A host of hurdles, from busyness and bitterness to complacency and control, can prevent us from moving where He directs. In this challenging yet warmhearted book, Vivian Mabuni provides an authentic look at what it means to willingly risk saying yes to whatever God asks--and highlights a practical path to the deeper joy of a yielded life.

    So we put on a mask to hide our identity. Feelings of embarrassment and shame make us hide from the One who truly loves us. Author Brennan Manning encourages you to let go of this stressful, unreal impostor lifestyle and freely accept your identity as a child of God. Find the rest that you long for as you grow in character and accept His lordship. Includes discussion questions.

    The message blew up on social-media, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged.In Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem—highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With refreshing candor he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior.Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but simply a regular, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of false religion.

    Now the revision to the compact, perennial bestseller includes a provocative new concluding chapter depicting God asking a believer questions about his stewardship over material resources.Jesus spent more time talking about money and possessions than about heaven and hell combined. But too often we've overlooked or misunderstood his most profound teaching on this topic, from his words in Matthew 6. Jesus offers us life-changing investment advice. He actually wants us to store up treasures for ourselves--just not here on earth. Instead, he urges us to store our treasure in heaven, where they will await us, and last forever. We can't take it with us--but we can send it on ahead!Readers are moved from the realms of thoughtful Bible exposition into the highly personal arena of everyday life. Because when Jesus told His followers to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven," He intended that they discover an astounding secret: how joyful giving brings God maximum glory and His children maximum pleasure. In The Treasure Principle, you'll unearth a radical teaching of Jesus--a secret wrapped up in giving.Once you discover this secret, life will never look the same. And you won't want it to be."Supercharged with stunning, divine truth! Lightning struck over and over as I read it." - John Piper, Senior Pastor, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis

    Some people are thrill-seekers; others are homebodies. Some people are loners; others love big families or communities. Some people express things creatively; others consume what is created. Some sing; others listen to music. Whatever we find happiness in, we are united by our desire for work that matters and relationships that fulfil.As Christians, we often fall into the trap of basing our hopes on earthly things, even when we know they only make us happy for a short time. But how are we to experience happiness in this life? How do we avoid expecting too much of earthly things and being disappointed, or expecting too little and becoming cynics?In this book, recovering cynic Barnabas Piper helps us to throw off both the unrealistic expectations that end in disappointment and the guilty sense that Christians are not meant to have fun. He shows how having a clear view of the reality of the fall and the promise of redemption frees us to live a life that's grounded, hopeful and genuinely happy.

    The idea of our own “righteous anger” is a myth. It is the number one problem in our societies today and, as Dallas Willard says, Christians have not been taught out of it. But what if Christians were the most unoffendable people on the planet?In Unoffendable you will find concrete, practical ways to live life with less stress, including: Adjusting your expectations to fit human natureReplacing perpetual anger with refreshing humility and gratitudeEmbracing forgiveness and beginning to love others in unexpected waysIn a humorous and conversational style, Unoffendable seeks to lift religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of our lives—flourishing the way God intended.

    Jesus was God’ s Son. The suffering was unsurpassed, but the whole message of the Bible leads to this answer.Why did Christ suffer and die? The central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the meaning— God’ s meaning. That is what this book is about. John Piper has gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes — in answer to the most important question that each of us must face: what did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?

    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.

    We cage them or clip their wings to keep them where we want them. Scot McKnight contends that many, conservatives and liberals alike, attempt the same thing with the Bible. We all try to tame it. McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet has emerged at the perfect time to cool the flames of a world on fire with contention and controversy. It calls Christians to a way to read the Bible that leads beyond old debates and denominational battles. It calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew for a new generation.In his books The Jesus Creed and Embracing Grace, Scot McKnight established himself as one of America’s finest Christian thinkers, an author to be reckoned with. In The Blue Parakeet, McKnight again touches the hearts and minds of today’s Christians, this time challenging them to rethink how to read the Bible, not just to puzzle it together into some systematic theology but to see it as a Story that we’re summoned to enter and to carry forward in our day. In his own inimitable style, McKnight sets traditional and liberal Christianity on its ear, leaving readers equipped, encouraged, and emboldened to be the people of faith they long to be.

    Dreams are on hold, prayers seem unanswered, and life can feel hard. And just when we think we have it all together, life happens again! During these times it can be difficult to see God in our situations and trust him with the future.With empathy and wit, Debbie Alsdorf uses the book of Philippians to encourage women to lean on God, to live one day at a time, to rejoice and not to worry, and to give thanks to God in all circumstances of life. The confidence and peace readers will gain from the perspective presented in this loving book will help them live fully in the moment, in every season of life.

    These essentials, found in Titus 2, include growing in godliness, living in purity, loving her husband, and abiding faithfulness.

    . . pull up a chair and I'll tell you a secret. You'd better lean in close for this one.Ready?You don't have to do more, be more, have more.I'm sure there are security alarms going off somewhere. You should probably hide this book when your in-laws come over.But it's true.It's the kind of true that will change your life, set you free, and make you wake up smiling for the first time in a long time. I know because that's what it did for me. . . . So watch out, sister. If you keep reading you just might be next. With this heart-to-heart message, Holley Gerth invites you to embrace one very important truth--that you truly are already amazing. Like a trusted friend, Holley gently shows you how to forget the lies and expectations the world feeds you and instead believe that God loves you and has bigger plans for your life than you've even imagined.

    I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God. In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals. This edition is updated with Americanized language and spelling and a new preface by the author. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two important facets of the Christian faith: 1. Knowing about God and 2. Knowing God through the context of a close relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to transform and enrich the Christian understanding of God. Explaining both who God is and how we can relate to him, Packer divides his book into three sections: The first directs our attention to how and why we know God, the second to the attributes of God and the third to the benefits enjoyed by a those who know him intimately. This guide leads readers into a greater understanding of God while providing advice to gaining a closer relationship with him as a result.

    No one plans to wrestle with her identity in Christ, to struggle to love her husband, to feel lonely in ministry, or to feel helpless in motherhood. Yet we often find ourselves in these seasons, struggling to embrace the gospel hope we need to fill our discouraged souls.Join Ruth Chou Simons in this 7-session study of the Book of Colossians as she leads us through a practice of preaching gospel truth to ourselves by studying Paul's example. In every changing season of life, we can rest in God's character, rehearse our identity in Christ, respond in faith, and remember God's provision for us. In today's culture, there's no shortage of self help, easy fixes, and worldly advice, but only the truth of God's Word was meant to fill you up and satisfy you fully.Features: Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groupsPersonal study segments to complete between 7 weeks of group sessionsBeautiful full-color interior to enhance user experienceScripture recommendations to help you preach truth to yourselfBenefits: Trade the lies found in culture, our minds, and our hearts for the truth of God's Word.Experience a beautiful, accessible theology.Understand how to apply Scripture to your own life.

    Though they want to love reading Scripture, they rarely have time for more than a few verses on the run. But the Bible is not meant to be a burden. It is the story of God’s passionate love for His children. It is also not a book of mystical incantations. It is a best friend offering counsel and companionship. And it is not a distant relic, but something very near. Near enough, in fact, to be every reader’s story. So how do Christians delight in this story rather than see it as a source of failure? The founder of the immensely popular Daily Audio Bible, Brian Hardin shows readers how reading through the Bible in a year will change their life and the lives of others. Passages shows readers how to read the Bible and offers practical ideas for immersing themselves in God’s life-giving words. Here readers will discover that reading the Bible can be a breathtaking adventure.