So why don't we experience his presence more? Life is full of distractions, and our 24/7 news cycles and social media drown out the voice of God. It's hard to discern God's presence amid the hubbub. But experiencing God is not just for the super-spiritual or ultra-mature. Every Christian can learn to cultivate a greater awareness of God in the everyday. Ken Boa offers a contemporary guide to practicing the presence of God. Using biblical foundations, living and historical examples, and evidence from neuroscience, Ken reveals how we can walk with God and abide in his presence. We need to rethink how we use our time and technology to make room for God, to train ourselves with new habits that deepen our awareness of God. This book offers not a magical technique but dozens of practical exercises and disciplines that help us draw close to God even in the midst of our cacophonous modern culture. Practicing God's presence is not just for the professionals. It's for ordinary people like us. And the more we live in God's presence, the greater our abiding peace and joy.

    We've settled for "good enough" and days that run together in an unmemorable blur. We long for something to shake us up, but we're exhausted by the thought of it too.In her warm, vulnerable style, bestselling Proverbs 31 author Suzanne Eller shows how living and loving without limits has nothing to do with your own efforts--and it has everything to do with God's Holy Spirit. Unpacking the promises and teachings Jesus shared with the disciples about the Holy Spirit, Suzanne shows how you can stop settling and start truly living. When you learn to unwrap the gift of his presence, you'll find the world-changing, foundation-shaking, soul-stirring life of passion and purpose God is waiting to give you.

    The path toward the liberated existence we all long for is found in a truth as simple to say as it is hard to do: love people, even the difficult ones, without distinction and without limits.Driven by Bob’s trademark storytelling, Everybody, Always reveals the lessons Bob learned--often the hard way--about what it means to love without inhibition, insecurity, or restriction. From finding the right friends to discovering the upside of failure, Everybody, Always points the way to embodying love by doing the unexpected, the intimidating, the seemingly impossible. Whether losing his shoes while skydiving solo or befriending a Ugandan witch doctor, Bob steps into life with a no-limits embrace of others that is as infectious as it is extraordinarily ordinary. Everybody, Always reveals how we can do the same.

    It is inspirational. It is practical. And it has the potential to revolutionize your life.” Mark Batterson—Lead Pastor, National Community ChurchA movement is rumbling through the body of Christ—a revolutionary army of people giving hope to a hurting world through practical, personal acts of service.In Servolution, Dino Rizzo shares the story of his relentless pursuit of ways to bless the lost, poor, and hurting people of his community in Jesus’ name. You’ll be amazed and inspired by the incredible ways God has used Healing Place Church to meet the needs of thousands of people. Each chapter includes practical suggestions and resources for use in any church. Be encouraged by the testimony of how God’s Spirit can use a simple passion to serve to revolutionize your approach to ministry. Wherever you are and whatever your gifts, you can play a vital role in this revolution through serving.

    Like the Elvises who roam the streets of Vegas, these counterfeit christs look and sound like Jesus, but they couldn’t be further from the real deal.In Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? 12 False Christs, author Matthew Richard exposes these false christs for what they are . . . mere impostors. Richard reveals to readers who the real Jesus of the Bible is, but also reveals to us twelve false christs who are embraced, loved, promoted, and revered, even by well-meaning Christians.“My hope is that readers will connect with the different stories in this book, but will do so in a way that they can see how people’s false theology and bad presuppositions lead to taking up false christs,” says Richard. “In other words, this book attempts to combine the art of story and the discipline of theology, so that the reader can see flesh-and-blood examples of how easy false theology can lead someone into idolatry.”

    But for those who know that Christ is coming to establish a new and perfect order, ours is not just a world to endure but a world to invade. Believers have not been stationed here on earth merely to subsist but to actively subvert the enemy’s attempts at blinding people in unbelief and burying them under heartbreaking loads of human need.The kingdom of God changes all that.Ed Stetzer’s Subversive Kingdom is a personal call for Christians to reorient their thinking and lifestyle to match what Jesus described of His people in Scripture, while teaming up with other believers through their churches to bring light into a dying and darkening culture. Stetzer uses the parables of Christ to unlock the “kingdom secrets” that bring this mysterious concept within understandable reach, while urging Christians to turn this knowledge into practical, everyday, ongoing missions designed to set people free from lives headed for hopelessness.

    As a result, they focus a lot on what Jesus has done to appease God's wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as "gentle and lowly in heart," longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel is primarily about God's heart drawn to his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. These chapters take readers into the depths of Christ's very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners will comfort and sustain readers in their up-and-down lives.

    Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord, we fear others. Of course, the “fear of man” goes by other names. When we are in our teens, it is called “peer pressure.” When we are older, it is called “people-pleasing.” Recently, it has been called “codependency.” With these labels in mind, we can spot the fear of man everywhere. Diagnosis is fairly straightforward. - Have you ever struggled with peer pressure? “Peer pressure” is simply a euphemism for the fear of man. - Are you over-committed? Do you find that it is hard to say no even when wisdom indicates that you should? Are you are a “people-pleaser,” another euphemism for the fear of man ? - Do you “need” something from your spouse? Do you “need” your spouse to listen to you? Respect you? Think carefully here. Certainly God is pleased when there is good communication and a mutual honor between spouses. But for many people, the desire for these things has roots in something that is far from God’s design for his image-bearers. Unless you understand the biblical parameters of marital commitment, your spouse will become the one you fear. Your spouse will control you. Your spouse will quietly take the place of God in your life. - Is self-esteem a critical concern for you? This, at least in the United States, is the most popular way that the fear of other people is expressed. If self-esteem is a recurring theme for you, chances are that your life revolves around what others think. You reverence or fear their opinions. You need them to buttress your sense of well-being and identity. You need them to fill you up. - Do you ever feel as if you might be exposed as an impostor? Many business executives and apparently successful people do. The sense of being exposed is an expression of the fear of man. It means that the opinions of other people — especially their possible opinion that you are a failure — are able to control you. - Are you always second-guessing decisions because of what other people might think? Are you afraid of making mistakes that will make you look bad in other people’s eyes? - Do you feel empty or meaningless? Do you experience “love hunger”? Here again, if you need others to fill you, you are controlled by them. - Do you get easily embarrassed? If so, people and their perceived opinions probably define you. Or, to use biblical language, you exalt the opinions of others to the point where you are ruled by them. THE problem is clear: People are too big in our lives and God is too small. The answer is straightforward: We must learn to know that our God is more loving and more powerful than we ever imagined. Yet this task is not easy. Even if we worked at the most spectacular of national parks, or the bush in our backyard started burning without being consumed, or Jesus appeared and wrestled a few rounds with us, we would not be guaranteed a persistent reverence of God. Too often our mountain-top experiences are quickly overtaken by the clamor of the world, and God once again is diminished in our minds. The goal is to establish a daily tradition of growing in the knowledge of God.

    Life is now, and how you spend these years will shape your future for better or worse.In 20 Things We’d Tell Our Twentysomething Selves, professors Peter and Kelli Worrall help you spend them well. They look back on the good, bad, and miserable to share the best of what they’ve learned, like why you should:Dig deeper than your doubtFoster good habitsTake risksAdjust your expectationsPress into painand moreWith warm, brilliant storytelling, the Worralls invite you into their life and home. They share about faith, marriage, drawn-out adoptions, dark nights of the soul, and the God who’s in it all. Wise, humble, caring, fun, they’re the kind of mentors everyone wants but few have. And now they're yours.20 Things is more than good advice; it’s a book that can change your life. Let the trend of your twenties be sowing wisdom, and who knows what the rest of life will bring?Includes action steps, discussion questions, and ideas for further reading at the end of each chapter.

    But Jesus commands it. Paul practiced it. And churches benefit from it. Why practice church discipline? It shows love for the individual caught in sin, love for the whole church, love for non-Christian neighbors, and love for the glory of Christ. In the Church Basics Series, trusted church experts write practical, trustworthy resources on issues like Church Discipline, the Lord's Supper, and Baptism that every pastor can hand every church member.

    It just moves into a new phase.The role of a parent lasts a lifetime. Your kids will always be in your life. The trick is figuring out how to adapt to the new phases in that parent-child relationship. No question, it can be tricky. And if you fail to navigate that transition well, the result will be stress, alienation, and maybe a broken relationship.But it doesn’t have to be that way. In How to Really Love Your Adult Child, Dr. Gary Chapman—author of the worldwide bestseller The 5 Love Languages®—teams up with clinical psychiatrist Dr. Ross Campbell to provide the insights you need when your child moves into young adulthood. You’ll find help for those moments when:Your adult child isn’t succeedingYour nest isn’t emptyingYour child moves back homeYou have conflict over lifestyle issuesYou become an in-law or grandparentAnd much more . . .The book includes brief sidebars from parents of adult children, as well stories from adult children who relate what works best for them. An online study guide is also available.Stop wondering how to connect with your adult child. Instead, learn to love them in the ways they so desperately want. Because while childhood is temporary, parenting is forever.

    Wendy lives for the next high on crack, oblivious to her boyfriend’s love. Neil is dying of AIDS. These are the people of inner-city Toronto. Look into their distorted, obscure faces, their fractured lives, and catch a glimpse of the sublime. Greg Paul calls them tragic heroes–individuals who can offer a testament to God’s love and mercy.With emotional depth and spiritual intensity, Greg’s compelling stories reveal that people with desperate lives have precious lessons to teach us about the character of God. God in the Alley offers a profound message of grace and calling that each one of us needs to hear.“The experience of reading this book haunts, convicts, delights. But one thing is for sure: you don’t want to miss it.” –Mark Buchanan, author of The Holy Wild: Trusting God in Everything“Greg Paul writes beautifully and welcomes us into the life he lives.… I am grateful to have read this book.”–David Wilcox, musician, songwriter, and storyteller“I dare you to read this book at more than one sitting. Each page is a seat belt that straps you in and the turning of the page pulls the straps tighter. When the ride is over, you’ll want to start again.”–Leonard Sweet, author of numerous books including Soul Tsunami

    Learn to be content without becoming complacent, and discover godly wisdom to quiet the incessant Why Her? question in your head. Develop greater awareness of your insecurities, and learn to stop the lies in their tracks. Because the truth will set you free, and free women don't have to measure up to anyone. Not even her.Features: Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groupsPersonal study segments with homework to complete between 6 weeks of group sessionsA weekly Bible verse to help combat comparisonOptional six interactive teaching videos, approximately 5-10 minutes per session, available for purchase or rentBenefits: Discover what the Bible says about God, Rachel, Leah, and Jacob, and how He used flawed people for His kingdom.Learn to define success through a biblical perspective.Remember that someone else's gain is not your loss.Evaluate the impact of comparison in your life.

    The basic theme is that we need provocative churches which raise the question asked by the onlookers in Acts 2:12: What does it all mean?

    While they had prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves in the Rocky Mountains. You too may feel that you are leading in a cultural context you were not expecting. You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Drawing from his extensive experience as a pastor and consultant, Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory. He offers a combination of illuminating insights and practical tools to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. If you're going to scale the mountains of ministry, you need to leave behind canoes and find new navigational tools. Reading this book will set you on the right course to lead with confidence and courage.