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HomeIllustrations

10,079 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Top Rated Newest Oldest|All Sources Biblical Illustrator Spurgeon Maclaren

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Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Was Free Enough Not to Fight Back

In April 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn as the first Black man to play Major League Baseball in the modern era....

Universalfreedom

231 words

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Sermon Illustration

Finding Women and Church Leadership in Everyday Moments

In a small town, where the steeple of the traditional church dominated the skyline, lived a young woman named Sarah. From an early age, Sarah felt a stirring in her soul, a calling to ministry that she couldn't shake. With...

Luke 6:20-21Lutheran

302 words

Sermon Illustration

The Player Who Agreed Not to Fight Back

In 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey sat across from Jackie Robinson and made an unusual request. He wasn't looking for the fastest runner or...

Universalpatience

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Patience of Pointing at Nothing

In December 1995, astronomer Robert Williams made a decision that many of his colleagues thought was foolish. As director of the Space Telescope Science Institute,...

Universalpatience

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Underground Network

In 1997, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard made a remarkable discovery in the forests of British Columbia. Using radioactive carbon isotopes as tracers, she proved that...

Universaltrust

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Voice They Tried to Silence

In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Marian Anderson, one of the greatest contraltos in history, sing at Constitution Hall in...

Universalcourage

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Neurons That Stay

In 2005, neuroscientist Kirsty Spalding and her team at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden made a remarkable discovery. Using carbon-14 traces left in the atmosphere...

Universalidentity

251 words

Sermon Illustration

The Frequency That Finds You

In 1665, Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens noticed something peculiar. Two pendulum clocks mounted on the same wall, started at different times, would gradually synchronize their...

Zephaniah 3:17Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Notes You Don't Earn

In music, there is a small notation called a grace note. It appears on the score as a tiny symbol just before the main note,...

Universalgrace

260 words

Sermon Illustration

God's Network of Grace

Apple's Find My network is one of the most remarkable systems most people never think about. When someone loses an AirTag — tucked inside a...

Universalpurpose

269 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn That Was Born in Ordinary Mornings

In 1923, a former Methodist minister named Thomas Chisholm sat down and wrote a hymn — not in response to a dramatic rescue at sea...

Universalhealing

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Became His Son's Legs

In 1977, Rick Hoyt told his father Dick that he wanted to participate in a five-mile charity run. Rick had been born with cerebral palsy...

Universallove

243 words

Sermon Illustration

Running Back, Giving Forward

When Warrick Dunn was eighteen years old, his mother, Betty Smothers, a Baton Rouge police officer, was murdered during an ambush while working a security...

Universallove

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Finish Line We Cannot Reach Alone

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semi-final carrying the weight of years of injuries, surgeries, and setbacks....

Universalfaith

241 words

Sermon Illustration

A Modern Story of Immigration and Welcome

In our world today, the narratives of immigration and welcome ripple through our communities, echoing ancient struggles faced by our biblical forebears. Imagine a young woman named Sofia, who flees violence in her homeland, clutching her child’s hand as they...

Luke 4:18-19Progressive/Social Justice

299 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sound They Sent to the Stars

In 1927, a blind street preacher named Willie Johnson recorded a song without words. *Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground* was nothing but...

Universallove

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night Grace Found Louis Zamperini

In the fall of 1949, Louis Zamperini was a man at war with himself. The former Olympic runner and World War II hero — who...

Romans 5:1-11Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song That Outlasted the Walls

In 1917, Frederick Lehman sat down to write a hymn about the love of God. He composed two verses and a chorus, but felt something...

Universallove

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Courage That Refuses to Swing Back

In January 1947, Branch Rickey sat across from Jackie Robinson in the Brooklyn Dodgers front office and asked him the most important question in baseball...

Universalcourage

232 words

Sermon Illustration

What Hides in the Darkness

In 1995, astronomer Robert Williams made a daring decision. He pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at what appeared to be the emptiest, most unremarkable patch...

Universalhumility

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Christ-Shaped Life of Rich Mullins

In 1988, Rich Mullins wrote *Awesome God*, a song that became one of the best-selling Christian anthems of its generation. Royalties poured in. Radio stations...

Universalsacrifice

240 words

Sermon Illustration

From Darkness to Folsom: Johnny Cash and the Cave

In the fall of 1967, Johnny Cash crawled into Nickajack Cave near Chattanooga, Tennessee, intending never to come out. Years of amphetamine and barbiturate addiction...

Universaltransformation

254 words

Sermon Illustration

A Modern Story of Irony

In our modern world, irony often feels like a double-edged sword—cutting through our expectations while simultaneously unveiling deeper truths about our faith. Picture, if you will, a young woman named Sarah, who found herself navigating the tumultuous waters of life’s...

1 Peter 2:9Progressive/Social Justice

295 words

Sermon Illustration

The Gift That Refused a Price Tag

In 1989, a British computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN in Geneva. What he did next changed...

Universalfreedom

233 words