Recommendations based on "Life-study of John"

The Timeless Novel About a Bus Ride from Hell to HeavenIn The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer finds himself in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven. The amazing opportunity is that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven, can. This is a starting point for an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment. Lewis’s revolutionary idea is the discovery that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. Using his extraordinary descriptive powers, Lewis’s The Great Divorce will change the way we think about good and evil.

The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission."The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God."Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

Adults love this personal, humorous collection of stories of a small town and its colorful residents. This book brings God's word into the reality we know and reveals touching insights about God's grace and our own personal faith.

The most comprehensive study available of one of the most influential of German Protestant theologians.

With firmness and compassion, the authors reveal a God big enough to understand our suffering, wise enough to allow it, and powerful enough to use it for a greater good than we can ever imagine. This is the Participant's Guide for the 'When God Weeps' GroupWare.

Bestselling and award-winning author Lee Strobel interviews experts about the evidence for the afterlife and offers credible answers to the most provocative questions about what happens when we die, near-death experiences, heaven, and hell. We all want to know what awaits us on the other side of death, but is there any reliable evidence that there is life after death Investigative author Lee Strobel offers a lively and compelling study into one of the most provocative topics of our day. Through fascinating conversations with respected scholars and experts--a neuroscientist from Cambridge University, a researcher who analyzed a thousand accounts of near-death experiences, and an atheist-turned-Christian-philosopher--Strobel offers compelling reasons for why death is not the end of our existence but a transition to an exciting world to come. Looking at biblical accounts, Strobel unfolds what awaits us after we take our last breath and answers questions like: Is there an afterlife What is heaven like How will we spend our time there And what does it mean to see God face to face With a balanced approach, Strobel examines the alternative of Hell and the logic of damnation, and gives a careful look at reincarnation, universalism, the exclusivity claims of Christ, and other issues related to the topic of life after death. With vulnerability, Strobel shares the experience of how he nearly died years ago and how the reality of death can shape our lives and faith. Follow Strobel on this journey of discovery of the entirely credible, believable, and exhilarating life to come.

A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story.The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike.Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story:LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story.EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting.LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students. —1 & 2 Samuel—The book of Samuel develops theological concepts that are important not only for reading in the context of the Old Testament but also for reading from a New Testament context and a twenty-first century context. The most prominent theological themes are the fulfillment of the prophetic word, trust in God, the seriousness of sin, the importance of true repentance, the Davidic covenant, and the Messiah.Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.

Equip yourself to present and defend the claims of the Christian faith and the truths of the Bible. For more than forty years, Evidence That Demands a Verdict has convinced skeptics of the Bible's reliability, helped believers articulate their faith, and given them the vital facts they need to defend God's Word and lead others to faith in Jesus. In this video Bible study (DVD/video streaming sold separately), based on the completely updated and expanded apologetics classic, Josh McDowell and his son, Sean, focus on Jesus and the Gospels. Learn how the books of the New Testament came into being and why you can be sure they are historically reliable. Examine why the claims Jesus made about himself are true, how he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about himself, and how we can know the resurrection took place. This study is for anyone who has ever been stumped by arguments against Christianity or the Bible—or has wondered for themselves if the Bible's depiction of Jesus is true and not just a made-up fairytale. The Evidence That Demands a Verdict Study Guide includes: Video notes. Discussion questions for groups and individuals. Between-session exercises for personal application. Sessions include: Why Is Evidence Important for Faith? Is There Such a Thing as Truth? Is the New Testament Reliable? Did Jesus Actually Rise from the Dead? Did Jesus Claim to Be God? How Do We Know the Bible is Accurate? Designed for use with Evidence That Demands a Verdict Video Study (9780310096740), sold separately.

There's proof a man named Jesus of Nazareth once walked the earth, but opinions on who he was vary widely. Was he really the Son of God, or was he a nice guy who did some positive things on earth, or was he possibly an unstable man? And how can you know for sure what is true and what is false when it comes to what you’ve read or been told? Lee Strobel decided to investigate the real, historical Jesus and gather irrefutable evidence on everything connected to him so you can discover the biblical truth for yourself.A great prophet. A rebel. The Messiah. A crazy lunatic. Someone who never existed at all. All of these phrases describe different people's views of Jesus, and various ancient documents have been discovered and various books have been written by scholars that seem to support each version. Not to mention all the arguments that say the Bible can't be trusted as a reliable source of information on Jesus. So what are you supposed to believe—and why?Lee Strobel wanted the provable, undeniable truth, so he decided to return to the investigation he began in The Case for Christ and explore a variety of new angles to find out once and for all who the real Jesus was. Inside are interviews with numerous biblical scholars and once-zealous doubters about the most common arguments against Jesus, discussions of how reliable Scripture really is, examinations of unearthed ancient texts that appear to counter the gospels, and the evidence that shows who Jesus really was and continues to be in our world. Explore the case for yourself and decide: Is the real Jesus the one the Bible has proclaimed all along?The Case for the Real Jesus Student Edition:Presents the arguments for and against who Jesus is that teens and young adults often ask and encounter so they can see the real factsUses logic and solid information to examine why Christians believe what they doPresents Christian philosophy and core theology in an apologetic for teensCan also be used in the classroom, small groups, bible studies, or as a family devotionalContains infographics and charts to make the concepts clearCheck out these other books from Lee Strobel for young adults:The Case for Christ Student EditionThe Case for a Creator Student EditionThe Case for Faith Student EditionThe Case for Miracles Student EditionThe Case for Grace Student Edition

'The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this.' This is the key statement of 'Miracles', in which C. S. Lewis shows that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the unique personal involvement of God in his creation. Using his characteristic lucidity and wit to develop his argument, Lewis challenges the rationalists, agnostics and deists on their own grounds and provides a poetic and joyous affirmation that miracles really do occur in our everyday lives.