Showing results by narrator "Lyle Blaker" in All Categories

No major arena of US governance is more elitist than foreign policy. International relations barely surface in election campaigns, and policymakers take little input from Congress. For much of the twentieth century, officials, activists, and academics worked to foster an informed public that would embrace participation in foreign policy as a civic duty. Every Citizen a Statesman recounts an abandoned effort to create a democratic foreign policy.

We know that in a fallen and broken world there will always be pain and poverty, sickness and sadness. Yet as followers of Christ, we are called to bring hope and healing to those who hurt. What, then, is our responsibility to alleviate human suffering this side of eternity? With so many needs everywhere we look, where do we start? The Least of These brings together a collection of respected Christian thought leaders to provide a multifaceted look at the body of Christ’s relationship and responsibility―both individual and corporate―to the marginalized of our society.

Are you for Christ or are you against him? You know you are either one or the other, for he says so. We learn in Matthew 12:30 in the words of Jesus himself: He that is not with me is against me. Everyone is either with Jesus wholeheartedly, confessedly, and openly, or else they are against Jesus. Which are you? For Christ or against him?

Did you know you can read Jesus's Sermon on the Mount in about eighteen minutes? Yet packed into this short talk are more life-changing and startlingly original teachings than anywhere else in Scripture. Drawing from decades of study, Dr. Robert Jeffress breaks down Jesus's most well-known (yet least-followed) teachings about happiness, faith, relationships, sex, reconciliation, prayer, money, and more. He shows how we often misunderstand and misapply these verses and unpacks exactly what Jesus was teaching us about our own hearts and minds.

Reconciling the existence of God and evil has been a long-standing conundrum in Christian theology, yet a philosophical approach—rather than a theological one—dominates the discussion. Turning to the Bible's grand storyline, Scott Christensen examines how sin, evil, corruption, and death fit into the broad outlines of redemptive history. He argues that God's ultimate end in creation is to magnify his glory to his image-bearers, most notably by defeating evil through the atoning work of Christ.

The American church is at a critical crossroads. Our witness has been compromised, our numbers are down, and our reputation has been sullied, due largely to our own faults and fears. The church's ethnocentrism, consumerism, and syncretism have blurred the lines between discipleship and partisanship. Pastor Eric Costanzo, missiologist Daniel Yang, and nonprofit leader Matthew Soerens find that for the church to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God.

National tensions are at a record high. People on all points in the political spectrum care deeply about their country, although they differ wildly in their opinions about what it looks like to serve that country well. As Christians, we love God and seek to follow him. At the same time, nothing shapes us and tugs at our loyalties quite like the place we live. And of course we are regularly encouraged to pledge our allegiance to our country―or particular understandings of it. Who wins when the priorities of God and our country clash?

"God’s attitude toward His Son is unutterable love, but He gave that Son up to die for you and me. God’s attitude toward the believer is to give him eternal life, regardless of what his past has been. God’s attitude toward those who will not believe is to leave them to the perdition they so madly choose. What will you choose today: life or death? People decide that question in a few minutes; decide it for all eternity. God help you to decide it right.

Get Your Game F.A.C.E. On is here to help guide business owners, partners, colleagues, and suppliers to a clear understanding of how to have successful businesses and be happy at the same time. The author accomplished building many successful companies to achieve goals well beyond what she imagined, and she did it while having fun and enjoyment in watching others succeed. If you want to learn more about F.A.C.E., have a listen and feel free to reach out to the author to learn more about her company, We Guide, You Grow, LLC.

We all experience difficult relationships. Oftentimes we try to reconcile but the other person simply won't, or else we find they can't keep the commitments they made during reconciliation. How do we handle these tough relationships in a way that brings peace to our lives and glory to God?

When we encounter human suffering or personal tragedy, Christians and non-Christians alike utter the same refrain: Where is God? If God exists, then where in the world is he? Why doesn't he show himself? And how can we tell if God is really working or not? Tim Muehlhoff gives us insight into recognizing how God is at work in the world.

Helen and Frank Schreider's dream was to drive the length of the Americas; from the town of Circle, Alaska (just outside the Arctic Circle), to the world's southernmost town, Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. With their German shepherd Dinah along for the ride, they were the first people in history to have made this trip.

Fact: Health improves learning. Yet nationwide, elementary school students spend 12 times more classroom hours studying history than health. Worse, most kids don’t get enough physical activity and over five million underage youth vape.

History of the 318 Field Hospital has been timely written for the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into WWI, the Great War. The story will take you from the early days in Georgia, Camp Oglethorpe, as the medical specialist begins to learn about army life, to the Camp Lee, Virginia, experience, where nonspecialists learn quickly how to become soldiers.

Whether it is recognized or not, America is engaged in a space race with China. Unlike the previous between the USA and the USSR that resulted in multiple moon landings, this is a new space race to expand and exploit the resources of the solar system. America initially embarked on this race in a similar fashion to the previous one, focusing on scientific exploration of deep space and satellite support to terrestrial military forces.

For weeks, Briga, a young druid, was troubled by unsettling dreams: dreams of fire, death, and destruction. Dreams that came true when her clan was ambushed by a strange new enemy who called themselves the Drev'an. After sustaining grievous injuries in the fighting, Briga was captured and claimed as a war prize by the Drev'an leader, Batu. With her life and safety in Batu's hands, her only hope of survival is to use her druidic skills and the appearance of a mysterious wolf to prove her worth to the Drev'an and their ambitious chief.

Matt Frazier, Jason “Hop” Hopkins, and Mark Ragone have been friends since elementary school. They played ball together, they hung out together, and they somehow managed to (mostly) work their way through the awkward years of junior high together. Now, they are finally starting to come into their own as they prepare to start their junior year, but on the first day of school, a new kid named Nate Mayes arrives and, with him, a secret.

Neil Baggio will go from enjoying the sunsets in Santa Fe to chasing down the trail of international drug ring set on releasing a new drug to the world. Neil, reluctant at first, is forced to get involved when Maria trusts the wrong people. Traveling across the US and the globe, Neil will have to find a new path, new routine, and a new way to survive each day.

Sitting in FCI Milan, the federal prison for an interview that will change his life and make it hard to focus on this new case. The disappearance of a missing girl, an activist protesting Gaines chemical. Neil will soon find out the head of Gaines is more involved than first anticipated. Neil Baggio sits down for a conversation long overdue, with an inmate at FCI Milan. Neil will find out the interview, along with this new case, are tied together beyond him. This case will have Neil sending his team to international waters while he stays home to work the case and the interview.

There is something fundamentally missing in modern leadership. Humility has been replaced with popularity. Selflessness has been replaced with celebrity. Security has been replaced with envy. Leadership is too often seen as a means of achieving greatness. A position that, once attained, affords a person authority, status, and celebrity. This modern leadership paradigm can be seen in businesses, politics, nonprofits, and even churches.