Preaching: Mark Antony Style (3 of 5)
How do we preach Mark Antony style? How do we connect with and convince people who may have showed up cynical and skeptical?
One thing we need to do is let people know that we know that they know we sound crazy. Let people know that … what? Here’s the deal: Let’s suppose one day you’re talking to your neighbor and he says, “Yeah, last night I saw a UFO hovering over the neighborhood.” What do you think? That dude is nuts! But what if he said, “Listen, I know this is totally crazy, and you’re not going to believe me, and I don’t blame you, but last night I saw a UFO hovering over our neighborhood.” What do you think? You’d still probably assume he’s nuts, but you’d wonder. His admitting that he sounds nuts would make you wonder if maybe he’s not. I mean, nuts people don’t know their nuts … do they? His telling you that it was difficult to believe would open up at least the slightest possibility in your mind that you should believe him.
You may not realize this, but lots of what you say in your sermons sounds crazy to the non-Christians who have shown up. You stating that you saw a UFO, or that Brittany Spears is a great mom, or that God created the world in six days, or that there is a real devil, or that Jesus was born of a virgin and rose from the dead all sound equally nuts to a lot of people. So what do you do about that? Well, one thing I think is that you say, “I know this may sound crazy, and you may not believe this, but … I’ve come to a point where I believe that God literally created the world in six days … I believe there’s an actual being named Satan … I believe that Jesus really was the Son of God…”
Simply admitting that you realize it sounds crazy makes you less crazy. If you don’t tell me it seems nuts, I’ll suspect you are nuts.
So look over each sermon you preach – what in it will be thought of as unbelievable to someone who’s not already convinced? Let them know that you know. What else should you do with that stuff? We’ll hit that next time. Until then, remember, you only have about eleven shopping months left till Christmas.
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