Pastoral theologian Stephen Seamands issues a stirring call to rediscover the centrality of Christ in preaching. Deftly blending doctrine and praxis, he revitalizes preaching by focusing on five key dimensions of Jesus' work: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and return. Preachers will find here significant resources for worship and mission.

Twentieth-century United Methodist women will meet some of their female predecessors in this fascinating account of early Methodism. For decades, the role of women in early Methodism has been overshadowed by that of their male counterparts. She Offered Them Christ is a piece of United Methodist family history that serves as a link between today's women in The United Methodist Church and their predecessors in the early history of The Methodist Church. Women preachers in John Wesley's day had his support, encouragement, and formal approval to travel and preach. Wesley valued the full involvement of women in the life of early Methodism. Unfortunately, Wesley's support for women was not shared by other male leaders of the movement; and shortly after Wesley's death, women preachers were censured. Paul W. Chilcote has collected in one volume the stories of Methodism's early women preachers - including excerpts from their diaries and journals - and introduces a segment of women's (and United Methodist) history that will enlighten today's church as it fosters an understanding of John Wesley's appreciation of and support for women in early Methodism. Today's United Methodists will find She Offered Them Christ to be a rich legacy of John Wesley's power and vision for the role of women in The Methodist Church. Wesley's message reached across the decades to provide today's United Methodists - especially women - with affirmation, encouragement, and support.

Much preaching today begins with the hearer's "felt needs" and then moves to how Christianity can solve those problems. But this approach often results in trite Christologies that merely use Jesus as a means to an end or a vehicle for self-improvement. While preachers might not dispense with Christ altogether, other things subtly take center stage and become more important than Christ himself. Pastoral theologian Stephen Seamands issues a stirring call to rediscover the centrality of Christ in preaching. Deftly blending doctrine and praxis, he revitalizes preaching by focusing on five key dimensions of Jesus' work: his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and return. Seamands highlights how preaching Christ crucified and risen speaks profoundly to the deepest dimensions of human existence. Addressing both the "what" and the "so what," this exposition helps church leaders declare afresh that Christ alone is supremely sufficient for Christian faith and practice. Pastors and preachers will find here significant resources for their churches' worship, life together and mission in the world. Become captivated once again by the glory of Christ, and find yourself compelled to proclaim his work anew.

Mary McDonald and Rose Aspinall combine their God-given talents to deliver a mighty anthem well-suited for missions and outreach emphases. Use either the solid piano accompaniment or dramatic Michael Lawrence orchestration to present the grand statement that we are to be a tangible expression of Gods love and grace to the world.

Helping Christian parents raise their children with grace and the gospel, this book addresses topics such as the law, God's forgiveness and love, and true heart obedience--a great resource for raising grace-filled kids.

A fresh, clear, joyful guide for parents on how to teach their children to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Give Them Jesus aims to help parents not simply add to their children's stockpile of knowledge, but to cultivate children-disciples who are able to display Christ-likeness in every situation. Parents are the ones primarily responsible for opening up the Scriptures to help their children understand God, the world, and themselves. The family is the divinely appointed discipleship program; the home is first and foremost a place of worship. The introduction of the book discusses the four vital components of family worship: teach, treasure, sing, and pray, and offers practical suggestions for beginning and prioritizing family worship in the rough and tumble of life. Subsequent chapters guide parents to a deeper understanding of the core truths of the historic Christian faith, as summarized in the Apostles' Creed, arming them with appropriate language, helpful illustrations, and relevant object lessons, so that in the end they will be better prepared to pass these truths on to their children. Each chapter concludes with a family worship guide, which includes: 1) family memory verses, 2) nuggets of truth from the chapter, 3) questions for family discussion, 4) songs that celebrate the truths of the Creed, and 5) prayer prompts. Give Them Jesus equips parents to prepare their children to leave home and go out into the world as faithful participants in the great gospel story. "Never stop telling the gospel story to your kids," Thornton says. "Give your children Jesus. Again. And again. And again. And you'll see them walk in the truth."

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.

If we believe in God's sovereign predestination, how can we offer Christ to sinners indiscriminately? How could someone who knew that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them still plead with them to look to the Saviour? The Bible clearly entreats us to go after the lost, so Donald Macleod tackles the objections raised by those who argue that since there is no universal redemption there should be no universal gospel offer.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

In this transformative resource for youth workers, children's ministry teachers, parents, and VBS volunteers, Jack Klumpenhower teaches how to discover the gospel connections in every Bible story. Show Them Jesus is an instruction manual for teachers of kids and teens written by a lay Bible teacher with thirty years of experience. With a simple framework and real-life examples, Jack helps teachers identify and communicate the heart of the gospel to each child in each lesson. Show Them Jesus challenges the culture of low-stakes, low-expectations teaching and invites teachers to do nothing less than teach and treasure the good news of Jesus—in every lesson. Instead of leaving kids with lessons about changing their behavior, Show Them Jesus offers a new way by sweetly, masterfully, and powerfully showing kids how the gospel really applies to their lives and changes them for eternity. In sharing example after example from his years of experience, Jack provides readers with a more enriched view of Jesus and how to teach this gospel perspective in a classroom setting. This life-changing tool will complement and enrich existing lessons or teaching materials, and it's appropriate for teachers of children and teens in any setting. Millions of church kids are growing up and deciding to leave the church. If we are not primarily teaching our kids about God's love for us in Christ, we may miss our opportunity to capture their hearts. Don't miss your opportunity to show them Jesus.