Truths For Preachers to Consider

Simple Truths For Preachers to Consider
Some things I have learned after fifty years in the ministry.
"You know what you said but you don't know what they heard."
	Don't assume that everybody heard you say the same thing. In some cases you may ask them to repeat back to you what they heard you say.
"You know what you meant but you don't know what they thought you meant."
	Some people listen with prejudice, maybe most of us do. What you meant as an observation they took as a criticism.
"Nobody, but nobody, cares as much about your business as you do."
	Nor should they. If someone cares more about it than you do let them take the lead. They would probably do a better job. Just don't get discouraged when the closest person, friend, staff member, employee, etc. does not come up to your level in concern for what you care most about.
"First impressions last the longest ."
	Do your best to make it a positive one. "I remember when I first...." you finish the sentence.

You can do a right thing but at the wrong time. If the first words out of your mouth are always negative, or to tell the bad news, or to inform of a problem people will want to run from you when they see you coming.

The least they will do is say, "Here we go again!" or "What bad news are we going to hear this time?" The bad news, problems, negatve stuff needs to be brought out but at the right time.

People are going to act on what they perceive to be true whether it is true or not. If they perceive that you are against their friend, son, daughter, ect they will hate you for it even though all the facts will show you were really trying to help them.

Did you ever tell the people you were going to start doing a certain thing and then wish you had never started it in the first place? After starting and stopping several times because certain things didn't work the people will lose confidence in your leadership. Better to say, "We'll try this for a month (or whatever) and if it doesn't work we'll try something else."

Symptom: Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. Cause: Failure to walk in the Spirit.

Remember Gal 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." This is what it means to overcome evil with good Rom.12:21

A pound of preaching on walking in the Spirit is worth a ton of preaching against sins of the flesh. The reason we find it so much easier to preach on the sins of the flesh than on walking in the Spirit is because we know so much more of the one than we do the other.

"To Get What You Want You Have To Take More Than You Want"

It takes a while to learn this and experience is the teacher. To illustrate: You want to fill a position with a person who will get the job done.. A "take charge" person. You can get them all right but be prepared for them to "go beyond", to overreach as it were, because the kind of person you want will at times do just that. If you are not prepared for something like that and won't stand for it then you will just never get what you want.

The answer, in order to get what you want. Be prepared to cope with it when it comes. Be understanding when it happens. Let them know plainly where the limits are and warn them in love what the consequences must be.