Christian Living on Orphans

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Our God is a righteous Judge who

Author

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

Keywords

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 (...

liturgy

Father of heirs and orphans, Salvation

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

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...

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

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 ...

liturgy

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....

liturgy

Prayer of Adoration Lord, our Lord –

Keywords

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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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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An Odd Soccer Game & the Founding of Compassion International

Author

Soong-Chan Rah

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 15:32, Galatians 6:2, Psalm 68:5, Luke 4:18, Proverbs 4:18, Proverbs 19:17

Compassion International’s story strikingly parallels that of World Vision. Compassion traces its roots to 1952 when a Swedish American traveling evangelist named Everett Swanson found his way to Kore...

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Sitting Down in the Dust

Author

Leonard Sweet

Keywords

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 ...

liturgy

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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A Deeper Faith

Author

Bob Goff

Keywords

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...

liturgy

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...

Quote

Author

Charles Martin

Keywords

“We're all broken, all walk with a limp. Here is the truth about you and me: even when in a far-off country, wasted life, stripped bare, smeared, squandered, nothing but scar tissue and shameful, ...

Quote

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!

Quote

Author

Mother Teresa

Keywords

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

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The Greatest Sacrifice

Author

Richard J. Mouw

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 31:8–9, Exodus 1:15–21, Isaiah 58:6–7, John 15:13, Matthew 25:35–40 , Psalm 82:3–4

In The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom tells of the time she and her father needed to find a safer place for a Jewish mother and child they had been concealing from the Nazis. A local clergyman cam...

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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...

Quote

Author

Mother Teresa

Keywords

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

Keywords

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...

Quote

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.

liturgy

Prayer for the Poor and the Neglected

Keywords

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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“I Know Why You’re Here”

Author

Kevin Blue

Keywords

One summer, Johnny was ministering among the poor on a six-week urban project with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles. Part of his assignment was to spend time in a convalescent home in ...

Quote

Author

Alia Joy

Keywords

We cannot know the inheritance of God without identifying with the poor in spirit, without the poverty that says, “I am naked and poor and wretched and I need a Savior or I’ll die. I’m desperate for y...

liturgy

Children of God, go now in peace to

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 4:32-35, Ruth 1:16-18, Psalm 121:7-8, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Colossians 3:23-24

Children of God, go now in peace to love and to serve, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Economics of Child-Sponsorship

Author

Bruce Wydick

Keywords

While I was at a concert in college, I responded to a flyer requesting volunteers to sponsor a child overseas. For years I read the letters from this little girl in El Salvador. Ruth seemed happy to b...

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Struggling with Charity

Author

Kent Annan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 13:16, Micah 6:8, Luke 6:38, Proverbs 19:17, James 1:27

On the fifteenth of each month, Alicia has thirty dollars withdrawn from her checking account to sponsor Belyse, a beautiful, brown-eyed girl from Kenya, who then gets school and a hot meal each day. ...

illustration

What Do You Do?

Author

Steven Garber

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 58:6-7, Proverbs 24:11-12, James 2:15-17

I recently had lunch with a former British boarding school chaplain. He remembers being with the boys in his school the morning thirty years ago that the very first pictures of widespread starvation i...

liturgy

Blessed is She

Author

Sarah Bourns Crosby

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 18:9-14, Genesis 38:26, Joshua 2:11-12, Ruth 1:16-17, 2 Samuel 12:, Luke 1:13-14, Luke 1:30-33

For Those Who Still Hope I am Sarah Bitter and barren Burnt out by this promise that never came Worn out from waiting Laughing to hide the aching Longing for these empty arms to hold a baby B...

Quote

Author

Mother Teresa

Keywords

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

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