Life on Planet Earth on Sunday School

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The Devil Buried the Bones

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Revelation 21:4, Philippians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Romans 8:38-39, John 1:5, Isaiah 40:31

And I was reminded of an event from my father’s childhood: He was in a Sunday school class, listening to his teacher expound on Genesis 1 and a young earth, and asked his teacher how to make sense o...

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Doubting Saved My Faith

Author

Travis Dickinson

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:4, Hebrews 11:1, John 20:27, Matthew 14:31, James 1:5-6, Mark 9:24

Many Christians are terrified of doubting their faith. We avoid questions and challenges in favor of keeping things comfortable and familiar. We worry that if we open ourselves up to the possibility o...

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Religion: Instructions without Power

Author

Mark Galli

Keywords

One Sunday morning a number of years ago my wife piled the children into the family car to come to Sunday school and worship. When she turned the switch to start, the engine wouldn't even grunt. T...

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Mistaken Identity

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:12, Matthew 23:27-28, Titus 1:16, 1 John 3:18, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 7:21

A man is being tailgated by a woman who is in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him;...

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Back to School

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

This prayer may be offered with or without the congregational response. It may be voiced by one or more people. Holy God, Wisdom of the Ages, thank you for the great gift of education. Thank you fo...

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One Very Important Word of Encouragement

Author

Dan B. Allender and Larry Crabb

Keywords

As a youngster I developed a thoroughly annoying and humiliating problem of stuttering…In the ninth grade, I was elected president of our junior high student body. During an assembly of the seventh, e...

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"I'm With You"

Author

Bob Goff

Keywords

Sometimes in our adolescence what we need most is just someone to stick by our side, even if we make some rather hasty decisions. In this short excerpt, Bob Goff tells a story from his own teenage yea...

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Being Instructed on Sabbath Keeping

Author

John Buchanan

Keywords

My instructor in Sabbath-keeping was not a professor or spiritual director, but a foreman at the East Chicago Inland Steel plant named Mike Paddock. His wife was the treasurer of the tiny congregation...

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Show and Tell, Religious Edition

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Meals

It was Show and Tell day in a 1st grade class room,. The teacher picked 3 boys to stand up and present their objects to the class. The first boy stood up and said “Hi, My name is Abram, I’m Jewish and...

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A Day with Jesus

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 10:13-16, Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 9:10-13, John 15:15, Mark 5:35-43

A group of fourth-graders at a Christian school was given an assignment to draw what they would like to do if Jesus spent a day with them. After working diligently on their pictures, one little girl a...

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Prayer for Schools and Colleges

Keywords

O Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities [and especially ___________], that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that ...

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Jonathan Swift’s Exhortation for Two

Author

Jonathan Swift

Keywords

While primarily known today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift also served as an Anglican priest in his home country of Ireland. While his writing gained significant traction througho...

Quote

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

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Adapted from Acts 2:42-46

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-46

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread; and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ...

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The Art of Remembering

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:17, Ephesians 4:null

The Necessity of Memory Memory—or, more actively, remembering , plays an all-important role in our lives. Our culture likes us to focus on the now, "looking forward rather than looking back&q...

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Blessing Students as They Return to School

Keywords

Welcoming One, we welcome you and we welcome another school year. Thank you for the blessings of learning and growing, thinking and creating, reasoning and discovering. Fulfill these blessings in ever...

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The Gettysburg Address & Identity Formation

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17, John 1:12, Romans 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:9

Why is it that countless American school-children memorize the Gettysburg Address each year? Is it a simple civics lesson? An opportunity to learn about the Civil War, a turning point in American hist...

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Blessing Educators and Support Staff at the Start of the School Year

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Eternal God, Maker of all that is seen and unseen, thank you for the great gifts of learning, growing, and discovering. Thank you for all who are standing here today, and for the millions more who’ve ...

Quote

Author

Anne Lamott

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 1:9, James 5:16, Romans 12:17-18, Mark 11:25, Luke 6:37, Colossians 3:13

Earth is Forgiveness School. You might as well start at the dinner table. That way, you can do this work in comfortable pants.

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Working On Our Muscle Memory: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Change

Scripture

Luke 15:null

Editor’s Note: The following illustration came from one of my own sermons, as I was trying to help a congregation see itself not as a building, but the body of Christ. It has been adapted for TPW: No...

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Sermon Illustration Tuesday (1.15)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Shame

Arthur Conan Doyle, the ingenious creator of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, once found great humor in a practical joke he played on 12 famous friends. Each of these men was virtuous and highly respect...

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Parenting and the Sabbath

Author

MaryAnn McKibben Dana

Keywords

Our Sabbath project grew out of a desire to reclaim some of the unhurried wonder of those early days of parenthood—to see what would happen if, on one day out of seven, we stopped working, striving, a...

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Prayer for those who Influence Public Opinion

Keywords

Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the h...

Quote

Author

Norm Crosby

Keywords

My school was so rough the school newspaper had an obituary section.

Quote

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 3:28, Malachi 2:10, Romans 10:12-13, Colossians 3:11, Revelation 5:9-10

I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation, one of the shameful tragedies, that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hour, in Christia...

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Taking Learning Very Seriously

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

In ancient Judaism, discipleship was taken very seriously. It was taken so seriously that eager disciples would ty to follow their rabbi (teacher) everywhere they went. Why? Because they wanted to see...

liturgy

Adapted from Colossians 3:12-17

Scripture

Colossians 3:12-17

Leader: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience All: bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against an...

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Blessing of Students

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Loving God, Bless our students. Help them learn and grow this year. Grant them curiosity for the wonders of your world. Fill them with confidence and encouragement. Remind them they are deeply loved...

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BE SHORT

Author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:19, Ecclesiastes 5:2, Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 17:27, Ecclesiastes 3:7, Proverbs 15:23

The Puritan preacher Cotton Mather, hard at work over the business of ministry, prayer, and writing, wrote over his study door in large letters, “BE SHORT.” Today, he might well have written "MAK...

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The Usher’s Prayer

Author

Donald S. Whitney

Keywords

Going Through the Motions

I pastored a church in the Chicago area for almost fifteen years. During the worship service one Sunday morning the ushers came forward to receive the offering, and one of the ushers was asked to pray...

life on planet earth on Sunday School

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