The message blew up on social-media, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged.In Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem—highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With refreshing candor he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior.Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but simply a regular, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of false religion.

    This is not just an intellectual conviction, he contends, but a more profound kind of knowing that only true faith can provide.Combining Enns’ reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.

    It wasn't their natural qualities that made these women extraordinary but the power of the one true God whom they worshipped and served.In "Twelve Extraordinary Women," you'll learn more than fascinating information about these women, you'll discover-perhaps for the first time-the unmistakable chronology of God's redemptive work in history through their lives. These women were not ancillary to His plan, they were at the very heart of it.Some of the women you'll come to know include:Ruth (Ruth 1-4) Anna (Luke 2:36-38) Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus (Luke 10:38-42) Mary Magdalene (Matthew 27:56-61) Sarah (Genesis 11-25) Hannah (1 Samuel 1-2) The Samaritan woman (John 4 Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1-2)You will be challenged and motivated by this poignant and personal look into the lives of some of the Bible's most faithful women. Their struggles and temptations are the same trials faced by all believers in all ages. And the God to whom they were so committed is the same God who continues to mold and use ordinary people today.

    Wright summarizes 200 years of modern Biblical scholarship and models how Christians can best retell the story of Jesus today. In a style similar to C.S. Lewis’s popular works, Wright breaks down the barriers that prevent Christians from fully engaging with the story of Jesus. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith today, and for readers of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, Wright’s Simply Jesus offers a provocative new picture of how to understand who Jesus was and how Christians should relate to him today.

    How and when did the books of the Bible originate? In what sense are these books different from other books? How have these books been preserved and transmitted to us? Why do we have so many different translations of the Bible? This book provides accessible answers to these questions.

    Linger on the hill of Calvary.Rub a finger on the timber and press the nail into your hand.Taste the tinge of cheap wine and feel the scrape of a thorn on your brow.Touch the velvet dirt, moist with the blood of God.Allow the tools of torture to tell their story.Listen as they tell you what God did to win your heart.

    Yet these researchers--along with countless ordinary folks--resist belief in the biblical Creator. Why? They say a loving God would have made a better home for us, one without trouble and tragedy. In Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, Hugh Ross draws from his depth of study in both science and Scripture to explain how the universe's design fulfills several distinct purposes. He also reveals God's surpassing love and ultimate purposes for each individual. Why the Universe Is the Way It Is will interest anyone who wonders where and how the universe came to be, what or who is responsible for it, why we are here, or how and when the universe ends. Far from leaving the reader at this philosophical jumping-off point, Ross builds toward answering the big question of human destiny and the specific question of each reader's personal destiny.

    After over a decade of successful ministry, he had to make a painful self admission: although he believed in God, he was leading his church like God didn’t exist.To Christians and non-Christians alike, to the churched and the unchurched, the journey leading up to Groeschel’s admission and the journey that follows—from his family and his upbringing to the lackluster and even diametrically opposed expressions of faith he encountered—will look and sound like the story of their own lives.Now the founding and senior pastor of the multicampus, pace-setting LifeChurch.tv, Groeschel's personal journey toward a more authentic God-honoring life is more relevant than ever.Christians and Christian Atheists everywhere will be nodding their heads as they are challenged to take their own honest moment and ask the question: am I putting my whole faith in God but still living as if everything was up to me?

    At age 14, he found himself struggling with the universal questions of life. Questions such as: Who am I? What’s the purpose of life? What happens when I die? And does God exist? So what did he find? He found the answers – every single one of them. And his life has never been the same. In Coming To Jesus, you’ll find: • Proof of the Bible’s divine authority • Evidence that reveals the Messiah’s true identity • And compelling reasons to believe Jesus is the Son of God Most of all, you’ll find that God really does care about you. When Britt Gillette set out to find the truth, what he discovered changed his life forever. Maybe it will change yours too. More About Coming To Jesus For readers who love Christian apologetics, Christian inspirational tales, or most Christian non-fiction books, Coming To Jesus provides a rare glimpse into the spiritual journey of one man struggling to find answers to the great questions of life. Have you ever wondered, “Does God exist?” Have you ever questioned the purpose of life? Or wanted to know who Jesus really is? Britt Gillette asked those same questions, and he found the answers. Coming To Jesus provides insight into his journey in an easy-to-read, conversational tone most readers will find easy to relate to. If you already know Jesus, this book might bring you closer to Him. If you don’t know Jesus, it might just be the most important book you’ll ever read.

    Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives.Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn’t ask "Why did God say . . .?" To get to the heart of the Bible’s meaning, we should be asking: "What’s the story that’s unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible’s authentic transformative power.Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God’s Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book’s magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.

    Every Christmas displays of Jesus resting in a manger populate lawns and churchyards, and songs about shepherds and angels fill the air. Yet despite the abundance of these Christian references in popular culture, how many of us have examined the hard edges of this biblical story? In his new book Timothy Keller takes readers on an illuminating journey into the surprising background of the Nativity. By understanding the message of hope and salvation within the Bible’s account of Jesus’s birth, readers will experience the redeeming power of God’s grace in a meaningful and deeper way.

    Though Jesus was in truth his Savior, and even his Lord, Phillips felt challenged to understand more of the remarkable life lived two thousand years ago in Palestine. Then came a crisis in his spiritual pilgrimage when circumstances forced him to open the book of his life in a new way, and delve more deeply into the fundamental why of Jesus' life.Challenged to discover the New Testament imperative for his life, Phillips takes a fresh look at the Bible to find out what is the essence, the foundation, of spirituality. Boiled down. The raw reality of the gospel. No frills. No excess baggage. No trite little phrases learned in Sunday school or youth group.He discovers a key that gives validity to an entire life's purpose and perspective as a Christian for right now. Not in some grandiose, far-reaching way . . . but the link between belief and practice, between eternity and now, between Christianity as a world religion, and Christianity as a practical guidebook for going about the business of life in the trenches. For if ever a man walked in harmony between ultimate purpose and the next five minutes, that man was Jesus Christ. And that key to Jesus' life was obedience.

    Gregory Koukl demonstrates how to get in the driver's seat, keeping any conversation moving with thoughtful, artful diplomacy. You'll learn how to maneuver comfortably and graciously through the minefields, stop challengers in their tracks, turn the tables and—most importantly—get people thinking about Jesus. Soon, your conversations will look more like diplomacy than D-Day. Drawing on extensive experience defending Christianity in the public square, Koukl shows you how to:- Initiate conversations effortlessly- Present the truth clearly, cleverly, and persuasively- Graciously and effectively expose faulty thinking- Skillfully manage the details of dialogue- Maintain an engaging, disarming style even under attackTactics provides the game plan for communicating the compelling truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

    He points out that the Psalms are poems, intended to be sung, not doctrinal treatises or sermons. Proceeding with his characteristic grace, he guides readers through both the form and the meaning of these beloved passages in the Bible.

    Many critics complained of the book because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it. The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer. It deals first with all the writer's own solitary and sincere speculations and then with the startling style in which they were all suddenly satisfied by the Christian Theology. The writer regards it as amounting to a convincing creed. But if it is not that it is at least a repeated and surprising coincidence.