The Goodness of God


Book Description

For those times when we’re wounded by broken trust, assaulted by disease, or victimized by evil—or when we’re crushed to see such things happen to people we love—Randy Alcorn offers something solid to hold onto: God's love. In this specially focused condensation of Alcorn’s If God Is Good…: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil, we’re continually guided into a deeper glimpse of God’s loving ways and higher purposes—the very things we’re often most blinded to whenever we battle pain and anguish. Alcorn avoids superficial or sentimental responses, and instead presses forward boldly to explore all the troubling doubts and questions that agitate within us when we confront suffering and evil. The issues are far from simple, the answers far from easy—but Alcorn shows how the way of suffering—a path that Jesus himself followed more than anyone else—can ultimately become a journey into wholeness and even logic-defying joy.




Suffering and the Goodness of God


Book Description

Suffering and the Goodness of God presents biblical truths concerning suffering and challenges believers to promote justice and to emulate God's grace as they minister to others. Famine. Sickness. Terrorist Attacks. Natural disasters. Each day horrific scenes of suffering are streamed before us through television, the Internet, and newspapers. Believers are taught that God is good, and they believe this truth. Yet when they are faced with suffering and hardships, the one question believers most often asked is, Why? Suffering and the Goodness of God brings insight to many contemporary concerns of suffering by outlining Old and New Testament truths and tackling difficult questions concerning God's sovereignty, human freedom, and the nature of evil. Suffering and the Goodness of God offers believers biblical truths concerning suffering and then challenges them to promote justice in the harsh, unsure world around them and to emulate God's grace as they minister to those who are suffering. Part of the Theology in Community series.




Spirit and Sacrament


Book Description

Spirit and Sacrament by pastor and author Andrew Wilson is an impassioned call to join together two traditions that are frequently and unnecessarily kept separate. It is an invitation to pursue the best of both worlds in worship, the Eucharistic and the charismatic, with the grace of God at the center. Wilson envisions church services in which healing testimonies and prayers of confession coexist, the congregation sings When I Survey the Wondrous Cross followed by Happy Day, and creeds move the soul while singing moves the body. He imagines a worship service that could come out of the book of Acts: Young men see visions, old men dream dreams, sons and daughters prophesy, and they all come together to the same Table and go on their way rejoicing. In short, Spirit and Sacrament is an appeal to bring out of the church's storehouse all of its treasures, so that God's people can worship our unrivaled Savior with sacraments and spiritual gifts, raised hands and lowered faces.




The Goodness of God


Book Description

Is God really good? Look at the world around us: History is a long tale of man's inhumanity to man. Spain had its Inquisition, Britain its Atlantic slave trade, Germany its gas chambers, Russia its Siberian labor camps, the United States its Indian reservations. And the world is still swept by fear and lust, green and racial tension. Nature too seems twisted. Babies are born deformed. They inherit diseases and tendencies to insanity. Ours is a world of preying animals, parasites, viruses, and bacteria. The Bible itself raises this question. It records tyranny, cruelty, mutilation--eyes gouged out, hands lopped off--deceit, licentiousness, war. Not only war but God-sent war. Assyria, one of the cruelest nations of history, is called the rod of God's anger. Is God good? The author provides no easy answer. He writes, "Easy answers could not possibly be right....We must look at REALITY--look at it hard--till at last we realize that there is no way out; till we realize that we are children, that we are fools, that we are at heart conceited, stiff-necked rebels, who will get everything wrong, unless we are willing to give up telling God what he should be like and what he should do...." This is a book only for those willing to grapple with reality. -Publisher




Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God


Book Description

When confronted by horrendous evil, even the most pious believer may question not only life's worth but also God's power and goodness. A distinguished philosopher and a practicing minister, Marilyn McCord Adams has written a highly original work on a fundamental dilemma of Christian thought—how to reconcile faith in God with the evils that afflict human beings. Adams argues that much of the discussion in analytic philosophy of religion over the last forty years has offered too narrow an understanding of the problem. The ground rules accepted for the discussion have usually led philosophers to avert their gaze from the worst—horrendous—evils and their devastating impact on human lives. They have agreed to debate the issue on the basis of religion-neutral values, and have focused on morals, an approach that—Adams claims—is inadequate for formulating and solving the problem of horrendous evils. She emphasizes instead the fruitfulness of other evaluative categories such as purity and defilement, honor and shame, and aesthetics. If redirected, philosophical reflection on evil can, Adams's book demonstrates, provide a valuable approach not only to theories of God and evil but also to pastoral care.




God's Goodness in You and Me


Book Description

This God-inspired book focuses on helping parents present God’s Goodness to their children. It encourages habits that bring God to the forefront of daily living. It shares simple ways parents can teach their children to look for God’s goodness in all that we do. It conveys that we can see His Goodness through each one of our smiles, as well as in the sky during the day and night, and through the fruits of the spirit. It reminds us that we should be able to recognize when His enemy Satan is having an influence in our lives as well, but that God is always with us everywhere we go. It shares with parents a simple way to keep God active in our lives through prayer at the table, bedtime, and church. It also expresses the importance of being grateful for all that God has done for us and for His unconditional love. It reminds us that All things are possible with God and that we are nothing without Him. His goodness can indeed be seen in You and Me all around the world!




Discovering God's Goodness


Book Description

King David encouraged us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Our heavenly Father serves up a feast of His truth, grace, peace, and freedom to us in abundance—and invites us to enjoy it! When we discover His goodness and truly “count our blessings,” it changes our entire outlook on life. In Discovering God’s Goodness, you will explore what the Bible has to say about God’s grace and what the Lord did to rescue you from the prison of sin. You will uncover how God’s unmerited favor made it possible for you to be forgiven, redeemed, and restored so you could experience eternal life with Him. This is a blessing none of us deserves—but God gives it to us anyway if we accept Him and live our lives for His glory. The Women of Faith® Bible Studies provide intriguing insights into topics that are relevant to women’s lives today. Each guide includes twelve weeks of study, down-to-earth illustrations, and reflections to help you move the truth from your head to your heart. A leader’s guide for use with small groups is also included.




The Magnificent Goodness of God and How It Will Transform Your Life


Book Description

The goodness of God is one of the most revolutionary truths of the Bible, but our generation has lost faith in the goodness of God. The image you carry in your heart of God and what He is like will dramatically affect your life, character, and destiny. Do you believe God can be your hero? Do you believe God has a good heart? Do you believe that God can transform you into the type of Christian that you always wanted to be? When we begin to understand and believe what it means when the Bible boldly declares that "God is good always," our lives will begin a breathtaking transformation, as we rise up to be a mighty witness for our Lord. Anyone who has been touched with the goodness of God cannot come away the same. The goodness of God encompasses everything that God is, and is a perfect representation of all His characteristics. The goodness of God is the foundation of all His works, plans, and purposes. If we are to understand what God is like, we must first know that He is good, and not evil. The devil works tirelessly to keep the truth of the goodness of God lost in the mindset of this world, and marshals all of his forces to cause confusion about the true character of our God. The goodness of God is the pinnacle point of the spiritual battle that rages all around us. Understanding the goodness of God is first and foremost in spiritual warfare, because without this, you can never stand for God faithfully




Trust in the Goodness of God


Book Description

Each of the twenty-four chapters details thought-provoking, practical spiritual advice as well as personal stories and anecdotes to illustrate the vital spiritual concepts that can ease the challenges and confusions of daily living. Two of the chapters, "A Touch of Dynamite" and "God's Light Will Solve It," are new and haven't been printed previously.




God Has a Name


Book Description

What you believe about God sets the foundation of the person you will become. In God Has a Name, pastor and New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer invites you to rethink many of the prevalent myths and misconceptions about God and weigh them against what God actually tells us about himself. After all, what you believe about God will ultimately shape the type of person you become. We all live at the mercy of our ideas, and nowhere is this more true than our ideas about God. The problem is many of our ideas about God are wrong. Not all wrong, but wrong enough to form our souls in detrimental and disheartening ways. God Has a Name is a simple yet profound guide to understanding God in a new light--focusing on what God says about himself in the Bible. This one shift has the potential to radically alter how you relate to God, not as a doctrine, but as a relational being who responds to you in an elastic, back-and-forth way. John Mark Comer takes you line by line through Exodus 34:6-8--Yahweh's self-revelation on Mount Sinai, one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. Along the way, Comer addresses some of the most profound questions he came across as he studied these noted lines in Exodus, including: Why do we feel this gap between us and God? Could it be that a lot of what we think about God is wrong? Not all wrong, but wrong enough to mess up how we relate to him? What if our "God" is really a projection of our own identity, ideas, and desires? What if the real God is different, but far better than we could ever imagine? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God Has a Name invites you to step into a fresh and biblically rooted vision of who God is that has the potential to alter your life with God and shape who you become.