Books

“Six Rivers” is about the major themes that flow through all of the Scriptures, unifying them under common banners and tying them together with shared bridges. These messages are not only found in every book, but bubble up in almost every story. They powerfully show us what the Bible is all about and help to give us the perspective of the whole as we read the various portions. “Six Rivers” gives us the framework to bring us to deeper understanding of what God is doing in the world and in our lives.

In one sense everything has changed since you were a kid, and in another sense everything is still the same. Since most parents really only get to see the reality show of adolescence in their own home, they can too easily think they’ve been bad parents or somehow blown it with their kids. Parents need to realize the trauma is just the normal course of adolescence, and that it’s often just a rough time of transition for kids and a harsh time of adjustment for parents. In this book, you’ll get the sense that kids are just kids, and parents need to hold their course through the metamorphosis that we now call Middle School.

"More Than Blind Faith" is a survey of key apologetics issues and persuasive answers, showing the adequacies of Christianity as a reasonable belief for thinking people. The book addresses the misinformation that is aimed at Christianity and brings clarity instead of distortion.

"Growing A Youth Ministry" takes a biblical look at the nature and form of youth ministry, sharing the heart of God, creating a God-honoring environment, contributing to the transforming of personalities into the image of Jesus Christ by building relationships of influence.

Americans, and especially the younger generations, are turning away from Christianity in record numbers. If the attrition rate continues at its current rate, the Church will notice crippling declines in the all-too-near future. The fires of discontent of those falling away from the Christian faith are sometimes angry, hostile and vindictive, but at other times merely apathetic and confused. But all of them are disenchanted. The Fires of Discontent examines ten paradigms that illustrate the state of our culture, reveals the heat of unbelief in America, and suggests ways the Church can bring the Water of Life to bear on the burning unrest in our country.

The second section examines the self-contradictory philosophy of our day, Postmodernism. In addition to looking at the characteristics of the era, we examine how we got to this point, and where we can go from here.

What is the evidence for the resurrection? Christians take stock in the authority of the Bible, while atheists show nothing but scorn for the Bible. What other evidence do we have? We cannot turn the clock back 2000 years and turn a video camera on. We would have been pleased if Jesus had held a press conference with numerous press agencies, and courtroom artists had recorded the event. Instead we must investigate the records that do exist and infer the most reasonable conclusion. The Resurrection Really Happened presents an abundance of easy-to-understand evidence to substantiate the resurrection beyond a reasonable doubt.

This book is a teaching guide and commentary of 2 Timothy. It is designed to be used with your home study group or Sunday School class, and it can be used for individual study as well. 2 Timothy is about spiritual power and the explosive, life-transforming power of the Word of God. God’s Word is not chained. It can neither be captured, bound, or tamed. This study is about how we can partner with God to loose the power of His presence and of His Word in our lives and in our world. It’s not a list of steps to take, but a study to show that if you allow God to fill you to the full, you will also be releasing His power to work its deepest and fullest.

Paul wants us to learn to live by the Spirit rather than by any list of rules. Living by the Spirit is dynamic and vibrant, and it allows God free reign to guide us and shape us as He wishes. Life by the Spirit frees us from any constraints or expectations that actually limit us; it is where God puts the Law in our minds and writes it on our hearts (Jeremiah 31.33). God wants to set us free to live in the fullness of His Spirit, in the power of His grace, and by the fruit of His Spirit ripening in us.

To truly and fully understand Genesis, we must look at more than the details contained in the origins story, the flood, Babel and the biographies. We must look to the unifying themes and purposes of the author to trace his plan for writing. This home and personal study guide walks the reader through twelve unifying themes that show us what Genesis is really all about, and how we can understand God’s plan for his people and the world.

When God calls a person to salvation, He calls them to new life in Christ. Besides leaving our lives of sin, one of the most important aspects of being a new creation is that of transforming our minds—learning to think differently, as a child of God. After becoming born of the Spirit, we must learn to “set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3.2). It involves a total retraining of our ways of thinking so that we leave the things of this world behind and live in the fullness of what God has for us. God has something very different in store for us than merely living as redeemed people as aliens on the earth. Instead, if we can genuinely put our minds into God’s view rather than the natural way we think, the life and power of God will open to us in spectacular ways. This book is to open your mind and soul to the completely different life and way of thinking that God desires for us, so that we can live above life.

It’s a common accusation that “the Bible is full of contradictions.” These statements are generally by people who have read some information in the Bible that goes against other information, and so they draw the conclusion of contradiction, often without looking or studying any further. This book helps to define what a contradiction is and what it isn’t, addresses the subject of the Bible’s authority and reliability, and then examines lists of alleged contradictions. The book draws the conclusion that the Bible, when studied more thoroughly than just a simple reading, harbors no contradictions.

Habakkuk asks the questions we have all asked at one time or another: Where is God when I need Him? Why don’t there seem to be answers to my prayers? Why is God so hard to find? Why is life so unfair? In three short chapters, Habakkuk explores the deep emotions involved in the search for God, and he sorts through the answers God gives. This home and personal study guide walks the reader through four sessions where we get to wrestle with the same pressing questions of life.