Targeted to thoughtful readers, this book addresses a cluster of issues often troubling for the person who seeks to understand the Old Testament. Who's Afraid of the Old Testament God? speaks very frankly about some of these "problems," things like sin and the fall, Satan, "moral blemish" passages, strange laws, etc.
The Old Testament God generally has a rather poor reputation, even in Christian circles. But as the author points out, The Old Testament Scriptures can remain alive and will lead us to a fresh appreciation of all that God has done for us. Targeted to thoughtful readers, this book addresses a cluster of issues often troubling for the person who seeks to understand the Old Testament. Who's Afraid of the Old Testament God? speaks very frankly about some of these "problems," things like sin and the fall, Satan, "moral blemish" passages, strange laws, etc. The chapter titles follow: Don't let your New Testament get in the way of your Old Testament Behold it was very good and then it all turned sour Whatever happened to Satan in the Old Testament Strange people need strange laws Could you invite a Canaanite home to lunch? The worst story in the Old Testament - Judges 19-21 The best story in the Old Testament - the Messiah What kind of prayers would you publish if you were God? This new, fifth edition leaves the text unchanged, but has larger type and wider margins.
Who's Afraid of the Judgment? by Roy Gane, takes a fresh look at the book of Daniel and shows how God's character is vindicated in the judgment. It also shows the relationship between the gospel and the judgment, what difference the judgment makes in our lives as Christians, and answers many objections being raised today over 1844 and the "little horn."
While not endorsing what they consider to be the excesses of Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement, and the Third Wave, Sawyer and Wallace have embraced what they have tentatively called pneumatic Christianity. They contend that the way much of evangelical cessationism has developed is reactionary and reductionistic. Rather than focus upon scriptural images of the Holy Spirit as a presence deep within the soul of the believer, many cessationists have reactively denied experience in opposition to the Pentecostal overemphasis upon experience, which at times supplanted the revealed truth of scripture.
He thought Christianity was a sham. Then it changed his life. Skeptic Josh McDowell thought Christians were out of their minds. He ridiculed and insulted them, then decided to combat them with his own thorough research to disprove the claims of Jesus Christ. To his surprise, he discovered that the evidence suggested exactly the opposite--that Jesus, instead of being simply a first-century Hebrew carpenter, truly was the God he claimed to be. Josh went on to write the inspirational work on Christian apologetics, More Than a Carpenter, which has sold over 15 million copies. In this revised and updated edition, with over 15 million copies in print since its original publication, More Than a Carpenter has changed countless lives. Now, in this revised and updated edition, Josh is joined by his son, Sean, as they tackle the questions that today's generation continues to ask: "Can I be spiritual without believing in God?" "How can I make sure that my life counts for something?" "Is it really possible to know anything for sure about God or Jesus?" This edition is an accessible read for seekers and a great evangelism tool.
What you believe about God sets the foundation of the person you will become. In God Has a Name, pastor and New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer invites you to rethink many of the prevalent myths and misconceptions about God and weigh them against what God actually tells us about himself. After all, what you believe about God will ultimately shape the type of person you become. We all live at the mercy of our ideas, and nowhere is this more true than our ideas about God. The problem is many of our ideas about God are wrong. Not all wrong, but wrong enough to form our souls in detrimental and disheartening ways. God Has a Name is a simple yet profound guide to understanding God in a new light--focusing on what God says about himself in the Bible. This one shift has the potential to radically alter how you relate to God, not as a doctrine, but as a relational being who responds to you in an elastic, back-and-forth way. John Mark Comer takes you line by line through Exodus 34:6-8--Yahweh's self-revelation on Mount Sinai, one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. Along the way, Comer addresses some of the most profound questions he came across as he studied these noted lines in Exodus, including: Why do we feel this gap between us and God? Could it be that a lot of what we think about God is wrong? Not all wrong, but wrong enough to mess up how we relate to him? What if our "God" is really a projection of our own identity, ideas, and desires? What if the real God is different, but far better than we could ever imagine? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God Has a Name invites you to step into a fresh and biblically rooted vision of who God is that has the potential to alter your life with God and shape who you become.
A perennial question throughout the history of the Christian faith has centered on the character of the Old Testament and its relationship to Jesus Christ. It is in this area that Christians and Jews have parted ways, creating a deep and enduring chasm between the two faith communities. With this new volume, Fredrick Holmgren aids in closing this hurtful breach by engaging with views on both sides of this important conversation. Holmgren dialogues with Christians from every point on the theological spectrum, urging the church to a new respect for the Jewish Bible, the enduring role of the Old Testament as "Christian scripture," and the valuable contributions of Judaism to the Christian faith. Warning the church against either caricaturing the Old Testament and Judaism or romanticizing Christianity, Holmgren sensitively shows that the New Testament proclamation of newness in Christ carries forward the witness of the Old Testament without making obsolete its Jewish interpretation.
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
This book provides a process for discovering and activating spiritual gifts in your congregation. It is not a typical scientific survey designed to discover what kind of personality you have, what you feel like doing, or even what your talents are. Instead, it is a process designed to help a church congregation discover God's gifts and leading in their lives. In going through this process you will be invited to shake off some of the walls and limitations you have placed on yourself and open yourself up to the full call that God has on your life. Discovering and using your Spiritual Gifts is an adventure!