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
Powerful, fully-sourced sermon illustrations on forgiveness — St. Patrick returning to his captors, the slave-ship captain who wrote 'Amazing Grace', and more, each from the person's own account.
3 illustrations →
Grace
Short, copy-paste sermon illustrations on grace, each from a first-person classic in the public domain — Bunyan, Augustine, George Müller, Amanda Smith. Free to use, with the source linked.
4 illustrations →
Conversion & testimony
Looking for a testimony illustration? Real first-person conversion stories answered by question — the skeptic, the convert from another faith, the witness from another culture. Free, with sources.
4 illustrations →
Perseverance & suffering
Sermon illustrations on perseverance and suffering, organised by the passage you're preaching — Hebrews 12, Lamentations 3, James 1 — each from a true first-person account in the public domain.
4 illustrations →
Repentance
Sermon illustrations on repentance, each opening with the convert's own words — Augustine, John Bunyan, John Newton. Verifiable, public-domain, free to quote, with the full account linked.
3 illustrations →
Addiction & deliverance
A short, ready answer plus true stories for preaching on addiction and deliverance — lives given over to vice and remade, from first-person public-domain accounts. Free to use, with sources.
3 illustrations →
Missions & calling
Sermon illustrations on missions and answering God's call — St. Patrick, Hudson Taylor, Amanda Smith, and Samuel Crowther — each a real first-person account in the public domain, free to quote.
4 illustrations →
T.S. Baker Books — true stories of changed lives.