Without the revelation knowledge of God, there would be no foundation for truth. God therefore reveals to us that which is pertinent; so that our understanding, and our relationship with Him can be correct: without controversy and contempt. We build upon the revelation of truth, and stand on the Word of God; so that when He appears, we shall look just like Him. My prayer is that God encourages you and strengthen you, through the keeping power of the Holy Spirit. The Twelve Fruits of the Tree of Life is God’s provision for the believer, the child of God. Reading is fuel for the mind. Food is fuel for the body. The Word of God is fuel for the soul. You are what you eat. Each fruit has it’s own texture, taste and quality: but all provide the nourishment necessary for the growth of maturity in Him. Fast Foods, convenient foods, and junk foods can never take the place of a good home cooked meal. What God has ‘cooked-up’ for us not only will sustain us, but will also heal the wounds and scars left behind of our past. Amazing are the benefits when we eat right. This book is designed to allow us to absorb the goodness of God’s provision through correct eating-not of natural foods, but of spiritual (“...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”). So let us eat to live, and grow in the knowledge of grace, peace and the power of the Holy Ghost. Ernest C. Watson, Jr.—Ordained Preacher of the Gospel of Christ
Without the revelation knowledge of God, there would be no foundation for truth. God therefore reveals to us that which is pertinent; so that our understanding, and our relationship with Him can be correct: without controversy and contempt. We build upon the revelation of truth, and stand on the Word of God; so that when He appears, we shall look just like Him. My prayer is that God encourages you and strengthen you, through the keeping power of the Holy Spirit. The Twelve Fruits of the Tree of Life is God's provision for the believer, the child of God. Reading is fuel for the mind. Food is fuel for the body. The Word of God is fuel for the soul. You are what you eat. Each fruit has it's own texture, taste and quality: but all provide the nourishment necessary for the growth of maturity in Him. Fast Foods, convenient foods, and junk foods can never take the place of a good home cooked meal. What God has 'cooked-up' for us not only will sustain us, but will also heal the wounds and scars left behind of our past. Amazing are the benefits when we eat right. This book is designed to allow us to absorb the goodness of God's provision through correct eating-not of natural foods, but of spiritual ("...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God"). So let us eat to live, and grow in the knowledge of grace, peace and the power of the Holy Ghost. Ernest C. Watson, Jr.-Ordained Preacher of the Gospel of Christ
This groundbreaking walk through Scripture by former physician and carpenter Dr. Matthew Sleeth makes the convincing case that trees reveal more about God and faith than you ever imagined. “Christians looking to reconnect to the natural world will relish Sleeth’s passionate call to Christian stewardship of the Earth.”—Publishers Weekly Fifteen years ago, Matthew Sleeth believed that science and logic held the answers to everything. But when tragedy struck, he opened the Bible for the first time and was surprised to find that God chose to tell the gospel story through a trail of trees. There’s a tree on the first page of Genesis, in the first psalm, on the first page of the New Testament, and on the last page of Revelation. The Bible’s wisdom is referred to as a tree of life. Every major biblical character and every major theological event has a tree marking the spot. A tree was the only thing that could kill Jesus—and the only thing Jesus ever harmed. Reforesting Faith is the rare book that builds bridges by connecting those who love the Creator with creation and those who love creation with the Creator. Join Dr. Sleeth as he explores the wonders of life, death, and rebirth through the trail of trees in Scripture. Once you discover the hidden language of trees, your walk through the woods—and through Scripture—will never be the same.
If You Love God's Word You Will Love This New Testament! The Disciples' Literal New Testament sets you free from our artificial 460 year old chapter and verse structure, replacing it with paragraphing that reflects the flow of thought in the original Greek writings. Paragraph headings make that flow of thought explicit to you, speeding your understanding of the NT books. This translation retains the writing style of the apostles themselves, rather than transforming their Greek ways of writing into an elegant or contemporary English writing style, as has been beautifully done so many times. It is the same translation as the author's New Testament TransLine, first published by Zondervan in 2002. Now you can read the New Testament as the original writers intended it, and see it with a clarity formerly available only to those who could carefully study their Greek New Testament. You can even see the difference in writing style between Matthew, Mark and Luke! Used along with your standard Bible version, you will profit from both methods of translation. *Easily grasp the relationship of the whole and the parts of each book with the big-picture overview outlines that use the words of the original author. *Gain quick insight into the flow of thought from descriptive paragraph headings that summarize the main point of each paragraph in its context. *You can visually follow the apostles' thinking because the 'Intelligent Paragraphing' visually displays their main and subordinate thoughts. *The hindrance to your understanding caused by our artificial chapter and verse structure is eliminated by paragraphing based on the Greek writings. *You will more fully appreciate the minds and thinking patterns and intent of the original writers because the translation corresponds more closely to their words and their grammar and their sentence structure. *Deepen and expand your understanding of the New Testament by meditating on the notes containing alternative renderings, explanations of what is being said, and different views of the meaning.
The book of Revelation firstly reveals Christ (1:1), and secondly the testimony of Jesus (1:2). In other words, this book is concerned with Christ and the church. In Revelation, Christ and the church are revealed in a unique and particular way. Several aspects of Christ, such as the vision of Him as the High Priest in the midst of the churches, caring for them in love yet with a judging attitude (1:13-16), the vision of Him as the Lion-Lamb in the midst of God’s throne, and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the 24 elders of the universe opening the seven seals of God’s universal administration (5:1-6:1), and the vision of Him as Another Mighty Angel coming down from heaven to take possession of the earth (10:1-8; 18:1) have never been unveiled as they are in the book of Revelation. In this book, the revelation of Christ is unique and ultimate. In addition to this ultimate revelation of Christ, the book of Revelation also unveils many unique aspects of the church as the testimony of Jesus. The lampstands in chapter one, the great multitude of the redeemed in chapter seven, the bright woman with her man-child in chapter 12, the harvest with its firstfruits in chapter 14, the overcomers on the sea of glass in chapter 15, the bride ready for marriage and the fighting army of Christ in chapter 19, and the New Jerusalem in chapters 21 and 22 are all the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit - the substance, the disposition, and the characteristic - of the prophecy in this book (19:10). The central content of this book is an unveiling of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church, presenting the ultimate and consummate revelation of Christ with His full salvation and the church as His loving bride, the New Jerusalem. In this book, we find the full and adequate conclusion, not only to the writings of John and to the New Testament, but also to the entire divine revelation.
The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.
A profound exploration of how to hold on to hope when our unchanging faith collides with a changing culture, from two respected Christian storytellers and thought leaders. “Offers neither spin control nor image maintenance for the evangelical tribe, but genuine hope.”—Russell Moore, president of ERLC As the pressures of health warnings, economic turmoil, and partisan politics continue to rise, the influence of gospel-focused Christians seems to be waning. In the public square and popular opinion, we are losing our voice right when it’s needed most for Christ’s glory and the common good. But there’s another story unfolding too—if you know where to look. In Gospelbound, Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra counter these growing fears with a robust message of resolute hope for anyone hungry for good news. Join them in exploring profound stories of Christians who are quietly changing the world in the name of Jesus—from the wild world of digital media to the stories of ancient saints and unsung contemporary activists on the frontiers of justice and mercy. Discover how, in these dark times, the light of Jesus shines even brighter. You haven’t heard the whole story. And that’s good news.
Imagine that you could really understand the Bible...that you could read, analyze, and discuss the book of Genesis not as a compositional mystery, a cultural relic, or a linguistic puzzle palace, or even as religious doctrine, but as a philosophical classic, precisely in the same way that a truth-seeking reader would study Plato or Nietzsche. Imagine that you could be led in your study by one of America's preeminent intellectuals and that he would help you to an understanding of the book that is deeper than you'd ever dreamed possible, that he would reveal line by line, verse by verse the incredible riches of this illuminating text -- one of the very few that actually deserve to be called seminal. Imagine that you could get, from Genesis, the beginning of wisdom. The Beginning of Wisdom is a hugely learned book that, like Genesis itself, falls naturally into two sections. The first shows how the universal history described in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, from creation to the tower of Babel, conveys, in the words of Leon Kass, "a coherent anthropology" -- a general teaching about human nature -- that "rivals anything produced by the great philosophers." Serving also as a mirror for the reader's self-discovery, these stories offer profound insights into the problematic character of human reason, speech, freedom, sexual desire, the love of the beautiful, pride, shame, anger, guilt, and death. Something as seemingly innocuous as the monotonous recounting of the ten generations from Adam to Noah yields a powerful lesson in the way in which humanity encounters its own mortality. In the story of the tower of Babel are deep understandings of the ambiguous power of speech, reason, and the arts; the hazards of unity and aloneness; the meaning of the city and its quest for self-sufficiency; and man's desire for fame, immortality, and apotheosis -- and the disasters these necessarily cause. Against this background of human failure, Part Two of The Beginning of Wisdom explores the struggles to launch a new human way, informed by the special Abrahamic covenant with the divine, that might address the problems and avoid the disasters of humankind's natural propensities. Close, eloquent, and brilliant readings of the lives and educations of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons reveal eternal wisdom about marriage, parenting, brotherhood, education, justice, political and moral leadership, and of course the ultimate question: How to live a good life? Connecting the two "parts" is the book's overarching philosophical and pedagogical structure: how understanding the dangers and accepting the limits of human powers can open the door to a superior way of life, not only for a solitary man of virtue but for an entire community -- a life devoted to righteousness and holiness. This extraordinary book finally shows Genesis as a coherent whole, beginning with the creation of the natural world and ending with the creation of a nation that hearkens to the awe-inspiring summons to godliness. A unique and ambitious commentary, a remarkably readable literary exegesis and philosophical companion, The Beginning of Wisdom is one of the most important books in decades on perhaps the most important -- and surely the most frequently read -- book of all time.
