And this joy and peace is not just for Christmas, it lasts all year round and into eternity.-----------------------------------Contents 1. Something Better 2. God Gets Involved 3. God Gives Joy 4. God is Worth It 5. The Beginning, Not the End

    Father Dennis is still hailed as one of the central figures in the early renewal movement. Nine O'Clock in the Morning is Father Dennis's testimony that God can and will release His power to His people if we allow Him to truly become the King of our lives.When, in 1960, Father Dennis Bennett announced to his congregation that he had experienced a new outpouring of God's Spirit... the renewal movement can be said to have begun. --1973 Yearbook of the Encyclopedia BritannicaToday's generation needs the power of the Holy Spirit to protect them from a secular culture which promotes life without God. Nine O'Clock in the Morning, Dennis Bennett's classic work on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, will change the lives of young and old alike. I highly recommend it. --Paul F. Crouch, President, Trinity Broadcasting NetworkI commend Nine O'Clock in the Morning to you as a testimony to what God is doing today. --John L. Sherrill, author of They Speak With Other Tongues

    And now this Third Edition it had been updated and expanded! With more decrees and a bigger format, the DECREE book is better than ever. Filled with powerful decrees from Scripture, it puts the Word of God to work in your life. When you begin declaring these decrees in the key areas of your life, get ready for the Kingdom to come and your breakthrough to manifest, because God’s Word never returns void and it accomplishes all it is sent to do! All of Decrees include Bible based decrees with scriptural references. New Decrees are Rejuvenation, Great Grace, 12 Decrees for Your Nation and I Am Supernatural in Christ. Other decrees are: Praise and Worship, Everlasting Love, Who I Am in Christ, Blessing, Favor, Victory, Wisdom, Glory, Provision and Resource, Christian Character, Spiritual Strength,Empowered to Go, Health and Healing, Business, Ministry, and Workplace, Family and Children, The Power of Prayer

    Sometimes it seems like all we do is give directions and all children do is disobey. How can we promote good behavior and a peaceful home without becoming harsh drill sergeants on the one hand or passive pushovers on the other?This book aims to help you better understand loving correction through clear steps and practical tips aimed at transforming not only your children's behavior but also their hearts. Rooted in three principles-- keep it God-centered, always mean what you say, and reward obedience rather than disobedience--this is a guide to consistent, faithful discipline that mirrors the grace-giving, truth-speaking God of the Bible and sets the tone for a loving, joy-filled home.

    A simple but powerful book that helps readers develop the faith to see these trials as blessings, rather than curses, ministered by God.

    Fun is still allowed, by all means, but the ultimate emphasis on maturing faith is simply essential.The anecdotal comparisons are current and on-target (Starbucks’ well-publicized decision to retrain baristas in coffee making introduces the idea that youth leaders might also be wise to revisit the gospel essence of their ministry). And case study data gleaned from small to mega churches and parachurch ministries will give every youth leader a relatable reference point from which to begin the successful metamorphosis to Simple.

    It explains the story of the gospel, its basic doctrines, and God’s work in salvation. Fresh yet consistent with classic expressions, it helps churches reclaim their essential identity and return from distracting pursuits.   Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards—and even for devotional reading—The Heart of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Readers will not simply be informed, but led to believe in, rejoice in, and be transformed by the truth of God for His gathered people.Without the gospel, the church does not exist. This book is Thorn’s full and detailed exploration of the message that is indispensable to the church’s life and identity. For any church lacking power, any Christian feeling dry, or any person seeking truth, The Heart of the Church brings relief, direction, and light, leading to worship.

    Innovative teachers Craig Gross and Jason Harper will separate the religious from the real as they show how this simple truth is worth our undivided attention. The authors weave Jesus' narrative with their own stories of serving among the "least of these" in this inspiring summons to world-changing faith. Join them as they encounter shut-ins, drunks, inmates, porn stars, and others while striving to follow Christ in their daily lives. Christian and non-Christian readers alike will experience God's love and be challenged to take seriously the call of Jesus. Individuals, small groups, congregations, and church classes will find the companion DVD an indispensable resource for learning about the world-changing love of Jesus through captivating stories and interviews. In these four films, viewers will meet face-to-face with some of the folks they encounter in the book Jesus Loves You . . . This I Know. Each film is three to five minutes long and is followed by questions for groups that wish to use the films as discussion starters. Also ideal for use in sermons.

    We continually demand that life be fair, yet we’re well aware that it’s not. Life can leave you at a loss for words. It has a way of suddenly casting you into the darkness of doubt. In these desperate moments, you find your soul being drained dry . . . you’re empty . . . and faith just doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Faith loses out when you realize that God could have done something . . . and He did nothing. Your life is further emptied when you realize that even if you live the “Christian” life, things don’t always turn out the way you’d like them to . . . and that’s not the way you hoped faith worked. You don’t want God to comfort you in your troubles . . . you want Him to take them from you. As God continually frustrates our faith with His constant inconsistency and ridiculously draining unpredictability, we resolve in the truth that He is the only one who understands our hurting hearts, empty lives, and searching souls. We find the ongoing trials of life continually draining us and . . . we’re thirsty. Yet, through our endless efforts to quench our undying thirst, nothing satisfies. Our souls seem to be insatiable, and we know we desperately need something to fill us, completely . . . but it’s not what we think. You’ve been waiting for God to show up, yet He’s actually been waiting for you. He’s ready to meet with you . . . one on one . . . at the well.

    In eight stirring meditations, Darrell Johnson shows how the Lord's Prayer sums up the essence of Christian faith and, when prayed in faith, draws us into draws us into the Triune God's work of transforming the world. Darrell W. Johnson is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A popular conference and retreat speaker, he has also served as the preaching pastor for a number of congregations in North America and the Philippines and Adjunct Professor of Preaching for the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His other books include Experiencing the Trinity and Discipleship on the Edge: An Expository Journey through the Book of Revelation.

     Simply put, we have more needs than we have leaders to meet those needs. So, how do we train better leaders faster? The truth is, very few churches really have a well-thought-out leadership development plan. Growth requires continually adding healthy new leaders, who carry the church culture forward and embody its core values. Everyone knows it, but how do we achieve it?In Empowering Leadership author and leadership consultant Michael Fletcher says leaders like this can't simply be bought, nor can they be hired from someone else's leadership assembly line. Developing leaders at every level, to create an environment that attracts potential leaders, and to build better leaders faster, an organization needs more than a pipeline. It needs a culture that develops leaders organically.Finding the right kind of leaders to guide your church on a path of continual growth comes out of keeping the right focus, and that focus is not just on the leaders. In fact, as Fletcher says, It isn't about the leader. It never was about the leader. It will never be about the leader. It will always and only be about Jesus and his people. It's about the people. True leadership development includes the often messy, but necessary, interaction of life upon life. So hiring pastors and key staff roles from within the church is the very best policy--people who breathe the culture of the church and who have helped create the culture you want to maintain.If your church or organization needs a good leadership development structure, then you're holding the right book. Empowering Leadership details Michael's greatest insights on how to build better leaders faster by creating a leadership development culture in your church or organization--naturally, organically, continually. Empower your church or organization through great leadership. This book will show you how!

     The uniqueness of this book comes in the metaphor of sipping saltwater. Even as Christians, we 'sip' on idols such as money, relationships, careers, sex, food, human approval…the list is endless. These things promise to satisfy us—to quench our thirst. In the end, however, they fail to do so and leave us thirstier than we were before drinking them. To make matters worse, we are left with devastating hangovers—the negative consequences of our idolatry. This book enables readers to identify their own source(s) of saltwater and explains how to quench their thirst with Jesus’ living water—the only drink that will ever truly satisfy us both now and for eternity. It inspires readers to go on in the Christian life as they started—by making Jesus the centre of our lives and giving our worship to him.

    Defines the nature of true worship and discusses the key issues surrounding this controversial topic within the church.

    Prayer is the determining factor for maximum spiritual impact. The more we pray the more God works. Of all the skills needed by the difference-making spiritual leader, none is more important than prayer.Tracing the lives of high-impact Christian leaders from Abraham to Billy Graham, Dave Earley reveals the central role that prayer played in their effectiveness. In doing so, he points out the eight practices Christian leaders can apply to become more effective in their prayer lives, and therefore, more spiritually influential as a leader.While prayer is not the only weapon in the Christian leader's arsenal, it is one of the most powerful and often under-utilized. This book will inspire, transform, stretch, enhance, strengthen, and renew the prayer lives of readers.Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders is filled with juicy quotes and anecdotes; it gives dozens of practical applications of the principles discussed.

    In many churches, the primary objective of the church discipleship of people into mature followers of Jesus has been outsourced to programs and large-scale efforts to train and teach. But is that happening? Are people growing in spiritual depth and missional determination?Twenty-five years ago, the leaders of Randy Pope s rapidly growing church took serious stock of their own spiritual development and realized all of them had benefitted from a personal discipleship relationship that had helped them grow in their faith and discover where God was calling them to service. As a church, they decided to make personal discipleship their do-or-die aim: applying one person s real life to another s to accomplish something far bigger than that single life. Perimeter calls their approach life-on-life missional discipleship and Insourcing tells their story.Randy Pope writes for church leaders who recognize the value of discipleship and need practical ideas for reorienting church ministries around personal discipleship. Readers will be encouraged that a wide scale personal discipleship program is attainable for any church."