Beloved Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe takes a fresh look at the basics of Christianity for new and mature believers, in this primer that helps build faith, teaches the ways of the Father, and points Christians toward maturity.
New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.
From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road • In this taut, chilling story, Lester Ballard—a violent, dispossessed man falsely accused of rape—haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance. "Like the novelists he admires-Melville, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner-Cormac McCarthy has created an imaginative oeuvre greater and deeper than any single book. Such writers wrestle with the gods themselves." —Washington Post Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.
A rhyming, read-aloud book with warm illustrations conveys a comforting, faith-filled message from a Black father and mother to their children who see visual representations of their faith, but question what it means when they don't see their skin color, their physical features, or their gender portrayed. "What about the angels, will they stop and stare, when they see that I may not have their same color hair?" asks the girl. In soothing verse, the father assures his children that everyone looks like Jesus and the angels by the things they do. As the family walks through their neighborhood, the father points out the beauty in God's creations, from flowers, all unique and different, to all the children in their community "each with skin a different shade." He reminds his children that pictures of faith such as angels were drawn by someone and encourages his children to draw their own pictures so angels look like all of us.
When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that shapes their lives. Lacy Finn Borgo draws on her experience of practicing spiritual direction with children as she introduces key skills for engaging kids in spiritual conversations, offering sample dialogues, prayers to use together, and ideas for play, art, and movement.
'Becoming Children of God' offers a fresh and original commentary on the Gospel of John as a narrative inviting readers -- both in the evangelist's time and our own -- to a radical commitment to follow Jesus from within a spirit-filled community. This reading is grounded in a "poetics of biblical narrative" that balances attention to historical, ideological, and aesthetic aspects of John's Gospel while highlighting its relevance for today. By committing himself to a close analysis of the text as "symbolic action" Howard-Brook makes it clear how John's Gospel fairly bristles with references to societal conditions that demand a direct response. Throughout the commentary, his close attention to literary structure as well as social background yields new insights into the often-obscure message of the Fourth Gospel.
John Examines the Power of True Bible Doctrine Through the Lens of Love Before being exiled to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation, the apostle John penned three letters to the church at Ephesus. The Ephesian church was the largest in the ancient world and faced, as many churches of that time did, the dangerous doctrines of Jewish legalism and Hellenistic Gnosticism. The church was also dealing with false leaders more interested in gain and fame than in spreading the truth of the gospel. In response, John, who was the church's pastor for a time, wrote the Johannine epistles. And, as in his gospel, John addresses all of these issues through the lens of God’s love. Bob Yandian delves into John’s letters, verse by verse, using context and his own pastoral sagacity to illuminate John’s messages. In doing so, Pastor Yandian first provides historical and biblical background—including observance of the original Greek language—to bring alive the truths in John’s three letters. Pastor Yandian then encourages modern believers to apply these truths in response to God’s pure and unfailing love. Important Johannine themes Pastor Yandian explores in this commentary: The crucial differences between relationship and fellowship with God The reality of and remedy for sin in the believer’s life The outworking of sanctification The saving power of true doctrine The discerning power of the Holy Spirit within In this commentary, not only can readers expect valuable insight into the beloved apostle’s writings, they can also expect a gentle nudge to be more like Jesus and less like the modern church which, like the Ephesians, forgot their first love.
This board book for infants and toddlers explores the gifts of water, baptism and belonging. The illustrations help children connect to their baptism and reinforce the baptismal connections that surround us everyday.