The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. Faith and action: that inseparable link is a golden thread running through Acts. In 2,000 years, one thing hasn't changed: God's heart for lost people. As long as he acts on their behalf, he will call us to play an integral part in his deeds. Acts lifts us up out of the armchair and spurs us to kingdom action, trusting that God will be with us. Ajith Fernando shares perspectives on the book of Acts that reveal its enduring relevance for our twenty first-century 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.

We are dual, manifested, aspects of an ultimate state of Unconsciousness, the One and only Reality. The Secret Doctrine asserts that out of a Perfect, Unconditioned, Unmanifested Consciousness, myriads of short-lived, bundles of individualised consciousnesses keep emerging, like sparks of a fire. That is how Unknowable Causality evolves to omnipresent mind and life immanent in every atom, and keeps transferring informing principles from one planet to the other, from one eternity to another. Intelligent Law is an aspect of Cosmic Consciousness. It governs Universe, Man and All. Consciousness, Universe, and Karman are one and the same, inseparable and inter-dependent. The whole Universe is the sum total of multifarious states of Consciousness. The only Reality is Ultimate Unconsciousness within the bosom of Parabrahman. All else is maya-illusion. Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Substance are inseparable, interdependent, and readily convertible into each other. The Fire of Unconsciousness unfolds from within without and differentiates to sparks of self-consciousness. Even our senses are progressive differentiations of That One Sense-Consciousness. Beware! Impulses of Psychic Force, act from without within. Noetic Force acts from within without. Spirit and Matter are illusionary aspects of the One Consciousness which underpins and sustains All. Spirit can only cognise Itself through the flesh or “matter.” Thus matter is an aggregate of objects of possible perception. Endless Worlds are set into motion by an unquenchable Desire for Self-Knowledge that burns silently in the bosom of Parabrahman. When “the last vibration of the Seventh Eternity thrills through Infinitude,” the Fire of Desire becomes Fohat, or Light of Logos. It differentiates primordial matter into atoms, seeds of manifold Life, ever-revealing latent, unmanifested, potentialities of Infinite Thought and Ideals to the perception of finite minds. Consciousness is septenary. It vibrates and illumines the seven brains of the heart as it does the seven divisions or rays around the pineal gland. For the heart is the abode of Spiritual Consciousness. The Higher Mind or Manas is Spiritual Self-Consciousness, itself; Divine Consciousness, when united with Buddhi. The Lower Mind with its seven gateways is the organ of animal or terrestrial consciousness. Every single cell in our body is gifted with a brain and a consciousness of its own. Thus Consciousness is the essence of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself “I,” a breath of Heaven. One day, when our true individuality is withdrawn in the Unconscious Immateriality of its Divine Counterpart, it mayregain the true happiness of Non-Being. But “the seed is not quickened, except it die.” Everything in the Universe, throughout its kingdoms, is conscious, i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind; a kind we do not always understand. Every World emanates from a single Unevolved Cause. And, like all else, our World has a Soul. Though eternal and changeless in Its inner essence, the Soul of the World alters during Its outer manifestations. This has been the subject of centuries of scholastic disputations. Consciousness is the One and only Capacity of Perception, ever analysing and reflecting upon Itself. Humanity is a periodic manifestation of Cosmic Consciousness. Spirit, Soul, and Matter are Consciousness’ three aspects integrated by Consciousness Itself. Universal Consciousness is unlimited and beyond space and time. While it can only be expressed through matter, it is not of matter, It is our Sensing Principle. Other considerations of the intrinsic Intelligence of Consciousness include the Unity of Spirit and Trinity of Nature. Personal, individualised, consciousness, ego and egoism, mind and mentality, self and selfishness, I-ness and me-ness, character and charisma, persona and personality, individualism and capitalism, they are all one and the same: they are the cause of separateness and all suffering in the world! Consciousness can neither imagine its own cessation nor its own beginning. Though Its contents are of a pseudo-infinite duration, It is the dream that never dies. Every plane of consciousness creates a different level of illusion. Everything is maya-illusion. Can we ever account for the origin of consciousness? Life and death are illusions, time is illusion. The illusion of time is produced by the panoramic succession of our states of consciousness. Time does not exist even in sleep! All things are real but only relatively real. The Infinite can only see Itself through the eyes of the finite. When the Infinite cannot conceive Itself by Itself, How can the finite ever perceive the Infinite? Such feats are beyond the boundary of human capability. That’s why the Infinite is, and will remain forever, Unknown and Unknowable. Only by abandoning personal thoughts and pursuits, the lower mind can begin to ascend toward its higher counterpart. Such an uplifting of consciousness can only be attained by self-devised but unselfish efforts, checked by Karman. Finally, Madame Blavatsky affirms three requisites for those who are after self-knowledge.

With foreword by Rev. Dr. Jane Claypool "...A monumental achievement. Every minister in the field will want to have and use a copy right now!" The definitive cross reference between The Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes and the Holy Bible. With over 750 references to Bible verses, this reference is a must have for ministers, translators, and teachers. Completely revised and updated to include other source references! Compliments existing material on the Allegorical Bible, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism and all entry level classes with the textbook.

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.