"How can you still be a Christian?" This is the most common question Diana Butler Bass is asked today. It is a question that many believers ponder as they wrestle with disappointment and disillusionment in their church and its leadership But while many Christians have left their churches, they cannot leave their faith behind. In Freeing Jesus, Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and asks us...

Widely proclaimed a classic work of Christian faith, Life of Christ has been hailed as the most eloquent of Fulton J. Sheen's many books. The fruit of many years of reflection, prayer, and research, it is a dramatic and moving recounting of the birth, life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ, and a passionate portrait of the God-Man, the teacher, the healer, and, most of all, the Savior, whose promise has sustained humanity for two millenia. With...

Is God really for us? It has been said that no person ever rises above their view of God. Whom we worship, what we worship, is irrevocably tied to who we become. Worship predicts identity. Without a new vision of God there can be no new vision of hope. In the middle of Luke's Gospel, in chapter 15, are three of Jesus's most treasured parables. They are the "holy, holy, holy" of Luke's Gospel. The parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost...

Fresh insight into Christianity's earliest teachings can be a guide for your own spiritual journey. The Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the books in the New Testament, was a fearless and revolutionary religious innovator. In a society where slaveholding was commonplace and women were little more than servants, he preached a groundbreaking equality founded on a new spiritual identity. In an imperial political system that demanded unquestioning allegiance,...

The issue of what real Christianity looks like presses on believers from multiple sides. If we are going to maintain this historic faith, what does that faith look like in a changing world, and what will it look like a decade from now, or a century? Is the religion that is spreading around the globe now, the same as what Jesus preached? However difficult the parables of Jesus are to understand, they are much more difficult to put into practice. Lessons...

In this book respected New Testament scholar Pheme Perkins delivers a clear, fresh, informed introduction to the earliest written accounts of Jesus-Matthew, Mark, and Luke-situating those canonical Gospels within the wider world of oral storytelling and literary production of the first and second centuries. Cutting through the media confusion over new Gospel finds, Perkins's Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels presents a balanced, responsible look...

The Life Application Bible Commentary series is the only commentary to offer sermon and lesson applications alongside stirring commentary. Each volume in the series provides in-depth explanation, background, and application for every verse in the text. Perfect for sermon preparation and lesson planning, this one-of-a-kind reference provides excellent quotes and a bibliography for additional commentary. Additional features include • Charts, diagrams,...

Begin Deciding for Yourself Who was Jesus-a wise teacher? A prophet? A fake? During Jesus' lifetime, no one understood His mission, but by narrating a few carefully chosen episodes in Jesus' life, the Apostle John unfolds the truth. Throughout the centuries, John's portrait of Jesus has drawn men and women into a trusting, intimate relationship with the Son of God. As you study John, you can begin deciding for yourself who Jesus is. LifeChange LifeChange...

Among New Testament writers, who is the best historian? Without a doubt, says Justo Gonzalez, it's Luke. Concerned about the particulars of people and events, Luke also gives readers the big picture, positioning the stories of Jesus not just in the history of Israel but in the history of humankind. Luke uniquely tells us the grand story of salvation - then and now. Gonzalez skillfully highlights key themes in Luke's storytelling, including his strong...

The Lord's Prayer pamphlet explores and explains the way that Jesus taught his followers to pray. Each phrase of Jesus' prayer model is examined, using both NIV and KJV Scriptures. The pamphlet also offers additional Scripture references and examples of Jesus demonstrating God's attributes. The pamphlet also presents: • Other prayers in Scripture that follow similar patterns • The history of the Lord's Prayer (found in the Books of Matthew and...