Mark H Ballard

The movement to Christian maturity does not happen overnight. Many a preacher and teacher of God's Word has noted that the race to Christian maturity is not a sprint, but a marathon. The book you hold in your hand sees Christian maturity through another analogy altogether. Rather than viewing Christian maturity as a race, the emphasis here is that the path to Christian maturity is a journey. It is a journey that begins the moment one turns to Jesus in faith and continues until the believer leaves this earth. While most of us can drive to the local Walmart without a map, long journeys require one. It may be a GPS on your phone or an old-fashioned map, but a map is required for you to go somewhere you have never been before. This book serves as a map to guide the believer toward growth in Christian maturity.If you are a new believer, this book is for you You can pick it up today, read the introduction, and start on the journey to maturity. You can walk through this book on your own or participate in a group study. Read a chapter each week, then either on your own or in a small group you can learn from the review questions and make an application to your own journey.If you have been a believer for many years, this book is for you Part of growing to maturity is to help others get on the right road and to help others on the road to move forward toward maturity themselves. This book is designed to help you guide other believers. The book is designed in such a way that you can use it in one-on-one mentoring relationships or in leading a small group of believers toward maturity.If you are a pastor, this book is for you You hold a tool in your hand that you can use to help new believers grow. You can use this same tool to help long-time believers in your church begin to mentor younger believers in one-on-one relationships or through your small group ministries.

When did you last hear a sermon about the Rapture or the End Times? Does it matter? Pastor, when did you last preach about the Rapture or the End Times? If it has been months or even years, does it really matter? If a concordance search does not reveal a verse mentioning the "Rapture," does the Bible actually teach the doctrine? What is the Rapture? How is it defined? Can you name and explain the 3 main passages that teach the Rapture? When will the Rapture happen? If the Rapture happens today, how can you be sure you will not be left behind? For answers to these and many more important questions, read the inspiring, encouraging, and comforting book, Does the Rapture Still Matter?

We can know that if we pray, some outcomes will be different than if we do not pray because God made many promises conditioned on whether we ask. These promises relate to a galaxy of concerns and needs that are important to us and God, such as faithfully serving God and experiencing his blessings in our life, health, marriage, children, family, and job. If we fail to pray about everything as the Scripture commands (Phil 4:6), we will enter heaven and learn there were many things God would have done in and through us if only we'd asked Sadly, Calvinism's determinism has turned these wonderful promises into nothing more than a promise that God will do what he predetermined to do regardless of whether we pray or not. Do not allow Calvinism's deterministic beliefs and distortions of Scripture to rob you of this blessed intimate prayer relationship with God.

Words matter. How we use them and define them determines how we understand the world and how others understand us. In Words Matter: What Is the Gospel? Drs. Mark H. Ballard and Timothy K. Christian explore how our personal definition of the word "Gospel" fundamentally affects our view of the world, our lives, and our standing with God.