Dream killers, ditch diggers, backstabbers...we’ve all had them in our lives. And even though we’d rather avoid them at all costs, God has plans for them—and for us. Joseph (of the coat of many colors) had a life full of these interlopers, from the brothers who wanted to murder him and sold him into slavery, to the conniving wife of his master, Potiphar. Though some might think God abandoned Joseph to these betrayers, Interlopers: The Difficult People and Life Experiences That Prepare Us for Greater helps us understand that God uses such interlopers to transform us and prepare us for greater destinies, just as he did for Joseph, leading us from the pit to the palace while changing us in ways we could never imagine. This book balances nicely the hard truths, suggesting what we need to do to be better and to keep ourselves in the best shape for the paths God has set out for us, along with encouragement for how to do so. It will be an enjoyable addition to the libraries of those looking for encouragement through their struggles and for ways they can actively improve their lives by “simply” changing their views about their struggles.
Do you ever think where you fit in this life? God has a perfect way of using imperfect people, though sometimes it is not seen until we remember the past and open our hearts to the future. Why would God want to use such a broken, imperfect person like me? Journey back with me to the memories that help mold the person of today. These will encourage us to finish strong, serving Christ in the future; make your mission field to be in reach of where ever you are today.
Advice given when buying plants or trees is "Don't expect any blooms the first year. Fruit trees may require three years." I planted a slim brown stick in my yard and got nothing the first year except a thin brown stick with a few leaves on it. During its second season of growth and beyond, that brown stick grew to 7 inches in diameter and now produces wondrous 20 foot pink clouds each spring. In an ideal world we learn lessons the first time around. So often, as with daffodils and cherry trees, we need more time to get it. Winter, incendiary summer, a few storms, and unexpected late frost toughen us, giving us confidence to face whatever life has for us. We can then bloom where we are planted. We often don't have choices about challenges life gives us, but we have free-will in deciding how to respond to them. We can embrace the One who gives Wisdom to live life abundantly. May these vignettes inspire you to find pearls of learning and wisdom to be harvested from the depths of your own life.
Though we Christians don’t need subjective texts to understand or live our faith, nevertheless we can often take great joy and insight from hearing how others have “walked the walk,” from hearing what our Lord or our Lady had to say to them. Reading these folk can be like talking over a backyard fence. We can get little tips, helps; and we can make a friend. Gabrielle Bossis’s He and I really helps the reader to see how sweetly Jesus, the most high God of the universe, loves us. It helps us get a feel for the mystical circuitry, for how we are made—not to be stand-alone units, but rather to be in intimate, continual union with the only One who both knows us and lovingly completes us. It’s like a homey road map, or an afternoon of tea and good company. It’s like going to a game and the home team wins.
Experience remains a politically charged and semantically ambiguous concept that arouses as much passion as it does suspicion, especially as it relates to agency and identity. Craig Ireland focuses on the eighteenth-century historical developments that led to the conceptualization of experience as a modern problem. Combining historical findings with discourse analyses and diagnostic readings of recent subaltern and aesthetic inquiry, Ireland reveals that the term experience has been incorrectly understood. Since the 1970s, persistent appeals to experience in identity politics and cultural inquiry testify not only to the influence of a particular modern concept but, more importantly, to the historical status of modern self-identity. The Subaltern Appeal to Experience demonstrates that addressing historical preconditions not only helps clarify a notoriously ambiguous concept but also elucidates the issues that revolve around how modes of identity-formation have changed in the face of earlier cultural and economic developments that continue to inform our late (or post) modern understandings of the self.
The relationship between Israel and the church is a crucial reference point in theology, especially in distinguishing between dispensational and nondispensational ways of thinking. The thesis of this book is that Israel and the church are distinct theological institutions that have arisen in the historical progress of divine revelation. But they are also related as successive phases of a redemptive program that is historically progressive and eschatologically converging. The approach to these issues here is neither polemical nor apologetic; rather, it anticipates a convergence among evangelical scholars in the recognition of both continuity and discontinuity in the Israel-church relationship. This book has three purposes: - To offer a contemporary dispensational treatment of that relationship through an exegetical examination of key texts with a focus on theological concerns - To foster genuine dialogue with nondispensational thinkers regarding major biblical themes tied to the plan of God - To identify the changes in dispensational thought that have developed since the publication of Charles Ryrie's book Dispensationalism Today in 1965
Have you learned God's blueprint for your life and ministry? Do you know what He isbuilding? Are you ready to be equipped to build with balance?This book will enable you to have the right perspective to understand God's eternalpurpose in order to rightly divide the Bible and the truth it contains. Through this youwill be qualified as an approved workman involved in what God is building and desiringto do on the earth today, as exhorted in 2 Timothy 2:15.After receiving the right perspective, you will be instructed, equipped, and guided on howto practically implement the divine design for discipleship in line with God's blueprint.This will empower you to be more effective in God's building process and see lives builtaccording to the divine design for discipleship.This book addresses: God's eternal purpose and your involvement in it The divisions of Scripture How to rightly divide the Word of God What are New Testament truths? Explanation of the primary methods for holistic discipleship Discerning what stage of spiritual development someone is in The characteristics, needs, and vulnerabilities of believers in each stage What is Biblical success? God's blueprint for discipleship Leading others through the discipleship process Ways to protect those you are leading The difference between gifting, calling, and visionChad Craig is a pursuer of God's presence and plan, a husband to his wife Michelle, anda father to their children. Chad has served as the Pastor of Discipleship Ministries forFree Chapel located in Gainesville, Georgia for many years. Chad is the author of DivineDesign for Discipleship and leads the D3 Network that provides curriculum, consultation, and conferences for churches internationally. Chad's focus in ministry is discipleship, leadership, and church planting.
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