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HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Top Rated Newest Oldest|All Sources Biblical Illustrator Spurgeon Maclaren

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Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Limits of Human Knowledge

Imagine a curious child, perhaps eight or nine years old, standing at the edge of a vast lake. The water glistens in the sunlight, a mirror reflecting the endless sky above. This child, with a bucket in hand, eagerly scoops...

Romans 1:20Universal

251 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Traded the Scalpel for a Mop

In 2015, Dr. Hawa Abdi — one of Somalia's first female surgeons and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee — ran a sprawling camp outside Mogadishu...

Philippians 2:6-11Universal

220 words

Sermon Illustration

The Blind Woman Who Sang Her Way Through the Gates

When Fanny Crosby was only six weeks old, a doctor's mistake left her permanently blind. She never once saw a sunrise, a flower, or the...

Psalm 100Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Could Not Keep Silent

William Tyndale could read the Bible in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. But that wasn't enough. While serving as a tutor in a Gloucestershire manor in...

Psalm 40:7-11Universal

260 words

Sermon Illustration

The Source Behind Every Green Thing

Every leaf on earth is a tiny solar panel. The oak outside your kitchen window, the grass beneath your feet, the basil on your windowsill...

Colossians 1:15-17Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tears and Joy of Pyongyang, 1907

In January 1907, fifteen hundred Korean Christians packed into the Central Presbyterian Church in Pyongyang for a week of Bible study. The city had suffered...

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Town That Kept Forgetting

In the winter of 1734, something extraordinary swept through Northampton, Massachusetts. Under Jonathan Edwards's preaching, nearly three hundred townspeople professed faith within six months. Longtime...

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38Universal

215 words

Sermon Illustration

Written in Permanent Ink

In 1974, Swedish biochemist Tomas Lindahl made an unsettling discovery: human DNA is chemically unstable. Every cell in your body experiences tens of thousands of...

Universalrestoration

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The House Betsie Saw

In December 1944, Betsie ten Boom lay dying on a filthy mattress in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her body was skeletal, her skin covered in sores....

Revelation 21:1-4Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Foxe's Fire at Vilvoorde

On an October morning in 1536, guards led William Tyndale from his cell in Vilvoorde Castle near Brussels to a stake surrounded by bundled wood....

Romans 1:16Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

Seventy-Five Thousand Witnesses

On Easter Sunday, 1939, contralto Marian Anderson stood on the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial and opened her mouth to sing. The Daughters of...

Psalm 98Universal

212 words

Sermon Illustration

Clean Water on Cypress Street

Every January, Grace Fellowship in south Memphis held a twenty-four-hour prayer and fasting vigil. The sanctuary would fill with worship music, the smell of candles,...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

254 words

Sermon Illustration

The Principal Who Walked the Lunch Line

At a middle school outside Memphis, the cafeteria had an unspoken hierarchy. The athletes and popular kids pushed to the front, loaded their trays with...

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The House That Built Him Back

In 2019, retired carpenter George Hammond of Tupelo, Mississippi, announced to his children that he wanted to build them something — a family gathering hall...

2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16Universal

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon's MRI

In 1977, Raymond Damadian powered up the first full-body MRI scanner at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. For the first time in history, doctors could...

Hebrews 4:12Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

Anne Sullivan's Knowing Hands

When Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller home in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in March 1887, she met a seven-year-old girl trapped behind walls of silence and...

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn Writer Who Thanked God for Blindness

Fanny Crosby was six weeks old when a country doctor in Southeast, New York, applied a hot mustard poultice to her infected eyes. The treatment...

John 9:1-41Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

Eighteen Years of Defeat

In May 1789, a young William Wilberforce rose in the House of Commons and delivered a three-hour speech against the British slave trade. His evidence...

Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Potter's Hands at the Wheel

In his stunning 1886 painting *The Potter*, William De Morgan captured something that every ceramicist knows instinctively — clay that resists the potter's hands will...

Universalobedience

229 words

Sermon Illustration

Lessons from Women and Church Leadership - Biblical Analogy

The illustration highlights the challenges faced by women in church leadership through the story of Sarah, who established a house church focused on inclusivity and social justice. It emphasizes the biblical principle of equality in Christ as articulated in Romans 8:19-22, advocating for the recognition and affirmation of all spiritual gifts regardless of gender.

Romans 8:19-22Arminian/Wesleyan

155 words

Sermon Illustration

The Fast That Maria Kept

Every Lent, Maria Dominguez gave up coffee, chocolate, and social media. She marked each day of self-denial on a calendar taped to her refrigerator. She...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

248 words

Sermon Illustration

Sojourner Truth and the God Who Renames

In 1843, a woman named Isabella Baumfree walked out of New York City with nothing but a pillowcase of belongings and a fierce conviction that...

Isaiah 62:1-5Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

Lessons from Leading Toward Peace - Story

In the heart of a bustling city, there was a small community center that served as a sanctuary for all who entered. The walls were adorned with vibrant art from local artists, depicting stories of struggle and triumph. Every week,...

Galatians 3:28Roman Catholic

282 words

Sermon Illustration

When Inclusive Language for God Meets Real Life - Contemporary Example

In a bustling city, tucked away in a humble community center, a group of diverse individuals gathered for a workshop on inclusive language. Among them was Sarah, a single mother who had recently found herself in a tumultuous season of...

Galatians 3:28Anglican

318 words