There is sharing, suggesting, plenty of storytelling, and lots of preaching to "felt needs." But the authoritative, expositional opening of the Word of God is harder to find all the time. In the Old Testament God decried the fact that His people were perishing for lack of knowledge about Himself. Too often, those who have been called to feed Christ's sheep with the Word of God do little more than "pet" them. This book is a plea for preachers to "preach the Word." It will encourage pastors to strive to maintain their calling. However, it is not intended just for pastors; it will also be useful in guiding congregations to know what to look for in a pastor and in holding their preachers to this Biblical standard.

    Offering readers hope, encouragement, and the practical advice they’re looking for, this concise book by professor Donald Whitney outlines a simple, time-tested method that can help transform our prayer lives: praying the words of the Bible. Praying the Bible shows readers how to pray through portions of Scripture one line at a time, helping us stay focused by allowing God’s Word itself to direct our thoughts and words. Simple yet profound, this resource will prove invaluable to all Christians as they seek to commune with their heavenly Father in prayer each and every day.

    Cringing under the awful sting of regret and disappointment, we ask the familiar question: “What next?” We feel that our life is over, that we will never recover, that we are doomed to remain forever in our rut of defeat.We couldn’t, however, be further from the truth.In When We Have Failed-What Next?, K.P. Yohannan graciously takes us on a journey toward a bright and hopeful future. He again and again depicts God’s unfailing love for us and His marvelous ability to bring out His very best for our lives, especially in the midst of our failure.Look up, for the best is truly yet to come.

    But in the hurriedness of December, sometimes we find ourselves sacrificing a sacred pace for hustle, leaving us feeling more stressed than blessed. What if you approached this Advent more open to the things of God? What if you decided to be expectant that God would move in your midst? What if you made room for the true joy found in the coming of our King? Prepare Him Room invites you to give God sacred space in your holiday season as you ponder the miracle of Christ within you and respond to His work in your life. As you begin your Christmas preparations this year, journey through Luke's account of Jesus' birth, life, death, and ultimate resurrection. God invites you to be still and let Jesus radically transform you this holy season. Let earth receive her King!

    

    And yet, we are told to trust God. In a culture where we tend to take control of our own lives, trusting God has become a religious platitude rather than a life-changing attitude. We say it, but do we really mean it? And what does trusting God really look like? Sharon, Mary, and Gwen—the Girlfriends in God ministry team—have been there. They’ve traveled the tough roads of life to discover the peace and power that comes from grabbing the hand of God and trusting his plan. The life stories they share bring laughter and sometimes tears, but always spiritual growth.  Each of the 12-week sections concludes with a Bible study guide and journal page, inviting you to lock arms with Sharon, Mary, and Gwen and share with other women in a small group setting or to use individually in your own quiet time.

    But the visual portrayal of truth is not a novel idea. God himself communicated his truth visually though the tabernacle, the sacraments, and even the cross.In Visual Theology, Tim Challies and Josh Byers use a combination of words and illustrations to convey the concepts and principles of systematic theology in a fresh, beautiful, and informative way. They have made the deepest truths of the Bible accessible in a way that can be seen and understood by a visual generation, focusing on four foundational disciplines:Growing close to ChristUnderstanding the work of ChristBecoming like ChristLiving for ChristThis unique resource is an inviting and artful way to learn theology, comprehend difficult Bible concepts, and grow in your faith.

    Classic book views prayer not as drudgery or a way to win favor with God, but as a means of communing with the Creator--and seeing lives changed.

    We cannot heal ourselves. We cannot become ourselves by ourselves. But we are not by ourselves. The King of love wants to help us become. God desires to restore us—the real us. As he heals our inner life, he calls us to rise to the occasion of our lives. The most important journey any woman can take is the journey into becoming her true self through the love of God. It's a beautiful paradox. The more of God’s you become, the more yourself you become—the “self” he had in mind when he thought of you before the creation of the world. Discover your truest self—the woman God created you to be—in Becoming Myself.

    But it's not cheap—true grace compels us to change.  That’s where holiness comes in.Beloved writer, speaker, and bestselling coauthor of Wild and Free Jess Connolly will be the first to admit that not long ago, like many women, she grasped grace but she had forgotten holiness. Dance, Stand, Run charts her discovery that holiness was never meant to be a shaming reminder of what we “should” be doing, but rather a profound privilege of becoming more like Christ. That’s when we start to change the world, rather than being changed by it.Dance, Stand, Run is an invitation to the daughters of God to step into the movements of abundant life: dancing in grace, standing firm in holiness, and running on mission. Through story and study, Jess casts a fresh vision for how to live into your identity as a holy daughter of God, how to break free of cheap grace and empty rule-keeping, and finally, how to live out your holy influence with confidence before a watching world. Spoiler alert: it’s a beautiful thing.For anyone longing to take their place in what God is doing in the world, Dance, Stand, Run will rally your strength, refresh your purpose, and energize your faith in a God who calls us to be like Him.

    Everyone has a worldview, even atheists and skeptics, but only the Christian worldview is not self-contradictory.The Absurdity of Unbelief demonstrates why every possible reason for unbelief is irrational and ultimately meaningless by exposing the various self-refuting systems of thought in which these objections are rooted. 3 Cheers for The Absurdity of Unbelief! "Agnostics and atheists have been making a lot of noise in recent years, in spite of the fact that their belief systems are so obviously flawed. To counter their propaganda we need a flow of books exposing just how flimsy their arguments are. Jeffrey Johnson has chosen the word 'absurdity' to characterise these, and he has chosen well. Chapter by chapter he strips unbelief of any vestige of credibility, then shows with crystal clarity why the biblical case for God stands supreme when contrasted with all other philosophical and religious belief systems. I predict that this book will be as great a help to many of its readers as it has been to me, and I commend it warmly." —John Blanchard “A major strength of Jeffrey Johnson’s Absurdity of Unbelief is its step-by-step systematic approach. He explains what faith is (and is not), what factors drive us to adopt our beliefs, how to test them, fatal difficulties on all systems of thought not built on the foundation of Christ, grounds for holding to Christian theism, and a passionate call to faith in Jesus. Along the way he examines Christian and non-Christian thinkers and movements both ancient and contemporary, demonstrating that the principles underlying a biblical apologetic equally apply to all forms of unbelief. I plan on coming back to this book again and again.” —Joseph E. Torres "As Christians struggle to hold onto a semblance of sanity in the midst of the collapse of Western morality and thought, a sound foundation upon which to stand in explaining our unwillingness to bow the knee to Caesar is a must. In The Absurdity of Unbelief, Jeffrey Johnson provides a clear and compelling case for the Christian faith, readable and usable for believer and unbeliever alike." —James R. White The Absurdity of Unbelief will strengthen your understanding in the logic behind the Christian faith and arm you... ...by its exposure of the weak arguments held by non-Christian worldviews; ...in its clear and logical presentation, providing tools to bolster your witness as you contend earnestly for the faith in the midst of an unbelieving world; ...with thorough documentation, copiously citing books, notes, quotes and references for the most studious of believer in Christ’s Kingdom; ...yet, written with a pastor’s heart so every false philosophy exposed and every Biblical truth illuminated is easily accessed and applied to encourage and educate fellow believers as a textbook for Bible study or used simply as a ready reference to bolster your Christian witness. Grab Your Copy Today Available in trade paperback and Kindle eBook

    How would you finish that sentence?The subject is there, and so is the verb, but what comes next? Your answer could shed light on the path to becoming who you were made to be. In these pages, Judah Smith fills out that sentence again and again, each time further revealing the character of Jesus. He writes as if to a friend, revealing the Jesus that somber paintings and hymns fail to capture. With passion, humor, and conviction, he shows that Jesus is life. Jesus is grace. Jesus is your friend. Jesus is a new and better way to be human.

    Despite all the affirming memes and self-reflections that dominate social media feeds, approval and worth often seem assigned to what we do rather than who we are. And we end up constantly feeling behind, lacking, and like we're failing--at home, at work, with friends, with God.Ruth Chou Simons knows something of feeling measured by achievement, performance, and the approval of others. As a Taiwanese immigrant growing up between two cultures, Ruth was always on a mission to prove her worth. Until she came to truly understand the one thing that changes everything: the extravagant, undeserved gift of grace from a merciful God. In When Strivings Cease, Ruth guides us all on a journey to find freedom from the never-ending quest for self-improvement. She shows us how to examine the ways we look to superficial means of acceptance and belonging, and find relief in realizing we can't be so amazing that we won't need grace; stop seeing God as someone we perform for and start finding delight in responding to God's welcome; and find relief from running the hamster wheel of relying on our own strength, our own abilities, and our own savvy--and always coming up short--by truly understanding the freedom Jesus purchased.With personal story, biblical insights, practical applications, and original artwork by Ruth, this book helps us see the truth that God's favor is the only currency we need, because in Christ we are enough.