 Okay. See one of the principles of faith which the Lord Jesus talks about in Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11 verse 22, have faith in God. Verse 23, for assuredly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatever he says. Verse 24, therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them. Okay. At the outset just wanted to say that you know this whole premise you know of faith and walking in faith and this thing of declaration you know is based on relationship first of all right. It's not a formula. It's based on intimacy with God. It's based on relationship and from that place is where we pray from that place is when we declare in faith speak out the words of faith. Now that's the first thing for us to remember right. The second thing is that faith speaks or in the sense when you believe in your heart and it has to be in alignment or what we speak has to be in alignment with what we believe in our hearts right because our words actually I would say betray what we actually believe in our hearts and we might say one thing you know we might say that yes this is who I am this is what I believe in this is what I do but when it comes to a pressure situation what comes out of our heart or what comes out of our mouth the words that we speak is what we actually believe. So that's what the Lord Jesus addressing is saying you know who was say you know have faith in God and then he's talking about the words that we speak of the words that come out of our mouths and then he's saying you know that the principle is this how God is a design this is how God is you know design things to be that but when we believe in our heart and we need to declare with our mouth that there will be change right and starting from the time we were born again that's that is how it is right when we believe and the greatest change of all happened when we did that right we passed from death to life and so if we have any doubt about oh does faith work or you know about speaking in faith and it seems like too much of you know too much of you know thing that wishful thinking you know how can I even how can it happen just go back to salvation this is how it was right we believe we spoke we we confessed and we passed from death to life right so so that is that is what it is so so just to remind ourselves that what we believe in our heart and what we confess with our mouth has to be in alignment so for us to remind ourselves and say okay if there needs to be an adjustment let me go back to God let me go back to his word let me spend time in his word let me spend time in his presence and make that check and make that alignment in my heart right so that the words that I speak also will be will be in alignment with in line with what I believe in right okay so let's let's just pray Father we even as we come before you this morning Lord we we draw near in faith Lord as your word says that when we draw near to you Lord you draw near to us Lord and when you draw near Father God we experience your presence we experience your touch Father God this morning I pray that there will be this drawing near Lord and I pray God that as we draw near in faith Lord that the words that we speak Father God the words that we declare out of our mouth Lord will be in alignment with the faith that we have in our hearts Lord and I just praying God that Lord if there needs to be an aligning Lord in our hearts Father God what we believe Lord and Lord and who we believe in the extent to which we believe all that Lord I pray let there be change and let there be increase Father God and Master God pray that let your word change us let your word Lord nurture or maybe be nurtured by you the words that you speak of our God and let faith rise in our hearts even today Lord pray for the impossible God faith for the challenges that we might be facing or God faith for the breakthroughs that we might be Lord expecting Father God Lord we pray Lord let faith rise in our hearts Master even as we Lord receive your word God and I pray that the words that we release would be faithful words the word declarations that we make or Father God would be in alignment with your word God would be in alignment to the true nature of who you are God and yeah maybe have breakthroughs I just pray for a release of breakthroughs among us Lord personally Lord and and as the families that we represent the master we pray that may they be breakthroughs may they be Lord the breakthroughs Father God for which we've been waiting for years God may they be breakthroughs let the barriers be broken down in the mighty name of Jesus even as we pray Lord we believe that we have received the things that we have prayed for so that we might see the manifestation of it God we thank you we thank you that it's everything is based on our relationship with you Jesus we thank you Lord you are a heavenly Father we thank you in Jesus matches name we pray amen amen okay oh yeah thank you it's good okay so we are coming to the last few topics in biblical preaching and so we today we're going to look at a few more things just want to remind us again to to work on the sermon topics sermon title you know online students just fill up the excel sheet so we can start I'll just give a date and then we can start right okay so we're looking at you know what are some tips to effective or confident speaking I'll just go through a few of these these are practical you know very practical things not really chapter and verse okay by this person called Alan Morton first thing is preparation of course you know if you're when you are prepared you are at peace you are confident not confident to the point of not having any kind of you know slight nervousness or a little bit of anxiety you know how will it be received you know that kind of a thing is normal and in fact it's helpful right for us to be alert for our bodies to be alert for our minds to be alert so that that's even helpful but not preparing unless you know it's it's like an it's like an emergency or you put on a spot and there is a need and somebody says you know please share a word and then you know not coming prepared it actually puts us in a place of disadvantage right and also again preparation you know sometimes when we have those emergency kind of situations you know God's grace covers it right God's grace covers it God's grace empowers us the spirit of God empowers us gives us inspiration and so on all that is there and when we say preparation it's not just the content but it's also mainly the heart right because problems very clearly the place the preparations of the heart belong to belong to man right when the answer of the tongue comes from the Lord right preparations of the heart yeah so so the preparation of the heart is our responsibility really right so so that's the thing okay so one is preparation practice okay so it's good to you know as we start out it's good to practice you know and then practice meaning just to speak speak out just to share you know when we are not used to speaking publicly when we hear our own voice it sounds very strange right and especially when you keep hearing it for like 10 minutes 15 minutes it sounds even stranger right because you're not used to that right so practice helps practice you know nowadays you can even record it play it back listen to it and see how it is so practice helps okay if there are mistakes if there are gophubs one thing is to persevere through that okay which means don't give up just the first time second time third time you know don't give up right press through I remember the first time public speaking in school you know the whole thing was a very different experience because you know you are so used to sitting at the desk and looking at one face which is the face of the teacher right and two pairs of eyes that's it suddenly I came forward and they were I think that time we had about 55 to 60 students in the class so you can imagine right so you know 59 pairs of eyes looking at me and of course throat went dry nothing came out you know thoughts went mind went blank and all that happened so yeah so so you know thing is to when we prepare also you know to to just tell ourselves hey it's going to be it's going to be like this this is the view from here this is how it's going to be right and yes there could be mistakes there could be gophubs you know so the thing is to persevere you know not give up but you know make those corrections and persevere so you know TRI is a good acronym to work on take action review improve like take action improve review improve the review is to think through okay could I have made it differently could I have spoken it differently could I have explained it better you know should I you know did I did I make a mistake in sharing certain things all those things you know just to review okay right we looked at sermon construction and we looked at the outline okay now all that is valid okay but in our minds you know after we prepare the sermon outline the introduction the main points the illustrations etc just in our minds to keep it keep the whole format as as simple as this which means that I'm going to tell the tell the congregation what I'm going to talk about right I'm going to talk about it and then I'm going to tell them what I have talked about which means you summarize it right so introduction is okay this is what we're going to talk about and the main body is what you are actually talking about and at the end summarizing you know a summary or review of it is this is what we studied just now this is what we looked at so in our minds if we keep it you know it's so simple and clear right so it's not really cluttered up public speaking again is you know it's it could be something that people okay some people might say I don't like it at all I I don't enjoy it but once they do that then they realize they hate this is something that I like this is something sharing especially sharing the truth of scripture is something that I enjoyed doing right so it is a pleasurable experience and our personality who we are comes through when we share okay we could be very serious we could be very research oriented we could be you know where people who really get to the depth of things asking questions etc so our really our personality comes through when we share like it could be funny we could be serious whatever it comes through and there's nothing wrong in it there's nothing wrong in it because God's word doesn't get diluted by man's personality because God ordained that the truth of scripture be shared through through the humans through human beings right it tells Jeremiah you know I put my words in your mouth and you speak it so Jeremiah had a personality like he was called at the weeping prophet right so he would he would you know be moved stirred up moved by the whole surrounding and situations and so on but God shows to speak through you know his personality as well right okay yeah so this is something that the seventh one projection is something that we can practice in the sense as part of our preparation to visualize okay this is how it will be when I go up front and look at the audience right this is how it's going to look and this is how I'm going to speak right you you play it in your mind this is how I'm going to speak and this is how I'm going to stand this is how you know I'm going to sound like and you know I will I will do this right so it becomes you become even more confident right see we don't want to be proud right but we definitely have to be confident right the message is worth being confident about right because Paul says you know that you know in the first question second question he talks about that is made us all sufficient and for this thing we are confident as ministers of God because the sufficiency comes from him right so we it's good that we deal with all those things that hit at our confidence that undermine our confidence okay so be strong in your identity go for it and be passionate about it right if you're not passionate about the message what you're sharing then I think we need to deal with it okay why is it it's it's it seems a bit boring right right through you realize that oh it's a bit boring why is it is it because I've not really come to terms with it I've not you know internalize it or I don't believe in it right all those things are there right so you know think about it be passionate in your in your communication right so as you reflect as we improve you will also make progress right that's the thing and perfection you begin to perfect how we are preaching how we are sharing it that's a few practical things but I really like to you know go into this next section which is ease to affect to preaching okay so the first thing is really to pray that's the starting point pray receive from God pray prepare our hearts many times you don't feel like you don't feel like preaching okay at the place where you are because because of things that are happening around because of challenges because of you know because of situations whatever is there you know so all that seems to affect us influences so we're not like you don't feel like preaching or whatever kind of ministry right you don't feel like sharing you don't feel like leading but we need to come to that place of being ready right so many times Sunday morning just going there I don't like gosh I wish someone else would preach today I wish I could oh I wish someone else would lead worship today so I have to lead worship and pray and preach so I wish someone would do you know either of that you know sometimes I think and then just quickly make that adjustment no no no you know I'm a child of God you know I'm a minister minister of Christ and a channel of his blessing to many people you know the our declaration it really helps you know I just I do that and I say you know I'm a child of his blessing to many people so and when we declare that we make such faithful declarations it changes temperamentally we are change particularly even you know there's a lot of strength okay so pray the Lord will give elimination the Lord will give inspiration will be so surprised what the Lord can put into our hearts right because it's from him the truth you know he just just flows out of him and he knows the situation he knows the people better than ourselves right so depend on him for utterance depend on him for the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people right so so that's the thing many times you know what we yeah people come and then we find that it's a struggle struggle to relate struggle to connect right so pray that the hearts of the people will also be prepared they also go through challenges like this last Sunday just day before today one of the worship team members like I didn't know like came we did everything and when we're doing the review found out that her child was actually the whole night I was unwell fever and whatever and so in the morning she came to church she was tired and also not emotionally not in a place to sing right but then that time of prayer that we had just before going into worship that really helped her and then lifted all those burdens off and so on so yeah so pray for you know if there's a team there's an audience pray for them pray that the Lord will move prepare deal with certain things okay we can also pray for protection the Lord's protection over our hearts over our minds okay from being distracted and from all those distracting thoughts and an accusation from the enemy okay so you realize that only when you're getting ready for a ministry you know time like preaching or maybe leading or whatever it is you get all these distraction get all these distracting thoughts you get all these accusing thoughts even right I think I've shared right I just go and stand in front of the mic and then suddenly this thought comes a did I switch off the stove you know I boy was boiling the milk but did I switch off the stove today switch off the geezer you know did I lock the car you know all these thoughts come and then I just decided okay it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if the car is not there it doesn't matter if the geezers you know burnt out does not matter I'll deal with it after this right so my mind is going to be focused on what is at hand I'll deal with all these other things later after this is done so but once I made that decision suddenly realized that these thoughts are not coming there anymore right so yeah so pray for protection and also prepare for you know all these kind of things anticipate and prayerfully reject Satan's accusation okay okay I think second thing we saw right whatever we are stating whatever instruction or points we are stating as a sermon point I back it up with scripture okay when you say back it up with scripture we're saying okay let it be based on the word of God right let it have a strong base because the word of God has eternal value so whatever ideas that we are sharing unless it's an opinion okay if it's an opinion we can say okay this is this is just my opinion my idea my suggestion but if it's eternal truth of God's word that we are sharing then we can draw attention to where it's written and so people can also see it for themselves you know or maybe put it on the screen so see it for themselves they can read it for themselves and be convinced convicted because it's eternal truth of God's word because you know we would have left after the message right but what remains with the others is the word of God right which the Holy Spirit will continue to work on you have just sown the seed of God's word right so yeah so back it up with scripture otherwise it could be presumptuous it could be opinions and yeah so do that if possible include humor because especially when it's humor meaning you know maybe a joke or two don't fill it with too many funny things but you know then people will laugh at the joke enjoy the joke but forget why you crack that joke you know it was you know it was sometimes we do that right we see the ad nice ad but what what product was it what service was it you know he doesn't we don't recall that so we don't want that to happen right so yeah so if it is your personality you know be funny in that you know if it's your personality to be funny in a very I don't a very bubbly manner extravagant manner extroverted manner do that if you want to be funny in a very quiet way you know that's how you are that's how you talk be that so don't try to be something else or someone else right so that's the thing then it will actually backfire okay okay both one is to taste ourselves so what do we mean by that and I'm sure you know as we you know as we the first few times when we when we shared the word we realized that you had some five points but you spent a lot of time on the first point because you liked it so much right you just wanted to explain it and then you want people to get it and you you loved it yourself so you spent you know so much time on that first point then suddenly you realize hey there's four more points and you just had to rush through you know just mention it and you know rush through or just read it out and go through and say yeah I really don't have much time right so plan that see yes it is possible that even as we're preaching we feel the weight of the Spirit's prompting to stay on something to emphasize something and you realize that okay God wants you know there is a need in the congregation for this to really be you know given weightage there's a need there maybe there's one just one person but then there's a need there so stay there go with the flow and maybe there are certain things which you could just mention and go on but be aware of that mindful of that you know let it be a sensitive thing that you're led through rather than you know that you's not even thinking about it and then you know you've stayed somewhere and you wasted time and suddenly you have to rush okay so plan on pace yourself your rate of speech you know etc okay right any any questions yeah Francis I prefer any message like if we prepared a message it's one person we can use that if we can preach the same message in another when you or another meeting yeah absolutely absolutely and then if you if you feel that that's relevant and and many times it will be so you know you prepared your teaching something and yeah maybe it's the same same audience right maybe you've prepared you've shared something and then maybe six months down the line nine months down the line you know you want to maybe share that again re-trade the game and kind of build on it right so yeah by all means and maybe there are some certain certain things that that are added to what you or you want to add on to what you share that's also fine or it could be you know different audiences different congregations and this is something that you know the Lord wants to emphasize or this is the only message you have go ahead do it in a prayerful way and it'll be a blessing so yeah so that's the thing so let it not be for want of preparation you know I'm not prepared anything the only the only thing I have so let me do it I mean it can happen once or twice but then let it not be for want of preparation but definitely we can repeat a certain message someone else's message doing what someone has prepared or someone has preached and it right right right yeah you can you can as long it see it has impacted you right and so you know it can be a blessing to people like for example there's this illustration which is highly impactful for me this is by I think it's I figure the name of the person okay I'm not getting the name but then he gives his illustration okay he talks about going to an art museum and looking at a picture okay and this this page look at a painting what is yours to a gallery so art gallery sees the painting the painting is two chess pieces right two chess pieces there and the title is checkmate so this person is actually a chess grandmaster he goes there he sees that and then he says checkmate is what final move right in chess checkmate is that's it the king does not have any other option but in the game that's it so it says checkmate and that was the move there King there and then the other piece there whatever but then he looks at it long enough and he says hey the king has another move he studies the chess board he looks at it and he says you know the king has another move and so he talks about that to his audience and he says the king has another move in your life you know you might think it's checkmate it's over game over the king has another move in your life so I mean that stayed with me right for a long time it just stayed with me and I used it many places we used it and people you know kind of testified and said hey that's a that's such a blessing because this guy was really at the end of the line it was the last few days of the year he had actually lost a job a lot of things happening you know is trying to get married and then they're coming you know all those things are there lost a job so didn't know what to do and just sitting in that position it was between Christmas and New Year right last few days of the year and then and then he heard this and he said he went back and then he like got a job I think then after that he came and testify saying you know that was really a blessing so by all means reuse whatever has blessed you you know and I'm sure that law will give additional insight right to whatever you've heard how it has impacted you could be different so that could be an additional insight as well okay so how long should your message be short and sweet short and short messages are very difficult if it's you know five minutes ten minutes see whatever message you're preparing is ten minutes it's difficult right because you can have a very you know long conversation can just go on 40 minutes you know go for a walk everywhere you can talk about look at the breeze etc it's fine but then if you want to make you know very succinct points it's going to be challenging so that's the thing think about it but sometimes it's it's all you have like 15 minutes it's all you have 10 minutes might be all you have so it's it's good to prepare a head and just state it right and state state choose your words carefully and and see how it can make maximum impact right sometimes you don't have to be long drawn just state it you know and then you know like people normally say 20 minutes is what the full attention maximum attention that people can give okay 20 minutes there's a lot of things that depend based based on that like I don't know if you heard of the promoter method of working or studying which is like every 20 minutes you take a break for five minutes every 10 20 minutes so they say 20 minutes but you know you can't always just you know let's say you're doing a study you're doing a typical Sunday sermon people have come right it's it's the only day for really studying and together as a congregation so we might have you know maybe an hour so the thing is every 20 minutes see that there is a transition okay so there can be a pause they can be a change a transition into something else so if it's if it's one hour you know it's like three sections right you break it up make sure that 20 minutes there is a transition or 15 minutes there is a transition right maybe an illustration something that will bring the attention back you can think about it right okay eye contact how important is it look into the eyes of the so what happens if there's no if you're not looking at the congregation or you're looking at your audience we won't know whether we're listening that's one thing they may or may not listen right that's the thing so so I contact you know enables us to relate to people it builds a bridge builds a connection right so eye contact is good right and like I said there could be certain cultures which feel challenged when you look into the eyes right so be mindful of that like maybe they feel they maybe they turn their eyes away so don't be put off by that right see when you're when you're there up front ministering you're there as a spiritual leader or as a representative so you know they look up to you as a leader and that's fine so maybe in the in the cultures they may not reciprocate with direct eye contact be mindful of that and it's fine right so let it not rubble you let it not throw you out right okay voice how should your voice be how large how loud should it be how soft should it be okay should be loud throughout that you're you know going bang bang bang see the loudest of our voice is good it should be I mean for audible it so that it's audible like the last person furthest away they get to hear it's audible for them right if it's if it's too loud it's a problem right it can weary the people tired people get tired it's too loud you know one of the methods of torture right in the prisons in order to get the truth out of prisoners you know prisoners of war is loud very loud sirens and music incessantly you know just blaring it just does something it breaks down the will of the person so you know so we need to be mindful right let's not be loud throughout and then it's it's it's act people are in pain actually but at the same time if it's too soft it's a strain for people you know what did he say what did she say no this is asking I missed that what did they say right so let it be not too loud not too soft and also if voice if what we are sharing it's going to be in a monotone what does monotone mean mean same same maybe same volume same pitch same tone right it's not going up it's not going down it's the same yeah same note it's like the pads yeah same same note you know just saying yeah good morning everyone I'm glad to be here today and so good and we are studying biblical preaching initially you'll be curious so what is it's nice way of speaking and then suddenly you'll feel like your eyes are closing as you're listening okay it's nice I just feel like a lullaby so soothing and you want to close your eyes so what happens is there's a lapse in attention in people when they hear a monotone like I think I've shared the story I forget where I've shared but I remember once after a Sunday service this person came I came up to me and said buster that was nice content I liked it but can you alter your voice you know you were saying you're saying same thing like this and I felt very sleepy he was very you know he was very direct and I'm glad that he was direct enough to say that you know after the service he came and said you know I was feeling very sleepy so I think and then he felt very bad that he said that I'm sorry buster I didn't mean but I just wanted to say it and apologize etc and I said no no thanks thanks for you know giving such a direct feedback helpful I'll try to change so yeah so so this will help right our voice it's a it's important thing you know because you're communicating it's like tuning an instrument right it's like being effective that's it the downside of it is that we can use all these things that we're talking about either to communicate effectively or to manipulate right so we should be mindful am I manipulating people what is manipulating you want the desired reaction you've already decided you know I want to make people cry today right so you're you know just doing everything and your voice is also you know and you're also you know crying and see that's that's the thing if you should not manipulate you don't want to manipulate that right you you communicate like whatever reaction that whatever the content of what you're communicating definitely will elicit the response right it could be a response where people are saying I don't believe in that or maybe they're still are they angry or people can you know it witnesses to their heart of their in agreement so that's the response all people are moved right so all these responses are possible but you don't manipulate it okay it's very very important yeah especially if you are very influential and and all that do not manipulate you know things like I want to I want people to contribute more I want people to you know they're offering you know all that because unfortunately people do that in ministry in church is so cool etc so yeah okay question okay when we are when is when there is a emotional talking and all in between some pastors used to cry I mean it's not intentionally but it will come the tears will come and some pastors intentionally also they do I saw so many pastors in our side also they'll preach every sermon they'll cry is that a manipulating only that person can say actually sometimes it happens to me in the sense you know I get choked up I'm not able to share and stuck and then that happens so so it is it's true it can happen and like you said you know when you're saying something and then intentionally they are doing that then it's not good like we don't know we can think like it's it's their style of preaching let the pastor will cry the whole congregation yeah maybe it's a style but it's not a healthy thing right it's maybe it's a style they don't even realize it maybe it's a condition respond from the congregation you know but yeah yeah all those unhealthy things are all part of that so so we don't want that you know it's not that you know there should not be any emotions that's not God has created us to be people emotional people you know emotions of joy emotions of you know like excitement about something and also you know to be moved to cry to be yeah crying not from a point of sadness but even the fact that you know you experience the presence of God so you know so all that is possible yeah but when it's done in a manner to get a reaction to move a congregation then it becomes a manipulation so yeah that's a thing yeah it's embarrassing in the sense even for the congregation let's say the person is very disconnected from the message that you're sharing okay very disconnected and then you are moved personally and they are unmoved they're like why is this person getting so emotional about you know something something so simple like for example I'll just tell you one Sunday morning all our outreach pastors that come so I think that it's is it on yeah it's on okay you know it's sorry okay so one Sunday morning our outreach pastors had come and they were visiting South location and then we said okay let's let's just call them forward and pray so let's call them forward and some of them were there I think maybe five or six of them so call them forward and then started to pray yeah as I started to pray I just started crying right and I just couldn't go beyond the thing first I had to really wait control you know myself and then had to do it so you know it just became a very spontaneous thing there's nothing about the people or the prayer whatever that needed that kind of a thing so people are all thinking you know what is wrong right why is he crying why what I just felt I don't know one is one is a strong presence of God and I just moved by the fact that you know just looking at them these were all different people different places the ministry I don't know it was a combination of all that so people can be disconnected they might be wondering you know why is he so but then you as a person you might be going through a lot right might be going through the same not difficult things but then you know maybe God is dealing with you maybe God is doing something all that happens so yeah okay um sorry okay okay gestures posture body language okay now this is something that others can actually give feedback about okay so we can be see normally as a as a person as people when we talk we talk with a lot of gestures yes or no right maybe if you know if you if you ask you to just sit like that and talk to the other person about about your life various things you will still maybe shrug you will you there will be gestures that come across as a natural response to what you're saying okay so the thing is to be that when you're sharing your natural gestures to be free enough to communicate with those gestures but the problem is some gestures can be distracting right maybe a person is constantly I don't know maybe scratching the face every time okay then it's a distraction right maybe you're doing that or maybe you're checking your pockets something like that or you're fidgeting with maybe you're wearing a tie you're fidgeting with your button and you know when people notice that and people get distracted so we can say okay you know just like I I'm just talking about myself because these are corrections that I made right so I had this problem of tilting the pulpit okay so everything is there so I just you know lean on the pulpit and tilt it so you know my family my wife and daughter they said please don't do it you don't know when it'll fall we're just thinking you know maybe you're going to tip it over you know don't do that right so so things like that okay right okay just one last thing and then we'll see never disqualify yourself as a as a as a preacher as someone who is bringing you know we say you know I don't know I didn't prepare I'm just coming I'm just saying something I hope you are blessed don't say that or you know I don't have much to say I just have very simple things but I don't know how you how you will take it you know don't say that right so don't put yourself down or you can you can say no I don't have much experience in preaching but still I'm coming no you know you're there been given an opportunity just share yeah use it just share you don't have to just say a lot of things about yourself how great you are how wonderful you are nothing you just go go ahead speak right so yeah so don't disqualify yourself or the content of your message you know like sometimes we disqualify what are some ways by which we disqualify the content we say okay this is just very simple you might have heard it thousand times but you know listen to it again or you know things like that okay okay okay we'll continue in our next class so eight things that we looked at okay we'll stop here right okay thank you God bless