Showing results by narrator "Lyle Blaker" in All Categories

Most people want to live forever. They desire long, healthy, fulfilling lives. But God has a bigger, better plan, though it comes at a cost. There is a training process that we need to go through. More than that, a complete change of heart is needed—we must be born again. And to follow Christ, our will must be submitted to his will, and our lives must be filled with his Spirit. There is only one way to eternal life.

In April 1998, legendary southern jam band Widespread Panic held a free open-air record release show in downtown Athens, Georgia, its home base. No one involved could have known that the predicted crowd of twenty thousand would prove to be nearly five times that size. The show, now known as "Panic in the Streets," went on to become a cult favorite of fans and a decisive moment in Athens music history. This event holds the record for the world's largest record release party, but the story of how the it came to be has not been told until now.

Conflict is inevitable, but peace, especially among Christians, is essential. When conflict turns into peace, frustration becomes clarity and turmoil becomes unity. When conflict turns into peace, God is glorified. But how do we find peace without ignoring our problems? How do we pursue unity without compromising on our principles? The Path of a Peacemaker offers a simple, proven path to a lifestyle of peace. It guides you through an examination of your own personal story, identifying the origins of your hopes and fears.

National tensions are at a record high. People on all points in the political spectrum care deeply about their country, although they differ wildly in their opinions about what it looks like to serve that country well. As Christians, we love God and seek to follow him. At the same time, nothing shapes us and tugs at our loyalties quite like the place we live. And of course we are regularly encouraged to pledge our allegiance to our country―or particular understandings of it. Who wins when the priorities of God and our country clash? 

"God’s attitude toward His Son is unutterable love, but He gave that Son up to die for you and me. God’s attitude toward the believer is to give him eternal life, regardless of what his past has been. God’s attitude toward those who will not believe is to leave them to the perdition they so madly choose. What will you choose today: life or death? People decide that question in a few minutes; decide it for all eternity. God help you to decide it right.

Scars on the Land is the first comprehensive history of American slavery to examine how the environment fundamentally formed enslaved people's lives and how slavery remade the Southern landscape. Over two centuries, from the establishment of slavery in the Chesapeake to the Civil War, one simple calculation had profound consequences: Rather than measuring productivity based on outputs per acre, Southern planters sought to maximize how much labor they could extract from their enslaved workforce.

Are you for Christ or are you against him? You know you are either one or the other, for he says so. We learn in Matthew 12:30 in the words of Jesus himself: He that is not with me is against me. Everyone is either with Jesus wholeheartedly, confessedly, and openly, or else they are against Jesus. Which are you? For Christ or against him?

Did you know you can read Jesus's Sermon on the Mount in about eighteen minutes? Yet packed into this short talk are more life-changing and startlingly original teachings than anywhere else in Scripture. Drawing from decades of study, Dr. Robert Jeffress breaks down Jesus's most well-known (yet least-followed) teachings about happiness, faith, relationships, sex, reconciliation, prayer, money, and more. He shows how we often misunderstand and misapply these verses and unpacks exactly what Jesus was teaching us about our own hearts and minds.

In wondrous contrast to silent idols, the one true God speaks. He addresses his people in love, and it’s their great privilege to answer him in prayer. At its root, prayer isn’t mere self-expression or a prod to get a silent God to speak, but it is a learned skill to answer God’s initiating word in Christ. Through this thoughtful book, author and pastor Daniel J. Brendsel explains how responding to God can nurture prayerful engagement with Scripture, shape healthy rhythms among God’s praying people, and spur excitement for communion with God.

Does it matter if you are sorry for what you have done—or that you have not done? Does your being sorry—does your remorse—matter? If so, how? Who is helped or changed by it? Can spiritual leaders help people wrestle with some of the most challenging dilemmas of their lives? Episcopal priest and licensed therapist Stephen Crippen describes remorse as the crisis—both destructive and creative—that erupts within the human spirit at the point where sin and grace collide.

In this audiobook are practical tips and insights on everything from diaper changing to managing work-life balance. With a focus on modern fatherhood, this book tackles the challenges that new dads face in today's world.

Let This Mind Be in You explores God’s call on our lives to servanthood. Aimed specifically at ministers of the Gospel, this book argues that servanthood is essential to every form of Christian service. When we consider the teachings of Scripture and the example of Jesus, we simply cannot be who we are supposed to be without taking the posture of servants.

The BRRRR real estate investing strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat) is a method used by real estate investors to acquire and grow their rental property portfolios. This strategy involves purchasing a property that needs work, rehabbing it to increase its value, and renting it out to generate income. In this BiggerPockets PocketBook, you’ll learn how the BRRRR method will help you buy homes quickly, add value through rehab, and build sustainable cash flow to expand your real estate portfolio exponentially.

Whether you plan to flip houses or buy and hold a rental property, successful real estate investing requires a deep understanding of the local market and thorough deal analysis. In this BiggerPockets PocketBook, investors can quickly learn how to identify profitable real estate markets to build a successful portfolio of real estate investments.

Many investors get their start in real estate by purchasing a simple, two-unit property called a duplex. This BiggerPockets PocketBook provides a concise guide to ensure your small multifamily investments are cash-flowing deals. Not only will this guide teach you to buy your first (and next!) duplex property, but you will also develop a deep understanding of how to research the appropriate market and manage your properties like an investing expert.

The American church is at a critical crossroads. Our witness has been compromised, our numbers are down, and our reputation has been sullied, due largely to our own faults and fears. The church's ethnocentrism, consumerism, and syncretism have blurred the lines between discipleship and partisanship. Pastor Eric Costanzo, missiologist Daniel Yang, and nonprofit leader Matthew Soerens find that for the church to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God.

No major arena of US governance is more elitist than foreign policy. International relations barely surface in election campaigns, and policymakers take little input from Congress. For much of the twentieth century, officials, activists, and academics worked to foster an informed public that would embrace participation in foreign policy as a civic duty. Every Citizen a Statesman recounts an abandoned effort to create a democratic foreign policy.

We know that in a fallen and broken world there will always be pain and poverty, sickness and sadness. Yet as followers of Christ, we are called to bring hope and healing to those who hurt. What, then, is our responsibility to alleviate human suffering this side of eternity? With so many needs everywhere we look, where do we start? The Least of These brings together a collection of respected Christian thought leaders to provide a multifaceted look at the body of Christ’s relationship and responsibility―both individual and corporate―to the marginalized of our society.

Conflict on a scale unimagined has come to once peaceful shores. Caught in an interstellar war that has started up again after countless millennia, Commander Tyler Ryan Tor finds himself thrust into service once again by the last remaining guardian of a dead race. Four quests--three for good and one for evil--will determine the fate of humanity. It is up to Tyler, along with his band of unlikely heroes, to give the universe a fighting chance by raising the ancient banners of Acrea and completing his original mission.

After going into cold sleep aboard Earth's last surviving colony ship, Commander Tyler Ryan Tor awakens marooned on an alien world. Having gone to sleep expecting to awaken orbiting a distant habitable planet with the rest of Earth's refugees, he finds himself alone and hunted by an ancient evil. The darkness that pursues Commander Tor wants the knowledge in his head, but there is one problem–Tyler can’t remember anything before the crash.