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Home›Traditions›Charismatic

Charismatic Illustrations

The present-day operation of all spiritual gifts and the experiential dimension of the Holy Spirit.

Key question: “How is the Holy Spirit actively manifesting His power and gifts in the church today?”

23,296 sermon illustrations through the Charismatic lens

Sermon Illustration

The Doctor They Refused to Hear

In 1847, Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis made a discovery that should have saved thousands of lives. Working in a Vienna maternity ward where one in...

Psalm 81:1, 10-16Universal

229 words

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Historical

The Adige at Verona: Impetuosity Renders Gifts Useless

The river appears broad and deep enough for navigation—possessing all the physical requirements for commerce and transport.

Proverbs 29:20Universalimpetuosity and consequenceswasted potential through anger

Joseph S. Exell

210 words

Historical

Joint Responsibility Cannot Escape God's Justice

Men surrender individual conviction and dissolve into the multitude's current, seeking power through collective action.

Proverbs 11:21Universalpersonal moral responsibility before Godthe illusion of distributed guilt

Joseph S. Exell

203 words

Historical

The Futility of Forcing Religious Reform Without the Heart

Maclaren observes that while the young king commanded Judah to 'seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law,' he could not actually make them obey.

2 Chronicles 14:2-8Universalthe limits of external reformationthe necessity of inward transformation

Alexander Maclaren

226 words

Historical

What Hast Thou That Thou Didst Not Receive?

Exell reminds us that our differences—intellectual, artistic, moral—are not occasions for despair or pride, but invitations to humility.

1 Corinthians 4:7Universaldivine provisionhuman limitation

Joseph S. Exell

218 words

Contemporary

A Widow's Thirty-Year Vigil

Shortly after midnight on June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers pulled into the driveway of his home on Guynes Street in Jackson, Mississippi. The NAACP field...

Revelation 6:10Universalsacrificejustice

258 words

Sermon Illustration

The Doctor Who Mopped the Floors

In 2014, Dr. Paul Farmer — Harvard professor, MacArthur genius grant recipient, and world-renowned infectious disease specialist — was spotted mopping the floor of a...

Philippians 2:6-11Universal

240 words

Movie Analogy

Luther (2003): Armor Given, Not Achieved - Lutheran (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Picture for a moment the year is 1521, and a solitary figure stands before a sea of expectant faces in the grand hall of Worms, Germany. Martin Luther, a humble monk who had once trembled in fear of authority, now...

Ephesians 6:10-18Universal

339 words

Sermon Illustration

The Theologian Who Moved Into the Slums

In 1909, twenty-one-year-old Toyohiko Kagawa walked out of his seminary dormitory in Kobe, Japan, and moved into a six-foot-by-six-foot shack in the Shinkawa slums —...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

223 words

Sermon Illustration

The Long Defeat of William Wilberforce

In 1787, a twenty-seven-year-old member of Parliament sat at his desk in Old Palace Yard, London, and scratched two sentences into his journal: "God Almighty...

Isaiah 49:1-7Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Cell That Knew Its Calling

In 1962, British biologist John Gurdon made a discovery that would eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. He demonstrated that every cell in a frog's...

Universalpurpose

241 words

Historical

Two False Standards: Self-Measuring and Self-Comparing

The first fault—measuring oneself by oneself—springs from three sources.

2 Corinthians 10:12Universalfalse standards of judgmentspiritual myopia

Joseph S. Exell

213 words

Sermon Illustration

Nature Illustration: Ants and Small Wisdoms

Not long ago, I found myself entranced by a small patch of wildflowers in my backyard, illuminated by the golden morning sun. As I watched, a tiny line of ants marched diligently across the ground, each with a purpose, seemingly...

Psalm 19:1-6Universal

234 words

Historical

Striving Without Cause: The Perversion of Righteous Opposition

The Wisdom writer distinguishes between antagonism as an inherent principle—designed by Elohim to position us against evil and the enemies of God—and antagonism as mere destructive habit.

Proverbs 3:30Universaldiscernment of true righteousnessrestraint as spiritual discipline

Joseph S. Exell

206 words

Contemporary

What a Literacy Test Could Never Measure

In Selma, Alabama, in early 1965, only about two percent of eligible Black citizens in Dallas County were registered to vote. The barrier was not...

Isaiah 1:17Universaljusticevoice

225 words

Sermon Illustration

The Broken Composer Who Heard Heaven

In the spring of 1741, George Frideric Handel was a ruined man. London's musical establishment had turned against him. Creditors circled. His operas played to...

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24Universal

253 words

Sermon Illustration

The Mapmaker of the Human Genome

In June 2000, geneticist Francis Collins stood in the East Room of the White House and announced that his team had completed the first draft...

Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15Universal

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Warmth We Cannot Make Alone

In the brutal Antarctic winter, when temperatures plunge to negative sixty degrees and winds howl at a hundred miles per hour, emperor penguins do something...

Universalcommunity

246 words

Historical

A Slow Boil of Faithfulness

In 1863, Emperor Napoleon III asked Louis Pasteur to investigate why French wines were spoiling during transport — a crisis costing the nation millions of...

James 1:5Universalhealingknowledge

219 words

Sermon Illustration

The Sound That Circled the Globe

On August 27, 1883, the island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait erupted with a force the modern world had never witnessed. The explosion was...

Psalm 29Universal

216 words

Sermon Illustration

Living for the Address You're Moving To

When Marcus Chen accepted the teaching position at a small university in Edinburgh, something shifted before he ever packed a box. He was still showing...

Colossians 3:1-4Universal

212 words

Historical