The Case For The Real Jesus

The reality of Jesus as seen in the Bible has been under attack from the moment the angelic host announced His birth. There are many good books which defend the Gospels as seen in scripture and many more that defend Jesus from every false doctrine and lie that has been spoken from the time of the creation of the world until now.

No book since the release of the book, Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the portrait from the Gospels by Darrell L Bock, has such a clear Case for the Real Jesus been made. In Bock's book it says ’In response to controversial projects such as the Jesus Seminar, in which Bock argues that the Gospels provide a coherent picture of Jesus and his unique claims. This portrait is rooted in history, and yet has produced its own historical and cultural impact.'

For more about the The Case For The Real Jesus: By Lee Strobel , click the link below for my full article and links to a sample chapter as well as audio files.
http://equippersedge.blogspot.com/

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The Grand Weaver

The Bible tells us that, God has fearfully and wonderfully made us. The unique combination of our DNA, family background, gifting, experience, education and the gifts of the Spirit operating in us makes us truly unique individuals. Over the years I have found myself attacked to and have spoken about this subject because of its importance to the individual believer and the body of Christ. When you weave all of this together with the plan of God and the unfolding of the times and seasons of our lives we begin to see a tapestry which if presented to others with a true understanding of the weaving together of the natural and supernatural would cause us all to stand in awe of God wondrous workings in our lives. This new book adds much the discussion in this area.

I highly recommend this work and hope you will join me in the discussion of it over the next several weeks.

Below are some materials from the Zondervan web site and Ravi Zacharias' own site to give you a good introduction to this wonderful new book.

Synopsis: "With inspiring stories and thought-provoking questions, Ravi Zacharias traces the multiple threads of our lives, describing how the unseen hand of God guides our joys, our tragedies, our daily humdrum to weave a pattern of divine providence and meaning." (from the Zondervan site) http://www.zondervan.com/

"How differently would we live if we believed that every dimension of our lives--from the happy to the tragic to the mundane--were part of a beautiful and purposeful design in which no thread were wrongly woven? That's what Ravi Zacharias explores in The Grand Weaver.
As Christians, we believe that great events such as a death or a birth are guided by the hand of God. Yet we drift into feeling that our daily lives are the products of our own efforts. This book brims with penetrating stories and insights that show us otherwise. From a chance encounter in a ticket line to a beloved father's final word before dying, from a random phone call to a line in a Scripture reading, every detail of life is woven into its perfect place. In The Grand Weaver, Dr. Zacharias examines our backgrounds, our disappointments, our triumphs, and our beliefs, and explains how they are all part of the intentional and perfect work of the Grand Weaver."http://www.rzim.org/thegrandweaver/

Ravi Zacharias
For thirty-three years Ravi Zacharias (MDiv, Trinity International University) has spoken all over the world in great halls and universities, including Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford. He is listed as a distinguished lecturer with the Staley Foundation and has appeared on CNN and other international broadcasts. The author of several books for adults and children, he powerfully mixes biblical teaching and Christian apologetics. His most recent works include Walking from East to West, a memoir, and The Grand Weaver, an exploration of God’s intention and pattern in both the ordinary and the startling elements of life. His weekly radio program, Let My People Think, is broadcast over 1,500 stations worldwide, and his weekday program, Just Thinking, began airing in November 2004. He is president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Zacharias and his wife, Margie, have three grown children and reside in Atlanta. Author Website: http://www.ravizacharias.org/
here you will find a wealth of additional links.

The Zonervan.com site also allows you to read the first chapter.

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A Life Changing Experience is Just the Beginning

If we are do what Jesus has commanded us to do we must realize that it is not enough for people to have a ‘Life Changing Experience’ they must move on to a ‘Life that is Changed’ and then become ‘Life Changers .’ This requires a plan if people are to grow from new believers to disciples to well equipped leaders who can do the work of the ministry, build up each other and grow to maturity in Christ. Let's start at the begining.

Making Disciples: The Forgotten Secret for accomplishing 'what Jesus began to do and teach.' Ac 1:1-2: In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. NIV

What were those instructions that Jesus gave His followers? Mt 28:18-2018: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." NIV

The Apostle Paul expands on this command and the responsibility of leadership in Ephesians. Eph 4:10-13 11: And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NASU

In these verses we see greater insight into 'the making Disciples and the teaching of all that Jesus commanded', and what it means to continue what Jesus began to do and teach.

There are three leadership responsibilities spelled out in these verses that tell us what the church should be doing once people have believed in and received Jesus as the Messiah or Christ.

Equipping the saints (people who have believed in and received Jesus as savior);

1. To do the work of the ministry or work of service (serving God by doing what He commands in His Word).

2. To the building up (mending, encouraging, instructing and giving hope according to the Word of God) of the body of Christ(those who have received and believed in Jesus).

3. To help believers in Jesus the Christ to come into maturity as measured by Jesus Himself.

Where do we start? We must be saints, people made clean or holy by the Messiah. Many churches have stopped proclaiming Jesus as the only way to God as we see in John 14:6, calling themselves Christians without believing in and receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah and only way to God the father. Jn 14:6-7: 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." NIV

Without believing in and receiving of Jesus as the Messiah there is no Christianity! Until this happens we can not continue to do all that Jesus began to do and teach, nor can we call ourselves Christians.

Where do we go from here? Check back soon or sign up to get automatic updates on the right above my profile. Check @ http://equipperstoolbox.blogspot.com/ for a list of suggested reading.