They are living, complex things that grow and change. Sometimes they fly so high we scrape the top of heaven. Sometimes they barely make it off the ground. Sometimes they feel buried under the ground. What hope do we have of understanding ourselves when we are so changeable? And what hope do we have for lasting change when our response to life is so different from one day to the next? But God designed our hearts to be both varied and varying, and he delights in his craftsmanship. He made our hearts to respond to life in a wide, beautiful spectrum of thought, desire, and choice. This spectrum bends, adapts, expands, and contracts as it dynamically responds to changing situations. The goal of change is not to flatten this variety, but to guide our responses so they reflect who we are in Christ. Jesus perfectly lived his humanity out as a dynamic being. Now as our risen Savior, he redeems all of human experience for his purposes. Without a holistic understanding of people, our approach to those in need of help will be lopsided, focusing on just one aspect of human experienceperhaps simply trying to correct faulty thinking, to stir different emotions, or to correct wrong actions. Focusing on one of these aspects of human experience to the exclusion of the others does not do justice to Gods design. Jeremy Pierre, in this ground-breaking book, lays out a holistic understanding of who we are and how we change through a dynamic relationship with Christ. Every day our dynamic hearts need help from our dynamic Savior. As Dr. Pierre connects the realities of our changing and complex thoughts, desires, emotions, and actions to who we are in Christ, readers will gain a more complete understanding of who we are, who God is, and how change happens in

    It is relatable and applicable. It is for everyone, in any time, in any place. But it also can be intimidating. A Martyr's Faith in a Faithless World serves as a starting point for those looking to start reading theological works and deepen their understanding of Lutheran theology. Short, poignant chapters show the practical side of Lutheran theology and extol the doctrine of the catechism and the Lutheran Church as true, good, and beautiful. Ultimately, readers will come away with a desire for more theology and a renewed confidence and comfort in God's Word. The budding theologian, the newly catechized, the curious college student, and the inquiring visitor all will be at home in this book. A Martyr's Faith in a Faithless World serves as a great next step for those who have just finished adult confirmation classes and are looking to continue growing in their understanding of Lutheran theology.

    With clarity and wit, he shows us how covenants carry the Bible’s story from start to finish and ultimately give root to the gospel of salvation by grace. Beginning with Adam in the garden of Eden, and ending with Jesus, our risen Covenant King, Rhodes illuminates the good news of a promise-making, promise-keeping God.Key topics include law and grace, union with Christ, baptism in the Spirit, predestination, and water baptism. Rediscover the Bible’s unified covenantal story and its unfolding message throughout Scripture.

    But moving beyond theory, Him We Proclaim provides examples of how this method applies to all Old and New Testament genres, from history and law to psalm and prophecy to doctrine and exhortation.

    Kent Edwards recalls a story that late pastor J. Vernon McGee told about seeing children in South Africa playing a game of marbles in the dust with real diamonds. The precious stones were being handled with no regard for their true worth. Edwards fears the same thing happens today when preachers offer Scriptural truth to listeners without being completely overwhelmed by its greatness themselves in the process.Deep Preaching is his call to "rethink" preaching. Edwards helps preachers learn to preach the word in ways that will powerfully change the lives of hearers. He contends that sermons "need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table." He encourages preachers to join him in casting off the lines that moor their ministries to the status-quo and make every effort to steer their preaching out of the "comfortable shallows." He urges them to preach deep sermons rather than superficial ones, moving "beyond the yawn-inspiring to the awe-inspiring, from the trite to the transforming."

    But are those answers reliable? In this systematic text, Douglas Groothuis makes a comprehensive apologetic case for Christian theism--proceeding from a defense of objective truth to a presentation of the key arguments for God from natural theology to a case for the credibility of Jesus, the incarnation and the resurrection. Throughout, Groothuis considers alternative views and how they fare intellectually.

    But do we really do this? Emphasizing that God's love for us is the source of our love for him, Phil Ryken challenges us to take Jesus's words seriously and think carefully about where our affections truly lie.

    Christians who suffer from OCD may grapple with additional guilt, as the undesired thoughts are frequently of a spiritual nature. Yet people may be surprised to learn that some of the greatest leaders in Christian history also struggled with this malady. What did they experience? How did they cope? Were they able to overcome these tormenting, often violent, obsessions? Where did God fit into the picture?Ian Osborn shares the personal accounts of Martin Luther, John Bunyan, and Saint Th�r�se of Lisieux, as well as his own story, in exploring how faith and science work together to address this complex issue.

    There is sharing, suggesting, plenty of storytelling, and lots of preaching to "felt needs." But the authoritative, expositional opening of the Word of God is harder to find all the time. In the Old Testament God decried the fact that His people were perishing for lack of knowledge about Himself. Too often, those who have been called to feed Christ's sheep with the Word of God do little more than "pet" them. This book is a plea for preachers to "preach the Word." It will encourage pastors to strive to maintain their calling. However, it is not intended just for pastors; it will also be useful in guiding congregations to know what to look for in a pastor and in holding their preachers to this Biblical standard.

    Drawing on the teachings of the Fathers and saints of the Church, Dr. Rossi gently points the way toward deepening our love for God and for each other so that others may experience Christ through us.

    These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits―and devices―that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"―an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus. Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

    Expounds biblical principles that, if applied to even the unhealthiest church, the Lord can use to take the church "from embers to a flame."

    Wolters spells out the structure of a reformational worldview and its significance for those who seek to follow the Scriptures. Wolters begins by defining the nature and scope of a worldview, distinguishing it from philosophy or theology, and noting that the Christian community has advanced a variety of worldviews. He then outlines a Reformed analysis of the three fundamental turning points in human history – Creation, the Fall, and Redemption – concluding that while the Fall might reach into every corner of the world, Christians are called to participate in Christ's redemption of all creation.

    This little tome can hardly reverse that, but it is meant as an exercise in reading the Old Testament for fun and profit. As my mother-in-law used to say, 'It's different anyway.' And maybe it will help. Most of what I do in the following pages involves discussing examples of Old Testament narratives. I have tried to select examples from a broad range of possibilities. By the way, I assume that you have the biblical text handy in order to carry on your 'Berean' work." Dale Ralph Davis

    Conference Theme: No Greater Love. Dr. Willard explains the importance of the Apostle Paul's teaching on love: "It is Paul who really helps us to understand the love of which Jesus and the New Testament speak. There is, needless to say, much confusion about love, and what Paul says about it, as well as his practice, can help us to get agape love—and therewith all the other 'loves' of the Greek and other languages—right." This paper is being sold on Kindle in order to fund ongoing work of the Dallas Willard family to continue his legacy through publishing his unpublished works and making his ideas accessible to the broadest possible audience.