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Church History, Volume One: From Christ to the Pre-Reformation

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The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context

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Church History, Volume One offers a unique contextual view of how the Christian church spread and grew from its development in the days of Jesus to the years leading up to the Reformation.

Looking closely at the integral link between the history of the world and that of the church, Church History paints a portrait of God's people within its setting of times, cultures, and events that both influenced and were influenced by the church.

FEATURES:
Maps, charts, and illustrations spanning the time from the first through the thirteenth centuries.Overviews of the Roman, Greek, and Jewish worlds and how they developed or declined.Insights into the church's relationship to the Roman Empire, with glimpses into pagan attitudes toward Christians.Explanations of the role of art, architecture, literature, and philosophyboth sacred and secularin the Church.Details on the major theological controversies of the periods.
Each chapter also contains callout passages from Scripture to assist in understanding the narrative of the Church, even to the present day, as part of the greater narrative of the Bible.

AUTHOR'S PERSPECTIVE:

Scholar and writer Everett Ferguson wrote this history of the church from the perspective that such a history is the story of the greatest movement and community the world has known. It's a human story of a divinely called people who wanted to live by a divine revelation. It's a story of how they succeeded and how they failed or fell short of their calling.

From the Apostle Paul to the apologists and martyrs of the second century to Martin Luther, the historical figures detailed are people who have struggled with the meaning of the greatest event in historythe coming of the Son of Godand with their role in that event and in the lives of God's people.

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How Christians Should Relate to Government

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Derived from theologian Wayne Grudems PoliticsAccording to the Bible, this digital short outlines five misguided approaches Christians take to politics and a way that is both more biblical and better for society. Grudem describes the five misguided approaches as follows:Government should compel religionGovernment should exclude religionAll government is evil and demonicDo evangelism, not politicsDo politics, not evangelismIn their place, Grudem argues for a view that he calls significant Christian influence on government. Provocative and compelling, How Christians Should Relate to Government will prod the thinking of politically minded Christians, regardless of which party they favor.

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What do the Canons of Dordt mean to people in the Las Vegas airportand does anyone there even care? In the movie Hardcore, a pious Calvinist elder tries unsuccessfully to explain the TULIP theology of his Dutch Reformed faith to a prostitute in the Las Vegas airport. This incongruous conversation demonstrates how Calvinism is often perceived today: irrelevant, harsh, even disrespectful.Beginning with this movie scene, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport addresses the weaknesses of Calvinism and points to its strengths. How does Calvinism shed light on today? Instead of reciting the Canons of Dordt, whats a more compassionate way to relate to nonbelievers? What might it look like to live out the doctrines of TULIP with gentleness and respect? This conversational book provides answers and shatters some stereotypes. Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport encourages you to live every aspect of lifebusiness, family, education, politics, activities, and morebefore the face of a generous, sovereign God. Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike will find this an enjoyable read. You will discover that Reformed theology can speak relevantly and compellingly today, both to you and to people in the Las Vegas airport. Does Calvinism Have Anything to Do with the 21st Century?What do you think about Calvinism? Do you view it positively or negatively? Or has its day passed?Lets face it, many non-Calvinists hold a less-than-positive view, sometimes due to caricatures. This friendly, conversational book helps clear up some misconceptions and distorted views. If youre not a Calvinist, here is an engaging inside look. And if you are a Calvinist, Richard Mouw shows how to live gently and respectfully with othersChristians and non-Christianswho hold different perspectives.Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport focuses not on what Calvinists believe but on how they live. From a movie scene to the authors personal experiences in Las Vegas, you are invited to travel with Mouw and see the Reformed faith in a new light. Yes, it still does travel well!

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Don't show up for a fight unarmed!

Learn how to fight with faith, with prayer, and with the Word of Godand become a man who knows how to fight for what's right.

In this video Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel helps you and your group uncover your God-given warrior's heart. You'll learn how to find the strength to fight the battles you know you need to fightthe ones that determine:
The state of your heart.The quality of your marriage.The spiritual health of yourself and your family.
Groeschel identifies men of today with Samsonputting the spotlight on his incredible strengths and his crippling weaknesses. By looking at Samson's life in the book of Judges, you'll learn how to defeat the demons that make strong men weaklust, entitlement, prideand instead become the man God made you to be.

Our spiritual enemy, Satan, loves to make strong men weak. But the good news is that our God loves to make weak men strong. With the Fight Study Guide, you'll learn how to become dependent on God as the source of your strength and fight the battles that make you come alive.

Sessions include:
Fight Like a ManStrong Men with Weak WillsSpirit Led, Not Emo-DrivenSmall Steps, Big DestructionFailing Forward
Designed for use with the Fight Video Study (sold separately).

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Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where youll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each womans story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams ... and secrets. Youll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the English way of lifeand the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families. Miriam Lapp, who left the Amish community of Bird-in-Hand three years ago, is heartbroken when her sister calls to reveal that her mother has died suddenly. Traveling home to Pennsylvania, she is forced to face the heartache from her past, including her rift from her family and the breakup of her engagement with Timothy Kauffman. Her past emotional wounds are reopened when her family rejects her once again and she finds out that Timothy is in a relationship with someone else. Miriam discovers that the rumors that broke them up three years ago were all lies. However, when Timothy proposes to his girlfriend and Miriams father disowns her, Miriam returns to Indiana with her heart in shambles. When Miriams father has a stroke, Miriam returns to Pennsylvania, where her world continues to fall apart, leaving her to question her place in the Amish community and her faith in God.

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The Totally Awkward Adventure of Finding Mom Friends

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Let's see . . . this is the part where I convince you that you need this book. This book will massage your feet. This book will bring you a fuzzy blanket at the end of a long day of parenting your tiny little insanazoids. I promise to make you snort laugh at least once. After reading this book, you'll rock jazz hands, be able to sing on-key, and never, ever have to fold laundry again.

Okay, they told me I'm actually supposed to tell you a little about the book. Um, right. Look. Here's the thing. Too many of us women are frazzled and lonely, isolated in our minivans while schlepping bags, strollers, and munchkins to and fro across town. It doesn't have to be this way.

In this guide to "momlationships," I use a dating analogy to take us "around the bases" to our home-run friendships, the ones that last a lifetime, not just a soccer season. This is our journey to each other, to finding our people and being other people's people, learning how to bless each other and not destroy each other.

It's sometimes scary. And always awkward. Let's have some fun.

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Did God condone genocide in the Old Testament? How do Christians harmonize the warrior God of Israel with the God of love incarnate in Jesus?

Christians are often shocked to read that Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, commanded the total destruction--all men, women, and children--of the ethnic group known as the Canaanites.

This seems to contradict Jesus' command in the New Testament to love your enemies and do good to all people. How can Yahweh be the same God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? What does genocide in the Bible have to do with the politics of the 21st century?

Show Them No Mercy explores the Old Testament command of God to exterminate the Canaanite population and what that implies about continuity between the Old and New Testaments. The four views presented are:
Strong Discontinuity emphasizes the strong tension, regarding violence, between the two main texts of the Bible (C.S. Cowles)Moderate Discontinuity provides a justification of Gods actions in the Old Testament with strong emphasis on exegesis (Eugene H. Merrill)Eschatological Continuity a reading of the warfare narratives that ties them contextually to the book of Revelation and the Second Coming (Daniel L. Gard)Spiritual Continuity incorporates the genocidal account into the full picture of the Old and New Testaments (Tremper Longman III)
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.

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C. S. Cowles, Eugene H. Merrill, Daniel L. Gard, Tremper Longman III, Stanley N. Gundry

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In this historical fairy-tale romance book from bestselling author Melanie Dickerson, based on The Princess and the Frog, Margaretha hopes to find her prince ... but when a man claiming to be an English lord arrives at the castle, she finds herself questioning her heart as she uncovers secrets about her current suitor that cast the mysterious lord in a new light.

Margaretha has always been a romantic, and hopes her newest suitor, Lord Claybrook, will be her one true love. But then an injured man is brought to Hagenheim Castle, claiming to be an English lord Claybrook attacked and left for dead. And only Margaretha understands the wild story.

Margaretha convinces herself Lord Colin is just addled. Then Colin retrieves an heirloom she lost and asks her to spy on Claybrook as repayment. Margaretha knows she could never be a spyshe unable to keep anything secretthough what she soon discovers changes her romantic notions not about Claybrook but possibly Colin as well. It is up to her to save her father and Hagenheim itself from a wicked plot.

The Princess Spy is:
Perfect for teen readers ages 13-18 and adults who enjoy historical romancesA romantic, fast-paced readsure to entrance fans of fairy tale retellingsA stand-alone story that is also part of the Hagenheim series, featuring the daughter of Rose and Lord HamlinA full-length clean and inspiring love story

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Mix six teenaged girls and one 60s fashion icon (retired, of course) in an old Victorian-era boarding home. Add guys and dating, a little high-school angst, and throw in a Kate Spade bag or two ... and youve got The Carter House Girls, Melody Carlsons new chick lit series for young adults!Christmas is coming and Mrs. Carter treats the girls to a weekend trip to General Hardings luxurious Vermont ski lodge. Naturally, she has no idea that Taylor has invited some guys to follow themboys who have a different type of adventure in mind. As usual, Mrs. Carter does not pay close attention to the girls activities. When a dinner outing and small accident keep her away overnight, DJ, Eliza, Taylor, Kriti, Rhiannon, and Casey are quickly in over their heads. As a party gets completely out of hand, only Gods help can get the Carter House girls out of this gigantic mess.

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A Guidebook for Parents of Blended Families

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"I've got the love to give. Now how can I get my stepchild to accept it?" Does that question sound familiar? Whether you are presently a stepparent, a dating single parent, or in the courtship stage before marriage, the challenge of blending families is one of the most difficulty you will ever face. Winning the Heart of Your Stepchild is a hands-on guidebook for today's men and women who face the special challenge of blending families. Because children must process so many emotions and thoughts -- guilt over the divorce, unrealistic expectations, a sense of panic or fear -- parents must learn to interpret those feelings and behaviors for any new family to succeed. This book shows how to - create an open atmosphere in the home - give reassuring answers to a child's questions - become a strong team with your new spouse - deal with the inevitable challenge to a new authority figure - build a foundation of love, understanding, and personal discipline that will make your new family special. Winning the Heart of Your Stepchild provides an indispensable road map for new moms and dads who want one vibrant, happy, blended family.

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The relationship I share with my sonsTyler, Sean, Josh, EJ, and Austinis a very special one. For every moment I spend cuddling with them and reading to them, playing with them and sharing closeness, I am always mindful of my calling to take a step back and let my little boys become young men.  Boys are rough and tumble. They wrestle hard and play hard and often they are ready to suit up for a game or take the wheel of the car long before were ready to let them go. This thought played in my heart as I wrote Be Safe Little Boy.  This emotional look at mothers and sons is my way of reminding myself, again, of my role in mothering my boys. Love them long and close, yes. Build bonds that will last forever, always. But be willing to take a step back, pray without ceasing, and let them grow up. I pray you find a closer walk in your own relationships as you read.

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Why closing the back door of your church is even more important than opening the front door wider.

In Sticky Church, author and pastor Larry Osborne offers a time-tested strategy for doing so: sermon-based small groups that dig deeper into the weekend message and tightly velcro members to the ministry. It's a strategy that enabled Osborne's congregation to grow from a handful of people to one of the larger churches in the nationwithout any marketing or special programming. Sticky Church tells the inspiring story of North Coast Church's phenomenal growth and offers practical tips for launching your own sermon-based small group ministry.

Topics include:
Why stickiness is so importantWhy most of our discipleship models don't work very wellWhy small groups always make a church more honest and transparentWhat makes groups grow deeper and sticker over time
Sticky Church is an ideal book for church leaders who want to start or retool their small group ministryand velcro their congregation to the Bible and each other.

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"This 31-day reading from the book of Proverbs from the New International Version of the Bible will speak to your deepest needs as you engage with Gods Word. Practical and insightful, these devotionswritten by the staff at trusted ministry Walk Thru the Biblewill fill each day with wisdom and understanding about who God is and what he has intended for the lives of his people. NIV 2011. The New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible is the worlds most popular modern-English Bibleeasy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages. "

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365 Devotions to Embrace What Matters Most

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Rediscover Joy and Passion in Your Life (A 365-Day Devotional)

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Reclaim your passions, your relationships, and your joy through daily reminders of what really matters.

365 Devotions to Embrace What Matters Most invites you to uncover the essence of a meaningful life. This daily devotional companion offers you practical and heartfelt insights to focus on life's most valuable treasureslove, purpose, and relationships. It speaks to your soul, reminding you to live fully engaged and wide awake.

Life is a precious gift, yet the grind of daily demands can cloud your vision, making life feel like a never-ending cycle of obligations. From appointments to grocery shopping, we can get bogged down in busyness and end up sleepwalking through life, completely missing the beauty and wonder all around. But it is never too late to live the wide-awake, passionate life you long for.

365 Devotions to Embrace What Matters Most invites you to reclaim your passions, your relationships, and your joy through daily reminders of what really matters. Each page offers you accessible yet profound insights for how to make small but meaningful changesprioritizing rest, practicing humility, giving generously, or simply regaining wonder for God's creation. This devotional will gently guide you to become the kind of person you want to be, living deliberately and grasping the eternal beauty in the present moment.

Each daily entry features a short but profound meditation that will guide you to reflect on your life and the world around you, along with a Scripture verse to help you ground your heart and mind in God's Word. For a few moments each day, spend a little time meditating on the things that matter:
Who you are, why you're here, and what you should do about it.How you see the world.How to free yourself from the rat race.The importance of your relationships.What's wrong and how to make it right.How to become a better human being

365 Devotions to Embrace What Matters Most gives you daily reminders that life is precious and beautiful. Whether you long for rest, deeper connections, or a renewed sense of meaning, this devotional empowers you to pause, reflect, and walk a path rich with purpose and delight. Get ready to embrace what really matters most, and start living with intention, wonder, and joy!

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How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs

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Find Gods vision for your job.
Reclaim Gods vision for your life.
Many Christians fall victim to one of two main problems when it comes to work: either they are idle in their work, or they have made an idol of it. Both of these mindsets are deadly misunderstandings of how God intends for us to think about our employment.
In The Gospel at Work, Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert unpack the powerful ways in which the gospel can transform how we do what we do, releasing us from the cultural pressures of both an all-consuming devotion and a punch-in, punch-out mentalityin order to find the freedom of a work ethic rooted in serving Christ.
Youll find answers to some of the tough questions that Christians in the workplace often ask:What factors should matter most in choosing a job?What gospel principles should shape my thinking about how to treat my boss, my co-workers, and my employees?Is full-time Christian work more valuable than my job?Is it okay to be motivated by money?How do you prioritizeor balancework, family and church responsibilities?Solidly grounded in the gospel, The Gospel at Work confronts both our idleness at work and our idolatry of work with a challenge of its ownto remember that whom we work for is infinitely more important than what we do.

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Gaining the Skills for Honest and Meaningful Communication

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Full of practical tips and how-tos, this book will help you make your relationships better, deepen your intimacy with people you care for, and cultivate more love, understanding, and respect between you and others.

Successful people confront well. They know that setting healthy boundaries improves relationships and can solve important problems. They have discovered that uncomfortable situations can be avoided or resolved through direct conversation. But most of us don't know how to have difficult conversations, and we see confrontation as scary or adversarial.

Authors Henry Cloud and John Townsend take the principles from their award-winning and bestselling book, Boundaries, and apply them to a variety of the most common difficult situations and relationships in order to:
Show how healthy confrontation can improve relationshipsPresent the essentials of a good boundary-setting conversationProvide tips on preparing for the conversationShow how to tell people what you want, stop bad behavior, and deal with counterattackGive actual examples of conversations to have with your spouse, your date, your kids, your coworker, your parents, and more!
This book is a practical handbook on positive confrontation that will help you finally have that difficult conversation you've been avoiding. Includes a discussion guide.

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The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context.

The book of Joshua recounts major transitions in the lives of God's chosen people and speaks of subjects that are difficult to comprehend, such as war and ethnic cleansing. Robert Hubbard navigates through these chapters, probing beneath the surface of the biblical text to apply the timeless themes of the book of Joshua to our lives in the twenty-first century.

To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's context, each passage is treated in three sections:
Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help the reader understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, between the original context and the contemporary context, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.Contemporary Significance. This section identifies situations that are comparable to those faced by the original audience and explores personal, cultural, and societal applications of the passage to those situations. The author also alerts the reader to problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights, they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

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Insightful Dates for Finding the Love of Your Life

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In Is This the One?, Steve Arterburnan award-winning author and the founder and chairman of New Life Ministries, the largest faith-based broadcast counseling and treatment ministryhas created a "how to" plan for happier, stronger marriages. He contends that living in a "no regrets" relationship can be as simple following this spiritually solid and personally drawn plan before the first "I do" is even spoken.Host of the number one Christian radio broadcast, New Life Live!, Arterburn draws a painfully personal portrait of the devastation divorce has on a family. Rather than aiming at marriages already in jeopardy, Arterburn focuses attention on the beginning of relationshipsbefore the commitment, before the emotional investment, before the children. He prescribes three sets of ten carefully devised dates designed to help couples reveal their true colors and clarify whether or not they are a compatible match. This practical, personal, and positive plan can impact marriagesand ground the skyrocketing divorce rateas no other book has.Is This the One? is a must read for engaged or dating couples, happy singles, concerned parents, and anyone who wants to make better decisions about who to marry and who to leave behind.

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Images are frequently used in the Bible to describe God and his relationship with his chosen people. Without an accurate understanding of the images, we cannot comprehend the profound biblical revelations they communicate. Understanding these cultural vehicles of communication comes by learning the cultural background of those who created them. Timothy S. Laniak illuminates this background for readers from the ground up with his archaeological and anthropological explanations of the contexts the authors lived in. Suitable for students, pastors, and lay leaders, the Zondervan ebook Images of God and His People links these cultural characteristics with the images of God with corresponding images of his people found in the Old and New Testaments. This complementary approach reveals a rich relationship between God and the people he loves and calls into his service.

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Cape Refuge, Southern Storm, River's Edge, Breaker's Reef

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New York Times bestselling author Terri Blackstocks Cape Refuge series is now available in one volume.

Cape Refuge

When Thelma and Wayne Owens are found murdered in the warehouse where they held their church services, their son-in-law Jonathan is arrested for the crimebut his wife Morgan and her sister Blair, Thelma and Waynes daughters, are confident that he didnt do it and set out to find the real killer.

Southern Storm

Police Chief Cade disappears after hitting and killing a man with his car. Without a trace, without a note, without taking clothes or his car or moneyhe is gone. When a witness says she saw Cade getting into a blue Buick with a woman before his disappearance, the newspapers report that Cade left town to be with her. But Blair Owens believes something has happened to Cade, and shes determined to find him.

Rivers Edge

Mayoral candidate Ben Jackson seems to have the election locked. But when Jackson's wife turns up murdered, things begin to shift. Was this the act of a jealous lover? A dangerous client? Or is this all about the election?

Breakers Reef

A teenage girl is found murdered, and the scene matches one in a book by a famous mystery writer who just moved to the island. This murder has a connection to Hanover Houseand the residents there might never be the same.