Once when I was invited to speak at a fasting prayer, the night before the meeting I dreamt a dream. In the dream, I was standing on stage preaching the Word and people in the congregation are listening very attentively to what I am saying. To my left, on the stage were seated a few pastors and a couple of youngsters who were in the choir. In between my preaching, I look to the left and see one of the youngsters writing something in a book that he has and slowly as the dream progresses, the focus comes upon the matter in his book and when I see what he is writing in his book, I am surprised and a bit annoyed because he was not taking notes of the sermon, but evaluating my sermon and giving me marks as if this were an examination and he was the evaluator.
I prayed about the matter the next morning and in the evening when I went for the fasting prayer for which I was invited to speak, I found the same youngster sitting to the left with the pastor of the church. On inquiring, the pastor told me that, that was his son. I felt amused and did not say anything but preached what the Lord had laid on my heart that evening. In the end, I prayed publicly for a few topics that the Holy Spirit had shown me and I also said, "One of you has a bad habit of evaluating preachers; that should stop"; saying that I looked at the pastor's son and he looked at me and guilt was widely written on his face. I am not sure how he responded to the voice of the Holy Spirit that night, for this was an only occasion that I was invited to preach in that church.
There are at least a few in every congregation, who spend time evaluating the preacher rather than hear the message that is being shared. To an extent, one may evaluate a preacher and his sermon, but if that becomes the sole hobby of a person while in church and later on a matter of gossip, the Lord is not pleased.
Praise God.
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