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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 Weight She Finally Set Down

For twenty-three years, Maria Gutierrez carried a sealed envelope in the bottom of her jewelry box. Inside was a letter from her birth mother —...

John 8:32Universal

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Sermon Illustration

The Strangled Scholar Who Set England on Fire

In October 1536, William Tyndale was led from his prison cell in Vilvoorde Castle near Brussels to a stake surrounded by bundled sticks. His crime...

Romans 1:16Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Language She Never Spoke

When Dr. Sarah Chen retired from pediatric oncology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis after thirty-one years, her colleagues expected a ceremony full...

1 Corinthians 13:1-13Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Vineyard on Rattlesnake Hill

In 2017, wildfires swept through Sonoma County, California, and scorched thousands of acres of premium vineyard land. Among them was a small family operation on...

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Stage She Never Expected

In 1939, contralto Marian Anderson was already celebrated as one of the greatest singers in the world. Conductor Arturo Toscanini had declared hers "a voice...

Universalcourage

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Chose the Scar

In 2011, Dr. Lorna Breen's cousin was diagnosed with a rare abdominal condition requiring a surgery that left a jagged, eight-inch scar across her torso....

Hebrews 2:10-18Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Zinc Spark

In 2016, a team of researchers at Northwestern University led by Teresa Woodruff captured something extraordinary on camera. At the exact moment a human egg...

Genesis 1:1-3Universal

Sermon Illustration

We Lepers" — Father Damien's Chosen Kinship

In 1873, a thirty-three-year-old Belgian priest named Father Damien de Veuster stepped off a boat onto the rocky shore of Molokai, Hawaii. The island's Kalaupapa...

Hebrews 2:10-18Universal

Sermon Illustration

Mission Control Never Signs Off

When astronaut Scott Kelly began his 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015, he didn't drift through space alone. Every day, hundreds of...

1 Corinthians 1:3-9Universal

Sermon Illustration

A Single Match in Mammoth Cave

Rangers at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky have a tradition. They lead visitors 300 feet underground into a chamber called the Rotunda, where limestone walls stretch...

Genesis 1:1-3Universal

Sermon Illustration

On Rappel

Marcus planted his boots at the lip of a sixty-foot sandstone cliff in Red River Gorge, Kentucky, rope threaded through his harness, hands white-knuckled on...

Romans 10:9Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Judge's Declaration

In a Dallas County courtroom in 2019, three-year-old Marcus sat on his foster mother Angela's lap, wearing a tiny bow tie he'd picked out himself....

Mark 1:4-11Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Scar That Opened the Door

In 2018, a trauma surgeon named Dr. Liz Scarlett gave a talk at a medical conference in Nashville. She rolled up her sleeve and showed...

John 20:19-31Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Search Party That Never Quit

On a frigid November night in 2013, four-year-old Jayden Morrison wandered away from his family's campsite near Lake Tahoe. His parents woke at dawn to...

Genesis 3:9-15, 20Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Night Shift Dispatcher Who Learned to Hear

Maria Chen was three weeks into her training at the Sacramento 911 dispatch center when she nearly missed the call that mattered most. A woman...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

Sermon Illustration

A Story of Kindness - Contemporary Example

In a small town nestled among rolling hills, there lived a woman named Maria. Known for her endless kindness, she ran a modest bakery that filled the streets with the comforting aroma of freshly baked bread. Each morning, Maria would...

Isaiah 40:31Reformed

Sermon Illustration

The Unpacked Crates of San Simeon

William Randolph Hearst spent decades amassing one of the largest private art collections in history. From his castle perched above the California coastline, the newspaper...

Luke 12:13-21Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Washing Machines at Grace Point on Tuesday Nights

Every Sunday morning, the congregation at Grace Point Church in Long Beach, California, sang worship songs with hands raised and voices strong. But pastor Chris...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

Sermon Illustration

When Every Fragment Found Its Music

For centuries, the messianic prophecies lay scattered across dozens of Old Testament scrolls — Isaiah's suffering servant, Micah's Bethlehem birthplace, Malachi's refiner's fire. Each prophet...

Hebrews 1:1-4Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Revival That Silenced the Pubs

In the autumn of 1904, a twenty-six-year-old Welsh coal miner named Evan Roberts stood before a small gathering in Loughor, Wales, and issued a blunt...

Matthew 3:1-12Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Lunch Table No One Expected

In 2014, a middle school in Nashville made national news — not for test scores or athletics, but for a cafeteria table. Twelve-year-old Marcus Thompson...

John 13:34-35Universal

Sermon Illustration

The River That Runs Through Centralia

In 1962, a coal fire ignited beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania — a small mining town of over a thousand residents. For decades, toxic smoke seeped through...

Isaiah 43:16-21Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Kitchen That Fed a Neighborhood

In 2019, Maria Gonzalez started a small food pantry out of her garage in East San Antonio. She hauled donated cans in her minivan, sorted...

1 Corinthians 3:1-9Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Bear in the Campsite

In 2019, a family camping in Glacier National Park woke to the sound of something heavy pushing against their bear canister. The father, Greg Walton,...

James 4:7Universal