Video Transcript: Using Props and Illustrations for Communication
All right. Welcome back. This is the effective communication class. And in this session we are looking at props and illustrative exercise a prop is something that you show an illustrative exercises is something that you do or you get some of your audience to do it. So props. First of all, the book of Jeremiah, if you've never read the book of Jeremiah, it's really quite bizarre because God asked Jeremiah to do a lot of things. In fact, he asked him to do things for a number of years to lay down in the certain situation, to wear something on his shoulders and walk around. Jeremiah is a walking illustration of what God wants, what he wants to communicate to the people of Israel. So if you've never read the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah, read that if you want to know more about props and illustrative exercises. Alright, Matthew 22. Jesus said, Show me the coin used for paying the tax, they brought him a denarius, and he asked them, whose image is this and whose inscription Caesar's They replied, then he said to them, give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God, what is God's interesting, the coin had an image. And Jesus is saying, I want you to look at this image, I don't have the coin, but Jesus had the actual coin, and you see an image and it Caesar's well give to the person who it belongs to because his image is on it. But Jesus was subtly saying, isn't the image of God on every human being. So every human being needs to give back to God. All right, I Corinthians 11, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, simple bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. In the same way after the supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant. In my blood, do this, whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Jesus took simple elements that was probably part of the Passover Seder. And he used the elements people were very familiar with. But he applied them to what he what he was about to do that his body would be broken that his blood would be shed it's an illustration. John 13:4-5, he (Jesus) got up from the meal, He took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him. He is now doing an illustrative exercise. He's doing something he's he's acting out something. He's doing something to them. But he's trying to make a point. This is the kind of thing that you need to do for each other it illustrates serving your, your fellow brother or sister. The purpose of props, number one is illustration. How can I illustrate this? How can I make this more clear? The other is illumination. How can I teach you something? So on the one hand, you're trying to make a point clear. On the other hand, you're trying to apply it to someone's life. Examples of props, Coke can and chalice. I wish I had one with me, but I remember doing a sermon. And I put on a table like this. I put a Coke can and I put a chalice for communion. And they both just sat there. And then I talked about my sermon for quite a while and those two things were just
sitting on the table. And of course, people are wondering, What are these things? Why are these things up on the table? What's going to happen with them? Well, I preached for 20, 25 minutes before I said anything about them. So finally when it was appropriate, I said okay, we've got two things here. We've got a Coke can. And at that time, Coca Cola its big advertising campaign was this is the real thing. So Coke declares that it is the real thing. Jesus declares that what he did for us on the cross is the real thing, the chalice, or the can, which is the real thing. And that's the choice that you have to make. All right, another illustration of a prop is a casket. In fact, I did this for a sermon illustration. And once I didn't have a casket, of course, so I called the local funeral director in my city, I didn't know him, I explained who I was, I'm in a church, I would like to have a casket to illustrate something. And so he delivered it. And it was very interesting. Because of that experience. He asked why and what I was doing, and because of that, he ended up coming to our church. So it's a good way to reach out. Anyway, I have the casket. And at some point, my sermon, I had someone wheel it out, and I opened it up, and I said to people, one day, you'll be in one of these things, but you won't get to see what it what it is. So let's look at so I took everything apart, I took everything out. And I was trying to illustrate that if that you need to see life sometimes at the end. This is where you end up. So what does that mean for the rest of life? Or is this where you end up? This is an issue that you have to figure out. People spend their lives and other illustrations are spending their lives climbing the ladder of success. So what's the ladder leaned against? What's it all about? That's the next one. I had a ladder once and I was talking about Philippians 2, where Jesus says, We're where Paul is talking about Jesus, and how he humbled himself. And then God exalted him. And so every part of that passage that talks about Jesus humbling himself, he was born, he did this, uh, you know, there's all these steps of how he humbled himself, and then how God exalted him. So what I did is I put a 15 foot stepladder up, up on the stage area. And I talked about how people climb the ladder of success. And for every point, I took a step up the ladder. And finally, I was, I was 15 feet above the ground, on the step ladder. And some people had to cover their eyes, and they could, they couldn't look, they're afraid that I'm gonna fall. And I talked about how, when you finally get to the top, you know, you're looking down on everyone, all the rungs of the ladder are people that you had to step on to get up there. But it's lonely up there. And it's scary up there. And it's a long fall to the ground from up there. So I talked about all the negatives about being on top of the ladder. And then I read the passage. And for every little thing that Jesus did, how he humbled himself, I took a few steps down a few steps down a few steps down or finally got to the very bottom. And when I got to the bottom, I said, Now, you know, let's say I'm the one helping people. I'm the one helping people get up the ladder. I'm the support system. Isn't that really better? Remember, sometimes people would say to me, Oh, that was a wonderful sermon. Wow.
You're an incredible preachers. They put me up high on a ladder. And the next week, no one said anything. And I wondered, well, what happens? Am I Am I not any good. In other words, I am up high on the ladder, they put me high in the ladder, but now I'm vulnerable. I would rather have someone come up to me after a sermon and say, Boy, that sermon really lifted me up. It really helps me Now where am I? I'm under them. I'm helping them be lifted up rather than me lifted up. But now I feel better about what I did. And I'm not vulnerable. I'm not vulnerable as to what happens the next week. So I talked in the passage about how Jesus humbled himself, but in the end, God lifted him up. So the goal is not to get to the top of the ladder. But it was a beautiful picture, and I've had people 25 years later, when I go back to Vancouver, they will tell me about that particular sermon that they always remit that they always remember that whole ladder thing. Rocks. Sometimes I use rocks, I get rocks, and I illustrate something maybe it's the the Ebenezer, you set up your rock of remembrance, they did that in the Old Testament, these rocks are a testimony to what has happened. They had to when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan, they had to get 12 rocks, one rock for each of the 12 tribes and they had to pile them up. And when their kids saw those rocks, they would tell the story again. So sometimes, I'll just go out and find a bunch of little rocks. And this is a remembrance. This is something you put in your pocket for the next two weeks. And remember this particular thing that we're trying to teach. Examples of illustrative exercises, a race with shoes, tied. Hebrews 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. So in my church, what I did is I invited some young 12 year old really fast 12 year I, I asked him, I'm 62 years old, what kid thinks they can outrun me? Now they all raise their hand, of course. So I picked the one that looks like he's the fastest. And he comes up, and he you know, I compare, you know, old guy, young, young kid, who's gonna, who's gonna, you know, we're gonna race around the crowd and the sanctuary one time, we'll see who can who can finish. And who do you think is going to win and I, of course, everyone thinks the young guy is going to win. And I said, okay, but there's one little thing we have to do. We're going to tie his shoes together. You know, not tie him separately, but we're gonna tie them together and he's gonna have to try to run with his shoes tied. And then we race. And of course, I win. I win because he's got things tangled the sin so easily entangled. So now I talked about well, what are the things that tie our shoes in life? What are the things that are holding us back in the race that God is calling us to run? sit on a chair with eyes closed. Okay, so Wally, why don't you come in and Wally is the guy who's doing all this taping. He does all the taping for CLI. He's the first graduate. Great guy. Anyway, he's been doing the taping, and I'm gonna use him as part of the illustration. So Wally, why don't you come on in? Here is all right, Wally. How are
you doing? Did you did you quickly have to put this? Yeah. Okay, this is Wally. He's behind the cam camera. Why don't you give Wally a big round of thanks. All right Wally, I didn't beforehand, tell you what I was going to do. No, you didn't. Okay. So what I what I'm going to have you do? I got a chair back here. Okay, this black chair. You know, I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes. And I'm gonna sort of inch this chair close to you. And then I'm going to ask you to sit down without you touching it. Okay, you can't touch it. All right. Hopefully I get it behind you. Right, right. Right. Okay. All right. Face that way. Close your eyes. And I'm gonna get this chair. And you can't, you can't reach back and touch it. You can't feel if it's there. Or, you know, hopefully I get it close enough to you and so on. All right. Now I want you to just without opening your eyes without touching anything. I want you to sit down in it and now, stand up. Close your eyes. And now do it again. Okay, all right. All right. Thanks. All right. Now, let me ask you. Which was easier? The second time. Yeah. Now the first time I you know, I put the chair there. But you couldn't see it. You couldn't feel it. So you had to trust that it was there. You have to trust me for one thing. And so you're a little uncertain. You're like, hold it is it really gonna be there. Even though you heard me. You could hear it and everything. But you couldn't see it. You couldn't feel it? And so you had to have some faith? Yes. Right. Right. And the first time you exercise faith, it's really hard. But the second time, I mean, it didn't move. No one moved it and you sat down right away. Right. And that's an illustration of faith. I mean, you can know something, I believe God, I know you're there. But as I'm trying to trust him with my life, I have never trusted God in that particular situation. So we're a little distrustful even of something we actually believe we know it. But the more you trust God, the more experience you have trusting God with your life and what's going on. Then you sit down, kind of reminds me of the verse of faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And the more you get into the more, you have it, right, yes, exactly. So faith is something that you have to exercise. And the more you exercise it, the better it is. All right Wally, thanks. well, all right, back to the camera. All right. So Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is competence, in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. So you know it, you believe it? But there's nothing like a little experience to help you through. All right, what are props do they help both the speaker and the listener focus gives you something to look at, I can see this thing. And now it becomes an illustration props in these kinds of exercises, use the other side of the brain, I think it's the right side of the brain. One side is the logic. The other side is sort of the pictures and putting spatial things together. So now you're using both sides of the brain. They help those who are more visually inclined to pay attention. Some people are word people, they like words, they like logic. Some people like pictures, they like art, they like scenery and, and God speaks to them through those things. So when you use props and illustrations, you're helping people that are more inclined towards those things to understand and
see things. They add a little spice to the presentation. You know, sometimes it's hard for people just listen to someone speak many, many, many, many words, and all of a sudden, the picture or illustration or prop comes in, and it adds a little more interest to it. All right, another illustration, the pencil bend effect, I don't have a pencil, but I have a pen. And if you lightly hold it, anyone can do this. It doesn't take a special genius. But if you just gotta bounce it back and forth lightly. I hope you can see that it has the illusion of bending. Okay, but it's not bending. But there's the illusion of bending. There's a story of Elisha and his servant. There was a king trying to kill Elisha. And they found him. And it was morning and the servant of Elisha steps out of the house, and he sees all the enemies surrounding them. So he goes back and he says, Elisha, what are we going to do? And then verse 17, Elisha prayed, open his eyes, Lord, his servant, so that he may see than the Lord open the servants eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. In other words, there were angels surrounding them. Okay, so he saw the chariots of his enemies, but he didn't see the angels that were going to protect them. So the illustrator, I like this illustration, because here's how it goes. For most things in life, seeing is believing. We have to see it, then we believe it. But sometimes believing is seeing. Sometimes what we see, is not true. If Seeing is believing, then you have to believe that this pen is bending, but it's not. Seeing is believing. We become gullible. And we fall into all kinds of error. So sometimes we have to believe something. Believe that God will take care of us believe that there are His angels here protect us, even though we don't see it. That's what faith is. It's believing before you see and then then you see things happen. And you see the evidence of what you believe. All right. What are these illustrative exercises actually do? They add interest and variety to the presentation they give listeners an experience with which to relate to and remember, so a prop is so It illustrates and illuminates the point, it illuminates an application that you may have the illustrative exercise actually gets people involved. They have a little experience, you know, Wally has the experience of trying to sit into a chair with his eyes closed the first time. And that experience is a powerful thing. You know, when I do it in my church, I have everyone in the crowd stand up. And they have to sit in the seat that they just stood up from, and they close their eyes, and now everyone has that experience. And then when you make a point, they have something they can hang on to. And remember, they make more difficult concepts. more clear, faith is a difficult thing to describe. You can give these verses but what does it really mean? But all of a sudden, you give them something concrete that they can Oh, okay, it's just like that chair thing. Now I can see how it applies to my marriage. And I can see how it applies to my faith in God. Things to avoid while making use of props, don't fiddle with your prop before and after its use. So I'm, if I have a sermon, you know, this is the prop that I want to use this pen. And, by the way, before I ever get to what I want to
talk about, I'm playing with it, I got it in my hand, I'm talking about other things, I'm fiddling, fiddling, fiddling and it's distracting. Or, when I'm finished with it, you know, I illustrate the thing and sometimes seeing is believing but often you have to believe before you see. And then I go on to some other points, and I keep holding this thing. It's a distraction for the people around you. So I have it over to the side, use it, and then I put it away. Don't use too many in one presentation. Okay, so I have the you know, I have this pen prop. And I have whatever this thing is prop, you know, I've got my chair and I've got the book, maybe I use my clothes, you know. And after a while people are confused. There's too many props, I don't even know what your points are. anymore. Things to avoid while making use of illustrative exercises. Don't use too many in one presentation. I've seen this over and over again, where you know, I do the chair thing, illustrate that. And then I light some candles and then when we have the candle illustration of something else. And then I have another one and another one. And it's like people either really start mixing your metaphors and mixing these things together. And they don't remember which one did what. And it comes off as sort of cheap. If we use too many props, too many illustrative exercise, it seems like you don't have much to say. And so you're just trying to give us these little experiences. It just comes off as fake. Don't treat people like little children. Again, that's another thing you know, you're trying to illustrate something very simple, that people already understand is the concept itself is not that difficult. And then you know, you illustrate it and and it's like you're talking to a three year old and people don't like to be condescended to don't be too obvious. Okay, so I have the chair thing, but I'm not going to be so obvious about it, I'm gonna build a little mystery to it or the pen or whatever it might be. Don't make it so simple. That that people start getting annoyed at your illustrations. Remember, it's, it's just a thing that helps you make a real point that you want to make. It helps you illustrate something that the Bible already talks about. So have fun with it. It's sometimes it's hard to figure out what kind of prop you listen for your culture. what's popular right now if you if you take something that people are already talking about, right now it's the Superbowl time here in the United States, the big football thing. So if I hold the football people know what this is all about. But I want to redirect their attention. Or you know, there's the sport thing Nike in the sporting world is talking about things and Nike is in the news. Well, Nike means victory. In fact, Nike is the word used about those churches in the book of Revelation. And it's it's really about God's victory over sin and death. That's what that swoosh means. So if I can take that as an illustration, when I preach on Revelation, that's what I did for seven weeks. I talked about that Nike, the swoosh, the victory that we have in Jesus Christ, I'm taking a popular item in culture and redirecting everyone's attention so that whenever they see that they think about the victory won by Christ, not some shirt or football or whatever it
might be. So look for your look in your culture, take the things in your culture and redirect them towards a more biblical kind of framework.