Each of the fifteen sermons, three of them appearing here for the first time in print, is based on a reading from Matthew, including Exceeding Righteousness (Matthew 5:17-20), The Problem with Miracles (14:13-21), Family Fights (18:15-20), Once More from the Heart (18:21-35), Beginning at the End (20:1-16), and On the Clouds of Heaven (24:29-44).

    You serve-or are preparing to serve-in the spiritually desolate areas of our world. The elements you face each day are intense. What can you do to prepare for the challenges? Dr. Robert Miller presents a preparedness strategy for surviving the "wilderness" of ministry that is helpful for the new and the experienced alike.

    Just as there are certain laws that govern nature, there are laws that govern performance and achievement. Unfortunately, people are either unaware of them, and therefore do not align themselves accordingly, or they simply are not applying them. As a result, many people chase after goals, but find that the results they desire constantly elude them. If you want to be someone, achieve something, or get somewhere in life, you must understand the governing laws that turn dreams into reality. Over the last few hundred years of recorded history, common denominators that lead to personal success have consistently surfaced. TJ has gathered these distinctions into a single book to share with you. The pages of this book are filled with moving stories and examples of success and failure that will inspire all who read them. TJ shows you what habits must be formed and what steps must be taken to achieve any goal you set. Simple and concise, If You Think You Can! is the source that will help you achieve whatever you want.

    More than just a long list of do's and don'ts, the standards are the highway to happiness.The Talk on CD was published in 2001 and is based on the 1990 For the Strength of Youth pamphlet.

    What he’s found is that the secret ingredient for getting into the winner’s circle is simply the discipline of methodical preparation: that old-school, step-by-step way of having all your ducks in a row, whether you are an executive getting ready to do a deal or make a speech; a pitcher studying the traits of opposing hitters and keeping a meticulous notebook of their strengths and weaknesses; an international trade negotiator who knows all about the issues and the people on the other side before sitting down at the table; or a surgeon who rehearses like a classical musician.Deep down, you know you should do it. But how often do you wing it and fly by the seat of your pants because “Gosh, I don’t have time . . . I’ve done this before . . . I know what I’m doing”? It is obvious that you have to get ready for whatever game you’re playing, but all too frequently methodical preparation is the missing ingredient in today’s world of instant analysis, easy access to information, and glibness that sounds good at first but is unconnected with the reality at hand. In Dare to Prepare, successful people such as wine guru Robert Parker, investment legend Bill Miller, pianist Leon Fleisher, Goldman Sachs partner Lisa Fontenelli, broadcaster Bob Costas, firefighter Ann Marie Tierney, New York Mets manager Willie Randolph, and many others share the way they apply discipline in preparing for career-changing games, deals, meetings, and interviews. Cal Ripken Jr. played thousands of games in the major leagues but prepared for each like it was his first. NPR host Liane Hansen has interviewed countless people but approaches each interview with the same meticulous research time and time again.Make sure there are no slips “twixt cup and lip” as you get ready for your next personal or professional challenge by daring to prepare.

    It is not surprising that, as a Christian, von Balthasar finds the meaning of history in Christ, its Center and Lord. What may surprise--as it will surely stimulate--is the theological mastery with which von Balthasar traces the effects of Christ's lordship upon the daily life of the Christian. In this book we have one of the indispensable sources for understanding Balthasar's Catholic Christocentrism. Here we find elaboration of the striking statement that Jesus Christ is "the Idea made concrete, personal, historical: universale concretum et personale"--which, put otherwise, means that Christ is the universally valid in the here and now. Characteristic of Balthasar, the book inspires as much spiritually as it informs theologically.

    Lewis Bible pairs thought-provoking meditations from C.S. Lewis’s spiritual writings with corresponding passages from the authoritative NRSV Bible. This one-of-a-kind Bible for devotional reading, reflection, and inspiration is perfect for readers of Lewis’s Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, or his other works of seminal Christian writing. Fans of Lewis’s widely-beloved allegorical fantasy series, the Chronicles of Narnia, will love this chance to engage with the author’s more deeply spiritual side after reading favorites like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

    It is an invitation to the reader to put aside their traditional understanding of the Gospel of John and to replace it with another one more faithful to the original text perspective. The Jesus that will emerge will provoke to rethink most of what you knew about this gospel. The book is a well-rounded verse-by-verse illustrated rethinking of the fourth gospel. Here is the catch: instead of reading it, as if it was written for 21 century Gentile Christians, the book interprets it as if it was written for the first-century peoples of ancient Israel. The book proves what Krister Stendahl stated long time ago: “Our vision is often more abstracted by what we think we know than by our lack of knowledge.” Other than challenging the long-held interpretations of well-known stories, the author with the skill of an experienced tour guide, takes us to a seat within those who most probably heard this gospel read in the late first century. Such exploration of variety of important contexts allows us to recover for our generation the true riches of this marvelous Judean gospel. “A genuine apologetic is one that is true to the texts and the history, akin to the speeches of a defense attorney with integrity. Using the best of contemporary scholarship in first-century Judaic history and contributing much of his own, Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg has demonstrated that the Gospel of John is not an anti-Jewish, but a thoroughly Jewish book.” Daniel Boyarin, Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California, Berkeley “Dr. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg places the text of John’s Gospel in its authentic context by examining the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, rabbinic literature, and suggesting innovative explanations for the nomenclature, ‘the Jews.’ His fresh analysis is sure to stir meaningful debate. His creative approach will make an enduring contribution to the discipline of New Testament studies.” Brad Young, Professor of Biblical Literature in Judeao-Christian Studies, Oral Roberts University “For some time, research on the Gospels has suffered from stagnation, and there is a feeling that there is not much new that one can say. In light of this, Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg’s new commentary on the Gospel of John, with its original outlook on the identity of the original audience and the issues at stake, is extremely refreshing.” Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Head of the Talmud and Late Antiquity Department, Tel-Aviv University.

    Discover how to have a dynamic, joyful relationship with the Lord. Live every day, every hour, in intimate fellowship with Him. Not only can you have an effective prayer life, but you can also experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit, a blameless heart, and absolute power over sin. The supernatural life God has called you to is available right now! Discover the power as you daily walk in God’s presence.

    Often we say, “It’s just the season of life I’m in.”  But did you know that just as God has purposes for the seasons of nature, he also uses seasons in your life to grow you, work with you, and talk to you?  Richard Blackaby explains in The Seasons of God how understanding the principles of the seasons can offer us hope, direction, insight, and intimacy with God himself.  It’s a thoughtful exploration of God’s patterns at work in our lives—how His will is being carried out in the best way…at the best time.Your plans, your relationships, your career, your ministry—all have their unique God-intended moment. God’s Word expresses it this way: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” So what’s your season of life? And what is God telling you through the season you’re in?

    Wilderness guide Hart Davis reluctantly agrees to a booking: seven rough-looking men who don't look like they need any pointers on killing things. Little does Hart know that an innocent, long-ago favor—a package stashed away and forgotten—has become something worth killing for. Alone, with only the clothes on his back, Hart must survive not only being hunted by ruthless mercenaries and the local authorities, but also the onset of winter in the Strawberry Mountains. He has only one advantage: he knows this wilderness like the back of his hand. Somehow, he has to survive long enough to get the message out—a message that could topple a government.

    Matthew Shares with us astonishing words of Jesus: a promise of everlasting happiness, far removed from the usual recipes for gratification. Blessed are the poor in spirit! Blessed are those who mourn! Happy are the meek!... Fr. Jacques shares with us a profound clarity to the full scope of meaning behind Christ's eight beatitudes, and in turn, outlines for us a way in which we can live them in our daily lives. We learn how each beatitude gives insight into how we can situate ourselves in an honest and fulfilling relationship with God, with oneself, and with others, and how to confront head-on the difficult realities of life. Author Bio Fr. Jacques Philippe is a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, founded in France in 1973. After studying in Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1985. He primarily devotes himself to spiritual direction and preaching retreats internationally, and his published books on spirituality are the consolidated result of such work. His books Real Mercy, Interior Freedom, Fire & Light, and Thirsting for Prayer, among others, are also available from Scepter.

    Some are entertainingly bad. But the very worst are instructively bad. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days is even worse than that. Fred Clark has been learning from the relentless awfulness of this book for more than a decade and he invites you to join him on a journey through the horrors and hilarity of one of the worst books ever written.

    and calling for its recovery. Through careful historical and contemporary analysis, the authors address such issues as: how much Christian action is required to make a whole society Christian; Puritan New England as case study; Christian principles vs. baptised ideology in the Revolutionary period; the stumbling block of incorrect views of America's history for effective Christian involvement in critical public issues; the relationship of Christian convictions to political or social agendas; learning to think historically as a guard against shortsighted or simplistic approaches. Ample footnotes and a bibliographical essay make this volume a helpful reference tool for further study of the Christian nation debate and related issues. Mark A. Noll is Professor of History at Wheaton College. George M. Marsden is Professor of the History at University of Notre Dame. Nathan O. Hatch is President of Wake Forest University.

      Streams in the Desert is one of the most popular and beloved daily devotionals of all time. Now it has been combined with Cowman’s follow-up Springs in the Valley for a perfect morning and evening devotional. Over 900 pages of encouraging readings will speak to your soul with the ageless truth of the Word of God. Cowman’s timeless messages lend guidance and hope while encouraging a deeper faith walk. She shares cool draughts of wisdom and insight into God’s character, drawn from the Scriptures and purified through a lifetime of experience. You will relish the opportunity to drink from enduring wisdom twice daily. Start your mornings and wind down during your evenings by connecting your heart to the One who knows it best through Streams in the Desert Morning and Evening.