Books published by Cruciform Press

Here is a tender blending of memoir and theology, a joining of heart and mind, a sober yet joyful consideration of Scripture in the face of one of life''s deepest and most grievous trials.What exactly happens to those who die as Christians? What do they immediately experience? What is their existence like right now? What will happen to them when Christ returns to earth?These questions can be especially acute for grieving loved ones who remain. What comfort and assurance does Scripture offer you? What can you truly know and be confident of?These are the questions and concerns that faced Pastor Albert N. Martin following the death of his wife of nearly 50 years. He knew that, if he were to grieve in a way that glorified God, he needed to know the answers to those questions, as clearly as possible, directly from Scripture. This book is the product of his grief, his tears, his travails, his prayers, and his concentrated study of God''s Word.A beloved pastor and widely respected preacher for half a century, Albert Martin handles Scripture with the greatest of skill, care, wisdom, and respect. In this book, you will learn what God tells us with regard to the burning questions that so often accompany the death of a loved one in Christ.There is comfort for the grief. There are answers to the questions. The Bible does offer hope, solace, healing, and confidence. Pastor Albert Martin has been there. Let him share with you the deep comfort, encouragement, and joy that he found, through Scripture, in the midst of his grieving.

Street-level apologetics for everyday Christians.Because faith in Jesus makes sense. And you don''t need an advanced degree to understand why.This book was written for two reasons:First, too many people think believing in Christianity means blind faith, against all evidence, the way a child believes in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. Nothing could be further from the truth.Second, every few years a new book intended to undermine Christianity becomes a best seller and shakes the faith of many. Yet the arguments in these books are rarely compelling.Jesus likened faith in God to a house built on a foundation. If built on sand, storms of doubt will tear the house apart. But if we build on a solid foundation, we will stand. In these pages, Joe Coffey inspects our foundation - so we can know why we believe, and so we can speak of our faith to others with greater confidence and clarity.The conclusion? The Christian faith is built on a tremendous amount of credible evidence. You don''t need to be a scientist, an historian, an archeologist, or a philosopher to understand why belief in Jesus makes perfect sense.Think of the last time an unbeliever asked you a seemingly unanswerable question as a way of supporting their unbelief. Did you feel thwarted in your attempt to "give an account for the hope that is in you"? Smooth Stones answers six of the toughest of these questions:How do you know God exists?How can you be sure the Bible is authentic and true?If God exists, why is there evil and suffering?Doesn''t science disprove the Bible?Aren''t all religions the same?How can you be sure the claims of Christ are true?Joe Coffey writes in a style that is clear, winsome, and compelling. Smooth Stones will equip you with answers to some of the toughest apologetics questions a Christian can face.There is plenty of evidence to support the claims of Christianity. Smooth Stones puts much of that evidence at your fingertips and offers practical guidelines for how to unpack it in ways that are "gentle and reverent."

Whether from the pen of Moses, Paul, or other biblical authors, "But God" appears in various forms hundreds of times in the Bible. To understand these two words as they are used in Scripture is to understand the gospel. This book focuses on nine of the most important appearances of this key phrase, drawing in numerous other passages of Scripture and in the process unfolding the magnificent drama of God''s sovereign grace-from his mercy on Noah to our security in a resurrected Savior.Taken together, this collection of brief Bible expositions provides a big-picture overview of the consistent way in which God has chosen to save sinners. It has always been by his might, his power, his grace, and his initiative.James Montgomery Boice wrote that "If you understand those two words-''but God''-they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely."

The fight against chaos is universal, whether it be the outward chaos of disorder and frenzy or the inward chaos of fear and self-criticism. Even if we already know how to do better, something falls apart between our good intentions and getting it done.Most books on organization just add more rules to your life, whether it be another plan, another calendar, or another method. This book will show you a different, better way that is grounded in the grace of God.Jesus taught that true change doesn''t come by the addition of more rules, but from the inside out, with a change of the heart that only the gospel can bring. When you identify the heart problems behind the chaos in your life, lasting change can happen. This will not only reduce the stress in your life, but help you be more effective in your service to God.

One of the ambitious dreams that Reclaiming Adoption and its authors share with the Apostle Paul is that when Christians hear the word adoption, they will think first about their adoption by God. As it now stands, Christians usually think first about the adoption of children. Reclaiming Adoption sets out to change this situation by providing breathtaking views of God''s love for and delight in His children - views that will free you to live boldly in this world from God''s acceptance, not in order to gain it.Reclaiming Adoption begins by examining Jesus'' Parable of the Prodigal Son because it ultimately puts God the Father''s love on display - a love that embraces the younger son with uninhibited joy (Luke 15:20) and goes out to entreat the self-righteous older son to come join the celebration (Luke 15:28). The book is premised on the belief that behind the Parable of the Prodigal Son(s) is Scripture''s teaching on adoption. The story of the Bible is that God the Father sent his only true and eternal Son on a mission, and that mission was to bring many wayward and rebellious sons home to glory (Hebrews 2:10) in order to adopt them into His family.That is the Story behind the story of the Prodigal Sons. It is the only story that gives our stories any meaning or significance.Dan Cruver and his co-authors are convinced that if Christians learn to first think about their adoption by God, and only then about the adoption of children, they will enjoy deeper communion with the God who is love, and experience greater missional engagement with the pain and suffering of this world. That''s what this book is about. What the orphan, the stranger, and the marginalized in our world need most is churches that are filled with Christians who live daily in the reality of God''s delight in them. Reclaiming Adoption can transform the way you view and live in this world for the glory of God and the good of our world''s most needy.

"It sounded at first like something out of an old horror movie. I thought maybe someone was just playing around, but then I heard it again and again, a loud piercing cry, and less like Hollywood every time. The windows were down in my police cruiser on that warm fall day, but I still couldn''t tell where the sounds came from. I began looking around for the unlikely sight of someone being disemboweled in a mall parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing nothing, and still hearing the screams, I called in a ''disturbance.'' Around the next corner I found the source of the commotion."So begins Greg Lucas'' captivating account of life as a husband, a police officer, and Jake''s dad. Jake Lucas, the first of four children, lives with severe physical and mental challenges. Caring for him each day is an ordeal few of us can imagine, and this story of Jake''s first 17 years is not one you will soon forget. But the remarkable thing is how the whole narrative is saturated with wonder at the grace and goodness of God, who brings hope and promise through his Son into the darkest of circumstances.In this book, we see that Jake''s problems are our problems, only bigger, and the challenges of caring for him carry profound lessons about God''s care for us. Wrestling with an Angel is about tragedy and laughter and pain and joy. It is about faith and grace and endurance and God''s unfailing, loving wisdom daily being worked out in each of our lives, whatever the nature or extent of our difficulties. Here is a book that may explain faith to you in ways you never quite grasped, through a life few of us can relate to. When it is all done, we come away better able to live as Christ calls us to live.