Sermon Resources on Political Freedom

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Author

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Scripture

Ephesians 4:31-32, Psalm 34:18, Luke 23:34, Genesis 50:20-21, Exodus 14:13-14, Job 42:10

As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.

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Good and Gracious Lord, You hold us in

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Isaiah 41:10, Romans 8:28, Psalm 46:1-2, Micah 6:8, Psalm 34:18, Genesis 50:20, Mark 4:35-41

Good and Gracious Lord, You hold us in the palm of Your strong hand, working all things for our good and to Your glory. There’s no place we can go that escapes Your notice and is hidden from Your lovi...

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Author

Martin Luther

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Scripture

Matthew 17:20, Psalm 34:8, Isaiah 26:3-4, Jeremiah 17:7-8, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 8:24-25, Proverbs 3:5-6

Faith is a free surrender and a joyous wager on the unseen, unknown, untested goodness of God.

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Prayer for Times of Conflict

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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

Henry Cloud

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Scripture

Numbers 13:25-33, Job 1:20-22 , Jeremiah 29:4-7, John 8:31-32 , 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Psalm 34:18

One of my favorite sayings is, no matter how difficult it is to hear, “Reality is always your friend.”

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Solving the World’s Problems

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Matthew 5:23-24, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:17-21, Colossians 3:13, Proverbs 15:1, Psalm 34:14

Warren Robinson Austin was an American politician and diplomat serving both in the U.S. Senate and the United Nations as a U.S. ambassador. During a debate, Austin was asked how he would approach the ...

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Author

A Franciscan Blessing

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:27, Romans 12:15, Luke 4:18-19, Psalm 34:18, James 1:27

God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts. God bless us with righteous anger at injustice, oppression, and exp...

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Ain’t I a Woman

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Exodus 3:7–8, Genesis 16:13, Micah 6:8, Luke 13:10–17, Galatians 3:28, Psalm 34:18

Few voices captured the brutal reality of enslavement as powerfully as Sojourner Truth. Truth endured profound mistreatment and indignities as an enslaved woman. A severe beating left her reliant on a...

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Beyond the Behavior of Flawed Humans

Author

Francis S. Collins

Keywords

God's Existence

Scripture

1 John 4:7-8, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 34:8, John 14:6

So, while the long history of religious oppression and hypocrisy is profoundly sobering, the earnest seeker must look beyond the behavior of flawed humans in order to find the truth. Would you condemn...

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Where Were the Humanists?

Author

Timothy Keller

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Scripture

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, Isaiah 41:10, Revelation 21:4, John 14:1-3, Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 34:18, 2 Corinthians 5:1

Not long after the December 2012 Newtown shootings, and all the speeches by civic leaders, memorial services, and funerals were over, Samuel G. Freedman wrote a column in The New York Times titled “In...

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Dying from the Unspoken War Back Home

Author

John M. Perkins

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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 ...

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Author

Source Unknown

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Scripture

James 3:1-12, Ephesians 4:29, James 1:26, Psalm 34:13, 1 Timothy 5:13

Show me someone who never gossips, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t interested in people.

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Author

Alia Joy

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Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Ephesians 2:4-5, Mark 5:25-34, Psalm 34:18, Romans 5:6

There is a helplessness in poverty that precedes the move of God in our lives because we understand an aspect of grace that so many miss: we do nothing to earn it. When we understand this, all becomes...

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Defining the Parish System

Author

Don Everts

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Scripture

Jeremiah 29:4-7, Micah 4:3-4, Matthew 5:9 , Romans 12:18-21 , Psalm 34:14

This concept [the parish system] has helped Christians understand how interconnected all the pieces within a community are and the importance of pursuing the common good there. Jesus’ call to be peace...

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Mental Disorders & Fear

Author

Edward T. Welch

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 41:10, Genesis 15:1, Exodus 14:13–14, Philippians 4:6–7, Psalm 34:4, Mark 4:39–40

There was a time when adults were neatly categorized into one of two groups: you were either neurotic or psychotic. Psychotic meant that you were out of touch with reality and afraid; neurotic meant t...

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Prayer in Difficult Times in the U.S.S.R.

Author

Philip Yancey

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 17:22-28, Romans 1:19-20. 25, Psalm 34:4-5, Exodus 20:3-5

Even atheists find ways to pray. During the heady days of Communism in Russia, party stalwarts kept a “ red corner,” placing a portrait of Lenin where Christians used to keep their icons. Caught up in...

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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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The Happiness Effect

Author

Craig Detweiler

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:15, John 16:33, Matthew 5:4, Psalm 34:18, Ecclesiastes 3:4

After surveying an incredibly diverse cross section of college students across America, Donna Freitas found “the most pressing social media issues students face: the importance of appearing happy”—and...

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God of grace, power, and peace: This is

Author

Richard Herman

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Scripture

James 1:27, Isaiah 58:6-7, Psalm 34:18, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Matthew 5:9

God of grace, power, and peace: This is Your world—not ours. You are the hope of all people—not us. Your love is infinite and eternal—ours is small and short-lived. We pray for a world bigger than jus...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

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Scripture

Romans 8:1, Isaiah 61:7, Hebrews 12:2, Psalm 34:5, Romans 10:11, 1 John 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:7

I sometimes think that shame, mere awkward, senseless shame, does as much towards preventing good acts and straightforward happiness as any of our vices can do.

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What Happens When we Lose Hope?

Author

Lee Strobel

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 15:13, Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 42:11, Isaiah 41:10, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Psalm 34:17-18

Major Harold Kushner was a prisoner of the Viet Cong for more than five years. Kushner describes one of his fellow American prisoners, a tough twenty-four-year-old Marine who had made a deal with thei...

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The Stockdale Paradox

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

Scripture

John 16:33, Psalm 34:18-19, Hebrews 12:1-2, Philippians 4:12-13, Isaiah 40:31, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Romans 5:3-5

James Stockdale and what is now known as the Stockdale Paradox comes from his experience as a prisoner of war for seven years during the Vietnam War. The Stockdale Paradox, made famous in Jim Collins’...

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Author

Craig Groeschel

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Scripture

Genesis 12:1 , Exodus 3:10-12, Daniel 3:17-18, Matthew 8:19-20 , Hebrews 11:24-26, Psalm 34:19

Jesus never asks us to do something he wouldn’t do himself. He calls us to a life of faith, not a life of comfort.

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O Lord, we are aware of how much we

Author

Ellen R. Dawson

Scripture

Isaiah 61:1, Romans 8:26-27, Psalm 34:18, John 10:11, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 11:28-30

O Lord, we are aware of how much we need you, and how much the world needs you. We yearn for your guidance and strength. We pray for your intervention and for your kingdom to come. Today we lift up t...

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God’s Abundant Provision in Genesis 2

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:16-17, Proverbs 3:10, Genesis 1:29, Psalm 23:1-2, Psalm 34:10, Philippians 4:19, James 1:17

There is a tendency among readers and scholars of Genesis 2:16-17 to focus on the prohibition of verse 17: “but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” …I want to pause to cons...

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Troubling Statistics about Mental Health in our Youth

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 41:10 , 1 Kings 19:4-8, Jeremiah 29:11, John 14:27, Philippians 4:6-7 , Psalm 34:17-18

Most alarming is the absence of peace among our youth. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is showing an epidemic of mental health problems among eighteen- to twenty-four-year...

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Can a Prayer be Bad?

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 6:9-13, Hebrews 4:16, Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 34:18, 2 Corinthians 12:9

The Lord’s Prayer, like all prayer, is part work and part rest, Perhaps the only work we do is getting ourselves there. Once we’ve gotten ourselves there—to prayer—whatever mains of productivity is Go...

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Adapted from Psalm 34:8-10, 12-14

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:8-10, 12-14

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hun...

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Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Gentleness

Scripture

Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 66:2, Matthew 5:7-8, Exodus 32:11-14, 2 Samuel 9:6-7, 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, Colossians 3:12-13, Ephesians 4:32, Titus 3:2

The higher people are in the favor of God, the more tender they are.

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Author

Edmund Burke

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 15:1, Genesis 24:17-20, Daniel 1:8-9, Colossians 4:6, 1 Peter 3:15-16, Psalm 34:13-14

Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their wh...

Sermon Resources on political freedom

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