I’ve Heard That Before Is a Warning Sign Not a Flex

By Dr. Layne McDonald and Daniel Gullick

There is a phrase that sounds harmless in church, but it is one of the most dangerous things a believer can say. It sounds mature, educated, and experienced. It sounds like someone who has been around the faith for a while. But spiritually, it can be a red flag waving in the wind.

I’ve heard that before.

When the Word of God is being preached or read and your spirit responds with a casual shrug, something is off. Not with the Word. With your hunger. Scripture does not lose power. People lose appetite. Familiarity does not mean you have mastered the truth. Familiarity often means you have stopped letting truth master you.

A man can sit near the fire long enough that he stops noticing the heat. The flames did not change. His sensitivity did. And the enemy loves this because once you stop hearing with hunger, you stop receiving with faith. You start collecting sermons instead of being corrected by Scripture. You start recognizing verses without obeying them. You start becoming informed without being transformed.

Here are a few signs that familiarity is dulling your hearing.

• You get irritated by conviction

• You rush past verses that used to pierce you

• You listen for confirmation instead of correction

• You crave new information instead of deeper obedience

• You treat sermons like content instead of confrontation

This is not meant to shame anyone. It is meant to wake you up. The cure is not to find a trendier teacher. The cure is to return to a teachable heart. Sometimes one humble prayer is more powerful than a thousand opinions.

Pray this and mean it.

• Holy Spirit, make the Word fresh again

• Holy Spirit, make me teachable again

• Holy Spirit, let me hear like my life depends on it

For more teaching like this from the podcast hosted by Daniel Gullick, go to www.boundlessonlinechurch.org/podcasts