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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

Real-World Environmental Stewardship

Imagine a church nestled in the sun-soaked hills of California, where the air is steeped in the scent of orange blossoms and the vibrant community pulses with life. This isn't just any church; it's a beacon of hope and action...

Philippians 2:5-8Christocentric

282 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Grandmother Who Hummed While She Worked

Maria Gonzalez never sang in front of people. Not once in seventy-three years. But her granddaughter Sofia, age four, knew a different woman. Every Saturday...

Zephaniah 3:17Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Limits of Human Knowledge

A few years ago, I visited a planetarium, where the vastness of the universe unfurled before me like a rich tapestry. As I sat in that dimly lit dome, the images of swirling galaxies and distant stars filled the screen,...

John 1:1-5Universal

259 words

Sermon Illustration

Augustine's Long Road Home

In the summer of 386 AD, Augustine of Hippo sat weeping beneath a fig tree in a Milan garden. He was thirty-one, brilliant, restless, and...

Psalm 25:1-10Universal

257 words

Sermon Illustration

The Chef Who Wouldn't Let Him Settle

When Marcus Thompson walked into Magnolia Kitchen in Birmingham, Alabama, he wasn't looking for a career. He was looking for a meal. He'd been sleeping...

Titus 2:11-12Universal

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tree That Refused to Die

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. The blast shattered glass...

Genesis 9:8-17Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Clownfish and the Anemone

On the coral reefs off the coast of Queensland, Australia, a remarkable partnership unfolds every day. The magnificent sea anemone sways in the current, its...

Hebrews 4:16Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Thinking Reed

On a November night in 1654, Blaise Pascal — already one of the finest mathematical minds in Europe — had an encounter with the living...

Psalm 8:4-9Universal

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Woman Who Left Her Name Behind

In 1843, a former slave named Isabella Baumfree walked away from New York City carrying little more than a pillowcase of belongings and a name...

Romans 1:1-7Universal

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tramp for the Lord

Corrie ten Boom was fifty-three years old when the Nazis arrested her family for hiding Jews in their Haarlem watchshop. She lost her father. She...

Psalm 40:7-11Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

When Power Chose to Heal

In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall stood before Harvard's graduating class and proposed something the world had never seen. Instead of punishing a...

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Scientist Who Listened to Peanuts

George Washington Carver rose each morning at four o'clock, walking the fields around Tuskegee Institute in the predawn darkness. He called these walks his conversations...

Psalm 148Universal

243 words

Sermon Illustration

John Newton and the Mercy He Could Not Outrun

John Newton spent his early years running hard in the wrong direction. By his twenties, he had worked aboard slave ships off the coast of...

Psalm 25:1-10Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

When a Whole Town Showed Up to Listen

In 2018, the small town of Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, was still reeling from Hurricane Maria. Power lines dangled like broken promises. Rooftops gaped open to...

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

218 words

Sermon Illustration

The Elm That Wouldn't Die

In downtown Oklahoma City, an American Elm stands in the northwest corner of the National Memorial. Before April 19, 1995, nobody paid it much attention...

Genesis 9:8-17Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Piano Teacher Who Never Gave Up

Margaret Chen taught piano for forty-one years from a small studio on Maple Street in Savannah, Georgia. Her students knew two things about Mrs. Chen:...

Titus 2:11-12Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The King Who Did Not Want to Speak

In the autumn of 1939, King George VI sat in Buckingham Palace facing a microphone he dreaded. Britain had just declared war on Germany. The...

Isaiah 7:10-16Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Banner That Named Her Beloved

In the hill country of Tuscany, outside the village of Montalcino, there is a tradition that dates back centuries. When a family celebrates a wedding,...

Song of Solomon 2:4Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

Luther's Hymn in the Storm

In 1527, the plague swept through Wittenberg. Martin Luther refused to flee. Friends begged him to leave, but he stayed to minister to the sick...

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

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Interfaith Dialogue Challenge

In our increasingly diverse world, the call for Interfaith Dialogue can feel overwhelming, much like the moment when Peter stood on the rooftop in Joppa, contemplating his vision of a sheet filled with unclean animals. The tension between his traditional...

Luke 4:18-19Lutheran

263 words

Sermon Illustration

The Theologian Who Sailed Back to Suffering

In June 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood on the docks of New York City with every reason to stay. Friends at Union Theological Seminary had arranged...

Philippians 2:6-11Universal

251 words

Sermon Illustration

The Runaway of Carthage

In 386 AD, a brilliant young professor sat weeping beneath a fig tree in a Milan garden. Augustine of Hippo had spent sixteen years running...

Genesis 3:9-15, 20Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bowl That Became a Vase

In 2019, Japanese ceramic artist Takahiro Kondo was demonstrating his craft at a workshop in Portland, Oregon. He had been shaping a wide, shallow bowl...

Jeremiah 18:1-11Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Choir That Shared One Heartbeat

In 2013, researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden made a remarkable discovery. Dr. Bjorn Vickhoff and his team attached heart monitors to members...

Psalm 100Universal

226 words