What's your story? Each of us has a unique one a way of weaving together past experiences, relationships, and current joys and sorrows to make sense of our lives. But if we live our stories without looking to the master Storyteller, we get lost and confused. Changing deeply held patterns of living and loving happens as we find our place in God's great story and learn to trust his love and care for us.
In Restore: Changing How We Live and Love, pastor and author Robert K. Cheong shows us that because we have been united to Christ, we can draw near to God, enjoy his love, and live with new patterns and life rhythms. This thirteen-week study guides participants through creating their own storyboards that will connect them to God's overarching story and help them to rethink, reframe, and move forward. As participants discuss, do response activities, and learn to meditate on God's Word, they will reconnect with God and reignite their love for him and others.
God knows you and he cares for you. Through this study you can be confident God will reframe how you see and experience life, as well as how you see and experience him. Christ will restore your soul as you abide in his love and find rest in him. God will redeem your story as he takes what was meant for evil and uses it to free you to love him and to live for him.
"There is always a need for rich, practical, and transformative gospel resources. Robert Cheong's Restore is one of the best I've seen. This tool takes people on a heart-exposing, faith-igniting, and life-changing journey. This seasoned pastor has invested years helping people see their story through the lens of the Scripture. I am so glad that now countless more will journey through God's story and find themselves, find their Savior, and find healing of heart and mind, along with a brand-new way of living."
Paul Tripp, Pastor; conference speaker; author of New Morning Mercies
"Beautifully simple, clear in flow, and practical in application, this small group resource by Robert Cheong will help us connect to God and each other. Fine-tuned by years of pastoral wisdom and group expertise, Restore helps us see how grace reframes our story and delivers God's power for change. If you want to connect deeply with others around rich content for reflection and discussion, you've got the right tool in your hand!"
Dave Harvey, President, Great Commission Collective; author of When Sinners Say I Do and I Still Do!
"God's restoring work is brought back into focus through this masterfully crafted study guide. By consistently giving clear insight and directional promptings, Robert Cheong helps us understand how God promises restoration throughout his story and does so in ways that impact our hearts and lives. I am grateful for Restore as it is a helpful tool that extends the invitation to a deeper life and love found in Jesus Christ."
Brian Howard. Executive Director, Acts 29
"The best thing about Restore is that it is both biblically faithful and gospel centered. But that's not all that excites me; this book is field-tested by men and women with a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and Christian experiences. Moreover, Dr. Cheong has created a reproducible model that doesn't require experts to lead. This work will help pastors and leaders disciple people to care for one another in the way Jesus and the apostles envisioned. I highly recommend reading, learning, and reproducing what is taught in this workbook as I've seen firsthand the profound impact that it has had on our church members."
Jamaal Williams, Lead Pastor, Sojourn Midtown; president, the Sojourn Network
"As a writer, I know firsthand how God has used the process of storytelling to challenge, heal, and cultivate my relationship with him. With Restore, pastor Robert Cheong taps the power of storytelling for group discipleship, inviting participants to find their personal stories in God's larger one. Pick up this book, find your people, grab a pen, and sit with your story. Sit with your story and discover a good, gracious Author who's writing it even now."
Hannah Anderson, Author of Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul
"Robert Cheong's, Restore: Changing How We Live and Love is a gospel feast and will prove to be a most helpful aid in discipling believers, equipping leaders, resourcing cohorts, and aiding counselors. Robert invites us to find our place in God's story, as both characters and carriers doing the heart work of spiritual formation. He understands the narrative nature of growth in Christ, taking us through the four-fold biblical plotline of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. This resource is so well written and creatively illustrated I look forward to using this tool in my coaching ministry."
Scotty Ward Smith, Pastor Emeritus, Christ Community Church, Franklin, TN; teacher-in-residence, West End Community Church, Nashville, TN
"Forged in the trenches of pastoral ministry and written from a deep belief in the power of Christ for personal transformation, Restore is a fresh resource for pastors and ministry leaders to use in their local churches as they work with men and women desiring to see God, his Word, and his people transform their lives. I've seen the fruit of this firsthand as a pastor at Sojourn Midtown and throughout our network of churches."
Dave Owens, Executive Director, Sojourn Network
"Robert Cheong's Restore is not just a workbook, it's a journey to help you abide in the love of Christ. In this small group study, you'll reframe your life within the greatest of all stories the story of God's redeeming love for his people. I can't wait to introduce our church to Restore. Many lives will be transformed."
Dr. Deepak Reju, Pastor of Counseling and Family Ministry, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC; author of On Guard and Preparing forFatherhood
"Robert has endeavored to clearly articulate and bring to bear in daily living aspects of the fulness of the gospel that go well beyond the moment of conversion to remind us of the rich halls of grace we find in the writings of Paul (Ephesians 3:14Ð19). He does so with a detailed and gracious encouragement that points us toward the very narrative thread of the Scriptures as a whole. Indeed, only the grand meta-narrative of the Triune God can bring much needed meaning and restoration to our own stories of brokenness. I have always been sharpened from colaboring with Robert and find his teaching to be clear and deeply rooted in an abiding love of God, his Word, and the people of God found in the church everywhere. As one who works with the church on a global level, I have seen that Robert's insights, being from the Word, transcend cultural boundaries and are accessible and revolutionary to people everywhere. I heartily recommend Robert's book here as an invaluable resource for anyone desiring to lead communities of faith into greater love of the Savior."
Paul Athanasius, Cross Cultural Worker and Trainer
Fantastic book! Helps you to understand your relationship and life with GOD. Helps you to understand GOD's life and relationship to you. Recommended reading. Read a chapter a week. Meditate on it. Change your life for the better.
Fantastic book! Helps you to understand your relationship and life with GOD. Helps you to understand GOD's life and relationship to you. Recommended reading. Read a chapter a week. Meditate on it. Change your life for the better.
A great book that helps frame our story, gives us a new reference point, hope for the future, and power to live in the present.
A great book that helps frame our story, gives us a new reference point, hope for the future, and power to live in the present.
Cheong helps us see our story in light of God’s bigger story. Excellent small group study for local church discipleship.
Cheong helps us see our story in light of God’s bigger story. Excellent small group study for local church discipleship.
In the 13 week study Restore, Robert K. Cheong helps Christians discover how God is at work in our lives within their own unique story. This may sound terrifying to those that have experienced great suffering, abuse, trials, or trauma. I assure you that God is compassionate and will meet you in the struggles. He reaches down into the mud and mire to put your feet upon solid ground (Psalm 40:2). There is power in sharing and exploring your unique story with a group of others. Not all aspects of your story need to be explored during this study, only the key events and parts that have shaped your life. God will use this study to draw you closer to him and to others. Participants learn how rethink, reframe their story in order to move forward in their Christian walk. The study is divided into 13 weeks that is best gone through in small groups. In the introduction and after week 13 there is helpful sections on how to best lead the study. This makes leading through the study accessible to all maturity levels of leaders. Each week is broken up in to individual work and then group questions. Group sessions should be approximately an hour and a half. Each participant writes out their story and then reflects on patterns and themes within your story. In the end, you will have a short, insightful life story to share with others. God uses these stories to minister others and to shape your life. One of the key components to the study is the storyboard that participants add to each week. This is a helpful way of documenting how God is using Restore in the participants life each week. The study provides a basic theological understanding of Christianity and Scripture. One of my favorite sections of the study was the part on Steps for reconciling a broken relationship. I felt this was thoughtful and helpful guide on how to reconcile with others. Part of the process is asking a trusted friend to identify tendencies or blind spots. I was excited to dig into Restore and see how God uses it in my life. There were a lot of insightful moments and opportunities to dig deep into Scripture. There were also places that fell flat and that I struggled with connecting with the overall progression of the study. In the beginning, there were helpful categories of fantasy, guilt, shame, fear, anger, and sorrow but these categories were not used throughout the study. I would have liked to see these categories worked through more thoroughly. There was also the breakdown of the heart into Thoughts, Emotions, and Desires (TED) that could have been better utilized through the study. Overall, the study is a great tool that churches can utilize in their discipleship of their members. As with any study, it is only as effective as you make it. Using the study correctly will result in the growth of the group participants closer together and will help create a culture of dealing with sin and bearing each others burdens. They will understand how God is at work in the mess of life. There are several studies that are similar to Restore and each have their own strengths and weakness.
In the 13 week study Restore, Robert K. Cheong helps Christians discover how God is at work in our lives within their own unique story. This may sound terrifying to those that have experienced great suffering, abuse, trials, or trauma. I assure you that God is compassionate and will meet you in the struggles. He reaches down into the mud and mire to put your feet upon solid ground (Psalm 40:2). There is power in sharing and exploring your unique story with a group of others. Not all aspects of your story need to be explored during this study, only the key events and parts that have shaped your life. God will use this study to draw you closer to him and to others. Participants learn how rethink, reframe their story in order to move forward in their Christian walk. The study is divided into 13 weeks that is best gone through in small groups. In the introduction and after week 13 there is helpful sections on how to best lead the study. This makes leading through the study accessible to all maturity levels of leaders. Each week is broken up in to individual work and then group questions. Group sessions should be approximately an hour and a half. Each participant writes out their story and then reflects on patterns and themes within your story. In the end, you will have a short, insightful life story to share with others. God uses these stories to minister others and to shape your life. One of the key components to the study is the storyboard that participants add to each week. This is a helpful way of documenting how God is using Restore in the participants life each week. The study provides a basic theological understanding of Christianity and Scripture. One of my favorite sections of the study was the part on Steps for reconciling a broken relationship. I felt this was thoughtful and helpful guide on how to reconcile with others. Part of the process is asking a trusted friend to identify tendencies or blind spots. I was excited to dig into Restore and see how God uses it in my life. There were a lot of insightful moments and opportunities to dig deep into Scripture. There were also places that fell flat and that I struggled with connecting with the overall progression of the study. In the beginning, there were helpful categories of fantasy, guilt, shame, fear, anger, and sorrow but these categories were not used throughout the study. I would have liked to see these categories worked through more thoroughly. There was also the breakdown of the heart into Thoughts, Emotions, and Desires (TED) that could have been better utilized through the study. Overall, the study is a great tool that churches can utilize in their discipleship of their members. As with any study, it is only as effective as you make it. Using the study correctly will result in the growth of the group participants closer together and will help create a culture of dealing with sin and bearing each others burdens. They will understand how God is at work in the mess of life. There are several studies that are similar to Restore and each have their own strengths and weakness.
