A sermon is more than just information. A sermon should be transformational for the listener. It must be understood and then applied to daily life. One way to do this is to incorporate sermon illustrations in your message.
Jesus Sets the Example
The use of sermon illustrations is the same technique Jesus used when he told parables to help his audience understand and apply the principle at hand. Sermon illustrations bring the sermon to life, add color to it, and help the listener relate to the message.
Sermon illustrations are not the meat of the message, but they help support a clear exegetical principle. They are what bring the principle to life for the listener.
However, they are also one of the hardest parts of a message. To incorporate sermon illustrations, you need creativity, variety, and planning. On top of outlining the breakdown of the passage, the communicator needs to think of what can help better bring the principle to life.
There are many ways to do this, but here are three ideas to help incorporate better sermon illustrations into the message.
Incorporate Sermon Illustrations by Telling Stories
Like Jesus, you can tell stories. Every great communicator knows that stories sell. A great product usually has a great story. Great sermons often have great stories. Personal stories connect the audience to the communicator. They make the message real to the listener and even feel they share common ground with the pastor.
Several types of personal stories help the communicator better connect to the audience:
Personal Story of Success
The success part does need to be limited. Many people fail in many ways and in many areas in the congregation. If the audience feels the communicator has never faced their struggle or something similar to it, they will tune them out.
It is important to share how living out a principle in obedience to God can pay off. But remember: there will be a thin line between this and “humble bragging.”
Personal Story of Failure
The story of personal failure will connect with the audience’s heart. It makes the communicator human, and anyone can apply the principle. The story of failure also helps the audience awaken to the question, “Why should this matter to me?”
Stories of failure should show transparency, but the communicator will need discretion on how vulnerable to be with the audience.
Humorous Personal Stories
Humor is another way to connect to the audience and tease out the principle that needs to be applied. Making someone laugh is a way to their heart. Some of the most beloved people are actors and comedians. Laughter releases oxytocin and serotonin. People love someone who can make them laugh and feel better.
Family Stories
Most communicators don’t know their audience on an intimate level. A story of their family or marriage gives the audience a seat at their table. They get to look into the window of their lives and feel more connected.
Another way the audience can better understand a principle and their communicator is by understanding how they grew up. People in the congregation will be able to draw parallels between their lives and the communicators.
Incorporate Sermon Illustrations with Props
Props are object lessons with something on stage to illustrate a point or message. Props are anything that helps the audience see tangibly an illustration. A story engages the imagination, but a visual objection lesson engages their ability to see it in real life. Several different types of props can be used:
Physical Object Lessons
This prop describes the principle that the communicator is trying to get the audience to apply.
For instance, if they are speaking on hope, they can use a ladder that has to lean against something. The ladder will represent hope. They can ask the audience if leaning their ladder against smaller objects is safe. Of course, the audience will say no. Then, they can ask if it is safe to lean it against a wall. They will say yes. The illustration is that they lean their ladder on other movable objects, and then the ladder will fall. But if they lean their ladder on something unmovable, it will be firm. That is how hope works. It must be leaned against Christ, our Unmovable Rock.
Video Clips
A video clip of a movie, the communicator doing something, or even a reel from social media can provide a visual illustration for the audience to understand what is happening.
People
Bringing people on stage to help the audience understand a principle is very useful. For instance, people can be used to illustrate forgiveness. One person can stand in the middle of four people. The four people lock hands and the one person is stuck. This is an illustration of unforgiveness. No one can get in because the person who refuses to forgive doesn’t trust but that person has now created a prison in which they can’t get out of either.
Incorporate Sermon Illustrations with Gift Reminder
Another type of prop is gifts, as congregants exit the church at the end of the sermon. For example, pencils can be given out after a message on rewriting your story God’s way. Key chains with verses about the sermon series could help them remember Scripture.
Gift reminders are also thoughtful gestures. They help reinforce the application principle from that message or series.
Sermon Illustrations Are Key to Helping Your Audience Relate
A great sermon is not one that people just enjoy. It is a message that has been faithfully exegeted and aims at helping people understand Scripture and what they must do with that Scripture. Using different types of sermon illustrations will help that message be better understood and applied. These three types of illustrations will help your congregation understand and apply your message in their daily lives.
Was this article helpful? You might also enjoy:
