Teaching Tip 344 | “Plain Speaking – It doesn’t take a seminary education to preach” | Malcolm Cox

Introduction
Here is your 2-minute tip based on chapter 1 of the book, “Plain speaking: How to preach and teach effectively” by David Bercot.

  • My first preaching experience: Half a sermon; profound sense of being an imposter; doing the opposite of the advice I was given. I was not asked again for a long time!
  • What God wants is more important than what you want, your peers want, those who evaluate you want, and your listeners want.

Three necessary things according to Bercot:

  1. The anointing of the Holy Spirit. More on this next week, but what does it mean to you to rely on the Spirit in your speaking?
  2. The desire to learn to preach. Note, desire is not the same as confidence. It is an inner motivation, not about presentation skill or experience.
  3. Some basic training on how to prepare an effective message. Note, it is important to avoid the extremes. God can use the untrained, but why would you want to ignore the resources available to you. Training is hugely valuable, but your confidence should be in God and his word, not your training.

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” (Matthew 10:27 NIV11)

Jesus would not command them to do that which he was not prepared to equip them for.

Conclusion
Do you believe God will equip you?
Do you a real desire to speak God to people?
Are you willing to be trained?

Has today’s tip been worth two minutes of your time? I hope so.

Next week: Don’t settle for mediocrity

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Remember to keep calm, and carry on teaching.

God bless, Malcolm