JIM CYMBALA FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE
by: Dean Merrill Pastor Jim Cymbala believes that Jesus wants to renew his people—to call us back from spiritual dead ends, apathy, and lukewarm religion. Cymbala knows the difference firsthand. Thirty-five years ago his own church, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, was a struggling congregation of twenty. Then they began to pray . . . God began to move . . . street-hardened lives by the hundreds were changed by the love of Christ . . . and today they are more than ten thousand strong. The story of what happened to this broken-down church in one of America’s toughest neighborhoods points the way to new spiritual vitality in the church and in your own life. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire shows what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. As this compelling book reveals, God moves in life-changing ways when we set aside our own agendas, take him at his word, and listen for his voice.
LEADERSHIP LIFESTYLE
by: Ajith Fernando The church today needs leaders-men and women who are more than just managers of people, money, and organizational charts. In our pursuit of growth and prosperity, we may have lost sight of clear biblical principles of how we should find and train leaders for the church and the world. From the timeless Book, the Bible, come timely answers! The author, Ajith Fernando, a third-world Christian, examines principles of leadership taught in the letters to Timothy from the Apostle Paul, the leader of leaders. The philosophies and principles drawn from the bible, applicable to every generation, might surprise some people today. This book is destined to be a trendsetter, a clear call to a return to the biblical perspective of leadership-which is not corporate management but leaderdership drawn from the models of parenthood and servanthood.
Leading on Empty
Wayne Cordeiro found himself paralyzed by burnout. He had been in ministry for 30 years, and 10 years after founding what is now the largest church in Hawaii, he found himself depleted. Wayne took a season out of his growing ministry to recharge and refocus on the truly important. He was able to get back in touch with his life, get back in proper balance, and re-energize his spirit through Christ in a way that propelled him forward to greater levels of service. Wayne first gave this message at a recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit, where it was the highest-rated presentation by those in attendance. Pulling no punches, Wayne talks about the walls leaders must break through and how to move on with integrity. Included are ways to care for oneself physically and emotionally as well as spiritually.
Letters to the church by francis chan
If God had it His way, what would our churches look like?
In his most powerful book yet, Pastor Francis Chan digs deep into biblical truths, reflections on his own failures and dreams, and stories of ordinary people God is using to change the world.
As Chan says, “We’ve strayed so far from what God calls Church. We all know it. We know that what we’re experiencing is radically different from the Church in Scripture. For decades, church leaders like myself have lost sight of the inherent mystery of the Church. We have trained people sitting int he pews to become addicted to lesser things. It’s time for that to change.”
When Jesus returns, will He find us caring for His Bride-even more than for our own lives? Letters to the Church reminds us of how powerful, how glorious the Church was and calls us to once again be the Church God intended us to be.
LIBERATING PRAYER
Finding Freedom By Connecting With God by: Neil T. Anderson HAVE YOU HEARD FROM GOD LATELY? Trying to stay mentally focused in prayer is a common struggle for Christians. Tempting and distracting thoughts can plague their devotional lives. Is the enemy challenging your focus? What if you’re hearing from God and don’t know it? Maybe prayer is more about listening than talking. Dr. Neil T. Anderson explains this confusion and shares how you can find mental peace. His thoughts on prayer will change your devotional life. In this book you will discover how to: • be still and know that He is God • pray and be led by the Holy Spirit • make prayer a dialogue instead of a monologue • resolve personal and spiritual conflicts through prayer • overcome the trials of life when heaven seems silent Every Christian is a child of God with the same access to their heavenly Father. Liberating Prayer shows that prayer is a relationship and will set you free from meaningless rituals and stagnant devotions.
LIFE WITH GOD
by: Richard Foster LIFE WITH GOD is Richard Foster’s first major new work for nearly a decade and is of similar magnitude to his classics: PRAYER, CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE and STREAMS OF LIVING WATER. The starting point of LIFE WITH GOD is that so many of us want to make the Bible the foundation of our way of life, but struggle to make sense of this huge, apparently disjointed book. Why is that Christians try so hard to place the Bible at the centre of their lives, but in reality get very little from it in terms of genuine life-transforming practice? Richard Foster believes that it is because we fail to grasp the overriding coherent message of the Bible – that all of Scripture is unified around the theme of living a vibrant and dynamic life with God. Breaking up history into fifteen epochs that reveal the unfolding of God’s plan for seeking out a relationship with us, Foster sees the Bible as ‘the loving heart of God made visible and plain.’ Readers will discover a whole new way to read Scripture, making it a doorway to a lifestyle we can master, rather than merely knowledge we understand.
LIVING WATER
Powerful Teachings from the International Bestselling Author of The Heavenly Man by: Brother Yun, Paul Hattaway The companion to the bestselling The Heavenly Man, Living Water shares the vision of Brother Yun, one of China’s most dedicated, courageous and intensely persecuted house church leaders. Brother Yun’s dramatic life story and teachings offer a message that inspires and challenges Christians to live out a passionate commitment to serve Jesus Christ. Living Water is a compelling saga of Brother Yun’s sacrifice to bring Jesus and the Bible to non-believers. Through his dynamic teachings, Brother Yun shares a message of radical trust and authentic Christian discipleship to churches around the world. Using the message of the Bible and interweaving it with stories of life-changing faith, Living Water distills the wisdom of this courageous Christian man who suffered intense persecution for his beliefs. Brother Yun challenges Christians to go deeper in their faith, and become bold in their witness for Christ. He shows how God can make you as bold as a lion, and bring your days as a timid Christian to an end. The book of Acts continues today in the lives of courageous believers like Brother Yun. An inspirational challenge to deeper discipleship, Living Water offers moving stories of struggles and victories, miracles of grace and mountains moved.
LONG STORY SHORT
by: John Kitchen What’s your story? God has written a grand story-Hits Story-and He wants you to discover your own in His. Pastor John Kitchen takes you on a unique journey from Genesis to Revelation, unfolding God’s overarching plan for the whole of creation-and for you. Finding your place in the vast plan of God involves: • a purpose bigger than you’ve ever imagined, • a gain bigger than you’ve ever dreamed, • a pleasure more intense than you’ve ever fantasized.
Making Sense of God
We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? 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. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.
MAKING YOUR EMOTIONS WORK FOR YOU
*Coping with Stress *Avoiding Burnout *Overcoming Fear …and More by: Harold J. Sala The greatest struggles in life are not fought on battlefields; they are fought in human hearts as we struggle with fear, frustration, stress, a lack of self confidence, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, and the inability to cope with circumstances not to our liking. While these challenges can defeat us, they can also serve as catalysts to bring out the very best in us. Making Your Emotions Work for You will help readers confront these challenges and apply biblical principles that unleash God’s power to overcome them. Chapter titles include: • Making Friends of Your Emotions • The Inner Struggle of Worry • Winning Your Battle with Fear • Boredom When Your Emotions Flat Line • Coping with Stress
My Rock My Refuge
New York pastor Timothy Keller is known for his ability to connect a deep understanding of the Bible with contemporary thought and the practical issues we all face in our lives. My Rock; My Refuge – his first devotional, consisting of all new material – offers inspiration for every day of the year, based on the book of Psalms. Here Keller helps readers apply the principles he laid out in his book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. He walks them verse by verse through the entire Psalter, the one biblical book designed to teach us how to pray, how to spiritually handle every possible life situation, and how to actually know God.
NEARING HOME: LIFE, FAITH, AND FINISHING WELL
by: Billy Graham But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. —Acts 20:24 (ESV) Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life,” says Billy Graham, known by many as God’s Ambassador. “I would have never guessed what God had in store for me, and I know that as I am nearing home, He will not forsake me the last mile of the way.” In Nearing Home this man of faith—now in his nineties—explores the challenges of aging while gleaning foundational truths from Scripture. Billy Graham invites us to journey with him as he considers the golden years while anticipating the hope of being reunited with his wife, Ruth, in his heavenly home that eclipses this world. “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice,” says the author. “Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Join Billy Graham as he shares the challenges of fading strength but still standing strong in his commitment to finishing life well. “Explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.” —BILLY GRAHAM
New morning mercies: A daily gospel devotional
365 Gospel-Centered Devotions for the Whole Year Mornings can be tough. Sometimes, a hearty breakfast and strong cup of coffee just aren’t enough. Offering more than a rush of caffeine, best-selling author Paul David Tripp wants to energize you with the most potent encouragement imaginable: the gospel. Forget “behavior modification” or feel-good aphorisms. Tripp knows that what we really need is an encounter with the living God. Then we’ll be prepared to trust in God’s goodness, rely on his grace, and live for his glory each and every day.
Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family
Winner of the ECPA Book of the Year Award for Christian Living
Over 100,000 Copies in Print
What is your calling as a parent?
In the midst of folding laundry, coordinating carpool schedules, and breaking up fights, many parents get lost. Feeling pressure to do everything “right” and raise up “good” children, it’s easy to lose sight of our ultimate purpose as parents in the quest for practical tips and guaranteed formulas.
In this life-giving book, Paul Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents. Outlining four teen foundational principles centered on the gospel, he shows that we need more than the latest parenting strategy or list of techniques. Rather, we need the rescuing grace of God―grace that has the power to shape how we view everything we do as parents.
Freed from the burden of trying to manufacture life-change in our children’s hearts, we can embraceagrand perspective of parenting overflowing with vision, purpose, and joy.
PRAYER
by: Philip Yancey Does It Make Any Difference? In Prayer, available for the first time in softcover, Philip Yancey probes the very heartbeat—the most fundamental, challenging, perplexing, and deeply rewarding aspect—of your relationship with God. What is prayer? Does it change God’s mind or ours—or both? This book is an invitation to communicate with God the Father, who invites you into an eternal partnership through prayer. In his most powerful book since What’s So Amazing About Grace? and The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey explores the intimate place where God and humans meet in Prayer. Polls reveal that 90 percent of people pray. Yet prayer, which should be the most nourishing and uplifting time of the believer’s day, can also be frustrating, confusing, and fraught with mystery. Writing as a fellow pilgrim, Yancey probes such questions as: • Is God listening? • Why should God care about me? • If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? • Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent? • Why does God sometimes seem close and sometimes seem far away? • How can I make prayer more satisfying? Yancey tackles the tough questions and in the process comes up with a fresh new approach to this timeless topic. “I have learned to pray as a privilege, not a duty,” he says, and he invites you to join him on.
PRAYER : FINDING THE HEART’S TRUE HOME
by: Richard Foster A comprehensive, profound and immediately accessible book which opens the way for all to increase their understanding and develop their practice of prayer. Richard Foster explores the riches of the historical classics of prayer as well as his own personal experience and roots his teaching in scripture. No one who reads PRAYER will remain unmoved; all will find encouragement within its pages.
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
Renowned pastor and New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller explores the power of prayer.
Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.
With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader.
Praying finding our way through duty to delight
Praying is an action. Praying is an action that is of the essence of Christian existence. It involves our beliefs, emotions, values, hopes and fears, certainties and uncertainties, knowledge and ignorance. As J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom explain, this book “is a heart-to-heart affair, in which two Christians who try to pray and wish they prayed better share thoughts about what they are doing with people whom they envisage as being like themselves. . . . Our aim is not just to clarify Christian understanding but to foster Christian living. In real praying, head, heart and hands go together.” With wisdom, humility and sincerity the authors lead us through different moods of praying, including brooding, praising, asking, complaining and hanging on. In Praying the authors offer hope for those of us who daydream when we try to listen to God and stumble when we try to speak. Yet they don’t just teach us about prayer; they challenge and inspire us to do it by pointing us to a clearer realization of the reality of God and his character. Let Packer and Nystrom come alongside you to encourage and guide your active praying to our powerful God, and let him move your praying through mere duty to delight.
PRAYING THROUGH
by: John Kitchen We often pray about our problems and for our needs, but far too often we don’t pray through- the deep, intimate kind of prayer that draws hope and healing from the very life of god. King David was betrayed, humiliated, felt lonely and experienced deep hurt and pain on every side. The psalms he wrote on those occasions are prayers that touch the heart of God. John Kitchen leads us on a healing journey through those prayers into a more intimate fellowship with our Father.
PREACHING
Pastor, preacher, and New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller shares his wisdom on communicating the Christian faith from the pulpit as well as from the coffee shop. Most Christians—including pastors—struggle to talk about their faith in a way that applies the power of the Christian gospel to change people’s lives. Timothy Keller is known for his insightful, down-to-earth sermons and talks that help people understand themselves, encounter Jesus, and apply the Bible to their lives. In this accessible guide for pastors and laypeople alike, Keller helps readers learn to present the Christian message of grace in a more engaging, passionate, and compassionate way.
PREPAIR FOR RAIN
The Story of A Church That Believed God for The Impossible… by: Michael Catt Prepare For Rain is a very encouraging, challenging and soul searching book since Purpose Drive Life. In the book, Pr. Catt challenges readers to set our hearts and purpose on impacting lives for eternity and to seek the approval of God instead of man’s. From this book, you will also come to marvel how our Mighty God see to the planning and production of the movie “Facing The Giant” (A fantastic movie that is not to be missed). After watching the movie as well as reading the book, I must say that these are not the product of man but God (who worked through a God fearing pastor, his team and the congregation of Sherwood Baptist Church). Sherwood Baptist Church has indeed achieved their hearts’ purpose of reaching the world from Albany, Georgia with Prepare The Rain and Facing the Giant. Follow the story of Pastor Michael Catt and his congregation as the Lord changes a “typical Southern Baptist church” into a ministry center that reaches thousands and has even challenged the Hollywood establishment with the locally produced, nationally syndicated movie, Facing the Giants. Reviewed by Ming Siew Lim (Malaysia), September 25, 200
Raising Giant – Killers
Releasing Your Child’s Divine Destiny through Intentional Parenting With honesty, humor, and keen biblical insight, bestselling authors Bill and Beni Johnson help you discover the keys to successful parenting in God’s kingdom. “Parents, we rule for the purpose of protection, but we also serve with the purpose of empowering,” they write. “We want to release our children into their destiny–that’s the privilege of parenting.” In these pages you will gain the wisdom, kingdom concepts, and practical tools you need to help raise your children to their best.
RECLAIMING FRIENDSHIP
Relating To Each Other In A Frenzied World by: Ajith Fernando Friends, We all crave them. Yet how do we nurture friendships in a frenzied, fragmented, fallen world? Ajith Fernando sees the obstacles. But he convinces us that even today we can make true friends. Drawing insights from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, this book shows us how to find friends, fulfillment, and wisdom through – • commitment • Christian discipline • spiritual accountability • team ministry • service to others • reliance on God’d strength “Anyone who wants to take up the challenge of developing significant relationships will find Ajith Fernando a stimulating and pratical guide.” From the Foreword by Edgar Metzler, Executive Director United Mission to Nepal, Kathmanda, Nepal
RECLAIMING LOVE: RADICAL RELATIONSHIPS IN A COMPLEX WORLD
by: Ajith Fernando In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul places love at the very center of what it means to embrace life in Christ. All other spiritual gifts are worth nothing in comparison. But the love explained in those verses is nothing short of radical. Fernando’s pastoral work—in the midst of the cultural and ethnic tensions of Sri Lanka—often brought up a very real and honest question: ‘Can the biblical teaching about love actually be practiced?’ The answer he discovered is a resounding ‘yes.’ The radical love of God is not only real, but it is the key to experiencing joy in the pain and suffering of this world. Believers must look to the Scriptures for God’s teaching on the true nature of love, its divine origins, and its power for those who trust in Christ. This book offers reflections on the Bible’s consistent teaching on love and shares real-life experiences of learning to love in difficult situations.