To Have and to Hold - Bible Study Book PDF Download

Author: Byron Weathersbee
Publisher: Lifeway Church Resources
ISBN: 9781430063551
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As you begin counting down to your wedding day or find yourself in the midst of the early years of marriage, it's important to invest time and energy into building a lifelong partnership. Over 8 sessions, learn to develop your foundation as individuals and a couple while growing in your understanding of Christ and His divine goal for marriage. Allow Him to be your teacher, guide, counselor, and coach as you discover biblical principles behind living life to the fullest as a couple. Features: Interactive questions and tools to guide discussion and make the study personal for couples Tools and suggestions for pre-marital education and counsel Seven weeks of personal study segments to complete between eight weeks of group sessions Benefits: Understand God's biblical purpose for marriage to establish a foundation that provides stability and oneness in your relationship Learn that following God's principles leads to freedom in the roles and responsibilities of husband and wife Follow God's stewardship principles for financial freedom Challenge thinking regarding needs, intimacy, and oneness in marriage Keep Christ first and grow in spiritual maturity as a couple Learn the necessary skills to effectively communicate and manage conflict Create healthy expectations for marriage

Author: Byron Weathersbee
Publisher: Lifeway Church Resources
ISBN: 9781430063568
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In America, the average amount of money, time, and energy spent on a wedding are astronomical. While thousands of dollars are spent for the wedding day, little if any money, time, and energy are spent in preparation for the marriage itself. To Have & To Hold: Preparing for a Godly Marriage offers a different approach from "pre-marital counseling." It is more of a marriage education helping and equipping couples to build smart marriages and healthy families. The days prior to a wedding can be busy and hectic. This Bible study book format maximizes the time couples have by focusing on important information in a simplified and condensed version. One of the biggest mistakes couples make is collecting great resources and then becoming overwhelmed by the amount of information gathered with little time to complete the reading. Oftentimes, those resources are put on the shelf for later, only to be pulled down when a crisis hits ... often too little, too late. This study may be used in a variety of ways including: For couples to do on their own as a pre-marriage study. For pastors or others to use in pre-marriage counseling with couples. For small groups where a leader has a group of young couples preparing to wed. For couples or small groups in the early years of marriage who did not receive pre-marriage preparation and counseling. Some of the weekly preparation is fun, creative, and light. It is a good escape from the wedding plans for a while helping couples find a balanced approach will help them gain insight during the fast-paced days. These weekly interactive prep activities will be focused on the specific topic for the week. They will encourage couples to look at scripture passages, do biblical words studies, listen to podcasts, go to a romantic place, or do some other activity to creatively challenge their thinking. These assignments are not a major time commitment, but they are vital as a couple works through issues. God''s purposes for marriage are much higher and greater than our own. In Genesis 2:18, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone," He created Eve as an answer to that aloneness. Even though Adam had a perfect relationship with God, a perfect environment, and had all the possessions he wanted, there was still a void of intimacy. Blending two individuals into oneness was the Divine goal. They were made to become suitable helpers, counterparts who could balance and back one another in every way. God ordained marriage to be an earthly picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Jesus Christ''s love for the Church, according to Ephesians 5, is sacrificial and unconditional. He laid down His life to present the church, His bride, whole, and complete. Likewise, when a husband and wife love each other as they do their own bodies, nurturing and caring for each other, they live out the beautiful picture of Christ''s oneness with the Church. Features: Interactive questions and tools to guide discussion and make the study personal for couples Practical and simple to equip couples for marriage not only the wedding Tools and suggestions for pre-marital education and counsel Bible study book for couples (sold separately) is included in the Leader Guide for Pastors, church staff, small group leaders, or facilitators Benefits: Understand God''s Biblical foundation and purpose for marriage in order to establish a foundation that provides stability and oneness in the marital relationship. Following God''s principles leads to oneness and freedom in the roles and responsibilities of the husband and wife. Help couples understand and follow God''s stewardship principles as they work to experience financial freedom. Challenge the thinking of couples regarding needs, intimacy, and oneness in marriage Encourage and challenge each partner to individually keep Christ as the first priority as well as to grow together in spiritual oneness as a couple Equip couples with tools to learn the necessary skills to effectively communicate through expressing oneself, listening, and managing conflict. Create healthy expectations for marriage and set a course action for the future. Join Byron and Carla Weathersbee in this eight-session study To Have & To Hold: Preparing for a Godly Marriage as they explore and focus on the keys to a healthy marriage.

Author: Byron Weathersbee
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578718422
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
How's your marriage?Often, once the honeymoon is over, a marriage slowly becomes lukewarm. Each spouse gradually begins to take the other for granted. Days turn into months, and months turn into years. What began as a close and intimate relationship disintegrates. Often two people are simply living under the same roof-sharing a bed, bathroom, and a closet-physically in the same home, yet miles apart emotionally. Sometimes when our marriage wanes, it feels like at any time it could collapse?or has collapsed. If you find yourself in this place, this study is for you. There is hope. If your marriage is "great," then this study is also for you. We all need encouragement. Our world needs Godly marriages, so join seasoned marriage educators Byron and Carla Weathersbee along with Amy Castellow in a 9-session Bible study designed for small groups to create conversations centered around God's call to selflessness, acceptance, perseverance, and intimacy.This study will help you love like never before as you establish healthy rhythms in your marriage.

Author: Holley Gerth
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 1441245243
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In this uplifting book, Holley Gerth invites readers to sit down with her to be filled with the strength, peace, and joy that come from God's promises to us. Each of the 52 devotions based on the Psalms will help weary women remember that God is good and we're all in this together. Whether it's a bad hair day or a broken heart, Holley offers hope and encouragement to get us through whatever life brings. Women need that kind of encouragement because we all have hard days--days that make us want to give up, retreat inside ourselves, and drown our sorrows in a pint of ice cream. And while we may crave all sorts of things to ease the pain we feel in our hearts, what we really need is truth. We need to be confident in God's character and his promises. We need to remember--and celebrate--who he made us to be. And we need exactly the kind of encouragement Holley Gerth loves to offer.

Author: Heather M. Dixon
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501878875
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
GROUP PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK - Imagine waking up every single day convinced that the twenty-four hours ahead of you are a precious gift to be used wisely. Now imagine that you know exactly how to spend them to be a force for God’s good. All too often we wander through life without appreciating the gift of every moment we’ve been given. The result? An unsatisfying life, missed opportunities to experience the joy of being in sync with God, and days marked with apathy instead of passion. Our time on earth is measured. We should want to make every moment count—not only because we aren’t guaranteed the next one, but also because this is exactly how our Savior spent His time here. How, then, do we walk out unwavering joy-filled faith every day, determined to let go of the things that keep us from experiencing abundant life and fulfilling the plans God has for us? The answers are found in following the footsteps of the One who lived fully, because He was determined that we might do the same. In this six-week study of Luke, we will follow the life and ministry of Jesus as we consider the choices He made on His way to the cross. We’ll intimately connect with a Savior who remained laser-focused on His mission to love the world. In return, we’ll receive a model for intentional living that we can replicate to ensure we are living each day to the fullest and making a difference for God’s kingdom. And together we’ll determine to embrace the abundant life we are promised in Jesus. It’s time to stop wandering and start living!

Author: Byron Weathersbee
Publisher: Pilot Communications Group
ISBN: 9781936417759
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
It was impulsive of me, I know, to go out on a limb and write what I did in that postcard after only two dates with Carla. At the time, however, something inside told me that she was the one. But could I trust that little voice inside? If anything, I should have distrusted it, for I''d only recently broken up with my high school sweetheart. So what did that little voice and I really know? // Can we trust that voice inside that tells us he or she is the one? // Carla far exceeded anyone I had imagined would come my way. Spring term had just ended for us at the university we attended when she left to work at a camp for the summer. I can have a pretty one-track mind and so using a blank postcard that a friend of mine had brought back from a recent trip of his to Hawaii, I jotted a note to Carla along with the cryptic note "82884WWBTAOWD" tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner. It looked like a postal code, and no one but me knew that it stood for "We will be there after our wedding day: 8/28/84." Inside I was sure I knew what I wanted, but outside there wasn''t a chance I would let anyone know. As much as I was drawn to a life together with Carla, I didn''t yet want her to know it! That was pretty bold of me (or maybe psycho), considering it was three years prior to my projected Hawaiian honeymoon.1 But I was so smitten by Carla I could have penned the note with my own testosterone. Rereading that postcard today you can tell that we didn''t know each other all that well, but every encounter I''d had with Carla (all two of them!) left me more captivated by this woman. One of those meetings was at "Rock n'' Roll," one of those crazy guy-girl college functions at a skating rink, where the small group Carla was leading and the group of guys that grabbed me decided to gather. Truth be told, I had looked forward to skating in circles about as much as being chained in front of the home decorating channel. But like most hot-blooded college males, at the time I was willing to make an exception if the prospect of picking up a great woman was involved. As a joke, the DJ played one of those junior high "couples only" songs. It was at that point I realized Carla was the one. Not really the one to marry--just the one to ask to skate. My heart was racing as I built up courage to ask Carla. As trite and cheesy as that may sound, my hands sweat more than an evangelist at a summer tent revival when I''m nervous. So for me to ask Carla--whom I didn''t really know--to skate with me while holding my sweat-slippery hands took some big-time courage. (Don''t laugh. All of us have personal insecurities held over from 7th grade.) I didn''t want to gross her out, but I also didn''t want to let the opportunity slip by, because in the vernacular of the early 1980''s Carla was what my friends and I called a "godly fox." What a stupid phrase. At the time, however, that saying was "off the hook." Carla had me "crazier than a mug," another phrase with the shelf life of about a month. And though the way we say it changes more often than a university freshman changes majors, the experience down through the centuries remains the same: I soon fully believed Carla was the one. She was the most beautiful, most Christ-centered, most amazing woman I had ever met. Put bluntly, I was deeply infatuated with her. Married people often tell singles in that twitter-pated state of mind I was in that spring, "You''ll know whether she''s the one." "But how?" you naturally ask when you begin getting serious. "Oh, you''ll just know." "But how?!" you may think. Often, no one will give you a better answer than "You just know that you know," another stupid phrase that needs to go out with 1980''s parachute pants. Yet in spite of all I didn''t know then, and as presumptuous as my hidden Hawaiian love note was, Carla entered my life somehow as an answer to a question my heart had been asking for years. Something clicked in me when I met her, and I knew that if she was not the girl I would marry, then my future wife would probably be someone an awful lot like her. That much I already knew. If only "knowing that you know" were easier. But that''s precisely the point, we think. Knowing whether she or he is the one isn''t easy for a reason. It''s difficult because the journey God is leading you on is one that will search you to the core. "Knowing that you know" isn''t as simple as browsing the Internet to match your online personality profile with some pre-selected mate. Instead it''s a journey that will challenge your faith, deepen your trust, and refine who you are in the process. You see, this journey isn''t only about seeking a yes or no answer to marriage. It''s about something much larger, where God''s Spirit mysteriously touches our lives and we find God wooing us through our search to "know that we know" into a relationship with Him more beautiful than the very thing you''re seeking by picking up this book. That journey is what this book is all about.

Author: David Platt
Publisher: Lifeway Church Resources
ISBN: 9781462794911
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Be inspired to respond to spiritual and physical needs with urgency and Christlike compassion.

Author: Lisa-Jo Baker
Publisher: Lifeway Church Resources
ISBN: 9781430054962
Category : Christian life
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-157).

Author: Christine Hoover
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781087707785
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
As Christians, we live busy and harried lives, most often because we are eager and earnest to join with God in His work in the world. In the confusion and sheer volume of opportunities and ideas vying for our attention, we must constantly return to the words of Jesus to find our focus and purpose, for the truths He spoke, when believed and applied, lead to our flourishing. Using parables and stories, Jesus spoke most often of the kingdom of God as what matters--the ways of the kingdom, the values of the kingdom, and the cultivation of the kingdom here on earth in light of its fulfillment in heaven. In other words, the kingdom of God defines who we are and what we do as Christians. Many Christians don't have a working knowledge of the kingdom and their true citizenship in a way that affects their daily lives and decisions. Seek First the Kingdom cuts through the clutter of life with the words of Jesus, urging readers to stop, think, take notice, and reorient themselves solidly around the kingdom. Features: 8 weeks of personal study to complete between 8 group sessions Leader guide to help guide group meetings Benefits: Explore the kingdom of God in-depth, learning what the kingdom of God is, and how we enter it. Embrace the life Jesus offers us within the kingdom and the way we find joy as His subjects. Understand how the ways, values, and cultivation of the kingdom of God define who we are. Learn to confront our allegiances to idols and false kings, re-ordering our worship. Identify our places in the kingdom of God and how we can join in the work that God is doing here and around the world.

Author: Kelly M. Kapic
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830866701
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
Whenever we read, think, hear or say anything about God, we are doing theology. Yet theology isn't just a matter of what we think. It affects who we are. In the tradition of Helmut Thielicke's A Little Exercise for Young Theologians, Kelly Kapic offers a concise introduction to the study of theology for newcomers to the field. He highlights the value and importance of theological study and explains its unique nature as a serious discipline. Not only concerned with content and method, Kapic explores the skills, attitudes and spiritual practices needed by those who take up the discipline. This brief, clear and lively primer draws out the relevance of theology for Christian life, worship, mission, witness and more. "Theology is about life," writes Kapic. "It is not a conversation our souls can afford to avoid."