Silence Preaches Too

Text Bryan

Jesus and the Power of Silence

In John 8, the religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. They pressed Him for an answer. He famously said, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.”

And then what? Silence.

No explanation. No follow-up. Just stillness. And in that stillness, something shifted. One by one, they dropped their stones and walked away.

That moment wasn’t filler — it was the sermon.

Speak On Purpose Podcast 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Speak On Purpose
podcast.
I am your host, brian Cox, andI have been a pastor, a teacher
and communicator for over 25years.
I want to share with you myexperiences in communication the
good, the bad and the really,really ugly.

(00:21):
But my hope in this podcast isthat you will find helpful and
practical information, as wellas some inspiration for your
next message.
This is our five-minute episodeof the week.
We call this Preach in Five,where we give you preaching tips
in five minutes or less.

(00:42):
I'm so stoked about doing thisevery week.
This has been so much fun.
Thank you for listening, thankyou for your comments and just
let me know, wherever you are,let me know where you're
listening from.
I'd love to know that.
Well, let's jump right in.
I don't know about you, but mostof us preacher guys we see

(01:05):
preaching this way.
We think all right.
We think the more words wespeak, the more analogies we
have, the more stories we tell,the more or should I say the
louder we get that our preachingwill be better.

(01:27):
And I'm going to tell yousomething today.
All that's good.
You need to be passionate, youneed to tell stories, all that's
good.
But I'm going to give yousomething today that I believe
is more powerful than any ofthat and it commands the room
when you do it and I call thatsilence.

(01:47):
Did you get that I was silent?
It commands your attention.
It is powerful.
Silence preaches too.
In fact, silence probably ismore engaging than most of what
we say.
I know I may offend some of youwith that.

(02:09):
I'm sorry if I did.
All I'm telling you is I'vetried this out.
I have done this many times andI've been amazed at how people
will stop and look and listenwhen we do this, when we let a
moment happen, it can bepowerful.
So I'm going to give you acouple of tips on how to do that

(02:32):
.
In fact, jesus showed us thebest example.
This is so good.
In John 8,.
Jesus said this.
He said let the one who iswithout sin cast the first stone
.
Then what?
Silence, silence.

(02:53):
And everybody dropped theirstone and walked away.
Silence is powerful.
Silence gives reflection, itgives emotion.
Silence is powerful.
Silence gives reflection, itgives emotion.
It lets the Holy Spirit work.
So think about that before yournext sermon, and I'm going to

(03:18):
give you a couple of ways to dothat.
Three ways you can do thatFirst pause after key lines,
after a key statement.
If you say God isn't mad at you, he's waiting on you, don't
rush, let it breathe, Let theroom be still during heavy

(03:42):
moments.
You don't need to fill everymoment with your words.
I promise you let people feelit.
Also, use it before your prayeror invitation.
I've done this so many times.
It's so powerful when we saysomething or we read a verse and
we just let God work, let theSpirit work, he begins to do the
work for us.

(04:03):
So when you're working on yoursermon this week, pick a moment
in your sermon.
Just think about it right now.
Pick a moment in your sermonand choose one place you can put
silence, that you can put apause, a brief pause.
But give it a try.
I bet you'll be surprised atwhat God can do there.

(04:23):
If you will just leave space.
People will be transformed whenyou do that.
Let me pray for us.
Lord, help us to be okay andnot fear silence.
Teach us how to get out of theway when you want to speak, amen

(04:44):
.