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Home›Traditions›Missional-Theological

Missional-Theological Illustrations

Interpreting the Bible through the framework of God's mission to restore His kingdom and bless all nations.

Key question: “How does this passage reveal God's mission to redeem and restore all of creation?”

25,693 sermon illustrations through the Missional-Theological lens

Sermon Illustration

The Bare Foot on the Fire

In C.S. Lewis's *The Silver Chair*, there is a scene that has haunted readers for decades. Puddleglum the Marshwiggle and two children have journeyed deep...

Universaltrust

224 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Invisible Thread

In George MacDonald's beloved children's novel *The Princess and the Goblin*, young Princess Irene receives a remarkable gift from her mysterious great-great-grandmother: a thin, silken...

Universalfaith

265 words

Sermon Illustration

When Aslan Tore the Dragon Skin Away

In C.S. Lewis's *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader*, a selfish boy named Eustace Scrubb falls asleep on a dragon's hoard and wakes to discover...

Universalrestoration

245 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: John 12:37-50

Vivid sensory description for preaching John 12:37-50

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

195 words

Movie Analogy

The Town That Refused to Let Him Fall

In the final scene of *It's a Wonderful Life*, George Bailey stands in his living room, convinced he is worth more dead than alive. He...

Universalcommunity

254 words

Sermon Illustration

The Cure Inside the Venom

At the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, technicians carefully milk venom from pit vipers and coral snakes — drop by deadly drop. That venom,...

John 3:13-17Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Wolves Came Home to Yellowstone

In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released fourteen gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park. Wolves had been absent for nearly seventy years, and...

Universalrestoration

237 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Psalm 54

Vivid sensory description for preaching Psalm 54

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

166 words

Sermon Illustration

The Figures in the Stone

In the Accademia Gallery in Florence, just down the hallway from the famous David, stand four unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo known as the Prisoners. These...

Universaltransformation

246 words

Sermon Illustration

The Web We Cannot See

In E.B. White's *Charlotte's Web*, Wilbur the pig receives terrifying news: come winter, he will be slaughtered. He is desperate, helpless, and afraid. Then Charlotte,...

Universaltrust

232 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Mark 14:66-72

Vivid sensory description for preaching Mark 14:66-72

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

185 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Evidence Arrives on Stretchers

For nearly fifty years, Mother Teresa carried a secret. Letters published after her death revealed that the woman the world celebrated as a saint of...

Matthew 11:2-11Universal

237 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Luke 22:7-23

Vivid sensory description for preaching Luke 22:7-23

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

265 words

Movie Analogy

The Light That Refuses to Go Out

In *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*, there is a moment when Frodo Baggins has lost all will to continue. The Ring grows...

Universalhope

226 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bishop's Wager on a Thief

In Victor Hugo's *Les Misérables*, Jean Valjean arrives at Bishop Myriel's door as a man without purpose. Nineteen years in prison for stealing bread have...

Universalpurpose

261 words

Sermon Illustration

The Bone That Grows Stronger Under Stress

In 1892, German surgeon Julius Wolff published a discovery that reshaped orthopedic medicine. He demonstrated that bone tissue remodels itself in response to the mechanical...

Universalobedience

251 words

Sermon Illustration

Contented I Will Be

When Fanny Crosby was six weeks old, a man claiming to be a doctor applied a hot mustard poultice to her infected eyes. The treatment...

Universalidentity

234 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Luke 4:1-13

Vivid sensory description for preaching Luke 4:1-13

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

198 words

Sermon Illustration

Margaret's Kitchen Door

Margaret Chen knocked on her neighbor Ruth's kitchen door every Tuesday morning for three years. The first time, she came asking to borrow a cup...

Matthew 7:7-8Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

Counting Backward From Ten

Every day, in operating rooms around the world, patients do something remarkable. They lie down on a narrow table beneath blinding lights, surrounded by strangers...

Universaltrust

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Nerve Endings of the Soul

In the mid-twentieth century, British surgeon Dr. Paul Brand made a discovery that changed how the world understood leprosy. Working with patients in Vellore, India,...

Universalfaith

252 words

Sermon Illustration

The Codebreaker Who Couldn't Explain How She Knew

During World War II, a young clerk named Mavis Lever arrived at Bletchley Park with no formal training in cryptography. The seasoned mathematicians around her...

1 Corinthians 2:1-16Universal

253 words

Sermon Illustration

The Path Only One Could See

In C.S. Lewis's *Prince Caspian*, the four Pevensie children are lost in the wilderness, trying to find their way to the rightful king. Then Lucy...

Universalobedience

243 words

Sermon Illustration

Written into Every Cell

In the early 1970s, Swedish chemist Tomas Lindahl made a disturbing discovery. DNA, the molecule that carries the blueprint of life, is constantly falling apart....

Universalrestoration

237 words