Worldview and Perspective on Change The World

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What is Wrong with the World Today?

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Scripture

James 4:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:8, Isaiah 53:6, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:23

“What is wrong with the world today?” a Times newspaper editorial once asked. G. K. Chesterton wrote in reply, “Dear sirs, I am. Yours faithfully, G.K. Chesterton.”

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Even the Almighty took seven

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Proverbs 15:23, Proverbs 16:1, Ecclesiastes 3:1, James 1:19, Proverbs 25:11, Genesis 1:

Franklin D. Roosevelt had hoped the Yalta conference (which discussed the future of Europe and Germany post-WWII) wouldn’t last more than five or six days. Winston Churchill, however, remarked, “I do ...

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Author

Leo Tolstoy

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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

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God of grace, power and glory–Creator,

Author

Richard Herman

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God of grace, power and glory–Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer–and our Father: When we’re tempted to think it’s all up to us: to change the world, to overcome evil, to establish Your kingdom, to make ...

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Author

Marva J. Dawn

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[W]e cannot really solve the problem of our world’s injustices by merely giving a little more of our surplus to fight hunger. More deeply, we need to be freed from our reliance on material consumption...

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Prayer for the Jeh

Author

Bradley Long

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Scripture

Luke 18:1-14, Luke 11:5-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 1:9, Philippians 4:6, Genesis 18:23-33, Exodus 32:31-32, 1 Samuel 1:10-11, Psalm 40:1, Psalm 116:1-2, James 4:2

One of the main linguists that worked on Rosetta Stone , a computerized language-learning tool, moved to Vietnam in 1962… of his own free will! He and a ministry partner went to translate the Bibl...

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Author

Martin Luther

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World

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.

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Author

Peter J. Leithart

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The world won’t end in a climate change apocalypse. The world won’t end in world war. The world ends in worship, neither a bang nor a whimper but a shout and song of praise.”

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Author

Gordon T. Smith

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Scripture

Exodus 14:10-22 , Joshua 1:1-9, Matthew 4:18-20, Acts 9:1-19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 121:1-3

Transition is one of the givens in our lives, and we only live well, we only manage our lives well, when we manage these transitions well. Our world changes; the circumstances of our lives change. The...

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Author

John Milton

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Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

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The Death of Christendom

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

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In one generation, the place of Christianity within culture dramatically shifted as we experienced what theologians and sociologists of religion call the “death of Christendom.” Christendom isn’t Chri...

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This-Sidedness and Other-Sidedness

Author

Thomas Kelly

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Scripture

Micah 6:8, Colossians 3:2, Isaiah 58:10, John 6:27, James 2:15-17, Matthew 6:33

In his excellent little book, A Testament of Devotion , written almost a hundred years ago, Thomas Kelly describes the tension that all ministries must live in; the focus on this world or the wor...

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Recovering the Heart of Humanity

Author

Adam S. McHugh

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:26-27 , Exodus 33:11-23 , Isaiah 43:1-4, John 10:1-15 , Luke 7:36-50, Psalm 139:1-6, 13-16

I am convinced that the scourge of our scientific and technological age is depersonalization. There is a heartbeat pulsating at the center of the universe, giving life and meaning to everything, but o...

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Losing Sight of our Spiritual Longing in the Modern World

Author

Annie Dillard

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Scripture

1 Kings 19:11-12, Job 38:1-7, Isaiah 6:1-5 , Romans 1:20, Luke 19:39-40 , Psalm 19:1-4

In our modern materialistic world, it is easy to lose sight of that sense of longing. In her wonderful collection of essays Teaching a Stone to Talk , Annie Dillard speaks about that growing void...

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God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–You

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Ephesians 1:3, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30, Matthew 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Peter 1:2

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; with ...

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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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A Change of Nuisance

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 34:17-19

While serving as British Prime Minister, Lloyd George had to deal with World War I, an economic depression, and the Sinn Fein movement attempting to effect Irish liberation, as well as many other smal...

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Author

Leslie Bricusse

Keywords

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off.

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Changing Your Mind

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

If you really want to change, it starts with your story. If you want to change the story of your life, you need to change the stories in your mind. So what story do you want to live? Do you want to ex...

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MLK Day Prayers for Church Services: Liturgy & Sermon Resources

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Amos 5:24, Isaiah 1:17, Galatians 3:28, James 2:1, Ephesians 2:14

Updated for 2026. January 19, 2026 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day— the only U.S. national holiday commemorating a pastor. Under his leadership, non-violent civil rights advocacy achieved leaps f...

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The Gospel and the Other: Preaching in an Age of "Us vs. Them"

Author

Andrew DeCort

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Scripture

Luke 10:25-37

When conflict and division are driving both politics and media (including social media), the contrast between the way of the world and the way of Jesus stands out more than ever. How can pastors, task...

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Ash Wednesday - Turning to God in Crisis

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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A World in Chaos At the risk of sounding dramatic, both the U.S. and the world seem to be reaching a level of chaos unmatched since 9/11. The confusion and shifting loyalties, not to mention the 26,0...

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God of grace and truth, holy and

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 41:10

God of grace and truth, holy and compassionate—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You hold the universe in Your hands and earth’s oceans hardly moisten Your palm; yet—You number the hairs of our heads and k...

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God, our heavenly Father–from whom all

God, our heavenly Father–from whom all families gain purpose, direction and life: When we need bread, you don’t give a stone; and when we ask for fish, you don’t give a snake; for you are good, you ar...

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Is it Callous to Avoid the News?

Author

Jeffrey Bilbro

Keywords

News/Media

The contemporary novelist Barbara Kingsolver, in a marvelous essay detailing why she and her family don’t watch TV, describes a conversation she had with a friend about the airplane crash involving Jo...

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What Do You Believe Doc?

Author

D. Michael Lindsay

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Mark 9:24, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:17, Hebrews 11:6

In a quiet hospital room in North Carolina, an eager young doctor with a bright future evaluates his elderly patient with not much future left at all. She has a terminal heart condition, inoperable. A...

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Staying in our Christian Bubbles

Author

Sam Metcalf

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I was in London browsing one of the ubiquitous British tabloids and an advertisement for a new health club grabbed my attention. The picture was of a magnificent gothic church sanctuary that had been ...

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Changing Someone’s Mind (Isn’t Easy)

Author

Buster Benson

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:4, Proverbs 4:23, Isaiah 26:3, Colossians 3:2, Ephesians 4:22-24, Philippians 4:8

A mind is more like a pile of millions of little rocks than a single big boulder. To change a mind, we need to carry thousands of little rocks from one pile to another, one at a time. This is because ...

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Author

George Bernard Shaw

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 23:7, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 55:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Colossians 3:2, Ephesians 4:23-24, Philippians 2:5

Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.

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Author

Harold Thurman

Keywords

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

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