Preaching, rightly conceived, is not a monologue. A monologue is delivered by an actor to a single voice and an audience. But preaching, true preaching, must never be a spectacle before passive observers, nor delivered to be appreciated by connoisseurs like a concerto. Preaching is a dialogue, and in some ways the hardest kind, where only one side is verbal and the other happens deep in hearts and hidden minds. A good preacher must learn to listen and to respond.
Yes, in some traditions, the congregation provides verbal cues, such as “Amen,” “Come on,” and “That’s right.” But these are mostly encouragements and affirmations. If you are not overly bound to your notes, you can also read the congregation’s faces as you scan the room, catching glimpses of confusion, conviction, or pain. Still, the most important part of the dialogue doesn’t happen in the moment. It must be discerned prayerfully long before the seats are filled and the Bibles are opened. This deeper dialogue begins in the pastor’s study. It shapes the sermon in its very design; the delivery only gives voice to what’s already been heard in secret (cf. Mark 2:8).
Before we focus on preaching, we need to recognize that effective preaching comes from faithful pastoring. The best way to start the conversation is to understand your congregation. Preaching should be built on ongoing dialogue that has been happening in living rooms on Tuesday or in the prayer meeting on Wednesday morning. Preaching as a dialogue on Sunday requires attentive listening throughout the week.
Effective preaching also comes from our personal devotional engagement with the text. We must realize that the person called to deliver God’s Word is also the first to receive it, and if we allow the text to expose us, as it promises to do (Hebrews 4:13), then our personal dialogue can guide us, recognizing that all our questions are human questions.
Still, there are tools that help preaching become more dialogical. These tools serve as diagnostics—ways to listen for the questions your congregation is quietly asking so that you can respond to them clearly. To remember them, I use four two-word phrases: Say What? How So? Yeah Right! and So What?1 These may not be the only questions people are asking, but if you can locate and respond to each of them in your sermon, your preaching will connect with greater clarity and power.
We’ll explore each of these in turn.
Say What?
A primary goal in preaching is to be understood. That is the beauty of Pentecost: through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, people from many nations “heard them telling in their own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11). While language barriers might not be your most common problem, the risk of misunderstanding is always there. Sometimes, what you say enters someone’s ears and bounces right off. Say What? is the response when your listener doesn’t understand what you just said.
Here is the problem with not preparing in advance: unless the Spirit suddenly grants you the gift of tongues, you always understand yourself. It is easy to assume that others do as well. This is called the tyranny of knowledge. Once you know something, it’s hard to remember what it was like not to know it. You have spent hours in the text, reading commentaries, exploring context, and consulting maps or concordances. But your audience is hearing it for the first time.
And, Lord willing, you are not just speaking to experienced believers. There are probably unbelievers and new Christians in the audience. They might not know who Peter is, what Ezekiel was doing, or what propitiation means. They may not even know what justification means.
But the issue extends beyond Bible terms and Christian jargon. Do not assume everyone shares your love of baseball if it drives your illustration. Do not assume they understand your idioms or cultural references. Instead, learn to see your sermon from the perspective of a diverse audience and prepare accordingly.
Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying you need to simplify your vocabulary or flatten your message. I am saying you need to express the same truth in more than one way. Say it your way, then say it again in another way, and then find a third way to say it. This is called restatement.
Restatement is not mindless repetition, though repetition has its place. It is the art of expressing the same idea again with fresh language, a new metaphor, or a second example. Good preachers restate instinctively, like musicians who can sight-read with ease. But that skill only develops through practice and intention.
Here is a practical move: review your sermon with the Say What? question in mind. Mark what might lose some, and what must reach all. Then provide a quick definition, a second illustration, or a simpler synonym. The goal is that by the time someone in the room thinks, “Wait, what?”, you have already opened another door and they are walking through it.
How So?
Another question that can derail your audience is How so? In other words, How does that work? What are the parts I need to see? What holds that idea together? The answer to How so? is explanation. It means taking the time to walk your listeners through how something actually functions.
Preachers often tell people what to believe or what to do, but they neglect to explain how belief takes shape or how obedience happens. We say things like “Walk by the Spirit,” “Trust in God,” or “Take up your cross,” but for someone asking How?, those words can seem like riddles. Or we introduce a theological idea, like atonement, union with Christ, or sanctification, and assume it’s clear. The listener is left holding a phrase that never opens.
This is where How so? matters. Good explanations give people handles. It slows the pace, traces the logic, and shows how the parts connect. It walks instead of leaps. If Say What? helps us clarify our language, How so? helps us clarify our meaning. It doesn’t just name the truth. It shows its shape.
This kind of explanation isn’t about rambling or overwhelming people with detail. The goal is not to say everything. It is to offer a hand, just enough help for someone to step across the creek. You are not dragging them along for miles, and you are not treating them like an infant learning to walk. You are simply guiding them just far enough for the truth to come into focus.
Practically, preparing for the How so? means paying attention to the loaded phrases and complex ideas in your sermon. These are the moments that carry weight: doctrinal claims, spiritual commands, or unfamiliar terms. Listeners may not be confused by your words, but they may be unsure how to carry them. You do not need to slow down for everything, but you do need to slow down for something. A faithful sermon may move quickly in places, but it should always pause long enough to bring clarity.
Yeah Right!
Another question that can rise up in your listener’s heart is Yeah right. In other words, Do I actually believe that? Does that hold up in real life? Is that really true? While many people in your audience chose to be there and may be generally sympathetic, you must never assume agreement. Skepticism should be anticipated.
Preaching is not a peaceful stroll through open minds. Its spiritual warfare. As Paul writes, we’re “tearing down arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We shouldn’t expect to simply walk into every heart and plant a flag. We should expect resistance.
Sometimes that resistance comes from seekers and skeptics—those who are still weighing the truth of Christianity. We must always preach as if they’re in the room. If they are, it matters. If they aren’t, it still signals, as Timothy Keller often pointed out, that your preaching is meant for unbelieving coworkers and neighbors. When your congregation hears that kind of preaching, it equips them to share their faith and encourages them to bring others. If Sunday is for outsiders too, then they should invite them.
But resistance isn’t limited to unbelievers. Christians in the room may also struggle to receive what you say. Doubt, fear, and disappointment push back: I’ve tried that and it didn’t work. You don’t know my boss. That’s easy for you to say.These objections may not sound like full-grown Yeah Rights. They may just be smaller, quieter cousins—the baby Yabbuts.Yeah, but… and then the exception comes.
A faithful preacher takes these objections seriously. This is where we move from stating truth to proving it. Not in a cold or combative way, but thoughtfully and persuasively. Yeah Right? asks whether what we’re saying can stand up to scrutiny, suffering, and lived experience. Clarity and coherence aren’t enough. We must also be convincing. This means preparing in advance for where resistance is likely to emerge—where faith feels costly or obedience seems unreasonable. And it requires recognizing that we’re not addressing neutral minds. No human simply follows the truth wherever it leads. We all have a stake in the status quo. We are self-justifying sinners, often unwilling to believe what would require us to change.
Sometimes persuasion means making a stronger biblical case. Other times it means appealing to authorities your audience already trusts, as Paul did on Mars Hill. He did not begin with the Law and the Prophets. He began with their poets, because he was speaking to Athenians, not Israelites.
At times, persuasion requires creativity. When the front door is barred to truth, it may slip in through a side window. Nathan the prophet knew this when he told David a story instead of confronting him directly. A well-chosen illustration, a broader human insight, or a question posed in humility can soften defenses and let conviction enter another way. A good argument reaches the mind, a wise one reaches the will, but the most effective ones often reach the heart first. A story can make the truth beautiful before the listener admits it is right.
A word must be said about tone. The metaphors of battle remind us that preaching is contested, but they do not justify hostility. As Paul tells Timothy, “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone” (2 Timothy 2:24), and Peter urges us to “make a defense… with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). We do not argue to win. We speak as those who understand the struggle to believe and long for others to see the truth. We are not trying to win arguments. We are trying to win people.
So What?
The final question your sermon must answer is So what? This is the question of relevance. But we must be careful not to confuse relevance with trendiness. So What? is not about referencing hipster jeans or Beyoncé lyrics. Nor is it about preaching the doctrine of the age in the language of the culture. Relevance is not compromise. It is clarity—showing your audience that what you are saying matters. Deeply. Personally. Right now.
True relevance is rooted in the conviction that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). If that is true, then the truths we proclaim are not optional insights. They are liberating realities. The goal of the sermon is never just information. It is transformation. It is not enough for your audience to understand what you said or how it works or even to agree that it’s true. They must see why it matters. They must be called to respond.
Sometimes, So What? goes unspoken. It hides behind notebooks and nods. Some believe that knowing more equals growing more. They come to church with a Bible in hand and fill the margins with notes, but nothing in their lives ever changes. Others can quote Scripture but rarely live by it. They speak with spiritual confidence but act with little compassion. They are full of Bible and full of themselves.
Preaching must confront this disconnect. It does not simply invite; it commands. Preaching does not exist to confirm our impressions but to correct our course. It says, “Repent.” “Believe.” “Follow.” “Go.” A faithful sermon should not only reveal the truth, it should press it upon the heart, summon the will, and move the life. If the sermon ends with nodding heads but unchanged hearts, we have missed the mark.
This is why every preacher must ask: Have I shown why this matters? Have I called for a response? Have I made clear that the Word of God is not just something to admire, but something to obey?
So What? is where preaching becomes ministry. It is where truth turns personal. It is where God speaks, not just about the world, but to the soul.
This kind of preaching requires deliberate preparation. As you craft your sermon, identify moments that carry significance—where truth intersects with pain, hope, habits, or decisions. Ask yourself: What response does this truth evoke? What would obedience look like? What needs to be repented of, trusted, or acted upon? Paul did not stop at explanation. He pressed for a response. “We urge you in the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Answering So What? may include practical application, but it is more than a list of next steps. It is a burden. It is the ache of a preacher who longs not only to be heard but to see lives transformed by the truth of God’s Word.
Conclusion
Answering these four questions does not simply enhance preaching. It defines it. Faithful preaching is not just saying true things out loud. It is bringing the truth all the way home. Our aim is not only to speak clearly, but to communicate, instruct, convince, and invite. Say What? clarifies the message. How So? makes it understandable. Yeah Right? makes it believable. So What? makes it matter.
Preaching is like a journey by train. At every station—each question—your listener has a chance to step off. They did not understand. Or they could not follow. Or they did not believe. Or they failed to see why it mattered. The preacher’s task is to keep them on board. Not by pressure, but by presence. Not through force, but through faithfulness. You walk with them, one question at a time, until they arrive at the true destination.
And that destination is not just agreement with the preacher. It is an encounter with God. When we preach dialogically, we are not simply having a conversation with the audience. We are making space for the audience to have a conversation with God. Preaching is not performance. It is invitation. It is God speaking through His Word, and people responding in the quiet places of conviction, worship, and surrender. That is the final goal of every sermon. Not just that they hear us, but that they hear Him. And that they answer.
Reference:
[1] This four-question framework is inspired by Haddon Robinson’s categories for handling the Big Idea of a sermon in Biblical Preaching, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014), 104–108, where he describes the need to explain, prove, illustrate, and apply the central truth.
Justin Thomas is president of Calvary Chapel Bible College (CCBC) in Bradenton, Florida, where he is an alumnus. Prior to serving at CCBC, he was the founding pastor of Calvary: The Hill in Seattle, Washington. In addition to holding an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary, Justin is continuing his studies at Western as a doctoral student (Ph.D.) in Intercultural Education. Follow Justin on Instagram.
