The Legacy of Luther

The Bible's teaching on God's love, holiness, and sovereignty is often met with questions about human responsibility, suffering, and evil. If God is in control of everything, can we make free choices? If God is good and all-powerful, how can we account for natural disasters and moral atrocities? Answers to these questions are often filled with technical jargon and personal assumptions that don't take into account the full scope of biblical truth.

The Bible reveals glorious things. And yet we often miss its power because we read it the same way we read any other book. In Reading the Bible Supernaturally, best-selling author John Piper teaches us how to read the Bible in light of its divine author. In doing so, he highlights the Bible's unique ability to reveal God to humanity in a way that informs our minds, transforms our hearts, and ignites our love.

On account of the superficial points of agreement between Islam and Christianity, many don't see how tremendously deep the divides between them really are, and fewer still have considered the evidence for each faith. How is jihad different from the Crusades? Can we know the life of Jesus as well as the life of Muhammad? What reason is there to believe in one faith over the other, and what difference can the Gospel really make?

Many people react negatively to the word theology, believing that it involves dry, fruitless arguments about minute points of doctrine. Yet as Dr. R.C. Sproul argues, everyone is a theologian. Any time we think about a teaching of the Bible and strive to understand it, we are engaging in theology. Therefore, it is important that we put the Bible's varied teachings together in a systematic fashion, using proper, time-tested methods of interpretation so as to arrive at a theology that is founded on truth.

The 1960s heralded a sexual revolution, transforming society's vision for sex and relationships. With an appealing narrative of freedom and authenticity, the revolution won the hearts and minds of many. The church's leaders and faltering apologists seemed overwhelmed. And biblical Christians tended to react defensively rather than offering a compelling vision of their own. Many young Christians were questioning whether the Gospel really is good news in this area.

For the Spirit, being somewhat forgotten is an occupational hazard. The Holy Spirit is so actively involved in our lives that we can take his presence for granted. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt. Just as we take breathing for granted, we can take the Holy Spirit for granted simply because we constantly depend on him. Like the cane that soon feels like an extension of the blind man's own body, we too easily begin to think of the Holy Spirit as an extension of ourselves.

Wm. Paul Young has been called a heretic for the ways he vividly portrays God's love through his novels. Here he shares 33 commonly uttered and sometimes seemingly innocuous things we say about God. Paul exposes these as lies that keep us from having full, loving relationships with our creator.

In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps listeners recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices.

The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller offers inspiration every day for an entire year based on the book of Psalms. Few authors have the loyal audience that Timothy Keller has. Penguin has sold more than two million copies of his books. His many fans have been waiting for him to write a daily devotional in the tradition of Sarah Young's Jesus Calling. Each day, listeners will encounter a fresh, inspiring lesson from one of the most beloved books in the Bible.

What does Jesus mean when he says, "Follow me"?