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HomeIllustrations

7,545 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 Shepherd Who Came Back for Them

In 2018, when the Camp Fire tore through Paradise, California, school bus driver Kevin McKay refused to abandon his route. With flames closing in on...

Jeremiah 23:1-6Universal

233 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Pastor Who Already Knew Why Wilberforce Had Come

In the autumn of 1785, a young Member of Parliament named William Wilberforce was in spiritual crisis. His recent conversion had left him torn —...

John 1:43-51Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Foreclosure Papers She Never Signed

In March 2019, Maria Gutierrez drove to First National Bank in Tulsa with a folder of documents and a lump in her throat. She had...

Mark 16:1-8Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Light That Holds Until Dawn

In 2018, a team of twelve boys from the Wild Boars soccer club and their coach became trapped deep inside the Tham Luang cave system...

2 Peter 1:16-19Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lighthouse Keeper of Galveston

When Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, Texas, in September 2008, the storm surge swallowed entire neighborhoods. Streets became rivers. Homes folded like cardboard. In the...

Nahum 1:7Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Artist Who Traded Fame for Unsearchable Riches

In 1888, Lilias Trotter stood at a crossroads in London. John Ruskin, the most influential art critic in England, had told her she could become...

Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Moment at the Water Pump

For weeks, Annie Sullivan had been pressing letter shapes into seven-year-old Helen Keller's palm. Helen could mimic the finger movements, but she treated them as...

Hebrews 1:1-4Universal

222 words

Sermon Illustration

The Coach Who Already Knew His Name

In 2019, Marcus Thompson was a lanky fifteen-year-old shooting free throws alone at a cracked outdoor court in Flint, Michigan. He had no AAU team,...

John 1:43-51Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sunday School Teacher Who Almost Turned Back

On a spring day in 1855, Edward Kimball walked the streets of Boston with a single purpose — to find a young shoe clerk named...

Luke 15:3-7Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Fingerprints on the Fridge

When Marcus and Dena Thompson of Nashville finalized the adoption of seven-year-old Jaylen in 2019, the judge asked Jaylen if he understood what was happening....

1 John 3:1-3Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Burn Ward at Dawn

In 2004, Dr. Sylvia Martínez worked the overnight shift at the burn unit of Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Her patients — soldiers...

Malachi 4:2Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

We Lepers" — Father Damien's Chosen Kinship

In 1873, a thirty-three-year-old Belgian priest named Father Damien de Veuster stepped off a boat onto the rocky shore of Molokai, Hawaii. The island's Kalaupapa...

Hebrews 2:10-18Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night Shift Dispatcher Who Learned to Hear

Maria Chen was three weeks into her training at the Sacramento 911 dispatch center when she nearly missed the call that mattered most. A woman...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Washing Machines at Grace Point on Tuesday Nights

Every Sunday morning, the congregation at Grace Point Church in Long Beach, California, sang worship songs with hands raised and voices strong. But pastor Chris...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night Sewn Into His Coat

On the evening of November 23, 1654, Blaise Pascal — mathematician, physicist, one of the sharpest minds in France — encountered something his equations could...

Luke 9:28-36Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Caught Her Every Time

In 2011, a four-year-old named Ellie Farmer stood at the edge of the community pool in Bend, Oregon, trembling. Her father, waist-deep in the water,...

Jude 1:24-25Universal

251 words

Sermon Illustration

The Runner Who Wouldn't Leave the Camp

Eric Liddell won Olympic gold in the 400 meters at the 1924 Paris Games, becoming one of Britain's most celebrated athletes. The world offered him...

Philippians 3:17-4:1Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Alarm on the Night Shift

Dr. Maria Santos still remembers her first overnight shift at Johns Hopkins in July 2019 — hallways humming with fluorescent light, monitors beeping from every...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

264 words

Sermon Illustration

The Shadow Side of Wadi Rum

In the Wadi Rum desert of southern Jordan, midday temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The sand radiates heat so intense it blurs the horizon...

Psalm 91:1-2Universal

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Spring at Herrnhut

In August 1727, a small community of religious refugees gathered in the German village of Herrnhut on Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf's estate. They were fractured,...

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Weaver of the Bayeux Tapestry

In 1066, somewhere in England or Normandy, a group of embroiderers began stitching what would become the Bayeux Tapestry — 230 feet of linen depicting...

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn That Answered the Question She Couldn't

In 1822, Charlotte Elliott was thirty-two years old and chronically ill — bedridden for months at a time, questioning her worth, her faith, even her...

Universalidentity

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Climb Above the Clouds

In 2019, mountaineer Sarah Marquis described something that every serious climber knows but few expect the first time. On the ascent of a major peak,...

Exodus 24:12-18Universal

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Turned Back on the Ice

On a bitter winter day in 1569, a Dutch Anabaptist named Dirk Willems squeezed through the window of his prison cell in Asperen, Holland. He...

Luke 6:27-38Universal

247 words