Life on Planet Earth on Father's Day

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God of grace, wisdom and hope—Father,

Author

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 4:14-17, Ruth 1:16-18, Mark 10:13-16, 1 Chronicles 29:19, Luke 15:11-32, Genesis 12:3, Joshua 24:15

God of grace, wisdom and hope—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. You created us in Your image, making us for relationships, giving us meaning...

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Adapted from Psalm 68:4-5, 19

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Scripture

Psalm 68:4-5

Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to his name; People: Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Leader: Father of the fatherless and protector of...

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Goliath on the Beach

Author

John Ortberg

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A few weeks ago, when I was out surfing, there was no one else in the water. In fact, there was no one around at all, except a guy the size of Goliath doing tae kwon do on the beach. After I’d been ou...

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Adapted from Psalm 103 (NRSVUE)

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 103:1-2, Psalm 103:13-18

Leader: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, People: As a father shows compassion to his children, s...

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Adapted from Psalm 103

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 103:1, Psalm 103:6, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 103:13, Psalm 103:17

Leader: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. People: The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow...

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Adapted from Ezra 9:6-15

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Ezra 9:6-15

Pastor: O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. All: From the days of our f...

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Isn’t This Amazing?

Author

Bonnie Steffen

Keywords

In 1997, Reeve Lindbergh, daughter of aviator Charles Lindbergh, was invited to give the annual Lindbergh Address at the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum to commemorate the 70th annivers...

liturgy

Adapted from Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Pastor: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways,...

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Spirit of the Living God—Fall afresh on

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 8:26-27, John 14:26-27, Psalm 51:10-12

Spirit of the Living God—Fall afresh on us this day. Spirit of God present and powerful, Spirit of God fruitful and faithful, Spirit of God filling and fulfilling us as children of the Father and foll...

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One Step At a Time: Advice from the Desert Fathers

Author

Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Keywords

The following story comes from the collection of sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, teaching that would have first been transmitted orally (around 350-450 A.D.) and later written down...

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Father – God of Joy and Hope;

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Father – God of Joy and Hope; Wonderful Lord and Spirit of delight and wonder: You invite us to come to you with thanksgiving and joy, laughter and quiet awe. Your arms of welcome are out wide. So we ...

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Father-God, our burden bearer; Jesus,

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:14-16, Isaiah 9:6, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Revelation 21:4, Jeremiah 30:17

Father-God, our burden bearer; Jesus, God the Son and lover of our souls; Spirit of God–giver of life and power: Thank You! Thank You for those we love and those who love us. Thank You for mothers and...

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Help me!

Author

Robert J. Morgan

Keywords

Taylor University President Jay Kesler once told of sitting with a young man who told him about his father, who had been raised as an orphan. When he had children of his own, he didn’t seem to know ho...

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Words of a Father

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

How many of you have ever been told that women talk more than men? How many of you have heard this statistic, on average women use 20,000 words a day to men’s 7,000? I know I’ve heard this quote in se...

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“Dear Paco,”

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:13, Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:31-32, Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Ernest Hemingway grasped some of the difficulty that characterizes relationships between fathers and sons in his short story, The Capital of the World . The story revolves around a father and his t...

liturgy

The Magnificat, Luke 1:46b-55

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty ha...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 22

Author

Hughes Oliphant Old

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 22:null

Have you really forsaken us? Why are you so far away from where we need you? Why do you not pay attention to what seems to us So alarming? Why are you so otherworldly? Day and night we have cried...

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Adapted from 2 Chronicles 20

Author

Dustin Ray

Scripture

2 Chronicles 20:6

Pastor: O Lord, we are in over our heads. So many are the sins that we’ve committed this past week, and they condemn us in your presence. Only because you love us with a never-ending, unbreaking, alwa...

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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...

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Adapted from Nehemiah 9:6-15

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Nehemiah 9:6-15

Pastor: You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; ...

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Crazy, But True Stories of Criticism at a Christian Radio Station

Author

Brant P. Hansen

Keywords

In his excellent book, Unoffendable, Brant Hansen shares a few humorous, but sadly true, stories of people being critical of his work at a Christian music station: One day, we talked about the local...

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Wait

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keywords

Martin Luther King, responding to criticism from Southern White Pastors with respect to Civil Rights Activism: Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to s...

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First and Third World Fears & Authentic Worship

Author

Mark Labberton

Keywords

Fear

Scripture

Psalm 27:null, 1 John 4:19

One Sunday I was preaching on Psalm 27. It is a remarkable psalm of hope for God’s- deliverance from fear for those who have faced tough times. With the same candor found in many psalms, this one vivi...

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St. Anthony and the Search for God Amidst Crisis

Author

Daniel Grothe

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:21, Philippians 3:8, Luke 9:23, Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Hebrews 12:11, Isaiah 58:6-7

Given life’s unpredictability and the inevitability of pain and hardship, what do we do when that pain and hardship show up on our doorsteps? In roughly AD 270, there was a man in Lower Egypt named An...

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Not Heeding the Call

Author

Jeff Volkmer

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Hebrews 13:16, Galatians 6:9-10, Proverbs 3:27, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:14-17

Just the other day, I was out on a bike ride for some exercise. Because I work for a high-end cycling company, I had the opportunity to test ride one the bikes we make – a bike that comes with a price...

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A History of “Boredom”

Author

Manoush Zomorodi

Keywords

Boredom

Scripture

Hebrews 10:24-25, Psalm 19:1, Isaiah 30:15, Psalm 46:10, Colossians 3:23, Romans 12:11

Teenagers whine about it constantly. Office mates step out multiple times a day to Starbucks to escape it. Parents die of it every night as they try to get small children to fall asleep. We use the wo...

Quote

Author

Annie Johns Flint

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 16:1-36, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30, Matthew 14:13-21, 1 Kings 17:7-16, Lamentations 3:22-23, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere that day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving has only begun. His lo...

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Lifting the Rock

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

One day a father decided to take his son to play at the local park. The boy quickly gravitated to the sandbox and found himself mesmerized by the colors and textures surrounding him. After a short tim...

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A Father’s Pride In His Son Gives Hope

Author

Kevin Young

Keywords

The runners for the Special Olympic, 400-meter dash were being helped to their marks. As I watched, a gentleman in a three-piece suit jumped up in the stands in front of me and began yelling, “Lenny! ...

liturgy

Father—you know us like no-one else;

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:38-39, Acts 16:25-34, Ruth 1:16, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 9:20-22

Father—you know us like no-one else; and ...You love us like no-one else. Thank You for your manifold gifts. For the gift of life—we thank You. For the gift of each new day—we thank You. For the gift ...

life on planet earth on Father's Day

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