Sermon Illustration: “It’s What You Do”

My approach to opening illustrations is to provide a smooth runway. I want there to be an easy and smooth and gripping take off, so a good opening is critical. If the take off is bad, the rest of the message can include a lot of turbulence. The preacher wants something to grab the attention of the congregation, leading them to want more.

Recently, in order to help the congregation see the gravity of Luke’s nonchalant statement about all of Asia Minor hearing the message of the Lord (from Acts 19), I started the message with the following reference to Geico commercials.

You can listen to the message here (June 18, 2017).

Though I don’t use Geico as my car insurance, they have great commercials. I especially love the ones where the narrator says, “It’s what you do.” Perhaps you have seen the one where the spy is running from his would be captors when his phone rings. He answers, thinking it is his partner. However, to his frustration, it is his mom talking about the squirrels in her attic. The narrator says, “If you’re a mom, you call at the worst time. . . It’s what you do.”

[Note to the preacher: Depending on the mood of the congregation and the length of the message, you could include a few more examples. I did not show the commercial, but put a picture of the mom from the Geico commercial on the screen.]

Likewise, if you’re a Baptist, you stretch the truth. More than that, if you’re a Baptist pastor, you exaggerate profusely. It’s what you do. If we have 205 children in VBS, we will tell people we approached 300. If we had 12 children profess faith in Christ, we will tell people we were well into double digits with 30-40 more “real close” to making a decision. If you are a Baptist, you exaggerate. It’s what you do.

But if you are an author of a biblical book, you record the facts. You tell the truth. Inspired of the Spirit of God, you write down precisely what happened, the way it happened, with zero stretching of the truth of exaggeration. If you are biblical author, you tell the truth. It’s what you do.

When Luke records the impact of Paul’s disciple-making practice in Acts 19:10, he says that because of what happened in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, all of Asia Minor – ALL OF ASIA MINOR – heard the message of the Lord. Since Luke is a biblical author, not a Baptist pastor, we can know it’s the truth and that is precisely what happened. Since we want to be a people who see the city of Franklin, Middle Tennessee, and the world impacted with the message of the Gospel, we might need to take a closer look and examine what Paul did that caused that impact throughout modern day Turkey and surrounding nations.

This illustration could be used for numerous texts, to help the preacher take off and grab the attention of the audience, pointing them to the shocking statements in Scripture. Statements that are shocking . . . Yet wonderfully true.