Christian Living on Surgery

liturgy

Father: Thank You for always being

Author

Scripture

Psalm 34:14, Luke 15:20, Hebrews 4:14, Romans 6:4, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 25:4-5, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:13, James 1:5, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Habakkuk 3:2, Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 28:19-20

Father: Thank You for always being ready to welcome us and listen to us. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Savior: born like us, experiencing all that we experience yet sinless, who d...

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Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:6, Hebrews 4:13, Luke 12:2-3, 2 Corinthians 4:2, Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 28:13

The strangest thing happens when what we have most wanted to conceal is brought into the open. We don’t die. Instead, we often begin to heal.

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Author

Karl Barth

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:19, Psalm 46:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Isaiah 41:10, Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Matthew 14:13-21

Total need requires total help

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Author

Richard Plass and James Cofield

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:15-16, James 5:16, Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 147:3, Romans 8:28, Psalm 34:18

What often continues to shape our stories (interpretations) are the implicit emotional responses to our wounds. We must be willing to attend to our wounds and address the emotions embedded in our woun...

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Author

Dick Ryan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 147:3, James 4:10

Healing begins when, in the face of our own darkness, we recognize our helplessness and surrender our need for control… we face what is, and we ask for mercy.

liturgy

Gracious God, we are called to be a

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12, 1 John 1:9

Gracious God, we are called to be a joyful people, giving thanks for You and Your good gifts. There are times, however, when sin and sorrow grow, pushing joy to the side. We lose sight of Your grace, ...

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Eat This Book

Author

Eugene Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35

Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our li...

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Joining the Human Race

Author

Parker J. Palmer

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 42:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Romans 8:22-23, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Hebrews 4:15

As the darkness began to descend on me in my early twenties, I thought I had developed a unique and terminal case of failure. I did not realize that I had merely embarked on a journey toward joining t...

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An Invitation

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 62:1, Isaiah 30:15, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:1, John 15:4, Hebrews 4:9-10

He invites us to leave our burdensome ways of heavy labor—especially the “religious” ones—and step into the yoke of training with him. This is a way of gentleness and lowliness, a way of soul rest. It...

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Author

Annemarie S. Kidder

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 51:1-2, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 10:9-10, Proverbs 28:13

Locked into captivity by an airplane seat, a kindly disposition of keeping a friend company, or a telephone connection, we become ex officio confessors to those with troubled consciences and traces, o...

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Drawing From the Infinite Well of Joy

Author

Eunice McGarrahan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Revelation 2:10

In Jonathan Kozol’s book, Amazing Grace , he tells of the struggles and sufferings of people in a community in the Bronx, New York. He is amazed at the courage and resilience he found there. He then ...

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Can a Prayer be Bad?

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 6:9-13, Hebrews 4:16, Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 34:18, 2 Corinthians 12:9

The Lord’s Prayer, like all prayer, is part work and part rest, Perhaps the only work we do is getting ourselves there. Once we’ve gotten ourselves there—to prayer—whatever mains of productivity is Go...

liturgy

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh,

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15, 1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 34:18, Hebrews 4:15-16

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh, You know what it’s like to be us. You know what keeps us awake at night, or yanks us out of sleep in the early morning. You know what it’s like to have good days...

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Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, Matthew 26:26-28, Hebrews 4:15, Romans 12:1

The Christian faith always has to do with flesh and blood, time and space, more specifically with your flesh and blood and mine, with the time and space that day by day we are all of us involved with,...

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A Tale of Two Sermons

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Preaching

Scripture

Hebrews 4:12

August 2018 Recently I had the opportunity to preach at a church located in a residential neighborhood in a large U.S. city. I actually preached two weeks in a row, both on the same topic, both in t...

liturgy

Forgive us for our many sins. Like Eve,

Author

Barbara Duguid

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-24, Hebrews 4:15=-16, Psalm 51:10-12, Philippians 3:13-14

Forgive us for our many sins. Like Eve, we are easily captivated by the objects that our eyes desire. We fall so often, and when we do, we run and hide in shame instead of running to you to confess ou...

liturgy

Adapted from the Parable of the Sower

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:18-23, Jeremiah 17:8, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:11

Pastor: “Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what wa...

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A Surprising Conversion

Author

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:1-48, Matthew 6:1-34, Matthew 7:1-29, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12-13, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35

After a sojourn in the United States where he experienced the vibrancy of Black churches, Dietrich Bonhoeffer returned to Germany in 1931 to teach at the University of Berlin. His pastoral ministry co...

liturgy

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Nehemiah 8:1-12, Hebrews 4:12, Romans 10:17, Psalm 119:18, John 16:13

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

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My Jesus Mercy

Author

Brian Loritts

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:13-14, Psalm 51:1, Ephesians 2:4-5, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:3, Hebrews 4:16

Al Capone, the most notorious gangster in American History, had these three words etched on his tombstone: “My Jesus Mercy”

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Not a Painting on the Wall, but a Window

Author

John Piper

Keywords

The Bible

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35

In the book A Peculiar Glory , John Piper describes how he maintained a traditional view of scripture, even after he went on to advanced theological studies in California and Germany. He describes hi...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:1-5, Psalm 19:1-4, Isaiah 55:10-11, 1 Peter 1:23-25, Romans 10:17, Hebrews 4:12

Poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.

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Finding a Private Relaxation Activity

Author

Stephen W. Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 23:1-3, Psalm 62:1, Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:9-10

In his highly insightful work, Inside Job , Stephen W. Smith shares the importance of finding ways to rest and relax as part of a healthy, balanced life: I once read a book in which the author sa...

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Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 33:14, Isaiah 30:15, Isaiah 46:10, Mark 6:31, Luke 10:41-42, Hebrews 4:9-10

In the story of grace, the lack of hurry makes room for presence.

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Thomas Jefferson’s Bible

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:18, John 1:1-14, Colossians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Philippians 2:9-11, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Peter 1:20-21

The great American statesman and president Thomas Jefferson was a man of science who did not believe in miracles but really liked Jesus. Unfortunately, right next to Jesus’ ethical teachings are stori...

liturgy

As we call ourselves to worship, let us

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 95:6-7, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 4:15, Matthew 4:1-11, Isaiah 53:5

As we call ourselves to worship, let us remember that our God is an awesome God, who in Jesus Christ has lived in our flesh, faced our temptations, gone to cross for, and lives today in heaven. In thi...

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The Power of Scripture

Author

Mahatma Gandhi

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:12, Jeremiah 23:29, Isaiah 55:10-11, Romans 1:16

Mahatma Gandhi speaking to Christians, “You Christians have in your keeping a document with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilization to bits; to turn society upside down; to bring peace...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Proverbs 24:16, James 1:12, Philippians 3:13-14, Psalm 103:13-14, Hebrews 4:15-16, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 18:1-8, Exodus 16:, Mark 5:25-34, Romans 5:3-5

God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.

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Two Ways to Reject Jesus as Savior

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:6, 1 John 4:10, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:23-24

…there are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accept his challenge [to accept what the gospel says about our unworthiness]. Bu...

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Where is God? Hanging From the Gallows

Author

Jonathan Cornell

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 27:46, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 3:18, John 19:30, 1 Peter 4:13

In Elie Wiesel’s Night , Eliezer is a Jewish teenager, a devoted student of the Talmud from Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. In the spring of 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary. Increasingly repressi...

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