BHBlog

Blog Post: eBook Deals for Armed Forces Day

DavidSchrader — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:49:00 GMT

Armed Forces Day is coming up May 18. To honor the event, we're offering eBook editions of our best military fiction for just $2.99 each now through May 21, 2012!

Major Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky

Certain Jeopardy

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

Blaze of Glory

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

Fallen Angel

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

Bob Hamer

Enemies Among Us

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

Targets Down

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

LTG (Ret) William G. Boykin and Tom Morrisey

Kiloton Threat

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook ~ iTunes

Blog Post: The Vow Featured in Costco Connection

DavidSchrader — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:02:00 GMT

Hey Costco members, have you read that "Living the Vow" article in the latest edition of The Costco Connection? It features Kim and Krickitt Carpenter whose amazing real-life love story is told in the New York Times No. 1 best seller, The Vow: The True Events that Inspired the Movie.

"If we can inspire just one engaged couple to rethink priorities or just one married couple to make it through a tough time, that's really what this message is about for us," Kim tells the publication.

Read the full story here.

Blog Post: Challies on 'Wednesdays'

DavidSchrader — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:06:00 GMT

Challies.com has posted a great review of Michael Kelley's new book, Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal, which tells true story of a father who wrestles with faith in God throughout his two-year-old son’s victorious battle with cancer, discovering that pain sometimes opens the door to a deeper experience with Jesus.

Tim Challies writes, "Some of the best writing, the writing that is most heartfelt and true, finds its source in life's deepest valleys. This is exactly the case with Michael Kelley's Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal . . . There are books that are good at asking questions and books that are good at answering them but not so many that bring strength to both questions and answers. The joy of Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal is that it does both well, rather a rare combination."

Read the entire review here.

Blog Post: Hamer Time! B&H Author on The 700 Club

DavidSchrader — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:06:00 GMT

B&H author Bob Hamer (Enemies Among Us, Targets Down) appears on The 700 Club this Tuesday, May 15, to discuss his modern thriller novels and how God protected him throughout his remarkable career in the FBI.

If you like action-packed stories with a faith message, you'll want to tune in. Publishers Weekly calls Enemies Among Us "a page-turning roller coaster that feels like Jack Bauer's 24 without sailing over the top." New York Times No. 1 best-selling author Vince Flynn said, "Bob Hamer's debut novel delivers realism only an undercover FBI agent can bring."

Blog Post: 'Living The Vow' Getaway Giveaway!

DavidSchrader — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:18:00 GMT

Our friends at Oasis Audio have put together a great contest for the audio book version of B&H's No. 1 New York Times best seller The Vow. Check out these fun details!

Oasis Audio Announces “Living The Vow” Getaway Giveaway

CAROL STREAM, IL — Oasis Audio, publisher of The Vow audio book, in partnership with B&H Publishing Group, is enlisting Facebook fans, to share their real-life stories of exceptional love and commitment. In a contest that will accept submissions until June 30, Oasis Audio is offering an all-expenses-paid weekend getaway to Chicago to the grand prize winner, as well as prizes for up to 30 more winning entries.

The Vow, the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, inspired one of the highest-grossing movies of 2012 and has encouraged couples around the world. Though a severe head injury left Krickitt without any memory of her marriage to him, Kim stayed true to his wife. Through the darkest times, he insisted, “I’m no hero. I made a vow.”

In celebration of the Carpenters’ faithfulness, participants will be encouraged to submit their own “Vow” story. The contest is hosted at the Oasis Audio Facebook page (www.facebook.com/OasisAudio), but participants can also submit their stories to contest@oasisaudio.com.

Facebook fans will vote for their favorites throughout the month of July. The 10 entries that receive the most votes will be entered into a pool from which Oasis Audio will choose the grand prize winner. All winners will be named on the Oasis Audio website (www.oasisaudio.com) on August 20, 2012.

The grand prize winner will receive a getaway weekend for two to Chicago, including round-trip airfare, two nights’ deluxe hotel accommodations, and dinner for two at a landmark Chicago restaurant. The winning entry will be recorded and featured on the Oasis Audio website for promotional purposes.

Five 2nd prize winners will receive a $50 Visa gift card. Twenty-five more entries will be chosen randomly to receive an autographed copy of The Vow audio book, signed by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter.

The print edition of The Vow (published by B&H Publishing Group), is a #1 New York Times non-fiction best seller.

About Oasis Audio (www.oasisaudio.com)

Oasis Audio publishes more Christian and inspirational titles than any other audio publisher in the United States. The Oasis Audio library contains over 1000 nationally-known and award-winning titles, including fiction and nonfiction for adults, teens, and children.

About B&H Publishing Group (www.bhpublishinggroup.com)

B&H Publishing Group is a division of LifeWay Christian Resources. B&H exists to provide intentional, Bible-centered content that positively impacts the hearts and minds of people, inspiring them to build a life-long relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Blog Post: Psalm 45: A Submissive Relationship to God

DavidSchrader — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:40:00 GMT

The following devotional is from In the Secret Place: A Pilgrimage Through the Psalms by Jerry Rankin.

Psalm 45

A Submissive Relationship to God

Key Verse: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows. (Psalm 45:7)

The majesty of the Lord is something we seldom truly comprehend. It usually elicited spontaneous praise and poetic descriptions by the psalmist and an attempt to capture God’s awesome character and sovereignty in an expression of allegory. God’s splendor and majesty are described in terms of victorious power. He is the representation of truth and righteousness. His right hand of authority elicits submission and meekness from those who follow Him. His arrows of conviction pierce the hearts of His enemies—those not in submission to His lordship. And His scepter, the symbol of His rule as King, represents absolute moral purity and uprightness.

One has no choice except to yield in submission and come before Him as a loyal subject. An effective leader is a model to his followers and influences and inspires them for the sake of a desired result; those who belong to God, like Him, love righteousness and hate wickedness. We enter into a relationship with Him in which our worship and adoration are a natural and appropriate response not only to His being God but “my God.” It is a personal and intimate experience that results in our being “anointed . . . with the oil of joy” (v. 7) above others. It is a relationship that causes us to forget worldly attractions, material wealth, and the acclaim of colleagues and friends. Instead, we find total pleasure in God’s presence and serving Him.

A question worthy of assessment is whether or not we have that kind of relationship with God. Do I have that anointing of joy? Jesus said in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” Such fullness of joy doesn’t come through circumstances, wealth, the absence of problems, and everything going our way. It comes only through a submissive relationship with Christ in which we find total satisfaction in Him. Being in the presence of the King can only mean being overcome with gladness and rejoicing. So, if we are not experiencing that abiding joy and a heart that is filled with praise and thanksgiving, does it not say something about our relationship with God?

We should not fail to note the influence of one’s submission to the majesty and authority of His lordship. It will be passed on to subsequent generations as sons replace their fathers so that all generations remember and honor the name of the Lord. And it will also result in widespread witness and missions impact of “the peoples” knowing and giving thanks to the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, so often my soul is distraught, and anxieties rob me of the joy I sometimes have in You. I find myself wanting to be set free from the constant problems and challenges so that I can have a heart that is glad and an attitude of praise; but I realize even that desire is for the sake of my own blessing and benefit. My only desire should be for You, to be in Your presence and experience the fullness of Your joy. So I come to You with my heart overflowing with Your goodness and grace.

Blog Post: FREE WEEKEND - Kobo Touch E-Reader GIVEAWAY!!!

DavidMyers — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:17:00 GMT

Blog Post: The Vow Pinterest Contest!

DavidMyers — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:39:00 GMT

We're so excited to be giving away 5 COPIES of The Vow on DVD! We're also giving away, to one very lucky winner, a $100 gift card to Target!

* Simply create your own The Vow Pinterest board,
* Repin this pin to YOUR board,
* Follow OUR Pinterest The Vow board,
* and comment on Facebook with a link to your board.

You're then entered into the contest! Good luck, and happy pinning!!!

Blog Post: eBooks for Mother's Day

DavidSchrader — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:45:00 GMT

Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 13. If your mom has an eBook reader, then set her up with the digital editions of Bible Promises for Mom (just 99 cents) andTreasured Moments with Mother Graham ($4.99). But hurry! These deals will only last through Monday, May 14, 2012.

Bible Promises for Mom

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook.com ~ iTunes

Treasured Moments with Mother Graham

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook.com ~ iTunes

Blog Post: Gilbert Morris Launches Web Site

DavidSchrader — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:29:00 GMT

Beloved Christian novelist Gilbert Morris has launched a new web site as the June 1, 2012 release of his latest book, The River Rose, draws near.

Morris has sold more than seven million books worldwide but until now did not have an ongoing online presence. Read an interview with Gil plus a sample chapter from The River Rose at GilbertMorris.com.

Blog Post: Rest in Peace, George "Goober" Lindsey

DavidSchrader — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:23:00 GMT

George Lindsey who played Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show died yesterday at 83.

B&H crossed paths with the comedic legend when he wrote a foreword for The Way Back to Mayberry. That book looks back at thirty classic episodes of the sitcom where biblical principles were applied and are still inspiring viewers to live with great character and strong faith today.

"I think it's a fine thing that people are able to find useful inspiration and lessons for life through watching and discussing The Andy Griffith Show," Lindsey wrote.

You can read Goober's foreword and a sample chapter at TheWayBackToMayberry.com.

Blog Post: Psalm 142: Deliverance from Despondency

DavidSchrader — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:29:00 GMT

The following devotional is from In the Secret Place: A Pilgrimage Through the Psalms by Jerry Rankin.

Psalm 142

Deliverance from Despondency

Key Verse: When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Thou didst know my path. (Psalm 142:3)

Life is filled with challenges and problems. More often than not we find ourselves struggling with a financial crisis, an unexpected illness or prolonged health need, or family issues that leave us distraught and helpless. We may walk through the valley and persevere until we find hope, experience God’s grace, and eventually get on top of these problems. However, it is devastating when our spirit is overwhelmed with depression and anxieties, and we cannot even identify the reason. When we have been in such a situation, we can readily identify with the desperation of the psalmist as he cries out to the Lord, pleads in supplication, pours out his complaint, and declares his trouble.

Invariably, one of the reasons we sink so low is that we feel no one understands or is sensitive to what we are feeling and going through. People may ask us, “What’s wrong?” A friend or spouse may offer to help, but our inability to understand and articulate what we are feeling makes it difficult to communicate and for others to respond. The “persecutors” may not be persons or physical adversaries but situations that produce worry, such as an accusing conscience or disappointments that have eroded our faith and sense of God’s presence. They put our souls in a prison of helplessness and despondency, and we recognize it is a situation that is too strong for us to overcome on our own.

We have two things that give us hope and on which we can rely. One is the fact that God knows our path. His providence that was so beautifully expressed in Psalm 139 reminds us that He knows everything that is happening to us and where it is all leading. He understands our dilemma and the trap that we walked into and is also aware of the solution. He is our refuge, not only from sin but day by day “in the land of the living” (v. 5). He heeds our cry and is the source of the fullness of blessing He desires for us.

The other factor that is our hope and deliverance is the fact that we are surrounded by a support group and those who love us. We may feel that no one cares, but a part of God’s bountiful mercy is not just what He does but what He does through others. When we are reminded of the fellowship of believers of which we are a part and what a blessing this is, a sense of meaning and assurance will return along with a spirit of thanksgiving.

One other inescapable impression from this Psalm is the fact that multitudes of people in our community and all over the world are crying out as the psalmist in verse 4, “No one cares for my soul.” While we usually are focused on our own needs and struggle with depression, we need to be sensitive to so many who feel lonely and rejected and that society has passed them by. While unreached people groups and a world in darkness may not be conscious of their lostness, their futile search and vain religious expressions are testimonies that no one cares enough to reach them with the gospel.

Prayer: Lord, it is assuring to know You know my path and care for my soul. Thank You for friends and family who provide love, support, and encouragement in times of need. Make me sensitive to the fact that so many people live in despondency and loneliness with no one to care and let me be Your instrument to let them know of Your love and deliverance.

Blog Post: May the Fourth Be With You; Out of this Galaxy Deal on Ed Stetzer eBooks!

DavidSchrader — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:06:00 GMT

People all over the world are celebrating today, May 4, as May the Fourth Be With You Day, a perfect excuse to talk about all things Star Wars. I'm using it to offer you a special deal on select eBooks from Ed Stetzer, B&H author and all-around research Jedi. Now through May 7, 2012, you can grab the digital editions of Comeback Churches and Lost and Found for just $2.99 each!

Comeback Churches

Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook.com ~ iTunes

Lost and Found

Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook.com ~ iTunes

Blog Post: FREE FRIDAY: J.D. Greear, Kenny Luck Books

DavidSchrader — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:37:00 GMT

Every Friday is FREE FRIDAY here at the B&H blog.

This week we're giving one lucky winner two great books: Kenny Luck's brand new Sleeping Giant: No Movement of God without Men of God and J.D. Greear's recent Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary.

To enter for your chance to win, just email us at Contest@BHPublishingGroup.com

* Winner will be notified via e-mail
* If winner does not respond within 3 days of being contacted, a new recipient will be selected.
* General B&H contest rules are posted here.

Blog Post: Expolit 12, Votos de Amor

DavidSchrader — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:04:00 GMT

Estamos muy emocionados de estar en Miami, FL en Expolit 2012 y de poder mostrar nuestros nuevos productos 2012-2013 al público. Les queremos presentar el nuevo libro Best Seller del New York Times de este año The VOW ahora en Español Votos de Amor por Kim y Krickitt Carpenter. Este es la historia de los hechos reales que inspiraron la película.

La vida de Kim y Krickitt Carpenter quedό completamente destrozada dos mese después de su casamiento, cuando un terrible accidente automovilístico dejó a Krickitt en coma varias semanas y con una grave lesión cerebral.

Cuando por fin despertó, no tenía idea de quién era Kim. Como Krickitt no recordada nada sobre su relación y al mismo tiempo experimentaba cambios de personalidad (es común en personas que sufren heridas o lesiones en la cabeza), Kim comprendió que, en esencia, la mujer con quien se había casado había muerto en el accidente.

Sin embargo, contra todo pronóstico, Kim y Krickitt volvieron a enamorarse. Votos de Amor (The VOW) cuenta la historia verdadera de esta travesía, de un compromiso intacto y un voto de matrimonio cumplido.

Kim y Krickitt Carpenter tienen dos hijos y viven en Farmington Nuevo Mexico, donde él es subdirector general del condado de San Juan y ella trabaja como maestra suplente en una escuela.

Blog Post: Subversive Kingdom by Ed Stetzer

DavidSchrader — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:50:00 GMT

Enjoy the first chapter of Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation by Ed Stetzer. The book is available now.

PART I

A Subversive Way of Thinking

Rebelling against the Rebellion

I think of myself as a New Yorker since I’ve lived more of my life there than in any other state. But after moving south several years ago, I’ve tried hard to blend into my new home in Tennessee, which has a rich history all its own—including this interesting little fact I recently discovered from the Civil War era.

Tennessee, you probably know, is shaped like a long, thin parallelogram, which can effectively be drawn into what the Chamber of Commerce calls its three “Grand Divisions”—West, Middle, and East—three equally sized regions that share the same statehood but not always the same politics and perspectives. During the slavery and states’ rights debates of the mid-1800s, for example, both West and Middle Tennessee increasingly sided with the separatist sentiments of the Confederacy. Angry at what they saw as the overreaching intrusion of the federal government into their private, personal affairs, they were open to the argument that the only way to preserve their rights and independence was to make a clean break from the established order. Declare their disloyalties. Stand in rebellion.

East Tennesseans, on the other hand, with their mountainous terrain that depended less on farming and agriculture (and, therefore, depended less on the slave labor such livelihoods relied on) remained predominantly allied with the abolitionist Union. Though living in the midst of a southern state bordering on breakaway, the people in the East were not in agreement with the beliefs and practices espoused by the loudest voices who lived in other parts of the state. The city of Shelbyville was even eventually nicknamed “Little Boston.” So when Tennessee officially became the last of the southern states to secede from the United States following Lincoln’s attack on Fort Sumter in 1861, it did so without the full support of its fellow citizens from the East. Right after Tennessee seceded from the Union, East Tennessee seceded from Tennessee.

East Tennessee was in rebellion against the rebellion.

As a result, they were treated as cross-state enemies, eventually being invaded by the armies and militias of their own state who had been deployed with orders to keep this splinter section under control. They were forced into a sort of guerilla warfare for daring to insist that the rightful rule of their country resided in Washington, DC, not Richmond, Virginia.

In many ways we as believers in Christ—followers of another Ruler, citizens of another kingdom—are much like the people of East Tennessee in Civil War America. We live among a world system that, even though ultimately under the reign of a sovereign God, temporarily exerts a competing authority that seeks to enforce an unjust, unrighteous order on those it claims to rule. The Supreme Court, for example, would later find that the secession of the southern states was an illegal and illegitimate act. Their confederacy had no legal authority. Thus, the United States was always legally sovereign over those states. They just didn’t know it.

And so it is with us. The world’s illegal rebellion is illegitimate. It certainly feels real, of course—IS real—but it doesn’t change the reality that God is still Ruler of everything. Though people may think they have rebelled, they have not—and cannot—ultimately escape the fact that King Jesus still is sovereign.

And though we feel outnumbered and highly unpopular at times by clinging to our Christian ideals, though we make ourselves subject to all kinds of criticism and misunderstanding by resisting the widely held opinions of our friends and neighbors, we can’t help but recognize a tension that keeps us from following where the leader of this rebellion wants to take us. As much as we may feel obligated by our family histories, or as willing as we may be to at least consider the validity of these differing viewpoints, there’s no common ground for us to stand on. Our aims are incompatible. As Christians, we don’t join an illegitimate rebellion. Instead, we live for King Jesus in contrast to those around us. We live in loyalty to the very One the world rebels against.

We’re in rebellion against the rebellion.

So if we know deep down we cannot mingle our convictions with the prevailing moods and modes of the surrounding culture, even out of comfort and convenience, so it seems we’re left with only a handful of choices for how to respond to a society in rebellion against our King. We can run and hide to keep from being overtaken, or we can defiantly stand our ground in open, declared warfare.

Or maybe there’s a third option. Something less expected, less obvious. More biblical, and amazingly more effective. In a sense we go underground.

Yes, I get that we sometimes want to stay “above ground” as God’s people—just attend our churches, have our preferences catered to, and enjoy the ocean cruise while all around us the sea is filled with sinking boats. Yet in a kingdom lifestyle this option doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing.

Others, instead, have chosen to live out the gospel and its implications in subversive ways. The reason we can subvert is because the nature of the kingdom is to show first an irresistible social order and then tell about an irresistible king. We go under (sub) where people “out there” don’t expect to see and experience grace. We leave our home court (the church) and go to their home court (the world). And then when they least expect it, Jesus shows up in their world, inviting them to draw near to him through our random acts of kindness.

So rather than (or maybe in addition to) inviting the unbeliever to the Sunday morning show, we demonstrate our faith by how we live, relate, and care. Others see that life with Jesus is not about going to a place at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. Life with Jesus is now demonstrated where they are. The last place they ever thought to look. Right in the middle of where they live, work, and play. We go there.

We stay and subvert.

We can do this another way.

We can become daring agents of God’s subversive kingdom.

Prepare to Be Amazed

I would totally understand if this “kingdom” idea has always struck you as being cloudy and mysterious or even if you’ve never really thought about it all that much. If you have, your tendency may be like many who pocket it away and dismiss the kingdom as a theological concept somehow detached from real life on the ground—lived every day. To many the kingdom is a spiritual idea that makes sense in the context of sermons and Bible studies but not between regular business hours or on Friday nights when you’re making plans for the weekend.

And if that’s all the kingdom was—a spiritual theme or wordplay that seeks to capture the essence of Christianity in some memorable turn of phrase—we might have the luxury of keeping it at that kind of comfortable, churchy distance.

But the kingdom of God is real.

It’s here. It’s happening.

It’s right there in the room with you.

It has broken into our time and space and is subversively working to overcome the darkness of our age. The kingdom of God is a radical rejection of every value or point of view that keeps people in bondage to untruth, blinded to Christ’s mercy. It is a refusal to classify any person as being expendable or beyond reach, an unwillingness to view any situation as something that cannot be transformed and infused with hope. It means knowing that while not everything will be made perfectly right on this earth or in this era, we have opportunities to witness the kingdom’s reality this week on every street, in every neighborhood, and in every nation of the world.

The kingdom of God lives.

Here. Now.

And you and I—undeserving recipients of God’s forgiving grace—have been made a part of it. Active participants in it. Agents of change under the rule of our Lord and King, called to join him on a mission that is sure to be victorious in the end. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been made a citizen of this kingdom.

Because everywhere he leads, his kingdom follows.

But not in ways we might expect.

Subversion in Action

Think of Christ, the conquering King, appearing as a baby in a Bethlehem manger, born in obscurity to humble parents, raised as the son of a poor carpenter in the backwaters of the Roman Empire. Think of his first thirty years spent without unusual notice or public attention, with only one or two events recorded from his early life. Think of forty days spent fasting and praying in a darkened wilderness, quietly and carefully setting the stage for his ministry to begin. Think of his riding into Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed donkey rather than on a royal steed with a phalanx of soldiers by his side.

This is not open warfare. Jesus did not march on Rome. He never called together a zealot army. He never wrote a political manifesto. He simply announced that because he had come, the kingdom had come—and it would move out from Jerusalem in surprising ways. Not by might but by the subterfuge of lives lived for King Jesus.

And what he visibly displayed through his own unexpected, unconventional emergence into human history, we can now see happening in miniature in our own lives when we—his people, his kingdom agents—act under his orders in the everyday places we’re called to serve as ambassadors for this kingdom.

Like Jesus we are enemies of the world’s broken system, those who stand against the injustice of a broken world. But as we will see later, the world is ruled (falsely and temporarily) by Satan—yet we live in allegiance to King Jesus. So the way we show our allegiance to God and to his kingdom is primarily under radar and out of sight, composed of small measures that mask their enormous significance. Instead of overwhelming the world with the might of our arsenals and arguments—a “shock and awe” approach designed to undermine the enemy’s will or ability to resist—God leads us to a different way of living and thinking.

More creative.

More persuasive.

More subversive.

My wife, for example, recently taught English as a second language to the children of illegal immigrants in our community. Say what you will about the immigration issue—there are plenty of opinions to go around—the fact remains that a sizable number of people from other nations, many of them detached from relationship with Christ, are living in our cities without our having to book travel to Mexico City, San Salvador, or Tegucigalpa to reach them. And it’s not hard to see—if you’re looking through kingdom eyes—how enabling these kids (and their families) to talk to their peers and communicate within our culture can prove a key, potential connector that leads them into the fellowship of the church and the warm embrace of the kingdom of God.

I know of another woman—in her mid-sixties, with no computer, no e-mail address, and no access to the Internet—who began corresponding as a pen pal with a female prison inmate. Before long, several more of the prisoner’s friends were asking this woman to write them. Today she composes longhand letters to more than twenty incarcerated women each month, giving them spiritual guidance, counsel, encouragement, and instruction. Some of her “pen” pals have even stopped by to visit her church upon their release! Here’s a lady directly engaging people whose lives have been ruined by falling for the world’s way of handling conflict and solving problems, yet she’s doing it subversively. Simply. And powerfully. In service to her King and his kingdom.

As I write this, my friend Sérgio Queiroz at Cidade Viva in Brazil is leading his church to write a letter to every prisoner in their state. After obtaining the list of inmates from the government, he and thousands of others—people under Jesus’ rule—are sitting down to tell each prisoner of the grace and love of God through these handwritten epistles.

And that’s not all. When I preached at Cidade Viva, it was hard not to notice the prostitutes along the beaches at night—“street walkers” they’re often called—half-clothed and looking for a customer. Cidade Viva is taking a rose to each of them—along with an offer of another life—telling them the good news of Christ. Why? They seek to live for the kingdom of God.

The leadership of 12Stone Church, a multicampus congregation based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, became increasingly concerned at how home foreclosures, rampant unemployment, and other financial strains were affecting families in the Atlanta area. So they set an ambitious goal of providing relief to five thousand families in their church and community, eventually raising more than $550,000 through designated gifts—many from church members who were themselves unemployed. Partnering with Honeybaked Hams, Kroger grocery stores, and other area sponsors, the church distributed food to each family based on need, culminating with a huge day of giveaways in the parking lot of Coolray Field, home to the Atlanta Braves AAA baseball team. People began lining up hours before the event, jamming traffic flow on nearby I-85, with some of the attendees sleeping overnight in their cars to keep from missing out. “Why are you doing this?” many would ask as they drove by the delivery site, leaving with grateful armfuls of food and supplies.

Because that’s just how the kingdom works. Pushing back the darkness and shining the light of God’s love into unexpected places is kingdom activity. Drawing people toward the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ and into genuine, saving relationship with him is the kingdom result.

It’s subversive. It turns against the way most people think and act—even the religious.

Not sneaky. Not manipulative. Just real and relational, right there in the presence of a broken world.

Like bringing a rose to a prostitute.

And that doesn’t fit with how most people, including many Christians, assume the kingdom looks and what it’s supposed to do.

Many Christians, if they believe anything about the kingdom at all, think of it as the church itself, with its spires and steeples on top that make it almost look like a castle. But while the church is definitely inseparably involved in the work of the kingdom, the kingdom itself is not visible in the same way a church building is. You can’t see it with ordinary sight.

That’s why lots of people miss it.

John the Baptist, even—the one sent ahead of time to announce the coming of Christ—had a hard time recognizing the kingdom that he himself had said was about to “come near” (Matt. 3:2). Sitting in prison, facing his own execution, having banked his life on the promise that the Messiah was coming to redeem and restore Israel, John dispatched messengers to ask if Jesus was truly the One who was ushering in this kingdom. Perhaps he thought if Jesus was really King of a heaven-sent kingdom, then the one who had announced his appearing shouldn’t be locked up in jail!

Jesus’ response was to “go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news” (Matt. 11:4–5). Such were the unexpected evidences that “the kingdom of God has come to you” (Matt. 12:28). Jesus was proving himself King over enemies far more destructive and pervasive than Israel’s longtime persecutors.

Whatever you thought the kingdom was, John, this is it.

And whatever you think the kingdom is today, I assure you it is more incredible, more surprising, more challenging, and more adventurous than you can even imagine.

It’s time for us to see things differently.

To see the kingdom for what it really is.

Jesus and the Kingdom

When I first encountered the biblical message on the kingdom, I was a young believer around fourteen years old, learning to play a worship song on my brand-new guitar. I had never played before, but my youth director saw I had one and asked me to play it at the upcoming retreat—two weeks away. Being eager (at just about everything), I agreed.

“Seek Ye First” uses a simple chord progression—C-G-F, with a couple of variations thrown in there for fun. And I played it again and again, singing the words without really understanding what this song was instructing me to do. I played about the kingdom of God until my fingers bled. But until I read and reread the Gospels, the meaning didn’t sink in.

In the years that followed, I was told the kingdom of God was something I didn’t need to worry about, that Jesus was going to establish it whenever he comes again. For now the kingdom didn’t really matter. I shouldn’t be concerned. “That was for another dispensation,” they said. But what I could never reconcile with that dismissive attitude was that Jesus seemed absolutely obsessed with the kingdom. I mean, read the Gospels. He talks about the kingdom more than eighty times in just over eighty chapters. That’s a lot of kingdom. Jesus didn’t seem to think we were supposed to ignore it until later.

This is not some minor, unimportant thing. Can’t be.

Jesus came into his ministry proclaiming a clear message: “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matt. 4:17). Up until that point only a few of his words had been recorded. But with this grand pronouncement he immediately (and repeatedly) began painting a picture of what this kingdom was supposed to look like and entail. Jesus went all over first-century Palestine, the Bible tells us, “teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matt. 4:23; cf. 9:35).

“Teaching, preaching, healing.” Whenever a Spirit-inspired author of Scripture creates a noticeable pattern like this, we do well to look more closely and see what it’s really showing us. Through Jesus’ teaching and preaching, he was proclaiming to everyone that they could be part of God’s agenda on earth by repenting and believing, that this “kingdom of heaven” was primarily spiritual in nature. And through his miracles of healing, he was making visibly evident his authoritative power over the curse of our fallen, helpless condition. After all, “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat and walk’?” (Mark 2:9). They’re both easy when your power as King is supreme over every part of the rebellious world, both physical and spiritual.

This was how God’s kingdom was coming in.

And that’s not what the Jews of his day had in mind. They had always expected their long-prophesied Messiah to come and create a restored national Israel that would crush the heads of their enemies. They looked for One who would literally, and at that time, “reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever” (Isa. 9:7; cf. 16:5; Jer. 23:5; 33:17)—a political and military king, sent here to set up God’s permanent, visible kingdom in a triumphant Jerusalem.

But Jesus’ message and mission demonstrated something else—a surprising, subversive kingdom that expanded far beyond this limited and limiting concept. He instead invited people to experience freedom through the forgiveness of sin, not the restoration of civil government. His was an invasion of hope not housed in geopolitical territories but within the human heart, a jurisdiction more infested with hostile enemies than even the Roman-occupied land of Israel. His kingdom wouldn’t be marked by armies, generals, and a big palace in Jerusalem. It would be an unexpected demonstration of spiritual power.

So this was not a kingdom they could march into as conquering heroes. They could only be part of this victorious invasion by humbling themselves like little children. Why? “For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14), then as well as now. Richard Lovelace summarizes, “The most crucial battle for the kingdom is won every time a human being repents, believes, and submits to the lordship of the Messiah, becoming a new center for the reordering of life on earth as it is in heaven.”

That’s why when Jesus was asked questions by the one-dimensional Pharisees, who wanted his explanation on “when the kingdom of God will come,” he tantalizingly answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).

Because Jesus was among them.

This was shocking news. The Pharisees knew that God was King. They knew he had always ruled the universe from his throne in the heavens. Like Hezekiah prayed in 2 Kings 19:15, they would have declared, “Lord God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God—You alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.” That’s pretty clear. God is the King of everything—already. They just wanted the earthly kingdom to be made evident.

And yet the kingdom of God was here because the King was here. And that’s not what they expected.

God’s kingdom was among them, taking over what their true enemy (not just Israel’s national enemies) had sought to steal. And because Christ our King is within us today, his kingdom remains present among the people in our culture as well. We exist for his kingdom to take subversive shape through our lives.

Saved for Subversion

In 2010 the world watched for a day and a half as thirty-three Chilean miners were brought to the surface of the earth, having spent sixty-nine days trapped a half-mile underground. More than 700 million tons of rock had shifted around their work space, and even those who were charged with the job of extracting them labored for weeks without knowing if any survivors would be found at all.

The progress of their final rescue was accompanied on television by mini-biographies of each individual, as well as live video feeds that captured the anxious anticipation of loved ones waiting topside to be reunited with their brave husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends. Finally the last man was lifted from the rocky depths—another recipient of a new chance at life after what had seemed for desperate weeks a certain death.

Rescued!

“Rescued” is one of the metaphors used in the Bible to describe how God delivers his children from death to life, from the power of worldly rule into the light of Christ’s kingdom.

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13–14)

The Bible explains that Satan influences mankind to do evil (Eph. 2:2) and enslaves those who follow his will (Rom. 6:16)—the true source behind all those who oppose God and his kingdom (Exod. 1:15–22; Matt. 2:13–18)—and works all day every day to undermine the effectiveness of God’s Word (Matt. 13:19) and to blind the eyes of unbelievers so they cannot see the truth (2 Cor. 4:4). This is the condition we were each born into—an oppressive, deceptive kingdom that kept us buried in lies, spiritual laziness, and pointless activities disguised to look meaningful.

But Jesus subversively came into the world to destroy Satan and his schemes, to set free those who suffered under his enslaving rule. Through his death Jesus took on himself both the debt and condemnation of sin (Col. 2:14) and won ultimate victory over the one who uses fear, hopelessness, deception, and guilt as a way to control people’s minds and hearts.

We’ve been “rescued.”

Our citizenship has been “transferred.”

These ideas are critical for us in understanding the work of Christ and the kingdom. We did not make the kingdom; we were rescued for it and transferred into it.

That word transferred refers to the removal of people from one place of residence to another, repositioned for the purpose of forming a new colony. Paul’s use of that word in describing salvation implies that we have not only been transferred into Christ’s kingdom but also commissioned to be a part of outposts of that kingdom wherever God leads us to go, subversively undermining the tyranny of the evil one.

Don’t lose the drama of this. Don’t underestimate what the gift of salvation has won for you. Don’t downplay the implications of what this calls you to do and be. Your loyalties have changed from one kingdom to another. You have been relocated from the haunts of this world’s broken neighborhoods, cultures, and systems and have become a citizen of the kingdom of God—all while still living at the same address. If you name Christ the King, if you have been born again by the power of the gospel, if you believe in the sacrifice of Jesus for your sins, your “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).

And that means something.

Special. Radical. Transforming.

Not just a new Sunday schedule but life as a new creation.

Not just a new Bible but a new lifestyle to match.

Not just a new label but a new loyalty.

When I was a kid growing up on Long Island outside of New York City, my dad built us a tree house. An awesome tree house. It had plumbing, electricity, cable. (Not really, but I do remember thinking it had everything. It was really cool.) I was eight years old or so, and as kids are likely to do, my friends and I decided this tree house was adequate reason for organizing our own club. So we set up some rules to determine who could be in the club and who couldn’t. No girls, of course. Nobody else, either, if we didn’t like them. And one more thing: if you wanted to be in our club, you couldn’t be in anybody else’s. Access to the tree house came with a loyalty oath. You were one of us, or you were left out. Don’t try to be playing both sides.

There’s no tree house rule in the kingdom, but it sure seems like some people have forgotten that joining this new kingdom (or, in this case, being brought into it) requires some radical differences in your loyalties. If a kid with a tree house understands that, so should we. Being a part of the kingdom means a new loyalty to King Jesus.

Something is wrong when churches are filled with people who seemingly haven’t changed their loyalties. People who have a religious veneer but live like everybody else. People whose goals and values are little more than “baptized” versions of the world’s goals and values. People whose citizenship has been supernaturally transferred into the kingdom of God but who choose not to live like loyal subjects of the King. People who have been rescued from the death trap of the world’s domain. But for what? To sit around in church and think they’re doing God a big favor by being there? To have the same basic take on everyday life as the people they work with and live around?

Not if they knew whose kingdom they were in, what it cost to put them there, and what it means to be an agent at his command.

One of the most familiar yet radical statements in Scripture comes from the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We’re never going to see this culmination perfectly fulfilled, of course, until Christ returns in full glory, when he will bring a highly visual end to the rebellion of the world’s system. But until that time our rescued condition—our new kingdom citizenship with its transferred loyalties—compels us into becoming agents of “rebellion against the rebellion,” working intentionally to subvert the devil’s claim to authority over our and others’ individual lives. In a sense we are a worldwide network of underground operatives, poking more holes in Satan’s enterprise than he can possibly plug. We live out a daring mission, serving others and pulling them back from his traps while his back is turned on other problems and projects.

Come on. Don’t you want a piece of that?

Now, I get that some people will object to this language, and some may take it out of context. I can see it now on some blog site run by a guy who lives in his mother’s basement: “Stetzer calls for subversive agents of world conquest.” No, the subversive action to which I refer is sharing and showing the good news of Jesus. That’s really subversive! King Jesus will come back, and “the kingdoms of this world” will become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” (Rev. 11:15 kjv). In the meantime we are just doing what Jesus did—announcing the good news and living out its message in incredibly subversive ways.

Being a kingdom agent means becoming one who “loses his life” from a worldly point of view (Mark 8:35) in order to find true life for ourselves and to help rescue others who are chained in darkness, doubt, and cleverly disguised despair. It means representing God through his body on earth—the church—as he uses us to advance and expand his kingdom through Spirit-led, subversive ways. It means pursuing a different agenda and mission in life because we serve a different King, living out his teachings as flesh-and-blood realities, not just chapter-and-verse references. When the world zigs, we zag. We give death and its depressing companions (like poverty, pain, and pointlessness) something to worry about.

One simple, kingdom act at a time.

And all the while, Christ claims small, subversive victories in people’s lives right around us, in confident anticipation of the day when he will claim every victory there is to claim.

Let’s Do It

This book is my attempt to put a face on a vital, biblical concept that has too often failed to congeal in our minds and seemed too unearthly to get our arms around. It took a while for me to get it myself. I’m still just now “getting it” in many ways. But I have never gotten over realizing that God has called me—called each of us—to be an agent of subversion in his gospel insurgency. Much of the mystery surrounding what it means to “seek first the kingdom” (Matt. 6:33) has become clear to me as I’ve seen how God uses our humble submission to his lordship and our faithful participation in the ministry of his church to advance his subversive invasion on earth.

Yes, the kingdom is easy to miss. Jesus’ own disciples missed it, in fact, even while staring their King straight in the face. Right up until he ascended to heaven following his death and resurrection, they were still asking, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6). They wanted to know, Is this the end? Have the end times come? Still today many others ask the same thing. Yet Jesus puts us on a different path for a different purpose.

So we’re in good company to be wondering what all of this means. But we’re also in for the adventure of a lifetime if we will assume our places in “rebellion against the rebellion,” following our King into whatever subversive activity he wants us to undertake.

Blog Post: MyStudyBible.com: May 2012 Update - Annotations everywhere! Enhanced highlights! New content!

Aaron Linne — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:46:00 GMT

We are incredibly excited to announce the May Update for MyStudyBible.com! This one has been a long time coming and one of our most requested feature sets!

You are now able to make notes, bookmarks, and highlights in all MyStudyBible.com content. Bibles, commentaries, academic books, dictionaries, and even your video clip lists! It's as simple as it's always been; just highlight the text and a popup appears. From here you can add whatever kind of annotation you like.

But, of course, adding this feature opened up a whole new array of things you can now do with your content! So, here's a list of things to try with all the new features and tools sprinkled throughout MyStudyBible.com:

1) Create a shortcut

You can now create a short link to any location in any piece of content in the site. Simply highlight the text and select "copy link." If the content is free, any clicks on that link will take the user directly to that location. If it is paid content, whoever clicks the link will be taken to the product page for that book in the store.

For example, click here to be taken to a page in the Holman New Testament Commentary on John, one of the free commentaries on the site.

Or, click here to be taken to a location in the Resolution for Men to see what happens with paid content.

2) Share on Facebook

When you click the share on Facebook link, we automatically send the link on over to Facebook for you. Add in your comment, and the post the link right to your wall!

3) Share on Twitter

Whatever you highlight gets sent right into Twitter, right away. Of course, if you highlight more than 140 characters you'll have to reduce it down, OR...

4) Use Advanced Copy

If you click on Advanced Copy, you get a whole slew of options for formatting the text to be just the way you want it. You can choose whether to include the formatting, the book's title, the author's name, links in it, or just reduce it to 140 characters for bite-sized tweeting.

5) Double up your highlighting

Now, for the first time in MSB, you can create multiple highlights over the same section. Whatever color you highlight with last is the color that appears, but the old highlight is still remembered. You can also now highlight and underline the same passage.

6) Use the My Highlights tool

After you log in, you are given a new tab on the right that says "My Content." You've always been able to manage your notes and bookmarks here, but now we've added controls for your highlights. Add or delete highlights, change names of the highlights, jump straight to a highlight, or even change the name of a color! Perhaps "yellow" is really everything you highlighted that spoke about grace to you; just change the name!

7) View your annotations on your mobile device

Once you've placed an annotation using the full MyStudyBible.com site, those same annotations - highlights, bookmarks and notes - all show up on the mobile site. If you haven't tried MyStudyBible.com on your iPhone or Android device, you're missing out on a great, compact reading experience!

And that's just a peek at what we've been building into the site for this release. There are even more things going on in the backend that you won't even notice, all to increase the performance, stability, and integration of the site. Even now, purchases from MyStudyBible.com also sync with getting access to content in some of our iPhone apps - with much more to come!

Of course, what would be a major release without the release of some major content? This release features over 100 new titles! That's simply too much to list. But, if you're looking for a great deal to kickstart your MyStudyBible.com library, check out the WORDsearch Preaching Library, now available in MyStudyBible.com: over $5,000 worth of content for only $400!

Blog Post: Acclaimed Novel 'Seeing Things' is FREE!

DavidSchrader — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:24:00 GMT

I love telling you about FREE books! Yes, it's true. You can download the B&H novel Seeing Things by Patti Hill for FREE today through May 7, 2012 at:

Barnes & Noble ~ ChristianBook.com ~ iTunes

Birdie Wainwright, 72, isn’t concerned about seeing things that others can’t. For a woman who still climbs mountains with her dog (Miss Bee Haven) and likes to tango, the impractical visions brought on by macular degeneration are just another gift from God, adding more adventure to life. But when a tumble down the stairs breaks her ankle and leads back to her son’s home in Denver where she must convalesce, Birdie’s imagination really takes flight. Following a conversation with her grandson about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, she begins to see and speak with the unkempt literary character himself on a regular basis. As the line between reality and whimsy turns brittle, faith is tested among friends and loved ones, and hope is reborn.

Seeing Things is a story about family, reconciliation, and hearing from God in unexpected ways.

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"A delight for the senses . . . a literary treat."
~ Hannah Alexander, author of A Killing Frost

"A soul-stirring novel that will make you smile long after you turn the last page."
~ Kathleen Popa, author of To Dance in the Desert

Blog Post: Candace Cameron Bure's 'Roo Mag'

DavidSchrader — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:55:00 GMT

Acclaimed actress and New York Times best-selling author Candace Cameron Bure (Reshaping It All) recently launched a web site called RooMag.com where "We believe that traditional values are not necessarily old-fashioned values. We believe that modern women want traditional values."

Take a look!

Blog Post: Psalm 103: Blessings in Superabundance

DavidSchrader — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:08:00 GMT

The following devotional is from In the Secret Place: A Pilgrimage Through the Psalms by Jerry Rankin.

Psalm 103

Blessings in Superabundance

Key Verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. (Psalm 103:1–2)

This is my favorite Psalm. Although others deal with a positive focus on God and acknowledgement of His sovereignty, none is so upbeat in praising Him for a litany of blessings and benefits. When we become mindful of all that God has done and provided for us, we can only lift up His name in praise with all of our being.

1. He has pardoned all our iniquities; there is no exception. All means “all”!

2. He heals all our diseases. Modern medicine may help, but God is the healer.

3. He redeems life from the pit, not only saving our life from hell but making this life profitable instead of a life of depression or failure.

4. He crowns us with loving-kindness and compassion.

5. He satisfies our years with good things—not just for a moment here and there.

6. He renews our youth, an encouraging promise for those advancing in age.

7. He performs righteous deeds; He intervenes with His righteousness and provides His strength.

8. He performs judgments on our behalf when we are oppressed and mistreated.

9. He makes known His ways and leads us as He did with Moses and others.

10. He is compassionate and gracious, blessing us even when we are undeserving.

11. He is slow to anger but abounding in loving-kindness.

12. He will not keep His anger forever; the Lord doesn’t hold a grudge.

13. He does not deal with us according to our iniquities as we deserve, but according to His grace and mercy.

14. His mercy is higher than the heavens (and that is pretty high!) toward those who fear Him.

15. He has removed our transgressions from us; He not only forgives them but actually removes them and “cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). If you go north, you will eventually be going south as you reach the North Pole, but you can go east forever and never go west; our sins are gone!

16. He has compassion on us as a Father; we have the privilege of intimacy with Him.

17. He knows us in the depth of our being, our inclinations, our character, and our heart as well as our actions; therefore, He can provide whatever we need.

18. His loving-kindness is permanent and everlasting, not like the flowers and grass that wither and even our physical bodies that die.

19. He is faithful not only to us but to successive generations.

20. He has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty is over all.

Prayer: Lord, I bless You and worship You, for You are so compassionate. You have not dealt with me as I deserve, but You have pardoned my iniquities and removed my sin from me. You heal me when I am sick, lift me from my depression, and continually provide grace and mercy.