A Disruptive Faith

The word faith is common these days, but placing one's faith in God is a weighty action, uncommonly fraught with consequence and, by His design, inconvenience. Faith in God is reassuring and comforting only insofar as believers trust Him--and that depth of trust is the mark of a mature Christian who has allowed faith to intrude on his life and shift his gaze away from his own aims, needs, and desires. This is nothing if not a painful and disturbing process. A Disruptive Faith is A.W. Tozer's never-before-published teaching on what he termed "faith that perturbs"--faith that contradicts the unbelieving man and threatens the complacency of the Christian. The renowned pastor and teacher insists in these pages that genuine faith breeds dissatisfaction with this life, by God's design; it weans us from this temporary life and prepares us for the life to come. Readers will learn to be content with this faith-inspired discontent and to experience a fresh hope for eternity with God.

2018 WORLD Magazine Book of the Year - Accessible Theology 2018 ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award ★ Publishers Weekly starred review We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits—and devices—that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"—an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus. Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

Stories Help Readers Impact Their Communities What would happen in your city if 10 percent more people became vibrant Christians who worked together for the good of the community? Mac Pier knows from firsthand experience that when the gospel invades your city, big things start to happen. For thirty years he's watched and participated in what God has been doing in New York City. Now he shares true stories of transformation to inspire readers who long to see God move in their own communities. He helps readers understand the greatest barriers to the gospel in major cities all over the world, shares hopeful stories of reconciliation, highlights the passion and leadership of millennials advancing the gospel, and offers insight into how to start or join a gospel movement wherever in the world readers find themselves. Anyone looking for motivation and inspiration to join God where he is working will love these exciting dispatches from the front lines of outreach on five continents. Foreword by Tim Keller.

USA Today Bestseller Learn how to work your way through life’s unexpected challenges with grace and find a deeper faith while on your journey. In this biblical and conversational book by Dr. Tony Evans and his four adult children—Chrystal Evans Hurst, Priscilla Shirer, Anthony Evans, and Jonathan Evans—you will hear five insightful perspectives on what it means to hold on to faith when life breaks your heart. We have all been through difficult seasons and times in life when it seems like the hits keep coming and you can barely catch your breath. The Evans family knows what this is like, as they’ve experienced the deep grief of losing eight loved ones in less than two years’ time, including the devastating passing of Lois Evans, the matriarch of the family. In Divine Disruption, Dr. Tony Evans and his children pull back the curtain on their faith-shaking experiences, in order to provide biblical wisdom and practical encouragement for how to deal with the hard, unexpected things we all inevitably face. You’ll walk away with insights on: Why bad things happen despite a good and powerful God Persevering in difficult times and experiencing God’s peace What causes distress in your life—and how to move past it How to keep your faith from being damaged during tough times Join the Evans Family in this unique Kingdom Legacy partnership as they candidly share honest questions they’ve asked, raw emotions they’ve felt, and solutions they’ve learned. Your life may have been interrupted, but you can use that to grow closer to God—and find peace.

Religion has long played a central role in many social and political movements. Solidarity in Poland, anti-apartheid in South Africa, Operation Rescue in the United States--each of these movements is driven by the energy and sustained by the commitment of many individuals and organizations whose ideologies are shaped and powered by religious faith. In many cases, religious resources and motives serve as crucial variables explaining the emergence of entire social movements. Despite the crucial role of religion in most societies, this religious activism remains largely uninvestigated. Disruptive Religion intends to fill this void by analyzing contemporary social movements which are driven by people and organizations of faith. Upon a firm base of empirical evidence, these essays also address many theoretical issues arising in the study of social movements and disruptive politics.

What can we do when we feel stuck? Sam Van Eman has found that our spiritual lives need disruptive experiences to jolt and reorient us. Filled with concrete examples of how ordinary people are shaped by pursuing these out-of-the-ordinary experiences, this book provides a path to deeper faith on purpose.

This engaging book guides readers through one of the most colorful books of the Bible, illuminating passages from Acts that show the Christian gospel expressing itself through the lives, speech, struggles, and adventures of Jesus's followers. The book emphasizes the disruptive character of the Christian gospel and shows how Acts repeatedly describes God as upsetting the status quo by changing people's lives, society's conventions, and our basic expectations of what's possible. Suited for individual and group study, this book by a New Testament scholar with a gift for popular communication asks serious questions and eschews pat answers, bringing Acts alive for contemporary reflection on the character of God, the challenges of faith, and the church.

One of the 20th century’s most prolific and inspiring communicators has become one of the 21st century’s most prophetic and popular writers. Thanks to the careful curation of James L. Snyder, a pastor in Tozer’s church denomination who has exclusive access to a treasure trove of unpublished Tozer content, we have Tozer’s teachings on a vast number of topics. And now, for the first time, there is a new daily devotional featuring never-before-published content. The famed evangelist Leonard Ravenhill, who knew Tozer personally, said, “To enter into Dr. Tozer’s presence was an awe-inspiring event.” Now, with My Daily Pursuit, readers will be able to do even more as they enter into the presence of Jesus every day through this awe-inspiring book