Bible and Theology on Orphans

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Author

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Before orphans can enjoy the love and care of a new family, they must be legally adopted. Adoption, like justification, is simultaneously legal and relational”

If anybody understands God’s ardor for his children, it’s someone who has rescued an orphan from despair, for that is what God has done for us. God has adopted you. God sought you, found you, signed t...

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Our God is a righteous Judge who

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 82:null, James 1:27

Our God is a righteous Judge who presides over all the earth. He defends the weak and the fatherless. He upholds the cause of the poor and the oppressed. He rescues the weak and the needy and delivers...

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Wholly Trusting

Author

Charles Dickens

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In The Chimes, the second of Charles Dickens five Christmas stories, nine-year old Lillian Fern, orphaned and under the guardianship of her father’s brother Will, is taken in for the night by Tobias (...

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Father of heirs and orphans, Salvation

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

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Father of heirs and orphans, Salvation of saint and sinner, Draw near and forgive us. Forgive us for clinging to law more than grace. Forgive us for choosing slavery when you offer us adoption. Forgi...

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Jesus, you are our peace You proclaim

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

2 Thessalonians 3:16, Matthew 11:28-30, Philippians 4:6-7, Isaiah 9:6, Romans 5:1, John 14:27, Colossians 1:19-20

Jesus, you are our peace You proclaim it You create it You bring us near Without you there is No safety No belonging No nurturing No identity rooted beyond this dust Without you we are Anchorless St...

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Lord God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Ephesians 3:16-17, Micah 6:8, James 1:27, Matthew 25:40, Psalm 23:1-3, Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Lord God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit: we hear your Word and sing your praises. We meet at the Table and partake of your Sacrament–the gospel made visible. You call us to yourself, and you send us out ...

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Inspired by Psalms 146 and 147

Scripture

Psalm 147:1, Psalm 147:3, Psalm 147:5-6, Psalm 147:11, Psalm 146:7-9

Leader: How good it is to sing praises to our God! People: Great are You, Lord and mighty in power. You understand everything about each one of us. You heal the brokenhearted and bind up our wounds....

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Prayer of Adoration Lord, our Lord –

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Scripture

Psalm 8:1, Isaiah 6:1-8, Luke 19:1-10, John 8:1-11, Micah 7:18-19

Prayer of Adoration Lord, our Lord – How excellent is your name in all the earth. Because of who you are – we praise You. Because of what you’ve done – we thank You. You are a Father to the fathe...

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Pursuing the Common Good Throughout History

Author

Don Everts

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Scripture

Matthew 22:39, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Corinthians 10:24, Romans 15:1-2, Galatians 6:10, Romans 12:10, Acts 20:35, Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 58:6-7, Proverbs 19:17, Luke 10:30-37, James 2:15-16, 1 John 3:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Matthew 25:40, Acts 11:29-30, 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-35, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

Pursuing the common good has been a strong marker of the Christian church from the very beginning. The early church had many habits that they became known for, of course—including meeting frequently, ...

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An Unlikely Adoption

Author

Daniel Darling

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:27

Joseph exhibited the true spirit of adoption. It is a vivid picture both of God’s adoption of us as His children in Christ, but also the call every believer has in welcoming into our homes and communi...

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Adoption in the Ancient World

Author

Kelley Nikondeha

Keywords

Adoption

Adoption was clearly not a foreign concept in the Greco-Roman world. But it’s important to note how differently Paul and his communities would have heard that word! Our contemporary concept of adoptin...

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Author

Rodney Stark

Keywords

Homelessness

To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachment...

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Author

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:21

Unless God is our Father, we are orphans. But God’s own Son has become our Older Brother. He comes through His Spirit, with His Father, to live with us. The Holy Spirit dwells in our lives, making us ...

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Sitting Down in the Dust

Author

Leonard Sweet

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Few stories are more deserving of documentaries and a movie than the story of Mama Heidi. After missionary Heidi Baker and her husband earned their PhDs, God told Heidi, “Sit in the dust.” She had no ...

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Prayers of the People, Form I

Scripture

Romans 8:38-39, Acts 2:42-47, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 17:11-19, Psalm 68:19

Deacon or other leader With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord, saying "Lord, have mercy." For the peace from above, for the loving-kindness of God, and for the ...

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Author

Rodney Stark

Keywords

To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachment...

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Christianity Revitalized Roman Cities

Author

Rodney Stark

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17, Psalm 68:5, Matthew 25:34-40, 1 Timothy 5:3-4, Zechariah 7:9-10, Matthew 12:48-50, Romans 8:14-17, Luke 4:18, Acts 4:34-35, James 2:15-16

Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and im...

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A Deeper Faith

Author

Bob Goff

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Scripture

Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 John 3:18, Romans 12:15, John 15:12-13, James 5:16, Galatians 6:2

In his introduction to Scott Sauls’ Book, Irresistable Faith, Bob Goff tells a story about a summer adventure hitchhiking across New England, which would ultimately lead to staying with a hermit in Ma...

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Caring For Them is What We’re on this Earth For

Author

Thomas G. Long

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 1:17, Colossians 3:12, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 31:8-9, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 25:40, James 1:27

In this beautiful illustration from Tom Long’s well-known preaching guide, The Witness of Preaching , a pastor shares a true story of what valuing human life can look like when God’s Kingdom takes ro...

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We bring before you, O Lord, the

Author

Anselm of Canterbury

Keywords

We bring before you, O Lord, the troubles and perils of people and nations, the sighing of prisoners and captives, the sorrows of the bereaved, the necessities of strangers, the helplessness of the we...

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A Picture of God's Gracious Invitation to Us

Author

David Platt

Keywords

Adoption

Throughout Scripture, God uses the picture of adoption to describe his relationship with his people. This picture became all the more poignant for my wife, Heather, and me when we chose to adopt our f...

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Author

Henry Drummond

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:20, John 13:34-35, Matthew 5:16, 1 Corinthians 8:9, Romans 14:13, Matthew 23:13, Luke 15:11-32

How many prodigals are kept out of the kingdom of God by the unlovely characters of those who profess to be inside!

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Author

Mother Teresa

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The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.

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Author

R.C. Spoul

Keywords

Adoption

Nobody is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that adoption occurs when we are united ...

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A Lifetime of Sacrifice

Author

Francis Chan

Keywords

Francis Chan tells the story of Domingo and Irene Garcia: He’s a mechanic. She’s a hairdresser. They have been foster parents to thirty-two children and have adopted sixteen. Domingo and Irene are in...

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Author

Mother Teresa

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Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

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The Prodigal Daughter

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Scripture

Ephesians 2:4-5, Luke 19:1-10, Genesis 37:50, Isaiah 55:7, Psalm 103:8-12, Jeremiah 31:3

In What’s So Amazing about Grace?, Philip Yancey offers an updated version of the parable of the prodigal son. Growing up in the countryside in Michigan, a young girl rebels against her old-fashioned...

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Author

Scot McKnight

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:13-22

The homelessness of these people, in other words, led them to a “new home”: the family of God, in which they found social acceptance and protection.

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Prayer for the Poor and the Neglected

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Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have non...

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