Christian Living on Discipline

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The Lion in the Marble

Author

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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Jesus, we receive your blessings and

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Scripture

Psalm 51:10, Ephesians 4:23-24, 2 Samuel 12:1-14, John 7:37-38, Philippians 2:5-8, Matthew 5:3-4, Psalm 51:10

Jesus, we receive your blessings and pray for the Holy Spirit to make them real in our lives. Renew a right spirit within us, a poor spirit, a spirit that knows our deep need of your grace and deliver...

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The Discipline of Not Having the Last Word

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:9, Colossians 4:6, Proverbs 17:27, Ecclesiastes 3:7, 1 Peter 3:15, Philippians 2:3

In his book, Soul Keeping, pastor John Ortberg describes his mentorship by Dallas Willard early in his ministry. The following vignette occurred while Willard was teaching a philosphy course at the Un...

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Power is for Service

Author

Spiritual Disciplines

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 22:27, Matthew 23:11, Philippians 2:5-7, Galatians 5:13, John 13:14-15, Mark 10:45

The way most of us serve keeps us in control. We choose whom, when, where and how we will serve. We stay in charge. Jesus is calling for something else. He is calling us to be servants. When we make t...

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Author

George MacDonald

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:22, Titus 3:8, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:2, John 14:15

To hold to a doctrine or an opinion with the intellect alone is not to believe it. A man’s real belief is that which he lives by.

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The Art of Followship

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:16, Philippians 2:5-7, John 13:34-35, Matthew 11:29, Mark 8:34-35, Luke 9:23

Editor’s Note: The following illustration came from one of my own (Stu’s) sermons, as I was trying to help the congregation make a paradigm shift from the church as a building, to the people of God: ...

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Author

George Bernard Shaw

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 23:7, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 55:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Colossians 3:2, Ephesians 4:23-24, Philippians 2:5

Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.

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Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Sanctification

Scripture

Philippians 2:12-13

The Christian life requires hard work. Our sanctification is a process wherein we are coworkers with God. We have the promise of God's assistance in our labor, but His divine help does not annul o...

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The Danger of Service Alone

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:3-8, Colossians 3:23-24, Mark 10:42-45, 1 John 4:19, Luke 10:38-42

The fact that our works are done in the service of God is not enough, by itself, to prevent us from losing our interior life if we let them devour all our time and all our strength. Work is good and n...

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Discerning Sense of Call By Paying Attention to Our Bodies

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:9, Ecclesiastes 3:1, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Psalm 23:3, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1-2

As I have worked to clarify my calling, I have learned to pay attention to my energy levels in response to different activities. If I experience a particular activity as being inordinately draining, I...

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How to Hold a Team Together

Author

Bear Bryant

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 9:35, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 27:17, Philippians 2:3-4

I’m just a plow hand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team. There’s ...

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A King's Calling

Author

Steve Brown

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 25:21, 1 Samuel 15:22, Philippians 2:14-15, Romans 12:1

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a ...

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Spiritual Formation: Essential to Human Existence

Author

M. Robert Mulholland Jr. and Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 1:28, Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 4:16, 1 Timothy 64:7-8, Colossians 3:10-11

In their excellent book, Invitation to a Journey , M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton describe the foundation of life as being spiritual in nature. This means we are constantly be “form...

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Gracious God, give us humble,

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:24, Philippians 2:12-13, John 14:15, Isaiah 66:2, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, James 1:22, Micah 6:8

Gracious God, give us humble, teachable, and obedient hearts, that we may receive what you have revealed, and do what you have commanded. Amen.

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An Attitude of a Servant

Author

Millard Erickson

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:3, Romans 12:10, Colossians 3:12, Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 4:10, Matthew 23:11-12

What he [Jesus] was attempting to instill in his disciples was the attitude of a servant: humility and a willingness to put others ahead of oneself. In that culture, washing the feet of others would s...

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Author

John Stott

Keywords

The Kingdom of God

Scripture

Matthew 28:20, Philippians 2:12-13, John 15:14, James 1:22, 1 Samuel 15:22, Luke 6:46

Greatness in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of obedience.

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5 Steps to Handling Strife Within the Church

Author

Mike Kenyon

Keywords

Scripture

James 4:1, Philippians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 14:33, James 1:5

Conflict in Ministry Have you ever whispered to yourself, “I didn’t sign up for this?” I confess those words have passed through my mind more than once over the years. When I started out in ministry...

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Author

Millard Erickson

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:3, Luke 14:11, Ephesians 4:2, Mark 9:35, James 4:10

What he was attempting to instill in his disciples was the attitude of a servant: humility and a willingness to put others ahead of oneself. In that culture, washing the feet of others would symbolize...

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Holy God, You call us to a passionate,

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:15, Deuteronomy 6:5, 1 John 4:9-10, Psalm 51:10, Romans 12:1-2, Revelation 3:15-16

Holy God, You call us to a passionate, all-consuming faith. Yet, so frequently, we give You half-hearted obedience or distracted, leftover moments of our time. You tell us that we are the salt of the ...

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Studying our Parts

Author

Brian Dembowczyk

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5, Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21, Colossians 3:16, 1 John 2:6, John 13:15

Imagine you were cast to play the role of legendary baseball player Babe Ruth in a biography of his life. You could simply follow the script, reading out what is written. How much better, though, to s...

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Our Faith

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:10, Ephesians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:49, Ezekiel 36:26, Philippians 2:13, 1 John 4:13, Romans 8:29

Our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and “trying to carry it out. The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself....

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In the days of the early church,

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:21, Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 10:9, Philippians 2:10-11, Acts 4:12, John 14:6

In the days of the early church, believers affirmed their faith by saying, “Jesus is Lord.” We give lip-service to that same affirmation, but find it difficult to surrender control of our lives. Inste...

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Who Determines Your Behavior?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1, Matthew 5:44, Proverbs 15:1, 1 Peter 3:9, Luke 6:31, Galatians 6:9, Colossians 3:12-13, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Genesis 50:20, Philippians 2:3-4, James 1:19-20, 1 Samuel 24:17

Some years ago, the syndicated newspaper columnist Sidney J. Harris shared an interesting anecdote from one of his friends. Each evening, this friend would stop at the same newsstand to buy a newspape...

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Author

Charles Hodge

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 7:36-50, Genesis 37:50, John 21:15-19, Luke 18:9-14, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Philippians 2:5-8, Micah 6:8

The doctrines of grace humble a man without degrading him and exalt him without inflating him.

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Author

Eric Greitens

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 20:26-28, Micah 6:8, Philippians 2:3, Ephesians 4:2, 1 Peter 5:5, Colossians 3:12, James 4:10

I begin with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility. Humility leads to clarity. Humility leads to an open mind and a forgiving heart. With an open mind and a forgiving heart, I see every p...

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Philippians 2:5-11

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-11

For reading in unison: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied him...

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Do nothing out of selfish ambition or

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:null, John 13:14-15, Galatians 6:2, 1 Peter 5:6, James 4:10, Matthew 23:12

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. In your ...

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Imitating the Master

Author

John Koessler

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:1-2, Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Peter 2:21-23, John 13:15

My father was an artist. He had a black leather sketchbook filled with cartoons and doodles. As a boy I was enthralled by his drawings and wondered how I could learn to draw like him. I began by traci...

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True Love

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1, Isaiah 58:10, Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 20:26-28, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Luke 9:23

Merciful Jesus Give us courage to deny privilege to lay down favor and safety in order to take up the cross of opportunity and justice Too often we fail to do this Merciful Jesus Give us courage to d...

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Author

John Newton

Keywords

Humility

Scripture

Matthew 22:37-39, James 4:10, 1 John 4:7-8, Ephesians 4:2, Philippians 2:3-4, Colossians 3:12-14

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.

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