Showing results by publisher "Oasis Audio" in Spiritual Growth

With all the hostility boiling just under the surface of our world, we need a renewed vision of Jesus as the Lamb of God who can lead us in the peaceable ways of the Kingdom. When we fail to keep Jesus at the center of our lives, we lean into the desires of our hearts more than the desires God has for us. As a result, our entire spirituality becomes driven by the self and for the self. We need renewed practices of centering Jesus in our hearts and minds. Derek Vreeland invites you to imagine what it looks like to keep Jesus as the Lamb of God at the center of three key areas of our lives.

In Ancient Wisdom for the Good Life, Ralph K. Hawkins turns our attention to the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs) and how it can correct us, train us in righteousness, and ultimately empower us for successful living. These are some of the most inspired writings on the Good Life the world has ever known, in which ancient Israel’s sages wrote about how to live stable, harmonious, productive, and joyous lives.

As the world entered the long night of 2020, Philip Yancey turned to John Donne's Devotions, a nearly 400-year-old manuscript, for guidance. In it, he found a trustworthy companion for living through a global pandemic—or any other crisis. As Yancey says, "Nothing had prepared me for Donne's raw account of confrontations with God." By faithfully and poetically rendering Donne's 17th century prose into 21st century vernacular, Yancey opens up this classic work to a new generation.

Confused. Frustrated. Apathetic. If you feel this way about the Bible, you’re not alone. The reality is that we’ve been set up to fail when we read the Bible, inheriting barriers and habits that make reading Scripture harder than it needs to be. Alex Goodwin, co-founder of the Institute for Bible Reading, will show you a better way forward.

When Coach Joe Kennedy started offering a prayer on the field after each high school football game, the school district tried to shut him down, launching a seven-year legal battle that went to the Supreme Court—twice. In June 2022, he won. Average Joe is the story of an unlikely champion of religious freedom. A former atheist, Kennedy never imagined he’d lead the defense of Americans’ First Amendment rights. He certainly didn’t intend to be at odds with his wife, who was the school district’s personnel director.

We all want our lives to count for something. We desperately want to know if we matter, what our purpose is, and if it’s ok to chase a dream bigger than ourselves. In Trailblazers, using biblical characters and his own life experiences, pastor Micah E. Davis shows how a life that is built on a solid foundation of faith can lead us to blaze a new trail . . . a unique one God has purposed for us. And the best part is you don’t have to wait for anyone else―you can start right now!

Fighting, disagreements, hatred, dissension, and silence. These things seem common in the wider Christian community today. Politics, theology, and even personal preference create seemingly insurmountable rifts. It’s hard not to see ourselves as “at war” with each other. We’re not doomed to be stuck here, though. There is a twofold path out of this destructive war, out of seeing our brothers and sisters as enemies―and into a spacious place of loving each other even as we disagree.

Everyone takes little steps toward Jesus before they can take big steps with and for him. This is a process that starts long before people ever enter a church building, especially as the gap between the church and culture grows ever wider. This book will help equip you to handle the early stages of discipling others with care, address the stumbling blocks that hold them back, as well as redefine how you see your own identity as an ambassador of Christ.

Having the right focus makes all the difference in life. If we are busy focusing on external frivolities or personal ambitions rather than on the kingdom of God, we wind up missing out on serving God’s kingdom―as well as many of the other things we hope to attain in life. However, when we align our lives with God’s Word, we get to experience the greatest freedom we could ever know. In Kingdom Focus, Tony Evans teaches listeners how to focus on the things God Himself focuses on in Scripture and explores the issues that delight His heart.

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson believes we really can have a growing faith and know a surprising, sustaining joy despite the chaos of breaking news and a culture bent on erasing the Everlasting God. Seizing the Good Life takes the Gospel of John and teaches the listener how to believe and keep believing in our post-Christian world. We’re not meant to hold onto a dry faith with chewed-up fingernails. We can know peace and joy in the middle of our anxious and angry culture, and Seizing the Good Life is ready to lead the way!

The relationship between a father and daughter is profound. Jay and Rae Anne Payleitner share their own insights into this sometimes complicated but ultimately fulfilling relationship. Rooted in Scripture and full of stories, this book will deepen dads’ and daughters’ appreciation for one another.

If we call someone extravagant, we’re usually thinking about his spending habits and luxurious way of life. So to use that word for a homeless man who had only one change of clothes—an itinerant teacher who depended on others for food and shelter—seems a stretch. Yet Jesus was the most extravagant person who ever lived. Carole Engle Avriett invites you to redefine your notion of “extravagant.” In this study of ancient customs and ways of life, you’ll gain an understanding of the cultural context of the Scriptures and of twelve key characteristics of God's nature.

In Serving as Jesus Served: Practical Ways to Love Others, Michele Howe equips men and women to better understand their calling as God’s chosen ones to make a distinct and holy impact in the world. She begins by unpacking what it means to serve God and what this looks like in day-to-day life. Designed to be highly practical, Serving as Jesus Served offers listeners specific Bible passages that describe our responsibilities as servants and how to implement them in a world that pursues the opposite.

Jesus told his followers, “Go and make disciples of every nation,” but a lot of us stop before we start―because we feel like we don’t have what it takes. But Jesus didn’t ask spiritual superstars to make disciples. He invited ordinary people into the adventure of following Him. Jessie Cruickshank learned how to be a disciplemaker in the wilderness. When she connected her training in outdoor adventure ministry with her Harvard degree in neuroeducation, God showed her a pathway for ordinary disciples of Jesus to experience profound spiritual growth.

Some of us feel like donkeys in a world that celebrates racehorses―the shiny and flashy success stories that make us question our own worth and abilities. But life isn't about competing for gold medals. It’s about understanding your unique strengths and using them to mine all the gold that’s already within you. A delightful blend of short reflections, Rachel Anne Ridge’s The Donkey Principle has a central, timely message: Embracing your inner donkey is the key to overcoming obstacles, creating lasting change, and achieving meaningful success.

Everything that has happened to you has prepared you for your greatest days ahead. When you understand the patterns of God’s work in each season of your life, you can see His faithfulness in making all things work together for the good of His children. What if everything that has happened to you has prepared you for your greatest work? Connecting the Dots helps you make sense of your life, seeing each day as part of an epic that God is writing.

In Starved, popular author and teacher Amy Seiffert shows listeners how to stop ingesting spiritual junk food and offers simple and replenishing practices like silence, service, and Sabbath that can bring us closer to Jesus. She encourages us to put down our phones, set aside our pride, and let go of the hustle so that we can receive a spiritual diet change that will leave us delightfully content, spiritually healthy, and free to experience the goodness of Jesus.

Jesus made it clear that while sexual integrity is expressed through the body, it’s rooted in the mind. But aligning our thoughts with God’s thoughts isn’t always easy. Illicit sexual thoughts don’t need to have free rein in your mind. The Bible provides an arsenal of weapons to win the battle. Jesus invites you to live with full sexual integrity—in your behavior, heart, and mind. Instead of succumbing to the despair and darkness of sin, you can take every thought captive and replace it with thoughts that align with God’s truth.

This book is more than Porter's own story. It also invites those who may be in the deconstruction process themselves to consider the perspective of someone who was tempted to leave his faith—yet stayed. And it provides theological insight and pastoral support to those who worry that everyone is bailing out on the church.

Have you ever been absolutely fired up for God? So often, we attend high-energy events and impassioned church services that leave us feeling so overcome and in love with God. But a few days go by, and we fall back into living our lives just like before. We assume a plateaued relationship with God is normal and that a life of on-fire faith is only possible in certain situations. Jonni Nicole Parsons understands this disconnect all too well. In her debut book, Ignited, Jonni explores what we need to change in our quest for a sustainable passionate faith.