Noutheitc Counseling
BC&D-01
120912WE
Biblical Counseling & Discipleship 101 Calvary Bible Church
WHAT IS THE ______________________ OF BIBLICAL COUNSELING (ROMANS 15:4-6, 13-14)?
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “teaching” (didasko) part of our great commission task to be “teaching” all true disciples of Christ (Mt. 28:20). “patience” (hupomeno) this word means “stays in place, abides”; God is described as being faithful and unchangingly staying in place. This also describes the Word (I Pet. 1:23) and in I Cor. 13:13 ‘faith, hope, and love’. This is also the great word of Psalm 27:14; Isaiah 40:31. “comfort” (paraklesis): means comfort that comes through God’s Word that is based upon the faithful God we can and do trust. God is the God of patience and comfort, and He alone through His Word can comfort the downcast (II Cor. 7:6).
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 14 Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
“The God of hope” is the source of hope we offer as Disciple-making/Counselors (v. 13a); His Holy Spirit energizes this hope by “the power of the Holy Spirit” (v. 13b); All Counseling/Disciple-makers need to be “full” of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22); Only by the Spirit are we “able” (v. 14a) this word (dunamai) means power or ability, it is passive, so that means ‘made able by another’, or ‘enabled’;
All believers have been left with the job description (I Th. 5:14) to be Biblical Counselors “admonish one another” (noutheteo). This word means ‘impart understanding’, ‘set right’, or ‘lay upon the heart’. Paul said this is what his ministry was 24/7 (Acts 20:31).
WHAT IS THE BEST ____________________ FOR BIBLICAL COUNSELORS & DISCIPLE-MAKERS (JOHN 17:17)?
Knowing, obeying, applying, living, and then sharing the sanctifying Word of God. That is the whole first semester of the Biblical Self-Confrontation course we are enrolled in. This course is an exercise in each of us surrendering in personal co-operation, to daily sanctification by the Spirit, through His Word.
_________________ CAN BE A WONDERFUL COUNSELOR (ISAIAH 9:6)?
Only those in step with the Wonderful Counselor Himself! Isaiah 9:6 the only Wonderful Counselor is Christ. He is the only One that knows us completely, understands our situation, and can stay with us through all the struggles to the end. Always remember, we just serve and represent the Wonderful Counselor, who lives within us by way of His Spirit who is called the Comforter. Biblical counseling is done with the Word of Christ, empowered and guided by the Spirit of Christ, to accomplish Christlikeness. The goal of counseling is Christlikeness: not to help people feel better, remove their problems, fix up their life, and make them happy.
______________________ PHILOSOPHY OF THIS COUNSELING & DISCIPLESHIP MINISTRY:
We are not becoming mental health providers or therapists; we are learning to invest our lives into others by discipling and counseling people in God’s Word. The mind, like the rest of our body, is deeply affected by diet, rest, and sickness. There are sicknesses, nutritional and rest deficiencies: both below the neck and above.
OUR MASTER ______________:
It is our goal in this class is to start a lifestyle of examining our own imperfections, and to initiate the process of personal daily, sanctification through the Word.
Personal spiritual nurture is the only way we can be equipped to adequately help others, within the context of the church, using God’s Word, empowered and in step with the Spirit.
OUR METHODS FOR SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES:
We all need our lives surrounded by accountability for G.R.O.W.:
G: Get the Word into our lives on a daily basis. This means I choose to take over my schedule and plan a daily application of the Word to my life (My Devotions_________); R: Reach out for the power of the Spirit by faith. This means I choose to focused, regular prayers for the grace and power to see God change me, and the others into whose lives I am called to investing my life (My Prayers______);
O: Open my life to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This means I choose to plan regular memorization of the Word for Spirit-filled meditation, so that He can change me a little bit more each day (My Sanctification ___);
W: Willingly opening the Word to others. This means I choose to prayerfully look for others that God will prepare and help me to nurture and admonish; which are the two elements of Biblical Disciple making and Counseling (My Ministry _________).
HOMEWORK:
Agree to the above by initialing each line in the space after the “My____” after praying over each line and surrendering in your heart quietly. Then show your initials to someone in your group, and look at theirs. Read through as much of lesson one as you have time for this week. We will explain marking our Bibles, and much more next week. Start memorizing the first verse using either the first letter of each word method, or whatever works for you. Start saying your verse to someone as you work on it each day.
Slides
Check Out All The Sermons In The Series
You can find all the sermons and short clips from this series, Biblical Counseling & Discipleship Class here.
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