April 26, 2022 - You Are Loved by Emma Allen - Are you ready for a wild, colourful, fun-filled adventure through jungles, outer space and across swirling... More →
April 11, 2022 - 2022 - 2023 Academic Diaries - Our new range of Academic Diaries are now in stock - With a wide range of designs, all at fantastic prices -... More →
September 7, 2021 - GRACE BOMB - By Patrick Linnell - In Grace Bomb, Pastor Pat Linnell equips us to join a movement of simple obedience with... More →
Is Christianity history? Or is Christian history the deepest explanation of the modern world?
Today in the west, many consider the church to be dead or dying. Christianity is seen as outdated, bigoted and responsible for many of society’s problems. This leaves many believers embarrassed about their faith and many outsiders wary of religion. But what if the Christian message is not the enemy of our modern Western values, but the very thing that makes sense of them?
In this fascinating book, Glen Scrivener takes readers on a journey to discover how the teachings of Jesus not only turned the ancient world upside down, but continue to underpin the way we think of life, worth, and meaning. Far from being a relic from the past, the distinctive ideas of Christianity, such as freedom, kindness, progress and equality, are a crucial part of the air that we breathe. As author Glen Scrivener says in his introduction: “The extraordinary impact of Christianity is seen in the fact that we don’t notice it”.
This is a book for both believers and sceptics—giving Christians confidence to be open about their faith and showing non-Christians the ways in which the message of Jesus makes sense of their most cherished beliefs. Whoever you are, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the values you hold dear as you discover the power and profundity of Jesus and his revolution.
In Grace Bomb, Pastor Pat Linnell equips us to join a movement of simple obedience with world-changing impact. Grace Bombs are intentional acts of love prompted by the Holy Spirit—offering an extra tip to a hardworking server, giving up a seat on an airplane, or making a meal for the ER nurse next door. When we grace bomb our neighbors, our spouses, or strangers on the street, we are responding to God’s call to love those people in generous and surprising ways. Drawing on rich examples from Scripture and everyday life, Grace Bomb shows us how we can:
Go beyond cultural expectations of kindness
Deepen our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit
Overcome barriers such as fear, busyness, and prejudice
Have fun while exercising our faith beyond Sundays
Break the ice with our neighbors today
With inspiring stories from people around the world who have discovered the joy of Grace Bombing, this energizing book helps you put your love into action right away. Most importantly, it helps you use that action to show others the true source of love with no strings attached: Jesus.
Discipleship is central to a life of faith – and the Bible model of discipleship is more like apprenticeship than simply learning. This book is designed to help you not simply learn about what Jesus knew, but become more like Jesus by doing what he did.
At the heart of this resource is a self-assessment process, called the ‘Disciple-Making Tool’, which helps you discern your ‘shape’ as a disciple: whether your strengths lie particularly in your hands, in contributing, creating and leading; in your heart, in loving, appreciating and belonging; or in your head, in knowing, thinking and understanding.
Though many disciples can be overdeveloped in one area and underdeveloped in another, Jesus invites us to grow in all three areas in developing towards Christian maturity. These daily readings – which include Bible passages, reflections, exercises and prayer – will help you journey step by step in your spiritual formation for the sake of reaching the world.
What would it look like to genuinely love God with our head AND our heart? To have a faith marked by right thinking AND right feeling? To know God deeply AND worship him passionately? Too often, Christians act as though these things are at odds with one another. But what if God intends for us to possess a Christianity that is radically committed to biblical truth, in a way that did not diminish the life of the heart, but actually intensified it?
Adam Ramsey invites us to engage both our minds and our emotions in our walk with God as we gaze at him until our hearts sing. He sums it up like this:
“My hope in these following pages is to paint a biblical portrait of what God is actually like, so that we can gaze upon him together until our hearts can’t help but sing. To behold him in such a way that our daily experience is transformed with a deepened awareness of who it is we pray to, who it is that is with us, and who it is that we are loved by. To let God’s truth set our hearts on fire.â€
If you yearn for God but desire a clearer biblical picture of this God whom you love, or if you have been walking with God for a while now, but your experience of him has become settled or dry, then this book is for you.
Questions for reflection and application that can be used individually or in group study are found at the end of each chapter.Â
Contents
Foreword by Ray Ortlund
Introduction
1. God Is Other: The Experience of Wonder
2. God Is Sovereign: The Experience of Assurance
3. God Is Unrivalled: The Experience of Embracing Weakness
4. God Is Never Far Away: The Experience of Courage
5. God Is All-Holy and All-Knowing: The Experience of Honesty
6. God Is Good: The Experience of Trust Through Suffering
7. God Is Love: The Experience of Relational Beauty
8. God Is Never Late: The Experience of Patience
9. God Is Merciful: The Experience of Gentleness
10. God Is Just: The Experience of Prophetic Advocacy
The church used to be recognised as a force for good, but this is changing rapidly. Christians are now often seen as the bad guys, losing both respect and influence.
In our post-Christian culture, how do we offer the gospel to those around us who view it as not only wrong but possibly dangerous?
And how do we ensure that the secular worldview does not entice us away with its constant barrage, online and elsewhere, of messages about self-determinism?
Author Stephen McAlpine offers an analysis of how our culture ended up this way and explains key points of tension between biblical Christianity and secular culture. He encourages Christians not to be ashamed of the gospel as it is more liberating, fulfilling and joyful than anything the world has to offer. He also offers strategies for coping in this world, with its opposing values, and for reaching out to others wisely with the truth.
Stephen McAlpine is an author, blogger and pastor. He also works with City Bible Forum, a network which trains and mentors Christian city workers across Australia, and he is part of an outreach initiative called Third Space.
Encounter Through reflections on encounters between Jesus and those he met, as described in the gospels, and significant encounters with people and places in her personal journey with God, Bishop Rachel Treweek encourages us to make new connections in our own story and to contemplate the God of encounter.
Each chapter of this carefully-crafted book ends with a prayer and a space for you to journal your own reflections.
Price – £11.99
Review of ‘The Warrior’ by Francine Rivers (reviewer Veronica Prout)
Sep 17, 10:09
News Items, ReviewsComments Off on Review of ‘The Warrior’ by Francine Rivers (reviewer Veronica Prout)
A few weeks ago a friend offered me a book called ‘The Warrior’ by Francine Rivers, my friend said ‘it’s good’. That was an understatement. It was so exciting, so full of colour, courage, struggles.
It is so difficult to write what I could speak so much more easily. The story is of Caleb, a man with a deep longing, a man with little hope, but a man with great determination. As the story of Caleb unfolds I found myself almost a part of the story. And to my absolute joy, it’s a book that will stir your heart, a book that causes us to consider our own lives. I do hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have.
Veronica Prout
‘The Warrior’ is book 2 of Francine Rivers ‘Sons of Encouragement’ series.
Books Plus Gloucester welcomes customer reviews of Christian books (fiction and non-fiction), music and films, for publication on its website. If you wish to submit a review please email it to gloucester@books-plus.org.uk.
