Video Transcript: Learning How to Organize the Message/sermon - Part One

Welcome back to this class on so you've been asked to speak, you've been  asked to give a devotional. You've been asked to preach. How do you do that?  We've looked at the various kinds of messages, how you can get messages  from God, where you can get messages, how to come through connections,  through your heart and your mind, through Bible study, through a variety of  ways. Now we talked about introduction, introducing your message in a  meaningful way, and how do you introduce it in such a way that will grab  people's attention? Now we're going to turn to the subject of organizing your  message. In other words, how do you bring order to it? I love this sign. If you  were approaching this sign, you'd say, Oh, I don't know where I'm going or how  I'm going to get there. I worked for a while with a man who was particularly bad  at the organization of a message. In fact, you never knew where you were  going. There weren't signposts along the way. In fact, it's one of the ways I refer  to it in the larger class on this, you know, signpost that can tell you where you  are and where you're going, so that people can, you know, track with you in the  message. Well, this guy was particularly bad about that. And I happened to be  out for lunch with a member of that church, and he began talking about his  pastor and how he would sometimes just get people lost. They were so lost they would start tuning out. This guy had been a detective, and he said, I realize how  we got to do that. They began taking the implements on the table, and he used a salt shaker. He says, you know, if I say there's a clue here to what we're about,  and there's a clue here, when I'm a detective trying to solve a crime. There's a  clue here, there's a clue here, there's clue here. So pretty soon I start seeing  what the center is. But most people didn't have that skill of a detective, and so  they were lost in his messages a great deal. And so if people can't track with  you, if things are jumping around, if things are like this, sign that they you know,  they won't take all the loops with you. And so you've got to find a way to  organize the message in such a way that people can track with you, that they  follow the signs along the way. Now this is a quote by Yogi Berra. If you're not an American, you probably don't know who he was. He was a famous baseball  player from years and years and years ago. He was a brilliant player. After that,  he became a coach, but he was most known for saying crazy sayings that made no sense, like once he said, if you find a fork, if you come to a fork in the road,  make sure you pick it up. What does that mean? Well, here's one of the sayings. If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else now for the  organization of the message is for two primary reasons. One of the reasons is  so that you know where you're going, that you know where you're going to end  up, that you're building a message to make a point. Now, the best part of  organization usually is a sermon that has one major key point to it that you you  really want to emphasize. And so the organization will hover around that that  point in some way, shape or form. We're going to talk about various ways to  organize it, but that's to help you as you formulate your message, to make sure 

you're making the point. But it's also for the people who are listening to you, so  that they can say, I understand. I understand that this is a turning point. I  understand. This is a transition. I understand. Okay, this is that point, and this is  how this other point relates, etc. That's what organization is about. Now there  are a variety of ways to do organization in my my generation will function a great deal with linear organization. In other words, you do an introduction, you've got  point one, you've got point two, you've got point three, and they're all aiming  toward a conclusion, which is asking people to pray or to give or whatever. And  that's a linear organization. Now my children tell me, my children, who are, I'm  part of the boomer generation. They are the next generation after that, they tell  me that that's not the way people always think nowadays, that they tend to think  in a more scattered way. But this is a good way for you to be thinking of your  organization, of your message, that you've got a point. And all these points  relate to it. Now here's an example what I'm talking about. Great passage  Romans 8:31-39 is about the love of God. And so the major point here is that  the goal is to help people understand the love of God. And in the text, this is an.  Exegetical message, one of the points that's made is God's love is greater than  sin. It's greater than our past sin, it's greater than our present sin. God's love is  greater than circumstances. Now, there are challenges to God's love. I'm  convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor demons or things present or things to come, but none of these things can undo God's love,  and then God's love is greater than Satan and spiritual powers and Satan's  strength. You see, there are these three points that are all all related to the  subject of God's love. How can I make God's love come across to people? Well,  this passage is a great one for that, and if you organize it in a linear way, you're  following the passage and hopefully opening the door for the Holy Spirit to break open new understandings of what that is like and what that means. Now, there  are other ways of organization that are just as effective, sometimes even more  so, depending on your culture. One is the flower organization. And notice that  the center of the flower, center of the flower is the main point. In other words,  this is the point you want to make, and then around it are these petals. And so  each petal represents a style of thought. In other words, you're thinking about  that main point. But then you take off on a kind of a tangent, and you go around  the loop, but you always come back to the main point. Now, in the African  American tradition, this is a powerful way of organizing servants. Some of the  most powerful preachers I've ever heard will use this as a as a means of  organization. You know, EV Hill from years ago, he was with the Lord, but I  remember a sermon by him at a Promise Keepers event where he just talked  about the fact that he was invited to go with Jesse Jackson world trip. And  everywhere he went, he could get in because they said he would just say, I'm  with Jesse. And he began to say, you know, God's with we're with God. We're  God with us. We've got an open door. It was a powerful, powerful message. 

Now to give you an example of this, I'm going to tell you one of the best known  of these in my country and and in my youth. So it may not be quite as relevant  as what you think it is, but a man named Tony Campolo, who, there's a picture  of him. He was a professor at Eastern Baptist seminary for many, many years,  and he talks about, it's Friday, but Sunday'a coming. And I'm just going to play  

that for you. It's just about a six minute clip, I think, a five minute clip, and just  get this idea of the flower organization that he's following.  

“About five people said, Are you going to tell that famous story? I've made my  whole living on one story. They invited me here just to tell one story. It's about  my home church. You've been a very good audience, but you're not like my  home church. I belong to an African American church in West Philadelphia. I  didn't join it. It was a white church, but you people all moved in on my  neighborhood. You kept on moving in, and all the white folk moved out, and we  were the only white family left. My father wouldn't leave the church. He had  donated the offering plates. We were going to leave them to you. And it's fun to  preach in my church. It's been fun here, but not like my church. My church is  about this size, but the deacons sit right up front, and every time you say  something good, the deacons yell, preach, preach. Preach, brother, preach. I  would have done so much better if my deacons had been here today. And the  women in my church, when you say something good, they do this. They Wave in the air. They go, Well, that's all just well say that doesn't sound like much. You  get 50, 60, 70, women going, well, your hormones bubble. And the men of my  church, when you are, as my pastor says, when you've gotten down, they  actually stand up and they point at you and they yell, keep going, man, keep  going. Keep going. Keep going. I don't get that from white people. White people  do not yell. Keep going. They yell, stop, stop. Once a year in March, once a  year, my church, we have this preach off. You don't even know what they are.  That's when you get about seven or eight preachers, and you preach back to  back to see who's best. You never say that. You say it's for the glory of God, but  we know what it's about. And people, it was my turn, and I got up, and I don't  want to brag people, I don't want to brag, but I was good. I knew I was good  because women were going well, and men were going keep going. And deacons yell and preach, and I feed on that stuff. The more they did it, the better I got, the better I got, the more they did it, I kept getting better and better and better  people. I got so good I wanted to take notes on me. And when I finished, the  place exploded. There was cheering and clapping, and I sat down. My pastor hit  my knee. He said, You did all right. Man, you did all right. I said, your next  pastor, you're going to be able to top that. He said,son sit back, because the old  man is going to do you here. Now, people, I don't want to knock it, but I was so  hot that day, I didn't figure anybody could do me in. That sucker got up and for  the next hour and a half, he did me in with one line, just one line, over and over 

again, it's Friday, but Sunday's coming. Doesn't sound like much, but you  weren't there. He said it was Friday, Friday. Jesus was dead on the cross, but  that's because it was Friday, Sunday's coming. Somebody yell, keep going.  Keep going. That's all he needed. He took off Friday. Friday. People are saying,  as things have been, so they shall be, but that's because it's only Friday,  Sunday's coming. Friday. Friday. The evil giants, the dark giants we've been  talking about today. They rule the world, but and they think they're in charge. For people, I'm here to tell you, it's only Friday. It's only Friday. Sunday's coming.  Now, I thought I'd get a little more out of you than that. I think we got to de  hunketize This crowd here. I'll give you one more shot, a bunch of folks meeting  at the fairgrounds in Pretoria in the name of Jesus. Cannot change a nation,  cannot turn history around. But I'm here to tell you, it's only Friday. Friday,  Sunday's coming. People, he had us going. When he finished that sermon, I  was totally exhausted. I still remember him ending by yelling, it's Friday, and all  2000 of us in that church yelled back, Sunday's coming. And that's the good  news. When we are people with mission, when we are people who are inspired  by the love of Jesus, when we are willing to take the realistic step for economic  development among the poor, when we are willing to be realistic in this world,  the world will change, and it's got good news. And the good news is here for you to be clear. I want to hear it from you people. I want to hear it from you. The  good news is this, it's Friday. Sunday's coming.” 

Wow, that's an experience, isn't it? Unfortunately, I couldn't find the video of that, so I just played the audio for you, but you can imagine the power of that. And all  he did was use this flower kind of organization, this pastor, flower organization.  The main point was, of course, it's Friday, but Sundays are coming. There's  coming a day when Jesus is arisen from the dead and there's a power that's at  work. So don't despair. It's Friday, but Sunday's a coming. Now next time, we're  going to continue with other kinds of organization that you can use to bring your  message to people in such a way that they will track with you and that will keep  you on task in your message as well. So we'll see you next time.