Look To God And Live

Only One Addiction Can Set You Free Matt Papa was a "professional Christian" in full-time ministry, ready and determined to change the world. All the while he was depressed, addicted to the approval of others, and enslaved to sin. But then everything changed. He encountered the glory of God. All of us live in the tension between where we are and where we ought to be. We try our best to bully our desires into submission. And we all know, this is exhausting. Are you tired? Stuck? Still fighting the same sin you've been fighting for years? The call in these pages is not to work or to strive, but to lift your eyes. You don't need more willpower. You need a vision of greatness that sweeps you off your feet. You need to see glory. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Look and Live. "Matt has helped me see that love for God grows out of an experience of beholding the love of God. We burn only as we behold. . . . This is a fantastic book and I commend it to you with the most enthusiastic support."--from the Foreword by J.D. Greear "Matt Papa cares about the glory of God, and you can sense that zeal on every page of this dynamic book. He also cares about you and me getting to grips with that glory. . . . Matt guides us through these pages with kindness, seriousness, and love--for God's greater glory and our greater good."--Matt Redman, songwriter and worship leader "Making our lives about one unflinching gaze upon the glory of Christ--what a vision Matt Papa has put before us. I encourage everyone to read this book!"--Tony Merida, pastor, professor, and author "Matt Papa's book is a snakebite kit for suffering sinners. Each sentence of Look and Live extracts Satan's deadly venom and resuscitates the soul with the life-giving power of the glory of God!"--Tony Nolan, snakebite survivor, author, and gospel preacher "To journey through this book is to go on a quest that will awaken our souls to the reality of the One who is 'majestic in holiness' and 'awesome in glorious deeds.'"--Dr. Brent Crowe, author, speaker, and vice president of Student Leadership University "I have been wonderfully blessed by Matt Papa's friendship and ministry. I am grateful his reflections on worship are now shared in Look and Live. It is biblically faithful and keeps the focus of worship where it belongs: on our glorious God."--Daniel L. Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary "Matt Papa faithfully points us to the soul-stirring glory of God. Read this book and allow your heart to once again behold the wondrous mystery."--Matt Boswell, founder of Doxology & Theology, and pastor of ministries and worship at Providence Church, Frisco, Texas "This is Matt's life message--that Jesus Christ alone is worth living for, and that when you gaze upon His majesty and glory you will never be the same. This book is theologically robust and practically helpful, packed with Scripture and insight into the person and work of the risen Son of God. . . . This is a true gift to the church."--Clayton King, president of Crossroads Camps and Clayton King Ministries "If C. S. Lewis and David Crowder wrote a book together about worship, you would have the rich theology of the great Christian apologist with the deep passion of worship from the contemporary artist. That's what Matt Papa has given us in Look and Live--a must-read for every worshiper."--Mike Harland, president of LifeWay Worship

What are you chasing? We're all chasing after something, something that we think will make us happy--comfort, success, a bigger house, or someone's approval. But if we are all honest, it feels like trying to catch the wind. A man after God's own heart... As David's life weaves throughout the pages of Scripture, we see he was a man who spent his life chasing after God. Chase explores the events that defined David's life and the Psalms that flowed out of those experiences. Through David's example we'll discover what God really wants from us. The lessons in this study guide are simple yet deep and very interactive, offering Bible study, stories, and projects to dig into Scripture and deeply engage the mind and heart. God has carved out a space in each of us that only He can fill. So whether you are running from God or working your tail off to please Him, David's journey will challenge your view of God. God is invisible, and yet He is the only thing we can chase that won't leave us feeling more empty. Sessions include: chase identity courage obedience belief repentance surrender chased down Designed for use with the Chase Video Study 9780529104342 (sold separately).

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.

Mothering is messy. Our joy and hope in raising children doesn’t change the reality that being a mom can be frustrating, stressful, and tiring. But just as God is using us to shape our children, God is using our children and motherhood to shape us. In The Better Mom, author Ruth Schwenk, herself a mother of four children, encourages us with the good news that there is more to being a mom than the extremes of striving for perfection or simply embracing the mess. We don’t need to settle for surviving our kids’ childhood. We can grow through it. With refreshing and heartfelt honesty Ruth emboldens moms to: Find freedom and walk confidently in purpose Create a God-honoring home environment Overcome unhealthy and destructive emotions such as anger, anxiety, and more Avoid glorifying the mess of mom-ing or idolizing perfection Cultivate life-giving friendships At the heart of The Better Mom is the message that Jesus calls us to live not a weary life, but a worthy life. We don’t have to settle for either being apathetic or struggling to be perfect. Both visions of motherhood go too far. Ruth offers a better option. She says, “It’s okay to come as we are, but what we’re called to do and be is far too important to stay there! The way to becoming a better mom starts not with what we are doing, but with who God is inviting us to become."

The Practice of the Presence of God is a spiritual classic written by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century Carmelite monk. This small but impactful work is a compilation of letters and conversations attributed to Brother Lawrence, offering profound insights into cultivating a continuous awareness of the presence of God in everyday life.

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