Various instruments are used by our Lord to bring the news of salvation to sinners. He speaks at sundry times in divers manner, through a fearless Jeremiah pointing at the squalid stains of Israel's guilt, or a gentle John admonishing his brethren to keep on loving one another.
Has God called you to give the clarion sound of His saving message to the flock within and without the gate? Then, says the apostle, "Give your whole attention, all your energies, to these things" (1 Tim. 4:15, Phillips).* Be sure you are giving the distinct message God has given you in your preaching and teaching.
God has given you a message that has stirred your soul. It has been impressed on you more and more as you have read the Scriptures and the Testimonies and through subsequent meditations and prayers. Woe to you if you do not proclaim it to the flock under your care. Thus far you have resisted the temptations of Satan as he has tried to convince you that the message is not as important as you at first thought. But he does not give up easily. He may say to his evil forces: "Let him tackle the subject, but let us make it meaningless to the hearers by convincing him he will be a more eloquent speaker if he uses someone else's style."
Lifeless Imitations
But how are you to preach a powerful sermon? You have tried the methods by which Pastor So-and-so is having great success. Why, you have even used some of his . . . well, outlines. (Honestly, you did change the sermons somewhat to make them your own.) But success did not come.
How often have you seen a lifeless presentation in your own or another minister's imitation of a good preacher. God gave that good preacher a message. Why should He forsake you by not giving you just as powerful a message? Brother, where is your faith? He has already given it to you. You must take up the bed whereon you have rested in uncertainty, and walk by conviction of His leadership. The Lord never called you to preach someone else's message.
At times you might have tried to make something absolutely original. You had some sermon ideas you were sure would send the message home, yet it did not seem to reach the audience. What went wrong?
Depth Is Simplicity
Why do we strive for originality? It is only possible to think in terms of impressions received through one or more of our senses. There is nothing original about the majority of these impressions. We can merely use them as an alphabet in spelling out the ideas the Lord gives us. Certainly we can make something outlandish out of them, but this is not our concern. Our burden is what God has done for us and not what we have been able to do by ourselves. As we bring to others in human terms what the Lord has done for us, we are bringing the message He has given us to proclaim.
Depth is not achieved by complicated orations but in the expression of a simple, living religion as a reality. In writing his Epistles, the apostle John used the "simplest language" in setting "before us true practical godliness. This simplicity does not show shallowness, but depth."—The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, on 1 John 4:8, p. 951.
Some of us are teachers, some are evangelists, and some are pastors, but all are needed in the work of God (Eph. 4:11; 1 Cor. 12:28). God does send out His message of salvation through different channels, and this is why we have been chosen. "Men of different minds are needed, men whose hearts are tenderly led out to win souls. Different methods of labor are really essential in sowing the seeds of truth and gathering in the harvest."—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 251.
Now, how are we going to prepare our message for presentation?
Your Style Is God's Gift
Our sermons must be prepared for presentation by ourselves. Our style is the gift God has given us.
One preacher of a past generation, Matthias Jochumsson, never seemed to be able to communicate any laboriously prepared message, yet when some theme had permeated his spirit, it would flow from his lips or his pen in glowing terms. Whenever he would try to improve on what he already had written, it would invariably suffer and lose its first vividness. In spite of his inability to work deliberately for style, his spontaneous poems are loved today by the people of his country, Iceland, and his inspiring hymns are used widely in the churches of that North Atlantic island. One of his hymns of praise to God stirs the heart in these people every time they sing it as their national anthem.
So we may find that we cannot improve the style of our preaching by deliberate attempts to formulate certain expressions with which we wish to carry the message. Others may, like another poet of the same historic island, have to work hard on their style and syntax in order to make their language meaningful, yet a sermon should never be so arranged in "every detail with such exactness" (Gospel Workers, p. 165) that the Lord will not have the opportunity to work on our mind while we are delivering the sermon.
Each minister of the gospel must make the best use of his own talents so that the third angel's message can be preached in diverse manners. Therefore, let us make sure we use the gifts God has given us, and not try to make use of the gifts He gave someone else.
True, there must be preparation, but not all men will prepare in the same way. However, preparation of our own soul and spirit must be included, enabling us to receive inspiration from above. If we are inspired, let us make certain our inspiration has come through the Holy Ghost and not from our own vanity.
