Christian Living on Unexpected

liturgy

Living and present Lord (Extended)

Author

Scripture

Hebrews 12:1-2, Matthew 6:33, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalm 34:17, John 14:27

Prayer of Adoration Living and present Lord: You often surprise us, coming when we least expect it; or, You simply fold back the curtain to show us You’ve been there all along to give us hope and to ...

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Free Tickets and Grace

Author

Jeff Volkmer

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 19:9, John 14:6, Matthew 22:1-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:8

My wife and I did a portion of our honeymoon in Central Oregon, and as an English major in college, I desperately wanted to attend a performance at Ashland’s renowned Shakespeare Festival. As newlywed...

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Jumping Without a Parachute

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Faith

Scripture

John 14:1, Ephesians 6:16, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 26:3-4, Psalm 18:2, Proverbs 3:5-6

In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachut...

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Rescue from the Dark

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:1-4, Acts 1:8, John 16:13, John 14:16-17, Romans 8:26-27

Max Lucado likens the coming of the Spirit to a dramatic rescue. Recall the twelve boys trapped in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand in 2018 for eighteen days? Imagine how they felt when the first rescu...

liturgy

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...

liturgy

Gracious and faithful God – our

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:1, John 14:16-17, Proverbs 3:5-6, Exodus 13:21-22, Isaiah 43:16-19, Matthew 19:26, Acts 17:26-27

Gracious and faithful God – our Creator, Redeemer and Comforter: When we don’t know the way – You show us the way; and When we can’t find a way – You make a way. Thank you! Thank you for Your gif...

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Author

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:2-3, Revelation 21:4, Revelation 22:1-2, Matthew 25:34, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Philippians 3:20-21

No sign that ever was given To faithful or faithless eyes Showed ever beyond clouds riven So clear a paradise. Earth’s creeds may be seventy times seven And blood have defiled each creed But if such b...

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A Faulty Compass

Author

James K. A. Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 30:21, James 1:5, John 14:6

In 1914, not long after the sinking of the Titanic, Congress convened a hearing to discern what happened in another nautical tragedy. In January of that year, in thick fog off the Virginia Coast, the ...

series

Road Trips: 2, Acts 9:1-19

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 9:1-19, Luke 10:30-37, John 14:6

Saul's Confident Error Last week, we considered Abram and the way that God may send us out on a journey, waiting to see his will without knowing the destination. Today we move forward to Saul on...

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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...

Quote

Author

Ann Voskamp

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:27, James 1:2-4, Psalm 147:3, Romans 8:28, Isaiah 41:10

Not one thing in your life is more important than figuring out how to live in the face of unspoken pain.

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Homecoming & The Hope of Resurrection

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:1-4, John 14:2-3, Hebrews 13:14, Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13, Philippians 3:20-21

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home, Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel describes the central longing in both...

liturgy

Invocation of the Holy Spirit

Author

The Northumbria Community

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:26, Acts 9:1-19, Matthew 17:1-8, Isaiah 61:1, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:1-41

Most powerful Holy Spirit, come down upon us and subdue us. From heaven, where the ordinary is made glorious, and glory seems but ordinary, bathe us with the brilliance of Your light like dew.

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Just Ask

Author

Dave Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:7, Philippians 4:6, Jeremiah 33:3, 1 John 5:14, Luke 11:9-10, Mark 11:24, John 14:13-14

Steve Jobs was one of the biggest somebodies of our time. He said, "Most people never pick up the phone and ask, and that's what separates the people who do things from the people who just dr...

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A Brazilian Intercessor

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 2:1, Romans 8:34, Exodus 32:9-14, Hebrews 7:25, John 14:16-17

Max Lucado tells the story of an intercession he experienced in Brazil in 1983. The transition was difficult enough with culture shock, but it was not helped by the fact that their possessions were he...

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Follow the Bubbles

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:26, John 14:26, Psalm 139:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Isaiah 42:16, Psalm 119:105

When I graduated from college I was given one of the greatest opportunities of my young life. A group of my friends were told that if we were able to purchase a flight to the Cayman Islands, we would ...

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Chapter One of the Great Story

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:1-8, Acts 3:19-21, John 14:2-3, John 14:2-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Philippians 3:20-21, 1 Corinthians 13:12

In the epic conclusion to the Narnia Chronicles, C.S. Lewis attempts to express the absolute joy that will come as our earthly lives come to an end and we are reunited with our God for all of eternity...

Quote

Author

Mal McKissock and Dianne McKissock

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, John 14:27, Revelation 21:4, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 147:3

One of the greatest needs of all bereaved people is to have access to someone who will take a risk and be involved—someone who is not afraid of intense feelings, but who will encourage their expressio...

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Looking Back to Find the Way Out

Author

Casey K. Tygrett

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:26, Revelation 2:5, Philippians 1:3, Isaiah 46:9, 2 Peter 1:12-15

Barbara Brown Taylor recounts her first experience with caving, the exploration of caves that are not prepared or made easily accessible for inexperienced explorers. Her guides gave her a bit of helpf...

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Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:6, Genesis 11:1-9, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 1:25, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 17:5

Sin is looking to something else besides God for your salvation. It is putting yourself in the place of God, becoming your own savior and lord, as it were.

liturgy

Sisters and brothers, our plans are

Author

Cody Sandahl

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 16:9, Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 28:20, John 14:18-19, Psalm 90:2, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 5:5

Sisters and brothers, our plans are always limited. But God’s plans never are. So go out into the world with the assurance of Jesus’ presence, the vision of God’s eternity, and the compassion of the H...

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Life in Reverse: Short Term Spiritual Memory Loss

Author

Casey K. Tygrett

Keywords

Scripture

Joshua 4:6-7, 2 Peter 1:12-13, James 1:23-25, John 14:26, Revelation 2:5

In the film Memento , we meet Leonard, who is searching for the man who killed his wife. He appears to be the typical Hollywood hero of the early 2000s. The hair is right; the jaw line, the atmospher...

liturgy

Lord, sometimes it’s so difficult to

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:20, Romans 4:20-21, Matthew 21:21, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 11:1, John 14:12

Lord, sometimes it’s so difficult to place our trust in you. You make incredible promises to us in your word. You say that through your power, we’ll be able to do even greater things than Jesus did in...

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The Protestant Buddhists

Author

Michael Reeves

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:9-14, Ephesians 1:7, John 14:6, Psalm 23:1, John 17:3, Titus 3:4-5

In his insightful book, Delighting in the Trinity , Michael Reeves shares an interesting point of connection between the Protestant understanding of sola grati discovered by Francis Xavier during...

Quote

Author

Watchman Nee

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:, John 14:15-18, John 14:23, Acts 1:8, John 16:13, Mark 13:11, Luke 21:14-15, Luke 12:11-12, Matthew 10:19-20, 1 John 4:1

The indwelling Spirit shall teach him what is of God and what is not. This is why sometimes we can conjure up no logical reason for opposing a certain teaching, yet in the very depth of our being aris...

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Jesus the Irresistible One

Author

John Stott

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:19-20, Romans 8:1-2, Luke 7:36-50, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:20-28, John 14:6

In his seminal work, The Cross of Christ , British pastor and author John Stott describes the unique, upside-down kingdom instituted on the cross: ‘Irresistible’ is the very word an Iranian stude...

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Confession to A Person?

Author

Paul S. Fiddes

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:10-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 14:9-11

Some years ago the Court of Appeal of British Columbia, Canada, was hearing a case about a man accused of arson. During his trial in a lower court a microphone had picked up something he had murmured ...

Quote

Author

J.D. Salinger

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:9-10, Matthew 11:27, John 1:18, Luke 2:46-49, Matthew 17:1-5, John 2:13-17, Exodus 33:18-23

Who [in the Bible] besides Jesus really knew which end was up? Nobody. . . . Jesus realized there is no separation from God.

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Defining the Gospel

Author

Carl Medearis

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Acts 4:12, Colossians 1:15-20, Galatians 2:21, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 6:23

I’ve been reading Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What . Miller took this point to an even further extreme. In his book, he tells a story about one occasion when he was speaking to a class at...

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Awakening into the House and Gate of Heaven

Author

John Polkinghorne

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:1-4, Revelation 22:3-5, John 14:2-3, Isaiah 65:17-19, 2 Peter 3:13

This prayer, written by the great British pastor and poet John Donne, anticipates the new heaven and new earth that we will one day experience with our Lord: Bring us, O Lord, at our last awakening ...

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