A Year of Love Each day of this year I am challenging myself, and anyone else who will join, to love like you’ve never been hurt. Love unconditionally. Love completely. Love forgivingly. What if when Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, He really meant it? Think about your neighbors, your co-workers, your in-laws and even your outlaws..... Do you love them as yourself? I would like to start with the two greatest commandments: Matt. 22:34, “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” In Reality, Jesus said this: Love God & Love People Let us hold these two truths in our hearts this year and Love God with all of our heart, soul, and minds and Love others as much as we love ourselves....

The Cape Town Commitment is the main document that resulted from the 3rd Lausanne Congress in 2010, and outlines the role of the church for evangelicals today. This Cape Town Commitment curriculum gives churches, individuals, and small groups the opportunity to study this document together and learn how to better love the gospel, the church, and the world in a group setting. An adaptable curriculum that can be used in a variety of settings, such as through Bible studies and Sunday school, home groups and campus fellowships; this multimedia study leads participants through 12 sessions which include prompts for meditation, discussion, and prayerall in order to develop a greater love for God, neighbors, and creation. Sessions include video clips from the 2010 Congress, vital testimonials from key Christian leaders in strategic ministries, targeted spiritual practices that correlate with the topic or issue addressed, and resource links for next-step engagement in the call to action.

There are many devotional books available containing brief, daily inspirations that benefit all who read them. This book is different in two respects. The first is obvious: it contains two readings per day—732 in all. The second, more important difference is that the author wanted to do more than offer inspiration; this would make this book no different than so many others. The messages in the book are study sketches in that the content is not only inspirational, but also educational, challenging, and encouraging. Most of these writings were based on author Michael J. Akers’s teaching of adult Bible studies for more than thirty years and learning what really brought adults to want to deepen their knowledge and application of the Word of God.

Many Christians spend a lifetime trying to figure out God's will for their lives: What career should I choose? Where should I live? Whom should I marry? God has told us his will for our lives: to be "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). Paul explains: We are to put off the old self and put on the new self "created to be like God in true righteous and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). We cannot become more Christ-like in our own strength, though. Paul says the key is a renewed mind: "to be made new in the attitudes of your minds" (Ephesians 4:23). We exchange our patterns of thinking with God's Word. We fill our mind with Scripture, and slowly, we are transformed. Learning to think like Jesus helps us to act like Jesus. This is where Bible memorization comes in. We need to get God's Word into our heads and into our hearts. When I feel resentful and unforgiving toward my friend who betrayed me and am tempted to end our relationship, I replace my thoughts and hurt feelings with Hebrews 13:1: "Keep on loving each other as brothers." When I start to worry about my upcoming surgery or my children's college fund, I remind myself, "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). God's Word is living, active, and powerful. Having these verses in my mind and heart helps me to choose new Christ-like behavior. Here are fifty-two short Bible verses: Memorize one verse a week. Meditate on it daily. By the end of the year, you will see the transformative power of God's Word in renewing your mind and changing your behavior. As you are increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus, you will have the privilege of reflecting his love to the world.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

Are you 100 percent convinced of the true heart of God who loves you unconditionally, unmerited, and undeserved? Do you have a deep revelation of what the finished work of the cross means and how you can apply that every day to live a victorious life? Do you have an intimate relationship with the most important person on earth, the Holy Spirit? Do you have a clear understanding of what kingdom life entails? What does it mean to you that you are positioned "in Christ"? What part do you believe you can play in effectively expanding this powerful kingdom we are a part off? The lack of true discipleship undermines everything that we seek to accomplish as believers in this life. Many Christians never commit to a growing relationship with the Lord and because of this become unfit to face the challenges in life. This book will inspire every believer and give practical guidelines to help discover the significance of our authority and identity in Christ. It brings dispensational understanding that allows every child of God to possess everything which Jesus paid for on the cross. After all, it makes you fall in love with God all over again.

It's likely the most difficult problem in the Christian faith. It was a major reason that Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, and countless others rejected Christianity. It was an ax that began to chip away at Charles Darwin's early faith. How could he accept that some of his closest relatives and loved ones would be spending an eternity in agonizing torment? Yet the Christian doctrine of an everlasting hell of unmitigated pain turns out to be completely unwarranted biblically. A close examination of the Bible demonstrates this, but it also rejects any form of universalism that trivializes personal obligations to God. The first edition of Flirting with Universalism looked at the biblical and philosophical evidence behind the various Christian views of the afterlife of those who reject their God: universalism, eternalism or traditionalism, and annihilationism. The second edition covers additional important arguments. It concludes by taking a position between universalism and traditionalism: God will forever honor the final choices of those who reject God, and yet, in the end, all things will be reconciled to God. The Bible affirms the goodness, justice, and love of God.

This book provides an important study of the theology of Thomas F. Torrance, who is generally considered to have been one of the most significant theologians writing in English during the twentieth century, with a view toward showing how his theological method and all his major doctrinal views were shaped by his understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Torrance pursued a theology that was realist because he attempted to think in accordance with the unique nature of the object that is known. In holding to such a methodology, he drew an analogy between theology and natural science. This book demonstrates how, for Torrance, God relates with humanity within time and space so that creation finds its meaning in relation to God and not in itself; this enabled him to avoid many theological pitfalls such as agnosticism, subjectivism and dualism while explaining the positive implications of various Christian doctrines in a penetrating and compelling manner. This book offers an important resource for students of theology and for scholars who are interested in seeing how serious dogmatic theology shapes and should shape our understanding of the Christian life.