How I Find Sermon Illustrations

A friend from Australia wants to know my method of sermon illustration. He mentioned that he uses three systems:

1) A manual system for filing illustrations.
2) A seed box of this and that—it hasn’t proved very helpful.
3) A program called “Biblical Illustrator” that has not been kept up to date.

Here are my general comments:

1) The best system is the one that works for you.
2) Whatever works for you is likely to change over time.
3) Few of us have the discipline to keep an illustration file up to date.
4) Most books of illustrations are useless because they are so quickly outdated.

On that last point I have a huge book called 7700 Sermon Illustrations that I bought 30 years ago. I think I’ve actually used it maybe 3 or 4 times. And it’s a pretty good book—the best one of its kind that I’ve seen. A friend once gave me a used (and slightly water-damaged) copy of a book of illustrations by Donald Grey Barnhouse that I found helpful because the illustrations were taken from actual sermons and contained a bit of context. But I haven’t used the Barnhouse book in 15 years. So I no longer buy or use books of illustrations.

Here’s what works for me. When I was in the pastorate, I had a drawer in my desk in which I threw stories, illustrations and quotes. I had one iron-clad rule regarding that drawer. If I didn’t use the material in two weeks, I threw it away. If I let it pile up, everything got jumbled together and I couldn’t remember what was in there anyway. So throwing away the pile every two weeks forced me either to use it or lose it. And it worked, as long as I kept clearing it out. Eventually I forgot to clear it out, and the drawer became full of useless clutter. I do think the principle is helpful. Use it within two weeks or forget about it. 

In a blog entry last year I described my own sermon prep idea.  It’s about a new list I make every week, a list that starts on Monday and gets longer as the week goes on. I base this idea on two key thoughts:

1) I don’t know on Monday what I’ll need when I speak on Sunday.
2) God will put around me every day the things I’ll need when I preach.

The blog entry goes into more detail, but here is my starting list for this week:

Sarah Palin
Last-second pass interference
Notes from the audit
Tom Brady’s knee
Spokane messages
Men of Fire
Pray out loud
Men’s Bible study
Josh’s comments
Finding my keys
Deuteronomy 7
Trip to the dentist
Gustav-Hannah-Ike
"Why don’t I feel God’s presence?"
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

That’s just a place to begin, and this list doesn’t mean that all of those things would end up in a sermon this Sunday. As you read the list, you can tell that these are just little reminders to me. As the week goes on, I will add to this list and also jot down extra notes on some of these items. If I am attentive to the world around me, I’ll end up with at least 75 items. From that random list, I can find plenty of good material for my sermon. In a couple of weeks this list will be obsolete, and in three months I wouldn’t be able to tell you what “finding my keys” is all about. 

Why does this work? It works because in the providence of God, he supplies around us every day the things we’re going to need later in the week.

If only we had eyes to see them.
If only we wrote them down.

No method works for everyone, and no method works all the time, but this approach has helped me stay fresh in my preaching, and it keeps my eyes open all week long, watching as God gives me far more material than I can use on Sunday morning.