Why do Christians even mature Christians still sin so often? Why doesn't God set us free? We seem to notice more sin in our lives all the time, and we wonder if our progress is a constant disappointment to God. Where is the joy and peace we read about in the Bible? Speaking from her own struggles, Barbara Duguid turns to the writings of John Newton to teach us a theology with a purpose for our failure and guilt one that adjusts our expectations of ourselves. Her empathetic, honest approach lifts our focus from our own performance back to the God who is bigger than our failures and who uses them. Rediscover how God's extravagant grace makes the gospel once again feel like the good news it truly is
This collection of 23 thrilling stories includes the tale of Jeanette Chaffees incredible survival of a midair explosion on TWA Flight 840. You can also read about Don Richardsons remarkable experiences with headhunters, go behind-the-scenes into the amazing life of Elisabeth Elliot, meet NFL player Donnie Dee, and find out what happened to the singer of the Happy Days theme song. What was it like being the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham? What were the last words of Dr. Francis Schaeffer? What troubled Shirley Dobson? Learn about the musical miracle that took fifty years to be revealed. Discover how a nine-year-old orphan helped reform a cannibal tribe, and much more. The book includes over 60 photos, many rare and unpublished. ...full of stories that will inspire and encourage. Jim Dalypresident of Focus on the Family ...a must-read. Les SteckelNFL Coach to two Super Bowls Jeanette is simply another example that God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Richard Stearnspresident of World Vision, U.S. Exciting... inspirational. Praise the Lord for Jeanettes life and testimony. Pat Booneactor and singer Riveting! Couldnt put it down. Wow! Gripping. Various readers
Women of Faith points you to the bedrock of joy: grace. Grace describes things beyond your ability to earn or attain, gifts you can only gratefully receive from a God who lavishes them on you freely. With the same wit and insight that have characterized their previous devotionals such as Joy Breaks and Overjoyed! Patsy Clairmont, Barbara Johnson, Marilyn Meberg, Luci Swindoll, Sheila Walsh, and Thelma Wells shine a spotlight for you on grace. Grace that cleanses your sin. Grace that guides your life. Grace that weathers life's fiercest storms and stamps every cloud with the rainbow of God's promise. Grace to grieve and laugh, give and gain, love and live. Extravagant Grace. Here is a devotional filled with laughter as a rich as the insights are deep. Extravagant Grace celebrates God's liberating power at work in your circumstances, your relationships, your inner being, your marriage, your vocations, in all the things that matter most to you . . . and even in things that seem to be of little consequence. Extravagant Grace will encourage you to look for grace in all of life's seasons, come rains or shine -- and to give it away as freely and joyously as you receive it.
Help implant the heart of giving within a congregation. The daily readings by Bishop Schnase, opens the Scriptures to show the joy and grace of giving. Designed to provide daily Bible readings for four weeks, it leads the reader to explore such questions as “Why do we give,” “Who benefits most from our giving,” and “Where does true contentment come from?” By reading and following this guide to the spiritual discipline of stewardship, church members will experience the joy of serving God with their time, talents, and gifts afresh.
"Rarely do I ever find myself agreeing with everything I read in a book. But Parenting the Wholehearted Child is the book I wish I'd written. Jeannie has given parents a profound gift within its pages." -- Kathie Lee Gifford, actress, singer, playwright, songwriter, and cohost of the Today Show's Fourth Hour Your kids aren't perfect. And you don't have to be either. Are you exhausted from the pressure to be a perfect parent raising perfect children in this imperfect world? Do you ever wonder, "How did these precious children get stuck with a parent like me?" If so, let these grace-drenched pages saturate your heart with God's unfailing love while also equipping you to be a vessel of God's unconditional love to your children. With authenticity, conviction, and a lively sense of humor, Jeannie guides you on a transformative journey into raising wholehearted--not perfect--children, who live from the freedom found in being wholeheartedly loved (and liked!) by God. Parenting the Wholehearted Child equips you with biblical wisdom and practical ideas to teach your children that they are fully accepted by God, not because of anything they do or don’t do but because of everything Jesus has already done for them. Woven throughout the book is the good news that it is God's extravagant grace--not your perfect performance--that transforms the hearts of children.
It’s time to open your eyes to the freeing power of authentic grace—grace that releases us from trying to earn God's favor, grace that enables us to rest in the finished work of Christ, grace that liberates from the tyranny of trying to please others. That's what the theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin did in their own day for the people around them. Time magazine recently dubbed Calvinism as one of the top ten ideas changing the world right now. And yet most of these discussions center on the issue of predestination or on whether particular people agree with the five points of Calvinism. Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones think it's time to rescue the theology of the Reformers from such stale scholasticizing and to declare anew the dangerous and intoxicating joy of the gospel that theyproclaimed. PROOF stands for planned grace, resurrecting grace, outrageous grace, overcoming grace, and forever grace. The authors offer proof of God’s grace upon which people can stand against the attacks of legalism that have led many of God's people to lose sight of the freedom and joy of the gospel. And this proof is intoxicating—it’s like a 200-proof drink that will leave you spiritually staggering at its effect on your life. God’s grace not only declares us “not guilty!” in his presence, it changes our relationship with God—forever.?
For Lisa Velthouse’s whole life, Christianity had been about getting things right. Obeying her parents. Not drinking. Not cursing. Not having premarital sex. Vowing to save her first kiss until she got engaged, even writing a book called . . . well, Saving My First Kiss. (This, it turns out, does not actually help a girl get a date.) Yet after two decades of trying to earn God’s okay, she found her faith was lonely, empty, and unsatisfying. So she turned to more discipline, of course: fasting! By giving up her favorite foods—sweets—Lisa hoped to somehow discover true sweetness and meaning in her relationship with God. Until, one night at a wedding, she denied herself the cake but failed in such a different, unexpected, and world-rocking way that it challenged everything she thought she knew about God and herself. Craving Grace is the true story of a faith dramatically changed: how in one woman’s life God used a bitter heart, a broken promise, and the sweetness of honey to reveal the stunning wonder that is grace.
Beloved Jesuit priest and author of the inspirational bestsellers Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir returns with a call to witness the transformative power of tenderness, rooted in his lifetime of experience counseling gang members in Los Angeles. Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang-intervention program in the world. Now, following his acclaimed bestsellers Tattoos on the Heart, “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times), and Barking to the Choir, deemed “a beautiful and important and soul-transporting book” by Elizabeth Gilbert comes The Whole Language, a book that “filled my cup with hope” (The Jesuit Review). In a community struggling to overcome systemic poverty and violence, The Whole Language shows how those at Homeboy Industries fight despair and remain generous, hopeful, and tender. When Saul was thirteen years old, he killed his abusive stepfather in self-defense; after spending twenty-three years in juvenile and adult jail, he enters the Homeboy Industries training and healing programs and embraces their mission. Declaring, “I’ve decided to grow up to be somebody I always needed as a child,” Saul shows tenderness toward the young men in his former shoes, treating them all like his sons and helping them to find their way. Before coming to Homeboy Industries, a young man named Abel was shot thirty-three times, landing him in a coma for six months followed by a year and a half recuperating in the hospital. He now travels on speaking tours with Boyle and gives guided tours around the Homeboy offices. One day a new trainee joins Abel as a shadow, and Abel recognizes him as the young man who had put him in a coma. “You give good tours,” the trainee tells Abel. They both have embarked on a path to wholeness. Boyle’s moving stories challenge our ideas about God and about people, providing a window into a world filled with fellowship, compassion, and fewer barriers. Bursting with encouragement, humor, and hope, The Whole Language invites us to treat others—and ourselves—with acceptance and tenderness.
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.” Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What’s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it’s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace. Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul—not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it’s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.
Women who want God to be more than superficially in their lives can rise above the world's expectations by becoming housewife theologians finding true meaning and true worship everyday. Great for journaling and for group discussion.
