LITMIR.BIZ

A toolbox may be one of the most practical items ever invented by man. It holds many different types of tools that are essential for different functions and yet, here they are, all in one container. But, a pliers cannot drive a nail into a board any more than a hammer can cut a board. Each tool must be used for the task for which it was designed and cared for so that it will last a long time. Greg May first learned about tools from his grandfather and father. He learned how to use each tool correctly and to do each job to the best of his ability. Jesus was a carpenter. He learned about tools from his earthly father. He also learned to use tools in making disciples from His Heavenly Father. Greg May has been listening to Jesus for many years talk to him about tools and disciples and now he shares those lessons with others.

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Is the Bible historically accurate? Are there any contradictions in the Bible? If we look too closely at the Bible might we find things that will destroy our faith? Should I be afraid that some new archeological discovery will prove the Bible wrong? How much freedom do I have to interpret the Bible? Combining history, Scripture, and an understanding of human nature, Dr. Thompson takes on the difficult questions regarding the Bible and inspiration. He goes beyond the question of whether you can trust the Bible to ask whether you can trust yourself as you study.This unique study of inspiration uses internal evidence from the Bible text, its history, collection, and transmission to look at the way in which God works through prophets and Bible writers. As an experiential lens, he uses the experience of the Seventh-day Adventist community, of which he is a part, and its reception and use of Ellen White as God’s messenger. This provides an example of someone who produced an incredible volume of written material in her lifetime, yet maintained a great humility and understood her own spiritual experience as one of growth. However, Inspiration: Hard Questions: Honest Answers is not just for Seventh-day Adventists. The lessons, drawn from the experience of one community, have wide applicability as we look at a range of views on biblical interpretation, experience, tradition, and contemporary claims of a prophetic word. All communities of faith would do well to ask the hard questions addressed in this book and to learn from the history and experience of others.Ultimately, the author is addressing a question that comes to all of us: What is God’s will and how can I know it? Can I be certain? To find the answers we need, Dr. Thompson reminds us “We cannot just know Scripture, we have to know God. In this Second Revised Edition, you will find a new “bridge” chapter, designed to invite readers outside of the Adventist tradition to join in the conversation, as well as a number of minor updates, and a set of beautiful photographs and drawings inspired by scripture, prepared for this edition by Wanda Thompson. It is not enough to determine how the inspiration of scripture works as a theological tenet or a doctrinal point. Ultimately, for God’s Word in scripture to accomplish its mission, we must each be inspired by it as well.

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The world today is filled with angry voices, voices that often call for isolation and even violence against those who differ from us by race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle. At the same time there are many voices that call for us to change, to make peace, to open ourselves up to others and hear what they’re saying. Most of these voices bring religious arguments to bear on the issue.Rev. Janice Springer goes a step, indeed several steps, further. She tells us how to reach out, how to pray, to interact, and indeed to change ourselves. This book provides a powerful approach to creating new, peaceful relationships and learning to live together while celebrating our differences and growing from them. The book includes guides to study, exercises, and activities, and a sample program for a retreat. It is written from the perspective of the author’s Christian ministry, but it is inviting and useful to those of other faith traditions as well. Who will you invite to join you at the table?

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The Christian believer routinely experiences periods in their life referred to as a dark night of the soul. In such times a person feels as if God has left him or her alone and God has distanced himself from the individual in this period of liminality. It is considered to be a time of trial and testing which only afterwards is viewed as a period of growth and maturing in Christ. In this book, Daniel McGregor explores the Biblical foundation for this concept, as well as providing a historical survey of Christian theologians and authors who examine these themes and experiences. This volume will provide an ideal introduction to the subject for the serious layperson or a suitable reading for an introductory class in religious studies.

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What are your mornings like? Rushing out the door to work, to school, to however many task a day holds? How can your to-do list be longer than the hours in the day? We know we should spend some time with God because He can help us get through this day, but where do we find the time? Help! Linda Estes invites you to join her in a “one minute devotion” each day with our LORD. Take a thought that He has laid on her heart into your day. Let it surround your thoughts, your tasks and see what God will do with it. Join Linda and say, “Good Morning, LORD!”

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You've been a lectionary preacher throughout your ministry. You like the discipline of dealing with the scripture of the week rather than just grabbing something that is easy for you to handle. You're willing to preach on the hard stuff. But what about the rest of scripture, those passages that never appear in the weekly readings from the Revised Common Lectionary? Are you and your congregation missing something that could be of great benefit? Dr. David Ackerman, who writes the introduction to From Words of Woe to Unbelievable News, felt the need to cover more of scripture and proposed a fourth year lectionary that covered passages that are not included in the Revised Common Lectinoary. In turn, Dr. Bob Cornwall, a pastor highly qualified for the task, chose to use these texts in a series of sermons for Lent and Holy Week. He preached those sermons in 2014. We now offer these sermons in this Topical Line Drives volume. One of the stumbling blocks with new ideas is the question of how one gets started. It's sometimes hard to find just the approach to take to a new set of texts and a new set of ideas. Bob Cornwall leads the way, finding timely and powerful applications of these difficult texts. Besides being a resource for pastors, these sermons provide meditations that can be used as the basis for a Lenten study or for small groups.

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A basic Christian claim is that God is active in human history to accomplish his purpose, which he will do in the end. This book considers some of the implications of this far-reaching claim. Christian faith is bound up with our personal history but beyond that stretches far into the past. Faith is not identical with historical knowledge, for example with knowledge of the facts about Jesus, facts which must be established historically. That involves using the historian's methods of investigation. What does 'God reveals himself in history' mean? Christians claim to find an ultimate meaning in history. But how can that be? How is it possible to find an overall meaning in history, theistic or otherwise? Since Christians appeal to the New Testament in making the claim that God revealed himself in Jesus, we must go beyond that book to the Christian community which existed before there was a New Testament and out of whose midst its writings came. To understand those books we must interpret. So where do our principles of interpretation come from, and how valid are they? This is the question of tradition. This small book is an introduction to these interesting topics. Hopefully it will help to clarify important issues and lead the reader to investigate such central matters further.

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What happens when a newspaper editor gives his primary editorial slot on Sundays to a pastor? In the case of Bob Cornwall, a pastor in Troy, Michigan, the result is a series of relevant, interesting, and challenging essays that go well beyond the local scene while still managing to be relevant to Americans in their local situation. Now extensively revised and organized as to theme, these essays form a coherent statement of progressive Christianity at work in the public square. At the same time they are seasoned with a look at how the public square influences the spiritual life of a Christian living in mid-America. The 52 essays in this collection go well beyond one place and time. You will find yourself, your community, your state, your nation, and your world in each. Can a person of faith be involved in the public square with integrity? Is public policy made better by this action? Can faith remain whole and genuine following the encounter? Read these essays to discover the answers, and perhaps find a new optimism for the future as you do. Anyone can benefit, but pastors and church leaders will find help in demonstrating their faith in the public square.

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Directed Paths is a book of prayer experiences that will challenge your faith and your Determination to serve God while giving you new strength and encouragement. Each story reflects a Biblical principle or promise as retired missionary Myrtle Blabey Neufeld openly shares her prayers and God's answers. We at Energion Publications offer this book to you in the hope that as God directs your paths you will hear and be open to His direction.

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The question of what happens after death has fascinated human beings for as long as we’ve had any sense of spirituality. There have been popular books, stories of speculative fiction, reports of visions, and serious Bible studies attempted to explain to us what happens at death and beyond. In Death, Immortality, and Resurrection, Dr. Edward Vick explores this question from the viewpoint of a philosopher and theologian. In this book, he examines scriptural sources along with a variety of philosophers over the millennia, and looks at such questions as what happens to the body, what we mean be identity and survival, whether we are innately immortal, and what is the meaning of resurrection. This is a serious work, but comprehensible to the student willing to take the time to study these issues. The reader is invited to give consideration to those issues that have challenged philosophers and scholars through the ages. The book is suitable for study groups.

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