4. CPR Preview
• Central Point: All ungodly behavior grows out of
a heart that has been captured by something
other than Christ.
• Personal Application: If I am to grow and change
as Christ’s disciple, I need a deeper awareness of
the things other than Christ that I tend to
worship.
• Relational Application: As I seek to help others
grow, I must help them to see the motivations
that produce THORNY responses.
5. The Big Question
What has captured your heart?
What cravings, desires, and beliefs
rule your heart, producing ungodly
reactions?
6. Scriptural Background:
The 10 Commandments and the sin beneath the sins
• Deuteronomy 5:6-21:
"'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery.
"'You shall have no other gods before me.
"'You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve
them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those
who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love
me and keep my commandments.
7. Scriptural Background:
The 10 Commandments and the sin beneath the sins
• Deuteronomy 5:6-21: (cont.)
"'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
"'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God
commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the
seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any
work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your
female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the
sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your
female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were
a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from
there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD
your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
8. Scriptural Background:
The 10 Commandments and the sin beneath the sins
• Deuteronomy 5:6-21: (cont.)
"'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded
you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the
land that the LORD your God is giving you.
"'You shall not murder.
"'And you shall not commit adultery.
"'And you shall not steal.
"'And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
"'And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire
your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant,
his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.'
9. Scriptural Background:
Making good things ultimate things
• Romans 1:25:
Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
10. Scriptural Background:
The connection between idolatrous worship and
ungodliness
• James 4:1-4:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this,
that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so
you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do
not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because
you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do
you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an
enemy of God.
13. Central Point, Personal Application,
and Relational Application (CPR)
Central Point:
• All ungodly behavior grows out of a heart that
has been captured by something other than
Christ.
• Often our hearts are captured by good things that
have become ultimate things. Normal desires
quickly morph and become replacements for
God.
• Lasting growth begins when we see the things
that lead our hearts away from Christ.
14. CPR
Personal Application:
• To grow as a disciple, I need to see that my
real problem is my heart, not my
circumstances.
• I need to identify the good things in creation
that I sinfully organize my life around.
• To grow, I must recognize the things that can
lead my heart away from Christ.
15. CPR
Relational Application:
• To help others grow, I must help them see that
their real problem is their straying heart, not their
circumstances.
• Biblical ministry involves a sensitivity to people’s
circumstances and a willingness to show them
how even good things can wrongly take God’s
place in their hearts.
• Assisting others to see the things that typically
captivate their hearts is a powerful and loving
way to help them grow in Christlikeness.
16. Make it Real (Homework)
• Look for places where you evidence strong
emotions.
• What things tend to function as God
replacements in your life?
• Reflect on the gospel from Lessons 1 and 2.
