Kevin DeYoung's "IDEA" on Preaching

From http://blog.9marks.org/2010/01/one-thing-i-remember-from-preaching-class.html by Rev. Kevin DeYoung

When you come to a passage there are four things you can do: illustrate, defend, explain, apply. I rearranged the order from seminary class so the four points make a convenient acronym: IDEA. Most young preachers, and probably most preachers in general, gravitate toward "explain." We do best at studying the text and communicating what we learned to others. If the passage is especially obscure or controversial, it makes sense to land heavy on the E. But sometimes the passage is relatively simple. In this case, don't spin your wheels on endless word studies that basically repeat with synonyms what everyone can see immediately in the text.