Rubber, Meet Road

Most preaching answers the question, “Say what?” (What is the Bible saying?) But great preaching answers the questions, “So what?” (Why does this matter to my life?) and “Now what?” (What do I do about this tomorrow?)

Why? Because most people are not intrinsically motivated to learn just for the sake of learning. To keep their interest and keep them motivated, you need to show them how the teaching impacts their life. And because the Bible totally applies to and changes our lives, but some people don’t naturally see how to apply it.

So messages need to have lines that start like, “So maybe you’re a single mom who has been trying to figure out how to make ends meet…” or “Like it could be that you had a habit, that’s become an addiction, and now you’re stuck and wondering how you can get out…” or “Have you felt this tension in your marriage…” or “Maybe you used to be able to trust people, but now you find yourself…” or “You have a husband, but you find yourself wondering what it would be like to be married to someone else, if maybe he would treat you better…” or “But at some point your dream died, and how do you dream again?”

It’s setting up real life, real world situations that people are struggling with, and then showing how the Bible applies to those situations and can make a difference in your everyday life.