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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

The Code Writer Who Found a Signature

In June 2000, Francis Collins stood in the East Room of the White House and announced that the Human Genome Project had completed its first...

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18Universal

241 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Inauguration No One Could Stop

On January 20, 2021, Washington D.C. looked like a fortress. Twenty-five thousand National Guard troops lined the streets. Razor wire topped temporary fencing around the...

Psalm 110:1-4Universal

222 words

Sermon Illustration

Nature Illustration: Ants and Small Wisdoms

On a bright spring day, I found myself drawn to my garden, where the air was fragrant with blooming flowers and the gentle buzz of life danced around me. As I knelt to tend to the soil, I was fascinated...

Matthew 6:25-34Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Morning After Coventry

On November 15, 1940, Provost Richard Howard picked his way through the smoldering ruins of Coventry Cathedral. German bombers had reduced the 600-year-old sanctuary to...

Isaiah 60:1-6Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Professor Who Needed to Be Named

In 1985, Henri Nouwen held prestigious teaching positions at both Harvard and Yale. Students packed his lectures. Publishers sought his manuscripts. Yet he confessed to...

Mark 1:4-11Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

What Adam Taught the Professor

In 1986, Henri Nouwen walked away from a tenured position at Harvard Divinity School. He was one of the most sought-after spiritual writers in the...

Mark 1:4-11Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Kitchen Table at 2 A.M.

David Chen sat at his kitchen table in Roanoke, Virginia, at two in the morning, surrounded by overdue bills. The layoff notice from the furniture...

Hebrews 13:5-6Universal

264 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Mountain Shook and the City Stood Still

On June 15, 2022, residents of Christchurch, New Zealand felt the earth tremble beneath their feet — again. Over a decade after the devastating 2011...

Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9Universal

212 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bishop Who Counted Every Drop of Blood

In 1542, Bartolomé de las Casas knelt before the Spanish court and read aloud testimony that made grown men weep. He described indigenous families in...

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

Churchill's Return to the Man Britain Had Discarded

In 1940, Britain stood alone. France had fallen, the Luftwaffe darkened English skies, and the nation that had mocked and sidelined Winston Churchill for a...

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Echo That Would Not Be Silenced

In 1964, two radio astronomers at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey — Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson — encountered a problem they could not...

Genesis 1:1-3Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Restaurant That Served Beautiful Plates of Nothing

In 2019, a pop-up restaurant called "Fyre Festival Dining" became an internet sensation for all the wrong reasons. Guests paid hundreds of dollars for an...

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20Universal

209 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night the Gates Swung Open

On the evening of November 9, 1989, East German spokesman Günter Schabowski fumbled through a press conference and accidentally announced that border crossings were open...

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Slow River That Carved the Canyon

In 1869, John Wesley Powell strapped himself to a wooden chair bolted to the deck of a small boat and led nine men into the...

Nahum 1:3Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

Coded for a Journey You've Never Taken

Every autumn, tens of millions of monarch butterflies lift off from meadows across North America and travel up to 3,000 miles to a cluster of...

Universalpurpose

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Archbishop Who Became the Voice of the Poor

In 1977, the Catholic bishops of El Salvador chose Oscar Romero as archbishop, expecting a quiet, bookish man who would not make trouble. The powerful...

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

Johannes Kepler and the Geometry of Heaven

In 1619, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler published his masterwork and wept. After twenty years of painstaking calculations, he had finally discovered the mathematical laws...

Psalm 19Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Luthier's Blueprint

In a small workshop on Via Borgognona in Cremona, Italy, master luthier Stefano Conia picks up a half-finished violin and holds it to his ear....

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18Universal

257 words

Sermon Illustration

The Room Where Crying Stops

Margaret Chen had worked the night shift in the neonatal ICU for twenty-three years, but the night three-year-old Elias died from leukemia was the night...

Revelation 21:1-4Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Olive Tree on Masada

In 2021, archaeologists working near Masada in Israel discovered olive tree roots still alive in soil that hadn't seen steady rain in decades. The roots...

Psalm 52Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Arrow in the Quiver

In 2009, a young Haitian-American woman named Michaëlle Jean stood before the United Nations, largely unknown to the global stage. For years she had labored...

Isaiah 49:1-7Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Slow Fuse of a Patient God

In 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra had been rumbling for months. Small eruptions. Columns of steam....

Nahum 1:3Universal

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Courtroom That Fell Silent

Margaret Chen sat in courtroom 4B of the Cook County courthouse, hands trembling in her lap. For three years, the weight of what she had...

Romans 8:1Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

Real-World Science and Faith

In the heart of a bustling city, a young scientist named Maya grappled with her faith as she navigated the complexities of her research. Each day, she immersed herself in the intricate dance of DNA, decoding the very blueprint of...

Matthew 5:44Eastern Orthodox

299 words