Browse Sermon Illustrations
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St. John Chrysostom on Divine Accompaniment - Orthodox (Deuteronomy 31:8)
"God goes before as light in darkness; He accompanies as friend on pilgrimage. This is synergy: divine initiative and human journey intertwined. Through the Liturgy, through icons, through the Church'
Menno Simons on Visible New Creation - Anabaptist (2 Corinthians 5:17)
"If any be in Christ, they show it! The new creation is visible in transformed living: peace instead of violence, truth instead of deception, community instead of isolation. If the old has passed, whe
John Wesley on Grace Through Trial - Wesleyan (Isaiah 43:2)
"The waters and fires are sanctifying—they purify, they test, they strengthen. We pass THROUGH, not around. Grace sustains us in the passing; we emerge transformed. This is prevenient, justifying, and
N.T. Wright on Kingdom Visibility - Anglican (Matthew 5:14-16)
"The Sermon on the Mount describes kingdom people—and kingdom people are visible. The city cannot be hidden because the kingdom cannot be hidden. Good works announce the arrival of God's reign. The wo
Tim Keller on Fearless Mission - Missional (1 John 4:18)
"Fear paralyzes mission—fear of rejection, failure, persecution. Perfect love liberates: knowing we are infinitely loved, we can risk. Gospel confidence comes not from certainty of success but from se
Warren Wiersbe on Fearlessness Until the End - Dispensational (1 John 4:18)
"Fear has to do with judgment—but believers will not face condemnation. Perfect love assures us: in the day of judgment, we will have confidence. As end-times events intensify, fear may rise—but God's
St. John Chrysostom on Divine Philanthropy - Orthodox (Romans 5:8)
"This is philanthropy divine—God's love for humanity demonstrated in Christ's death. While we were sinners, alienated from divine life, Christ died to unite us to God. The cross is not transaction but
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Christ-Shaped New Humanity - Christocentric (2 Corinthians 5:17)
"'In Christ'—there is the key. New creation is not self-improvement but Christ-participation. We are new because we are in Him. His death becomes our death to the old; His resurrection becomes our ris
C.S. Lewis on Transformed Desires - Anglican (Psalm 37:4)
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Delight in the Lord means learning to want what is actually best. When we truly delight i
Howard Thurman on Sustained Connection - Black Church (John 15:5)
"The oppressed need sustained connection to the Source. Activism apart from Christ burns out; resistance apart from the Vine withers. But those who abide bear fruit that remains—justice that endures,
N.T. Wright on New Creation Victory - Anglican (John 16:33)
"Christ's victory is new creation breaking into old creation. The world's trouble belongs to the old order; Christ's overcoming belongs to the new. We live in overlap: trouble is real, but so is resur
N.T. Wright on New Creation Life - Anglican (Romans 6:23)
"Eternal life is not just endless existence but the life of the age to come—resurrection life, new creation life. Sin's wages are death, the undoing of creation. God's gift is life, the renewal of all
E. Stanley Jones on Surrendered Understanding - Wesleyan (Isaiah 55:8-9)
"When God's ways confuse us, we surrender our understanding. Not passive resignation but active trust. We cannot comprehend His thoughts, but we can follow His ways. The incomprehensible God has revea
Howard Thurman on Worry and the Disinherited - Black Church (Matthew 6:25-27)
"The disinherited have much to worry about—real threats, real needs, real dangers. Yet Jesus says 'do not worry.' This is not denial but defiance: refusing to let anxiety rule when oppressors want you
Billy Graham on Personal Trust - Baptist (Isaiah 55:8-9)
"When YOU don't understand, remember: God's thoughts are higher than YOURS. YOUR confusion doesn't mean God is confused. In YOUR darkest moments, His ways are working. Trust Him when YOU can't trace H
Warren Wiersbe on Church's Unique Identity - Dispensational (1 Peter 2:9)
"In this dispensation, the church holds Israel's calling temporarily: a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Until Israel's restoration, we bear witness. Our identity is unique to this age—chosen from Jew
Pope Benedict XVI on Transforming Suffering - Catholic (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
"Suffering is not meaningless—united with Christ, it produces glory. Through the sacraments, daily Eucharist, we are renewed interiorly. The visible body may waste; the invisible soul grows toward God
Karl Barth on Christological Renewal - Christocentric (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
"We are renewed by looking to Christ—His death and resurrection pattern our experience. What is unseen is Christ at God's right hand; what is eternal is life in Him. Our afflictions share in His suffe
Walter Brueggemann on Alternative Community - Progressive (1 Peter 2:9)
"A chosen people, a holy nation—this is identity formed against empire. We are not citizens of Babylon first but priests of the Most High. Our royal identity subverts earthly hierarchies; every believ
Lesslie Newbigin on Cross-Cultural Humility - Missional (Isaiah 55:8-9)
"God's ways transcend every culture—including ours. Missionaries must hold their cultural assumptions humbly; God may work differently than we expect. His thoughts exceed Western, Eastern, Northern, S
John Piper on God-Glorifying Abundance - Reformed (Ephesians 3:20-21)
"To HIM be glory—God does immeasurably more for HIS glory. Our asking and imagining serve His purposes; His exceeding serves His praise. The abundance is not merely for us but through us for His name.
Warren Wiersbe on Confidence Through Ages - Dispensational (Psalm 27:1)
"Through every dispensation, the LORD has been light to His people—to Israel, to the church. As darkness increases in these last days, His light shines brighter. Our stronghold is eternal; our salvati
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Death's End - Lutheran (Revelation 21:4)
"No more death—death swallowed in victory through Christ's resurrection. He wipes tears because He shared them; He ends death because He defeated it. The cross leads to this: a world without mourning,
Billy Graham on Personal Abundance - Baptist (Ephesians 3:20-21)
"What have YOU asked God for? He can do more! What have YOU imagined? He exceeds it! The power at work within YOU—personally—accomplishes immeasurably more than YOUR biggest prayers, YOUR wildest drea