Biblical Counseling (part 7)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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As I was thinking through counseling, self -counseling for myself and ministering to others who need help, two words came to me in terms of how this must impact my life, especially with Christmas.

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One of them was peace and the other word was joy. We hear these words a lot during Christmas, do we not?

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So let's take a couple of moments just to get ourselves awake and then we'll jump into our notes.

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So peace and joy, what are the scriptural thoughts that come into your mind when you think of these two terms?

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Peace, joy, amen.

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So Jesus, just before he's leaving, going to the cross, he talks about the peace that he gives his disciples.

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And even when times are going to get very difficult, you can have the peace of God that passes all understanding.

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Excellent. What else do we think of when we think of peace? Jesus, his title is

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Prince of Peace and he is the arbiter of peace, if you will.

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In our lives and in all of the nations, he is the one who is going to govern as well. And I'm looking for something more.

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What else do we think of when we think of peace? That was the words he said.

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I see some resonance. That's great. And I think of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

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When Jesus Christ came, there is a peace that we are going to have with God because Jesus is the one who brings that peace between God and man.

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And peace in the Hebrew, the Old Testament, we have this shalom, this well -being, this life that is settled and flourishing and is right in all ways before God.

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And so those are all terms that come to my mind when I think of peace. So let's slide that over in the context of counseling.

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So in the context of counseling, how might peace be helpful for ourselves or for others?

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And when your life seems unpeaceful, troubled, upside down, one of the things as a believer we want to remember is that in the ultimate sense, we have peace.

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And it's something we need to be reminded of when we sometimes kind of think the world is all against us.

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We have God with us. He and us, we have peace.

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And that should be a great source of comfort when we think of whatever it is, the trial that I'm facing.

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What else do we think of for peace, for counseling? That's excellent. And so that was where I was going with this is positionally.

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We know that we are right with God, but practically, we're all broken people.

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We talked about problems, either in the context of sin or suffering.

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And all of these things come and then leave us puzzled in terms of how can we even live out the life that God has called us to.

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And one of the things that the Bible does promise us is we have the spirit of God indwelling us.

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We have the word of God that instructs us. And we are able to live out the life that God has called us to by being transformed, by ministering to others, and even in our brokenness.

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And so these are some of the thoughts that I want us to just keep in mind while we dive into our material.

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Once again, I know a few folks came in. If you don't have handouts, I have a few copies here. Just if you can raise your hand, maybe one of us will get it to you.

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Anybody else need handouts? You need handouts because without it, it will be hard to follow what we're doing.

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All right. So we are on the section on instruction.

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But we'll once again just remind ourselves with this four steps that we have.

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Love, know, speak, and do. When we think of biblical counseling, it's whether we are looking at examining ourselves and looking to the word for help in our progress through trials.

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Or if it is helping someone else who is having a difficult time. It begins with love for this person, getting involved in their lives, giving them a hope or inspiration in the midst of when you have lost hope.

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And then knowing what is the actual problem. You want to take an inventory, you know, try to understand what is the surface problem that comes up.

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And then trying to interpret that in light of the scriptures to say, okay, this is what this person says.

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He is saying that he is, we looked at workaholism. And then we said, okay, how does that Bible talk about that?

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How are we to look at work, the right way to work and the wrong way to work? And then we started looking at speaking, which includes instruction and what we call inducement.

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We'll talk about both of those today. We started instruction because this is the part where we take the word of God and then we apply it to our circumstances, to our trials.

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And then see how we can teach ourselves or the person that we are ministering to.

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So if you're, each of your handouts has different page numbers, but it's on number five instruction.

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So last time when we looked at it, we looked at the prerequisites for giving instruction. Some of the texts there,

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God yourself. So you don't kind of fall with, um, in the trial that the person is facing, you know, the person is so depressed.

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I'm going to go help him and I get depressed too. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Uh, we want to come and bring hope.

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And, um, uh, and then the two key things we looked at on page one was it's based on the word of God.

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Um, we believe that the Bible has everything we need for life and godliness. Um, I may not exactly know where to find it, but the scriptures do speak to all circumstances of our life, no matter where we might be.

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And, uh, the responsibility of the counselor is to be able to find in the scriptures, those truths that apply to this particular specific problem.

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And then speak with the same authority that the Bible has to share, say that this is what

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God says about this problem. And so we can have great confidence in, in those particular texts that address this particular issue.

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And the responsibility for us is to both understand that word and to apply it there. And we saw all this last time.

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And then this, uh, last section there, uh, Christ centered council. And, uh, we looked at how, uh,

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Christ ought to be central in counseling. Uh, it is, uh, it is the gospel that saved us.

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Our position is secured because of our standing in Christ.

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And we look to Christ, uh, in the midst of our problem, both for help as well as, uh, assurance as we are walking through the brokenness, uh, that we are experiencing in this point in time.

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Because Christ has already granted us salvation and he will be the, and our goal must be to be like Christ.

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And so Christ will help us in our sanctification as well. So we turn over to the next page.

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Again, we looked at all of these things. Um, want to have a plan about how we are going through counseling?

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So, you know, it's, if, and let's actually talk about this a little bit, because this page we're going to spend some time before we move on.

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Uh, let's talk about self counseling first. Um, do you think when you face a problem, whether it is a sin or a situation of suffering,

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Um, actually let me, let me rephrase it. Can you remember the last time you faced, um, a difficult problem, whether sin or suffering where you actually had to stop, sit back and think through and write, here's what

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I need to do in order to, uh, grow in Christ through this, this trial.

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Uh, if you have an example to share, please, I got a thumbs up on the back.

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Okay. That's fair. Jonathan. Jonathan.

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That's right. And, uh, in many cases, when we look at a problem and it's, it's something new that I have to kind of study from the scripture, how

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I, how do I find help? You may find a lot of different things. And then part of it might be just organizing those scriptures in terms of, you know, where do

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I start and where do I need to end? Uh, and how do I go about doing it? And then there is a practical component to it, which we'll see in the next few pages.

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Any other examples? Um, so I want to talk about F, G, and H.

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We kind of talked about how these three sections break down, um, you know, teaching scripture creatively with stories, examples, and diagrams.

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Uh, one of the things that I found really helpful in my own personal walk with the

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Lord is if I can identify, um, certain descriptive passages in the, in the

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Bible that talk about someone who went through something similar and the Lord helped this person in a specific way.

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And then I can say, well, you know, right now my situation seems hopeless, but I can see how, uh, the

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Lord was faithful to this person in the midst of his affliction. You know, we can think, I, for me,

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Genesis 39 is one of those passages where, you know, you have Joseph with all these people putting evil upon his life.

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And the guy was like, you know, I'm just going to trust the Lord. And I don't know where this is going. It's like going downhill very fast.

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Uh, but we know that the Lord was faithful to him, so he couldn't see it in the midst of his affliction.

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But he could, I can learn to trust God that while I can't see how this story of my life is going to end,

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I know that the way in which the Lord was faithful to him. And so in, in cases where, uh, for myself,

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I need hope, I can remember through descriptive examples. Because, uh, in times when

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I'm not able to think too heavily, my mind is overwhelmed. These are very helpful to look back and see, you know, what the scriptures teaches about God.

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Um, I had something else with the stories, but I don't remember right now.

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Uh, and examples. So now, you know, um, um, the Israelites, when they cross the river, they took those stones and put it there so that they can look back and say, you know,

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God has helped us. And in each of our lives, we've got those circumstances. Right now, it seems like this trial seems to be the most difficult one

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I cannot cross. And then all I have to do is, you know, thinking of that instruction plan, just go back and see how the

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Lord, remember how the Lord has helped me in the past. Count your blessings, name them one by one.

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Uh, there are so many times that the Lord has helped. And some of these events in your own life are like those

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Gilgal, you know, those stones that are there. And all you have to do is just pause and look back. And you're like, yeah,

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I remember the river Jordan stopped. Well, the Jordan of your life. You know, those particular times when you thought there was really no way to get past and the

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Lord had been faithful. And those are good, stark reminders to say, you know, God hasn't changed. My circumstance might have changed, but I can trust in the

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Lord through this. And whether it is for yourself or to somebody else, it's helpful to be able to both testify from the scriptures as well as from your life how the

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Lord has been faithful. Um, all right. So this is all still review.

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So I'll kind of move quickly. Teaching at the level of the counseling. Uh, we talked again about how people can be either very mature in the faith or very immature in the faith.

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So someone may be, you know, have a PhD in theology, so they know all the truths. It's not like I have to start from the basics.

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But at the same time, uh, or you might have somebody who is just a new born again believer who doesn't know the scriptures at all.

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And, um, my responsibility is to say, what is it that I need to teach and what is it that I need to remind?

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And this is the same for you as well. You may know the truth, but in meaning to rewind and rehearse the truth for yourself and not just what they know, but also where their heart is.

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You know, someone could be just devastated by something that just went through their life and they're just on the floor.

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And, uh, they don't need a doctrinal exposition on like the most difficult theological problem of evil they're facing.

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They need to just know that we have a good

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God and that may be all they need to know. So you need to bring that truth that applies the most to this particular person, whether it's you or the person you're helping.

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And then the last one there is the goal of this instruction is

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Christ likeness, that we may be conformed to the image of Christ. That's Romans 8, 29.

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And all things work together for good in our lives in order to bring us into the image of Christ.

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And so when we are instructing, we want to be careful that yes, we are helping ourselves or the person we are helping with God's instructions.

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But it is not just solving the problem, but rather transforming us.

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These trials are in our lives for a purpose. God, the good God, brought the trial into my life for a purpose.

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And that purpose is to exalt himself as he conforms me into his image. He is changing me, shaping me, molding me in his unique way, which can be painful at times.

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And so when I'm looking for instruction, I'm not looking for just band -aids over the problem. I'm looking to see how

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God is transforming me and others through this. So I'll pause here. I've talked for a while.

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This is a review, but any thoughts or comments on what we've covered so far? Absolutely.

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Yeah, you know, there's two sides to this.

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The one side is the objective side, which is, yes, you know, it's like almost Solomon says, there's nothing new under the sun.

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I can think of the most unique trial that anybody could have gone through, and, you know, it has happened before.

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And the Lord has been faithful before in the circumstance. And the subjective side of it is when it hits me so hard and so quickly, it feels like I'm the only one.

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Elijah is like, Lord, take me, you know. There's 7 ,000 more people there. And part of the counseling challenge that we face, whether as we are examining our own heart, is to be able to turn our eyes away from this problem that is so close to my face that I can't see anything else.

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And I just think it's overwhelming to be able to say, well, you know, step back a bit and then look at God and then recognize that he has been faithful in these various circumstances, whether it's finances.

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I mean, I don't know how many of you can testify to this. You've got debt.

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You've had difficulty dealing with it. Then all of a sudden, the debt becomes so terrible that you're going to lose your home. You don't know where you're going to get your next meal.

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You know, when things go down to that level, it's like, wait, wait, wait. You know, I'm used to this kind of problem where, you know, how do

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I switch money between cards? I've done that before. Thankfully not anymore.

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But two, you know, okay, now my kid might go hungry. And how would

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I handle this? And the thing is, you know, yeah, it's a new trial. I haven't figured out how to solve this yet.

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But I have a faithful God who said he will provide for me in all my need.

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And how do I now take that truth that seems so general, far, and vague to trusting in him through this particular time where I don't know where that next dollar is going to come from?

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And what am I, especially if you're the provider for the home, how am I supposed to go through and provide with God's help?

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Especially if I'm on the back and, you know, there's nothing I can do. What would the

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Lord have me do? And what would the Lord have me trust? So those are practical things that we're talking about when we talk about stories in the

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Bible and examples. And, yeah, for me, this is the first time that has happened, and I don't see a way out of this.

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But it's happened before. There have been others who have seen this before. That's a great question.

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We had this question earlier, too. So I'm glad you asked this. So for everybody's sake here, oh, by the way, everything goes to Pastor Steve.

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It is true. So if you are, let's say, right now going through a very difficult time, you don't know people in the church, obviously reach out to the elders.

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And if it's not us, we'll find somebody that can help you through the time of trial that you're going through.

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But we talked about this in the context of discipleship. You know, we talked about, so Pastor Mike likes to say, you know, you should always be discipled by someone and be discipling someone else.

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Because there are areas in my life that I need to grow. And this is stepping back a little bit in terms of that whole,

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I think it was a car analogy. You know, your car is running, your car has crashed.

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And it's running, it needs preventative maintenance. You know, go talk to a brother who's good in a certain area.

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So if it was at finances, and someone's got their financial act together, you know, then I want to go and say, hey, brother, you seem to have a good handle on managing your money.

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And I could use a little help because the money seems to be managing me. And so, you know, and then we say, oh, you know what, why don't we pick up Ramsey's book?

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We'll go through it together and look for some scriptural principles and practical ways to work that out. So that would be a good way where I'm functioning, but I want to get better at something that I'm not good at.

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And the same way I look at someone who is struggling, and I say, hey, you know, I've done this money makeover thing before.

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And I could give a few tips if that'll help. And then it turns out, like, you give them the book, you have them over, talk over for a few months.

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And then they're like, whoa, I figured out how the Lord would have me be a steward of money. And so you help them there.

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But when you're on this side, what we are kind of counting on is, and this is one of the reasons why we encourage home groups, which you and Pastor Steve teach, which is while in the church, we may have some awareness of different people.

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We may say hi in the mornings, but in the home groups, you get to connect with people. You get to know what spiritual gifts different people have.

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And then you can say, oh, you know, this person, I've heard him talk about this before, and I've seen how the Lord's been faithful in this particular area.

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And I'd like to, maybe it's my marriage that's having a calamity. And at this point,

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I know that this man loves his wife, like, you know, unbelievably. I couldn't ever do that, and I'd love to know how to do that.

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And so, you know, you go and talk to that person and ask for help. But again, you know, if there is a problem, you can always reach out to the elders and they'd be happy to help.

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Does that help? Feel free to add more. Yeah, there's many contexts.

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Home group is one of them. And in every way that we, and I think, you know, the brain cell that you mentioned just reminded me of 1

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Corinthians 12 and on, about how the church is called the body of Christ.

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You know, we have different members. And as we function with each other, we get to realize, oh, this is a hand, and I can reach out to this hand when

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I need a hand thing going on, and so forth. So we get to know one another, love one another, serve one another.

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And that's how Christ exalts himself as the head. He is over, we are,

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I think, under shepherds. And he what governs all of those things. So let's actually make sure we read some scripture.

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So let's go to the put off and put on, the last section of that page. And we'll spend some time here.

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This is new material. And it doesn't matter what problem you're facing through.

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This is my almost de facto thing to go through. Okay, what do I need to put off and what do I need to put on? So if you have a problem that is sin related, which you are either stuck in or dealing with, then it should be pretty obvious.

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I have to put off sin, and I have to put on righteousness in terms of dealing with this particular trial.

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But even when you're dealing with suffering, which may not be caused initially by sin in your particular circumstance, you still need to be guarding yourself against sin, because sin can come as a response to the suffering that has come.

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And there are certain things that you need to put off and on, even as you deal with those trials. So we'll see a couple of examples there.

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But before we do that, let me just read that put off. We'll look at a few scriptures, and then we'll look at the rest.

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So putting off is where we recognize that I need to repent of sin, that is, turn away from.

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And some of that will involve exerting effort against old ways. So if it's a pattern of sin in particular,

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I'm not just going to say some magic scripture and think it's all going to disappear. I'll need to walk in certain paths, and I may need to work it out in my life as well.

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So there's going to be some gymnastics that will come.

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I mean, I'm using the root of the Greek word there, but let's look at a few examples. You know, Psalm 32 and 51 are like the classic repentance

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Psalms. And I think many of us go there when we feel when we recognize that we've sinned and we really need to turn to the

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Lord with all our heart. So let's read a few of these scriptures. So let me get hands for each of these.

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So Psalm 32, John, Psalm 51, Becky, Proverbs 28,

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Michael, Romans 13, 2nd

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Corinthians 7, Ian, and Ephesians 4,

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Pastor Steve, 1st John 1, Corey. I'll get to you,

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Gary. So let's begin with Psalm 32, 3 to 5. And I think all of us can relate to that oppressive state in which when

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I hide my sin or I'm covering it up and thinking, you know, I want to stay in this place.

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And you know the displeasure of the Lord and you can't flourish.

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Psalm 1 talks about those roots that go down deep and draw from the water.

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And such a simple thing as hiding versus confessing.

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And in confession, there is forgiveness and there is joy and there is freedom.

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And when I'm dealing with sin, I have to remember that that is something that I need to consciously do.

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You know, I might have confessed this a hundred times before, but I still need to do it this time when I'm in sin or I'm tempted to sin.

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Sin has its various progressions. It starts in your mind and then it might verbally articulate it, you might act upon it.

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And whatever it is that is going through, when you recognize that this is contrary to what the

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Bible has declared. And I think very often that's part of what you need to know is sometimes you might be unhappy with something you do, but that may not necessarily be a sin.

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And what I normally try to do is recognize where in the Bible it tells me this is a sin.

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Remember, we talked earlier about inventory. You get all the data and then you interpret it and say,

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OK, how do I see this in light of the scriptures? And so some people have a very sensitive conscience.

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And then I am one of them. And I have to be careful because, you know, everything seems like a sin and it may not be a sin.

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And I have to be realizing, OK, here's how I need to see this in light of the scripture. And in other cases, it's like,

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OK, this is actually lying or this is slander or whatever it is that the particular sin is.

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And when I see from the word, this is what God tells me about it. It becomes a lot easier and say, Lord, thank you for forgiving me.

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But here is what I have done. And I'd love for your strength to help me not to fall back into this sin and temptation again.

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Psalm 51. And this is,

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I think, crucial. This is Psalm 51. As you know, it's after David committed adultery, killed

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Uriah. And, you know, he's done a lot of damage to people, but he recognizes that his ultimate sin is against God himself.

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And to be able to recognize that and come before God is crucial. Proverbs 28, 13.

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Prospering versus finding the compassion of God. And God is a merciful God. We don't come before God as, oh,

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God is going to get very upset if I acknowledge this. Yeah, he already knows it. And it's important for me to come before him as my loving father.

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We're going to come to Romans in a moment, but let's look at 2nd Corinthians 7. Actually.

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Yeah, 2nd Corinthians 7, 8 through 11. And in this particular case, this is 2nd Corinthians. You know, in 1st

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Corinthians, Paul had written and rebuked them on on sin. And they had actually repented because they had taken those words as as coming from the

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Lord. You know, these were sins that they were stuck in and they listened to Paul's exhortation.

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And then they got to see that prospering, that consolation, that comfort that comes from God.

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And if you go up a little bit in that 2nd Corinthians 7, Paul actually talks about himself as well.

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You know, in the way in which God ministers in in in our needs. And so when we are counseling somebody else, we sometimes it's easy to kind of gloss over sin and putting off parts.

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But it's important. This is like surgery that the word does. And sometimes you're the hand that needs to hold that scalpel and say, you know, this is what the

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Bible says, brother, sister. And this needs to be dealt with. So, I mean,

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I'll go back to that example with with depression. I mentioned a few weeks back I was struggling and I had to go.

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I met with a brother and asked him for prayer and I kept him updated while I was going through that time and got help in terms of comfort.

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But also for myself, I knew there were thought patterns that I should watch out for. Oh, they are so tempting to just go down that path.

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And that part is going to lead to destruction. And the Bible tells me it commands me to think about wholesome thoughts.

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It tells me not to think about those thoughts that are destructive. And I can choose to do that and say, why am

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I depressed? No, pretty. You know, you're sinning. Repent of your sin. Confess your sin before God.

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God bless you. And he will bless you. He will forgive your sins.

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He will provide you help from above. I kind of got distracted with what

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I was trying to say. So let's look at, we'll skip Ephesians 2. We'll come back to both Romans and Ephesians in a moment.

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Who has 1 John 1? Yeah, and this is the lifestyle of a believer. You know, it's in glory we will have no sin.

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But while I'm walking through life and especially as I mentioned in suffering, you know, Job starts out pretty good, but pretty soon it goes down a spiral as you're starting to face all of these questions.

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And then it is hard not to sin, especially in the midst of suffering.

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And we want to be remembering to examine ourselves in light of what the scriptures say.

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So, you know, I responded unkindly to an unkind word.

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And that would be just as important to put off and to deal with while I'm looking to put on something else.

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So let me let me pause here before we read Romans and Ephesians. On the next page, you have a list of what to put off and what to put on.

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I was hoping to spend some time there, but I'd like you to just scan it and maybe pick one or two things which may be pertinent to you or to someone else that you are familiar with.

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I'm seeing more people. So if you don't have a handout, there's more handouts here. Just raise your hand and we'll get them to you.

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But there's a list in the in that sheet. So no hands so far. OK, so so putting off is crucial.

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And if you have one of those things that make more sense to you in terms of someone you're helping or for yourself, keep that in mind.

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And I'm going to now switch into putting off and putting on together. So I'm going to read what putting on is and then we'll read these verses.

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So in putting on, you're looking for new patterns of righteousness. You know, so if someone is stuck in a habit of overspending, we examine the root of where things are and what the scriptures tell us and what to put off.

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And then you focus on what you need to put on. What are the ways in which you need to maybe save, earn or give as opposed to get max credit card and so forth?

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I mean, just giving an example. But in the we'll go to the root of where that whole thing lies is, is it about myself?

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If you look at that list, you can see a self -oriented way of life, which is a God oriented way of life and things like that.

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So and that verse from First John one is talking about a lifestyle.

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It's not talking about a specific sin. And so if I'm used to certain behavioral patterns that are sinful,

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I need to recognize them and I need to keep putting them off. Recognize them each time they come and say, no,

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I'm consciously going to trust in the Lord. Remember what he has said, ask him for help and then say no to it.

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And when I fail to, I'll confess my sin again and then continue to put this off. But I tell myself and I tell others, if I just keep the sin at bay, something else will come and fill that hole that that sin has evacuated.

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Jesus said, you know, this demon will go find seven more demons and then find a very clean house to come and populate.

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You have to fill it with those things that God has given you instead.

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So there is a putting off, but if it is not accompanied by putting on, you're not going to make any progress here.

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So those are two things that go hand in hand while we're looking at things. So now let's look at this passage.

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So we're going to read Romans 13 from 12 to 14 because it covers both of these.

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Who has Romans? So here he is talking about night and day. He's talking about here are some very explicit list of things.

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If there is one of those things that you need to put off, just you remember and say, I'm going to put that off.

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And then Paul here uses the broad term of put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

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So you actually take on Christ and his way of thinking, his righteousness that he gives you, and then exercise that in the way in which you live.

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And then we're going to read now Ephesians 4 and we're going to read a longer section here as well.

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So we're going to read from 20 to 25. Although if you look at the top heading,

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Ephesians 4 .20 to Ephesians 5 .4 is a section that deals with putting off and putting on.

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And Paul kind of lays the groundwork saying you were an unbeliever once and that's how unbelievers continue to live.

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But you are a believer. You need to wake up. So each of us in specific areas need to wake up because I've been slumbering in this particular area, which is why

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I'm in the particular trial that I am facing right now. And so Paul then goes to say, you know, he just does this machine gun type of thing.

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Put off, put on, put off, put on, put off, put on. And he's like, you know, this is how a believer's life ought to look like.

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And it has it will continually happen until we get into glory. So whether you're in a car that's running smoothly, there are things that you need to put off and put on, take out the old oil, put in the new oil.

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If there is a car that is crashed, you know, I don't know what's a good example.

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But, yeah, take out that 90 percent of the car or maybe get a new car.

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But you need to get rid of whatever sin is debilitating and holding you under and you need to wake up.

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Sometimes it takes a car crash to wake up and recognize my life is patterned in a terrible way. And so let's read

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Ephesians 4 from 20 to 25 and look for the contrast.

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If you just keep going, look at the rest of the verses is that, you know, different examples that he gives. But right in the middle, you have bullet three there, which is the renewing of the mind.

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You know, it's being, you know, having our mind renewed. And it is God who can actually accomplish this.

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So whether we go to Romans 12, 1 and 2, Romans 12, 2, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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It is God who, I was hoping to get to this, but we won't today. In Philippians 2, 12 to 13, it talks about God who gives us the will, the desire and the ability to do those things that are pleasing to him.

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And it is God who transforms our mind as we dwell in the word, God works in our heart through the spirit and changes us.

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But those putting off and putting on are crucial no matter where in your life you are.

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So like we're out of time, but I think each one here should be able to think of at least a couple of things today that you say,

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Oh, you know, in this particular area, I need to put off this. If you don't have an example, you can check the list in the back or in the next page, or you can read

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Ephesians 4 and 5. And I'm sure there'll be a couple that come to mind. And when we're looking at counseling, when helping someone, that is part of the key in instructing this person.

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What does the Bible say about putting off? And what does the Bible say about putting on?

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I feel bad we didn't do a couple of examples here. But any thoughts on this, maybe from the list or from what we've just covered?

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That's a great question. So in the midst of a suffering that you're going through and you don't have an idea of what what to do in response to that, is that fair to say?

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So this is probably the counterpoint to what Pastor Steve was saying. You know, there are sometimes something happens to me and I have

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I feel like I'm so isolated. I want to dig a hole and just bury myself and, you know, let the waves wash over or maybe

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I'll not come back. I'll be in glory. But, you know, some that's one wrong temptation, which is, you know,

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I'm so alone. And on the other side, when I am facing suffering that I haven't experienced before,

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I don't know what I need to be going through. The truth is, you remember earlier we talked about the goal of counseling is being

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Christlike. So I try to remember that this particular trial is brought about by my father.

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You know, even though this Joseph's brothers are the ones who threw him into the into the well, or it was part of his wife who was the one who was tempting him.

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For me, that part of that trusting God comes from recognizing that I don't know the answer through this particular trial that I am in.

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I'm in a well, I can't do much. What do you do when, you know, your brothers wanted to kill you and they just kept you in the well for a little bit before they end up selling you as a slave.

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But the thing is, I did not know that I needed to trust the

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Lord in times like this until I was put in that well. And I'm not going to judge myself and say, oh, poor

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Pradeep or terrible Pradeep, you know, how could you not trust the Lord? I'm just a lot worse than you think

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I am. And I didn't figure it out until I was in the well. And when I'm in the well, the Lord put a lot of these brothers to do that to me so that my eyes would turn upward in a way that it has never turned upward before.

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So trust is not the something that, you know, I trusted in the Lord, I became a believer. And it's just this one line, flat line thing that I have.

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You're growing from faith to faith. So you will need that trial to recognize that I need to trust the

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Lord more in this particular area, whatever that particular trial is. And so the trial that you're maybe going through right now might be the means by which

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Christlikeness is brought about by God. So we looked at Ephesians 4 .23,

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you know, the renewing of the mind is what God does in us through those very moments.

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And so we all would wish that, you know, the moment I get into the trial,

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I can actually respond in the most Christlike way possible and, you know, be the super Christian. But I think this is how

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God chooses to grow us in sanctification, where we face a trial. I'm ill prepared for it.

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I don't have the strength to even trust God through it. And God then works in me through the word, through the spirit, through the body of Christ and helps me to see

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Christ afresh. I mean, I can I know everyone here can testify to it. It is in those trials that I've got, you have gotten to see the hand of God in a way that you haven't seen before.

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Those scriptures have come alive in a way that they have been anchored, those Gilgal moments. So what you're going through now will soon be a pile of stones in the

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Gilgal fashion where you can look back and say, I know how to trust the Lord through that. I'll close with this example.

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When I lost my job, the last job, I was assuming that I never really counted on money or the job as my main source.

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I trust in the Lord, but I had to be without a job for nine months before I realized, oh man, I have a lot of attachments that I didn't realize.

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And the Lord had to kind of work through me, work in me through that trial in order to say, you know, no,

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Christ is my all sufficient fortress upon whom I should lead. Does that help?

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Did I actually answer your question or did I go off on a tangent? OK, because I tend to do that.

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All right. So that was good. Thank you for sharing. Any other final thoughts? Yeah, the gospel is the center.

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I am. My position is secure and my savior is with me and he'll help me.

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Yeah. And especially this Christmas, I think we could remember with Cody's message from John one, we have received.

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Moses gave us the law, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Loving Father, we thank you for this time.

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And I pray, Father, that even through each of us broken vessels here, you will showcase your grace, mercy, tenderness and love that when the world sees us, they will get to see not us, but your power, your mighty power at work in feeble people like us, that you make it all the glory.

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Lord, we commit the service into your hand and we pray that you would help us to worship you in spirit and in truth.