⋙ Libro How People Change VantagePoint Books Timothy S Lane Paul D Tripp Books

How People Change VantagePoint Books Timothy S Lane Paul D Tripp Books

Download As PDF : How People Change VantagePoint Books Timothy S Lane Paul D Tripp Books

How People Change VantagePoint Books Timothy S Lane Paul D Tripp Books

“How people Change” is the second best book I have read this year (the first being “The Gospel according to Jesus” by John MacArthur). There is indeed a “gospel gap” (as the authors call it) among Bible-believing Christians today. We believe the gospel for our past forgiveness and future hope, but often forget that the gospel applies to present everyday living as well. They focus our problem on heart idolatry - we have replaced Christ with something else! They put it this way – “The heart is the steering wheel of every human being. Everything we do is shaped and controlled by what our hearts desire. That is why the Bible is very clear that God wants our hearts. Only when God has your heart does he have you. As much as we are affected by our broken world and the sins of others against us, our greatest problem is the sin that resides in our hearts. That is why the message of the gospel is that God transforms our lives by transforming our hearts.” And again, “Even though life is hard, it is not the hardships that cause us to respond as we do. Our responses are shaped by the thoughts and motives of our hearts (Heb. 4:12).” The authors also remind us that in Christ and His gospel, we have a new record, a new power and are set free from the enslaving power of sin. They write, “With the new record and new power we have received, we are set free from the enslaving power of sin and the condemnation of the law. We are dead to the world and we have power over the Evil One who tempts us with worldly Christ-replacements. We don’t have to be controlled by them anymore! We are now free to live, act, think, and believe in new and surprising ways.” The authors also remind us of our marriage or union to Christ, and how God designed heart change to take place in the context of community (the church) – something we conveniently ignore in our mostly individualistic culture! The latter part of the book focuses on four themes: Heat, Thorns, Cross and Fruit. “Heat” is the pressures of everyday life and includes blessings, temptations and difficulties. “Thorns” is the ungodly response to the daily situations of life. “Cross” is the resources available in Christ to every believer. “Fruit” is the Godly response to the situation resulting from God’s work in the heart. With sharp Biblical insight and relevant everyday stories, the authors present a mirror in front of our souls, so that we see the hope & power of Christ and His gospel for everyday living. Heart change is possible! Read this book and apply its truths! I hope to do the same.


Tags : Amazon.com: How People Change (VantagePoint Books) (9780977080724): Timothy S. Lane, Paul D. Tripp: Books,Timothy S. Lane, Paul D. Tripp,How People Change (VantagePoint Books),New Growth Press,0977080722,VIB0977080722,Spirituality - General,Christian life.,Religion & Spirituality Christianity,Christian Life - Character & Values,Christian life,Counseling,Religion,Religion - Christian Life,Religion Spirituality

How People Change VantagePoint Books Timothy S Lane Paul D Tripp Books Reviews

I've read this book a few times actually and even used it as a textbook for a class I taught on the process of biblical change. I was thrilled when I saw that recently New Growth Press put together a small group resource for this book. I think the model Lane and Tripp put forward of Heat-Thorns-Cross-Fruit is very easy to follow (imagery drawn from Jeremiah 175-18, but can be seen in 1 Cor. 101-14; 2 Cor 12-12; Psalm 1; Galatians 5-6; and James 313-412) and I've found in teaching it was easily graspable for most students. Too many approaches to change are essentially "fruit stapling" as Tripp calls it (stapling fresh fruit to a dead tree instead of dealing with the root system) but the model outlined here gets straight to the core of hearts and the idols that we so often keep there.

To give a quick rundown, Heat is anything we experience in our daily lives that exerts an influence on us. It can either be good or bad, getting fired from your job or getting a promotion. Thorns are the negative, sinful responses that we tend to make. This can be anger at not getting what you want, or pride because you got what you want out of life and you think you did a great job to earn it (rather than seeing it as a result of grace). The Cross is obviously where Christ died for our thorny responses (i.e. habitual sins) and it is where we need to turn for the power to put to death the sinful deeds of our bodies. By trusting in Christ, in his person and work, and looking to him for the grace for our daily lives, we are able to actually produce Fruit rather than thorns. In and of ourselves we can only make thorns, but through Christ and His Holy Spirit we are able to actually bear fruit and see a life changed by the grace of God.

Before they spend most of this book unpacking this model in more detail, there is a chapter on what they call "the gospel gap," which I think is worth the price of the book. So many people these days recognize the power of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection to save us from our past sins and save us for a future with him in heaven. But in the meantime, people forget to look to it in the present tense and so there is an inadvertent gospel gap where we end up trusting in something else to get us through our day to day activities. Whatever you place in that gap has taken the place of the gospel of Christ in your daily life. Often it a good thing that we should be doing as part of our Christian life, but we make it, instead of Christ central and so often do not realize we are missing the mark.

If you are interested in learning more of a Christ-centered, Scripture filled model of sanctification, I would highly recommend you reading this book (or anything by Paul Tripp for that matter).
Truly wonderful book, gives you guidance on how to make Christ-centered change without hitting you with "the power of Christ compels you." style writing. This book saved my life, in more ways than one. Every time I read it, I find new lessons in it that I didn't see before. I have highlighted the whole book twice over, because everything hits you hard at one point or another.
This book can change the way you approach struggles and difficulties in your life by giving you a right perspective of your situations, no matter how awful or trying they are. I highly recommend it for the truth that it contains about being honest with yourself. It helps you do self counsel, and gives you a method of dealing with your problems without always running to someone else.
“How people Change” is the second best book I have read this year (the first being “The Gospel according to Jesus” by John MacArthur). There is indeed a “gospel gap” (as the authors call it) among Bible-believing Christians today. We believe the gospel for our past forgiveness and future hope, but often forget that the gospel applies to present everyday living as well. They focus our problem on heart idolatry - we have replaced Christ with something else! They put it this way – “The heart is the steering wheel of every human being. Everything we do is shaped and controlled by what our hearts desire. That is why the Bible is very clear that God wants our hearts. Only when God has your heart does he have you. As much as we are affected by our broken world and the sins of others against us, our greatest problem is the sin that resides in our hearts. That is why the message of the gospel is that God transforms our lives by transforming our hearts.” And again, “Even though life is hard, it is not the hardships that cause us to respond as we do. Our responses are shaped by the thoughts and motives of our hearts (Heb. 412).” The authors also remind us that in Christ and His gospel, we have a new record, a new power and are set free from the enslaving power of sin. They write, “With the new record and new power we have received, we are set free from the enslaving power of sin and the condemnation of the law. We are dead to the world and we have power over the Evil One who tempts us with worldly Christ-replacements. We don’t have to be controlled by them anymore! We are now free to live, act, think, and believe in new and surprising ways.” The authors also remind us of our marriage or union to Christ, and how God designed heart change to take place in the context of community (the church) – something we conveniently ignore in our mostly individualistic culture! The latter part of the book focuses on four themes Heat, Thorns, Cross and Fruit. “Heat” is the pressures of everyday life and includes blessings, temptations and difficulties. “Thorns” is the ungodly response to the daily situations of life. “Cross” is the resources available in Christ to every believer. “Fruit” is the Godly response to the situation resulting from God’s work in the heart. With sharp Biblical insight and relevant everyday stories, the authors present a mirror in front of our souls, so that we see the hope & power of Christ and His gospel for everyday living. Heart change is possible! Read this book and apply its truths! I hope to do the same.