Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 10 (The faculty of impromptu speech).
My summary
Today Spurgeon speaks about the faculty of impromptu speech.
Firstly he explains when impromptu speech is appropriate.
Then Spurgeon gives us advice on how to obtain the faculty of impromptu speech. We should:
(i) study much;
(ii) have a collection of ideas;
(iii) select topics we understand;
(iv) acquire another language;
(v) practise it;
(vi) be cool and confident;
(vii) be aware we may lose it.
What grabbed me
I appreciated Spurgeon's advice against using impromptu speech as a regular occurrence for preaching: 'Gentlemen, do not attempt, as a rule, to follow a system of things which is so generally unprofitable that the few exceptions only prove the rule. All sermons ought to be well considered and prepared by the preacher; and, as much as possible, every minister should, with much prayer for heavenly guidance, enter fully into his subject, exert all his mental faculties in original thinking, and gather together all the information within his reach. Viewing the whole matter from all quarters, the preacher should think it out, get it well masticated and digested; and having first fed upon the word himself should then prepare the like nutriment for others. Our sermons should be our mental life-blood — the out-flow of our intellectual and spiritual vigor; or, to change the figure, they should be diamonds well cut and well set — precious, intrinsically, and bearing the marks of labor. God forbid that we should offer to the Lord that which costs us nothing. '
You can't reap if you don't sow.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 11 (The minister's fainting fits).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
No comments:
Post a Comment