Sermon Prep 101: How to Build a Biblical Message

Austin Huang:
Welcome to Everyday Radical, a podcast where we help the everyday Christian follow Jesus and make him known everywhere. We pray that today’s episode encourages you to do just that. So let’s dive right in.
So I want to paint this picture. Couple of years ago, I just graduated from college and I went to college for a degree that I’m not doing anything with at the moment. I feel like a lot of people do that.

David Platt:
What’d you do?

Austin Huang:
Sustainability.

David Platt:
Okay.

Austin Huang:
Do you even what does that bring about?

David Platt:
Like promoting economic sustainability?

Austin Huang:
Yeah, but more like environmental.

David Platt:
Oh, okay.

Austin Huang:
But yeah, most people don’t know.

David Platt:
Super interesting.

Austin Huang:
Yeah. Anyway, that’s a complete side note.

David Platt:
Yes. It’s all right. Okay.

Austin Huang:
Okay. So I’m not doing anything with my major. I just graduated and I’m feeling this burden from the Lord to preach the gospel. And I just want to paint this picture. No one’s given me opportunities to preach, rightfully so, because I’ve never done it before. So me and my friends start hosting these worship night things around the state of Texas. We only did four or five of them.

David Platt:
Okay.

Austin Huang:
But I just remember sitting there doing the first ever one, and I don’t know how to preach at all. I just have this burden that’s bubbling up inside of me. And so this is how I preach. I sit down, I have my laptop in front of me, and I just read from it the entire time. And bits and pieces, I kind go off script and feel like the Holy Spirit is speaking through me and all that. But I’m just sitting there reading off a laptop. And yeah, I paint that picture just to ask you the question, take me back to your first time preaching and how have you progressed? Have you grown since then? What has God taught you? All the things.

David Platt:
So I mean, literally first time preaching, I was in eighth grade, which was, I don’t know if I should have been… Well, what it was was we had in our church, which I’m just so thankful for my own church, just don’t underestimate what a church does in the formation of-

Austin Huang:
It’s good.

David Platt:
… kids and students. But we have a youth service once a month and each month a different grade would sponsor, or not sponsor, would plan the service. And the youth minister would most of the time speak, but we’re planning it and they’re like, “David, why don’t you preach?” And I’m like, “All right.” So man, I studied. I remember I had, it’s called a Matthew Henry Commentary, and I’m just studying everything he said. I’m trying to study this passage, and I could pick any passage, I chose Revelation 3, the Church of Laodicea.

Austin Huang:
Wow.

David Platt:
That passage where it’s like, “You’re lukewarm and-

Austin Huang:
“Spit you out.”

David Platt:
… spit you out of my mouth.” So I prepare the sermon, I get up, I walk up there, before I start preaching, I get up there with a bottle of water, I unscrew it, take a sip, I spit it out in the front row and I was like, “That’s what God thinks of you if you’re lukewarm.” So anyway, that’s where it started for me.

Austin Huang:
That’s crazy.

David Platt:
It was so good because I had a youth ministry who came in all excited, was like, “Okay, that’s one way to start a sermon. Maybe there’s other ways.” So I hope there’s been some growth since then. But I would say at that point I was like hooked. I want to know God’s word and I want to teach it. So whether that was leading a Bible study at my house or then in college, I started similarly traveling and preaching some, but I hadn’t had any training in what that is. I remember the first day I get to seminary, I’m in a preaching class with, who became my mentor and just had a huge impact on my life, Jim Shaddix.
But Dr. Shaddix, he starts talking about preaching, and I was like, okay, I’ve not been doing this right. I’ve been doing it with a good heart, but I need to know how to actually… He would say, “If you’re going to say, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ you better know what the Lord says. You’re claiming to speak on behalf of God. You better make sure you’re not just coming up with ideas, thoughts, illustrations that you think are funny or going to be compelling in some way. You got to make sure you do the work to know this is what God says. To be able to say, ‘Thus says the Lord.'”
And then, yeah, how to say that in a way that is… What I pray all the time, this last Sunday when I was preaching, “God, please help me be faithful and effective. Faithful to your word, to accurately represent what you’re saying and to say it effectively in ways that it does bear fruit.” Which obviously only the Spirit can bring about. So anyway, man, when I think about it, it was eighth grade, I don’t know how old an eighth grader is? 14, something like that?

Austin Huang:
14-ish.

David Platt:
So that was 30 plus years ago.

Austin Huang:
Nice.

David Platt:
And there’s been a lot of reps since then and a lot of man, fall on your face. There are times, bro, when I’m like, “Man, you’re not enjoying this.” I’m thinking to people listening, I’m not enjoying this. I should just sit down.
And I’ll tell one other quick story that the Lord really used in my life, and this is when I was, I guess I was in college. I was in college, or maybe it was right after college. Anyway, I’m speaking at this church and bro, I would travel and speak to a church youth group of three people, and I’m just going forward in front three people. And so this one, it was a small town in Tennessee. I remember I was preaching Sunday night through Wednesday night in this church, and then they asked me to go speak at the high school during the day, so in a school assembly. But they were like, “You can’t preach, you just have to give a motivational talk or something, in order to invite people to be there that night.” So I’m like, “Okay.”
So I go, I stand up in front of the school assembly and bro, it was so bad. I mean, I’m talking about what I was saying. I’m trying to tell funny stories, nobody’s laughing. I’m pouring sweat. I think they’re glad to be out of class. Actually, I think some of them are like, I’d rather be in class than whatever is going on right now.

Austin Huang:
What you’re saying.

David Platt:
It was so bad. And I just remember walking off, I couldn’t wait for that 30 minutes or whatever to be over. And I remember walking off and it was like the Lord said to me, “That’s how good you are without my word. You are sunk without my word.” And it really cemented in my mind and my art. Okay. And I mean, some people can do that and I think that’s great. Some Christians, some non-Christians, can hold the attention of a crowd, and yeah, it’s a grace from God to be able to do that. It was just God saying, “You’re not a great speaker. I’m calling you to proclaim my word. And apart from that, you got nothing, man.” So anyway.

Austin Huang:
Well, thank you for sharing that. That’s awesome. The fact that you’ve had 30 plus years of experience in doing something just over and over and over and over and over again. Can you just take me through, I know we really want to… This episode is really targeting young preachers, or just in general, people who want to teach God’s word. Can you walk us through just an overview of what it looks like to prep a sermon?

David Platt:
I would say, I just want to add to that picture of 30 plus years. I just think about my time with the Lord this morning because I just preached yesterday. I’m genuinely saying, “God, thank you for your word. Your word’s amazing.” The text we were walking through yesterday, I needed big time. So I was preaching to myself the whole time. I mean, I hope others were served by it, but I was just like, “God, thank you so much for your word and thank you for the pure privilege honor of preaching it.” Whoa, to speak a mouth of God, whether that’s to three people, whether that’s to a room where you’re teaching the Bible, just a living room or something, or to however many people.
All right, so yeah, how preparing a message? So I mean, man, so much there.

Austin Huang:
Yeah. What’s step one? Where do you begin?

David Platt:
Step one is the text. So identifying a text, ideally a text, I mean, I think you can do a topic, but if you’re going to do a topic, you really have to make sure that you’re looking at all the texts that you’re going to preach in light of their context. Because if we’re not careful, we can pick a topic and we can be like, I want to communicate this about this topic. Let me find some verses that support that-

Austin Huang:
Verses in the Bible, yeah.

David Platt:
You’re pulling things out of context. So ideally, it’s not that that’s wrong, I would just say that takes a lot more work. That means you need to do context for 10 different passages.
If you got one text, you’re doing context for one passage. So identify, okay, the text. So step one would be reading and meditating on that text. Just you, the Holy Spirit and that word, just spending time in it. I remember, Dr. Shaddix, who taught me preaching, one time we were co-preaching a sermon, which meant he asked me to preach with him on this text, and that meant we were co-preparing the sermon. And so we started, and I remember we sat down and he said, “Let’s just get on our knees.” So we get on our knees, I open up the text, if I remember right, it was Ephesians 2:1-10, and we just read through the passage. And I’m not exaggerating, he just is reading through the passage and crying over the text, thanking God for this grace. We were dead in sin or may not have been alive in Christ.
And he’s just like, we’re praying through, I’m following his lead, but we’re just praying through these verses. He talked a lot about internalizing the text. And so just hearing the Lord speak to your own heart. And obviously at the beginning of that Psalm 119, “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in your law. Help me to see what is in your word here.” So just start by just meditating on the text. The way I think is most helpful to do that, at least that I’ve found, is to either print it out or have it, I’ll use my iPad for this, but I’ve got the text written out with space in between it, and then I’m just marking it up. I’m circling words and phrases and making connections and just soaking in, what does this phrase mean? What does this phrase mean? And in a sense, this is what I think meditation on God’s word should look like in our lives every day.
But if I’m going to teach a passage, well that’s probably where I should start, like knowing this message just like I would know any passage. So it really starts. So at that level it’s just soaking it in. So that’s step one. I won’t go as long on the other steps, but I would say flowing from that, then I’m going to start to dive into, so if I see a word or a phrase that clearly sticks out, or obviously there’s going to be words and phrases, then I’m going to probably dive into… So I use a tool called Logos-

Austin Huang:
Yeah, I was going to ask-

David Platt:
Bible software.

Austin Huang:
… tools.

David Platt:
Logos, I would highly recommend to anyone who’s going to be teaching God’s word in any capacity, and just not even teaching God’s word, studying God’s word. It’s so helpful and it’s amazing how simple it is, and there’s different levels.
You can buy this mega Logos library all the way down to just basic stuff, that a lot of it’s even free. You just have to go to Logos, just search their software L-O-G-O-S. But this is not.. I’m not getting payback for-

Austin Huang:
Not a paid promo.

David Platt:
Yes. But I want people to be able to experience God’s word. But it’s so great, you can click on a word, just double click on it, and it opens up what this word is in the Greek or the Hebrew in the Old Testament and other places it’s used. So you start referencing.

Austin Huang:
That’s cool.

David Platt:
Like, man, I just think about yesterday I was preaching, and in this passage in Isaiah 8 and 9, it had darkness was mentioned four times, and the end of eight and end of chapter nine, darkness mentioned four times, but every time it was actually a different Hebrew word.
So it was just like, okay, double click on the first time and you see it here, double click on the second time, and this is how it’s used in the Bible. It was used to describe the plague of darkness in Egypt. The next time it was used to describe the darkness that was over the face of the earth in Genesis 1, before there was ever any light. The next darkness is used to describe, it’s actually translated in other places, death shadow. And so it’s like Isaiah’s pulling from all the rich Old Testament Hebrew vocabulary-

Austin Huang:
That’s awesome.

David Platt:
… to say this was a really dark time. As dark, as dark can get. So it’s those kind of things that, oh man, the text is just coming alive as you’re seeing it. It’s like the difference between, I don’t know if you would even get this, high def, whatever, the latest version of the most crystal, and a black and white TV from 50 years ago.
Whoa, all the color. so it’s the same picture or it’s the same things that are happening, but you’re seeing it in crystal clear color. And so it’s those kinds of things. You start diving into those things. All right, man, I got to make this quicker. Then I’ll spend some time, so other resources, whether they’re commentaries or just people who’ve written on this text or this topic that relates to this text. So I’m doing a ton of studies, so I love researching. I love, let me read everything I can. So I’ll have a document just that I’ll copy and paste from different resources just to go through and highlight and make notes on that, in a similar way to what I was doing in eighth grade. Matthew Henry’s commentary, what does he say?
And it’s not that Matthew Henry has it all right? But one of the things that Dr. Shaddix would always say was minimizing subjectivity. So you want to as objectively as possible to see what does this text mean? Not just what does it mean to me? No, what does it mean? What’s the timeless truth here? What was God saying to his people then, which that’s so important. There’s a guy named, well, John Stott wrote a book called ‘Between Two Worlds’, and that’s how he described preaching. It’s like almost picture it like a bridge. This God spoke this word through Isaiah at this point in history, but it was for his people then and for his people of all time. And so you’re taking his word to his people then and you’re showing what God is saying to all people of all time, to the people you’re speaking to-

Austin Huang:
Wow.

David Platt:
… right there.

Austin Huang:
That’s cool.

David Platt:
So you’re helping cross the bridge. But in order to do that, you really got to know what was God saying then? What’s all the background that you don’t know about what was happening in Isaiah at that point or this or that? And so all these different resources can help shed light on that. And so I’m just making notes to try to see, okay, what are the things that are sticking out? And then in the process you start to see, okay, what’s the main point or points that this passage is communicating? How does this passage communicate that?
And what’s happening is there’s kind of a structure that’s coming to, okay, well then this sermon needs to be about this truth or these truths and I want to show. Then you’re basically saying, the whole begin to transition to how do I bring it to this world? You’re basically saying, how do I take people on the journey I just went on that took me many hours, how do I take them on that journey in 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes, whatever it is, how do I take them on that journey to see these things where they start to come to life? There’s a ton we could talk about there.

Austin Huang:
I have so many questions. So you have the studying then do you just draft it all out?

David Platt:
Yeah.So what I’ll do, so now I’ve got all that information that I’ve just seen it all. What I’ll do is then create another document where I’ll just, and I try to keep it to about a page two of bullets, so bullet it out, what are the main truths, thoughts, things that stick out? I mean, there would be like, to use the illustration from earlier, it’s like darkness used four times. This is pitch black part. So I’ve got just the main things that I just listed out that I see in this passage. Then from that list, then I start to put together a structure for the sermon, and it starts kind of coming together at that point. But now I’m like, okay, is the main truth going to communicate? Here’s how it seems like the passage best communicates that.
I would say to be as faithful as possible to the text, I think the more our teaching of the text reflects the structure and what happens in the text, that’s great. So if it’s a story, the text is a narrative, I want to walk people through a narrative. And maybe give them some signposts along the way. Here’s four main movements in this story that lead to this climax, so I’m going to walk them to that. Or if it’s a letter from Paul, okay, he builds an argument, he says this, then this, then this and this and this. So it’s not just, okay, how do I come up with three points or five points or whatever. It’s okay, he seems to establish this truth and this truth and this truth, this truth, okay, that looks like a structure for how I want to teach this. I want to show this truth. Then I’ll build on that with this and this and this, because that’s what the text does.
Psalms would be really different. To take the structure and see, you got bookends, for example, in Psalm 42 and 43. So you see this repetition of this particular phrase. So okay, that seems to be the main point. How does the psalmist flesh that out in poetry? And so not that I’m going to turn my sermon into poetry, but I do want to reflect. He’s clearly communicating this. How are these different verses woven together artfully to communicate that?

Austin Huang:
That’s good.

David Platt:
So then the structure starts to come. And then I personally, I write a whole manuscript. Then I take all this stuff that I’ve studied and I’ve got this structure and I put it in and then I just start writing.

Austin Huang:
Just word-for-word?

David Platt:
Every word.

Austin Huang:
Wow.

David Platt:
I didn’t always do that. I mean, at points I’ve written just outlines or kind of bullet outlines. But then I remember specifically the first time I wrote a manuscript, I was preaching from Psalm 139 on abortion. It was the first time I’d ever preached on abortion. And I just felt like, ah, I want to be really careful with all my words as I’m preaching this. It’s a sensitive topic. I want to be biblically faithful and properly effective. So I write out a manuscript. And then the next week I was like, well, why don’t I want to be careful with my words this week? So I was like, let me go for it again.

Austin Huang:
Just start there.

David Platt:
So I don’t think, I certainly would not say you have to write a manuscript, but it’s super helpful for me.

Austin Huang:
Yeah, I’ve gone back and forth with it. I’ve only preached, I would say, less than 30 times now at this point, over the past two years. And I’ve gone back and forth. Manuscripts, bullet points. Sometimes when I’m doing the bullet points, I get so lost because I’m like, I should have fleshed this out more. And then other times I’m like, I’m so glad I didn’t because I feel like the Holy Spirit is speaking. And on that topic, how does the Holy Spirit come into play when you’re delivering the message? Because we can, what you’re saying about studying it, meditating on it, that’s the Holy Spirit within you working through the passage. But where does the Holy Spirit play a role in the delivery of a sermon?

David Platt:
Yeah, the whole thing. So yes, I’m glad you emphasized that because I’m trusting the Holy Spirit and I’m seeking the Holy Spirit’s leadership from beginning to end. So it’s not like Holy Spirit lead me as I preach this. Holy Spirit man, help me to understand this passage. Help me to put it all together. As I’m writing out the manuscript, I’m praying for the Holy Spirit, and I’m kind of doing my hands like I’m typing, because that’s what my kids would tell you, whenever I’m writing a sermon, when I’m in my home office, I’m just like, I’m yelling for it. I am just like-
They know, they know, and I’m nailing it, “This is amazing.” And I’m yelling. They know.

Austin Huang:
That’s awesome.

David Platt:
So anyway, but I want the Holy Spirit to be leading in all that. So when I’ve got a full manuscript, and I pretty much stick to the manuscript. Very rarely do I go outside of the manuscript. I would say yes, I do pray. One of the prayers, I don’t even know who wrote it, but it was like this kind of prayer from somebody and a Father, Jesus preacher in the past that wrote out this prayer about preaching. And one of the lines that it is, “Keep me in step with thee as I do this work.”

Austin Huang:
It’s good.

David Platt:
And so that I do pray that. “God keep me in step with you as I do this work.” Yeah, so periodically I’ll go kind of outside the manuscript, but I would say, yeah, I stick pretty close to it. And I think that is still following the leadership of the Spirit based on all the study that I’ve done. At the same time, man, I think about last, well, it was a few months back, I was speaking at a college conference, I had my manuscript, and I just had this sense, yeah, this doesn’t happen often, but I was like, I think I need to scrap the manuscript and just go for it.

Austin Huang:
Whoa.

David Platt:
And that stretches me big time. I used to, that was what I did all the time preach, but I was like, okay. So I was like, I’m trying to write out other notes. It was like the Lord was saying, “Just trust me.” And so I spoke. Now, I had done study on what I was preaching, so it’s not like I was looking for something-

Austin Huang:
Pulling out of thin air.

David Platt:
Yes. Because I don’t think that is… I mean, I’m not saying the Spirit can’t use that, but you got to know what the Lord says. And it was really good for me actually. It was like, Hey, don’t forget, this is not just a reading thing. This is operating in cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God and communicating his word, in a way that I can lose sight of if I’m not careful by using a manuscript.

Austin Huang:
It’s funny you mentioned that because I just had that experience, a very similar experience. Couple months ago at this point, I was invited to go and preach at this festival, outside music festival, lots of people. I don’t know why I was there. It was just by the grace of God, I went through a program, an evangelism program with Pulse and yeah, loved the guys over there. And they gave me this opportunity to preach halfway through this big name worship artist music concert thing. And I’m just going up there, lead guy introducing me, and I have all my notes, it’s all scripted out. I’ve got my passage I’m walking through, I’m sharing the gospel, I’m set out to preach for 10, 15 minutes and I’m like, all right, I got my iPad. I’m feeling good. I’m going to get a table. That’s what I’m thinking in my mind.
I’ve asked for a table. They said they were going to give me a table. I’m going to have a table. So I’m literally backstage, I don’t know how many people were out there, but tens of thousands of people or just waiting. They weren’t there for me. They were there so that the music artists could come back on stage, get done with this guy.

David Platt:
Yes. Yes. Of course, of course.

Austin Huang:
And so Nick Hall, I love him and I honor him. He invites me out to preach, and 30 seconds he told me he’s going to go out there, then he’s going to invite me out. So while he’s out there, I’m looking around like, Hey, is there a table for my notes? And this lady, I love her, but they didn’t have a table. And I’m just like, I need a table. I can’t hold this. And they’re like, I’m sorry, we just don’t have a table. And so I’m just standing there, I’m asking everybody around me, but I’m also freaking out for a second. And I just had this moment of realization. I’m just like, I’m praying to the Lord. I’m like, “Okay, God ,I have 15 seconds now before I go out there. If I don’t have a table, I don’t know what I had written down, so I’m just going to trust you.”
And there was a moment that clicked for me. I’m like, okay, I’m ready to go. And literally five seconds later I get a tap on the shoulder, my buddy Alex Hunter, he’s got a table on his arm. I’m just like, “Thank you, Jesus.” But I think that was a moment for me that I realized that even that in God’s sovereignty, he saw that moment and he wanted to show me, hey, it’s not about the manuscript. It’s not about the words that you prepared. It’s about will you do this even if the things that you thought were going to go well and go perfectly as planned, if Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his step, so will you trust me in that?”

David Platt:
Awesome. There’s so much I love about that because one; it’s not laziness.

Austin Huang:
Right.

David Platt:
If you weren’t going to use your notes, obviously you ended up being able to, but it’s not that you just didn’t do work. You prepared, you prayed through this. You’re like, how am I going to preach the gospel in this setting? And yes, the way God just brought you in a fresh way, the total dependence on his Spirit. And I would say, bro, those kinds of settings, those are some of the hardest. I would say easiest in a sense as a pastor preaching to people who have expectations for what we’re about to do, who are there with their Bibles open, ready to study the word with people that kind of preaching compared to the side deal and the outdoor venue with people walking around and they’re actually just waiting for the next thing. But that’s where, man, I love just the dependence on the Spirit. “Okay, God, you created this opportunity. I’m going to preach your gospel. I’m going to trust your gospel and I’m going to go for it.” Yes. But that’s hard. That’s harder than what I do on a weekly basis for sure.

Austin Huang:
Oh, I appreciate the encouragement.

David Platt:
But that’s the beauty. You step into those things. The more reps like that, it’s like, okay, yes, you see God’s faithfulness. You learn things. Okay, this went well, that didn’t go well. That’s one of the things I would encourage anybody who’s teaching the word to be, not just open to, but to solicit feedback.

Austin Huang:
Yeah, that’s good.

David Platt:
Every week I send out my manuscript to a number of people in our church family and I’m like, “Hey, please give me feedback.” And so I think about this last week, there were a couple in particular points of feedback that, man, I made some edits, changes. I need that. I want to communicate this word as faithfully and effectively as possible. And if there are brothers, sisters in Christ who’d be willing to help me do that better, then I want to do that. So anyway.

Austin Huang:
Yeah, praise God. I think that’s something that I was afraid of when I first started preaching was like, I don’t want people to give me feedback because I feel like God’s given me this calling and I’m going to figure out on my own. But where in the past three decades of you preaching, where did you find your voice? I know that’s something that I feel like it’s helpful to listen to sermons. It’s helpful to watch other preachers, pastors, but I feel like a lot of young, passionate Christians who feel called to preach or teach might just watch or consume too much to the point where they start sounding like somebody else when God’s given you your own unique voice. So when do you feel like you found that for yourself?

David Platt:
Man, that’s a good question, because I think for me early on I didn’t have access to tons of podcasts to listen to preaching. So I heard preaching from my pastor in the church growing up or this or that. But I think that might’ve been helpful in kind of forming my own voice pretty early on. And I do think… I love that question because Shaddix, he defined preaching in that first preaching classes, “The oral communication of biblical truth by the Holy Spirit through a human personality to a given audience with the intent of enabling a positive response.” So I still remember that definition, but the point was through a human personality.
So it’s through you. Yes, God’s calling, as you preach, as you teach, as anybody who’s listening to this teaches and preaches, it’s through your personality. And now I do think it’s interesting when you think about 1 Corinthians Chapter 2, how Paul seemed to be really intentional to make sure that his personality didn’t overshadow the message in any way. He wanted to make sure that people were putting their faith in the power of God, not in the wisdom or rhetoric-

Austin Huang:
Eloquence

David Platt:
… of Paul. And so I think we have to be really intentional there. But yeah, I think that’s where it is good to listen to others preaching and don’t be… I mean, you’ll pick up some things from others preaching that are good. Be aware of ways you might pick up on some mannerisms or stuff that are not as good or maybe distracting, or wait a minute, I’m starting to sound like this person in a way that’s not authentically me. But I want to preach like good preachers I know. So it’s not bad in that sense.
So where did that come together for me? I just think the more reps you do, the more that becomes that mature. And it obviously matures I think over time. Man, I remember when I first started preaching, there was this one guy who was a speech communication, he did broadcast stuff, and he would always look at me like, “David, you’re not very clear.” He would just pull me aside. He’d be like, “You’re not clear. You either speak too fast or you get too soft and you’re just not clear.” Now, obviously I’ve not learned to speak slower because Secret Church is like a million miles a minute, but he was like, “You’re not clear. You’ve got to learn to be more clear.” So anyway, I think learning that voice and learning what’s effective, and I still wrestle some with, yeah, I want to make sure I feel pretty emotional in teaching. And sometimes, at least I’ve heard criticism, I try not to just spend my time camping out on what people say to me.

Austin Huang:
All the haters.

David Platt:
Whatever. But that it’s manufactured or something, it really isn’t, I don’t think. Obviously want to test my heart to make sure that’s not the case, but if it’s distracting, then I don’t want to do that. But at the same time, it really, to me goes back to Shaddix’s, “Internalize this.” I really like, man, this is amazing. We were talking earlier about this one passage I was preaching recently that I started studying… I was studying during the day, it was a Monday. That Monday night, I was like, all right, let me read a little bit more before I go to bed. And bro, it was like, this is amazing. So I just kept going and going, this doesn’t happen all the time, but I just stayed awake all night. I’m just like, whoa.
Yeah, I still use some energy drink to help along the way, and by mid-morning I’d written a rough manuscript because I was so hungry. This is awesome. And I think if you were to listen to me preach that particular sermon, you’d be like, okay, you’re pretty hyped about this text.

Austin Huang:
Straight it.

David Platt:
But I really think it’s just because it’s amazing. Not the sermon but the text. But even, as I say that, I’m not saying that people who may not show that kind of emotion-

Austin Huang:
Totally.

David Platt:
… in preaching are any less zealous. But to your point, we have different personalities.

Austin Huang:
And I mean, I’ve heard it put as well, it’s like raising your hand in worship isn’t a sign that you’re encountering God more than the person who’s not raising your hand. But in a sense, there is a physical reaction, a physical aspect to our devotion to God. And so if it’s crying as we’re preaching the gospel or raising our voice, drilling home a point, these are things that I think the Lord has established. I think of John the Baptist, I’ve never, obviously, never seen him preach, but I could imagine that he was probably pretty just powerful in his delivery.

David Platt:
I don’t think it was a monotone, “You brood of vipers.”

Austin Huang:
Prepare the way of the Lord.

David Platt:
Yeah, yeah.

Austin Huang:
No, I think he was… I have so many-

David Platt:
That’s what I love. As we’re thinking about that. It’s one of the things I think about John Piper. I love listening to John Piper preach. I don’t think anybody listens to John Piper preach thinks, I don’t know if he really believes that. He has internalized the text.

Austin Huang:
It’s speaking to you.

David Platt:
It’s pouring out of him in a way that, yeah, it fits with his personality. But then I think about Ben Stuart, conversation we had with him. He doesn’t sound like John Piper, but I think Ben Stuart sounds like he loves this text. It’s flowing out of him, but it’s a very different… Yeah, he’s just as passionate about Jesus and the text, but it plays out differently. And I do think we have to be careful… Maybe if I could put it on both ends of the spectrum. We have to be careful not to let our personality become distracting or drown out to where there’s kind of focus on the personality and not the text. On the other end of the spectrum, I don’t think it’s altogether helpful to preach the text in a way that totally mutes your personality and who you are, and not even just your personality, but the emotion of the text. I really think kind of like we were talking about a sermon that we teach should reflect the structure of the text. I do think a sermon should also reflect the tone of the text.
So if you’re preaching a text about celebration of God’s grace and it sounds pretty low-key, I don’t think that’s… Whatever in your personality brings that key up is I think healthy. Or, if you’re preaching a text that’s like a lament, it doesn’t make sense to preach that with a smile your face the whole time. Which actually makes me think of one other thing. I think one thing I consistently, I think I’ve gotten better, but maybe not, but I know I needed to work on it more and more and more, I preached a lot, I think actually I still do struggle with this. I can come across preaching like I’m mad. I’m just like an intensity that if I’m not careful, I need to be careful to make sure smile. This is great news. Even when I’m sharing great news, I can do it with-

Austin Huang:
Very intense.

David Platt:
… intense face that can come across as almost negative. So anyway.

Austin Huang:
I feel like I’m the same way, but it’s also, that’s the reaction that we’re having. It’s like a conviction of this is so good that it’s coming out of me in this way.

David Platt:
Yes. Yes.

Austin Huang:
And you want people to see-

David Platt:
Exactly.

Austin Huang:
…like, oh, Mary, Jesus says. Yes. Man. I mean, I have so many other questions, but I know we’re probably out of time.

David Platt:
Maybe we can do a part two on this one at some point.

Austin Huang:
Yeah. Definitely. Last question. How do you make sure that the message that you’ve prepared, you’ve studied, you’ve gone through it with the Holy Spirit, you’ve drafted it out, you’ve gotten feedback, how do you make sure that the message that you actually deliver is not just information to help people think about God differently or think about their own life, their own theology, but actually meet Jesus in the midst of the sermon?

David Platt:
Man, that’s so good. Yeah. What’s helpful for me is to think about teaching the word as worship. I want… So the text that’s coming to my mind is 2 Corinthians 4-6 It’s really a powerful picture, because verse four is, “The God of this world, little G God out of this world is blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” So I know there’s an adversary whenever I’m preaching who wants to blind minds to keep them from seeing God’s glory in the face of Jesus. Verse 6 says, “And the true God, capital G God is shining light in the hearts.” And verse 5 is, “We preach Christ crucified, not ourselves, but we’re servants for your sake. We want to preach.”
So we’re right in the middle of this spiritual battle between the little G God of this world’s trying to blind minds, the true capital G God over this world who is shining light in the hearts, and what we’re doing is preaching Christ. So let’s make sure, one; we preach Christ not just a bunch of truths. We’re not just a bunch of application. Like we preach in way that will people… And it’s a good question to ask, will people love Jesus more at the end of this message? If the Spirit blesses it, will they love Jesus more than they did at the beginning of the message? That’s a worthy goal.

Austin Huang:
That’s good.

David Platt:
Not just to get through my outline, not just to have people say… Definitely not just to have people say, “That was a great message.” Will they love Jesus more? Will they have seen Jesus? In a Luke 24 kind of way, again, this is Dr. Shaddix, I’m so grateful for God’s grace through him in my life, but burning hearts. “Our hearts burned within us when Jesus was opening the scriptures to us.” So that they see Jesus and hearts are burning. So that’s the goal because 2 Corinthians 3, right before that, “Beholding the glory of the Lord being transformed into his image from one degree to another.” So really the goal of preaching is to bring people closer to Jesus, mourning the image of Jesus. The only way to do that is show them the glory of Jesus.
So make sure that in the end, that’s the aim you’re going for, exalt Jesus, and practically thinking through, how can I help people be conformed into his image through teaching this particular text? Man, and what a privilege, honor, responsibility, to the extent in which God gives us opportunities to, man, even when I think about it right now, whether preaching to thousands of people or that group of three people in this little church, like what a responsibility, what a stewardship that God’s entrusted to us. That I just want to affirm you and others who have a desire, I just, yeah, I want teach God’s word. That is a great desire. It’s a God-given desire. Obviously, always check your motives in that, but to step in fully to that desire and say, “Yeah, I want to lead people closer to Jesus. This is awesome.”

Austin Huang:
Yeah, praise God. We’re going to have to do a part two of this.

David Platt:
No, let’s do it.

Austin Huang:
But this has been super helpful. Thanks.

David Platt:
Yeah, man, I love talking about this.

Austin Huang:
Let’s go. Thanks so much for joining us today on Everyday Radical. If this episode stirred your heart for Christ and His mission, our hope is that you would check out some of our previous episodes as well, and do not forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on what’s ahead. Let’s keep making Jesus known everywhere together. See you next time.