Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you fed up with being broke, busted and disgusted? Are your kids in trouble or is your marriage in shambles? Do you want to be free from every addiction or stronghold? Do you need some peace, love, joy , wisdom, deliverance or healing? Jesus is the answer. He is the "Narrow Gate to Abundant Life". His amazing grace will not leave you in the same mess or misery that He finds you. Sound too good to be true? The Gospel means good news and by faith in His grace we can recieve all that God has provided for us in this life now, and then in heaven with Him for eternity. That is GOOD NEWS!!
A Taste of Grace is an easy-to-read page-turning exploration of God's amazing grace, demonstrated and illustrated by the teachings of Jesus. A Taste of Grace proclaims God's grace as irreconcilably opposed to the core values and beliefs of institutionalized religion and reveals God's grace to be an absurd and foolish sentiment that doesn't add up to the human mind.
"When people describe my lifestyle or family as weird, I find comfort," writes author Craig Groeschel. He then shares a Christ-centered philosophy, on everything from money to scheduling to purity, to help you break out of the normal rut and live according to the rhythms of God’s grace and truth of his word. Normal people are stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Many of their relationships are, at best, strained and, in most cases, just surviving. Even though we live in one of the most prosperous places on earth, normal is still living paycheck to paycheck and never getting ahead. In our oversexed world, lust, premarital sex, guilt, and shame are far more common than purity, virginity, and a healthy married sex life. And when it comes to God, the majority believe in him, but the teachings of scripture rarely make it into their everyday lives. Simply put, normal isn't working. Groeschel’s WEIRD will help you break free from the norm to lead a radically abnormal (and endlessly more fulfilling) life.
"Ehrlich’s insightful self-help guide will resonate with Christians wishing to streamline an overstuffed life."—Publishers Weekly Logically, we all know our purpose in life is not wrapped up in accumulating possessions, wealth, power, and prestige—Jesus is very clear about that—but society tells us otherwise. Christian Minimalism attempts to cut through our assumptions and society’s lies about what life should look like and invites readers into a life that Jesus calls us to live: one lived intentionally, free of physical, spiritual, and emotional clutter. Written by a woman who simplified her own life and practices these principles daily, this book gives readers a fresh perspective on how to live out God’s grace for us in new and exciting ways and live out our faith in a way that is deeply satisfying.
The question of whether and how people who have not had the chance to hear the gospel can be saved goes back to the beginnings of Christian reflection. It has also become a much-debated topic in current theology. In Will Many Be Saved? Ralph Martin focuses primarily on the history of debate and the development of responses to this question within the Roman Catholic Church, but much of Martin's discussion is also relevant to the wider debate happening in many churches around the world. In particular, Martin analyzes the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the document from the Second Vatican Council that directly relates to this question. Contrary to popular opinion, Martin argues that according to this text, the conditions under which people who have not heard the gospel can be saved are very often, in fact, not fulfilled, with strong implications for evangelization.
A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.
At the start of the gay rights movement in 1969, evangelicalism's leading voices cast a vision for gay people who turn to Jesus. It was C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer and John Stott who were among the most respected leaders within theologically orthodox Protestantism. We see with them a positive pastoral approach toward gay people, an approach that viewed homosexuality as a fallen condition experienced by some Christians who needed care more than cure. With the birth and rise of the ex-gay movement, the focus shifted from care to cure. As a result, there are an estimated 700,000 people alive today who underwent conversion therapy in the United States alone. Many of these patients were treated by faith-based, testimony-driven parachurch ministries centered on the ex-gay script. Despite the best of intentions, the movement ended with very troubling results. Yet the ex-gay movement died not because it had the wrong sex ethic. It died because it was founded on a practice that diminished the beauty of the gospel. Yet even after the closure of the ex-gay umbrella organization Exodus International in 2013, the ex-gay script continues to walk about as the undead among us, pressuring people like me to say, "I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. Now I'm just same-sex attracted." For orthodox Christians, the way forward is a path back to where we were forty years ago. It is time again to focus with our Neo-Evangelical fathers on care--not cure--for our non-straight sisters and brothers who are living lives of costly obedience to Jesus. With warmth and humor as well as original research, Still Time to Care will chart the path forward for our churches and ministries in providing care. It will provide guidance for the gay person who hears the gospel and finds themselves smitten by the life-giving call of Jesus. Woven throughout the book will be Richard Lovelace’s 1978 call for a "double repentance" in which gay Christians repent of their homosexual sins and the church repents of its homophobia--putting on display for all the power of the gospel.
We start off this study with the words of Jesus about this narrow gate. They are words the church does not want to hear in this modern age of political correctness. But we really need to consider the implications.”You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” [Matthew 7:13–14 NLT] We must start with the narrowness. Many people are made nervous by this. It is obvious that most pastors and priests are. How can you build a church by telling the people things like this? It is not good to talk about exclusiveness. This is certainly part of the narrowness of the gate. In modern America this is where we get into trouble very quickly from the PC media police.Jesus could not have made it more clear. This aspect of the narrowness is made clear by many things he said. If you are into the words of Jesus typeset in red ink—these are in red. He lays it out boldly—in a way that cannot be ignored.”Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.” [John 10:9 NLT]However, it is obvious to us all that today many local church pastors have trouble saying that Jesus is the gate, the door to the life abundant. It is commonly not preached because the whole approach sounds a bit narrow-minded. But it is much stronger than that. As you will see in this book, many powerful, active church members will find themselves outside with no way to enter heaven. You need to read this book.
We start off this study with the words of Jesus about this narrow gate. They are words the church does not want to hear in this modern age of political correctness. But we really need to consider the implications.”You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” [Matthew 7:13–14 NLT] We must start with the narrowness. Many people are made nervous by this. It is obvious that most pastors and priests are. How can you build a church by telling the people things like this? It is not good to talk about exclusiveness. This is certainly part of the narrowness of the gate. In modern America this is where we get into trouble very quickly from the PC media police.Jesus could not have made it more clear. This aspect of the narrowness is made clear by many things he said. If you are into the words of Jesus typeset in red ink—these are in red. He lays it out boldly—in a way that cannot be ignored.”Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.” [John 10:9 NLT]However, it is obvious to us all that today many local church pastors have trouble saying that Jesus is the gate, the door to the life abundant. It is commonly not preached because the whole approach sounds a bit narrow-minded. But it is much stronger than that. As you will see in this book, many powerful, active church members will find themselves outside with no way to enter heaven. You need to read this book.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13–14) If life is a portal to paradise, then how we get there should be everyone’s concern. Our Christian call is to know, love, and serve God in this world that we may be happy with him in heaven. In our day-to-day lives, this means finding and keeping to the narrow way that Jesus describes as the path to heaven. Fortunately, we have a vast collection of Christian classics to help us on our way, and one of the greatest is Saint Benedict’s Rule. In Enter the Narrow Gate: Saint Benedict’s Steps to Christian Maturity, Susan Muto draws from Saint Benedict’s twelve steps to humility, showing how these steps give us a road map to the narrow way. Rooted in timeless spiritual principles, this book offers guidance and encouragement to find and stay on the narrow path, no matter how attractive the easy road may seem. The choices we make each day have eternal ramifications, and there can be no compromise between the narrow way and the easy road. Ultimately, each of us must face — and answer — this all-important question: Are we willing to enter through the narrow gate and follow the narrow way all the way to heaven? ABOUT THE AUTHOR Susan Muto, Ph.D., is executive director of the Epiphany Association and dean of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality. She holds a doctorate in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Muto has been teaching the literature of ancient, medieval, and modern spirituality for over forty years. She has written more than thirty books, and in 2014 she received the Aggiornamento Award presented by the Catholic Library Association in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the ministry of renewal modeled by Pope St. John XXIII.
