A chance encounter with armored figures brings Itidal out of the desert. For thousands of years, perhaps longer, he has tromped across the pale sands, but now he is drawn to civilization in a world where civilization should not exist. To him, men are little more than savage beasts, occasionally gathering into small villages though little more. Now Itidal learns of a city, and he strides forward to investigate. What he finds are buildings and bankers, soldiers and slaves, peasants and priests. It is all young, only centuries old, new to mankind, but it is indeed civilization, a civilization with a jealous god. The high priest himself is curious and always questing for power, willing to make any sacrifice to learn the secrets of the ancients, but his god holds back knowledge, only giving out what is deemed necessary. These yearnings cannot go unchallenged forever, however, and soon enough another god makes his presence known, a hungry god with unfathomable appetites. Between these gods and the high priest is where Itidal finds himself. Disgusted at the rise of civilization, holding no true love for the other gods, Itidal forges a tenuous alliance with the high priest, but other gods are out there somewhere, perhaps watching and waiting, for a time of gathering is at hand.

Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.

“God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Bible tells us that we are to worship the Lord, that we were created for this purpose. But what is true worship? What does the Bible teach about the right—and the wrong—ways to worship God? In this book, pastors Brian Croft and Jason Adkins unpack a biblical theology of worship, discuss the practical matters of planning a worship service, and offer suggestions and insights on the best way to lead a worship service that honors the Lord. The Practical Shepherding series of guides provides pastors and ministry leaders with practical help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. In Gather God’s People, you will learn how to apply biblical doctrine and spirituality to the practice of Christian worship.

What is the central purpose of the church today? How can churches experience renewal through worship? In Gathered before God, Jane Rogers Vann answers these important questions by studying ten vibrant small, medium, and large churches. Her findings, she argues, show that worship is the most important thing churches do and is vital to the renewal of congregational life. Vann explores how these congregations changed into worship-centered churches and how their experiences can help other churches do the same. Gathered before God offers resources for pastors, worship leaders, and Christian educators to reflect on their worship, leading to an openness to change and processes to help church leaders support each other during the periods of reform and renewal. Moving beyond the "contemporary versus traditional debate," Gathered before God is an earnest call for us all to reclaim worship as a central act of our life together as Christians that expresses clearly what the church believes about God, itself, and the world.

Concentrate on the biblical author’s message as it unfolds. Designed to assist the pastor and Bible teacher in conveying the significance of God’s Word, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series treats the literary context and structure of every passage of the New Testament book in the original Greek. With a unique layout designed to help you comprehend the form and flow of each passage, the ZECNT unpacks: The key message. The author’s original translation. An exegetical outline. Verse-by-verse commentary. Theology in application. While primarily designed for those with a basic knowledge of biblical Greek, all who strive to understand and teach the New Testament will benefit from the depth, format, and scholarship of these volumes. In this volume, Grant Osborne offers pastors, students, and teachers a focused resource for reading the Gospel of Matthew. Through the use of graphic representations of translations, succinct summaries of main ideas, exegetical outlines, and other features, Osborne presents the Gospel of Matthew with precision and accuracy. Because of this series’ focus on the textual structure of the scriptures, readers will better understand the literary elements of Matthew, comprehend the author’s revolutionary goals, and ultimately discovering their vital claims upon the church today.

Would you like it if one of the greatest preachers could help you prepare your sermons? How about 20+ ministers to assist you with your sermon? Joseph Exell included content from some of the most famous preachers such as Dwight L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, Charles Hodge, Alexander MacLaren, Adam Clark, Matthew Henry and many more. He compiled this 56 volume Biblical Illustrator Commentary and Delmarva Publications, Inc. is publishing it in a 6 volume digital set with a linked table of contents for ease of studying. This set includes the analysis on entire Bible, Old and New Testament. Complete your resources with this Biblical Illustrator by Joseph Exell.

The beginning of all beginnings is proclaimed in Genesis. God began by creating the physical world and people with spiritual qualities (soul and spirit). Genesis becomes part of the discipline of Bible reading and study begun by many each new year. Why not start at the beginning? we ask. With that desire in place, my husband and I picked The Daily Bible In Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings (TDB). I spent extra time searching out the words of God, which contributed part of the title for my book, GOD SAID IT The expanded title, by adding A THIRTY-DAY JOURNEY, became the impetus for an expanded devotional based on Gods words and topics selected from them. Gods highest creation, manincluding womanspent their first day resting along with their creator. WOW! Wouldnt you have liked to hear the conversation between them? It was Creator to created, Father to child. CONVERSATIONS are imaginary words of God as He and the people of Genesis interact. The journey of Gods children developed into historyHis story. It is also the story of those who would be called Gods chosen people--the Jews. Some conversations extolled characteristics of heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews eleven.