MBC Recommended Resources
Below is an organized list of resources to help you grow in your awareness and experience of Life in Christ. If you see a resource that looks interesting click the picture on the left to go to a webpage for more info or to order the following books.
Life in Christ books, podcasts, & sermon series
For a more in-depth study of the Life we have in Christ check out these resources below!
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The Rest of the Gospel (Book)
“Do I have life ‘more abundant’?” That’s a question millions of Christians have asked down through the ages. Dan Stone asked that question during a time of spiritual frustration in his own life and God answered by showing Dan he had been living only a part of the gospel message. Dan’s search led him to discover the truth of “Christ in you” as “the rest of the gospel” that most Christians overlook.
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God Without Religion: Can It Really Be This Simple? (Book)
GWR dismantles common religious misconceptions, revealing the true meaning of being filled w/the Spirit, the facts about judgment, rewards, & God's discipline, the simple truth behind predestination & the divisions it causes, & the problem w/the popular challenge to "live radical." Farley shows how the truth about these issues can liberate believers as we discover how to rest in the unconditional love of God.
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Jesus Changes Everything (Book)
Are you Experiencing New Life? You were probably told that salvation is a free gift, but trying to live up to what you think God demands feels like anything but a gift. The problem? You're basing your Christianity in the Old Testament—making your faith a law-based religion. But the New Covenant, which God has put in place through Jesus' death, changes everything.
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Union with Christ (Book)
If you are a Christian, the Bible says that Christ has united his life to yours, that you are now in Christ and Christ is in you. This almost unfathomable truth is the central theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Yet few Christians today experience or enjoy this reality. Union with Christ reveals the transformational power of this ancient doctrine while addressing the basic questions of the human heart.
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God's Astounding Opinion of You (Book)
Many people would be surprised to learn that God’s view of them is much greater than their own. Ralph Harris, founder and President of LifeCourse Ministries, leads readers to experience a deeply satisfying, joyful relationship with Christ as they embrace what God thinks of them that they are holy, righteous, blameless, and lovable.
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The Cure (Book)
The Cure gives the diagnosis religious obsession with sin-management. It has poisoned the Church, obscuring the Original Good News & sending millions away, wounded, angry & cynical. The Cure offers hope that frees some from freedom from a self-rewarded righteousness, & others from a beaten down striving for a righteousness they can never seem to attain.
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Christ Our Life (Book)
Did you know that you were created with a spirit to contain the very life of God? Go has put Christ in you to live His life through you. He alls this the Christian life. In CHRIST OUR LIFE you will be challenged to give up your struggles to live the Christian life and experience the incomparable joy and adventure of having Christ as your life.
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Grace Walk (Book)
Christian walk: either running around trying to perform to be acceptable to God--or thinking they've failed Him again and wondering if they'll ever measure up. Living the grace walk gets Christians off this religious roller coaster. Using his own journey from legalism into grace, Steve McVey illustrates the foundational, biblical truths of who believers are in Jesus Christ and how they can let Him live His life through them each day.
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Perfect and Forgiven (Book)
We've boiled down the message of Christianity to being imperfect people who have been forgiven. But what if the message isn't just about what Christ has done for us--forgiving our sins so we can go to heaven one day--but also about what He has done to us? Zach takes us into his own journey of identity, and with humor, vulnerability, and a unique story-driven format, reveals how to live free from shame, guilt, and sin.
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Growing in Grace Podcast
Growing in Grace is a weekly podcast. Sit down with Mike Kaplar and Joel Brueseke as they casually chat about growing in understanding the gospel and living in the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ. New episodes are uploaded every Sunday and all past episodes are archived here.
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Truface Podcast
Trueface equips people to experience authentic relationships with God and others.
People are disconnected in their relationships with God, themselves, and others so Trueface provides content, relational experiences, and leader development to help people and teams live authentically and experience freedom.
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Ephesians (Message Series)
This is a message series taught by Pastor Jason White. He goes verse by verse through Paul's letter to the Ephesians which is all about Life in Christ, Life in the Church, and Life in the World. Click the picture to follow a link to our media page and search "Ephesians" in the "series archive."
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Cross Fit Message Series
People all over the world are getting in shape with Cross Fit's physical fitness groups, but becoming fit in the cross of Christ will change your entire life! Check out these messages by Pastor Jason White on the "new you" that comes through a relationship with Christ. Click the picture to follow a link to our media page and search "Cross Fit" in the "series archive."
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Mike Daniel is a gifted teacher and communicator of the Life in Christ message. Check out his website for great content and follow him on social media. Also be sure to sign up for his email list as he sends out some great new content weekly! Mike has preached at MBC and done some Life Group Training as well.
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This ministry is run by Bill Loveless, who has preached at MBC several times and has some great discipleship materials that you can download for free! There is content on Life in Christ, Marriage, Identity, Healing the Wounded Heart, and more.
practical everyday life in christ resources
How does Life in Christ impact your work life, married life, financial life, etc.?
Check out these resources which speak directly into those areas of life!
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"married Life" Message Series
Marriage is great, but it is also hard work and can be tough at times. This message series taught by Pastor Jason White dives into roles in marriage, money and marriage, physical intimacy in marriage, and much more. Click the picture to follow a link to our media page and search "married Life" in the "series archive."
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"work Life" Message Series
People often wonder if their work life on Monday thru Friday has any real connection to their spiritual life. Well, it does! To find out how, watch this message series by Pastor Jason White. Click the picture to follow a link to our media page and search "work Life" in the "series archive."
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Finances & Life in Christ Message
People often say that money is the root of all evil, but that is not what Scripture teaches at all! To see how God views money and the role it plays in our lives, watch this message given by Pastor Jason White. Click the picture to follow a link to our media page and search "In The Community For the Community" in the "series archive," and then click on the message "In the Community to Give to the Community."
Bible study resources
Want to go deeper into God's Word and learn how to study the bible?
These are some great resources to check out!
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Excellent videos that cover an overview of each and every book of the Bible. There are also a number of videos that cover various themes that arise from throughout Scripture.
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Need a Bible Reading Plan? YouVersion has tons of them to choose from. Best of all, it's an app that you can use right on your phone! Check it out, and get started reading the Bible today!
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The Bible is a big book and can be intimidating to jump into. It can also be misinterpreted when approached incorrectly. This book offers a hands on approach to understanding how to study the Bible. Old Testament scholar J. Daniel Hays and New Testament expert J. Scott Duvall provide practical, hands-on exercises to guide you through the interpretive process.
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This is an abridged version of the book mentioned above, "Grasping God's Word." An excellent resource for those short on time and/or for youth to begin to learn how to read and understand God's Word.
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An excellent resource for learning how to interpret Scripture through the lens of grace. Best takes a dive into the difference between law and grace and how we often misunderstand God's grace in today's world.
APOLOGETICS
Want to know if there is evidence for the existence of God? Want to grow your ability to defend your faith? Check out these resources for answers and/or help in these areas!
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We may often struggle with the Genesis account of creation and science, but Answers in Genesis shows that science over and over again confirms the biblical account of creation!
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This powerful film, “The Atheist Delusion”, (produced by Ray Comfort) pulls back the curtain and reveals what is going on in the mind of those who deny the obvious. It introduces you to number of atheists who you will follow as they go where the evidence leads, find a roadblock, and enter into a place of honesty that is rarely seen on film.
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This is a great website with several videos, writings, and other resources to dive into reasons/arguments for the existence of God. There are also answers to tough questions like "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?"
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In this book, author John M. Armstrong presents the view that Christianity is intellectually rigorous and relevant both socio-culturally and personally due to how robustly it accounts for humanity’s existence as thinking, feeling, self-aware beings whose deepest longings are for things such as love, justice, dignity, community, and meaning.
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In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs.
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Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics, and even ardent believers, have about religion. Using literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and potent reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one.
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Lee Strobel was convinced that God was outmoded, a belief that colored his ensuing career as an award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune. Science had made the idea of a Creator irrelevant—or so Strobel thought. But today science is pointing in a different direction. In recent years, a diverse and impressive body of research has increasingly supported the conclusion that the universe was intelligently designed.
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Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God? Former atheist and Chicago Tribune journalist Lee Strobel says yes! In this revised and updated bestseller, The Case for Christ, Strobel cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools such as Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis, asking hard-hitting questions - and building a captivating case for Christ's divinity.
Devotionals
MBC Recommended Devotionals
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Experiencing Life Today: 365 Day Devotional
If you were asked to describe your life right now, would you say it's a ho-hum, barely-make-it-through-the-day kind of life? Or the abounding, overflowing, deeply rich and satisfying LIFE of Christ living through you? That's what God wants for you, and it's why Pete Briscoe wrote the Experiencing Life Today, a 365-day devotional.
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Trust For Today (A One Year Devotional)
Jesus’s invitation is clear throughout the Bible: Trust Me, and trust those I’ve put in your life. Trust is vital in our families, communities, businesses, churches, and daily life, yet many of us struggle with trusting other people and even God Himself. Trust is what frees us to experience God's grace and enjoy the life He has for us. This 365 day devotional invites you to experience trust each day.
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Seeing Yourself Through God's Eyes (31 Day Devotional)
Do you know who you are? Even more importantly, do you know Whose you are? Christians often look at their lives through natural eyes and see themselves as lonely, depressed, unacceptable to God, unable to be who they really want to be. But a Christian who looks at him or herself through God's eyes sees someone quite different. In this devotional, bestselling author June Hunt helps you change your focus as you look in the mirror of God's Word.
Family Ministry resources
Below are a list of books and other resources that our MBC Family Ministry recommends for all families.
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The Cure & Parents
This book is filled with hope, joy, insight, wisdom and maybe a fresh way of seeing parenting. We get to ride with a family as they struggle. Then we watch them imperfectly, but wonderfully learn to find each other. It always begins with us, the parents. And it always involves us earning our children’s trust. All, so we can leave a profound mark in this world by our transformative influence on our kids.
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Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
Parenting Beyond Your Capacity can help parents establish a lifestyle in which they: Invite others to invest in their children to help shape and determine the direction of their lives. Create a culture of unconditional love to fuel the emotional and moral health of their children. Tap into the power of quality moments together, building a sense of purpose through everyday experiences.
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"Parenting Your..."
"Parenting Your" Phase Guides consist of an 18-part series of concise and interactive guides that simplifies what parents need to know about each phase of a kids life and gives them the opportunity to discover more about their children—so they can make the most of every phase. The link to the left is the kindergarten phase, but all the individual books can be found on amazon.
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Don't Miss It
Don't Miss It reminds parents that phases are not just periods of time to be survived, but opportunities to be maximized. It gives parents a simple strategy for parenting every week like it counts. It can help them reprioritize their time with their kids; it may even change how they see their kids and themselves.
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Parenting the Wholehearted Child
Parenting the Wholehearted Child equips you with biblical wisdom and practical ideas to teach your children that they are fully accepted by God, not because of anything they do or don't do but because of everything Jesus has already done for them. Woven throughout the book is the good news that it is God's extravagant grace---not your perfect performance---that transforms the hearts of children.