Showing results by publisher "Zondervan" in Religion & Spirituality

Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there's a "next-best-thing", if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom - the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be "ordinary".

Your Life is God's Story gives listeners a new set of lenses to view experiences and events in life with hope. The hope is seeing how God gets ordinary people to their intended destinies. Listeners will gain a renewed passion for persevering through life's challenges to trust God's process.

The Apostle Paul was a veteran church planter who "laid a foundation like a wise and master builder", and there is much we can learn from his example. Paul indicated that there were basic skills and experiences required to successfully plant a church. In Church Plantology: Audio Lectures, veteran church planter Peyton Jones examines the wide variety of church-planting methods and ideologies in contemporary pastoral practice and outlines a biblical model based on the New Testament.

An articulate presentation of the distinctive Christian understanding of God in the context of resurgent Islam, aimed at helping Christian believers speak and live the truth in love and learn how to interact with Muslim ideas in an increasingly pluralistic culture.

Jim Cymbala—New York Times best-selling author and long-time pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle—has been watching the pressing need for back-to-the-basics spiritual leadership among Christians, and he's seen so many churches come to defeat because so many leaders forget this one truth: Your church is not your church. It's Christ's church. In order for his church to flourish, we have to minister his way.

Start your day with hope and practical wisdom gleaned from the Psalms and Proverbs Audio Bible, NIV Edition. Each of the 31 tracks, narrated by George W. Sarris, includes selected Psalms and one chapter from the book of Proverbs. arris

Known from the television show Little People, Big World, their Behind the Scenes podcast, and their first book, A Love Letter Life, Jeremy and Audrey Roloff have shared over the years how their dating relationship grew into a strong marriage. Now they offer a sweet but practical book for anyone who wants to help a relationship thrive. Whether you are beginning a new dating relationship, are recently engaged, or have been married for decades, Creative Love provides fresh ideas on how to make a loving relationship sustainable.

In Contagious Faith, best-selling author and teacher Mark Mittelberg introduces five approaches to evangelism and helps you determine which of them fit best with your unique personality and style. He also explains in a down-to-earth fashion several key skills that will help you talk about Jesus effectively, illustrating his message with real-life accounts of ordinary believers who applied these principles for extraordinary impact.

"God has a plan for our lives", but what does that mean in practical terms? How do we know God's will for important life decisions, like who to marry, what job to take, what church to join? How can we be free if God has a perfect plan for us? Does suffering mean we are off track? How exactly does God speak? Author Jerry Sittser explores these questions and offers a biblically based approach that is truly liberating.

Organic Outreach: Audio Lectures will help you shape a personal approach to passing on the good news of Jesus in natural ways. This is not a system or a program. It's a collection of biblical practices that you can incorporate into your life starting today. You can begin right where God has placed you. You can share the love and message of Jesus in a way that fits exactly how God has wired you.

What does it mean that almost two billion humans are connected by the Internet ... with hundreds of millions more coming online each year? Acknowledging that technology is everywhere, an inescapable aspect of our lives, author and blogger Tim Challies provides guidance and direction for readers who struggle with the changes brought about by the digital revolution. He helps readers understand why digital technology exists and how a Christian can use new technologies with biblical discernment.

Wesley Hill writes for gay Christians and those who love them. Part-memoir, part theological reflection, Hill shares the struggles that gay Christians face as they seek to live faithful to God's "no" to homosexuality.

Ruth Graham - daughter of beloved evangelist Billy Graham - offers a guide for those who are hurting or those who love them. She illustrates through personal stories and Scripture how nothing can keep you from experiencing the fullness of God's grace. Run with Ruth to the arms of the God you can trust, the Father God who embraces, sustains, and redeems your brokenness.

Christians have long differed with one another on both the meaning and the practice of water baptism. Using the classic Counterpoints forum of presentation-critique-response, this insightful book explores four prominent views of baptism held by different branches of Protestantism: Baptist, Christian Church/Church of Christ, Lutheran, and Reformed.

Parent and author Jodie Berndt understands what it's like to release children into the world and still care deeply about them and everything they will face in life. In Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children, Jodie continues her Praying the Scriptures series with biblical prayers for your adult children, whether they are just leaving the nest, flying well on their own, or struggling to take off at all.

The number of Christians leaving the church today is significant. Many feel there is no place for them within the faith—they no longer feel at home in their church community or tradition. For various reasons, they are unsettled by the version of Christianity they've inherited. Stripping away the nonessential aspects of Christianity, Sean McDowell and John Marriott will help you navigate the jarring questions and cultural challenges that lead many to walk away from the faith.

Sometimes God reveals himself in ways that go unnoticed, such as everyday experiences, creation's beauty, Scriptures, life's joys, art, music, or even through tears. Windows of the Soul is a moving account of how author Ken Gire has met God in the most unusual, unexpected places. Gire describes his ability to perceive God's whisper, the only voice that fulfills a soul's longing for heaven, through the clamor of everyday life.

Preaching needs to become purposeful, says Jay Adams, because purposeless preaching is deadly. This book was written to help preachers and students discover the purpose of preaching has and the ways that the Scriptures inform and direct the preaching task. Preaching with Purpose, like the many other books of Jay Adams, speaks clearly and forcefully to the issue. After listening to this book, both students and experienced preachers will be unable to ignore the urgent task of purposeful preaching. And the people of God will be the better for it.

Like everyone else, preachers long to be understood. Unfortunately, the rules first learned in seminary, if misapplied, can quickly turn homiletic precision into listener boredom. To capture heart and mind, Mark Galli and Craig Larsen suggest preachers turn to the lessons of journalism. In Preaching That Connects, they show how the same keys used to create effective, captivating communication in the media can transform a sermon.

Many pastors feel ill-equipped to handle the challenges that arise when a couple is going through marital difficulties. If you are or have been in this situation before, this book shows church leaders how to counsel married couples from both a logical and biblical perspective. Author and pastor Jonathan Holmes offers you a practical guide to get started with the first sessions and then offers specific guidance on nine of the most common topics that come up in marriage counseling.