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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

Gates That Never Close Again

On the night of November 9, 1989, East Berliners gathered at the checkpoints that had imprisoned them for twenty-eight years. When the gates finally opened,...

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5Universal

241 words

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Sermon Illustration

George Müller's Fifty-Seven-Year Prayer

In 1836, George Müller of Bristol, England, began praying for the conversion of five personal friends. He prayed daily, by name, with quiet certainty that...

Matthew 7:7-8Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Slave Trader's Song of Freedom

In 1748, John Newton nearly drowned when a violent storm battered his ship in the North Atlantic. He had spent years in the slave trade,...

Universalfreedom

263 words

Sermon Illustration

The Honest Brush

In 1629, a young Rembrandt van Rijn painted himself wearing velvet and gold, chin lifted, eyes blazing with ambition. He was twenty-three and convinced the...

Universalhumility

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Ran Onto the Track

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Derek Redmond was favored to medal in the 400-meter semifinal. Halfway through the race, he felt a sharp pop —...

Universalfaith

239 words

Sermon Illustration

Walking the Final Fairway

In February 1949, golfer Ben Hogan nearly died when his car collided head-on with a Greyhound bus on a foggy Texas highway. He shattered his...

Universalhealing

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sculptor Who Knelt for Eighteen Years

In 1914, the German artist Kathe Kollwitz lost her youngest son Peter in the fields of Flanders. He was eighteen years old and had volunteered...

Universalsacrifice

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Water Cannon Salute

When a veteran airline captain makes her final flight, the aviation world honors her with a tradition called the water cannon salute. Two fire trucks...

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

273 words

Sermon Illustration

The Barista Who Already Knew Her Order

In 2019, a woman named Grace Chen walked into a tiny coffee shop on Magnolia Street in Waco, Texas, three days after moving from Portland....

John 1:43-51Universal

231 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sailor Who Kept Making Promises

In March 1748, John Newton's slave ship nearly broke apart in a violent North Atlantic storm. Waves crashed through the deck as the vessel listed...

Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38Universal

258 words

Sermon Illustration

When Kindness - Story

## When Kindness - Story Margaret had lived alone for eleven years after her husband passed, and the church down the street had become background...

Joshua 1:9Progressive/Social Justice

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Power of Gentleness - Story

In a small town, there lived an elderly woman named Ruth. She had a garden that was the envy of all, bursting with vibrant colors and fragrant blooms. Yet, Ruth’s secret to her garden's beauty wasn’t just her green thumb;...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7Black Church

255 words

Sermon Illustration

The Last Miles of a Marathon Runner

On November 3, 2019, Meb Keflezighi lined up for the New York City Marathon — his final competitive race. At forty-four years old, the Eritrean-born...

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

258 words

Sermon Illustration

The Persecution That Spread the Gospel - Missional (Romans 8:28)

When Idi Amin expelled all missionaries from Uganda in 1972, many feared the Ugandan church would collapse. Instead, it exploded. Without foreign leadership, local believers stepped up. The church grew from 2 million to over 10 million in the following decades.

Romans 8:28Universal

Short84 words

Sermon Illustration

A Story of Faith - Story

There’s a small community garden in my neighborhood that has become a rich tapestry of faith and transformation. A few years ago, it was just an abandoned lot, filled with weeds and forgotten debris. But one day, a group of...

Romans 12:2Arminian/Wesleyan

249 words

Sermon Illustration

The Letter That Changed William Wilberforce

In the autumn of 1785, William Wilberforce sat in a carriage traveling through the French countryside with Isaac Milner, a Cambridge professor and old friend....

John 1:29-42Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Woman Who Walked Into the Storm

In 1943, a young Dutch woman named Corrie ten Boom watched her elderly father, Caspar, open their front door in Haarlem to a terrified Jewish...

Ruth 1:16Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

The Ozone Layer and the God Who Heals What We Have Broken

In 1985, scientists Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin published findings that stunned the world: a gaping hole had opened in the ozone layer...

Universalrestoration

251 words

Sermon Illustration

Swallowing the Truth

In 1984, Australian physician Barry Marshall was convinced he had discovered the true cause of stomach ulcers — a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called *Helicobacter pylori*. The...

Universalcourage

229 words

Sermon Illustration

8,000 Songs from a Dark Room

When Fanny Crosby was six weeks old, a careless doctor's mistake left her permanently blind. She would never see a sunrise, a flower, or a...

Universalperseverance

209 words

Sermon Illustration

When Economic Inequality & Generosity Meets Faith

In our modern world, where economic inequality often paints a stark divide between the haves and the have-nots, the call for generosity resonates louder than ever, echoing the principles laid out in Scripture. Picture a community where a young mother,...

Ephesians 4:29Black Church

280 words

Sermon Illustration

A Story of Understanding - Story

There was a small church nestled in a quiet town, filled with a diverse congregation. Among them was an elderly man named Mr. Thompson, whose frail frame seemed to carry the weight of years but whose spirit radiated joy. Every...

Galatians 5:22-23Arminian/Wesleyan

267 words

Sermon Illustration

The Girl Who Heard a Voice in the Garden

On February 7, 1837, a sixteen-year-old named Florence Nightingale sat in the garden of her family's estate in Embley Park, Hampshire, and heard what she...

Luke 1:26-38Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Soldier Who Wouldn't Believe the War Was Over

In March 1974, Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda finally emerged from the Philippine jungle on Lubang Island, where he had been hiding for twenty-nine years....

Mark 16:1-8Universal

242 words