There are some pastors, teachers, leaders and authors that prompt me to buy their books without even looking inside much less the back cover. Of course, these are few and far between, but Andy Stanley tops my list.
Notes from the first Chapter of The Grace of God
Bringing the topic of The Grace of God into focus is the reference to the view that God condones genocide. This, I am sure, is to at least acknowledge the folks that make this claim. An examination of the topic of Grace through the Old and New Testaments gives us the corrected perspective that God owes us nothing.
Would I buyor read this book? Definitely. Why? Because Andy Stanley is among the most trusted of teachers I know today and because the subject of Grace in the life of a Christian cannot be explored enough.
Read an excerpt HERE
Book Description
We find in the pages of Scripture that the stories found there often mirror our own stories, and that we too need the very thing we do not deserve: the grace of God.
From the beginning, the church has had an uneasy relationship with grace. The gravitational pull is always toward graceless religion. The odd thing is that when you read the New Testament, the only thing Jesus stood against consistently was graceless religion. The only group he attacked relentlessly was graceless religious leaders.
“Grace. It’s what we crave most when our guilt is exposed. It’s the very thing we are hesitant to extend when we are confronted with the guilt of others-especially when their guilt has robbed us of something we consider valuable.
Therein is the struggle, the struggle for grace. It’s this struggle that makes grace more story than doctrine. It’s the struggle that reminds us that grace is bigger than compassion or forgiveness. That struggle is the context for both. When we are on the receiving end, grace is refreshing. When it is required of us, it is often disturbing. But when correctly applied, it seems to solve just about everything. This struggle is not new; it has been going on since the beginning.”
– Andy Stanley
It’s this tension that makes grace so slippery. But that’s the beauty and the truth of grace. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. It can’t be qualified. But God gives it to us anyway because he loves us unconditionally.
The story of grace is your story. And as you are about to discover grace plays a larger role than you imagine.
The Grace of God
By Andy Stanley / Thomas Nelson |
# Hardcover: 240 pages
# Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 19, 2010)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0849948142
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This sounds like an incredibly good book. Andy Stanley is a chip off the ole block of Dr. Charles Stanley and this book must be good. I have heard descriptions of grace and mercy like this: Grace is something of which we receive that we do not deserve. Mercy is where we do not receive what we rightly do deserve.