Bøger af Ian Grant Spong

Our churches face all kinds of circumstances. Let's look at four churches, each with a unique challenge. Let's look at a church dilemma of the letter versus the spirit of the law. That church was in Galatia. Let's look at a church learning that our foundation is the apostles and prophets, with Jesus the cornerstone. That foundation defines what are the essentials of our faith. Anything else is a non-essential doctrine. That church was in Ephesus. Let's look at a church learning to be steadfast and joyful in Christ Jesus. That church was in Philippi. Let's look at a reminder of what is the perfect bond of unity, lives touched by Christ's liberating love. That message was to the saints in Colossae. Let's begin.

Are there churches today that are divided and promote immorality? Of course there are. This is not a new problem. We can learn much by looking at the church in ancient Corinth. Let's look at this center of commerce in ancient Greece, see how Christians there were facing similar problems to ours, and God's advice given by inspiration through the Apostle Paul.

Let's continue our attempt to let the Bible answer for itself some of life's most important questions. Please be a Berean. Check things out for yourself both in the Bible, and commentaries on the Bible, and feel free to disagree agreeably.

This is part 3 of a four part journey into the Gospels. Each section is a 60 second devotion. It can take a little longer to look up each scripture and it can take a lifetime to meditate on and search the depths of each discussion.

This is a workbook helping a preacher organize and deliver the components of a sermon. It organizes the text, title, goal, introduction, plan, body and conclusion.

This book contains 60 second daily devotionals, radio spots, or discussion starters in the book of Mark. Mark is the shortest of the gospels. It moves at high speed with a sense of urgency of the immanence of the reign of God.

The Bible is the world's most important book. It has more ancient source manuscripts than any other historic book on earth. It is these Holy Scriptures that unite Christians with perhaps more than 95% agreement on the essentials of our faith. This series of 52 weekly discipleship classes is not meant to be dogmatic on one narrow point of view, but rather to ask questions which make people think and discuss and come to the same conclusion, that there is far more that unites us than divides us.As you discuss these chapters in a group, don't get distracted by what causes division. Simply respect each others' right to have different opinions and move on, focusing on the overwhelming agreement that unites all Christians. May God bless our meditation on the Holy Scriptures together.

Wanting to show respect and be peacemakers, many Christians do not want to ask uncomfortable questions, but there are some questions that all Christians should ask themselves.

Psalms is a book of prayers set to music, revealing a God who tenderly listens to raw, uncorrected human emotion in prayer, and inspires the highest of thoughts in meditation.

This book introduces 52 different sermon styles from a variety of sources as diverse as ancient church masters, Toastmasters International and modern preaching classics.

Yo rapping is not really new It's poetry now there's a clue Just add a beat into the brew You've got a rap for your debut

Many in the house church movement have claimed that a house church format is the only legitimate system. But, making rules that neither Jesus nor the Apostles commanded gets into another form of self-righteous legalism. Many in the mainstream churches dismiss house churches as being the domain of misfits, heretics and rebels. Yet, many of today's largest churches and denominations began as collections of house churches. Others see the house church format as only being useful in countries where Christians are persecuted. But, there are many wonderful uses in countries that have religious freedom.

A lyricist once wrote, "All mankind are liars." It certainly would be alarming to realize that all men and women are liars. Waking up from naivete is certainly disturbing. When we first realize that our parents, our teachers and our society have lied to us about some things, it is a shock.

This volume focuses on the topics of some more about the Bible, salvation, the Church, the Church's Mission and the Bible books: Deuteronomy, Samuel and Romans.

This book greatly expands upon the style of public speaking manuals offered by educational groups such as the Toastmasters International and the material on different types of sermons found in the classic "On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons" (1870, John A. Broadus). It is designed like a manual to progress systematically from easy to harder preaching styles. However, if you are an experienced preacher just skip ahead and work on those areas where you need more improvement. On the other hand, some lessons like How to Read Scripture Aloud contain concepts that take a lifetime to master. These are such important tasks that even if you are a seasoned professional you may want to review them from time to time.

The goal of this book is to stir us to deeper discussion of the sayings of Jesus. I hope we agree at times, but also disagree agreeably. That means that we are thinking. I do hope that we can still like each other if we do differ. I also hope that we can find many things over which we find joy together.

The answers to America's problems do not lie in politics or free enterprise but in a serious return to God. This book examines the spirit of the Ten Commandments as a solution to fixing America and because that is such an impossibly steep mountain to climb, we also examine the grace and mercy of God that we need as we stumble.

Why go to church? What good does it do? Does it matter what kind of church? Does it matter if I only go at Christmas and Easter? Should I go every week? What will it do for my life? What if other activities are more important to me? What if going to church is inconvenient or boring? What if I don't like the music, the pastor, or the people?

The Church has been taken over by those who do not follow the faith once for all delivered to the saints. One of its chief proponents has been a member of my clan, John (Jack) Shelby Spong. Well, it's time to rise up, defend the truth of the Scriptures and uphold the family name.

Psalms is a book of prayers set to music, revealing a God who tenderly listens to raw, uncorrected human emotion in prayer, and inspires the highest of thoughts in meditation. This is book 4 of 5.

This is volume 4 of a four volume set of discussions in the Gospels. Each section takes about a minute to read. The book can be used for personal daily devotionals, group discussion or meditation.

Who is God? The question may be controversial in many corners of today's world, but among Christians there is broad consensus on the topic. This discussion offers non-Christians and Christians a look beyond the petty divisions over less important political issues and doctrinal twigs into the heart of the essentials that unite the overwhelming majority in the world's largest faith.

What if we had access to the most important words ever written on planet earth? Would we keep them secret? Would we treasure them and seek to discover their depths? The truth is that those words are not hidden, but freely available to those of us who live in countries with religious freedom. They are the words of Jesus in the first four books of the New Testament in the Bible.Most people just stumble over them and quickly pick themselves up and move on as if nothing happened. These words are spurned and ignored. Yet they contain the secrets of the reign of God.

Psalms is a book of prayers set to music, revealing a God who tenderly listens to raw, uncorrected human emotion in prayer, and inspires the highest of thoughts in meditation. This is book 5 of 5.

Trouble is the Church's normality. The Christian Church has been in trouble since its founding. In church after church heresy is taking over as it always has. Many Bible-believing Christians are leaving their churches, but some feel called by God to stay as missionaries to a strange mix of worldliness and watered down Christianity. Many conservative Christians do not want to leave family and friends. How can such Christians survive?

This is an attempt to let the Bible answer for itself some of life's most important questions. Does God exist? Can we trust the Bible? Is it even relevant? This is organized to consider both whole books of scripture and important topics interspersed throughout.

Hebrew poetry is more about repeating a phrase in different words. It's deep and meaningful. To the English-speaker, songs sound better in rhyme. This work attempts to get the message accurate by comparing the original language and different translations to find words that fit both the understanding and the rhyme. It's been a grueling task, and I hope you like it.

What is Revelation all about? What are the mysterious creatures and other symbols supposed to mean? There are four major views of the book of Revelation: Preterist, Historicist, Futurist and Symbolic (Spiritual). The view that most fits the genre is the symbolic view, yet it also allows consideration of the other views.

This book is a series of parables. They are parables of hope, hope for a day that many of us would love to see in our lifetimes. It is not an impossible hope, but it may be improbable - the day the Church repented.

Can we be happy all the time? Can we be blessed all the time, even when we feel like complaining, even when we are in pain, even when we are being mercilessly harassed? Is there a way that we can have peace even in the midst of troubles?