In Timothy Gombis's dramatic reading of Ephesians we are drawn into a theological and cultural engagement with this epochal story of redemption. The Drama of Ephesians stands in the space between commentaries and specialized studies in Ephesians. Here you will renew your excitement for studying, preaching and teaching this great letter of Paul.

Envisioning cruciform community built on resurrection hope After Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he turned from coercion and violence to a ministry centered on the hope of Christ’s resurrection. In earthly terms, Paul had traded power for weakness. But—as he explained in his subsequent letters—this “weakness” was actually the key to flourishing community that is able to experience God’s transformation, restoration, and healing. What would it mean for pastors today to take seriously Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” and lead their congregations in this way? Instead of drawing leadership principles and practices from the worlds of business, education, and politics—which tend to orient churches around institutional power and image maintenance—Timothy Gombis follows Paul in resisting the influence of the “present evil age” by making cruciformity the operating principle of the church. Gombis guides the reader through practices and patterns that can lead a congregation past a focus on individual salvation, toward becoming instead a site of resurrection power on earth.

A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike. Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story: LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story. EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting. LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students. —Ephesians— Like all of Paul's letters, Ephesians is centered in the gospel and its implications. It tells the story of what God has done in Christ and spells out the ethical implications of this story. But the letter to the Ephesians is unique among Paul's letters in many ways, including in how it tells of the story of God, beginning "before the creation of the world" and ending in eternity. Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.

In this historical novel, David deSilva paints a vivid portrait of Ephesus and brings to life the compelling struggles faced by early Christians. Supplemented by historical images and explanatory sidebars, this imaginative novel digs into the early Christians' conflict with the religious cults of the day as well as the Roman empire.

Although many people suggest that Christianity is declining, research indicates that it continues to be the world's most popular worldview. But even so, the Christian faith includes many controversial beliefs that non-Christians find hard to accept. This book explores 12 issues that might cause someone to dismiss orthodox Christianity—issues such as the existence of suffering, the Bible's teaching on gender and sexuality, the reality of heaven and hell, the authority of the Bible, and more. Showing how the best research from sociology, science, and psychology doesn't disagree with but actually aligns with claims found in the Bible, these chapters help skeptics understand why these issues are signposts, rather than roadblocks, to faith in Christ.

How do Christ's followers reach across the dividing lines of our culture to offer hospitality and hope? How do local congregations worship God faithfully on Sunday and bear witness to their neighbors with fitting words and deeds during the week? Christ has called his people to follow the ways of his kingdom in their homes, workplaces, schools, churches, and neighborhoods. The Drama of Discipleship is a resource for being and making disciples of Jesus in the everyday tasks of being human. Each episode offers at least one group activity that is designed to catalyze group action on your local stage and build your congregation's practice of taking off the old ways of being human and putting on the true image of God--Christ. The Drama concludes with additional tools for those who lead small groups in the heartwork of discipleship, as well as a neighborhood survey for those who lead congregations in the fieldwork of discipling the nations.

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Ephesians: A Theological Commentary for Preachers engages hermeneutics for preaching, employing theological exegesis that enables the preacher to utilize all the units of the Letter to craft effective sermons. This commentary unpacks the crucial link between Scripture and application: the theology of each preaching text, that is, what the author is doing with what he is saying. Ephesians is divided into twelve preaching units and the theological focus of each is delineated. The overall theological trajectory or theme of the book deals with God's consummation of all things in the cosmos in Christ, and the role of the church in this grand and glorious divine operation. This theme is progressively developed in Ephesians, in each of the twelve passages. The specific theological thrust of each unit is captured in this commentary, making possible a sequential homiletical movement through each pericope of Ephesians. While the primary goal of the commentary is to take the preacher from text to theology, it also provides two sermon outlines for each of the twelve preaching units of Ephesians. The unique approach of this work results in a theology-for-preaching commentary that promises to be useful for anyone teaching through Ephesians with an emphasis on application.

The Armor of God, more than merely a biblical description of the believer's inventory, is an action plan for putting it on and developing a personalized strategy to secure victory.

Finally--a theology of love that will help you navigate the confusing waters of modern relationship. In the beginning, God created Adam. Then he made Eve. And ever since we've been picking up the pieces. With an autobiographical thread that turns a book into a story, pastor and speaker John Mark Comer shares about what is right in male/female relationships--what God intended in the Garden. And about what is wrong--the fallout in a post-Eden world. Loveology starts with marriage and works backward. Comer deals with sexuality, romance, singleness, and what it means to be male and female; ending with a raw, uncut, anything goes Q and A dealing with the most asked questions about sexuality and relationships. This is a book for singles, engaged couples, and the newly married--both inside and outside the church--who want to learn what the Scriptures have to say about sexuality and relationships. For those who are tired of Hollywood's propaganda, and the church's silence. And for people who want to ask the why questions and get intelligent, nuanced, grace-and-truth answers, rooted in the Scriptures.