TRAINING
The Christian life is many things, so it can be hard to know how exactly we should live it. Training is a guide to show new Christians just that—how you should live and grow. Walking through the basic spiritual disciplines, Training uses short stories to show how you can love God and your neighbor. What does it look like to follow Jesus, listen to God, talk to God, love your spiritual family, and love the lost? That’s what this book is all about.
RELATIONSHIPS
We all have relationships – with parents, siblings, partners, friends. And all of our relationships are, in some way, broken. We mess things up, they mess things up, people get hurt. The Bible has a lot to say about how we should relate to other people,( how to make things right when we’ve done something stupid and what we should do when someone has hurt us. But most importantly it tells us to make sure that our relationship with Jesus comes first, and that everything else flows from there.
BELIEVE
The Bible isn’t just a big book full of stories from a long time ago. It also tells us what we are to believe about God, life and what happens after this life. Christians sometimes use a lot of complicated words to describe these things, but this brief breakdown of everything you need to know is easy to understand.
BIBLE
It was the first book to ever be printed. It remains one of the most popular of all time, with whole societies of people professing to live their lives according to its pages – but can the Bible actually be trusted? Does it have any substance or is it just some nice ideas? Isn’t it full of contradictions, and can it really have anything to say in the 21st century? The fourth title of the First Steps series by 9Marks explores these questions and more, showing that the Bible is not only still relevant, it is powerful!
CHARACTER
So, you’ve heard the Gospel, you’ve accepted Jesus as your savior, you’re going to Church regularly – you’re definitely a Christian, but you don’t feel like you’re acting like one. The other Christians you know all seem to have it together but how do you get to that point? Even though none of us will be perfect in this life, we can grow to be more and more like Jesus. This book will tell you how.
CHURCH
Church can sometimes be an intimidating thing. It can look like a building full of perfect people who have perfect lives. Not a place where someone who has messed up belongs. But that’s not true. The Church is God’s people who meet together because they love and need God, and love and need each other. Garrett Kell explains what the Church is, and why it matters whether we go or not.
GOD
So you’re new to the whole Christianity thing. You’ve heard a bit about it but you aren’t really sure what to do next and you’ve still got some pretty big questions. Well, the First Steps series is here to help. Let’s start out with the most important question of all: is God out there? How can we know if He exists? If He does exist, what is He like? What does any of it have to do with us? This short book will help you think through these and other crucial questions.
VOICES
Life is so confusing! There are a myriad of voices clambering for our attention – which one is the ‘right one’? Decisions, rather than being biblical, or good, or even moral, often feel like a stab in the dark, hoping for the best. This third title in the First Steps series looks at the wisdom offered in the book of Proverbs. God has not left us to navigate life as best we can alone – guidance is waiting if we only take the time to look.
WAR
All too often, our heads can feel like they are caught in a dark, lonely battle between what we want to do and what we know we should do. God feels distant and we feel dirty. The ninth book in the First Steps series tackles the fundamental, day–to–day difficulties experienced by every Christian, and looks at the question Why Did Life Just Get Harder?
For those who trust Jesus and want to live for him, it doesn’t take long to run into the idea that we have been blessed by God so that we will be a blessing to others. The nitty gritty of that service, though, isn’t easy. It can be tedious, and it’s often downright annoying, frustrating and discouraging. When we try to serve others, we face our own sin and theirs. We face the lies which tell us we can’t do it – we’re not worth anything – we’ve got nothing to offer. But the truth of the gospel changes all that. Now our hope is not in what WE can do, but in the work of Christ in us. Now that we trust Jesus, now that he’s our King – how to do we get on and follow him day by day.
Nickson –
Best Set!