Video Transcript: Problem Solving

Alright, we are in the class effective communication. And I want to look at  problem solving the communication objective of problem solving. People love  problems. School, we pay teachers good money to give our kids problems, math problems, geography problems, history problems, quizzes and tests are nothing  but problems. They're all made up things. And we get our kids to solve these  problems. At work. I just heard on the radio about manufacturing, and how  manufacturing in the United States is, is is different than it used to be. And one  of the guys that just out of school started working there, talked about how he  enjoyed the environment, because it was a lot of problem solving. People like a  challenge. And then they like figuring out what to do about it, play lot of  millennials these days, they spend their time working. And then when they come home, they go on a computer, and play some role playing game or some kind of  game that, that presents all kinds of problems, and there's levels of problems.  And when you solve the easy problems, you get kicked to the harder problems.  Tomorrow, I'm involved in a pickleball tournament. And it starts at nine o'clock  tomorrow morning. It's the 60 Plus group. And, and I'm at a certain category,  where it's going to be a problem, it's going to be a challenge. And that's what I  do on my day off. Politics. If you listen, listen to politics, radio, television, it's, it's  it's people arguing about certain problems and their goal to solve these  problems, from different perspectives. So people love problems. Why do we love problems, we love problems, because we love challenges. We like a thing that is in front of us, and we're not sure we can do it or not. And there's a process and  when we figure it out, we feel good about ourselves. Genesis 2:16-17. And the  LORD God commanded the man you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. For when  you eat from it, you will certainly die. Problem solving is rooted in the challenge  in creation. God created a perfect world, a paradise. There was fruit trees, Adam and Eve. clothing was optional, because they had nothing to hide in the evening  they walked with God. Everything was perfect. But God put a challenge in the  middle of the garden. Every, you know, in the morning, Adam and Eve got up  there and they had breakfast and then they walk to work. Wherever they were  tilling the soil, and they had to go past the middle of the garden. They had to go  past the tree. When they came back home for a little siesta. They had to walk  again past the tree, no matter what they did. They had to walk past this tree in  the middle of the garden, this challenge that said, Are you going to follow God?  Are you going to do what God says? Are you going are you going to go your  own way expanded to the problem of the fall Genesis 3:7-8 then the eyes of  both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife  heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of  the day. And they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. They  they disobeyed God, they ate from the fruit they weren't supposed to. Sin comes

into the world, and now they have a problem. They couldn't face each other. And because you know, I'm hiding something or you're gonna find something  negative in me. Now they have to solve that problem. And they solve it by  putting clothes on. They couldn't face their relationship with God anymore. And  so when God comes around, they're hiding in the bushes. Now these are bad  solutions to the problem. But it's inherent in creation. We have this problem of  sin, and what do we do about it? Culminating in the problem solving of salvation, Genesis 3:15. I will put enmity between you and the woman between your  offspring and hers he will crush your head and you will strike his heels talking  about Jesus, John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and  only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  So the Bible sets up this problem in the beginning, sin comes into the world, and then God is the rest of the Bible is God's solution to this problem? How are we  going to solve the sin problem, and the whole history of the temple and the  sacrifices and all of it pointing to Jesus dying on the cross, paying for our sins,  being raised on the third day, releasing his spirit, culminating at the end of the  world, almost all the Bible is this problem solving situation. So the whole Bible,  Christianity is all about problem solving. We like to solve problems. So what  does that mean for effective communication, you want to communicate  effectively, whether it's a sermon, whether it's motivating people at your  workplace, whether it's raising children, communicating with friends, you want to be effective in what you say, and one of the best communication forms, or a  thing that you can employ when you're trying to communicate with people is this  whole notion of problem solving, use problem solving and your communication.  Many communicators do not. They do not engage, problem solving in their  communication. Instead, they inform a lot of sermons are just information. Let  me tell you a few stories in the Bible that are going to explain again, how God  loves us, or what God believes, what is prescribed for what the church should  do, or let's talk about spiritual gifts. And there's this whole list of things that I  want to talk to you about. And I'm just informing you, when we're done with this  message, you will be informed you will be educated. Let me teach you some  stuff. A lot of communication is just teaching. Let me right now, in our church,  where this Sunday, we're going to be looking at the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet during the time when, when when God was going to put the hammer  down on his own people, the walls of Jerusalem are going to be destroyed, the  temple destroyed, and the people are going to be exiled into Babylon. In fact,  Ezekiel is taken early, he's in Babylon before the walls have been destroyed.  And he's saying this is what's going to happen. And the people didn't want to  hear it. And I can go out, I could talk about all the background stuff of the book of Ezekiel, and what he had to say in the visions that he had the wheel and the  wheel and the Dry Bones being raised and how that was a metaphor for God's,  you know I can explain all of that stuff. And never really yet apply it to people's 

lives. People are wondering, well, you know, some people are fascinated with all of that. And you want to know everything about Ezekiel. But a lot of people are  like, Why are you telling me all this? What's the point? What's the purpose?  where's this going? What problem are we trying to solve here? What a lot of  sermons and communication is just reminding people. Now remember, the  people of Israel didn't follow God, they went after the Baals and other gods. And  so the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and Jeremiah wrote the book of  Lamentations, and then Ezekiel All these prophets are speaking about the  punishment that God was going to inflict on his people. And yet, there's hope.  And I'm just reminding you of all this stuff that you've heard before. here's  another, here's the story of the bones in the valley, the Dry Bones becoming  alive. And you know that so a lot of sermons are like that, to just reminders.  You've all read this story before? And here it is, again. How do you use problem  solving in your communication? So instead of just reminding and teaching and  informing? How do you how do you bring this whole problem solving into the  equation? Number one, find the problem that the information that you seek to  share solves. So this week, I'm thinking about the dry bones. And I can tell you  all the background, Israel walk away from God and the Dry Bones represent,  you know, seven years later, God is going to bring his people back and it's also  an eschatological thing, looking to Heaven one day, when everything will be  united. Okay. So that's all the stuff that I want to talk about. But what's the  problem? that information helps with what's the problem? So how do I start my  sermon? Where people are at? Where are they struggling? Where in their life?  Are there dry dead bones, where in their life have they given up? Because the  people in that day lost everything. Everything they believed about God was  gone. The temple represented the presence of God, and it was obliterated. So  how is how is the God program going to go forward? So now if I want to, I want  to inform people about God's grace, and how there's always hope, I have to first  talk about areas in people's lives where they've lost that son, or that daughter,  that you raised to believe in God, and now they've grown up and they walked  away, your grandchildren don't even go to church. When you look at it, then  you've tried, and you've said things and you've not said things you've, you've  tried to push it, you tried to not push it. And none of it's going anywhere, and  you're losing hope. Or you're losing hope, in your own walk with God, and you  feel like God had a call on your life, but it's gone nowhere. You're taking this  training, and you don't know what to do with it. So in other words, I can I'm now  setting up your problem, this is a problem that you're experiencing. I start with  your problem, and the hopelessness that you feel or someone that you know,  this is how they feel. And now as I teach you about Ezekiel, your, your ears are  open, you want to know more? Start your communication with that problem.  How to find the problems you can use to base your communication around with  your own life? What problems are you facing? What are the questions that 

you've had in your past? I remember the first time I doubted God, I was  watching some program. I mean, I was raised in a Christian home, I always  believed in God. And I remember watching this program about outer space, and  galaxies and light years and all of that. And I had for the first time. You know, this thought, well, what if God isn't real? What if it's just the material world, and you  know, when I die, that's it. And I remember feeling it for the first time so strongly  that I fell off the couch. I mean, I just felt it. I'm looking at problems that I  encountered in my life, or when I was in a summer ministry program, and all the  jobs were taken, and I was there, and I had no idea why it was, Why am I here.  And I remember calling out to God, God, I'm trying to serve you. But nothing is  coming my way. I've experienced that. And probably some of you have  experienced that too. So some of the problems that you have in your own life,  are going to be the same problems that other people are going to have in their  lives. The lives of your audience. You know, when I when I'm doing a sermon, I  think about this family over here, and they have two kids and, and the one kid is  the nothing but trouble on the other kids, you know, and I started thinking about  them and what they need. And over here, this is this marriage where these sort  of these sort of just get along, they compromise. They don't believe that their  marriage can actually get better. They've tried it and the counseling didn't work.  And now they're just sort of existing. Okay. i I'm thinking about these people and  what they need to start thinking about all the problems that people have, in my  church, the common problems of society in the world. What are the problems  out there right now? We got one kid in our church whose screen addicted, you  know, he does video games so much that that his whole world revolves around  that and is causing all kinds of trouble. Well, that's a common problem that's  happening in our society. Where's all of this going to go to kids sit in the air  conditioned basement, and they play video games, at least in our culture, and  they don't go outside? They don't do things. And so what does that mean? 40%  of marriages end in divorce. What does that mean for our society? What does it  mean for the married people that I know? It's going to affect them? So I'm  looking for problems in my own life. I'm looking for problems in the people I'm  talking. I'm looking for problems in the greater community. And then what does  the Bible have to say about these problems? The Bible, there's all kinds of  problems in the Bible. Every page almost has problems, the book of Ezekiel,  one problem after another. The people are not. They, they believe in God, but  they want God plus something else. They're looking for a better deal. If they're  following the God of the universe, who brought them out of Egypt gave them a  land and all of that. And yet, they look at the Canaanites of the land. And they  see that, you know, they follow the Baals. So I believe in God, and they'll do  something over here. So you look in the Bible, and it's filled with one problem  after another. How to solve problems slowly. When you're communicating,  there's the way to unravel the problem. You don't want to just Well, here's the 

problem. Here's the solution. Now you're done. Why would anyone listen to any  more talk? So you have to do it slowly? How do you do that? Number one,  present problem. It's many facets is perplexities. So I don't know what the  problem is. The problem is marriage. Let's look at marriage. What are what are  marriages like today? How do they get started? What goes wrong? Let's look at  every angle in our society, among Christian marriages, what are the studies  suggest? So I'm, I'm presenting the problem as best I can, so that you end up  feeling. Number 2 explore dead ends, as if you didn't know there were dead  ends. And now we're trying to solve a problem. So I remember doing the seven  words on the cross. And one of the words is I thirst. So what does that mean?  Why is it there? Well, let's try to figure this out. I thirst. Jesus is on the cross,  maybe it relates to Communion. That's a good idea. Let's look at communion.  Let's look at how Jesus talked about the bread and the wine. And and maybe  he's, you know, referring to that. Is that a possibility? Okay, what else? Can we  look at wine vinegar, the sponge was dipped into the wine vinegar and lifted up,  then that's like, communion that's like, that's wine, that that was part of the  communion thing. And then, so anyway, I'm taking people down all these  different trails, where is it? What's the answer? Eventually, you get to the stalk of hyssop, which is interesting. Why hyssop? Where does the word hyssop used in the Bible and sees there's something in Psalms or something and Isaiah, you  read it, hey, maybe that's the solution. And we try to go there. But eventually, we get back to Exodus chapter 12, where God initiates this thing called the  Passover, and the lamb was killed, and part of the meal for the family, but the  blood of the lamb was put into a bowl. And then the people had to paint blood on the doorframes of their houses so that the angel of death would pass over, and  they would live. Well how does the blood get up on the door post. They had to  dip a bunch of hyssop. So it's referring, okay, so So you take people on this  journey, we're going to look over here, we're going to look up that word. We're  going to look up this word, and try to figure out where the meaning is. A lot of  times what happens is in the pastor study, you're studying all these things. And  you're going on this journey to figure out what something is you're trying to solve a problem. And then you find the solution. And then you come on Sunday, and  you just give the solution. The fun for you as a pastor was the journey, trying to  figure it out going here, going there, looking at this, looking at that, and then  finally discovering it. Like, like you discovered gold. So instead of just giving  people the answer, take them on the journey. Let's see if we can't solve this  problem this morning. I don't know if we can or not, let's, let's see where we go,  where it's gonna go. See, then people want to go hunting and discovering with  you. If you come and say, you know, I had this problem, but I solved it. Now. Let  me tell you all about it. Then you're the answer person, you're not taking them  on this journey. Number three, let your audience doubt that the problem can be  solved. You know, when I'm talking about I thirst, I'm taking people here taking 

there, and you have one dead end after another and it's like, are we ever going  to get there? If you can do it in a way where people are not sure you're ever  going to get there. That's the best way to do it. Because when originally you're  studying in your office, you didn't know whether you'd get there. You didn't know  the sermon was going to work at all or not. That's what makes it engaging. take  people on a journey to solve the problem. All right, finally, reveal the solution. Be surprised about it as But as is if they are. So, you know, when I thirst when I  finally got to Exodus 12. And, and it's no accident that the word hyssop is used  in both places. It's like taking people back to this thing that God implemented,  the family, we need to be saved out of Egypt. We need to be saved from the  wrath of God against sin. And it's the blood of a lamb Jesus would one day be. I  mean, when you get there, it's like, Wow, it's so obvious. How come I didn't  know that? Is I'm reading the seven words of the cross, I need to be as  surprised as the people listening to me. Isn't this cool? We found this out  together. Number two, explain your solution. why it makes sense. Number three, make sure you apply it to their lives. Okay, so just having a really cool  connection, explaining a problem, and in the Bible solution to this thing. But so  what what does it mean? What does it mean for my life? What does it mean for  your life? How does this connect to people's lives? Wonder in the Bible, many  preachers have a hard time starting with a problem. You know, it comes natural  for me, I like to think about problems. In fact, whenever I'm doing a sermon, I  always, I always try to start off with, here's a question I have for you today. So  this week, I'm thinking about Ezekiel, and I have to think about well, what's the  question that I want to ask? Can dead things living in Can dead marriages come alive. Can wayward sons and daughters come back home? I'm gonna think of all these are things that seem dead where hope is lost, and cannot be found. I'm  going to just go one question after another because I want to, I want to touch  that person that has a child that's over here, I want to touch this person who is  struggling with marriage, I want to touch this person that isn't sure he's in the  right job or not gonna touch this person who came to church and he's not sure if  God exists, or whether he believes in the Bible or not. I'm going to talk to this  person who is dealing with depression. I want to talk to thinking of all these  different people, and I'm going to have a question for each one of them. After  afterwards, I want someone to come up and say, this amazing you were talking  about me? Well, yes I was. I was talking about you, you, you and you. Because  we are these areas of our life where we've lost hope. Many preachers have a  hard time starting with a problem. They just want to teach and inform. Let me  teach you about Ezekiel, let me teach you about God's grace. One easy way to  break out of this habit is to read a part of the Bible, and then fill in this sentence,  I wonder. I wonder why David picked up five stones. When he went off to the  face Goliath, he picked up five stones. How many stones did he need to kill  Goliath? One, so why five stones? I heard one commentator said well Goliath 

had four brothers. I don't know. But if you if you just wonder for 10 minutes about this, you'll come up with some really interesting thoughts. Why the women didn't  think about the problem of the stone in front of the tomb until they were on the  way to Jesus tomb. I mean, they saw where Jesus was buried. There's this big  stone rolled in front of the tomb. Now they're coming on Sunday morning. How  did they think it was going to be moved away? I mean, they're on the way and  they think, oh, hold it. There's a problem. How are we going to move this stone?  Why and why is it in the Bible? What's the significance of that? There's a whole  sermon in there. Why Peter wanted to walk on the water. What Jesus is walking  on the water, Peter says if that's you let me go out in the water and walk on the  water too. And then he starts sinking and you know, is the message keep your  eyes focused on Jesus? Or the message stay in the boat? Start thinking about  Peter and walking in the water. Why Adam and Eve could be tempted into  paradise. How can you have Everything, no needs whatsoever. How can  anyone tempt you? You have everything you have no need. I wonder why the  stalk of hyssop plant was used when Jesus said I thirst. Why so many mothers  in the Bible were barren. Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah Elizabeth, why would a  Jesus disciples betrayed Jesus? I mean, was that necessary? Jesus just  needed to die on the cross to pay for our sins. But why did one of his 12 have to  be the one that turned him in? Well, why did Jesus? What did Jesus do for the  first 30 years of his life? And why did he have to wait that long? In a way, I  mean, Jesus had to die on the cross, pay for our sins and then be raised, and  then go back to heaven. He could have done that in the year. I wonder, why do  we have to walk by faith and not sight? Is there some advantage to walking by  faith and not sight? What are the advantages of walking by faith? Why did the  priests crossing the Jordan River at flood stage have to touch the water with  their feet? And only then would the waters part? Be a lot easier if God just  parted the waters and then they walk across? But no, they had to touch the  water? And then the waters would part? Why is this? Why is salvation,  justification? Free? But sanctification? The process of becoming more like Jesus is something that we have to work at. Do we have to work at it? I wonder why  does God often let us get to the point of almost giving up before he steps in and  does something I can testify my life. That's often the case. It's just when I'm  giving up this finally God does something I'm pleading I'm looking, I'm asking  and nothing seems to happen. I'm praying, and there's no answers. And then  when I finally give up, that's when the answer comes. But I can't just fake God  and say, Okay, God, I'm gonna act like I'm gonna give up and then you can act.  No, it has to be genuine. Why? Can faith and doubt coexist? Why do we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death? Is that necessary? Why? Why do  we have to go through this? What good does it do? What did evil come from?  Where does Satan come from? How does Satan become a fallen angel? What?  What is the idea of rebelling from God even come into play? Why did God plant 

the tree in the middle of the garden? So the Bible is filled with all kinds of, of  these things that if you just sat down and wonder about them. Now, for some of  you, this is an exciting process. Others of you are like, if I wonder about these  things, and we're going to have all these questions that I don't know the answer  to. And in many of you feel uncomfortable, when you don't have an answer,  you'd like to have everything black and white, and all the answers there. And so  you stay in the realm of safe, which is informing, and teaching. Let me give you  some knowledge. Let me teach you about stuff. I'm not gonna raise the tough  questions. Because if I raised the tough questions, then I have to struggle with  them. And I might know, I might not know what the answer is. Dare I mean,  you're a leader, you're being trained to be a leader. To be a leader, you have to  go out of the safety, the safe zone, dare to ask those questions. Ask the Bible,  the hard questions, ask God, the hard questions in your preaching, and your  speaking will be 10 times more effective. Because this is these are the things  that are rattling in people's minds. And even if you can't figure it out, sometimes I have a sermon where I go, you know, in the end is like, well, here's my best shot at it right now. This is what God has revealed. And I don't know all the answers.  And that's okay. So try to in the next, this next week, try to bring a little problem  solving into anything that you do when you're talking to people just randomly  say, hey, there's a problem I'm thinking about and see how it goes. See how this conversation gets more lively. because there's a problem, people love to join in  on the solving of problems. In fact, when you speak, make it a problem that  we're all trying to figure out. It's not just a problem I'm trying to solve. This is a  problem we're all trying to solve together. Give it a shot.