Wednesday, August 25, 2010

You Can Change

Our Fellowship Group (small group) leaders have been going through Tim Chester's "You Can Change" over the last several months. It has been extremely fruitful. Change is the agenda of our groups. The goal of our groups is not to just have weekly bible study or mere confession time. The goal is to change together by the radical grace of God. The book is highly theological, dripping with Scripture, yet highly practical, as Chester, a church planter and theologian, writes out of his many experiences he has led himself and others through.

Here are a few great quotes...

"One of our problems is that we think of holiness as giving up things we enjoy out of a vague sense of obligation. But I'm convinced that holiness is always, always good news." (p. 12)

“The message of this book is that change takes place in our lives as we turn to see the glory of God in Jesus. We ‘see’ the glory of Christ as we ‘hear’ the gospel of Christ. (2 Cor 4:4-6) Moral effort, fear of judgment and sets of rules can’t bring lasting change. But amazing things happen when we ‘turn to the Lord.’” (p. 23)

“The essence of holiness is not new behavior, activity or disciplines. Holiness is new affections, new desires and new motives that then lead to new behavior.” (p.33)


“Sanctification is the progressive narrowing of the gap between confessional faith and functional faith.” (p. 83)

“When we face temptation we need to say not only ‘I should not do this,’ but also ‘I need not do this.’” (p. 104)