Throughout
the series, I related different aspects of dating and relationships to aspects
of the car that was parked on stage:
[excerpts from
“1000 RPMs” and “2000 RPMs”] “The first dumb decision that defective daters
make has to do with . . . who is behind the wheel of the person’s life that we’re
dating . . . Defective daters fail
to pop the trunk and check the baggage . . . Once again, I’ve got to talk about
dumb decisions that defective daters make. The dumb decision that defective
daters make with the Ferrari, with their sexuality is, they take it off road . . . ”
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Series:
Tank U
Message Title:
“Satan’s R-A-P Sheet”; “Armor All”
This
visual was one of the more radical ones I have used during my ministry. During
this series, we parked a full-size British Scorpion tank on stage to illustrate
the idea that in our daily fight against Satan, we must equip ourselves with
the full armor of God (note: if you do this, have your stage inspected to make
sure it can support that kind of weight):
[excerpt from
“Satan’s R-A-P Sheet”] “You might not believe this, but right now I am sitting
inside a tank. This is a British Scorpion, one of the tanks used in Desert
Storm. It has all this armor around it and I kind of feel protected right
now . . . we need a tank in our
lives. We need armor . . . Why? Because we are involved in a war . . . ”
And
over the next few weeks, I discussed the different aspects of God’s armor for
us and related them to the tank on stage:
[excerpt from
“Armor All – Part I”] “This whole military theme is the most used analogy
in the Bible regarding the Christian life . . .
Remember, when you do battle, when you do warfare, you can’t fight
outside the tank. You have got to fight inside the tank . . .
Satan is going to come after you. But if you don’t have Armor All,
you will run into some serious problems.”
While
the Ferrari and tank illustrations definitely drove home the point, they may
be a little over the top for your taste. Of course, you don’t have to go to
that extreme in order to be effective in your use of visuals. Here are a few
of the simpler visuals I have used that turned out to be just as practical and
powerful as the car and the tank . . .
Series:
The Real F-Word
Message Title:
“Collateral Damage”
For
this message, we had a park bench on stage. And when I came out to speak, I
brought with me a dog leash. I began the message by telling a story about something
I had recently witnessed concerning a large Doberman tied to a bench outside
a convenience store: