When we prepare to preach a passage we will find ourselves wrestling with the text, and often we will find the text wrestling with us.  This is good and it should be this way.  The Spirit of God should be doing a work in us through the text that we are studying.

But there is a complexity here.  As a preacher, you are probably, and hopefully, a relatively mature believer.  This means that you will more naturally find yourself challenged by the aspects of the passage that are applicational or doxological.  This will not be the case for some, or even for many, of your listeners.

When you preach in your church there will be some present who cannot see past the challenge of believing the text.  There may be some aspects of it that seem far-fetched or fanciful.  You may have overcome those obstacles years ago and no longer see them when you look at a text, but be sure to put yourself in the shoes of a contemporary unchurched listener.

Until a text does not seem fanciful or far-fetched, the applicational and doxological implications will only have minimal impact in the listener’s heart and life.  This is why we need to spot all the challenges and help our listeners be able to hear the ones that will really help them!