Synopsis "Your Best Friend Forever: You can be sure that God is not a jerk!"
Your Best Friend Forever is a guide for personal or group study on the nature of God and His relationship with us. Pastor Smith expresses the doubts that everyone faces concerning God's seeming indifference to our problems, and then explains the Bible's answers to these doubts. His premise is that since we are prone to adopt our father's view of us, if we first understand God's goodness, His passionate love for us, and high estimate of our worth, we will be healed when we accept a relationship with Him. We will also be able to face trials when we have made His definition of us our own: child, servant, treasure, friend. Pastor Smith begins in the Garden of Eden and shows us the first sin that we all have followed, impugning God's motives and choosing to go our own way. He explains the deep friendship that led Jesus to the cross, and explains why baptism and communion are meant to remind us of God's friendship. He then helps the reader understand the grandness of the gifts God has given us: the Bible, the Holy Spirit, rules, and trials. Finally, he calls the reader to be God's friend: to take Him as lord, to continue in prayer when we see no answer, and to follow Joseph's example of trust. Your Best Friend Forever contains 14 chapters with 61,342 words. There are discussion questions after each chapter, making it ideal for group studies.
