Living Religions

Drawing on her extensive research into women of the Old Testament, novelist Jill Eileen Smith shows us how we can glean wisdom and strength from our trials just like women such as Miriam, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Abigail, Bathsheba, and more.

This newly revised edition is an essential guide for preachers who want to stir the embers of revival. Piper focuses his study on the example of Jonathan Edwards as an illustration of a leader who submitted to God.

A platform society emphasizes individualism and performance. It’s rooted in the belief that self and personal desires are preeminent. In Platforms to Pillars, cultural expert Mark Sayers explores how platform mentality is misshaping our contemporary world and contrasts this to the biblical call of Christians to live as pillars.

Best-selling author and former atheist Lee Strobel investigates the nettlesome issues and doubts of the heart that threaten faith, including doubt, the problem of pain, and the existence of evil. This updated edition features two all-new chapters, an updated list of recommended resources for further study, and a new discussion guide.

In The Revelationary War, Amanda Grace presents a constructive, confrontational warning for today’s Christians. Now more than ever, the body of Christ needs to be discerning of what is true and what is false.

Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation in 2012 with a passionate, provocative poem titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” The four-minute video of Bethke’s spoken-word performance literally became an overnight sensation, with seven million YouTube views in its first forty-eight hours (and 24+ million within a year). The message hit like a blizzard on social-media sites and in forwarded e-mails, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged.

On the 40th anniversary of Neil Postman's prophetic book Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), Scrolling Ourselves to Death gathers today's most incisive writers to think critically about the shaping power of contemporary technology. This book explores Postman's insights, connects them to the challenges facing Christians today, and turns difficult challenges into life-giving opportunities for the church. Stepping back from their screens, listeners will be equipped to live faithfully, and grow spiritually, in a "scrolling ourselves to death" world.

Even a busy life can become fertile ground for Christian growth, as Ken Shigematsu explains throughout God in My Everything. Drawing from the wisdom of the monastic “rule of life,” Ken shows how the ancient practice of having daily life-giving rhythms can be adapted to nearly every life stage and vocation.

Roasted marshmallows, campfire stories, shaving cream battles--for some of us, Christian summer camp is where we felt most at home, where we could be the most authentic versions of ourselves. But for campers at white Evangelical church camps in particular, camp was also often the place to inherit a toxic image of God and of each other.

As Christians, we believe that all sins are considered equal in God's eyes. Yet while evangelicals continue to decry the Big Ones--such as abortion, adultery, and violence--we often overlook more deceptive sins. It seems we have created a sliding scale where gossip, jealousy, and selfishness comfortably exist within the church. In short, some sins have simply become acceptable.

Matthew Henry had the rare ability to express profound spiritual insights with simplicity and eloquence. Over the years, his writings have been read for both their scholarship and devotion, and none more than the classic Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Now you can listen to the very best of Matthew Henry in this new edition of his famous commentary.

Christians know that daily Scripture reading is an essential spiritual discipline. But sometimes opening the Bible day in and day out can feel like a burden rather than the joy and gift that it is. Spending even a few minutes reflecting on the truths found within God's word can strengthen your faith, help you resist sin, and inspire you to live for the eternal, unshakable kingdom of God. In the Everyday Gospel devotional, Paul David Tripp provides a roadmap for listeners who want to spend a full year in God's word.

With the immediacy of Internet searches and the ease of handheld devices, the custom of memorizing Scripture may not seem necessary, but Robert J. Morgan makes an airtight case for reviving this rewarding practice in 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart. It's vital for mental and emotional health and for spiritual well-being, he writes. It's as powerful as acorns dropping into furrows in the forest. It allows God's words to sink into your brain and permeate your subconscious thoughts. It saturates the personality, satiates the soul, and stockpiles the mind.

On the night of November 5, 2006, the Barrick family was driving home from church when their van was struck by a drunk driver. Fifteen-year-old Jen suffered multiple skull fractures and severe brain trauma and was not expected to survive the night. But against all odds, she did. As she lingered in a coma, doctors warned that if Jen ever woke up, she would be cursing and screaming in confusion due to her brain injuries. Instead, after five weeks she opened her eyes and began praying and praising God.

You're deeply committed to helping your kids succeed. But you're concerned. Why are so many graduates unprepared to enter the workforce and face life on their own? You're doing your best to raise healthy children, but sometimes you wonder, am I really helping them? Tim Elmore shows you how to avoid 12 critical mistakes parents unintentionally make. He outlines practical and effective parenting skills so you won't fall into common traps. Find out why thousands of organizations have sought out Tim Elmore to help them develop young leaders.

It's tempting to believe that the Christian faith is alive and well in our country today. Our politicians talk about God. Our mega-churches are filled. Christian schools dot our landscape. Brace yourself. It's an illusion. Believe it or not, only 8 percent of Americans profess and practice true evangelical Christian faith. There are more left-handed people than evangelical Christians in America.

At more than 78 million strong, the Millennials - those born between 1980 and 2000 - have surpassed the Boomers as the larger and more influential generation in America. Now, as its members begin to reach adulthood, where the traits of a generation really take shape, best-selling research author Thom Rainer (Simple Church) and his son Jess (a Millennial born in 1985) present the first major investigative work on Millennials from a Christian worldview perspective.

The church in the West is at a critical moment. While the Gospel is exploding throughout the global South, Western civilization faces militant assaults from aggressive secularism and radical Islam. Will the church resist the seductive shaping power of advanced modernity? More than ever Christians must resist the negative cultural forces of our day with fortitude and winsomeness. What is needed is followers of Christ who are willing to face reality without flinching and respond with a faithfulness that is unwavering.

Consider the Lilies is for those who long for liberation from their anxiety and fear--and desire to deeply know the God they are called and enabled to trust. If you are starved for hope and gasping for peace, consider the character of your heavenly Father, who welcomes all who are anxious, fearful, and melancholy to trust in Him.

In Embodied Hope, Kelly Kapic invites us to consider the example of our Lord Jesus. Only because Jesus has taken on our embodied existence, suffered alongside us, died, and been raised again can we find any hope from the depths of our own dark valleys of pain. As we look to Jesus, we are invited to participate not only in his sufferings, but also in the church, which calls us out of isolation and into the encouragement and consolation of the communal life of Christ.