They were distracted, discouraged, and ready to throw in the towel. But the prophet Haggai reminded them they could find courage in the God who had never left them.Sometimes the landscapes of our lives feel wrecked, with our hope and purpose in shambles. We too get distracted and discouraged. However, God's presence and promises give us courage to press on and trust Him with our story.In this 7-session study on the Book of Haggai, learn to walk confidently in your calling, stay motivated despite opposition, and courageously invest your life in God's purposes, trusting Him for results you may never see in this lifetime.Features: Leader guide to lead discussions within small groupsPersonal study segments to complete between 7 weeks of group sessionsEnriching teaching videos, approximately 25 minutes per session, available for purchase or rentBenefits: Defeat discouragement through God's presence, people, and Word.See beyond your current circumstances to a future hope.Learn to trust God more than your feelings.

    But her spirit lives today.Jezebel was the most wicked woman in the Bible, a powerful seductress who killed the prophets, led Israel into idolatry and immorality, and emasculated men. She was seductive and determined to snuff out the voices coming against her, because these voices were calling out for repentance.In twenty-first-century America, Jezebel is not a person. But it’s as if the spirit of Jezebel is alive again today. The influence of the same demonic force is being felt in the massive increase of pornography and sexual temptation, the militant spirit of abortion, the rise of radical feminism, and most importantly, in the attempt to silence prophetic voices. Just as Jezebel clashed with strong men almost three thousand years ago, the demonic spirit of Jezebel is powerful in America, and it is going after the church.This eye-opening book not only unveils the satanic plot to destroy America, beginning with an all-out assault on the church, but it will equip every believer with tools to defeat the enemy in their own personal lives as well as in the nation. This book will show you how the spirit of Jezebel is active in America today and teach you how to protect the church.OTHER BOOKS BY MICHAEL L. BROWN, PHD:Playing With Holy Fire (2018) ISBN-13: 978-1629994987The Power of Music (2019)ISBN-13: 978-1629995953Breaking the Stronghold of Food (2017) ISBN-13: 978-1629990996

    Outlining the financial, social, and familial situations that affect many young adults today, she describes how churches can provide a safe, supportive place for young adults to nurture relationships and foster spiritual growth. There are few places left in society that allow for real intergenerational connections to be made, yet these connections are vital for any church that seeks to reflect the fullness of the body of Christ. Carol Howard Merritt, a pastor in her mid-thirties, suggests a different way for churches to be able to approach young adults on their own terms. Outlining the financial, social, and familial situations that affect many young adults today, she describes how churches can provide a safe, supportive place for young adults to nurture relationships and foster spiritual growth. There are few places left in society that allow for real intergenerational connections to be made, yet these connections are vital for any church that seeks to reflect the fullness of the body of Christ. Using the metaphor of a tribe to describe the close bonds that form when people of all ages decide to walk together on their spiritual journeys, Merritt casts a vision of the church that embraces the gifts of all members while reaching out to those who might otherwise feel unwelcome or unneeded. Mainline churches have much to offer young adults, as well as much to learn from them. By breaking down artificial age barriers and building up intentional relationships, congregations can provide a space for all people to connect with God, each other, and the world.

    People are the best and worst thing about the human life.Jen Hatmaker knows this all too well, and so she reveals how to practice kindness, grace, truthfulness, vision, and love to ourselves and those around us. By doing this, For the Love leads our generation to reimagine Jesus' grace as a way of life, and it does it in a funny yet profound manner that Christian readers will love. Along the way, Hatmaker shows readers how to reclaim their prophetic voices and become Good News again to a hurting, polarized world.

    Book Specs Paper BackPublisher: Review & Herald Publishing AssociationPages: 107 Table of Contents

    You can read it in an hour or two, but its goal is the transformation of the rest of your life.--Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier MinistriesAmong all the things that a pastor will do on any given day, he must not lose sight of his one ultimate goal: the sanctification of God's people. This is the heart of God's purpose for Christians.John MacArthur calls pastors to remember what all the countless hours preparing sermons, visiting hospitals, counseling, conducting weddings, and more are all about, even when the finish line seems so far in the distance that they're tempted to give up. He encourages pastors with the power God gives them to place the sanctification of God's people at the center of their ministry.

    Know the Faith is an attempt to present Orthodox Christianity in a way Western Christians can understand, grounding each point in Scripture and patristic theology, with comparisons to what Catholics and Protestants believe.Whether you are an Orthodox Christian seeking to explain your faith to others or an inquirer into this ancient faith, Know the Faith will help you understand and communicate the Orthodox faith as never before.

    

    Never offline, always within reach, we now wield in our hands a magic wand of technological power we have only begun to grasp. But it raises new enigmas, too. Never more connected, we seem to be growing more distant. Never more efficient, we have never been more distracted. Drawing from the insights of numerous thinkers, published studies, and his own research, writer Tony Reinke identifies twelve potent ways our smartphones have changed us—for good and bad. Reinke calls us to cultivate wise thinking and healthy habits in the digital age, encouraging us to maximize the many blessings, to avoid the various pitfalls, and to wisely wield the most powerful gadget of human connection ever unleashed.

    

    ""Touching, inspirational, thought-provoking.""--Senator Mark O. Hatfield

    the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two? As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today's church has admired the gift but neglected to open it. Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church's power—the Holy Spirit. Chan contends that we've ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results. Thorough scriptural support and compelling narrative form Chan's invitation to stop and remember the One we've forgotten, the Spirit of the living God.

    You may think of this group as millennials—those born between 1980 and 2000—but millennials resist this label for good reason: the national narrative on them is pejorative, patronizing, and just plain wrong.Here's what we do know: Of Americans with a church background, 76 percent are described as "religious nones" or unaffiliated—and it's the fastest growing segment of the population. Close to 40 percent of millennials fit this religious profile. Roughly 80 percent of teens in evangelical church high school youth groups will abandon their faith after two years in college. It's unlikely that the evangelical church can survive if it is uniformly rejected by millennials, and yet: Millennial pastors and youth ministers are disempowered; their perspective is often not taken seriously by senior church leadership. Most millennial research is framed in categories rejected by millennials; that is, left-brained, analytical communication is lost on right-brained, intuitive millennials. Evangelicals' bias toward rational left-brained thinking makes the church seem tone-deaf. What's next? Read on. John Seel suggests survival strategies—communication on-ramps for genuine human connection with the next generation. It can be done.

    --Francis Chan, New York Times bestselling author, Crazy Love and Forgotten GodHumans are hardwired for awe.Our hearts are always captured by something--that's how God made us. But sin threatens to distract us from the glory of our Creator. All too often, we stand in awe of everything but God.Uncovering the lies we believe about all the earthly things that promise us peace, life, and contentment, Paul Tripp redirects our gaze to God's awe-inducing glory--showing how such a vision has the potential to impact our every thought, word, and deed.

    Like the Elvises who roam the streets of Vegas, these counterfeit christs look and sound like Jesus, but they couldn’t be further from the real deal.In Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? 12 False Christs, author Matthew Richard exposes these false christs for what they are . . . mere impostors. Richard reveals to readers who the real Jesus of the Bible is, but also reveals to us twelve false christs who are embraced, loved, promoted, and revered, even by well-meaning Christians.“My hope is that readers will connect with the different stories in this book, but will do so in a way that they can see how people’s false theology and bad presuppositions lead to taking up false christs,” says Richard. “In other words, this book attempts to combine the art of story and the discipline of theology, so that the reader can see flesh-and-blood examples of how easy false theology can lead someone into idolatry.”