Irresistible
Irresistible

Author: Andy Stanley

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0310536995

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fresh look at the earliest Christian movement reveals what made the new faith so compelling...and what we need to change today to make it so again. Once upon a time there was a version of the Christian faith that was practically irresistible. After all, what could be more so than the gospel that Jesus ushered in? Why, then, isn't it the same with Christianity today? Author and pastor Andy Stanley is deeply concerned with the present-day church and its future. He believes that many of the solutions to our issues can be found by investigating our roots. In Irresistible, Andy chronicles what made the early Jesus Movement so compelling, resilient, and irresistible by answering these questions: What did first-century Christians know that we don't—about God's Word, about their lives, about love? What did they do that we're not doing? What makes Christianity so resistible in today's culture? What needs to change in order to repeat the growth our faith had at its beginning? Many people who leave or disparage the faith cite reasons that have less to do with Jesus than with the conduct of his followers. It's time to hit pause and consider the faith modeled by our first-century brothers and sisters who had no official Bible, no status, and little chance of survival. It's time to embrace the version of faith that initiated—against all human odds—a chain of events resulting in the most significant and extensive cultural transformation the world has ever seen. This is a version of Christianity we must remember and re-embrace if we want to be salt and light in an increasingly savorless and dark world.

Ancient Jewish-Christian Dialogues
Ancient Jewish-Christian Dialogues

Author: William Varner

Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This work provides the texts and translations of three ancient Jewish-Christian dialogues: The Dialogue of Athanasius and Zacchaeus (Greek, 4th c.); The Dialogue of Simon and Theophilus (Latin, 5th c.); and The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila (Greek, 6th c.). This is the first published translation of each of these texts.

On the Trinity
On the Trinity

Author: Saint Augustine of Hippo

Publisher: Aeterna Press

Published:

Total Pages: 630

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Aeterna Press

The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission
The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission

Author: John Dickson

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2010-06-08

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0310572029

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book comes out of years of reflection, failures, and some successes in the task of reaching out to others with the gospel. Many Christians think of the task of mission as an entirely verbal activity, when perhaps the best kept secret of New Testament teaching about mission is that it involves a whole range of activities that explicitly promote Christ to the world and draw others to him, and only a few of them involve speaking. Without diminishing or downplaying the importance of speaking the gospel, John Dickson shows that, on the other hand, downplaying the range of activities that promote Christ to the world has its own set of problems. It can make those who are not confident about speaking—of anything, let alone Jesus—feel inadequate and self-conscious in the task of reaching out to others. Equally, it can make those who do have a flair for speaking feel as though they are fulfilling Christ’s mission just by talking. But the reality is that the Lord wants our whole life, not just our lips, in the task of bringing the gospel to the world. Every facet of our lives can be used by God to promote the news of his power and mercy. In this practical guide to the biblical art of sharing your faith, John Dickson offers refreshing insight into the ways that all Christians can and should be involved in spreading the good news of Jesus. While not all Christians are called and gifted to become evangelists, we are all called to promote the gospel through a wide range of activities—prayer, financial partnership, good deeds, godly lives, public worship, daily conversation, etc.—with and without our lips. As readers engage with this book, grapple with its arguments and hear the stories of people coming to faith, they will be inspired to see the whole of life as significant for bringing the gospel to the world, and they will be liberated out of guilt and self-consciousness in evangelism into becoming perfectly natural promoters of Jesus Christ.

Dating the Old Testament
Dating the Old Testament

Author: Craig Davis

Publisher: Craig Davis

Published: 2007-04

Total Pages: 631

ISBN-13: 0979506204

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Dating the Old Testament addresses the subject of when the books of the Bible were written. It explains why the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy are a literary unity, and how the Egyptian background for these books support a date of writing during the exodus generation. It provides a detailed critique of the Documentary Hypothesis, the theory that Genesis through Joshua were created from four different sources usually labelled J, E, D, and P. It provides extensive evidence that all of Isaiah was written by Isaiah himself, and shows why Isaiah may have had a role in the collection and publication of other Old Testament books. It describes why the book of Daniel should be considered a product of the early Persian era and not the much later Maccabean period. The book contains a discussion of how the Hebrew language changed during the Old Testament era, and how this can be used to help date the books of the Old Testament.

The Patient Ferment of the Early Church
The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

Author: Alan Kreider

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2016-03-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1493400339

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.

Early Christian Writings
Early Christian Writings

Author:

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 1987-04-30

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0141915307

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.