Every once in a while, I read a book that brings me joy—not just knowledge or exhortation, but actual joy. And, I felt that when I read Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves new book, God Shines Forth. My passion is evangelism and missions, and I love a God-centered focus on those topics.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of “God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church.” With the authors’ permission, I have included them in my 20 Truths series. So, here are 20 quotes from the book. I’d encourage you to pick up the book, available from Crossway.
20 From God Shines Forth
“But here is the great admission that many of us need to make: when it comes to the Great Commission, our hearts aren’t really in it. Something far deeper than practical or operational limitation is causing our mission fatigue. What ails us goes right to the core of our relationship with God.” (p. 16)
“This book is an invitation to start again at the beginning with your vision of God. Our aim is to set before your eyes God as he truly is: God who is so full of life and goodness that he loves to be known; not as a campaign to impose himself on us or on the world but to give himself and share his own life with the world.” (p. 19)
“To get a right and true understanding of God (and to correct any faults and distortions we may continue to pick up) we must look to the Son.” (p. 24)
“The glory of God is personal: the Father’s radiance is the Son. It is God the Son who comes to be with his people and, in doing so, shines upon us the truth of the Father.” (p. 29)
“The glory of God is often rightly spoken of as the goal and end point of mission…The missionary efforts of the church are the means to the end that our God is worshiped by all the people of the earth.” (p. 35)
“From the fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit, superabundant goodness spreads. God’s life and love overflow in his creation of the world.While he always had his Son at his side, it is in the Father’s very nature to give to another.” (p. 60)
“We associate God’s grace most readily with the forgiveness of sins, but long before there was any sin, God brought creation into being out of unbounded love.” (p. 61)
“This was God’s design for humanity: that we would delight ourselves in the love of God, image him in the creation, and reach to the ends of the earth in abundant fruitfulness. Here is the root of our sense of dignity, the reason we feel an itch for purpose and significance. We were created for glory and to be glorious, like our God.” (p. 72)
“Perhaps the most perplexing response we encounter in evangelism is not so much anger but apathy. This reaction may frustrate the evangelist, but it should provoke our compassion. It is the fruit of a heart that is simultaneously deeply unsatisfied and without hope of satisfaction.” (p. 80)
