Mission:

Bringing Gospel Restoration into our everyday lives as we live devoted to Jesus.

"Your task is like a medical doctor's: your diagnosis of what is wrong will determine what you think the cure is. If a doctor diagnoses an infection, she will prescribe an antibiotic. If she diagnoses cancer, she'll prescribe radiation or chemotherapy. The cure only works if the diagnosis is correct. If the diagnosis is wrong, the cure may lead to painful, even deadly, consequences. When it comes to soul care, misdiagnosing a personal problem can also have deadly consequences. In the early stages things may go well, but over time the situation worsens." -Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp

Misdiagnosis:

• Other People
• Family of Origin
• My Biology
• My Environment

"If my real problem is other people, then I need to change them or avoid them. If my real problem is my family of origin. I need to steer clear of those family members and find someone to re-parent me. If my real problem is suffering, I need to find people who will supply endless comfort. If my real problem is unmet needs, the solution is to fill up what is lacking in me. If my real problem is my body, I need to get more sleep or find the right pill to even me out. In none of these scenarios am I responsible for my own responses to the Heat in my life." -Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp

"7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” 10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”" -Matthew 15:7-20

"Man’s greatest need, then is not to try to clean his hands or his life on the outside; man’s greatest need is a changed heart on the inside." -David Platt

"Accordingly, the greatest need you and I have-the greatest need of collective humanity—is renovation of our hearts. That spiritual place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come has been formed by a world away from God. Now it must be transformed." -Dallas Willard

"The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart or spirit…His is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another." -Dallas Willard

False Solutions:

• Moralism
• "21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." -Colossians 2:21-23
• "25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." -Matthew 23:25-26
• Man-Centered Efforts
• "15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." -Galatians 2:15-16

"15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”" -Genesis 3:15

"31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” -Jeremiah 31:31-34

"24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." -Ezekiel 36:24-28

"3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”" -John 3:3

"19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." -Luke 22:19-20

"4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." -Isaiah 53:4-6

"3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." -Titus 3:3-7

a) Examine my heart

"23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" -Psalm 139:23-24

Xray Questions from How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp:

1. What do you love? Is there something you love more than God or your neighbor?
2.  What do you want? What do you desire? What do you crave, long for, wish? Whose desires do you obey?
3.  What do you seek? What are your personal expectations and goals? What are your intentions? What are you working for?
4.  Where do you bank your hopes? What hope are you working toward or building your life around?
5.  What do you fear? Fear is the flip side of desire. For example, if I desire your acceptance, then I fear your rejection.
6.  What do you feel like doing? This is a synonym for desire. Sometimes we feel like eating a gallon of ice cream, or staying in bed, or refusing to talk, etc.
7.  What do you think you need? In most cases a person's felt needs picture his or her idol cravings. Often what we have called necessities are actually deceptive masters that rule our hearts. They control us because they seem plausible. They don't seem so bad on the surface and it isn't sin to want them. However, I must not be ruled by the "need" to feel good about myself, to feel loved and accepted, to feel some sense of accomplishment, to have financial security, to experience good health, to live a life that is organized, pain-free, and happy.
8. What are your plans, agendas, strategies, and intentions designed to accomplish? What are you really going after in the situations and relationships of life? What are you really working to get?
9. What makes you tick? What sun does your planet revolve around? Where do you find your garden of delight? What lights up your world? What food sustains your life? What really matters to you? What are you living for?
10. Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, and escape? When you are fearful, discouraged, and upset, where do you run? Do you run to God for comfort and safety or to something else? (To food, to others, to work, to solitude?)
11.   What do you trust? Do you functionally rest in the Lord? Do you find your sense of well-being in his presence and promises? Or do you rest in something or someone else?
12. Whose performance matters to you? This question digs out self-re-liance or self-righteousness. It digs out living through another. Do you get depressed when you are wrong or when you fail? Have you pinned your hopes on another person? Are you too dependent on the performance of your husband, wife, children, or friends?
13. Whom must you please? Whose opinion counts? From whom do you desire approval or fear rejection? Whose value system do you measure yourself against? In whose eyes are you living?
14. Who are your role models? Who are the people you respect? Who do you want to be like? Who is your "idol"? (In our cul-ture, this word is used for role model.)
15. What do you desperately hope will last in your life? What do you feel must always be there? What can't you live without?
16. How do you define success or failure in any particular situation? Are your standards God's standards? Do you define success as the ability to reach your goals? The respect and approval of oth-ers? Is it defined by a certain position or the ability to maintain a certain lifestyle? by affluence? by appearance? by acceptance? by location? by accomplishment?
17. What makes you feel rich, secure, and prosperous? The pos-session, experience, and enjoyment of what would make you happy? The Bible uses the metaphor of treasure here.
18. What would bring you the greatest pleasure? the greatest misery?
19. Whose political power would make everything better for you? Don't just think in a national sense. Think about the workplace and the church. Whose agenda would you like to see succeed and why?
20. Whose victory and success would make your life happy? How do you define victory and success?
21. What do you see as your rights? What do you feel entitled to? What do you feel is your right to expect, seek, require, or demand?
22. In what situations do you feel pressured or tense? When do you feel confident and relaxed? When you are pressured, where do you turn? What do you think about? What do you fear? What do you seek to escape from? What do you escape to?
23. What do you really want out of life? What payoff are you seeking from the things you do? What is the return you are working for?
24. What do you pray far? The fact that we pray does not necessarily mean we are where we should be spiritually. On the contrary, prayer can be a key revealer of the idols of our hearts. Prayer can reveal patterns of self-centeredness, self-righteousness, material-ism, fear of man, etc.
25. What do you think about most often? In the morning, to what does your mind drift instinctively? When you are doing a menial task or driving alone in the car, what captures your mind? What is your mind-set?
26. What do you talk about? What occupies your conversations with others? What subjects do you tend to discuss over and over with your friends? The Bible says that it is out of the heart that our mouths speak.
27. How do you spend your time? What are your daily priorities? What things do you invest time in every day?
28. What are your fantasies? What are your dreams at night? What do you daydream about?
29. What is your belief system? What beliefs do you hold about life, God, yourself, others? What is your worldview? What is the personal "mythology" that structures the way you interpret things? What are your specific beliefs about your present situa-tion? What do you value?
30. What are your idols or false gods? In what do you place your trust or set your hopes? What do you consistently turn to or regularly seek? Where do you take refuge? Who is the savior, judge, controller of your world? Whom do you serve? What voice controls you?
31. In what ways do you live for yourself?
32. In what ways do you live as a slave to the Devil? Where are you susceptible to his lies? Where do you give in to his deceit?
33. When do you say, "If only..."? Our "if onlys" actually define our vision of paradise. They picture our biggest fears and greatest disappointments. They can reveal where we tend to envy others. They picture where we wish we could rewrite our life story. They picture where we are dissatisfied and what we crave.
34. What instinctively feels right to you? What are your opinions— those things that you feel are true??

b) Confess & Repent

"16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." -Psalm 51:16-17

c) Ask Jesus to cleanse and change my heart

"10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." -Psalm 51:10

d) Live devoted to Jesus

Question to ask:

Where do I need Gospel Restoration in my everyday life?