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Home›Browse by Type›Stories & Illustrations

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Stories & Illustrations

6,717 illustrations — Vivid stories and real-world analogies for sermon use

Browse Stories & Illustrations by Book

Psalm (81)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)2 Corinthians (8)Proverbs (7)James (7)

Sermon Illustration

The Unlocked Door

On December 14, 2010, miners trapped in the Copiapó mine in Chile spent sixty-nine days underground, surviving on two spoonfuls of tuna every forty-eight hours....

Mark 16:1-8Universal

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Sermon Illustration

The Village That Never Raised Its Voice

Andre Trocme was a pastor in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small Protestant village in the mountains of southern France. When the Nazis occupied France in 1940,...

Isaiah 42:1-9Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Huddle That Survives the Storm

In the Antarctic winter, when temperatures plunge to negative sixty degrees and winds scream at a hundred miles per hour, emperor penguins do something remarkable....

John 13:34-35Universal

Sermon Illustration

When Freedom Came to Galveston

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read aloud General Order No. 3: all enslaved people in the state were...

Luke 2:15-21Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Churches That Filled and Emptied Again

During the London Blitz of 1940-41, something remarkable happened in the churches of England. Pews that had sat half-empty for years suddenly overflowed. At St....

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Only Voice That Answered

In 2010, when thirty-three Chilean miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in the San Jose mine, rescue teams on the surface had no idea if...

Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Wretch Who Wrote Amazing Grace

John Newton knew exactly what kind of man he was. For years, he captained slave ships across the Atlantic, trafficking human beings in chains —...

Universalforgiveness

Sermon Illustration

When the Clouds Parted Over Denali

In 2019, backpacker Sarah Chen spent eleven days hiking through Denali National Park without ever seeing the mountain. Clouds hung low and thick over the...

Mark 9:2-10Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Came Back to the Table

In 2018, a restaurant owner in Memphis named Frank watched his teenage son steal $4,000 from the register and disappear for three weeks. The money...

Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9Universal

Sermon Illustration

When the Signal Goes Silent

NASA's Mars rover *Perseverance* cannot call home when it gets into trouble. The radio signal between Earth and Mars takes anywhere from 5 to 20...

Universalcourage

Sermon Illustration

The Grocery Store at Mile Twenty

In 2018, ultramarathon runner Courtney Dauwalter was thirty hours into the Moab 240 — a grueling 240-mile race across the Utah desert. Her body screamed...

Luke 4:1-13Universal

Sermon Illustration

Rescued by the Wreckage

In 1982, a commercial fisherman named Salvador Alvarenga set out from the coast of Mexico on what should have been a routine trip. When a...

Jonah 1:17Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Seawall at Fudai

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake shook the Pacific floor and sent a forty-foot tsunami racing toward Japan's northeastern coast. Entire towns vanished. Nearly...

Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Rock Beneath the Foundation

In 2010, engineers in Santiago, Chile, drilled a narrow borehole 2,300 feet into the earth to reach thirty-three miners trapped in the San José copper...

Matthew 16:13-19Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Bucket With No Bottom

In 2014, a financial planner named David Chen sat across from a couple in Portland, Oregon, who earned a combined $190,000 a year. They had...

Haggai 1:5-6Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Note From Underground

On August 5, 2010, the San Jose copper mine in Chile's Atacama Desert collapsed, trapping thirty-three miners half a mile beneath the earth. For seventeen...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

Sermon Illustration

Born Beyond the Dragon's Reach

In September 1939, before a single German bomb had fallen on London, the British government launched Operation Pied Piper — the largest mass evacuation in...

Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10abUniversal

Sermon Illustration

The Neighbor Who Watched the House Burn

In September 1998, a family in Greenville, South Carolina returned from vacation to find their home gutted by an electrical fire. But what devastated them...

Obadiah 1:15Universal

Sermon Illustration

When the Power Came Back On

On February 13, 2021, Winter Storm Uri slammed into Texas with temperatures the state hadn't seen in a generation. In Austin, a young mother named...

Genesis 1:1-3Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Olympian Who Ran Toward an Unseen Country

In 1924, Eric Liddell stood on the Olympic podium in Paris with a gold medal around his neck. The whole of Scotland celebrated him. Newspapers...

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16Universal

Sermon Illustration

Death's Duel and the Dean of St. Paul's

In February 1631, John Donne stood in the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, visibly wasting from stomach cancer, and preached what his friends called...

1 Corinthians 15:19-26Universal

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Stewardship of Technology

A few years ago, I attended a local science fair where students showcased their projects. One exhibit caught my attention: a young girl had built a miniature ecosystem inside a glass jar. She had carefully arranged soil, plants, and even...

Matthew 6:25-34Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Tree That Thrives on Stone

High in the White Mountains of eastern California, where the soil is almost pure limestone and rainfall barely reaches ten inches a year, stands a...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Paid-Off Mortgage

In 2019, a woman in Cleveland named Dana Carter made her final mortgage payment after thirty years. The bank sent confirmation: paid in full, zero...

Colossians 2:6-15Universal