For preachers & teachers
Sermon illustrations
The best illustrations were never invented for a sermon — they were lived, and written down by the people who lived them. Every story here comes from a first-person account in the public domain, so you can quote it freely and send your hearers to the whole thing.
Forgiveness
Sermon illustrations on forgiveness — St. Patrick returning to his captors, the slave-ship captain who wrote ‘Amazing Grace’, and more. With sources.
3 illustrations →
Grace
Copy-paste sermon illustrations on grace, each from a first-person public-domain classic — Bunyan, Augustine, Newton, Müller. Free, with sources.
5 illustrations →
Conversion & testimony
Real first-person conversion stories arranged by the question you’re answering — the skeptic, the convert from another faith. Free, with sources.
5 illustrations →
Perseverance & suffering
Sermon illustrations on perseverance and suffering, organized by the passage you’re preaching — Hebrews 12, Lamentations 3, James 1. With sources.
4 illustrations →
Repentance
Sermon illustrations on repentance, each opening with the convert’s own words — Augustine, Bunyan, Newton. Public domain, free to quote.
3 illustrations →
Addiction & deliverance
A ready answer plus true stories for preaching on addiction and deliverance — lives given over to vice and remade. Free to use, with sources.
3 illustrations →
Missions & calling
Sermon illustrations on missions and answering God’s call — St. Patrick, Sundar Singh, Imad-ud-din Lahiz — real first-person accounts, free to quote.
5 illustrations →
T.S. Baker — true stories of changed lives.