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HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Sermon Illustration

The Defragmenter of the Soul

If you owned a computer in the early 2000s, you probably remember running the disk defragmenter. Over time, your hard drive would scatter pieces of...

Universalhealing

238 words

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Sermon Illustration

Methuselah's Promise

In 2005, botanist Dr. Elaine Solowey of Israel's Arava Institute planted a seed unlike any other. Recovered from excavations at the ancient fortress of Masada...

Universalhope

244 words

Sermon Illustration

Finding God in Environmental Justice - Contemporary Example

Imagine a community encircled by a vibrant river, its waters shimmering under the sun, nurturing the land that cradles families, gardens, and dreams. Yet, as you walk through this neighborhood, you notice something troubling: trash littering the riverbanks, the once-clear...

Psalm 23:1-6Arminian/Wesleyan

277 words

Sermon Illustration

The Engine That Never Turned Over

Every autumn in Rochester, Minnesota, old Mr. Halverson would spend three weekends detailing his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. He buffed the cherry-red paint until it gleamed....

James 2:17Universal

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Coal That Changed Blaise Pascal's Life

On the night of November 23, 1654, the brilliant French mathematician Blaise Pascal had an encounter so overwhelming that he could barely find words for...

Isaiah 6:1-8Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Satisfying Collapse of Notre-Dame's Scaffolding

On December 7, 2024, the world watched as the doors of Notre-Dame de Paris swung open for the first time in five years. The cathedral...

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50Universal

263 words

Sermon Illustration

The Seed Vault at the End of the World

Deep inside a mountain on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole, sits a concrete vault holding over 1.2 million seed...

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

Bonhoeffer's Last Bread

On the morning of April 8, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood in a makeshift chapel at the Schönberg prison school, surrounded by a handful of fellow...

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Reconciliation and Forgiveness Challenge

Imagine a small town, where the sun casts a golden glow on the local park, a gathering place for families and friends. In this town, two families have lived side by side for generations, but a bitter feud has fractured...

Matthew 22:37-39Anglican

299 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Father Runs

Derek Redmond had trained for this moment his entire life. On August 3, 1992, in the semifinals of the 400-meter race at the Barcelona Olympics,...

Universaltrust

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sea That Disappeared

In 1960, the Aral Sea stretched across 26,000 square miles of Central Asia — the fourth largest lake on earth. Fishing boats crowded its harbors....

Amos 8:1-12Universal

258 words

Sermon Illustration

Corrie ten Boom's Father and the Prodigal Nation

In the winter of 1944, Casper ten Boom was eighty-four years old when the Gestapo arrested him for hiding Jewish families in his Haarlem watchshop....

Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9Universal

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Remembered the Girl in Bed Seven

In 2014, a young woman named Grace Obiago walked into a surgical residency interview at Johns Hopkins carrying a folder of credentials she hoped would...

John 1:43-51Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

Dancing on the Rubble

On May 22, 2011, a mile-wide tornado carved through Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and leveling entire neighborhoods in minutes. Among the wreckage stood what...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bridge His Grandfather Started

In 1929, Joseph Strauss submitted his final design for the Golden Gate Bridge, but he never saw traffic cross it. He died just months after...

2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Standing Ovation at Fenway

On October 25, 1986, Bill Buckner crouched at first base for the Boston Red Sox in Game Six of the World Series. A routine ground...

Universalforgiveness

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Candy Bomber's Parachutes

In 1948, three years after Allied bombs had reduced Berlin to rubble, a young American pilot named Gail Halvorsen stood at the Tempelhof Airport fence....

Genesis 9:8-17Universal

254 words

Sermon Illustration

A Contemporary Holy Spirit Story

In our bustling, modern world, the invitation to embrace the Holy Spirit can sometimes feel daunting, as if we are navigating a stormy sea without a compass. Yet, much like the early followers of Christ, we too are called to...

Acts 2:42-47Black Church

293 words

Sermon Illustration

Eric Liddell's Holy Sprint

In 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell arrived at the Paris Olympics as the favorite in the 100 meters. Then he discovered the heats fell on...

1 Corinthians 6:12-20Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Coach Who Believed First

In 2019, a high school track coach named John Woodruff in Richmond, Virginia, noticed a freshman named DeShawn sitting alone in the bleachers after school...

Titus 2:11-12Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Priest Who Became a Leper

In 1873, a thirty-three-year-old Belgian priest named Father Damien de Veuster stepped off a cargo ship onto the shores of Molokai, Hawaii. He had volunteered...

John 1:1-14Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

Maximilian Kolbe's Bunk Number 18

In the starvation bunker of Auschwitz, Block 11, a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe spent his final days doing something the guards had never witnessed....

Matthew 5:1-12aUniversal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Olympian Who Ran Toward an Unseen Country

In 1924, Eric Liddell stood on the Olympic podium in Paris with a gold medal around his neck. The whole of Scotland celebrated him. Newspapers...

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Harvest Is Gone and the Praise Remains

Marcus Briggs had farmed the same 340 acres outside Lubbock, Texas that his grandfather had broken ground on in 1948. In the spring of 2011,...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

266 words