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HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Sermon Illustration

The Stradivarius in the Storage Unit

In 2014, a Stradivarius violin worth $5 million was stolen from concertmaster Frank Almond outside a Milwaukee concert hall. Police recovered it three weeks later...

1 Corinthians 6:12-20Universal

237 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Unlocked Door

On December 14, 2010, miners trapped in the Copiapó mine in Chile spent sixty-nine days underground, surviving on two spoonfuls of tuna every forty-eight hours....

Mark 16:1-8Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Pace That Won the World

On October 12, 2019, Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in 1:59:40—the first human being in history to complete 26.2 miles in under two hours. The...

Universalpatience

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Orchard Keeper Who Never Stopped Singing

Every morning at 5:45, before the Texas sun crests the pecan groves outside Fredericksburg, 87-year-old Margaret Townsend steps onto her back porch with a cup...

Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

Death's Duel and the Dean of St. Paul's

In February 1631, John Donne stood in the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, visibly wasting from stomach cancer, and preached what his friends called...

1 Corinthians 15:19-26Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Rock Beneath the Foundation

In 2010, engineers in Santiago, Chile, drilled a narrow borehole 2,300 feet into the earth to reach thirty-three miners trapped in the San José copper...

Matthew 16:13-19Universal

247 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Clouds Parted Over Denali

In 2019, backpacker Sarah Chen spent eleven days hiking through Denali National Park without ever seeing the mountain. Clouds hung low and thick over the...

Mark 9:2-10Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Only Voice That Answered

In 2010, when thirty-three Chilean miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in the San Jose mine, rescue teams on the surface had no idea if...

Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

When Freedom Came to Galveston

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read aloud General Order No. 3: all enslaved people in the state were...

Luke 2:15-21Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Signal Finally Reached Everyone

On January 13, 2018, a false missile alert went out across Hawaii. Every phone on every island buzzed simultaneously with the same terrifying message: "BALLISTIC...

Acts 2:1-31Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hand Extended in Munich

In 1947, Corrie ten Boom stood in a church basement in Munich, having just spoken about God's forgiveness to a crowd of defeated Germans. A...

Genesis 45:3-11, 15Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The List That Saved 669 Children

In 1938, a young British stockbroker named Nicholas Winton visited Prague and saw Jewish families desperate to save their children from the Nazi threat closing...

John 6:37-40Universal

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Sang Through the Storm

In 1994, a tornado swept through Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama, during Palm Sunday worship. Twenty people died. In the wreckage that followed,...

Zephaniah 3:17Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

Three Stirrings Before Aldersgate

In January 1736, a violent storm battered the ship carrying John Wesley to the Georgia colony. While English passengers screamed in terror, a group of...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

214 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Wasn't Supposed to Run

Eric Liddell was Britain's fastest man heading into the 1924 Paris Olympics. Every expert expected him to win gold in the 100-meter dash. But when...

Universalobedience

247 words

Sermon Illustration

Pulled Up into the Light

On October 13, 2010, Florencio Avalos stepped into a narrow steel capsule called the Phoenix, 2,300 feet below the Atacama Desert. For sixty-nine days, he...

Mark 1:4-11Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

The Simplest 911 Call Ever Made

On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. But before that miraculous gliding descent, something remarkably...

Romans 10:8b-13Universal

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Silence Before the Shout

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and read General Order No. 3: all enslaved people were free. The war...

Mark 16:1-8Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Compact in the Ship's Cabin

On November 11, 1620, forty-one men crowded into the cramped main cabin of the Mayflower, anchored off the coast of Cape Cod. They had spent...

Exodus 24:3-8Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Ran to His Son

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond was considered a medal favorite in the 400-meter semifinal. He had trained for this moment his...

Universalrestoration

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Finally Won

In the summer of 1936, a young American named Louis Zamperini finished the 5,000-meter race at the Berlin Olympics with such a blazing final lap...

Universalforgiveness

254 words

Sermon Illustration

Eric Liddell and the Body That Felt God's Pleasure

In 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell stood at the center of an Olympic controversy in Paris. He had withdrawn from his best event, the 100...

1 Corinthians 6:12-20Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Well That Never Ran Dry

In 2012, a brutal drought scorched 80 percent of America's farmland. Across southern Kansas, cattle ponds turned to cracked mud. Irrigation systems sputtered and failed....

Isaiah 12:2-6Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Library That Had No Walls

In 2018, architect Li Wei completed a stunning public library in Tianjin, China — the Binhai Library, with its soaring white shelves cascading from floor...

Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19Universal

242 words