Book Review: Here In Spirit by Jonathan Dodson

When it comes to the Holy Spirit, Christians are divided. There are many reasons why. Some look at the Spirit as a impersonal force like something off Star Wars. Some look at the Spirit as a means to get the power of God meaning they can do some of the miraculous signs in the Bible such as raising the dead. As Jonathan Dodson puts it, the three words that can divide the church is "The Holy Spirit."

In his book, Here In Spirit, Dodson writes that the Holy Spirit is not only a person of the Trinity, but He (notice the Spirit is a person not a thing) is the one who connects us to the Father and the Son. The Son fills us with a life that is satisfying and creative. Yeah, when I saw that I had an idea where Dodson might be going. It seems that there were parts in this book where Dodson was going a little charismatic.

One thing Dodson said was the Spirit is the affection of God planted in our hearts. I do not recall seeing that in scripture. I know the Spirit is a seal (Ephesians 1:13-14) and helper (John 14:26), but I have never seen Him called affection of God anywhere in the Bible. Where did Dodson come up with that?

Remember that I wrote earlier that some look at the Spirit as an impersonal force? Dodson does teach in the book that the Spirit is not a force, He is a Person. He gives the attributes of the Spirit which I am glad Dodson did teach this in his book. A force has no attributes, no feelings. The Spirit does have them. The Spirit also has personal qualities such as speaking, teaching, and grieves, which a force or thing does not.

Dodson continues to teach on many things of the Spirit which includes how He is our companion as we go through this life. The Spirit is there to guide us and reminds of the things Christ taught us. I was a little struck when the last chapter of the book was titled, "The Future of The Spirit." Does the Holy Spirit have a future? The answer is yes. He does not go away when Jesus returns or when we gather in God's presence with the saints in heaven. One of the attributes Dodson showed his readers is that the Spirit is eternal based on John 14:16 and Hebrews 9:14.

There were a few issues I had with this book as well as points of agreement. There were times I felt Dodson was going a little charismatic as I mentioned earlier. I am don't think this would be my "go-to" book on the Holy Spirit, but it the church should not be afraid to talk about the Spirit. The church should have a good theology of the Holy Spirit, but it needs to be what God has revealed about Him in the Scriptures, not what we feel the Spirit is or does.

Thanks InterVarsity Press for letting me review this book.

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Unbelievable Evangelism from GENESIS on Vimeo.

Book Review: Raised? by Jonathan Dodson & Brad Watson

As Easter approaches, there will be many books on the death of Christ yet there will not be many on the Resurrection. Yes, we are to praise God for the death of Christ because we have the forgiveness of the sins through it. What makes it hard for some Christians is to accept that Jesus did not stay dead but was raised to life once again by God the Father. Noticed I said many Christians will find the Resurrection hard to accept. Yes, many non-Christians will find the Resurrection hard to swallow yet there are some Christians who still doubt that Jesus was raised from the dead after being dead for three days following His Crucifixion.

Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson confront doubts regarding the Resurrection in their short little book, Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection. This book is meant for the skeptics of the Christian faith as well as those who fall under the "nones" category, meaning they have no religious affiliation. Dodson and Watson shows how some people in the Bible were skeptics of the Resurrection as well such as Thomas, who we have dubbed, "Doubting Thomas." Also they show how the Resurrection has reshaped history by giving people hope and abundant life that can only be found in Christ. Not only did the Resurrection reshape history, but it also changes lives for the glory of God. Dodson and Watson took time to also proclaim the gospel in this book, lets face it, your cannot write about the Resurrection without mentioning the gospel, by discussing what is faith, sin, and Jesus.

This book was a very short book and easy to read for anyone who might be questioning the Resurrection. I believe churches should hand out this book to their congregation so they may be able to give it to a lost friend so they can read along with them. This will be a great resource for small group discussions as well.

Thanks Booklook Bloggers for letting me review this book.

Repentance is the Way of Life

Repentance is not a one-time act to get us into heaven, but an entire way of life to maintain Christian joy. Repentance isn't a work tack onto our faith that restores our fellowship with God. Repentance is faith. Tim Chester helpfully illustrates how faith and repentance and faith are one. He writes:

How do we repent? We repent through faith...turning to God in faith and from sin in repentance are the same movement. Try it now. Stand facing the window. Then turn to face the opposite wall. The act of turning from the window and turning towards the wall is one movement. You can't turn towards the wall without turning away from the window. And you can't turn to God in faith without turning away from sin in repentance.

True repentance includes faith. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same gospel coin, one movement made possible by grace. This gospel grace is at our disposal continually in Christ. Martin Luther said: "The entire life of believers is to be one of repentance." Why our entire lives? Because in our everyday failures, we have every opportunity to turn to Jesus for grace and forgiveness.

Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

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Speaking of Star Wars, the destruction of the Death Star could have been an inside job:

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Know Your Sin

John Owen once said that a believer who knows his sin is a solid, useful believer. Derek Thomas also said that sin will creep it's unwelcome head anywhere at anytime. The Bible tells us that no temptation has come on us expect what is common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). Even Jesus was tempted yet was without sin. Every Christian has their own sin and temptations. The question is, do you know your sin? Do you know what triggers it? Jonathan Dodson, in his book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, addresses the issue of knowing our sin by helping us ask three questions when it comes to our sin: What, When, and Why?

What: "Before you can fight your sin, we must know what sins are currently present in our lives. An unknown opponent is difficult to defeat. Knowing sin requires familiarity with our particular temptations, areas where we are prone to sin."

When: "When are tempted to sin? If we don't think about the when, sin will sneak up on us. Consider the circumstances that surround your sin, where and when you find yourself tempted. Identify your sins and the circumstances of temptation."

Why: "The why question is important because it gets to the motivation behind our sin; it addresses the heart. No one ever sins out of duty. We all sin because we want to, because our hearts long for something. If we don't address the motivational issues behind our sin, we will not only treat it superficially, adjusting our behavior, not our hearts."

Recommended Reading: Mortification of Sin by John Owen

Book Review: Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson

There are some Christians that have a misconception of what discipleship truly is. Some think that discipleship is a class you take, some think it is sharing your faith (that is evangelism), and some think it is older believers passing church traditions to younger believers. When studying the Bible in the area of disciple, you will see that discipleship is totally different than what some Christians believe.

Jonathan Dodson addresses the true nature of discipleship in his book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship. This book deals with defining discipleship along with talking about our motives toward discipleship and applying the Gospel in our discipleship. Dodson said, "Discipleship is not a code word for evangelism, nor is it a hierarchical system for spiritual growth, a way for professional Christians to pass on their best practices to novice Christians. Making disciples requires not only 'sharing our faith,' but also sharing our lives-failures and successes, disobedience and obedience".

Dodson writes about the role of the Holy Spirit in our discipleship, which some books, even the ones in a class setting, neglect the Holy Spirit. Dodson also writes about killing sin in our discipleship which seems to be another issue missed in a lot of material of discipleship. The book has two appendixes which contain gospel-centered questions one must ask themselves as they continue in their discipleship journey and recommendations for gospel-centered resources which is must in this rediscovery of the Gospel that has been going on in the last couple of years.

Dodson writes about his own journey of being a disciple which can leave room for criticism, but Dodson said that discipleship is about sharing our failures. This book is a must read for all disciples.

Thanks Crossway for letting me review this book.

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I recently finished Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson, which I will be posting a review to the book very soon. This video is Dodson and Matt Chandler talking about why this book was written. Matt Chandler also released his first book, The Explicit Gospel

GCD - Why Did You Write the Book? from Crossway on Vimeo.