Biblical Counseling - What is Biblical Counseling? - Part II

The handout and the divider is the same as last week, so nothing has changed there. We've got Parts 1 and Parts 2 of Biblical Counseling. Now, what is it? There's a divider in the binder to divide between Biblical Anthropology and the Biblical Counseling, especially since we start with a different set of page numbers, different set of appendix items, that kind of thing. Anyway, you'll need to pick one up if you didn't get one last week. If you got one last week, you're already there. Alright, so our biblical counseling, part two, and this is page four. Just to go over it, last week we looked at some words used throughout the New Testament from Acts all the way through the end of the epistles.

And some of those words were like parakaleo, which means to call alongside. It is essentially the verb for counsel. The noun is an equivalent. And there are various other words we looked at. Paramuthia is one to come alongside, but with tenderness. Now, what we're looking at is another set of words that comes up in the New Testament that also has the sense of counseling, biblical counsel, and it starts off with what's commonly translated as one another. You have an appendix item. There's this pink sheet in there, and behind your pink sheet is Biblical Counseling, Appendix Item 1, it's a survey of one another's from Acts and the Epistles, and a number of those one another's are this word that we'll be looking at next here.

Now this is an odd, I'll have to say it's almost ironic. The word that's translated one another in many places in the New Testament is allelon, and it's not all alone. You can't do one another's all alone, right? So, it's ironic. But that is the word very commonly used for what is translated, one another. And it has to do with our interactions among ourselves in the body of Christ. The way we interact with each other. And frequently, it's a calling to a certain action or a calling away from some action.

Why would there be these one-and-others, the all-alones, in the New Testament? How come they keep popping up? Yeah? I guess in contrast with the Old Testament approach, where it's between you and God, and the relationships between you and others are important, yes. You're in the New Testament, you're after a new thing. And so you have to rebuild the relationship based on a new paradigm, which is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. An important insight, isn't it? What's different between the Old Testament times, and now here in the New Testament starting in Acts 2? What's different?

In other words, the Jews in the Old Testament times, and the Gentiles that were saved, In neither case did they have the promise of universal, that is, every single person all the time being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. For us in the church, starting from the time recorded in Acts chapter 2, all Christians, in other words, everyone who is saved by faith in Christ, all Christians are all indwelt by the Holy Spirit all the time. No exceptions. So there's a big difference there. What else is going on? What else is different about this time, starting in Acts 2, the time of the church? What's different?

How we're treated. Pardon? How we're treated individually or as a group. Okay, how we're treated individually as a group. What do you mean by that? In the Old Testament, there was, as a group. As in the New Testament, we're treated individually as the Lord handles our salvation. Our salvation is one person at a time, isn't it? Each one who believes. But as we've been seeing, and we'll see again today in our study in the main service, The Lord has in mind a spiritual growth for each individual and for us as a church body, both. So both of those are taking place.

And that idea of spiritual growth wasn't something you really see showing up in the Old Testament. And both individually and as a body, that's something that didn't show up in the Old Testament. We say, as a body, whose body are we? The body of Christ. And that wasn't the case in the Old Testament. Old Testament believers were not a part of the body of Christ.

God is doing something new since Acts 2. And I'm not trying to rhyme. God is doing something new since Acts 2. And that new thing that he's doing is we are, as believers, even though as Norm pointed out, we are saved one at a time, we are placed into 1 Corinthians chapter 12, placed into the body of Christ.

And that being the case, we are made to have a relationship with one another, and that's God's very intent. It's not an incidental, it's not just a sideline, but it is a major feature of who we are now in Christ. We are part of and have been placed into the body of Christ. Our interactions with one another now matter, whereas in the Old Testament, interactions mattered, but not in the same way. We've got a new thing going on here.

OK, now, so we have these one another passages. They fall into what would qualify as the activity of biblical counseling. We're going to look at sort of an overview of some of these passages, sort of hit several of them to get the idea. And what we're going to see is the words that we talked about last week are going to crop up again alongside this allelon, one another word.

Here's Romans 15-14, and you have it there in about the middle of page four on your handout. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, Able also to admonish. There was a word we looked at last week. Admonish is nuthateo, to place in the mind. You are able to place truth into the mind of one another. Why would that be important? Why would that matter? Is it sort of optional? Or just sort of icing on the cake? Or why does it matter that we place truths in one another's minds?

To catalyze spiritual growth. To catalyze spiritual growth. Now, I can tell you have a background in chemistry. What do you mean by catalyze? I mean, I grew up on a farm. Does that have anything to do with that? It's kind of like a supply fertilizer in your terminal. That comes out of the tail end of the cattle. Alright, we're getting a little bit off track here. I'm not sure how.

What does truth do in the life of the believer? What is the value of truth in the life of the believer? What does it accomplish? Pardon? Growth, okay. And how does that happen? How do we know that happens? Because the Word says it does. Can you tell us which part of the Word says it does?

1 Peter 2.2. To long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow.

Yes, Gail? Truth brings stability. And why does truth bring stability? That's a good point. Because you have that to rely on. Truth brings stability. We live in a world, boy, things change. I mean, things may change in a lot of ways before the end of today. Lots of things change in our world. And truth, truth with a capital T, Biblical truth, truth that is defined by Jesus Christ, that brings stability. Because why? He doesn't change. I the Lord do not change, he says. Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today and forever.

Truth brings stability. Good. What else? What else is true about this truth that is placed in the mind? It gives peace. It gives peace. Why does it give peace? Because you have nothing to doubt. There is peace because you have nothing to doubt. There is something you can count upon. And it goes back to the stability aspect of it, doesn't it? So the stability and the peace go together. What else? You can rest. You can rest. A rest of heart. Even in circumstances that aren't very restful.

Hebrews 4.12 tells us something else about the truth that we have in God's Word.

How deep does it go? How deep does the Word of God go? Pardon? All the way to our spirit. Yes, right between the dividing line between soul and spirit. Now, I've studied all kinds of things in engineering school and all sorts of things and I packed it in the gray matter, but no engineering formula goes to the place where the Word of God does. It just doesn't get there. The Word of God goes to the deepest part of a person's heart. And I'm still not trying to rhyme, honest.

And so that is something else. The truth that we're talking about placing in someone else's mind isn't just to fill the gray matter. It is truth that reaches deep, deep where nothing else gets. So that's one thing. If you start looking at this, this is very special truth that we're sharing, isn't it? This isn't just E equals MC squared or some other scientific or engineering formula. This is truth that's good forever. This is truth that lasts. And so we have a place with one another for that placing in the mind. That's one of the words that we covered last week that is used for counseling.

Okay, so in this verse, and also on the prior page, that is page 3, Paul is certain that these believers are able to admonish one another since they have both a level of understanding of the truth and a reality in their lives. He had made statements, as a matter of fact, three of them in chapter 6 that says, you know this truth, you know that one, and you know this other truth. Paul says that they know these truths already.

That would imply that the believers in the churches there that some churches might not yet be at that place. Maybe the church is really young and they're really not able to begin placing truth in one another's minds. So it is a part of spiritual growth to be able to place truth in the mind of another believer. The other thing is that when you say one another, does that seem to indicate a small part of the church body?

Maybe most or maybe even all. What do you think? Pardon? All. Yeah, this is a generalization, most to all. It isn't, okay, we've got a certain number of folks here who can counsel. But this is in fact something that a large number of the believers, perhaps most to all, are able to share this truth, to place truth in the minds of another, to counsel biblically. Let's look at the quote there in Galatians 6, 1-5.

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. I'm going to continue on with that, but let's ask a question or two.

Anyone's caught in any trespass, does that mean they walk past a no trespassing sign? What does it mean to be caught in a trespass? What's that? Sin, right? Okay. Yeah, if you were to look at the physical equivalent, it would be like, you know, you call 911 on your cell phone, and you say, I got my foot caught in a trespass, right? No, what this is talking about is, as a believer, trespass means to fall alongside but off the path. To fall alongside but off the path. And then, so here's someone who has fallen alongside but off the path spiritually.

You who are spiritual, does that mean that those are the people who are really conceited and stuck up and have a high sense of self-esteem? What does this mean, you who are spiritual? Yeah, you who are walking in the Spirit. Remember that this is the beginning of chapter 6. He had just, verses before, talked about walking in the Spirit. You who are walking in the Spirit are the ones who are spiritual. You who are walking in fellowship with the Spirit are qualified to come alongside this brother. See that? You who are walking in fellowship with the Holy Spirit are qualified to come alongside this brother. And then do what? Really give him what for? Really come down on him hard? What's going to happen there? What's the goal of coming alongside this brother who's been caught in a trespass? To fall alongside the path.

Restoration. Yes, restoration work. It's restoration work. That's what you're aiming for. This isn't a we're going to come down really hard and stomp this guy, but good. Make sure he never does it again because he won't live through it. No. It's a coming alongside with the intent to restore. So notice what happens.

Someone has fallen off the path. Someone comes along who is aware of the problem, but is walking in fellowship with the Lord, is the one qualified to counsel with the goal of restoration. What do you want them to do? You want the person who's fallen off the path to be restored to walking back on the path of fellowship. Right? So that's what it's about. All right.

Now, and then each one looking to himself so the U2 will not be tempted. What's the issue there? What's the caution? Sometimes you get so into the situation, you want to throw yourself into it instead of letting the Lord lead you and Him. Yeah. Remember one of the things we talked about last time? We said what's to keep biblical counseling from turning into, okay, now you're my project. What are some of the precautions He gives here? What are some of the precautions that he gives here in this verse? Verse 6-1.

Test your own actions. And what else? What else are you looking to? First of all, that person is, what is he? Spiritual, walking in the Spirit. And then what else? Humility? Would humility be part of it? Yeah, he says, first look to yourself. Does this mean I've got to behold myself and look to my inner self? What's he talking about? Yeah, Gail?

I think it's possible when talking with other people too, you eventually get around to their rationalizations of why they do this, have done this, that, and the other. I think it's easy to be deceived, even as a counselor, into thinking, well yeah, that's okay, maybe I should do it too. Okay. Yeah, a counselor can be in a spot of getting sucked into the same problem. That's number one. A counselor can get sucked into what other temptations? What's that? Gossip. Gossip.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have a prayer request. Did you hear about Joe and he's got, you know? Yeah. Okay. So all of a sudden a prayer meeting turns into the gossip column. Okay. And what else? We're not done. Condemnation. Oh yeah, hey boy, you really got a problem there and let me tell you about it. Am I ever going to straighten you out? Yeah, and here I got a 12-pound sledgehammer and we're going to fix you.

Yeah, it is possible to fall into these things and we've noticed already these are multiple risks. So that's why he doesn't say, you who are spiritual, go in and restore them. But, and period, but you who are spiritual restore, and then here's the cautions. Here's the other cautions. The positive statement is you who are walking in the spirit. The negative cautions there are, watch out for this and watch out for that. Because as we've listed, there are several risks out there.

Now, let's look at 2 through the end of the passage in verse 5. Bear one another's, here's the allelon, that isn't allelon. Bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. And he just got through spending five chapters telling them they weren't under the law. So what is he talking about? Okay. What does he mean by the law of Christ? We went over this not too many months ago in our study of Galatians. Huh? Love? I mean Jesus said love one another. That would be... This is law as principle. That is, law as fundamental truth, not as, here's a rule and you better obey it or else you're going to get stoned to death. It is law to be carried out by the Lord's resources, not my own best efforts. All right. Now, if anyone thinks he has something when he has nothing, he deceives himself.

Isn't this part of the risk of restoration? Restoration work? That someone goes in, oh boy, now I'm the counselor, and let me tell you, I got wisdom to pass on. Just you settle down there while I let you know, see? All of a sudden, here's the hazard out there, eh? Someone can all of a sudden have a sense of their own value and self-worth. We are going to touch on that later, but let me touch on it quickly.

What we find in scripture is there is a sequence of things that fall under, I think the term that's often used is church discipline. And it goes briefly like this. That initially, we as believers are to be actually judging ourselves. This is what Paul calls for in 1 Corinthians when the believers are having a problem in the way that they take the Lord's table.

Okay? First of all, looking to ourselves, and then, but if we see another brother or sister who is stumbled off the path, then we have a place of going to them personally and individually. And the biblical priority here is the smallest number of people that are involved that are necessary to deal with it. So that if a person is not dealing with the issue themselves, then one other person goes and talks to them in private. Then two or three witnesses come alongside if that's refused. And that's your question. What if they refuse? And if they refuse that, then the next step is to take it before the whole church. I'll give you a quick example.

Years back, Nancy and I at different times had gone to this fellow's house. His name was Lambert Dolphin. He's got a website you can find easily. Lambert Dolphin. He was a single fellow, Christian, neat guy. We used to have all kinds of meetings there. I remember we were having a meeting there and he interrupted us three times to introduce us to people who had just come to the Lord. People he'd just been talking to that evening had just come to the Lord.

Well, at one point I was shocked, and I think it's good that I was shocked, to hear that Lambert had been drawn into a homosexual lifestyle and had, going through these steps, you know, one person and then two or three witnesses and then finally the whole church, it was brought before the church body that he had insisted on this lifestyle. And so the pastor who was presenting was in tears. over this brother who had insisted on going down this path. Well, about two years after that, they had a welcoming home party for Lambert.

And he said, you know, I realized I had gone off the track. But he says, it was the way it was handled biblically. It was the way it was handled when I departed that allowed me to come back. in matter of fact, was instrumental in causing me to come back. And since I last saw him, boy, that was over 20 years ago, but since then he, to the best of my knowledge, has continued to walk in fellowship with the Lord.

But case in point, that's kind of the sequence, we'll go into that more at some later point in time, but that can't happen, can it? In other words, he gives the instance here, You go ahead and restore him, he doesn't say what to do, because that shows up in other passages. So we will get to that in more detail, but thanks for asking that, that's an important one.

Okay, now then the next one, but each one must examine his own work, then you have reason for boasting, and this is glorying, this isn't selfish boasting. in regard to himself alone and not regard to another. Each one will bear his own load. Now, how does each one will bear his own load compare with verse 2, bear one another's burdens?

Is that a conflict in Scripture? Have we got them? Gotcha! Bible contradiction, right? No, it's not. Each one will bear his own small load. bear one another's excessive burdens. So that means if somebody else is not carrying what should be their reasonable and expected load, they shouldn't burden the church with that. That's not up to us to go and carry the load that they should reasonably and normally be expected to handle. It's the excessive over the top. It's the big wallop that hits him that he's talking about here.

Okay, let's shift on to the next page, page 5. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18. This is one, the whole book of 1 Thessalonians addresses what's known as the rapture, the second coming of Christ. This is when the Father will say to the Son, go get your bride. And we won't go through the entire passage here, but what He wants the believers in Thessalonica to get is, He said, you need to understand that the Lord will come and take His church, and here's how it's going to happen. But look at verse 18.

And this is the parakaleo, the call alongside word that we talked about last week. Comfort one another with these words. As believers, we have a place of comforting one another, of coming alongside and offering comfort to one another. Why is it a comfort to be able to talk about the Lord's coming? Yeah, it is. As a matter of fact, Paul calls it the blessed hope of the believer. The blessed hope, right? Yeah, our blessed hope. When a believer dies, is that a sad event or a joyous event or both? What is it? It's both, isn't it? We're going to certainly miss them, but it's not all over, is it?

There was a girl that used to live around the corner from me that I played with when I was young, off and on. And it turns out she was born on the same day as Nancy. And she and Nancy went to high school together. I didn't go to high school with this girl because I moved away.

Well, several years back, We got a phone call from her. She was dying of breast cancer. And so we went to Carson City and I did the gravesite service. And this passage right here is what we went to. Why? It's very comforting. It's very comforting to know that will we miss Susan? Oh yes, we'll miss her. to be able to come there and say, every believer can look at this and take comfort because we don't say goodbye ever for the last time. We don't say goodbye for the last time. And for that person, it's a home going.

And in fact, if anything, I suppose we could be sort of jealous because they got there first. They got there ahead of us. So did the Lord use you to evangelize that past girlfriend, Planksy? What's interesting is she became a believer, but it was something I was quite unaware of how it all took place until a lot later.

Alright, here's 1 Thessalonians 5, 9 through 11. It's just the same chapter and a similar A similar kind of message. Look in 1 Thessalonians 5, 9-11, For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, that is, whether we are alive when the Lord comes, or whether we have died, and he calls it asleep, because then those are awakened at that point, we will live together with him. Therefore, encourage, this is the parakaleo, to come alongside, encourage one another, here's the all alone word that doesn't mean all alone, here's the all alone word, and build up one another, all alone, just as you are doing.

And one of the things we're going to see in our Ephesians 4 passage talks about building up the body of Christ. So this interaction is taking place. Remember the ways in which Christ's life is expressed in believers. Christ's life in you, Christ's life through you, Christ's life between and among us. That's the message we get repeatedly here from scripture. So these are passages that talk about our encouragement of one another.

How many of you have been to a situation where a believer has gone home to be with the Lord and have seen that while there is a sadness, there is also a joy? Have you seen that? Yeah. Yeah. I can remember being, I was about ten years old and one of my Sunday school teachers, the husband had gone home to be with the Lord. And I was just astounded. At the end of the service, it was the Hallelujah Chorus. And it was a joyous thing. It was a wonderful thing because it was a home going for him.

Now, let's look at Hebrews 10, 23 through 25. Hebrews is a book, by the way, that has a number of shipping, nautical terms. Which is real curious, but all spread throughout the book and it shows up here. Let us hold fast. This is like tying on the ropes and onto the pier. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another. Ever think of coming to church and stimulating one another? How do you do that? Yes? That's baffling, huh?

Well, just in conversation, to a certain extent. Oh, okay. Yeah. Conversation. Hopefully it's nothing from the magic shop or the joke shop or anything. Yeah. Conversation is the way it happens. Stimulate one another. Here's the all alone word that doesn't mean all alone. To what? Stimulate one another to work hard? To what? to love and good deeds. Stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but here's this word, encouraging, parakaleo, coming along, called alongside, encouraging one another, allelon, all the more as you see the day drawing near.

What day? Payday. The day of the Lord. Isn't it interesting? Thessalonians is talking about what day is that? The Lord's coming, right? And so here we have in Hebrews a similar message. That day. That day we look forward to. The blessed hope, as Paul said. The blessed hope that the believer has, that we will see the Lord face to face. That's correct, yeah. The rapture. That is our blessed hope. The rapture.

So what is he calling for? Continuation and constancy among the Hebrew Christian readers here. He urges them to hold steady on their biblical hope and to continue meeting together as believers. Why is the meeting together important? I mean, after all, they're saved and, you know, they can be Christians just hanging out by themselves. So why the encouragement to meet together? Fellowship and growth.

And guess what? You know, all these, these parakaleo and alelone and all these one another's. How well does that work when you're by yourself? Doesn't happen, does it? Right? So the gathering together is so that these one another things that have been encouraged and urged along here can take place. Right? Okay. Now, there are places, and we're going to look at a few here, when a la longue isn't the only thing that's translated one another. There's another word in a plural form here that's a synonym. Let's look at the top of page six.

Here's Colossians 3.16, which I think Roger's going to be teaching on in a couple weeks.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Why not sufficiently? Why not just adequately? Why not just nominally? We have the message from Ephesians, the wealth of His grace, the wealth of His mercy, right? How does that fit with just sort of, may the Word of Christ nominally, minimally, a little pinch?

Well, no. Richly, with wealth, may the message of Christ, that's what he's saying, dwell within you. With wealth, may that message dwell within you. With all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing, here's the Newtha tale, placing the truth in the minds of other believers, and then one another. And this one is this other word that's hoto, and it is not all alone.

Placing in the mind, and what is this? With psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. So I have some questions here. Is it possible that biblical counseling can take the form of singing and worship? Isn't that what we see here? Biblical counseling can actually take the form of singing and worship. Wow. That's kind of amazing. Yeah. Yeah, Tom?

Fix your eyes upon him. He is such a special friend, one on whom you can depend. He is faithful to the end. Fix your eyes upon him. What we see here is he doesn't just say some kind of church music, but he actually gives different kinds of psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms and spells out a variety of music, we actually can have biblical counseling taking place through a variety of music that takes place among us. And so here in a matter of minutes, we're going to get together and what are we going to do? We're going to be singing together, worshipping the Lord. And what will take place there is that also qualifies as biblical counseling.

It is placing truth in the minds of other believers through song. Ever had that happen? Ever had that happen in your life? You look at that and say, oh, those are great words. You look at it and say, oh, that's wonderful. I love that song. Why? It's because the truth is being placed in your mind through a song. Really cool.

Hebrews 3.13, but encourage, here's parakaleo, one another. day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Notice the phrase day after day. Why the importance of encouraging one another day after day? If John comes along and he sees Burns kind of discouraged and he comes along and he encourages me and then say it two weeks later, he says, oh, Vernon, you're discouraged again, but I already encouraged it two weeks ago, so I'm not going to do it now. No, what's this talking about? Day after day?

There's a constancy, isn't there? Yeah, there's a constancy in this. Yes. I mean, that pause continually using the journey for the Christian life. Because it's not. Sometimes we think of spiritual maturity as, okay, we arrived at that point, there we are, we're fine.

But everything that the I think that's emphasizing the point that even though you had encouragement for that day, there's other days, there's other struggles, and there's still more growth, more encouragement that needs to be done. Let's ask this very important question.

For you as a believer, I'd be interested in hearing people just share, what are the things that you have heard that have been encouraging to you? What have you found encouraging as a believer? When I see or hear of another believer's faithful walk with the Lord. Another believer's faithful walk with the Lord is encouraging.

Good. Anything else? When we see people, fellow Christians, and reliance on God and how that works out. When we're in struggles, it can be an encouragement to us knowing that the same God who was with them is also with us. Yeah. Yeah. Did you hear that? When you see another believer being faithful through the struggles. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah.

When Hal first felt ill and he went over to the hospital, Nancy and I went over and saw him there and Lindy was there. And real interesting, on our departure, we didn't hang around too long because they were on to some testing and busy, a lot, I'm sure, running through their minds.

But on departure, Hal said, please pray that I won't miss any opportunities. So here's a situation where you might think he's going to be preoccupied with his illness and how bad he feels and things like that. But what does he say? Pray that I won't miss any opportunities. That was encouraging. That was encouraging.

This fellow I told you about, his name was Dick Kingham, that at his memorial service they sang the Hallelujah Chorus at the end. In the days before he went home to be with the Lord, People would go in to talk to him and they would want to go there and encourage him. And yet what happened was they walked out, they were tremendously encouraged by this man who was ill and near the end of his days.

And the day before he died, he told the nurse who was taking care of him, I'm going home tomorrow. And she thought, you're nuts. He said, no, I'm going home tomorrow. And then the next day, he said, I'm going home today. It was only a matter of hours. They got the alarm. Flatline. He went home.

Even if they thought he was nuts. But up until the very last minute, he encouraged people, even though his own physical circumstances were desperate. It was encouraging. What else have you found encouraging as a believer? Christian music. And isn't this just the very thing we saw in Colossians 3.16? This coming alongside to place truth in the mind and that truth in the mind can be encouraging. Yeah. It really amounts to truth is encouraging. Truth is encouraging. That's key. Let's look at the last part of here. There's also a place for empathy that's called for in Scripture.

Romans 12.15. And Romans 12 is a really neat practical chapter. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Come alongside those who are in each of these places and join with them.

For those who are weeping, does that mean we just stay weeping? Yes? I come along this person who's weeping and that means if I'm 30 years old, I guess in the next half century I'm going to be weeping. What does this mean? It means that we have to allow the human drama and the human pain and struggle that they're actually feeling before we just come in and hit them over the head with the Word of God. Yeah.

There is both a place for being with them where they are at and ultimately But here's hope. Weeping with them in whatever the circumstances has brought that about. And I don't mean to be in bizarre conflict with their sentiment, but ultimately to travel along with them. Here's the call alongside. To travel along with them towards, all right, where is our hope? Where is our strength and confidence?

Yeah, Nancy? When we first moved here and our son, Ed, was getting married and we'd gone out for the wedding and I had spent some extra time there and then some family had come out here and visited us. And so I'd have lots of family and familiar people around me for a couple of weeks and then everybody left. I really was sad that everyone had gone. And Carol King called me one day and said, how are you doing? And of course, I burst into tears. She said, well, let's go have lunch. And so we went out. And we just talked.

And she understood that I was grieving not being with people that I had known for years. But as she brought me home, she said, What are you going to do to get through this? And she had comforted me. She didn't literally weep, but she knew that I was sad and missing some people. And she just came alongside me. And she said, but you can't stay there. She didn't use those words. But what are you going to do to get through this? And just her coming alongside me had brought me to the place where I knew I had to move on. stay in that place, but she didn't assume that. She gently exhorted me to move on.

A believer is not in a place of calling another believer to deny reality or to, you know, you can't feel that way or some, you know, kind of situation like that. It is a matter of empathizing with them in the midst of that circumstance. But ultimately, the perspective that we as believers, no matter what's happening in our lives, no matter what has taken place, we have a place to point towards an ultimate hope. Not an I hope so hope, but an ultimate certain sure hope.

And we have a certainty in the Lord. Even if we've been struggling with something, in our own lives. There will come a day we will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We will be like Him. For we will see Him as He is. There is always hope and encouragement to be offered. Not to deny the present sentiment and the reality of it. Not to push it aside. But to point in the big picture What the Christian has is an untouchable, unfading, certain hope in the Lord Jesus. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at your work, we have indeed a wonderful ministry with one another. A ministry coming alongside. A ministry of encouragement. ministry of empathy as well. And we thank you for what you've revealed. We just look to you in the days and weeks and months ahead for your revealing wisdom and insight as you alone are able to do. And we give you thanks, Lord, for what you have revealed to us because you love us and care for us so much. In Jesus' name, Amen.