God Glimpses From The Toolbox

What is in your toolbox? Most of us have hammers and screwdrivers for repairs, and of course power tools—because nothing brings greater happiness than making a mess and generating a lot of noise. But did you know that God’s fingerprints can be found in our toolboxes as well? We can uncover amazing spiritual lessons tucked between our pliers and wrenches. Sometimes we act as if God is distant, but God glimpses are present in every aspect of our lives. We just have to look for them. Take a trip through thirty items in a toolbox and discover encouragement, inspiration, and confirmation that God is so close you can reach out and touch Him. Get powered up to live as a man of character and strength.

You will gain knowledge and understanding of how God’s great mission to redeem mankind was accomplished through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord, Jesus Christ was God’s gift to the world as the Messiah, the sent one from God, to restore the relationship between man and God by repairing the schism created by Adam’s betrayal of God and his fall in the Garden of Eden. Jesus came as a humble servant of God, equipped by God with all of the tools needed to accomplish the work. In this book, Rev. Garcia examines the spiritual tools included in the toolbox of the Master Carpenter, Jesus, as He goes about His Father’s business to fulfill the work of reconciliation. Your appreciation for all that Christ accomplished to enable reestablishing a personal one-on-one relationship between each human and our Father will expand significantly as you dig deeper into the book. In Christ, you will see the blueprint for the new man which He uses to restore the fallen man and repair the broken ones to be as He is, and lead them back to God. You will learn how the ultimate goal of building the family of God is being accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ in His own body, one soul at a time.

It is difficult, if not impossible, for most of us to read and interpret the Bible objectively. I have espoused the belief for years that "The first casualty of biblical interpretation is objectivity." We enter our study of the Bible with all the things others have taught us. We carry all our religious baggage with us as we study and attempt to learn, and are thus reinforcing our predetermined beliefs rather than discovering the spirit of the message in scripture.For instance, when you have been taught that Christians go to church on Sunday and worship God, and there are specific requirements of what God wants to see happen during that "formal worship" time, you tend to use scripture to prove and support that premise rather than honestly seek to understand what was written. After all, those practices, rituals, ceremonies, or "Acts of Worship" are laws commanded by God, and they must be obeyed - or are they? Most Christians are surprised to find out that nowhere in the New Testament does it ever say that followers of Jesus met together on Sunday to worship. There is a gathering of Christians mentioned as happening on the first day of the week, but other places mention "day to day" meetings. We label what those meetings were with traditional language, because worship was never a time and place, but a life given as a "living sacrifice" to God. Worship is our life not a block of time.The things that God's people do when they come together are more a product of traditions, preferences, and manmade ceremonies. God's Tool Box is a challenge to rethink how we look at many of the things we do when we are together, and be biblically true about why God wanted these things to happen. If God is simple and clear about what He wants, He is not in the business of creating hoops for his followers to jump through or religious puzzles that people need to piece together and "figure out." He wants us to love Him completely and learn to do that by loving one another. Everything He call on us to do, is to support that objective.God's Tool Box is a call to a paradigm shift in how we view God's requirements for growing in love and helping others grow in love too. Instead of giving us rituals, ceremonies, acts of worship, or any list of "religious requirements," He gave us tools. Tools are used to get a job done. They are not the god to be worshipped or rituals to perform. They are practical tools with practical results.I define God's tools as anything He gives us that we can use to help others grow spiritually. It's all about being together to help each other grow in love for Him and each other. I have fourteen tools in my list. There may be more, but a tool is a support not a goal.

A World-Class Scholar on Luther's Use of Scripture The Reformation revolutionized church life through its new appreciation for God's presence working through the Bible. Coinciding with the five hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, this volume explains how Luther's approach to the Bible drew his colleagues and contemporary followers into a Scripture-centered practice of theology and pastoral leadership. World-class scholar Robert Kolb examines the entire school of interpretation launched by Luther, showing how Luther's students continued the study and spread of God's Word in subsequent generations. Filled with fresh insights and cutting-edge research, this major statement provides historical grounding for contemporary debates about the Bible.

"Interrupted by God" invites readers--with humor and insight--to embrace the darkness, encounter the demolition contractor, remember the power of baptism, climb mountains, cross the great water, love the fallen flower, and keep on singing. With camera in hand Lind looks for and finds God on the edge of exclusion and embrace. Through this powerful combination of black and white photographs and spare storytelling, she introduces us to interruptions of the holy in unexpected people and places: Lisa, the homeless Christmas angel; Siah, the infant hope of her ancestors; Sally, who feasts on communion remnants; the Garbage Tree on Ellison Street; and Bacardi, the drunken Christ, among others.