Showing results by narrator "William Sarris" in All Categories

We all worry. Although many of our worries are never realized, we continue to live with daily anxiety, constantly fearing the present and the future - things that are or things that never will be. In How Can I Stop Worrying?, Gerald M. Bilkes examines God's gracious path for trading anxiety for a deep peace through Jesus Christ that can fortify and guard us, regardless of our circumstances, in a way that brings glory to God. 

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.

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.

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. 

Jared Dees, creator of the popular website The Religion Teacher, shows how applying the steps of lectio divina to teaching can reorient religious education toward encountering the person of Christ rather than merely sharing information about him. In Christ in the Classroom, Catholic author and speaker Jared Dees applies the five steps of lectio divina - reading/learning, meditation, prayer, contemplation, and action - to the ministry of catechesis. 

There are plenty of reasons to criticize, judge, and even walk away from the church. Many of us have been hurt and rejected. We may see church as insular and irrelevant. Despite this, Kevin Makins believes that the church still matters - perhaps more than ever. If you've been burned or burned out by the church, if you've been silenced or misunderstood, if you've left or never even joined in the first place, this candid, hopeful audiobook is your invitation to consider what you miss out on when you give up on church - and what the church misses out on when it gives up on you. 

Christians today are often not prepared to suffer well and have a short-sighted view of pain and trials. Ken Boa shows how God uses suffering to shape his children for eternity and to grow them in Christlike character. The book of 1 Peter tells us suffering is both a guarantee and comparatively brief; we shouldn't be surprised when it comes to us. The nature of our affliction is not as important as our response to it. God is at work through our hardships and wants to use them to prepare us for eternal life. Suffering can make us bitter or better. Rediscover living hope, present joy, and a glorious future.

When Amy Nappa was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV-B uterine cancer, her life and that of her husband's, Mike, changed forever. But they weren't the only ones whose lives were touched by Amy's courageous journey into the waiting arms of her loving Savior. What started out as a private Facebook group intended to keep family and close friends apprised of Amy's medical condition grew to include hundreds, with thousands more reading publicly about Amy daily on social media.

Changing the world does not always require grand gestures or an audience of millions. The little things we do often have the most significant impact on those we encounter. Each small choice we make can spread joy or pain, light or darkness, to others. Examining our influence on the lives we encounter through a lens of love and compassion, Imprints explores the long-lasting impact our words and actions have on our world, reminding us that the legacy we leave behind is built on who we are and how we live our lives day to day. 

Are you a shadow Christian? Shadow Christians are people who work in the margins, in the shadows created by the spotlight shining on others. We often think they - we - are insignificant. But here’s the good news: God chooses and uses shadow Christians.   

In our culture of personalization, where everything is customizable, Jesus is often reworked into what each individual wants Him to be. Jesus is aligned to a person's agendas and dreams, making it easier for him or her to agree with Him. Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?: 12 False Christs aims to address the many incorrect versions of Jesus present in today's culture. Whether Jesus is seen as a patriot, a social justice warrior, a therapist, or a giver of bling, these many false christs diminish the real Christ.

Many of the central concerns of the twenty-first century—racial inequity, white supremacy movements, greater inclusiveness of diverse peoples—are rooted in facing and overcoming prejudices, both common and hidden. Another great challenge—the role of wealth and innovation in solving the climate crisis—is also riddled with disabling prejudices about how corporations work, and about the rights and needs of consumers and world citizens. In his twenty-first book, Bruce Piasecki argues that a set of five recurring prejudices, from 1900 to 2020, have held up real progress on climate action.

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. 

This audiobook teaches listeners why infant baptism is an essential practice for the Church. Ultimately, Reformed churches baptize infants because this practice heralds God’s glorious covenant promises. This visible proclamation of God’s word is a God-given means to cultivate biblical godliness in the Church, in parenting, and in the lives of our children. Ryan M. McGraw takes us beyond the question of whether infant baptism is right and shows us what difference it actually makes.

Prayer meetings are a vital aspect to the life and ministry of the church. But experience shows that taking prayer requests and conducting Bible study often crowd out time for actual prayer. In this book, Ryan McGraw highlights common pitfalls experienced in prayer meetings and offers practical remedies. By giving careful attention to the relationship between participants and the best manner of using our time, our prayer meetings can be better suited to glorify God, advance the gospel, and edify the saints.

The way most people think about religion and politics is only loosely linked to empirical reality, argues Ryan P. Burge in 20 Myths about Religion and Politics in America. Instead, our thinking is based on anecdotes, a quick scan of news headlines, or worse, flat-out lies told by voices trying to push a religious or political agenda on a distracted public.

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. 

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. 

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.