The Sermon Illustration
A 2-Step System for Simple and Powerful Sermon Illustrations
My Struggle
It was a great idea whose time seemed to come very late in my ministry. I finally hit upon a way to come up with simple but powerful sermon illustrations.
For years I had struggled to find a way to get good illustrations. I had bought several books of illustrations and would alternate from searching those books for just the right story, to dropping them and just depending on spur of the moment insights to use in messages I preached. Quite frankly, it was a miserable way to prepare illustrations that often would end in failure and those canned illustrations seldom fit. But I knew the right illustration could spell the difference between a crystal clear understanding of a Bible truth or communication breakdown and possibly eternal consequences for my hearers.
Through my years of preaching I would from time to time see a few men that were on the perpetual hunt for illustrations, always listening and recording the stories that they heard. But most preachers I met simply preached without those illustrations, and if they used any at all, they were often like me, doing a poor job of it. They just used what came to mind for the moment. This is a poor way to illustrate crucial Bible truths.
I am not sure if I slept through that part of my schooling, or if it was simply not well taught. I want to blame the lack of teaching because I don’t want to incriminate myself. If you are one of my teachers reading this, please don’t disturb me by telling me otherwise.
My Discovery
This simple method was born out of necessity. As I taught another course on homiletics to some young and eager preachers, I struggled as I began to think through how to teach illustrations. There just had to be a better way. In searching for that method that would be simple, powerful and reproducible I finally hit upon it. That is where you come in and reap the benefit of what I have found.
Two things came to mind and I am not sure which came first. But I recognized what I had known for quite some time, that Jesus used stories to preach truth. Sometimes he would tell a parable to bring truth home. On some occasions he would remind the audience of stories from the Old Testament and drive his point home. Stories like Nineveh or Noah. But on each occasion the story would drive the point home in such a powerful way that people acknowledged ‘he taught them as one having authority’.
The second observation that caught me was, I remembered how in many of my messages some of the best illustrations were stories from the narrative parts of Scripture that illustrated the truth or doctrine that I was trying to communicate.
Odd how you can know truths and yet not bring them home with application in your life for a very long time. But I was learning!
It was while realizing this AND looking for a simple system of insuring finding that perfect illustration that I hit upon this method.
Since I began to employ this method I have found it never fails to quickly deliver the perfect illustration. By what do I judge this? Audiences not only grasp the truth I am teaching and remember it, but they internalize Scripture at the same time!
My students have employed this method to their benefit as well and now there are preachers that have found this very simple system to be just the answer to solving their illustration dilemma. I think it will be the answer for you as well.
What you will get is quite simple…
-You will get the ‘book’ which is a short read
-This book can be downloaded for your Kindle, or as a PDF to be read on your personal computer
-The full details of a very powerful yet simple system
-A free downloadable template to use to streamline the process and modify to your specs
My personal guarantee
If for any reason you decide this is not worth the $5.87 you spend for it, just drop me a note in the next 30 days and I will refund your money. No questions asked. You can click on the “Contact Doug” icon in the sidebar to send me an email.
