Honest Evangelism: How to talk about Jesus even when it’s tough.

By Rico Tice

This is a book that is honest about the costs of evangelism, and yet it will excite you about the effects of evangelism.  Rico shows how we can talk about Jesus with those who don’t yet know him but need to meet him.

There are plenty of “how to” books out there on evangelism, but this is not one of them.  It speaks to the heart and engages with the realities of witnessing to a hardening culture.  It also helps us to face out own hurts and fears and encourages us to overcome them.

If we are honest with ourselves, few of us find evangelism easy and we make a lot of excuses not to do it.  But this down-to-earth and practical book provides us with useful tools to help us.

View the Trailer for Honest Evangelism here

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By Philip Yancey

In 1987, an IRA bomb buried Gordon Wilson and his twenty-year-old daughter beneath five feet of rubble. Gordon alone survived. And forgave. He said of the bombers, “I have lost my daughter, but I bear no grudge. . . . I shall pray, tonight and every night, that God will forgive them.”

His words caught the media’s ear – and out of one man’s grief, the world got a glimpse of grace. Grace is the church’s great distinctive. It’s the one thing the world cannot duplicate, and the one thing it craves above all else – for only grace can bring hope and transformation to a jaded world. In What’s So Amazing About Grace?, award-winning author Philip Yancey explores grace at street level.

• If grace is God’s love for the undeserving, he asks, then what does it look like in action?
• And if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?

Yancey sets grace in the midst of life’s stark images, tests its mettle against horrific “ungrace.” Can grace survive in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust? Can it triumph over the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan? “Grace does not excuse sin”, says Yancey, “but it treasures the sinner”. True grace is shocking, scandalous. It shakes our conventions with its insistence on getting close to sinners and touching them with mercy and hope. It forgives the unfaithful spouse, the racist, the child abuser. It loves today’s AIDS-ridden addict as much as the tax collector of Jesus’ day. In his most personal and provocative book ever, Yancey offers compelling, true portraits of grace’s life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks, “How can Christians contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear”? And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What’s So Amazing About Grace?

CBD PRICE: R155.00

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By Billy Graham

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24 (ESV)

“Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life”, says Billy Graham, known by many as God’s Ambassador. “I would have never guessed what God had in store for me, and I know that as I am nearing home, He will not forsake me the last mile of the way”.

In Nearing Home this man of faith, now in his nineties, explores the challenges of aging while gleaning foundational truths from Scripture. Billy Graham invites us to journey with him as he considers the golden years while anticipating the hope of being reunited with his wife, Ruth, in his heavenly home that eclipses this world. “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice”, says Billy. “Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Join Billy Graham as he shares the challenges of fading strength but still standing strong in his commitment to finishing life well.  Explore with him not only the realities of life as we grow older, but also the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.

NORMAL PRICE: R220 (hard cover)      PROMOTIONAL PRICE: R180 valid until end May.

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My God, My God: Is it possible to believe anymore?

By Michael Jensen

Once upon a time, it was not so difficult to believe. Believing in God was like breathing. It was a second sense of which people were hardly aware. But in an age when our faith is mainly in science and technology, is it possible to believe anymore?

Michael P. Jensen takes a searching look at what makes us believe – or not believe – in God in this contemporary world. He converses with troubled souls, cranks, crackpots, and conspiracy theorists, and even with the devil himself.

This entertaining and stimulating journey through the underworld of our beliefs will have you wondering whether things are always what they seem.

“Christian belief is still important in the twenty-first century. The loss of purpose and direction that characterizes Western culture is having devastating social consequences. In this captivating book, Michael Jensen sensitively and intelligently highlights that belief is still possible because the realities of suffering and evil in our world are given meaning through the hope we have in Christ.”  –Tim Costello, Chief Executive Officer, World Vision Australia

Michael Jensen is Lecturer in Theology and Church History at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

Usual CBD Price: R205.00

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Author: R. Kent Hughes

Reviewed by Mike Budler

This is the fourth time I have opened the cover of R. Kent Hughes’ ”Disciplines of a Godly Man” which is published by Crossway Books.  It is an excellent book – I first worked through it when serving as a Chaplain for a University level Basketball team in Chicago.  God used this book to see one of the players make a profession of faith, while the rest of the team was challenged and encouraged to deepen their faith through practicing the spiritual disciplines as outlined by Hughes.  While on staff with CBD, I often recommended this book to men who were looking for such a book.

Some people have voiced concern that a book of the Spiritual Disciplines could become “legalistic” or lend itself to a works-based sanctification process.  Hughes wisely answers this possible concern in the right spot – the introduction – as he writes:

The difference between discipline and legalism is one of motivation: legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered.  The legalistic heart says, “I will do this thing to gain merit with God.”  The disciplined heart says, “I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him.”  There is an infinite difference between the motivation of legalism and discipline!  (page 15)

The book is laid out in four sections: Discipline of Relationships, Discipline of the Soul, Discipline of one’s Character, and Discipline of Ministry.  Each of these sections is further broken down in the following manner:

• Relationships including purity, marriage, fatherhood, and friendship
• The Soul including the mind, devotion, prayer, and worship
• Our character including integrity, speech, work, and perseverance
• Ministry including church, leadership, giving, and witness

And just to make sure his readers remember the difference between the proper carrying out of the disciplines versus legalism, Hughes closes this book with an entire chapter about these disciplines as chapter 19 is entitled the “Grace of Discipline.”  He reminds his readers that not only is salvation by grace alone, so too is the sanctification process carried out by the grace of God.

Do all of these disciplines seem overwhelming to you?  Hughes accurately encourages his readers to prioritize as no one can carry out all of these disciplines at the same time.  He also wants his readers to be realistic and to pray, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide each man where he should focus on improving on one’s disciplines for growth in his faith.  For years, I have had an accountability partner – that also is a good way to have victory in the disciplines.

To summarize, Hughes wants us men to take “baby steps” and to remember that God’s grace is sufficient when we stumble.

CBD PRICE: R235.00 (paperback)

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Author:  Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias has written this book for anyone who has left the church literally or emotionally, who lives with silent doubts and who struggles with the simplistic “Jesus is the answer” when suffocated with daunting questions.

Why is it that many live with silent doubt, many leaving the evangelical fold for something else? Is there something wrong with the message, the communicator, the hearer, or is it all three? It’s time to ask the hard questions of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and why it seems as though God has made it so hard to continue believing.

Zacharias explores topics such as “Who is Jesus?”, “How does a person get close to God?” and “Are purpose driven and reason driven always at odds?”  He tackles head-on the question of why so many people today have given up on faith.  The book attempts to lay out the response to those within as well as those outside the Christian faith so as to understand what it is we believe and why it is so hard to do so.  More to the point: Why it is actually so hard to deny God and still make sense out of life?  In the end the answers should be both felt and real, with the added truth that God is nearer than you think.  He desires that we sense Him very near to us and not distant. But closeness comes at a cost just as any relationship of love and commitment does.

Finally,  Ravi asks if the irrational ends of the skeptic’s view of a world without God  places at risk the very existence of humanity.

CBD PRICE: R205.00

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By Jennifer Rothschild

Believing is Seeing ….  That is one of the most important lessons God has taught Jennifer Rothschild since a retinal disease began claiming her eyesight more than 20 years ago.  At the age of fifteen, Jennifer Rothschild confronted two unshakable realities:  Blindness is inevitable … and God is enough.

Lessons I learned in the dark  is not a book about blindness, it is a book about learning how to really see.  With warmth and humor, Jennifer shares the guiding principles she walks by and shows us how to:-

• Move with freedom, even in confining circumstances;
• Hear echoes of hope, even in heartache;
• Be empowered, even when you don’t feel strong;

“At times life is dart for all of us”, says Jennifer, “but you can walk forward by faith right into His marvelous light”.

Jennifer,a popular author, speaker, and recording artist offers poignant lessons that illuminate a path to freedom and fulfillment. With warmth, humor, and insight.  She shares the guiding principles she walks by,  and shows you how to walk forward by faith into God’s marvelous light.

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 By John Piper

John Bunyan suffered long-term imprisonment, even when a simple promise to cease preaching would have freed him, and he was moved to rely on God even more.

Despite month after month of debilitating depression, William Cowper’s poetry reflected the sustaining character of God and led him to worship more deeply.

David Brainerd so desired to honour God that through the loneliness of wilderness ministry and the agony of tuberculosis, he pressed on, transforming world missions forever.

When Augustine handed over the leadership of his church in A.D. 426, his successor was so overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy that he declared, “The swan is silent,” fearing the spiritual giant’s voice would be lost in time.  But for 1,600 years Augustine has not been silent-and neither have the men who faithfully trumpeted the cause of Christ after him. Their lives have inspired every generation of believers and should compel us to a greater passion for God.

In this noteworthy Swans Are Not Silent book, John Piper invites you into the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd to discover how God takes the privilege of faith and strengthens it with trials so that we experience a greater hunger for him. The perseverance of these godly servants exemplifies the essential fruit that affliction can produce in your own life. Their enduring faith will fortify you in your suffering, reminding you that “behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.” And their stories and witness will inspire in you a similar passion for the supremacy of God in your life.

CBD PRICE: R210.00    (limited stock available) 

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Erotica, intimacy and the longings of a woman’s heart

Authors: Dannah Gresh & Juli Slattery

Christian women don’t have to choose between being sexual and spiritual. They have legitimate longings that the Church has been afraid to talk about, and books like Fifty Shades of Grey exploit. Yet spiritually and sexually were never meant to be mutually exclusive.  Whether you are single or married, sexually dead or just looking to revive your sex life, Pulling Back the Shades will address your desire to be both sexual AND spiritual. With solid Biblical teaching and transparent stories, trusted authors Dannah Gresh and Juli Slattery offer an unflinching look at the most personal questions women ask. The book offers practical advice for women to address five core longings:

• to be cherished by a man
• to be protected by a strong man
• to rescue a man
• to be sexually alive
• to escape reality

God designed women with these longings and has a plan to satisfy them. It’s time for women to identify their intimate longings and God-honouring ways to fulfil them.  Open the pages of this book to discover the satisfaction you deeply longed for.

CBD PRICE: R160.00

Look out for our Wednesday Blog in which Tim Challies examines 7 lessons we can learn from Fifty Shades of Grey.

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 By Hannah Anderson

In an uncertain world, we crave the security of knowing exactly who we are and where we belong. But too often as women, we try to find this safety in our roles and relationships, our professional accomplishments, or our picture-perfect homes. And as we do, our souls shrink smaller and smaller.

The truth is that you are made for more. Because you are made in God’s image, these things will never be large enough to hold you. You will only ever know yourself-only ever be yourself-as you find your identity in HimIn Made for More, Hannah Anderson invites you to re-imagine yourself, not simply as a set of roles and categories, but as a person destined to live in the fullness of God Himself. Starting with our first identity as image bearers, she shows how Jesus Christ makes us people who can reflect His nature through our unique callings. She also explores how these deeper truths affect the practical realities that we face as women-how does being an image bearer shape our pursuit of education, our work, and even our desire for holistic lives?

So come and discover what it means to truly find yourself in Him. Because when you do, when His nature defines everything about you, you will finally be free to live as you were meant to live. You will finally be free to live in His image.

CBD PRICE: R160.00  (limited stock available)

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A World Ware 11 Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption : By Laura Hillenbrand

In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943.

When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft.  Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

Appearing in paperback for the first time, with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author, Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by the author.

Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine; Winner of the Los -Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award.

CBD PRICE: 210.00

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