Picture this: it’s Saturday afternoon, and you’re putting the finishing touches on tomorrow’s sermon. You’ve been thinking, researching, and praying about this message all week, and thankfully, feel prepared. That is, except for one small detail—you aren’t sure how to begin. For more than 30 years, Tony Evans has been connecting with audiences around the world. Now his tools are available for you. Don’t leave your listeners to connect the dots. Let Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations help you illustrate your point in a way they can’t forget.

Reproduction of the original: The Art of Illustration by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The standard textbook on the art and craft of preaching, with a new Foreword by Thomas G. Long.

A Comprehensive Resource for Today’s Christian Communicators. This extensive encyclopedia is the most complete and practical work ever published on the art and craft of biblical preaching. Its 11 major sections contain nearly 200 articles, comprehensively covering topics on preaching and methodology, including: Sermon structure and “the big idea.” The art of introductions, transitions, and conclusions. Methods for sermon prep, from outlining to exercising. Approaches to different types of preaching: topical, expository, evangelistic, and more. Best practices for sermon delivery, speaking with authority, and using humor. Leveraging effective illustrations and stories. Understanding audience. and much more. Entries are characterized by intensely practical and vivid writing designed to help preachers deepen their understanding and sharpen their communication skills. The contributors include a virtual Who’s Who of preaching from a cross section of denominations and traditions, such as Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, Rick Warren, Warren Wiersbe, Alice Mathews, John Piper, Andy Stanley, and many others. Haddon Robinson and Craig Brian Larson—two of today’s most respected voices in preaching—provide editorial oversight. Includes audio CD with preaching technique examples from the book.

A practical guide to writing sermons, including preparation, time-saving techniques, how to be a successful preacher, and more.

Does your life feel cluttered? Maybe an overcrowded calendar isn't your only problem! In this updated classic, learn how our technology-focused generation can deal with stress and find balance in life by submitting to God in five areas: motivation, priorities, intellect, spiritual growth, and rest. We have schedule planners, computerized calendars, smart phones, and sticky notes to help us organize our business and social lives every day. But what about organizing the other side of our lives? The spiritual side? In Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald equips you to live life from the inside out, cultivating the inner victory necessary for effectiveness. Simplifying your external life begins with seeking internal order. In addition to focusing on spiritual and mental disciplines, you’ll discover: The difference between being driven and being called The lifelong pursuit of the growth of the mind The importance of being a listener and reader How to exercise your soul to keep it in good shape Our culture encourages us to believe that the busy, publicly active person is also the most spiritual. Our massive responsibilities at home, work, and church have resulted in many of us on the verge of collapse. Learn to take a step back from the outer world and deal with the stress of life by developing your inner world: your soul.

Every preacher, teacher, or writer knows the value of a good illustration in helping connect the truth of the passage with the congregation or class—and how hard it is to come up with good illustrations week after week. This book contains the cream of the crop: 1001 illustrations carefully selected from among thousands on Christianity Today International’s popular website PreachingToday.com. These illustrations are proven, memorable, and illuminating. As the saying goes, they will preach! And they’re fresh, all written within the past seven years. Of course the best illustrations are no good if you can’t find the right one. These illustrations have been arranged according to twelve master topics, each divided into several subtopics. Further, they’ve been indexed according both to Bible references and to 500 keywords. A searchable CD-ROM is included, allowing you to get the illustration into your lesson or sermon with ease.

Now in paperback, this book offers 1,500 of the best quotations available today. The illustrations deal with contemporary subjects such as abortion, drugs, and divorce, as well as the timeless subjects of faith, commitment, and Christian living.

Excerpt from The Art of Sermon Illustration Every preacher covets the power to illustrate his sermons and addresses. Few preachers possess it in any marked degree. A fertile illustrator, like the poet and the painter, is born, not made. None the less, it is possible to cultivate the art; and the purpose of this book is to assist those who realise the necessity of being interesting, and are not destitute of imagination, to develop what gift they have. There are pitfalls in the way of the sermon and address illustrator, and the preacher and speaker will be put on their guard against them. The author has gone to the Bible as a store house of illustrations by inspired writers who possessed the art in perfection. Most of all he would send preachers to the Gospels, to Him who spake as never man spake, and without a parable spake He not unto them, for matchless examples of the illustra tion of spiritual truth. None realised as the Master. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.