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HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Sermon Illustration

The Last Miles of Eliud Kipchoge

On October 12, 2019, in Vienna's Prater Park, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human being to run a marathon in under two hours. But what...

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18Universal

252 words

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Sermon Illustration

A Sharp Sword Sheathed in Burma

For six long years in Rangoon, Adoniram Judson preached, translated, and pleaded — and won almost no one. By 1818, he had exactly zero Burmese...

Isaiah 49:1-6Universal

222 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man in Black Walks Out of the Cave

In 1967, Johnny Cash crawled into Nickajack Cave along the Tennessee River, intending never to come out. Years of amphetamine and barbiturate addiction had hollowed...

Universalrestoration

255 words

Sermon Illustration

The Woman Who Knocked on 137 Doors

In 2019, Maria Gonzalez walked into the Houston Public Library with a single question: how do you start a business when you have nothing? No...

Matthew 7:7-8Universal

253 words

Sermon Illustration

The Criminal from the Karen Hills Nobody Expected God to Use

In 1828, missionary Adoniram Judson purchased the freedom of a Burmese slave named Ko Tha Byu. The man was a former bandit from the Karen...

John 1:43-51Universal

256 words

Sermon Illustration

Just a Hobby

On August 25, 1991, a twenty-one-year-old Finnish computer science student named Linus Torvalds posted a brief message to an online message board. "I'm doing a...

Universalcourage

233 words

Sermon Illustration

Adoniram Judson and the Seeds That No One Could See

In 1813, Adoniram Judson stepped off a ship in Rangoon, Burma, with nothing but a calling and a conviction that God had promised a harvest...

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race He Didn't Run

Eric Liddell was the fastest man in Britain. Heading into the 1924 Paris Olympics, he was the heavy favorite to win the 100 meters —...

Universalobedience

242 words

Sermon Illustration

Get Your Things Ready, Boys

When Ernest Shackleton's ship *Endurance* was crushed by Antarctic ice in 1915, he left twenty-two men stranded on desolate Elephant Island while he sailed eight...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

230 words

Sermon Illustration

The Ring They Gave the Man They Blamed

On October 14, 2003, Steve Bartman reached for a foul ball during Game Six of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field. The Chicago...

Universalforgiveness

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bells That Broke the Silence

On August 25, 1944, the great bell Emmanuel — thirteen tons of bronze hanging in the south tower of Notre-Dame — had been silent through...

Isaiah 52:7-10Universal

215 words

Sermon Illustration

Running on a Different Track

In the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Eric Liddell faced a decision that would define him. The Scottish sprinter was favored to win the 100 meters,...

Universalidentity

232 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Food Pantry Wasn't Enough

Dorothy Chen had volunteered at Grace Community's food pantry every Tuesday for eleven years. She knew the regulars by name — knew that Miguel's daughter...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

Eric Liddell's Last Race

Eric Liddell became famous for refusing to run on Sunday at the 1924 Paris Olympics, then winning gold in the 400 meters. The world celebrated...

Colossians 3:1-4Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

A Modern Story of Climate Change and Hope

In a small coastal town, where the sun once painted the sky in hues of gold at dawn and fishermen returned home with nets heavy with silver catches, a palpable sense of despair hung over the docks. The salty breeze...

Luke 4:18-19Arminian/Wesleyan

293 words

Sermon Illustration

Finished Together

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semi-final. He had spent four years recovering from injuries, and this...

Universalidentity

252 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Melody Carries You

In 1779, John Newton sat down to write a hymn for his New Year's Day sermon. By then, he had spent decades as a pastor...

Universaltrust

254 words

Sermon Illustration

The Miners Who Came Back

On October 13, 2010, a billion people worldwide watched their television screens as a narrow rescue capsule broke the surface at the San José mine...

Acts 2:14a, 22-32Universal

262 words

Sermon Illustration

The Signal Delay

When NASA's Perseverance rover descended toward Mars on February 18, 2021, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory faced a harrowing reality: an eleven-minute signal delay....

Universalfaith

249 words

Sermon Illustration

The Backpack on the Bridge

In 2019, ultramarathon runner Courtney Dauwalter described the lowest moment of a 240-mile race through the Moab desert. Somewhere around mile 180, her vision blurring,...

1 Peter 5:7Universalanxiety

219 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tree That Thrives on the Heights

High in the White Mountains of eastern California, bristlecone pines cling to limestone ridges where almost nothing else survives. One of them, named Methuselah, has...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

Sixty-Nine Days Underground

On October 13, 2010, Mario Sepulveda stepped into a narrow metal capsule called the Phoenix, 2,300 feet beneath the Atacama Desert in Chile. For sixty-nine...

Acts 12:1-11Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Inspector Who Wouldn't Look Away

In 2018, a building inspector named Ron Gastaldo in Surfside, Florida, filed a report on the Champlain Towers South condominium. His plumb line, both literal...

Amos 7:7-17Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

The Storm That Washed a Slaver Clean

On March 21, 1748, a violent storm nearly swallowed the merchant ship Greyhound in the North Atlantic. John Newton, a twenty-three-year-old slave trader hardened by...

1 Peter 3:18-22Universal

246 words