Many communities are ravaged by problems associated with poverty, crime and drug and alcohol abuse. Substantial answers to the urban crisis are all but non- existent. 'Christ, the Cross and the Concrete Jungle' is the story of a young man's deliverance from a lifestyle of desperation and delinquency to a new life of freedom and hope. This books reveals the remarkable journey of transformation and redemption that is made possible through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The book was born out of a desire to lift your spirit. As we look around us today, we see a lot of pain and sorrow and misery. The concept of ?The Nature of God's Divine Redemption? is a deliberate intention to encourage you and to lift your hope, to put your mind on something better and a superior way. The book tells you, ?If the son of man set you free, you are free indeed? (John 8: 36, King James Bible). That is what is ?The Nature of God's Redemption? is about. We are told that whatsoever a man thinks in his heart so is he. The idea behind the book is to help you to think good thoughts and to lift your minds from horizontal things to vertical things. God's love is the most amazing thing. The book tells that faith is also amazing. ?It takes far more faith to believe in the intellectually chic and fashionable evolutionary myth than it does to believe in the existence of God.' Moreover, it says, ?Evolution is based entirely on faith because no facts or proof have ever been found to support it ? Faith does play a primary role in the life of a Christian. For the person who truly wants to seek God and learn to please Him, Hebrews 11:6 tells us that: ?But without faith it is impossible to please God: for him that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarded of them that diligently seek Him? Faith is vital to a Christian. In fact, without it, no one can please God. Notice this verse says that those seeking God ?must believe that He is.' Also the book articulates that ?a deep belief in God, who ?rewards? all who ?diligently seek Him, requires proof of His existence.' It says it is ?After proof has been established, then'and only then can one have faith'absolute confidence that what man does is being recorded in God's mind, to be remembered when he receives his reward.' If you are uncertain that God exists because proof of that existence has not been firmly established, then, under fire, your faith will wane or disappear. But when you truly believe in what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary, God's Divine love will redeem you and set you free from the heavy load of sin.
This accessible overview shows how the Bible--with its 66 books, dozens of authors, and multiple genres--comes together to provide an overarching story about God the King and explains how the Christian gospel and mission address the totality of human life. Written by a biblical scholar and a theologian, The Gospel of Our King shows how any account of gospel and mission can only be understood in light of the whole biblical testimony. The authors help us understand the Bible's overarching narrative as the story that encompasses everything. This story, revealed by God and centered on Jesus the King, enables us to know and love God and to fulfill his purpose for our lives. It is the framework within which we come to understand the Christian worldview, the Christian gospel, and the Christian mission. When we understand how the whole Bible fits together to shape the totality of a Christian's life, we will be prepared to show the goodness of Christ and the gospel to others in our personal, social, cultural, and global contexts.
An African American Breakfast at Tiffany’s–a hip, refreshingly candid tale of identity and self—discovery from the critically acclaimed author of The View from Here and Walking Through Mirrors. Mason Randolph, a black preppie of impeccable Southern pedigree, is bound for Stanford Law School after graduating from college. Before embarking on the path to his golden future, however, he takes a detour through Harlem, where he intends to live "authentically" with "real black people." Mason takes the name "Malik" and moves into the orbit of the ever—fabulous Carmen, uptown diva and doyenne of Harlem. Carmen, always ready to have a handsome young man at her fabulous soirees and to add to her devoted entourage, happily takes him under her wing. Fueled by his parents' money and dodging the people who remember him as Mason Randolph, "Malik" masquerades as a "ghettonian," exploring the wonders and pleasures of a Harlem in the midst of a second Renaissance. But his odyssey takes a different turn when he meets Kyra, whose world mirrors the one he has abandoned. As he contemplates the choices Kyra has made, and begins to reexamine his own presumptions about identity and authenticity, Mason realizes that everyone has something to hide and that to get what we want, we have to be willing to let go of our secrets. People compared Brian Keith Jackson's remarkable first novel, The View from Here, to the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, and Publishers Weekly called it "an extraordinary debut...[by] a formidable craftsman and exceptionally gifted storyteller." A novel rich in humor and insight, The Queen of Harlem will earn Jackson a much—deserved place in the center of today’s literary landscape.
This book tells three overlapping stories: first, the life story of Rev. Cho Chi Song, a pioneer of urban and industrial missions, which served Korean society's working population; second, the Urban Industrial Mission (UIM) in Korea, which Cho Chi Song pioneered; and third, the story of how UIM provided the roots for Korean Minjung Theology. Owing to Cho Chi Song, UIM became the birthplace of missions for the working population and an enduring haven of a worker's right to life and dignity. Cho shared both tears and laughter with workers. At times moved by righteous anger, he worked to bring "healing to a sick society." Cho stands out in the history of industrial missions in that he trained and empowered a handful of ordained clergy as well as some dispossessed people to be agents of transformation. He helped working women take ownership of the Urban Industrial Mission and act as the very agents whose struggles for justice brought conviction to greedy business owners. They became potent catalysts for change in the unjust working conditions that were previously marked by very low wages and long working hours. A disciplined leader, Cho Chi Song was a constant friend to workers. Those who knew him personally could sense, in his life, a genuine depth of spirituality and godliness. UIM was one of the roots for Minjung Theology, but it is not well known outside of the UIM circle. The author, Seo Deok-Seok, was trained by Cho Chi Song.
The One Year Alive Devotions for Students helps students focus on God's Word with powerful, true-to-life illustrations from daily life in both high school and college settings. In our media-saturated culture, in which students are bombarded with all types of distractions, The One Year Alive Devotions for Students will change how they think about God and their world.
Thoroughly updated and revised—with half of the chapters new to the second edition—Missiology equips the reader with a vast resource on contemporary missions. This graduate-level introduction is divided into five sections (Introduction to the Study of Missiology, Biblical Basis of Missions, Theology of Missions, and Applied Missiology) and offers essays on modern missions issues and methods such as contextualization, spiritual warfare, and orality, as well as chapters on major world religions and cults in North America. A retired missionary and long-time professor of missions, editor John Mark Terry enlists a wide range of evangelical authors, most with significant experience in international or North American missions. Pastors will find helpful information on church planting in North America and on developing a missions-minded church. Students will benefit from the chapters on understanding the call to missions and the current status of world evangelization. All readers will profit from a valuable one-volume reference work on missions.
