Latest Posts:
Divine Council
Tag

Community

Browsing
biblical counseling banner
Bible

10 Distinctives of Biblical Counseling

By

by Paul Tautges

People often ask me how biblical counseling differs from other approaches to soul care. Here’s a summary I’ve been teaching for almost two decades, which I hope will help you grow in understanding sanctification. This week, look up the Scriptures listed and meditate on God’s abundant provision through the Spirit and the Word. See how each piece fits together. This study will be a healthy meal for your soul.

Biblical counseling believes:

1. The Bible is the all-sufficient source of Truth.

  • Scripture is pure truth (Ps. 119:140, 160).
  • Scripture is sufficient to identify the deepest needs of our soul, and meet them (Ps. 19:7-11; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
  • Scripture is the instrumental means the Spirit uses to transform us from the inside out, even sanctifying our motivations (John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 4:12).
  • Scripture is the judge of all man-made philosophy and theory, as to whether or not it is accurate, corrupts the gospel, or diminishes Christ (1 Cor. 2:11-16; Col. 2:8-10; 2 Cor. 10-4-6).

2. Man is totally depraved, accountable to God, and responsible for his thoughts and actions.

  • Man’s heart is wicked and deceitful (Jer. 17:9).
  • Man’s heart is motivated by love for self, and is addicted to sin (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 6:13).
  • Man will give an account of himself to God (Rom. 14:12; 1 Pet. 4:4-5).
  • Man is responsible for his own temptation and sin (James 1:13-16).
  • But man can be rescued and redeemed by Jesus Christ—becoming a new creature in Him (2 Cor. 5:17).

3. God’s goal for every believer is to be like Jesus Christ.

  • The Christian life begins with regeneration, being born-again by the Spirit through the Word of truth, the gospel (John 3:1-8; 1 Pet. 1:3).
  • God has predestined believers to become conformed to the image of His Son, thus this is God’s goal (Rom. 8:29).
  • God is renewing the believer’s self into the image of Christ, as we put off the old and put on the new (Col. 3:9-10; Eph. 4:17-32).

4. The Holy Spirit is the agent of heart change, which produces change of behavior.

  • The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ as we behold Him in the Word (2 Cor. 3:18).
  • The Holy Spirit progressively trains us in godliness and develops new attitudes and lifestyle as we walk in the Word (Gal. 5:22-25).

Counseling One Another

5. Every Christian is fully equipped in Christ for godliness, but submission to God’s training is required.

  • God’s power is sufficient to live a life that is pleasing to Him, having already been accepted in Christ (2 Pet. 1:2-7; Eph. 1:6).
  • God will finish the sanctifying work which He began at conversion, but not without the personal discipline of the believer (Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13).
  • Suffering is one of the chief means the heavenly Father employs to train us in godliness and discipline (Heb. 12:4-11).

6. Sanctification is a process requiring ongoing repentance and personal discipline toward godliness.

  • Discipline the thoughts of the mind (Rom. 12:1-2).
  • Discipline the desires of the heart (James 4:1-3).
  • Discipline the habits of life (Eph. 4:22-32).

Read the Whole Article

Do you find these posts helpful and informative? Please CLICK HERE to help keep us going!

by
Keep Reading
Believers

37 Ways to Love One Another

By

by Paul Tautges

A local church is not built by one man, or even a few men, but by every believer being actively involved in ministry through evangelizing the lost people in their lives and serving their fellow Christians. A quick glance at the practice of the New Testament church reveals that they thought very little about programs and very much about relationships.

Consider the disciple-making that would naturally take place in the life of a local church if every believer would practice the loving, one-another ministry that the early churches first read about in the instructions they received from the apostles:

  1. Be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10).
  2. Give preference to one another (Rom. 12:10).
  3. Be of the same mind toward one another (Rom. 12:16).
  4. Accept one another by withholding judgment (Rom. 14:1).
  5. Accept one another by showing deference (Rom. 14:1–5; 15:7).
  6. Esteem [highly regard] one another in love (Rom. 14:5; Phil. 2:3).
  7. Build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11).
  8. Counsel one another (Rom. 15:14).
  9. Serve one another by showing deference in matters of liberty (Gal. 5:13).
  10. Bear one another’s sin burdens (Gal. 6:2).
  11. Be gentle with one another (Eph. 4:2).
  12. Be kind to one another so as to preserve unity (Eph. 4:32).
  13. Speak truth to one another (Eph. 4:25; Col 3:9).
  14. Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21).
  15. Show compassion to one another (Col. 3:12).
  16. Bear with the inherent sinfulness of one another (Col. 3:13).
  17. Forgive one another (Col. 3:13).
  18. Use Spirit-filled, Word-saturated music to teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19).
  19. Comfort one another with the hope of Christ’s return (1 Thes. 4:18).
  20. Encourage one another (1 Thes. 5:11).
  21. Live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13).
  22. Seek good for one another (1 Thes. 5:15).
  23. Encourage one another to forsake unbelief and hardness of heart (Heb. 3:13).
  24. Stimulate one another to spiritual growth (Heb. 10:24).
  25. Encourage one another by faithful participation in your local church (Heb. 10:25).
  26. Confess sins to one another (James 5:16).
  27. Pray for one another’s spiritual and physical healing (James 5:16).

Read the Whole Article

Do you find these posts helpful and informative? Please CLICK HERE to help keep us going!

by
Keep Reading
Map of Miqlat Network
Community

Find Believers Near You Interested in The Divine Council with the New Miqlat Network!

By

If you want to find believers near you interested in The Divine Council, the Naked Bible Podcast, and other Biblical material produced by Dr. Michael Heiser, check out the new MIQLAT Network!

The link to join the network is published inside each issue of Dr. Heiser’s newsletter so you must be subscribed to the Miqlat Newsletter to join.

It’s up to you to exchange contact info with those who contact you via the network. If you don’t want to give out your email address feel free to resume your conversation on the DivineCouncil.org forum via private thread, private message, or live chat.

I’ve already found four local people I would not have known about, otherwise!

by
Keep Reading
First Words Sponsor
Church

DC Has Product Sponsor for Logos Mobile Ed Subscription!

By

First off, thank you to the 42 believers who responded to the question posed in the last email, “Would you take advantage of free access to ALL the courses in the Mobile Ed catalog?”

Now that FaithLife has agreed to reinstate our subscription from last year, it’s truly heartening to hear how these courses would bring scholarly insight into God’s Word all over the globe.

We even had five subscribers donate $95 towards this mission which is more helpful than you might imagine.

I’m excited to share the news that we now have a product sponsor who will put 100% of the proceeds of sales of “First Words” towards DivineCouncil.org’s Logos Mobile Ed yearly subscription!

Yes! Until we reach our goal for this mission, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to DC to help get us there. So, even if you don’t happen to be in the market, you can still help by forwarding “First Words” to family, friends, or anyone you know who might be interested. For example, do you know anyone in the mission field in Latin America who might want to get a jumpstart on their Spanish?

“First Words” is a father’s quest to present (via digital flashcards) the 1000 most optimal “First Words” to begin teaching his children Spanish, French, Latin, & Greek.

These are not just any words; they are 1000 of the most frequently used words in each language (though only Spanish is currently available.) All the words on the 1000 Optimal First Words list are in the top 5000 most frequently used words in Spanish. And 787 of them are in the top 3000! That makes them pure gold for the student first learning Spanish.

You can read the story of “First Words” discovery here and how the quest began. The Sales Page explains in detail precisely why learning these words first is the optimal way to jumpstart your way into practical usage and language mastery overnight.


by
Keep Reading
Christian-Daily-Reporter-Blog-art
Art

A Christian ‘Drudge Report’

By

Adam Ford, the man behind The Babylon Bee, has started a Christian “Drudge Report” called the “Christian Daily Reporter.” If you enjoy Adam’s comics and humor on “The Bee,” you might be interested in the daily news articles Adam finds important enough to share with other believers.

At the bottom of the Christian Daily Reporter page, Adam links to a manifesto where he explains the motivation and purpose of his new website. His two headers say it all:

Stop letting Facebook and Google dictate which news and opinions you are allowed to see.

The Christian Daily Reporter is a source for the most important news and content from a Christian perspective — and it lives outside the tech-giant information choke hold.

by
Keep Reading
DC Header 750
God

The DivineCouncil.org Forum & Website is Born!

By

A few months ago, there was a 60-day preview of Unseen Realm on LOGOS and Michael Heiser asked some of his more veteran readers to help shepherd newcomers to the material on the FaithLife Forum.

Growing out of those discussions has been what I hope to be the first sister website and forum for writers, artists, and believers looking to interact with others on the material: DivineCouncil.org.

What is it?

It’s a full website & forum with three writers contributing to the front page blog. I hope the site may also serve as an outlet for others. So, if there are any believing writers, artists, photographers etc. Looking to contribute, this might be a good fit for you.

The forum part of the site is structured around the Unseen Realm in terms of the overarching missions of Jesus. We are organizing it to be a central hub for small groups to share materials and study the Word of God, wherever they are on the planet!

So What?

There’s a special resource manager setup to disseminate materials to small groups and make it easier to find things to bring to your church. Each resource can be reviewed, and have discussions formed around them, so people know how they can be used, the ideal audience, attributions, etc.

There’s also a live chat area, so you might be able to catch fellow listeners online for a brief chat while you’re on the forum.

Better than Facebook!

Facebook is fun, but if you’re tired of conversations scrolling off the screen (and other FB pitfalls) the private forum environment is more conducive to organized and focused discussions that can be searched later by yourself and others.

So, if you’re looking for a more private and trusted environment for discussions around this material you have another option available in which to do that. And, if your looking to start a small group, our forum may be the ideal place in which to find, organize, and disseminate the optimal subjects of study for your group!

What Next?

Over 50 people have signed-up to the forum in the first week, and the platform will scale up to as large as it needs to be.

If you’d like to use the forum to organize (and optimize) your small group, send Terence an e-mail at tg@McGillespie.com so he can set you up.

Nathan, Terence, and Zechariah hope DivineCoucil.org will fill a need for the Kingdom, empower small groups, and be a worthy site for the Church.

See you there!

DivineCouncil.org Website
DivineCouncil.org Forum

by
Keep Reading