Convincing, rebuking, loving, healing, converting, sending out, are all evidences of God's work through a preacher. It is the Holy Spirit who will "prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8) and who makes connections "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God "(Rom 8:16). The outcome of preaching is well summarized in 1 John 1:3: "We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Let anyone with ears to hear, listen

Earlier I referred to a principle of mutual responsibility between hearers and preacher. On one side, preachers have accountability to ensure good news is just that. Preachers in their exegesis, interpretation and design need always to be conscious of their listeners, making connections and 'hooking' responses by content and interesting style. David Mains, of Mainstay Ministries, contends that 80% of evangelical sermons fail because preachers are unclear what response they are calling for. Hearers can tell you afterwards what the theme was but they had no idea what to do about it. Contemporary preachers should not avoid working through the implications of stereo preaching and we have already noted some authors' contributions.

However, in the last part of this paper I want to address hearers in particular. Authentic twenty-first preaching must recover authentic listening and preachers have a critical task of restoring godly listening. Sweazey (1976) argued that hearers need their own instruction in homiletics. He suggested that an occasional sermon with a subject such as: "Partners in Preaching" could be useful as well as offering courses on homiletics for hearers. Preachers have to awaken passive listeners to become active partners in hearing and doing God's word. Mark 4:1-20 has to be taken seriously. Hearers have to be alerted to responsibilities before, during and after preaching. Like loving God "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Luke 10: 27), stereo listening requires everything of a hearer. Here are some guidelines:

1. Prepare for worship expectantly.

The more casual and unprepared that listeners are as they come to worship the less likely they are to experience God. All worshipers, preacher included, should make space and time for genuine prayers of preparation. "Who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully" (Ps 24:3,4). Snatched seconds of perfunctory routine before worship smothers spiritual possibilities within worship. "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:21) and be sensitive to God who is spirit. Spiritual insensitivity to God beforehand can condemn to spiritual insensitivity during worship. The outcome is a Unitarian utilitarianism — preachers "do their own thing" which may or may not have any relevance to hearers "doing their thing."