Recommendations based on "Fathers of the Church : Saint Augustine : Christian Instruction, Admonition and Grace, the Christian Combat, Faith, Hope and Charity"

Christians who want to take the next step in their faith walk need look no further. It's time to ante up and go all in with God.The Gospel costs nothing.You can't earn it or buy it.It can only be received as a free gift, which is compliments of God's grace.It doesn't cost anything, but it demands everything.It demands that we go "all in, "putting all that we have into God's hands.But why do so many Christians hesitate to do that? And when did we start believing that the Gospel is an insurance plan? We're afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what life has to offer. But Jesus did not die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.So, let's step out of spiritual no man's land and kneel at the foot of the cross of Christ and surrender to his lordship. It's time to dethrone yourself and enthrone Christ as king, and Pastor Mark Batterson is here to show you how.Using his customary vivid, contemporary illustrations, as well as biblical characters like Shamgar, Elisha, Jonathan, and even Judas, you will be challenged to trade what Batterson calls "inverted Christianity" for true discipleship as you strip away your excuses and inhibitions and follow God completely.It's now or never. Are you ready to go all in and all out for God?Also available: All In student edition, video curriculum, and study guide.

OVER 500, 000 SOLD IN THE PRAYING THE SCRIPTURES SERIESGod Has a Beautiful Plan for Your Marriage.Equip yourself and your spouse with powerful and life-changing prayers that will strengthen your marriage and help you discover the peace, provision, and joy that comes from trusting God with your most important relationship.Regardless of where you are in your marriage journey—be it newly engaged, celebrating a golden anniversary, or weathering a storm—this book is your companion, guiding you to pray effectively for every aspect of your marriage.Jodie Berndt vulnerably shares stories from her own marriage of almost forty years, as well as wisdom gleaned from teaching marriage courses and mentoring couples, to guide you to: Pray with power through common marital challenges. Handle crises with God's promises and perspectives. Find natural ways to support and pray with your spouse. Develop a more loving, joyful, and deeply connected marriage through scriptural prayers personalized for your own relationship. Praying the Scriptures for Your Marriage is the latest addition to the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series. With short, easy-to-read chapters, this book invites you to read, reflect, and respond as you pray the Scriptures over every part of your marriage—whether you choose to do it individually or together with your spouse. Discover the provision and peace of God as you pray his Word over your marriage." Praying the Scriptures for Your Marriage is unlike any marriage book you've read. While offering plenty of rich insight and wise advice, Jodie Berndt also offers brilliant prayer guides to help you invite the power of God's transformational work and presence into your marriage." —Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Marriage

Fruitful ministry in the century must embrace the unavoidable reality of the city.  A Center Church theological vision affirms that center cities are wonderful, strategic, and underserved places for gospel ministry and recognizes that virtually all ministry contexts are increasingly shared by urban and global forces. Regardless of your particular cultural or geographical context, you will need to consider the city when forming a theological vision that engages the people you are trying to reach.    Churches and ministries that flourish in urban and cultural centers are marked by what we call “city vision.”  This eBook contains the fourth part of Center Church, “City Vision.” In it, Keller examines the characteristics that mark churches and ministries that flourish in urban and cultural centers.  He examines the key characteristics of city vision that are based in an understanding of how the city develops as a theme throughout Scripture, from its anti-God origins, to its strategic importance for mission, to its culmination and redemption in glory.  Most important, a city vision will give us a genuine love for the place we are called to reach with the gospel, rather than hostility or indifference toward it.

Evolution--or the broader topic of origins--has enormous relevance to how we understand the Christian faith and how we interpret Scripture.Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design presents the current "state of the conversation" about origins among evangelicals representing four key positions: Young Earth Creationism - Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis) Old Earth (Progressive) Creationism - Hugh Ross (Reasons to Believe) Evolutionary Creation - Deborah B. Haarsma (BioLogos) Intelligent Design - Stephen C. Meyer (The Discovery Institute)The contributors offer their best defense of their position addressing questions such as: What is your position on origins - understood broadly to include the physical universe, life, and human beings in particular? What do you take to be the most persuasive arguments in defense of your position? How do you demarcate and correlate evidence about origins from current science and from divine revelation? What hinges on answering these questions correctly?This book allows each contributor to not only present the case for his or her view, but also to critique and respond to the critiques of the other contributors, allowing you to compare their beliefs in an open forum setting to see where they overlap and where they differ.

Considers that God's primary intent for marriage is not to promote happiness as much as it is to promote holiness, citing within marriage the potiential for enabling each partner to discover and reveal Christ's character. Reprint.

Professor of theology Stephen Wellum considers Christ's singular uniqueness and significance biblically, historically, and today, in our pluralistic and postmodern age. Christ Alone is a much-needed study and defense of the doctrine that provides coherency to the Christian faith. If the church is to proclaim the same Christ as the Reformers, we must understand and embrace solos Christus with the same clarity, conviction, urgency, and abundance of joy as the Reformers. To that end, Wellum: Recovers the Reformers' basic insights by focusing first on two teachings: the exclusive identity of Christ and his sufficient work. Follows the historical roots of the doctrine and its developments to show how the uniqueness of Christ has come under specific attack today. Retraces the storyline of Scripture, from Christ's unique identity and work as prophet, priest, and king, to the application of his work to believers and our covenantal union with him. Christ Alone seeks to recover a robust biblical and theological doctrine of Christ's person and work—and a renewed understanding that apart from Christ there is no salvation—in the face of today's challenges, unpacking why a fresh appraisal of the Reformation understanding of Christ alone is so important 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.

In his discussion of natural theology (arguments to prove the existence of God) and natural atheology (arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief) Plantinga focuses on two of the traditional arguments: the ontological argument as an example of natural theology, and the problem of evil as the most important representative of natural atheology. Accessible to serious general readers.

How was Jesus the most holy person while at the same time the least judgmental? And why don't His followers live like He lived? Let's be honest, Christians are losing the culture war. The western Church is in stark decline and our kids no longer find the message of judgement tenable in the real world. Jesus came to influence and draw—not condemn and repel. In Brimstone, Hugh Halter helps us navigate the overuse of poor judgment and the underuse of right judgment. This book will help you navigate the great law of love given by Jesus. Inside you'll find a disruptive invitation to be holy as Jesus was holy and engage the sinful world with a smile instead of pointing a finger in their face.

You grew up using the well known black and yellow striped Cliff's Notes to help you grasp everything from great literary works to algebra. Unfortunately, what "Cliff" forgot was the greatest literary work in history: the complete Holy Bible. Enjoy the ease of understanding the Bible like never before, book by book. Shepherd's notes helps reader's learn about the inspired authors of the Bible books and when and where they were first penned. Each Bible book is revealed in simple understandable steps that outline and underscore the focal points and personalities of the biblical text. You'll look to these unique books for their use in Bible studies, teaching, personal devotions and even in sermon preperation! Christian and home schools will find Shepherd's Notes an invaluable resource.