One will learn communion's origin deepen his relationship with God and be challenged in discipleship.

    You see, those Gospels were written for first century readers already familiar with many of the persons, places, parties, and politics that colored events in those long-past days. Not so modern readers, twenty centuries later! Which is why Fr. Ralph Gorman has here crafted for us a single detailed narrative out of the four Gospels, weaving into his narrative relevant Old Testament passages and prophecies, and facts from Jewish and Roman history, laws, beliefs, traditions, and practices, plus helpful first century military, political, geographical, and archaeological information. Faithful to the Gospels while drawing on the best commentaries on them in English, Latin, French, German, and Italian, these rich pages provide you a refreshing reading of the Gospels supplemented by reliable archaeological, historical, and theological information about the period, places, and persons involved. Plus, you have the benefit of Fr. Gorman's keen depictions of the Gospel places based on his three years' residence there.You can read this book straight through, or one chapter a day as spiritual reading before Mass or during Lent. Either way, you'll come to understand better the malice of the crowds, the dismay and confusion of Christ's friends, and the speed with which the deadly events unfolded. Most of all, you'll come to grasp anew the depths of Christ's love for you, awakening in you greater devotion to Him than ever before.

    As long-held beliefs on love, faith, and God are challenged by the aggregate of changes that have overhauled our world, many of us are left feeling confused and uncertain while old norms are challenged and redefined at breakneck speed.In Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.

    Those roots are lodged in the Universal Church's and local church's Christ-imaging roles as a prophetic witness, a priestly witness, and a kingly witness. The authors, both PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) ordained pastors and long-time campus ministers, Brian Habig and Les Newsom, assert that when the Church, and local churches, again major on its primary roles, health will be restored and a shine will go froth that is impossible to ignore. Nothing is more important to Christ than his Bride, pure and spotless! This book is devoted to that end.The Authors:Brian Habig, Vanderbilt University. A graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and Mississippi State University, Brian Habig has served as an ordained minister of the PCA and a campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship for six year. He is a regular conference speaker in addition to this primary pastoral role as campus minister at Vanderbilt University. Habig is currently completing a Master of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.Les Newsom, University of Mississippi. A native of Memphis, Les Newsom received his Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America for seven years. The first five years were spent as the campus minister for RUF at The University of Memphis. He now serves at The University of Mississippi. A regular conference speaker, Les has taught philosophy of ministry classes at Reformed Theological Seminary."The Enduring Community succinctly shows that Christians with a church-optional mindset are as vulerable as a chorister without a choir."Marvin OlaskyEditor, World magazineSenior Fellow, Acton Institute

    As you walk through the second half of Luke’s Gospel, you'll meet the people Jesus encountered on the way to the cross—and prepare your heart to appreciate his death and resurrection afresh. Each day you'll be invited to: • Read a passage of Luke's Gospel and a short meditation by Sinclair Ferguson • Reflect on a thought-provoking question • Respond in prayer and praise as you journal Pithy yet profound, these devotions will hold up a mirror to your own heart and, more importantly, give you a window into the heart of the Lord Jesus—the one who came to seek and to save the lost at Easter.

    “We’re all improvisers,” says MaryAnn McKibben Dana, whether we realize it or not. In this book McKibben Dana blends personal stories, pop culture, and Scripture into a smart, funny, down-to-earth guide to the art of living. Offering concrete spiritual wisdom through seven improv principles, she helps readers become more awake, creative, resilient, and ready to play—even (especially) when life doesn’t go according to plan.

    This chase was to apprehend or kill the notorious Whitacre brothers and he was getting close. They were just a few hours ahead of him now after more than a week and a half of tracking. He was the best at what he did and had never even felt the bite of a bullet and didn’t expect this to be any different. But it wasn’t the Whitacre brothers that would cause the enormous shift in his life. That would come two days later.

    In Across All Worlds, Baxter Kruger brings us face to face with the fact that Jesus has established a very real and personal relationship with us in our darkness. Jesus accepts us and walks with us because he is determined that we come to know His Father with him and life in His embrace.C. Baxter Kruger is the Director of Perichoresis, an international ministry sharing the good news of our adoption in Christ with the world. He and his wife Beth have been married for 25 years and have four children. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree under Professor James B. Torrance in Aberdeen, Scotland. Baxter is the author of seven books, including The Great Dance and Jesus and the Undoing of Adam, and teaches across the United States, Canada and Australia. He is an avid outdoorsman and holds two United States patents for his fishing lure designs. He is the founder and President of Mediator Lures.

    Luca Baldi, a young shepherd, is catapulted into the violent world of mercenary warfare when he is forced to flee his native Sicily. He falls in with the Almogavars – ruthless mercenaries from the Catalonia region of Spain who have just finished butchering the French during a 20-year war on the island. He and they take ship to Constantinople when they are hired by the Byzantine emperor, whose empire is disintegrating in the face of remorseless Muslim advances. Alone and marooned amid danger and violence and surrounded by enemy forces, Luca must master the Almogavar way of war to survive. Plunged into the brutal world of Medieval warfare when the mercenaries take the fight to the emperor’s many enemies, can Luca live through fighting impossible odds as he battles to preserve a crumbling empire that has stood for a thousand years? ‘The Black Sheep’ is the first volume in the Catalan Chronicles, a Medieval saga set in the early 14th century. Maps of the Byzantine Empire and western Anatolia at this time can be found on the maps page of my website: www.peterdarman.com

    Remember the fad a few years ago when people wore bracelets reminding them, “What Would Jesus Do?” Christians state that Jesus is the example of how to live, yet this has been limited in many cases to how we view our moral character. When Christians tell me that they want to live like Jesus, I like to ask if they have multiplied food, healed the sick, walked on water, raised the dead, paid their taxes with fish money, calmed storms, and so forth. I typically receive bewildered looks, but that’s what it is like to live like Jesus!Perhaps we are ignoring a large portion of what living like Jesus really includes. While I agree that we are to live like Jesus, “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6 NLT). I am also aware that the application of Jesus’ model has been minimized to something that can be accomplished by living a moral life. Many Christians believe that they can live like Jesus without ever operating in the supernatural. After reading in the Bible about all of the miracles He performed, does that sound right to you? (Excerpt from book)

    S. Eliot, and Jrgen Moltmann's new book is a powerful testament to personal hope in chaotic, even catastrophic times.As Moltmann's award-winning volume The Coming of God laid out the systematic framework of eschatology (the doctrine of the ''last things''), so here he explores the personal meaning of that fundamental affirmation for Christians. Debunking the classic images of Christian apocalyptic scenarios, the final struggle between God and Satan, Christ and the AntichristArmageddonMoltmann instead shows that Christian expectation of the future has nothing to do with these but everything to do with new beginnings and a horizon of hope. Three parts explore three particular beginnings: birth (childhood and youth), rebirth (failures and defeats), and resurrection (death, judgment, afterlife).This brief volume promises to be one of Moltmann's most personal and compelling books.

    Some people are thrill-seekers; others are homebodies. Some people are loners; others love big families or communities. Some people express things creatively; others consume what is created. Some sing; others listen to music. Whatever we find happiness in, we are united by our desire for work that matters and relationships that fulfil.As Christians, we often fall into the trap of basing our hopes on earthly things, even when we know they only make us happy for a short time. But how are we to experience happiness in this life? How do we avoid expecting too much of earthly things and being disappointed, or expecting too little and becoming cynics?In this book, recovering cynic Barnabas Piper helps us to throw off both the unrealistic expectations that end in disappointment and the guilty sense that Christians are not meant to have fun. He shows how having a clear view of the reality of the fall and the promise of redemption frees us to live a life that's grounded, hopeful and genuinely happy.

    These twelve central affirmative principles of Christian faith are built on the three great loves that the Bible reveals: love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self. They reflect commitments to environmental stewardship, social justice, and artistic expression as well as openness to other faiths. Transcending theological and culture wars, inclusive and generous in spirit and practice, these principles ask believers and seekers alike to affirm their Christian faith in a fresh way.

    These "shepherds" are called to preach, pray, and care for the needs of God's people. But what does it mean to be a pastor? And what is the nature of this ministry, according to the Bible?In Gospel-Driven Ministry, Jared Wilson begins by looking at the qualifications for the pastorate, addressing the notion of a call to ministry and how an individual--and a church community--can best identify the marks of maturity and affirm a call. In each chapter, Wilson looks at one of the core practices of pastoral ministry, including: Preaching SermonsDeveloping a Vibrant Prayer LifeCaring and CounselingPastoring Married and SingleGospel-Centered LeadershipFighting Sin and Spiritual WarfareResolving ConflictPassing on the Ministry to OthersIn addition, Wilson provides practical resources including theological insights on baptism and the Lord's Supper, guidance for wedding and funeral sermons, outlines for leading elder and deacon meetings, tips for interviewing new pastors, questions to ask at ordination, and advice on knowing when and how to leave a pastor role. This is a comprehensive, practical guide to pastoral ministry that prepares new pastors and equips those currently serving for long-term, healthy ministry.

    We need to explain how we can discern qualities such as beauty and evil and account for our practices of morality and law.The complexity of the contemporary world is sometimes seen as an embarrassment for Christianity. But law professor David Skeel makes a fresh case for the plausibility and explanatory power of Christianity. The Christian faith offers plausible explanations for the central puzzles of our existence, such as our capacity for idea-making, our experience of beauty and suffering, and our inability to create a just social order. When compared with materialism or other sets of beliefs, Christianity provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding human life as we actually live it.We need not deny the complexities of life as we experience it. But the paradoxes of our existence can lead us to the possibility that the existence of God could make sense of it all.