Stages of Life on Scripture

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Leader: Scripture teaches us that there

Author

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Genesis 1:27, Ephesians 2:10, Isaiah 60:1-3, 1 John 3:1

Leader: Scripture teaches us that there is one good and holy God; that we were created in God’s image, to commit ourselves to Him, to do good works, to reflect His glory, and to know Him as loving Fat...

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Good and Gracious God, Father, Son, and

Good and Gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: we come to You as an impatient people filled with a multitude of desires and needs. We yearn for simple things--the arrival of warm weather, enough...

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Adapted from Psalm 119:9-16

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 119:9-16

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart t...

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Author

Billy Graham

Keywords

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact - men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.

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Satisfied Only With God's Word

Author

Charles Spurgeon

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 19:7-10, Psalm 42:1-2, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 5:6, 1 Peter 2:2

Take a toy from a child and give him another — he will be satisfied. But if the child is hungry, giving him a toy won’t help. Just like babies, true believers desire the milk of the word of God — the ...

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O God, we thank you that you have not

Author

William Barclay

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Colossians 3:23-24, Psalm 119:105, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Samuel 1:24-28, Acts 2:42-47

O God, we thank you that you have not treated us as we deserve. We thank you that, though you are Creator, Judge and King, you are also Father, so that, though we are wandering children, there is alw...

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Waiting: Leaning into the Pain

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 16:2–4, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:25–26, Matthew 4:2–4, Romans 8:24–25, Psalm 130:5–6

With the global coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020, life stopped. Overwhelmed by the threat of a disease we couldn’t stop and for which we didn’t have the hospital capacity, everyone moved work and s...

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The Swoon Theory

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:3, Luke 24:1-12, Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:1-10, John 11:25-26, John 20:1-18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

The “swoon theory” argues that Jesus never really died, only appeared to have died, and then came back to life while buried in the tomb. It’s an interesting idea, one that was popularized in a book in...

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Climbing the Stairs of Quality in Art

Author

Thomas Hoving

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 31:2-5, 1 Kings 6:29-30, Isaiah 60:13, Philippians 4:8, Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 19:1-2

[Speaking about art] As you climb the stairs of quality, you’ll meet individual works that you’ll need for the rest of your life, works that will thrill you, energize you, lift your soul, soothe you, ...

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Mother's Day Sermon Ideas: Four Verses That Find Motherhood in the Heart of God

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Mother’s Day is complicated for a pastor. Among the happy families that are celebrating, there are children who were abused by mothers, mothers who lost lost a child, and women suffering from inferti...

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Different Seasons, Different Challenges

Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Luke 15:11-32, Proverbs 20:29, Psalm 90:10-12

Someone once quipped that we spend the first half of our lives struggling with the sixth commandment ( Thou shalt not commit adultery ) and the second half of our lives struggling with the fifth comma...

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Faithfulness, Not Size: The Real Measures of Ministry Success

Author

Dan Baumgartner

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:11-12, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Acts 20:28, 2 Timothy 4:2

Success is a Long Obedience, Not a Quick Climb Let me start with this: I am predisposed to believing that the ideal church size is relatively small. Eugene Peterson has often been quoted as saying h...

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Leader: Loving God, you know us through

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Leader: Loving God, you know us through and through, having knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. People: We praise you for gathering us like a mother hen, for protecting us with the ferocity of a...

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When the Next Generation is Our Priority: Modeling the Faith for Our Children

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:13-15, John 20:24-29, Psalm 100:null

The 2023 survey that was conducted by the Wall Street Journal in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago found that only 39% of the 1000 adults polled deemed religion “very important” to ...

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Ageism Everywhere All at Once — An Opportunity for the Church

Author

Mark Roberts

Keywords

Third Third of Life

Scripture

Isaiah 51:null, Psalm 92:12-14, Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Earlier this month Michelle Yeoh won the Best Actress Academy Award for her work in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once . In her moving acceptance speech, she said, “For all the little boys an...

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Third Third Ministry and the Intergenerational Opportunity

Author

Mark Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 148:11-12

Last week I spoke to a retreat of pastors and other church leaders who are working on innovative ways to help their congregants understand and live their vocation in the world. The retreat was part of...

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Gray Hair in Society and Church: Silver Tsunami or Silver Opportunity? Guest Post by Mark D. Roberts

Author

Mark Roberts

Keywords

Third Third of Life

Scripture

Psalm 92:12-14

Let’s begin with a few foundational facts: The number of people age 65 and older in the United States has grown rapidly over most of the 20th century, from 3.1 million in 1900 to 54 million in 2019...

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What Does the Future Hold?

Author

Eugene H. Peterson

Keywords

The New Year

Scripture

Revelation 21:5-7

In a sermon on Revelation 21:5-7, which includes the auspicious phrase, “Behold I make all things new”, Eugene Peterson connects and contrasts the experience the energy or mood of the New Year with ou...

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Hope in Death: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 23:51-56, John 11:25-26, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, Romans 6:4, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

What, as Christians, can we say to those who face death, either their own or that of their loved ones? We certainly can give them the hope of Christ’s resurrection, if they or their loved one has trus...

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“But I Don’t Want to Die”

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:19, Romans 6:23

My friend Tim is a manager of a small company. Because he often hires people for their first full-time job, he gets to tell new employees about their benefits. One time, Tim was trying to explain to a...

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Summarize Your Life in Six Words

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Legacy

If you had to summarize your life in six words, what would they be? Several years ago an online magazine asked that question. It was inspired by a possibly legendary challenge posed to Ernest Hemingwa...

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Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Christ lay in death’s bonds given over for our sins, He has risen again and brought us life . . . It was a strange battle, that death and life waged, life claimed the victory, it devoured death. The s...

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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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On the Outside Trying to Get Into Christmas

Author

Bill Gaultiere

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew 1:23-24

Isolated at Christmas It’s an isolating feeling to be on the outside looking in. We’ve all felt it. Some of us especially feel this way at Christmastime. We might relate to Frank Abagnale in the mov...

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Galatians 4:4-7

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 4:4-7

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you a...

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Adapted from Ephesians 1:17-19

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 1:17-19

Lord our God, we pray these same words written in Ephesians may true of us as we come to your Word today, we pray that you might give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know you, so th...

liturgy

Adapted from Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Pastor: For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was no...

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Adapted from Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:1-6, Psalm 139:13-18

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all ...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 139 (NIV)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:null

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my w...

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God of grace and truth, all-loving and

God of grace and truth, all-loving and all-holy: Give us the mind of Christ, the heart of Christ, and the will of Christ so that we may show the glory and goodness of Christ to the world: to neighbors...

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