Christless Christianity

Christless Christianity PDF Author: Michael Horton
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 144120203X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.

Christless Christianity

Christless Christianity PDF Author: Michael Horton
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 144120203X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.

The Gospel-Driven Life

The Gospel-Driven Life PDF Author: Michael Horton
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 9781441205247
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
In his well-received Christless Christianity Michael Horton offered a prophetic wake-up call for a self-centered American church. With The Gospel-Driven Life he turns from the crisis to the solutions, offering his recommendations for a new reformation in the faith, practice, and witness of contemporary Christianity. This insightful book will guide readers in reorienting their faith and the church's purpose toward the good news of the gospel. The first six chapters explore that breaking news from heaven, while the rest of the book focuses on the kind of community that the gospel generates and the surprising ways in which God is at work in the world. Here is fresh news for Christians who are burned out on hype and are looking for hope.

The Unsaved Christian

The Unsaved Christian PDF Author: Dean Inserra
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802497527
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book

Book Description
What to do when they say they’re Christian but don’t know Jesus Whether it’s the Christmas and Easter Christians or the faithful church attenders whose hearts are cold toward the Lord, we’ve all encountered cultural Christians. They’d check the Christian box on a survey, they’re fine with church, but the truth is, they’re far from God. So how do we bring Jesus to this overlooked mission field? The Unsaved Christian equips you to confront cultural Christianity with honesty, compassion, and grace, whether you’re doing it from the pulpit or the pews. This practical guide will: show you how to recognize cultural Christianity teach you how to overcome the barriers that get in the way give you easy-to-understand advice about VBS, holiday services, reaching “good people,” and more! If you’ve ever felt stuck or unsure how to minister to someone who identifies as Christian but still needs Jesus, this book is for you.

Sexual Morality in a Christless World

Sexual Morality in a Christless World PDF Author: Matthew Rueger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780758656384
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
Like in St. Paul's day, the Church around the world-and particularly in the United States-now frequently faces hostility at the first mention of homosexuality in casual conversations or public-square debates. Author Matthew Rueger openly embraces this hot topic, giving you a framework for defending your beliefs by first exploring the relationship between sexual sin in ancient history and twenty-first-century tangles of the same flavor. Topics such as temptation, promiscuity, marriage, homosexuality, natural law, and the church's role in it all then swirl together to reveal our unifying need for a Savior. Rueger writes compassionately with a father's heart and adamantly with a determination to outline the truth about sexual morality from a reasoned Christian perspective. We need to expect the unpleasant from our opponents, arm ourselves with answers to common objections, and speak in clarity and love. And let's not lose sight of the church as a place of refuge for those who are battered down by their desires. Real people with real struggles are being lost. Find Your Voice. Book jacket.

Getting Over Yourself

Getting Over Yourself PDF Author: Dean Inserra
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802499473
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 133

Get Book

Book Description
Is trying to be “the best you” actually ruining you? From “living your best life” to “self-actualizing,” “finding your destiny,” and “waiting on the best to come,” the contemporary messages of the world exhort us to believe that we are promised and entitled the biggest and best life can possibly offer. But is that actually what Jesus promises? Is that even close to the message of the gospel? Getting Over Yourself is a call for Christians to reject these hollow messages of personal prosperity and to return to the humble truths of the gospel. You’ll learn how to identify this insidious, popular theology in culture and churches and examine its devastating effects. And, perhaps most importantly, you’ll learn how to combat it with gospel truth that leads to the abundant life Jesus actually desires for His people. Discover the beauty in losing yourself—and ultimately in gaining Him.

Searching for God Knows What

Searching for God Knows What PDF Author: Don Miller
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 1418529958
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book

Book Description
With equal parts wit and wisdom, New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller invites you to reconnect with your faith. Miller shares what he's learned firsthand--that our relationship with God is designed to teach us about redemption, grace, healing, and so much more. Searching for God Knows What weaves together timeless stories and fresh perspectives on the Bible to capture one man's journey to discover an authentic faith that's worth believing. Along the way, Miller poses his own questions about faith, religion, and community, asking: What if the motive behind our theology was relational? What if our value exists because God takes pleasure in us? What if the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to know God? Maybe you're a Christian wondering what faith you signed up for. Or maybe you don't believe anything and are daring someone to show you a genuine example of genuine faith. Somewhere beyond the self-help formulas, fancy marketing, and easy promises, there is a life-changing experience with God waiting for you--it just takes a little bit of searching. Praise for Searching for God Knows What: "Like a shaken snow globe, Donald Miller's newest collection of essays creates a swirl of ideas about the Christian life that eventually crystallize into a lovely landscape...[He] is one of the evangelical book market's most creative writers." --Christianity Today "If you have felt that Jesus is someone you respect and admire--but Christianity is something that repels you--Searching for God Knows What will give you hope that you still can follow Jesus and be part of a church without the trappings of organized religion." --Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and Pastor of Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA "For fans of Blue Like Jazz, I doubt you will be disappointed. Donald Miller writes with the wit and vulnerability that you expect. He perfectly illustrates important themes in a genuine and humorous manner...For those who would be reading Miller for the first time, this would be a great start." --Relevant

Ordinary

Ordinary PDF Author: Michael Horton
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310517389
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book

Book Description
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.” Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What’s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it’s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace. Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul—not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it’s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.

Mere Churchianity

Mere Churchianity PDF Author: Michael Spencer
Publisher: WaterBrook
ISBN: 0307459179
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book

Book Description
Studies show that one in four young adults claim no formal religious affiliation, and church leaders have long known that this generation is largely missing on Sunday morning. Hundreds of thousands of "church leavers" have had a mentor and pastor, however, in Michael Spencer, known to blog readers as the Internet Monk.

The Explicit Gospel

The Explicit Gospel PDF Author: Matt Chandler
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433530066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book

Book Description
You know you know it... But then again, maybe you don’t. Even if you go to church, it doesn’t mean that you are being exposed (or exposing others) to the gospel explicitly. Sure, most people talk about Jesus, and about being good and avoiding bad, but the gospel message simply isn’t there—at least not in its specificity and its fullness. Inspired by the needs of both the over-churched and the unchurched, and bolstered by the common neglect of the explicit gospel within Christianity, popular pastor Matt Chandler writes this best-selling treatise to remind us what is of first and utmost importance—the gospel.

A New Kind of Christianity

A New Kind of Christianity PDF Author: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061969494
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book

Book Description
“Some books provide us with information about the world, but every once in a while a book appears that enables us to imagine new, more wonderful worlds. [A New Kind of Christianity] is one of these.” —Peter Rollins, Ikon A New Kind of Christianity is Brian D. McLaren’s much anticipated follow-up to his breakthrough work of the emergent-church movement, A New Kind of Christian. Named by Time magazine as one of America’s top 25 evangelicals, McLaren, along with such contemporaries as N.T. Wright, Jim Wallis, and Rob Bell, is one of the acknowledged leaders of a new generation of Christians who want to update their faith for current times while remaining true to the core message of Jesus. In this controversial and thought-provoking book, McLaren explores the questions that will determine the shape of Christianity for the next 500 years.