Pennsylvania's role in the development of American culture and society has received an increasing amount of attention in the past two decades, as the tercentenary celebrations of the founding of the province led to a reexamination of the colony and state's contributions to the ethnic and religious diversity of modern America. With increasing pluralism, however, the religious group that was most prominent in the establishment of the province - the Society of Friends, or Quakers - declined in its impact and importance.

Feeling overwhelmed and unproductive? The answer isn’t to do more. What image forms in your mind when you think of productivity? An assembly line? Spreadsheets? Business suits or workplace uniforms? In the ancient world, productivity didn't conjure images like these. Instead, it referred to crop yield and fruit bearing. This agrarian imagery helps us understand productivity through a biblical lens. Jesus taught, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit (John 15:8). Who doesn’t want to have a truly productive life—to bear much fruit? But how does this happen in the places we hold dear—the home, workplace, and in our communities? We often feel overworked and overrun, defeated and discouraged. The world says be productive so that you can get all you can out of this life. The Bible says be productive so you can gain more of the next life. In Redeeming Productivity, author Reagan Rose explores how God’s glory is the purpose for which He planted us. And he shows how productivity must be firmly rooted in the gospel. Only through our connection to Christ—the True Vine—are we empowered to produce good fruit. This book shows how we can maintain the vitality of that connection through simple, life-giving disciplines. Readers will discover manageable applications like giving God the first fruits of our days. Additionally, Reagan discusses how our perspective on suffering is transformed as we see trials as God’s pruning for greater productivity.

Alexander Whyte's well researched collection of Bible biographies has been of indispensable use to pastors, study group leaders and students of the scriptures for over 100 years. It is the most comprehensive and most well respected source of material for understanding the characters involved in the events of the Bible ever published. This is indeed the best exposition on Biblical characters ever written! Alexander Whyte reveals insights into the lives of the people of the Bible that casual readers might never find. Then he powerfully applies truths revealed in such a way that the reader is left spiritually convicted and seeking God's mercy. Volume six includes character studies on the following people/topics: I. THE SOWER WHO WENT FORTH TO SOW II. THE MAN WHICH SOWED GOOD SEED IN HIS FIELD, BUT HIS ENEMY CAME AND SOWED TARES AMONG THE WHEAT III. THE MAN WHO TOOK A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED, AND SOWED IT IN HIS FIELD IV. THE MAN WHO CAST SEED INTO THE GROUND AND IT GREW UP HE KNEW NOT HOW V. THE WOMAN WHO TOOK LEAVEN AND HID IT IN THREE MEASURES OF MEAL VI. THE MAN WHO FOUND TREASURE HID IN A FIELD VII. THE MERCHANT MAN WHO SOLD ALL THAT HE HAD AND BOUGHT THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE VIII. THE MAN WHO WENT OUT TO BORROW THREE LOAVES AT MIDNIGHT IX. THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW X. THE PRODIGAL SON XI. THE MUCH FORGIVEN DEBTOR AND HIS MUCH LOVE XII. THE TEN VIRGINS XIII. THE WEDDING GUEST WHO SAT DOWN IN THE LOWEST ROOM XIV. THE BIDDEN TO THE GREAT MARRIAGE SUPPER, AND SOME OF THEIR EXCUSES XV. THE MAN WHO HAD NOT ON A WEDDING GARMENT XVI. THE PHARISEE XVII. THE PUBLICAN XVIII. THE BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND XIX. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS XX. THE SLOTHFUL SERVANT WHO HID HIS LORD’S MONEY XXI. THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT XXII. THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT XXIII. THE LABOURER WITH THE EVIL EYE XXIV. THE CHILDREN OF CAPERNAUM PLAYING AT MARRIAGES AND FUNERALS IN THE MARKETPLACE XXV. THE SAMARITAN WHO SHEWED MERCY XXVI. MOSES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT MOUNT XXVII. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS XXVIII. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA XXIX. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PERGAMOS XXX. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA XXXI. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN SARDIS XXXII. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA XXXIII. THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF THE LAODICEANS Through the scriptures you meet the people of the Bible. But through Alexander Whyte you will come to know them better. Next to the Bible, you will find Bible Characters the greatest help in understanding the men and women in God's Word. Whyte writes brief biographies faithful to the Biblical text. Without stretching the truth, he stretches our minds to embrace the character of the individuals revealed there. He is never superficial. He writes like a modern newspaperman in terms of human interest and deep insight. It's just as though he had interviewed an individual and returned to the newspaper office to write up the feature! The reader of these works will not be disappointed as they will walk away with a deeper and greater understanding of those men and women God used in his Word as examples for us all.

Drawing on Jesus's example of walking, bestselling author Mark Buchanan explores one of the oldest spiritual practices of our faith. What happens when we literally walk out our Christian life? We discover the joy of traveling at the speed of our soul. We often act as if faith is only about the mind. But what about our bodies? What does our physical being have to do with our spiritual life? When the Bible exhorts us to walk in the light, or walk by faith, or walk in truth, it means these things literally as much as figuratively. The Christian faith always involves walking out, as again and again we find the holy in the ordinary. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, and then he was off. The most obvious thing about Jesus's method of discipleship, in fact, is that he walked and invited others to walk with him. Jesus is always "on the way," "arriving," "leaving," "approaching," "coming upon." It's in the walking that his disciples are taught, formed, tested, empowered, and released. Part theology, part history, part field guide, God Walk explores walking as spiritual formation, walking as healing, walking as exercise, walking as prayer, walking as pilgrimage, suffering, friendship, and attentiveness. It is a book about being alongside the God who, incarnate in Jesus, turns to us as he passes by--always on foot--and says simply, "Come, follow me." With practical insight and biblical reflections told in his distinct voice, Buchanan provides specific walking exercises so you can immediately implement the practice of going "God speed." Whether you are walking around the neighborhood or hiking in the mountains, walking offers the potential to awaken your life with Christ as it revives body and soul.

Over 1 Million Copies Sold! Have you ever wondered . . . ? What is Heaven really going to be like? What will we look like? What will we do every day? Won’t Heaven get boring after a while? We all have questions about what Heaven will be like, and after twenty-five years of extensive research, Dr. Randy Alcorn has the answers. In the most comprehensive and definitive book on Heaven to date, Randy invites you to picture Heaven the way Scripture describes it—a bright, vibrant, and physical New Earth, free from sin, suffering, and death, and brimming with Christ’s presence, wondrous natural beauty, and the richness of human culture as God intended it. This is a book about real people with real bodies enjoying close relationships with God and each other, eating, drinking, working, playing, traveling, worshiping, and discovering on a New Earth. Earth as God created it. Earth as he intended it to be. The next time you hear someone say, “We can’t begin to image what Heaven will be like,” you’ll be able to tell them, “I can.” “Other than the Bible itself, this may well be the single most life-changing book you’ll ever read.” —Stu Weber “This is the best book on Heaven I’ve ever read.” —Rick Warren “Randy Alcorn’s thorough mind and careful pen have produced a treasury about Heaven that will inform my own writing for years to come.” —Jerry B. Jenkins “Randy does an awesome job of answering people’s toughest questions about what lies on the other side of death.” —Joni Eareckson Tada About the Author Randy Alcorn is an author and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, a nonprofit ministry dedicated to teaching principles of God’s Word and assisting the church in ministering to unreached, unfed, unborn, uneducated, unreconciled, and unsupported people around the world. A New York Times bestselling author of over 50 books, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, If God Is Good, Happiness, and the award-winning novel Safely Home, his books sold exceed eleven million copies and have been translated into over seventy languages.

Milton Hershey is well known for his chocolate. You can find Hershey's chocolate throughout America and many other countries. Moreover, many have written about him likening M.S. Hershey to royalty, such as an Emperor or King of chocolate. However, this is not the Hersheys' greatest achievement. The far more unique, extraordinary and unparalleled achievement of Milton and Catherine Hershey is The Hershey Industrial School. As part of The Hershey Industrial School, the Hersheys created the community, businesses and education system of Hershey, PA. HIS was established in perpetuity for the benefit of American orphans. Hershey Ideal Community for Orphans is about the Hersheys' intelligent philanthropy. A philanthropy that not only benefited all who were a part of it, its beneficiaries are American children who are orphans, and therefore, through no fault of their own, are at risk of suffering a range of undesirable outcomes. The Hersheys were driven by philanthropic effectiveness, measured by the degree to which each individual was able to reach their full potential according to their own characteristics. HIS fully develops each orphan as a whole person according to such child's unique potential through its state-of-the-art program tailored around each individual by transforming him into an adult of exceptional character, prepared to make a living as an adult.

“If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for ‘amount of times having prayed the sinner’s prayer,’ I’m pretty sure I’d be a top contender,” says pastor and author J. D. Greear. He struggled for many years to gain an assurance of salvation and eventually learned he was not alone. “Lack of assurance” is epidemic among evangelical Christians. In Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, J. D. shows that faulty ways of present- ing the gospel are a leading source of the confusion. Our presentations may not be heretical, but they are sometimes misleading. The idea of “asking Jesus into your heart” or “giving your life to Jesus” often gives false assurance to those who are not saved—and keeps those who genuinely are saved from fully embracing that reality. Greear unpacks the doctrine of assurance, showing that salvation is a posture we take to the promise of God in Christ, a posture that begins at a certain point and is maintained for the rest of our lives. He also answers the tough questions about assurance: What exactly is faith? What is repentance? Why are there so many warnings that seem to imply we can lose our salvation? Such issues are handled with respect to the theological rigors they require, but Greear never loses his pastoral sensitivity or a communication technique that makes this message teachable to a wide audience from teens to adults.