Showing results by narrator "William Sarris" in All Categories

Every pastor knows what it's like to be criticized. But how does he respond? And how does he offer constructive criticism of his own? With wisdom and charity, Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson answer these questions and more. The Bible is full of critics, and it gives us practical principles for responding to criticism, offering criticism, and creating a healthy church culture. As Beeke and Thompson unfold a theological vision for coping with criticism in the gospel ministry, you will be strengthened, encouraged, and equipped.

In Beauty Is Your Destiny, Philip Ryken provides listeners with an introduction to the theology and practice of beauty, striving to awaken a longing for beauty that he explains “can only be satisfied in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Society tells us all sorts of lies: "I've got my truth, you've got yours"; "Death is the end"; "I can't ever change"; "Jesus isn't relevant." By approaching these common-held beliefs, author and evangelist J. Mack Stiles comes alongside listeners to explain the flaw in society's thinking and shows how Jesus responds to these untruths. Each lie is held alongside an encounter that Jesus had in the Gospels and takes the listener directly to Jesus's words and actions.

Ten Questions to Ask Every Time You Read the Bible, proposes ten questions that will help you navigate God’s Word with clarity and confidence. Every question can be answered by looking within the Bible. The questions will direct you to discover the text, context, and real-life application of passages in the Bible.

What does a scrappy church look like? Let's take a look together.

How much equality does democracy need to survive? Political thinkers have wrestled with that question for millennia. Aldo Schiavone guides us through historical thickets, from the first democracy to the present day, seeking solutions to the enduring tension between democracy and inequality. Turning from antiquity to the modern world, Schiavone shows how the American and the French revolutions attempted to settle old debates, introducing a new way of thinking about equality.

Charles Wheelan has spent decades mastering effective communication skills in his work as a writer, college professor, journalist, speechwriter, political candidate, and public speaker. In Write for Your Life, he shares his best tips.

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson was a broken man. Reeling from the loss of his wife and stung from a political scandal during the Revolutionary war, he needed to remake himself. Wandering through Europe, Jefferson saw and learned as much as he could, ultimately bringing his knowledge home to a young America. There, he would rise to power and shape a nation. More than two hundred years later, Derek Baxter, a devotee of American history, stumbles on an obscure travel guide written by Jefferson—Hints for Americans Traveling Through Europe—as he's going through his own personal crisis.

A Human-Shaped God approaches the humanlike accounts of God in the Old Testament as the starting places for theology and uses them to build a picture of the divine. This understanding of God is then brought into conversation with traditional conceptions that depict God as a being who knows everything that happens, is at every place at the same time, is constant and unchanging, and does not ultimately have material form.

Here's a book that should accompany every copy of God's Word! It's small but packed with helpful information on the Christian faith, promising insight for believers and seekers of any age or background.

When a perfect storm of personal, professional, and natural disaster threw Mike Mantel into a dark night of the soul, he embarked on a journey through his own life and around the world to rediscover God's presence through the diverse body of Christ. In Thirsting for Living Water, Mantel invites listeners to join him on this adventure and open their eyes to their own stories of God's faithfulness.

The disciplines of biblical studies and theology should serve each other, and they should serve both the church and the academy together. But the relationship between them is often marked by misunderstandings, methodological differences, and cross-discipline tension. New Testament scholar Scot McKnight here highlights five things he wishes theologians knew about biblical studies. In a companion volume, theologian Hans Boersma reflects on five things he wishes biblical scholars knew about theology.

Do you feel far from God? Perhaps you desire nearness, but you end up filling your calendar instead of truly communing with the Savior. Wayman Ming Jr. will show you how interruptions in your normal schedule are divine opportunities to evaluate your life and close the spiritual gap between you and God. If you have become too comfortable in the daily practice of your faith, or you can't seem to press in deeper, this book will help you draw near to your creator and pursue his heart with passion.

As well-known Christians announce a newfound loss of faith, other believers face increasing pressure or doubt. We feel let down, ashamed to question God's goodness, and in need of assurance of our faith and answers to our pain. From a leading voice on issues facing Christians today comes a frank and insightful discussion about whether it's okay to doubt God and what to do about it.

Much of the contemporary discussion of the Jesus tradition has focused on aspects of oral performance, storytelling, and social memory, on the premise that the practice of communal reading of written texts was a phenomenon documented no earlier than the second century CE. Brian J. Wright overturns that premise by examining evidence that demonstrates communal reading events in the first century.

The heart is where the human soul and God meet. This is what teachings from Scripture and the mystics reveal: The heart is the temple of God within us, and within the heart, we hold the key to live a truly divine life. But how do we embody the tremendous love available to us, deep in our hearts? In Eternal Heart, Carl McColman, author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, invites us to create an optimistic, visionary, and imaginative path to personal happiness and fulfillment.

In 40 Questions About the Great Commission, scholars Daniel Akin, Benjamin Merkle, and George Robinson unpack the meaning, history, theology, and practical applications of Jesus' command to go and make disciples. Ideal for personal or group study, this volume will reignite your passion for evangelism while answering key questions like: Where do we stand in relation to fulfilling the Great Commission?; how do baptism and teaching relate to the Great Commission?; and more.

Prompted by a friend to describe Jesus as he is - not as he was or will be in the coming days - Dick Eastman found himself stammering. What followed over many months was a desire to get to know the Jesus who had changed his life, but in a much fuller and richer way - now! From then on, on scraps of folded paper in his pockets, Eastman found himself recording adjectives describing the nature and character of Jesus Christ, expanding them later into a personal devotional journal.

Meeting people from other religions is an incredible blessing and a unique challenge. As Christians, what do we need to know about their beliefs to effectively interact with them? And how can we share about Jesus with sensitivity for someone's relationship to their current faith? A compilation from some of today's top religion scholars, The Popular Handbook of World Religions is a clear and insightful guide to understanding and conversing with followers of the world's major belief systems.

Pastor and author James Emery White leads his church and his life with a singular mission: to turn spiritual explorers into fully devoted followers of Christ. The obvious first step in this process is for someone to cross the line of faith - to say, "I believe." That was the heart behind his book Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians. But what comes after "I believe" is equally important, and it's the way someone truly becomes a fully devoted follower of Christ.