Böcker utgivna av Resource Publications (CA)

Christians believe the Jews'' Old Testament narrative is God''s means of introducing himself to humanity. However, a lengthy gap occurs in the Jews'' biblical story, from the end of their Babylonian captivity in Ezra and Nehemiah''s day until they resurface in the New Testament. This book offers an account of the Jews'' history during this period--the silent years--giving attention to Hellenism''s impact.The silent years end with Herod''s death, but leaving the story there would disregard the fact that Israel was then at the height of its splendor since David and Solomon''s time. For completeness, the study continues into the first century CE, exploring how Israel fared under the Romans who governed Judea until the nation''s collapse in the First Roman War.Stouffer finds relevance for today''s believers in the Jews'' silent years experience. The challenge for Second Temple Jews was Hellenism. Contemporary Christians contend with Postmodernism. Knowing of the Jews'' silent years history may be instructive for twenty-first-century believers.

""I tinker and toil andmake gifts all day long.They should stay here with me,where they truly belong.""As a modern day parable, the story of Little Charity teaches the importance of selfless giving. Join Little Charity and Santa as they discover together the true meaning of Christmas. Written for children, but with a timeless message for all of us, Little Charity reaffirms the spirit of the holidays and the joy of giving.

Have you ever felt like there was something more meant for your life? There is. Let''s journey to the heart of Scripture to discover how to live in the chance-taking, destiny-fulfilling, peace-filled, mess-making, love-driven way for which we were designed. These ten life-changing truths take normal living and flip it upside down. Unearth new truths about your specific calling and answers for your stuck places with prayerful encounters designed to ask God those hard questions- and hear him answer! Prepare to be renewed from the inside out, and--as a result--to become uncommon vessels for greater purposes.

Life presents us with challenges as well as opportunities. It confronts us with obstacles as we journey on, but it also offers us various pathways and routes that we can take. Comparing our life-journey to the travels we make in life, this book is an invitation to readers to face up to those challenges and to meet them through a series of reflections called ""comma-moments"": the chance to ""stop momentarily and mull things over,"" or to ""create space in time"" as they go about the business of living from day to day. Like commas in a sentence, which help us to read and interpret its meaning properly, a life punctuated with short reflective breaks enables us to draw out its meaning and significance.Drawing on his vast educational background and diverse global travels, the author shares with readers some ""thoughts for food"" while on our life-journeys. These reflections, as well as anecdotes and stories, also avail themselves of the real-life experiences of others and the wisdom of many contemporary voices and historical figures throughout the world, especially those who have been concerned with the kind of reflection that will help as we move on in life. In particular, it discusses a conceptual life-map to aid us navigate our way in life and to step up to its challenges.

Following a lifetime rooted in family, schools, culture, and psychotherapy, provoked by the query of a daughter concerning the presence of anxiety in my life, this memoir pursues the presence of anxiety in life and seeks in some context for the concerns with which the author has lived for three-quarters of a century. In the reflections from these situations and influences, he works his way back to stories of personal origin and growth. He has sauntered through persistent issues with which he has been engaged throughout his life, and he has made a few pronouncements, some of which might even ring true. Within these pages, a little wisdom may even be found. And hopefully, with some love and concern, he has responded to the challenging question, ""Do you have anxiety?""

99 Musings is for men and women who desire to know God and follow Jesus with authenticity and integrity. The first disciples were far from perfect, and yet God called them, loved them, equipped them, picked them up when they struggled, and blessed them. As was true for them so it is possible for us today. The Musings seek to inspire, encourage, sometimes challenge, and, most importantly, remind the reader of God''s faithfulness, even when circumstance don''t make sense. Written in contemporary language, each Musing is relevant and easily applied to today''s world. This is not a book of spiritual idealism and abstraction but rather a work that tries to make sense of the teachings of Jesus, the promises of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is about a kind and loving God who is a Father. He wants to walk alongside us in our lives with his presence and power. He delights in us where we are, and he is not interested in our being perfect, trying harder, keeping rules, or performing. His focus is on friendship and relationship from which all else flows--and that is the heart of these Musings.

In the church year, in prayer, in liturgy we find a comingling of time and eternity. Without leaving our experience of time, we somehow, mystically, enter into God''s eternity. And God, without leaving his eternity, has entered into our time. The poems in Liturgical Entanglements seek to engage with these strange realities. Starting with Advent, the sonnets in this collection look to both the human and the divine, everyday occurrences, and the spiritual realities that uphold all of reality. Read these poems as prayers and let them help you see the world around you in a new way.

This book makes the startling claim that the pulpit is the appropriate place to address suicide. In A Preacher''s Guide to Suicide Johnson chisels through the rusty prison bars of cultural pretense and the oppressive myths of suicide. Using history, the social and behavioral sciences, and biblical inquiry over the centuries of varied Christian voices, Johnson demonstrates that suicide is part of the very fabric of Christian identity. And to preach suicide awareness is to preach life into the very act of dying. While grappling with the contemporary understanding of neuroscience, psychopathology, societal values, and individualism, Johnson seeks to present suicide in a hopeful light as we all approach death in those daily moments of confession, forgiveness, and prayer. Johnson hopes to provoke further conversation within the Christian community about the richness of suicide within the Scriptures and seeks to be a source of inspiration for preachers.

The intention of the Jerusalem Temple was to bring Humanity together in worship of the Most High and to be a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. King Salomon, aided by his friend King Hiram of Tyre and Master Architect, Hiram Abiff (the son of a widow of Naphtali), form a Holy Triarchy to ensure that the greatest temple built is a suitable dwelling place for God. In undertaking this task, each is entrusted with a component of the name of the Most High that can only be uttered when the three unite upon the Temple''s completion. Queen Balkis of Sheba, seeking wisdom and the secrets of a Master Mason, contrives the Chief Architect''s murder, so ensuring the ineffable name of the Most High is lost to Mankind.The Widow''s Son and the Lost Word relates an enduring tale of eternal hope, resurrected from the dust of death and despair.

This thesis studies the impact of teaching intelligent design to evangelical students. Science is often presented as a reason why some find sharing their faith difficult in a secular culture: teaching the science of intelligent design enables Christians to initiate conversations and overcome obstacles with those whose worldview is more Darwinian and materialist.The professional doctoral research employs both action research and practical theology. Lin Norton''s pedagogical action research provides the structure for the qualitative research and thematic analysis, showing that students find learning about intelligent design empowering for evangelism. Richard Osmer''s model of practical theology enables an interdisciplinary reflection on how intelligent design challenges Western secular culture. Intelligent design is seen as the most integrative of all the different ways of relating science and theology. Theologically, teaching intelligent design is like teaching a modern parable to contemporary society and, just like the Gospel parables, some respond with faith and some reject it. Evangelical students find learning about it both liberating and empowering in their ability to share their faith more confidently with others, especially in schools and youth groups.

It is said that Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, a leading scholar in the history of Christianity and Sterling Prof. Everett of history at Yale University, on his deathbed confessed this:If Christ has not risen from the dead, nothing else matters.If Christ has risen from the dead, nothing else matters.I came across this quote in my research for the ""Apologetics Together"" courses that I offer on social media and was immediately awed at its profound implications. Indeed, if Jesus has not risen, we must agree with Saint Paul that the world remains in their sins and are eternally lost. However, since Jesus has risen, those who have placed their trust in him are assured of salvation and eternal life. This book looks at the prophecies and fulfillment in the Scriptures which assure us that he who died on the cross at Calvary rose again on the third day for our justification.