4 Sermon Illustrations on Public Preaching

4 illustrations

Public preaching involves boldly proclaiming God's Word to a gathered audience, often requiring courage and reliance on the Holy Spirit to overcome fear and hesitation (Acts 4:29). Illustrations commonly use the imagery of a speaker facing a crowd, highlighting the challenges and responsibilities of conveying spiritual truth openly (2 Timothy 4:2).

Audience, Inspiration From

Performing live before an audience differs greatly from performing to an unresponsive recording device.

“When a singer is up before an audience, he or she can tell whether the effect of the voice is pleasing or not by watching the countenances of the listeners,” says Thomas A. Edison in _Popular Mechanics_. “When, however, one sings into a dead instrument like the phonograph, without the slightest recognition as to whether the voice is properly tuned and pitched, the singer becomes rather nervous. I know some very capable singers who can sing splendidly before an audience, but when it comes to getting their voice into the phonograph, they are dumb. I have brought people of great note out to the works, and paid them handsomely for their vocal efforts, only to find, when I came to reproduce these attempts on the phonograph, that the records were utterly worthless. One must have, indeed, a regular phonograph voice in order to make a good record. Some people can sing well into a phonograph who could not get up before an audience to save their lives; and again, as I have said, some people can sing before persons, but they can not perform before a phonograph.”

Public Speaking

Those who speak publicly often face fear and anxiety unlike those who simply enjoy the event.

A greenhorn, who had never seen a great banquet, came to the city, and, looking through the door, said to his friends who were showing him the sights: “Who are those gentlemen who are eating so heartily?” The answer was: “They are the men who pay for the dinner.” “And who are those gentlemen up there on the elevation looking so pale and frightened and eating nothing?” “Oh,” said his friend, “those are the fellows who make the speeches.”

— T. DE WITT TALMAGE

Note, A False

Cheap character seeks notoriety through public spectacle rather than godly witness.

See SELF-CONFIDENCE.

NOTORIETY

Only persons of cheap character would be likely to resort to such a device as the following:

With more than 10,000 persons intently watching proceedings, George Lenfers and Miss Ora D. Williams were married on the top of the gas company’s new giant smoke-stack, 222 feet from the ground, at high noon the other day. The streets and alleys for five blocks in every direction were jammed and high roofs were dotted with spectators as far as the eye could reach.

Thomas Englehard, the builder of the huge pile of concrete and steel, clasped a belt about the bride’s waist and tied a rope to a ring in it. The other end of the rope he tied about his own waist and proceeded with the girl up the ladder. The groom followed with Rev. C. J. Armentraut, pastor of the Emanuel Presbyterian Church. (Text.)

Don't Attempt the Grand

Preachers should avoid foolish grandiosity in their preaching style.

Addressing his students one day, Mr. Spurgeon said: "If you should attempt the grand in your preaching, mind you are sure of not making a fool of yourself, as the brother did who exclaimed, 'It thundered, brethren—it thundered—like—like—like—anything.' Nor yet as he who, describing the angels ascending and descending Jacob's ladder, said, 'They went up and down, up and down—like—like'—but he did not know what to liken their movements to, but only made himself look like a fool."

Eric Holmberg Discusses Go Stand and Speak Documentary 6:24

by Eric Holmberg

The sermon emphasizes the importance of public proclamation of the gospel and the need for Christians to obey the biblical mandate to preach the Word of God.