Best-selling author John Bevere offered a personal word of encouragement to publishers in his message at the Charisma Book Expo.

Asking publishing personnel who were attending the event's Friday evening celebration to identify themselves, Bevere thanked them for their work and urged them not to lose heart or their focus.

“Please don't be discouraged,” he said. “Don't be discouraged if hardships come. It's part of the process by which God will give you the grace to come through. The most important thing we must do is publish and proclaim the Word of God.”

Bevere warned that if publishers become “more concerned about pleasing people,” they would “enter the realm where you will have to fight the battles in your own strength.”

He went on to underscore the importance of the publishers' work in his general message, drawn from his book Driven by Eternity (FaithWords, formerly Warner Faith), which released in April.

Speaking about the building of “God's Custom House,” he said that many American Christians had lost their eternal perspective, which was when “misguided pursuits begin to occur.” As a result, the church was starting to look no different than the world. “We are living for the day but using the promises of God to make the day better.”

Drawing from the Bible, Bevere explained how Christians' actions and attitudes today would determine not where they spend eternity, as their salvation was assured, but how they would be judged on their involvement in building the kingdom of God.

“Every single one of you as a believer has a specific calling on your life as God's subcontractor,” he said. “We were created in Christ to do something.”

Following his message, Bevere and singer Martha Munizzi, who had opened the evening celebration with a mini-concert, greeted attendees, and signed books and CDs in the exhibit hall.

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