45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christianity & real life, August 3, 2006
This review is from: How People Change (VantagePoint Books) (Paperback)
When the subject of how people change is brought up among Christians, so often all that is said is simply "trusting God" or just "giving" something to God. But in real life, why is it never that easy?
This book is about the truths of the Gospel bearing down on daily life. If you want to see the deep connection between your daily life & how change, rooted in the gospel, takes place, then this book is for you.
If you are a pastor, youth minister, Sunday School teacher, elder, or teach the Bible in any way, you have to get this book. So often pastors & teachers will simply tell people what to do & what not to do (only focusing on making direct calls to the will), while completely ignoring what is going on in the heart. This book will help you see yourself & others in a new way that is centered in the gospel.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Practical, Bibilical, Congruent Theology of Personal Change, February 3, 2010
It's the unspoken elephant in the room: why aren't professing Christians, by and large, any different than non-Christians? We often struggle and fail at the same sins, have the same divorce rates, and generally don't stand out as being more kind or loving than devoted moral adherants of other religions--- despite our theology that we have been "born again." Ask many, including pastors, the question, and the reply often comes down to some variant of "they aren't trying hard enough" or "they aren't really saved after all."
But the question behind the question is "So, how do people really change--- how does a person who has become a child of God actually become radically more loving, more peaceful, more self-controlled, in a way that isn't mere psychology and that can't be explained or experienced by a non-Christian?"
Few people can give a robust, Biblical, detailed explanation to this fundamental question. Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp can, and do, in this wonderful book. They give us a truly Biblical & congruent theology of how people change, and show us a path to meaningful personal change in our own lives.
The first five chapters lay a foundation for what real Biblical life change is and isn't-- they talk about how easy it is to substitute external change like formalism and activism for true change of the heart. They lay out the crucial understanding of our marriage to Christ, and how God designed real change to take place in the context of community. There is a lot of rich thought provoking truth on every page of these foundation chapters.
Next, they move onto their central Biblical picture of how God has designed change: that of the tree. They explain chapter by chapter that the "heat" of living in a fallen world brings out fallen human responses of sin and evil "thorns." But as we turn to the cross of Christ and His presence we gain the ability to bear beautiful fruit, new supernatural responses to the same "heat" that before would only produce thorns.
True "fruit" only comes from the nourishment that God provides, and we need to be able to recognize the thorns and the fallen nature behind them to be able to choose Christ instead. This book is a wonderful Biblical mirror to hold in front of your soul, to be able to see yourself, the good and the bad, and see the work of God within. Highly recommended.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Bible Study, October 2, 2007
This review is from: How People Change (VantagePoint Books) (Paperback)
I have literally done dozens of Bible studies in small groups, and this one is over and above The Best. It's nothing inherently new, but the way the authors organize the study and theologically lay out the material, as well as their use of the Scriptures as foundational to illustrate the truth, has been nothing short of life changing for our little group of 40 something Christians. We have learned so much about each other that we never knew, so much about ourselves, and perhaps most exciting, have actually CHANGED in response to seeing exactly what a Gospel-centered life means TODAY, and how living in true community with other Christians is a basis for life change. The Gospel is relevant again, whaddya know! Not just when I got saved, or in eternity, but Today. I recommend it to everyone. Our church had the authors out for a seminar and they were humbly inspiring. Authentic Christianity at its best.
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