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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

Down Three Games to None

In October 2004, the Boston Red Sox faced what seemed like certain elimination. They trailed the New York Yankees three games to none in the...

Universalhope

234 words

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Sermon Illustration

When New Blood Begins

Dr. E. Donnall Thomas spent decades developing bone marrow transplantation, work that earned him the Nobel Prize in 1990. What his research revealed remains one...

Universalhope

237 words

Sermon Illustration

A House His Mother Never Built

In January 1993, Baton Rouge police officer Betty Smothers was murdered while working an off-duty security detail. She left behind six children. Her oldest, eighteen-year-old...

Universallove

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Galileans Who Shamed an Emperor

When plague swept through the Roman Empire in the third century, wealthy citizens fled their estates. Physicians bolted their doors. Parents abandoned sick children in...

John 13:34-35Universal

230 words

Sermon Illustration

The Farmer Who Kept Watering Dead Ground

In 2012, Matt Barnett stood on a cracked parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, staring at what used to be a shuttered hospital. The building...

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

Twenty Thousand Miles of Trust

When you open Google Maps and follow that blue line through an unfamiliar city, you are performing a quiet act of faith. You are trusting...

Universaltrust

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lighthouse Keeper Who Never Left

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo barreled toward Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, with 140-mile-per-hour winds. Most residents evacuated. But the old Charleston Light — a triangular steel...

2 Samuel 22:2-3Universal

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Voice That Told the Truth

In 2002, Johnny Cash was seventy years old, frail, and nearly forgotten by the music industry. Producer Rick Rubin handed him an unlikely song —...

Universalidentity

235 words

Sermon Illustration

Free to Fly Again

In the summer of 2021, Simone Biles stood on the world's biggest stage at the Tokyo Olympics — and walked away. Midway through competition, the...

Universalfreedom

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Backup That Saved Everything

In 1998, Pixar nearly lost *Toy Story 2*. Someone accidentally triggered a command on the studio's servers that began systematically deleting the film's files —...

Universalredemption

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Courage to Revert

In 2005, Linus Torvalds — the Finnish programmer who created Linux — built a tool called Git that would quietly transform how software gets written...

Universalhumility

220 words

Sermon Illustration

The Weight That Makes You Stronger

In 1892, German anatomist Julius Wolff documented a principle that still bears his name. Wolff's Law states that bone remodels itself in response to the...

Universalperseverance

233 words

Sermon Illustration

You Are the Signal

When you open Waze on your morning commute, you are doing more than getting directions. Every phone running that app becomes a living sensor in...

Universalpurpose

225 words

Sermon Illustration

When Your Legs Give Out, Lean Into the One Who Holds You

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal. He had trained for years, endured multiple surgeries, and fought...

Universaltrust

252 words

Sermon Illustration

What the Telescope Found in Nothing

In December 1995, astronomer Robert Williams made a decision that many of his colleagues called reckless. As director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, he...

Universalhumility

247 words

Sermon Illustration

Eighty-Six Years With My King

On a cold afternoon in 155 AD, the Roman proconsul in Smyrna gave the elderly bishop Polycarp one simple way to save his life. All...

Romans 10:9Universal

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Scar That Saved a Life

On December 23, 1954, Dr. Joseph Murray attempted what no surgeon had ever accomplished — a successful organ transplant. At Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in...

Universalsacrifice

255 words

Sermon Illustration

The Silver the Bishop Gave Away

In Victor Hugo's *Les Misérables*, Jean Valjean stumbles out of prison after nineteen years, hardened and hopeless. No inn will take him. No door will...

Universalhope

228 words

Sermon Illustration

Editing at the Source

In 2020, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing CRISPR-Cas9 — a gene-editing tool that can locate a single...

Universalhealing

237 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Engineering and Building for the Common Good

As I stood beneath the towering blueprints of a new community center being built in our neighborhood, I marveled at the intricate design laid out before me. Engineers, architects, and volunteers worked tirelessly, each person contributing their unique skill set...

Hebrews 11:1-3Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Almost Didn't Run

When Eric Liddell arrived at the 1924 Paris Olympics, he was Scotland's fastest man — the heavy favorite in the 100 meters. Then he learned...

Universalobedience

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Long Walk Back to the Green Jacket

In April 2017, Tiger Woods could barely walk. Four back surgeries had left him unable to swing a club, unable to sit without pain, unable...

Universalrestoration

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn Born from a Breaking Heart

On the evening of June 6, 1882, Scottish minister George Matheson sat alone while his sister's wedding celebration carried on nearby. Matheson, nearly blind since...

Universallove

230 words

Sermon Illustration

A Song He Could Never Hear

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven stood on a stage in Vienna conducting the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. He was fifty-three years old and profoundly...

Universalhope

250 words