Sermons that Stick

A call to respond is biblical, but it's also practical and specific. In my book Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the

Churches that Reach Them (B&H), we reported some unfortunately startling statistics when it comes to young adults and their

openness to the church. I say "unfortunately" because we too easily have acquiesced to a false mythology of young adults' spiritual interest in America. One of the things we found is that young adults—particularly churched young adults—want to know how to apply God's Word in their everyday lives. They don't just want to listen to you talk for 30 minutes. They want to be challenged to do something with what they're hearing. Many of the preachers did this in the sermons we studied. Close to half (47 percent) asked their listeners to do something at the end of their sermons. Forty-six percent asked listeners to think differently and another 16 percent asked listeners to feel something different when they were finished.

What kind of things did preachers ask listeners to do? Nearly 15 percent asked them to stop doing something. As they concluded

their sermon, 10 percent asked listeners to respond by coming forward during an altar call. Small numbers asked for listeners to fill

out a response card or take communion. To what are these numbers adding up?

Often preachers have an application in mind as they prepare a sermon. We intuitively can see what would happen if listeners acted on what they've heard from the Word, but too often we leave this application unsaid. I challenge you to think consciously about what you want your listeners to do with your message. Ask yourself, "If my best friend was listening to this message, how do I want his or her life to change because of what I'm going to say?" Don't just answer the question in your head before you preach again. Voice that application in your message. Don't settle for the hope in your head. Seek commitment in your church.

Engaging listeners with your sermon is not optional; it is a must. People hunger for truth. The surveys we've done have

shown that the unchurched—even the lost—long to hear a word from heaven. When we studied unchurched young adults for

Lost and Found, we uncovered that many of them want to know more about the Bible. While God can use any situation for His glory, it will be hard for your listeners to hear from heaven if you don't challenge them to become more than passive listeners.

The people who listen to you every week need to know what God wants to say to them. When you are not heard, the consequences for your listeners are real. The lost face a Christless eternity. Many believers face overwhelming personal and

professional struggles. All of them long to know that God cares enough about them to speak into their lives. Through your

faithful preaching of the Word, they can find out.

In his book Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication (Multnomah), Andy Stanley says he

often gives himself a pep talk before he preaches a message by asking, "How would you communicate this message if your

18-year-old son had made up his mind to walk away from everything you had taught him morally, ethically and theologically—

unless he had a compelling reason not to?" It's a stunning question that would force any of us to engage our audience.

If your 18-year-old son was in that situation and listening to the sermon you are preparing now, what would you want him

thinking about? Would you want his mind to drift to college applications, his girlfriend or the big game on Friday night? Or would you want him to be engaged with the Word of God asyou preached?

Someone's son, father, wife and daughter will be sitting in your audience next weekend. Will what you say stick? What will you do to take your preaching to the next level? Will you engage them with the Word of God?

Perhaps most importantly, when will you start?