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Faith and Feelings Can Go Together

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 42:5, Romans 12:15, Ephesians 4:26, Lamentations 3:19-23, James 4:8-9

Too often we are given a choice—emotions or faith and belief. Yet as Dan Allender and Tremper Longman observe, Emotion links our internal and external worlds. To be aware of what we feel can open ...

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Memories and Trauma Can be Inherited

Author

Casey K. Tygrett

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:20-23, Exodus 12:26-27, Joel 1:3, Psalm 78:4-7, Romans 5:12

Some stories, however, have been handed down to us. For some, we were not yet cognizant, and for others, we weren’t even born when experiences, memories, and stories affected our family and communitie...

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Where is God? Hanging From the Gallows

Author

Jonathan Cornell

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 27:46, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 3:18, John 19:30, 1 Peter 4:13

In Elie Wiesel’s Night , Eliezer is a Jewish teenager, a devoted student of the Talmud from Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. In the spring of 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary. Increasingly repressi...

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Seeing is Metamorphosis, Not Mechanism

Author

Casey K. Tygrett

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:22-23, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Luke 11:34, Matthew 13:13, 1 John 2:16

James Elkins talks about how even the sense of sight is more complicated than we might believe: “Our eyes are not ours to command; they roam where they will and then tell us they have only been where ...

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Christianity Refuses Cynicism

Author

Andrew Greeley

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Habakkuk 2:14, Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 21:1-4, Revelation 22:3-4

Reject Christianity, if you will, out of motives of cynicism; turn away from it because you believe. Reality is malign and punitive; choose a God that is cantankerous, vindictive, or forgetful, or det...

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The Two Marooned Men

Author

David Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Malachi 3:10, Deuteronomy 8:18, Matthew 13:45-46, Isaiah 55:1-2, Haggai 2:8

Two men were marooned on a deserted island. One man was pacing back and forth, terrified that no one would ever rescue them. The other man was sitting against a tree, shading himself comfortably and r...

Quote

Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

John 5:39-40, 2 Timothy 3:7, 1 Corinthians 8:1, 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 4:12

The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word.

Quote

Author

Bernard of Clairvaux

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:2-3, Revelation 22:17, 2 Corinthians 5:2-4, Psalm 63:, Isaiah 55:1

We taste Thee, O Thou Living bread, And long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Quote

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Isaiah 29:13, Hebrews 12:28, 2 Corinthians 3:18

To handle the things of God without worship is always to falsify them.

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Overcoming Sermon Writer's Block: 5 Proven Strategies for Pastors

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

That little vertical bar on the white screen at the beginning of the blank line just keeps blinking. It flashes over and over. Is it mocking you , or is the late hour finally getting to you? Chance...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Romans 5:1-11

Author

Casey Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:1-11

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? In the Middle of a Greater Story “At just the right time” is a phrase that immediately throws the reader into the middle of a story. C...

liturgy

Do Not Be Far From Me: Inspired By Psalm 22

Author

Jonathan Cornell

Keywords

My God, my God, please don’t forsake me. I confess that I feel so far from you; your voice is almost out of earshot. I feel like I’m facing life all on my own, because I’ve chosen to do it my way. A...

liturgy

Adapted From John 3

Author

Jonathan Cornell

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:17-19

Leader: The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light. People: God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world migh...

Quote

Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:16, Colossians 4:2, Romans 12:12, Hebrews 5:7

Prayer should be brief, frequent, and intense.

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Vladimir the Great: Choosing Christianity for All the Wrong Reasons

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:27-29, John 6:44, 1 Corinthians 1:21, 2 Kings 5:, Joshua 2:

The Grand Prince of Kiev (now called Russia), Vladimir the Great, was under intense pressure to choose a national religion. The year was 987 AD, and paganism was quickly going out of fashion. More and...

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When a Muslim is Welcomed Before She is Converted

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 9:10-11, James 2:1, Romans 12:18, Ephesians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 5:20

A number of women at Kairos Los Angeles have at times assisted a local ministry that helps women who are in transition. They provide housing and often help these women find jobs. Some of these women s...

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Our Unworthy Cornerstones

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:20, Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6-8, 1 Corinthians 3:11, Hebrews 12:27-28, Psalm 118:22, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17

The cornerstone was a critical element of ancient architecture, the anchor that the rest of the building relied on. The cornerstone was the stone that set the alignment of the entire building. Every o...

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Without Applause, I die

Author

Ryan P. Tinetti

Keywords

Scripture

James 3:16, 1 John 2:16, John 5:44, Matthew 6:1, Philippians 2:3

There’s undeniably a dark side to restless ambition, however. You can see it in dramatic fashion in the documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop , which follows the comedian on tour after he left the To...

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Restlessnes Keeps the Pedal to the Metal

Author

Ryan P. Tinetti

Keywords

Scripture

Habakkuk 2:5, James 3:16, Mark 8:36, Luke 12:15, Isaiah 57:20, 1 Timothy 6:9, 1 John 2:16

Restlessness keeps the pedal to the metal. To offer a suggestive analogy in this vein: several years ago there was a recall on some Toyota vehicles. Evidently the cars would be given to sudden and unc...

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Blaming Creation Instead of Sin

Author

Albert Wolters

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Colossians 1:20, Psalm 24:1

The great danger is to always single out some aspect of God’s good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain. Such an error conceives of the good-evil dichotomy ...

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The Meaning of Rituals

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 12:14, Exodus 13:8-9, Joshua 4:6-7, Acts 2:42, Joel 2:15-16

Rituals are procedures or routines that are fused with meaning. Ritual actions include various rites of passage (birth, marriage, death) or calendrical rites (religious holy days, national holidays), ...

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Hodja, Daddy

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

A soul without a center is like a house built over a sinkhole. “How collapsed you are my soul , and how you sigh over me.” On the other hand, the soul comes alive when it is centered on God. “Let...

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The Soul Stream

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

There once was a town high in the Alps that straddled the banks of a beautiful stream. The stream was fed by springs that were old as the earth and deep as the sea. The water was clear like crysta...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Psalm 121 (Guide B)

Author

Rachel Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 121:, John 10:11, 14

Introduction Psalm 121 is the second in a collection of Psalms referred to as the Psalms of Ascent. Scholars surmise that these Psalms were likely read or sung as pilgrims made their way “up” to Jer...

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Christians Can Cultivate Culture

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 2:7-8, Jeremiah 2:4-9, Romans 12:21, Matthew 5:13-16, Genesis 41:

While there is a place for condemning, critiquing, consuming and copying culture, the primary posture Christ followers are to have in the world is as culture makers. In regard to history, the word cul...

blog

When God Feels Far Away: A Practice of Lament

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. It doesn&...

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Wasting Time with Thoreau

Author

Arthur C. Brooks

Keywords

The other afternoon, in an effort to avoid doing my work, I picked up Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. It turned out to be a fitting choice, as Thoreau has quite a bit to say about wasting time. “The cos...

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Getting the Right Goals May be the Key to Success

Author

Arthur C. Brooks

Keywords

Worthy goals are generally motivated by something deeper than success. In her conversations with Nobel laureates, [researcher Xiaodong D.] Lin said she has found that “they all have insatiable passion...

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Study Your Own Failures

Author

Arthur C. Brooks

Keywords

Studying your own failures as well can make them seem less earth-shattering. One researcher suggested in a 2010 article in Nature that people maintain a “CV of failures,” a written list of the things ...

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The Two Types of Procrastination

Author

Arthur C. Brooks

Keywords

Social scientists define procrastination as “delaying a task for a maladaptively long time,” and it bedevils almost all of us. One study found that more than 70 percent of university students procrast...

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