God’s Will – Sermon Illustration Ideas

God Weaves our Stories

Author, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, God's Will, Storytelling

Research the Native peoples in your area, if time allows. Most Native peopleshave a traditional method of passing stories down from one generation to…

God’s Essential Stability

God's Plan, God's Will, Roots, Stability

If weeks allow for the lead time necessary, start bean seeds growing in clearplastic bags. The growth of the root system before much of…

Bending to God’s Will

Bending, God's Will, Pain, Process

Metalworkers understand the concept of molding or shaping metal to conform toa desired shape. After melting the metal to a liquid form, it is…

Surrender To God

God's Glory, God's Purpose, God's Will, Purpose of Life, Surrendering

“When a soldier bows to his general, or a scholar to his teacher, he is yielding his will—his life—he gives himself to the rule…

Our Views Are Not God’s Views

God's Will, Limits, Trusting God, View

In the animated film Luca (directed by Enrico Casarosa [Walt Disney Pictures, 2021]), Mr. and Mrs. Paguro, the title character’s parents, have a myopic…

Our Hearts Can Deceive Us

Cautious, Deceiving, Discernment, False Teachers, God's Will, Sinful Desires, Temptation

In the 2022 TV series Under the Banner of Heaven (created by Dustin Lance Black), based on the book by Jon Krakauer, we see…

Power Of Prayer

God's power, God's Will, Prayer, Praying, Transformation, Tribulation

It’s a Wonderful Life (directed by Frank Capra [Paramount Pictures, 1946]) is a story about the power of prayer. The beginning of the film…

Free Throws

God's Will, Hebrews, Knowledge, The Law

One key to making free throws is muscle memory. When shooters master the free throw, they make the shot movement second nature. They don’t…

Father Damien

God's Will, Obedience, Sacrifice, Submission, Submit to God

Father Damien was a Belgian priest who went to serve in what was considered a godforsaken place—the island of Molokai, where Hawaiians with Hansen’s…

Career Changes

Calling, God's Will, Purpose, Sacrifice, Surrender

Find someone in the congregation who has made difficult career changes based on what God has asked them to do. Other than those who…

Answering Jesus’s Call

Calling, Evangelism, God's Plan, God's Will, Purpose

Titus Coan (1835–81), a New England–trained educator and physician, used his knowledge of both fields to work as a missionary on the island of…

Part of God’s Story

Being Used By God, Faith, God's Plan, God's Will, Perspective

In the book The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf reminds Frodo that difficult character Gollum’s life was spared for a reason: “My heart tells…

Using the Least Likely

Being Used By God, God's Plan, God's Will, Helping others

Rahab the prostitute might have been the least likely person to help God’s people. Prostitution was not something that the Hebrew people practiced and…

Detecting Forgeries

Authenticity, Deception, God's Will, Living for God

Art forgeries can be detected several ways, some of which require detailed technology such as X-rays and infrared reflectography. When an authentic painting is…

Trust The Process

Big Picture, Faith, God's Plan, God's Will, Process, Trusting God

If we were to drive to work every day and observe the daily progress of a unique building being constructed, we might be a…

The Intolerable Compliment

C.S. Lewis, God's Masterpiece, God's Plan, God's Will, Masterpiece, Pain, Sanctification, Suffering

“We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He…

Trust

Certainty, Direction, God's Will, Trust, Trusting God

Brennan Manning tells a story of John Kavanaugh and Mother Teresa. Kavanaugh was a Jesuit who in 1975 served in Calcutta for about a…

Judo and God’s Will

Direction, Free Will, God's Plan, God's Will, Sovereignty

We may press our own will and attempt to move ourselves in its direction, but God leverages our movement to his own will. In…

Knowing In Part

God's Plan, God's Will, Knowing God, Purpose, Understanding God

The book of Job makes clear this matter of human limitedness. We don’t have the knowledge or the language to understand God fully. “Now…

Spoiler Alert

God's Plan, God's Promises, God's Will, Happy Ending, Hope, Spoiler, Story, Trials

The Christian life is not one without heartache and trial. You will not get to skip all of the conflict in your life’s story,…