As you soak up the Scriptures, you'll experience the joy of Christmas through the eyes of those who witnessed it first hand, from Mary and Elizabeth to the Shepherds and Simeon. This devotional will help you to celebrate afresh the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah in history, and learn what it means to wait for him with joyful expectation today. Each day's reading includes a short reflection, a prayer, a carol, and space to journal, helping you to treasure the Lord Jesus in your heart in the hectic run-up to Christmas.

    Now, in the book PASSION & PURPOSE: Believing the Church Can Still Change the World (Clear Day Publishing), Jimmy Seibert, Senior Pastor of Antioch Community Church and Founder & President of Antioch Ministries International, tells the firsthand account of a church that is cultivating a global impact. With an intentional focus on intimacy with Jesus, discipleship, church planting and evangelism, Antioch Ministries International has become one of the fastest growing evangelical movements in the country as well as a common case study among students of church planting and mission work. Based out of the Antioch Community Church of Waco, TX, the Antioch Ministries International movement is spearheaded by Seibert. After deciding to follow Jesus at any cost, Seibert started Antioch Community Church in one of poorest, most crime-ridden and drug-infested part of Waco. Along with a small group of likeminded believers, Seibert embarked on a journey to simply say "yes" to the next thing God was doing. The result has been an astounding adventure of walking with the Holy Spirit, building intimate community, and living with radical intentionality. "God has called us to be a people who passionately pursue Him with all our hearts and are deeply committed to His purposes. Nothing more. Nothing less. Now after 26 years, we feel like we can tell our story with integrity," explains Seibert, when asked about the timing of this book about Antioch and his personal journey. Seibert speaks with humility. A leader who has purposefully avoided the spotlight, Seibert prefers the role of teacher who seeks to encourage and motivate the church. "We have a heart for the body of Christ to believe in the church again, and to know that Jesus is enough." The once small gathering has turned into a network of 78 churches around the world in 24 nations, with 30 churches in the United Stated alone. At the original Waco, Texas home base, more than 3,000 people now attend regularly, with 170 Lifegroups meeting in members' homes across the city. Since its infancy, the church has focused on growing in relational and spiritual depth at home, and sending the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The movement has inspired hundreds of Antioch members to leave their lives of comfort to proclaim the Gospel around the world, often in remote and even hostile environments. Currently, Antioch has more than 200 long-term missionaries who are active around the globe. In 2001, two of Antioch's missionaries who were in Afghanistan, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, were arrested and held prisoner by the Taliban. The captivity-and the missionaries' miraculous rescue-became a major international news story after the 9/11 attacks, bringing Antioch's evangelical intentionality into the international conversation. PASSION & PURPOSE: Believing the Church Can Still Change the World chronicles the movement's humble beginnings, shares testimonies of powerful encounters with God along the way, and inspires with its rock-solid belief that the local church is God's "Plan A" for reaching the corners of the earth with the good news of Jesus Christ. The book explains Antioch's vision to be a people with "a passion for Jesus and His purposes in the earth." Early responses to PASSION & PURPOSE have begun pouring in. The book foreword is written by Max Lucado who has been acquainted with Seibert and the vision for Antioch Community Church for many years., In the foreword, Lucado states, "To visit Antioch Community Church is to visit the book of Acts; To hear their passion is to hear the heart of God; To listen to their stories of global impact makes you realize...it can happen today!"

    

    But only one woman has ever captured his heart. When mysterious feathers keep blowing in his path, will Kenneth’s only wish come true this Christmas…

    Believer's can reach out in faith, take back what belongs to them and begin to live in success, happiness, and liberty.

    We should not be satisfied with being almost Christian but rather strive towards being altogether a Christian.In Almost Christmas: A Wesleyan Advent Experience, author and pastor Magrey deVega leads a group of authors to explore how we can make the same commitment to Christ during Advent, connecting our Wesleyan heritage with the traditional Advent themes of Love, Hope, Joy, and Peace.In this book, perfect for Advent, deVega and the other authors break down the barriers that prevent us from experiencing an “altogether” love, hope, joy, and peace in Christ in our lives and in the world around us. They demonstrate the promises God offers to us that makes those longings a reality, inviting us to claim those promises for ourselves this Advent and celebrate an altogether Christmas.Chapters include: Altogether Love Altogether Hope Altogether Joy Altogether Peace Additional components for a four-week study include a DVD featuring Magrey deVega and the other writers and a comprehensive Leader Guide, as well as nativity hymns by Charles Wesley, litanies for lighting the Advent wreath, and prayers that can be incorporated into both worship and small group settings. A daily devotional and a youth study book are also available.

    Designed to be used daily over thirty days, each prayer provides the opportunity to seek the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    Being on call means that anything could happen.Take half an hour out of your busy day, and join the midwife on call at Christmas.The best presents are sometimes the ones we least expect.This is a quick-read story, featuring characters from the Lessons of a Student Midwife series.

    . . When his affections are spurned by the girl he plans to wed, Graydon Gaffney rides off in the swirling snow, determined to stay far away from fickle females. Then a voice in the storm draws him to a woman and her two sweet children. Despite his intentions to guard his emotions, all three members of the DeVille family threaten to capture his heart. Giavanna DeVille holds the last frayed edges of her composure in a tenuous grasp. In a moment of desperation, she leaves her sleeping children in her cabin and ventures out into a storm to release her pent-up frustrations where no one can hear her cries. Much to her surprise, a man appears through the blinding snow. He gives her a shoulder to cry on and something even more precious. . . hope. Can the two of them move beyond past heartaches to accept the gift of hope for their future? Gift of Hope is the second book in the Gifts of Christmas series, a collection of heartwarming, wholesome historical romances, featuring precious gifts given straight from the heart. ˃˃˃ Gifts of Christmas Series Gift of Grace - Book 1Gift of Hope - Book 2Gift of Faith - Book 3 Scroll up and order your copy today.

     Libby is feeling taken for granted and unappreciated. As always, the festive decorating, food shopping and arrangements for the yearly family Christmas get-together have been left to her - probably because she’s the only one of her siblings who’s still single. Even though her boss has tasked her with a marketing presentation for an important client due the week before Christmas, her family expect her to be on call for their every domestic whim. But when their thoughtlessness results in Libby losing her big shot at promotion, it’s the last straw. Thoroughly fed up, she makes an impulsive decision to get away and spend the holidays on her own this year; somewhere a world away from small-town Christmas Central ...

    In his personal, intimate, engaging, humorous style, Altrogge takes us on a journey through God's word, bringing us into close contact with the God of sharp edges and brilliant light. Altrogge introduces afresh to the untamable God of the Bible.

    In the Kingdom of God, it is an inferior substitute for working by the supernatural power of God's grace. The purpose of Grace Over Grind is to challenge you, shift your thinking, and transform the way that you work so that you can glorify God and experience immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine in your business. With the same relatable teaching style and storytelling used in The Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur: Doing Business God's Way and Encountering God: A Devotional of the Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, Shae Bynes provides scripture, testimonies, and application exercises to help you on your journey to receive God's best and have a greater Kingdom impact in your sphere of influence.

    We can only truly understand grace once we understand God's love towards us. But once we grasp the fundamentals of His love and grace, then we must come to understand that forgiveness is an essential, non-negotiable element of life in Christ.This is a book that teaches us how to live in grace and practice forgiveness regularly, and it also warns us of the dangers of trying to execute "justice" ourselves when people wound us. Throughout the book we read the amazing testimonies of those who decided to leave justice in the hands of God and live in grace, forgiving those who had hurt them, and we see that freedom and healing, sometimes physical, is the result.

    Holiday decorations adorn each room. Trees glittering with ribbons and ornaments, gorgeous wreaths, velvet stockings and pine-scented candles brighten visitors’ stay at this vacation spot dedicated to Christmas all year, every year. The resort offers all the usual enticements plus one unique amenity…love. The little white chapel behind the inn, built by the Christmas family in the 1890s, boasts bell tower bells that toll when couples fall in love. But Christmas Inn has fallen on hard times. The chapel bells haven’t rang for many years, and this Christmas may be the final celebration at the resort…unless love finds its way home.

    But this story of light piercing through the darkness didn’t begin with the birth of a baby boy under a shining star in the city of Bethlehem. From creation to the incarnation to the coming eternal city, Scripture speaks of Jesus’s life-giving presence and light in a dark world.During this Advent season, we celebrate that the hopes and fears of all the years were answered in Jesus, the everlasting light. This five-week Advent experience features daily Scripture reading that traces this theme throughout the Bible, preparing our hearts to encounter Christmas Day in a fresh way. It is also filled with thoughtful extras designed to help you engage this season as people of light, from daily reflection prompts to recipes, crafts, classic Christmas hymns, and more. Join us for Advent 2021 as we celebrate and contemplate The Everlasting Light.