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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

The Father's Arms at Barcelona

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal as one of the favorites. Halfway through the race, his...

Universalhealing

229 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Refused to Simply Listen

William Wilberforce sat in the British Parliament for years, hearing impassioned speeches about the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade. He knew the statistics —...

James 1:22Universal

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Day the Sky Turned Black

On April 14, 1935, residents of Boise City, Oklahoma, looked up to see the horizon swallowed whole. A wall of dirt two thousand feet high...

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Wasn't Supposed to Win

In 1924, Eric Liddell arrived in Paris as Scotland's fastest man — the heavy favorite to win the Olympic 100-meter race. But when the competition...

Universalobedience

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Firefighters of Station 12 Who Refused to Sleep

In 1991, a wildfire swept through the Oakland Hills of California, killing twenty-five people and destroying over three thousand homes in a single afternoon. Investigators...

Jude 1:3Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Melody Requires Everything

In 1779, a former slave trader sat down to write a hymn for his small parish in Olney, England. John Newton had spent years hauling...

Universalcourage

251 words

Sermon Illustration

The Gold Obedience Wins

In the summer of 1924, Scotland's fastest man arrived in Paris carrying the hopes of an entire nation. Eric Liddell was the heavy favorite to...

Universalobedience

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The News Too Wonderful to Believe

On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and read aloud General Orders No. 3. Two hundred and fifty thousand...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Ran

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond was considered a strong contender for the 400-meter semifinals. Midway through the race, his hamstring snapped...

Universalredemption

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Fall That Became a Finish Line

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 multiple...

Universaltrust

240 words

Sermon Illustration

Four Years on His Back

When Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508, the artist resisted. He considered himself a sculptor, not...

Universalobedience

245 words

Sermon Illustration

When Forgiveness - Story

One evening, I sat on my porch, watching the sunset paint the sky in hues of orange and purple. As I sipped my tea, I remembered a story shared by a dear friend. She had recently reconciled with her estranged...

Matthew 28:19-20Lutheran

250 words

Sermon Illustration

One Voice at Herrnhut

In 1727, Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf faced an impossible situation on his estate in Saxony. He had offered refuge to persecuted Christians from across Europe...

Romans 15:4-13Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

From Slave Ship to Sacred Hymn

In 1748, a young sailor named John Newton found himself aboard a ship caught in a violent storm off the coast of Ireland. The vessel...

Universalredemption

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Finish Line He Never Expected to Reach

On July 27, 1992, Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal at the Barcelona Olympics. He had trained for years, overcome five surgeries, and...

Universalhope

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Document That Changed Everything

For decades before the American Civil War, brave conductors on the Underground Railroad risked their lives to shuttle enslaved people northward, one family at a...

Hebrews 9:11-15Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Note From Camp Hope

On October 17, 2010, a billion people watched a television feed from the Atacama Desert in Chile. But the real moment had come weeks earlier,...

Isaiah 52:7-10Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bristlecone Pine of White Mountain

High in California's White Mountains, at nearly 12,000 feet, stands a bristlecone pine named Methuselah. It has endured for over 4,800 years in conditions that...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

218 words

Sermon Illustration

A Modern Story of Climate Change and Hope - Biblical Analogy

Imagine a small coastal town, once vibrant with life, now grappling with the harsh realities of climate change. The sea, once a source of joy where children splashed and fishermen cast their nets, has begun to swallow the shoreline, leaving...

Luke 4:18-19Arminian/Wesleyan

277 words

Sermon Illustration

The Morning Robert Gould Shaw Stepped Forward

On a January evening in 1863, Robert Gould Shaw sat at his family's dinner table in Boston when a letter arrived from Governor Andrew offering...

Isaiah 6:1-8Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Village That Never Raised Its Voice

Andre Trocme was a pastor in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small Protestant village in the mountains of southern France. When the Nazis occupied France in 1940,...

Isaiah 42:1-9Universal

219 words

Sermon Illustration

I Love Brian Piccolo

In 1967, the Chicago Bears paired Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo as the NFL's first interracial roommates. One was Black, one was White, in an...

Universallove

263 words

Sermon Illustration

The Couple Who Planted an Orchard They Would Never See

In 2019, Howard and Lucille Granger, both in their late seventies, bought three hundred bare-root apple trees and planted them across four acres of rocky...

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Slaver Who Sang of Freedom

John Newton had blood on his hands. For years he commanded slave ships, transporting human beings across the Atlantic in conditions of unspeakable horror. He...

Universalfreedom

240 words