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HomeIllustrations

10,079 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 Example of Self-control - Story

A few years back, I had the privilege of attending a local charity event where a talented artist was showcasing her work. As I walked around, one painting caught my eye—it was a breathtaking landscape. The colors danced across the...

John 14:6Progressive/Social Justice

269 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Hymn That Took Five Minutes and a Lifetime

In June of 1882, Scottish pastor George Matheson sat alone in his manse on the evening of his sister's wedding. Nearly blind since his university...

Universallove

250 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song That Survived the Asylum Wall

In 1917, Frederick Lehman sat down to write a hymn about the boundless love of God. He composed two verses easily enough, but the third...

Universallove

243 words

Sermon Illustration

The Deepest Look at Nothing

In 1995, astronomer Robert Williams made a decision that many of his colleagues called foolish. As director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, he pointed...

Universaltrust

248 words

Sermon Illustration

The Composer Who Found Himself in the Music

In 1741, George Frideric Handel was a ruined man. At fifty-six, he was deeply in debt, weakened by a stroke that had nearly ended his...

Universalidentity

247 words

Sermon Illustration

Ten Thousand Repairs You Never Feel

In 2015, Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for mapping how our cells repair damaged DNA. Their research...

Universalgrace

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stars That Were Always There

In 1995, astronomers pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at a tiny patch of sky near the constellation Ursa Major — a patch so small you...

Universalhope

241 words

Sermon Illustration

Songs Born in Bondage

In 1871, a small group of students from Fisk University in Nashville set out on a desperate singing tour. Their school was nearly bankrupt, and...

Universalfreedom

251 words

Sermon Illustration

The Gardener Who Couldn't Stop Measuring

In 1986, a retired postal worker named Harold Beckman in Duluth, Minnesota, planted a single tomato seedling in his backyard. Every morning he would pull...

Matthew 6:25-34Universalanxiety

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bones That Break to Become Stronger

In 1892, German anatomist Julius Wolff published a discovery that still guides orthopedic medicine today. Wolff's Law states that bone, when it heals from a...

Universalhealing

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Number on Your Back

In 2001, Allen Iverson stood before the media after carrying the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals almost single-handedly. He was five feet eleven inches...

Universalidentity

257 words

Sermon Illustration

The Weather Station in Margaret's Kitchen

In 1987, Margaret Thornton of Duluth, Minnesota, installed a weather radio in her kitchen after a tornado missed her house by two blocks. For thirty-eight...

Philippians 4:6-7Universalanxiety

242 words

Sermon Illustration

The Coal Town That Wrote a Song

Bill Withers grew up in Slab Fork, West Virginia — a coal mining town so small it barely showed up on a map. His father...

Universalcommunity

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Runner Who Became a Lamp in Weihsien

Eric Liddell could have stayed famous. After winning gold in the 400 meters at the 1924 Paris Olympics — a story later immortalized in *Chariots...

Matthew 5:13-20Universal

225 words

Sermon Illustration

Two Things Worth Remembering

In his final years, John Newton — the former slave trader turned Anglican priest who penned *Amazing Grace* — watched his memory dissolve. The man...

Universalgrace

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Gold Medal He Gave Away

In 1936, Jesse Owens stood on the long jump runway at the Berlin Olympics, having already fouled twice. One more foul meant elimination. That's when...

Universalsacrifice

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stone Table Cracked in Two

In C.S. Lewis's *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*, Edmund Pevensie is a traitor. He has sold out his siblings for Turkish Delight, allied...

Universalgrace

230 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sunday He Refused to Run

In 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell arrived at the Paris Olympics as the favorite in the 100 meters. He had trained for years, and the...

Universalsacrifice

230 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Music Carries You

In 1741, George Frideric Handel was broken. At fifty-six, he was deeply in debt, half-paralyzed from a stroke, and facing what seemed like the end...

Universalfaith

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Road That Chose Him

In Victor Hugo's masterpiece *Les Misérables*, there is a pivotal moment when Jean Valjean — a hardened ex-convict consumed by bitterness — is shown unexpected...

Universalpurpose

248 words

Sermon Illustration

Written in Your Every Cell

In 2003, scientists completed the Human Genome Project, mapping the entire sequence of human DNA. What they discovered is staggering — every single cell in...

Universalidentity

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Heart That Beats for Two

In 1996, researchers at the HeartMath Institute in Boulder Creek, California, documented something remarkable: when two people sit in close proximity and one feels genuine...

Universallove

222 words

Sermon Illustration

The Birds That Sleep on the Wing

In 2016, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology attached small brain-activity monitors to great frigatebirds soaring over the Pacific Ocean. What they discovered...

Universaltrust

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Trapeze of the Tipping Point

In 2011, sociologist Damon Centola at the University of Pennsylvania published a groundbreaking study on how social change actually happens. He discovered that it only...

Universaltrust

226 words