Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Let me explain...

We all know that if you need to explain a joke once you have told it then the joke bombed.

I think the same should be true for sermon illustrations. If you need to explain how it fits afterwards then it were a dud.

On Sunday i fired a dud.

After the morning service i was asked to explain how a story fit into the point of the sermon. Twice.

I now realise what i did wrong. To begin, the actual story didn't add to the point i was making a probably should have been omitted.

Second, With half an eye on the clock, i rushed my way through explaining the connection and just moved on.

Finally, my transitions into the illustration and away from the story weren't concrete enough.

From now on I'll try to be more clear. If the point of the illustration can't be stated in one sentence, and the connection be clearly made, then the sermon will be stronger if it is left on the cutting room floor.

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