The Psalms can be sung, spoken or read - but they were written to be prayed. Until we pray them from the heart we miss their purpose. If you love, or want to love, or think perhaps you ought to love, the Psalms, this first instalment of a two-volume set on the Psalter is for you. Christopher Ash gives us a practical and theological handbook to equip us to pray and to teach the Psalms. He faces the difficulties and shows how praying them in Christ does justice to their original meaning and context as well as their place in the whole bible.

This Incomplete One, edited by Michael D. Bush, features sixteen extraordinary sermons from preachers wrestling with the deaths of children and young adults. The preachers here include classic theologians -- Jonathan Edwards, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Karl Barth -- and select modern preachers. Two especially noteworthy features are a thoughtful foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff, author of Lament for a Son, and the first English translation of the profound sermon preached by Karl Barth at the memorial service for his own son, Matthias.

In the midst of immense grief and suffering, This Incomplete One speaks forth words of quiet hope and comfort.

Even if we cannot rejoice ourselves, we still hear an entirely different voice rejoice. . . . This voice speaks about the completion of even this incomplete one, about his completion as God's servant brought about through death. It speaks about peace and joy and life to the fullest.
-- Karl Barth

In this book:

M. Craig Barnes
Karl Barth
David L. Bartlett
Ronald P. Byars
John Claypool
William Sloane Coffin Jr.
Stephen T. Davis
J. Howard Edington
Jonathan Edwards
Laura Mendenhall
Jeffrey J. Newlin
Jack Roeda
Fleming Rutledge
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Philip Turner
James Van Tholen

If the apostle Paul had not punctuated his words with images of the armor of God or the racecourse, would we so easily remember his instruction? The march on Washington might have become nothing more than a ragged hike across a majestic mall if Martin Luther King, Jr. had not led us through a dream and onto a mountaintop.

Such is the power of illustrations. They contain a hidden dynamic of living that captures our attention and furthers our understanding in a way that no other sermonic tool can match. Can they be overused and their purpose abused? Yes--and by many they are. But to eliminate them completely would be unwise, maintains Bryan Chapell.

Instead, he responds to those concerns by reviewing the theory behind illustrations, sharing why they're important, and demonstrating how you can use them effectively in your biblical preaching. This book clearly affirms that illustrations are integral to powerful preaching--not because they entertain but because they expand and deepen applications in the lives of your listeners. They infuse your words with life without comprising the message, making the truth of the Word ring clearly in people's hearts long after your sermon is done.