Video Transcript: Session 18 Developing Introduction

This is session 18. You're halfway to this class on preacher preparation  presentation in class on making and preaching sermons. Notice the title of the  sermon today. The title of this class today, and that introductions are more  important than you think. We're talking about developing a sermon, we looked  at, you know, exposing the sermon having a big idea, one idea that we latch on  to from scripture, and we build a message around it. Now, how do you introduce  that the introduction is more important than you think. I know, there's a tendency as I listened to young preachers, ones that are just coming out of seminary or  just coming out of Bible school or just learning as a result of being taught at CLI  and elsewhere. That one of the tendencies is that you've been studying so hard, this passage that you want to jump right into it, and you want to share with  people what you found. Introductions are vitally important, because studies have shown that you've got about two minutes. That's all, you know that the attention  span of people here in the United States has gone from 12 minutes to five  minutes overall. But to hook them, you got to hook them very quickly, because  we live in a time when the average commercial went from one minute years ago  to now 15 seconds or 10 seconds, because they know if they can't grab you, in  that first 10 seconds, we're used to images flashing, we're used to going on to  other things. And if we miss it, people are going to go tune this out right away.  They'll be looking at their phones, or they'll be looking at something else. And so introductions are more important than you think. And if you do them badly, then  you're going to be in deep trouble. Because people will be like, as we talked last  time, you know, you'll be wandering around, and they won't know where you're  going. Just an illustration of that or talking to a person who had heard he was  going to do a lesson on family dynamics, and how to build a family that trains  kids up well and encourages mom and dad and that sort of thing. He was in a  series on that. And he had heard someone else speak at a conference and, and  the person had grabbed everyone's attention at the beginning, by a shocking  statement. We're going to look at that later, as far as some styles of introducing  messages. But the shocking statement was this. That I spent the best years of  my life in the arms of another man's wife. Just imagine where people's minds  went with that. And so the speaker began to talk about what this other woman  did for him other than his wife, how provided him comfort when he was hurting,  encouraged him when he was being challenged, took care of him constantly  seemed to be attentive to his needs and, and what he needed. And, and then  after a long time, about a minute, he told the key sentence, he said that other  man's wife was my mother. Now, all of a sudden, it takes on a new dimension.  And he starts talking about parenting and the role of parenting and the role of  mother in that particular message. Well, the friend I was talking to said that he  had heard that it was so engaging that he decided to use that introduction in a  message himself. And he told the same thing he started I spent the best years of my life in the arms of another man's wife began to tell all of this thing that this 

other woman other than his wife had done for him. But he forgot to use the  primary line that it was his mother. Just forgot it, it slipped through his mind was  going on to the next point in the message. And so he forgot it went through the  message. And everyone was completely confused, because they're talking  afterwards and some went up to his wife and said, Who was it? Who was it? The introduction can lead to your message, or it can kill you right off. And so doing  introductions well is important. Here's some things a good introduction will do for you. It will first of all, make people want more information. I was recently reading an article where somebody talked about introductions to novels, and how they  have many similar characteristics to introduction to a speech or introduction to a  sermon that the good novelist knows this that the first sentence is something  that draws you in. You want more information. For instance, this one, the snow  in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks  before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Wait a minute. You  want more information? Right? Who's Bunny first of all, a person with a funny  name. Then dead. How did she get to be dead. And the gravity of our situation,  what's the situation that this introduction this first sentence to a novel led people  to say, I want more information I'm gonna read more. So it makes us want more  information. Or it can introduce the theme of the book, or in this case, a novel of  the quote here, but the sermon introduces the theme of the sermon. That book  here is, of course, the great story, The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It  was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom. It was  the age of foolishness. That's a theme that goes on throughout the book. And  that introduction sentence goes on a long ways. But the contrast between  poverty and wealth, the contrast between power and powerlessness, all of those things become themes that are introduced in sentence number one. So as  people read on, they realize that it's just the developing of that theme. Well,  you've got your big idea, you introduce it in such a way that people understand  the theme. A third thing it can do is it sets a tone. This is the introductory  sentence to the Harry Potter series, Mr. & Mrs. Dursley. Number 4 Privet Drive,  we're proud to say that they were perfectly normal. Thank you very much. And  all of a sudden, you've got a tone, Mr. & Mrs. Dursley, very normal. And then  you're introduced to Harry Potter, who's not according to them. And so that  contrast and that battle between the Muggle world and the world of sorcerers  and witches and that sort of thing, and the conflicts that come as a result, all of  that is a tone is set, right there in the introduction to the message. And then  finally, it gains credibility for us. If you grab people's attention, they're going to  listen, in fact, during a moment where they might wander, and we're going to talk later about putting in some stakes in the message so that you can get their  attention back if it's wandering. But when they wander, they're gonna give you  the benefit of the doubt if you gave an introduction, such that it caught them, and brought them in bringing them to the point where they wanted more information, 

et cetera. So that's all the things that an introduction will do for you. How do you  do an introduction that will do all of those things that will make people want more information that will introduce the theme that will set a tone for the entire  message to come and it will gain credibility for you. We're going to talk about  some strategies that will create introductions that will do those things. Now, the  first strategy and one of the best is simply telling a story. Stories work well, in  this regard. It's the way Jesus did most of his messages. When you read his  messages, there's almost always a story, certainly in his parables, but  elsewhere as well. He tells stories, and those stories are ones that we  remember because they are engaging. And especially if they're told in in kind of  a way that brings a climax, and then and then an application that's powerful. So  stories can bring people into the message in a powerful way. For instance, I  originally recently preached a sermon about how do you understand the will of  God? And I told the story of John Wesley, if you know church history, you know  the name of John Wesley. John Wesley was the founder of Methodism, in the  mid 18th century, he was a powerful preacher who had been a missionary. And  he was he was just a powerful force in church history, and somebody that God  used for revival. So he was somebody who studied God's word, he was  committed to fasting and prayer and all those things. But it came to a point in his life, where he wants to know the will of God. That came because he met this  young woman. He was a missionary in Georgia, Georgia at the time. And he  was 32 years old, and he was thinking about his ministry, and fell in love with  Sophia Hopkins, her name, and thought he should marry her. But here's the  problem. He was part of what was called the holiness club or the Holy Club,  something he had started at university, a group of young men who had  dedicated themselves to listening to Paul's admonition to remain single as he  was, as he said to the Corinthians, because then they can dedicate themselves  fully to the Lord's work. But now, he's thinking about marriage because he's  fallen in love with this young woman. And yet, he's got this thing back there of  this commitment that he made to the to the holiness club. And so what do you  do? Well, he decided to test God's will. And the way he did that was with a friend Charles Delamotte. And he said, you know, we should do is cast a lot. Scripture  says that that's one way of trying to determine God's will, right. A lot of Proverbs  says, you know, the Lord controls a lot. So they create a lot system. Charles  Delamotte, wrote on three pieces of paper marry or another one says, Don't  think of it now. Think of it in a year. And then a third one that says, think of it no  more. And so these three pieces of paper were put into a hat. And John Wesley,  with some fear and trepidation, drew it out. And he opened it, and it said, think of it no more. And so he was heartbroken, crushed. He ended up leaving the  mission in Georgia, and he came back to England and became an itinerant  pastor there, something that he became well known for and became the  hallmark of his ministry. But heartbroken at God's Will, well, he was back in 

England for a while. And he met this woman. Now, this is the only picture I could find on Grace Murray. And this is when she is old woman, of course. But when  she was younger, she was attractive. But Wesley met her as he was traveling  around, and he met her and was engaged by her commitment to God, her  desire to to serve the Lord. And again, he began to wonder if might be God's  will, that he would be married. And so this time, he took a different way of trying  to determine God's will, he listed all the things that he would want in a wife that  would assist him in the work that he would do and all the positive things that he  wanted them the roles this woman would pay, play. And then he looked at Grace Murray, and he wrote in his journal, it says, you know, all my seven arguments  about marriage, I seem to be able to set aside it seems like God might be  wanting me to marry and that Grace Murray is the one. And that looked pretty  positive, except that he told his brother Charles, and his brother Charles was  somebody who was part of that Holy Club as well. And had made that same  commitment. And he was shocked. And so he went out, he quickly rode on his  horse as fast as he could to Grace Murray's house, he blew through the door,  didn't even knock, came up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and says,  Grace Murray, you broken my heart, and he fainted at her feet. And Grace  Murray was so traumatized that she broke off the engagement, and very soon  after she married another person. And so John Wesley's trying to find God's will, and that's Strike two. And then strike three is this woman. She was a woman  who was divorced. At this time that he met her. She was 40. He was 47 years  old. So he's getting on in life. Or no, she was not divorced, she was a widow.  And so this time, he didn't even ask God didn't determine God's will. He just  married her. And he had an incredibly unhappy marriage. After 27 years, when  Wesley was 74 years old, his wife left him. So three styles of trying to figure out  God's will, which was the right one? And that's the question, I asked in the  introduction, how do you know what God's will is, and then I went on, a topical  sermon, we looked at various passages in Scripture that help us know God's  will. So story, story is a way. Now, I want you in a few minutes for a few  moments to watch this video by somebody who knows this idea of story really  well. And he's going to talk about it as another trainer of preachers. And he'll talk about how and why story works so well. So let's spend just a few moments  watching him and then come back. And we're going to talk about another aspect of story. You know, when it comes to introducing your sermon, or opening a  public speech, this is the critical time. As matter of fact, it's probably the most  critical aspect of your speech or your sermon, because they tell us and they are  not wrong about this. In the modern age, you have about two minutes to grab  and hold your audience's attention. And that's been true for decades. But it's  especially true now that we live in the age where we all carry around one of  these things. Because as you look around, you'll see people having these all the time and looking on them at whatever interests them at the moment. And so 

your goal as a speaker, or as a preacher, that one opportunity that you have to  stand before them, and share with them the vital information you are giving to  them. Your goal is to grab and hold their attention from the outset from the  beginning, from the opening from the time of introduction, because I know how  we are as speakers and preachers, what we want to do is we want to get right  into the stuff and we want to start telling people all the things that we know, all  the things that we have prepared for them to share with them. But if we don't  grab and hold their attention, it really doesn't matter. They will never get that  information. So I'm gonna give you a really, really good tip here. If you want to  grab and hold your audience's attention, whether it be a church congregation or  just a speech in a business setting. Go to the old standby, the old standby that  has worked since the dawning of man on the face of the earth and that is  utilizing stories we still love stories. When we were children we used to love our  parents, our grandparents, our teachers tell a story we loved reading stories, or  having a story read to us. Stories engage our mind because what we do is we  think in pictures and when we think in pictures, that works to the advantage of  the speaker or the preacher so when you open up your speech, just start  sharing a story with them and the people will immediately begin seeing in their  mind's eye the the things that you're talking about in the story. For example, if I  say, the other day I was out by the beach walking along, and a big red Canary  came and landed down in front of me, you were immediately seeing that you're  seeing me walking on the beach, you don't know what beach it is, you don't  know where I am. But you have envisioned a beach in your mind. And then  when I say red Canary, which doesn't exist, by the way, but if I were to say that,  and I did say that, then you know that that you would have pictured that in your  mind, and you would have been even more engaged. See, the secret to story is  to give vivid details that draw your audience in as quickly as possible by  engaging them with a powerful story. Now, of course, there are other things you  can do. You can give shocking statistics, or a news headline, something that  people are interested in. But the old standby can never let you down. Now, don't  tell too many stories about yourself. Tell true and accurate and vivid stories, vivid details. Don't just say the other day I was at Walmart. But say the other day, it  was a rainy, dreary day, I had to get up and go to Walmart because there was  some things that I just needed. I hated getting out. But it was time to go. And so  I put my jacket on, I got in my car, and I made my way to Walmart. And while I  was there, and you know, when you do that, everyone is absolutely engaged. I  hope this has been helpful to you. This is Tony Guthrie. All the best. So yes,  again story, can catch people's attention, can introduce the theme of your  message, and can set the tone for what's coming. And that's a very great thing.  Another kind of story. I mean, I told you one about John Wesley and there are  1000s of stories. Later, we're going to talk about illustrations and where you find  them. But powerful story that introduces that idea of God's will. But there's 

another kind of story which has real power, but you can't use it all the time. And  that is personal stories, the stories where you have experienced something.  Now one of the real pros of this is this man, Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback  Church in Southern California mega church and he's written The Purpose Driven Life and purpose driven church and et cetera. I recently watched again, in  preparation for this class, the time when he came back to Saddleback to preach, he had been off for 16 weeks because his son had committed suicide. Now  imagine you have that kind of traumatic experience in your life. And now you're  gonna get back up in front of God's people. And the theme for that first sermon  was, how do you trust God, when you don't understand what's going on? You  don't understand why. And he got up there, and he had everybody's attention.  Let me tell you, everybody's attention when he said, I prayed every day, every  day for my son. And this is what happened. They said, I don't understand but I'm choosing to trust God. And this is why, and then he went through his message.  But you can bet that introduction caught everybody. Now, that's not the only time I've heard him, say personal stories, as an introduction to something. I was in a  seminar once where he was speaking, and he's speaking about a variety of  things, and you're taking notes and, and, and then you come to the next  session. And the next session, He began by talking about his marriage, and  talking about he and his wife and gotten to the point where it was almost like a  breaking point for them. And he didn't know what to do, they ended up at a  counselor and a counselor help restore their life. And, but this is what they  determine what was wrong. But right away, it was fascinating, because he was  telling a personal story, all of a sudden, all pens were stopped taking notes.  everybody's attention, nobody was looking down. Nobody was checking their  phone, nobody was looking at anything except tell me more about this challenge with your wife as he described it. So that's one kind of personal story. Like I say,  you can't use it too often. That kind of personal story where you've been through some trauma. Now, there's another kind of personal story, you can use very  used very well. Now, Rob Bell I introduced you to a few weeks ago with that  video, rain a few sessions ago, excuse me, I do these by weeks. And sometimes I make that mistake a few sessions ago with that idea of rain. Now he was telling a personal story there about being out in the rain with his son, and he makes an  application of it. Now, that kind of story you can use personally, quite often,  about how you've come to a deeper understanding of God's desire for you,  God's will for you or God's God's revelation of Himself. There's a time when you  know, maybe you're standing on a hill and you're overlooking the ocean or  you're in the mountain overlooking a mountain lake and all of a sudden you have a new understanding of of God as the Creator, and what that means for you and what that means for your people, or you're with someone. I've told occasional  stories of my mother and just the theological truths she gave to me in practical  terms and the trust in God that she, she exhibited in her life, those kinds of 

stories where we've learned someone from someone else, or you can tell about  somebody who's a good friend of yours and what they've shared with you. And  I've done a little bit of that in this class to say, you know, what, this man is an  alcoholic, and, and this is what he shared with me about God making a  difference. And, or, you know, I failed. And this is how God occurs, assures me  of his no condemnation statements. So all of these are the kinds of things that  can work in the area of personal story. Now, just a word of warning. First of all,  don't do this too often. This can't be the regular characteristic of all your stories  about yourself. I remember reading one person, and that just drove me crazy,  because every sermon in that series that I was reading that I was given to  evaluate, every story was about themselves. And you say, well, you're pretty  good, aren't you? You've got it all figured out. And not many people are going to  identify with somebody who's got it all figured out. And that's why I put down  there. If you're telling stories about yourself, you make sure that you're not the  hero in every single one of them doesn't matter if you're there once in a while,  as the hero, but don't be the hero, make up things that God is telling to you.  Now, next time, we're going to talk more about illustrations that can begin  sermons that become the introduction in such a way that they will capture  people's attention wanting to want to have more information, they'll set the tone  for what you're going to talk about and introduce the theme. And what are some  other ways that can get you to grab people's attention in such a way that they're  saying they're on their seats, I want more. So we'll see you next time as we  continue this series on developing a sermon.