This study presents the book of Jonah as part of the unfolding, unified story of redemption pointing to Christ. Pastors, seminarians, and thoughtful readers interested in how the Old Testament points to Christ will appreciate this new study of Jonah.

    It explores numerous syntactical categories, some of which have not previously been dealt with in print, and has a number of distinguishing features, including:Exegetically significant illustrations, discussed in depth.Semantic situations—or contexts for simple semantics—are developed and analyzed.Expanded definitions and numerous examples and syntactical categories.Grammatical statistics listed at the beginning of major sections.Scores of charts, tables, and graphs.Sound exegesis requires that the exegete consider grammar within a larger framework that includes context, lexeme, and other linguistic features. This textbook faithfully equips intermediate Greek students with the skills they need to do exegesis of biblical texts in a way that is faithful to their intended meaning.The expanded edition contains a subject index, a Greek word index, and page numbers in the Syntax Summary section.

    DeYoung wrote to his congregation, outlining seven reasons why he preferred the English Standard Version (ESV) and proposed its adoption. His letter forms the basis of this brief booklet.Is your church considering switching translations? Would you like to learn more about the ESV? If so, this is a booklet you'll want to read.Publisher's Overview:DeYoung shares seven reasons why he encouraged his church to switch Bible translations to the ESV. A few years into his current pastoral role, Kevin DeYoung was faced with a church that needed to replace its well-worn pew Bibles. DeYoung wrote to his congregation, outlining seven reasons why he preferred the English Standard Version (ESV) and was proposing its adoption. Among his top reasons for switching to the ESV DeYoung noted its essentially literal translation philosophy, avoidance of over- and under-translation, consistency in translating important Greek and Hebrew words, and retention of important literary features. DeYoung’s letter has been newly edited and put into booklet form. Sold individually or in packs of ten, Why Our Church Switched to the ESV is an excellent tool for pastors or lay leaders seeking to learn more about the English Standard Version. ....Author's Introduction at TheGospelCoalition.org:Several years ago our church switched to the ESV. To help with this transition I wrote a lengthy paper for the congregation. Last year Crossway asked if they could turn that paper into a short booklet. You can read more about the pamphlet on the Crossway blog.The previous link explains how you can download the book for free. You can also access the PDF here.We are blessed with many fine English translations. But I have been a reader of the ESV since it first came out and I am very happy our church made the switch.

    So began the most important week of the most important person who ever lived.Nearly 2,000 years later, the events that took place during Jesus's last days still reverberate through the ages. Designed as a day-by-day guide to Passion Week, The Final Days of Jesus leads us to re-examine and meditate on the history-making, earth-shaking significance of Jesus's arrest, trial, crucifixion, and empty tomb.Combining a chronological arrangement of the Gospel accounts with insightful commentary, charts, and maps, this book will help you better understand what actually happened all those years ago . . . and why it matters today.

    In our rapidly changing and ever more complex world, we suffer a crisis of leadership. Leighton Ford sees the growing dearth of bold leaders--in the marketplace, religion and public life. In this powerful book, Ford calls Christians to be transformational leaders. Many leaders work within situations; transformational leaders change situations. Many leaders accept what can be talked about; transformational leaders change what can be talked about. Many leaders talk about payoffs; transformational leaders talk about goals. Many leaders bargain; transformational leaders appeal to a common vision. Ford realizes that desperately needed Christian and transformational leadership will not emerge until we have a model of the transforming leader. And what more powerful example of leadership could there be than Jesus? Insightfully examining Jesus' work and the best recent books on leadership, Ford presents --the leader as strategist --the leader as seer --the leader as seeker --the leader as servant --the leader as struggler --the leader as sustainer Executives, pastors, managers, professionals--all will benefit from this fresh, in-depth treatment by a man who is himself one of the world's finest Christian leaders.

    Plantinga—himself a master preacher—shows how a wide reading program can benefit preachers. First, he says, good reading generates delight, and the preacher who enters the world of delight goes with God. Good reading can also help tune the preacher's ear for language—his or her primary tool. General reading can enlarge the preacher's sympathies for people and situations that she or he had previously known nothing about. And, above all, the preacher who reads widely has the chance to become wise.This beautifully written book will benefit not just preachers but anyone interested in the wisdom to be derived from reading.Works that Plantinga interacts with in the book include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario, Silence by Shusaku Endo, How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy, Narcissus Leaves the Pool by Joseph Epstein, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo . . . and many more!

    Yet many Christians still rely on cookie-cutter approaches to evangelism and apologetics. Most of these methods assume that people are open, interested and needy for spiritual insight when increasingly most people are not. Our urgent need, then, is the capacity to persuade to make a convincing case for the gospel to people who are not interested in it. In his magnum opus, Os Guinness offers a comprehensive presentation of the art and power of creative persuasion. Christians have often relied on proclaiming and preaching, protesting and picketing. But we are strikingly weak in persuasion--the ability to talk to people who are closed to what we are saying. Actual persuasion requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Guinness notes, "Jesus never spoke to two people the same way, and neither should we." Following the tradition of Erasmus, Pascal, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis and Malcolm Muggeridge, Guinness demonstrates how apologetic persuasion requires both the rational and the imaginative. Persuasion is subversive, turning the tables on hearers' assumptions to surprise them with signals of transcendence and the plausibility of the gospel. This book is the fruit of forty years of thinking, honed in countless talks and discussions at many of the leading universities and intellectual centers of the world. Discover afresh the persuasive power of Christian witness, from one of the leading apologists and thinkers of our era."

    Even as we do things as simple as light the candles, set the table, break the bread and pour the wine, we invite people into a holy moment.... The women [in this book] not only have a wellspring of deep wisdom, but they also have the ability to dish out their knowledge with side-aching humor.... I am thrilled that their great wisdom and intelligence will be bound into the pages that I can turn to, lend and appreciate for years to come."--from the Foreword by Rev. Carol Howard MerrittLearn--and laugh--with these women of the church, bound together by a deep commitment to ministry, as they reveal what it really means to be a woman in the pulpit. Over fifty clergywomen representing fourteen denominations share the details of their intimidating balancing act--juggling the isolating expectations of perfection from their congregations and the shared human realities of everyday life.Intended for laypeople, women hearing a call to ministry and clergy of all denominations, these stories and prayers will resonate with, challenge, encourage and amuse anyone who has a passion for their work and faith.Contributors: Rev. Jemma Allen - Rev. Denise Anderson - Rev. Stephanie Anthony - Rev. Amber Belldene - Rev. Beth Birkholz - Rev. Laurie Brock - Rev. Jennifer Garrison Brownell - Rev. Hilary Campbell - Rev. Erin Counihan - Rev. Julie Craig - Rev. Robin Craig - Rev. Liz Crumlish - Rev. Martha Daniels - Rev. Stacey Simpson Duke - Rev. Jan Edmiston - Rev. Ruth Everhart - Rev. Amy Fetterman - Rev. Marci Auld Glass - Rev. Rachel G. Hackenberg - Rev. Elizabeth Evans Hagan - Rev. Cheryl Harader - Rev. Joanna Harader - Gillian Hoyer - Rev. Rosalind C. Hughes - Rev. Sara Irwin - Rev. Kathryn Z. Johnston - Rev. Deborah Lewis - Rev. Jennifer Burns Lewis - Rev. Catherine MacDonald - Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan - Suzy Garrison Meyer - Rev. Karla Miller - Rev. Sarah E. Howe Miller, PhD - Rev. Holly S. Morrison - Rev. Katie Mulligan - Rev. Dr. Teri McDowell Ott - Rev. Katya Ouchakof - Rev. Kerri Parker - Rev. Katherine Willis Pershey - Rev. Teri Peterson - Rev. Patricia J. Raube - Rev. Diane M. Roth - Rev. Anna Scherer - Rev. Julia Seymour - Rev. Monica Thompson Smith - Rev. Martha Spong - Rev. Sally-Lodge Teel - Rev. Sharon M. Temple - Rev. Michelle L. Torigian - Rev. Deb Vaughn - Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell - Rev. Julie Woods

    Drawing from his experiences in pioneering and pastoring highly successful churches in Hawaii, Cordiero inspires and instructs others on fulfilling the Lord's desire that His church work together.

    A new expression of the church has been quietly growing. It's something of an experiment, but over the last ten years the church has been validating its ideas with sustained and growing results. At The Underground, being the church is not focused around a weekly gathering or church programs. It's about empowering individuals to respond to God's call to ministry and mission, especially to the poor and disadvantaged in our midst.While many churches talk about discerning calling and engaging in mission, very few are structured to make this their ministry focus. Underground Church is a new vision for the church rooted in its biblical mission to share the love of God and serve the poor. Sanders explores how to make structural changes, how to think about leadership, how to fund ministries, and how to truly engage people in God's mission. Filled with creative insights, he explains what it means to center the mission of the church around the callings of individuals to outward ministry - whether that involves leading Bible studies in the workplace, feeding the homeless, or working to free women and children from sex trafficking.This book will both tell the inspiring story of a church that is rethinking what church looks like while also outlining and uncovering the principles that transfer for every church and Christian community that hopes for more. It's the true story of a 10-year experiment that unpacks the possibilities of a church structured and streamlined for mission.

    Not only do these pastors have to transition into a new congregation and community, but they also have to think about building strong relationships with other influential people in the area. Almost every day, pastors of new churches face unexpected hardships and challenges. Some of the issues are financial mismanagement from their predecessor, moral or ethical misbehavior, or unresolved conflict that has just been suppressed long enough to find a new pastor. The fact is, pastors of new churches need guidance. The First 100 Days is for these pastors who need some guidance and insight to help them lead with godly wisdom and purpose during the first few months.

    H. Charles, and was recently found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Book of Jubilees is also called the Little Genesis, Book of Divisions, and the Apocalypse of Moses. It repeats the events of Genesis and Exodus from Creation to the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt. It recounts the events in sets of jubilees (sets of 49 years) and gives additional details such as the fall of the angels, and the creation and destruction of the Nephilim. It also mentions the three classes of pre-flood Nephilim. It details the fact that one-tenth of their disembodied spirits would remain on earth as demons to tempt people and nine-tenths would be chained until the Tribulation Period. Learn what secrets this Dead Sea Scroll holds. Compare the mysterious Qumran calendar with that of the Bible to learn more about biblical prophecies. The commentary is written from a fundamentalist Christian perspective. Brought to you by Biblefacts Ministries, biblefacts.org

    This approach seeks to bridge the gap between biblical studies and theology, which grew wide with the ascendancy of critical approaches to Scripture. Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture is the first clear, systematic introduction to this movement for students. The book surveys the movement's history, themes, advocates, and positions and seeks to bring coherence to its various elements. Author Daniel Treier also explores what he sees as the greatest challenges the movement will have to address as it moves into the future. This helpful book is appropriate for pastors and lay readers interested in biblical interpretation.

    With its biblical and practical approach to discipleship, this bestselling topical Bible study will help you develop a closer relationship with God, a keener sense of priorities, and a renewed concern for nonChristian friends.Part of the Revised 2:7 series.• Personal study between meetings• 11 sessions

    Their steady gaze penetrates to the very nature of created reality and leads us toward peace and human flourishing. Craig Bartholomew and Ryan O'Dowd tune our ears to hear once again Lady Wisdom calling in the streets. Old Testament Wisdom Literature provides an informed introduction to the Old Testament wisdom books Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. Establishing the books in the context of ancient Near Eastern wisdom traditions and literature, the authors move beyond the scope of typical introductions to discuss the theological and hermeneutical implications of this literature.