Browse Sermon Illustrations
967 illustrations available
Inside Out: Sadness Has a Place (Ecclesiastes 3:4)
In Riley's mind, Joy runs the show—keeping Sadness away from the control panel, ensuring only happy memories form. But when crisis hits, Joy's strategy collapses. The film's turning point comes when J
The Father: When Memory Fails (Psalm 71:9)
The Father places us inside Anthony's dementia. Apartments shift. Faces change. Time folds. We experience his confusion not as observers but as participants—is this his flat or Anne's? Is that woman h
Amadeus: When Others Are More Gifted (1 Corinthians 12:14-18)
Salieri loves God and music. He has worked, sacrificed, disciplined himself. Then Mozart arrives—vulgar, immature, seemingly unworthy—but impossibly gifted. Salieri's faith collapses: Why would God gi
Moana: I Am Moana (Exodus 3:14)
Moana stands before Te Ka and sings I have crossed the horizon to find you. I know your name. She does not fight the monster but recognizes her - Te Ka is Te Fiti wounded, corrupted, raging. By knowin
Her: Made for Real Relationship (Genesis 2:18)
Theodore in Her falls in love with an AI operating system named Samantha. She can talk, learn, empathize, adapt to his needs - be everything he wants her to be. The relationship feels real until it is
12 Years a Slave: Faith That Survives the Unthinkable (Psalm 13:1-2)
Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped into slavery, endures twelve years of brutality. The film refuses to look away from suffering—whippings, rapes, murder. Yet Solomon also refuses to surrender his
The Prince of Egypt: Who Am I to Go to Pharaoh? (Exodus 3:11-12)
Moses stands before the burning bush, and God commissions him to confront Pharaoh. His response echoes across millennia: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? The Prince of Egypt captures Moses' inter
Moonlight: Who Is You? (Psalm 139:13-16)
Moonlight follows Chiron through three stages of life, shaped by trauma, poverty, and questions of identity he cannot voice. When drug dealer Juan baptizes young Chiron in the ocean, teaching him to f
Big Fish: Lies, Truth, and the Stories We Tell (John 21:25)
Edward Bloom has told stories his whole life—tall tales of giants, witches, and impossible adventures. His son Will, a journalist, wants facts: what actually happened? As Edward dies, Will finally ent
Up: The Weight of What We Carry (Hebrews 12:1)
Carl Fredricksen attaches thousands of balloons to his house to fulfill a promise to his dead wife: they would live beside Paradise Falls. But the house becomes a burden—dragging him down when he need
Braveheart: Freedom Is Not Free (Galatians 5:1)
William Wallace's dying cry—Freedom!—has become iconic, but the film earns it through three hours of showing what freedom costs. Wallace loses his father, his wife, eventually his life. He could have
Arrival: Learning the Language of the Other (Acts 2:1-11)
In Arrival, linguist Louise Banks must learn to communicate with aliens whose language fundamentally alters how time is perceived. Rather than weapons or displays of force, humanity's survival depends
Gran Torino: The Violence We Refuse (John 15:13)
Walt Kowalski is a Korean War veteran full of rage, racism, and regret. When his Hmong neighbors are threatened by a gang, everything in Walt wants to solve the problem with violence—he has the weapon
Blade Runner 2049: Do Souls Have Birthdays? (Genesis 2:7)
K is a replicant—an artificial human designed to obey. When he discovers evidence that a replicant gave birth, his world shatters. If replicants can reproduce, what separates them from humans? K asks
Boyhood: The Moments Seize Us (James 4:14)
Filmed over twelve years with the same actors, Boyhood captures what no other film has: actual aging, actual growth, actual time passing. We watch Mason grow from six to eighteen, and we cannot help b
Lady Bird: Wanting More and Honoring Home (Luke 2:41-52)
Christine insists on being called Lady Bird—a name she gave herself. She fights with her mother constantly while loving her desperately. She wants to escape Sacramento, to become someone new, to atten
Gravity: Learning to Let Go and Live Again (Philippians 3:13-14)
Dr. Ryan Stone is adrift in space, untethered from everything—her spacecraft destroyed, her crewmates dead. She has been adrift emotionally far longer: her daughter died, and she has been going throug
Sound of Metal: Stillness When Everything Changes (Psalm 46:10)
Ruben is a drummer. His identity, his relationship, his sobriety—all built around the rhythm and noise of heavy metal. When he loses his hearing, he loses himself. In a deaf community, he is taught to
Life of Pi: Stories We Need to Survive (Hebrews 11:1)
In Life of Pi, a young man survives 227 days adrift in the Pacific with a Bengal tiger. Or does he? The film ends with Pi asking which story the writer prefers—the fantastic one with the tiger, or the
The Revenant: Revenge Is in God's Hands (Romans 12:19)
Hugh Glass is left for dead after a bear attack, watching his son murdered before his eyes. What follows is relentless survival driven by one goal: revenge. He crawls, climbs, bleeds, and refuses to d
Room: The World Is Too Big (John 8:36)
Jack has spent his entire five years in a single room, captive with his mother. Room is his whole world—he believes the rest of existence is outer space. When they finally escape, freedom is terrifyin
Toy Story: The Fear of Being Replaced (Isaiah 43:4)
Woody has been Andy's favorite toy. Then Buzz Lightyear arrives—newer, shinier, more impressive. Woody's terror is existential: if he is not the favorite, who is he? His desperate attempts to eliminat
The Pursuit of Happyness: Running Toward the Dream (Hebrews 12:1)
Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness literally runs - to work, to daycare, to shelter beds, to interviews - while carrying his son and his dreams through homelessness. The scene of Chris and his
Spirited Away: Remembering Your Name (Isaiah 43:1)
When Chihiro enters the spirit world, the witch Yubaba steals her name, leaving only Sen. Without her name, Chihiro begins to forget who she is, where she came from, why she is there. Haku warns her: