An Outdated Gospel

This book makes an honest attempt to explain and clarify what many term as the way of the cross. The Cross understood to mean not only the form of death Jesus suffered for us but the place where believers of every age have experienced death to self- preservation, self-serving , a complete undoing of our natural carnal man. This is the meeting place of two wills; ours and Gods and the emergence of only one- Gods. I have come to do Thy will Oh my God This was the mandate that beat in the heart of Jesus; it must become ours as well. For decades now another gospel has been preached across the land and has conveniently set aside the Cross as some outdated piece of furniture tucked away in the attic no longer desired on the main floor. The hundred and one success messages and books all clamouring for our attention to be implemented into our lives have after some thirty plus years left the North American church with little more than vital signs let alone abundant life. We may have learned about His acts, but sadly we have not known His ways. His ways oftentimes lead to trials, adversity and suffering contrary to popular teaching. The vehicle that will transport us into His Presence is so often designed by God to take us via the wilderness places of His choosing. The journey begins with our entrance as spiritual infants into the Kingdom. However, where we end up and how long it takes us to mature are our choice and the consequences of our choice alone. This is to be sure called the narrow road, albeit narrow it is however the road that leads to our transformation into the full grown mature sons and daughters of God. This is the Hebrews 12 roadmap to remove our illegitimacy, and to be brought near to the Father Himself. There are no other roads. If you are tired of circling the mountains never being able to breakthrough into true communion with God, then its time to embrace the cross in your life and let it transport you into His Presence. There is no mystical formula that leads to life in and maturity in Christ. Our brokenness before God releases the Anointing and character of Christ so often preached but rarely manifested. This book will not reveal new answers or keys to help you on your journey. You will find however, Biblical truth that will ring its witness in your spirit that will be confirmed with scripture and by the Spirit of God. Let us all individually as well as corporately return to the Cross, may it once again be taught, embraced and lived out in the Christian Church and maybe then the glory of God will fill the House.

Historically, the church's ministry of grounding new believers in the essentials of the faith has been known as catechesis--systematic instruction in faith foundations, including what we believe, how we pray and worship, and how we conduct our lives. For most evangelicals today, however, this very idea is an alien concept. Packer and Parrett, concerned for the state of the church, seek to inspire a much needed evangelical course correction. This new book makes the case for a recovery of significant catechesis as a nonnegotiable practice of churches, showing the practice to be complementary to, and of no less value than, Bible study, expository preaching, and other formational ministries, and urging evangelical churches to find room for this biblical ministry for the sake of their spiritual health and vitality.

"Can the Gospel really be found in every book of the Old Testament? Yes, it can in all 39 books, with a chapter devoted to each. While other books have focused on foreshadows and glimpses of Messiah Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures, Joseph Farah set out to find the Good News of redemption, repentance, restoration and resurrection. The result is a great resource for pastoral sermons, a reference for group Bible studies, a re-introduction to the everlasting relevance of the Old Testament to all Christians, as well as a breezy, non-scholarly read that will inspire and reinvigorate your faith in the miraculous nature of God s Word -- one cohesive, integrated message in 66 books written by 40 different people over a period of 1,500 years"--Amazon

Recent cultural interest in evangelicalism has led to considerable confusion about what the term actually means. Many young Christians are tempted to discard the label altogether. But evangelicalism is not merely a political movement in decline or a sociological phenomenon on the rise, as it has sometimes been portrayed. It is, in fact, a helpful theological profile that manifests itself in beliefs, ethics, and church life. DeYoung and other key twenty- and thirty-something evangelical Christian leaders present Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Same Evangelical Faith for a New Day to assert the stability, relevance, and necessity of Christian orthodoxy today. This book introduces young, new, and under-discipled Christians to the most essential and basic issues of faith in general and of evangelicalism in particular. Kevin DeYoung and contributors like Russell Moore, Darrin Patrick, Justin Taylor, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Tim Challies examine what evangelical Christianity is and does within the broad categories of history, theology, and practice. They demonstrate that evangelicalism is still biblically and historically rooted and remains the same framework for faith that we need today.

A fresh look at the earliest Christian movement reveals what made the new faith so compelling...and what we need to change today to make it so again. Once upon a time there was a version of the Christian faith that was practically irresistible. After all, what could be more so than the gospel that Jesus ushered in? Why, then, isn't it the same with Christianity today? Author and pastor Andy Stanley is deeply concerned with the present-day church and its future. He believes that many of the solutions to our issues can be found by investigating our roots. In Irresistible, Andy chronicles what made the early Jesus Movement so compelling, resilient, and irresistible by answering these questions: What did first-century Christians know that we don't—about God's Word, about their lives, about love? What did they do that we're not doing? What makes Christianity so resistible in today's culture? What needs to change in order to repeat the growth our faith had at its beginning? Many people who leave or disparage the faith cite reasons that have less to do with Jesus than with the conduct of his followers. It's time to hit pause and consider the faith modeled by our first-century brothers and sisters who had no official Bible, no status, and little chance of survival. It's time to embrace the version of faith that initiated—against all human odds—a chain of events resulting in the most significant and extensive cultural transformation the world has ever seen. This is a version of Christianity we must remember and re-embrace if we want to be salt and light in an increasingly savorless and dark world.

Why is the account of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel so very different from the one we find in the Synoptic Gospels? Professor Hanson believes that at least part of the answer can be found in the considerable dependence of John's narrative on the Old Testament. The first thirteen chapters of this book are devoted to careful examination of the language of the Gospel in this light. Again and again this shows that passages are heavily influenced by the Old Testament, mostly from the Septuagint but also sometimes by the targumic tradition. This leads to the conclusion that John was writing what might be called a 'prophetic gospel' rather than an historical account of Jesus' life. He saw many passages in what he regarded as scripture as containing prophecies which must have been fulfilled in the life and teaching of Jesus, despite having no historical basis. Although this is not to say that John freely invented speeches and episodes as he chose, John thus felt justified in departing widely from the early tradition about Jesus. Professor Hanson contends that Johannine scholarship has suffered too much from the conviction that scholars must defend the substantially historical nature of the Fourth Gospel. The study ends with a consideration of John's christology and of how the Church today should regard the Fourth Gospel.

The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave