Tony Evans - Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking

2009 by ANTHONY T. EVANS

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Compiling Editor: Chrystal Hurst

Editor: Christopher Reese

Cover Design: Paetzold Associates

Cover photo of Tony Evans by Joshua Farris, Pharris Photography, LLC (PharrisPhotos.com)

Interior Design: Ragont Design

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Anthony T.

Tony Evans book of illustrations : stories, quotes, and anecdotes from more than 30 years of preaching and public speaking / Tony Evans.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-8024-8578-6

1. Homiletical illustrations. I. Title. II. Title: Book of illustrations.

BV4225.3.E93 2009

251.08--dc22

2008031093

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Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to Ikki Soma,
one of my special sons in the ministry.

Special thanks to my daughter Chrystal Hurst
for her labor in compiling and
editing the material for this work.

I AM REGULARLY asked where I get my illustrations. My answer is always the same: everything for me is an illustration, because I have learned to think illustratively. The wonders of Gods creation make everything that exists, as well as all the events that occur, possible illustrations. The key is to learn to view everything through this lens.

Illustrations are important because relevancy is important. The Bible was not written as a systematic theology with all the truth on any given subject neatly packaged in one location. Rather, it is a biblical theology where forty authors over fifteen hundred years recorded for us Gods interface and interaction with the history of mankind where real life unfolded. Scripture deals with real people in real life dealing with real issues and needing real answers. In fact, the New Testament exhorts us to look to the Old Testament for the purpose of illustrations and examples (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Therefore, for someone to speak on Gods behalf and be irrelevant, esoteric, and ethereal is to commit the sin of boring people with the Word of God. Illustrations are one primary way of keeping the truths of Gods Word relevant to the contemporary audience who needs to hear and understand His Word as it relates to them and their real-life realities. It was Jesus ability and practice of bringing Gods truth to life through the use of illustrations that made Him the master teacher and storyteller that He was.

Illustrations are also important for understanding and comprehension. Because so much of what the Bible addresses involves comprehending the workings of the spiritual realm and how it interfaces with the physical realm, and because many of the ancient ideas, vocabulary, and culture are foreign to us, there needs to be clarity of understanding of the meaning of terms, concepts, and perspectives that may be difficult for the hearer to grasp. The biblical communication must successfully bridge the gap between the biblical author and audience and the contemporary audience. Illustrations are one major way of constructing such a bridge.

Effective and clear illustrations enable both the speaker and hearer to more firmly grasp spiritual truths in ways that make those truths come alive both to the mind and to the heart.

There is, however, a danger in the use of illustrations, and that is allowing them to become an end unto themselves. Illustrations are designed to illustrate, not simply to entertain. Thus, they need to be tethered to some point or truth and not be allowed to dangle alone, disconnected, from anything meaningful and informative.

It is my prayer that God will use this volume to help enhance the effectiveness of the user to bring home the truth of God to those who desperately need to hear a word from Him. In addition, it is my hope that it will encourage and inspire you to look at life illustratively, so that your speaking, preaching, and teaching will be full of fresh, relevant illustrations that will enhance your audiences understanding of Gods truth and enable them to see how really relevant and applicable Gods Word is to their lives.

A DINNER plate left out overnight will be hard to clean in the morning. An alternative to scrubbing is soaking the dish in hot water and dishwashing liquid. Letting a dish abide in the solution will allow a hard cleaning job to become a lot easier. This is what abiding does for Christians. We are much easier to clean up when weve been hanging out in the right environment.

Religion says Scrape off the dirt. It tells us to apply elbow grease to fix a problem. Relationship says Soak. Just sit in the hot water for a while. Abiding will set you free.1

Eph. 2:89; 2 Cor. 11:3

SADLY, these days there are many young ladies who are being coerced indirectly into bad situations because they meet somebody over the Internet. Even thirteen-year-old girls can be lured to a location to meet somebody they dont know because they fell in love over the Internet. Their initial relationship with this stranger is only by reading. Both parties sit at the computer and read each others words, but after awhile, the words take on life because behind the word is a real, living person. Those words for a young girl grow into emotions and then turn into actions as she figures out how to sneak out to meet him. Those words take on life because the girl spent time abiding in the presence of someone she couldnt now see.

You cant see the Living God. Hes a spirit, but Hes written to you and wants to have an eternal love affair with you. If you hang out there with His words, next thing you know youll be packing your bags to meet Him. Youll have fallen in love with Him and have become transformed by abiding in His presence.2

[Transformation; Gods Presence]
John 3:16; 15:35; Rom. 12:2

THE PLANET Mercury is hot. Pluto is cold. Why is Pluto cold and Mercury hot? Mercury is really close to the sun and Pluto is a long way off. The farther you get away, the colder things become, but the closer you get, the hotter things are. You may say that you are not a Pluto Christian or a Mercury Christian. Maybe you are an Earth Christian where things get hot and cold. You may be a seasonal Christian who has changes depending on whether it is wintertime, summertime, springtime, or fall.