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Home›Traditions›Pentecostal

Pentecostal Illustrations

The immediate, experiential work of the Holy Spirit and the expectation of spiritual gifts.

Key question: “How does this text reveal the present-day work and power of the Holy Spirit?”

23,814 sermon illustrations through the Pentecostal lens

Sermon Illustration

The Dungeon Flamed with Light

In May of 1738, Charles Wesley was a man who had done everything right and still felt trapped. He had crossed the Atlantic as a...

Universalfreedom

233 words

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Sermon Illustration

Running on a Broken Leg

On July 27, 1996, the United States women's gymnastics team stood on the edge of history at the Atlanta Olympics. They had never won a...

Universalcourage

237 words

Vivid Retelling

Mercy to the Worst: Paul's Testimony and Timothy's Charge

An apostolic dictation showing Paul composing his testimony of mercy in the middle of his letter to Timothy. The worst of sinners—blasphemer, persecutor, violent man—becomes exhibit A for Christ's patience. Then the charge to Timothy: fight well, hold faith and conscience, unlike Hymenaeus and Alexander who shipwrecked.

Universal

959 words

Sermon Illustration

George MacDonald's Patient Trust - Anglican (Proverbs 3:5-6)

George MacDonald, the Scottish minister and author who mentored C.S. Lewis, suffered repeated failures: churches rejected him, books didn't sell, children died, poverty pressed.

Proverbs 3:5-6Universal

Short80 words

Sermon Illustration

When Peace Like a River Ran Through Ruin

In November 1873, Horatio Spafford stood at the railing of a ship crossing the Atlantic and stared down at the cold water below. The captain...

Universalgrace

246 words

Sermon Illustration

George Müller's Fifty-Seven-Year Prayer

In 1836, George Müller of Bristol, England, began praying for the conversion of five personal friends. He prayed daily, by name, with quiet certainty that...

Matthew 7:7-8Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Voice That Holds Everything Together

In 2019, structural engineers inspecting the Morandi Bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, made a sobering discovery. The bridge hadn't failed because of one catastrophic event....

Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22Universal

246 words

Sermon Illustration

C.S. Lewis's Grief Observed - Anglican (Philippians 4:13)

After his wife Joy died, C.S. Lewis wrote "A Grief Observed"—raw, honest, doubting. He questioned everything, including God. "Where is God?" he demanded. "Go to Him when your need is desperate... and what do you find?

Philippians 4:13Universal

Short80 words

Sermon Illustration

The Cells That Forgive

In 2015, researchers at Harvard Medical School published a landmark study on DNA repair, revealing something extraordinary about the human body. Every single day, each...

Universalgrace

229 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Genesis 49:1-28

In the dim light of a weary room, Jacob, now frail and nearing the end of his days, beckons his twelve sons to gather around his bed, the air thick with anticipation and unspoken fears. The scent of aged wood...

Universal

371 words

Sermon Illustration

Luther's 'Best Thing That Happened' - Lutheran (Romans 8:28)

When Luther was condemned and hunted, his friends staged a "kidnapping" to hide him in Wartburg Castle. Luther called it "the best thing that happened" to him.

Romans 8:28Universal

Short85 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Genesis 19:30-38

In the dim light of a cave, shadowed by jagged rocks that echo the weight of despair, we find Lot, a man once revered for his hospitality yet now reduced to trembling fear. The air is thick with the scent...

Universal

316 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Whole World Watched Them Rise

On October 13, 2010, a billion people around the globe sat glued to their screens as a narrow rescue capsule named Phoenix emerged from a...

Psalm 98:1-4Universal

241 words

Sermon Illustration

The Hymn Born from a Young Man's Simple Promise

In 1886, Daniel Towner was leading music at one of D.L. Moody's evangelistic meetings when a young man stood to share his testimony. He was...

Universalobedience

247 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Composer Forgave the Thief

In 1844, a struggling musician named Henry Lyte sat in his study in the coastal town of Brixham, England, his body ravaged by tuberculosis. He...

Universalforgiveness

245 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Psalm 106

Vivid sensory description for preaching Psalm 106

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

349 words

Sermon Illustration

Abraham's Trust Without Understanding - Reformed (Proverbs 3:5-6)

God told Abraham: leave your country, go to a place I will show you. Abraham went—"not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). He didn't understand the destination, the timeline, or the method. He just trusted.

Proverbs 3:5-6Universal

Short81 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Body Chooses to Heal

In 2002, biochemist Dr. Charles Serhan at Harvard Medical School discovered a remarkable family of molecules he named "resolvins." Here is what they do: when...

Universalforgiveness

247 words

Movie Analogy

Silver Candlesticks and Second Chances

In the 2012 film *Les Misérables*, there is a scene that stops you cold. Jean Valjean, freshly released from nineteen years in prison, is taken...

Universalrestoration

235 words

Sermon Illustration

Written Over the Waters Where They Died

Horatio Spafford had already lost much. A young son taken by scarlet fever. A fortune swallowed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. But in...

Universalhope

250 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: Mark 9:30-32

As the sun dipped low in the sky, casting long shadows over the dusty roads of Galilee, Jesus led His disciples through familiar paths, but today, there was an air of secrecy that clung to them like the evening chill....

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

287 words

Sermon Illustration

The Forest That Rises From Fire

In 2012, ecologist Monica Turner and her team at the University of Wisconsin published a landmark study on Yellowstone's lodgepole pines, thirty years after the...

Universalforgiveness

235 words

Sermon Illustration

The Wretch Who Wrote the World's Most Beloved Hymn

In 1772, an Anglican clergyman sat down to write a hymn for his small congregation in Olney, England. The words he chose stunned with their...

Universalforgiveness

238 words

Show Don't Tell

Show Don't Tell: John 1:15-18

Imagine a sun-drenched afternoon by the Jordan River, the air thick with the scent of wildflowers and the murmur of water lapping against the rocky banks. Crowds gathered, their faces a tapestry of curiosity and expectation, drawn by the magnetic...

Universalhomileticspreaching technique

adults

321 words