Book picks similar to
The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things by Michael S. Heiser
theology
christianity
sci-fi-fantasy
supernatural
The Forgotten Jesus: How Western Christians Should Follow an Eastern Rabbi
Robby Gallaty - 2017
Through the years, our understanding of Jesus has been shaped by different cultural influences, and many Christians have forgotten that Jesus was a Jewish man living in a Jewish land, observing Jewish customs, and investing his life into Jewish men and women.Trading the popular, but inaccurate Western perspective of the Bible for the context in which Jesus actually ministered in 2000 years ago, author Robby Gallaty reveals the fascinating Hebraic culture, customs, and nuances many Christians have never experienced or learned about.By uncovering the teaching of the first and second century rabbis and Christian theologians, and highlighting little-known Jewish idioms and traditions, Gallaty takes Christians on a biblical journey to rediscover a forgotten Jesus from a biblical perspective, deepening your relationship with God.
Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing
C.J. Mahaney - 2002
J. Mahaney strip away the nonessentials and bring you back to the simplest, most fundamental reason for your faith: Jesus Christ. Chapters include "Breaking the Rules of Legalism," "The Cross Centered Day," and "Assurance and Joy." His Gift, Your Hope Do you desire more passion for Jesus Christ? Return to the very essence of your faith--the cross of Christ. Here, the deepest truths of Calvary will stir your passion for Him into an unquenchable fire.
The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
Scot McKnight - 2008
We cage them or clip their wings to keep them where we want them. Scot McKnight contends that many, conservatives and liberals alike, attempt the same thing with the Bible. We all try to tame it. McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet has emerged at the perfect time to cool the flames of a world on fire with contention and controversy. It calls Christians to a way to read the Bible that leads beyond old debates and denominational battles. It calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew for a new generation.In his books The Jesus Creed and Embracing Grace, Scot McKnight established himself as one of America’s finest Christian thinkers, an author to be reckoned with. In The Blue Parakeet, McKnight again touches the hearts and minds of today’s Christians, this time challenging them to rethink how to read the Bible, not just to puzzle it together into some systematic theology but to see it as a Story that we’re summoned to enter and to carry forward in our day. In his own inimitable style, McKnight sets traditional and liberal Christianity on its ear, leaving readers equipped, encouraged, and emboldened to be the people of faith they long to be.
What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage
Paul David Tripp - 2010
Marriage, according to Scripture, will always involve two flawed people living with each other in a fallen world. Yet, in counselor Paul Tripp's professional experience, the majority of couples enter marriage with unrealistic expectations, leaving them unprepared for the day-to-day realities of married life. This unique book introduces a biblical and practical approach to those realities that is rooted in God's faithfulness and Scripture's teaching on sin and grace. Spouses need to be reconciled to each other and to God on a daily basis, Tripp declares. Since we're always sinners married to sinners, reconciliation isn't just the right response in moments of failure. It must be the lifestyle of any healthy marriage. What Did You Expect? presents six practical commitments that give shape and momentum to such a lifestyle. These commitments, which include honestly facing sin, weakness, and failure; willingness to change; and embodying Christ's love, will equip couples to develop a thriving, grace-based marriage in all circumstances and seasons of their relationship.
Finding Faith in the Dark: When the Story of Your Life Takes a Turn You Didn’t Plan
Laurie Polich Short - 2014
And more than helping you find your way out, this book will help you find your way through that place.
She Reads Truth: Holding Tight to Permanent in a World That's Passing Away
Raechel Myers - 2016
She wants help and healing. She wants to hear and be heard, to see and be seen. She wants things set right. She wants to know what is true—not partly true, or sometimes true, or almost true. She wants to see Truth itself, face-to-face. But here, now, these things are all cloudy. Hope is tinged with hurt. Faith is shaded by doubt. Lesser, broken things masquerade as love. How does she find something permanent when the world around her is always changing, when not even she can stay the same? And if she finds it, how does she hold on? She Reads Truth tells the stories of two women who discovered, through very different lives and circumstances, that only God and His Word remain unchanged as the world around them shifted and slipped away. Infused with biblical application and Scripture, this book is not just about two characters in two stories, but about one Hero and one Story. Every image points to the bigger picture—that God and His Word are true. Not because of anything we do, but because of who He is. Not once, not occasionally, but right now and all the time. Sometimes it takes everything moving to notice the thing that doesn’t move. Sometimes it takes telling two very different stories to notice how the Truth was exactly the same in both of them. For anyone searching for a solid foundation to cling to, She Reads Truth is a rich and honest Bible-filled journey to finally find permanent in a world that’s passing away.
Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus
Robert Farrar Capon - 2002
These studies offer a fresh, adventurous look at all of Jesus' parables, treated according to their major themes. With the same authorial flair and daring insight that have earned him a wide readership, Capon admirably bridges the gap between the biblical world and our own, making clear both the original meaning of the parables and their continuing relevance today.
Searching the Scriptures: Find the Nourishment Your Soul Needs
Charles R. Swindoll - 2016
We feel sick, light-headed, and occasionally depressed, or we become irritated and edgy. It's the body's way of letting us know that it's lacking sufficient nourishment. Optimal health requires optimal nutrition. The same is true spiritually speaking. Without sufficient and regular biblical nutrition, our inner life begins to suffer the consequences. We become shallow and selfish, more demanding and less gentle, and quick to react impatiently, rashly, and angrily. These are telltale signs of inner malnutrition.In "Searching the Scriptures," respected Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll shows us how to dig deep into Scripture and uncover its profound truths for our lives. He outlines the principles of Bible study that will help you understand God's Word, apply it, and communicate it clearly to those around you. Too many people try to go it alone, without a guide, for this life and the next. Chuck explains how we can fix our own spiritual meals, then invites us to feast on nourishing truths we can discover in God's Word.
Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks
D.C. Talk - 1997
It is a book for teenagers about martyrdom, containing dozens of profiles of figures ranging from Stephen, whose martyrdom is described in the Book of Acts, to "Anila and Perveen," two teenage Pakistani girls and Christian believers. In 1997, Perveen was killed for running away in order to avoid marrying a Muslim man; Anila was imprisoned for helping her friend escape. In an introduction to the book, Michael Tait explains its purpose: "In a world built on free will instead of God's will, we must be the Freaks. While we may not be called to martyr our lives, we must martyr our way of life. We must put our selfish ways to death and march to a different beat. Then the world will see Jesus." The book's design is hip and easy to read, and its summary of Christian persecutions that continue today is useful--and frightening.
Knowing God
J.I. Packer - 1973
I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God. In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals. This edition is updated with Americanized language and spelling and a new preface by the author. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two important facets of the Christian faith: 1. Knowing about God and 2. Knowing God through the context of a close relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to transform and enrich the Christian understanding of God. Explaining both who God is and how we can relate to him, Packer divides his book into three sections: The first directs our attention to how and why we know God, the second to the attributes of God and the third to the benefits enjoyed by a those who know him intimately. This guide leads readers into a greater understanding of God while providing advice to gaining a closer relationship with him as a result.
Take Courage - Bible Study Book: A Study of Haggai
Jennifer Rothschild - 2020
They were distracted, discouraged, and ready to throw in the towel. But the prophet Haggai reminded them they could find courage in the God who had never left them.Sometimes the landscapes of our lives feel wrecked, with our hope and purpose in shambles. We too get distracted and discouraged. However, God's presence and promises give us courage to press on and trust Him with our story.In this 7-session study on the Book of Haggai, learn to walk confidently in your calling, stay motivated despite opposition, and courageously invest your life in God's purposes, trusting Him for results you may never see in this lifetime.Features: Leader guide to lead discussions within small groupsPersonal study segments to complete between 7 weeks of group sessionsEnriching teaching videos, approximately 25 minutes per session, available for purchase or rentBenefits: Defeat discouragement through God's presence, people, and Word.See beyond your current circumstances to a future hope.Learn to trust God more than your feelings.
Messy Church: A Multigenerational Mission for God's Family
Ross Parsley - 2011
Instead, God wants His church to function as a family—a group of real people who love each other and care for one another’s needs, no matter how messy.
Our culture is dying for the kind of community that only the church can provide—if we are living as God intended: as a family, protecting one another, extending grace, and loving unconditionally.
We are not called to be consumers who ask what the church can offer us. We are called to love deeply, fight fairly, and bring hope to a generation of people starving to belong to something greater than themselves. Welcome to the family. You belong here.
Bitesize Theology (Revised 2014)
Peter Jeffery - 2000
With short but solid chapters on key subjects, he outlines the ABCs of the Christian faith. Each of the chapters is bite sized. There is just enough to manage at one time, and you will find there is much to nourish the mind as well as to warm the heart and inspire the will. Quotations from other writers are also included, as is as a list of recommended books for additional reading. There is also a guide for reading the New Testament and Psalms through in a year.
Traveling Light: Modern Meditations on St. Paul's Letter of Freedom
Eugene H. Peterson - 1982
In "Traveling Light," Eugene H. Peterson, who is translator of "The Message Bible," explores the free life in Christ that we must both receive as a gift and practice as a skill. In an engaging, often passionate dialogue in which Paul's letter to the Galatians faces off against the crises of modern life, he offers both encouragement and challenge to men and women trapped in the anxieties and determinism of our age. Eugene H. Peterson was pastor of Christ Our King United Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland, for nearly three decades, then served as professor of spirituality theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC. Dr. Peterson is translator of "The Message" and author of numerous other works, among them "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" and "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places." "Like a skilled eye doctor, Eugene Peterson turns the lens that clears our vision and enables us to discriminate between reality and fantasy, to see what satisfies and what leads to bondage." -- Rebecca Pippert
Jesus on Every Page: 10 Simple Ways to Seek and Find Christ in the Old Testament
David P. Murray - 2013
What biblical event does this bring to mind? Is it Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, or Christ's passion in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? The kinship between these two stories is deeper than mere coincidence. Christ is present in the story of Abraham and Isaac. In fact, he is present on every page of the Old Testament.Christians seem to have forgotten that the Old Testament has everything to do with Jesus Christ. In Jesus on Every Page, David Murray guides the reader down his own Road to Emmaus, describing how the Scriptures were opened to him, revealing Jesus from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Dr. Murray's ten simple ways to seek and find Christ in the Old Testament unveil the face of Christ in the creation, the law, the psalms, the prophets, and the proverbs.Recognizing Jesus in the full breadth of Scripture is important for every Christian. Whether you are preaching Jesus through Old Testament readings or just beginning to discover the reality of Christ in the Old Testament, Jesus on Every Page provides an accessible guide to the increasingly popular subject of Jesus in the Old Testament books. Have your own Road to Emmaus experience and know the Old Testament for what it truly is: full of Jesus.Endorsements:With deceptive ease Dr. David Murray brings his readers on to the Road to Emmaus for a few hours of conversation about Jesus and the Old Testament. With an enviable grace and simplicity he teaches us how to read the Old Testament as Christians. --Sinclair B. Ferguson, Redeemer Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.This is not a small book, it is a game-changer. I read it with a notepad in one hand and at times tears on every page. This profound work shows that Jesus is on every page of God's love story. This is a book I will read over and over. I highly recommend it! --Sheila Walsh, Singer, Author, Speaker with Women of Faith ConferencesIf you have always struggled to understand the Old Testament, this is the book for you. Dr. Murray has provided us with a refreshingly simple guide to seeing the glory of Jesus our Messiah throughout the Old Testament. --Burk Parsons, Editor, Tabletalk, Pastor, St Andrews, Orlando, Florida.There's no one I'd rather have serve as my guide for a journey down the Emmaus road than David Murray. Jesus on Every Page provides solid, understandable categories and tools for retraining ourselves on how to read and understand the Old Testament. --Nancy Guthrie, Author of the Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study seriesWith contagious delight, David Murray not only opens up the Old Testament beautifully, he draws you to marvel at the One it is all about. This is a moving, rich book that can hardly fail to help readers enjoy Jesus more in his word. --Michael Reeves, Head of Theology, Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, Author of Delighting in the TrinityIf you are like me and have longed for a readable book on seeing and savoring Jesus in the Old Testament this book is the resource for you. It is biblical, practical, and preachable. I will recommend it to everyone! --Anthony Carter, Pastor of East Point Church, Georgia, Author of Blood Work and On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African American Christian ExperienceThere have been strident voices urging us to see "Christ in the Old Testament" in recent years - among them, Greidanus, Goldsworthy, Clowney, and Chapell. Now comes David Murray's Jesus on Every Page - a bang-on target, concise summary of this urgently needed, hermeneutical adjustment. --Derek W. H. Thomas, Professor of Systematic Theology, RTS Atlanta, Minister of Preaching and Teaching, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, SC.There could scarcely be a more worthy pursuit than seeking to learn of Jesus in the pages of Scripture....It would be difficult indeed to find a more accessible, concise, practically helpful, warm-hearted guide than David Murray's Jesus On Every Page. --Fred G. Zaspel, Reformed Baptist Church, Franconia, PA, Calvary Baptist Seminary, Lansdale, PACertainly one of the most helpful and most needed new books that I have seen for a long while...This book is more than a devotional read. It leads us to understand more accurately why Jesus could say of the scriptures, 'they testify of me'. What could be more important? --Iain H Murray, Pastor, Author, and Editorial Director of the Banner of Truth Publishers.His aim throughout is to remind New Testament Christians that they are whole Bible believers, and to give them a key to reading the Old Testament biblically. The key to his own book is simple enough: it is that the gospel interprets the Old Testament. --Dr. Iain D. Campbell, Author, Adjunct Professor at Westminster Seminary, and Pastor of Point Free Church of Scotland.