5 Minute Preaching Tips: Silence Preaches Too
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.
We’ve all been there — trying to make our sermon better by adding more stories, more volume, more everything. But here’s the truth: sometimes, the most powerful part of your message isn’t what you say… it’s what you don’t say.
In this 5-minute Preach in Five episode, Bryan Cox shares why silence can command the room, stir hearts, and let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting. You’ll discover practical ways to weave pauses into your sermons so your words land with more weight — and your people have space to respond.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
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Why silence is one of your most overlooked preaching tools
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How Jesus used a pause to turn a tense moment into transformation
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3 simple ways to use pauses in your next sermon
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How silence creates space for reflection, emotion, and the Spirit’s work
If you’ve ever felt like you had to “fill every second,” this episode will give you permission (and the plan) to do the opposite — and see even greater impact.
00:00 - Intro
03:15 - 3 Ways To Add Silence
Speaker 1:
Hello everyone and welcome to the Speak On Purpose podcast. I am your host, brian Cox, and I have been a pastor, a teacher and communicator for over 25 years. I want to share with you my experiences in communication the good, the bad and the really, really ugly. But my hope in this podcast is that you will find helpful and practical information, as well as some inspiration for your next message. This is our five-minute episode of the week. We call this Preach in Five, where we give you preaching tips in five minutes or less. I'm so stoked about doing this every week. This has been so much fun. Thank you for listening, thank you 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.
Speaker 1:
I don't know about you, but most of us preacher guys we see preaching this way. We think all right. We think the more words we speak, the more analogies we have, the more stories we tell, the more or should I say the louder we get that our preaching will be better. And I'm going to tell you something today. All that's good. You need to be passionate, you need to tell stories, all that's good. But I'm going to give you something today that I believe is more powerful than any of that and it commands the room when you do it and I call that silence. Did you get that I was silent? It commands your attention. It is powerful.
Speaker 1:
Silence preaches too. In fact, silence probably is more engaging than most of what we say. I know I may offend some of you with that. I'm sorry if I did. All I'm telling you is I've tried this out. I have done this many times and I've been amazed at how people will stop and look and listen when we do this, when we let a moment happen, it can be powerful. So I'm going to give you a couple of tips on how to do that. In fact, jesus showed us the best example. This is so good.
Speaker 1:
In John 8,. Jesus said this. He said let the one who is without sin cast the first stone. Then what? Silence, silence. And everybody dropped their stone and walked away.
Speaker 1:
Silence is powerful. Silence gives reflection, it gives emotion. Silence is powerful. Silence gives reflection, it gives emotion. It lets the Holy Spirit work. So think about that before your next sermon, and I'm going to give you a couple of ways to do that. Three ways you can do that First 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 the room be still during heavy moments. You don't need to fill every moment with your words. I promise you let people feel it. Also, use it before your prayer or invitation. I've done this so many times. It's so powerful when we say something or we read a verse and we just let God work, let the Spirit work, he begins to do the work for us.
Speaker 1:
So when you're working on your sermon this week, pick a moment in your sermon. Just think about it right now. Pick a moment in your sermon and choose one place you can put silence, that you can put a pause, a brief pause. But give it a try. I bet you'll be surprised at what God can do there. If you will just leave space. People will be transformed when you do that. Let me pray for us. Lord, help us to be okay and not fear silence. Teach us how to get out of the way when you want to speak, amen.
