Saddleback Church

You Can Live a Deeper, More Spiritual Life Right Where You Are.

The heart of Christianity is transformation—a relationship with God that impacts not just our “spiritual lives,” but every aspect of living. John Ortberg calls readers back to the dynamic heartbeat of Christianity—God’s power to bring change and growth—and reveals both the how and why of transformation.

With a new chapter on prayer and added discussion questions, this expanded edition of The Life You’ve Always Wanted offers modern perspectives on the ancient path of the spiritual disciplines. But this is more than just a book about things to do to be a good Christian. It’s a road map toward true transformation that starts not with the individual but with the object of the journey—Jesus Christ.

As with a marathon runner, the secret to winning the race lies not in trying harder, but in training consistently—training with the spiritual disciplines. The disciplines are neither taskmasters nor an end in themselves. Rather they are exercises that build strength and endurance for the road of growth. The fruit of the Spirit—joy, peace, kindness, etc.—are the signposts along the way.

Paved with humor and sparkling anecdotes, The Life You’ve Always Wanted is an encouraging and challenging approach to a Christian life that’s worth living—a life on the edge that fills an ordinary world with new meaning, hope, change, and joy.

You can! God readily offers these blessings and more. All you need to do is to take one decisive step of absolute surrender to Christ. When you forsake all to follow Him, you put the carnal life behind you and begin a new, spiritual life in obedience to the command, "Be filled with the Spirit." Through this popular devotional study, first published over a century ago, many Christians have discovered that victory over the power of sin and unbroken fellowship with Jesus are only a step away. Andrew Murray explains what surrender means and how to take this step, urging readers to yield themselves wholly, completely to God.

The times are urgent, God is on the move, now is the moment to ask God to ignite his fire in your soul!

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. Twenty-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 eight thousand strong.

The story of what happened to this broken-down church in one of Americas meanest 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.

No religious leader can thrive without having heart for the job. But in these times of unpredictability—caught up in trying to help others maintain their hearts—few complete their ministries without sometimes neglecting their own spiritual needs.

Reggie McNeal proposes that effective spiritual leaders must become experts in matters of the heart—particularly their own. Maintaining heart for the demanding work of ministry hinges on leaders' ability to discern God at work in their own lives, shaping their hearts to embrace the particular ministries to which they are called. This process of finding heart depends on an interactive partnership with God. God introduces the storyline—but the leader's responses affect the development of the drama.

To demonstrate these points, McNeal leads readers on an excursion into the heart-shaping drama of four major biblical leaders: Moses, David, Jesus, and Paul. He identifies the influences God used to shape them: Culture—the times and the environment in which a leader is raised; Call—the leader's personal call by God to mission; Community—the people who shape and sustain the leader; Communion—the leader's personal relationship with God; Conflict—the leader's engagement of destructive forces in life and ministry; and Commonplace—the daily choices of living. Using illustrative stories of contemporary church leaders who opened their hearts to God's guidance, McNeal shows how God is still using these same influences to shape the hearts of religious leaders today.

God creates leaders in order to share his heart with his people. Spiritual formation in the life of the leader is not just a private matter. It has impact on the leader's constellation of followers and may extend beyond the leader's own life and lifetime. A Work of Heart is designed to help leaders develop the critical self-understanding they need to fulfill their life assignments from God.

Spiritual leaders must become experts in matters of the heart. They must learn to discern God at work in their own lives, shaping their hearts to embrace the particular ministries to which they are called. A Work of Heart shows how God prepares leaders today just as he did in biblical times—and how God creates these leaders in order to share his heart with his people.

Henry and Richard Blackaby are "concerned that many Christian leaders are reading secular books and are applying their teachings uncritically" so they wrote Spiritual Leadership to help Christian leaders in business, politics and the pastorate develop the qualities of spiritual leadership. Spiritual Leadership will help you understand God's design for leadership and will enable you to lead God's people towards the fulfillment of his purposes. Let the Blackaby's teach you the biblically based principles that will enable you to lead in the 21st century.