The Five Signs of a Healthy Christian
The Five Signs of a Healthy Christian

Author: Ronald Ovitt

Publisher:

Published: 2018-06-10

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 9781981080946

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Burned out? Depressed? Anxious? Personal health is on everyone's mind--our emotional health, physical health, and relational health. It is all with good reason. When things are unhealthy, bad things start to happen. But what about the health of our Christian experience? Can it really make a difference? The goal of this book is to lead the reader to investigate their own spiritual health and make adjustments where necessary.What five signs? As far as indicators of spiritual health, there are many that we could have chosen. We chose five that we feel are general indicators that we are spiritually alive. If you keep focused on these five signs of a Healthy Christian, praying over each of them and taking baby steps toward improving where needed, you will find yourself living a healthy Christian life. A Healthy Christian loves Jesus, loves God's Word, is emotionally resilient, is led by the Spirit, and is outwardly focused (on mission with Jesus). This book will help motivate and encourage you in maintaining a deep and meaningful spirituality. Order today and maintain a healthy Christian lifestyle.The author, Ron Ovitt, is a pastor, pastoral counselor, recovery coach and President of Empower Ministry, working with churches to help them build healthy and vibrant congregations. He is the author and creator of: Emotional Relearning(tm): Living with the Fruit of the SpiritWired for Ministry: Activate Passions, Experience, and AbilitiesMoment in the Word: Daily Moments that Feed Your SoulGifted: Understanding My Spiritual GiftsPower Up: Emotional Relearning(tm) Through Bible Verse Affirmations

Truth Plus Love
Truth Plus Love

Author: Matt Brown

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2019-04-23

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0310355257

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Imagine what our world might look like if Christians became known for remarkable love, as well as life-giving truth. The stakes are high and the need is great for Christians to represent Jesus to a watching world. And today, we have more influence than ever before--for better and for worse. We are among the first generations to have access to a global megaphone through social media. But it's not enough to speak truth louder to a noisy culture. To counter the reputation Christians have earned, our love must be just as loud. Ask evangelist Matt Brown, and he will tell you Christians today are facing a crisis of influence. In our rush to speak truth to today's tensions, cultural issues, and trending controversies, it becomes all too easy to focus on proving our points rather than extending God's grace. Conversely, when we seek only to love yet never proclaim a better way, we short-circuit God's plan. Truth Plus Love invites you to rediscover the biblical framework for engaging culture as ambassadors of Christ. Through biblical insight, cultural analysis, and practical principles, Matt Brown outlines how to champion truth without compromise, how to love unconditionally, and ultimately, how to step into this great adventure of representing God to the world. It's hard, it's messy, and it's the unfinished project of a lifetime, yet here we find our great adventure: representing God to a watching world.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

Author: Sarah J. Robinson

Publisher: WaterBrook

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0593193539

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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.

When I Don't Desire God
When I Don't Desire God

Author: John Piper

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1581346522

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Explaining how to become a Christian hedonist, a bestselling author offers guidance on how to find spiritual joy to readers who are unsure of where to seek it.

What Is a Healthy Church?
What Is a Healthy Church?

Author: Mark Dever

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2024-09-26

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1433596636

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Key Traits of a Healthy Church to Develop within the Local Body What is an ideal church, and how can you tell? How does it look different from other churches? More importantly, how does it act differently, especially in society? Many of us aren't sure how to answer those questions, even though we probably have some preconceived ideas. This book answers those questions and many more. Author Mark Dever seeks to help believers recognize the key characteristics of a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a right understanding of the gospel. Dever then calls us to develop those characteristics in our own churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing all members of the church, pastors and laity alike, Dever challenges all believers to do their part in maintaining the local church. Part of the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series, What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help each of us fulfill our God-given roles in the body of Christ. Offers an Ideal Church Model: Encourages pastors and members to implement healthy church qualities within their local body Written by Mark Dever: Pastor, bestselling author, and president of 9Marks From 9Marks: Other titles in the Building Healthy Churches series include Church Discipline; Deacons; and Church Membership Replaces ISBN 978-1-58134-937-5

Decision Making and the Will of God
Decision Making and the Will of God

Author: Garry Friesen

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 2009-10-07

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0307569241

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Does God Have a Perfect Will for Your Life? Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely certain of God’s specific will for your life? In this expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed work, Garry Friesen examines the prevalent view on God’s will today and provides a sound biblical alternative to the traditional teaching of how God guides us. This new edition includes these helpful resources: • Study guide for small groups • Responses to Frequently Asked Questions • Guide to painless Scripture memorization Friesen tackles the very practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, and giving in this fresh and liberating approach to decision making and the will of God. Story Behind the Book Most Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, “How does He guide?” After “putting out a fleece” to decide which college to attend, Garry Friesen began pondering why it was so hard to find God’s will when he had so sincerely sought it. Was he the only one who did not have 100 percent clarity for every decision? Then a new possibility struck—perhaps his understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand HOW God guides.

Am I Really a Christian? (Foreword by Kirk Cameron)
Am I Really a Christian? (Foreword by Kirk Cameron)

Author: Mike McKinley

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2011-06-07

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1433525798

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Jesus divided the world into two groups—those who follow him and those who don't. But what happens when someone thinks he or she is a Christian, but isn't? With his witty, engaging style, Mike McKinley takes readers on a journey of what it means to be a Christian. He asserts that "manipulative evangelism techniques and a poor understanding of the gospel have resulted in an abundance of professing Christians who have no idea what it means to follow Christ." Each chapter title begins with "You're not a Christian [if/when/just because you]..." As he surveys what it means to be Christian, McKinley offers criteria for evaluating one's standing before God. Readers are guided through a series of challenges to reflect, repent, remember, and report to another person. Am I Really a Christian? ends with chapters on salvation and the local church. This unique book is written for nominal or new Christians and can be used in personal or small-group study.

Take Your Church's Pulse
Take Your Church's Pulse

Author: Tim Koster

Publisher: Multiplication Network Ministries

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13:

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Take Your Church's Pulse presents ten vital signs of a healthy church--five key commitments and five key functions. It then introduce you to a church-health diagnostic tool you can apply to your setting. Thousands of pastors and leaders around the world have found this paradigm helpful in organizing the ministry and mission of the local church. This book and the free diagnostic tool it presents are most useful if accompanied by a healthy process of conversations. With such a process, led by the Spirit, this book can help you discern a preferred future for your community of faith. Koster and Wagenveld write: "A healthy community of faith is rooted first of all in the character and nature of God. It understands its mission and purpose in the world and organizes its life and work to be faithful and effective in its context. None of these vital signs stands alone. It is a combination of factors that together make up a faithful and fruitful organism, the living Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no magic in the number ten, but for the teaching purposes it has worked quite well in different cultural contexts in providing ideas and a language for discussing important issues in congregational life and mission." The intended audience for this book is any pastor, leader, or church member who is interest in having healthy conversations with others to strengthen the local church.

True Worshipers
True Worshipers

Author: Bob Kauflin

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1433542331

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Everyone worships. But Jesus tells us that God is seeking a particular kind of worshiper. In True Worshipers, a seasoned pastor and musician guides readers toward a more engaging, transformative, and biblically faithful understanding of the worship God is seeking. True worship is an activity rooted in the grace of the gospel that affects every area of our lives. And while worship is more than just singing, God’s people gathering in his presence to lift their voices in song is an activity that is biblically based, historically rooted, and potentially life-changing. Thoroughly based in Scripture and filled with practical guidance, this book connects Sunday worship to the rest of our lives—helping us live as true worshipers each and every day.

Sacred Pace
Sacred Pace

Author: Terry Looper

Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM

Published: 2019-02-26

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 078522338X

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How do we hear from God and discern His will when it’s time to make big decisions? Terry Looper shares a four-step process for doing just that - a process he has learned and refined over thirty years as a Christian entrepreneur and founder of a multi-billion dollar company. At just thirty-six years old, Terry Looper was a successful Christian businessman who thought he had it all—until managing all he had led to a devastating burnout. Wealthy beyond his wildest dreams but miserable beyond belief, Terry experienced a radical transformation when he discovered how to align himself with God’s will in the years following his crash and burn. Sacred Pace is a four-step process that helps Christians in all walks of life learn how to slow down their decision-making under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sift through their surface desires and sinful patterns in order to receive clear, peace-filled answers from the Lord, gain the confident assurance that God’s answers are His way of fulfilling the true desires he has placed in their hearts, and grow closer to the One who loves them most and knows them best. Sacred Pace is not another example of name-it-and-claim-it materialism in disguise. Instead, it walks Christians through the sometimes-painful process of “dying to self” in their decisions, both big and small, so that they desire God’s will more than their own.