The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. The idea is that church leaders can read the full treatment, such as this one, and so delve into each topic while making the more accessible concise version widely available to their congregations. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. For Lewis, Ortlund says, this “late-in-life-awakening” came home to him “in a decisive and permanently transforming way” (105). In this book, Dane Ortlund points believers to Christ, making the case that sanctification does not happen by doing more or becoming better, but by going deeper into the wondrous gospel truths that washed over them when they were first united to him.

The description is great but it doesn't cover the major things missing from this story in my opinion. It’s easy to think that as we grow as Christians, we move on to ‘higher things’ (whatever that means! That angst in your soul for more is a part of the growing process—a gift of hunger and thirst that Jesus, the inexhaustible well, will fill. This book captures the heart of his previous work, Gentle and Lowly, and applies it to the process of growth in the life of the Christian.Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) is the executive vice president of Bible publishing and Bible publisher at Crossway. In his newest book, Deeper, pastor and author Dane Ortlund takes Christians into the deep structures of biblical teaching on how they grow in grace–most fundamentally, by enjoying all that is already theirs in Christ. The central challenge that Deeper addresses is the reader’s fight against three-step, punchy, alliterated solutions to problems only solvable through union with Christ. He is currently elder for pulpit supply and interim pastor for area local churches in upstate New York. If you’re like me, you vacillate between despair (“I’ll never be free of this sin, so there’s no point trying”) and thinking freedom is just around the corner—once you make the right plan, read one more book, or get the right accountability structures in place.

If we are told its impossible and a character has the conviction to fight that and make it topside no matter what there's an end game. That angst in your soul for more is a part of the growing process―a gift of hunger and thirst that Jesus, the inexhaustible well, will fill. Now, having finished this book, I am encouraged by the love of Jesus for me and am hopeful for growth in Jesus.If we long to grow in Christ, we dare not do what comes so naturally—namely, say we believe that the verdict over our lives is decisively settled in our justified status before God but then move on to other ideas and strategies when it comes to our emotional lives and daily pressures. Change country: -Select- Albania Andorra Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Cayman Islands Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Finland France French Guiana Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Malaysia Maldives Malta Martinique Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Nicaragua Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Romania Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vatican City State Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (U. You will stand in strength, and grow in Christ, and walk in joy, and bless the world no further than you know this book.

Or is the issue simply deep-er, that is focusing more on the growth journey than arriving at a spiritual destination?This book gets to the heart of sanctification by showing us that the gospel “is not a hotel to pass through but a home to live in. It was good for people like me, who have been following Jesus for many years, and I imagine it will be good for those just starting out.

This lovely, easy-to-read primer by Dane Ortlund grounds our discipleship in the glowing center of Christianity―our Lord Jesus. We can not grow in our spiritual maturity without first embracing Christ completely and relying on him as the agent of growth instead of ourselves.It’s then, as you give up on yourself and throw your hands up in the air, that your heart is most fertile for the supernaturalizing power of the Holy Spirit” (167). I feel that in my Sydney evangelical circles not enough is said about growing in Jesus, on how believers become more like him, on how and why we might increase in godliness. Only when it finally vanished from sight behind the briar hedges did she turn to gaze at the grassy slopes that rose on either side of the road.