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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
written from the trenches of Spiritual Warfare, April 19, 2011
Last week (4/12-4/14) at The Gospel Coalition 2011 we were loaded up with free stuff (or, swag, if you will). Even more so for us bloggers fortunate enough to attend Band of Bloggers on Tuesday. On the Band of Bloggers panel was Church Planter and fellow Acts 29 guy Joe Thorn. Thorn is a great guy and I have had the pleasure of meeting and listening to on several occasions, so when I found out he was writing a book and it was getting published though Re:Lit, I was stoked. I was even more stoked when I found out those signed up for Band of Bloggers would be getting a pre-released copy!
It's a small book, not very intimidating and the text is of readable size: a good weekend read. But what a weekend it was, between Note to Self and The Greener Grass Conspiracy, I forcefully, yet lovingly was kicked in the rear end by the Gospel.
Note To Self is really like nothing I have ever read. It's made for the trenches, battle tactics in the Spiritual War we fight as Christians. It is sort of to the Good Guys what The Screwtape Letters is to the Bad Guys, letters from the trenches. The concept is simple yet brilliant. It's Joe (or you) preaching the Gospel to yourself amidst 48 real-time situations that we all have and will continue to face. What Joe does in Note To Self is take a section of scripture and in about 500 words engages in "self talk" as Martyn Lloyd Jones would call it.
Every section starts off with a rich verse of scripture at the top of the page and then the words Dear Self... What happens after that is straight up, honest Gospel talk. Every chapter points back to Jesus and how the Gospel actually matters pertaining to whatever subject Joe is dealing with. The way Thorn writes, you can tell he is not just some armchair theologian, but is living the fight with those, like me, reading what he writes. It is apparent that he gets the Gospel and he gets his sin when he says:
"Dear Self,
You are proud, and what makes this so dangerous is that you don't realize just how proud you are....What you need is a clear picture of God, yourself and your hope; this only comes through law and gospel. You must see yourself as you really are -- creature, not Creator; sinful, not righteous; undeserving, not deserving; dependent, not independent; made for his glory, not your own... This is the theology that erodes pride, builds humility and produces joy." (P. 108)
Woah. Note To Self is really about 136 pages of that. Every single page of Note To Self is drowning in Gospel truths, so much so that it forces you to put a Gospel lens on everything from loving your wife (P.69) to complaining (P.109) to not being a Christian fanboy [personally my favorite chapter] (P.123) to being the Church [close second favorite] (P.87). It is a continual hammering of the Gospel into the thick skulls of prideful people. It doesn't do this directly, but in fact the book is set up as to observe a man preaching the gospel to himself. It is sort of like watching game film of a good team as you prepare for the season.
When I was reading this, I felt as if I was reading Joe Thorn's journal [minus the 'Love you husband' chapter, I just pretended that was his wife writing]. I felt as if I was experiencing a spiritual battle raging, very, very similar to the one that I fight day in and day out. It gives perspective to the war we are truly in and the weapon we've been given, the discipline of preaching [the Gospel] to ourselves. Reading it was challenging, as it confronted a lot of my own personal sin head on and didn't let me shy away from it. It then applied the spiritual rubbing alcohol on to my wounded pride. Every night (as I read it before going to bed) I went to sleep more in love with Jesus than before reading this book.
I foresee this being an incredible resource for the Church in the years to come. As it is small, accessible, practical and biblical. Anyone can pick up this book and get something out of it. And that something is going to be gospel-centered. Because this book is not just gospel-centered, but gospel-submerged, and cannot be avoided. Charis is considering getting a bulk quantity and giving them out at Sunday service.
This book knows its limitations, it doesn't try to be what it isn't. This is not a systematic theology or a book designed to tackle any certain issue at length but a manual on preaching the Gospel to yourself in the midst of spiritual warfare. At times I wish he would elaborate more on some topics and wish he would've written like twenty pages on the issues of work and local church involvement instead of two, but like I said, not the purpose of Note To Self.
Oh, and did I mention how well written it is? It isn't sloppy or indulgent. No word is wasted and the language is intentionally blunt, it comes off sharp and discerning. Joe Thorn also uses the word "legit" on Page 134, which in my book gives him 100% street cred [not a big accomplishment getting street cred from a white guy in central Illinois who listens to Steve Earle, but regardless...]
So whether you are a pastor or a non-Christian that is confused as to what the Christian life actually is or somewhere in between, Note To Self by Joe Thorn is a must read. You will finish the book with a new and more complete understanding of the discipline of preaching to yourself. The book is available now for Kindle at Amazon.com and will be available for purchase at the end of April. It's cheap so do yourself a favor and get this book.
Rating: 9/10
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gospel-Centered Manual on Preaching The Gospel To Yourself, April 22, 2011
This review is from: Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Re: Lit Books) (Paperback)
We hear that we should be preaching the gospel to ourselves, but you don't find many resources on how to do it. In Note To Self, Joe Thorn, founding pastor of Redeemer Fellowship, serves us well by demonstrating in this small but powerful book how we should preach the gospel to ourselves. This discipline of preaching the gospel to yourself has become a popular phrase, but actually doing it hasn't caught on so quickly. Thankfully, Thorn demonstrates in his book what it actually means and what it looks like to preach the gospel to yourself, so that, through this discipline you may grow in intimacy with Christ and conformity to Christ.
In Note To Self, Thorn begins by introducing us to the idea that it is not just the gospel that we must preach to ourselves, but law and gospel. Thorn states that "just as the lost cannot come to know Christ apart from an understanding of law and gospel, neither will the believer grow in grace apart from the preaching of both law and gospel." Therefore, Thorn identifies and defines that "preaching to ourselves is the personal act of applying the law and the gospel to our own lives with the aim of experiencing the transforming grace of God." This is where Thorn begins laying a foundation for us as the practical guide for thinking through the Christian life. He points us in a direction of gospel proclamation and application. And then what I love most is that Thorn doesn't allow the reader any time to assume what is law and gospel, but rather he goes straight into clearly and biblically defining what they mean. It is through the preaching of both the law and gospel to yourself that you begin to grow in truth.
After we understand what it means to preach to yourself, Thorn then begins to demonstrate for us in 48 real-life situations how the gospel is applicable to every aspect of our life. Thorn is no longer writing in a way that tells you how to preach to yourself, but he is actually showing you how he preaches to himself. I find this writing style to be refreshing and encouraging to read, because Thorn provides for us a model of what it looks like to preach to ourselves.
There are three sections to Thorn's book on preaching to himself: The Gospel and God, The Gospel and Others, The Gospel and You. And when reading through each entry it almost feels and reads like you have access to Thorn's journal. Thorn is allowing the reader to gain a bird's eye view of what it looks like to preach the gospel to oneself. It gives perspective to the war we are truly in and the weapon we've been given, and the discipline of preaching the Gospel to ourselves. Therefore, with every discipline the goal is godliness, and this discipline of preaching the gospel to ourselves is a crucial application to the development of personal holiness.
The significance of this book is not only that it is beautifully written, but it is a book for every believer. Therefore, churches should be passing this book out to every member. This small but powerful book is accessible, practical and biblical. Preaching the gospel to yourself is an important discipline that we should be passionate about learning and teaching others how to do. And Thorn has done the church a great service by modeling for us how to preach the gospel to ourselves. This is one of those books that if you practice what has been demonstrated, you will see an incredible change in your relationship with Christ.
During times where everyone is saying you must preach the gospel to yourself, but few are demonstrating how to do it, I find Joe Thorn's book, Note To Self, a vital resource for the church to learn how to preach to yourself. Through this book you will be encouraged and motivated by the power of the gospel. You will see the importance of this discipline is for the purpose of intimacy with Christ and conformity to Him. Therefore, we should all be writing a book titled, Note To Self, because if we want to live a gospel-centered life that seeks Christ as our treasure then we must be a people committed to the discipline of preaching to ourselves.
Joe Thorn's debut book, Note To Self, will be released on April 30th and is one of the new books from Re:Lit. I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of this book! It will bring great meaning to your devotional life and affections for Christ. This is a creative, practical, and rich book that I recommend everyone to read and allow it to enrich your love for the gospel.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REVIEW: Note To Self, May 28, 2011
This review is from: Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Re: Lit Books) (Paperback)
Feelings are like rollercoasters. We feel up, down, upside down, or all twisted up. Within the span of a few moments, depending on our circumstances, our feelings can span nearly the entire range of human emotion. And for some, feelings can be very strong. Indeed so strong that we have the tendency, at times, to embrace a self-constructed view of reality based on what we feel at a given moment. This can be especially true within the Christian life. As Christians, we often fall into the deceitful trap of our own feelings; coming to the false conclusion that our standing before God, or God's perception of us, is based on how we feel at a particular point in time.
Thankfully, every so often a voice is raised calling us away from the instability of our feelings and emotions to the solid and stable ground of God's written Word. Deitrich Bonheoffer was one such voice. In his classic, Life Together, published in 1954, Bonhoeffer wrote:
the Christian is the man who no longer seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification in himself, but in Jesus Christ alone. He knows that God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteous, even when he does not feel that he is righteous at all. The Christian no longer lives of himself, by his own claims and his own justification, but by God's claims and God's justification. He lives wholly by God's Word pronounced upon him, whether that Word declares him guilty or innocent. (p. 22)
In the next decade, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones followed with his classic, Spiritual Depression, writing:
Feelings must be engaged. They are meant to be involved. [Yet] our danger is to submit ourselves to our feelings and to allow them to dictate to us, to govern and to master us and to control the whole of our lives...[However] I must never ask myself in the first instance: What do I feel about this? The first question is, Do I believe it? Do I accept it, has it gripped me?...We must not concentrate overmuch upon our feelings. Do not spend too much time feeling your own pulse taking your own spiritual temperature, do not spend too much time analyzing your feelings. That is the high road to morbidity. (pp. 110, 112, 115)
Truthfully, the Christian is first and foremost the person God has declared him to be based on the finished, substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ. Because we have a bad habit of either thinking the glorious truth of the gospel is only for unbelievers or, as believers, forgetting what God has done for us in Christ, we must grow in our discipline of preaching God's Word to ourselves on a daily basis.
Joe Thorn, pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, IL, in his recent book, Note To Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Crossway, 2011), has taken what Bonhoeffer and Lloyd-Jones have articulated, and practically addresses how the truth of God's Word in the gospel applies to the believer's relationship with God, others, and himself.
Introducing the reader to the importance of preaching both the God's law (convicting us of our sin) and God's gospel (convicting us of our righteousness in Christ alone) daily, Thorn creatively accomplishes the development of the discipline of preaching daily to one's self through a series of short, journal-like entries addressed "Dear Self..." Defining the discipline of preaching to yourself as, "the personal act of applying the law and gospel to our own lives with the aim of experiencing the transforming grace of God leading to ongoing faith, repentance, and greater godliness" (p. 24), Thorn helps the reader see how the gospel truly and deeply applies to every area of life from personal theology to relationships to one's work ethic and more.
Note To Self is theologically rich, gospel saturated, Christ exalting and thoroughly practical. Thorn does an exemplary job of articulating the riches and realities of the gospel in powerfully gracious and pastorally sensitive punches. As well, the brevity of each devotional-like entry allows the book to be read quickly, while inviting the reader back to work through it repeatedly. Moreover, the format and flow of the book would make it an excellent resource for family or community group discussion/study.
I can say, without hesitation, that Note To Self will be a book that I both read and recommend regularly! It is a book that is well written and readily applicable for both the new believer and those who have been following Christ for years. Furthermore, Note To Self is a book that can even help those skeptical of the gospel effectively encounter the message of God's saving power in a clear and compelling way.
I highly recommend Note To Self, by Joe Thorn!
*The publisher, at no charge, for the purpose of review, provided a copy of this book. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review.
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