Recommendations based on "Life-Study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians"

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.

When you received Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you made the most important decision of your life. The Next Step will help you be more effective in your Christian walk. Not meant to take the place of your Bible, it will teach you basic steps to a strong and healthy Christian life. It's an excellent discipleship tool to give to those you lead to the Lord. Chapters include: 1. Birth Of The Bible How the Scriptures came to be, and how Satan has attacked them for almost 1,500 years. 2. Don't Read That Book You won't last long without food, and neither will any Christian last long without the Word of God. This Bible reading program will give you a balanced diet of spiritual food, every day of your life. But it will cost you something! 3. Prayer Do you want to get RESULTS when you pray? Here are the keys to effective prayer, and how to deal with the things Satan uses to stop you. 4. Love Some people are hard to love. Yet for some people, real love is the only way to reach them. 5. The Enemy Every Christian has a mortal enemy. His goal? He wants you dead and in hell. Learn some of his many faces, and how he attacks Christians. He hates us all, because he knows that there is a day coming, when he will be cast into hell. 6. Pitfalls Be careful! Things that can destroy your Christian testimony can be small, or unexpected. 7. Called Out Being a Christian doesn't mean you're better than everyone else. It means you're forgiven. But you can't be the same as everyone else, either. God wants you to live in a way that is different, so you can have the same result as the Christian in this chapter. 8. Warn Them Everyone who hasn't accepted Christ is on his way to hell, just like you were. Now that you have forgiveness, it's up to you warn your friends. If witnessing chokes you up, or you don't think you know enough of the Bible yet, here is a simple plan to help you be a real witness. You can't save anyone ... but Jesus will! Here's an easy way to tell them.

An introduction to a complex theological issue that impacts our daily lives as believers in Christ: What is the relevance of the Old Testament Law to our understanding of the Gospel and how it should be lived?This book explores five major approaches to this important biblical topic as they've developed in Protestant circles: Non-Theonomic Reformed View – the law is the perfection of righteousness in Jesus Christ. Theonomic Reformed View – the goodness of the law is dependent on how it's used and does not offer a way to salvation. Heavily focused on Paul's discussion of the Law. Law as "Gracious Guidance" View – emphasizes the contrasts between the Mosaic law and the Gospel of grace, while still asserting the Law's value. Dispensational View – approaches the Law from a historical perspective to help us understand its presentation, treatment, and recipients. Modified Lutheran View – the Law of Christ as the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.This book allows each contributor to not only present the case for his 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.The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

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.

In this book, the author turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief -- the eight "heart" barriers to faith. This book is for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with intellectual barriers standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in discussing Christianity with even their most skeptical friends

What good is God in a world where terrorists attack tourist sites in Mumbai, where women and children are sold into sexual slavery, and where six million people in South Africa alone suffer with HIV/AIDS? Does faith really matter when you're struggling with an addiction, or when you get laid off from your job and your home is in foreclosure? Featuring a new intro, fresh design and compelling study questions in this expanded edition, journalist and spiritual seeker Philip Yancey travels the globe in search of an answer to a query posed the world over. His discoveries of redemption, hope, and grace provide evidence that faith really does make a difference, even when belief is severely tested.

Making use of his scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Tom Wright captures the verve and sparkle of these letters. Paul wrote the letters while in prison facing possible death, but their passion and energy are undimmed. They reveal Paul's longing to see young churches grow in faith and understanding, rooted in Jesus himself, and to see this faith worked out in practice. Wright's stimulating comments are combined with his own fresh and inviting translation of the 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.

Enlarged print edition now available! Making use of his scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Tom Wright shows us the liveliness of cosmopolitan Corinth and reveals the wisdom and challenge of Paul's writing, bringing out the pastoral sensitivity and deep insight that make this letter one of Paul's crowning achievements.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.

Enlarged print edition now available! Making use of his scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Tom Wright helps us to understand from the beginning of the second letter to the Corinthians that something unexplained yet terrible has happened. We feel the pain of Paul from the very opening lines as he confronts dreadful issues of sorrow and hurt, emerging with a clearer picture of what it meant to say that Jesus himself suffered for us and rose up in triumph. The letter itself moves through tragedy and from there leads into the sunlight.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.

Matthew's Gospel presents Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ long promised in the Old Testament. To interpret it, author Jeffrey Gibbs employs a narrative approach that examines the literary structure of Matthew's unfolding message and interprets individual texts with a careful eye to their relationship to that overall structure. Gibbs expounds the Gospel in light of the original context and audience for whom Matthew wrote. The themes that have received particular emphasis include: Jesus' mission to save His people from their sins; The reign of God in Jesus; The Son of God's vicarious role as substitute for Israel and for us; Jesus' fulfillment of the Old Testament; Jesus' ministry of mighty word (preaching, calling disciples, teaching) and mighty deed (healing the sick, exorcizing, raising the dead); How God's grace in Jesus now comes to us through Word and Sacrament; Eschatology'that the end times have begun already with Jesus' ministry and the Christian lives with joyful hope in the promises yet to be fulfilled on the Last Day.