Saying It Well: Touching Others with Your Words

Saying It Well: Touching Others with Your Words by Charles R. Swindoll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charles Swindoll is one of my favorite Bible teachers. In this book he explains, encourages, and give many valuable tips on speaking. The book is written to help pastors prepare and deliver a sermon, however the principles can apply to any public speaker and speech. I trust the quotes from below from this book will be a blessing to you.

God gave you your makeup and superintended every moment of your past, including all the hardship, pain, and struggles, He wants to use your words in a unique manner. No one else can speak through your vocal cords, and equally important, no one else has your story. When all of that is blended into a message He wants proclaimed, it is nothing short of remarkable.

Since God made you YOU, He expects the message that you communicate to flow out of YOU and no one else.

When you begin to learn the Word of God, and really begin to believe its promises, and make them personal, it gives you courage and galvanizes you against other people’s rejection.

Not only were you created to fulfill a divine purpose, you acknowledge that the events of your life have prepared you for the next step in fulfilling your calling.

I do believe each person has a calling upon his or her life to fulfill a special purpose. This calling may or may not affect one’s vocation; not all callings demand a career change. In fact, many people make their living at one vocation in order to finance their calling.

If God designed you to be a screwdriver, you can try to hammer nails if you want. But I don’t recommend it. The price you pay in terms of frustration and mediocrity is too high.

The world is waiting to hear an authentic voice, a voice God – not an echo of what others are doing and saying, but an authentic voice. – A.W. Tozer

If you can get it done now, do it; the future comes with no guarantee you’ll have the time or opportunities available to you today.

There’s nothing wrong with admiring others. Study their methods; learn from their mistakes; take a note of what made them who they are. You can even emulate a few of their qualities. But never attempt to be them.

Don’t let ambition cloud your judgment and rob you of the opportunity to gain valuable life experience where you are.

Sometimes, God takes us on excursions that feel like a waste of time when we reflect on them soon afterward. Years later, however, we come to see them as a necessary part of the journey.

Preaching that costs nothing accomplishes nothing. If the study is a lounge, the pulpit will be impertinence. – John Henry Jowett

an impactful sermon requires a solid foundation of truth, or it will crumble under its own weight.

The first minutes on the pulpit are the most favorable, so do not waste them with generalities but confront the congregation straight off with the core of the matter.   ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him. – Alan Redpath

“Our problem is not doing God’s will, but doing God’s will God’s way.”

“There are tree common mistakes we make on our journey from earth to heaven.”
Running before we are sent.
Retreating after we have failed.
Resisting when we are called.

I try not to exhaust the Text; otherwise, I risk exhausting the audience.

John’s Gospel records Jesus saying, in His last moments on the Cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The precise meaning doesn’t change much in the way of doctrine, but how much better when we explain the cultural relevance of that phrase. John the apostle chose to quote Jesus using the Greek word tetelestai, an accounting term found on canceled loan documents, relieving the debtor of future payment. When the last payment had been made, the paper was stamped tetelestai, meaning “paid in full.” If the lender wished to forgive the debt, he could stamp the document tetelestai, meaning, “fulfilled” or “completed.”

[We must not] conceive of prayer as though it were an overcoming of God’s reluctance, when it is, in fact, a laying hold of his highest willingness. – Richard Chenevix Trench

Put simply, our job is to be faithful; the Lord will define success and see to its fulfillment.

Let every bookworm, when in any fragrant, scarce, old tome he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it. – Hartley Coleridge

As you review all your past experiences, you will find that God has given you the ability to connect with segments of our society that might be closed off to others.

To keep in touch with the world of those we hope to reach, we must leave our personal monasteries and learn how to live and walk among to whom we want to communicate.

It happened to Jesus; it will happen to us. Don’t even be surprised if in the midst of adulation and acceptance that your feet are cut out from under you and you become the object of their rage. It’s to be expected when you’re doing what’s right.

The best lessons I’ve learned, I’ve learned through inadequacy and failure. Disappointment, and heartbreak, and forgiveness. By the grace of God, I’ve come to the place where I no longer fear failure. And I’ve come to the place where I will be always grateful for God’s grace to forgive me when I don’t measure up to my unrealistic standard. Please, men and women – please – understand:
Only God is adequate; you’re not.
Only god is perfect; you’re not.
Only Christ can set goals that are high and reach them; you can’t.
You do your best. But I can promise you, in the future there will be days you will be sitting across from someone you love and you’ll be saying things that you need to say to build back a bridge that your pride has broken down…The good news is, God in His grace uses each one of us and “warts and all.”  ~Part of Swindoll address at Wheaton College Chapel

In your choice of friends, be certain that you have a few who care less for your comfort than they do for your character.

“The Four Spiritual Flaws.”
Flaw 1: Because you are a Christian, all your problems are solved.
Flaw 2: All the problems you will ever have are addressed in the Bible.
Flaw 3: If you are having problems, you are unspiritual
Flaw 4: Being exposed to sound biblical teaching automatically solves problems.

If you are interested in learning how to improve in preparing and delivering a speech then this would be an excellent book for you to read.


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