Christian Living on Open Hearts

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Meister Eckhart, the late 13th century

Author

Scripture

John 11:17-44, 1 Peter 2:9, Matthew 5:14-16, Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 46:1-2

Meister Eckhart, the late 13th century German Christian theologian and mystic, reminds us that "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was,"thank you," that would suffice."...

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Incarnational Ministry: The Life of Father Damien

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:24, Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 53:4, John 1:14, Philippians 2:6-8

Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao, a village on the island of Molokai in Hawaii that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony...

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Jesus, our Great Physician, our sins

Author

Charles Teixeira

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 5:21-43, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31, Matthew 9:12, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 147:3, 1 Peter 2:24

Jesus, our Great Physician, our sins have brought wounds on ourselves and others. Heal our hearts first, that we would no longer desire the sins that have only brought us and others pain. Go on to hea...

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Donne, Undone

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:31-33, Matthew 19:4-6, Romans 8:28, Proverbs 22:1, 1 Timothy 3:7, Titus 2:7-8, Philippians 2:15, 1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 6:4-5, Daniel 1:17-21

While movies and novels often present stories of a budding love interest willing to give up everything for “true love” (Romeo and Juliet, for example), the renowned poet, and later clergyman, John Don...

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O Lord, We marvel that you would take

Author

Barbara Duguid

Scripture

Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:2, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 2:14-16, Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:24

O Lord, We marvel that you would take on flesh and blood in order to be crucified, killed, and buried for us. You humbled yourself and submitted to the hatred of sinful men, accepting the thorns, the ...

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Your torture puts hostility to

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:28, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 5:8

Your torture puts hostility to death Your broken body breaks down every dividing wall Your blood makes us blood What wondrous truth What dazzling grace Bring us near again, Jesus Help us remember an...

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Caring Christians

Author

Ralph Neighbor

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, 1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:16, Luke 6:32-35, Romans 5:8

Even if people reject the gospel, we still must love them. A good example of this was reported by Ralph Neighbour, pastor of Houston’s West Memorial Baptist Church (in Death And The Caring Community ...

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The Lord is our Shepherd. He is aware

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 23:1-3, Isaiah 53:5, John 10:11, Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:7

The Lord is our Shepherd. He is aware of our wanton hearts. He has rooted out our sin and reversed its dire consequences upon His cross. The tree of life has become the cross of Christ. Although we ha...

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Reflecting on Shusaku Endo’s Novel and Film, Silence

Author

Nikki Toyama-Szeto

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 3:26-28, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, John 13:34-35, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 28:19-20, James 2:17-18

In Silence, Shusaku Endo writes of the journey of Portuguese Jesuits journeying to Japan. It is a conversation about those who intend to take the path of Jesus, only to find they are on the path of Ju...

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Author

Brian Zahnd

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:20, Ephesians 2:10, John 12:32, 1 Peter 2:24, Philippians 1:6

Every cross adorning a church is in itself a sermon—a sermon proclaiming that if Christ can transform the Roman instrument of execution into a thing of beauty, there is hope that in Christ all things ...

Quote

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 2:21-22, 1 Peter 2:5, John 14:23

Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God's new Temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet.

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Leader: Arise! Shine! Christ’s Church

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 60:1, Matthew 5:14-16, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 2:19-22, Galatians 6:2, 1 Peter 2:9

Leader: Arise! Shine! Christ’s Church has assembled. People: We are one body, with Christ as our head. Leader: What kind of body is this? People: The Body of Christ, brought together not by huma...

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The Lion in the Marble

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29, Philippians 2:12-13, James 1:22-25, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:22-24, 1 Peter 2:2-3, Hebrews 12:11

There was once a sculptor who worked hard with hammer and chisel on a large block of marble. A little child who was watching him saw nothing more than large and small pieces of stone falling away left...

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Adapted from 1 Peter 2:9-10, 25

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9-10, 25

Go, as God’s own people and proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had...

Quote

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 4:22-24, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15-16

The hole in our holiness is that we don’t really care much about it. Passionate exhortation to pursue gospel-driven holiness is barely heard in most of our churches. It’s not that we don’t talk about ...

liturgy

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, James 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Matthew 9:37-38, Galatians 6:9-10, Romans 12:5, 1 John 3:1

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our Father: You’ve blessed us beyond imagination. You redeem us, forgive us and lavish Your gifts on us: Thank You. You choose us, when we wouldn’t choose ourselves...

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Gracious God, You have called us out of

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, Colossians 1:13-14, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:22-24, Matthew 16:24, Philippians 3:20-21, John 8:36

Gracious God, You have called us out of darkness and into the light of Your love. You have redeemed us and made us whole in order to set us free from bondage. The challenge You place before us is to d...

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Christian Love: The Antithesis of Envy

Author

Robert C. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:1, Galatians 5:26, 1 Corinthians 13:4, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Philippians 2:3-4

The Christian’s self-understanding is that she is precious before God—however much a sinner, however much a failure (or success) she may be by the standards of worldly comparisons—and that every other...

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Contempt, a Prayer of Confession

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:31-32, Matthew 5:44, Colossians 3:12-13, James 4:11, 1 Peter 2:1, Romans 12:10

Contempt is so painful To be dismissed, disregarded Questioning instead of dignity Accusation instead of personhood I have felt its sting and hollowness As have you, my Jesus Help me hear the needed m...

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The Church's Funeral

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9

The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...

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Author

F. F. Bruce

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:21-23, Philippians 2:5-8, 1 John 2:6, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Colossians 3:12-13, Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 16:24, Ephesians 5:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:32, Matthew 18:21-22

The Christian's new life is a life of love, forgiveness, and kindness, modeled after the example of Christ.

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Heavenly Father, we confess that we too often

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:1, 1 Peter 2:9, Matthew 25:31-46, Isaiah 6:1-8

Heavenly Father, we confess that we have too often forgotten that we are Yours. At times, we live our lives as if there was no God and we fall short of being who You created us to be. We have lived fo...

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God the Artist: Crafted to Make a Statement

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Isaiah 64:8, 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, John 17:18

When I think of masterpieces, I think of art. But what is art? I like the way that Thomas Hoving, who was the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, put it: “Art happens when anyon...

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The Evolution of the Rose

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 52:8, John 15:1-10, Ephesians 2:19-22, Romans 11:11-24, 1 Peter 2:9-10

A couple years ago I got to take a tour of the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California. The name is a bit misleading because what they are most known for are there amazing gardens. And so we were o...

liturgy

We affirm the good news that this

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:15, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 6:11

We affirm the good news that this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He personally bore our sins in His body on the cross, s...

liturgy

Live Differently

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:13, 15-17, 1 Peter 2:24, Galatians 5:1

Pastor: Peter challenges Christians to live differently than the world around them with these instructions: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority, People: for...

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Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:4, John 10:10, Jeremiah 30:17, Luke 4:18-19, 1 Peter 2:24, Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 147:3

The living God has come with healing and hope in Jesus Christ, has picked up the battered and dying world, and has bound up its wounds and set it on the road to full health.

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Author

Emil Brunner

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-25, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 2:13-14, Colossians 1:19-20

Only at the cross of Christ does man see fully what it is that separates him from God; yet it is here alone that he perceives that he is no longer separated from God. Nowhere else does the inviolable ...

liturgy

Leader: As Jesus healed the afflicted

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 1:9, John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:7

Leader: As Jesus healed the afflicted and restored those who have died, he also forgives our sins and gives us new life. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel. People: In Jesus Christ we are f...

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Author

William S. Stoddard

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews 12:2, Romans 5:8, Colossians 3:13, Luke 23:34

Forgiving the unforgivable is hard. So was the cross: hard words, hard wood, hard nails.

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