None of my preacher friends have ever frantically called me on Saturday night needing help on sermon exegesis. Most preachers do that early in the sermon prep process. But (and I won’t mention any names here) I have gotten plenty of late week or even Saturday night calls that start, “Hey, buddy, since you’re the illustration guy at PreachingToday.com, I’m wondering if you have a good way to illustrate ____________.” That’s what I call the “last minute illustration scramble.”

What is it about sermon illustrations? We know we’re supposed to weave them into our messages, but have you ever wondered why they really matter so much? Haddon Robinson once said that illustrations serve at least five purposes: gain attention, clarify truth, aid memory, stir emotion, and establish rapport. Bryan Chapell claims that good illustrations provide concrete examples of how to live out our biblical text’s big idea. In other words, our people should think, Ah, so that’s how you do it!

That all sounds good but every preacher knows that illustrations are tricky. For starters, what is an illustration? (They aren’t just “stories.”) How are they related to the biblical text’s big idea? (Notice how not if they are related.) Why do they work? (Hint: remember the “Ladder of Abstraction.”) Where do you find them? (They’re hiding in plain sight, as Bryan Wilkerson says.) We also underestimate how they can go wrong. (You can over-illustrate, as Joel Gregory argues.) How do you write them? (More artfully than we often imagine.) How much humor should we use and what about personal illustrations?

This preaching guide will help you think through these questions and more. Illustrating your sermon takes clear thinking and hard work. But it’s worth it. Good illustrations can help your text stick. But as the text is exposited and the Spirit is at work, they can also appeal to the affective side of our hearers. They move people’s hearts and wills. So don’t do the last minute illustration scramble. May this guide help you plan ahead and illustrate with confidence, variety, and even joy.