The mission of the early church is our mission today.

Raising kids is hard enough. But raising kids to heed Jesus’ upside-down call away from status and power and toward service and sharing? It can seem almost impossible. So how can parents model countercultural choices? What habits can help families joyfully follow Christ instead of the latest trend? Gather with your faith community to search the Scriptures and discuss how to raise faithful kids in the twenty-first century. Weary of Christian faith wrapped in a flag and trapped in your heart? Tired of faith as usual? Live out your Christian faith through the lens of Jesus. Follow values that seem so counter-cultural they appear to be upside down. Each compelling six-session Upside Down Living Bible study helps us encounter the teachings of Jesus and wrestle with living out the kingdom here and now. The Bible isn’t a cookbook with solutions for every ethical dilemma, but it helps us raise the right questions, encounter the teachings of Jesus, and discover new ways of faithful living in the world. Ideal for Sunday school or Bible study sessions, each topical study covers a specific theme or issue, and comes with thought-provoking discussion questions and activities. Be inspired and transformed in your faith. Live upside down. Introduction: Meager Crumbs and Miraculous Blessings 1. What These Stones Mean: The Stories Our Lives Tell 2. Wonderfully Made: The Messages We Communicate about Bodies 3. Do unto Others: Loving Our Neighbors—and Enemies—as Ourselves 4. First Shall Be Last: Winning the “Jesus Way” 5. Where Our Heart Is: How We Consume in the Upside-Down Kingdom 6. In the World but Not of It: Engaging Culture with Our Kids About the Writers

Every person of faith has a story. At times our lives are interesting and compelling, mundane and routine. Yet taken together these individual moments create a mosaic that can be shared with others. This study will empower you to discover how to communicate your own story with others as an effective way of sharing your faith. Weary of Christian faith wrapped in a flag and trapped in your heart? Tired of faith as usual? Live out your Christian faith through the lens of Jesus. Follow values that seem so counter-cultural they appear to be upside down. Each compelling six-session Upside-Down Living Bible study helps us encounter the teachings of Jesus and wrestle with living out the kingdom here and now. The Bible isn’t a cookbook with solutions for every ethical dilemma, but it helps us raise the right questions, encounter the teachings of Jesus, and discover new ways of faithful living in the world. Ideal for Sunday school or Bible study sessions, each topical study covers a specific theme or issue, and comes with thought-provoking discussion questions and activities. Be inspired and transformed in your faith. Live upside down. Topics in the series include: Sabbath (February 2017), Technology (February 2017), Identity and Aging (April 2017), Money (April 2017), Violence (June 2017), and Sharing Faith Stories (June 2017). Introduction 1. The Power of Story 2. Sharing Your Personal Story 3. Sharing Faith Stories for Every Day 4. Sharing Faith Stories in Words and Actions 5. Sharing Faith Stories When It’s Difficult 6.Sharing Faith Stories as a Community About the Writer

The 64-page member book for a dynamic four-week small group Bible study based on the bold fatherhood and family principles featured in the new film Courageous (from the makers of Fireproof).

Ordinary is not a call to be more radical. If anything, it is a call to the contrary. The kingdom of God isn’t coming with light shows, and shock and awe, but with lowly acts of service. Tony Merida wants to push back against sensationalism and “rock star Christianity,” and help people understand that they can make a powerful impact by practicing ordinary Christianity.

In our age when the church can too often seem like a poor copy of the world, Chad Bird challenges us to reclaim the astounding originality of our ancient, backward faith. Where the world stresses the importance of success, Bird invites readers to embrace nine specific failures in the areas of our personal lives, our relationships, and the church. Why? Because what human wisdom deems indispensable is so often an impediment to our spiritual growth, and what it deems insignificant is so often essential to it. With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps readers delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside-down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.

Are you sometimes perplexed with Jesus’s teaching? Do you really want what he wants? Bestselling author Kyle Idleman reveals that the key to the abundant life Jesus promised lies in embracing His inside-out way of life. As he examines Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Kyle unpacks the many counter-intuitive truths, including: brokenness is the way to wholeness, mourning is the path to blessing, and emptiness is required in order to know true fullness. Ultimately you will discover how Jesus transforms you as you begin to live out these paradoxical principles. Because only when you come to the end of yourself can you begin to experience the full, blessed, and whole life Jesus offers.

What if the path to a life of abundance and blessing isn't what we expected? What if the way forward begins with going backward? In our constant search for a life filled with blessing and abundance, we often follow our human instinct and then wonder why we come up short. But it doesn't have to be that way. Join pastor and author Alex Seeley as she teaches us that God always has a better idea -- we just have to move in a new direction. In?The Opposite Life, Seeley explains that the secret to living a powerful and abundant life lies in the upside-down kingdom of God. Each chapter of The Opposite Life explores the opposite-life principles that can start to shift our mindset for the better, diving deeper into the natural contradictions between: death and life fear and faith hate and love worry and worship impossible and possible Along the way, she offers encouraging and simple challenges to help us align our lives with God's subversive plan. As we learn to exchange our default instincts for the surprising teachings of Jesus -- our pioneer of the unlikely -- we discover a life of transformational power, abundance, and more blessing than we ever thought possible. Praise for The Opposite Life: "Our broken earth longs for just this type of unveiling. It is time for us to remember who we are and respond as sons and daughters of the Most High God. There is a desperate longing for His goodness in the face of overwhelming anger, pain, and confusion. The Opposite Life is a drink of living water in a dry and arid land." --Lisa Bevere, New York Times bestselling author of Without Rival and Girls with Swords

Stopping the spiral of toxic thoughts. In Get Out of Your Head, a six-session video-based Bible study, Jennie inspires and equips us to transform our emotions, our outlook, and even our circumstances by taking control of our thoughts. Our enemy is determined to get in our heads to make us feel helpless, overwhelmed, and incapable of making a difference for the kingdom of God. But when we submit our minds to Christ, the promises of goodness of God flood our lives in remarkable ways. It starts in your head. And from there, the possibilities are endless. This guide serves as a tool to prepare you in leading this Get Out of Your Head study and to encourage you along the way. It helps you as the leader to effectively point your group to the overarching theme of each lesson and point them to the themes of each study. This Get Out of Your Head Leader’s Guide includes: Session-by-session helps to guide your group through the study. Walk-through for using each piece of the study: Videos, Study Guide, and Conversation Card Deck. The vision for Get Out of Your Head. Tips for leading your group, and much more. This guide is designed for use with the Get Out of Your Head Video Study (9780310116394), sold separately. Streaming video, study guide, and conversation cards also available.

365 Gospel-Centered Devotions for the Whole Year Mornings can be tough. Sometimes, a hearty breakfast and strong cup of coffee just aren't enough. Offering more than a rush of caffeine, best-selling author Paul David Tripp wants to energize you with the most potent encouragement imaginable: the gospel. Forget "behavior modification" or feel-good aphorisms. Tripp knows that what we really need is an encounter with the living God. Then we'll be prepared to trust in God's goodness, rely on his grace, and live for his glory each and every day.