Many churches have adopted this mind-set in their practice of membership and discipline-if they have not done away with such structures entirely. "Yet God's love and God's gospel are different than what the world expects," writes Jonathan Leeman. They're centered in his character, which draws a clear boundary between what is holy and what is not. It's this line that the local church should represent in its member practices, because the careful exercise of such authority "is God's means for guarding the gospel, marking off a people, and thereby defining his love for the world."So how should churches receive and dismiss members? How should Christians view their submission to the church? Are there dangers in such submission? The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love responds with biblical, theological, and practical guidance-from both corporate and individual perspectives. It's a resource that will help pastors and their congregations upend worldly conceptions and recover a biblical understanding and practice of church authority.

    Updated explanations of the "sins" of interpretation teach sound grammatical, lexical, cultural, theological, and historical Bible study practices.

    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.

    Whether you’re a parent trying to raise them, a pastor trying to reach them, or an employer trying to retain them, they’re disruptive. As the largest living generation, millennials are one of the most studied but misunderstood groups of our day. And the chasm between the generations is only getting wider.Speaker and founder of the Initiative Network Grant Skeldon pulls back the confusing statistics about millennials to reveal the root issue: it’s not a millennial problem, it’s a discipleship problem. Millennials are known for their struggle to hold jobs, reluctance to live on their own, and alarming migration away from the church. And now our culture is feeling the results of a mentor-less, fatherless generation. But how do you start discipling young people when you struggle to connect with them?Written by a millennial, The Passion Generation will guide you beyond the stats of what millennials are doing to the why they’re doing it and how we can all move toward healthy community. With wit, compassion, and startling insights, this book shares stories and studies drawn from Skeldon’s years of working to bridge generational gaps. In his signature conversational style, Skeldon offers researched strategies that will spark healthy connections, and practical methods that will help you disciple the millennials you love.This book is your guide to understanding the millennials in your life who are seemingly reckless but far from hopeless, for the future of the church that depends on them.

    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.

    It is heard in our songs, seen in our movies, read in our blogs. It is a story of shame, loneliness, and rejection. A story of missed potential and wasted opportunity. A story that desperately needs to be heard. But fatherlessness is more than a personal tragedy. It is a growing epidemic. Fatherlessness is a driving force behind gangs, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, and suicide. And all too often, the fatherless are either marginalized or ignored. In Fatherless Generation, Dr. John Sowers asks: How can the faith community begin rewriting this tragic story? Written for those who are fatherless themselves and those concerned with social justice, Fatherless Generation uses culture, statistics, and testimonies to remind us that it is possible for a generation to find healing.Drawing on years of research and personal experience, Dr. Sowers shows us that intentional, intergenerational mentoring is the key to a new story of hope. It is in relationship that this generation has been wounded and it is in relationship that healing must begin. Mentoring is the most strategic way to reconcile our generation with God.Weaving in his own experience of fatherlessness, Dr. Sowers eloquently presents the desperate reality of fatherlessness in our culture and how awareness and compassion offer a solution of hope—a hope that will write new stories for generations to come.

    Being ready to give reasons for the hope we have in Christ means understanding the contextual framework of the people we are addressing.In the Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics , Renaissance man Doug Powell defends the Christian faith in a new key; taking timehonored approaches in apologetics and freshly presenting them for a new generation.Chapters include:1. What Is Apologetics?2. The Cosmological Argument for God’s Existence3. The Teleological Argument for God’s Existence4. The Axiological Argument for God’s Existence5. Which God Exists?6. Where Did the New Testament Come From?7. Is the New Testament Reliable?8. ExtraBiblical Evidence for Jesus9. Is the Old Testament Reliable?10. The Fulfillment of Prophecy11. What About Miracles?12. Was Jesus Raised from Death?13. Did Jesus Claim to Be God? Is He the Only Way?14. How can God allow Evil, Pain, and Suffering?

    This useful reference work for pastors, counselors, and personal study can also be read straight through for a scriptural overview of the topic or assigned in small sections to counselees.

    It is a confidence in the power and goodness of God that leads us to make good decisions and allows us to surrender our lives to Him. As we strive to mature spiritually and lead lives pleasing to God, we all want more faith. Hebrews 6:12 says that we are to be "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." One of the best ways to grow in faith is to imitate the lives of people who have shown great faith. Hebrews 11 guides us through the lives of men and women - like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, David and others - who have done just that. Real people with real lives and real problems, who had faith in a great God and trusted Him at pivotal moments in their lives. By drawing on some of the greatest lives of faith in the Bible, readers will come to see that God was worthy of these men's and women's trust and faith during biblical times in the same way that He is worthy of ours today.

    "The best available treatment by an evangelical Christian. "-- "Christianity Today"

    What results is a perspective that allows Christians to confidently affirm the gospel as public truth in our pluralistic world.

    A guide for pastors, therapists, and all those who minister to people with emotional difficulties.

    This account of a real and honest personal quest is both engaging and convincing. Written from a deep well of wisdom derived from experience and careful observation, Making Sense Out of Suffering is a book for empty hearts, not full ones. Read it if you are hungry for insight into the mystery of suffering. A Servant Book.

    God always has a better idea. And it most often requires us to move in the opposite direction.In The Opposite Life, pastor and author Alex Seeley explains the secret to living a powerful and abundant life through the upside-down kingdom of God. Each chapter unpacks the opposite-life principles that begin with our way of thinking and yield miraculous results. They includedeath vs. lifefear vs. faithlast vs. firstlove vs. hateworry vs. worshipgive vs. receiveimpossible vs. possibleWe all want the blessed life but sometimes go about it in the wrong way. God’s promises are conditional. He says follow Me, and I will change your weakness into strength, your foolishness into wisdom, and your nothing into everything.

    Hamilton surveys each major thematic unit of the Pentateuch and offers useful commentary on overarching themes and connections between Old Testament texts.