Relationships and Community on Marriage

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I’ll Wash the Clothes Every Night!

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:21, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:10, John 13:1-17, John 13:14-15, Ruth 1:16

In his celebrated book The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman tells a story about a husband and wife struggling to relate. When the husband asked his wife, “On a scale of zero to ten, how’s your love t...

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Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:12, Colossians 3:14, 1 Peter 3:8, Ephesians 4:2-3, Psalm 136:1

Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We’re filled with wonder, gratitude, and joy inspired by the gifts of new life You freely give us. There’s the joy and wonder of eve...

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The Echo of an Argument

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:18, Psalm 34:18, Romans 12:18, James 1:19-20, Proverbs 15:1, Matthew 6:14-15, Colossians 3:13

Philip Yancey writes of a friend whose marriage was choked by hostility. One night the friend reached the breaking point: “I hate you!” he screamed at his wife. “I won’t take it any more. I’ve had eno...

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Emotional Nanocrafts in the Space Between Us

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:10, Revelation 3:20, Matthew 25:40, Luke 8:43-48, Song of Solomon 2:14, Psalm 42:7

In I’d Like You More If You Were More Like Me , John Ortberg uses an interesting analogy for an aspect of our relationships. In 2015, Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner announced the Starshot Initiati...

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Following Jesus Requires Real Commitment

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-8, Matthew 22:37, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 14:26-27, Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 16:13, Mark 12:30, John 14:15, Matthew 16:24-26, Luke 9:59-62, Matthew 6:24, Hebrews 11:13-16, Hebrews 10:38-39, Matthew 6:33-34, Matthew 10:37-39

What are you willing to do for love? An instructor for the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course shared with a class the major hang-up he had to get over before asking his wife to ma...

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Dying from the Unspoken War Back Home

Author

John M. Perkins

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 2:11-25 , Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 1:16-17 , Luke 4:16-21 , Romans 12:17-21 , Psalm 34:18-19

I was sixteen when a white deputy sheriff shot and killed my twenty-five-year-old brother, Clyde, in New Hebron, Mississippi, where we had grown up. Clyde had returned home from fighting in World War ...

liturgy

Compassionate God—In Christ, you enter

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

1 Timothy 2:1-4, Psalm 33:22, Philippians 4:6-7, John 14:1, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 12:15

Compassionate God—In Christ, you enter our condition; you experience our sorrow and our joy ... and redeem them. By Your Holy Spirit, you carry us along: in crisis and celebration, in despair and acco...

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The Story of Valentine’s Day

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:13, 1 John 4:10-11, Romans 12:10, Song of Solomon 8:6-7, Genesis 29:20, 1 Samuel 18:20

Valentine’s Day commemorates the date on which Valentine, a roman priest, was executed by order of Emperor Claudius II. Claudius II was embroiled in a number of wars and believed that married men mad...

Quote

Author

Fred Rogers

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 17:10-12, Mark 10:13-16, Matthew 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8

Love is at the root of everything—all learning, all parenting, all relationships—love or the lack of it. And what we hear or see on the screen is part of who we become.

Quote

Author

St. Thomas Aquinas

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:10-11, John 13:1-17, Ruth 1:16, Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:9-10

To love is to will the good of another. .

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Dwelling with Those We Love

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 37:45, Numbers 12:, Ruth 1:4, Romans 12:9–21, Matthew 18:21–35, Psalm 133:

An Irish church once had a humorous yet insightful motto that gets at the heart of the pain that often accompanies our relationships: “To dwell above with those we love will certainly be glory. But to...

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It All Starts with Relationships

Author

John Townsend

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 18:1, Ephesians 4:16, Romans 12:10, Ecclesiastes 4:9

Everything significant starts with relationship. At the end of the day, your faith, your family, your work, and your leadership are all based on who you relate to and how you relate. Your life is moti...

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The Basis of Life

Author

John C. Maxwell

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:34-35, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:9-10, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 Thessalonians 5:11

The basis of life is people and how they relate to each other. Our success, fulfillment, and happiness depend upon our ability to relate effectively. The best way to become a person that others are dr...

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To Love is to Suffer

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:18, John 15:12-13, Romans 12:9-10, Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:15, Luke 22:23, John 18:19

After C. S. Lewis lost his wife Joy to cancer, he wrote these words about the inextricable link between love, suffering, and vulnerability: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your...

Quote

Author

Minucius Felix

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 4:8, 1 Samuel 18:20, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:10, 1 John 4:20-21

Our bond, which you resent, consists in mutual love, for we know not how to hate; we call ourselves ‘brethren’ to which you object, as members of one family in God, as partners in one faith, as joint ...

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The Boodle Feast

Author

Rick Love

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:34-35, Galatians 3:28, 1 Peter 4:9, Matthew 25:35, Luke 14:12-14, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2

In his helpful book Peace Catalysts , Rick Love shares a poignant example of how sharing a meal can break down the familiar walls of status, power, and economics: In 2011, my wife, Fran, and I we...

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Living for Christ is Hard

Author

Ben Patterson

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1

My wife, Lauretta, once remarked to me, “I know I’d die for Christ. If I were put in front of a firing squad and commanded to renounce Christ or die, I know I’d say ‘Shoot me!’ That would be easy. The...

liturgy

God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – You (A)

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:14-16, John 17:20-23, Galatians 3:26-28, Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Ephesians 4:4-6

God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – You know what it’s like to be many and one at the same time. In You, we too are many … yet one. You’ve made us _one body—_a single family unified for one purpose;...

liturgy

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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Trust and Belonging

Author

Stanley Hauerwas

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47, 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 12:4-5, Galatians 6:2

We were created to communicate, to speak truth fully to one another, so that we might be members of one another. To be members of one another means we must learn to trust one another. Trust, like trut...

Quote

Author

F. F. Bruce

Keywords

Adoption

Scripture

Romans 12:15

The term ‘adoption’ (used here in older English versions [of Romans 12:15] may have a somewhat artificial sound in our ears; but in the Roman world of the first century AD an adopted son was a son del...

liturgy

Prayer for Times of Conflict

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:9, Romans 12:17-18, Psalm 34:14, Ephesians 4:2-3, John 14:27, Romans 14:19, 2 Corinthians 13:11, James 3:18, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:6-7

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual...

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Author

Alain de Botton

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:12-14, Mark 10:13-16, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Romans 12:10, Philippians 2:4

True love is a lack of desire to check one’s smartphone in another’s presence.

Quote

Author

Sam Keen

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:2, John 21:15-19, 1 Peter 4:8, Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:9-10, Ruth 1:16, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

liturgy

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, James 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Matthew 9:37-38, Galatians 6:9-10, Romans 12:5, 1 John 3:1

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our Father: You’ve blessed us beyond imagination. You redeem us, forgive us and lavish Your gifts on us: Thank You. You choose us, when we wouldn’t choose ourselves...

liturgy

Prayer for the Unity of the Church

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:4-5, Colossians 3:14, Galatians 3:28, John 17:20-23, Ephesians 4:3-6

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace to take to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice...

Quote

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 133:1, Romans 12:4-5 , John 17:20-23, Exodus 17:12, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Genesis 1:26-27

If this world was made by a triune God, a being of community, then relationships of love are what life is really all about.

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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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What is Fellowship?

Author

James I. Packer

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47, 1 John 1:3, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 John 1:7, Romans 12:4-5, Galatians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 1:9

What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. “They met constantly to hea...

Quote

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 15:1-2, Ephesians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 1:12, Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:9-10

Relational congruence is the ability to be fundamentally the same person with the same values in every relationship, in every circumstance and especially amidst crisis. It is the internal capacity to ...

relationships and community on Marriage

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