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Home›Browse by Type›Stories & Illustrations

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Stories & Illustrations

9,837 illustrations — Vivid stories and real-world analogies for sermon use

Browse Stories & Illustrations by Book

Psalm (82)Luke (49)Matthew (42)John (36)1 Corinthians (31)Romans (29)Isaiah (29)Genesis (25)Acts (24)Hebrews (17)Ephesians (16)Revelation (14)Jeremiah (14)Galatians (10)Colossians (10)Mark (9)Philippians (8)Deuteronomy (8)2 Corinthians (8)Proverbs (8)

Sermon Illustration

Love Written Into the Body

In 2012, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle made a stunning discovery. When they examined the brain tissue of women who...

Universallove

235 words

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Sermon Illustration

Running Into His Pleasure

In 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell arrived at the Paris Olympics as Britain's fastest man — the gold medal favorite in the 100 meters. But...

Universalpurpose

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Day the Counts Rise

When a patient receives a bone marrow transplant, doctors first destroy the old marrow completely with chemotherapy. What follows is the hardest part — the...

Universalhope

244 words

Sermon Illustration

When Love Becomes Medicine

In 2005, researchers at Ohio State University conducted a remarkable study. Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser and her team gave small blister wounds to married couples, then...

Universallove

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Longest 400 Meters

On August 3, 1992, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal at the Barcelona Olympics. He had trained for years, survived five...

Universalcourage

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Smallest Hand in the Room

In J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Fellowship of the Ring*, one of the most pivotal scenes unfolds at the Council of Elrond. The great powers of Middle-earth...

Universalhumility

253 words

Sermon Illustration

The Generosity Beneath the Forest Floor

In 1997, ecologist Suzanne Simard at the University of British Columbia made a discovery that reshaped how we understand forests. Using radioactive carbon isotopes, she...

Universalhumility

220 words

Sermon Illustration

A Star Above the Wasteland

In *The Return of the King*, J.R.R. Tolkien places Sam Gamgee in the most hopeless landscape imaginable — the ashen wasteland of Mordor, where nothing...

Universalhope

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Number You Didn't Want to See

When Apple launched its Screen Time feature in 2018, it did something deceptively simple — it showed iPhone users exactly how many hours they spent...

Universalfreedom

226 words

Sermon Illustration

Light That Travels Through Darkness

The James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021, captures infrared light that has been traveling through the darkness of space for over thirteen...

Universalhope

255 words

Sermon Illustration

I Am Because We Are

In the summer of 2007, the Boston Celtics assembled three future Hall of Famers — Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. On paper, they...

Universalcommunity

220 words

Sermon Illustration

Guided by What They Cannot See

The European robin migrates thousands of miles each autumn, navigating with stunning precision across entire continents. For decades, scientists could not explain how. Then in...

Universalfaith

228 words

Sermon Illustration

No One Finishes Alone

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semi-final with everything he had trained for on the line. Halfway...

Universalcommunity

233 words

Sermon Illustration

What a Grain of Sand Revealed

In 1995, astronomer Robert Williams made a decision that his colleagues thought was a waste of precious telescope time. He pointed the Hubble Space Telescope...

Universalhumility

254 words

Sermon Illustration

The Freedom to Walk Away and Come Back

In the summer of 2021, Simone Biles stood at the top of the gymnastics world. She was the most dominant athlete in her sport's history,...

Universalfreedom

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Music He Would Never Hear

In October 1802, Ludwig van Beethoven sat in a small village outside Vienna and wrote what he believed would be his final letter. At thirty-one,...

Universalpurpose

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Was Never Supposed to Win

Eric Liddell arrived at the 1924 Paris Olympics as Scotland's fastest man in the 100 meters. Then he learned the heats were scheduled on a...

Universalpurpose

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn That Emptied a Jewelry Box

In February 1874, Frances Ridley Havergal penned the words that would become one of the church's most beloved hymns: *Take My Life and Let It...

Universalsacrifice

256 words

Sermon Illustration

What the Shark Couldn't Reach

On October 31, 2003, thirteen-year-old Bethany Hamilton was lying on her surfboard off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, when a fourteen-foot tiger shark seized her...

Universalidentity

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tallest Trees Bow Lowest

In 1997, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard at the University of British Columbia published a groundbreaking discovery. The largest, oldest trees in a forest — what...

Universalhumility

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Composer Who Refused to Stay Silent

In the autumn of 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. At fifty-six, the once-celebrated composer had suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right...

Universalperseverance

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Forest's Hidden Generosity

In the ancient forests of British Columbia, ecologist Suzanne Simard discovered something remarkable beneath the soil. Trees are not the solitary competitors scientists had long...

Universalsacrifice

272 words

Sermon Illustration

Wired Like No One Else

In 2015, neuroscientist Emily Finn and her team at Yale made a remarkable discovery. Using brain scans from the Human Connectome Project, they found that...

Universalidentity

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Player Who Would Not Fight Back

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and broke baseball's color barrier. But the courage that moment required had nothing...

Universalcourage

232 words