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Hear and understand - Ray Comfort

It's clear from Scripture that a genuine convert is one who hears and "understands" (see Matt. 13:23). Perhaps this is why Philip the evangelist asked the Ethiopian eunuch if he understood what he was reading (Acts 8:30). This understanding seems to refer not only to sin, but also to the gospel.
My great desire is for sinners to understand the gospel and be saved. Although God alone saves the sinner, from the sowing to the reaping, I believe that, as a preacher of the gospel, my job is to strive (with the help of God) to bring about "understanding." So rather than using "enticing words of man's wisdom" (1 Cor. 2:4), I keep the message simple in the hope that the sinner will grasp what I am trying to say.
My gospel presentation may begin with a parable about a man stealing another man's lamb (as with Nathan and David), or with a quote by Athenian poets (as with Paul when he preached in Athens). I may use metaphors, similes, statistics, quotes, personal experiences, and of course I present the Law, the gospel, and the necessity of repentance and faith.
Jeremiah 50:7 All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries said, We have not offended, Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, The Lord, the hope of their fathers.
 

Mighty tempest

The storms of this life tell a thinking person that all is not well between humanity and God. The tempest of His anger sent the Genesis curse across the sea of humanity and this earthly abode. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, famine, drought, disease, and death tell us that we do not have harmony with Heaven.
It is because of death that every sensible man cries out to his god. Every civilization has a measure of faith in some god. We have yet to discover an atheistic civilization. Primitive man is ignorant, but he is not that ignorant. In his darkened mind, he worships the sun or an idol made by his hands. He practices some form of sacrifice to try to appease his god because he can see that he lives on the brink of death.
He tries through his own religious effects to "lighten the ship." But religion cannot save him from death. His own labors are not able to deliver him. It is not by any works of righteousness that we are saved, but only according to His mercy (see Eph. 2:8,9; Titus 3:5).
Jonah 1:4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.