Mark Smeby has narrated 37 audiobooks on Listento.it by 46 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 76 ratings. The most-rated is Sales Truth.
Never Too Far
Summary
A person can never get too far from God and his plan and purpose for their life that they can’t get back to him and have a fresh start. There is always a way forward that will prevent a person’s current circumstances from having the final say in life. God has a plan for a comeback. It’s never too late for him, no matter what kind of challenge an individual is facing. Adapted from material previously published in The Comeback, Louie Giglio addresses the feelings we all have from time to time that life is disappointing and not working out as we’d hoped. We long for something different, something better, something more. Never Too Far celebrates new beginnings. It offers encouragement and perspective, and it’s for you if you feel frustrated or confused, if you’re sorrowing or in pain, if you’ve made mistakes or are grieving, if you’re disappointed or feel as though life doesn’t make sense. The good news is that God is in the business of giving fresh starts to people. He gives hope to the hopeless. Direction to the directionless. Help to those who need help. God is always good, all the time, and God’s plans will always prevail, even when our plans don’t. God already knows what the solutions are. No matter what kind of disappointment or grief or pain or trouble or heartache you encounter, God always offers a new beginning, a change of heart, or a powerful spiritual turnaround. God offers the way forward, and his pathways are always good.
©2021 Louie Giglio (P)2021 Thomas Nelson
His Mighty Strength
Summary
With warmth and biblical insight, Frazee tells us how to: Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus did. Respond to God’s voice in decisions big and small. Raise our expectations for how God’s power can work through us. Break free of addictions, habits, and destructive thoughts that hold us back. The Bible promises us more than inspiration. More than influence. The Bible promises us access to the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. So what keeps us from drawing on that incredible resurrection power in our daily lives? In His Mighty Strength, popular pastor and author Randy Frazee explores Jesus’ time on Earth to uncover the amazing source of his strength. Jesus continually sought direction from the Father and found the power to live the Father’s will through the Holy Spirit. He said yes to God every day of his earthly life - and we can, too. His Mighty Strength reminds us that Jesus’ resurrection power is not wishful thinking or a poetic metaphor. It’s a real source of strength that we have access to right now. And when we embrace God’s offering, our lives will never be the same. “This is not a watered-down, self-help book - this is a powerful Gospel-centered guide to walking in the fullness of Christ. I challenge you to read this amazing book and accept the glorious gift of strength from Christ that enables us to live the abundant life God has promised us!” (Francesca Battistelli, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter)
©2021 Randy Frazee (P)2021 Thomas Nelson
How to Be Present in an Absent World
Summary
Take ownership of your life in every area of influence. Many people today feel overworked, overbooked, and burned out. They long for purposeful and meaningful lives. We're plugged into every social network we can find, yet we feel more disconnected than ever. And in our most honest moments, we can't help but look in the mirror and ask: How long can I keep this up? Montgomery, Webb, and Silva believe the pain we experience as leaders is a function of absence - living disconnected from our true selves and lacking deep, meaningful relationships with others. The remedy lies in rediscovering what it means to be truly present as a leader by embracing our humanity and extending it to those we lead. How to Be Present in an Absent World is a guide for cultivating a self-awareness that empowers you to take ownership of your life in every area of influence. It provides a biblical way to handle the daily pressures of life without denying, escaping, or outrunning the present, past, or future. Montgomery and his coauthors, Webb and Silva, equip you with the kind of self-understanding that allows you to overcome obstacles - whether in your church, in your job, or in your family - that were previously discouraging and seemingly insurmountable.
©2020 Daniel Montgomery, Eboni Webb, Kenny Silva (P)2020 Zondervan
What's Next?
Summary
Best-selling author and influential Pastor Chris Hodges offers Christians a practical guide for what to do next to deepen their faith. The journey toward deeper faith and spiritual maturity is a lifelong pursuit, with plenty of stops and bumps along the way. Inevitably, there comes a point when Christians - new believers and veterans in the faith alike - find themselves asking, "What do I do next? How do I stay motivated to grow deeper in my relationship with God when I feel complacent, intimidated, or confused? What can I do to get back on track when I hit a spiritual rut?" In What's Next, Chris Hodges reveals the four steps to spiritual maturity: knowing God, finding freedom, discovering purpose, and making a difference. He shows how they are part of both a linear path and a cycle that Christians continue returning to at increasingly deeper levels as they grow. Accessible and clear, concise and profound, What's Next? is a trail guide leading to a deeper and more intimate relationship with the father and the joy that comes from the journey.
©2019 Chris Hodges (P)2019 Thomas Nelson
Prostitutes and Polygamists
Summary
Jacob and Solomon were polygamists. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes. What are polygamists and prostitutes doing on the pages of holy scripture? And God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. What about Cain - did he really marry his sister? Abraham did, and he was also a polygamist. Lot offered his daughters up for rape, David committed adultery (or rape?), and the Bible calls both men righteous. Love, Old Testament style, was bizarre. As readers of the Old Testament encounter these weird, confusing, and horrific "love" stories, they ask, "What's up with sex in the Old Testament?" The Church often ignores the R-rated bits of the Bible, so it's hard for people to find answers to their disturbing questions about sex in scripture, which can lead people to give up on God and God's word. However, these stories were included in the Bible for a reason: to reveal an even more shocking "love" story. When humans behave badly, God behaves graciously. God not only forgives people with sexual baggage but also redeems their lives and includes them in his mission. God's word records their story to benefit us. Just as sex was not often ideal in the Old Testament, it's often not ideal today. Instead of ignoring these stories, Prostitutes and Polygamists engages, discusses, and learns from them.
©2015 David T. Lamb (P)2015 Zondervan
Out of the Cave
Summary
Best-selling author and pastor Chris Hodges helps those struggling with depression find liberating solutions by drawing from the life of the prophet Elijah. Shame about the dark thoughts swirling in your mind. Guilt about how powerless you feel to overcome negative emotions. Alternating bouts of sadness and numbness. You might be asking, Should a Christian even be having these struggles? Depression is the number-one health issue in the world today, yet those who suffer are still sometimes stigmatized - especially followers of Jesus. Many assume God's peace, power, and protection should prevent us from ever feeling anxious, depressed, and afraid. But the Bible teaches otherwise, particularly in its depiction of the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. In Out of the Cave, best-selling author and pastor Chris Hodges uses Elijah's life to show us that everyone is susceptible to depression. Even when we're walking closely with God, we can still stumble and get lost in the wilderness of tangled emotions. But we don't have to stay there, because we serve a God who meets us in the darkness. Out of the Cave helps us: Remove the stigma of depression and realize we're not alone Understand the ways our temperament and view of God affect the way we handle depression Learn a comprehensive approach to wellness - mind, body, and soul - from Elijah's journey With his trademark blend of Bible-based wisdom, practical application, and vulnerability in sharing his personal struggles, Hodges explores the causes of depression we can't change, the contributors we can conquer, and offers transformative hope and spiritual power to help us win the battle.
©2021 Chris Hodges (P)2021 Thomas Nelson
Goliath Must Fall for Young Readers
Summary
Louie Giglio, the director of the Passion Movement that has reached more than a million young people, shares Goliath Must Fall for Young Readers, a children’s audiobook about facing fears and overcoming adversity by relying on God. Our kids face more pressure and stress than ever before. Issues such as fear, jealousy, loneliness, and anxiety seem like giants standing in the way of the joy-filled childhood and adolescence we want them to have. In Goliath Must Fall for Young Readers, pastor Louie Giglio shows kids that only God can help them defeat those giants — and he will. This audiobook: Is adapted for middle grade listeners, ages 8 to 12, from the national best seller Goliath Must Fall, which has sold over 200,000 copies Has practical tools and thought-provoking activities to help kids learn strategies to surrender their fears, overcome bad habits, and let go of the comforts this world tells them they have to have Includes an audiobook-exclusive preface from Louie Is a great purchase for kids who are struggling with stress, anxiety, technology addiction, or other troubles and for fans of Louie’s other children’s books, Indescribable and How Great Is Our God While addressing the struggles kids face today with temptation, social media comparisons, and anxiety, Louie Giglio reveals a surprising twist in the David and Goliath story that might just change everything about the way we see Jesus and how to conquer the giants in our lives.
©2020 Louie Giglio (P)2020 Thomas Nelson
Renovate Your Relationships
Summary
Doctor turned pastor Scott Vaudrey shows listeners how to have stronger, more meaningful relationships by mastering the balance between building bridges and setting boundaries. We all have people in our lives who are difficult - a demanding boss, an annoying neighbor, a manipulative family member, or a controlling spouse. When you reach a point where something must change in that troubling relationship, how do you narrow the gap between where things are and where you want them to be? In Renovate Your Relationships, Scott Vaudrey draws on his experience as both an emergency-room physician and a pastor to reveal how we can diagnose the problems in our specific relationships and then master the balance between building bridges toward people and setting boundaries with them. Using real-life stories, illuminating dialogues, and ground-breaking practical tools, he unearths the root cause of our relational breakdowns and helps us make changes that enable us to move forward with a new, more productive pattern of relating. Charts and tables are available in the audio book companion PDF download. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Scott Vaudrey, MD, MA (P)2019 Thomas Nelson
Searching for God Knows What
Summary
In Searching for God Knows What, best-selling author Donald Miller invites you to reconnect with a faith worth believing. With humor, intelligence, and his trademark writing style, he shows that relationship is God's way of leading us to redemption. And our need for redemption drives us to relationship with God. "Being a Christian," Miller writes, "is more like falling in love than understanding a series of ideas." Maybe you are a Christian wondering what faith you signed up for. Or maybe you don't believe anything and are daring someone - anyone - to show you a genuine example of authentic faith. Somewhere beyond the self-help formulas, fancy marketing, and easy promises there is a life-changing experience with God waiting. Searching for God Knows What weaves together beautiful stories and fresh perspectives on the Bible to show one man’s journey to find it. "Like a shaken snow globe, Donald Miller's newest collection of essays creates a swirl of ideas about the Christian life that eventually crystallize into a lovely landscape.... [He] is one of the evangelical book market’s most creative writers." (Christianity Today) "If you have felt that Jesus is someone you respect and admire - but Christianity is something that repels you - Searching for God Knows What will give you hope that you still can follow Jesus and be part of a church without the trappings of organized religion." (Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and Pastor of Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA) "For fans of Blue Like Jazz, I doubt you will be disappointed. Donald Miller writes with the wit and vulnerability that you expect. He perfectly illustrates important themes in a genuine and humorous manner.... For those who would be reading Miller for the first time, this would be a great start." (Relevant)
©2010 Donald Miller (P)2020 Thomas Nelson
All In
Summary
What makes great leaders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk extraordinary? All In shows leaders and aspiring leaders how obsession can fuel the most incredible success but also take a toll on a leader, his or her family, and work colleagues. Groundbreaking leaders share a passionate commitment to achieving their vision that borders and sometimes crosses the line into obsession. All In shows how obsession, if properly focused and managed, is both necessary and productive. Advances in any endeavor almost always depend on a small group of individuals who are completely consumed by the goal they’re pursuing. When these leaders and their teams are successful, everyone benefits from their singular focus and relentless drive. All In explores the three obsessions underlying the achievements of great leaders: Delighting customers Building great products Creating an enduring company By taking you inside the success stories of iconic leaders, including Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Elon Musk of Tesla, and Steve Jobs of Apple, author Robert Bruce Shaw shows the upside of obsession and the practices that support it. Shaw also provides insight into the dark side of obsession and its destructive potential - as illustrated in his case study of Uber during the final years of Travis Kalanick’s leadership tenure. Appealing to any fans of entrepreneurial biographies, All In shows individuals and organizations how to manage obsession’s downsides while realizing the benefits of striving to create something that truly matters.
©2020 Robert Bruce Shaw (P)2020 HarperCollins Leadership
Telling a Better Story
Summary
The practice of offering reasons for the Christian faith, or apologetics, strikes many unbelievers today as offensive, an attempt to proselytize, while Christians themselves often view apologetics as unsophisticated or even faith-undermining. After all, shouldn't a believer focus on presenting the gospel rather than attempting to argue people to belief? In Telling a Better Story, author Joshua Chatraw presents a new and better way to do apologetics, an inside-out approach that is attuned to our late-modern moment and respectful of unbelievers, all the while remaining focused on Jesus. With chapters on cultural understanding, dealing with the difficult issues, and presenting Jesus in a holistic, contextual manner, Telling a Better Story offers a road map to effective apologetics both for experienced apologists and those new to sharing their faith with others.
©2020 Josh Chatraw (P)2020 Zondervan
Losing My Voice to Find It
Summary
The incredible story of a lead singer's rise to fame and his crushing fall when he lost his singing voice, his career, and his marriage - and then found a new calling more in tune with God than he ever thought possible. Mark Stuart was the front man of popular Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline at a time when the Christian music scene exploded. Advancing from garage band to global success, the group sold out stadiums all over the world, won Grammy Awards, and even celebrated an album going certified gold. But after almost 20 years, Mark's voice began to give out. When doctors diagnosed him with a debilitating disease, the career with the band he'd founded and dedicated his life to building was gone. Then, to his shock, his wife ended their marriage, and Mark believed he'd lost everything. Unsure of his future, Mark traveled to Haiti to help with the band's ministry, the Hands and Feet Project. When the devastating 2010 earthquake hit, media learned he was present and sought him out for interviews. Ironically, Mark became the scratchy voice for the struggling Haitians, drawing the world's attention to their dire circumstances. In the process, Mark found a greater purpose than he'd ever known before. In this gripping, compelling new audiobook, Mark Stuart overlays his story with passages from the gospel of John, urging us to listen for God's voice and to embrace his big love that calls us into a big life.
©2019 Mark Stuart, Roger W Thompson, and Tim Tebow (P)2019 Thomas Nelson
Think, Act, Be Like Jesus
Summary
The Bible teaches that the goal of the Christian life is to become like Jesus - for our own personal growth and for the sake of others. Every believer needs to ask three big questions: What do I believe? What should I do? And who am I becoming? In Think, Act, Be Like Jesus, best-selling author and pastor Randy Frazee helps listeners grasp the vision of the Christian life and get started on the journey of discipleship. After unfolding the revolutionary dream of Jesus and showing how our lives fit into the big picture of what God is doing in the world, Frazee walks listeners through thirty short chapters exploring the ten core beliefs, ten core practices, and ten core virtues that help disciples to think, act, and be more like Jesus Christ. This compelling new book can be used in conjunction with the 30-week all-church Believe campaign or heard separately as an individual study. Either way, listeners will deepen their understanding of what it means to not just know the Story of God, but to live it.
©2014 Zondervan (P)2014 Zondervan
What Happens After You Die
Summary
Popular pastor Randy Frazee answers perennial questions about life after death with an accessible exploration of what the Bible has to say on the subject. In both Christian and pop culture, there is a certain fascination with the afterlife. What happens after you die? What happens if you die with Christ or without Christ? What happens when Jesus returns if you have or haven't accepted Christ? What exactly comes next? Randy Frazee, popular pastor of Oak Hills Church and general editor of the wildly successful Believe and The Story programs, answers these questions and more. Born out of a deeply personal search for truth after the death of his mother, What Happens After You Die is a straightforward exploration of what the Bible says about life after death. From heaven and hell to the Lake of Fire and the actual presence of God, Frazee uncovers what is simply cultural tradition and what is truly biblical. He tells listeners about not only the death Jesus came to save us from but the life he came to save us for. Based on a teaching series that has had more online views than any other series Frazee has done to date, What Happens After You Die is a guide to the perennial questions about life and death, what comes next, and how we should live until then.
©2017 Randy Frazee (P)2017 Zondervan -Thomas Nelson
Your Money, Your Marriage
Summary
God’s vision for your marriage is far more than mediocre, and money and sex are two of the most common tension points. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In Your Money, Your Marriage, Brian and Cherie Lowe offer straight talk and power principles for getting your finances back on track so you can get back to your romance. Take it from them - the Lowes worked off $127,000 in debt in just four years, and emerged not only financially free but better together. Join Cherie, personal finance blogger at Queen of Free, and Brian, a family law attorney who’s seen it all when it comes to marital money struggles, in this journey to help you and your spouse go from different books to the same page. Through candid and hilarious stories, fresh ideas and practices, and a few winks along the way, Brian and Cherie reveal the secrets to “financial foreplay” able to help every couple thrive together in finance and romance alike. You’ll learn how to: Develop “passionate patience” with each other toward a shared financial goal Identify unhealthy financial habits Save smart on date nights Sort through misaligned expectations as a couple Beat the comparison game Cultivate a stronger relationship on a budget of zero dollars Couples share much more than a bank account or even a bedroom - they share a sacred union. Imagine what your marriage could be if you could put cash conflict behind you. Your Money, Your Marriage is an invitation to find out, and to thrive together. Discussion questions, exercises, and charts are available in the audiobook companion PDF download. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Cherie Lowe, Brian Lowe (P)2018 Zondervan
The Rescuer
Summary
He helped save people every day - but he had no idea how to save himself. Jason Sautel had it all. Confident in his abilities and trusted by his fellow firefighters, he was making a name for himself on the streets of Oakland, California. His adrenaline-fueled job even helped him forget the pain of his childhood - until the day he looked into the eyes of a jumper on the Bay Bridge and came face-to-face with a darkness he knew would take him down as well. In the following months, a series of traumatic emergency calls - some successful, others impossible-to-forget failures - drove Jason deeper into depression. Even as he continued his lifesaving work, he realized he could never rescue everyone, and he had no idea how to save himself. In the end, Jason was forced to confront the truth: Only the relentless power of love could pull him back from his own deadly fall. Action-packed, spiritually honest, and surprisingly romantic, The Rescuer transports listeners inside the pulse-pounding world of firefighting and into the heart of a man who needed to be broken before he could finally be made whole.
©2020 Jason Sautel and D.R. Jacobsen (P)2020 Thomas Nelson
Blue Like Jazz
Summary
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened." (Donald Miller) In Donald Miller's early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God. For anyone wondering if the Christian faith is still relevant in a postmodern culture. For anyone thirsting for a genuine encounter with a God who is real. For anyone yearning for a renewed sense of passion in life. Blue Like Jazz is a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.
©2009 Donald Miller (P)2020 Thomas Nelson