People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of

Change

Orange Park Bible Church

Paul David TrippTimothy S. Lane, Contributor

Lesson 5

Lets quickly get right into the video for today

SLOW DOWN

You could state it this way: Sanctification is the daily hard work of going back to the reality of our justification – receiving Christ’s words, “It is finished” into new and deeper parts of our being every day, into our rebellious regions of unbelief. It’s going back to the certainty of our objectively secured pardon in Christ and hitting the refresh button a thousand times a day. Or, as Martin Luther so aptly put it in his Lectures on Romans, “To progress is always to begin again.” Real spiritual progress requires a daily going backwards.

Tullian Tchividjian

Let’s Go Backwards

LESSON 1Three Questions Everyone Asks:1. Why do people do the things they do?

What does the Bible say causes people to think the things they think, to want what they want, or do the things they do?

2. How does lasting change take place? What does the Bible say leads to such change?

3. How can I be an instrument of change in the life of another? To answer this question we need a biblical methodology of change.

Lesson 1 – Do we really need help?Concept: Our need for help is not the result of

the Fall but the result of being human.

To be human is to need help outside of myself.Genesis 1:26–28

Influence always carries a moral agendaGenesis 3:1–7

Everyone suffers from some degree of spiritual blindness.

Hebrews 3:12–13

Lesson 1 – Do we really need help?Personalized: I need truth from outside myself

to make sense out of life. I need to receive truth outside of myself to make sense out of life.I need to humbly examine why I do and say the

things I do.I need to recognize sin’s deceitfulness and

commit myself to being approachable.Is it in YOU? - 2 Things

The thankful humility of approachability. The loving courage of honesty.

Lesson 1 – Do we really need help?Related to others: I need to learn how to be

one of God’s instruments of change in the lives of others.I need to saturate myself with scripture so that

my interpretations and counsel to others are based on God’s Word.

I need to recognize how I am influencing others in the relationships and situations of daily life.

Hebrews 3 Ministry - Hebrews 3:12-13

LESSON 2

Lesson 2 – The Heart is the TargetConcept: The heart is active. It controls our

behavior. (What is your biggest problem?) Luke 6:43-46

Whatever rules the heart exercises inescapable influence over life and behavior. Your heart is always ruled by something. (Idols) Matthew 6:19–24

The Heart: the INNER Person - Mind, Heart, Soul, Spirit, Will.

God's Word alone is able to expose and judge the heart.

Lesson 2 – The Heart is the TargetPersonalized: I must identify what effectively

and functionally rules my heart. (Mini-Messiahs)

If I am committed to personal change and growth, I must be committed to a biblical examination of my heart.

In the situations and relationships of my everyday life I must constantly ask, "What is really ruling my heart?"

I must always study the Word of God with an eye toward my heart, always asking what the passage reveals about my thoughts and motives. (What is really ruling me?)

Lesson 2 – The Heart is the TargetRelated to others: I need to learn how to be

one of God’s instruments of change in the lives of others.As I minister to others, I want to be an instrument

of heart change.Heart change is always the result of the careful

ministry of God's Word to a particular person in a specific situation. Hebrews 4:12-13

I must not attempt to manipulate or control the behavior of others. I must leave room for God to work lasting change in their hearts.

LESSON 3

Understanding your heart struggle.

James 4:1-10

Lesson 3 – Understanding your Heart StruggleConcept: The cause of my struggle is not the people

or the situations in my life, but the “heart” that I bring to those relationships and circumstances.James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among

you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

What a person does and says is not caused by the people and situations around him.

A person's behavior is always controlled by the desires that rule his heart.

We have been united with Christ and in dwelt by the Holy Spirit so that we can say no to the passions and desires of the sinful nature.

Lesson 3 – Understanding your Heart StrugglePersonalized: I must live with a willingness to

examine the true ruling desires of my heart and to learn how those desires shape my responses to people and circumstances. James 4:1

When attempting to understand my emotions, words, and actions, I must always examine my own heart.

I must learn to ask myself what emotions and desires control me in the various relationships and situations of daily life.

I must learn to affirm my identity in Christ and rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit as I seek to serve others in love.

Lesson 3 – Understanding your Heart StruggleRelated to others: My effectiveness as one of

God’s instruments of change involves helping others to recognize and confess what really rules them.I must not blame people or circumstances for my

emotions, words, and actions.I must always remember that the desires that rule

my heart will shape the way I relate to the people in my life. I must constantly ask myself if those relationships are characterized by demanding or serving.

I must be committed to helping people remember who they are in Christ as they struggle with temptations to indulge the sinful nature. Galatians 5:13–26

LESSON 4

Following the Wonderful Counselor

in personal ministry2 Corinthians 5:14-20

2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Lesson 4 – Following the Wonderful CounselorConcept: Effective personal ministry seeks to

be a part of what the Lord is doing in the lives of others by modeling the way he has worked in us.God calls us to be ambassadors, representing his

message, methods, and character (2 Corinthians 5:14-21).

Ambassadors get from negative fruit to positive fruit not by fixing problems externally but by heart change.

The Love-Know-Speak-Do model follows Christ's example of how to do this (John 13:34).

Lesson 4 – Following the Wonderful CounselorPersonalized: I must examine the way I seek

to stimulate change in those around me. Are the things I do consistent with the example of the wonderful counselor?In all of my relationships, I must remember that I

am Christ's ambassador.I must examine my goals for my relationships. Am

I solely motivated by my own personal happiness? Do I respond to others with a desire to encourage God's work of change in their lives?

I must examine my commitment to the message, methods, and character of the King.

Lesson 4 – Following the Wonderful CounselorRelated to others: I must think redemptively

about my relationships, that is, I always look for the opportunities he is giving me to be a part of His work of change.I must learn to look at all of my relationships

redemptively, keeping an eye out for God-given moments of ministry

It is important to use the Love-Know-Speak-Do model as a way to examine the quality of the relationships God has given me.

In my relationships, I must always remember that I am called to be God's instrument. God alone changes people.

Love-Know-Speak-DoModel of Ministry

LOVE – Getting to know people - God's purpose is that these relationships would be workrooms in which his work of change can thrive.

KNOW – Discovering where change is needed - Knowing a person means knowing the heart. Friendship is the connection of hearts. The goal is to get below the surface.

SPEAK – Speaking the truth in love - This involves bringing God's truth to bear on this person in this situation. It means helping your friend to see his/her life clearly. Getting them to the mirror of God’s Word.

DO – Applying change to Everyday life - Do something with what she/he learns-to apply the insights God has given to him/her daily life and relationships. God calls your friend not just to be a hearer of his Word, but to be an active doer of it as well.

The church is not a theological classroom.  It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification centre, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know him better, learn to love others as he has designed. The church is messy and inefficient but it is God’s wonderful mess – the place where he radically transforms and heals lives. 

Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

Page 116

The church is not a theological classroom.  It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification centre, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know him better, learn to love others as he has designed. The church is messy and inefficient but it is God’s wonderful mess – the place where he radically transforms and heals lives. 

Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

Page 116

The church is not a theological classroom.  It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification centre, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know him better, learn to love others as he has designed. The church is messy and inefficient but it is God’s wonderful mess – the place where he radically transforms and heals lives. 

Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

Page 116

The church is not a theological classroom.  It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification centre, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know him better, learn to love others as he has designed. The church is messy and inefficient but it is God’s wonderful mess – the place where he radically transforms and heals lives. 

Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

Page 116

Closing Thoughts?

People in Need of ChangeHelping

People in Need of Change

Orange Park Bible Church