Did the witers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - God's Amazing Grace

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

FOREWORD

The invitation to write this foreword brings back happy memories of hearing Dick Tripp preaching many years ago when I was a teenager growing up in Christchurch. One occasion I remember clearly was a sermon in the course of celebrations on the 25th anniversary of our parish church where Dick had been a former vicar. Dick preached the gospel, for he was and is an evangelist – something of a rarity, it has to be said, in Anglican circles – and on that occasion, as always, was a winsome and faithful servant of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many years later Dick is still preaching the gospel, notably through the written word in his series of Exploring Faith Today books. That gospel has always been the gospel of grace, the promise and assurance of new life in God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, freely and generously made available to all humanity who are invited to respond in faith to the graciousness of God. Here in this book, God’s Amazing Grace, we find a comprehensive account of the grace of God as ‘the only foundation for Christian living’. But it is more than a comprehensive account, it is also a very attractive and moving explanation of the nature of divine grace, the role it plays in our lives as Christians in general, as well as the dramatic way in which many individuals’ lives have been transformed when touched by God’s amazing grace.

I like the way in which Dick writes graciously about grace! A number of authors he cites, for instance, are the subject of some swirling controversies about this or that aspect of their theological proposals. But Dick offers no criticism or negativity towards these authors, instead he appreciatively mines their writings for that which is indeed good, pure, and true in their understanding of the gospel of grace.

There are many facets of grace on display here, and I will delay the reader for just one moment more from admiring them for themselves by noting one that is especially important to me: grace is the real and substantive difference between the Christian faith and other religions (p. 62ff). May this and other vitally important aspects of God’s amazing grace be better understood as a result of this book.

Peter Carrell

Ministry Educator, Diocese of Nelson

Registrar and Teacher, Bishopdale Theological College, Nelson