Book picks similar to
Lent: The Daily Readings: Stories and Reflections by Megan McKenna
ecclesiology
liturgical-seasons
religion
theology
Go to Heaven: A Spiritual Road Map to Eternity
Fulton J. Sheen - 1960
Why is it, asks Bishop Fulton Sheen, that one hears so often the expression "Go to hell!" and almost never the expression "Go to heaven!" Here, at his most penetrating, challenging, and illuminating best is Bishop Sheen with his answer, in a book that breathes new meaning into the truths about heaven and hell, and new life into the concepts of faith, tolerance, love, prayer, suffering, and death.Beginning with "The First Faint Summons to Heaven," Sheen shows how unpopular it is today to be a true Christian, and describes the struggle for living our faith amid the disorders of our times. Keenly aware of evil in the myriad forms it takes in today's world, Bishop Sheen writes about the constant battle man faces with the "seven pallbearers of character" - pride, avarice, envy, lust, anger, gluttony and sloth - linking them with the corrosive forces that never cease in their attacks on the Church and those who earnestly desire to be serious Christians.In Go to Heaven, a great spiritual teacher and writer, deeply aware of the human and spiritual conflicts being waged in the world, shows us the way to heaven in a most eloquent book, encouraging the reader to choose heaven now, and to understand the "reality of hell."
Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth
David Wilkerson - 1986
But he also brings a message of courage and comfort--a call to return to God with all our hearts and to fulfill God's purposes for us as His beloved children.
The Heart of the Church: The Gospel's History, Message, and Meaning
Joe Thorn - 2017
It explains the story of the gospel, its basic doctrines, and God’s work in salvation. Fresh yet consistent with classic expressions, it helps churches reclaim their essential identity and return from distracting pursuits. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards—and even for devotional reading—The Heart of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Readers will not simply be informed, but led to believe in, rejoice in, and be transformed by the truth of God for His gathered people.Without the gospel, the church does not exist. This book is Thorn’s full and detailed exploration of the message that is indispensable to the church’s life and identity. For any church lacking power, any Christian feeling dry, or any person seeking truth, The Heart of the Church brings relief, direction, and light, leading to worship.
Spirit-Led Preaching: The Holy Spirit's Role in Sermon Preparation and Delivery
Greg Heisler - 2007
. . . My plan for doing this is to recover the doctrine of pneumatology (the study of spiritual beings/phenomena) for our theology of preaching, resulting in a renewed emphasis on the powerful combination of Word and Spirit working together as the catalyst for powerful expository preaching.”Heisler thoroughly examines how the Holy Spirit illuminates and empowers the preacher, opens the hearts of the hearers, and applies the message to their lives. Indeed, to ignore the Holy Spirit’s role in sermon preparation and delivery would be a considerable oversight.
Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel Wholly by Grace Communicated Truthfully & Lovingly
Will Metzger - 2012
"It's the S.S. Evangelical Gospel. In the midst of their fun and excitement, passengers have not noticed holes in the ship's side under the water line. Well-meaning leaders are attempting to plug these holes with new methods, technology, social activism and cultural savvy. All these are important, yet the structure of the ship remains compromised by years of neglect." In this thoroughly revised fourth edition of the now classic Tell the Truth, Will Metzger reinstate the truth framework necessary for the survival of evangelicalism. Biblical illiteracy among evangelicals is on the rise. Theological discernment between truth and error is increasingly elusive. We need to be recalibrated not to the changing times but to the changeless gospel. As useful as it is passionate, Tell the Truth will refocus and re-energize a whole new generation to communicate the whole gospel, wholly by grace, truthfully and lovingly. Includes a study guide and new training materials for personal witnessing!
Quran: The Final Testament, Authorized English Version With Arabic Text, Revised Edition Iv
Rashad Khalifa - 1989
The Book is, without a doubt, a revelation from the Lord of the Universe. The Final Testament comes with built-in physical evidence that it is God's message to you; it is mathematically composed beyond human capability. This proves that God is the Truth, and that He revives the dead, and that He is Omnipotent. Our Salvation in the hereafter lies on upholding The Quran. The Quran is God's Final Testament to the world. Unlike any other book, the Quran is taught by God (55:1-2); He teaches us what we need at the time we need it. This is why we read the Quran hundreds of times without getting bored. We can read a novel, for example, only once. But the Quran can be read an infinite number of times, and we derive new and valuable information from it every time. Since the Quran is God's message to all the people, regardless of their language, the Quran is accessible to the believers, regardless of their language (41:44). This explains a profound phenomenon: the believers who do not know Arabic know the Quran better than the Arabic speaking unbelievers. Because of the invisible forces serving the Quran, it is readily and enjoyably accessible to the sincere believers, and utterly inaccessible to the unbelievers (17:45, 18:57, 56:79).
Theology for a Troubled Believer: An Introduction to the Christian Faith
Diogenes Allen - 2010
In this book, Allen hopes to supply more of the information (pieces of the puzzle) that are needed if a person is to make sense of the Christian understanding of God and our life in the universe. More philosopher than theologian, Allen writes for a troubled believer, dealing with issues and questions that emerge during Christians' daily lives and in the course of contemplating Christian faith.
A God Named Desire
Ty Gibson - 2010
We are creatures of intense desire. We emerge from the womb longing for touch and affection. Desire pulsates within us every waking moment of our lives. Our hearts are fueled by hungry yearnings for connection, for relationship, for a sense of belonging. We plunge into life, giving ourselves away to him or her, to this or that, drinking in every promise of fulfillment. And yet, we always emerge from the quest for love still feeling a persistent and insatiable desire for something more. A God Named Desire is about that something more. There are some books that speak with an unusual level of clarity to the deepest issues that press the human heart. This is one of those rare books. You will never see god, or yourself, the same after the insights of A God Named Desire are introduced into your mind.
The G.O.D. Experiments: How Science Is Discovering God in Everything, Including Us
Gary E. Schwartz - 2006
Schwartz, Ph.D., there is compelling scientific evidence that we no longer have to accept God on faith alone. Through a multidisciplinary approach, Harvard University-educated Dr. Schwartz blends psychology, quantum physics, and mathematics to examine the science of spirit. Faith and science are not mutually exclusive, and a better understanding of their relationship can lead us to recognize how God operates in everything.Trained in the scientific method as an "open-minded skeptic," Dr. Schwartz was taught how to raise questions, turn them into hypotheses, and design experiments to test them. He was not trained to consider the nature of God. And yet, his scientific research led him directly to the discovery of God's existence in intelligent evolution and everyday life.Scientifically rigorous and spiritually reassuring, this eye-opening book is a wake-up call for anyone who wonders about life's true meaning and who longs to believe in the existence of a universal intelligence.
Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible
Thomas G. Long - 1988
He presents a methodology for taking the literary characteristics of biblical texts into account in the text-to-sermon process and then applies that methodology in separate chapters on preaching on psalms, proverbs, narratives, parables, and epistles.
Upside-Down Spirituality: The 9 Essential Failures of a Faithful Life
Chad Bird - 2019
Where the world stresses the importance of success, Bird invites readers to embrace nine specific failures in the areas of our personal lives, our relationships, and the church. Why? Because what human wisdom deems indispensable is so often an impediment to our spiritual growth, and what it deems insignificant is so often essential to it.With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps readers delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside-down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.
Hindu Rites and Rituals: Origins and Meanings
K.V. Singh - 2015
Often the age-old customs, whose relevance is lost to modern times, are dismissed as meaningless superstitions. The truth, however, is that these practices reveal the philosophical and scientific approach to life that has characterized Hindu thought since ancient times; it is important to revive their original meanings today. This handy book tells the fascinating stories and explains the science behind the Hindu rites and rituals that we sometimes follow blindly. It is essential reading for anyone interested in India's cultural tradition.
Faithful Preaching: Declaring Scripture with Responsibility, Passion, and Authenticity
Tony Merida - 2009
Expository preaching is the best approach for accurately explaining and applying God’s Word, and for maintaining a God-centered focus in preaching. It also offers wonderful spiritual benefits to both the preacher and congregation. To be faithful expositors today, we must avoid the common problems associated with expository preaching such as boredom, irrelevancy, and Christless messages. Faithful preachers will usher the people through the text passionately and authentically, pointing them to Christ.”
Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life
Anthony M. Coniaris - 1982
It is different in a number of ways, all of which commend this volume to wide use by pastors whose task it is to introduce the members of their inquirers classes to an Orthodox way of life which will touch their lives in a full and complete way (Fr. Stanley Harakas). Chapters include: What We Believe About the One Apostolic Church, the Nicene Creed, Jesus, the Holy Trinity, the Divine Liturgy, Salvation, the Church Fathers, the Church Year, Symbols, the Sacraments, the Saints and the Theotokos, Life After Death, the Bible, Icons, Prayers for the Dead, and Prayer. Recently translated in Korean and Romanian.
The Enduring Community: Embracing The Priority Of The Church
Brian Habig
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