By Philip Yancey

In 1987, an IRA bomb buried Gordon Wilson and his twenty-year-old daughter beneath five feet of rubble. Gordon alone survived. And forgave. He said of the bombers, “I have lost my daughter, but I bear no grudge. . . . I shall pray, tonight and every night, that God will forgive them.”

His words caught the media’s ear – and out of one man’s grief, the world got a glimpse of grace. Grace is the church’s great distinctive. It’s the one thing the world cannot duplicate, and the one thing it craves above all else – for only grace can bring hope and transformation to a jaded world. In What’s So Amazing About Grace?, award-winning author Philip Yancey explores grace at street level.

• If grace is God’s love for the undeserving, he asks, then what does it look like in action?
• And if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?

Yancey sets grace in the midst of life’s stark images, tests its mettle against horrific “ungrace.” Can grace survive in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust? Can it triumph over the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan? “Grace does not excuse sin”, says Yancey, “but it treasures the sinner”. True grace is shocking, scandalous. It shakes our conventions with its insistence on getting close to sinners and touching them with mercy and hope. It forgives the unfaithful spouse, the racist, the child abuser. It loves today’s AIDS-ridden addict as much as the tax collector of Jesus’ day. In his most personal and provocative book ever, Yancey offers compelling, true portraits of grace’s life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks, “How can Christians contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear”? And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What’s So Amazing About Grace?

CBD PRICE: R155.00

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By Billy Graham

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24 (ESV)

“Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life”, says Billy Graham, known by many as God’s Ambassador. “I would have never guessed what God had in store for me, and I know that as I am nearing home, He will not forsake me the last mile of the way”.

In Nearing Home this man of faith, now in his nineties, explores the challenges of aging while gleaning foundational truths from Scripture. Billy Graham invites us to journey with him as he considers the golden years while anticipating the hope of being reunited with his wife, Ruth, in his heavenly home that eclipses this world. “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice”, says Billy. “Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Join Billy Graham as he shares the challenges of fading strength but still standing strong in his commitment to finishing life well.  Explore with him not only the realities of life as we grow older, but also the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.

NORMAL PRICE: R220 (hard cover)      PROMOTIONAL PRICE: R180 valid until end May.

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My God, My God: Is it possible to believe anymore?

By Michael Jensen

Once upon a time, it was not so difficult to believe. Believing in God was like breathing. It was a second sense of which people were hardly aware. But in an age when our faith is mainly in science and technology, is it possible to believe anymore?

Michael P. Jensen takes a searching look at what makes us believe – or not believe – in God in this contemporary world. He converses with troubled souls, cranks, crackpots, and conspiracy theorists, and even with the devil himself.

This entertaining and stimulating journey through the underworld of our beliefs will have you wondering whether things are always what they seem.

“Christian belief is still important in the twenty-first century. The loss of purpose and direction that characterizes Western culture is having devastating social consequences. In this captivating book, Michael Jensen sensitively and intelligently highlights that belief is still possible because the realities of suffering and evil in our world are given meaning through the hope we have in Christ.”  –Tim Costello, Chief Executive Officer, World Vision Australia

Michael Jensen is Lecturer in Theology and Church History at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

Usual CBD Price: R205.00

Special Equip BoM Price: R150.00

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Author: R. Kent Hughes

Reviewed by Mike Budler

This is the fourth time I have opened the cover of R. Kent Hughes’ ”Disciplines of a Godly Man” which is published by Crossway Books.  It is an excellent book – I first worked through it when serving as a Chaplain for a University level Basketball team in Chicago.  God used this book to see one of the players make a profession of faith, while the rest of the team was challenged and encouraged to deepen their faith through practicing the spiritual disciplines as outlined by Hughes.  While on staff with CBD, I often recommended this book to men who were looking for such a book.

Some people have voiced concern that a book of the Spiritual Disciplines could become “legalistic” or lend itself to a works-based sanctification process.  Hughes wisely answers this possible concern in the right spot – the introduction – as he writes:

The difference between discipline and legalism is one of motivation: legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered.  The legalistic heart says, “I will do this thing to gain merit with God.”  The disciplined heart says, “I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him.”  There is an infinite difference between the motivation of legalism and discipline!  (page 15)

The book is laid out in four sections: Discipline of Relationships, Discipline of the Soul, Discipline of one’s Character, and Discipline of Ministry.  Each of these sections is further broken down in the following manner:

• Relationships including purity, marriage, fatherhood, and friendship
• The Soul including the mind, devotion, prayer, and worship
• Our character including integrity, speech, work, and perseverance
• Ministry including church, leadership, giving, and witness

And just to make sure his readers remember the difference between the proper carrying out of the disciplines versus legalism, Hughes closes this book with an entire chapter about these disciplines as chapter 19 is entitled the “Grace of Discipline.”  He reminds his readers that not only is salvation by grace alone, so too is the sanctification process carried out by the grace of God.

Do all of these disciplines seem overwhelming to you?  Hughes accurately encourages his readers to prioritize as no one can carry out all of these disciplines at the same time.  He also wants his readers to be realistic and to pray, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide each man where he should focus on improving on one’s disciplines for growth in his faith.  For years, I have had an accountability partner – that also is a good way to have victory in the disciplines.

To summarize, Hughes wants us men to take “baby steps” and to remember that God’s grace is sufficient when we stumble.

CBD PRICE: R235.00 (paperback)

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