Author: Paul Tautges / ePub ebook / ISBN 9781633421257
Search Results for : counseling one another
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Author: Paul Tautges / Paperback, 128 pages / ISBN 9781633421141
This past week, Cubs fans across the country were aglow with joy over the World Series victory. There was light in their eyes! How many things bring light to your eyes? One of those things should be the Bible, specifically the commands of the Bible. The psalmist describes it this way: The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. Psalm 19:8 This is stunning – God’s commands bringing joy to the heart and light to the eyes. Is this your experience? Are God’s commands radiant to you? This week there was no difficulty in identifying “Cubbies”, they were easy to spot. But finding people […]
The sky displays the glory of God. You can see the amazing power of God in the sky each day. But most of us are too busy to take much notice of the daily display of the glory of God. Vacations are more likely opportunities to notice the work of God above. But what about Monday morning? What about today? Moms, Dads, kids, teenagers—all of us will be encouraged if we will just look at the power of God on display above us. This day and every day God declares his majesty in the skies. Psalm 19:1 tells us this is so: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. The photo in […]
Author of Counseling One Another Interview by Fred Zaspel of Books at Glance Part 2 (read part 1 here) Books At a Glance (Fred Zaspel): How might churches foster this kind of “counseling one another” atmosphere? Tautges: Pastors need to teach their people that making disciples of Jesus is the primary task of the church, and is a work that necessitates the involvement of every believer. Disciple-making is not only for church leaders; it is for every Christian to one extent or another. Congregations need to understand what it means to live as a community of the faith, which involves the exercise of biblical love in “one-anothering” relationships. Believers also need to understand what biblical sanctification looks like, that is, […]
Author of Counseling One Another Interview by Fred Zaspel of Books at Glance Part 1 Books At a Glance (Fred Zaspel): The first thing that struck me when I opened the book is that in your title – Counseling One Another – you intend something more than we may catch at first glance. Explain your title for us. What is your book all about? Tautges: This book is about biblical discipleship. It’s that simple. The ministry of counseling has too often been relegated to the professional outside the church because we don’t understand what discipleship entails. This is not to say there is no need or place for the professional counselor; however, the lion’s share of this personal ministry can […]
Are you all in for God? Proverbs 2 provides a window of understanding for one reason why you have periods of spiritual apathy. If you ever have a question about why God seems distant at times, here is an explanation. Solomon says to find the knowledge of God, you must be passionately committed to your search, you must be all in. Suppose I told you that you could find millions of dollars in your back yard, all you have to do is go find it. Would your response be passive? Would you start your search after you have had a nap or watched your favorite TV program? Would you put your search off until a more convenient time? Would you […]
You know about the last supper. But there is another story of Jesus’s last night that we don’t recall so easily. It is an embarrassing story about what our hearts are really like. Just after the Lord’s Supper and just before Jesus goes to the garden to pray, there arose an ugly dispute between the disciples. I would like to say that if I had been there I would not have engaged in this display of pride. But I cannot. I, too, would have joined in the moment. The story is found in Luke 22:24-27. The disciples were trying to figure out who among them might betray Jesus, since he had just predicted that one of them would. Instead of […]
I grew up in Miami, the land of palm trees. On the Saturday before Palm Sunday we went out to the back yard and collected as many palm fronds as we could carry and took them to church. On Sunday, when we arrived at church, the center aisle and the side aisles of the sanctuary were lined with palm fronds. As a child it was thrilling to think that Jesus also rode on green palm fronds as he entered Jerusalem to shouts of the crowds singing Hosanna. It was not until years later that I considered the stark contrast between the celebration of Palm Sunday and the blasphemy of Good Friday. As a child, I never thought much about the […]
Suppose someone interviewed your teenager immediately after the two of you had a difficult conversation. What would he say? Would he say that you listened to him respectfully, wanting to fully understand him before you answered? Would she say that you showed thoughtful care for her concerns? Would your teenager say that the words you used were pleasant, encouraging and kind? Most importantly, would your teenager say your words were spoken with humility? Would your teenager think he was the most important person in the conversation? At this point someone might be protesting, “Wait a minute, my kid was being disrespectful to me. He doesn’t deserve to be treated that way!” In Philippians 2, the apostle Paul says this to […]