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It is often challenging to discuss with new believers - or even seasoned believers - the meatiest parts of Christian theology. You can't exactly answer these questions in the course of an elevator ride."What is the Holy Spirit? How does it work?""What does it mean for God to be in three persons?""Are demons really in the world? What are Christians supposed to do about demon possession?"Dave Zuchelli draws from the Gospels of Luke and John to give you tools to wrestle with these questions. Whether from the pulpit, in a small group or personal conversation, the sermons inWatch This!remind us to enter into discussion with humility. To sit with our guests at the last seat at the table.The Lord will meet you there.Sermons include: Show Us The Father(John 14:8-17, 25-27) I've Come To Bring Fire (Luke 12:49-56) Watch This! (Luke 14:1, 7-14) Dave Zuchelliwas a pastor in the United Methodist Church for 37 years. He is now an author, blogger and speaker. He earned his Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1985. Previous publications include The Last Wedding (2015) and Sermons for the Harried Preacher (2016). Dave rides a Harley Davidson (2003 Softail Deuce), roots for the Pittsburgh Pirates and describes himself as a "frustrated musician" who plays acoustic guitar and electronic keyboards. He and his wife Denise live in Virginia.

"Go against the grain."This is what Mark Ellingsen wants your church to hear in A Rebellious Faith. It isn't merely odd or contradictory in the eyes of the world to live a Christian life. It is offensive.To go against the grain - by discounting our accomplishments, carrying no shame in the light of grace, considering no one outside of God's love - is to sometimes make people who worship hard work, the quest for perfection and exceptionalism deeply uncomfortable.And that is a very good thing.Ellingsen begins with the irrevocable truth that the ashes we put on our living bodies at the beginning of the Lenten season represent the death we all deserve. From there, he leads your congregation through the brazenly offensive, un-American ideas presented in the New Testament.Confession does not shame and isolate us, it liberates us. Bearing the cross of our sin is not a burden, but a blessing in the knowledge the Lord has paid the ultimate price for our sin. The Resurrection does not make anyone exceptional. It unites us all whether or not we are ready to enter Heaven together.A Rebellious Faith reminds us thatthe war is already won, and we are to live as brave sinners whose Savior cannot be overcome.Sermons include: Lent 1: "A Protestant (and Catholic) Way to Confess" (Romans 10:8b-13) Good Friday: "Look What Happened on the Cross! God Burns Away All Our Pettiness" (Hebrews 10:16-25) Easter: "Easter Makes Us One!" (Acts 10:34-43) The Ascension of Our Lord: "The Triumph of God's Grace" (Ephesians 1:15-23) Mark Ellingsen, a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), has been a professor of Church History at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1993. He graduated magna cum laude from Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania) and Yale University, from which he received three master's degrees in divinity, arts, and philosophy, as well as his Ph.D. He has authored eighteen books including Sin Bravely: A Joyful Alternative to a Purpose-Driven Life (Continuum) and The Integrity of Biblical Narrative (Wipf and Stock). He and his wife have three grown children. When he is not writing or teaching, Ellingsen enjoys discussing politics, sports, and playing guitar.

Every time Rev. Derl G. Keefer preaches a Christmas sermon, he asks himself the same question. Why did Jesus come to earth?It's the question that Jesus' earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, must have asked themselves over and over. They struggled to understand why, when he was 12 years old, he would leave their care to join the scholars of the temple. His answer served to refocus his own parents on who he really was."Did you not know," he asked them, "that I must be about my Father's business?"The 15 sermons contained in Focus on Jesus will provide four answers to the question of why he came by revealing the nature of the Father's business as described in the Gospel of Luke: Jesus came to be the fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus came to be our Messiah. Jesus came to be our Savior. Jesus came to be the human face of God.This Advent season, utilize Keefer's clear, simple teaching style in Focus on Jesus to help those seeking Jesus understand who he is, and to reignite the passion that first brought members of your congregation into his arms.Rev. Derl Keefer pastored in the Church of the Nazarene for over 30 years. He currently serves as the Adult Development Ministries Coordinator for the Sunday School Ministries department at the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center. He received his B.A. in Religion from Southern Nazarene University and his M.Div from Nazarene Theological Seminary. His other books include Let's Get Committed, Wedding Sermons and Marriage Ceremonies, and Open Doors.

Do you serve people who feel like underdogs?The story of Jesus' last days on Earth, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, provide some of the New Testament's most powerful inspiration for the "underdogs" among us.Richard A. Hasler draws from a deep well of modern-era stories to illustrate Jesus' words of comfort and hope to people who seemed foolish, destined to lose in life.Learn how Albert Schweitzer "wasted" his gifts to become a missionary to equatorial Africa; how Feodor Dostoevsky depended on the grace of God to create beautiful work out of a broken life; how one young believer ministered to a woman living with a family of Satanists in an unlikely place; and more.These 12 sermons included in The Last Days reminds us we have the strength to serve, persevere and trust in Jesus Christ, even when doing so looks foolish, because we follow the king of underdogs … until the last days and forevermore.Sermons include: The Joy of Being Found(Luke 15:1-10) Do You See Lazarus on Your Doorstep? (Luke 16:19-31) Are We Living in the Last Days? (Luke 21:5-19) Richard A. Hasler is a retired pastor for the Presbyterian Church (USA). He was educated at Houghton College in New York (B.A.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), the University of Pennsylvania (American History), and the Hartford Seminary Foundation (Church History). In over fifty years of ordained ministry, Hasler pastored Presbyterian and UCC congregations in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Ohio. He lives in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, with his wife. Together they have two grown children. His many hobbies include reading, walking, sports, and world traveling.

When members of the church experience loss, it can be difficult for pastors to discern how best to care for them. What can spiritual leaders expect in the grief process? What are we to do, to say, to journey with those who have experienced loss? What mistakes might we make that do more harm than good?In Navigating the River of Grief, Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates shares the results of her important research into the grief process. Her concept of grief as a river is inspired by several biblical references to water, both its ability to threaten and give life. Bates uses case studies to present grief not as the neat linear progression of stages we'd like it to be; rather, it is a river that sweeps the bereaved along in unpredictable ways. Its choppy waters cause pain and its depths are menacing, but when we understand the flow of its currentas a spiritual journey we can better help the bereaved navigate toward new life.Navigating the River of Griefprovides pastors with invaluable resources when providing grief ministry: Evidence-based best practices for spiritual counseling Case studies to provide context Guidance on the use of specific scriptures Explorations of theological conflicts Together with the Bible itself, Navigating the River of Grief will inform your ministry with spiritual truth about those hours between the night of weeping and the joy the Lord brings in the morning (Psalm 30:5). Rev. Dr. Bonnie Batesis currently serving in the United Church of Christ as the Associate Minister for Congregational Vitality and Development in the Eastern Ohio and Western Reserve Associations of the Ohio Conference. Her 12 years as a local church pastor informs her current work. Bates' background, prior to her call to ordained ministry, involves extensive work in the management of non-profit organizations including the Girl Scouts and the Al Sigl Center. Her educational background includes a BA in Organization Management, a MA in Human Resource Development, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the creation of the model which is the basis for this book.

One of the insights of people of faith is that God is active in history as he seeks to bring creation into conformity with his purpose. There have been those in every age who have discovered something of God's purpose and have attempted to pass it on. Sometimes, God's activity has been reported in supernatural terms, but fully as often, the activity of God is revealed in the faithful actions of human beings. For that reason, the Old and New Testaments are filled with the experiences of individuals who have discovered God's presence in their individual circumstances. David Rogne's So Great A Cloud of Witnesses will give readers an appreciation for the people of faith who are presented, and humbly recognize the cost borne by so many to deliver the faith to us. They are a great cloud of witnesses. They have played their part in relaying the faith to subsequent generations, and they are now filling the stands in the heavenly arena, eager to see how we continue the race. Witnesses have been chosen from varied backgrounds so that it may be seen that people from all walks of life are called to live faithfully and to witness to God's truth. The entire known story of some of these individuals, such as Joseph, the husband of Mary, may be just a few verses of Scripture. Some, such as the Wiseman and the Emmaus disciple, are not even named. Nevertheless, their witness is important. Rogne attempts to give life to the testimony of these less-well-known witnesses by giving them names and employing a little imagination. In every case, the subjects tell their stories as they might have experienced them. Chapters included in this book: The Supplanter: Jacob My House Will Serve the Lord: Joshua The Sword of the Lord: Gideon The Outsider: Ruth and Boaz The Sweet Singer of Israel: David This book may be used for: Group study Private devotionals Monologues Sermon series David G. Rogne served as senior minister at a number of United Methodist congregations in southern California for 39 years. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Rogne received his M.Div. degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and his D.Min. degree from the Claremont School of Theology, where his doctoral project involved first-person preaching. Rogne currently writes, lectures, and preaches on special occasions and is a resident of South Carolina. He is also the author of All About the Kingdom, Telling It Like It Was, Let Me Tell You… (CSS), and also a collaborator on Sermons on the Gospel Readings, Series I, Cycle B.

Do church bulletin boards have to be dull and boring? Not if you have Creative Church Bulletin Boards in hand! The uplifting, thought-provoking theme messages presented in this practical how-to guide will both educate and entertain your entire congregation. Capturing the attention of media-jaded children - and adults - is much easier when the message of our faith is displayed in eye-catching splashes of color and design, rather than in faded construction paper or dry memos. Packed with unique design ideas that will spark your creativity, Creative Church Bulletin Boards offers plenty of specific advice on shopping for supplies and keeping expenses within a limited budget, as well as detailed directions for using a wide variety of non-conventional tools to mount interesting items. You'll learn how to put together attractive displays that reinforce Christian teachings on subjects such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, and caring. Material appropriate for both general use and specific seasons throughout the year is provided, with plenty of possible slogans or phrases for you to choose from. And to help you get started, each grouping includes a thorough discussion of one example along with a picture and explicit step-by-step instructions for assembling the board. Creative Church Bulletin Boards gives you everything you need to put a powerful but often overlooked evangelism tool to work in your church! This book is the launching point for rediscovering the importance of the time-honored, non-electron-based truth that bulletin boards can help us relate God's message in new ways. What hope and joy to enter the church building and find there a bulletin board catching the eye with beauty, humor, and creativity, warming the heart with a sign of God's love and connection. A creative bulletin board may not get people in the building, but it can help keep them coming once they are there. June Stitzinger-Clark Pastor, Christ United Methodist Church Lakewood, New Jersey Disaster Response Coordinator, Greater New Jersey Annual Conference Rosalind M. Townley lives in Wenonah, New Jersey, where she is an active member of Wenonah United Methodist Church. She is a former schoolteacher and a graduate of Lycoming College. About the Author June Stitzinger-Clark Pastor, Christ United Methodist Church Lakewood, New Jersey Disaster Response Coordinator, Greater New Jersey Annual Conference Rosalind M. Townley lives in Wenonah, New Jersey, where she is an active member of Wenonah United Methodist Church. She is a former schoolteacher and a graduate of Lycoming College.

The world of the Bible is quite different from our own. According to Thomas Renquist, it's a topsy-turvy world where guests become hosts, where masters are turned into servants, where hoarders are transformed into givers, where peace-making is experienced as piece-making. And, says Renquist, the biblical world changes us because we begin to look at our own world in a different way ... seeing things from God's point of view. Thomas A. Renquist is a graduate of the University of Iowa (B.A.) and Yale University (M.Div.). He is currently pastor of Lord of the Hills Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Aurora, Colorado. The author of What Grace They Received(CSS), Renquist is one of 60 pastor/theologians selected by the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, for three years of study and conversation concerning the church's current theological crisis.

Interdisciplinary studies by leading Hispanic scholars investigate the religious, cultural and artistic dimensions of Hispanic/Latino Catholicism in the United States, revealing the promise it holds for the Church of the next millenium. Uncovering the riches of Hispanic/Latino Catholicism, the essays in this volume explore its roots in the Spanish colonial and Amerindians of Latin America as well as the cultural and religious breadth of contemporary Latino faith. Peter Casarella is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Raul Gomez, S.D.S is Vice Rector and Director of Hispanic Studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corner, Wisconsin. CSS Publishing Company ¿ FaithWalk Publishing ¿ Academic

This study on the life and thought of St. Gregory of Nazianzus was written by feminist theologian and Patristic scholar, Rosemary Radford Ruether, as her doctoral dissertation and originally published by Oxford University Press in 1969. The focus of the study is the tension and conflict in the life of Gregory of Nazianzus and his contemporary Christian companions, such as Basil the Great and Gregory Nyssa, between rhetoric and philosophy.This is a conflict that has deep roots in Greek culture, going back to the time of Isocrates and Plato. It reflects two major streams of Greek culture, the literary tradition of classical education and public argumentation, with its often specious use of language, and the philosophical search for truth which saw itself as culminating in spiritual communion with the Good, the True and the Beautiful. In the Christian context of the fourth century A.D. this conflict had been translated into a tension between classical literary education, which still shaped the socialization of Christian leaders such as Gregory and informed the patterns of their preaching, and their search for contemplative union with God. Gregory and others spoke of the ascetic life of emerging Christian monasticism as "the philosophical life," thus incorporating this tension between rhetoric and philosophy into their own lives.For Gregory and other Christian leader of his time, Christians should renounce worldly ambition and even Christian positions of power, such as episcopacy, to pursue the separated life of monastic discipline, yet even in this ascetic retirement they found it difficult not to continue to employ the much-loved literary culture of their youthful education. This book shows how this tension played out in Gregory's own life, including his relation with his friend and school companion, Basil the Great, who shared the quest for the monastic life with Gregory, but later became a bishop and sought to secure his power against church rivals by forcing episcopacy upon both Gregory Nazianzus and his own brother, Gregory Nyssa.The volume also studies the way in which Gregory of Nazianzus employs rhetorical conventions to shape his own literary style in his sermons and treatises. It then focuses on the anthropology and cosmology that underlay Gregory's understanding of the "philosophical life" as a journey of communion with God. In the final chapter it reviews Gregory's own struggles to find a modus vivendi between the two cultures of classical literary education and the ascetic, contemplative life. This is a struggle that did not end with the fourth century, but continued to shape a Christian culture that adopted classical Greek literature as the basis of its educational curriculum and yet also taught the ideals of the soul's quest for God.Rosemary Radford Ruether has been a pioneer Christian feminist theologian for over three decades and is among the most widely read theologians in the world. Her book, Sexism and God-Talk, a classic in the field of theology, remains the only systematic feminist treatment of the Christian symbols to date. With wide-ranging scholarship, Dr. Ruether has written and edited over thirty books and hundreds of articles and reviews.

Pastors love to preach about grace. The essence of the Good News, grace is unmerited favor from the all-powerful Creator of the world. There is perhaps no more satisfying message to deliver.But does the average churchgoer really understand what grace means for them? Is it just another "Christianese" term that fails to resonate?Bill Thomas' Surrounded by Grace: A Bible Study for Lent is a tool based on the Gospel of John to help pastors, small groups and congregations answer the question of what grace is in a modern context. From the story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana to his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Thomas uses John's words to affirm that the Lord's favor extends to all no matter how insignificant we see ourselves or our problems.Written to be utilized for individual or group study, or for worship services during the Lenten season,Surrounded by Grace encourages the imagination to ponder that there is no storm so great the Lord cannot overcome it; no pain so deep he will not sustain us through it; no death so final he will fail to resurrect us from it.Lessons Include: "Grace for Those Awkward Moments" (John 2:1-11) "Grace for the Broken Heart" (John 11:17-44) "Grace When Things Are Chaotic" (John 16:17-33) Bill Thomas is an associate pastor at First Christian Church of Washington, Missouri. Previously he has served as a minister at Northridge Church of Christ in Circleville, Ohio, and as pastor of Stony Point Christian Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Bill received a B.S. in Education from the University of Kansas, a Bachelor of Theology from Manhattan Christian College, and a Master of Arts from Johnson Bible College. His previously published works include The Road to Victory: A Pre-Easter Home Study and The Critical Questions … And More: Three Pre-Easter Bible Studies (CSS Publishing). An avid sports fan who referees football and basketball, he is also the author of two young adult Christian books with a sports theme: Pete Thompson and the Long Road Home, and Pete Thompson and the Last Out (Publish America, 2004).