Recommendations based on "Acts 13-28"

A stunningly innovative visual edition of this award-winning book---designed to appeal to spiritual seekers and visually oriented readers. Philip Yancey's What's So Amazing About Grace? won the Book of the Year Award in 1998 and has sold over one million copies since it was first published in 1997. Now this innovative visual edition uses the life-transforming content of Yancey's message and makes it accessible to a whole new audience. This visually rich book takes portions of the text of the original book and illustrates the themes and messages with provocative full-color photography and graphic illustrations. The creators of this visual edition designed it with the needs of contemporary postmodern readers in mind: both spiritual seekers and the younger, more visually oriented readers of today's culture. By combining Yancey's engaging style with striking images that enhance and illuminate the message, this unique book enables readers to 'experience grace' as they interact with the powerfully imaginative format. With deep personal honesty Yancey paints true portraits of grace's life-changing power as he searches for its presence in his own life and the life of the church. He explores grace---God's love for the undeserving---while challenging Christians to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know: What's so amazing about grace?

Rarely has a book captured the attention of Christians of all ages as Jesus Freaks has with its stories of Christian martyrs. Jesus Freaks, Vol. II, features testimonies of revolutionaries who took a stand for Christ against the culture of their day, along with new stories of martyrs through the centuries. dc Talk again challenges readers to pray for the persecuted church around the world and openly stand for Jesus.

The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission."The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God."Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

A holistic, eye-opening history of one of the most significant turning points in Christianity, The Reformation as Renewal demonstrates that the Reformation was at its core a renewal of evangelical catholicity.In the sixteenth century Rome charged the Reformers with novelty, as if they were heretics departing from the catholic (universal) church. But the Reformers believed they were more catholic than Rome. Distinguishing themselves from Radicals, the Reformers were convinced they were retrieving the faith of the church fathers and the best of the medieval Scholastics. The Reformers saw themselves as faithful stewards of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church preserved across history, and they insisted on a restoration of true worship in their own day.By listening to the Reformers' own voices, The Reformation as Renewal helps readers explore: The Reformation's roots in patristic and medieval thought and its response to late medieval innovations. Key philosophical and theological differences between Scholasticism in the High Middle Ages and deviations in the Late Middle Ages. The many ways sixteenth and seventeenth century Protestant Scholastics critically appropriated Thomas Aquinas. The Reformation's response to the charge of novelty by an appeal to the Augustinian tradition. Common caricatures that charge the Reformation with schism or assume the Reformation was the gateway to secularism. The spread of Reformation catholicity across Europe, as seen in first and second-generation leaders from Luther and Melanchthon in Wittenberg to Zwingli and Bullinger in Zurich to Bucer and Calvin in Strasbourg and Geneva to Tyndale, Cranmer, and Jewel in England, and many others. The theology of the Reformers, with special attention on their writings defending the catholicity of the Reformation.This balanced, insightful, and accessible treatment of the Reformation will help readers see this watershed moment in the history of Christianity with fresh eyes and appreciate the unity they have with the church across time. Readers will discover that the Reformation was not a new invention, but the renewal of something very old.

Finally--a theology of love that will help you navigate the confusing waters of modern relationship.In the beginning, God created Adam. Then he made Eve. And ever since we've been picking up the pieces.With an autobiographical thread that turns a book into a story, pastor and speaker John Mark Comer shares about what is right in male/female relationships--what God intended in the Garden. And about what is wrong--the fallout in a post-Eden world.Loveology starts with marriage and works backward. Comer deals with sexuality, romance, singleness, and what it means to be male and female; ending with a raw, uncut, anything goes Q and A dealing with the most asked questions about sexuality and relationships.This is a book for singles, engaged couples, and the newly married--both inside and outside the church--who want to learn what the Scriptures have to say about sexuality and relationships. For those who are tired of Hollywood's propaganda, and the church's silence. And for people who want to ask the why questions and get intelligent, nuanced, grace-and-truth answers, rooted in the Scriptures.

Read the Bible with Fresh Eyes as You See Scripture's Promise-Shaped PatternsWhen you read the Bible, have you ever noticed parallels between certain people, events, and institutions? Should we understand Noah as a kind of new Adam, and if so, does that somehow point us to the second Adam? How are we to interpret these similarities?In Typology--Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped Patterns, author James M. Hamilton Jr. shows that the similarities we find in the Bible are based on genuine historical correspondence and demonstrates how we recognize them in the repetition of words and phrases, the parallels between patterns of events, and key thematic equivalences. When read in light of God's promises, these historical correspondences spotlight further repetitions that snowball on one another to build escalating significance.This book stimulates fresh thinking on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments and will help pastors, preachers, and students better understand the dynamics of inner-biblical interpretation. It explores several of the "promise-shaped patterns" we see in the Old Testament including: Adam and New Adam Prophets, Priests, and Kings The Righteous Sufferer Creation Exodus and New Exodus MarriageHamilton shows that the prophets and sages of Israel learned to interpret Scripture from Moses and his writings. And by tracing the organic development of subsequent biblical patterns, he explains how these patterns created expectations that are fulfilled in Christ. Jesus himself taught his followers to understand the Old Testament in this way (Luke 24:45), and the authors of the New Testament taught the earliest followers of Jesus how to read the Bible through a typological lens.Typology--Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped Patterns equips pastors, bible teachers, students, and serious Bible readers to understand and embrace the typological interpretive perspective of the biblical authors. You will learn to read the Bible as it was intended by its original authors while cultivating a deeper love and appreciation for the Scriptures.

The problem isn't so much that we tell lies but that we live them. You are at war against lies. . .but you can defeat them. The Live No Lies Bible Study draws from biblical truth and the wisdom of past saints to help you see how each of our soul's enemies—the devil, the flesh, and the world—rob us of hope; sabotage our peace; and wreak havoc on our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. You'll learn how to unmask these lies and develop a strategy to fight back against deception by standing firmly on the truth we believe. This video study guide with bestselling author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry John Mark Comer has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself—with discussion and reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all four video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!). Each session looks at specific ways lies infiltrate your life and how you can eradicate them with the living truth of God's Word and the ancient wisdom of the saints. Together, they will help you win the war so that the truth sets you free from the lies that have been holding you back. Watch on any device! Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

Understand What Scripture Says and How To Live It Today A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike. Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story: LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story. EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting. LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students.   —1 & 2 Thessalonians— Paul's letters to the Thessalonians hinge thematically on the ongoing need for them to put their hope in God. Like us, the Thessalonians were living in difficult circumstances—living in the tension between death and the promise of Jesus' final return and triumph. "In-between living" requires daily hope, and Paul infuses his letters with hope without overlooking the challenges of the day. Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.

Thoroughly researched and faithfully translated, the Luther's Works series consists of Martin Luther's Bible commentaries, sermons, prefaces, postils, disputations, letters, theology, and polemics, translated and published in English for the first time.Just as St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians has been called the Magna Carta of Christian freedom, so the Lectures on Galatians delivered by Martin Luther in 1531 and published for the first time in 1535 have been hailed as Luther's Magna Carta of Christian liberty.

Radio messages from J. Vernon McGee delighted and enthralled listeners for years with simple, straightforward language and clear understanding of the Scripture. Now enjoy his personable, yet scholarly, style in a 60-volume set of commentaries that takes you from Genesis to Revelation with new understanding and insight. Each volume includes introductory sections, detailed outlines and a thorough, paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of the text. A great choice for pastors - and even better choice for the average Bible reader and student! Very affordable in a size that can go anywhere, it's available as a complete 60-volume series, in Old Testament or New Testament sets, or individually.