This week we are collecting radar equipment. Better, we are compiling a wishlist to bring before God and ask Him to develop in us as we grow as preachers. Early warning systems that will make us better preachers. So far we’ve thought about an OT radar, a hissing radar, and a resistance radar. How about one regarding our own delivery?
Radar 4. Obfuscation Radar (in your delivery)
“def. to make something confusing or difficult to understand.” Most preachers don’t do this on purpose. In fact, most preachers’ sermons make good sense to the preacher. But good preachers’ sermons make sense to the listeners too.
How can we grow in this area? Chase helpful and specific feedback, listen to the audio of your message, watch a video of your preaching, do whatever you can to develop discernment as to your own obfuscation tendencies. Do you speak too fast? Do you pause too little? Is your energy incessant? Are your transitions too brief? Are your gestures distracting? Is your sermon structure complex? Is your vocabulary too lofty?
Prayerfully and conversationally (i.e. with friends) develop a radar that will beep when your delivery is, in reality, not as clear as your pride tells you it is.
Biblical Preaching 
Even worse — the tempatation to appear clever to the congregation, by using long words where short ones will do. I doubt there’s ever a compelling reason for a sermon to use words like “propitiation”; as you;’ve noted in this blog, it’s rarely (though occasionally) helpful to talk about the original Hebrew or Greek. Yet these things do crop up in sermons, and sometimes it’s hard not to suspect that they’re there at least in part to show off.