It is not, however, out of reach. The ability to identify the main themes of any passage is a skill you can learn, even as you seek to apply its truth to your own life. Covenant and Kingdom: The DNA of the Bible guides you on a Scriptural quest for knowledge and understanding. Stories and verse from the Old and New Testaments are woven together and cross-referenced, until the connections are clear and indisputable, like DNA from the Bible. Although the great Biblical themes of Covenant and Kingdom find their fullest expression in Jesus, Covenant goes all the way back to the beginning, when the only thing required was to maintain the "oneness" that God had created. After the Fall, the way was blocked; yet, God built a bridge, in Covenant, back to us. In Jesus, that Covenant was fulfilled, as on the cross, he offered himself as the ultimate blood sacrifice. The Bible is about God, our Father, inviting us to know him in a very real and personal way.Covenant and Kingdom: The DNA of the Bible provides guidance to the path of understanding that it will take to develop, to the fullest, your own individual relationship with God.

    To truly see the dynamics of this love, we must take a close look at Jesus's relationships while he was here on earth. How he loved then is how he loves now, and how he loves now is how we as believers are to love. No Greater Love is a study of Jesus's interactions with people throughout the book of John, including Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and even the Pharisees. What did this love look like in action, especially with those who are hard to love? As it turns out, he didn't love people because they deserved it; he loved them because he is love.With the great tragedies in our culture today there is a need for this "Jesus love" that's available to all believers. May this book help you better know his love for you--which, in the end, will lead you to becoming more like him.

    Using powerful stories of people who have been transformed by Christ, it will strike a note of encouragement and hope, helping Christians to remember that a life surrendered to Christ in the midst of a church transformed by his presence cannot be defeated. No amount of spiritual darkness or cultural pressure can drown out the life-giving power of the gospel.Jim Cymbala believes that the church in America is in the middle of a powerful storm, the intensity of which is likely to increase in coming months and years. Many Christians are bewildered, disheartened, and concerned by what they see—a culture that’s become increasingly hostile to biblical Christianity and a church whose vital signs are quickly waning. Like the storm surge that overtook lower Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy, powerful forces have come together to create a surge that’s threatening the health of the church.Storm will talk about the tendency on the right and on the left to conflate the kingdom of God with a particular political party. Many conservative Christians have made the mistake of substituting America for the Israel of the Old Testament, failing to realize the danger of adopting Old Testament principles that were never affirmed in the New Testament. Their message has sometimes been harsh and legalistic, making it difficult for them to proclaim a gospel of grace. Even though there is a great deal of emphasis on the Bible in such churches, it can often be the wrong emphasis.Jim Cymbala will explore the importance of preaching a gospel of grace rather than a gospel of mixed messages, so common in the church today. He will speak of our need to understand spiritual battles and for total dependence on the Holy Spirit, and he will discuss the importance of prayer. He will also explore the motivational atmosphere of the early church which flourished despite far worse conditions than those we face today. We don’t need more church growth programs to turn the church around. What’s needed is a transformation at the heart of the church so that the gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit is allowed to lead, and lives are transformed.

    In this book, she recounts something of what she learned and experienced while carrying on this work. It will be of interest and encouragement to those working in similar circumstances.

    The personal restlessness and the continuous search of why the Lord chose twelve men to disciple revealed to Pastor Cesar Castellanos the model of the Government of twelve, which in this book is explained in detail. Also, this publication will be of great help in breaking schemes and will place your church, the leadership and all its ministry in a new dimension of power.

    Imagine learning and employing the following leadership skills: -How to communicate vision in a way that causes people to respond -How to hire the right people and fire the wrong people -How to gauge the health of your church -Staffing strategies that add staff and reduce expenses -How to maximize momentum for greater growth -How to develop a system for raising up leaders -How to develop yourself as a leader -How to manage staff more effectively -And much more! Effective ministry doesn't have to be a mystery. Instead, it can be the ride of your life as you take the journey from Zero to Sixty!

     Meditation is the way to develop your spirit man. It helps get our minds better prepared for prayer. We are better able to focus and worship God in spirit and in truth. As you meditate on God’s word, you help your spirit, soul, and body become more detached from the influences of the world; you detach your affections from what’s not necessary and re-channel them to the most important things of life. You open yourself up to divine encounters that will establish your destiny. When you “meditate” on God’s words, they become “His sayings.” That is, God begins to talk to you through them. The Holy Spirit amplifies the Words inside of you and gives you details that could have only come from God. You gain direction. This small booklet will show you: =>What is bible meditation? =>10 benefits of meditating on the word of God. =>The 7-step method for effective Bible meditation. =>Biblical meditation techniques. =>How to meditate and talk to God. =>How to meditate on the word of God daily. =>Meditate on God's word day and night scriptures. If you desire to grow in the knowledge of God and enrich your prayer life, then this book will certainly guide you on that path.

    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.

    But many Christians have difficulty comprehending God's pain, especially God's pain in the death of Christ. Is it atonement or child abuse? To speak of God in pain, says Barbara Brown Taylor, is not only to address the biblical stories of Christ's suffering and death, but also to proclaim the God who is present in our pain. This volume of teaching sermons on suffering presents different approaches to the problem of God in pain. In each sermon, Taylor speaks with sensitivity and profound insight as she addresses pain and both its human and divine impact.TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Pain of Life: The Gift of Disillusionment; A Cure for Despair; Learning to Hate Your Family; Divine Anger; Feeding the Enemy; The Betrayer in Our Midst; Buried by Baptism; The Suffering Cup; Pick Up Your Cross; Unless a Grain Falls; The Dress Rehearsal; Surviving Crucifixion; Portents and Signs; and The Delivery Room. Part II: Pain of Death: Believing What We Cannot Understand; Someone to Blame; The Triumphant Victim; The Myth of Redemptive Violence; The Silence of God; The Will of God; The Suffering of God; May He Not Rest in Peace.BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR, an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Atlanta, holds the Butman Chair in Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. She is widely sought after as a preacher and guest lecturer, and is the author of five books, including Preaching Life and Bread of Angels.She was named by Baylor University as one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English language.

    Increased turmoil in the Middle East. China and Russia’s presence in the Fertile Crescent. The exponentially increasing technological explosion. The rise of the Sodom and Gomorrah spirit. These are just a few prophetic fulfillments occurring in our day that point to significant biblical times to come. The Bible is 100 percent accurate in regards to the ancient prophecies—and ours is the first generation to see them converging. Meticulously documented with reliable sources and sound contextual biblical study, When the Lion Roars equips you to understand the gravity of the days in which we are living. In When the Lion Roars, discover what the Bible really says about… The unprecedented demonic outpouring of the Last Days, The spirit of the days of Noah, The connection of technology and prophecy fulfillment, The spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah, Apostasy in the Last Days' Church, Why Turkey is central to last days’ prophecy, Why Israel is the centerpiece of end time prophecy, The historical truth about Islam and ISIS, The Shemitah, The mystery of 666, How should Christians and the Church should respond to these prophetic times, And much more. We are living in intense but exciting times. We are living in prophetically unprecedented times. Be on guard; prepare your heart and mind. Make certain you have a biblically balanced understanding of our generation. Be ready with wisdom and perspective. We have been raised up “For such a time as this!” The Lion of God’s prophetic Word is roaring. Do you hear its call?

    In the next forty days, you and a group of friends are going to discover together the answer to life's most fundamental question: 'What on earth am I here for?'And here's a clue to the answer: 'It's not about you ... You were created by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end. The Purpose Driven Life Small Group Curriculum is a six-week, video-based small group study of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren---the book Publishers Weekly declared the 'bestselling nonfiction hardback in history.'The six video lessons are taught by Rick Warren, and are supplemented by small group discussion material in the accompanying study guide. When combined with the reading of The Purpose Driven Life, this study will give your small group the opportunity to discuss the implications and applications of these life-changing truths. You'll see the big picture of what life is all about and begin to live the life God created you to live.

    God made covenants with His people. He deals with themaccording to the covenants He made with them. Today weare under God's New Covenant. For all God's dealings with usin addition to our dealings with God will be governed by thisNew Covenant. We are therefore called to have New CovenantLiving as well as New Covenant Ministry. It is hence extremelyessential for us to be sure that our living and ministry are ofthe New Covenant way.

    Nothing is more important than where your kids will spend eternity. As a parent, you don't want to suffer the heartache of your children rebelling against their Christian upbringing. In this practical book, noted author/evangelist Ray Comfort counters the unscriptural belief that a child can be saved merely by "asking Jesus into his heart," and shows parents (and children's workers) how to guide their children to experience genuine salvation and avoid the pitfall of rebellion. Filled with creative ideas for family devotions, tips for safeguarding kids from harmful influences, and great suggestions for helping kids learn God s holy standard, the Ten Commandments.

    Too many remain in denial about the severity of pastoral stress, even as they are deteriorating emotionally and physically.Drawing from biblical, theological, and sociological sources as well as personal experience, author Kirk Jones discusses the fundamental importance of self-care for clergy and other professionals engaged in helping people. Filled with creative and practical strategies for integrating self-care into vocational life, this compelling resource identifies the factors that influence overload and outlines plausible strategies for escaping such bondage. Rest in the Storm is a lifeline for caregivers who feel overwhelmed by the demands of their calling or profession.

    Experienced megachurch pastor and award-winning author offers church-smart advice to help newer pastors avoid 25 potential pitfalls to successful ministry.