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.
Powerful reflections on faith and doubt by a leading contemporary evangelist. Fleming Rutledgebs first book, "The Bible and the New York Times, has been hailed for its up-to-the-minute relevance to contemporary life. With this new volume Rutledge speaks directly to readers who are plagued by doubts and uncertainties about Christian faith. Among the host of challenging questions she addresses are: Doesnbt everyone have their own idea of God? What if Ibm not very religious? Can we still believe in the Resurrection today? Rutledgebs approach has been described as a combination of pastoral warmth and intellectual fearlessness. She aligns herself with the struggling questioner as she faces the most penetrating theological challenges of our day. At the same time, she entrusts herself as a preacher in this new millennium to the explosive force of Godbs Word. Duke University chaplain William H. Willimon, in choosing one word to characterize her, selected bbiblical.b Provocative, learned, and displaying the elegance of expression for which Rutledge is well known, "Help My Unbelief offers satisfying answers for those struggling with faith and doubt in our modern world.
This gripping memoir about what it means to face uncertainty details the plans Janine had for her family and her life that were gutted by her then 10-year-old son Mason’s diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor, only to be followed by her own cancer diagnosis. All Janine Urbaniak Reid ever wanted was for everyone she loved to be okay so she might relax and maybe be happy. Her life strategy was simple: do everything right. This included trying to be the perfect mother to her three kids so they would never experience the kind of pain she pretended not to feel growing up. What she didn’t expect was the chaos of an out-of-control life that begins when her young son’s hand begins to shake and he is diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 10. This moving memoir is the story of Janine’s reluctant journey beyond easy answers and platitudes. She searches for a source of strength bigger than her circumstances, only to have her circumstances become even thornier when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Drawn deeply and against her will into herself, she discovers hidden reserves of strength, humor, and a no-matter-what faith that looks nothing like she thought it would. The Opposite of Certainty is: Brilliant, breathtakingly honest, and sometimes very funny account of marriage, motherhood, and the unfathomable salvation we find in God An unvarnished look at defying the gravity of challenging life circumstances The recognition that anyone can tap a source of strength inside themselves to walk through the impossible Beautifully written and deeply hopeful, Janine shows us how we can come through impossible times transformed and yet more ourselves than we’ve ever allowed ourselves to be.
John Young provides a defence of the Christian faith for atheists, agnostics, enquirers and Christians. It answers the questions - what keeps people in the Church and is Christianity worth investigating?
A Study Guide and a Teacher’s Manual Gospel Principles was written both as a personal study guide and as a teacher’s manual. As you study it, seeking the Spirit of the Lord, you can grow in your understanding and testimony of God the Father, Jesus Christand His Atonement, and the Restoration of the gospel. You can find answers to life’s questions, gain an assurance of your purpose and self-worth, and face personal and family challenges with faith.
Concentrate on the biblical author’s message as it unfolds. Designed to assist the pastor and Bible teacher in conveying the significance of God’s Word, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series treats the literary context and structure of every passage of the New Testament book in the original Greek. With a unique layout designed to help you comprehend the form and flow of each passage, the ZECNT unpacks: The key message. The author’s original translation. An exegetical outline. Verse-by-verse commentary. Theology in application. While primarily designed for those with a basic knowledge of biblical Greek, all who strive to understand and teach the New Testament will benefit from the depth, format, and scholarship of these volumes.
“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.
God can do anything, but did you know He has already done everything? Instead of asking the Lord to do something for you - revive you, heal you, bless you, prosper you - accept what He has already done for you through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has left you precious promises in His Word and those promises belong to...
Over 2 million readers around the world have had their spiritual lives enriched and their understanding of God's Word expanded by The MacArthur Study Bible. Drawing on more than fifty years of dedicated pastoral and scholarly work, Dr. John MacArthur's verse-by-verse study notes, book introductions, and articles display an unparalleled commitment to interpretive precision--with the goal of making God known through His Word. The MacArthur Study Bible is available in the New King James Version (NKJV). Trusted by millions of believers around the world, the NKJV remains the bestselling modern "word-for-word" translation. It balances the literary beauty and familiarity of the King James tradition with an extraordinary commitment to preserving the grammar and structure of the underlying biblical languages. And while the translator's relied on the traditional Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic text used by the translators of the 1611 KJV, the comprehensive translator notes offer important insights about the latest developments in biblical manuscript studies. The result is a Bible translation that is both beautiful and uncompromising--perfect for serious study, devotional use, and reading aloud. Features include: Fully redesigned second edition with updated study notes and expanded selection of maps and charts Nearly 25,000 verse-by-verse study notes 190 in-text maps, charts, and diagrams that illustrate the meanings, themes, teachings, people, and places of Scripture Outline of Systematic Theology Thomas Nelson's complete cross-reference system, with over 72,000 references Concordance Bible reading plans Chronology of Old Testament Patriarchs and Judges Chronology of Old Testament Kings and Prophets Chronology of the New Testament Overviews of Christ's Life, Ministry, and Passion Week Harmony of the Gospels Introductions to each major section of Scripture Index to Key Bible Doctrines Clear and readable Thomas Nelson NKJV Comfort Print(R) typeface