“Last week we looked at Exodus 3, please turn with me to Exodus 4.”  Such a statement may be technically accurate, but for listeners it is tedious and irrelevant.  As preachers we need to get the attention of the listeners rather than assuming we have it merely because they are still sitting there.

Yet getting attention is an inexact science.  You could shout, dance, set fire to the floral arrangement or try to tear a phone book.  All would get attention, but most would achieve very little that is good for your sermon.  No matter how effective we are at gaining attention, that only gives us a brief window of opportunity before any gains are lost.  The introduction must go beyond attention.

It seems to me that a decent introduction becomes a great introduction when it truly surfaces genuine need that will then be addressed by the passage.  Most sermons I hear (and preach), would be much stronger if more attention was given to this issue of raising need.  As Haddon Robinson has said, “the true test of an introduction is whether people want to hear the sermon once the introduction is over.”  Simple but true.  Strive to create a real hunger and thirst for what is to come, and then move people effectively into the message and text.