VACATION TIME IN 2008

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Charity and I had one of the better vacations in Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas this year.

Bob Temple, Charity's dad is on a missionary trip, and he said we could use his car, and our gas expenses was provided, and we were set.

I will be posting some of the pictures from our vacation over the next few days.

If you would like to visit my sister's blog which is about Mom and learn about our vacation in Texas, I believe you would enjoy the articles that Ellen has written. click and view.

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Stay turn

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COMPETENT TO COUNSEL BIBLICALLY

REVIEW:

SOME OBJECTIVES TO BIBLICAL COUNSELING

• A system of biblical truth that brings together people, their problems, and the living God. With the conviction that:
• God’s Word should be our counseling authority
• Counseling is a part of the basic discipling ministry of the local church.
• God’s people can and should be trained to counsel effectively.

The term that is used is "Nouthetic confrontation." Let’s look at the meaning of the term.

All Christians should engage in it. "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and (for the moment we shall simply transliterate the next word) confronting one another nouthetically." Colossians 3:16.

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There are at least three basic elements according to Jay Adams.

• 1 "to teach" The term "didasko" does not imply any problem, but simply suggests the communication of data (teaching); making information known, clear, understandable and memorable.


• "to admonish". Here is the idea: the sense of admonishing with blame, and to rebuke. That is never well liked. The idea of "nouthesis" gives the idea, there is going to be some kind of confrontation in which the objective is to effect a character and behavior change in the person you are talking to one on one.

Today:

THIRD POINT: 3 "for correction." I Corinthians 4:14. Paul wanted to confront but with care, because you are my beloved children.. He wanted to correct with the intent to benefit the person.

Paul would get his point across without screaming at them. He didn’t want to "exasperate" them. He would confront them as a "brother". II Thessalonians 3:15.

The third point of nouthetic counseling suggests changing that in his life which hurts the counselee. The idea is not to punish them but to help them. How often have I seen how the "what" they were doing in their life was only hurting them. Their behavior was hurting them, their thinking was hurting them. Their life was a mess. When they came for counseling, they were in trouble.

Generally I would counsel those in our church family, those who were our dear friends. I cared for each member of our church family. I was deeply concerned for their well being. Nouthesis is motivated by love and deep concern, in which you are willing to give advice, admonish, warn, do what you could to bring about change of behavior and change of mind. I often had strange ways of doing this very idea.

As Paul said in Colossians 1:28, in order that every man may be presented to Christ mature and complete. And the best way that can be done is to apply the principles of Scripture.

Scripture in II Timothy is used nouthetically. Reproving, teaching, correcting, and training men in righteousness. I believe scripture can instruct us in the manner that Christ would have us to think, behave, and believe about how to live life.

We get into the "what’s" of life because we are not personally confronted with the Scriptures.

We get into bad behavior and bad thinking when we are not confronted with Scripture. We get into the "why" when we don’t have a clear understanding of Scripture.

2 Timothy 4:21 "Preach the Word." I heard that a lot. "be ready in season and out of season," in the pulpit, in the foyer, in the class room, in the home, at the ball park, just about anywhere "reprove, rebuke, exhort", but note "with great patience and instruction." (I did have a little trouble with patience, and tactful instruction.).

I believe it’s a balance. Some preachers push people to guilt for wrong living and behavior with Scriptural teaching. Others will preach or teach scripture without any confronting.

There is a difference between how preachers and preachers versus how John MacArthur preaches.

Paul thought of bringing God’s word to press upon people’s lives in order to uncover sinful patterns, to remedy what is wrong, and to set new ways of life of which God approves.

John MacArthur said, I preach with the authority of Scripture, I want to push people back up against the wall as it were, and confront them with the principles of Scripture and the will of God, and force then to face life in the light of Scripture. Getting them to understand the "what" they are doing, is either right or wrong biblically, and help them know the "why" they are giving is not biblical, nor for their best interest, or for the glory of God. ( a very loose paraphrase of what John was saying)
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VACATION CONTINUES

April 15th, 2007 I know most know this day as IRS day, but today is my Mom's Pauline Whisnant's 86th birthday. She is really doing very well. Charity and I are visiting her for a few days. We are taking a lot of pictures and when I get back to Portsmouth, I am going to post some pictures of our visit with Mom and the family.

On this date last year in 2007 Charity and I anda Ellen and Stephen and Mom were in Lynchburg, Virginia visiting with Jerry and Macel Falwell. Jerry passed away one month later on May 15th, 2007. Ellen has talked to Macel several times. Macel sent me some pictures she had of Dad and Mom and me, and a picture of her when she was a teenager in Dad's church in Lynchburg.

As I have said, Stephen will be going to Liberty U this fall. Thanks to Jerry and Macel Falwell. And thanks also for my Dad and Mom who have been a friend to the Falwell's for all these years.

We enjoyed our daughter with us for a few days, here in Midlothian, Texas, and she drove back yesterday evening to Kansas.

We enjoyed time with Bryan and April Williams, Ellen's daughter, and their three kids. I realized at 60 I am out of shape playing with pre school kids. But not out of shape drinking a large Braum's milk shake, a tradition I have with Brian.

Brian and I were talking about PRAYER: Some people will pray what to do, while sitting when they should be doing, waiting for an answer. Others are doing and praying while they are doing, and helping when they know it's what the answer would be from the Lord if they prayed about it.

Some will say, "I will pray about it," others will say, "Yes I will go and help," Sometimes praying for an answer, gets in the way of doing what the Lord has already told us to be ready to do at a moment's notice. Sometimes the Lord has already given the answer to our question in prayer, we just need to do it. Usually I do not hear a voice from God, generally the Lord has already addressed the issues of life in the Word. I need to read as much as I need to pray. I need to obey as much as I would pray. I need to do as much as I need to pray.

I would say if we spend time in the Word, and listening to the Gospel, and teaching of the Word, we would have a good idea as to how we should live in obedience of the Lord. We would do more doing and serving than wondering what the Lord would have us to do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I LOVE YOU Charles and Charity

VACATION TIME

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We are in Midlothian Texas, Herschel and Ellen Samples home. My mother lives with them, and Stephen who is a senior and will be going this fall to Liberty U.

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We had a great day on Sunday. I went to church with Stephen and then after church made a few stops on the way home to check for good "Hot Wheels". While the girls shops, Becky, Charity and April, I watched the Masters with Mom, and Bry and Herschel put together a outside swing for Mom. And Ellen was at a meeting. And Stephen watched the boys for April and Bry.

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The girls returned, and April is the photo girl, so she took some great photo shots of Charity and I and Becky and Mom. We then had a great late supper, just before Mom was about to die of hunger. She wanted to see her 86 birthday on Tuesday. The meal was great, the ice cream was good as well.

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VACATION TIME

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• Charity and I will take a few days to travel to Lexington KY to visit our boys. Spent the night with Eric and Leslie. On Friday we traveled 434 miles to Southaven Mi s s i s s i p p i. to visit with Susan Lugar. On Satursday we will end up in Midlothian Tx. My sister Ellen and husband and Stephen live there. And my mother who will be 86 on the 15th lives there too. So we are glad to get a change to visit family and friends this weekend weekend and a few days next week. Our trip is just under 2000 miles round trip.

• I was pleasantly surprise by my children on Friday, they had bought me a Scanner. Those pictures on the blog were pictures made from the orginials by my digital, so they thought it would be nice to be able to scan the orginial pictures. Now I really can have enjoyment doing it right: as soon as I learn how to use the Scanner. GROW BY LEARNING as I say.

DENNIS AND SUSAN LUGAR have a wonderful God blessed ministry here in Southaven. I will give more deal about the ministry as soon as I can. I have taken some wonderful pictures of their new building, and as soon as I can get them on the computer I will post them.

We are spending the night with the Lugar's and they are just minutes from the Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, oh the team that KANSAS Jayhawks won to take the 2008 Basketball Championship. Both teams were great this year. No team had won more games than Memphis this year.

I learned today from their son Jonathan that FED X mail hub for over night for all the USA comes through Memphis. They have over 240 jets that come in and out of Memphis at night.

BIBLICAL COUNSELING: HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Review:

There are at least three basic elements according to Jay Adams.

1 "to teach" The term "didasko" does not imply any problem, but simply suggests the communication of data (teaching); making information known, clear, understandable and memorable.

2 "to admonish". Here is the idea: the sense of admonishing with blame, and to rebuke. That is never well liked. The idea of "nouthesis" gives the idea, there is going to be some kind of confrontation in which the objective is to effect a character and behavior change in the person you are talking to one on one

• Here is what Adams said,
  "Nouthetic confrontation, that is one on one, in its biblical usage, aims at straightening out the individual by changing his pattern of behavior to conform to biblical standard."

When I was a Juvenile Probation Officer, when talking with a kid that had just robbed his mother of $100, I didn’t say, "Son, why did you do that?" I knew why. I wanted to deal with the "What" What was done? What must be done to rectify it? "Young man, what you did, was really bad." What are you going to do about it?"

So I wanted to deal with the "what" rather than the "why." You know the why? The reason people get in trouble or have trouble, even if they don’t know that they are in trouble with God, is their relationship with God and others because of their sinful nature..

Christians do not have to ask the question "why". They already know why fallen human nature acts sinfully. Many do not see the "what" as sinful behavior. It’s a chemical imbalance or "I don’t see why it’s a problem."

By the way, nouthetic counseling doesn’t take weeks to solve, unlike what most psychiatrists are saying is needed -- months and maybe years

"What" leads to solutions to problems'

"What are you doing?" That is a very good question to ask, rather than "Why did you do that?"

Now you might think: Isn’t that what a Christian should do? Yes, but it’s often the last thing we do. We will use the secular points of view. We will say, "I am depressed." "I have a chemical imbalance." "I am bi-polar." etc. Most of the time we will know the secular term and not the biblical term of our problems. All these terms are secular and are not biblical terms.
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Can I ask, "What does God say about what you are doing?" And secondly, what can be done about this situation? Many times they don’t like these questions.
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HERE IS THE POINT OF NOUTHETIC BIBLICAL COUNSELING CONFRONTING:

Biblical counseling seeks to correct sinful behavior patterns by personal confrontation and repentance. "The what you are in to, or what you are doing, by biblical standard is not what Christ would have you to do." And what are you going to do about it?
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Until they see and understand the "why" they won’t clearly see why the "what" is wrong. And they want see why the need to change is needed. The "why" of every problem is sin. When we understand the sin problem we will have and idea that the "what" is wrong.

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So the point is to try to bring about change of direction in the thinking and behavior that would be beneficial to the person and be glorifying to Christ rather than what is most convenient for the person.

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Adams says this:

• "Any biblically legitimate verbal means may be employed that will bring about change in the direction of greater conformity to biblical principles and practice."