Here’s an interesting paragraph from the life of Jesus:

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6.33, 34, ESV)

When’s the last time you saw people running to hear someone? It’s interesting to think why the crowd valued Jesus’ teaching so much. Mark doesn’t even record what he taught. But we know he taught simply, sometimes in parables, but mostly just practical stuff.

There’s a church where I speak from time to time. Everyone likes the pastor, but I’ve heard him preach, and he gives them too much content, little of which is applicable. When I’m there, sharing simple, applicable stuff, people tell me how much they appreciate it. My friend Ray was the guest speaker at a church once, and people came up to tell him how “clear and relevant” his sermon was. Ray told me, “So they’re used to unclear and irrelevant?”

Regular people crave simple teaching that they can put into practice. Andy Stanley lists “practical preaching” as one of the five catalysts for growth. He writes in his book Deep and Wide, “You’ll remember the first time you heard practical preaching.” I remember. I was raised on solid “Bible teaching,” which was interesting but mostly not applicable. I heard a guy preach for a week from a chart that compared the seven dispensations to the seven churches of Revelation and the seven stages of Paul’s journey by ship in Acts 27.

When I first went to a conference hosted by The Navigators, I heard ordinary men challenging me to put the Word into practice. Here’s an example I’ve blogged about before: old-school Navigator Max Barnett, 82 years old at the time, sharing the importance of quiet time. Or go to discipleshiplibrary.com, search for Skip Gray and pick any message!  

And the common people heard Him gladly. (Mark 12.37, NKJV)

They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage. (Nehemiah 8.8, NLT)

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. (Matthew 7.28, 29, NLT)