He explains Matthew's challenge to let go of the conventional wisdom that comes with contemporary American culture. Each of seven talks brings us closer to the heart of the Sermon. Rohr contrasts conventional wisdom with the wisdom of Christ and draws the listener into the Kingdom of God, the end of the world and the experience of enlightenment. He explains that each generation lives in end times, that the Kingdom is for those willing to let go of all cultural idolatry (past and present) and that those who live in reality travel a path of life which unfolds into freedom. This series is a powerful call to follow Jesus Christ in the commandments of the New Testament. Talk 1: Awakening the Heart: Recognizing Cultural Idolatry Talk 2: Voices of the World: Social Institutions Talk 3: Table Fellowship: Alfalfa Sprouts and Gravy Talk 4: Matthew's Gospel: Charter for a New World Order Talk 5: Transformation: Jumping Off the Tower Talk 6: The Sermon and Conventional Wisdom Talk 7: Love and Power, Power and Love

    You find yourself wanting to point people to Jesus but also feeling a desire to be noticed and praised, to make yourself the center of attention.Stephen Miller is the worship pastor for a large church of young, energetic Christians. He and his band record albums and lead worship for conferences all over the country. He knows the temptation to make himself the show, to pursue fame, to seek the applause of other people. And he has learned to want nothing to do with it.In this book, Miller exhorts his fellow worship leaders to make Jesus the center of all their efforts. He teaches how to do this with Scripture, teaching, prayer, story, and song. In all, Miller’s call for worship leaders is to lead worship, whole-hearted and whole-minded exalting of God, rather than making a spectacle out of it.Worship Leaders, We’re Not Rock Stars will encourage and challenge worship leaders by clarifying their purpose and identity, and by doing so will bless those they lead.

    Suspended for a few seconds, they float in their own space and time with their own hidden prospects. For want of a better term, we call these moments “magical” and when we remember them they are cloaked in a halo of special meaning.’For 14-year-old Johnny Clegg, hearing Zulu street music as plucked on the strings of a guitar by Charlie Mzila one evening outside a corner café in Bellevue, Johannesburg, was one such ‘magical’ moment. The success story of Juluka and later Savuka, and the cross-cultural celebration of music, language, story, dance and song that stirred the hearts of millions across the world, is well documented. Their music was the soundtrack to many South Africans’ lives during the turbulent 70s and 80s as the country moved from legislated oppression to democratic freedom. It crossed borders, boundaries and generations, resonating around the world and back again. Less known is the story of how it all began and developed. Scatterling of Africa is that origin story, as Johnny Clegg wrote it and wanted it told. It is the story of how the son of an unconventional mother, grandson of Jewish immigrants, came to realise that identity can be a choice, and home is a place you leave and return to as surely as the seasons change.

    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.

    It is invoked daily in prayers, blessings, ordinances, and testimonies of members of the Church throughout the world. Apostles serve as "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world." But what does it mean to be a witness not just of Jesus Christ, but also of His name? In His Holy Name, Elder Dallin H. Oaks explores the significance of the scriptural references to the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.Using personal insight and excerpts from the standard works, Elder Oaks takes a fascinating look at the meaning of the Savior's holy name in our worship and beliefs. Truly, His holy name is a vital portion of our understanding and faith in the restored gospel. Elder Oaks recounts the words of John: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:31). This modern-day Apostle explains, "In this context, 'his name' means His work and His plan of salvation with all of its glorious provisions for the children of God."

    Without these essentials—the basic truths of the faith—they will never establish strong roots or bear fruit. Adrian Rogers has written a book designed to give new believers the nurture and care their faith needs to blossom and grow. What Every Christian Ought to Know seeks to give intellectual truth, and also to provide the “spiritual nutrients” required to produce mature faith.

    He was a Jew, part of a small village community. He became hungry and tired. He felt anger and was moved to compassion. He had a mother and friends. His name was Jesus.How are we to understand this mystery of Jesus being fully God and also fully man? How do we correctly speak of the real Jesus without falling prey to the skepticism that marks the so-called “quest for a historical Jesus”?In The Jesus We Missed, pastor and scholar Patrick Henry Reardon travels through the Gospel narratives to discover the real Jesus, to see him through the eyes of those who knew him best—the apostles, his community, believers who vividly portrayed him in stories filtered through their own faith. Through these living, breathing accounts, we contemplate who God’s Son really was and is—and we understand how he came to redeem and sanctify every aspect of every human life. “In an age that has too often turned Jesus into a symbol or an abstract doctrine, we are long overdue for a reminder that the Lord of history came to us as a humble carpenter from Nazareth.” — BRYAN LITFIN, Professor of Theology, Moody Bible Institute“In his inimitable style, Patrick Henry Reardon surprises us with insights into the humanity of Jesus drawn from the Gospels and made lively by careful attention to historical and literary detail. Here is a piece that joins together critical awareness, theological fidelity, refreshing wit, and manifest devotion.” — EDITH M. HUMPHREY, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

    This book will help you experience the freedom found in knowing just how fully God is committed to loving YOU.FOREWORD BY LOUIE GIGLIO Rediscover the missing piece in what today’s Christians believe about the Christian life. As lead Pastor of one of America’s biggest churches, John Lindell went on a personal quest for answers and discovered the true meaning behind God’s grace, and when he came to see the full revelation of God’s commitment to us, it changed his life forever.   In Soul Set Free, Lindell invites you on a life-changing journey through the Book of Romans. Learn to no longer view the gospel as anything less than a truth that sets your soul free.   The good news of the gospel can be summed up in three parts: Christ died for our sins, we are forgiven through faith in Christ, and heaven is our reward upon death. However, none of these parts cover what transpired when we were saved.   The gospel is even better than what we believe. It brings joy but it’s even better. It’s forgiveness of sins but it’s even better. It’s God sending His only Son but it’s even better.

    Traces the long career of the popular rock guitarist, discusses the influences of his music, and assesses each of his albums.

    

    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.

    

    It connects us to each other. "I think Jesus wanted his disciples and everyone who came after him to remember what they had together. What they made together. What it meant to be together. How the things he wanted them to do could not be done alone. How the things he did could not have been done without them."In her inimitable style of memoir and personal reflection, Nora Gallagher explores the beauty and mystery of this most fascinating of topics. Whether exploring the history of Christian Communion, taking us inside the workings of a soup kitchen or sharing times of joy and sadness with friends, the author reminds us what it means to partake of and be part of the body of Christ."The Ancient Practices" is an eight-book series with staggered releases through February 2010. Though various books have covered some of these spiritual disciplines, there has never been an attempt at a definitive series until now. Immensely compelling and readable, each classic book features a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, the general editor."

    Although he was unlearned and ignorant in the ordinary sense – two winters at the village school were all he could boast of in the way of scholarship – tireless inner striving gave him a personal experience of Christianity identical with that of many of the early ascetic Fathers.Saint Sophrony went to Mt. Athos in 1925 and there, at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, became amanu­ensis to Staretz Silouan whose writings were pencilled in laborious, unformed characters on odd scraps of paper.

    When he and his wife lost their adored little girl, his trust in God turned to bitter anger. As he and his wife struggled to save their marriage and his faith, they discovered that home is more than just rooms and a roof. Home is a place where people are sometimes wounded or betrayed. Home is also where God is strong in the broken places. Woodlief takes readers through his house, room by room, showing that home is: • Where we cry out to God as we seek him in the small things • Where the sacred and the mundane meet • The place that makes us better than we could ever be on our own • More than the place where we eat and sleep…it is where we learn grace Woodlief’s heart-touching stories leavened with humor will appeal to a wide audience, especially those trying to reconcile the idea of a loving God in a broken world.