A perfect way to live Lent to the full this year - Lent is a time to refocus our hearts and revive our love of the Lord and one another.A Companion for the Forty Days of Lent, featuring original meditations on the Gospel reading of each day by fifteen gifted authors.Each issue of the Lenten Companion is never the same as the last and contains these one-of-a-kind extras that you won’t find anywhere else:- Inspiring reflections from some of the most gifted Catholic writers for each day- Faith-filled essays- Prayers, poetry, and devotions- Meditations for the Way of the Cross- A treasury of spiritual insights

    But the reality is, the lives of many Christians look a lot more like the culture than like Christ. The question the devout are seeking today is, what does it really look like to follow Christ in a culture of darkness? In this short book, Dale Partridge assaults the watered-down, lukewarm Christianity that is harbored in many modern churches and replaces it with the raw, biblical Gospel found in the New Testament.

    Still, a daily encounter with the Bible can be difficult to sustain.Search the Scriptures can support you in your discipline of daily Bible

    In He Shines in All That's Fair Richard Mouw brings the historic insights of Calvinism to bear on this question and reinterprets them for a broader audience at the turn of the twenty-first century.Mouw examines long-standing Reformed arguments between those who champion the doctrine of common grace and those who emphasize an antithesis between the church and the world. Defenders of common grace account for the goodness in the world by insisting that God's grace goes beyond salvation to more general gifts of beauty, virtue, and excellence to all human beings—including those who do not believe in God. Those who reject the doctrine of common grace, on the other hand, emphasize the fallenness of the world and the need for the church to maintain a dramatic contrast to it. These divergent theological perspectives, while seemingly remote and abstract, lead to questions with very practical implications: What common ground do Christians share with those outside the faith? How should Christian treat their non-Christian neighbors? How should Christians relate to the world around them? Does God disapprove when Christians form close friendships with people who are "of the world"? Ought Christians to identify with the joys and sorrows of those who do not confess Christ as their Savior and Lord?In the course of this book Mouw looks at these topics, connecting the larger theological discussions to pressing issues in contemporary society. He insists that we have much to learn from thinkers who have rejected the idea of common (non-saving) grace, but he also defends the traditional common grace teachings, showing how they provide an important basis for wrestling with key challenges in present-day culture. Ultimately, Mouw argues forcefully for a Calvinism that is capable of standing in awe before the mysteries of God's gracious dealings with all human beings—and indeed the whole creation.Presented as the 2000 Stob Lectures at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary, these soundly reasoned, elegantly written chapters offer an updated, robust understanding of common grace that will be of great value to anyone interested in the relation of church and culture.

    It explores the differences between the premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial views of the Kingdom of God and presents an apology for dispensational-premillennial system of theology. The book is written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language and has received favorable response form lay people, pastors, students, and reviewers.

    The CSB Spurgeon Study Bible features thousands of excerpts from Spurgeon’s sermons, chosen and edited by Alistair Begg in order to bring the richness of the Prince of Preachers’ insights into your daily study of God’s Word.   Features include: Introductory Biography of Charles Spurgeon, Study notes crafted from Spurgeon sermons, Extracted sermon illustrations placed on the same page as the associated biblical text, Sermon notes and outlines in Spurgeon’s own handwriting, “Spurgeon Quotables” inserted throughout the Bible, Book introductions with book overviews in Spurgeon’s own words, Topical subheadings, Two-column text, Concordance, Smyth-sewn binding, Presentation Page, Full-color maps, and more.   The CSB Spurgeon Study Bible features the highly readable, highly reliable text of the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). The CSB stays as literal as possible to the Bible's original meaning without sacrificing clarity, making it easier to engage with Scripture's life-transforming message and to share it with others.

    Harry Stout draws on a number of sources, including the newspapers of Whitefield's day, to outline his subject's spectacular career as a public figure. Although Whitefield here emerges as very much a modern figures, given to shameless self-promotion and extravagant theatricality, Stout also shows that he was from first to last a Calvinist, earnest in his support of orthodox theological tenets and sincere in his concern for the spiritual welfare of the thousands to whom he preached.

    The true drama of how faith motivated America's Founding Fathers, influenced the Declaration of Independence and inspired the birth of the nation.

    When adopted, these habits will transform your leadership too. The habits include: Dreaming Prayer Invitations Contact Preparation Mentoring Fellowship Growth When your leaders adopt and practice these habits, your groups will move from once-a-week meetings to an exciting lifestyle of ministry to one another and the lost! Each habit is discussed in detail, providing "how-to" steps with an implementation guide at the end of each chapter. This resource will also be a valuable teaching tool for training your leaders and guiding your coaches as they mentor your group leaders. Help your leaders discover how to make each habit a part of their life . . . and watch them become more effective!"

    Vanhoozer argues that theology is not merely a set of cognitive beliefs, but is also something we "do" that involves speech and action alike. He uses a theatrical model to explain the ways in which doctrine shapes Christian understanding and forms disciples. The church, Vanhoozer posits, is the preeminent theater where the gospel is "performed," with doctrine directing this performance. Doctrines are not simply truths to be stored, shelved, and stacked, but indications and directions to be followed, practiced, and enacted. In "performing" doctrine, Christians are shaped into active disciples of Jesus Christ. He goes on to examine the state of the church in today's world and explores how disciples can do or perform doctrine. Written in an accessible and engaging style, Faith Speaking Understanding sets forth a compelling vision of what the church is and what it should be doing, and demonstrates the importance of Christian doctrine for this mission.Disciples who want to follow Christ in all situations need doctrinal direction as they walk onto the social stage in the great theater of the world. The Christian faith is about acknowledging, and participating in, the great thing God is doing in our world: making all things new in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Doctrine ministers understanding: of God, of the drama of redemption, of the church as a company of faithful players, and of individual actors, all of whom have important roles to play. In an age where things fall apart and centers fail to hold, doctrine centers us in Jesus Christ, in whom all things hold together.

    Charles RyrieDr. Charles Ryrie, author of the bestelling Ryrie Study Bible and one of America's greatest living theologians, offers an easy-to-understand overview of the various doctrines of the Bible. It is written especially for the layman who simply wants to understand what the Bible teaches. The topics covered include:The importance of doctrineWhat doctrine isWhat God is likeThe inspiration of the BibleThe person of ChristThe person of the Holy SpiritThe angelic worldThe nature and depravity of manSalvationThe churchWhat the future holds

    The stories of people like Francis of Assisi, Antony of Egypt, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. vividly demonstrate this. Why aren't more of us transformed by Scripture today? Too often we study biblical texts without believing that God truly inhabits this book. Scripture seeks to capture our minds, not merely educate them. In these pages Chris Webb explains that we can transform our Christian life by reading as lovers rather than as theorists. This is possible by coming to the text prayerfully, expectantly, in humility and empty-handed. When we open the Bible, it does not say to us, "Listen: God is there!" Instead, the voice of the Spirit whispers through each line, "Look: I am here." Reading the Bible this way can reconfigure the habits of your heart, refresh your imagination and memory, reshape and redeem your emotions, realign your reality individually and communally for kingdom life, and take us beyond the Bible into a renewed way of life. Here is the work of today--which is also the work of the whole of life--to open your heart afresh to the living Word of God.

    Exploring the historical and spiritual significance of the Jewish race, this treatment presents the Bible as a unified document in which God has progressively unfolded the plan of salvation.

    Modern critical biblical scholarship often points out how the church's teachings about Jesus have become encrusted with tradition so that it is hard to see what the core documents--the New Testament--really say about him. Now, with the insight of 200 years of modern critical scholarship and assuming an audience that includes both the well-churched and the non-churched, how should the church present the story and identity of the central personality of their faith, Jesus of Nazareth? Many people will be surprised at the story they hear.

    In this land of tobacco farming, bluegrass music, and devout fundamentalist Christianity, he is compelled to explain and justify the Catholic faith. His only defense, the Bible.Join Michael on an Amish-style farmstead as he learns to milk a cow, harness a horse, disk a field, and harvest hay with a team instead of a tractor. Will he discover the truth about the papacy, the Eucharist, and devotion to Mary in Sacred Scripture?