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The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows, By James Bryan Smith

The Good and Beautiful God

Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

The Good and Beautiful Series

by James Bryan Smith

The Good and Beautiful God
Hardback
$29.99
  • Length: 232 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: June 05, 2009
  • Imprint: IVP Formatio
  • ISBN: 9780830835317
Other Formats:

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Train Your Soul to Know the God Jesus Knows

"God wants me to try harder."
"God blesses me when I'm good and punishes me when I'm bad."
"God is angry with me."

We all have ideas that we tell ourselves about God and how he works in our lives. Some are true—but many are false. James Bryan Smith believes those thoughts determine not only who we are, but how we live. In fact, Smith declares, the most important thing about a person is what they think about God. The path to spiritual transformation begins here.

Turning to the Gospels, Smith invites you to put your ideas to the test to see if they match up with what Jesus himself reveals about God. Once you've discovered the truth in Scripture, Smith leads you through a process of spiritual formation that includes specific activities aimed at making these new narratives real in your body and soul as well as your mind. In The Good and Beautiful God, you'll find:

  • Opportunities for soul training at the end of each chapter
  • Spiritual practices that reinforce the biblical messages you learn on your mind and heart,
  • Small group discussion questions with each chapter, facilitating complete and lasting change through community learning, and much more!

This deep, loving and transformative book will help you discover the narratives that Jesus lived by—to know the Lord he knew and the kingdom he proclaimed—and to practice spiritual exercises that will help you grow in the knowledge of our good and beautiful God.

About the Good and Beautiful Series

The Good and Beautiful Series includes four essential discipleship books from James Bryan Smith. Work through these proven Bible study resources individually or with a group to learn who God is, what it means to be a Christian, how to live in community, and how to address toxic self-narratives that hinder spiritual growth.

REVIEWS

"Most of us want to change, whether it is changing some bad habit to changing a deeply ingrained character defect, and Smith reminds us that change does not result from willpower. The will has no power. Spiritual change begins with God—what we think about God shapes what we think about ourselves and those around us and our world. Spiritual change begins with a narrative where God is the center: What is our 'narrative' of God? What are the narratives that hinder ourperception and life in God? A major feature of this series is the power of false narratives in our lives and the power of good narratives that can effect change. The false narrative is that effort and willpower leads to change. The true narrative is about God—about Christ—about the Spirit—and about your place in the God Narrative."Scot McKnight, Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
"I am so grateful this edition of a rich spiritual resource will become available. I hope it is widely and wisely read."John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Church, author of Eternity Is Now in Session
"James Bryan Smith has written a great and beautiful book. Deep, inspiring, and highly accessible, this is the best book I've read on spiritual practices. I recommend it to everyone."Ken Shigematsu, pastor of Tenth Church, Vancouver, BC, author of Survival Guide for the Soul
"I know from our long relationship that Jim Smith is a fine and trustworthy man, who authentically knows 'the good and beautiful God.' I can think of no higher compliment than this: I would happily trust the care of my soul to Jim and the good and beautiful God he commends to us."Todd Hunter, author of Christianity Beyond Belief and pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Costa Mesa
"This first book in The Apprentice Series, The Good and Beautiful God, is a treasure. Dr. Smith has thought long and hard about the process of human transformation into the likeness of Jesus. I urge you to buy this book immediately! Read it and apply it. Then live it out in the context of a loving community. You will not regret doing so."Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline and coauthor of Longing for God
"The best practice I have seen in Christian spiritual formation."Dallas Willard, author of The Divine Conspiracy
"'What do you want?' This question, which Jesus often asked, is central to this book. If you want a life of growing connection to Jesus and a reliable plan for advancing that goal, this is a book to read and return to again and again. James Bryan Smith holds to the compelling paradox of God's good news: that while spiritual formation is not accidental, we only learn to love him because he, in his kindness, has first loved us."Jen Pollock Michel, author of Surprised by Paradox, Keeping Place, and Teach Us to Want
"The Apprentice Series is the best practice I haveseen in Christian spiritual formation."Dallas Willard, author of The Divine Conspiracy
"I don't seem to be able to think of my friend Jim Smith and his book The Good and Beautiful God without breaking into a cheerful, warm, and friendly smile! Jim is a delight as a friend, a teacher, and a wise counselor. Over the last ten years as I have traveled widely, I have run into countless people who testify to the grace-filled and powerful insights in Jim's writing for discipleship, for spiritual formation, and for apprenticeship to Jesus. As Dallas Willard taught both Jim andme, 'There is nothing more important to Jesus than our view of apprenticeship and its relationship to what we think about God.' This is why The Good and Beautiful God is such an important book, deserves a special tenth-year edition, and isdestined to become a classic in the years to come."Todd Hunter, bishop of the diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others
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Read an Excerpt

CONTENTS

Introduction
How to Get the Most Out of This Book
1. What Are You Seeking?
Soul Training: Sleep
2. God is Good
Soul Training:Silence and Awareness of Creation
3. God is Trustworthy
Soul Training: Counting Your Blessings
4. God is Generous
Soul Training: Praying Psalm 23
5. God is Love
Soul Training: Lectio Divina
6. God is Holy
Soul Training: Margin
7. God is Self-Sacrificing
Soul Training; Reading the Gospel of John
8. God Transforms
Soul Training: Solitude
9. How to Make a Pickle
Soul Training: Slowing Down
Appendix: Small Group Discussion Guide
Notes
Acknowledgments

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BONUS MATERIAL

This title is also available as an audiobook from christianaudio.com.

Watch additional videos of James Bryan Smith on the rest of the Apprentice Series.

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ABOUT James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith is the author of The Good and Beautiful Series. He is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, where he also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister and has served in various capacities in local churches.

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