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Home›Traditions›Anabaptist

Anabaptist Illustrations

Radical discipleship, pacifism, and the church as a distinct counter-cultural community.

Key question: “How does this text call the community of faith to live as a distinct, counter-cultural witness to the Kingdom?”

23,562 sermon illustrations through the Anabaptist lens

Sermon Illustration

The Song Behind the Static

In 1966, Aretha Franklin was already a recording artist, but the world didn't know her yet. She had spent five years at Columbia Records making...

Universalidentity

231 words

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Sermon Illustration

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up: Life Alert

Illustration using the iconic Life Alert commercial "I've fallen and I can't get up" to describe the helplessness and hopelessness of humanity after the Fall.

Genesis 3:8-10Universal

Short74 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Psalm 112

Vivid sensory description for preaching Psalm 112

Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Music Played On

In 1741, George Frideric Handel was broke, paralyzed by debt, and recovering from a stroke that had left his right side nearly useless. His operas...

Universalhope

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night Shift at Station 7

Captain Maria Santos has worked the fire station on Ridge Road in Asheville, North Carolina, for twenty-two years. She once told a reporter something that...

Psalm 121Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

Recalibrating Your Inner GPS

Every smartphone today comes equipped with GPS navigation — apps like Google Maps or Waze that can guide you turn by turn from your driveway...

Universalobedience

240 words

Sermon Illustration

From Caterpillar to King: Eustace's Undragoning

In C.S. Lewis's *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader*, there is a scene that every pastor should know. The boy Eustace Scrubb — selfish, greedy,...

Universaltransformation

236 words

Sermon Illustration

The Update That Unlocks Everything

Every smartphone ships with software the manufacturer already installed — a camera, a compass, a voice assistant — but most of us never open half...

Universalpurpose

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Runner Who Found Freedom by Letting Go

In the 1924 Paris Olympics, Eric Liddell faced a decision that looked like the end of his athletic career. The devout Scottish sprinter refused to...

Universalfreedom

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Protocol That Keeps Us Connected

Every device on the internet relies on something called TCP — Transmission Control Protocol. Designed by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in the 1970s, TCP...

Universalcommunity

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Phoenix Capsule

On August 5, 2010, the San José copper mine in Chile's Atacama Desert collapsed, sealing thirty-three miners seven hundred meters underground. Engineers studied the fractured...

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24Universal

236 words

Contemporary

A New Song at the Lincoln Memorial

On August 28, 1963, a quarter million people stood shoulder to shoulder along the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., their faces turned toward the Lincoln...

Psalm 40:3Universalworshipinspiration

239 words

Sermon Illustration

The Trapeze Artist's Empty Hands

In 1952, Henri Matisse completed his final masterpiece — the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, France. Matisse was eighty-one, confined to a wheelchair, and...

Universaltrust

231 words

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Operates on Himself

In 1961, Soviet surgeon Dr. Leonid Rogozov found himself in an impossible situation. Stationed at a remote Antarctic research base, he developed acute appendicitis. There...

Universalhealing

231 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bone That Breaks and Builds

In 1892, German anatomist Julius Wolff published a discovery that still shapes modern medicine. He observed that human bone is not static — it actively...

Universalperseverance

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Blueprint on the Kitchen Table

Elena Vasquez spread her business plan across the kitchen table at 5:00 a.m., the way she had every morning for three weeks. The numbers never...

Proverbs 16:3Universal

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song Beneath the Static

In 1841, a Welsh weaver named Joseph Parry was born into crushing poverty in Merthyr Tydfil. By age nine, he was working in the ironworks,...

Universalidentity

237 words

Sermon Illustration

Science Illustration: Wise Use of Data and AI

As I was reflecting on the awe-inspiring passage from Job 38:1-7, where God speaks to Job out of the whirlwind, I couldn’t help but think about the incredible advancements in artificial intelligence and data science. Imagine a team of scientists,...

Job 38:1-7Universal

263 words

Sermon Illustration

The Anchor Point

In 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the East Coast, cracking the Washington Monument from top to foundation. Engineers discovered something remarkable during the three-year...

Psalm 71:1-6Universal

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Orchestra That Plays in the Dark

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven stood on stage in Vienna to conduct the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. By then, he was almost completely deaf....

Universalobedience

241 words

Sermon Illustration

Wesley's Last Letter

In January 1791, William Wilberforce sat exhausted in his London study, nearly ready to abandon his campaign against the slave trade. Four years of parliamentary...

Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

Seeds on Robben Island

In 1977, Nelson Mandela persuaded the guards at Robben Island prison to let him cultivate a narrow strip of ground in the courtyard. He was...

Genesis 3:9-15, 20Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

Samuel Morse and the Message That Arrived Too Late

In February 1825, Samuel Morse was in Washington, D.C., painting a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette when a horse messenger delivered a letter from...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

250 words

Contemporary

Eight Seconds on the Clock of Eternity

On March 4, 1993, Jim Valvano could barely walk to the podium at Madison Square Garden. The former NC State basketball coach, diagnosed with metastatic...

James 1:2-4Universalhopeperseverance

263 words