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!)

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.

Gospel Counseling

I heard author Elyse Fitzpatrick say that she believes in biblical counseling and GOSPEL counseling. I like that term, “gospel counseling” because that’s really what we do.

We share the gospel with believers and unbelievers alike. Believers need the gospel reminder for sanctification and unbelievers need the gospel for salvation. Both need the gospel. In fact, everyone needs the gospel!

Gospel Counseling tells us two things: 

1) We are a bigger mess than we could ever imagine.                AND

2) God is more gracious and forgiving of us than we could ever imagine.

As Christians, sometimes we forget to trust God and we try to fix things on our own.

Whether it’s for sanctification or salvation, we all need the Gospel and the power of Christ to transform us.

-Mark (Gospel-driven because I’m Gospel-forgiven) 

Going back to the Garden

To fully understand the Gospel, one must go back to Genesis 1:1 which is the very beginning.

To fully appreciate what Christ did for us, we must begin there.

Read the first 3 chapters of Genesis today. Then, read from Mark 11 (the Triumphal Entry of Jesus) through Mark 16:8 (the Resurrection of Jesus).

Genesis 1-3 & Mark 11-16:8    – 8 chapters total of the Bible -     are all I’m asking you to read. It might take you 30 minutes. What a small sacrifice!

Jesus was God’s sacrificial lamb that was slain for us just like God sacrificed animals (likely a lamb, but it’s not known exactly) for Adam & Eve’s sin in the Garden. Only God’s sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, would suffice as He is just and must punish sin according to His holy standards.

When you think of the Gospel, I urge you to return to Genesis. Remember the beginnings of why sin and death entered into God’s perfect world. Then reflect upon the new heavens and new earth coming soon after Jesus returns as our King of Kings!

-Mark (looking forward to the return of Christ but wanting it to delay some so that more might be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ)

Hope for Kenya

I met with Kenyan Pastor Joseph Kirwa today about the possibility of going to Kenya in August 2009 on a short-term missions trip to teach biblical counseling & discipleship principles to the PASTORS in Kenya.

Please be in prayer about this that the Lord would lead us to do His will.

Pastor Joseph counsels with me here on Fridays and wants Kenyans to be knowledgeable about the truth of God’s Word so that the Holy Spirit will grow the people of Kenya. This opportunity is perfect for our type of ministry AS the Lord wills.

-Mark (thankful for men like Joseph who have a burden for the lost people of Kenya)

Hope for Japan – 2009

One of the many blessings of serving Christ in this ministry is to meet committed believers who share a burden for hurting souls. In the past 3 years, the Lord crossed my path with Steven Taylor who has a burden for hurting souls in Japan!

Steven and his wife plus 3 children are in Japan now. They are learning the language now – though Kyehee has a head start as she is fluent in Korean and has a real knack for languages.

Their blog is http://blog.hopeforjapan.com/ - we are grateful to be supporting them in ministry. If you’d like to support them, also, they are missionaries with T.E.A.M. at www.teamworld.org or you can donate to our ministry as well (just specify so that we will know to give it to them!). 

Japan is one of the most spiritually dark countries in the world meaning that less than 1% are Christian there. They need the life-giving, hopeful message of the Gospel. If ever a place needed biblical counseling, it’s Japan.

-Mark (saddened that a reported 600 suicides occur WEEKLY in Japan)