Personal Development on Life And Death

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Almighty God, we too often live in

Author

Keywords

Almighty God, we too often live in fear. Fear drives our self-preservation, our self-centered decisions, and prevents us from comprehending the wonder of your presence among us. Like Peter, we would d...

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We are Creatures Created By Kindness to Be Kind to All That Is

Author

Stanley Hauerwas

Keywords

In this short excerpt written by the prolific Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas to his godson, he describes one quality of both God the creator and us the image bearers: Kindness. An extraordinary...

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Author

Stephen King

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“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

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The choice is before us: life or death.

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

The choice is before us: life or death. Let us choose life so that we may live. To Jesus we cry: Cleanse us, oh Lord! By the mercy of Christ we are made clean. This is the hope that we proclai...

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The Biggest Question

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Keywords

My question—that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide—was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man…a question without an answer to which one cannot live. It wa...

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Author

Anthony of Egypt

Keywords

Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we win our brother, we win God. If we cause our brother to stumble, we have sinned against Christ.

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Words of Life, Words of Death: You Choose

Author

John Piper & Justin Taylor

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 18:21, Genesis 3:1-6 , Numbers 13:30–14:4, James 3:5-10 , Matthew 12:36-37 , Psalm 141:3

The book of Proverbs is, in ways, a treatise on talk. I would summarize it this way: words give life; words bring death—you choose . What does this mean? It means you have never spoken a neutral ...

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The Sense of an Ending

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, Matthew 6:19-21, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Galatians 6:9, 1 John 3:2, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Life is short, and we can accomplish only so much. Much of what we do will remain unfinished. For now. In one of my favorite short stories of all time, “Leaf by Niggle,” author J. R. R. Tolkien provid...

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Author

Austin Farrar

Keywords

Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer's love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the ...

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The Two Orders

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

There is an old story about a florist who mixed up two orders one busy day. One arrangement went to a new business that was opening, and the other went to a family who had a death. The man with the ne...

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Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 119:15, Matthew 10:38-42

For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be serv...

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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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Author

Fanny Crosby

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:8, Isaiah 42:16, Psalm 27:4, John 9:39, Revelation 22:4, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Hebrews 11:1

If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind... for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.

Quote

Author

Augustine of Hippo

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 22:4, Exodus 3:11-12, Isaiah 53:3-5, Philippians 2:5-9, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Psalm 34:18-19

Where there’s humility there is majesty; where there’s weakness, there’s might; where there is death, there’s life. If you want to get these things don’t disdain those.

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The Glory Being Revealed To Us

Author

J. R. R. Tolkein

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:18, Revelation 19:16, Matthew 2:2, 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 Romans 8:18, Paul describes the future of those who persevere in the faith: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us....

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Do You Know Who I Am?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:18, Romans 8:18, Psalm 27:1, James 1:2-3, Isaiah 26:3

In a story circulated among an ancient monastic community, a vicious warlord intimidated whole villages, sending it’s entire population into the hills to hide in caves, waiting for the ruler to move o...

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End of Construction, Thank you for your Patience

Author

Billy Graham

Keywords

My wife, Ruth…was one of those who could lighten heavy hearts, especially mine. I will never forget when she announced what she wanted engraved on her gravestone, and for those who have so respectfull...

liturgy

Ever loving and eternal God, source of

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 36:9, Isaiah 60:19, John 8:12, 1 John 1:5, Psalm 139:11-12, Romans 8:38-39

Ever loving and eternal God, source of the light that never sets and of the love that never fails. Life of our life, Father of our spirits; draw near to us, and by the remembrance of your ancient merc...

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God–our Father, Lord and indwelling

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Psalm 133:1, 2 Corinthians 9:13-14, Matthew 28:19-20

God–our Father, Lord and indwelling Spirit of grace and power: Thank you for hearing us when we pray whether in songs of rejoicing or through tears of sorrow. Thank you for gifts–for the gifts of musi...

liturgy

Adapted from James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 18:21, Psalm 19:14

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 18:21, Psalm 19:14

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only wha...

Quote

Author

Anthony of Sourozh

Keywords

Public confession requires several conditions. First, a person who has acted against the integrity of the Body, the integrity of its faith, must be prepared to expose himself because what matters is h...

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Is Repetition Good or Bad?

Author

Vigen Guroian

Keywords

Repetition

Chesterton observes that when we grow up we tend to think that repetition as a sign of deadness, “like a piece of clockwork. People feel that if the universe were personal it would vary, if the sun we...

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Surprising Peace in Times of Crisis: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

In his book, Running Scared , Pychologist Edward Welch illustrates how the fear of an event is often worse than the event itself. To demonstrate this, he provides two examples of people whose lives...

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Two Strong Voices

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Since I was very young my life has been dominated by two strong voices. The first said, “Make it in the world and be sure you can do it on your own.” And the other voice said, “Whatever you do for the...

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Surprising Peace in Times of Crisis

Author

Edward T. Welch

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:7, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:34, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 56:3

In his book, Running Scared, Pychologist Edward Welch illustrates how the fear of an event is often worse than the event itself. To demonstrate this, he provides two examples of people whose lives are...

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Caring Christians

Author

Ralph Neighbor

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:18, 1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:16, Luke 6:32-35, Romans 5:8

Even if people reject the gospel, we still must love them. A good example of this was reported by Ralph Neighbour, pastor of Houston’s West Memorial Baptist Church (in Death And The Caring Community ...

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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...

liturgy

Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave, You shattered the power of sin and death. We celebrate Him! But we confess we remain captive to doubt and fear, bound by ways that lead to death. We come...

liturgy

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...

liturgy

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...

personal development on Life and Death

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