In the last two articles we looked at how we can cast a net of questions in our introduction and fire ‘harpoon’ questions to encourage interaction. But what about those who have already stopped to listen? How can we use questions to keep their attention and call them to respond to the gospel? How can we ‘wind in the reel’?
Transition
How long do people hang around while we are preaching? Do hearers drift away as you move from one point to another? If we want to retain our hearers’ attention, our preaching must have a natural flow. We may say many true and interesting things, but they will not stick in the minds of our hearers unless there is logic and order to them. Our hearers must clearly see how our points relate to one another.
How do we naturally build bridges between the main points of our message? One effective way is to use questions. Here are a couple of approaches you could use to employ questions for this purpose.
- Anticipate objections. Typically in open-air work, our audience is not sympathetic to the message we proclaim. For every person that raises an objection to our message out loud, hundreds will raise objections silently in their mind. For each point in our message, it’s good to think about the kind of objections that people will raise. We need to anticipate these objections and questions beforehand and answer them in our preaching. The Puritans often did this to great effect. And if you read the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul bases the structure of the early chapters around several objections to the gospel. Let me give you an example. I preach a message on the question of ‘What makes the Bible unique?’. My first reason for the Bible’s uniqueness is the Author of the Bible. It is given to us as a revelation of God, through human authors. Thus it is the Word of God – He is the ultimate Author. A listener may then reason in their mind, ‘Well there are many religions that make this claim about their book. How can we know for sure that the Bible is truly from God?’ That’s the time where I would state that very question out loud, and answer it with the next point The Unity of the Bible. I speak about the remarkable unity of the themes and message of the Bible in spite of the diversity of its origins.
- Circle back to the title. If your message answers a question, circle back to the question to build the case you are making. For example, if you were preaching a message on ‘What happens when you believe in Jesus?’, after speaking about the gifts of sins forgiven and peace with God, you could ask ‘But what else happens when you believe in Jesus? Could you get anything more than complete forgiveness and peace with your Maker? Yes! The Bible says you receive something else. Your life changes…’
But once we have moved through our points, do questions still have a purpose? Yes! We need to employ them in the most important part of preaching: Application.
We may say many true and interesting things, but they will not stick in the minds of our hearers unless there is logic and order to them.
Application
I once heard a preacher speak about his seminary professor standing at the back of the class as the students gave a sermon for critique. If the student went on too long without application, the professor would hold up a placard that read ‘So what?!’ Our open-air preaching must call people to respond to the truth they have heard. We need to apply the truth to hearts and consciences, pleading with sinners to be reconciled with God. We need to confront them with the need for firm decision as to who Jesus Christ is and their response to Him. We want their affections, attitudes, thinking and desires to be changed by the gospel message.
Once again, questions are a help here.
In Matthew 16, Jesus, after asking his disciples what others thought of his identity, then asked his disciples directly, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Matthew 16:15). Though this was not in the setting of public preaching, we nonetheless see a question used to bring the disciples to a place of decision. It is following this question that Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ.
We should use application questions throughout our message. Application should not just come at the end, particularly in an open-air setting where people may only be stopping to listen for a few minutes.
What does this look like in practice? Here are some sample application questions an open-air preacher might use:
- What is stopping you from coming to Jesus Christ?
- What are you living for? Will you live for the passing things of this world? Or will you live for Christ, who gives eternal life to those who trust Him?
- Why don’t you take a Bible and test what I am saying? Investigate these things for yourself!
- Why do you dismiss the reality of the resurrection without considering the evidence?
- Who do you say that Jesus is?
Conclusion
Weaving questions throughout your message will hold it together. Using them in application will cut through to the conscience. As you prepare your next message, ask yourself: Where can I anticipate objections? How can I drive home application? Whether you are casting the net, firing the harpoon, or reeling in your hearers with gospel application, may the Lord be pleased to use our questions to draw people to Himself!
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