God made covenants with His people. He deals with themaccording to the covenants He made with them. Today weare under God's New Covenant. For all God's dealings with usin addition to our dealings with God will be governed by thisNew Covenant. We are therefore called to have New CovenantLiving as well as New Covenant Ministry. It is hence extremelyessential for us to be sure that our living and ministry are ofthe New Covenant way.

    Blessings help us to perceive this circle of grace, to find our place of belonging within it, and to receive the strength the circle holds for us." - from the IntroductionBeginning in Advent and moving through the sacred seasons of the Christian year, Circle of Grace offers Jan's distinctive and poetic blessings that illuminate the treasures each season offers to us.

    We can no longer assume our friends understand words such as grace or gospel. Others, like lost and sin, have become so negative they are nearly conversation-enders.Jonathan Merritt knows this frustration well. After Jonathan moved from the Bible Belt to New York City, he discovered that whenever conversations turned to spirituality, the words he'd used for decades didn't connect with listeners anymore. In a search for answers and understanding, Jonathan uncovered a spiritual crisis affecting tens of millions. In this groundbreaking book, one of America's premier religion writers revives ancient expressions through cultural commentary, vulnerable personal narratives, and surprising biblical insights. Both provocative and liberating, Learning to Speak God from Scratch will breathe new life into your spiritual conversations and lure you into the embrace of the God who inhabits them.

    We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.

    God can save your church.Thom Rainer reveals seven findings of revived churches. Through new research, he figuratively dissects hundreds of churches that were on the path toward death. But they turned around. They revived. They did so in the face of facts and naysayers who told them it could not be done.Get ready to walk with us through the anatomy of churches that were revived because they chose to live. The choice is as simple as it is profound. Change or die. And now, in God's power, the choice is yours.

    Based on thirty years of scholarly research and classroom teaching, a team of biblical scholars from Liberty University provides a practical, readable, and insightful introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures in canonical order.This uniquely illustrated, full-color volume features book introductions, background studies, outlines, surveys, theological concepts, practical applications, study questions, and helpful Hebrew word studies for English readers.Editors Ed Hindson and Gary Yates draw from a lifetime of teaching to provide a well tested and proven Old Testament overview written at the collegiate level, yet appropriate for pastors, scholars, and laymen alike. They represent the finest evangelical scholarship along with a passion to open windows of spiritual and practical insight into the biblical text.This exciting new survey of the Scriptures highlights the key elements of the Hebrew literature of the Law, the Prophets, and the Poets of the Old Testament. The history, archaeology, and wisdom of the biblical world are revealed with an eye on the application of their moral principles, theological insights, and practical application to today’s world.

    Jenson at Princeton University in the spring of 2008. Based on a series of twenty-three course lectures, it offers a concise and accessible overview of Christian theology while retaining the atmosphere of Jenson's classroom. Much as does Jenson's Systematic Theology, A Theology in Outline treats a standard sequence of doctrines in Christian theology--God, Trinity, creation, humanity, sin, salvation, church, among others. However, its organizing principle and leitmotiv are less traditional. Reflecting his recent interest in theological interpretation of scripture, Jenson frames the whole of Christian theology as a response to the question posed to the prophet Ezekiel: "Son of man, can these bones live?" For Jenson, to ask this question is to ask whether Christian theology itself is a pile of dead bones. Can the story that God lives with his people be told today? From first to last the chapters of this book proceed under the impelling pressure of this question. They thus comprise a single sequence of illustrative conversations for the purpose of introducing beginners to Christian theology.

    He affirms that the Lord's Prayer is the primary prayer of the Christian, which he asserts contains every prayer that a Christian ought to pray. Bonhoeffer also makes a startling but wise claim that jolts us out of the narrowness of our focus in prayer: "The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart." Thus we find the book of Psalms to be a rich treasury of prayers that are part of God's inspired word, and therefore a true place to learn how God would have us pray.

    We know that with Jesus life becomes richer."-Pope Francis, The Joy of the GospelIn her first book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus, Sherry Weddell, cofounder of the Catherine of Siena Institute, captured the attention of Catholics across the globe as she uncovered the life-changing power that accompanies the conscious decision to follow Jesus as his disciple.Now, in the groundbreaking Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples, she has gathered together experienced leaders and collaborators whose exceptional field-tested wisdom and enthusiasm for transforming Catholic parishes into centers of discipleship and apostolic outreach is both inspiring and practical.The authors consider: The role of intercessory prayer in parish transformation How "fireside chats" can help a pastor connect with his parishioners and call them to personal discipleship and mission The co-responsibility of lay people andpastors in the work of making disciples The revolutionary impact of a discipleship approach to youth ministry How one parish successfully fostered a culture of intentional discipleship, and much more As Sherry asks in her own chapter, "Are we willing to answer the call and pay the price necessary to become a new generation of saints through which God can do extraordinary things in our time?"

    But often there is so much focus in our churches on the first part of Christ's command--evangelism--that the second part--teaching new believers to obey all that Christ commanded--is forgotten. New believers find themselves on their own, trying to figure out what their new life is supposed to look like. In this well-loved book, Bill Hull explains why disciple-making must be the focus of every believer's life and shows how each of us can do it. With practical examples drawn from vast ministry experience, Hull helps the church deepen and enrich the lives of believers as they learn to truly follow Christ.

    Our culture teaches that bigger is better--and that includes church ministry and preaching, too. But what if rather than swinging for the fences, preachers focused on improving their sermons through small habits, practices, and exercises? What if smaller is better?In a world where "small" isn't always celebrated, Jonathan T. Pennington provides Small Preaching, a short book of simple tips that can have revolutionary effects over time. Pennington offers preachers 25 words of wisdom that will help shape their preaching for the better.

    Popular Dallas Theological Seminary professors make basic theology accessible for everyone, including key doctrines on Revelation, Scripture, and the triune God.

    The world says that writing doesn't matter much. Our families and jobs need us. We have to make money. The ugly voices in our head tell us we're not good enough. There are a ton of reasons why we choose to not write. . . and yet, if we are writers, we must find a way to the page. Over and over again. Often one of the hardest things for writers is allowing ourselves the time and space to write when so many other obligations fill our time. Writing Day in and Day Out is a book for writers who would like to find that time and space and build a practice of writing in their daily lives.In this intimate volume, Cumbo-Floyd tells about her own writing practice, shares suggestions - but never rules - for how you might find a way to more words in your daily life, and offers encouragement for the days when writing seems to be too far away or too painful.

    The Bible is accessible. It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to seminary students. A few essential insights into the Bible can clear up a lot of misconceptions and help you grasp the meaning of Scripture and its application to your 21st-century life.More than half a million people have turned to How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth to inform their reading of the Bible. This third edition features substantial revisions that keep pace with current scholarship, resources, and culture. Changes include:•Updated language•A new authors’ preface•Several chapters rewritten for better readability•Updated list of recommended commentaries and resourcesCovering everything from translational concerns to different genres of biblical writing, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is used all around the world. In clear, simple language, it helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible—their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today—so you can uncover the inexhaustible worth that is in God’s Word.

    Greidanus challenges Old Testament scholars to broaden their focus and to understand the Old Testament not only in its own historical context but also in the context of the New Testament. Suggesting specific steps and providing concrete examples, this volume provides a practical guide for preaching Christ from the Old Testament.