Lutheran theology is glorious and mysterious. It is relatable and applicable. It is for everyone, in any time, in any place. But it also can be intimidating. A Martyr's Faith in a Faithless World serves as a starting point for those looking to start exploring theological works and deepen their understanding of Lutheran theology.

American Christianity teaches the centrality of the individual: my will, my experiences, my decision, my heart, my work, and my dedication. Yet we couldn't be more unaware that Christ and His saving and comforting work are being lost. Our minds and hearts are captivated in some way by those who often preach the Christian instead of Christ.

To Christians, nothing is more important than clearly confessing and bearing witness to the truths of God's word, which reveals the glorious Gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. That is what the Book of Concord is all about. This edition of the Lutheran Confessions instructs, inspires, and educates all who use it and help them learn what it means to be, and to remain, a genuinely confessing Lutheran Christian.

From the moment He arrived on the scene, Jesus posed a threat to the unjust, a threat to the oppressors, and a threat to every semblance of authority wielded by the kingdom of darkness. He invaded the world with love for the forgotten, hope for the hopeless, and freedom for the bound. His ideas were disruptive, subversive, and scandalous to the world around Him.

Veith explores and presents a true understanding of justification by faith, the means of grace, vocation, theology of the cross, the two kingdoms, worship, and the church. This is a revised edition of the original text written in 1999.

The gospel is under attack today—not only from outside cultural forces but also from within the church. In Misled, popular YouTuber and Bible teacher Allen Parr equips listeners to identify and withstand seven of the most common false teachings that undermine the gospel and lead many well-meaning Christians astray.

In our age when the church can too often seem like a poor copy of the world, Chad Bird challenges us to reclaim the astounding originality of our ancient, backward faith. With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps listeners delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.

Help catechism students dig deeper. As listeners learn Martin Luther's foundational teachings in the Small Catechism, this volume will encourage them to go further in their doctrinal knowledge by studying the Large Catechism. Written by Luther in 1529, the Small and Large Catechisms provide a clear summary of God's Word on the essentials of the Christian faith. This edition combines the two catechisms and includes the woodcuts found in Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions.

Urban Apologetics: Cults and Cultural Ideologies equips pastors, churches, and everyday believers to engage the most common ethical, biblical, and theological challenges faced by Black Christians and the Black Church today.

Five hundred years after Luther's now famous 95 Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas, acclaimed biographer of the best-selling Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future.

Is there a new reformation happening in the church? It depends on who you ask. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a popular and fast-growing new movement of Christians who emphasize signs and wonders, and teach that God is giving new revelation through new apostles and prophets. But is this biblical Christianity? In Counterfeit Kingdom, apologists and NAR experts Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett show how the NAR’s key tenets distort the gospel, twist the Scriptures, are influenced by New Age practices, and lead faithful Christians to shipwreck their faith.

Why are you Lutheran? It's a valid question in this modern age of denominations, distinctions, and choices. Throw out all those notions you might have about what it means to be Lutheran. When it comes down to it, being Lutheran is really very simple. It's about following Jesus. We go where Jesus goes, we listen when Jesus speaks, we trust when Jesus promises. And we live because Jesus lives.

How did the idea arise that masculinity is dangerous and destructive? Bestselling author Nancy Pearcey leads you on a fascinating excursion through American history to discover why the script for masculinity turned toxic—and how to fix it. Pearcey then turns to surprising findings from sociology. Religion is often cast as a cause of domestic abuse. But research shows that authentically committed Christian men test out as the most loving and engaged husbands and fathers. They have the lowest rates of divorce and domestic violence of any group in America.

There are only two kinds of spirituality in the world. One is false, and one is true. One is the manifestation of the old evil foe who has sent many false spiritualties out into the world, and the other is the holy spirituality found only in faith in the one true God. One is a lie, and one is real.

Journeys that begin in brokenness rarely follow a straight road to healing. There are twists and turns - and setbacks - on the path of repentance. Night Driving tells the story of a pastor and seminary professor whose moral failures destroyed his marriage and career, left his life in ruins, and sent him spiraling into a decade-long struggle against God. Forced to fight the demons of his past in the cab of the semi-truck he drove at night through the Texas oil fields, Chad Bird slowly began to limp toward grace and healing.

Who exactly is the Holy Spirit? What does he do in our lives? How can we know him more deeply, and is it possible to tap in to his power? Should we pray to the Holy Spirit? Is it possible to be aware of his promptings and speaking into our lives? Dr. Scot McKnight answers these questions and more in this comprehensive examination of what the Bible says about this divinely important but often confusing member of the Trinity.

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.

Spirit and Sacrament by pastor and author Andrew Wilson is an impassioned call to join together two traditions that are frequently and unnecessarily kept separate. It is an invitation to pursue the best of both worlds in worship, the Eucharistic and the charismatic, with the grace of God at the center. Wilson envisions church services in which healing testimonies, creeds, exuberant praise, and ancient liturgy coexist, and in doing so, deepen our worship and increase our joy.

Prayer is as necessary to the Christian as breathing is to the human body - but it often doesn't come quite as naturally. In fact, prayer in the church often gets subtly pushed to the side in favor of pragmatic practices that promise tangible results. This book focuses on the necessity of regular prayer as a central practice in the local church - awakening us to the need and blessing of corporate prayer by examining what Jesus taught about prayer, how the first Christians approached prayer, and how to prioritize prayer in our congregations.

Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor who called himself a hopeful agnostic. Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions.

God without religion? Andrew Farley’s experience as a Christian was first characterized by self-effort as he tried to please God at any cost. His ruthless religion resulted in spiritual fatigue and disillusionment with church. Only then did he discover what relaxing in Jesus means and how enjoying God’s intimate presence can transform everyday life. Using a story-driven format, God without Religion dismantles common religious misconceptions. Pulling no punches, Andrew shows how the truth about these controversial issues can liberate and unify believers....

In this new audiobook, David Platt, author of the New York Times best-selling book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, contends that multitudes of people around the world culturally think they are Christians yet biblically are not followers of Christ.

Is praying a duty or a delight? J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom say that it's both; an essential, expected practice as a follower of Christ, but also a privilege and joy. As we start out learning to pray properly, however, the delight often seems to be missing. Here is practical help for active, honest praying that involves all of who we are - heart, hands and head - and moves us to deeper obedience, joy and intimacy with our Father.

Best-selling author John Ortberg dispels the myth that eternal life is something way out in outer space that we can only hope to experience after we die - and that being saved is merely about meeting the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven. Instead, John unpacks the reality that the moment we trust Christ, we are initiated into “eternal living” with God as a here and now reality, one that will continue beyond our life on this earth.

A follow up to the profound message of Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan offers a compelling invitation to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit's direction in our lives. "In the name of the Father, the Son, and ... the Holy Spirit." We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two?

What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology and not a philosophy. Christianity is the Good News that beauty, truth, and goodness are found in a Person. And conversion? It's more than a change in direction; it's a change in connection.

The world has changed in so many ways, and many of us no longer feel confident when it comes to evangelism, especially with the rise of hostility toward Christian points of view. Keeping quiet is becoming our default position. Yet the world has not changed in one way: It still needs Jesus. Renowned evangelist Becky Pippert draws on decades of conversations about Christianity around the world to call and equip ordinary Christians to share Jesus through their ordinary day-to-day conversations.

“Leadership” has become a runaway obsession for those who are called to equip the body of Christ for service in the Kingdom of God. The concept of “followership” is all but lost in the wake of this leadership fetish, a near hypnotic obsession. Jesus’ clear call, and the pattern of New Testament leadership, are actually found in a pattern of followership. We’ve been told otherwise but when it comes to a movement in our churches, our families, or the workplace, everything rises or falls on followership. Sweet proposes an intentional shift from leadership cults to followership cultures.

In Strong Through the Storm, pastor and best-selling author Jim Cymbala speaks to every Christian who is concerned about the challenges the church is facing in America today. Using powerful stories of people who have been transformed by Christ, Cymbala offers hope, helping Christians to understand that a life surrendered to Christ will not be easily defeated, even in the midst of growing hostility toward Christians. No matter how much spiritual darkness encompasses the world, the light of the gospel cannot be suppressed.

What if heaven wasn't just meant to be experienced after we die? What if heaven can be enjoyed here on earth—right now? Through story and conversations with Jesus, best-selling author Andrew Farley reveals how much you can take in the beauty of heaven no matter what your circumstances. With insight firmly rooted in the reality of pain and suffering in his own life, Andrew assures you that heaven is not merely some pie-in-the-sky dream for the future - it is now.