Chapter 42—Conversational Manner
Less Preaching, More Teaching—It is not preaching alone that
must be done. Far less preaching is needed. More time should be
devoted to patiently educating others, giving the hearers opportunity
to express themselves. It is instruction that many need, line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little.—
Evangelism,
338
.
Words From Hearts Warm With Love—Let not your zeal be of
that order to preach, but to minister. Speak words from hearts warmed
with the love of Jesus.—Lt 1a, 1896.
Co-Laborers With Jesus Christ—You need at camp meetings
to labor to teach in different lines as Christ did. Few sermons were
preached by Christ. He was the great Teacher, and crowds gathered
wherever He went to listen to His instruction, and He taught as one
having authority, and knew that He was teaching the truth. He spake
as never man spake.
Ministers must be educated to work after the divine Model. Many
of you love to teach, but you have not taken up the work of teaching in
the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. The people will listen to sermons
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which often are double the length they should be, and they can retain
but few points of the discourse because their minds have been all the
time on temporal, earthly things. Therefore they hear with such earthly
thoughts that the truth of God does not make any impression. It does
not reach to the very depths of the soul, and the plowshare of truth
does not go deep enough. Then they go from the meeting and fall
back where they were before. The sermons being often double the
length they ought to be, the words lose their force upon the minds of
the hearers. Other things come in to choke the seeds of truth.
The truth of God must be made impressive point by point. It is
for their eternal interest to know. So deeply must the seed of truth be
planted that it will become firm, and bear fruit to the glory of God....
Now when the truth is being presented, there are applications that
need to be made and appeals to press it right home for a decision, for
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