3. Give examples. I learned this one from my preaching professor Dr. Jeff Arthurs: You can make a huge impact in your sermon in 30 seconds if you simply think of three, quick examples. I recently heard a sermon on idolatry, where the pastor gave three quick vignettes about people struggling with idols—the effect was powerful (and done in the first five minutes, as well), and I was on the edge of my seat the rest of the sermon because of it.
4. Get into the text. Now that you’ve introduced the problem, step aside. It’s time to hand off the football. I choose that metaphor carefully, because this is a careful act: You must thread the line, now, between the crisis you’ve just introduced, and the text at hand. In order to do that, you need to know your text’s Fallen Condition Focus (see Bryan Chappell’s Christ-Centered Preaching for more), and you’ll need to be able to articulate the crisis faced by the original hearers at the time. You should be able to use this simple phrase: “Jesus/Paul/Moses saw a similar problem in their day. Let me tell you about it.”
That’s it. Five minutes of magic. It’s not everything—but it’s nevertheless crucial. It may not take you to the moon, but it will get the chimps on the ship.
