Your first duty is to awaken your audience, and this can be accomplished only by your vitality. Our message is alive. If you are "alive," your hearers will be. Your constant question must be, "Am I interesting—am I holding my audience ?" You must be absorbed in your subject yourself if you want your congregation to be interested.
You must consider the effect you are making on your audience. Some may be inclined to protest at this and argue that this point of view will make one artificial and self-conscious. But the sole purpose of your sermon or talk is to make an effect on your hearers. You must not be theatrical, but you must be vital. Your speaking must act on the minds of your audience. With a well-thought-out and prayerfully prepared sermon on your lips, you will come to your audience with something worth listening to.
Your emotions must be genuine and in no way simulated. We often say, "Be natural," and in our minds mean "undisciplined." The term "natural" does not imply anything haphazard. A trained runner uses the most carefully disciplined movements, but they are the most natural movements possible.
When speaking to those established in the message, do not underestimate their knowledge and think that if you go over "old ground," they should be interested. The story has been repeated ad nauseam of the preacher who spoke on John 3 :16 for seven evenings in succession to the same audience. Leave that type of sermon to the genius. The Bible is a storehouse, and we are told to bring out of it "things new and old."
When you select the life of an Old Testament character, read all you can, especially the inspired commentary of Mrs. White, and gather up the points of interest that are least known. If you select a parable, study how it is presented in "Christ's Object Lessons," and bring out the marvelous lessons presented there.
Make your sermons rich. If you are niggardly in your preparation, your hearers will be undernourished. "Feed the flock," is the command. Be alive to the attention of your audience. Just because they are looking at you fixedly does not mean that they are listening. Do you know the difference between hearing and listening? Listening demands attention on the part of the listener. Audiences are usually polite, and many people have what is called a "listening face," which they put on as they do their hats. Their thoughts can then range round the world, while their faces can deceive and even flatter the insensitive speaker who believes he has their full attention.
Unless you are in a very small room, do not adopt the conversational tone. You must be heard. Because you arespeaking of something solemn, do not think you must lower your voice so that your message is inaudible, or only audible with strained attention. No one will keep up the effort to listen to you for long.
Your voice must be full of color. "Color" is an element in tone, easy to recognize but difficult to describe. It means the ability to vary the pitch and volume of tone. Your speech cannot be vivid if it is colorless. It cannot be colorful unless you feel the experiences of which you are trying to speak:
"'Present only a few vital points, and keep your mind concentrated on these points. . . .
By wandering from straight lines, . . . you weaken all that you have previously said.' ""Testimonies to Ministers," p. 309.
Do not feel that you are showing off or giving yourself airs because you are trying to bring your diction to perfection. Good speech will have with it a quality of authority. This authority must not be aggressive, but it will certainly be authoritative. Of Christ it is said, "He taught . . as one having authority, and not as the scribes." His speech was worthwhile, because He had something worthwhile to tell.
