{"id":29039,"date":"2011-09-20T21:38:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T02:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=29039"},"modified":"2020-12-26T21:42:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T03:42:01","slug":"is-it-appropriate-to-have-powerpoint-presentations-during-sermons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-appropriate-to-have-powerpoint-presentations-during-sermons\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during sermons?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during services? Personally, I find it very helpful in keeping up with Bible verses during the sermons, but I wonder if God approves it. I don&#8217;t know how the brethren feel. This is something I have been wondering about since I began going to the church.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Aids used in illustrating lessons have been long used. Ezekiel was told to put on several demonstrations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He built a model of Jerusalem with a brick and laid siege to it (Ezekiel 4:1-3).<\/li>\n<li>He laid 390 days on his right side and 40 days on his left (Ezekiel 4:4-8)<\/li>\n<li>He made bread and cooked it over dung (Ezekiel 4:9-17)<\/li>\n<li>He shaved his head with a sword and divided the hair into three piles (Ezekiel 5:1-4)<\/li>\n<li>He went around stomping (Ezekiel 6:11-14)<\/li>\n<li>He made a hole in the side of his house and moved out through it (Ezekiel 12:1-16)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are more, but the point is using illustrations to help get a point across is a well-established practice. Jeremiah used a sash in a prophecy (Jeremiah 13:1-11). Agabus tied his hands and feet with Paul&#8217;s belt to make a point (Acts 21:10-11). Preachers have long written out points. Blackboards and whiteboards are common. My grandfather used to do sermon charts on bedsheets &#8212; a whole sermon illustrated with one large chart. See <a href=\"http:\/\/executableoutlines.com\/charts.htm\">Chart Sermons<\/a> for some examples. PowerPoint is merely a modern way of doing illustrations that have been going on for thousands of years.<\/p>\n<p>PowerPoints can be used improperly. I&#8217;ve seen far too many use the slides to post the passages so people did not have to look up the verses. I personally think that is poor training for the congregation and makes it far too easy to take a passage out of context and no one notices. I&#8217;ve also seen preachers use it to speed up their presentations so that verses can&#8217;t be considered because not enough time is given. But used well, slides can give the audience reminders of what passages are being read and for those slower at finding passages, a bit of extra time to find the next passage.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during services? Personally, I find it very helpful in keeping up with Bible verses during the sermons, but I wonder if God approves it. I don&#8217;t know how the brethren feel. This is something I have been wondering about since I began going to the church. Answer:&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,536],"class_list":["post-29039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-ezekiel-37-speak-of-the-restoration-of-israel-before-jesus-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":0},"title":"Doesn&#8217;t Ezekiel 37 speak of the restoration of Israel before Jesus&#8217; return?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your criticism of the article \"Eight Compelling Reasons why Christ is Coming Very Soon\" with somewhat amused interest since from the outset it was obvious where you were going. I understand why. However, you challenged the article on a point that I want to take up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47985,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-was-the-king-of-tyre-in-ezekiel-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":1},"title":"Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel chapter 28? Thank you for maintaining your site it has been most helpful to me. God bless. Answer: The king of Tyre at the time Ezekiel was written was Ithobaal III (sometimes spelled Ethbaal III) who reigned from 591-573 BC. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54237,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-meaning-of-pipes-prepared-in-thee\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":2},"title":"What is the meaning of &#8220;pipes prepared in thee&#8221;?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the book of Ezekiel 28:13, what is the meaning of \"pipes prepared in thee\"? Did Satan have musical instruments as part of him? Did he have a harp as part of his body? Answer: \"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-the-prince-in-ezekiels-vision\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":3},"title":"Who is the prince in Ezekiel&#8217;s vision?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who is the prince that is mentioned in Ezekiel 45-47? Answer: The interpretation of the last chapters of Ezekiel is strongly debated. Obviously, how a person views what these chapters envision will impact the interpretation of the various elements, such as the prince. First, we must note that this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/they-shall-know-a-prophet-has-been-among-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":4},"title":"They Shall Know a Prophet Has Been Among Them","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jarrod M. Jacobs When Ezekiel was called to be a prophet, God made certain things very clear to him. God made it clear that these people were a \"rebellious house\" (Ezekiel 2:3). God does not mince words regarding His people! He lets Ezekiel know the kind of people he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ezekiel-and-preaching-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":5},"title":"Ezekiel and Preaching Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Ezekiel had a most challenging job, preaching the truth to people who were not ready to appreciate it. God gave Ezekiel the vision of God's awesome greatness, and when a preacher preaches because he has a great concept of God, he can preach the hard truths\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}