{"id":820715,"date":"2024-02-14T05:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=820715"},"modified":"2024-05-25T10:45:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T15:45:06","slug":"five-essential-sources-for-sermon-illustrations-and-why-they-are-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-essential-sources-for-sermon-illustrations-and-why-they-are-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Essential Sources for Sermon Illustrations and Why They Are Important"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preaching is a grind I welcome every week. Expositing God\u2019s Word is one of the toughest but most rewarding aspects of being a pastor. You can\u2019t treat preaching like a sprint, rushing to get a response on Sundays. It\u2019s more like a marathon, a paced lope in which long strides are made over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Illustrations are not the most important part of a sermon. The meat is the exposition of the text. The illustrations add spice and flavor. Nobody wants to eat just spices for dinner. But then, meat without flavoring is bland. In most cases, sermons need a little flavor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Illustrations also help the listener to understand your points, especially the more abstract or theological ones. Do you know those technical manuals that \u201chelp\u201d you put together cheap furniture? That\u2019s your sermon without any illustrations. They may get the job done, but nobody will enjoy them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do I get my sermon illustrations? I have five primary sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Real life<\/b>. About half of my sermons include a personal illustration, preferably a recent one. It\u2019s good for your guests and new members to hear a little about who you are and what\u2019s happening in your world. Additionally, your members are more likely to relate to you if you open up about your own life.<\/span><\/p>\n

History<\/b>. I utilize historical examples in about every other sermon, typically in the middle of my sermon. These illustrations help teach church history, historical theology, and local history. More importantly, history can connect generations. An example from the 1960s can unite Boomers and Gen Z. An example from the 1940s can connect Millennials and Builders. I intentionally pull from different eras of history in order to relate to different generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Current News<\/b>. Everyone is watching it, so you have to go there. Otherwise, you\u2019ll appear out-of-touch and detached. At times, I\u2019ll address significant occurrences from the prior week. But be careful here. Not every news story is worthy of sermon time. In our era of 24\/7 sensational news, it can be hard to discern the actual newsworthy events from selections made by media conglomerates that sell news. Everything is BREAKING NEWS, according to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pop culture<\/b>. Don\u2019t dismiss this one. While the latest fad, gadget, or hit music may not appeal to you, they do apply to the younger generations. It\u2019s <\/span>popular<\/span><\/i> in the culture for a reason. I\u2019m not advocating you take on every one of the latest fashions. I certainly don\u2019t. However, I want to remain knowledgeable about the current culture. If I can\u2019t speak their language, why would they listen to me? If you can\u2019t, why would they listen to you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Biblical examples<\/b>. Often, the best illustrations are found in the Bible. Biblical illustrations help your listeners connect the dots between stories in the Bible, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between the law and the gospel, and between the many different genres of Scripture.<\/span><\/p>\n

What about jokes?<\/b> I tell them, but sparingly. I\u2019ll let you know if I land one. Most often, mine fall flat. In reality, few pastors can pull off comedic relief in sermons. And I don\u2019t recommend anyone ending on a joke. I\u2019ve never heard a sermon in which it worked.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to <\/span>tell<\/span><\/i> people the truth. It\u2019s another thing to <\/span>illustrate<\/span><\/i> it for them. The truth is essential, but helping people connect to the truth is also necessary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Preaching is a grind I welcome every week. Expositing God\u2019s Word is one of the toughest but most rewarding aspects of being a pastor. You can\u2019t treat preaching like a sprint, rushing to get a response on Sundays. It\u2019s more like a marathon, a paced lope in which long strides are made over time. Illustrations…","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":820717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,177,14796,194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-lead","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-preaching"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Essential Sources for Sermon Illustrations and Why They Are Important | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illustrations are not the most important part of a sermon. The meat is the exposition of the text. 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