Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He will take the things of Christ and reveal them to you. He will bring to your remembrance what Christ has said. He is to glorify Christ.
So, all the time when you are in the process of preparing the message, you need to depend upon the Holy Spirit—all the time. You need to ask Him to illumine the text, to quicken your memory, and to show you how to put things in order. You need to depend on the Holy Spirit all the time.
And secondly, through the process, you need to pray unceasingly. You need to tell the Lord that you cannot do it yourself, and you are not going to do it yourself. You depend upon Him to help you in developing that message.
You pray over what He has given to you. And, of course, after the message is finished, you give it back to the Lord and ask the Lord to keep it.
So, depending upon the Holy Spirit and praying all the time: these are two essential conditions in the preparation.
Now, the next step will be the delivery. All right, God has given you the message, and the time has come to deliver that message.
Now, how good it would be if, the moment you have the message, you deliver it, because then it is fresh and living. But unfortunately, sometimes it may be another week, and sometimes maybe another month, before you are able to deliver that message.
Well, even your notebook does not help very much. Probably, when you develop your message, it is good for some people to jot down some thoughts or to have some key words. You really need to ask the Lord to give you some key words so that they will remind you of what the Lord has shown you.
So, in a notebook, probably you have a brief outline with a few thoughts or key words. That is good. Some people are able not to use notes at all. I mean, it is all in the mind, and they are able to remember. I used to be able to do that, but no more. My mind has degenerated, and I cannot think without writing.
So, in my own preparation, I have to write down what the Lord has given to me. I write it down, but in delivery I do not strictly follow that. It helps with the thinking. So, even if you can write it down, it is all right, but do not stick to it.
Because if you stick to it, at the moment when the Spirit of God is going to speak something, you will not allow Him to do it.
But anyway, you will find that when you come to the time of delivery, what do you do? Is it because you have a message that you can simply go there and deliver it? It will not work.
By the time of delivery, you may find that the message has become letter. You may find that it is not living anymore. The words are there, the thoughts are there, but the life is not there. Sometimes you cannot even remember.
So, what should you do? Now, brothers and sisters, the first thing you need to do before you deliver a message is to offer yourself afresh to God.
Again, we say the messenger is more important. You need to present yourself afresh to God. If there is any sin in your life, any controversy with the Lord or with your brothers and sisters, any obstacle that stands in the way, any bitterness in your spirit—all the things that can block the flowing of God’s Word—you have to have them dealt with before you deliver the message.
That you may be a clean, clear vessel in the hand of God, that His Word may go through you. So, brothers and sisters, every time before you deliver a message, you need to go to the Lord, have dealings with Him, and prepare your spirit.
Furthermore, you need to bring that message to the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to bring it to life. The Holy Spirit is able to bring it to life.
You ask the Lord to touch you once more, that your spirit will be one with the message, that your thoughts and your memory will return, and that your feeling may go together with the message. You need to ask the Lord to do these things.
You need to ask the Lord to anoint you afresh with the Holy Spirit. You tell the Lord you cannot do it, but you claim His anointing as your portion. In other words, you are doing it in His power, not in your power.
Now, these are the preparations you have to make before you deliver a message.
And thank God, when you go to the Lord, you will find that He will refresh it within you. He will renew your mind. He will bring back the memory. He will even create the right feeling within you, so that your words and your feeling will go together. The Spirit of God and your spirit will support the word that you are delivering.
At the time of delivery, brothers and sisters, number one: forget yourself.
You know, we are so self-conscious, and when we are very self-conscious, we inhibit the Spirit of God.
Let me tell you a story. In China, we had a great evangelist, Dr. John Sung. I knew him very well. I think that, in the history of the Chinese church, he was the one whom God used most in evangelism. Thousands and thousands of people were saved through him.
But I have to tell you that when I first heard him, he was not clear in gospel truth. Later, he became better.
One day I asked him this question. I said, “Brother, can you tell me, what is your secret?”
You know what he said? He said, “Every time before I go to speak, I spend half an hour before the Lord, meditating on His love. So when I go out to speak, I forget myself.”
And slowly, he just forgot himself. He could take off his coat; he could jump down from the platform. He had no self-consciousness at all—no self-consciousness. So the Spirit of God could just get through him.
You know how self-consciousness stays in the way. So we need to ask the Lord to deliver us from self-consciousness.
You know, Mrs. Penn-Lewis, Jessie Penn-Lewis, was a great speaker, greatly used by God. But do you know how nervous she was? She was a very nervous person. She could not stand before people.
Before she spoke, she was so nervous. But when she started to speak, it was all gone.
I have to confess to you, I am the most nervous person, and I think people know it. But thank God, when you come to the delivery of the Word, it seems that God just covers me.
You know, do not think of yourself. You are there speaking for God. You are not delivering yourself or your message; you are delivering the message of your Master to the people.
And, of course, unless the Lord’s mercy is upon us, we always remember ourselves. We need His mercy.
Now, in delivering, of course, there are certain things that you need to remember. I think this is where Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students is very helpful.
Now, I do not agree with him in certain things. For example, he said that if you want to have a good voice, you need to eat lots of pepper. No, I do not know. I could not take pepper anyway. It may help; it may make you very hot.
But still, his advice to his students on speaking is superb.
Now, in speaking and delivering a message, of course, the first important thing is voice. If you cannot be heard, however good the message is, it is not delivered. So, first of all, the voice is important.
You have to learn to project your voice. Do not let your voice stay in your throat. Let your voice project out.
Now, I am told Spurgeon’s voice was wonderful. Of course, they did not have microphones at that time, but his voice just boomed out. So, when we learn speaking, we need to learn how to project our voice.
A loud voice does not necessarily mean a projected voice. Some people can be very loud, but all people hear is sound—noise. They do not hear the words. So the voice does not project. You need to project your voice.
Now, that needs some practice. And you need to articulate clearly. When you speak, people need to understand you. You need to articulate clearly and make it understandable.
There is no need to use high-sounding words. Use words that people can understand. Sometimes you use words that people do not understand, and then the meaning is lost.
Your voice should be natural. Do not try to intone or imitate other people’s voices. When you are talking, it is one voice, and when you are preaching, it is another voice—that is artificial.
Sometimes people, even when they pray, have another voice. That is very artificial. Be natural. Be natural.
And, of course, as to gestures, the same thing applies: be natural. Do not try to think beforehand what you are going to do with this hand and that hand at a certain word. Then, when you are talking, you are thinking about that.
Let it be natural. When you speak about a certain thing, you may need to open your hands wide. But if there is no need, do not open them. Why do it? It is flatly wrong. Be natural.
Of course, if you read Spurgeon’s lectures, you will find that there are certain gestures he warns people not to use because they do not seem presentable. But anyway, I would say: just be natural.
And at the time of delivery, in your spirit, be in touch with the Lord. Sometimes, as you talk and talk and go on, it seems that the connection is cut off, and immediately you sense it. Come back and be one with the Spirit of God.
You can use illustrations, as our brother mentioned already, because illustrations are like windows. If you have a house with no windows, the light does not come in or cannot go out. So you need windows.
But you have to be careful that your illustrations are not overwhelming, so that you forget the substance. That is what our brother already mentioned.
Now finally, after delivery—and this is very important—reaction comes in.
Sometimes the reaction is that you are elated. “Well, I have done well.” Especially when dear brothers and sisters come and say, “Good message.”
Now, brothers and sisters, yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. The Lord has helped you to be able to deliver a message, and you feel comfortable within yourself. Immediately after you finish, tell the Lord, “I am but an unprofitable servant. It is all Yours. The glory is all Yours.”
Before the enemy comes in to pat you on the back, bow before the Lord first. Then you are saved.
Another reaction is that you may deliver a message and feel, “I did poorly.” Then you brood over it, brood over it, brood over it, and you even say, “Well, next time, no more.” Well, you have fallen into temptation.
If you feel you did poorly, go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I did poorly. You have to redeem it.”
I always remember a story that has helped me many times. After I finish a message, if I am so down, immediately I remember that story.
There was once a boat. People were traveling on the boat, and in the parlor of that boat people were sitting, reading, and doing various things. There was a piano there, and a little girl went to the piano. She did not know how to play, so she just hunted around and made all kinds of noises.
When she was doing that, people began to look at her and shake their heads. They could not read anymore; they could not do anything anymore. They were so tired of her.
Then suddenly a man got up, went to the piano, and sat by her. When she struck a note, he struck the harmony, and it made beautiful music. Everybody listened. Afterward, they clapped their hands, and the man said, “Thank this girl for the good performance.”
Always remember that story. Oftentimes, I was the little girl. I told the Lord, “You have to make it up.” Just leave it with the Lord, and, brothers and sisters, then you will not be overwhelmed.
Thirdly, of course, after you deliver a message, that is not the end. You need to pray over the message that was delivered, that the Lord would use this message to touch many hearts and bring forth fruit unto Himself.
Oftentimes, we pray much before the message, but we do not pray after the message. Now, that is not only true with the hearers; this is also true with the speakers. We need to pray that the Lord will use these messages for His glory.
So, brothers and sisters, this is the way to minister the Word of God. And I believe that if we know these principles and practice them before God, the mercy of God is there, and the church will be enriched, because what builds the church is the word of grace.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we come acknowledging that, in this matter of the ministry of the Word, we are completely dependent upon Thee. There is not a thing that we can do.
We just come and ask Thee to give us a childlike faith, that we may really trust Thee to give us revelation in Thy Word, to enlighten the heart, and to give us the message.
And we pray that all the time it is Thou who art being imparted to people, and not ourselves; that there may be fruit unto Thee and that the church may be built. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.