Book picks similar to
Welcoming the Future Church: How to Reach, Teach, and Engage Young Adults by Jonathan Pokluda
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Revise Us Again: Living from a Renewed Christian Script
Frank Viola - 2010
As believers, we find the original script for living woven throughout the Bible. Yet while the Christian message is simple, it can become complicated by our environment, our culture, and our religious ideas and traditions. For this reason, we are all in constant need of revising the scripts by which we live.Author Frank Viola believes we need to revisit and revise what it means to live the Christian life. Drawing from his rich background in ministry, Viola examines ten key areas that impact every believer and explores fresh ways to revise them. Conversational, insightful, and practical, Revise Us Again encourages us to examine those religious habits that we unconsciously pick up from others and rescript them with new habits that line up with our new nature in Christ.
7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness
Eric Metaxas - 2013
Written in a beautiful and engaging style, Seven Men addresses what it means (or should mean) to be a man today, at a time when media and popular culture present images of masculinity that are not the picture presented in Scripture and historic civil life. What does it take to be a true exemplar as a father, brother, husband, leader, coach, counselor, change agent, and wise man? What does it mean to stand for honesty, courage, and charity, especially at times when the culture and the world run counter to those values?Each of the seven biographies represents the life of a man who experienced the struggles and challenges to be strong in the face of forces and circumstances that would have destroyed the resolve of lesser men. Each of the seven men profiled—George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, John Paul II, and Charles Colson—call the reader to a more elevated walk and lifestyle, one that embodies the gospel in the world around us.
What's So Spiritual About Your Gifts?
Henry T. Blackaby - 2004
That pattern is this: God gives an assignment to a person; then the Holy Spirit is given to equip him or her for the assignment. The proof of the Spirit's presence is that the person is able to complete the assignment effectively through the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit. Truly understood and embraced, the Holy Spirit's gifts allow the Church to be Christ-centered, to maintain unity and oneness of heart, and to practice genuine, powerful love.WHAT EXACTLY HAVE YOU BEEN GIVEN? Surprises are in store when we explore biblically what spiritual gifts really are, how they fit with our natural strengths and talents, and how they match our calling and assignments from God. This book will help restore the Holy Spirit to the center of your understanding and practice of spiritual gifts, and set you free to serve God as never before.Story Behind the BookThe Old Testament is our "kindergarten" for understanding the pattern of the Holy Spirit’s gifting and work. That pattern is this: God gives an assignment to a person; then the Holy Spirit is given to equip him or her for the assignment. The proof of the Spirit’s presence is that the person is able to complete the assignment effectively through the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit. Truly understood and embraced, the Holy Spirit’s gifts allow the church to be Christ-centered, to maintain unity and oneness of heart, and to practice genuine, powerful love.
Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God's Good Gifts
Trillia J. Newbell - 2016
Sharing a laugh with a friend. Tasting a sun-ripened strawberry. Each day is full of opportunities for you to savor the countless gifts the Creator has given. But do you feel free to delight in God’s abundant gifts, or is your joy sometimes distorted by guilt, fear of idolatry, or simply an overwhelming awareness of sin’s effects on this world? Trillia Newbell explains how we often miss opportunities to participate in God’s divine delight because we’re discouraged, fixated on selfish fulfillment, or paralyzed by guilt. Enjoy serves as an encouraging reminder of God’s gracious gifts and also challenges women to view all of these gifts—from relationships and careers to food and sex—as reasons to rejoice in the Lord and grow in our understanding and appreciation of who He is. This thought-provoking book invites you to explore the truth of God’s Word and discover how to nurture daily a spirit of gratitude and deep satisfaction. Enjoy will open your eyes and your heart to the freedom of fully enjoying all God has given us!
Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation in Focus
Sarah Geringer - 2019
And Satan knows how susceptible we are to these negative thoughts that leave us frustrated and feeling defeated. However, the time-honored practice of Christian meditation can help us find victory in these spiritual battles."Transforming Your Thought Life" offers guided meditations and personal examples that will help you train your mind to stay grounded in God's Word. Each chapter examines a particular kind of negative thought pattern and provides key Bible verses and prayers for standing strong against it. Day by day, as you hide God's Word in your heart and mind, you will move closer to the heart and mind of God.
Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life's Storms
Tim Tebow - 2016
Then he had a miracle playoff run with the Denver Broncos before being traded to the New York Jets. After one season he was cut by New York. Next he was signed by the New England Patriots then let go after training camp—a scenario that repeated itself the following summer with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tim Tebow has achieved big victories and plunged the depths of failure, all while never letting go of his faith, even in the face of doubt and disappointment. In Shaken he explains why neither the highs nor the lows of his life can define him—and he reveals how you, too, can find confidence in your identity and know who you are. In revealing passages, Tebow pulls back the curtain on his life, sharing the vulnerable moments of his career that have shaken him to his core—while also teaching the biblical principles that will enable you to keep the faith, no matter what comes your way.
Absolute Surrender
Andrew Murray - 2005
The result of Murray's passionate exploration of the issue of surrender: why it's seemingly impossible and yet completely necessary.
Momentum: What God Starts, Never Ends
Bill Johnson - 2011
Momentum confronts some of the issues that have hindered personal and corporate Revivals from continuing. The authors share their own perspectives and experiences that they have seen in their own lives on this topic. Every believer has access to live in a momentum that was initiated from the beginning of time. So let’s embrace our inheritance and step into the momentum of the Kingdom!
Unstoppable: Running the Race You Were Born To Win
Christine Caine - 2014
The track is treacherous. There are so many ways to mangle the exchange zones, to overshoot, to be knocked off the track, to drop the baton, to stop running. The church needs champion runners who never give up, who persevere no matter what they encounter, who run to win, unstoppable, no matter the cost.If we pass the baton of faith fluidly in the exchange zone from person to person, from generation to generation, we speed unstoppable toward the finish line. But if we fumble the exchange, the whole team, the whole church, suffers. Some runners even stop running and walk right out of the race.Discover just how important it is to get the “exchange zone” right, to ensure that no runners stop running and walk off the field, but that every runner becomes unstoppable in their dedication to carry their baton of faith to the next runner.
The Cost of Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - 1937
One of the most important theologians of the twentieth century illuminates the relationship between ourselves and the teachings of Jesus in this classic text on ethics, humanism, and civic duty.What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.
Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture
Brandon Hatmaker - 2011
Yet most don't know where to start.Drawing from his own journey, Brandon Hatmaker reminds us that serving the least is not a trendy act of benevolence but a lifestyle of authentic community and spiritual transformation. In Barefoot Church, he explains:Practical ideas for creating service-based, missional communitiesHow the organizational structure of a church can be created or restructured for mission in any contextHow any church can truly be a catalyst for individual, collective, and social renewalWhether you are a leader or a layperson, this book is meant to renew your passion for the church and inspire you to take your affections off yourself, place them on people who have nothing to offer you, and lead others to do the same.
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life
Joanna Weaver - 2000
The life of a woman today isn't really all that different from that of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. Like Mary, you long to sit at the Lord's feet...but the daily demands of a busy world just won't leave you alone. Like Martha, you love Jesus and really want to serve him...yet you struggle with weariness, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy. Then comes Jesus, right into the midst of your busy Mary/Martha life-and he extends the same invitation he issued long ago to the two sisters of Bethany. Tenderly he invites you to choose "the better part"-a joyful life of "living-room" intimacy with him that flows naturally into "kitchen service" for him. How can you make that choice? With her fresh approach to the familiar Bible story and its creative, practical strategies, Joanna shows how all of us -Marys and Marthas alike- can draw closer to our Lord, deepening our devotion, strengthening our service, and doing both with less stress and greater joy. This book includes a twelve-week Bible study. Also look for the ten-week DVD study pack companion product to this book, which includes three DVDs and a separate, revised and expanded study guide.
A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey
Brian D. McLaren - 2001
This stirring fable captures a new spirit of Christianity--where personal, daily interaction with God is more important than institutional church structures, where faith is more about a way of life than a system of belief, where being authentically good is more important than being doctrinally "right," and where one's direction is more important than one's present location. Brian McLaren's delightful account offers a wise and wondrous approach for revitalizing Christian spiritual life and Christian congregations.If you are interested in joining a discussion group devoted to a A New Kind of Christian please visit groups.yahoo.com/group/NKOC.
Chasing Vines: Finding Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life
Beth Moore - 2020
In fact, he delights in our flourishing. Life isn’t always fun, but in Christ it can always be fruitful.In Chasing Vines, Beth shows us from Scripture how all of life’s concerns—the delights and the trials—matter to God. He uses all of it to help us flourish and be fruitful. Looking through the lens of Christ’s transforming teaching in John 15, Beth gives us a panoramic view of biblical teachings on the Vine, vineyards, vine-dressing, and fruitfulness. Along the way you’ll discover why fruitfulness is so important to God—and how He can use anything that happens to us for His glory and our flourishing. Nothing is for nothing.Join Beth on her journey of discovering what it means to chase vines and to live a life of meaning and fruitfulness.
Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Paul David Tripp - 2002
God radically changes people, and he offers us the opportunity--and the ability, by his power--to be involved in that change. We can live not just as grateful objects of his love but as effective instruments of his love in the lives of the people around us. Have you been satisfied by too little? Content with small changes in your life and the lives of others? Unsure of how to help others and uncomfortable when you encounter their needs? You don't need to start with a strategy or technique, Tripp argues--you need a renewed imagination! Only then can you grasp what is real but unseen and live accordingly. The kingdom of God is near, and it takes us far beyond our personal situations and relationships, making ordinary people a part of God's extraordinary plan for the world. This guidebook shows us how.