The Overarching Presupposition

The Primacy and Sufficiency of Scripture in Counseling

0:02 Now, as we continue to consider the presuppositional framework of our individual care of Christ's sheep, or what is commonly called pastoral counseling, let me remind you of where we've been in the previous lectures. After a lengthy introduction attempting to set the field of inquiry for this semester, we then began to take up those presuppositions, first, as they relate to the counselor, and then secondly, as they relate to the person counseled. And now this morning, we come to consider the presuppositions with respect to the counsel given. And we begin with large letter A in your notes,

0:45 that we must have a conviction concerning the primacy and sufficiency of the Scriptures as the major source material for pastoral counseling. And here, I again have sought to...

0:58 to choose my words carefully. I did not say that we need to have a conviction concerning the primacy and sufficiency of Scripture as the exclusive source material for pastoral counseling, but the major source material for pastoral counseling. I've emphasized again and again that if our preaching is true preaching, it is, in its essence, the proclamation, explanation, and application of the Scriptures to the gathered people of God. And although in pastoral counseling, the circumstances and the methodological details are materially different,

1:41 the essence of what we are doing in pastoral counseling is substantially the same as what we do in the preaching of the Word of God. And it certainly, as you would not be caught dead using a pulpit, as a sounding board for Freud, for Rogers, for Skinner, for Maurer, or much less your own notions of reality, so in the study you should have a disposition that I would not be caught dead using the secular mindset and presuppositions for this dimension of the ministry of the Word of God. Whether in the public ministry of the Word

2:24 or in the private individual ministry of the Word, the instrument... that Christ prays will be effective for the sanctification of His people, John 17, 17, is His Word.

2:36 Sanctify them in the truth. Thy Word is truth. And in the ongoing maturation of the individual believer in the context of the body of Christ, it is in the context of speaking the truth in love that we grow up into Christ in all things. Again, according to Psalm 19, it is by...

2:58 It is by the special revelation of inscripturated data, that law of the Lord that is perfect, which restores the soul. It is the testimony of the Lord that is sure, making wise the simple. It is the precepts of the Lord that are right and rejoice the heart. The commandments of the Lord that are pure, enlightening the eyes.

3:22 It is by these inscripturated, revelatory statements of God that the servant is warned and in keeping of which there is great reward. And then again Psalm 1, the way of blessedness is the way of repudiating the counsel of the ungodly and meditating in the law of God day and night. And so we come back again to 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. If pastoral counseling as we have described it is a distinct ministerial duty, then 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, If pastoral counseling as we have described it, is our watershed text.

4:02 As you know, this passage, beginning in verse 14 in 2 Timothy 3, though often and rightly brought forward to identify the nature of Scripture, is not primarily a dissertation on the nature of Scripture, but on the function of Scripture. Verse 14, Abide in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them, and that from a babe, a brephos, a nursing babe, you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Timothy, you've been acquainted with the Scriptures

4:41 which in their functional identity are able to make you wise to salvation. All Scripture is inspired of God and is also profitable. He's dealing with the function of Scripture. Incidentally, vital to underscoring function is the nature of Scripture.

5:00 Yes, it is God-breathed, revelatory material, but the emphasis falls upon its function is also profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, instruction, which is in righteousness, in order that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. And surely, if pastoral counseling is a dimension, of the ministry of the Word carried on with an individual, or with a couple, or with a family, then we must take our reference point from this passage to be furnished completely unto this good work, we will be furnished by God-breathed Scripture.

5:44 It is there that we receive the objective teaching, the declaration of reality about man, about human behavior, about behavior changes, both in the power and motivation, of those changes. It is from Scripture that reproof comes, exposure of moral and ethical deviation, correction, describing the proper directive that is pleasing to God, manward and Godward, training, instruction, discipline in the realm of righteousness, all of the necessary patterns that constitute righteousness. We are told Scripture is profitable for these things. To the end, we are told, to the end, that the man of God may be complete,

6:29 furnished completely unto every good work. Not half-equipped, waiting for the latest cycle babble to complete his equipment. Waiting for the latest so-called insight of the experts, which insights are debunked in another 10 to 20 years by the current experts. No, in this contact with God-breathed Scripture, the man of God is equipped unto every good work.

6:56 And I've listed this quote from J. Adams' More Than Redemption. It's one of the finest statements of this principle in his introduction, Roman numeral 13 and 14. The Christian's basis for counseling and the basis for a Christian's counseling is nothing other than the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments.

7:18 The Bible is his counseling textbook. Why, you ask? After all, the Christian doesn't use the Bible as his basis. For scores of other activities in which he engages, such as engineering, architecture, music.

7:33 Why should he insist that the Scriptures are the basis for counseling? The answer to that question is at once both simple and profound. Because of its simplicity, don't miss the profundity of its implications. The Bible is the basis for a Christian's counseling because it deals with the same issues that all counseling does.

7:52 I would say that the vast majority of counseling does. I wouldn't quite absolutize in the way Dr. Adams does. The Bible was given to help men to saving faith in Christ and then to transform believers into his image.

8:08 And he quotes 2 Timothy 3, 15-17. The Holy Spirit uses it as an adequate instrument when he says he has the power to do so. That, in substance, is what these verses say. But note, too, in these verses, God assigns this life-calling of transforming lives, by the word of God, to the man of God.

8:29 A phrase Paul picks up from the Old Testament designation for a prophet and uses in the pastoral epistles to refer to the Christian minister. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11. Thou, O man of God. A distinct title given to Timothy as a servant of Christ, laboring as an apostolic representative.

8:51 And so he goes on to write, and let me repeat, The Holy Spirit's strength, strongly declares in this passage that the Bible fully equips him for his work. So then, it's because counseling, the process of helping others to love God and their neighbors, is a part of the ministry of the word, just as preaching is, that it is unthinkable to use any other text, just as it would be unthinkable to do so in preaching. A ministry of the word is not such when it is based on substitutes. You see, he's drawing the same parallel that I've been thumping in the lectures thus far.

9:30 This is a dimension of the ministry of the word. The Bible is the basis for a Christian's counseling because of what counseling is all about. Changing lives by changing values, beliefs, relationships, attitudes, behavior. What other source can provide a standard for such changes?

9:49 What other source tells us how to make such changes in a way that pleases God? This is why, why other foundations for counseling must be rejected. Not only are they not needed, the Bible is adequate. The unique one who is the counselor proved that by his own counseling ministry.

10:08 But since they seek to do the same sorts of things without the scripture and the spirit, they are also competitive. There are competing authorities that would intrude into the counseling session. God does not bless his competition. Nor, does he bless disobedience to his word by his servants.

10:30 As future ministers of the word, be just that. Only that, and nothing else but that, ministers of the word. Do not forsake the fountain of living water for the cracked cisterns of modern counseling systems. And to that I trust we can add a hearty amen as we think of our presuppositions with respect to the counsel that we will give.

Living in the Scriptures and Using Them in Counseling

10:57 If this is your conviction, this conviction along with other principles will constantly prod you to live in your Bibles. So that if anything else is said of you, it can be justly said, he is a man mighty in the scriptures. And you acquire that among other things in the old time proven discipline to which the servant of the Lord himself was subject according to Isaiah 50, and verse 4. Isaiah 50 and verse 4.

11:30 The Lord God has given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary. He wakens morning by morning. He wakes my ear to hear as they that are taught. How often the Lord must say to us, you err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

11:55 It will not only prod you, this conviction to live in the scriptures. It will drive you to find specific scriptural perspectives and judgments on given problems that you are going to encounter in the counseling session. This conviction will cause you to make frequent use of the scriptures in the actual counseling session. And this is why I've listed several verses as I have done.

12:21 Jeremiah 23, 28 and 29, where Jeremiah throws out the challenge. Jeremiah 23, verses 28 and 29. The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

12:43 What is the straw to the wheat, says the Lord? Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Here God throws out the challenge. Why would you use the word of God?

12:57 Why would you use a substitute for my word? Would you take chaff in the place of wheat? Would you, as it were, pound on some needy area of the human heart with a feather when God has given you his hammer? Would you simply apply a little bit of false painted heat when there is that which God says is a living fire?

13:20 And then the Hebrews 4 passage, familiar again to us, in which God has said that his word is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and the intents of the heart. And then Psalm 119 and verse 24, a wonderful text to keep before us with respect to this whole matter of pastoral counseling. In Psalm 119 and verse 24, the Psalmist declares of the word of God, Thy testimonies are my delight, and my counselors, the marginal reading, the men of my counsel, the testimonies of God,

14:04 form the phalanx of my counselors. That is my board of counselors when I would engage in the labor of pastoral counseling. Now, I'm not saying that our counseling session must be nothing but scriptures strung together with man-made conjunctions and transitions. I've actually heard men who thought that's what preaching was.

14:27 And it was wonderful to hear someone quoting from memory literally probably 100, 150 verses in a sermon. And that was supposed to be preaching. Well, it impressed you that this guy had memorized a lot of Bible. But as Spurgeon said, it would be like a man taking a basket full of oranges and saying, you want to know what an orange is?

14:45 This is an orange. This is an orange. This is an orange. He said he'd help me much more if he'd split one open and show me what an orange was.

14:52 Well, when people just quote the Bible hung together with man-made transitions, they say, that's preaching the Word. No. Well, we don't want to do that in the counseling session. So I'm not saying that we just try to hang together in some kind of simplistic Biblicism.

15:08 But what I am saying is, whenever possible in the counseling session, have your Bible open. Have that sheep with a Bible on his or her lap. Not only read a passage, but I've found in that setting, have them read it. Ask them, what does the passage say?

15:24 What does it say to your situation? Now, you're not having a mindless, unstructured, so-called inductive Bible study. What does it say to you? You know what the passage says in relation to that situation.

15:37 But in the method by which you're bringing that to bear upon the conscience, you engage them. But in that session, they should know, whatever else they know when they left, I encountered the God who speaks in the Bible. Hey, that's what happens when I sit under that man's preaching. I encounter what the God of the Bible says.

15:56 But I've never done it to my purpose. Now, as I said, I'm not saying that you're doing it to my wonderful self, and I won't do it to my God, but I will do it to my own self, and as I said, I'll do it to my own self, and I will give you a good answer as to your own faith. Let me just say this. I'm not going to listen to you talk about your faith.

16:21 Why? Because I'm not going to listen to you talk about your faith. That's what I want. Okay?

16:26 randomly with people who were just discovering the Puritans with me, taking a Puritan work and opening up randomly and said, let's count all the allusions and references to Scripture on this page 7, on this one 8, on this one 15. As, again, Spurgeon said of Bunyan, prick him anywhere and out falls Biblene. And the more you know your Bible, the more you realize that many places there's an allusion here, a phrase here, an analogy there, drawn out of the stuff of the Bible as Bunyan accompanies the Christian man in his journey from this world to a better one. So, brethren, this conviction has got to get beyond something to which we point as an objective part

The Reality and Indispensability of General Revelation and Common Grace

17:10 of our confession of faith. The presupposition with respect to the counsel given, it must be one rooted in this conviction concerning the primacy and sufficiency of Scripture as the major source material for, for pastoral counseling. But then, secondly, we must possess a conviction concerning the reality, function, and indispensability of general revelation and common grace in pastoral counseling. Now, let me define what I mean by those terms in that heading.

17:48 By general revelation, I'm referring to that which God has made known concerning reality as embedded in the world around us and within us. It is God's self-disclosure, hence it is revelation. It is real revelation. It's not something other than volitional self-disclosure on the part of God.

18:16 But it is open to all men everywhere. Hence, it is general revelation in contrast to special revelation in which God speaks in His inscripturated Word. Psalm 19, as you well know, celebrates the reality of general revelation. The heavens are not mute.

18:40 They do not speak only to those who have ears to hear God in a saving and redemptive relationship. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day, uttering songs, speech, night unto night, showing knowledge. There is no speech nor language.

19:01 Their voice is not heard, but their line, the revelatory data, is gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of His chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run His course. Here is a celebration of general revelation. God is here.

19:25 Speaking in the firmament. God is voluntarily disclosing things about Himself. And then in the familiar passage in Romans chapter 1, where the Apostle indicting all of humanity begins with those who have not had contact with God's special revelation and he makes it very, very clear that they are the recipients of revelatory data. Verse 19, that which is, known of God is manifest in them for God manifested it to them.

20:03 The invisible things of Him since or from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through because that knowing God. And again goes on to speak of that which is against nature. There is real revelatory data disclosed. In general revelation.

20:28 And not only is it in the world without us, but the world within us. Chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. When the Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law. These not having the law are the law unto themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscious conscience bearing witness therewith their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them.

20:57 And Acts 14 and verse 17. Paul speaking to pagans reminds them that they have been the recipients of God's revelatory data. Acts 14, 17. He left not himself without a witness in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons filling your hearts with food and with gladness.

21:20 So when we use the term general revelation that's what we're talking about. And I'm assuming that we must possess a conviction concerning the reality, function, and indispensability of general revelation but also of common grace in pastoral counseling. Now I know that there are those objecting in our day and the old hooks of a battle continues to be churned out and I read the theological journal in which the thing is carried on that grace only has to do with redemptive activity and anything else is not grace. Well, I'm not about to try to overturn a term which has come down to us as a very helpful theological handle

22:03 and when we speak of common grace we are speaking of that which I think is beautifully defined or described in the Baker's Dictionary of Theology article on common grace. I quote it. It's very brief. The doctrine of common grace says Herman Bovink enables one to recognize and appreciate all that is good and beautiful in the world.

22:25 While at the same time holding unreservedly to the absolute character of the Christian religion whereas special grace regenerates the hearts of men common grace one restrains the destructive process of sin within mankind in general and two enables men though not regenerate to develop the latent forces of the universe and thus make a positive contribution to the fulfillment of the cultural mandate given to men through the first man Adam in peace. Paradise. And I would add to that and to alleviate some of the fruits of sin in the non-redemptive context the benefits of medicine behavior modification schemes that make life a little less the living hell

23:10 it would be apart from common grace. And that's why I like to call it common grace. It is grace. It is undeserved favor that God doesn't let this world become the hell it could become in 15 minutes if he withdrew common grace.

23:25 He doesn't owe it to us. It is gratuitous. It is of his kindness and beneficence that he restrains that he allows men some alleviation from the inherent built-in destructive powers of sin and of man's foe. Now I'm saying that when you come to this whole issue of pastoral counseling you must carry with you not only this conviction about the primacy and sufficiency of scripture as the major source material for pastoral counseling but an equally well-grounded conviction concerning both the reality function and indispensability of general revelation

Applying General Revelation and Common Grace to Counseling

24:08 and of common grace. Now you say why? Well let me give you a couple of reasons. For example someone may come to you with a serious problem of crippling depression which has led to a kind of paralysis with respect to the performance of duty the ability to deal with guilt to perform some of the most fundamental duties of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ in his or her respective sphere of calling.

24:40 Well here they are they sit before you and you say to this brother or sister what is it that's troubling you? Pastor, I don't know what it is. I wake up in the morning and a cloud ten miles thick is above me. I look out and it's just as thick around me.

24:55 I look within and it's thicker yet. I have known in the past a marvelous sense of the reconciled face of God. I've known joy. I've known a measure of God-given ability to do my task as a wife and a mother but I find myself utterly without any motivation to get up in the morning.

25:15 The cloud is above me around me within me. I have to force myself to just get out of bed. I have no delight in and they go on and on. Well what are you going to do?

25:26 If your conviction is well it must be strictly exclusively a spiritual problem unconfessed sin oppression of the devil and you're not aware that in God's general revelation he's made some things known about the causes of that kind of depression and one of the things he's made known is that sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with spiritual dynamics it has to do with biochemical issues. It has to do with deficiencies of trace minerals in the blood and something that's not making the connectors in the brain cells. The neurotransmitters are out of whack.

26:10 There is such a thing as hypoglycemia. There is deficiency of blood sugar levels. A host of things that God has been pleased to make known in the sphere of general revelation. It is revelation.

26:27 And to come into the council in session in an apparent hearty submission to the God of special revelation while putting your hands over your face with regard to what he's saying in general revelation is to have God fighting against God. And it is to cut yourself off and that dear child of God off from the very means that God may have already revealed is critical to address their problem. So when we have this kind of a situation one of the first things we do is send people at times to the BioBrain Center in Princeton, New Jersey where they do a total broad spectrum analysis of body chemistry and blood

27:12 and trace minerals and they do an objective not a subjective voodooism psychological profile. Just the insights in the last ten years with regard to people who don't have any kind of depression except during the months that they have of January and February. And you know what the answer to the depression is a special light.

27:36 They don't pray anymore. They don't deal with sin anymore or less ruthlessly. All they need to do is have a special light that supplements what happens in the whole body chemistry during the winter months. And that's not voodooism.

27:53 Empirical studies demonstrate the validity of the relationship of certain kinds of depression to that. New strides have been made in PMS. It's not just something in people's minds. Yes, the world may abuse that and the woman who's a witch all month long will blame her double witchery on PMS.

28:15 But I wish I knew something about PMS back when my wife was still a younger woman and it was still with her after the manner of women. I would have been much less likely to have been reading Romans 6 to her and having her go to the doctor wasn't even talked about.

28:34 And you see these are things that God unveils in General Revelation and in Common Grace there may be something in the smoke stoppers behavior modification pagan structure that God has provided in His Common Grace to all men which we can lay hold of and sublimate to the service of the gospel. We will not take the smoke stoppers program as it is. We will want to bring to bear upon it the distinct elements of special revelation and of saving grace. In assessing the problem we will not say you have simply quote a nicotine addiction.

29:14 We'll say that you're enslaved to this sin that is destructive of your body and violates the sixth commandment that ruins your testimony that does not bear a clear witness to the gospel. We'll seek to bring to bear upon the conscience the fact that they are not some helpless victim of nicotine addiction and therefore sue the tobacco companies and underpin them. No, no. We may take the smoke stoppers program and from the very outset in bringing to bear upon the conscience of the person addicted to nicotine in such a way that it's a sinful behavior pattern all the way through when it comes to motivations why are you going to deal with it?

29:53 The glory of God your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit your testimony all of this and we will underscore that they need to suffuse the use of this means with prayer but at the end of the day smoke stoppers behavior modification program may be something that God has put out there in his common grace that we can capture and sublimate to the distinctive dynamics of special grace. So when I say you've got to enter into pastoral counseling with a conviction concerning both the reality the function and the indispensability of general revelation and common grace this is what I'm talking about. Now you do have some very clear indications of this in the scripture. You remember in Isaiah 13 38

30:37 the account of Hezekiah's sickness and the parallel passage in 2nd Kings Isaiah 38 let's look at it for a moment Isaiah 38 in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death he has a terminal illness according to the scripture Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos came to him and said set your house in order you will die and not live appearances are a terminal illness the word of God validates it then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed and he said and we have the account of his prayer verse 4 then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah

31:20 saying go and say to Hezekiah thus saith the Lord the God of David your father I've heard your prayer I've seen your tears behold I will add unto your days fifteen years now the word of God says you're not going to die you're going to live for another fifteen years this is the inviolable infallible word of God through a bona fide prophet and I will deliver you in this city out of the hand of the king of Israel of Syria and I'll defend this city and then God says He'll give a sign He'll cause the shadow on the dial to go back but now does God just leave it that His word will accomplish what He has promised no verse 21 now Isaiah had said let them take

32:05 a cake of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and He shall recover a terribly mundane thing what a let down you've got to have a direct word from the prophet this is not a sickness unto death and now God says but I will use this means the means would have been nothing without the word and purpose of God but may I say it reverently the word and purpose of God would have been presumptively trusted without the means ordained by God and Isaiah had said let them take a cake of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and He shall recover it. and you remember

32:49 God's dealings with the prophet Elijah I love the passage for many many reasons not the least of which it's a constant reminder to me that we are to mirror God in the way we deal with His people and we have these incidents where the Lord Himself was the counselor and as God sees His tired worn out prophet weakened by all of that encounter with the false prophets and the drama of that event on Mount Carmel and then that 18 to 20 mile marathon in which He ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel then Jezebel hears about the prophet and sends a messenger saying by tomorrow at this time you've had it

33:34 and you remember the story and His dejection and fear He flees and He has a death wish verse 4 of 1 Kings 19 He requested for Himself that He might die and He said it is enough O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my fathers He lay down and slept under a juniper tree and behold now God begins to deal with Him how does God deal with Him an angel touched Him and said unto Him you wicked unbelieving man I vindicated my glory and my power upon Carmel I strengthened you with supernatural strength and now this painted witch just blows out a few words and you're ready to die shame on you no

34:17 an angel touches Him and says arise and eat and God probably a theophany the angel of the Lord our Lord Jesus Himself prepares a meal and there was at His head a cake bacon on the coals and a cruise of water and He did eat and drink and laid Him down again God saw His child go off to sleep His body is now absorbing the nutrients and receiving strength and God is giving unto His beloved in sleep He's giving Him renewed strength renewed vigor He's giving Him He's mending those stressed circuits of His emotions and His physical faculties and the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched Him and said

35:01 arise and eat He gives Him another meal and then during that journey in which His mind is then clear and He goes in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb and then He's in a cave and the word of the Lord then begins to come to Him Elijah what are you doing here? well God knew what He was doing there but He begins to gently respond to Him and restore His servant but you see the interplay of the spiritual and the physiological there is this recognition that He's a whole person and that at this time when a man needs sleep and rest and refreshment it's no time to be pressing his conscience with regard to his more focused spiritual problem and there are times when the best thing you can do for someone who's come through

35:45 a deep lengthy period of depression and sleeplessness is to get them to the doctor and get them on medication and after they've had some normal patterns of sleep for a couple of weeks then you begin to probe the conscience and to see if indeed you can uncover some of the perhaps spiritual causes remember Paul's word to Timothy constitutionally he was weak he had oft infirmities temperamentally he apparently had an element of timidity Paul is continually stirring him up to be bold and courageous and not to be ashamed and yet after dealing with such weighty matters of the life and ministry of the church in Ephesus he gives this practical counsel in 1st Timothy 5.23 no longer

36:29 be a drinker of wine but take a little of water but take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your oft infirmities he gives some home remedies for Timothy's recurring infirmities he doesn't say pray more he says take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your oft infirmities there's the recognition you see of this principle and now I've listed Thomas Brooks volume 3 pages 296 and 97 and this is why again young hotshots can throw stones at the Puritans that if they walk with God and they mature they'll find that the Puritans deficiencies will seem smaller and smaller and their greatness is larger and larger listen to Brooks

37:14 melancholy is a dark and dusky humor which disturbs both soul and body and the cure of it belongs rather to the soul the physician than to the divine that is the pastor it is a most pestilent humor where it abounds one calls it a balneum diabolai the devil's bath it is a humor that unfits a man for all sorts of services but especially those that concern his soul his spiritual estate his everlasting condition the melancholy person tries the physician grieves the minister wounds relations and makes sport for the devil there are five sorts of persons the devil makes his ass to ride in triumph upon

37:58 the ignorant person the unbelieving person the proud person the hypocritical person and the melancholy person melancholy is a disease that works strange passions strange imaginations and strange conclusions it unmans a man it makes a man call good evil and evil good sweet bitter and bitter sweet light darkness and darkness light the distemper of the body off time causes distemper of soul for the soul follows the temper of the body a melancholy spirit is a dumb spirit you can get nothing out of him and the deaf spirit you can get nothing into him it's a dumb spirit can't get it out deaf can't get it in and then he goes on to say

38:43 now of all the evil spirits we read of in the gospels the dumb and deaf were the worst darkness sadness solitariness heaviness mourning etc. are the only sweet desirable and delightful companions of melancholy persons melancholy makes every sweet bitter and every bitter seven times more bitter the melancholy person is marvelously prone to bid sleep farewell and joy farewell and food farewell and friends farewell and ordinances farewell and duties farewell and promises farewell and ministers farewell and his calling farewell and it is well if he be not even ready to bid God farewell too melancholy persons are like I do idols they have eyes and they see not

39:27 tongues but they speak not in ears but they hear not melancholy turns truths into fables and fables into truths it turns fancies into realities and realities into fancies melancholy is a fire that burns inwards and is hard to quench now if a Christian be under the power of natural or accidental melancholy his work is now not to be a trying his estate or casting up of his accounts to see what he's worth for another world but to use all such ways and means as God hath prepared in a natural way for the cure of melancholy for as the soul is not cured by natural causes so the body

40:12 is not cured by spiritual remedies and we moderns think we're so smart that's Brooks writing hundreds of years ago recognizing this vital principle and how did he discover that? because he recognized the validity of general revelation and of common trace operating in the sphere of discerning the difference between that which had no distinctive spiritual roots now he did not know at that time about trace minerals he did not know about lithium and he did not know about some of the biochemical technicalities that we know but in general revelation God had unrevealed enough

40:56 and in their observation of the functions of common grace to know that such a person did not need the divine but needed the physician that as the body is not cured by spiritual remedies and the soul is not by natural causes so my brethren this conviction will cause you to make efforts to keep aware of valid medical advances that's why I have a good conscience when I write off on my taxes as professional doctors the five medical newsletters that I subscribe to and for the most part read it's not because I'm a frustrated would-be doctor it's because I want to be a good physician

41:40 of the souls of man and I don't want to be treating as a spiritual malady something that is a physical malady and so you have a responsibility not to become an expert but to be aware of what God is saying to us in general revelation and what God is holding out in his common grace keep your eyes and ears open to articles on PMS on neurotransmitters the problems of chronic depression and don't be afraid to seek help elsewhere one of our dear sheep one of our most precious sheep a man distressed by all kinds of twisted tortured things in his past

42:23 is suffering from this compulsive behavior disorder you've got to keep washing your hands washing your hands washing your hands washing your hands and just tracking down some people who have some expertise in this area and putting them in touch with them it's almost been like a savior to be relieved from the torturous pressure of that thing and it was by just keeping my eyes open and my medical letters and seeing an article and then a little box on the bottom here are two places where you have an 800 number just dictated in the brief letter gave me 800 number you'd think I'd gone to Mars and back for him and it's a joy then to see God use those things in the lives of his children but now very quickly thirdly we must possess

Distinguishing Authoritative Counsel from Wise Personal Advice

43:08 a conviction respecting the difference between authoritative counsel based on the clear teaching of the word of God and wise personal advice based upon a combination of other factors and brethren if you don't have the conviction respecting the difference between those two you will do a butcher job in pastoral counseling and you'll you've got to understand the difference between these two things and the watershed text in which an apostle was conscious of that difference so that we have a spirit inspired record of the difference between divine mandate and wise counsel 1 Corinthians chapter 7

43:52 as Paul is seeking to unravel some of these delicate issues that were agitating the Corinthians now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord I cannot point you to a previous authoritative statement in the sayings of our Lord and apparently saying as well I have no present clear revelation where I can give commandments in the name of the Lord chapter 14 he who is spiritual let him acknowledge the things that I say to you about order in public worship are the entaulé they are the commandment of the Lord but he said I have no commandment of the Lord but I give my judgment as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy I think therefore

44:36 this is good by reason of the distress that is upon us whatever that was and if you think you found what that was please tell me I continue every time I come to this in my devotions pull out my latest commentary on Corinthians and say maybe somebody will tell me what it was I still don't know it's good for a man to be as he is are you bound unto a wife seek not to be loosed are you loose from a wife seek not a wife but should you marry you have not sinned I'm telling you don't marry but if you go against my counsel you haven't sinned now how can he make that distinction because he recognized the difference between authoritative counsel based on the clear teaching of the word of God and wise personal advice based on the

45:21 combination of many things 1 Corinthians 16 12 you have an example of that in the way Paul dealt with some of his fellow workers but it's touching Apollos the brother I besought him much to come to you with the brethren Paul didn't say hey Apollos I think it'd be a night now he pleaded with him Apollos here's my reasons I think you ought to do this it'd be good for you it'd be good for the he said I besought him much to come unto you with the brethren and it was not at all his will to come now but he will come when he shall have opportunity he knew the difference between saying Apollos I've had a word of revelatory data as an apostle the Lord has spoken as he spoke to us there at Antioch in Acts 13 as he spoke to me

46:06 when I was about to go into this region and the spirit of Jesus suffered us not I have a word from God concerned no he had many reasons to think he would be a key man in that situation at that time and pleaded reasoned with him repeatedly but he knew the distinction between the authoritative word and his own desire his own counsel his own sanctified pressure now that's entirely different from 2 Thessalonians 3 6 when the apostle has addressed the problem of the disorderliness of some of the Thessalonians now we command you brethren and that should be enough for any new covenant community an apostle is giving a command an apostle is the representative of Christ but he underscores

46:50 his authority in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ he pulls rank there's a time for pulling rank and he pulls rank not for his sake not to promote himself but to underscore the authority that Christ ruled in this matter of dealing with the disorderly must be respected we command you brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition etc. and that distinction is clear in the apostolic materials now why is that so crucial in counseling because we have no authority to bind any man's conscience beyond the word of God our confession of faith echoing echoing

47:35 the great principle that the reformers articulated chapter 21 in paragraph 2 God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his word or not contained in it so that to believe such doctrines or to obey such commands out of conscience we may obey such commands out of other principles but out of conscience that is out of a sense of obligation to God in the face of God is to betray true liberty of conscience and the requiring of an implicit faith and absolute and blind obedience is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also

48:18 so when we sit with a child of God we realize that his conscience is a sacred thing and that we have a sacred task to bring nothing into the theater of conscience as authoritative revelatory data but that which is indeed so and to make a distinction and to help the person to make the distinction between that authoritative directive and that which is wise counsel which for many reasons ought to be heeded but heeded as counsel not as submission to the word of God if we fail to make this distinction we will have excessive discipline we will have unwholesome attachment to us you see many people want you to be their guru

49:02 that's why the Galatians were so quickly spooked that's why the Corinthians were so deceived people want a guru and especially if you've been used to help someone then they can chronically lean upon you in a way that is not healthy to the development of their own soul but the flip side of this this does not negate all that is said particularly in the book of Proverbs about the wisdom of listening to counsel he that is wise hearkens unto counsel he that is saved hearkens to commandments he that is wise you don't hearken to commandments you're not saved if a man say I know him and keep not his commandments he's a liar and the truth is not in him you bring the explicit word of God to bear upon someone

49:46 professing to be a sheep and he doesn't obey as a pattern of life as Spurgeon said it is your duty to assure him he is not a Christian as Calvin said when people will not bear to have you come one on one with the word of God but resent it they prove themselves to be bears and not sheep but now if a person is wise they do hearken to counsel and all of the passages that speak of the wise person listening to counsel in the multitude of counselors there is safety so you must walk that razor's edge of seeking to incorporate into your pastoral counseling as well as into your preaching a climate in which people recognize that Christ has bought them to be their master

50:30 you've been bought with a price be not the slaves of men so that my conscience will be bound by the word of God while at the same time I will respect counsel that comes from those not only competent to give that counsel but who have a genuine love and concern for my soul and that distinction between authoritative directive and counsel must be made and you won't make it if you don't understand it many a time in a counseling session where I've made the distinction to make sure that someone understands it I say now what have I told you with respect to this problem well you have told me thus and thus and thus what passages did we base it upon this and that all right good now with respect to this what have I told you you've told me that this might be a wise course

51:14 did I say that's the only course you can take no did I say you must take it no what did I say you told me that was your counsel if I don't take the counsel I have not sinned I said all right now that's very clear in your mind so if it ever comes back to me Pastor Martin told me if I did you will be breaking the ninth commandment right yes you have to do that at times experience has taught me I have to do that because people want a guru I have to do that and especially if the decision they make ends up bad they want a blame shift and not take the responsibility upon themselves and say I chose to do this and therefore I bear the responsibility for the negative at least surface negative consequences

51:59 so it's vital brethren that with regard to the counsel you give that these three suppositions be there deeply embedded in your own mind and spirit and finding this practical expression in your mind in your interaction and I've saved a letter from a friend that beautifully captures this and I'll close this hour with just reading this it was a matter of guidance with regard to invitation to a ministry in another country and the brother writes and said I come now to the second matter raised in your letter the trip to Africa although I would have preferred you to have gone to Zambia this year but for reasons given in the counsel of my fellow office bearers I am willing to go the most difficult and disliked part was a suggestion

52:44 that I go to Nigeria as well to be perfectly frank I had no guts for that trip the reports are so sickening that both my mind and heart are closed to it notwithstanding I honestly made my convictions known to the men at our joint board meeting on January 26th and placed myself under their authority to be willing to do whatever they suggested they came very close to commanding me to go they came very close to commanding me to go and I must submit to them if I don't I will undermine all I've been teaching them for a decade and a half what's he been teaching them? distinguish between divine mandate and wise counsel

53:27 but when it comes to counsel unless there are compelling reasons not to listen to counsel you're a fool the bible says if you don't listen to it he said I didn't want to undermine what I've been teaching them for a decade and a half and prove myself a fool I had my indiscipline I had my negative feelings I had my emotional hang-ups then he goes on to say I'm thankful to the Lord he has appointed fellow office bearers to knock objectivity into us when we are too pessimistic and subjective and to bring us back to biblical reality when we are too optimistic with blinkers on these may be the words of a coward but not of an inflexible heavy-handed shepherd

54:10 I will write to the brother involved brethren that needs to be our spirit and if it isn't ours internally I doubt we're going to be able to impart that to those to whom we minister so may the Lord help us with respect to these things as we seek under God to become wise counselors shepherds to the people in their individual needs so we'll take a break now and then we'll come back to the final thing Roman numeral four the overarching position that has to do with the ministry of the spirit of God in our of the presuppositions that I have called the overarching presupposition

The Overarching Presupposition: Necessity of the Spirit's Ministry

54:54 and that is one that we ought to see as stretching itself over every facet of this endeavor of individual pastoral care that we call pastoral counseling and I've expressed it this way that we must have a biblically based and constantly active conviction regarding the place of the Holy Spirit's ministry in effective pastoral counseling and I have divided the material under these heads of the necessity of the spirit's ministry the nature of the spirit's ministry and the sovereignty of the spirit's ministry and as I recall I believe that is probably a distillation of a sermon I was asked to preach at a pastor's conference

55:37 a number of years ago and I incorporated the material into the pastoral theology lectures first of all then as we address this matter of the necessity of the spirit's ministry the necessity demonstrated and then the necessity applied since in pastoral counseling we are dealing with matters pertaining in the broad category of sanctification except where there are clear physical needs such things as mortification evangelical transformation conformity to the image of Christ we must reckon with the fact that for this work the spirit's agency is absolutely essential and I've listed the text familiar to you

56:21 if it is sin to be mortified it is by the spirit that we put to death the deeds of the body if it is increasing conformity to Christ it is by the Lord the spirit that we are transformed into that image from one stage of glory to another if there is an aspect of working out of salvation with fear and trembling it must be in the confidence that he is at work in us to will and to work for his good pleasure and if there is to be any progress in the matter of living in the spirit it will be in the reality that the spirit is lusting against the flesh as well as the flesh against the spirit and if there are graces to be cultivated

57:05 if they are Christian graces they are cultivated in the category of the fruit of the spirit Galatians 5.22 and 23 so the whole matter of what we are doing in pastoral counseling sets before us the necessity of the spirit's ministry furthermore since evangelical motives must permeate it is the spirit who takes of the things of Christ and makes them real to the hearts of the people of Christ if it is the love of Christ that is to constrain us it is that love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit if it is the spirit of sonship that is to motivate us that act of love attestation of sonship

57:50 is wrought by the present ministry of the spirit Romans 8.16 and Galatians 4 and verse 6 and if in pastoral counseling we are concerned to bring our sheep to write views of themselves of sin of Christ this is the spirit's work he reproves the world of sin he is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God Ephesians 1 and verse 15 so the spirit of God is the spirit of wisdom so that we bring to bear in a very practical way when we come to sit in the counseling session a fresh realization of the absolute necessity of the spirit's ministry and if we believe that it will have some very practical

Practical Effects of Believing in the Spirit's Necessity

58:34 effects upon us and I've listed three of them we will be careful rather than say not to undertake perhaps you should put the word never never to undertake a counseling session while grieving the Holy Spirit we will be careful never never to undertake a counseling session while grieving the Spirit Ephesians 4 and verse 30 grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption a grieved spirit becomes a withdrawn spirit he becomes a restrained spirit he becomes a presently inoperative spirit and we then become like poor Samson who after

59:18 his interaction with that wicked woman Delilah we read in Judges 16 and verse 20 he knew not that the Lord was departed from him apparently when the Spirit of God came upon him mightily there was not in every case some discernible framework within the psyche of Samson that he was able to tell whether the Lord was with him so he goes forth feeling nothing different but it was soon evident God was not with him God was not with him God was not with him to him and to all around him and that will be true in our efforts to counsel the people of God before long it will be evident whatever else we're accomplishing those things which only the Spirit of God can accomplish

60:02 will not be accomplished as a pattern in our pastoral counseling furthermore we'll be careful to come to our counseling sessions in a prayerful attitude Luke 11 13 I've said to people if there is a text that can be worn out by frequent repetitive use with me it'd be 1 John 1 9 and then James 1 verse 5 if any of you lack wisdom and Luke 11 13 he gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask it God alone knows the hundreds of times that text has been pleaded and often in the counseling session on the front end of a counseling session in the presence of that sheep you're going to minister to not as a ritual but as a present reminder to myself

60:47 of my utter dependence upon him for prayerful attention for prayer is indeed the language of felt dependence James 4 2 you have not because you ask not and then thirdly we will consciously seek to create a climate of dependence on the Spirit in the session itself we must try continually to point our people to the fact that ultimately there was only one effective infallible pastoral counselor and that's the one who is described in Isaiah 9 in verse 6 as the one God the wonderful counselor that text that often is brought to the fore at Christmas time in conjunction with Handel's Messiah unto us a child is born

61:31 unto us a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting Father Prince of Peace and in chapter 11 we see how he becomes the wonderful counselor there shall come a time come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse and a branch out of his root shall bear fruit and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him here we're back again to the fact that in his messianic role our Lord does what he does in the power and grace of the Spirit the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding

62:13 the Spirit of counsel and might the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord three couplets E.J. Young comments on these wisdom and perception gifts of the Spirit which have to do with the realm of theoretical power none of the terms employed is entirely exclusive of the others and all together denote true piety or fear of God wisdom belongs to God and is derived from God it is the ability to render right decisions at the right time so that one may act in accordance with the right right decisions at the right time that one may act in accordance with the right it includes therefore intelligence

62:57 but it comprehends far more than that certainly the Messiah is intelligent but this word suggests that he also has the ability rightly to appraise situations and to render right decisions in all matters if Messiah needed the Spirit of Jehovah upon him as the Spirit of wisdom and perception what do you and I need in a counseling session to render right decisions and to make right decisions and to make right appraisals and to render right counsel the Spirit who will impart perception this refers, says E.J. Young to insight into the true nature of things and this in particular as it has respect to the human heart counsel in might here we enter into the practical sphere

63:41 the Messiah can discover wisdom and so advise and contrive that all his decisions are the manifestation of wisely laid plans in every case this king chooses the right means and renders the right decisions so in our Lord Jesus is the perfection of counsel and we need to make it clear to those that we counsel that we are consciously seeking that Christ will be the wonderful Counselor in the midst of our counseling session as those who are but under shepherds before the presence of the Chief Shepherd but then secondly I want to say a word about the nature of the Spirit's ministry.

The Nature of the Spirit's Ministry: Working By and With Us

64:25 When I say that we must have a biblically-based and constantly active conviction concerning the place of the Spirit's ministry in effective pastoral counseling, I'm referring not only to the necessity of that ministry, but the nature of the Spirit's ministry. And I've written down this little statement that I've found very helpful. It's not original with me. He works by us and with us as rational human beings.

64:53 He does not work against us or without us. And that's critical in all areas of the Christian life, but particularly now with respect to pastoral counseling. What's the nature of the Spirit's work? We come to the counseling session seeking to cultivate a conscious dependence.

65:10 As best we know, there's no unfinished business with God or man that would grieve the Spirit. We've come in a disposition of prayer We've sought to create a climate between ourselves and that particular sheep in which together we are looking to the One who is the Wonderful Counselor, upon whom the Spirit rests without measure. And I'm looking to Him, and this sheep is looking to Him. Together we are looking to Him to be the Wonderful Counselor in this session.

65:38 Well then, how will He answer our expectations? How will He answer our prayers? How will Christ be the Wonderful Counselor? Well, here you've got to understand, then, the nature of the Spirit's work, and that He works by us and with us as rational human beings, not against us or without us.

65:57 And therefore, in the text that I've listed, we have these principles clearly articulated. 2 Timothy, chapter 1, in verse 7. Paul has given various analogies of the role and function of the Christian minister. He is a teacher who functions as a soldier, as a leader, as a runner or an athlete, and as a farmer.

66:22 Now, what is Timothy to do with these things that Paul has set before? In verse 7. Consider what I say. An imperative of the verb that means use your noggin, use your noose, use your mental faculties, Timothy.

66:37 You concentrate all of your mental faculties and powers on what I've said. Well, should I do that, Paul? For the Lord shall give you understanding in all things. There's that confluence of the divine activity and the human engagement.

66:55 Timothy, consider what I say. And you can give yourself to that consideration that it will be a fruitful endeavor for the Lord shall give you understanding in all things. And then we're back to Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

67:16 Why? Because it is God who is at work in you to will and to work. You never need fear that your outworking will go beyond His inworking. You need never be afraid that my working out with all the engagement of my faculties is going to go a couple of steps beyond His working in me.

67:33 No, no, Paul says to the Philippians. As you've always obeyed, now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For God is at work in you both to will and to work. For His good pleasure.

67:48 And then Colossians 1, 29. In the preaching of Christ publicly and in His individual pastoral engagement the Apostle can speak of striving, agonizing according to His working which works in me mightily. It's His work in me mightily but it comes to manifestation in my agonizing endeavors. And therefore we will engage all of our redeemed faculties in the counseling session.

68:16 Colossians 3, 23. Ought to be a text that is stamped upon our consciences in the counseling situation. Whatever you do, work heartily from the soul as unto the Lord and not unto men. So that when you're listening all of your wheels are going.

68:35 You're listening for little clues. You're praying while you're listening. Your heart's being lifted up to God as in preaching. Sometimes there's four, five, six things going on all at once.

68:45 You're praying, Lord, give me discernment. Help me to pick up the clues. Let me see if there's any connection between the dots. You may be jotting something down.

68:53 You may be putting down this thread I must pick up and pursue. All of your faculties, you're not laid back waiting to just give out the Rogerian grunt and say, well, whatever comes of this they've had a chance to unload. They'll feel better. They've articulated their problem or at least they've mumbled through it and we'll pray that God will bless them and send them home.

69:11 No, it's work. And as I alluded to in a previous lecture, it doesn't have the elements of exhilaration that come with preaching. But it's work. And you're laboring according to His working which works in you mightily, engaging all of the faculties in the process.

The Sovereignty of the Spirit's Ministry

69:29 And then I want to say a word about the sovereignty of the Spirit's ministry. When we come to counseling sessions convinced of the necessity of the Spirit's ministry, we must constantly remind ourselves that He is the sovereign Spirit. He is the sovereign Spirit. He is not a force at our disposal.

69:49 He is God the Holy Spirit. And as He is sovereign in regeneration, the ways of the Spirit, Jesus said in John 3 and verse 8, are like the wind. The wind blows where it wills. You can't tell where it comes from, where it goes.

70:04 You see its effect. You don't control it. The wind blows where it wills. And in the Philippians 2.13 passage,

70:12 God's working in us to will and to work for His good pleasure is at His control, not ours. Why does God put forth a greater, efficient, divine energy in the soul in one brother at this time and in another at...

70:29 I don't know. I don't know. When the Lord said, Peter, I've prayed for you that your faith fail not, why did He not pray that His courage fail not? If His prayers could keep His faith from not failing, could not His prayers have kept His courage?

70:45 But He didn't. And so He failed in the area of courage. I don't understand it. 1 Corinthians 3.6 and 7.

70:54 As Paul is sorting out this problem of people lining up in their party spirit, he's trying to teach them what is the nature of the Christian ministry. If you Corinthians understand that, you'd stop this foolishness. I planted. Apollos watered.

71:08 But God gave the increase. So then, neither is He who plants anything, neither He that waters, but God who gives the increase. And He gives the increase how and where and when He wills. And you better have a deep, solid conviction of this in the area of pastoral counseling as much as you have it in the area of preaching.

71:30 If you don't, you're going to be vulnerable to all kinds of excesses, discouragements, and to stinking, rotten human pride. God works where, when, how He wills. And ultimately, though we try to trace out the patterns of His working and to fall in love with the ways of His working, at the end of the day, neither is He that plants, neither He that waters, but God who gives the increase. So if we're convinced then of the sovereignty of the Spirit's ministry, it likewise will have some very practical effects in the area of pastoral counseling.

Practical Effects of Believing in the Spirit's Sovereignty

72:04 I've listed four of them. Number one, we should not be surprised if our results are uneven. You'll help believer A with problem B. And they're so thrilled that as a result of a session or two with you, something that's been a thorn in their side for years, it's fundamentally resolved, and in their enthusiasm they go to someone else with a similar problem.

72:28 They go to Pastor so-and-so, God used him to help me, and what happens? Same basic problem, you give the same basic medicine, like the woman that spent all her money on the physicians and was not one whit better. You don't have a formula that's going to, quote, work. No.

72:50 You have Biblical, Gospel dynamics that are utterly dependent upon the Holy Ghost for their efficiency. Not in any way negating human responsibility. Remember, we've said what our presuppositions are with regard to the person counseled. They are responsible moral creatures, and if they don't believe and don't apply and don't implement, they're culpable.

73:12 Yes, but we know He works in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. And you must not be surprised if your results are uneven. Secondly, we will not cut people off prematurely. Because we don't know when God will just put the pieces together and apply His own.

73:31 That's what Owen was fishing for. You remember in volume six when we were working through that we struggled with Owen talked about a physical efficiency of the Spirit of God. He was trying to describe this. Something he saw as a pastor.

73:43 That God puts forth an energy in the soul that enables the person to deal with an issue at one time that they were utterly unable to deal with at another. And so we will continue to labor in hope and in expectation and will not cut people off prematurely. But thirdly, we will not keep on inordinately believing that if they are not sucking at my breast they're going to wither up and die. There comes a time when you give them all you can give them and you've just got to leave them with God.

74:12 And lo and behold, sometimes God wonderfully surprises you. I've used the incidents with you because it's been so dramatic in reminding me of this in recent years of a couple that I spent hours with sorting out tensions in their marriage until they said, enough. The wife said, I just can't take it anymore. Having hopes raised and dashed.

74:32 And we left them. And God sovereignly intervened with means so totally disparate. And now they're a living monument of a marriage that anyone in the world would envy. God just underscoring again.

74:49 He doesn't need to use a particular framework that might be His ordinary framework of working. So you won't feel if I don't keep on with them in this thing then somehow they're...

74:59 No. If they're the Lord's, He's going to keep them. He's going to keep them. And ultimately they're being kept is not your task but His commitment as we'll see God willing Sunday morning in 1 Peter 1.5.

75:10 But then lastly, brethren, we'll not take credit to ourselves. Each as the Lord gave to him. If God is pleased to give some measure of fruitfulness in this given area of pastoral counseling, He gave it. And if He's pleased to give you some earned reputation of effectiveness and the Lord owns that, just remember, He gave.

75:33 He gave. He gave. And if you touch and stain with your filthy carnal hands His glory, beware. Jehovah is my name.

75:42 My glory I will not give to another nor my praise to graven images. And plead with God that in your heart of hearts you will joyfully acknowledge it's His work. And that will come across in your ongoing interaction with someone who has been so helped that they may want to have an inordinate attachment to you or indebtedness to you. And you will not just as a pious fraud but inwardly reject anything that even approaches an idolatrous appreciation for you.

76:14 And you'll deflect that in its proper direction. So for a true Christian to say in the words of the ancient creed, I believe in God the Holy Ghost is a vital part of His confession. But any pastor who cannot say as he thinks of pastoral counseling, I believe in God the Holy Ghost. Whatever he's doing he's not doing biblical pastoral counseling.

76:37 And I trust that this overarching presupposition will be one that by the grace of God will indeed be part and parcel of the whole interior complexion of our souls if God is pleased to put us in the place of being privileged to be pastoral counselors to the sheep.