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HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Sermon Illustration

Eric Liddell's Final Race

In 1924, Eric Liddell stunned the world by refusing to run his best event at the Paris Olympics because the heats fell on a Sunday....

Philippians 3:17-4:1Universal

256 words

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Sermon Illustration

When Redemption - Contemporary Example

There’s a woman named Sarah, a member of our community, whose story resonates deeply with the themes of redemption and transformation. Not long ago, Sarah found herself trapped in a cycle of addiction that had consumed her life for years....

Isaiah 40:31Roman Catholic

272 words

Sermon Illustration

Real-World Economic Justice and the Kingdom - Biblical Analogy

Imagine a bustling marketplace, alive with the sounds of vendors hawking their wares and families bartering for fresh vegetables. One corner of this marketplace, however, reveals a stark contrast. A young woman named Miriam stands with her two children, their...

Luke 4:18-19Eastern Orthodox

121 words

Sermon Illustration

The Steinway in the Church Basement

In 2014, a small Baptist church in Macon, Georgia, discovered that the old piano sitting in their fellowship hall was a 1923 Steinway Model B,...

1 Corinthians 6:12-20Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Stewardship of Technology

A few years ago, I attended a local science fair where students showcased their projects. One exhibit caught my attention: a young girl had built a miniature ecosystem inside a glass jar. She had carefully arranged soil, plants, and even...

Matthew 6:25-34Universal

256 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Ran

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond was considered a medal contender in the 400-meter semifinal. He had spent years clawing back from...

Universalidentity

245 words

Sermon Illustration

Living Like Rescued Men

On August 5, 2010, thirty-three miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in the San José copper mine in Chile's Atacama Desert. For seventeen days, no...

Colossians 3:1-4Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song That Almost Never Was

In 1779, John Newton published the hymn we know as *Amazing Grace*, but the story behind it reveals something profound about humility. Newton had spent...

Universalhumility

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Paid-Off Mortgage

In 2019, a woman in Cleveland named Dana Carter made her final mortgage payment after thirty years. The bank sent confirmation: paid in full, zero...

Colossians 2:6-15Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stump in Mrs. Nakamura's Yard

In 2011, the tsunami that devastated Fukushima, Japan, stripped the coastal town of Rikuzentakata down to mud and silence. Among the 70,000 pine trees that...

Isaiah 11:1-10Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Relay That Never Ends

In 2018, Kathrine Switzer returned to the Boston Marathon — fifty-one years after she became the first woman to officially run it. In 1967, race...

Hebrews 11:29-12:2Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Churches That Filled and Emptied Again

During the London Blitz of 1940-41, something remarkable happened in the churches of England. Pews that had sat half-empty for years suddenly overflowed. At St....

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38Universal

230 words

Sermon Illustration

The Library That Held More Than Anyone Could Read

In 2003, a janitor named Emilio Sanchez worked the night shift at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. For years, he mopped floors and...

Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19Universal

249 words

Sermon Illustration

Wilberforce and the Long Wait for Justice

In 1787, William Wilberforce sat in his garden at Holwood House in Kent, weeping over Thomas Clarkson's evidence of the slave trade — iron shackles...

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

Blaise Pascal and the Scrap of Paper Sewn Into His Coat

On the night of November 23, 1654, the brilliant French mathematician Blaise Pascal sat alone in his room in Paris. He was thirty-one years old,...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

250 words

Sermon Illustration

Eighty Years of Silence

When Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750, the world shrugged. His music was considered old-fashioned, overly complex, and within a generation his manuscripts gathered dust...

Universalrestoration

211 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Never Finished Alone

On August 3, 1992, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal at the Barcelona Olympics. He had trained for years, overcome five...

Universalredemption

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Refused to Leave

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

Universalperseverance

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stone That Couldn't Stay Put

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Concrete buildings pancaked. Rubble buried entire neighborhoods. Rescue teams told families the math was brutal...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Teacher Who Wouldn't Walk Away

In 2018, Katie Blomquist, a first-grade teacher in North Charleston, South Carolina, noticed her students had no bicycles. Not a single one. Most had never...

Isaiah 50:4-9aUniversal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Farmer Who Planted in Silence

In 1947, a French shepherd named Elzeard Bouffier — or so Jean Giono told us — planted acorns one by one across the barren highlands...

Lamentations 3:25-26Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Promise Kept in Room 4B

In 2019, a seven-year-old girl named Eliana sat in a hospital room at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, coloring pictures of houses she...

Jeremiah 33:14-16Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lighthouse Keeper of Peggy's Cove

In 1998, when Swissair Flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic just off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, it was the local fishermen who responded first. They...

Luke 21:25-36Universal

231 words

Sermon Illustration

The Notification She Almost Silenced

In 2019, a pediatric nurse named Clara Mendes in São Paulo, Brazil, kept waking at 3 a.m. with the same persistent thought: check on the...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

245 words