Recommendations based on "Be Skillful (Proverbs) God's Guidebook to Wise Living"

The Heart of the Story will help you see God’s Word in a new and inspiring light. In the Bible’s seemingly disconnected stories, you’ll discover one grand, unfolding epic – God’s story from Genesis onward – and your own life-story contained within it.“To understand the Bible,” says author and pastor Randy Frazee, “you need bifocal lenses, because two perspectives are involved. The Lower Story, our story, is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life. The Upper Story is God’s story, the tale of his great, overarching purpose that fits all the individual stories together like panels in one unified mural.”In this new edition, Randy dives deeper in the Upper and Lower stories and shows how both perspectives will open your eyes to the richness and relevance of the Bible. Illuminating God’s master-plan from Genesis to our daily lives, The Heart of the Story will encourage you to experience the joy that comes from aligning your stories with God’s.

Do you find it more difficult to think of Jesus Christ as a human, like you, than to think of him as God? You may believe in God, and you may believe Jesus is God, but many Christians find it difficult to think of him as a real person--fully human as he was fully divine. Award-winning author Max Lucado reveals in this video Bible study (DVD/streaming video sold separately) that in order to really know God and understand the Gospel, it's essential that we take a closer look at Jesus' humanity. The concept of Jesus' human and heavenly nature is difficult to wrap our minds around. He's the God who formed the universe and, at the same time, knows your personal struggles...because he went through the same things. For thirty-three years, Jesus felt everything you have ever felt. Weakness. Weariness. Sadness. Rejection. His feet got tired. His head ached. He was tempted and his strength was tested. The purpose of this study is simple: by journeying through these six lessons with a small group, you will get to know Jesus—and, therefore, God—like you never have before. And by learning more about the person Jesus was and is, we come to understand more clearly the people we were created to be. The Jesus Study Guide includes: Video teaching notes Group discussion questions and activities Bible exploration and prayers Weekly personal study and reflection materials. Get ready to study who Jesus was while he walked this earth and what that means for your life today. In doing this, you will get to know God, his purpose for you, and his love for you like you never have before. *Designed for use with the Jesus: The God Who Knows Your Name Video Study, available on DVD or streaming video, sold separately.

Instant New York Times BestsellerRob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way.In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of faith were afraid to ask about heaven, hell, fate, and faith. Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives.Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn't ask "Why did God say...?" To get to the heart of the Bible's meaning, we should be asking: "What's the story that's unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible's authentic transformative power.Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God's Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book's magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.

Scholar and pastor Matthew Barrett retraces the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine that Scripture alone is the final and decisive authority for God's people. God's Word Alone is a decisive defense of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God.Revitalizing one of the five great declarations of the Reformation—sola Scriptura—Barrett: Analyzes what the idea of sola Scriptura is and what it entails, clarifying why the doctrine is truth and why it's so essential to Christianity. Surveys the development of this theme in the Reformation and traces the crisis that followed resulting in a shift away from the authority of Scripture. Shows that we need to recover a robust doctrine of Scripture's authority in the face of today's challenges and why a solid doctrinal foundation built on God's Word is the best hope for the future of the church.This book is an exploration of the past in order to better understand our present and the importance of reviving this indispensable doctrine for the Christian faith and church today.—THE FIVE SOLAS—Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory.The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.

What does it mean to be a good reader of Genesis 1-11? What does it mean to take these ancient stories seriously and how does that relate to taking them literally? Can we even take any of this material seriously?Reading Genesis Well answers these questions and more, promoting a responsible conversation about how science and biblical faith relate by developing a rigorous approach to interpreting the Bible, especially those texts that come into play in science and faith discussions. This unique approach connects the ancient writings of Genesis 1-11 with modern science in an honest and informed way.Old Testament scholar C. John Collins appropriates literary and linguistic insights from C. S. Lewis and builds on them using ideas from modern linguistics, such as lexical semantics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics. This study helps readers to evaluate to what extent it is proper to say that the Bible writers held a "primitive" picture of the world, and what function their portrayal of the world and its contents had in shaping the community.

Emphasizing the historical distance between the New Testament and our contemporary culture, The Sermon on the Mount offers helpful contextual insights for those seeking to discern how to live out the Bible in today's world. This sermon is the moral portrait of Jesus' own people--yet the contrast between his vision and our lives is so stark that many theologians have tried to soften the demands it makes on us until it's been skewed beyond recognition in the minds of many Christians. The goal of this special volume of The Story of God Bible Commentary series is to investigate the Sermon on the Mount in light of the way Jesus meant it to be heard, requiring us to ask difficult questions about ethics, discipleship, and salvation. 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. 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.

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. --Philippians-- In Philippians, Paul speaks to the character of God, the character of the believer in Christ, and the character of believers together in Christ; and he invites theological reflection on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that--were this letter absent from the New Testament--certain aspects of God's redemptive plan and our response to it would be shifted into the realm of speculation. 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.

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.   —Genesis— The book of Genesis is, as the name implies, a book of beginnings: the beginning of the cosmos, the beginning of humanity, the beginning of Israel, a prequel to the main story of the Pentateuch. In narrative terms a beginning leads to a middle and to an end. The book, in other words, is ultimately not to be read isolated from the rest of the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, or finally the Christian canon as a whole. 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.

Enlarged print edition now available! Making use of his scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Tom Wright manages to unravel the great complexity of the extraordinary Gospel of John. He describes it as "one of the great books in the literature of the world; and part of its greatness is the way it reveals its secrets not just to a high-flown leaning but to those who come to it with humility and hope." Wright's stimulating comments are combined with his own fresh and inviting translation of the Bible text.Tom Wright has undertaken a tremendous task: to provide guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to include in them his own translation of the entire text. Each short passage is followed by a highly readable discussion with background information, useful explanations and suggestions, and thoughts as to how the text can be relevant to our lives today. A glossary is included at the back of the book. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily devotions.

Many of God's people through the ages have been called to endure times of hardship, loneliness, and suffering. Some, such as Daniel and Esther, were even members of a race carried away to a foreign land that had never heard of the God of Israel. Their lives were not easy, but even in the midst of trials, these men and women discovered that God was with them—and that He was actively leading the events in their lives. In this study, pastor John MacArthur will guide you through an in-depth look at the historical period of Israel's exile, beginning with the prophet Daniel being carried off to Babylon, continuing through the rise of the Persian Empire, and concluding with Esther's reign as queen. Studies include close-up examinations of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Esther, Haman, and others, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Standing Boldly for God" and "God's Sovereignty Over the Future." —ABOUT THE SERIES— The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates: Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text. Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context. Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life. Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.