From one of the most daring and sensuous young writers in America, Jesus Saves, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, is a suburban gothic that explores the sources of evil, confronts the dynamic shifts within theology, and traces the consequences of suburban alienation. Set in the modern launch pads of adolescent ritual, the strip malls and duplexes on the back side of suburbia, it’s the story of two girls: Ginger, a troubled minister’s daughter; and Sandy Patrick, who has been abducted from summer camp and now smiles from missing-child posters all over town. Layering the dreamscapes of Alice in Wonderland with the subculture of River’s Edge, Darcey Steinke’s Jesus Saves is an unforgettable passage through the depths of the literary imagination.
Christianity has always been about being saved. But today what Christians need saving from most is the toxic understanding of salvation we've received through bad theology. The loudest voices in Christianity today sound exactly like the religious authorities who crucified Jesus. This is a book for Christians who are troubled by what we've become and who want Jesus to save us from the toxic behaviors and attitudes we've embraced. Each of the 12 chapters proposes an antidote for the toxicity that has infiltrated Christian culture, such as "Worship not Performance, "Temple not Program," and "Solidarity not Sanctimony." Each chapter includes thought-provoking discussion questions, perfect for individual or group study. There are many reasons to lose hope about the state of our world and our church, but Guyton offers one piece of good news: Jesus is saving the world from us, one Christian at a time.
There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers. Jesus Wants to save Christians is a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity. It's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest. It's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from. It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.
You're never too young to turn away from your sins and trust in Jesus. He's calling your young children to trust in him, but it can be difficult to teach the gospel to toddlers. How can you help them know the love of Jesus?
“If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for ‘amount of times having prayed the sinner’s prayer,’ I’m pretty sure I’d be a top contender,” says pastor and author J. D. Greear. He struggled for many years to gain an assurance of salvation and eventually learned he was not alone. “Lack of assurance” is epidemic among evangelical Christians. In Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, J. D. shows that faulty ways of present- ing the gospel are a leading source of the confusion. Our presentations may not be heretical, but they are sometimes misleading. The idea of “asking Jesus into your heart” or “giving your life to Jesus” often gives false assurance to those who are not saved—and keeps those who genuinely are saved from fully embracing that reality. Greear unpacks the doctrine of assurance, showing that salvation is a posture we take to the promise of God in Christ, a posture that begins at a certain point and is maintained for the rest of our lives. He also answers the tough questions about assurance: What exactly is faith? What is repentance? Why are there so many warnings that seem to imply we can lose our salvation? Such issues are handled with respect to the theological rigors they require, but Greear never loses his pastoral sensitivity or a communication technique that makes this message teachable to a wide audience from teens to adults.
Jesus Saves Lexi! The Price One Woman Paid… Behind the velvet of the exotic dancing world comes an astounding memoir unlike any other. Jesus Saves Lexi: If He Can Save Me, He Can Save You is a one woman's personal recollection of lies, truth, racial discrimination and sexual abuse-and of course, her journey from Sexi Lexi to Wilhelmina, the woman of God has called her to be. Key secrets revealed include, but are not limited to: ·The cover up of the murder of exotic dancer Tamera Greene·Personal recounts of being sexually abused by former NFL player Lomas Brown·Invalid commitment to asylums to silence the Jesus Save Lexi testimony·Local and U.S. federal government corruption If you like the New York Time Bestseller, Confession of a Video Vixen of the film Changeling, you'll love Jesus Saves Lexi!About the Author: Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and the surrounding suburbs, Wilhelmina M. Leonard at one point in time was the second highest paid exotic dancer in the state –earning over $10,000 a week. Although the money was great, her life in general was not. Filled with drama, scandal and violence, she longed for so much more. After performing professionally for close to twelve years, she walked away from contracts in Windsor and Niagara Falls to commit her life to Jesus Christ. Today, she spends the majority of her time witnessing to others about the goodness of the Lord and how she went from sinner to saved. Wilhelmina plans to obtain a Bachelor's Degree in Forensic Science with a minor in History. She also wants to obtain a PHD in Apostolic Theology. She has appeared as a feature guest on numerous media outlets, including radio, TV, blog talk radio shows. Her message is clear- if Jesus can resurrect her from all that she has been through, He can do the same for you. www.JesusSavesLexi.com
White-knuckling can never get you where you want to go. But grace can. You already know because you’ve tried: repeated attempts to earn God’s love and approval get you nowhere and leave you exhausted. When performance taints our relationship with him, the Christian life can turn into an unholy hustle. It was never meant to be like this. In Saving the Saved, Pastor Bryan Loritts reveals the astonishing truth that God doesn’t want your spiritual scorekeeping. He simply wants your surrender. The punchline of the gospel of Matthew is just that—a message of grace and performance-free love to do-good, try-harder Jews who thought they had to earn their way into God’s favor. It’s an ancient message, yet it can be a lifeline to us today as we live in a world of performance metrics. Just as Matthew wrote to the Jews in his gospel, we were never meant to flounder under the pressures and anxieties of show Christianity. Make no mistake: we are called to live in obedience, but Jesus wants us to save us from the illusion that our actions can ever earn God’s acceptance of us. In Pastor Bryan’s relevant, uncompromising style, Saving the Saved proclaims the good news that once the pressure is off to perform, we are free to abide. Beyond the man-made rules and the red tape, there is a God who knows you by name. Come and meet him as you’ve never known him before.
"How does Jesus save us by dying on the cross?" One night, as Josh McNall was talking with his young daughter before bedtime, she asked him this seemingly simple question. How would you answer? The fact that "Jesus saves" is perhaps the most basic claim of Christianity. Theologians and scholars refer to the way Jesus saves us as the atonement. the follow-up question—How does he save?—demands the attention not just of theologians but of every Christ follower. How exactly does a brutal and shameful crucifixion bring salvation? Why does the Bible call it good news, and why should we? In How Jesus Saves, McNall—professor and host of the podcast Outpost Theology—answers common questions and resolves misunderstandings that many people have about the atonement. You'll explore questions like: If Jesus conquered death, why doesn't it look like it? How could an innocent person justly pay the penalty for the guilty? Why couldn't God simply forgive apart from the cross? Doesn't following Jesus' sacrificial example actually enable abuse? Through Scripture, story, and real-life applications, McNall addresses this great Christian doctrine with simplicity without sacrificing the nuance it demands. Clear and readable, How Jesus Saves will deepen your faith and commitment as a Christian, giving you the comprehension and confidence you need to explain the atonement not only to your curious loved ones but also to skeptics who might challenge your faith. This book includes reflection questions at the end of each chapter.
