"I design plain truth for plain people"
(John Wesley).
While on a layover at the Salt Lake City airport, I began to pass the time by chatting with the captain of our flight. I soon discovered that he was unhappy because the air traffic controllers were threatening to go on strike.
"Your contact with them is mainly by radio," I said. "Do you ever get to know them personally?"
He smiled. "You get to know them fairly well just by the way they give you directions for landing. Most controllers just give the instructions clearly and concisely, but there's a lady controller at a California airport who reads to us right from the operations manual! One pilot I know listened to her for several minutes, and when she asked him if he understood, he replied, 'Ma'am, you sounded so much like my wife, I didn't hear a word you said!'"
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Later, as our plane flew to Los Angeles, I pondered that pilot's answer. I asked myself, When I preach, do people hear only instructions from an operations manual or do they hear the living God speaking to them through His Word? Or perhaps they hear a different voice that distracts them from hearing God's voice and they totally miss the message. Sobering thoughts.
When we prepare a message, we must keep in mind the elements that are involved:
- Understanding the text1
- Determining the object of the message
- Stating that object clearly
- Planning the development of the message in light of that object
- Deciding how to get the people's attention and hold their interest
Understanding the Text
According to our Lord's parable of the sower, unless people understand the Word of God, they can't receive it into their hearts where it can take root and bear fruit (Matt. 13:1-9,18-23).2 In the parable Jesus explained that the hearers with hard hearts can't receive the Word because they don't understand it, so Satan snatches the seed away. A humble prepared heart is essential to an understanding of God's truth. "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own" (John 7:17). F. W. Robertson called obedience "the organ of spiritual knowledge."3
The listeners in the parable with the shallow hearts and the crowded hearts also failed to understand the message. The shallow-hearted group expected only joy from following Christ and gave no thought to suffering. When persecution came, it exposed their insincere faith. The people with the crowded hearts didn't understand the message because they failed to pull the "weeds" out of their hearts (repentance) so that the good seed would have room to grow. It was the people who heard the Word and understood it who received the good seed, cultivated it and produced fruit.
Working Hard
If we are to succeed in explaining and applying the text to people in the congregation, we must understand the text ourselves and apply it to our own lives. This means investing hours of hard work, week after week reading and studying the scriptures, meditating, praying and serving our Lord and our people. You know what time of day (or night) is best for you to do creative work, so set it aside, guard it and make good use of it. Don't complain about the time you don't have; prioritize wisely the time you do have.