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Sources of illustrative material include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Bible (Three things are accomplished: the point in the sermon is illustrated, some Bible content is taught indirectly, and you get to repeat yourself without being repetitious.)
• The preacher’s imagination (Be sure you acknowledge you are imagining, and never try to pass off your imaginings as biblical truth.)
• The preacher’s observation of life experiences
• Serious reading (A reliable method for retrieval is essential.)
• Light reading (Articles from newspapers and magazines can be clipped or copied.)
• Biography
• Fiction
• Radio and television (Notable quotes or other materials may be useful.)
• The fine arts
• History
• Nature
• Pastoral work (The preacher should be careful not to betray confidences!)
• Hymnals and hymn concordances
• Personal experiences (These are often the best illustrations if they are not used too often, and as long as you are honest, and not always the hero of your stories.)
• As a rule, books of illustrations should be used with caution. Too many “canned” illustrations make a sermon sound “used” or “secondhand.” Perhaps the greatest value of these books is that they can sometimes stimulate the preacher’s mind to create his own illustrations.

One final word: illustrations should not be viewed as things that are “tacked on” to sermons. Discovering or creating good illustrational material is integral to the sermon writing process. As the preacher outlines and writes his messages, he should constantly ask himself whether each idea is conceptually clear. Will the hearers understand it? Is there a better way to say it? Can it be verbally visualized or explained better by using some analogy? This is the natural time to incorporate illustrations.

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The podcast is a ministry of Dr. Alan Carr and The Sermon Notebook (http://www.sermonnotebook.org)