The Unbelievable Gospel Quotes

“the gospel frees us from the struggle or search to derive confidence from human approval.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“We can have hundreds of Facebook friends, and thousands of Twitter followers, without having a single deep friendship.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together argues that social media creates the illusion of companionship while leaving us isolated from one another.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“We are not just converted once, to Christ; we are converted three times — to Christ, to the church, and to mission.”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“The search for applause is hope in hyperapproval. No matter which master we choose, the gospel frees us from the struggle or search to derive confidence from human approval. The”
― Jonathan K. Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“The gospel is both wonderfully simple and complex. It is simple enough for a child to grasp and profound enough that we will spend eternity pondering its beauty and its implications.”
― Jonathan Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“Jesus came preaching repentance and faith: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15, italics added).4 The gospel is something that must be believed. When the Bible speaks of belief, it draws from Hebrew culture, where belief was a whole person phenomenon (heart, soul, and mind). In Western culture, belief is often relegated to the mind, a matter of intellectual assent. But when Jesus called people to believe the gospel, he called for a radical reorientation of not just their intellectual beliefs, but their personal devotion and life response. In this sense, you could say that the preaching of the gospel calls a person to make doctrinal, personal, and missional changes. This threefold response mirrors the three dimensions of the gospel. Our doctrines change based on beliefs about history, our lives change based on beliefs about the person of Christ and what he has done for us, and our mission changes as we seek to renew our surroundings.”
― Jonathan Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“What is the gospel? The gospel is the good and true story that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us. Staggering, isn’t it?”
― Jonathan Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“A chorus of gospel voices is stronger and more compelling than a lone voice in the wind.”
― Jonathan Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

“Paul tells us: “because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:4 – 5). The gospel they believed and received wasn’t just a theological construct or a churchy platitude. Sure, it came through spoken and written words, and it was preached, taught, and shared. But it also came in power. Often Christians are either “word” people or “power” people. On the one hand, we may lean toward a rationalized Christianity. This type of Christianity holds to the gospel Word without gospel power. It preaches, teaches, catechizes, studies, memorizes, and shares the word but with little effect. It possesses “wise and persuasive words” but not “demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). This kind of Christianity can master systematic, biblical, and historical theology without being mastered by Christ. It can identify idols but remains powerless to address their power. Why? Because it replaces the power of the Spirit with the power of knowledge. On the other hand, there is an equal danger in spiritualized Christianity. Such Christianity prays, sings, shouts, and claims victory over a lost world without lifting a finger to share God’s gospel. It is not enough to pray for power; we must proclaim God’s Word. The power of the Spirit works through the proclaimed Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. My pastor during college, Tom Nelson, always said: “Don’t just stand on a shovel and pray for a hole.” Spiritualized Christianity tends to stand and pray, emphasizing private or emotional experiences with God. What we need is prayer and proclamation, power and Word. The Thessalonians had word and power, they grew in understanding and experience, but they also had full conviction. It is not enough to have spiritual power and good theology. These must also be coupled with faith, an active embrace of God’s promises in Christ, which brings about conviction. Full conviction comes when we are set free from false forms of security and experience Spirit-empowered faith in the word of Christ. It springs from genuine encounter with Christ. Full conviction transcends intellectual doubt and emotional experiences, and in the silence of persecution it says: “Christ is enough.” True security, deep security, comes through the reasonable, powerful, Christ-centered conviction that Jesus is enough, not only for us but for the world. When we falter, the church is present to exhort, encourage, and pray for one another to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. May we toss out the penny stocks of the fear of man to invest deeply in the limitless riches of Christ.”
― Jonathan Dodson, The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing