The gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with paradoxes. Many of God s directions seem to be contrary to logic and reason. On the surface they appear to have the opposite effect of the promised result. This book explores twelve of these gospel paradoxes with powerful scriptures and stories from the lives of faith-filled Christians. The Paradox of Faith contains insight on faith from the Apostle Peter’s experience walking on water with Jesus. From The Paradox of Performance you will learn why the first shall be last; and the last shall be first. In The Paradox of Leadership you will read inspiring stories of servant leadership from the life of Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, and the Founding Fathers. The Paradox of Wisdom contains three lessons learned from Balaam’s talking donkey found in the book of numbers. The Paradox of Receiving contains insights on prayer and receiving gifts from God. The Paradox of Pain answers the question of why bad things happen to good people. The Paradox of Forgiveness contains great stories from the life of Leonardo Da Vinci and others on the power of forgiveness. The Paradox of Wealth teaches principles every parent must know to raise productive, self-sufficient children and grandchildren. The Paradox of Giving shows how giving actually makes you richer. The Paradox of Fundamentals teaches how to apply in your life the formula legendary coach John Wooden used to create 10 national championship teams in 12 years.

Scholarship on the Gospel of Mark has long been convinced of the paradoxical description of two of its primary themes, christology and discipleship. This book argues that paradoxical language pervades the entire narrative, and that it serves a theological purpose in describing God's activity. Part One focuses on divine action present in Mark 4:10-12. In the first paradox, Mark portrays God's revelatory acts as consistently accompanied by concealment. The second paradox is shown in the various ways in which divine action confirms, yet counters, scripture. Finally, Mark describes God's actions in ways that indicate both wastefulness and goodness; deeds that are further illuminated by the ongoing, yet defeated, presence of evil. Part Two demonstrates that this paradoxical language is widely attested across Mark's passion narrative, as he continues to depict God's activity with the use of the three paradoxes observed in Mark 4. Through paradoxical narrative, Mark emphasizes God's transcendence and presence, showing that even though Jesus has brought revelation, a complete understanding of God remains tantalizingly out of their grasp until the eschaton (4:22).

Originally published: Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, c1986.

Michael Card embarks on an imaginative journey through the Gospel of Luke. Picturing Luke as historian, Gentile, doctor and slave, Card approaches Luke?s written account with questions that engage the imagination. Join him in the work of opening heart and mind to the "Gospel of Amazement."

The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God’s Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) “Gospel Glimpses” highlight the gospel of grace throughout each book; (3) “Whole-Bible Connections” show how any given passage connects to the Bible’s overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) “Theological Soundings” identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God’s grace on each and every page of the Bible. The Gospel of Luke is the most thorough historical account of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But Luke’s book is more than just history; it’s also a rich source of life-giving theology, revealing Jesus’s identity as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and the Savior of the world. In this study, New Testament scholar Jimmy Agan III walks readers through Luke’s Gospel, helping Christians see that Jesus is not simply a great teacher but the great Savior.

The church is experiencing a leadership crisis. What can we do to prevent pastors from leaving the ministry? For every celebrity pastor exiting the ministry in the spotlight, there are many more lesser-known pastors leaving in the shadows. Pastor and best-selling author Paul David Tripp argues that lurking behind every pastoral failure is the lack of a strong leadership community. Tripp draws on his decades of ministry experience to give churches twelve gospel principles necessary to combat this leadership crisis. Each of these principles, built upon characteristics such as humility, dependency, and accountability, will enable new and experienced leaders alike to focus their attention on the ultimate leadership model: the gospel.

In light of new studies on early Judaism, an international group of New Testament scholars reexamines Paul's understanding of the Old Testament law.

The classic Harmony of the Gospels by J. W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton with interspersed comments. Attractively re-typeset, this enduring work is a valuable resource to modern Bible students. "In most commentaries a fifth or sixth of the space is taken up in drawing distinctions between the texts of the four Gospels, while in this work these distinctions are placed before the reader's eye, where he can see them for himself at a glance. Moreover, in other commentaries, which give the text, another sixth or seventh of the work is taken up in reprinting in the notes that portion of the text concerning which the commentator wishes to speak. Our interjected method avoids all this needless repetition, and makes it possible for us to present the comment with the least preliminary verbiage or introductory setting. Time is also saved because the reader does not have to look back and forth from the text at the top to the comment at the bottom of the page. Again, other commentaries lose a large amount of space by using the King James text. Those which preceded the revision waste space correcting the translation and modernizing its English: those published since the revision suffer a similar waste by drawing endless comparisons between the two texts. By choosing the American revision as the basis for our work, we have a text which needs but little explanation or apology, and we are thereby enabled to employ the reader's time and strength to his best advantage." --Excerpted from the Introduction

As Sidney Greidanus points out here, Ecclesiastes is especially relevant for our culture the Teacher confronts enticements like materialism, secularism, hedonism, human autonomy, and self-sufficiency. But how can preachers convey these important teachings to their congregations in a helpful way? / Sidney Greidanus here does preachers a great service by providing the foundations for one or more series of expository sermons on Ecclesiastes. He breaks the book down in several ways, including: the boundaries of each preaching text, the text s theme and goal, various ways to move to Christ in the New Testament, detailed exposition of the fifteen literary units, and application for today