Books
Deep and Wide
This is a book about creating churches that unchurched men, women, and children love to attend. Specifically, this is a book about how some friends and I have gone about creating those kinds of churches.
Deep and Wide, by Andy Stanley
Blessed is the man who gets the opportunity to devote his life to something bigger than himself and who finds himself surrounded by friends who share his passion. In this way, I have been disproportionately blessed.
This is a book about creating churches that unchurched men, women, and children love to attend. Specifically, this is a book about how some friends and I have gone about creating those kinds of churches. This isn’t all there is to know on the subject.
![Deep and Wide - Andy Stanley](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/deep-and-wide-andy-stanley-book-cover.jpg)
Deep and Wide – Andy Stanley
This is just all we know. As leaders, we are never responsible for filling anyone else’s cup. Our responsibility is to empty ours. I’m going to pour out every drop on the subject of creating churches unchurched people love to attend.
Before we dive into the content, however, there is something you should know about me. I’m not enamored with big. I’ve always attended and worked in big churches. In elementary school our family attended a large church in Miami, Florida.
During middle school and high school, I attended the largest church in Atlanta. During graduate school, I interned at one of the largest churches in Texas. Texas! Besides that, I’m a preacher’s kid (PK). It takes a lot to impress us preachers’ kids. If you are a PK, you know exactly what I mean.
Preachers’ kids who gravitate toward ministry are commodities. I hire all I can. We see church differently than everybody else. We see it all from the inside out. We know that when people say they “felt the Spirit moving,” it probably means the room was full and the music was good.
We know that what goes on at home is the litmus test of a man or woman’s walk with God, not how well he or she does once a microphone is strapped on.
We know the difference between giftedness and godliness. We know the two can be mutually exclusive.
We know that the best performers usually build the biggest churches but not necessarily the healthiest ones.
We aren’t impressed with moving lights, slick presentations, “God told me,” “the Spirit led me,” or long prayers. Heck, all the men I’ve known who impressed everybody with their long, animated, public prayers had moral problems.
That’s why I pray short prayers. I’m afraid there might be a correlation. Actually, I think Jesus said something about that. So this isn’t a book about how to make your church bigger.
You don’t need me for that. If bigger is your goal, just start promising things in Jesus’ name. Religious people love that stuff.
This is a book about how to make your church more appealing to the people who are put off by all the shenanigans that give church, big churches in particular, a bad name — people who know there’s more to life than this life but who can’t imagine that the church holds any clues.
And in case you are wondering, yes, I think every church should be a church irreligious people love to attend. Why? Because the church is the local expression of the presence of Jesus.
We are his body. And since people who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, people who are nothing like Jesus should like us as well. There should be something about us that causes them to gather at the periphery and stare.
I’m often asked if I’m surprised at how big North Point has grown. When it’s church leaders who ask, I assure them I’m not. Here’s why. When we launched North Point, every other church in Atlanta was competing for the churched people market. We decided to get into the unchurched people market.
That’s a much larger market and we didn’t have any competition at the time. If somebody liked our brand, we were the only option. If somebody wanted to bring an unchurched friend or family member to church, we were the logical destination.
We weren’t any better than the other churches in town. We were just the only church designed from the ground up to capture the imaginations of unchurched people.
Let’s face it, if you have the only hot dog stand in town, your hot dogs don’t have to be that good.
Our ongoing challenge is to make sure we stay in the unchurched people market. That’s not easy. Now that we’re so big, it’s not even necessary.
Who would know? Who would care? Truth is, only our core would know. But we would all quit if we thought that staying meant spending the rest of our productive lives running a big church rather than making a big difference.
Books
Possibility of Little Beginnings
When the air balloon was first invented, a matter of fact gentleman contemptuously asked Dr. Franklin what was the use of it. The doctor answered this question by asking another:—“What is the use of a new-born infant?” It may become a man. This anticipation of great things springing from small beginnings should induce us to put into practice those holy promptings which at certain seasons move our souls. What if we ourselves and our work should be little in Zion; cannot the Lord cause the grandest issues to proceed from insignificant beginnings?—SPURGEON.
Books
The Expositor´s Word for Every Day
Devotional, the Jimmy Swaggart prayer is that you will be brought in touch, hopefully, in a greater way than ever, with the price paid by our Saviour at the Cross of Calvary and with the Redemption we now possess. For each day of the year, you will find a Scripture dealing with the Cross.
This Devotional is, I believe, the most unique Devotional of its kind in the world today. Every Message, for every day in the year, emphasizes the Cross of Christ in some way. Consequently, the help provided will be that which the Word of God always gives.
![The Expositor´s Word for Every Day](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-expositors-word-for-every-day-jimmy-swaggart-devotional-cover-book.jpg)
The Expositor´s Word for Every Day
As you read through this Daily Devotional, the Jimmy Swaggart prayer is that you will be brought in touch, hopefully, in a greater way than ever, with the price paid by our Saviour at the Cross of Calvary and with the Redemption we now possess. It did not come cheaply!
For each day of the year, you will find a Scripture dealing with the Cross, accompanied by a brief exegesis, that hopefully will guide you during your daily walk. Trust you will find comfort, encouragement, and inspiration in these pages.
This Daily Devotional is the product of a Revelation – a Revelation of the Cross – which has changed life of the Jimmy Swaggart, even as the Cross has changed the lives of untold millions, and the Cross alone, I might quickly add. In fact, every life that has ever been changed, and without exception, has been through Christ as the Source, and the Cross as the Means.
The Expositor´s Word for Every Day is a Great effort has been made to bring you a book that I believe will truly bless yours soul.
The Jimmy Swaggart desid is may God bless you every day of your life, and may this Devotional play a part in that blessing, as hopefully the Word of God is opened up to you.
Books
365 Days of Faith
You are about to embark on a faith journey that will change your life forever. Understanding and practicing the processes of faith can have a greater impact on your life than any endeavor you choose to undertake.
You are about to embark on a faith journey that will change your life forever. As a student of faith for decades, I have studied its processes, followed the contemporary science of it, practiced the precepts, and have been astounded at its absolute significance in all that we think and do.
![365 Days of Faith](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/365-days-of-faith-devotional-book-by-james-riddle.jpg)
365 Days of Faith
Understanding and practicing the processes of faith can have a greater impact on your life than any endeavor you choose to undertake. That impact is significant, so you must know what faith is.
The average dictionary would give us a relatively simple answer to describe faith, but the way the Bible defines it is quite different. Look at what Hebrews 11:1 says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
If you quote that to a true seeker of knowledge, or a deep-thinking critic, they might respond with something like, “Okay, so it is a substance, and an evidence, but what is it made of?” That’s all we know from this verse—faith is substance and evidence—but, we still don’t know what faith’s ingredients are.
A dictionary definition might say that faith is basically belief, but is that truly what Bible faith is? The apostle James warns us that even the devil believes. (James 2:19.) Does that mean that the devil has faith?
If belief and faith are synonymous, then is it the same thing to believe in God and to have faith in God? Consider this: if someone came to you and said, “I believe in God,” would they think diff erently if you replied with, “Yes, but do you have faith in God?” The fact is, if we tell someone that faith is belief, or even trust, we are only expressing a half-truth.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. 2 Corinthians 4:13 NIV
The apostle Paul says here that Bible faith is speaking what you believe. That is true, but the Word also says that to establish something, two or three credible witnesses are needed. (2 Corinthians 13:1.)
Living by these principles has changed life immensely. I know that no matter what I face, faith is our victory. Instead of getting up and worrying about my day, I now make my declaration, “Get ready world. I’m about to show you something extraordinary!” That’s the attitude I want this book to birth in you.
Know that you are a believer, a faith warrior, a partner with God, and the devil’s worst nightmare.You are built for faith. Honor God by being the person you are created to be. It
Books
The Zondervan 2019 Pastor’s Annual: An Idea and Resource Book
Favorable comments from ministers who serve in many different types of churches suggest that the Pastor’s Annual provides valuable assistance to many busy pastors as they seek to improve the quality, freshness, and variety of their pulpit ministry.
The Zondervan 2019 Pastor’s Annual: An Idea and Resource Book
Favorable comments from ministers who serve in many different types of churches suggest that the Pastor’s Annual provides valuable assistance to many busy pastors as they seek to improve the quality, freshness, and variety of their pulpit ministry.
To be of service to a fellow pastor in his or her continuing quest to obey our Lord’s command to Peter, “Feed my sheep,” is a calling to which I respond with gratitude.
![The Zondervan 2019 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-zondervan-2019-pastors-anual-an-idea-and-resource-book-tt-crabtree.jpg)
The Zondervan 2019 Pastor’s Annual: An Idea and Resource Book
This issue contains series of sermons by several contributing authors who have been effective contemporary preachers and successful pastors:
Morris Ashcraft, Tom S. Brandon, Harold T. Bryson, Hiram Campbell, James E. Carter, T. T. Crabtree, Charles O. Dinkins, David R. Grant, James F. Heaton, W. T. Holland, David L. Jenkins, Jerold McBride, Lowell D. Milburn, Leonard Sanderson, Bob Wood, Fred M. Wood.
I pray that this issue of the Pastor’s Annual will be blessed by our Lord in helping each pastor to plan and produce a preaching program that will better meet the spiritual needs of his or her congregation.
This issue contains series of sermons by several contributing authors who have been effective contemporary preachers and successful pastors.
Each author is listed with his sermons by date in the section titled “Contributing Authors.” I accept responsibility for those sermons not listed there.
This issue of the Pastor’s Annual is dedicated to the Lord with a prayer that he will bless these efforts to let the Holy Spirit lead us in preparing a planned preaching program for the year.
Books
The Power Of Prayer
In true Spurgeon style, each aspect dealt with in these pages will challenge, enlighten, and grow you into what he called, “the art of prayer.” Rarely do readers come away from one of Spurgeon’s books without some new form of knowledge.
The Power Of Prayer Chriatian book of Charles Spurgeon
Prayer was one of Charles Spurgeon’s favorite topics.
Even among his top-rated books, the topic of prayer was dealt with from several angles. This volume, however, was never intended as a book but is rather a collection of some of his best sermons on the subject.
In true Spurgeon style, each aspect dealt with in these pages will challenge, enlighten, and grow you into what he called, “the art of prayer.”
![The Power Of Prayer](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-power-of-prayer-charles-spurgeon-christian-book.jpg)
The Power Of Prayer
Known for his direct, no-nonsense approach behind the pulpit, the essence of his fiery but simple rhetoric makes for the perfect guide or handbook. A simple, direct voice grabs hold of you from the opening statement, and then never lets go until the end.
Along the way there will always be something to learn; rarely do readers come away from one of Spurgeon’s books without some new form of knowledge.
As classics go, anything with the name ‘Spurgeon’ attached to it is regarded as a ‘must-have’ in any well-versed Christian’s library. He ranks among the top names in church literature because of his unique style of approaching topics.
Whether it’s doctrinal issues surrounding baptism, the Holy Spirit, and salvation, or more straightforward subjects like prayer and devotion, you always feel that he is speaking personally to you.
He avoided high, lofty, and academic tones, and instead favored a more conversational attitude, which can be found in the sermons in this book. “The Lord Jesus did not say, ‘Feed my giraffes,’ but ‘Feed my sheep.’” And so, this collection is easy to understand, but not always as easy to digest, because it demands a real, passionate, and devoted response—the same way that he lived his life!
To assist you, you will find the same heart and the same challenge that Spurgeon brought his congregants over 100 years ago but in English you can relate to.
Not only that, but a study guide has been designed to guide you to think even further and deeper on his words.
“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”
Books
Nelson’s Annual Preachers’s Sourcebook Vol. 4
This sourcebook is designed to lie alongside all your other tools of word studies, exegesis, commentaries, analytical thought, and prayer that goes into the fully developed, prayed-over, and well-crafted sermon.
Nelson’s Anual Preachers’s Sourcebook Vol. 4 By O.S. Hawkins
I have always loved and honored those who are possessed and obsessed with a special and supernatural calling to preach the gospel.
Forever seared in my memory is my own personal call to ministry and the first sermon I ever preached. It was a hot and sultry summer evening, June 24, 1968, when I opened the Bible to Luke and preached on the subject of the cross to a group of rather rough-looking characters at the Union Gospel Mission.
![Nelson's Annual Preachers's Sourcebook Vol. 4](https://www.ourdailydevotional.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/nelson-anual-preacher-sourcebook-vol-4-os-hawkins-2.jpg)
Nelson’s Annual Preachers’s Sourcebook Vol. 4
My own preaching journey took me from those street corners and rescue missions of Fort Worth to the little town of Hobart on the Oklahoma plains, then to Ada, Oklahoma, and on to the Gold Coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and finally to the concrete canyons of downtown Dallas at the First Baptist Church.
Even today, in the midst of all of our technological sophistication, it is “still by the foolishness of preaching” that men and women are called to repentance.
The volume you now hold in your hands comes from the hearts and pens of some of the most God-blessed and able Bible expositors alive today. They are young like Jason Allen and a bit more mature like Erwin Lutzer.
Included are some of the most able theologians and culture warriors like Albert Mohler and Russell Moore as well as the most effective mass evangelists like Greg Laurie.
Among our contributors are college and seminary presidents, ethicists, pastors of all types and sizes of churches. All of them have a common thread woven throughout the fabric of their being—a rock-solid belief in the absolute trustworthiness of God’s infallible Word.
As a pastor/preacher myself for over four decades I know the constant cloud of pressure that hovers above the necessity of preparing multiple sermons every week. It never leaves us—ever! Thus, I want to raise high a red warning flag.
This volume is not designed to be a “Saturday night special” to whip out, load up, and fire on a Sunday morning. Volumes such as this should never be used as the only tool on the workbench of your personal study.
This sourcebook is designed to lie alongside all your other tools of word studies, exegesis, commentaries, analytical thought, and prayer that goes into the fully developed, prayed-over, and well-crafted sermon.
It is this editor’s prayer that your own messages will then exhort, encourage, and edify your hearers as these ideas are filtered through your own personality and accompanied by your own personal life illustrations. With that—let’s begin the journey.
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