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SPEAKING FOR CHRIST

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Although everyone is called to be a witness, and is able to be a witness, not everyone is called to speak. Witnessing simply requires a willingness, in the best way we can, to share our faith and tell others about Jesus. Speaking is seeking to teach and instruct.

However we may, from time to time, be called on to speak, and although we may not be gifted, we can learn basic skills and become competent.

Where does the material and subject matter for a talk come from?

There are two sorts of talk -

a. Topical Talks - where we have a subject and we speak to that.

Topical speaking needs to be used rarely.
Firstly, because we will soon run out of topics to speak on.
Secondly, because we shall be expressing our prejudices and opinions, or tending to do so, rather than the Word of God.
Thirdly, because we shall find we repeat ourselves.

b. Expository Talks - where we find the Word of God suggesting a subject, and we seek to explain what God is saying in the verse or passage.

Expository speaking is best. We place ourselves under the control and authority of the Word of God. We are more under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. We will never be short of something worthwhile to say.

The resources for speaking come from our own feeding on God's Word. What God has said to us, we can share, specially if we have found the power of his Word in our own lives. Thus those who have learnt to feed themselves on God's Word are the ones who will have material with which to feed others.

If we may be called to speak, it is good idea to have a notebook and pen with us when we read God's Word. If some thought is given to us, write it down, together with any developement upon it. Then we will not forget what God has taught us. We may not use the material just as it is, but we will have resource material to weave into our talks.

The ones who have learnt to feed deeply on God's Word will be the ones with the most and best material for talks and for speaking for Jesus. Shallow reading of God's Word will not be suficient. Dig deep. Think deeply. Work hard. Meditate much. Go over the passage again and again.

Together with our own study of God's Word, resource material comes from reading good books and commentaries. They must always be evaluated by Scripture - the Bereans, in the Acts of the Apostles, searched the Scriptures to see if the things the Apostle Paul was saying were true. We will be better equipped to speak if we are readers. Folk today have more good books to read, but read less.

Taped messages and expositions also will be helpful to fill our minds with good matter, from which the Spirit of God can draw when we are preparing a talk. We shall also learn something about how others put together their talks.

To the degree we have fed spiritually and applied the word to our own souls, will be the degree we will have good matter for speaking to others.

However it is not so much how much we have learnt, but whether what we have learnt is digested, believed, absorbed into our lives, and that we obey it and live it.

1. The most important thing in speaking for Christ is having a message from God impressed upon us for the occasion. It is not a question of having something to say, however good that something is; but what does Jesus want me to say.

How do we find such a message? When we know we have an engagement - even if it is only to share a thought with the fellowship - in all our reading and study of God's Word, we pray that God will enlighten us with the word he wants us to speak. As we read and nourish ourselves, we must have this in the back of our minds, then we will find God giving us the word to speak.

God will not fail us. Something in our reading will be impressed upon us. Or something in our reading will trigger off the remembrance of something we learnt in the past. Here, our notebook of thoughts will be invaluable.

Try never to speak unless you have the consciousness that the message you have is what God purposes for that occasion. The conviction of this will vary in degree, but it needs to be there. We are ambassadors for Christ, and we must speak only the message our Lord and Master gives us to speak.

2. The direction of God at this stage may only be a verse of Scripture or a passage. Further work is needed.

It is a good thing at this stage to write down on a piece of paper all the thoughts suggested by the verse or passage. These thoughts may be wide and diverse, but write them all down. If some relate to each other, put then in a group together.

3. Pray and meditate, asking God to show you precisely the theme he wants you to get over. Some call this 'obtaining a title'; others call it 'fixing an aim'. What we see clearly, when we have an aim, is the particular message God wants us to proclaim.

This must be one thing only, and not a series of things. We have not got our aim unless we have got this one thing clear and settled. It must be from God and not from our own ideas.

4. Next select, from all the ideas and thoughts on the piece of paper, only those thoughts which are relevant and helpful to get over the one aim - the message God has given you. Reject all the other material, however good it may seem to you. This is not a Bible Study when we say all we can about a passage; but a message, where we keep to the one thought God is giving us to proclaim.

The best sermons or talks are those which have one theme or message, and all the points of the talk amplify, explain and develope this one message. It is like a spiral staircase. The central core is the theme, which we walk round again and again by the points in our talk, but each time we walk around the theme, it takes us higher in our understanding of it.

The talk which goes in a straight line will achieve very little, because what we said at the beginning will be forgotten by the time we come to the end.

We are now ready to begin writing out our talk. When we begin the ministry of speaking, it will be good practice to write out our talks completely. This will achieve two things. Firstly, it will help the flow of our language and choice of words. Secondly, it will cause us to order our thoughts and think through every detail.

Our text goes at the top. Our aim underneath.

The structure of the talk is something like this -

Introduction - here we will declare what we are going to say - i.e. we will state our aim in some clear concise way.

The Body of the Talk. Here will come our various points to get over the aim.

Conclusion or Application. Here we must seek to apply the message of the aim, and press it upon our hearers.

Don't be afraid of distinct headings and points. They help to fix the mind and help the memory of our hearers. The points will also help us to be clear and order our thoughts and material.

When an illustration comes to mind to get over a point, use it. But never tell stories for a laugh or to entertain, or even to gain the attention for your audience. Illustrations must be for the ellucidating of the point in the message we are seeking to get over.

At the time of delivery it is best to get to the stage of speaking from a precis of the the complete written talk.

We can easily lose our place in a full written text. Reading a talk is bad. It works for a lecture, but not for a spiritual message.

If we are to speak from a precis in note form, we must have spent time in memorising the details of our message, by going over your talk several times.

Sometimes when we are speaking, a thought, which was not in the sermon when written, will come into our minds. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He is generally the author of such thoughts. Don't be afraid to include them in your talk as you are speaking.

1. Pray with your audience before and after your talk. Before to enlist God's aid and blessing on the talk. At the end to ask God to make the word effective in the lives of the hearers.

2. Make sure nothing in your appearance distracts unnecessarily.

3. Speak up and modulate your voice. You must aim to be heard clearly in the back row. Practice with a tape recorder, and with a friend who will give faithful criticism.

4. Look at the people, or at least appear to do so.

5. If you use mannerisms or movement, make sure this enhances and not detracts from the impact of the Word.

6. Don't be too long. A talk should only be as long as people are listening and are interested. When we start the ministry of speaking, five to ten minutes will be ample.

7. Be utterly dependent on God. The blessing comes entirely from the Holy Spirit. If there is blessing, the whole exercise from the moment we seek a message to the last word of the closing prayer will be from Him.

8. Pray much over the message and for the people you are speaking to. Pray after the event as well as before.