Gospel Community
Gospel Community

Author: Neal Ledbetter

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2023-06-20

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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Do you long for genuine relationships where you can know others and be known by them? Do you desire more than just gathering in the same space with others without any real connection? Yet, simultaneously, do you find yourself occasionally pushing back when someone gets too close? Why do you think you have that longing, and why do you think deep-abiding relationships are such a struggle to find and maintain? In this book, Pastor Neal Ledbetter makes the case that the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us answers. In the gospel, we are offered the endless treasure of Jesus and the never-ending, overflowing supply of treasures found in him. One of the rare jewels that comes with a new identity in Christ is a new gospel community, kingdom-family, and people to which we belong and in which we can know and be known. Paul calls it our inheritance in the saints (Eph 1:18), our citizenship with the saints, and our membership among the household of God (Eph 2:19–22). This new gospel community and kingdom-family is simply too important and too wonderful a treasure to ignore, avoid, or treat as unnecessary, unimportant, or secondary to our lives. This study will explore the extraordinary gift we have been given in gospel community. We’ll see how the gospel transforms us individually and simultaneously forms us into a new people. We’ll survey how we are intended to live together and the only sustaining motive and power for doing so. And finally, we’ll examine several characteristics necessary to experience the rare jewel of gospel community.

Counterfeit Gospels
Counterfeit Gospels

Author: Trevin Wax

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 080247781X

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What if the biggest danger to the church of Jesus Christ is not blatant heresy, the moral failures of church leaders, persecution, the rise of Islam or the loss of our rights? What if the biggest threat is counterfeit gospels within the church, ways of thinking and speaking about the good news that lead to a gradual drift from the truth of Scripture? The gospel is like a three-legged stool. There’s the Gospel Story – the grand narrative of Scripture (Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration). Within that overarching framework, we make the Gospel Announcement about Jesus Christ (His perfect life, substitutionary death, resurrection, exaltation). The gospel announcement then births the Gospel Community: God’s church – the embodiment of the gospel, the manifestation of God’s kingdom. A counterfeit gospel is like a colony of termites, eating away at one of the legs of this stool until the whole thing topples over. This book exposes six common counterfeits (Therapeutic, Judgmentless, Moralist, Quietist, Activist, and Churchless) that would get us off track. The goal of Counterfeit Gospels is to so deepen our love for the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ that we would easily see through the many counterfeits that leave us impoverished. So come, love the gospel, recognize and overcome the counterfeits, and be empowered for ministry!

Life in Community
Life in Community

Author: Dustin Willis

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2015-07-16

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0802492568

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WHAT MAKES A COMMUNITY EXTRAORDINARY? When people live in community moved by the gospel and marked by the Spirit, great things happen. They commit to one another. They grieve together, sing together, eat, pray, and play together. They love, serve, honor, encourage, and provide for each other gladly. And they live on mission together. Hearts are healed, walls come down, and outsiders come in. No competition. No pretense. No vain conceit. Just full hearts breaking bread and giving freely. It is nothing short of amazing. Most of us live in a shadow of what God intended for us. Life in Community calls us into the light. Reclaiming Scripture’s stunning vision of gospel-centered community, it inspires us to live in love unbounded. Read it, live it, and join the movement: Help unleash the power of extraordinary community. 6-Week group study included.

Community
Community

Author: Brad House

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2011-09-07

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1433523175

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Community within the church today is hemorrhaging. Attention spans are dwindling, noise levels are increasing, and we can't seem to find time for real relationships. The answer to such social fragmentation can be found in small groups, and yet the majority of small groups—at least in the traditional sense—are often not the intentional, transformational community we really want and need. Somehow we need to get our groups off life support and into authentic community. Pastor Brad House helps us to re-imagine what gospel-centered community looks like and shares from his experience leading and reproducing healthy small groups. With wisdom and candor, House challenges us to think carefully about our own groups and to take steps toward cultivating communities that are able to glorify Jesus, bless one another, and participate in the mission of God.

The Compelling Community
The Compelling Community

Author: Mark Dever

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2015-04-16

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1433543575

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The local church is meant to embody the vibrant diversity of the global church, transcending racial, cultural, and economic boundaries. Yet local churches too often simply reflect the same societal divisions prevalent in our world today—making them more akin to social clubs filled with like-minded people than the supernatural community the New Testament prescribes. Pastors Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop argue that authentic fellowship is made up of two crucial ingredients: commitment (depth) and diversity (breadth). Theologically rooted yet extremely practical, this book sets forth basic principles that will help pastors guide their churches toward the compelling community that we all long for.

The Gospel-Centered Community
The Gospel-Centered Community

Author: Robert H. Thune

Publisher: New Growth Press

Published: 2016-04-30

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1942572956

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We don't want to be alone. We want to love and be loved; and we know that genuine relationships make our lives rich. But somehow living in community always ends up being harder than we thought. This nine-lesson small group study helps participants learn how the Spirit shapes diverse people into a Christ-centered community that reflects Jesus ...

A Community Called Atonement
A Community Called Atonement

Author: Scot McKnight

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2010-03-01

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1426713355

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Over the centuries the church developed a number of metaphors, such as penal substitution or the ransom theory, to speak about Christ's death on the cross and the theological concept of the atonement. Yet too often, says Scot McKnight, Christians have held to the supremacy of one metaphor over against the others, to their detriment. He argues instead that to plumb the rich theological depths of the atonement, we must consider all the metaphors of atonement and ask whether they each serve a larger purpose. A Community Called Atonement is a constructive theology that not only values the church's atonement metaphors but also asserts that the atonement fundamentally shapes the life of the Christian and of the church. That is, Christ identifies with humans to call us into a community that reflects God's love (the church)--but that community then has the responsibility to offer God's love to others through missional practices of justice and fellowship, living out its life together as the story of God's reconciliation. Scot McKnight thus offers an accessible, thought-provoking theology of atonement that engages the concerns of those in the emerging church conversation and will be of interest to all those in the church and academy who are listening in.

Christ and Community
Christ and Community

Author: Suzanne Watts Henderson

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 9781426793080

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You are the Christ; we are your church. Christ and Community: The Gospel Witness to Jesus casts new light on how Jesus's followers sought to faithfully live into the reign of God as recorded in the Gospels. Dr. Henderson traces the contours of Jesus's messiahship found in the four Gospels, but rather than taking each Gospel in turn, she works thematically, treating different aspects of Jesus's mission and identity found across the four accounts. Rather than assuming Jesus's exclusive status, the author exposes Gospel evidence for the clear communal implications of his messiahship. It turns out that the Gospels do more than simply affirm that Jesus is the Christ; they cast a vision of messianic community for those who would call him Lord, in the first century and beyond. This accessible introduction offers a case for Christ and community that answers perplexing questions that have long plagued NT study. "Christ and Community: The Gospel Witness to Jesus, by Suzanne Watts Henderson. One approach to understanding the Gospels as scripture is to consider their functions--specifically, how these writings describe and reinforce essential connections between Jesus' followers and their Lord. Written as an introductory textbook, Christ and Community can help even seasoned exegetes grasp the means by which the Gospels' stories depict Jesus' work and identity in ways that equip Christian communities to make sense of their own work and identity." The Christian Century - Oct 07, 2015

Gospel Fluency
Gospel Fluency

Author: Jeff Vanderstelt

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2017-02-14

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 143354606X

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flu·en·cy / noun :the ability to speak a language easily and effectively Even if they want to, many Christians find it hard to talk to others about Jesus. Is it possible this difficulty is because we're trying to speak a language we haven't actually spent time practicing? To become fluent in a new language, you must immerse yourself in it until you actually start to think about life through it. Becoming fluent in the gospel happens the same way—after believing it, we have to intentionally rehearse it (to ourselves and to others) and immerse ourselves in its truths. Only then will we start to see how everything in our lives, from the mundane to the magnificent, is transformed by the hope of the gospel.