Many Christians evaluate their lives and ask the same questions: Am I doing enough? Have I shown enough discipline, enough dedication, or enough effort? Would praying and reading my Bible more help meovercome . . . remove . . . have . . .? You may feel that you put so much effort into improving your Christian life with no apparent fruit. Sins you thought would have been easier to overcome are still plaguing your daily life.You are not alone, and you are not crazy! Many Christians today live on this sort of performance-based treadmill, running fast and getting nowhere. Trying harder and doing more haven't produced assurance or victory over sin. You're exhausted. You feel empty and fake inside. You feel guilty for merely wanting to just coast, to give in, to stop trying. The foundation of Christianity is faith. And the foundation of the Christian faith, we will argue in this primer, is rest. In this book, Jon Moffitt, Jimmy Buehler, and Justin Perdue explain how weary pilgrims can find rest in Jesus Christ. To learn more about Theocast, please visit Theocast.org

In times of waiting, grieving, or uncertainty, we sometimes wonder if God will fulfill His promises. In Great Is Thy Faithfulness, trusted pastor Rob Morgan reminds us through 52 scriptures and devotions that our loving God always follows through on what He says He will do. No matter your circumstances or feelings, one thing never changes: God is with you. Pastor Rob Morgan discovered this through the years he cared for his wife with multiple sclerosis. Now in Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Rob draws on that hard-won faith to show us that God is present even in times of transition, loss, or doubt. As you sink into the amazing attributes of God week after week, you will: Grow in your confidence of who God is Desire to know God more fully Transform your prayer life in light of God's character Great Is Thy Faithfulness includes thoughtful additional features, such as: A ribbon marker to help you find your place Modern-day and historical stories of God's faithfulness Scripture to enrich your devotional time With undated entries covering a year of weekly devotions, this beautiful book makes a timely gift for: A friend going through a difficult time or starting a new season of life New believers eager to strengthen their faith Anyone looking for inspiration to start regular devotional readings Find rest for your soul as you are assured of God's love and faithfulness. As the psalmist tells us in Psalm 145:13, "The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does."

Don’t miss The Long Goodbye: The Kara Tippetts Story on Netflix now, featuring Ann Voskamp, Ellie Holcomb, and Joanna Gaines! Kara Tippetts knows the ordinary days of mothering four kids, the joy of watching her children grow ... and the devestating reality of stage-four cancer. In The Hardest Peace, Kara doesn't offer answers for when living is hard, but she asks us to join her in moving away from fear and control and toward peace and grace. Most of all, she draws us back to the God who is with us, in the mundane and the suffering, and who shapes even our pain into beauty. Winner of the 2015 Christian Book Award® in the Inspiration category.

Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that description, says author Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God's ''No'' to same-sex relationships. What does it mean for gay Christians to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God's will for believers who experience same-sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are often left to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relationships. How can gay Christians experience God's favor and blessing in the midst of a struggle that for many brings a crippling sense of shame and guilt? Weaving together reflections from his own life and the lives of other Christians, such as Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hill offers a fresh perspective on these questions. He advocates neither unqualified ''healing'' for those who struggle, nor their accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. ''I hope this book may encourage other homosexual Christians to take the risky step of opening up their lives to others in the body of Christ,'' Hill writes. ''In so doing, they may find, as I have, by grace, that being known is spiritually healthier than remaining behind closed doors, that the light is better than the darkness.

This moving story of young love, heartache, friendship, and war is entwined with 33 insightful Bible studies on walking with Christ through the battles of life.

Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews Offers Fresh Answers to Several unresolved questions by employing that branch of social psychology known as social identity theory. Who were the addressees? With the categories of social identity theory, this study argues that the addressees arranged the world into two groups: "us" and "them." They understood their group, the "us," to be the "faithful." They understood "them" (a symbolic outgroup of "all others") to be the "unfairhful." Faithfulness, then, is the primary identity descriptor for the addressees and plays an essential role thoughout the text. How did the addressees understand the faithfulness of Jesus? The author of Hebrews describes the faithfulness of Jesus as "prototypical." The faithfulness of all others is described in relation to Jesus' faith, and together they are integrated into an ongoing narrative of faithfulness. What is the meaning of the promised "rest"? Utilizing a model of present temporal orientation, the study interprets the dynamic relationship between the "antecedent" faithfulness of many witnesses and the "forthcoming" promised rest of the addressees. The addressees of Hebrews were encouraged to "understand their futures by looking to the past." What is the purpose of the text? Social identity theorists explain that groups with a negative social identity have two broad options: social mobility or social change. The study concludes that the author of Hebrews provides internal constraints that are meant to prevent social mobility. The author utilizes social creativity (an aspect of social change) to provide a positive social identity for the addressees. "Marohl's welcome study represents an accomplished application of social identity theory to the text of Hebrews. His methodological attentiveness is mature and responsible, resulting in an articulate analysis that recognises the faithfulness of Jesus to be the theological centre that informs the socio-religious program advocated by the author of Hebrews." -Bruce Longenecker, University of St. Andrews