Transcript

Hello and welcome back to our masterclass on preaching.

There’s a phrase I hear when someone speaks of a preacher they admire: “he or she ‘reaches the hearts of the congregation.’

It’s a phrase that also used of other moving speeches by politicians or actors.

In this segment I want to get us thinking about reaching people’s hearts when we preach

In much of this masterclass we have focused on methods which can form the foundation of effective preaching.

• I’ve deliberately focused on the ‘how-to’ questions so that you have something to do that will help you get seamlessly from concept to sermon.

But reaching people’s hearts can’t be framed as a collection of things to do anywhere hear so easily

• It’s much more subjective so there aren’t straightforward actions we can just get on and ‘do’.

preachers and actors

In some ways preachers and actors are similar but in others we are very different.

We both, for example, want to get over a message to a group of people in a live setting.

We both want to move people’s hearts to hear the message or follow the story.

But there is one huge difference

An actor is playing a part, the preachers isn’t!

This is Hugh Bonneville. I went to see him perform the part of C S Lewis in the play Shadowlands in the Festival Theatre in Chichester, England.

• I was a riveting performance which moved people deeply.

• But we all knew Hugh Bonneville is not actually C S Lewis. He can’t be!

• But the actors task is to get me to believe he is, just for the 90 minutes of the play.

• For that time I suspend my disbelief about Hugh Bonneville’s identity so I can enjoy the ride.

• We all do this whenever we get a chance to watch a play or see a film

So the huge difference between an actor and a preacher is this:

• an actor asks me to suspend my disbelief; a preachers asks me to engage my belief.

When you listen to me I don’t want you to put your common sense on hold

I want you to take on board what I’m saying, rest your life on it and believe that it’s reliable and can be trusted.

And any preacher who wants his congregation to believe him or her just because ‘they say it’ is behaving like the leader of a cult.

Why is reaching the heart so difficult?

Reaching people’s hearts is more than just engaging them emotionally from a platform,

• it’s living a life that they know is consistent with your message.

Because we need to live out our message

When Paul was saying farewell to the elders from the church planted in Ephesus.

• They all knew this would likely be the last time they saw Paul.

Paul said

‘You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from day one, …

I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.

So he wasn’t asking his friends to believe him because he acted a good script (suspend disbelief) he was asking them to engage their belief in him – and therefore in Christ – because of the way he lived it out.

And they were moved to tears by his words. (Acts 20:37-38)

This goes to explain why, when a prominent Christian preacher goes off the rails morally, so many people feel hurt, confused and feel their faith has been undermined. Their trust may have been misplaced.

because we’re dealing with feelings

because we’re dealing with feelings –

and feelings are essentially re-actions, not actions.

• they are the consequence of other things happening at that point in life

A simple example is perspiration.

• I can’t just say to you “sweat!” – the human body can’t do it just like that.

• However, If I said “OK, let’s go for a run. We’ll do a couple of circuits of the park just down the road here” We’d get back to house and we’d be sweating! (Well I certainly would!)

• Perspiration is a natural consequence – a reaction – of brisk exercise.

• We can’t not do it!

Similarly, I say to you “feel happy!”

• If that’s going to happen I need to create the atmosphere and environment where happiness is going to be a natural reaction

• It’s impossible to get people to be happy –

You can’t make people laugh (except artificially) without saying something funny or telling them a joke.

We can’t make people feel sad without creating a moment of anguish – at a story for example.

We can’t create wonder without creating a moment of awe – maybe by using a comparison showing how wonderful God’s love is when compared with our own.

We can’t make people follow Christ without making him worth following.

because people guard their souls

Because my heart, my spirit, my soul are usually the arenas of my life that I guard most securely.

That is true of most of the people we preach to.

And to reach them requires skill and the anointing of the Spirit of God – after all it’s his word we’re communicating.

Some Principles:

Preach from the heart to the heart

Do your best to preach from the heart to the heart.

If we don’t feel what we’re saying in our spirits, it’s highly unlikely that others will.

There’s something about the human voice and the tone of voice we use which coveys genuineness and helps your word be received in a place that more than skin deep.

So preach from the heart and use illustrations and stories which reach the heart.

This is what Jesus did so masterfully with many of his parables.

Be genuine

To reach the heart of the congregation you need to be in touch with your own

Do you believe what you’re saying?

• Because if you don’t, it will leak out like acid from a dead battery.

However, it is a fallacy that everything you feel as you preach is also felt by the people you’re preaching to.

This is an uncomfortable reality

I can be very excited or exercised about a particular truth or amazed by some aspect of God and feel it intensely in the moment while I’m preaching. But there is no guarantee that the people listening will feel it as intensely as I do.

That’s where the Holy Spirit has to be active – and we can’t engineer that!

Use words as skilfully as you’re able

Because Words are (almost) our only vehicle

Rosalind Brown wrote a fascinating book about preaching (which I recommend you read if you can get hold of it)

Her title was both catchy and telling “Can words express our wonder?”

Taking words and using them to convey the wonder of Christ and of faith and of walking in the Spirit, words seem an ineffective communication tool – but it’s what we’ve got and I refuse to believe that they will ultimately limit the flow of God’s spirit when used wisely and authentically.

That brings me to another principle

Preach authentically

And this is one word which keeps cropping up in relation to communicating well – and not just in a Christian context – authenticity.

Any dictionary will tell us that to be known as ‘authentic’ an object mush be the genuine article.

There may be any number of copies of a piece of art, but only one is authentic.

So we do our best to communicate the genuine article of Christian living that our preaching describes.

Lady “Ian – whatever you do, Don’t mess your life up”

people can sniff out pretending quite quickly.

Now none of us is perfect, and we never will be,

but words which guide me and I pray will be used both of my preaching, and of me.

Reliable, authentic, trustworthy, credible and genuine.

conclusion

Then the moment comes when we just have to put it out there – and leave the rest to God! After He and we are on the same team.

• I believe He has a vested interest in getting his word and the wonder of his person to our audience

• HE wants to inspire your congregation -to reach their hearts – every bit as much as you do!