Refraction
7 total works
Imagine the God of the universe whispering in your ear, “What shall we create out of your life that will serve My purpose?” The path of authenticity is not a solo endeavor but a calling to a partnership with God that requires utter honesty, trust, commitment, and wisdom. God guides your path with a two-fold promise, “You know I love you as you are, but together, we can make of your life what I created you to be.”
Following the petitions of our Lord’s Prayer, Dr. Richard Parrott examines a family of authentic partners, the family of Abraham and Sarah, their son Isaac, grandson Jacob, and great-grandson Joseph. This fresh telling of the story reveals practical answers to the question, “How can my partnership with God be genuine, mature, and significant?”
The Reluctant Journey is an honest and practical guide for relating to God. As authentic Christians, we can live true in Christ and our love for him each day, choosing His best for us so that together, we advance His kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Features include:
- Truths from the Lord’s Prayer
- Stories of the founders of our faith
- Thought-provoking questions for spiritual conversation or reflection
God invites us to judge and to help correct wrongs from a place of understanding. Sometimes we pre-judge a person based on our own biases and superficial experiences. We stifle dialog before the conversation even begins. If all we know is our own faith, and we never put it side-by-side with what others believe, our spiritual growth and commitments can be easily stunted. By truly listening and learning from those with different beliefs, we can broaden and deepen our kingdom commitments.
It is possible to stand up for Jesus, to articulate our faith clearly as witnesses, and to defend our faith effectively, while at the same time not being perceived as judgmental. Christians need to be faithful witnesses to God who are willing to listen to people with drastically different stories. In those exchanges, when we suspend judgment and truly listen, we will find truth and beauty and goodness in some of the most unexpected places. We will also find that, if we truly listen, we may be given a chance to speak.
Features include:
Help for interfaith and intercultural dialogThought-provoking questions for spiritual conversation or reflection
"We fell in love with Jesus. Then we had to decide what to do with God." In Transcending Mysteries: Who Is God, and What Does He Want from Us? Andrew Greer and Ginny Owens take readers on a journey to answer the question: is the God of the Old Testament the same God we relate to and worship today?
As the most definitive written revelation of who God is, Scripture has always been vital to the stories of the Christian faith. The Old Testament has proved especially tough for those who have been persuaded by the gracious gospel of Jesus but also desire to surrender to a God they don't fully comprehend. We adore the Son of God, but what about God the Father?
Using Old Testament stories Andrew and Ginny help Christ-followers reconcile a New Testament Redeemer with an Old Testament God and understand what God really wants from His people. They dialog back and forth as they share their own stories of struggle and surrender. Their comments are separated by speaker identifiers that are used throughout.
Features include:
Old Testament stories that are completed in Jesus' messageDialog between Andrew Greer and Ginny OwensMusic lyrics from Andrew and Ginny that illustrate biblical truthsThought-provoking questions for reflection or study
The longest distance in the universe is between the head and heart. For Christ-followers, it is the chasm between what we say we believe in our minds and what we truly believe in our hearts: a split between our statements about God and our experience of Him. This divide is everywhere around us, causing untold devastation. It is found in the double lives of believers and in the hypocrisy of church leaders, but mainly we see it in ourselves. It is the default position of every human heart.
In Divided: When the Head and Heart Don't Agree, Bill Delvaux exposes this divide and offers strategies to tackle it. The actual journey to cross the divide is sketched out, an epic journey that will take us into our deepest fear and shame and on into the wonder of God's presence. For becoming undivided is not just another task. It's the pathway into the very heart of the Father.
Features include:
Strategies for closing the divide between head and heartSpecific prayers for each stage of the spiritual journeyThought-provoking questions for spiritual conversation or reflection
How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness
by Todd Stevens, Erin Stevens, and Refraction
The starting and ending points for all outreach have to be love. The most effective way to reach people for Jesus is through kindness outreach-showing God's love in practical ways. This type of outreach is what Jesus modeled, is culturally relevant, and values people. The goal should be to invite people to take the next step from where they are.
Friendship Community Church, led by Pastor Todd Stevens, has experienced tremendous growth through acts of kindness. The church's most radical kindness project is Nashville Strip Church, founded by Erin Stevens. Erin's life changed when God told her to "go feed the strippers." With home-cooked meals and gift bags, Erin shows dancers that God loves them. How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness includes the story of a dancer who has come to know Christ, left the strip club industry through Erin's ministry, and is now serving with Erin to reach other strippers.
From feeding the homeless, to Easter egg hunts for special needs children, to ministering in a strip club, How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness provides exciting ideas for showing God's love in practical ways.
Features include:
Stories from kindness outreach events, including Strip ChurchIdeas for showing God's love in practical waysInspiration to step out of your comfort zone to serve people
What does it mean to be like Jesus? We can t heal, aren t sinless, and don t know everything. We are not supposed to be carpenters or roam the countryside with a group of followers. And for most of us, it s physically impossible to become Jewish by birth. So how do we know the ways we re supposed to be like Jesus? We tend to want to define Jesus to be what we want Him to be. We make Him in our image. We re convinced He is equally as concerned about our pet cause as we are. If we follow a Jesus of our own making, we re worshiping an idol.
In Walk This Way: Living Like Jesus in the Real World, Todd Stevens shows us how to follow Jesus example of forgiving, getting angry in the right way, handling temptation, being known for loving, serving others, spending intentional time with the Father, and persevering the way Jesus did.
Features include: Ways to follow the example of Jesus Thought-provoking questions to be used individually or in a group setting
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