Knowing God

Do you know facts about God?

Or do you KNOW God intimately?

There is a difference. God wants you to know Him relationally, deeply, and intimately. He doesn’t want you to simply know facts about Him.

When you know Him, you find eternal life (John 17:3; I John 5:20). Think about that: eternal life is knowing God, not knowing a bunch of facts about God, but knowing Him relationally.

Christianity is NOT a bunch of rules, rituals, and do’s/don’t’s. It teaches a relationship with God through Jesus Christ only Who is the way and the truth and the life.

God is relational. Read all the books you want, but when it comes down to it, talk to Him in prayer and listen to Him in Spirit and in the truth of His Word. Then, trust Him by obeying what He says because when you truly know Him, you know He is good. He will take care of you.

In fact, He likes you.

-Mark (God likes me better than I like myself)

Responsibility – a key for overcoming all Addictions

A first “fruit” I look for in a “transforming” (Rom. 12:2) addict is RESPONSIBILITY. Is the person taking full responsibility for his/her actions or are they shifting the blame to someone else and/or other things?

Only when we take FULL responsibility for our choices, wrongs, and sins, does healing begin. Proverbs 28:13 tells us to confess and forsake our transgressions and we will find the mercy of God. Mercy is NOT getting what you deserve and is a blessing received through Jesus Christ. Confession is the spoken part of taking responsibility and Forsaking is the action part of taking responsibility.

If you know someone struggling with any type of addiction, encourage them to be accountable, obedient to Christ, and responsible. That’s the first fruit that is produced in a transforming “addict.”

-Mark (challenging myself to be more responsible to the Lord every day – letting my “yes” be “yes” and my “no” be “no”)

What’s your message?

If you do counseling, what’s your message? Are you preaching yourself? Are you proclaiming the so-called “wisdom” of mankind? OR are you proclaiming Christ?

2 Corinthians 4:5 states: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”**

The reason our ministry uses “lay counselors” is that the message they use in biblical counseling is NOT themselves, but the Gospel of Christ. And guess what? Lay persons (which is not a biblical label, by the way) are CAPABLE of preaching the Gospel and leading people to Christ.

Our churches have become sinfully dependent upon pastors to do all of the work of ministry and it’s wrong! Pastors are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12) so that they can “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).

Truth in Love exists to equip the saints of the local church to reach the world for Christ. Our message is to reclaim the care of souls to their rightful Owner – the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the head and His body is an extension of Him!  That’s what we in the church are: His hands and feet!

So are you making disciples of Christ? Are you pointing people to Christ?

Join our TIL team, help others, and grow in your relationship with Christ. We train lay persons and equip them to do the work of ministry to serve in the local church.

There is no salvation in telling someone your own advice or the worldly wisdom of Freud, Skinner, Piaget, Maslow, Jung, and others. Instead, tell them about Christ and the life-giving message of the Gospel which is really good news for lost, hurting souls.

So what’s your message? If it’s not Christ, then re-evaluate where you are placing your faith.

Biblical counseling is an ACT of faith as we trust the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts of mankind!

It really takes MORE faith to do biblical counseling than to lean on the arm of man, but it is so worth it.

-Mark (leading others with a message of real hope and real help for this life and the life to come)

** – The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001 (2 Co 4:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Is your heart broken for the world?

When you think of poverty, sickness, and spiritual lostness around the world, do you cry? Is your heart broken?

If you just say, “Aw, that’s so sad” and go back to living for your new car, house, and material possessions, then you do not have the heart of Christ. His heart was broken for this lost world. He shed tears (Luke 19:41). Do you cry?

If you don’t cry, then pray that God would break your heart for the world. Pray, give, support, and go on missions trips to spread the Gospel to the world.

Hopefully, Truth in Love will be doing just that in Kenya and Japan for starters. We want to reach the world for Christ and spread the transforming message of the Gospel.

-Mark (sobbing for the world and lost people everywhere – in Birmingham, too!)

NEW TIL Survey

In an effort to better serve those the LORD continues to send TIL, we have developed a short survey for you to share your feedback. For those of you who have visited Truth In Love, please take a few minutes and complete this 10 question survey. You can click at the top of the page on the TIL SURVEY tab or click here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Hthuh8NdgD31fId4O_2ffDMQ_3d_3d

Your input is vauled & will help us to continue to provide quality care to those we serve!

Jesus is LORD,

-Jason

Who is able to tell someone about the hole in the ground?

You hear a lot about hypocrisy. People act like Jesus talked about hypocrisy all of the time, but He didn’t except when He dealt with religious Pharisees. Today, Christians are afraid to be bold and to biblically counsel or tell others about Jesus because of the “hypocrisy” or “sin” in their own lives, but we don’t preach ourselves!

Can a divorced person counsel someone about marriage? Think about that for a second before you answer and read this verse from 2 Cor. 4:5: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”**

Let’s look at an illustration. Pretend there’s a hole in the ground that you stepped in and fell. Would you be “qualified” to warn someone walking near that hole not to step there since you just fell in?

What about the person who was standing nearby and saw you fall down after stepping in the hole? Would they be “qualified” to tell others about the hole?

What about a person who heard about the hole in the ground from others and then warned others about stepping in it? Would that person be “qualified” to warn others about the hole?

Who’s “qualified” to tell others about the hole in the ground? Does it matter? Not really because the PERSON is inconsequential. It’s the message that is vital. It’s the message that one must avoid the hole because they could fall, break an ankle, or whatever – that’s what is important.

Now, look at 2 Cor. 4:5 again:  “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”**

So can a divorced person counsel others? Are they “disqualified” from helping others since they’ve been divorced? It depends upon their message. If they are preaching themselves, then “yes” they are disqualified. However, if they are preaching Christ, then the message is right and they can “preach” it. They can warn others not to fall into the pit of divorce and to look to the forgiveness and power of Christ to bring change into their marriage.

Change gears now and reverse it. It’s ironic to me that people say all of the time that “it takes an addict to help another addict” but is that true? If the message is Christ, then anyone can preach it because it’s not the vessel that is important but the message and the Person of Christ. So anyone can help an “addict” if and when they get the message right!

I hate hypocrisy as much as anyone. I hate it in me first. But I can’t let my sin stop me or “disqualify” me from public speaking, preaching, teaching, or biblical counseling because the message is not MARK SHAW but knowing the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3).

I hope this encourages you to place your faith in the message of Christ and to fulfill the ministry that He has called you to do!

Are you inadequate? Yes, but He is not! If He’s called you, He’ll be faithful to work through you by His Spirit to share His message of hope with others.

-Mark (proclaiming Christ alone)

** – The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Co 4:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Unity in the Body of Christ

For those of you who are new readers, I blogged a lot on UNITY in the early days of this blog! Unity is near and dear to my heart though it’s a struggle for me at times. I have to fight to keep unity just as you do, too, I’m sure!

I love unity in the body of Christ. I love that the Bible and biblical discipleship can be unifying. I love that what we do at TIL is unifying the body of Christ. Want proof that TIL is unifying?

How many ministries can say that they have taught at methodist, baptist, christian & missionary alliance denomination, a national conference uniting all denominations (like Mennonites, charismatics, Bible churches, presbyterian, and a broad mixture of other groups), and non-denominational churches this year? How many? By the grace of God, TIL can. We also have many of our biblical counselors who come from a variety of churches and denominations! Praise the Lord for His unity!

Our message is unifying: the Holy Spirit and God’s Word TRANSFORM hurting souls for the glory of God through His body (the church) all over the WORLD and secular, psychological so-called “help” is NOT needed since Christ alone is enough to solve a person’s problems. That’s it. That’s the basic message we promote. We don’t get into eschatology, baptism, Calvinism, Arminianism, and other such potentially divisive topics. We just don’t.

We are NOT for unity at the cost of compromising the GOSPEL. The Gospel and the Word of God must NEVER be compromised!

We long for unity in the body of Christ and experience it some in TIL. When are we going to cut down denominational lines and unite around the essentials of our faith? When? Is God pleased with all of this division? He’s allowing it but is it pleasing to Him?

TIL is “eager to maintain unity” and peace in the Spirit of the Lord.

Ephesians 4:1-3 COMMANDS Christians to be eager to maintain UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of peace – it’s not a suggestion, but a command: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.**

Let’s put away religion and division and in-fighting of mankind and find unity in Christ alone for the sole purpose of reaching Birmingham to eventually reach the world for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

** The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Eph 4:1-3). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

-Mark (worn out by all of the division I see among the brethren)