One of today's most popular spiritual writers and commentators interweaves the Old and New Testament Scripture with prayers of hope and repentance, offering ancient ways of seeing Christ that will feel new to readers of all denominational backgrounds.

    It is the revelation of the presence of God. He is Glory! As air is to the atmosphere of the Earth, so glory is the atmosphere of Heaven. Praise...until the spirit of worship comes. Worship...until the glory comes. Then...stand in the glory. If you can capture the basic principles of Praise, Worship, and Glory which are outlined in this book--so simple that we miss them--you can have anything else you want in God.

    And I have an increasingly keen sense that, wherever I am, someone nearby is suffering now.For that reason, I lately have settled in to mull the matter over, gathering my troubled wits to undertake a difficult essay, more like what we used to call an assay, really—an earnest inquiry. I am thinking of it just now as a study in suffering, by which I hope to find some sense in affliction, hoping—just as I have come to hope about experience in general—to make something of it.” Is there meaning in our afflictions?With the thoughtfulness of a pilgrim and the prose of a poet, Scott Cairns takes us on a soul-baring journey through “the puzzlement of our afflictions.” Probing ancient Christian wisdom for revelation in his own pain, Cairns challenges us toward a radical revision of the full meaning and breadth of human suffering. Clear-eyed and unsparingly honest, this new addition to the literature of suffering is reminiscent of The Year of Magical Thinking as well as the works of C. S. Lewis. Cairns points us toward hope in the seasons of our afflictions, because “in those trials in our lives that we do not choose but press through—a stillness, a calm, and a hope become available to us.”

    Have his ear. Belong to his body.Three seemingly unremarkable principles shape and strengthen the Christian life: listening to God's voice, speaking to him in prayer, and joining together with his people as the church. Though often viewed as normal and routine, the everyday "habits of grace" we cultivate give us access to these God-designed channels through which his love and power flow--including the greatest joy of all: knowing and enjoying Jesus.A study guide for individual and group study is also available.

    Hughes chronicles the history of Churches of Christ in America from their inception in the early nineteenth century to the 1990s, taking full account of the complexity of their origins, the mainstream of their heritage for almost two hundred years, and their voices of protest and dissent, especially in the twentieth century. From The Critics "Hughes...here provides the definitive history of the Churches of Christ from their beginnings in the Stone-Campbell movement of the early 19th century through the split with the Disciples of Christ at the turn of the century and all the way into the 1990s. Central to this richly detailed and highly readable narrative is Hughes's assertion that this religious movement has evolved from a 19th-century sect into a 20th-century denomination." - Choice "Because of Hughes's elegant writing and his awareness of the social history surrounding the developing denomination, this study transcends mere denominational history and should be read as cultural history. It should remain the standard volume on the subject for years to come." - Publishers Weekly "Hughes provides a clear, balanced account of an American religious movement that has heretofore received insufficient scholarly attention." - Journal of American History "An excellent denominational history of Churches of Christ.... Richard T. Hughes, who admirably balances an empathy born of his lifelong membership in the denomination with the standards of a professional historian, labored on this book for a decade and a half, and the result is a study both thoroughly researched and clearly written." - American Historical Review "Hughes is the foremost interpreter today ofthe Churches of Christ, as this book illustrates.... Well written and meticulously documented, this book could serve as the definitive history of this movement for a generation." - Religious Studies Review

    Originally prayed in Stanley Hauerwas's divinity school classroom on a variety of occasions, this collection of prayers not only displays an invigorating faith but demonstrates how Christians today can pray with all the passion of the ancient psalmists.

    Every person, even the atheist, will admit that death is certain. Death, however, is not the last event in this life of ours. Immediately after death, we shall be judged and then again on the Day of Judgment when all humanity will know us for what we are. Too often the reality of Heaven and salvation are highlighted at the expense of the Church's teachings on Death, Judgment, Purgatory, and Hell. Yet, these important doctrines of the Church hold the truths of salvation truths that can lead us to Heaven or can pull us away from it. In these pages, Fr. Wade Menezes, EWTN television host and Assistant General of the Fathers of Mercy, shows us that God has not called us to His wrath, but to salvation. He shows us that Heaven and Hell, salvation and damnation, eternal life and eternal punishment are all complementary doctrines. They need each other to be complete and we must understand the Church's teachings on all of these doctrines in order to have a balanced view of the world. Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell these are the Four Last Things toward which we are moving each hour of the day and night. Read this book, and you'll have a firm grasp of one of the most important doctrines of Holy Mother Church that holds the truths of Heaven and our own salvation.

    Yet another tsunami or earthquake or flood or fire or war atrocity. One more gun-toting madman stalking young people in idyllic Norway or moviegoers in Colorado or schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut. We turn off the news only to get a phone call about expectant parents with a stillborn baby, or a loved one whose cancer has returned. Really, God? we ask. This again?If we have faith in God, it gets shaken to the core. What was God doing in the moment when that tragedy could have been prevented? If we can’t trust God to keep our children safe or our loved ones from dying in agony, what can we trust God for? In his classic book Where Is God When It Hurts, Philip Yancey gave us permission to doubt, reasons not to abandon faith, and practical ways to reach out to hurting people. Now, with new perspectives and stories gathered across nearly twenty-five years, once again he tackles the hard questions head-on. His visits to three places in 2012 raised the old problems with new urgency. More veteran pilgrim than curious journalist in his later years, Yancey faces with his trademark honesty the issues that often undermine faith, yet he emerges with comfort and hope. Along the way, he shows that Christians have an important role to play in bringing healing to a deeply wounded world.There are hopeful reasons to ask, once again, the question that never goes away. . . .

    We’re experiencing a worldwide crisis of attention in which information overwhelms us, corrodes true communion with others, and leaves us anxious, unsettled, bored, isolated, and lonely. These pages provide the time-tested antidote that enables you to regain an ordered and peaceful mind in a technologically advanced world. Drawing on the wisdom of the world’s greatest thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, these pages help you identify – and show you how to cultivate – the qualities of character you need to survive in our media-saturated environment. This book offers a calm, measured, yet forthright and effective approach to regaining interior peace. Here you’ll find no argument for retreat from the modern world; instead these pages provide you with a practical guide to recovering self-mastery and interior peace through wise choices and ordered activity in the midst of the world’s communication chaos. Are you increasingly frustrated and perplexed in this digital age? Do you yearn for a mind that is more focused and a soul able to put down that IPhone and simply rejoice in the good and the true? It’s not hard to do. The saints and the wise can show you how; this book makes their counsel available to you.

    Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.

    As you develop your roles in your family, you unlock more of His plan. He tasked no one else but you with being your husband’s wife, and He hasn’t given anyone else except you the responsibility of being mother to your children. Spoiler alert – those assignments begin before we even meet our spouse! Famous in heaven and at home. That’s what He has called us to unquestionably. As we dig into Proverbs 31 together, let’s lay down our to-do lists and worldly expectations. Let’s not overlook and undervalue what we can be certain He desires from our lives. Rather than just seeking something worthy to do, let’s passionately pursue who God purposely created us to be.

    In Daring to Ask for More, Melody Mason has shone the light of God’s Word on the path to true revival—Holy Spirit-inspired, daring, audacious prayer. I know this book will be a tremendous blessing to many.Doug Batchelor, President and Speaker, Amazing Facts If prayer is “the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse” as Steps to Christ declares, then Melody Mason’s new book is long overdue. Daring to Ask for More is precisely God’s strategic appeal to this generation living on the edge of eternity. Daring to Ask for More indeed! May our hearts be stirred up as never before to seek God through prayer as never before, while there is still time.Dwight K. Nelson, Senior Pastor, Pioneer Memorial Church, Andrews University Melody Mason’s new book, Daring to Ask for More, is driving me to my knees. My needs are so great and my resources so few, what self-righteousness it is to pray so little. Thank you for that push!Frank Fournier, President, ASI

    Many are looking to spirituality as a means of disengaging from this life--to experience the transcendent or discover personal wholeness. On the other hand, much of popular Christian thought seems to be about avoiding the corruption of the world by being pious and following the rules. But Jesus offers a radical model for living. As the Incarnate One who dwelt among us to accomplish the mission of God, he teaches us how to dwell in the world for the sake of the world. If we are to become like him, we must learn what it means to live out this missional spirituality in the places we dwell. What does a Christian life deeply rooted in the logic of the Incarnation look like? Missional teacher and pastor Barry Jones shares his vision for authentic Christian spirituality focused on becoming more like Jesus. We dwell in a specific place and time in history, with unique bodies and in a world for which God has great purposes of redemption. This presence in the world should lead us to pattern our lives after the life of Jesus who was a boundary breaker, a shalom-maker, a people-keeper, and a wounded-healer. Jesus' life shows us what it looks like to be fully human, to be whole and holy . . . to be in the world and not of the world, to live passionately for the world and not protectively withdrawn from it, says Jones. Allowing the logic of the Incarnation to inform our vision of the spiritual life corrects the tendency toward a self-oriented pursuit of transcendence or a negative spirituality of behavior modification and disengagement from the world. Including practical suggestions for real-life application and questions for discussion, Jones describes living a missional life from a place of deep connection with and dependence on God. Not only must we have a clear and compelling vision of the life we want to live, but we must also cultivate the spiritual disciplines necessary to live out our vision in the specific contexts of day-to-day life. We need a renewed vision of Christian spirituality that leads us to be conformed into the image of Christ who dwelt with us for us.

    

    In this new collection of sermons she practices the old-fashioned art of gospel home remedies like a true evangelist, summoning with piercing clarity and wit the Old and New Testament stories that have the power to mend our spirits, strengthen our weaknesses, and restore us to wholeness. Scripture comes to life in the contemporary people and places of which Taylor speaks. Georgia apple-growers become God's sharecroppers of the gospel parable; through Mary's embracing of her role as God-bearer we are dared to take risks in our own discipleship; in Jonah's angry stand-off with God we see reflections of our own struggles with a God who is more forgiving than we want him to be; with tender awe after years of waiting Sarah wipes her hands on her apron and goes to tell Abraham she is to bear a child. Through the stories of Scripture, Taylor addresses with moving simplicity the contemporary wounds of anger, abandonment, fear of judgment, and a longing for home, healing, and mercy.