Mary/Martha Monday #3. What's the Best Way to Teach the Bible: Topical or Chapter-By-Chapter?

Surprise! I “pinch-hit” preached at my church yesterday with about two hours' notice. While I’ve pinch hit keynotes for years, I've never had just two total hours to get ready. Also, pinch-hit preaching on a Sunday morning was a first for me. I usually speak at women's events.


The pastor texted about two hours before service, feeling too sick to function. We'd recently lost our Associate Pastor and were without a deacon board.

The “Mary/Martha” aspect of this story involves the way my pastor teaches and how I teach. Both are powerful and consistent with Scripture, but they’re about as opposite as possible.

• The Calvary Chapel model is to preach through the Bible cover to cover. We go in order, chapter by chapter. We attend this church because we LOVE the deep insights gained through this approach (and we love the people, of course!).
• My method is to research consistent themes, identify principles and teach truth. Perspective Transforming Truth.

Instinctively I knew with confidence I needed to prepare a message using my method vs. his.

The result of this radical, surprise switch-up in teaching methods worked beautifully.

1. I define success as God’s, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” I felt very carried and flowed through by God. I experienced His love as I prepared, spoke and processed it after. Yes!
   
2. Glowing eyes. As I spoke, I saw eyes expand, mist over and sparkle. I saw heads nod and heard several verbalize an amen. Yes!
   
3. Comments afterward. My favorite was the man who rushed toward me with an animated, “That was AWESOME!” The pastor told me others explained is “wonderful.”
   
4. Perspective Transformation. One man told me he’d been very upset prior to church. He couldn’t see the pastor and was panicking. He was trying to figure out a plan if he didn’t show. Plus, he was beating himself up for not being equipped to step in. He said, “And then you stood up and it was all right! We aren’t all supposed to be able to do everything.”

And, HOW did I prepare a unique sermon and create a 60-slide PPT in less than two hours? I...

• Prayed for direction.
  
• Ran on the elliptical 20 minutes, like I always do, while praying for direction.
  
• Showered and got ready.
  
• Crafted a message specifically for the first Sunday of 2020.
  
• Put together the 60-slide PowerPoint presentation using mostly slides from my PowerPoint Master*.
  
• Made copies of the handout I’d use.
  
• Arrived at church 10 minutes early, in time to get the PPT thumb-drive to the tech team.

Believe! If God calls you to it, He will equip you to do it. We are created to be His flow-through-vessels. I call times like this a "data dump." I just listen and follow through.

What if I'd wasted time trying to figure out if I was supposed to it like Doug? What if I'd invested energy worrying how the congregation would respond to such a radical derivation from the normal teaching style? What if I'd gotten up apologetically instead of with confidence?

I was totally SURE I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time for God to flow through! And, you, my friend, YOU are who you are by God's design. Rejoice in it and share your awesomeness with the world!

*My PPT Master includes ALL the slides I've ever used in presentations. It's a huge file, but allows me to grab images for stories, strategies and statistics in a flash. Do you have one? If not, what do you use?


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