One of the largest free collections of sermon illustrations, organized by topic, scripture, and theological tradition.

Stay updated

New illustrations, features & occasional discounts

Browse

By Topic
By Scripture
By Tradition
By Emotion
By Source Type
Sermon Slides

Resources

Sample Illustrations
About
Premium
Contact Us
SermonWise AI
PewSearch
ChurchWiseAI

Support

Contact Us
+1 (888) 603-0316
support@churchwiseai.com
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Refund Policy

HomeIllustrations

7,545 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

Search, filter, and discover the perfect illustration for your sermon

All Stories & Illustrations Poetry & Verse Quotes Biblical Insights Historical Examples Movie Analogies Devotionals Tradition Perspectives All types →

Top Rated Newest Oldest|All Sources Biblical Illustrator Spurgeon Maclaren

Free to browse · Sign up free to unlock most illustrations · Premium ($9.95/mo) for the full library of 50,000+ illustrations

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Kept Two Mailboxes

In 1943, a Norwegian farmer named Halvor Knudsen maintained two mailboxes at the end of his lane outside Trondheim. One bore a small Norwegian flag...

1 Kings 18:21Universal

232 words

PreviousPage 265 of 315Next

Sermon Illustration

The Stronger Break

When German orthopedic surgeon Julius Wolff published his landmark findings in 1892, he described something that seems almost impossible: bone that breaks and heals often...

Universalhealing

242 words

Sermon Illustration

Tested Right After the Call

In 2019, Keisha Morgan graduated top of her class from Howard University's school of education. Her professors praised her. Her family celebrated. She had the...

Mark 1:9-15Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

Fanny Crosby and the Riches She Could Not See

Fanny Crosby lost her sight at six weeks old due to a doctor's mistake. She never saw a sunset, never read a printed page, never...

Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bare Pantry Hymn

Clara Montrose stood in her kitchen on a January morning in 1934, staring at three nearly empty shelves. The drought had taken the wheat. The...

Habakkuk 3:17-19Universal

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Muddy River and the General's Pride

In 2003, a retired Army colonel named Frank sat in a bare church basement in Columbus, Ohio, staring at a circle of metal folding chairs....

2 Kings 5:14Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

The Promise Planted in Johnny Appleseed's Orchards

In 1806, John Chapman — better known as Johnny Appleseed — planted a small nursery of apple trees along the banks of Owl Creek in...

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

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lunch Table No One Expected

In 2014, a middle school in Nashville made national news — not for test scores or athletics, but for a cafeteria table. Twelve-year-old Marcus Thompson...

John 13:34-35Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

The Happiness Nobody Wanted

In 2018, a Finnish documentary crew followed Heikki Nousiainen, a retired bus driver in Helsinki, as part of a study on contentment. Finland had just...

Matthew 5:1-12aUniversal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Trellis and the Vine

In California's Napa Valley, vintners know that a grapevine left to itself will sprawl across the ground. The branches tangle. The fruit touches the soil,...

Titus 2:11-12Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Last Hymn of Maximilian Kolbe

In August 1941, a Polish Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe stood in the selection line at Auschwitz. When a prisoner was chosen for the starvation...

Wisdom 3:1-9Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

The Scholar Who Gathered the Forgotten Girls

In 1889, Pandita Ramabai opened the doors of Sharada Sadan in Bombay — a shelter for child widows whom Indian society had discarded. These were...

Isaiah 42:1-9Universal

231 words

Sermon Illustration

The Unpacked Crates of San Simeon

William Randolph Hearst spent decades amassing one of the largest private art collections in history. From his castle perched above the California coastline, the newspaper...

Luke 12:13-21Universal

224 words

Sermon Illustration

The Morning the Bridge Appeared

On February 6, 2023, residents of Hatay Province in southern Turkey woke to devastation. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake had leveled entire neighborhoods overnight. Rescue worker Elif...

Mark 16:1-8Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Translator They Burned at the Stake

In October 1536, William Tyndale was led to a stake outside Brussels, strangled, and burned. His crime was translating the Bible into English so that,...

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Unsigned Lease

In 2019, twenty-three-year-old Desiree Martinez sat in a county social worker's office in Bakersfield, California, staring at a manila folder. Inside were the records of...

Luke 1:26-38Universal

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Runner Who Lifted His Cup in a Prison Camp

Eric Liddell won Olympic gold in Paris in 1924, a moment immortalized in *Chariots of Fire*. The world offered him fame, endorsement deals, a comfortable...

Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Midwife Who Knew

In 2014, a retired midwife named Margaret Abrams sat in a church pew in Bristol, England, and watched a young couple carry their newborn son...

Luke 2:22-40Universal

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Crown That Echoed Around the World

On June 2, 1953, twenty-seven million people in Britain alone watched something unprecedented — a coronation broadcast live on television. Inside Westminster Abbey, the young...

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14Universal

248 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night Notre-Dame Refused to Fall

On April 15, 2019, the world watched Notre-Dame de Paris burn. Flames devoured the 850-year-old roof. The iconic spire collapsed in a shower of sparks....

Isaiah 52:7-10Universal

201 words

Sermon Illustration

The Last Ship Back to Berlin

In June 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood on the deck of a steamship crossing the Atlantic, heading back toward everything he had just escaped. Friends in...

Mark 1:9-15Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Library That Stayed Open

In August 2014, when tear gas drifted through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and the world watched a community fracture on live television, the Ferguson...

Isaiah 42:1-9Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Library That Never Ends

In 2019, a team of astronomers pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at what appeared to be an empty patch of sky — a dark sliver...

Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19Universal

254 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lyrics She Lived Before They Were Written

In 2002, a drunk driver named Eric Smallridge crossed the center line and killed two young women — one of them Meagan Napier, just twenty...

Universalforgiveness

241 words