“Why does the church stir up such negative feelings?” Philip Yancey has been asking this all his life as a journalist. His perennial question is more relevant now than ever: research shows that favorable opinions of Christianity have plummeted drastically—and opinions of Evangelicals have taken even deeper dives. Yet while opinions about Christianity are dropping, interest in spirituality is rising. Why the disconnect? Why are so many asking, “What’s so good about the Good News?” In Vanishing Grace, Yancey shows the desperate need our world has for grace, and how Christians can truly make the gospel good news again. In this video-based small group Bible study, participants will explore what kind of news is good to a culture that thinks it has rejected the Christian version. Wading deep into the transformative power of grace, they will hear illuminating stories of how faith can be expressed in ways that disarm even the most cynical. Sessions include: We've Got Problems What Can We Do About It? Who Are the Grace Dispensers? Is It Really Good News? Holy Subversives Designed for use with the Vanishing Grace Video Study 9780310825500 (sold separately).

The future of Christianity depends on how we master the art of understanding and giving grace. At the end of the twentieth century, Philip Yancey wrote his classic bestseller What's So Amazing About Grace? as a testament to the power of God's grace and as a rallying cry to the Christian church to see the acting out of grace as its single most important contribution to the world. Now, in this 6-session, video-based participant's guide (DVD/video streaming sold separately), Yancey reexamines—with fresh material and new stories—the scandalous power of grace so that groups and individuals can reflect upon, share, and extend this amazing gift of Christ in new and transformative ways. In this study, you'll discover: The extent of God's love and what it means for us. Why the church seems to have lost the gift of grace-giving and why the world apart from the church can't offer it at all. What it would look like for us to truly understand, receive, and give the gift that God gives so generously to us. Yancey offers compelling and true portraits of grace's life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks how Christians today can contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear. And he challenges each of us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, "what's so amazing about grace?"

'Why does the church stir up such negative feelings?' This is a question that Philip Yancey has been asking all his life - for himself, as a pilgrim; for others, as a journalist. The question is more relevant now than ever: in the UK Christianity continues to decline, even as it is increasingly thought to be linked with intolerant, fundamentalist attitudes. Yet while identification with traditional forms of Christian religion is dropping, indicators show that interest in spirituality is rising. Why the disconnect? Why are so many asking, 'What's so good about the "good news?"' Yancey's lifelong writing career has always focused on the search for honest faith that makes a visible difference for a world in pain. In his landmark book What's So Amazing about Grace? he issued a benchmark call for Christians to be as grace-filled in their behaviour as they are in asserting their beliefs. People inside and outside the church are still thirsty for grace, Yancey points out. Perhaps what the church seemed to lack in its heyday is now, in its increasingly marginalised stance, exactly what it needs to recover in order to thrive. Grace can bridge the gap across the movement away from Christianity, inviting outsiders as well as insiders the chance to take a deep second look at why it matters and what could reignite its appeal to future generations. How can Christians offer grace in a way that is compelling to a jaded society? And how can they make a difference in a world of such wrenching need? Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News is a milestone book for all those who are striving to make sense of their faith and live it out amid the changing landscape of our day. Philip explores how Christians may have contributed to hostility toward them by presenting the gospel in ways that come across as strident and judgemental. Then he explores what kind of news is good to a culture that thinks it has rejected the Christian version. And finally, he offers illuminating stories of how faith can be expressed in ways that disarm even the most cynical critics - through pilgrims, activists, and artists rather than through preachers, evangelists, and apologists.

Yancey's lifelong writing career has always focused on the search for honest faith that makes a visible difference for a world in pain. In his landmark book What's So Amazing about Grace? he issued a benchmark call for Christians to be as grace-filled in their behaviour as they are in asserting their beliefs. This collection sets out Yancey's search for a life enhanced by faith instead of diminished by religion. Having struggled to forge personal convictions about God amid the ironies of life and the incongruities of religion, he looks closer at those whose lives radiate spiritual authenticity rather than pious posturing. From Dostoevsky to Martin Luther King, G. K. Chesterton to Paul Brand, Yancey pays homage to some of the most remarkable, selfless, Christ-like lives our world has known, and asks what both he and we can do to find such beautiful faith in our own lives. Multi-award winning spirituality writer Philip Yancey is loved throughout the world for his honest, insightful and inspirational writing.

Are you losing your ability to recognize sin? Are you becoming a person who finds it easy to shift blame, deny guilt, or excuse moral failure in yourself or others? In this challenging yet compelling book, John MacArthur encourages you to confront the culture's flight from moral responsibility. With sound biblical truth, this book shows how and why sin must be dealt with if you are to live in a way that pleases God. With clairty and insight, John MacArthur provides you with solutions for attaining a personal holiness that can take you from living a life of blame and denial to one of peace and freedom. Praise for The Vanishing Conscience: ". . . a wake-up call and an alarm to jolt the sleeping church. Not all will like it, but all should read it. In this day of morality by majority, self-centered ministry, and twilight-zone theology, a clear word like this is long overdue." ?Dr. Adrian Rogers, Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church ". . . a clear and prophetic word that we must hear and heed." ?Dr. Joseph M. Stowell, President, Moody Bible Institute "With the clarion call of a prophet, MacArthur points us back to something we have forgotten: the value and importance of a clean conscience." ?Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship

Our history, mythologies, and even popular entertainment are filled with stories upholding the concept of sacred vows and covenants-between warriors, rulers and subjects, friends, and allies. Take, for example, King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table or the Three Musketeers. However, the concept of "blood brothers" and sworn oaths is not a product of Western Civilization as we might suspect; the history of covenants goes back to the days before Christ. So where did it originate? And how did it develop? Here Dr. Meyer van Rensburg seeks to answer these questions while also addressing the significance of covenant in the Christian's life today. Covenant: God's Love-deal with us provides a vast survey of the meaning behind such vows and the far-reaching history of these bonds. Largely setting his foundation in Scriptural references to what makes a covenant and the many examples of Biblical covenants, Dr. van Rensburg emphasizes the ritual of the nine required steps to a covenant and their meanings then and now (consider the elements of a typical wedding ceremony) to see how adherence to these covenant steps continues today. Furthermore, the many covenants God made with man throughout early history (with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Moses, and especially Jesus) continue to touch Christians' lives: these are dealt with in detail by the author. However, he also goes beyond these Scriptural models and the covenants between God and man to explore the history of covenants between men throughout the world, and particularly the existence of covenants in Africa and their role in the history of the continent, past and present. Through this wealth of examples and attention to ritual, Dr. van Rensburg reveals a path to agape love and peace if only one adopts the principles of the covenant. Dr. Meyer's books can be seen on Amazon and his oil paintings on UK craft fairs.

Go and do. Jesus commands it, and the world needs it. Mission mobilizer Paul Borthwick shows how proclamation and demonstration of the gospel go hand in hand, bringing together the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and the Great Compassion of Matthew 25, while offering practical, holistic ways for us to live them out in every sphere of our lives.

This is a new, literal translation of Revelation 16, which describes the very end of the apocalypse. The translation features word studies from the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek New Testament, and the Septuagint. A brief commentary is also given, from the standpoint of pre-tribulation futurism. This is the new, edited version.

This in-depth survey provides a vivid overview of the religious world of the Baby Boomers. The authors examine their religious faith and explores the reasons they give for leaving or staying in the church. Their findings provide some unexpected results.