Fresh From the Word 2021


Book Description

“God is a poet, paying exquisite attention, crafting the words to pull our heartstrings, connecting our pulse to the great pulse of life. God is a priest, intoning the chants that tie earth to heaven, invoking our prayers, summoning our spirits to reach beyond. God is a prophet, commanding our attention, provoking our outrage, channeling our best intentions.” So writes author and scholar Carla Grosch-Miller for the last day of 2021 in this year’s Fresh From The Word: The Bible for a Change. And indeed you will meet this God in the reflections of the writers in these pages. At turns poetic, priestly and theological, prophetic and inspiring, Fresh From The Word 2021 invites you to the discipline of daily Bible reading with readers around the world. Discipleship is the focus of Lent this year in Fresh From The Word 2021: discipleship as a way of following Jesus Christ ‘into the unknown’, growing, and facing challenges. Other themes include reading the Bible through the seasons, surprising women in the Bible, family tensions in Genesis, and riddles in the Bible, and more. The book also features continuous readings from the Gospel of Mark, the shorter epistles of the New Testament, Job, Galatians, Revelation, and the Minor Prophets. Fresh From The Word: The Bible for a Change 2021 will inspire your Bible reading in a time of change. Bringing together theologians, scholars, creative writers, church leaders, and activists from around the world, it offers notes, prayers, and further thought suggestions for every day of the year. Contributors this year include: Buenos Aires-based liturgist and activist Dafne Sabanes Plou on the mercy of God, prison chaplain and Pentecostal pastor Deseta Davis on God and prison life, blogger and playwright Aileen Quinn on growing with God, Shetland Methodist minister David Lees on numbers in the Bible, pioneer minister Tim Yau on Peter the church leader.




Fresh From the Word 2020


Book Description

Fresh From the Word: The Bible for a Change will inspire your reading of the Bible in a changing world. Bringing together top theologians and biblical scholars, creative writers from around the world, cutting-edge church leaders, activists for peace and justice and a range of others, Fresh From the Word offers 366 sets of notes, prayers and suggestions for action on biblical themes. This fresh approach to Bible reading is aimed at new readers of the Bible from across the church, as well as anyone seeking a faithful, creative and challenging conversation with the Bible every day of the year.




A Fresh Word for Today


Book Description

Bob Gass brings a smile, a tear, a laugh, and a thought with which to start each of your new days. A Fresh Word for Today is simply and beautifully written. Rev. Gass reveals refreshing insights for everyday life by using plain truths and his clear understanding of the word of God.




Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire


Book Description

The Times Are Urgent God Is on the Move Now Is the Moment to ... ask God to ignite his fire in your soul! Pastor Jim Cymbala believes that Jesus wants to renew his people-to call us back from spiritual dead ends, apathy, and lukewarm religion. Cymbala knows the difference firsthand. Thirty-five years ago his own church, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, was a struggling congregation of twenty. Then they began to pray ... God began to move ... street-hardened lives by the hundreds were changed by the love of Christ ... and today they are more than ten thousand strong. The story of what happened to this broken-down church in one of America's toughest neighborhoods points the way to new spiritual vitality in the church and in your own life. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire shows what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. As this compelling book reveals, God moves in life-changing ways when we set aside our own agendas, take him at his word, and listen for his voice.




Fresh


Book Description

"A hilarious, heartfelt, and realistic coming-of-age story." —Buzzfeed "Hilarious and heartwarming." —Popsugar “A laugh-out-loud and vulnerable coming-of-age story.” —The Nerd Daily [Movie trailer narrator voice]: In a world, where humanity has crumbled—wait, no, wrong story. Sorry! Let’s try that again. [YA movie trailer narrator voice:] Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh isn’t one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot’s mind when she’s too busy experiencing all that college has to offer—from dancing all night at off-campus parties to testing her RA Rose’s patience to making new friends to having the best sex one can have on a twin-size dorm-room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she’s having isn’t that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate’s boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she’s honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe. We’re not promising anything. We can’t give everything away ahead of time.




Fresh From the Word 2023


Book Description

Fresh from the Word 2023 aims to help us build the discipline of Bible reading into our lives so we are grounded in God's word and our faith may deepen and develop. By offering accessible and engaging material, it aids our understanding of the Bible and helps us understand it from different Christian perspectives. One of the key themes in this year's edition is ‘Hidden Heroes & Heroines’, characters in the Bible who are overlooked but play a pivotal role in the unfolding of the Kingdom. As we read their stories, we may be encouraged that our lives, though they sometimes feel insignificant, are indeed being used by God in ways possibly beyond our imagining! The book also explores the different types of literature in the Bible. A number of the international and diverse community of writers who have contributed their wisdom, understanding and hard-won insights to encourage and bless us, unpack passages written in each particular style. And so we learn how we might safely interpret poetry, law, prophecy, narrative or apocalyptic. The hope is that these reflections - and indeed the complete volume - will will help us see revealed that which was previously hidden from us. Contributors this year include: Terry Lester, who writes on the Judges of Israel. Terry has been an Anglican priest in Cape Town for almost four decades and currently serves in Constantia. A vocal advocate for justice, he is engaged in projects aimed at restoring dignity and building reconciliation in his fragmented community. Immaculée Hedden, who writes on Healing Divisions in the Old Testament. She and her husband Richard are the authors of Under His Mighty Hand, the story of how she survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The couple are currently based in Rwanda, serving in healing and counselling support ministry with YWAM. Jane Gonzalez, who writes on Celebrations. Jane is a Roman Catholic laywoman and an active member of the Justice and Peace Group. Joshua Taylor, who writes on The God of all Comfort and Mercy. Joshua is an Anglican Priest in New Zealand, where he and his family have been exploring what it means to be a family following the way of Jesus. Louise Jones, who writes on Lord of the Sabbath. Working for an embedded, community-based organization (Newbigin Community Trust), Louise has a passion for empowering, resourcing and loving those who have slipped through the cracks of our systems, in order to help people see their immense value and worth in Jesus.




Live Abundantly


Book Description

Twenty minutes a day to discover the abundance of God's riches In Live Abundantly, Bible teachers Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose challenge you to dig deep into the book of Ephesians to find the spiritual treasure God has for you. Covering topics such as living in God's will and receiving peace no matter the circumstances, the book of Ephesians reveals the magnitude of every Christian's inheritance, a gift "exceedingly abundantly above" what you could ever ask for. Unearth the greatest treasure of life in this rich study. Each day's lesson is structured in five parts: Lift up(prayer) Look at(God's Word) Learn about(new insights) Live out(application) Listen to(quotes from other believers). The Fresh Life series was created by women, for women--women who crave a profound experience of God's Word without an overwhelming commitment of time. With each lesson, you will come to a deeper understanding of the truths of the Bible and develop a deeper intimacy with God.




The Word Became Fresh


Book Description

"There is no more gifted expositor of the Old Testament in our day than Ralph Davis. His book not only brings scholarly research to bear on the subject, but also reflects his many years of preaching week after week through the OT. What a gift to the church to have such a fine book." Richard Pratt




Crown


Book Description

Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR, the Huffington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Horn Book Magazine, the News & Observer, BookPage, Chicago Public Library, and more The barbershop is where the magic happens. Boys go in as lumps of clay and, with princely robes draped around their shoulders, a dab of cool shaving cream on their foreheads, and a slow, steady cut, they become royalty. That crisp yet subtle line makes boys sharper, more visible, more aware of every great thing that could happen to them when they look good: lesser grades turn into As; girls take notice; even a mother’s hug gets a little tighter. Everyone notices. A fresh cut makes boys fly. This rhythmic, read-aloud title is an unbridled celebration of the self-esteem, confidence, and swagger boys feel when they leave the barber’s chair—a tradition that places on their heads a figurative crown, beaming with jewels, that confirms their brilliance and worth and helps them not only love and accept themselves but also take a giant step toward caring how they present themselves to the world. The fresh cuts. That’s where it all begins. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut is a high-spirited, engaging salute to the beautiful, raw, assured humanity of black boys and how they see themselves when they approve of their reflections in the mirror.




Fresh from the Country


Book Description