WEBVTT
00:00:01.421 --> 00:00:08.454
Today we're talking about the top five questions you need to ask before your next sermon.
00:00:08.454 --> 00:00:15.573
Have you ever been on stage teaching or preaching and suddenly you forget everything you're trying to say?
00:00:15.573 --> 00:00:18.007
Your mind goes totally blank.
00:00:18.007 --> 00:00:19.966
You're staring at the audience.
00:00:19.966 --> 00:00:22.106
They're staring back at you.
00:00:22.106 --> 00:00:27.045
You look down at your outline, you look back at the audience and you don't know what to say.
00:00:27.045 --> 00:00:33.844
I have been there, I have been in your shoes many times and it can be terrifying.
00:00:33.844 --> 00:00:42.564
It can even make you doubt your calling and your purpose as a preacher, as a communicator.
00:00:42.564 --> 00:00:44.728
So you want to be confident.
00:00:44.728 --> 00:00:52.432
Well, stick around as we discuss the top five questions you need to ask before your next sermon.
00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.343
Hello everyone and welcome to the Speak On Purpose podcast.
00:00:59.343 --> 00:01:00.063
I am your host, brian Cox.
00:01:00.063 --> 00:01:02.725
I am your host, brian Cox.
00:01:02.725 --> 00:01:21.950
What if I told you that the next time you stand up to speak maybe leading a meeting, maybe giving a sermon, maybe a wedding or even a funeral you could stand there with confidence.
00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:27.030
You could stand there with authority in your words and a message that would help people.
00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:43.052
I discovered this learning these five questions that Andy Stanley showed me in his book Communicating for Change, and it's been liberating for me once I learned to apply these to my message.
00:01:43.052 --> 00:01:50.465
So I want to jump into the first question right now, and here it is what do they need to know?
00:01:50.465 --> 00:01:52.128
Let me say that again.
00:01:52.128 --> 00:01:57.641
Question number one what do they need to know?
00:01:57.641 --> 00:02:06.734
Now, this may sound simple, but I find this to be one of the hardest questions I've ever had to answer.
00:02:06.734 --> 00:02:26.466
When I sit down with my pastor friends and we try to figure out what do they need to know, we tend to come up with many things we want to communicate, but the goal is to get it down to one what is the destination?
00:02:26.466 --> 00:02:28.150
Where are we going?
00:02:28.150 --> 00:02:35.169
So I wanted to break it out for you in four steps To answer this one question.
00:02:35.169 --> 00:02:46.213
We're going to do this in four steps because it's very important that we get it down to one, because then you will be able to communicate it.
00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:59.943
I tend to think of it this way Imagine you're coming home from your vacation and the whole family's in the car and everybody's hungry and tired, and you turn around.
00:02:59.943 --> 00:03:03.051
You say hey, everybody, where would you like to eat?
00:03:03.051 --> 00:03:13.468
If you know anything about this, you know what your family's going to say Chick-fil-A, probably.
00:03:13.468 --> 00:03:15.012
That's what my family said.
00:03:15.012 --> 00:03:17.581
And I'd say, no, how about McDonald's.
00:03:17.581 --> 00:03:19.003
They're like, oh no.
00:03:19.003 --> 00:03:22.389
And then the wife would come in and say, how about Subway?
00:03:22.389 --> 00:03:30.247
And what I figured out was I'm never going to make everybody happy, but I have to make a decision.
00:03:30.768 --> 00:03:37.806
Same way with your sermon and your message you have to decide what you're going to say.
00:03:37.806 --> 00:03:38.649
Now.
00:03:38.649 --> 00:03:46.430
It may not be the most popular thing you say, but it might be necessary for this sermon.
00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:49.582
You've got to decide where am I taking people?
00:03:49.582 --> 00:03:51.706
What is the destination?
00:03:51.706 --> 00:03:58.602
So the first step in answering that would be this who are they?
00:03:58.602 --> 00:04:01.605
You must define the they.
00:04:01.605 --> 00:04:03.367
Who is in the car?
00:04:03.367 --> 00:04:06.372
Where am I taking them?
00:04:06.893 --> 00:04:09.116
Okay, this is not a pronoun thing.
00:04:09.116 --> 00:04:12.287
Okay, this is who is in the room thing?
00:04:12.287 --> 00:04:13.810
Who is in the meeting?
00:04:13.810 --> 00:04:16.702
Who is going to be hearing what I'm trying to say?
00:04:16.702 --> 00:04:17.927
So here's what I do.
00:04:18.007 --> 00:04:21.017
Here's kind of how I've always done this.
00:04:21.017 --> 00:04:34.545
I'll even write down, you know, like the venue where I'm going to be speaking, the environment, if it's a conference or if it's a Sunday morning, or is it a Bible study, is it a meeting.
00:04:34.545 --> 00:04:41.910
You know, write down that venue and then I would write down also the demographics of that room.
00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:43.434
What age groups?
00:04:43.434 --> 00:04:48.196
Is it kids and family, is it teenagers?
00:04:48.196 --> 00:04:50.262
Is it college and career?
00:04:50.262 --> 00:04:52.346
Is it a mix of all?
00:04:52.346 --> 00:04:55.653
Because what's going to happen when you think about they?
00:04:55.653 --> 00:05:01.413
It'll help you understand what stories to tell, what analogies and metaphors you need to tell.
00:05:01.413 --> 00:05:17.432
You may need to hit each segment as you speak, and that's what we call gaining common ground, because without common ground, without knowing the they, you're not going to be able to be convincing.
00:05:17.432 --> 00:05:19.869
You're going to have to hit people where they are.
00:05:19.869 --> 00:05:26.093
So that's why it's important still okay to be very specific.
00:05:26.093 --> 00:05:30.050
What destination can I take all these people?
00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:33.687
I've heard this one time a pastor.
00:05:33.687 --> 00:05:40.007
He got up to preach a Christmas sermon and he was preaching and the opening line was this.
00:05:40.007 --> 00:05:51.596
Now, the opening line was I remember the day I stopped believing in Santa Claus and the room just got quiet because it was a Christmas service.
00:05:51.596 --> 00:06:00.687
So everybody was in the room, all the kids, all the adults, and you could just like feel that, oh, what do I do now?
00:06:00.687 --> 00:06:04.170
He did not think about the room.
00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:06.406
Who is going to be hearing this?
00:06:06.406 --> 00:06:08.541
Define the they.
00:06:08.541 --> 00:06:10.464
That is your first step.
00:06:10.464 --> 00:06:16.694
Now let's move on to the second step Pinpoint your key verse.
00:06:17.380 --> 00:06:32.310
I like to think of the Bible this way, like it's a map, what I would call a map to a treasure of truth, a truth so great it could change the hearts and the minds of people that are listening.
00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:35.964
If you think about it, where would we be without maps?
00:06:35.964 --> 00:06:41.423
Most of us would be lost right, especially if we're on a dark highway or a dusty road.
00:06:41.423 --> 00:06:55.374
I know I've been there before and hoping the GPS will work, but I'm of the age when in my early classrooms we had rolled up maps hanging above the chalkboards.
00:06:55.374 --> 00:07:00.266
We also would carry maps in our dashboards of our cars.
00:07:00.266 --> 00:07:04.514
You could buy books of maps at any gas station.
00:07:04.514 --> 00:07:05.415
In those days.
00:07:05.415 --> 00:07:07.487
I think we called it the Road Atlas.
00:07:07.487 --> 00:07:12.732
I remember my dad was an expert at reading maps.
00:07:12.732 --> 00:07:22.610
He was a truck driver for Walmart for almost 40 years and he could pinpoint just about any location on a map.
00:07:22.610 --> 00:07:33.887
You could say he could read the Bible, or, let me say it this way, he could read the map like it was the Bible, pun intended.
00:07:33.887 --> 00:07:40.701
And all this was before GPS or map apps were on our smartphones.
00:07:41.362 --> 00:07:50.526
And, just like reading a map, what treasure of truth or verse will you pull from this map we call the Bible.
00:07:50.526 --> 00:08:03.930
You know when we dig and we mine the Bible, as has happened to me so many times, we discover the most amazing truth and spiritual knowledge.
00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:06.913
I always get something different out of it.
00:08:06.913 --> 00:08:16.355
No matter how many times I've read a verse, something always new, some nugget of truth always comes out.
00:08:16.355 --> 00:08:19.322
So you've pinpointed your key verse.
00:08:19.322 --> 00:08:21.944
That verse you're going to pull truth and treasure from.
00:08:21.944 --> 00:08:31.490
That verse you're going to pull truth and treasure from and you're going to communicate that truth to your audience or your congregation or wherever you may be.
00:08:32.251 --> 00:08:39.356
Okay, so I wanted to give you a quick example illustration of how I do this.
00:08:39.356 --> 00:08:42.381
Maybe that'll help you.
00:08:42.381 --> 00:08:50.073
So I'm going to pick one of my favorite verses, pull some truth out of it and we're going to break it out into these steps.
00:08:50.073 --> 00:08:52.325
Okay, my verse here.
00:08:52.325 --> 00:08:53.809
I love this verse.
00:08:53.809 --> 00:08:55.265
It's Joshua 1.8.
00:08:55.265 --> 00:09:04.455
And what I like to do when I have a verse, when I'm creating a sermon, you know I want to read it in multiple translations.
00:09:04.455 --> 00:09:12.013
I really want to know and understand the context of the verse and that could be a whole nother podcast.
00:09:12.013 --> 00:09:18.249
But I want to understand who wrote it, who it was written to, what does it mean?
00:09:18.249 --> 00:09:23.385
I want to make sure I'm pulling truth and treasure from it and not adding to it.
00:09:23.385 --> 00:09:25.750
Okay, so here's my verse.
00:09:25.750 --> 00:09:28.121
I love this verse, joshua 1.8.
00:09:28.121 --> 00:09:34.763
And I'm going to read it to you in two translations, and then we're going to map it out and break it out.
00:09:34.763 --> 00:09:36.447
I'm going to show you how to do that.
00:09:36.447 --> 00:09:38.152
So let me read that to you now.
00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:41.144
This is the New International Version.
00:09:41.144 --> 00:09:47.561
It says keep the book of the law on your lips national version.
00:09:47.561 --> 00:09:51.413
It says keep the book of the law on your lips, meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
00:09:51.413 --> 00:09:55.642
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
00:09:55.642 --> 00:10:02.107
Okay, now I'll read it in the New Living Translation Study this book of instruction.
00:10:02.107 --> 00:10:11.976
Continually Meditate on it day and night, so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.
00:10:11.976 --> 00:10:18.153
Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
00:10:18.153 --> 00:10:21.909
That is so powerful.
00:10:21.909 --> 00:10:23.621
It's so simple.
00:10:23.621 --> 00:10:31.273
You know Meditate on His Word night and and day, and you will be prosperous and successful.
00:10:31.273 --> 00:10:33.115
What a great idea.
00:10:33.115 --> 00:10:35.461
And we can teach on that.
00:10:35.520 --> 00:10:40.287
And once I get the foundation and the context of that verse who wrote it?
00:10:40.287 --> 00:10:42.450
You know who it was written to.
00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:54.991
Then I can move on to our next step, where we're going to break out our verse, and I call this step three, mapping your route.
00:10:54.991 --> 00:10:56.234
And so what I do?
00:10:56.234 --> 00:11:04.530
I go back and I study this verse and I'm going to tell you the few things that I highlighted that I thought was important.
00:11:04.530 --> 00:11:06.894
The word keep it's a verb.
00:11:06.894 --> 00:11:09.666
You need to keep it.
00:11:09.666 --> 00:11:10.644
You need to do this.
00:11:10.644 --> 00:11:13.388
Next word was the book it's an object.
00:11:13.388 --> 00:11:15.567
Keep the book of the law.
00:11:15.567 --> 00:11:21.030
Again, it's simple, but it's important to get to the truth.
00:11:21.030 --> 00:11:33.409
Keep the book of the law on your lips, a highlighted lips, because another way to say speak is constantly speak these words.
00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:37.530
Again, I highlighted meditate, another verb.
00:11:37.530 --> 00:11:49.841
And then I highlighted day and night, location or times, so that you will be careful to do so.
00:11:49.841 --> 00:11:51.386
Here's really interesting.
00:11:51.386 --> 00:11:52.625
I highlighted the you.
00:11:52.625 --> 00:11:58.528
In the context, you is Joshua, but we can definitely make that work for us.
00:11:58.528 --> 00:12:12.255
We can definitely apply that to us or those who are listening, and if we are careful to do this, careful to do everything written, which is another verb then we will be prosperous.
00:12:12.255 --> 00:12:14.548
I highlighted that word and successful.
00:12:14.548 --> 00:12:18.671
This is the result of what we're doing.
00:12:18.671 --> 00:12:22.630
This is the result of the truth that we're finding here.
00:12:22.630 --> 00:12:25.590
If you do these things, this is what will happen.
00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:35.427
And then I take this same idea and I read another translation and here is the additional translation.
00:12:35.427 --> 00:12:43.878
It says study the book again of instruction continually, which is another word you know constantly.
00:12:43.878 --> 00:12:46.600
So I highlighted continually Again.
00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.602
Meditate day and night times.
00:12:49.602 --> 00:12:51.245
Be sure to obey Another one I highlighted.
00:12:51.245 --> 00:12:53.666
Be sure to obey another one.
00:12:53.666 --> 00:12:55.847
I highlighted everything written in it.
00:12:55.847 --> 00:12:58.429
This was unique to this translation.
00:12:58.429 --> 00:13:08.277
It said only then I thought that was interesting only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
00:13:08.277 --> 00:13:22.667
So I take all of that truth, all those words that I've highlighted, and I move them to the next step, which I call step four, and it's called make a list.
00:13:22.667 --> 00:13:50.395
But what I would ask you to do before you move on to the next step, that you would try this If you got my outline, if you got the worksheet, go ahead and do this for yourself, begin to study it, pick your translations, begin to break it out, meditate on it, like it says, highlight some words and then we'll move on to step four, where we'll make a list, what I would call follow directions.
00:13:51.258 --> 00:13:53.885
Have you ever bought some furniture from Ikea?
00:13:53.885 --> 00:13:56.884
I know most of us have and you get it.
00:13:56.884 --> 00:14:01.799
And if you're like me, you're kind of impatient and you just start putting it together.
00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:05.932
You look at the picture on the box and you just start putting it together.
00:14:05.932 --> 00:14:14.248
Then, when you get done, or you think you're done, you look on the floor and there's some screws left, there's a piece of wood left.
00:14:14.248 --> 00:14:16.422
You're like I left something out.
00:14:16.422 --> 00:14:18.005
Same way here.
00:14:18.005 --> 00:14:21.916
We can't just take it and look at the picture.
00:14:21.916 --> 00:14:24.041
We have to understand it.
00:14:24.041 --> 00:14:35.494
We have to read the directions, we have to contemplate what is being said, when it's being said, who it's being said to and what we can take from that.
00:14:35.494 --> 00:14:40.644
What truth can we apply to us and those who are listening?
00:14:40.644 --> 00:14:46.541
We need to follow directions or we'll never understand the true picture.
00:14:46.541 --> 00:14:59.696
The point is, you got to make a list, you got to follow directions if you want to have a chance of understanding the true picture of what needs to be said and what not to say.
00:14:59.696 --> 00:15:03.931
And if you do this, you won't get lost along the way, I promise you.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.568
So here are the categories.
00:15:06.568 --> 00:15:10.149
First one who are the characters?
00:15:10.149 --> 00:15:12.125
Who is in the story?
00:15:12.125 --> 00:15:14.442
We can see that.
00:15:14.442 --> 00:15:18.871
We can write down the word you that was highlighted.
00:15:18.871 --> 00:15:23.626
I'd also write down because of the context, joshua.
00:15:23.626 --> 00:15:31.224
We know God is talking to Joshua, so we would write that under our first category who are the characters?
00:15:31.224 --> 00:15:34.506
Second category locations and times.
00:15:34.506 --> 00:15:46.985
It was very evident in both of our translations that day and night, day and night definitely needs to go there 24 hours a day.
00:15:47.067 --> 00:15:52.030
Basically, our third category is objects.
00:15:52.030 --> 00:15:54.868
What objects did we see?
00:15:54.868 --> 00:15:59.571
We saw the book, we saw law, we read lips.
00:15:59.571 --> 00:16:06.668
We need to speak these words, we need to speak the truths.
00:16:06.668 --> 00:16:09.754
So that would be under objects.
00:16:09.754 --> 00:16:16.452
And then our fourth category would be actions and movement within the text, which I wrote a good bit.
00:16:16.452 --> 00:16:29.744
I wrote keep, meditate, be careful to do written, and I even wrote prosper and succeed, because when we do these things it moves us forward.
00:16:29.744 --> 00:16:33.929
It's movement in the text that shows us a result.
00:16:35.032 --> 00:16:41.366
Once I have that list, then I can move on to one of my favorite things to do, and that is step five.
00:16:41.366 --> 00:16:45.414
Step five is create your own sentence.
00:16:45.414 --> 00:16:49.283
How can I say this?
00:16:49.283 --> 00:16:55.134
You need to make it relate, make it understandable, but it needs to be truth.
00:16:55.134 --> 00:16:58.750
What you need to understand here is we're not making up a truth.
00:16:58.750 --> 00:17:11.846
We're going to know the context, we're going to look at the list of words we have and we're going to create a sentence, at least two sentences that point to the truth and point to the context.
00:17:11.846 --> 00:17:14.549
Truth and point to the context.
00:17:14.630 --> 00:17:31.125
My daughter, when she was younger, we were opening a box, I guess, of a toy and my wife said to her said well, lily, you can't do this because you need supervision.
00:17:31.125 --> 00:17:32.287
And she said well, mom, I don't have supervision.
00:17:32.287 --> 00:17:38.775
I just thought that was so cute and funny the way she saw it.
00:17:38.775 --> 00:17:40.040
She saw it differently.
00:17:40.040 --> 00:17:45.972
So we don't want to change, we don't want to make it something that it's not.
00:17:45.972 --> 00:17:51.366
We want it to be clear, we want the vision to be clear and understandable.
00:17:51.366 --> 00:17:54.772
So that's why context matters while we do this.
00:17:54.772 --> 00:17:56.474
So what we do?
00:17:56.474 --> 00:17:58.682
We take these lists of words.
00:17:58.682 --> 00:18:01.387
We asked ourselves who is speaking?
00:18:01.387 --> 00:18:04.921
This is God, and why is he speaking?
00:18:04.921 --> 00:18:12.803
Context he's telling Joshua if you do these things and you lead Israel this way, good things will happen.
00:18:12.803 --> 00:18:16.991
But you must meditate on my word day and night.
00:18:16.991 --> 00:18:24.295
You must follow it, and only then will you see good things.
00:18:24.295 --> 00:18:27.221
Write your own sentence using these list of words you made.
00:18:27.221 --> 00:18:27.582
Okay.
00:18:27.582 --> 00:18:30.848
For example, here's what I came up with Looking at my list.
00:18:31.430 --> 00:18:38.500
In step four, I said if you speak and meditate on the law, you will be careful to do what is written.
00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:41.666
Very simple, but in context.
00:18:41.666 --> 00:18:48.942
You again is Joshua in the context, but it can be applied, I think, to our lives.
00:18:48.942 --> 00:18:57.756
The second one I wrote was this If you speak and meditate on this book, then, and only then will you be successful.
00:18:57.756 --> 00:19:14.095
That then, and only then, came from the other translation, which I thought was pretty awesome, that it's basically telling us the only way to be successful and prosperous is to meditate on God's word day and night.
00:19:14.095 --> 00:19:16.207
You must keep him in your life.
00:19:16.207 --> 00:19:18.346
I think I could preach that.
00:19:18.346 --> 00:19:27.212
I think that would be a good main idea and, again, this is a very simple process to pull that truth out.
00:19:27.212 --> 00:19:34.410
So our truth if you speak and meditate on this book, then, and only then will you be successful.
00:19:34.410 --> 00:19:37.701
So let's answer that question again.
00:19:37.701 --> 00:19:39.226
Step six name our destination.
00:19:39.707 --> 00:19:44.744
Now that we know the verse, we understand the context, we've made a list, we've made a sentence.
00:19:44.744 --> 00:19:49.521
Now we need to ask that question again what do they need to know?
00:19:49.521 --> 00:19:53.007
Basically, what do they need to know?
00:19:53.007 --> 00:19:59.414
They need to read and meditate on the Word of God every day.
00:19:59.414 --> 00:20:09.519
That's our truth, very simple, but to the point they need to read and meditate on the Word of God every day.
00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:14.186
This is just the first question what do they need to know?
00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:15.545
I have five of these.
00:20:15.545 --> 00:20:26.174
Some are not as detailed, but before you speak, before you stand up to say anything, you must know what you're trying to say.
00:20:26.174 --> 00:20:30.171
You see, we're still in the defining stage of the sermon.
00:20:30.171 --> 00:20:38.619
Once we answer all the questions, then we can begin to put together an outline that communicates this idea.
00:20:38.619 --> 00:20:49.050
Well, I hope this has helped you, and I wanted to say this before I leave today Be sure to download the PDF notes.
00:20:49.050 --> 00:20:54.011
There's a worksheet there with a sample of what I've been talking about.
00:20:54.011 --> 00:21:02.151
Also, there's a blank worksheet there that you can use on your own, so make sure you download that from the podcast notes.
00:21:02.151 --> 00:21:12.852
Also, I wanted to let you know I will be working on our next question, which is this why do they need to know it?
00:21:12.852 --> 00:21:14.755
This is a fun one.
00:21:14.755 --> 00:28:15.980
No-transcript.
