word is being proclaimed we justify ourselves,to the extent of cautioning others instead for us to examine ourselves and mend our ways.

5. We listen but our hearts are harden.
We tends to harden our hearts towards the word of God, most at times we do not listen because we don't want to change. We admire the eloquence of the preacher, we applaud him for its usage of diction but fail to change.

Bonus....
The prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind.
Such a person is unteachable. And blind to what he or she doesn't want to hear.

Shalom!!!