NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Your playbook to becoming who God created you to be: a man who knows how to fight for what's right. Pastor, bestselling author, husband, and father Craig Groeschel helps you uncover who you really are--a powerful man with the heart of a warrior. With God's help, you'll find strength to fight the battles you know you must win: the ones that determine the state of your heart, the quality of your marriage, and the spiritual health of those you love most. Groeschel examines the life of Samson--a strong man with glaring weaknesses. Like many men, Samson taunted his enemy and rationalized his sins. The good news is God's grace is greater than your worst sin. By looking at Samson's life, you will . . . Learn to defeat the demons that make strong men weak. Tap into a strength you never knew was possible. And become who God made you to be--a man who knows how to fight for what's right. Don't just fight like a man. Fight like a man of God. For God's sake . . . FIGHT! Spanish edition also available, as well as a video study and study guide.
Fighting over the Bible explores the bitter conflicts between main stream Jews and their internal and external opponents, especially between particular Jewish groups such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Qumranites, Samaritans, Rabbanites and Karaites, as well as with Christians and Muslims regarding their interpretations of Jewish Scripture. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is an important sacred text for all branches of the Abrahamic faiths, but it has more often divided than unified them. This volume explores and exemplifies the roots of these interpretive conflicts and controversies and traces the rich exegetical and theological approaches that grew out of them. Focusing on the Jewish sources from the late Second Temple period through the high Middle-Ages, it illustrates how the study of the Bible filled the vacuum left by the Temple’s destruction, and became the foundation of Jewish life throughout its long conflicted history. "This is a rich and engaging volume, one of impressive erudition and sound scholarship. It demonstrates a deep understanding of the history that it seeks to unravel and document. I especially appreciate the attention given to primary sources in their original languages (usually accompanied by English translation) and the balanced and fair-minded handling of controversial issues." - Richard A. Taylor, DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary), in: Voice (2017) "“In this passionate account, Isaac Kalimi crystallizes a decade of personal research into the dynamics that shaped Jewish interpretation of the Tanak from the second century B.C.E. to the sixteenth century C.E. This is a startlingly honest book that profiles the Bible as a source of conflict rather than mutual understanding among the Abrahamic traditions...It will be a fine addition to the libraries of religious studies departments, seminaries, and study groups that are committed to interfaith dialogue." - Michael W. Duggan, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly 81 (2019) “... Each of these chapters carries the overall theme of how the sacred text of the HB has been interpreted and why this has prompted controversy and conflict...The arguments are straightforward and have a clear conclusion at the end of each chapter. The Appendix ‘And What Now?’ gives a strong analysis of how disagreeing factions can reconcile ideas for a more peaceful future and presents a persuasive argument for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Christians in the modern world.” - Jacob Greenhouse, in: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43 (2019)
Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations. Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry. For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them
This book lays out the requirements and difficulties that will come with the pursuit of holiness in our Christian lives. Ryle starts out with the way to achieve holiness and the difficulties that arise with pursuing a holy life, and then going throughout the Bible giving true examples of the cost of holiness and the rewards it brings as the Bible promises us. To often we sing and pray for such a life without being willing to undergo the necessary life changes and adjustments to get there. This book lays out what we can expect in such a journey and what God will ask of each of us to get us to the point He wants us to be.
Draw closer to God and creatively unlock more of the Good Book! Your relationship with God is unique. Shouldn't your Bible reflect and celebrate that bond? In this introduction to Bible journaling, you'll discover meaningful ways to combine art, heart and scripture--from backgrounds to hand-lettered verses to beautiful full-page drawings. No expensive supplies or artistic skills are required...only a desire to honor and enhance your spiritual life. To guide your creative worship experience, this book provides: • Prompts to engage you with the text, then visually interpret Scripture in words and pictures • Basic techniques for working with colored pencils, watercolor pencils and watercolor paints • 21 step-by-step tutorials for drawing trees, flowers, skies, mountains, maps, water, light and other popular themes • Tons of inspirational page samples and suggested verses to illustrate • Downloadable icons and technique videos available on the author's website Whether you're new to Bible journaling or looking for fresh ideas, this book will lead you on a rewarding spiritual journey. Success is not measured in the complexity or polish of the art, but in a deeper, more personal connection with God. "Our lives are busy, and we leave a trail of things-we-should-remember on the ground behind us. Instead, scoop them up and journal them. Preserve the lessons vital to our growth as Christians." ~page 12
In a world of violence, how can Christians live out Jesus' command to "love our enemies"? New York Times bestselling author Preston Sprinkle challenges us to consider a biblical response to violence.
God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 This book is a cry from the heart of John Piper. He is pleading that God himself, as revealed in Christ's death and resurrection, is the ultimate and greatest gift of the gospel. None of Christ's gospel deeds and none of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. Forgiveness is good news because it opens the way to the enjoyment of God himself. Justification is good news because it wins access to the presence and pleasures of God himself. Eternal life is good news because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Christ. All God's gifts are loving only to the degree that they lead us to God himself. That is what God's love is: his commitment to do everything necessary (most painfully the death of his only Son) to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying-namely, himself. Saturated with Scripture, centered on the cross, and seriously joyful, this book leads us to satisfaction for the deep hungers of the soul. It touches us at the root of life where practical transformation gets its daily power. It awakens our longing for Christ and opens our eyes to his beauty. Piper writes for the soul-thirsty who have turned away empty and in desperation from the mirage of methodology. He invites us to slow down and drink from a deeper spring. "This is eternal life," Jesus said, "that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This is what makes the gospel-and this book-good news.
The first of its kind, this collection offers a constructive response to the question of holy war and Christian morality from an interdisciplinary perspective. By combining biblical, ethical, philosophical and theological insights, the contributors offer a composite image of divine redemption that promises to take the discussion to another level.
Pastor John Piper shows how to sever the clinging roots of sin that ensnare us, including anxiety, pride, shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust in Battling Unbelief. When faith flickers, stoke the fire. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it offers some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us, until we believe that God is more desirable than life itself (Psalm 63:3). Only the power of God’s superior promises in the gospel can emancipate our hearts from servitude to the shallow promises and fleeting pleasures of sin. Delighting in the bounty of God’s glorious gospel promises will free us for a less sin-encumbered life, to the glory of Christ. Rooted in solid biblical reflection, this book aims to help guide you through the battles to the joys of victory by the power of the gospel and its superior pleasure.
Is religion inherently violent? If not, what provokes violence in the name of religion? Do we mischaracterize religion by focusing too much on its violent side?In this intriguing, original study of religious violence, Prof. Hector Avalos offers a new theory for the role of religion in violent conflicts. Starting with the premise that most violence is the result of real or perceived scare resources, Avalos persuasively argues that religion creates new scarcities on the basis of unverifiable or illusory criteria. Through a careful analysis of the fundamental texts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, Dr. Avalos explains how four scarce resources have figured repeatedly in creating religious violence: sacred space (e.g., the perception by three world religions that Jerusalem is sacred); the creation of holy scriptures (believed to be privileged revelations of God's will); group privilege (stemming from such beliefs as a chosen people or predestination, which also creates a group of outsiders); and salvation (by which concept some are accepted and others rejected). Thus, Avalos shows, religious violence is often the most unnecessary violence of all since the scarce resources over which religious conflicts ensue are not actually scare or need not be scarce.Comparing violence in religious and nonreligious contexts, Avalos makes the compelling argument that if we condemn violence caused by scarce resources as morally objectionable, then we must consider even more objectionable violence provoked by alleged scarcities that cannot be proven to exist. He also examines the Nazi Holocaust and the Stalinist Terror, which have been attributed to the pernicious effects of atheism or secular humanism. By contrast, Avalos pinpoints underlying religious factors as the cause of these horrific instances of genocidal violence.This serious philosophical examination of the roots of religious violence adds much to our understanding of a perennial source of widespread human suffering.Hector Avalos (Ames, IA) is associate professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University, the author of five books on biblical studies and religion, the former editor of the Journal for the Critical Study of Religion, and executive director of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion.
