BIBLICAL COUNSELING AND THE PASTOR

Biblical Counseling and the Pastor Part Two

 

So how should a pastor counsel his people?  I had worked on the courses from Liberty U. and I really liked what I was learning.

Let me insert here about the Institute of Youth Conflict with Bill Gothard. I still believe I learn so much from all the teaching and material that I received over 15 years. 1978 thru 1996.  But after moving to Lexington I lost touch but I still have the material.

Then I went to the Shepherd’s Conference in 1982 and that changed my thinking altogether about counseling? John MacArthur started me thinking about what kind of counseling I should really be in.  He suggested the Bible. He said we should use the Bible to counsel people.

Well that was great, if I could learn how to use the Bible to be used in specific problems that people had. So I said to a member, “You don’t need to go to a Psychologist I will be glad to help you.” Now that was rather “not so smart” at the time.

I said I better learn how to use the Bible specifically to a problem.

I learned about Nonathletic Counseling.  So I found where they were teaching a class, and for the next 15 weeks I went to Kansas City on the weekend and took the training. That was really great and loved every minute of it.

I took the material from NANC and the 14 tapes and transcribed them into notes and sermons. That was really great. The training was at the Faith Baptist Church, at that time 1992 I think. Things have changed now.  But a lot of hours and training and learning and reading. Dr. Bill Goole, from Lafayette, IN headed up this program alone with Jay Adams.

In several of my counseling sessions I would ask the following questions

“Are you willing if I can show you in the Bible how you are to work and solve this problem would you do it.”  I said, “I am going to try to give you a biblical answer and a biblical solution to your problem, and I want you to know its from the Word of God.”

This lead to several trips to different places to hear Dr. Jay Adams on Biblical Counseling, and that was wonderful.

Then Grace Community Church and the Master’s College and Wayne Mack began a Counseling program at the Master’s college and I begin to study from them. I went to several conferences and meetings with John MacArthur and Jay Adams

Then we moved from Kansas and came to Lexington KY and from 1996 we have not been involved in any biblical counseling due to having no church to pastor. It has only been since 2008 that I have had a church.

I have felt the greatest way that I can help people live the Christian life is by been obedient to the truths and principles of the Word of God.  If I can give people the truths in the Word then they can learn how to apply them in their every day lives.

Of course that is the ideal way, but too often members just don’t listen to the Word or the teaching to the point of wanting to apply those truths that would change their lives.

Over the last year and six months at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church I have been teaching from First Peter chapter one and two:

¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, ¹⁵ but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; ¹⁶ because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Note the action that a Christian should do to be the Christian he has been called to:

1. Prepare his or her mind for action.
2. Keep sober in spirit.
3. Fix his or her hope completely on the grace of God.
4. Be not conformed to their past lusts.
5. Be holy in your behavior

Peter gives the instructions on how an obedient Christian should follow to be able to go through any problem in life.

THE PASTOR NEEDS TO BE A TEACHER OF THE WORD. Study the Word.