Thoughts on Talks

I list a few things that have helped me over the years.

1. Find out what God wants you to say and then say it.
2. “Christian thinking is both free and ordered; it is never loose but always disciplined thinking, disciplined by the recollection of the original words of the Biblical witnesses which it reproduces and without which it would be meaningless.” Karl Barth, Christmas, Oliver and Boyd, 1959.
3. “Throw most of it away.” Roy Moody.
4. Read the text (Dick Lucas). All the rest is window dressing.
5. “I’d rather see a dry-eyed congregation and tears in the eyes of the preacher, than tears in the eyes of the congregation and a dry-eyed preacher.” George Whitefield.
6. Say what you’re about to say, say what you’re going to say, then say what you just said.
7. “Jesus withdrew to a lonely place.” Luke.
8. “Try it out in the coffee shop.” Jay Pathak.
9. “I study my Bible as I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf.” Martin Luther.
10. Beware the dominant illustration. Many will remember nothing else.