LITMIR.BIZ

When someone claims they have a message from God, how do you decide whether to believe them? This question has been with people of faith at least since Abraham heard someone-God, as it turned out-telling him to leave home and go to a place he would be shown. Other people have left their homes thinking God was guiding them, and have ended up with nothing but trouble. And what about books? When someone claims a book is inspired by God how do you determine whether they are right or wrong? Very often they will be telling you that your eternal destination depends on believing what they say, and yet others will say that their book is right. Is it possible to know? Interpretations of those books can be equally difficult to judge. People with special interpretations of scripture often claim just as much authority as those who claim to be prophets. If you reject their interpretation, you are rejecting God himself. How do you make a wise decision? Writer and Bible teacher Henry Neufeld wrestles with these questions in these pages. You may not like some of the answers, but you will be challenged as he calls us each to focus first on the conversation with God and then to each be responsible for learning God's will for our individual lives.

Подробнее

What does God's grace mean to you? This question has often brought confusion and controversy to Christians everywhere. The team at World Prayr want you to understand just how amazing God's grace is. They want to dispel any confusion. They would like you to understand that you too can walk in God's grace, but only because it is God's grace that enables you. In fact, it is all God's grace, all the way. This book is divided into 36 questions, including: What is “grace”? Is there such a thing as too much grace? What about “repentance”? Is there ever a point where God's grace ends and we have to fill in with our own efforts? Something bad is happening or has happened in my life. Is God punishing me? Each question is answered in detail with substantial scripture references provided so that you can continue to study the topic for yourself directly from Scripture. In addition, there is a list of resources for further study in the back which can help you in a much deeper study of the meaning of grace. God's grace is sufficient, for everything, everywhere, and at every time. This book will help you apply that in your life.

Подробнее

The pages of the New Testament contain some 340 questions Jesus asked: «Who are my mother and my brothers?» «Now which of them will love him more?» «Why are you so afraid?» "Do you still have no faith? «Do you want to get well?» «Who do people say that I am?» Why did Jesus ask such questions? Surely He didn't lack information. Were they simply rhetorical? Is there more behind the questions of Jesus than meets the ear? After 20+ years of study, Chris Bozung suggests that Jesus never asked a question because he needed to know the answer. Jesus' questions pierce the heart, quicken the thoughts, convict the conscience, and evoke faith. They are Uncommon Questions from an Extraordinary Savior.

Подробнее

"Prayer changes things." It's a common saying, and too often Christian discussion of prayer deals only with how we can change other things and other people through prayer. But what if prayer is much more that we imagine? What if it is also the means of correcting our relationship to the Creator and at the same time of changing our relationships with one another? Perhaps prayer can ultimately help transform our theology, what we believe about God, into character and action. In Ultimate Allegiance, Dr. Bob Cornwall takes us to the Lord's Prayer, a short and simple prayer that is well-known and often recited. But in each of its major petitions, he finds deep meaning that challenges us to think and to change. In fact, this prayer of Jesus brings us to the ultimate question of just where we should place our ultimate allegiance.

Подробнее

In Healing Marks (Energion Publications, 2012), Dr. Bruce Epperly challenged Christians to take the healings of Jesus seriously as a pattern for how we can become healing communities. Now he turns to the book of Acts as a pattern for the church in the 21st century. He says, «I believe that Acts of the Apostles provides a fluid, open-spirited, and holistic faith for twenty-first century people as well as a vision for congregational transformation and renewal. Anything can happen to those who follow Jesus. Life is adventurous, surprising, and interesting. Worship leads to mission and mission challenges narrow-mindedness and self-imposed limitations. For those who embrace the spirit of Acts of the Apostles, worship will never be boring and every day will be a holy adventure.» This book is not just an exposition of the book of Acts. It is a call to action. But it is more than that. It draws from the lessons of the early church a plan of individual and communal action to live an adventurous life of faith and to change the world. Each chapter includes activities to help you apply the content to your life and mission. Labeled «Transforming Acts» these point to the transforming acts you can take in your personal or congregational life. Acts is a story of a small group of people who set out to do what appeared humanly impossible – change their world. In this book you are invited to become a part of that story, to attempt the humanly impossible, and to bring transformation and renewal to the church and to the entire world. Do you want your church to thrive and your world to change as you witness for Jesus? This is the book for you!

Подробнее

Are there any solutions to dying churches? Many historic Protestant churches lost their way when the ground beneath their feet began to shift in the last part of the 20th century. Back then, congregations became confused about why so many Americans had become indifferent toward church-going. They became anxious about their shrinking numbers and aging membership. How would they survive? They could not see the way forward. But now, a few ordinary congregations are finding their way into the future by cultivating certain spiritual habits which transform them so that they, in turn, can transform the world. Dr. Ruth A. Fletcher shares her her pastoral experience, judicatory work,consulting ministry, and personal research in which she has discerned some spiritual practices that characterize congregations that are thriving. This is an excellent read whether you are a pastor, church leader or concerned member of a fellowship groaning in the labor of reaching out to the “disenfranchised others.” Thrive is the third volume in the Academy of Parish Clergy's Guides to Practical Ministry series.

Подробнее

"When I was a boy, I had a really wicked temper. It was short and it was brutal. I would get in fights every recess." With that personal beginning, Dr David Moffett-Moore escorts each student into their own personal study of The Spirit's Fruit: A Participatory Study Guide. We are called together as Christians to a fruit-filled life. While God blesses us with one or more gifts as He wills, none of us receive all the gifts. But all of us are encouraged to live a Christ-led life in which all the fruit of the Spirit may grow in abundance. Dr. Moffett-Moore gives us wonderful tools for discussion and prayer to break up any hard ground and pour Christ's Living Water into our spirits so the study itself aids more fruitful growth. The Participatory Study Series from Energion Publications is designed to invite Bible students to become a part of the community of faith that produced the texts we now have as scripture by studying them empathetically and with an aim to learn and grow spiritually. Each author is free to emphasize different resources in the study, and individual students, group leaders, and teachers are encouraged to enhance their study through the use of additional resources.

Подробнее

Should your faith and your spirituality be a matter of simply private concern, or should they connect to social action? This book explores the disconnect between social and religious progressivism. The author maintains that both social and religious notes are essential for those who want to further a progressive agenda that creates equity and compassion, restores the dignity of all people, and ensures the full participation of all in common life, common wealth, and the common good. The Space Between builds bridges across the space between these elements, both between social and religious belief, but also between contemplative action and active contemplation. This book is an vigorous and unashamed call for social action, but specifically a social action that grows from contemplation, but also for the balance and strength that comes from resting and waiting.

Подробнее

The Sacred Journey is a collection of insights, thoughts, and personal experiences centered on and emanating from the Beatitudes of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Within its pages we are invited to consider the radical love with which God pursues His creation. God in Jesus Christ was determined to make a way for sinners to be forgiven at the Cross. While man had sinned and caused a divide between himself and His creator, God has insisted that those who receive the grace and mercy offered in His Son shall be forgiven of sin and reconciled unto God in eternally secure love. God in salvation is singly focused on reconciling all who will place their trust, their faith, and their hope in that sacrifice. It is not we who make our way to God through good works, right belief, perfectly ordered creedal statements, or any other edifice of human composition. It is God who pursues us heatedly to receive the radical beauty of the violence of the Cross. God has pursued, forgiven, and reconciled us unto Himself. Through the wrath which was poured out upon Jesus, mercy was poured out on us. Salvation is purely the work of God's mercy and grace. We who have received Him have done so by faith when we have responded to the pull of God on our hearts. Grace rests upon us because God has loved us. What, in response to such a violent grace, should our reply to God be?

Подробнее

Can a church that is compromised through dependence on temporal, political power speak with a powerful prophetic voice in the world? As the body of Christ, the church has a prophetic role in the world. Prophets have always spoken clearly to people in power. They have been willing to challenge the decisions made by people who thought they were not accountable to anyone. Sometimes the prophets were respected, sometimes persecuted, but they were never ignored or regarded as irrelevant. So why is it that the church today cannot speak truth effectively to power? In The Politics of Witness , Dr. Allan R. Bevere asks these questions and proposes an answer. The church has come to depend too much on temporal power and has thus forgotten its divine authority. In finding this answer he goes back to the founding of the church and how it first became dependent on the state. He examines those who have followed, mostly building a political theory that takes the responsibility of ministry from the church and gives it to the state. You'll find some names in this that might surprise you. Any discussion of Christianity and the state will involve Emperor Constantine, but what about his modern lieutenants, such as Locke, Jefferson, Franklin, and others? While the theology applies to the church in any country, Dr. Bevere takes a particular look at the peculiarly American view that the United States of America is somehow God's chosen people, a nation of destiny in accomplishing the gospel mission. This book balances brevity with a broad intellectual and historical reach. You will be taken from the founding and foundation structure of Christian theology today to a proposal for how we, as the Church can reclaim our prophetic witness. In the current political atmosphere, every Christian needs to read this book.

Подробнее