The #1 RULE FOR HUMOR IN PREACHING

With 6 Additional Rules to Follow with Some Added Humor 

The #1 RULE FOR HUMOR IN PREACHING   

Handle humor like nitroglycerin!!!

Humor is like nitroglycerin, it must be handled with care or you will severely wound people and risk blowing up your own ministry. Like a powerful explosive humor can tear down walls resistant to Gods word.  But if offensive, humor can kill any attempt at communicating the Gospel.

BE CAREFUL!!!

RULE #2  Fit in humor like a tailored shirt.

A tailored shirt looks good on a person because it fits well.   Only humor that illustrates and clarifies a point is worthy of including in the message.  As a lousy fitting shirt detracts from ones appearance. Gratuitous humor obscures God’s precious truth.

BE PERTINENT.

RULE #3  Deliver humor like a drive-by shooter.

Choose brief witty comments over long jokes.  Do mostly drive-by shooting humor, not lots of long-shootout jokes.  Several quick shots of a little humor ease and capture the hearers more than one or two big laughs from lengthy stories.

BE PITHY.

RULE #4  Use humor like a look at a circus mirror.

Before funny photo apps on smart phones, circus fun mirrors were the way to make yourself look funny.  Short and squatty.  Tall and skinny. Wavy and weird. Yourself! The funniest and most acceptable preaching humor is self-depreciating.

BE HUMBLE.

RULE #5  Apply humor like decorations on a cake. 

By way of analogy, consider the cake the truths of the Word, frosting the illustrations on the cake, and illustrative humor the decorations on the frosting.  A message should be lots of cake, some frosting and a few well-placed decorations.    

BE MINIMAL.

RULE #6  Acquire humor like a picky thief.

A picky thief steals only the best goods.  The effective preacher takes the best humor from the best preachers and best communicators.  Another one of the best places to pickpocket a humorous anecdote is your own life and family.   Real life beats joke books by a long shot.

BE SCOPING OUT.

RULE #7  Dispense humor like aspirin.

Aacetylsalicylic acid suppresses pain, reduces inflammation, and is an anti-carcinogenic.

Why use humor at all in preaching?  Because everyone is hurting to some degree.  “A cheerful heart does good like medicine,” Proverbs informs us.

BE HEALING.