K. Narayan in the Introduction to this new interpretation, 'is aware of the story of The Ramayana. Everyone of whatever age, outlook, education or station in life knows the essential part of the epic and adores the main figures in it - Rama and Sita. Every child is told the story at bedtime . . . The Ramayana pervades our cultural life.' Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki, probably around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless variant versions in different languages. Here, drawing his inspiration from the work of an eleventh-century Tamil poet called Kamban, Narayan has used the talents of a master novelist to recreate the excitement and joy he has found in the original. It can be enjoyed and appreciated, he suggests, for its psychological insight, its spiritual depth and its practical wisdom - or just as a thrilling tale of abduction, battle and courtship played out in a universe thronged with heroes, deities and demons.

    Best-selling author Os Guinness goes beyond our surface understanding of God's call and addresses the fact that God has a specific calling for our individual lives.Why am I here? What is God's call in my life? How do I fit God's call with my own individuality? How should God's calling affect my career, my plans for the future, my concepts of success? Guinness now helps the reader discover answers to these questions, and more, through a corresponding workbook - perfect for individual or group study.According to Guinness, "No idea short of God's call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment." With tens of thousands of readers to date, The Call is for all who desire a purposeful, intentional life of faith.Also availbale in audio format, narrated by Os Guinness.

    Yet the struggles they each faced rang with eerie similarity. These courageous women from across the globe-Pakistan, India, Romania, Former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia-shared similar experiences of hardship, subjugation, and persecution, all because of their faith in Christ. Yet all of these women have emerged from adversity as leaders and heroines.The eight modern-day pilgrims featured in "Hearts of Fire" are the hidden jewels in the church universal. They are worthy role models of faith and passion, and women of every age will gain new strength and hope for their own times of crisis and trial as they read these inspiring stories. Each story concludes with thoughtful self-reflection questions for the reader.

    Lives well-lived, not just words eloquently spoken, must become our response. The quality of our relationship with God is what will influence the health, potency, and witness of the church in an increasingly complex and hostile world.Designed for use as a college or seminary course, Conformed to His Image helps us build our lives on a fully biblical perspective. Exploring twelve approaches to Christian spirituality in depth, Dr. Kenneth Boa corrects our tendency to pick and compartmentalize. Pointing the way instead to an integrative, whole-life approach, Dr. Boa shows how each spiritual paradigm discussed is just one important facet in the gem of authentic and powerful New Testament living.With chapter overviews and objectives, questions for personal application, a glossary, and a list of key terms, Conformed to His Image will prove a defining text for the student, pastor, and church leader of today . . . and tomorrow. 12 Facets of the Complete Christian LifeRelational Spirituality: Loving God Completely, Ourselves Correctly, and Others CompassionatelyParadigm Spirituality: Cultivating an Eternal versus a Temporal PerspectiveDisciplined Spirituality: Engaging in the Historical DifferencesExchanged Life Spirituality: Grasping Our True Identity in ChristMotivated Spirituality: A Set of Biblical IncentivesDevotional Spirituality: Falling in Love with GodHolistic Spirituality: Every Component of Life under the Lordship of ChristProcess Spirituality: Being versus Doing, Process versus ProductSpirit-Filled Spirituality: Walking in the Power of the SpiritWarfare Spirituality: The World, the Flesh, and the DevilNurturing Spirituality: A Lifestyle of Discipleship and EvangelismCorporate Spirituality: Encouragement, Accountability, and Worship

    Mark Lanier, one of America's top trial lawyers, uses his experienced legal eye to examine the plausibility of the Christian faith. Bringing science, current knowledge, and common sense together in a courtroom approach, this "trial" elucidates a rich understanding of God and a strong foundation for Christian faith. Following the format of a traditional legal trial, Lanier takes us from opening statement to closing summation by way of testimony from well-known witnesses--the scientist, the theologian, the linguist, the humanist, the philosopher, the psychologist and the ancient biblical eye-witness. These sources and many others investigate the sticky subjects of the Christian worldview that are commonly scrutinized by skeptics or overlooked by marginal believers:Who is God in light of astronomical and subatomic science? How could divine inspiration of Scripture or Christ's bodily resurrection be possible? How should we see the nature of reality, free will and choice, ethics, morality and the idea of heaven and afterlife? Lanier presents a persuasive case for the Christian faith and leaves it up to us to choose what is worthy of belief and what is not. Christianity on Trial provides a thought-p

    Long has updated the language, expanded the key chapter on biblical exegesis, and included more examples of sermon forms, illustrations, and conclusions. He continues to critically engage the best thinkers in the field of homiletics, bringing into the conversation both important new voices and the latest works of those who appeared in the first edition. In addition, he addresses some of the new forces at work, such as the use of video clips and PowerPoint presentations in sermons.

    In the years that followed, he realized that the world’s two largest religions are far more different than they initially appeared.No God but One: Allah or Jesus? addresses the most important questions at the interface of Islam and Christianity: How do the two religions differ? Are the differences significant? Can we be confident that either Christianity or Islam is true? And most important, is it worth sacrificing everything for the truth?Nabeel shares stories from his life and ministry, casts new light on current events, and explores pivotal incidents in the histories of both religions, providing a resource that is gripping and thought-provoking, respectful and challenging.Both Islam and Christianity teach that there is No God but One, but who deserves to be worshiped, Allah or Jesus?

    Now in its third edition, this classic resource offers•a nine-step strategic thinking and acting model •useful ideas for developing a ministry strategy •diagrams to help illustrate concepts •a new section on spiritual formationThe methods in this book are proven to work, having already helped many churches articulate their vision and implement their mission.

    It is an invitation to God’s kingdom, where tears are replaced by laughter and longing hearts find their purpose and their home. This is the heart of the gospel: God’s search to reclaim us and love us as his own. But have we truly grasped this? Those of us who have disdained Christianity as a religion of bigotry—have we repudiated the genuine article or merely demonstrated our own prejudice and ignorance? Those of us who are Christians—have we deeply apprehended the mission of Jesus, and do our ways and character faithfully reflect his beauty? From the nature of God, to the human condition, to the work of Jesus, to God’s coming kingdom, and all that lies between, how well do we understand the foundational truths of Christianity and their implications? The Faith is a book for our troubled times and for decades to come, for Christians and non-Christians alike. It is the most important book Chuck Colson and Harold Fickett have ever written: a thought-provoking, soul-searching, and powerful manifesto of the great, historical central truths of Christianity that have sustained believers through the centuries. Brought to immediacy with vivid, true stories, here is what Christianity is really about and why it is a religion of hope, redemption, and beauty.

    It hides in the shadows of the most successful, confident and high-achieving woman who struggles with balancing her work and children, as well as in the heart of the broken, abused and downtrodden woman who has been told that she will never amount to anything. Shame hides in plain sight and can hold us back in ways we do not realize. But Christine Caine wants readers to know something: we can all be free.“I know. I’ve been there,” writes Christine. “I was schooled in shame. It has been my constant companion from my very earliest memories. I see shame everywhere I look in the world, including in the church. It creeps from heart to heart, growing in shadowy places, feeding on itself so that those struggling with it are too shamed to seek help from shame itself.”In Unashamed, Christine reveals the often-hidden consequences of shame—in her own life and the lives of so many Christian women—and invites you to join her in moving from a shame-filled to a shame-free life.In her passionate and candid style, Christine leads you into God’s Word where you will see for yourself how to believe that God is bigger than your mistakes, your inadequacies, your past, and your limitations. He is not only more powerful than anything you’ve done but also stronger than anything ever done to you. You can deal with your yesterday today, so that you can move on to what God has in store for you tomorrow—a powerful purpose and destiny he wants you to fulfill.Join the journey. Lay ahold of the power of Jesus Christ today and step into the future—his future for you—a beautiful, full, life-giving future, where you can even become a shame-lifter to others. Live unashamed!

    So we give up our pursuit, tired from wandering aimlessly, and end up feeling guilty and more distant from God instead of closer. In the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook Adele Calhoun gives us directions for our journey toward intimacy with Christ. While the word discipline may make us want to run and hide, the author shows how desires and discipline work together to lead us to the transformation we're longing for--the transformation only Christ can bring. Instead of just giving information about spiritual disciplines, this Handbook is full of practical, accessible guidance that helps you actually do them. Mothers, fathers, plumbers, nurses, students--we're all on a journey. And spiritual disciplines are for all of us who desire to know Christ deeply and be like him. Here is direction for our desire, leading us to the ultimate destination: more of Christ himself.

    With the help of this revised edition, pastors, students and laypersons need no prior knowledge of biblical exegesis to create their own Bible commentaries.

    And yet, many more Gospels once existed. Who, then, determined which Gospels would, for the next two thousand years, serve as the main gateways to Jesus and his teaching? Recent books and films have traced the decision to a series of fourth-century councils and powerful bishops. After achieving victory over their rivals for the Christian name, these key players, we are now told, conspired to 'rewrite history' to make it look like their version of Christianity was the original one preached by Jesus and his apostles: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John became the prime tools for their re-sculpting of the Christian story, leading to the destruction of previously treasured writings like the Gospels of Judas, Mary, and Thomas. Are the four canonical Gospels, then, in the Bible as the result of a great, ecclesiastical conspiracy? Or does this explanation itself represent another 'rewriting of history', this time by a group of modern academics? Who Chose the Gospels? takes us to the scholarship behind the headlines, examining the great (and ongoing) controversy about how to look at ancient books about Jesus. How the four Biblical Gospels emerged into prominence among their competitors is a crucial question for everyone interested in understanding the historical Jesus and the development of the Christian church.

    The perfect combination of scholarship and accessible presentation for Christians who desire to know how to better understand and defend their faith.Bestselling authors Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner have brought together a who's who of apologetic experts—including Lee Strobel, Norm Geisler, Josh McDowell, and John Ankerberg—to produce a resource that's both easy to understand and comprehensive in scope.Every entry provides a biblical perspective and mentions the key essentials that believers need to know about a wide variety of apologetic concerns, including...issues concerning God, Christ, and the Biblescientific and historical controversiesethical matters (genetic engineering, homosexuality, ecology, feminism)a Christian response to world religions and cultsa Christian response to the major worldviews and philosophies of our dayIncluded with each entry are practical applications for approaching or defending the issue at hand, along with recommendations for additional reading on the subject.

    Stackhouse brings his wide experience as a historian, philosopher, journalist, and theologian to these important questions and offers surprising--and reassuring--answers. Stackhouse begins by acknowledging the real impediments to Christian testimony in North America today and to other faiths in modern societies around the world. He shows how pluralism, postmodernism, skepticism, and a host of other factors create a cultural milieu resistant to the Christian message. And he shows how the arrogance or dogmatism of apologists themselves can alienate rather than attract potential converts. Indeed, Stackhouse argues that the crucial experience of conversion cannot be compelled; all the apologist can do is lead another to the point where an actual encounter with Jesus can take place. Finally, he shows how displaying an attitude of humility, instead of merely trying to win religious arguments, will help believers offer their neighbors the gift of Christ's love. Drawing on the author's personal experience and written with an engaging directness and an unassuming nature, Humble Apologetics provides sound guidance on how to share Christian faith in a postmodern world.