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HomeIllustrations

9,055 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 Finish Line He Never Expected to Run Alone

On July 3, 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal. He had trained for years, endured twenty-two...

Universalhope

228 words

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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

Three Hundred Joules

On September 14, 2019, paramedic Sarah Chen pressed the paddles against a construction worker's chest in a parking lot off Interstate 5 near Tacoma, Washington....

Romans 1:16Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The River That Jumped Its Banks

In the spring of 1927, the Mississippi River swelled beyond anything the Army Corps of Engineers had planned for. For decades, they had built levees...

Joel 2:28-29Universal

233 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

The Deepest Dive

In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh climbed into the Trieste bathyscaphe and descended nearly seven miles into the Mariana Trench — the deepest known...

Universalcourage

227 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

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

The Note He Could No Longer Hear

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven stood on stage at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna for the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. He faced the...

Universalgrace

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Courage to Keep Beating

In 2012, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden confirmed something remarkable about the human heart. Using carbon-14 dating — the same method used to...

Universalcourage

236 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

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

Ten Thousand Repairs

Right now, without your awareness or effort, something extraordinary is happening inside your body. Every single cell sustains between 10,000 and 1,000,000 DNA lesions every...

Universalfaith

213 words

Sermon Illustration

The Seeds Adoniram Judson Buried in Burma

When Adoniram Judson sailed for Burma in 1812, he carried little more than a grammar book and an unshakable conviction that the gospel would bear...

Colossians 1:1-14Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Last Light in Detroit

In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city per capita in America. Nearly two million people filled its neighborhoods. The Fisher Building gleamed like a cathedral...

Lamentations 1:1-6Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Grocery Store Quarterback

In the spring of 1994, Kurt Warner went undrafted out of Northern Iowa. No NFL team wanted him. To pay the bills, he stocked shelves...

Universaltransformation

230 words

Sermon Illustration

No Stars, Just a Team

In the fall of 1979, coach Herb Brooks faced a decision that baffled the hockey world. Selecting the United States Olympic roster, he passed over...

Universalcommunity

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Eye of the Storm

Hurricane hunters with NOAA's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron fly directly into the most violent weather on earth. Their WP-3D Orion turboprops punch through walls of...

Nahum 1:7Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man in Black Finds the Light

In 1967, Johnny Cash crawled into Nickajack Cave outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, intending never to come out. Years of amphetamine and barbiturate addiction had cost him...

Universalredemption

241 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 Genome That Refused to Be Junk

For decades, scientists dismissed roughly 98 percent of human DNA as "junk." It didn't code for proteins, so they assumed it served no purpose —...

Universalpurpose

213 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bridge Builder of Mostar

In 1993, shelling destroyed the Stari Most, a sixteenth-century Ottoman bridge arching over the Neretva River in Mostar, Bosnia. The bridge had connected the city's...

Isaiah 42:1-9Universal

219 words

Sermon Illustration

The Miners of Copiapó

On August 5, 2010, the San José copper mine in Copiapó, Chile, collapsed. Thirty-three miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground — deeper than two Empire...

Isaiah 9:1-4Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sculptor Who Painted the Sky

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

Universalpurpose

234 words