Douglas D. Webster
Список книг автора Douglas D. WebsterThe God Who Comforts
The God Who Comforts is a spiritual reading of Jesus' upper room discipleship sermon. What started out as a Passover meal became an inspiring and spiraling manifesto of comfort and challenge. Jesus propels the conversation forward into our hearts and minds. When Jesus got up off his knees and resumed his place of authority, he framed this strategic discourse in the Truth that cannot be packaged as a consumer product or programmed to fit the secular mind. Four distinct comings shape Jesus' sermon in the upper room: his final coming, the Parousia; his gift of the Spirit, the Paraclete; his death and resurrection, the Passion; and his abiding fellowship, the Presence. These four comings are the ways in which Jesus draws near to his disciples, reassuring them that they are not alone. Throughout this conversation we are in the company of the eleven, hearing Jesus speak to us as he spoke to them. This discourse continues to reset twenty-one centuries of discipleship according to the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Preaching Hebrews
Hebrews is a powerful meditation on the gospel. It is a sixty-minute sermon delivered to a worshiping congregation. The spiraling impact of theological exposition and pastoral exhortation is impressive. Hebrews weans us away from our preoccupation with the start of the Christian life and focuses our attention on the perseverance of faith. Life is not a sprint; it's a marathon. Faithfulness to the end affirms faith from the beginning. If we let the word of God have its way with us, Hebrews will deepen our faith in Christ and strengthen our faithfulness. Like Jesus in the Gospels, Hebrews sees the fundamental difference between apostasy and faithfulness as the difference between a religion about God and a Christ-centered relationship with God. Any form of Christianity that competes like other religions for the attention of its adherents through its rituals, practices, pastors, traditions, and sacred spaces, has fallen back into an obsolete and worldly strategy. The pastor calls for a decisive end to religion, even the best religion ever conceived. The flow of reasoned argument for Christ and against religion, along with the pulsating emotional intensity of ultimate issues laid bare, and heart-felt warnings against complacency and unbelief, deliver a powerful and timely message.
The God Who Prays
The God Who Prays is a spiritual reading of Jesus' farewell prayers. Jesus began his upper room discipleship sermon on his knees, washing the disciples' feet, and he ended it with his eyes raised to heaven, consecrating himself and his disciples to the will of the Father. For Jesus the line between communion with his Father and conversation with his disciples is very thin. Dialogue and devotion go hand in hand. His Glory prayer and his Gethsemane prayer, along with his prayers from the cross, transform the disciples from pre-passion inquisitiveness and doubt to post-passion devotion and discipleship. Through answered prayer Jesus shifts the disciples from training mode to mission. His example inspires us to ask how thin the line is between praying and living. Prayer's promised efficaciousness, «whatever you ask,» is locked in to our relationship with the triune God. The Father is the source of every good and perfect gift. The Son, in whose name we pray, gives the purpose and the passion for «whatever» we ask. And our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, guides us into all truth. On the eve of the crucifixion Jesus teaches us how to pray.
Outposts of Hope
The original recipients of the Letter of First Peter inhabited a radically different social context from our own. We do not live under Roman imperial rule. Slave labor is not the driving force of our economy. Women are not under patriarchal domination in our culture as they once were. Society has changed, but what is beyond dispute is that Western culture remains antithetical to God's will and hostile to the Jesus way. The imperial Caesar has been replaced by the imperial self. The Pax Romana has been replaced by the American Dream. Western capitalism still trades in the bodies and souls of human beings. Culture obsesses over sexual freedom and material indulgence. Idolatry is pervasive. Autonomous individualism is the ideal.
First Peter is about the inevitable clash with culture that ensues because of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter's bottom-up profile of costly discipleship is far more radical than we may realize. Hostility against the church is the believer's opportunity under pressure to reveal the goodness of God. Suffering and submission are essential for Peter's Christ for culture strategy. Sacrifice is the leverage of the gospel. Cross-bearing humility is the strategy for relating to culture and Christlike humility is essential for living in the household of God.
Follow the Lamb
The Revelation builds conviction, inspires worship, and encourages patient endurance. This is a prison epistle like no other: a disciple-making tract, a manifesto, an extraordinary treatise on Christ and culture, and a canonical climax. We come expecting to learn the ABCs of the end times, and the Apostle John gives us the fullness and fury of his Spirit-inspired praying imagination. Meaning is not found in cleverly devised interpretations, but in God's redemptive story. The apostle's purpose was to strengthen the people of God against cultural assimilation and spiritual idolatry, not to stimulate end times speculation. The Revelation is a sustained attack against diluted discipleship with an unrelenting focus on the immediacy of God's presence in the totality of life. Nothing escapes the gaze of Christ.
Living in Tension, 2 Volume Set
If you have picked up this book, chances are you are a committed follower of Christ. Like many searching Christians you are tired of religious busywork and showy piety. You long for authentic worship and meaningful service. You came to Christ with deep expectations of transformation and service, but those passions have been starved by shallow theology and superficial relationships. You are looking for something more. You are ready to sink your mind into what the Bible says about the call of God, the priesthood of all believers, and what it means to live for Christ and his kingdom.
The two-volume Living in Tension offers in-depth spiritual direction on the crucial issues shaping a theology of ministry. This is not a book for pastors only. Webster intentionally blurs the distinction between pastor and congregation. This book is for all believers who take God's call to salvation, service, sacrifice, and simplicity seriously. Living in Tension provides need-to-know insights for every congregation. Pastors will find that this passionate and practical theology translates well into their own lives and into the life of the church.
The Christ Letter
The Christ Letter is a conversation partner for pastors and students of the Bible who want to wrestle with the meaning of the biblical text for Christian living today. Scholarly commentaries perform an essential task, but they often leave today's believers on their own when it comes to making Paul's letter come alive. Doug Webster weaves together deep biblical insights, penetrating cultural perspectives, and stories of transformation into a pastoral commentary that promises to release the powerful message of Ephesians. This commentary offers lines of thought, illustrations, and applications that carry the gospel into the present situation. Webster draws out the personal and practical impact of Paul's spiritual direction for today. The Christ Letter gives pastors a fresh perspective and a better handle on how to preach Ephesians effectively. Webster inspires and guides faithful disciples in what it means to follow Jesus in a Christ-centered way.
The God Who Kneels
The God Who Kneels is a meditative journey in John 13. The Apostle John opens the door and invites us into the upper room to relive the words and actions of Jesus. He writes us into the scene and gives us a seat at the table. On Thursday night, Jesus gave his followers two simple object lessons during the evening meal. He washed their feet and he broke bread. These two enduring acts go a long way in defining the mission of God and the body of Christ. They merge real hospitality and deep sacrament. The towel and the basin, and the bread and the cup, signify the essence of Jesus's kingdom strategy. The disciples missed the meaning of Jesus's message the first time around. Like them we need a fresh experience of the upper room to grasp the Savior's humility and glory. Less than twenty-four hours before the crucifixion Jesus offered his disciples a vivid parable of the atonement and a true picture of discipleship. This forty-day Lenten series is a close reading of the biblical text revealing the significance of the God who kneels for today's discipleship.