Bøger udgivet af The Baptist Courier

We live in a world defined by numbers. They are everywhere we go and define much of society. From the number on a scale to the number on a report card to the number of points on a scoreboard to the number of friends that liked a recent social media post to the number of dollars in a bank account to the number of direct reports to the number of years on the planet to the number of years single or married - the list is endless.As we begin this Bible study, I want to ask, "Are you allowing a number to define you?"People constantly try to portray success in numbers. Businesses report gains and losses, while churches count offerings and enrollment. I grew up as a preacher's kid and often heard the church approach to numbers called the "nickels-and-noses" mentality. Often, we allow our worst day to become the definition of who we are: the day the divorce was finalized, the day cancer was diagnosed, the day the dreaded birthday arrived, or the day the scale's reflection didn't meet our expectations. A number can help us meet a goal and be a healthy objective or leave us empty and depleted. We are all trying to reach the next number on our list.Perhaps the most important question is if we are looking and trusting in the numbers that are important to God.In my life, the pursuit of numbers has been an ongoing battle. The number I have often allowed to define me has been reflected on the scale.The drive to attain the perfect number also drove me to find comfort in majoring in health and exercise science. I enjoyed this major and sought solace in helping others on their journey. During this time, I taught aerobics, worked in cardiac rehabilitation, and found my place helping others through personal training. But recently, the number that haunts me is the number of days I am here without my mom and dad. My mom died in 2012, followed by my dad in 2014. With each passing year, that number gets larger and the loss greater.Throughout this book, I will share many raw experiences, and I hope these experiences will help you. Whether you are a teenager looking to find your identity or a post-partum mom dealing with hormone havoc, you will be reminded that your core is found in Christ. I pray you will allow God to work in your heart and life. I pray that you will see yourself anew as loved, chosen, accepted, redeemed, gifted, and appreciated. And I pray that the number you most readily identify with will cease to rule and reign over your thoughts, attitudes, and actions.The theme verses for this study are Isaiah 43:18-19: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."So, grab your Bible and get ready to start this journey. And as you begin, hear your heavenly Father say loudly and clearly, "You are more than just a number!"

More than forty years ago, Danny Burnley was formally disassociated - excommunicated - from his home church. His "crime"? As a young deacon, he went to the pastor and asked him to prayerfully consider holding a reconciliation service to help heal the ongoing friction that existed between the pastor and the deacons. Dismissal from his church's fellowship was "the worst thing and the best thing" that had ever happened to him. It was the worst thing because it was like a divorce that tore apart a family, but it was the best thing because it ignited in Burnley a God-given desire to help struggling churches, which he has been busy doing for the last four decades. In Excommunicated: 11 Steps to Church Revitalization, Burnley offers the lessons he has learned in helping churches battle against ineffectiveness. Through his ministry, he has helped bring churches back from the brink of closure.

Can you imagine the chaos a young person like Daniel must have experienced? What happened to his family? Daniel was uprooted from his old familiar surroundings and traveled across the desert to the large city of Babylon. The language was different, the customs were different, the religion was different, and the food was different. All that Daniel had known was gone. Daniel was separated from the Temple, separated from Jerusalem, his family, his friends, and his old neighborhood.How did Daniel not only survive, but thrive in the midst of this chaos? In the chaos Daniel exhibited great courage. Where did that courage come from?Daniel's courage came from his faith in Almighty God. In the first part of the Book of Daniel, we see the faith of Daniel exhibited in extreme circumstances. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon in 605 BC. Daniel wanted others to know that the Lord God Almighty was the only true God and that He ruled in the affairs of humanity. Daniel looked forward to the time when the Lord would gather His people and establish the kingdom of the Messiah. History truly is "His story." The Lord is in charge!I was moved to write about Daniel when I realized the amazing similarities between Daniel's time and now. The amazing connection is the chaos that has enveloped America.

There is a big difference between traveling by air and flying, author Timothy Coker says. What is true in air transportation is also true in life. One enjoys the life-trip; the other stoically gets through it. One delights in the experience; the other hates it. One soars; the other merely exists. Coker's hope is that readers will start Learning to Fly!How one travels, and whether or not one thrives, comes down to a series of choices. In Learning to Fly!, the Darlington, S.C. pastor explores the internal and external things that keep us from experiencing all God desires.

From the perils of drawing on new eyebrows to a run-in with the Big White Mannequin Head at the Look Good Feel Better seminar to yeast-bread evangelism, author Jill Carraway has saturated a daunting situation with faith and humor - because nobody likes a surly sick person. Her hilarious contemplations will inspire and encourage others who might be going through their own "Stupid Adventure."

Throughout history, stories of mysterious visitors, miraculous interventions, and unimagined results abound. Behind it all stands a great, sovereign God with His army of angels, ready to obey His every directive.