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Home›Browse by Type›Stories & Illustrations

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Stories & Illustrations

7,545 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

The Bride Who Left Everything for a New Name

When Amara Okafor married into the British royal-adjacent Mountbatten family in 2019, tabloids fixated on what she was giving up — her thriving Lagos fashion...

Psalm 45:10-12, 16Universal

230 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Tramp for the Lord

Corrie ten Boom was fifty-three years old when the Nazis arrested her family for hiding Jews in their Haarlem watchshop. She lost her father. She...

Psalm 40:7-11Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Orchardist's Graft

In the apple orchards of Yakima Valley, Washington, growers practice an ancient technique called grafting. A farmer takes a cutting from a prized Honeycrisp tree...

Proverbs 16:3Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Maker of the Wooden Bird

For twelve years, Marco Chen knew his grandfather only in pieces. A faded photograph on the mantel. His mother's stories about a man who survived...

Hebrews 1:1-4Universal

219 words

Sermon Illustration

Pulled from the Mud on Highway 9

In March 2019, a farmer named Dale Rusk was driving his pickup along a back road outside Luverne, Minnesota, when spring floodwaters surged across the...

Psalm 40:1-11Universal

257 words

Sermon Illustration

The Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee

Two bodies of water sit barely sixty miles apart in the Jordan Valley, fed by the same river, yet they could not be more different....

Luke 6:38Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

John Knox at the Window

In the autumn of 1555, John Knox knelt by a window in Edinburgh, his forehead pressed against cold stone, and prayed words that those outside...

Isaiah 64:1-9Universal

248 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stranger at the Rest Stop

In 2019, a young National Guard sergeant named Marcus Rivera drove through the night after spending three grueling days helping evacuate families during Hurricane Dorian...

Genesis 14:18-20Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Patience in Experimentation

In a humble laboratory on a rainy afternoon, a scientist stood before a bubbling array of test tubes, each filled with vibrant, swirling liquids. He was on the brink of discovery, yet with each attempt, the results were not what...

Psalm 104:24-30Universal

260 words

Sermon Illustration

The Coach Who Played Through the Pain

In 2018, former NBA player Jason Collins volunteered to coach a youth basketball league in South Los Angeles. Collins could have run drills from the...

Hebrews 2:10-18Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Slave Child Nobody Named

In 1864, night riders kidnapped an infant and his mother from Moses Carver's farm in Diamond, Missouri. The mother was never found. The baby, sick...

Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

Real-World Nonviolent Resistance - Biblical Analogy

In the heart of the civil rights movement, a young pastor named John Lewis stood at the forefront of a nonviolent resistance that would forever change the landscape of America. Picture him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, his...

Acts 10:34-35Black Church

306 words

Sermon Illustration

A New Song That Crossed the Ocean

In October 1871, nine young singers — most of them former slaves — left Nashville, Tennessee with empty pockets and voices shaped by suffering. The...

Psalm 98:1-4Universal

230 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Truth-Seeking and Integrity in Research

There once was a brilliant, yet humble scientist named Dr. Eliza, who devoted her life to studying the intricacies of the earth’s ecosystems. Each morning, she would walk the trails of a nearby forest, taking in the vibrant hues of...

Psalm 104:24-30Universal

264 words

Sermon Illustration

The Language Everyone Already Speaks

In 2019, NASA released the first-ever image of a black hole — a glowing ring of superheated gas surrounding the shadow of M87, fifty-five million...

Psalm 19Universal

231 words

Sermon Illustration

George Müller and the Breakfast That Wasn't There

In 1838, George Müller sat at the head of a long table in Bristol, England, surrounded by three hundred orphans. The plates were set. The...

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Firefighter Who Crawled Into the Wreckage

In 2018, a school bus carrying thirty-seven children slid off an icy bridge near Indianapolis and landed on its side in a frozen creek bed....

Hebrews 2:14-18Universal

255 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lunch Table No One Wanted

In 2019, a middle school in Jacksonville, Florida made national news — not for test scores or athletics, but for a cafeteria. A group of...

John 13:34-35Universal

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The First Harvest at Tuskegee

When Booker T. Washington arrived in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881, he found a broken-down shanty and an abandoned church. That was his school. He had...

Deuteronomy 26:1-11Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Farmer Who Wouldn't Sign

In 1987, a development company offered Raymond Watts three times the market value for his sixty-acre tobacco farm outside Lexington, Kentucky. When he refused, things...

Romans 8:31Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

Lessons from Women and Church Leadership

In our fast-paced world, the question of women's roles in church leadership often ignites passionate discussions. Let me share the inspiring story of Sarah, a vibrant young woman whose dreams of ministry were nearly extinguished by the confines of tradition....

Luke 4:18-19Pentecostal

317 words

Sermon Illustration

The Painter Who Looked Higher

In 1888, the great art critic John Ruskin told Lilias Trotter she could become the finest painter in England. She had extraordinary talent — her...

Colossians 3:1-4Universal

211 words

Sermon Illustration

The Porch Light That Never Went Off

In 2019, a diner owner in Tuscaloosa, Alabama named Gerald Tate got a call from the county jail. His daughter Marissa — the one who...

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

Lessons from Self-control - Biblical Analogy

There once was a young gardener named Samuel, who inherited a small plot of land from his grandfather. The soil was rich and teeming with potential, but it was also overrun with weeds. Samuel often felt overwhelmed, unsure of where...

Galatians 5:22-23Roman Catholic

245 words