Like Jonah, however, we eventually discover we've made a mess of things; we're rowing against the storms God is using to pull us back on course.In Glorious Mess, Mike Howerton shows how God's relentless grace extends into all the messes we make in our lives, that God clearly reveals his love for imperfect people no matter how far we've strayed. He shows readers how to hear God's voice, how to embrace God's calling on their lives, how to get out of their messes, and how to see God working. The result is not just forgiveness and direction for life, but also encouragement and inspiration to be our best selves before God and others.Includes discussion questions for group or personal use.

    At twenty-seven, he became a professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Semitic Languages at Dallas Theological Seminary. He started and pastored an influential church in Ft. Worth, Texas. He taught his church and his students that God no longer gave the "miraculous gifts of the Spirit" or spoke outside the pages of Scripture.After teaching seminary for ten years, a bestselling author shocked Deere when he told him that he not only believed God was regularly healing people today, but that he had seen undeniable miracles in answer to his prayers. For the next four months, Deere studied every healing story in the New Testament. This time he came to those stories with the open mind of a scholar, completely at home in the original languages of the Bible, not as a gullible student swallowing the prejudices of his teachers. At the end of those four months, Deere was convinced, against his will, that God was still healing and speaking just as he had done in the New Testament.Deere and his wife Leesa began to pray for people in their church and witnessed dramatic, documented healings.In Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Deere demonstrates that the Scriptures teach that God is healing and speaking today just as he did 2000 years ago. He tells documented stories of modern miracles. He explains the nature of spiritual gifts, defines each spiritual gift, offers sound advice on discovering and using the gifts in church today. He shows how all of this part of God's way of deepening our friendship with him.A modern classic, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit was published twenty-five years ago, and in that book Deere claimed that he would live long enough to see the majority of conservative evangelicals come to believe in all the gifts of the Spirit. That has come true. The theological landscape has changed dramatically. Nearly completely rewritten, this new edition still offers that proof but has about seventy percent new material on the practical matters of experiencing and using spiritual gifts. For example, anyone who prays regularly for the sick will encounter demonic power. Demons pop up all over the Synoptic Gospels. There are two new chapters on ministering to the demonized. There is much confusion on what it means to be filled with the Spirit today. Deere takes three chapters to examine every use of "filled with the Spirit" and "full of the Spirit" in the New Testament to show why and how God still fills his servants with the Holy Spirit. There are many new stories of God's power, even walking on water and multiplying food. Deere also introduces the newest literature defending and explaining the gifts of the Spirit. All this and more continues the book's legacy for a new time.

    Benedict, Martin Luther, John Calvin, St. Ignatius, Teresa of �vila and Andrew Murray. You'll learn how each of these spiritual giants uniquely connected to God through prayer and have an opportunity to practice each different method yourself.

    Christian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church through prose as accessible and concise as it is personal and engaging. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. Whether the person is Galileo, William F. Buckley, John Bunyan, or Isaac Newton, we are now living in the world that they created and understand both it and ourselves better in the light of their lives. Their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires uniquely illuminate our shared experience.HERO OR HERETIC? GENIUS OR BLASPHEMER?It's no mystery how profound a role Galileo played in the Scientific Revolution. Less explored is the Italian innovator's sincere, guiding faith in God. In this exhaustively researched biography that reads like a page-turning novel, Mitch Stokes draws on his expertise in philosophy, logic, math, and science to attune modern ears with Galileo's controversial genius.Emerging from the same Florentine milieu that produced Dante, da Vinci, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Amerigo Vespuci, Galileo questioned with a persistence that spurred his world toward an unabating era of discovery. Stokes confronts the myth that Galileo's stance on heliocentricity stood astride a church vs. science divide and explores his calculations for the dimensions of Dante's hell, his understanding of motion, and his invention of the pendulum clock.To read this volume is to journey through Galileo's remarkable life: from his inquisitive childhood to his dying days, when, although blind and decrepit, he soldiered on, dictating mathematical thoughts and mentoring young proteges.

    "Ocean Star" is the story of how God found her in the midst of an abusive childhood, became the loving parent she never had, and revealed himself in tangible ways through her amazing life journey. Filled with insightful symbolism, "Ocean Star" will help Christians and non-Christians find hope, humor, and healing in a powerful true story of a broken life made new.

    Here is straight talk from a man who has sought authentic New Testament community for more than fifty years and who has discovered it in the most unlikely places.

    Scott explores the spiritual depths and practical steps to losing significant weight and shows how you can adopt a healthy lifestyle too.Whether you need to lose 150 pounds or five pounds, Scott’s hilarious memoir will not only make you laugh but it will also equip you for your own journey to a happier and healthier you.

    Let’s face it: making decisions is hard—especially when it comes to the big stuff like, Should I marry this person? Am I in the wrong job? What should I do with my life? We know that God has a plan for us, but how are we supposed to know what that plan is?In What Is God’s Will for My Life?, bestselling author John Ortberg helps us understand: If God’s will for my life is so important, why doesn’t he just tell me what it is? How can I learn to recognize God’s voice? If I miss God’s guidance on an important decision, am I stuck with “plan B” for the rest of my life? God does have a plan for your life! It’s time to discover what it is.

    Francis of Assisi heard the call of Christ. It is also how Jorge Mario Bergoglio, at the age of 76, and a Jesuit, seems to have accepted his election to the papacy with the choice of a name that no other pope has ever chosen.Who is Pope Francis, elected in one of the shortest conclaves in history? Who is the man chosen to be the first pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit pope?How does he see the world and his ministry? How does he understand his call to serve Christ, his Church, and the world? In short, what is the mind and heart of this new pope of a new world--of the Americas and the rest of the world of the 21st Century?In the words, the ideas, and the personal recollections of Pope Francis--including material up to the final hours before his election--the most highly regarded Vatican observer on the international scene reveals the personality of this man of God, gentle and humble. The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, he made radically following Christ and the way of non-violence the pillars of his pastoral ministry in a country, continually tormented by social and economic inequities.This complete biography offers the keys to understanding the man who was a surprise choice, even a kind of revolutionary choice, for pope. It is the story of the humble pastor of one of the world's largest archdioceses; a cardinal who takes the bus, talks with common folk, and lives simply. It is the story of why the cardinal electors of the Catholic Church set aside political and diplomatic calculations to elect a pope to lead the renewal and purification of the worldwide Church of our time.

    The evergreen wreath symbolizes eternal life and includes four candles—typically three purple and one pink, with a white candle in the middle that symbolizes the purity of Christ. Various traditions assign different topics to each candle, and the candles are usually given names to remind us of the good news of Christ's birthTo celebrate this season, TGC's editorial team put together 25 devotional readings that use the Advent wreath as a guide to focus hearts and minds on Christ during the month of December. Structured around traditional Advent themes—hope, peace, joy, love, and faith—these reflections will encourage your heart in this season of celebrating Christ's first coming, and longing for his second.

    Now Christian Scharen provides a thoughtful look at the driving force behind the band. Bono and other band members are marked by the Christian faith of their Irish backgrounds. Scharen reflects on how U2 "fits within the longer Christian tradition of voices that point us to the cross, to Jesus, and to the power of God's ways in the world" as he explores the music's honest spiritual questioning. Music lovers, pastors, and anyone on the path to God will value this book.

    But in ten thoughtful chapters, he lines up evidence from the Scriptures, Christian tradition and liturgy, and the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, that God desires all creatures (yes, including our beloved pets!) in the afterlife.

    Kevin Watson has written a fresh new guide to the theory and practice of the Wesley class meeting, an essential element of truly Wesleyan spirituality. This book is for clergy and congregations who are looking for ways to develop deeper discipleship. The class meeting is made workable without losing its essential dynmic as a gospel-based accountable community. Watson has resurrected the class meeting and given it new meaning, showing its relevance for the church today and how it may be a perfect means for church renewal.

    The western Church is in stark decline and our kids no longer find the message of judgement tenable in the real world. Jesus came to influence and draw—not condemn and repel. In Brimstone, Hugh Halter helps us navigate the overuse of poor judgment and the underuse of right judgment. This book will help you navigate the great law of love given by Jesus. Inside you’ll find a disruptive invitation to be holy as Jesus was holy and engage the sinful world with a smile instead of pointing a finger in their face.Hugh Halter is a pastor and popular author of numerous books including Flesh, The Tangible Kingdom, And, Sacrilege, and Primer. Hugh and Cheryl are presently enjoying the spoils of empty nest living but love to use their ranch as a haven of celebration, hospitality, and friendship to the lost and least on the south side of Denver.

    Through the author's honest (and sometimes funny) examination of these sins in her own life, as well as Church teaching, she gives us the tools to kick these bad habits before they kick us.