Three thousand years ago, Samson lived alongside an intelligent, technologically advanced, small nation, known as Philistia. Their leaders came up against a superhero with Asperger’s Syndrome. It took tactics to place the strong man and considerable plotting to remove him, and the strategies didn’t end there. What starts as a how-done-it, for those who think they know what happens, soon becomes a who-done-it. Based closely on historical sources, the key character is not Samson; it is the clever, charismatic, Mayor of Gaza. As the tale flares up from youthful gaming to political ploys, comic, tragic, battle, and romantic scenes unfold, leaving you guessing throughout and smiling at the end.

Being limited in life is a helpless feeling. The mentality of our society today is limited in their finances, relationships, knowledge, and even in health. The enemy knows that if he can keep you limited, he will keep you from becoming a threat to his kingdom. What if you could be limitless? What if you were free to give when God said give or go when God said to go? It is not impossible. It will take faith and a new mentality to believe God can use you as his instrument. Jesus taught the importance of having faith and the benefits of having a limitless mentality. Faith got Peter out of the boat, but his limited mentality made him sink. None of us have arrived. Learning to Walk on Water is a journey that every Christian must take. If we desire to be used by God to the fullest, we need to step beyond the confines of a limited mentality and do as Peter did. He learned to walk on water!

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context The books of Judges and Ruth have relevance for our lives today. Judges, because it reveals a God who employs very human deliverers but refuses to gloss over their sins and their consequences. And Ruth, because it demonstrates the far-reaching impact of a righteous character. K. Lawson Younger Jr. shares literary perspectives on the books of Judges and Ruth that reveal ageless truths for our contemporary lives. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's context, 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.

This book will change how readers read not only Milton but any poetry. Whereas prose is written in sentences, poetry is written in lines, lines that may or may not coincide with the syntax of the sentence. Lines add an aural and visual mode of punctuation, with some degree of pause and weight at the line-turn. So lineation, the division of poetry into lines, opens a repertoire of possibilities to the poet. Notably, it encourages an enhanced concentration on meaning, rhythm, and sound. It makes metrical patterns possible, with interactions between regularity and deviation; or it makes possible the presence or absence of structural rhyme; or the multiple variations of the line-turn, whether in harmony with syntax or overflowing, in ways that may be either more or less conspicuous. Starting from theories of Derek Attridge, this book develops new methods for exploring the expressive resources of the verse line as exploited by the greatest of English poets, John Milton. Topics examined include: the interaction of strictness and freedom in the rhythms of Milton's line and paragraph; the interfusion of diverse prosodies in a single poem; approaches to free verse; rhyme in the earlier lyric verse and modes of near-rhyme in the later blank verse; the diverse modes of onomatopoeia; and the complex interweavings of prosody and ideology in this very political poet. The great themes and issues and characters of Milton's innovative and always controversial poetry are perceived afresh, being approached intimately through the rich possibilities of the line, and the insights of the approach illuminate the reading of any poetry.

In an effort to protect her child from the harsh realities of her impending death, Mary pours her heart into a diary, her legacy to her challenged ten-year-old son, Samson. After her passing, the grief-stricken child writes longingly to his lost momma, in the hopes that his fervent words might reach her in the great beyond. Born with extraordinary powers found only in the primate world, he is a mystery to the medical world. His doctors know of a progressive tumor on his thyroid, but even that cant explain his gigantism. At ten, he is 69 and weighs 175 pounds. Nora, his devoted nanny, loves him as if he was her own flesh and blood, and she does her best to encourage the boy. When his mental abilities also begin to grow beyond expectations, only his father believes that it is the work of Mary, his dead wife. At sixteen, 76, and 275 pounds, hes on the verge of harnessing his true potential. Soon, hes on his way to glory in professional sports and folk-hero status, but theres a powerful emptiness to his life. Tragedy follows him everywhere. He continues to write to his momma, desperate to know why he keeps losing the ones he loves. At nineteen, undaunted by his doctors fears that physical exertion will kill him, he experiences a mystical transformation, with his momma and a phalanx of angels to guide him. When his body betrays him, can theyor should theysave him?

The story of Jesus interacting with the Emmaus disciples after his resurrection provides an outline for what a gospel-centered kids ministry looks like: gospel-centered teaching that points to Jesus in every session, gospel-centered transformation that positions the gospel to change a child's heart and then his or her behavior, and gospel-centered mission where kids join in on the big story of Jesus that continues to unfold. Seven out of ten kids will walk away from church after they turn eighteen. About five will return when they have families of their own. But two will never return. Clearly, something isn’t connecting with our kids. As kids ministry leaders, we need to take a hard look at what we are missing in our kids ministries and provide kids the one thing that will satisfy them and keep them connected to the church—the gospel. Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry also addresses how to communicate with and encourage gospel-centered leaders and parents as part of your ministry.