To follow Jesus we have to learn to think inside out, in looking-glass fashion: what the world counts as great is foolishness, and what the world counts as folly is the true wisdom. Cling on to your life and you'll lose it; give everything you've got to following Jesus, including life itself, and you'll win it. In every generation there are, it seems, a few people who are prepared to take Jesus seriously, at his word. What would it be like if you were one of them?

Step Up to God's Calling! How does God want to use you? Not your parents. Not your pastor. Not your friend with all the social media followers. You! The Old Testament leader Joshua is a great example for us to follow as we step up to God's call on our lives. Before Joshua, Moses was the one who spoke to God, performed miracles, and stood up to Pharaoh. But then Joshua had to come out to the front. So what did he do? How did he step up? And what steps can you take to seize the moment for yourself? This 90-day devotional will inspire you to push aside fear and complacency in order to become something more, leading change in your relationships, work, community, and the world. Now is your time.

Are you hungry for more of God? Do you seek a greater understanding of His purpose for your life and hope to walk in His blessings? Do you long for His comfort and guidance and answers when confused? Do you want to know more about the Holy Spirit?

The second in a series, Insights to Finding Spiritual Peace offers a compilation of Bible studies and commentaries written over more than twenty years. They were born from personal experience and insights from God and originated as monthly prayer letters with a written Bible message. These studies invite you to a deeper spiritual walk with the Lord and nourish and comfort the soul through the stresses and challenges of life. The secrets of the Lord’s purposes are found in the Bible, and as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to His Word, we gain His insight. It is then we can say, “I understand.” This volume presents a series of “now I understand” moments that can bring you knowledge and comfort.

This collection of Bible studies and commentary seeks to help you recognize and benefit from the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

In this volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary (BCBC) Series, Erland Waltner explains how 1 Peter applies Jesus' teaching on loving the enemy to the life situation of scattered Christians in Asia Minor. Peter empowers believers to be communities of hope, not retaliating for abuse they suffer, but bearing witness to their living Lord by word, transformed lifestyle, and doing good.

J. Daryl Charles admits that 2 Peter and Jude are hard for us to understand. Yet he shows how these letters are relevant since the church still faces ethical compromises and pastoral dilemmas. Their apocalyptic imagery stresses that the concerns of Christian faithfulness and faith are absolutely crucial. The church needs such moral exhortation.

Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus proposes a provocative new theory regarding the date and circumstances of the composition of the Pentateuch. Gmirkin argues that the Hebrew Pentateuch was composed in its entirety about 273-272 BCE by Jewish scholars at Alexandria that later traditions credited with the Septuagint translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. The primary evidence is literary dependence of Gen. 1-11 on Berossus' Babyloniaca (278 BCE) and of the Exodus story on Manetho's Aegyptiaca (c. 285-280 BCE), and the geo-political data contained in the Table of Nations. A number of indications point to a provenance of Alexandria, Egypt for at least some portions of the Pentateuch. That the Pentateuch, drawing on literary sources found at the Great Library of Alexandria, was composed at almost the same date as the Septuagint translation, provides compelling evidence for some level of communication and collaboration between the authors of the Pentateuch and the Septuagint scholars at Alexandria's Museum. The late date of the Pentateuch, as demonstrated by literary dependence on Berossus and Manetho, has two important consequences: the definitive overthrow of the chronological framework of the Documentary Hypothesis, and a late, 3rd century BCE date for major portions of the Hebrew Bible which show literary dependence on the Pentateuch.