When I'm speaking in front of a crowd, I almost always have the thought "they've probably already heard this." Especially in older generations, it's hard for me to figure out how to bring a unique perspective that a 70-year-old hasn't thought of before.
When I hear a good sermon, my thought process generally goes like this,
"Well yea."
"Oh, I've never thought of it that way!"
"Man, all this stuff makes perfect sense, I guess I somehow knew it all along!"
"Oh man, now I've got a new idea from the facts I think I already knew!"
Something like that.
I almost feel like it's a respect issue. I wouldn't want to be talking down to a congregation of people much wiser the myself. Even after going through a sermon/devotional/lesson/blog a time or two I think what I say is too obvious to even bother telling. Maybe I should just ask for more amens.
After pondering this I wondered if maybe it was God reassuring me not to be a pulpit-preacher. But I'm going to have to preach in just about anything I do in some form or another.
What's the best preachin/teaching/speaking advice you've heard?
"If the Spirit moves you in the pulpit, the Bishop moves you in June." -Michael Patison, CTC archivist
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