Simplify the Message

Simplify the Message: Multiply the Impact is designed to help preachers break through the noise of culture and the cauldron of church to deliver sermons with clarity, passion, and boldness. This book meets the needs of two cohorts in particular: 1) young preachers developing their skills who need structure, a process, and hope, and 2) more seasoned preachers who may have “settled” needing tools to invigorate their preparation and inspire their delivery.

Paul told the Corinthians: “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified.” (I Corinthians 2:1-2, CEB)

Author Talbot Davis shares the insights and habits that will empower the reader’s preaching and teaching to be:

Both creative and disciplined;
Both carefully prepared and thoroughly spontaneous; and
Both rooted in history and connected to modernity.


Simple is the opposite of simplistic. Sermons with clear & unmistakable focus are best able to plumb the depths not only of Gospel beauty but of the hearers’ lives.

Certainly, there is a difference between sermons given by young preachers and those delivered by seasoned ones. But often they share a common need…the need to break through the noise of culture and the cauldron of church to deliver sermons with clarity, passion, and boldness. Simplify the Message gives less experienced pastors a structure and a process for their sermons while providing practiced clergy the tools they need to invigorate their preparation and inspire their delivery. Stemming from the experiences and reflections of a 28-year preaching veteran, this resource is filled with examples of how simplified messages enhance impact.