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Today we encounter a wide variety of questions related to sexuality and gender. As followers of Christ, we want to navigate LGBT+ questions in a way that is compassionate to people and faithful to scripture.
Article: Christians aren’t supposed to be broken. They’re supposed to be well and whole, godly servants of others and, well, happy in the joy of the Lord. Accepting my brokenness turned myself and my sin into a gloriously tiny trickle, and it turned His cross and His grace into the magnificent ocean in which I was now near-drowning with grateful glee. https://www.cru.org/train-and-grow/life-and-relationships/hardships/but-christians-arent-supposed-to-be-broken.html
GRAPHIC / Quote:“Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days – when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great – and you turn to God alone.” Rick Warren
Verse: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:7
Tweet: “I envision a revolution that creates a community of broken people united not by their problems or diagnoses but by their hunger for God.” – Larry Crabb
VIDEO: “When I see someone that looks like they’re in pain my heart just breaks for them … I didn’t care for anything or anyone.” A month before his 8th grade year, Allen learned that unlike his earthly father, God would never leave or forsake him. Your broken childhood does not define you. God’s love is what defines who you are. https://www.cru.org/communities/highschool/broken-childhood.html
Day 2
Article: In brokenness, we lose our sense of story – losing all sense of place and our ability to function meaningfully. As we reconnect people to community, we tell the larger story of creation – fall, redemption, restoration – and encourage others to see their story enveloped by His story. https://www.cru.org/communities/campus/blog/2014/triaging-your-broken-world.html
Quote: "We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive his poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others." - Elisabeth Elliot
GRAPHIC / Verse: He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Isa 53:5
Verse: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24
Challenge: God breaks us to bless us. What is he chipping away from you so that you find true life in Him?
Day 3
Article: “My heart is that we, as people of power, would steward that power well. When we do, we proclaim that the upside-down kingdom, our king Jesus, has come, is coming, and will come again.” https://www.cru.org/communities/innercity/blog.38.html
Quote: "My grand point in preaching is to break the hard heart, and to heal the broken one." - John Newton
GRAPHIC / Verse: The blind see, lame walk, lepers cured, deaf hear, dead raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. (Matthew 11:5)
Challenge: The unexpected good of brokenness is that it revives the life of Christ in you. You become less and He becomes more!
GRAPHIC / Quote:"God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever." - Vance Havner
Verse: “For the grace of God has displayed itself with healing power to all mankind.” Titus 2:11
Verse: “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” John 12:25
Day 5
Article: I was left in a hospital unnamed and unwanted when I was born and am living proof that no matter how you start in life, you can take charge of your life and run to win. We do not need to live like victims; rather we can appropriate the truth of the Word of God in every area of our lives and experience complete healing and wholeness. http://christinecaine.com/cmspage.php?site=true&intid=643&intversion=1626
GRAPHIC / Quote: "The Word, circumstances, and other believers - these can all be tools to show us our need and create opportunities to choose the pathway of brokenness. The Spirit of God is the arm that wields each of these instruments to bring us to a point of brokenness. However, we must respond to His initiative." - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Verse: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” – Psalm 147:3
Challenge: What are you holding onto instead of Jesus? How is this keeping you from becoming who God created you to be?
Day 6
Article: Christian community should be one of the places where people can actually be vulnerable. Gathering with fellow Christians should be one of the few times where we don’t hide the realities of life. http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/give-your-weakness-to-god
Quote: "The prayer that prevails is not the work of lips and fingertips. It is the cry of a broken heart and the travail of a stricken soul." - Samuel Chadwick
GRAPHIC / Verse: The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the Lord and He will hear their prayers and heal them. Isa 19:22
Challenge: God often breaks us of pride, willfulness, independence and stubbornness - which of these are you struggling to give to Him?
GRAPHIC / Quote: “Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ’s wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose, His conflicts thy conquests, His groans thy songs, His pains thine ease, His shame thy glory, His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation.” – Matthew Henry
Verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
Verse: “In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6
Challenge: Journal about a time in your life when you’ve experienced brokenness before the Lord. What brought it about, what results came from it?
Bonus: Schedule promotion for “The Shack”
Day 9
Article: We ultimately want to hide what’s broken, whether it occurs individually or in a community. The Bible is filled with broken people, most of whom at some point or another tried to cover up their brokenness. Yet it seems like the people who are the most broken, the most helpless, are the people God often uses the most. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/23118-why-is-it-hard-to-be-broken-in-church
Quote: “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.” – John Newton
GRAPHIC / Verse: But for you, the ones who tremble at the sound of My name, a warm sun of righteousness will come forth with healing in its rays, and you will go out, springing from the stalls like calves in open pasture. Malachi 4:2
Challenge: What are some areas of your life you need to loosen your grip on and surrender to God now?
GRAPHIC / Quote: “Christ is the Good Physician. There is no disease He cannot heal; no sin He cannot remove; no trouble He cannot help. He is the Balm of Gilead, the Great Physician who has never yet failed to heal all the spiritual maladies of every soul that has come unto Him in faith and prayer.” – James H. Aughey
Verse: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10
Challenge: Pray, “Lord, I confess I am stubborn, prideful and believe I am self-sufficient. Help me let go and allow You to have Your way in my life.”
