End the cycle of crisis management and set your life in the direction of wisdom, peace, and joy.

Don’t navigate the pitfalls of life alone. Proverbs, a timeless collection of timely wisdom, will help you move from crisis management to crisis prevention – saving you from self-inflicted heartache and drama and showing you how to live with true peace.

Order now

We can be our own worst enemy. As much as we want to do the right thing, we easily get caught up in our own desires, foolish thinking, and assumptions. We get in trouble because of what we say, how much we drink, with whom we flirt, or where we spend our time and money. Some of us have fallen into this pattern of crisis creation and crisis management so often that we don’t know any other way of living, even though it robs us of our energy, resources, and relationships. But we don’t have to navigate the pitfalls of the world alone. Proverbs, a timeless collection of timely wisdom, will help you move from crisis management to crisis prevention – saving you from self-inflicted heartache and drama. In Come Alive: Proverbs, you will uncover the depth of wisdom in Solomon’s writings and find out why there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this biblical “self-help” book. Filled with artistic examinations of practical issues we all face and divinely inspired insights that are counterintuitive to many of our “common sense” ideas, Proverbs will rewire your brain to think wisely in all areas of life, including:

Distinguishing between wise and foolish living
Guarding your tongue
Planning for your future
Protecting your sexual integrity
Surrounding yourself with wise people
Devoting yourself to further study of wisdom

We live in a world where there are so many competing voices for how to live well, from self-appointed experts, to authoritarians and skeptics, to our own perceptions that are tainted by trauma, selfishness, and sin. Come Alive: Proverbs unlocks this timeless source of divine wisdom so you can cut through the confusion and point your life in the direction of true peace.

Talbot Davis

I’ve been a preacher for half my life, but until 10 years ago, I didn’t comprehend the full richness and beauty of the Bible. Sure, I knew what the Bible said and what it was about, but it had never truly come alive to me. Have you experienced this disconnect?

This text is full of confusing, challenging, and downright weird stuff. It can even seem – dare I say – boring. But it only seems boring because we don’t understand what the Bible really is or how to read it.

I had always assumed the Bible was a mix of a how-to manual, a science textbook, and a self-help book. But it’s none of those things; it’s not even a book! The Bible is a library of books that capture a divinely inspired conversation between God and his people. It’s a story. And when we understand how to approach it and the context of the biblical world, we discover it’s far more interesting – and life-changing – than we ever imagined.

Talbot Davis was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. As a teenager, he was the two-time Texas state champion in tennis for boys’ 18-and-under. After graduating from high school in 1980, he attended Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, where he played varsity tennis for four years, served as team captain, and graduated with honors in English in 1984.

Talbot is a 1990 graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. In 32 years of full-time United Methodist ministry in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, he has served two appointments: Mt. Carmel-Midway (1990-1999) and Good Shepherd (1999-present). Since 1999, Good Shepherd’s average worship attendance has increased from 500 per Sunday to 2,000 per Sunday. The church is known for its modern style of worship, ethnic and racial diversity, and radical impact projects. Prior to the Come Alive series, Talbot published six works, all with Abingdon Press: Head Scratchers, The Storm Before The Calm, The Shadow Of A Doubt, Solve, Crash Test Dummies, and Simplify The Message; Multiply The Impact.

Talbot has been married to Julie since 1984 and they have two adult children.

You love Jesus and you want to know more about God, but when you go to read the Bible, it’s a struggle. The world you encounter there is a world with a very different culture and very different values. It can be confusing, frustrating, and – let’s be honest – sometimes weird. Many Christians end up feeling like they’re not “getting anything out of it” or that what they were promised doesn’t line up with their lived experience. But when we learn to approach the Bible in different way, we discover it’s far more interesting and richer than we ever imagined. Come Alive will help you:

Discover a new way to approach the Bible

It’s not about the takeaway, but trust and transformation. It’s not about “how to” but “Who” to which it points.

Learn to read the Bible “literarily”

Not as a how-to manual, a science textbook, or a self-help book (actually, it’s not a book at all), but as a library of books that capture a divinely-inspired a conversation between God and His people.

Watch God change your life

When you start your day in the Word, you’ll find you’re less focused on the times and more on the timeless, less on the urgent and more on the ultimate.

Live wisely. Find peace.

Get cultural context, insights, and reading prompts that help you de-weird the Bible and understand how God is speaking into your life through Proverbs today.