Arts and Culture on Influence

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Author

Mark Twain

Keywords

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.

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Adjusting our Vision

Author

Jonathan Grant

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 2:8, 1 John 2:15-17, 1 Corinthians 10:23-33, Mark 7:8-9

When my grandparents were in their eighties, their television developed a fault that made the screen permanently bright green. It was good for viewing garden shows or nature programs, but it was prett...

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You are who you Surround Yourself with

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:33-34, Proverbs 27:17, 1 Corinthians 5:11, Proverbs 13:20, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Psalm 1:1-2, Hebrews 10:24-25

Context matters. According to the Terman Study, which followed one thousand study participants from childhood until their death, the people we surround ourselves with are who we become. We see those a...

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A Missionary's Influence

Author

Rick Ezell

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-7, Romans 8:29, Matthew 5:16, Colossians 3:12-14, John 13:15

R.W. DeHann wrote of a missionary who, shortly after arriving on the field, was speaking for the first time to a group of villagers. He was trying to present the gospel to them. He began by describing...

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Working with God through Our Work

Author

Kara Martin

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, Colossians 1:17-20

Note from TPW: Kara Martin addresses life in the secular workplace, sharing insights to help you lead your congregations to understand their faith and work and also to bring the Kingdom into your o...

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Defending Slavery as the Status Quo

Author

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Keywords

Status Quo

I read that Thornton Stringfellow, pastor of the Stevensburg Baptist Church in Virginia, had made one of the most popular arguments for slavery when Baptists in the mid-nineteenth century were decidin...

liturgy

Jesus: You gave us Your love at a high

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

1 Timothy 2:1-4, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Hebrews 13:20-21, Philippians 4:13, 2 Corinthians 5:20

Jesus: You gave us Your love at a high price – Your own death on the cross in our place! By Your grace you give us eternal life and entrust to us Your creation. Thank You, Lord! We come today as Y...

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A God Apart in Genesis

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

In Understanding Genesis , Nahum Sarna argues that a critical distinction between Genesis and the stories of contemporary pagan societies is that Genesis is not myth . Myth is associated with ritual...

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Giving Matters: A Biblical Approach to Stewardship

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Stewardship

Scripture

1 Corinthians 9:6-15, Matthew 6:19

Giving Matters In 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Paul provides us with four crucial lessons on Christian giving: 1) How we give; 2) What we give; 3) What happens when we give; and 4) Why we give. How We Give...

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What Is Our Calling, Really? Part II: Thoughts From the Founder's Desk

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Work

A few weeks ago I brought up the topic of vocation , or calling . Right around that time, Frederick Buechner, whose work I had included in that post, passed away at the age of 96. His works have ...

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Generosity Is Paradoxical (Part 2)

Author

Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson

Keywords

In recent years, I (Smith) have been leading a study called the “Science of Generosity Initiative” at the University of Notre Dame, in which I (Davidson) have been deeply involved. In that study, we h...

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Creating Utopias: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

One of the seductions that continues to bedevil Christian obedience is the construction of utopias, whether in fact or fantasy, ideal places where we can live the good and blessed and righteous life w...

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Ritual and Repetition

Author

Peter Enns

Keywords

The influence of the familiar on our lives is something that advertisers never forget. The point of advertising is to capitalize on real needs or to create needs and then to provide a product to fill ...

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Metaphors, Parables and Dramatic Actions

Author

Kenneth E. Bailey

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:14-16

The biblical writers and reciters make extensive use of metaphors, parables and dramatic actions. Jesus does not say, “God’s love is boundless.” Instead, he tells the story of the prodigal son. He doe...

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It Goes Without Saying

Author

E. Randolph Richards and Richard James

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:27, Matthew 2:2, Revelation 19:16, John 18:36-37, Revelation 17:14, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 24:7-10, Colossians 1:15-20, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-16

In a culture, the most important things usually go without being said. We Westerners don’t talk all the time about being individualists or about the importance of efficiency or why we prefer youth ove...

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Getting to the Image

Author

Brian Zahnd

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, Galatians 6:1, Proverbs 9:10, James 1:4, Isaiah 61:3

Think of an ancient icon of Christ. Imagine that a thousand-year-old Christ Pantocrator painted on a wooden panel is discovered in some forgotten monastery. The image of Christ is there, but it’s cove...

Quote

Author

Cynthia Kuhn

Keywords

The distinction between drugs that are considered legal or illegal in a given society is often based on much more than just scientific information. Traditions, economics, religion, and the popular med...

Quote

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Looking through the lens of Holy Scripture, human work must be seen first and foremost as value contribution, not economic compensation. We can have a flourishing, fruitful life even if we don’t get a...

Quote

Author

Mark A. Noll

Keywords

Scripture

Zephaniah 3:9, Psalm 117:1, 1 Corinthians 14:10, Matthew 28:19, Isaiah 66:18, Revelation 7:9, Acts 2:6-8

One of [Lamin] Sanneh's key arguments is that while the spread of Islam has drawn ever-increasing numbers to the globalizing influence of Arabic, the spread of Christianity binds ever-increasing n...

Quote

Author

Edward Bernays

Keywords

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society const...

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Which Comes First, Identity or Behavior?

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9-10, Ephesians 2:19-22, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-3, Romans 6:11-13

I am not perfect, and I will struggle with the “old Jim,” who was and is influenced by American culture, narratives and values. But the key is that identity comes before behavior. We almost always do ...

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One Love—The Life and Music of Bob Marley

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

My Early Soundtrack What music shaped your early life? For most of us, our parents’ musical tastes probably were our starting place. That music made a deep impression on what we like — and don’t like...

Quote

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Keywords

I was shy by nature, and rendered worse in that respect by a consciousness of my own ugliness. I am certain that nothing so much influences the development of a man as his exterior—though the exterior...

Quote

Author

Harvie M. Conn and Manuel Ortiz

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:25, Matthew 23:7, Mark 5:56, Matthew 25:27, Luke 19:23, Mark 12:1-12, Matthew 8:5, Matthew 9:10, Luke 5:27

One could not live in any village in lower Galilee and escape the effects and ramifications of urbanization.” Life here was urbanized and urbane as anywhere else in the Empire. Did these urban influen...

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The Devastation of Residential Segregation

Author

George Yancey

Keywords

More people of color than whites live in the city of Dallas and in the city of Fort Worth. But they are more likely to live in poorer inner-city areas while whites live in the more affluent suburbs. D...

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Israel Was Part of The Ancient World

Author

John H. Walton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1, Exodus 20:13

The [Mesopotamian ancient texts] serve as sources of information for us to formulate the shape of each culture’s ways of thinking. In most areas there is more similarity between Israel and its neighbo...

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The Christian Self-Actualization Plan

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:13-14, Matthew 16:24-25, Romans 12:4-5, Philippians 2:3-4, Ephesians 2:8-10

In her excellent book on following Jesus in the suburbs, Ashley Hales describes one of the ways in which our discipleship has been influenced by modern secular trends such as the desire for self-actua...

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No Food, No Riot

Author

Charles Duhigg

Keywords

I had been in Iraq for about two months when I heard about an officer conducting an impromptu habit modification program in Kufa, a small city ninety miles south of the capital. He was an army major w...

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When Values Turn Vicious

Author

Jay Y. Kim

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 7:8, Psalm 27:14, James 5:7-8

The digital age’s technological advancements boast three major contributions to the improvement of human experience, which in turn have become its undeniable values: We have access to what we want wh...

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Finding Your "Why"

Author

Simon Sinek, David Mead, and Peter Docker

Keywords

Every one of us has a WHY, a deep-seated purpose, cause or belief that is the source of our passion and inspiration. You may not yet know what yours is or how to express it in words. But we guarantee,...

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