God At Center

Frustrated and fed up at trying to live your life by the list? You know, it is that "corporate world" model of priority-keeping which is so ingrained in our culture (something first, then something second, and then something else third, and so on). God at Center provides the challenge to embrace a biblical paradigm for priority-keeping which does not follow the world, but the word. Is there really an alternative to putting "God first" in our lives? Yes, there is! And it is a more "biblical" paradigm, one that has God at the center of our lives. With God in his rightful place in your life and applying a fuller understanding of the Great Commandment (which is in and of itself a "priority-keeping" passage), you will embrace a lifestyle of seeking to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. You will finally make sense of who you are, what God wants you to know, and what you can do about it.

Apply God’s Wisdom to Your Marriage God designed the unique covenant between a man and a woman to be a lifelong partnership that brings joy, support, and stability to both their lives. You can experience this fulfillment for yourself when you follow His plan as the foundation for the relationship between you and your loved one. This companion to Your Marriage God’s Way invites you to work together with your spouse to take a closer look at the biblical principles for this precious contract and make them an active part of your own marriage. You will build a stronger relationship and deeper faith as you understand the unique roles God has given each of you identify ways you can better help, encourage, and support each other make serving God the focal point of your marriage No matter how long you’ve been married, there is always room to grow in your relationship by placing Christ at its center. With the help of the Your Marriage God’s Way Workbook, bring your hearts closer together and experience the fullness God has in store for both of you.

Popular YouTubers the Labrant Fam share their inspiring love story of how Savannah, a young, single mom, fell in love with Cole, a 19-year-old from Alabama, highlighting the redemptive, surprising nature of God at work in our lives. The Labrant Fam—Cole, Savannah, and their daughter, Everleigh—have laughed, pranked, and danced their way into the hearts of millions of viewers. But by all accounts, Cole and Savannah shouldn’t have met each other—let alone fallen in love. Sav was a 23-year-old from Southern California who had grown up with the pain of her parents’ broken marriage. As a single mother with a history of unhealthy relationships, she had all but given up on a happily ever after. Cole was a 19-year-old from a small town in Alabama who had never dated seriously but held high hopes for marriage. Cole was slowly learning how to trust life's twists and turns. Then, through a surprise encounter, their lives changed forever. In this heartwarming memoir, you’ll discover: The heartbreak Savannah faced as a young, single mom before she met Cole Their individual stories growing up Savannah’s pregnancy at 19 and how she found fame on social media How they met and fell in love With their signature charming and engaging style, Cole and Sav take you behind the camera and open up about past heartaches and mistakes; painful secrets and difficult expectations; the joys and challenges of raising their daughter, Everleigh; and the spiritual journey that changed their hearts—and relationship—forever.

The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.

Since its first publication in 1941, A Testament of Devotion, by the renowned Quaker teacher Thomas Kelly, has been universally embraced as a truly enduring spiritual classic. Plainspoken and deeply inspirational, it gathers together five compelling essays that urge us to center our lives on God's presence, to find quiet and stillness within modern life, and to discover the deeply satisfying and lasting peace of the inner spiritual journey. As relevant today as it was a half-century ago, A Testament of Devotion is the ideal companion to that highest of all human arts-the lifelong conversation between God and his creatures. I have in mind something deeper than the simplification of our external programs, our absurdly crowded calendars of appointments through which so many pantingly and frantically gasp. These do become simplified in holy obedience, and the poise and peace we have been missing can really be found. But there is a deeper, an internal simplification of the whole of one's personality, stilled, tranquil, in childlike trust listening ever to Eternity's whisper, walking with a smile into the dark."

Frustrated and fed up at trying to live your life by the list? You know, it is that “corporate world” model of priority-keeping which is so ingrained in our culture (something first, then something second, and then something else third, and so on). God at Center provides the challenge to embrace a biblical paradigm for priority-keeping which does not follow the world, but the word. Is there really an alternative to putting “God first” in our lives? Yes, there is! And it is a more “biblical” paradigm, one that has God at the center of our lives. With God in his rightful place in your life and applying a fuller understanding of the Great Commandment (which is in and of itself a “priority-keeping” passage), you will embrace a lifestyle of seeking to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. You will finally make sense of who you are, what God wants you to know, and what you can do about it.

What Do You Revolve Around? All the planets of your life—from your labor and leisure to your thinking and feeling—are held in orbit by the greatness, gravity, and blazing brightness of Jesus Christ at the center of your life. When He ceases to be the center, the planets of your life fly into confusion, sending a hundred things out of control. Pastor John Piper’s powerful teaching is recorded during an intimate retreat for youth leaders and students onto three The Blazing Center DVDs. With the study guide, this is an ideal package for adult and youth Sunday school classes, small groups, retreats, classrooms, and families. Discover surprising insights about the reality of sin, how your love for God is really revealed, and how only joy in Him will sustain you through times of suffering. God Is the Blazing Sun at the Center of Reality Everything revolves around Him. And as the most valuable and glorious person who exists, God is loving, not conceited, when He calls us to worship Him. His pursuit of glory and our pursuit of joy are not at odds—because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. This study guide is designed to be used in a ten-session, guided group study that focuses on The Blazing Center DVD set: Lesson 1—Introduction to The Blazing Center Lesson 2—The Blazing Center: A Personal Story Lesson 3—The Blazing Center: Is God Vain? Lesson 4—Pursue Your Joy: Isn’t That Hedonism? Lesson 5— Pursue Your Joy: God Commands It! Lesson 6—True Love: Duty or Delight? (Part 1) Lesson 7—True Love: Duty or Delight? (Part 2) Lesson 8—Suffering: For the Joy Set Before You (Part 1) Lesson 9— Suffering: For the Joy Set Before You (Part 2) Lesson 10—Review and Conclusion Complete with Scripture and key quotations for reflection, penetrating questions, and five daily assignments per week, this study guide will help you place God at the center of your life. When God is the blazing sun at the center of your solar system, all the planets of your life come into proper orbit. Leader’s guide included! Story Behind the Book “The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God’s passion for His glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of His majesty. Nothing satisfies us—or magnifies Him—more.” —John Piper