Talking About Jesus

A tax collector hears the call of the Messiah and leaves behind his profession to follow him. Terrified men aboard a tempest-tossed boat beg Jesus to save them from the storm. A ruler pleads for his young daughter to be healed after she has already died. These stories and more are familiar to Christians around the world. Modern believers who value their prayer lives look back to these people and wonder what it must have been like to talk to Jesus face to face. In each conversation presented here, the Bible tells of a Lord and Savior who cares so much for his children that he meets them where they are and addresses every concern they bring him, just as he does when we pray today. Talking to Jesus retells these stories with enough imaginative detail to convince readers of the humanity of Jesus's followers, like believers today they struggled with both faith and unbelief. When seen with a fresh perspective, they are more than familiar biblical figures. They're real people who aren't perfect-but believe Jesus can do the impossible. These early conversations with Jesus point the way for modern believers to engage more authentically with him in prayer.

Most Christians know they should be trying to tell their friends and family about Jesus. But in a post-Christendom world, personal evangelism is viewed negatively--it's offensive, inappropriate, and insensitive. Recent studies confirm that the majority of Christians rarely evangelize, worried they might offend their family or lose their friends. In How to Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy), author Sam Chan equips everyday Christians who are reluctant and nervous to tell their friends about Jesus with practical, tested ways of sharing their faith in the least awkward ways possible. Drawing from over two decades of experience as an evangelist, teacher, and pastor, Chan explains why personal evangelism feels so awkward today. And utilizing recent insights from communication theory, cross-cultural ministry, and apologetics, he helps you build confidence in sharing your faith, and teaches you how to evangelize your friends and family in socially appropriate ways.

Some of us fear moments when we need to defend our theology. Some of us seek them out. But we are seldom ready the way Jesus seemed to be ready. So how do we draw others to God in the midst of these ordinary conversations the way Jesus did? In Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis draws on his experience of international reconciliation between Muslims and Christians to remind us of the heart of the matter: Jesus. Here he gives us tools, stories, and the foundation we need to move beyond “us” and “them” and simply talk about the One who changes it all. As Carl writes, “While others are explaining and defending various isms and ologies we’re simply pointing people to our friend. The one who uncovers and disarms. Who leads people right to himself. The beginning and the end of the story. A good story indeed.”

A New York Times Notable Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 A bold approach to understanding the American evangelical experience from an anthropological and psychological perspective by one of the country's most prominent anthropologists. Through a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.

The gospel really is the best news anyone will ever receive. So why do Christians shy away from talking about Jesus outside of church? And, when they do speak of Jesus, why do they often get a disinterested or scornful reponse? Mack Stiles offers a wealth of answers, ideas and stories in this heads-up, hands-on evangelism handbook. His creative strategies for reaching an ethnically, culturally, economically, educationally, geographically and ideologically diverse world with the best news ever are drawn directly from his own work as an evangelist in today's student world. In Speaking of Jesus he shows readers how to keep their eyes open for "divine appointments," how to approach others with a servant spirit, how to cross relational barriers, how to simply tell one's own story of faith, and how to answer questions with honesty and confidence. Speaking of Jesus may well be an Out of the Saltshaker for the 1990s and beyond. With contagious enthusiasm, Stiles stresses that evangelism isn't about exhibiting superhuman courage or perfecting specialized techniques or exercising extraordinary gifts. Instead, he shows that people of faith can use everyday situations and everyday language to pass on the simple--and simply wonderful--news about Jesus.

A Daily Devotional based on the popular spiritual classic He and I Jesus began speaking to French mystic Gabrielle Bossis when she was in her sixties. The conversations continued to the end of her life, and became the beautiful spiritual classic He and I. Jesus Speaking is a beautiful devotional taken from the original book of conversations between Jesus and Gabrielle. A carefully chosen Scripture passage complements every excerpt from the book, along with a meditation on that day’s reading. Bossis’ intimate conversations with Christ are instructive as well as inspirational. An invaluable guide for anyone looking for growth in the spiritual life, Jesus Speaking encourages readers to cultivate a daily habit of prayer and a personal relationship with Christ through the Church. Jesus Speaking is a daily devotional that will inspire readers of spiritual classics. Born and raised in France, Gabrielle Bossis (1874–1950) was a single woman and a nurse during World War I, who later became a playwright and touring artist. Her journals revealed a rich spiritual life. The French edition of Lui et Moi (He and I) has been translated into many languages and sold worldwide.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The “paradigm-influencing” book (Christianity Today) that is fundamentally transforming our understanding of white evangelicalism in America. Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism—or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.” As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the centrality of popular culture in contemporary American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals might not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Trump in fact represented the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values: patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community. A much-needed reexamination of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, Jesus and John Wayne shows that, far from adhering to biblical principles, modern white evangelicals have remade their faith, with enduring consequences for all Americans.

A full year of daily devotionals in which the Holy Spirit "opens up" Scripture! These short, powerful devotionals for every day of the year are easy to read in less than two minutes. Each daily verse (with reference) is followed by God speaking directly to you concerning that verse. These inspiring messages provide an incredibly uplifting way to begin each day. You will be able to download this ebook in 3 formats: Kindle, PDF and EPUB (to ensure you can easily read it on all your devices). "Were not our hearts burning within us...while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" (Lk. 24:32). Let God set your heart on fire!