Video Transcript: Repetition for Effective Communication

All right, effective communication, where you are in the tools, we're looking at  various tools that you have available to you as you try to communicate. And  we're going to look at the tool of repetition. Repetition Psalm 136, has many  things in it. But this phrase happens over and over again. His love endures  forever, then there's something else. His love endures forever. Originally, there  would be someone shouting out the other part. And then the whole crowd would  be responding with His love endures forever. Fact, this phrase is used 26 times  in this one chapter alone. Repetition over many communication look at there's  two different types of repetition, repetition, we're going to talk about this one first  repetition over many communications. In other words, you say something, and  then later on, you come back and say it again, maybe the next day or a week  later or a year later, but you say it in multiple occasions. Why do this, the  average customer has to hear something at least seven times before they're  ready to buy. So that's why commercials on television or even on the internet,  they keep hitting you with the exact same message over and over and over  again, because they know you have to hear it at least seven times before you  even think about doing what they want you to do. The average churchgoer will  not remember that the pastor preached a particular sermon, one year later. And  I remember when I first discovered this, I preached a sermon on loneliness. You  know, why we get lonely? What the Bible says about that? And sort of what is  the hope in the loneliness situation? It was a really good sermon, I thought,  okay, so I preached it one year. And then the next year, I had this busy week,  and I had a funeral and a few other things happen. And I didn't have time to  make at that time. I was preaching two sermons every week. I didn't have time  to do one of them. So I went back into what I had already done. And I was a new preacher. So I didn't have a lot. Okay. That was my first year. I looked back at  that previous year. And I thought this was a good one people really responded  well to it. I'm going to preach it again. So I preached the, the exact same  sermon. I mean, most of it was written out. And I followed it. I did exactly like I  did the first time. And I remember somebody that, you know, that liked me. He  came up to me and he said, that was the best sermon you've ever done. That,  well, this is exactly the exact sermon I did last year. So how can this be the best  sermon? And if it's the best sermon, why don't you remember that I did it last  year. So people need to hear things many times. Now for you, you wrote it, you  spend a lot of time putting it together and delivering it, you have a stronger  connection to it. So you perhaps remember, but the average person doesn't  remember, I thought, the first time I explained the difference between a Pharisee and a Sadduccee . And I need to explain this because of this passage. They're  mentioned here. And I need to explain this to my congregation. I thought, once I  explained it, I would never have to explain it again. But a year later, they still  don't remember the difference. Maybe you don't either. All right, the average  employee will not remember the company's mission statement. companies 

spend a year they they spend countless hours figuring out their mission  statement. And most of the ploy employees wouldn't be able to say what it is.  And that's true in churches to the average son or daughter will not remember the parents wishes or commands. And if you're a parent, then you know this. People need to hear things over and over and over. Repetition over many  communication. So because this is true, because people need to hear over and  over again, what do you need to do? repeat, repeat, repeat. You must say things over and over and over again. Many years ago, Henry Reyenga and I  discovered that getting a walk with God, a daily walk where you're reading the  Bible and prayer that these are the things you need to do. We thought This is  what we have to get our churches to do. And we thought, well, you just tell them  and, and we're done. But we discovered that you have to make it the focus of  your church. You have to keep talking about it, you need other things that do it  and encouragement and reinforcements, and you have to be at your small  groups talk about it at the service, you talk about it. When you meet together for  any reason, you have to talk about it. This has to be the center point of your  church, or it's not going to happen. Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.  Alright, so that's repetition, over many communications. What about repetition  within one communication, so this is one talk, and I'm going to say something, or use a word over and over again, the example I want to use as Martin Luther  King, Jr. He had a speech in Washington, DC, this is back in the 60s. And it's  called the I Have a Dream speech. And I want you to watch this. “Even though  we face the difficulties of today, and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream  deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation  will rise up. live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream. That one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will  be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi a state sweltering with evil injustice, sweltering  with the heat of oppression, be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice, I have a dream. my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not being judged by the color of their skin. But by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with it's  vicious racists, with its governor, having his lips dripping with the word for a  position in nullification. One day write that in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and  brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day everybody shall be  exalted. And every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be  made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And fear of the Lord  will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. This is our hope. This is the  faith that I go back to the south with this faith.” Alright, that was powerful, wasn't  it? It was powerful. In fact, if you if you saw the whole speech, most of the 

speech was written out. And he's looking down and he'll say a phrase and he  looks up and he says a phrase. But when he gets to this section, and in fact, this whole section was not written in his speech. But when he gets to this section, all of a sudden, he's looking at the people and he's talking. And he sort of said, I  have a dream in the beginning. And then he kept going with that. And at first it  was just something that he said that fits with what he was talking about. And  then he said it again. And then he said it again. And you can tell from watching  this that kept building that just the phrase itself carried the weight of everything  else that he had said previously, and that's what repetition can do. It first doesn't  mean a lot, but as it gets repeated, it carries more and more and more  emotional weight. So you can do this in your speeches too. In fact, I want to give you some ideas from the Bible, words that you can repeat, that sort of can build  in the same way. This, the first phrase is God will provide. If you look at the story of Abraham, and Isaac, the whole Isaac, scenario is about God providing, first of all, providing Abraham and Sarah with a son, they couldn't have a son, God  made this promise to Abraham and Sarah, the God comes to Abraham and  says, you will have a son. And Abraham says, Well, I have one Ishmael, no, you  will have one with with your wife, Sarah, and he, and he laughs. He doesn't  believe it. And then God comes again. And he says the same thing to Abraham,  in the form of some angels, and Sarah is listening this time. And she laughs, you will have a son. God is coming to Abraham and saying, I will provide an  Abraham saying, I'm 100 years old, my wife is 99. How is this going to happen?  And in a way God is saying, I will provide, you don't understand how it can  happen, but I will provide. Okay, then the next story. You know, Isaac comes is  born, the son of promise. And then God says to Abraham, I want you to take  your son, the son of promise, and I want you to sacrifice him. So puts the wood  on the son and they go off, they go to Mt. Moriah. All right, we're actually where  Jerusalem is today, where people think the temple was actually built over. And  he's to sacrifice his son. And finally his son is like, okay, Dad, I see that we have  the fire, I see we have the wood. But where's the lamb? And Abraham says, God will provide God will provide. And then the angel stops Abraham from killing his  own son as a sacrifice. And God does provide there's a ram, his horns are  caught in the thicket. So Abraham, named the place God will provide. It comes  time for Isaac to find a wife. And Abraham sends His servant to go find a wife for Isaac. And it's a miraculous story. But in the end, God provides. Who is God,  God is the one that provides. Maybe your marriage isn't going well. Maybe  you're looking for someone, you're looking for the right spouse, and you can't  find one God will provide. Maybe you have a son or a daughter that's wandering  away from everything that you've been teaching them, God will provide. Maybe  right now your finances are beyond your control or anyone else's, and you have  no idea how you will ever get it straight God will provide. Maybe at night, you're  wondering if you even believe in God anymore, and you wish you had stronger 

faith. And you see other people, they seem to have faith, good things are  happening to them, but not for you, God will provide. See that phrase is a  powerful phrase, you keep building one story after another. In fact, the whole  Bible is the story of how God will provide doesn't always provide it in the timing  that you would like, doesn't always provide it in the way that you will, that you  would like, but God will provide, because he has a plan for you. The great  phrase, another one, the God who sees me, the God who sees me, remember,  Abraham has a son, Ishmael, with the servant girl, Hagar. Sarah and Abraham,  they're not able to have a child, God made this promise. But the whole promises is dependent on a child that don't have a child. So they're trying to make it  happen. They're trying to make it happen. God promised this, but we don't see  God doing it. So we're going to take things into our own hands, and we're going  to make it happen. That's what we often do. And that's, you know, that's where  God provides this miracle of Isaac to make the point I will provide, you're not the one that's going to manipulate this into happening. I'm the one that will make it  happen. So Isaac is chosen. And Hagar is sending Abraham's son Ishmael away because Ishmael and Isaac and Sarah and they're all fighting. So Abraham  sends Ishmael and Hagar away, they go, they run out of water, it looks like  they're just gonna die. And, and she leaves her son to die, and then she pleads  with God. And then God comes and speaks to Hagar. And when God promises  that, He will take care of them, and good things will happen to them. And so  Hagar names the place, God will provide. I mean, God, God is the One who  sees me, the one who sees me. That's a good phrase. Because a lot of times  young people, they're going to school or they're doing what they're going to do.  And they feel insecure, and they don't feel like they belong to anything. They  wonder if they have a future. And then they communicate to them. God is the  One who sees you. He sees you in your pain. He sees you. When you're  hurting. He sees you when you don't have faith. In fact, this phrase is a phrase  we used in our church for an entire year, let's be the church that sees people.  There are a lot of people that feel insignificant. A lot of people feel pushed to the  side, taken advantage of wherever they might be in our culture, in their families,  in their workplaces. By society itself, in the world itself. Maybe they feel that God doesn't see them. So if we could be the church that sees people, when people  come to our church, and they visit our church, there are people that have talked  to them, we have a visitor that is standing all by themselves after the church  service, that we're not the church that sees people. We're the church that sees  ourselves. Let's be the church that sees people why because God is the God  who sees, he sees the hurts, he sees the pain.And he feels these. It's a powerful phrase to keep using over and over and about from Ephesians 2, He who began a good work in you will complete it. What a phrase, he who began a good work  in you. And you see, you have a sermon on this. And you keep coming back to it over and over again. You're a young person, you go into school, you did 

something, God has started something in you and he'll finish it. You have a  relationship, you're dating someone, you're engaged, God began something  good, he will complete it. You're in a marriage, it's been 10 years. It's not going  so well. There's this friction, there's this fighting, Well, God began something 10  years ago, he will complete it. You're beginning this thing with CLI. You're taking  these courses, you hope to get some kind of degree, maybe you've got a  certificate, maybe you go on to the next thing. And you wonder Where's all this  going to go? How's this gonna work out. I'm in a church, they don't recognize my talents. They don't know who Christian leaders Institute is. I'm having a hard  time getting some traction he who began a good work in you will complete it.  Has God begun a good work in you? Yes. And if he began a good work in you,  He will complete it. So you can trust that? When I don't know how I don't know.  But God will finish what he starts. Even in you. About from Philippians 4, I can  do all things through God who gives me strength. All things. Can I finish this  class? Yes. Can I finish this task, this job thing that I haven't worked? Yes. Can I  finish? The Parenting tasks that I have with my kids even though it might not be  going? Yes. I can do all things. How about some things that I've never been any  good at? Yes. With God's help, you can do things that you didn't think that you  could do. About from Philippians 3 press on Paul says I press on toward the  goal. I forget the past. Yeah, I failed in the past. But one thing I do, I forget the  past. And I press on to what God has called me to do. I press on. The church  that I'm currently in I came sit there was a church of three 400 people, and then  they had problems and they kicked their pastor out and I went down to 100  people. And I came when there was 100, grumpy, troubled people. And under  my expert leadership, it went down to 50. Okay, so I had planted churches, I  daughtered three churches out of that church I had done really well everywhere  else I went. I came to this church, and it was going the opposite direction. And I  felt like quitting. Felt like Lord, I don't know, I thought I thought you were with  me. I thought that I have some gifts and abilities, and everything I do. Everything just is falling apart. I'll tell you what got me through is this verse, pressing on.  Things going well, no, but I'm pressing on our people against me, even though it wasn't my fault. I didn't didn't take their church and destroy it. They did. I press  on? Do I see how this is gonna work? No, I have no idea how this is going to  work. I don't see the future. I don't know how I still press on. I press on. My wife  felt the same way. We could not see anything positive going on. But we've  pressed on, press on. I press on to what God has called me to do, whether it  succeeds or doesn't succeed. I'm not doing this because of succeeding. I'm  doing this because God calls me to do it. Whether it succeeds or not, that's  God's problem. I press on. Alright, so as the church started doing better, I  remember we had this banquet. And one of our members at the banquet, he  made this. We have sort of an award ceremony for people doing things and  volunteering and so on. And he made little plaques. And he actually made up a 

big button. And he called it press on. And he put the word on on the buttons, is  clever. And it was fun. But the whole church had this sense that we're going to  press on. And from that moment on, the church started growing and good things started happening. But it was difficult for at least a year when things are falling  apart. And everything you do doesn't work. And sometimes you just have to  press on. Or maybe that's true in your life right now to maybe in your marriage,  maybe in your family, maybe in your church, maybe in your career, I don't know  what it is, maybe in your faith, you just need to keep pressing on. Mark 9:24 The story of a father bringing his son, the disciples couldn't heal him. And the son,  the father has this conversation with Jesus, and can you help him and Jesus?  What do you mean? Of course, you know, I can help him. Anyone who believes I can help and the father responds, I believe, I believe, but help my unbelief.  There's part of me that believes and part of me that doesn't. Well, that's a great  phrase, to use in a good sermon or a talk, I believe, help my unbelief, I believe  in God. Help my unbelief, I believe that God can take the difficult situation that I  am in and turn it around. But God Help my unbelief. I believe that my church can succeed, even if evidence is going against that, God help my unbelief. It's a  great phrase. It's a good phrase for a while, and for my own life, I'm sure it might be a good one for your life since I do believe these things. But sometimes I don't live like I believe I believe in the resurrection. I believe that death is not the final  end that we will be raised, that will be in heaven one day, but a lot of times I  don't live that way. I get fearful. I'm not as bold as I should be with the people  around me about my faith. Why not? Who cares if people mock me or laugh at  me or don't listen to me? How can I possibly get embarrassed? How can I fear  for my own life and my own safety? I will live forever. So I believe it help my  unbelief helped me help me really believe and live in Deuteronomy 31:8, the  Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. This is a verse that an  elder gave to me when I became a pastor. Many years ago, we had a ceremony, a service, I got ordained, and at the end, the elder came up and he gave me that verse, as the first time I ever really took notice of that verse was a good verse.  And I needed that verse. Four years later, I went off to Vancouver, and I planted  a church. And after we planted a church, and it did well, we had a young man  that was going to plant a church outside of our church, he needed to get  ordained. So we had an ordination service I decided, well, I should give him a  verse like I got a verse. What verse should I give him? I decided what one  Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord Himself goes before you, He will be with you. He  will never leave you or forsake you do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Off  he went to plant a church. Two years later, we had another young guy who  wanted to plant a church out of our church, he needed to get ordained. So I  need a verse what verse should I use? How about Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord  Himself goes before you, and He will be with you. He'll never leave you or 

forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, and off he went to plant a  church. Then I came to Chicago with Henry, we did some things I came to  Michigan, in the church that I'm currently at. I needed some help. So we got this  young guy, to be an associate pastor. He needed to get ordained. So he needed a verse. Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord Himself goes before you He will be with  you will never leave you or forsake you do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.  I got the verse, I gave the verse, the verse had all the memories of the  difficulties that you go through in church. And it's comforting to know that God  goes before you in all these situations, and the verse became more and more  powerful and more meaningful. Well, the guy who gave me the verse, some 30  some years ago, got cancer. And my wife and I went to see he and his wife, one  last time before he died, he knew he was, he wasn't going to be around very  long. And we went and visited and we talked, we laughed about the old days,  and so on. And finally, when it was time to leave, I knew I'd never see him again  on this side, on the earth side, wouldn't see him until we get to heaven. So this  is a party. And before we left, I looked at him and I said, you know, many years  ago, you gave me a verse. And this is what I've done with this verse. And this is  what this verse is meant to me. But I want to give this verse back to you. I  looked him in the eye. And I said, because the Lord Himself goes before you,  and He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you do not be afraid.  Do not be discouraged. You see, you start with something and you keep  repeating it and repeating and repeating and it picks up memories and picks up  emotions along the way. Until finally at the end, it's heavy. It's heavy with  emotion. So, repetition, you want to say things over over and over again in  multiple presentations. But you can also say the same thing over and over  again, within a presentation. Try this tool somewhere along the path today.