Counsel

The story of Rehoboam in first Kings 12 seems increasingly relevant to independent Baptists in the 21st Century. Rehoboam, of course, was the son of Solomon and the one to whom the Proverbs had been written. He was given excellent advice and excellent training.

In the summer of 2013, during a much needed getaway trip with my wife, God revealed the truth of this wonderful promise in Scripture to me in a new and fresh way. We were at a point of decision. God had began to work in my heart about becoming a pastor.

The Lord has given me the privilege of having dear friends in ministry—friends who love me and my family, challenge me in my spiritual growth, rejoice with me in God’s blessings, and hold me accountable in my personal life.

The local church does not get to choose whether or not it will have a ministry of counseling. Churches are made up of people, and people will always be encountering situations that require biblical direction and guidance.

You’ve probably heard the old fable of the man and his son bringing their donkey to market. En route, they encounter so many people who give their opinions as to who should ride the donkey and who should walk that by the time they reach the market, the man and his son are carrying the donkey.

As a part of my work as a chaplain for the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department, I took a course in critical incident stress debriefing. While I did not look forward to this investment of time and did not expect to learn much, I found it very practical and quite helpful. One of the things they said was that in an immediate crisis, you would not do a complete debriefing, but you could do a defusing. I have found that, as a pastor, there are many times and circumstances that can benefit from “defusing.”

When I was a child, I was like most kids—I thought life was always supposed to be fair. As I grew older, I began to realize that life is not always fair.

As I write this, I am sitting with my wife at her mother’s bedside in a skilled nursing facility. Having been in the ministry for more than thirty years, I have seen dying people, and it is obvious that my mother-in-law will not be in this world much longer.

There is no such thing as “instant holiness.

The preaching of the Word of God is both negative and positive. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for: