5 Things That Make Anyone A Better Communicator

If you have some responsibility of communicating to a group of people on a regular basis you know the pressure that comes to have something to say. You want it to be fresh, inspiring, challenging, maybe even life changing for someone. However, if you teach every week, preach every week, or give presentations every week, you know it can be difficult to muster both the energy & the content to bring compelling, helpful messages that your audience walk away from knowing something new & knowing what to do with it.

With that in mind, I want to offer five very simply, very practical things that anybody can do to stay on top of their speaking/teaching/preaching schedule. These are simple things that I do all the time that have helped me grow as a communicator. By no means am I some kind of preaching & teaching guru, but I do want to pass along things I've learned over the years so that other teachers, preachers, & communicators can grow as well. Putting these things into practice won't insure that every message or every presentation is a home run, but it will insure that you have fewer swings & misses. 

1) Spend At Least A Little Time In It Every Day

This is one place where the seeds for future ideas come from. Whether this happens in your personal study or in your study time specifically for future message prep, let your daily time in God's Word be a springboard for what God might want to say to others. Looking at your upcoming messages or their texts some everyday also helps you let go of your notes so that you're more connected to your audience.

2) Listen, Listen, Listen

Let's face it, podcasts are the new commentaries, especially when looking for help applying. Listen to super practical preachers & super doctrinal communicators. If you tend to lean toward the doctrinal, textual side, you need help making it practical. Listen to pastors who ask the questions that lead us to wrestle with the text. It will help you not only teach your audience but teach them what to do with it. On the other hand, if you're the person who always wants to wrestle with "what does this mean for real life", you may need to listen to the communicators who help you connect on a deeper level to the timelessness of God's Word.

Listen to great communicators outside your field. A great resource that's out there are the endless supply of Ted Talks. While the presenters may have very little in common with you, they're a resource for you. After all, if someone can give an 18 minute talk about economics & make it somewhat interesting & compelling, you need to figure out what they did as a communicator to make you feel that way about their topic because there are probably people in your meetings, classes, or congregations each week who walk into the room with the same attitude toward whatever you're talking about.

3) Read, Read, Read

Read stuff that makes you think. One way to do that is to read stuff that you might not normally read. Perhaps the author comes from a different background, tribe, or denomination than you. That doesn't mean you can't learn something from them. Don't simply consume material that you know will agree with before you read page 1. Also, read old stuff. If you don't have dead folks in your library, you're missing out on centuries of wisdom. At the same time, read the latest & greatest. There are some incredible men & women producing great work. However, don't assume that what's new is what's better. There's a reason some things are called "classics." To ignore the classics is silly. So go buy some C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, or Martin Luther while also checking the latest from Matt Chandler or Steven Furtick.

4) Stay Ahead Of The Calendar

Working only on this week's message this week almost insures that it won't be your best. If you're a preacher or teacher or utilizes series based approach, this is almost a necessity. After all, doesn't a series build on itself? That means part 1 & part 4 of a series are connected. You have to know where you're going & how you're getting there. Each message is a whole while also being a part of a bigger message. So if you're only tackling things a week at a time, you're not maximizing your potential impact with your messages. One thing I try to do is to be finishing my next series while I'm preaching my current series. I may have already put outlines together for a series or two down the road but both my current series & my next series are done & ready to go.

If you're not already doing this, you need to map out your year. There are some things that you need to communicate regularly. In my context as a pastor, I know that every year I'm going to tackle issues like biblical stewardship, mission, family issues, not to mention Christmas & Easter. I also like to do a summer series that's usually through an entire book of Scripture. By getting some of those on the calendar as early as possible, I have some idea of where I'm headed. Staying that far ahead also frees you up to handle other responsibilities you might have or to be able to adjust on the fly. People I've talked to who are only going week to week feel such immense pressure that they can't adjust what they're doing. My experience has been greater preparation tends to make me more able to adjust to God's leading should He change my topic for the week.

5) Be You

Everyone is influenced by what they hear, but don't try to be Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, John Piper, or anyone else. God wouldn't have called you if He just wanted a copy of those guys. Plus they're better at being them than you ever will be. Whatever your voice is embrace it. Don't be a parrot of someone else, & don't be a puppet for others. There will always be someone who thinks you should be more "fill in the blank". However, if you're not a screamer, don't try to force it, but if that is who you are, embrace it. God called you & equipped you so that through you, He could be magnified. He doesn't need another version of your favorite communicator. He needs a faithful you. Learn from your influences. Incorporate things you see in them, but don't try to be them. 

These five simple practices are something any of us can do, & as you put them into practice, you'll begin to see the benefits & fruit from it. Don't get caught up in the seemingly endless treadmill of being a regular communicator. Get ahead of the pressure by working harder & smarter. When you do, not only will you benefit & grow from it. Those you lead & teach will as well.

Good Kid, Bad Kid

We just started a new message series at Zebulon Baptist Church called Prodigal. The thing about Jesus' "Parable of the Prodigal Son" is that most of us have heard it (or some version of it) so many times that it's kind of gotten stale. Let's face it, if you were reading through the Gospel of Luke, when you got to chapter 15, you'd at least be tempted to think, "I know this story inside & out, so I'll just skim through to get to chapter 16." It's totally natural. It's why movies that we've seen over & over begin to lose their punch & books that we've read over & over begin to lose their appeal. Familiarity may not always breed contempt, but it does lead us to a "been there, done that" attitude, even about the Bible.

The problem with that mindset is that we end up missing out on the depth that is present in so much of God's word, but especially in this parable. After all, most of us think that the parable is about a punk bratty kid who demands his inheritance, blows it on a wild lifestyle, humbly returns home, & is greeted by a forgiving father who restores him to the family. That's almost always the way this parable is portrayed both in the church & in pop culture. However, when you dig beneath the surface, you'll start to realize that his part of the story isn't even the point. The part of the story we've romanticized is basically a vehicle Jesus uses to get to the real point. The real point Jesus is trying to make is centered around the older brother who stayed home, not the younger brother who ran away.

Take some time this week to go back & read this parable in Luke 15. When you really read it, you discover that these brothers aren't that different. Neither of them were interested in their father. They wanted their inheritance, but they didn't want their father. The younger son simply was open & honest about it. The older brother, on the other hand, was much more subtle & manipulative. He didn't dare ask for his inheritance early. Instead he would simply hang around, do what he was supposed to do, so that he could eventually get the pay off. In the end all either of the brothers wanted was the payoff. You see it in the older brother when he scolds his father for welcoming his brother home. After all, the younger son is the bad kid; he doesn't deserve all the fuss, but he, the older brother, was the good kid. He did everything he was supposed to do. He "slaved away". Therefore he deserved good things. 

At the end of the story, the son who is "lost" isn't the bad kid who came back home. It's the older son who never left, but who assumed that his good, obedient behavior put the father in his debt. Jesus had a powerful spiritual truth He desperately wanted His audience of "sinners, tax collectors, & Pharisees" to understand.

"You Can Be Just As Lost In Your Goodness

As You Can In Your Badness."

Look at this way: Both of these brothers were trying to make their own way in the world. The younger son was going to make his way by rebelling against his father, wishing him dead, & taking his portion of the inheritance so that he could make his own way. The older son, although he stayed home & did everything he was supposed to do, was still trying to make his own way. He viewed his relationship with the father as a slave/master relationship. "I do A, B, & C for you, therefore, you need to do X, Y, & Z for me." In the end the older son was trying to secure his own way in the world. 

Spiritually, most everyone does the same thing. Many of us run away from God, tell Him we don't want to have anything to do with Him (unless an emergency pops up), & set out to live our own life by our own standards. Then there's the rest of us. We're religious. We embrace traditional, Judeo-Christian morals & try to be "good people." And somehow we think that the pursuit of being good people puts God in a position of debt toward us. We've been good. Therefore, God has to bless us, & ultimately God has to forgive us for those few times we weren't good people. All that is is another attempt to make our own way in life. We've just chosen a moralistic path, but we've never submitted ourselves to our Heavenly Father. In the end, both paths are dead ends. Whether you're a wild child or the good child, if you reject the Father, He has no choice but to reject you as well. That's why self-righteousness is so dangerous. It subtly leads us to believe we're in a right relationship with our Father, but the truth is that we're trying to manipulate Him. When we think that practicing our religion or good morals somehow puts God in debt to us, it only blinds us to our own debt to Him.

Who are you in the story of two lost sons? Are you the good kid or the bad kid? How have you tried to make your own way or manipulate God? Here's the good news: our Heavenly Father is the same loving, gracious, pursuing father we see in the parable. He graciously welcomed the rebel back home while also pursuing the self-righteous son to finally embrace their relationship as father & son rather than thinking he somehow had to work for the father's love & blessings.

Purpose In The Pain

Everybody is going to face seasons of darkness & pain. It's one of the unpleasant & inevitable truths of life & of faith. When we receive that phone call, get that diagnosis, or experience that loss, it's easy for us to begin to question God, His goodness, & His will. After all, since we're His people shouldn't we escape at least some of this junk? The flip side of that question is that perhaps we have escaped some of that pain, but we will likely never realize how He has protected us. We only recognize the times when He allows the pain, & if we're not careful it can throw us into a tailspin.

The truth is that when we go through these seasons of pain & darkness, it's another opportunity to grow in our faith & trust in Christ. It may not be an easy opportunity, & even when we get through it & look back, we won't want to have to endure it again, but there's a good chance we'll see that God taught us something & grown our faith in Him through that trial or pain.

You see we serve a God who is a redeemer. That's not a word we use much anymore & when we do we don't bring out the depth of meaning in it. Our Heavenly Father is a redeemer. In Christ, He takes sinners & turns them into saints. He takes treacherous rebels & adopts them as sons & daughters. He takes death & turns it into life. And as a redeemer, he doesn't just redeem our souls from Hell; He redeems our entire existence. He redeems our pain for our ultimate good & His glory.

When you dig into the famous story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11, you're struck by the fact that Jesus was apparently more than willing to allow something tragic & terrible to come into the life of that family so that on the other side, they might have greater faith in Him. And even though our seasons of pain may not have the happy ending that Lazarus' did, the fact remains that Jesus wants to use it to stretch our faith & trust in Him. All along the way He's asking, "Do you believe me? Do you trust me?" As we stay in step with Him, He may rescue us from the darkness or simply walk with us through to the other side, but one thing is sure, He'll change us in the process. Tim Keller says, "Christ didn't suffer so that you wouldn't suffer, but so that when you suffer, you become more like Him." 

And the truth is these seasons of pain don't just affect us. People are watching how we handle it when things fall apart, especially if we claim to follow Jesus. When Lazarus' family balanced the tension between faith & disappointment, the result wasn't just that their faith grew. Scripture tells us that the people who witnessed the whole thing became believers in Christ. 

"God Wants To Use Our Circumstances 

To Deepen Our Faith & To Ignite Faith In Others."

What if this season of life right now that's got you beaten down or discouraged is an opportunity for you to trust Jesus even more? After all, isn't that when your test in anyone or anything is tested & strengthened? In fact isn't that when faith is actually revealed? What if how you walk through this season that God's allowed into your life isn't just about you or your faith? What if God's purpose in the pain is to redeem it so that you might trust Him more so that someone sees His power in your life, & in turn, they put their faith in Jesus, changing their eternity.

Say What?

Obedience is always a tricky thing in Christian circles. On one hand, you've got the group that is all about obedience. In fact, they're usually so into obedience that it's taken to unhealthy, unbiblical levels. For them obedience is the key to God's love, not the response to God's love. On the other hand, you have the group that responds to any call for obedience as a call for "legalism" or "being a Pharisee". They point to grace. And they're right; we're saved by grace alone through faith alone, but again shouldn't experiencing that love & grace move us toward greater faithfulness & obedience to the one who has been so gracious & loving to us? So which is it, who's right? Should we be obedient or should we just trust in grace?

Maybe we're asking the wrong question. Maybe we should instead ask ourselves "why do i obey?" What's the purpose of my obedience? What does my obedience say? What does it say about me? What does it say about God? Here's an important truth about obedience.

"Obedience Is Always A Declaration Of Faith."

If obedience is always a declaration of faith, it demands that we discover the motivation for our obedience, & when you do that, you'll learn where your faith really lies. Legalistic obedience declares faith in self. Loving obedience declares faith in Christ.

The tension between obedience & grace almost always boils down to a misunderstanding of grace. For those of us who operate in the obedience system, we've either severely underestimated God's grace or our need for it. Either way, we think we have to bridge the gap rather than trusting in Christ's atoning death. For those of us who operate in the grace system, we tend to either severely underestimate the effects of our sin or the incredible cost Christ paid at the cross. Therefore, we don't pursue a holy life that reflects Christ's holiness. So wherever you fall on the spectrum, spend some time looking at why you do what you do. Do you obey because you think it makes God love you? God's love for you was settled at the cross. Nothing you do changes that. The only question is if you'll place your faith in what He's done.

Are you so afraid of becoming a legalist that you don't really worry about whether you're growing in holiness & obedience? Take a look at what Paul says in Titus 2. Paul tells us that the same grace that reveals salvation to us is the grace that teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness. That means if you've really grasped the grace poured out at the cross, you'll not only receive it for salvation; you'll also walk in it as it leads you to greater holiness. So obedience isn't about obeying for obeying's sake. It's a loving response to a gracious Savior. Your obedience doesn't have to be a vain declaration of faith in self. It can be a beautiful declaration of faith in the Savior who saved a hopeless sinner & who is transforming that sinner into a new creation that reflects his holiness & grace.