ACBC Counseling Exams 12 20 Case Studies

00:00:00.000 | an overview of these case studies and an overview of the exam questions numbered

00:00:07.280 | 12 to 20 and what you'll find is that in the case studies what we're really going

00:00:13.800 | to be asking you to do is to take the material that we have already covered in

00:00:19.400 | the theology exams numbers 1 to 24 and then also the counseling exams numbers

00:00:26.240 | 1 to 11 and then we're going to ask you to apply them as it relates to a

00:00:33.700 | specific case study so what you'll find in counseling exams number 12 to 20 is

00:00:41.080 | that we're not really covering new ground we're not covering any new

00:00:45.040 | information but we're taking the material that we have already covered in

00:00:50.440 | the year 2 training and asking you to apply them to a specific counseling

00:00:57.000 | situation for example one of the exam questions asks you to relate what exact

00:01:04.120 | homework you would assign to a person going through a specific counseling

00:01:08.960 | issue well if you've been with us in our year 1 and year 2 training you know the

00:01:14.280 | value of homework you understand the broad categories of what you might

00:01:19.120 | assign as homework and what you're gonna be doing in this exam question is taking

00:01:23.920 | those concepts and then specifically designing a homework scenario a homework

00:01:30.640 | assignment that would help a counselee through a specific counseling issue and

00:01:36.600 | so again we're not covering any real new information in exams 12 to 20 but we're

00:01:43.280 | taking the information we have already covered and applying them to specific

00:01:47.760 | counseling scenarios we are also going to be asking you to work through your

00:01:54.680 | own personal counseling approach to these case studies and so with the

00:02:00.000 | different students in our class we would expect to find the same basic

00:02:04.920 | foundational understanding of what homework is what good an inventory

00:02:11.080 | asking questions would would be about but we will find that each of the

00:02:18.200 | students should be assigning their own specific homework in other words each of

00:02:23.640 | you will be unique in how you will apply these principles to a specific

00:02:29.100 | counseling issue because each of you are uniquely gifted and have your own unique

00:02:34.300 | strengths in counseling ministry and so what I thought would be helpful for us

00:02:39.720 | tonight is just to do an overview of the case study make you familiar with the

00:02:45.560 | case studies being presented and then also familiar with what categories are

00:02:51.040 | they asking you to go back and review and then apply to a specific counseling

00:02:57.360 | scenario you'll find me saying oftentimes in the next hour what we're

00:03:02.560 | gonna do is ask you to review this lesson and then apply it to the case

00:03:07.820 | study that you're looking at in this question and so I hope that makes sense

00:03:12.760 | of what we're about in the next hour what we're aiming to do we're gonna be

00:03:17.600 | giving you an orientation as to the three case studies that are presented in

00:03:22.600 | these essay questions and then asking you to do your own work as to taking the

00:03:27.800 | material we've already covered and then applying it to a counseling scenario so

00:03:33.960 | I hope this will be a helpful study for all of us so thank you for joining us

00:03:39.600 | tonight let me open us in a word of prayer and we will get started in the

00:03:44.460 | case study let's pray father we do thank you so much for your word and for the

00:03:50.680 | precious truth that has been given to us in the holy scriptures and we thank you

00:03:55.080 | for the privilege of studying your word for the privilege of understanding your

00:04:00.560 | word and for the privilege of ministering your word in counseling

00:04:06.040 | ministry we thank you for the many biblical counselors that you are raising

00:04:10.360 | up around the nation who are devoted to the sufficiency of the scripture and

00:04:16.960 | pray that father our time tonight would be profitable that we would engage in a

00:04:24.040 | useful hour of orientation and that you would help each of the students in this

00:04:28.880 | class to think deeply and to apply these principles to the case studies before us

00:04:35.840 | and father this would be a helpful exercise for each of us in our

00:04:40.840 | counseling training thank you for this time and thank you for the great time

00:04:46.120 | we've had this year in studying your work together and we commit this time to

00:04:49.560 | you in Jesus name amen amen well if you look at the first page of your handout

00:04:58.400 | we come to the first case study that is presented to us which is the case study

00:05:06.320 | concerning Eric now I encourage the students in year two training that if

00:05:12.920 | you're a female counselor please feel free to give Eric a female a female name

00:05:20.440 | Erica may be a good name that you might assign to this counselee and if you're a

00:05:28.920 | female counselor you most likely will be counseling a female in counseling

00:05:34.000 | ministry so feel free to give Eric make Eric a female counselee and give a

00:05:41.180 | female name but the case study is this Eric is a 20 year old believer who has

00:05:47.660 | been struggling with pornography for the last three years before that time he

00:05:53.080 | knew that pornography existed but had never seen it because his parents

00:05:57.080 | carefully monitored all the technology in their home Eric discovered porn on a

00:06:03.080 | trip out of town when some of his friends from high school showed it to

00:06:06.480 | him on their phones since then Eric has frequently looked at pornography the

00:06:12.280 | problem became worse when he moved to college and had unfettered access to the

00:06:16.720 | internet on his laptop computer several weeks ago Eric became convinced that as

00:06:22.560 | a Christian he must begin to deal aggressively with this sin he did the

00:06:27.920 | hardest thing he had ever done and told his dad about the problem Eric's dad

00:06:32.240 | loves his son and wants to help him but has no idea what to do about a problem

00:06:38.200 | like this they came together to meet you for counsel so the counseling case study

00:06:46.920 | here has to do with the issue of pornography and the question associated

00:06:52.520 | with the case study is counseling exam number 12 assume that the information

00:06:59.280 | you have here is a straightforward presentation of the facts and write down

00:07:04.360 | the homework assignments you want Eric or Erica to complete after this first

00:07:11.060 | meeting with you after you list the homework explain the specific issues you

00:07:17.320 | will address with Eric in counseling sessions please include the categories

00:07:22.040 | of put off and put on in your answer so the question here has to do with

00:07:31.640 | homework assignments what type of homework assignments would you want to

00:07:38.720 | assign to Eric as you help Eric with this counseling issue you will remember

00:07:46.040 | that the category of homework assignments is covered in the six eyes a

00:07:52.960 | biblical counseling under the methods section of our year one training we

00:07:59.560 | cover the six eyes or the six key elements of biblical counseling and the

00:08:05.680 | last the sixth eye was the key element of implementation that is the assigning

00:08:14.560 | of homework between the counseling sessions that will help a counselee work

00:08:19.440 | through a certain counseling issue now that is the broad category of

00:08:26.560 | information that you want to bring to bear upon counseling exam number 12 if

00:08:33.540 | you remember from our overview of the key element of implementation we looked

00:08:39.760 | at the categories of Bible reading Bible memorization church involvement the

00:08:47.400 | assigning of involvement in small groups or attendance at Sunday morning worship

00:08:53.280 | services the listening to of sermons or of specific lectures books and booklets

00:09:01.640 | even engagement in relationships asking three to four people to pray for you or

00:09:09.200 | involving yourself with an accountability partner we even talked

00:09:14.640 | about the fact that you can assign songs to listen to or hymns to sing you can

00:09:21.440 | really get very specific in homework assignment as you work with a counselee

00:09:28.320 | and those are just broad categories books and booklets Bible reading Bible

00:09:33.480 | memorization church involvement those are broad categories to think through as

00:09:38.760 | you think as you think about homework assignment in relation to a specific

00:09:45.120 | counseling issue now what you want to do in this counseling exam is work through

00:09:51.800 | those categories of Bible reading Bible memorization books booklets sermons

00:09:58.440 | lectures songs to sing relationships and give some specific assignments in those

00:10:06.040 | categories to Eric as you help him through this counseling issue or if you

00:10:13.440 | help Erica through her counseling issue think through some specific passages of

00:10:21.400 | Scripture that you want the counselee to read and to memorize think through some

00:10:29.080 | good books that would be helpful as it relates to this counseling issue think

00:10:35.000 | through relationships in the local church perhaps you want your counselee

00:10:39.600 | to ask three to four people in the church who are trusted to get involved

00:10:46.280 | with the counselee in working through this counseling issue or perhaps one

00:10:51.320 | specific accountability partner that the counselee can be engaged in think

00:10:58.160 | through with the specific issue of pornography the installation of an

00:11:03.400 | internet filter on in a smartphone or on a computer in homework you can really

00:11:11.400 | assign anything that would help your counselee work through the counseling

00:11:15.920 | issue and the more specific you can get in this essay as to the specific

00:11:22.520 | homework assignments you would give to Eric or Erica the better your essay will

00:11:28.840 | be now think through order of sequence one possible way one possible approach

00:11:36.880 | to write this essay is paragraph number one you might want to talk about what

00:11:42.080 | type of homework you would assign on the first session as you work through a

00:11:47.440 | counseling issue in this way you will note that the homework assignment given

00:11:52.520 | at the first session will be different from the homework assignments dealt with

00:11:57.040 | in sessions two three and four in your first session assignments you may want

00:12:03.520 | to focus on Bible reading and Bible passages that give hope to the believer

00:12:09.880 | that give hope for change and you might want to think through the categories of

00:12:18.880 | indicatives and imperatives and promises and assign a balance of biblical reading

00:12:26.480 | that would both give hope for the counselee to change and then also give

00:12:31.040 | some specific direction as to how the counselee is to change some good reading

00:12:38.800 | assignments to give in specific specifically relating to the issue of

00:12:43.680 | pornography is Heath Lambert's finally free fighting for purity by the power of

00:12:50.120 | grace is an excellent resource that we use in counseling ministry a very

00:12:56.740 | grace-centered Bible centered gospel centered approach to dealing with the

00:13:04.280 | issue of pornography a very excellent work that I would recommend to you there

00:13:10.160 | is specific counseling homework assignment in a Christian growth and

00:13:15.920 | discipleship manual written by Wayne Mac and Wayne Johnston just some good

00:13:21.920 | homework handouts to give to a counselee that would relate to this issue and so

00:13:28.720 | those are some good homework assignments that you might want to give to Eric or

00:13:33.920 | Erica one key passage that I would recommend that you use in counseling

00:13:40.120 | ministry as it relates to the issue of pornography or even temptation to sexual

00:13:46.680 | immorality is Romans chapter 6 verses 1 to 14 just a wonderful passage of

00:13:55.180 | scripture that gives hope to the counselee that the counselee can change

00:14:00.840 | by the grace of God based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ Paul says

00:14:06.200 | there in verse 1 what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace

00:14:10.760 | might may abound by no means how can we who died to sin still live in it or do

00:14:17.860 | you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were

00:14:22.880 | baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death

00:14:29.880 | in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

00:14:35.000 | Father we too might walk in newness of life and then I love what Paul says in

00:14:41.500 | verse 12 let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its

00:14:47.240 | passions do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

00:14:53.160 | but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life

00:14:58.440 | and your members to God as instruments for righteousness for sin will have no

00:15:05.680 | dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace and so Heath

00:15:11.560 | Lambert in his book finally freed as a great job of unpacking the significance

00:15:16.960 | of Romans chapter 6 in relation to the pursuit of purity we begin from the

00:15:24.600 | standpoint of this great indicative that the Christian is no longer a slave to

00:15:29.200 | sin the Christian may be tempted to sin but a Christian is not enslaved to sin

00:15:36.360 | or under the dominion of sin the Christian does not need to sin the

00:15:40.560 | Christian can by the grace of God and because of the person and work of Jesus

00:15:46.020 | Christ pursue holiness and overcome temptation and so that might be a

00:15:52.320 | passage that you might assign to a counselee who is wrestling with

00:15:57.520 | temptation to pornography or to sexual immorality another key passage is 1st

00:16:04.360 | Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3 where Paul says for this is the will of God

00:16:08.760 | your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality that each one of

00:16:14.800 | you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor not in the passion of

00:16:20.960 | lust like the Gentiles who do not know God that no one transgress and wrong his

00:16:26.880 | brother in this matter because the Lord is an avenger in all these things as we

00:16:33.640 | told you beforehand and solemnly warned you for God has not called us for

00:16:39.640 | impurity but in holiness so these are some possible texts that you might

00:16:45.920 | assign to a counselee to read even to memorize you want to be careful not to

00:16:51.200 | overwhelm the counselee with homework that would be overly burdensome but

00:16:56.840 | think through passages in your own study and remember to think through the the

00:17:02.480 | categories of indicatives imperatives and promises indicatives what God has

00:17:09.480 | done for us in Christ imperatives how we are to live in light of Christ perfect

00:17:16.560 | work on our behalf and then promises what God has promised to do in our lives

00:17:22.280 | for each believer in Christ just be balanced in your assigning of homework

00:17:28.600 | don't give all promises don't give all indicatives don't give all imperatives

00:17:34.040 | but think through those categories in terms of a balanced approach that would

00:17:39.360 | help the counselee deal with these issues and then thinking through the

00:17:44.320 | language of put off and put on that's coming from Ephesians chapter 4 verses

00:17:52.000 | 22 to 28 which talks about the fact that we are to put off the old man and put on

00:17:59.880 | the new man and so sanctification is put off and put on in other words our

00:18:09.160 | goal is not for Eric or Erica merely to put off immorality but we also want Eric

00:18:19.920 | or Erica to put on the pursuit of God and the pursuit of Christ likeness

00:18:26.840 | sanctification is not just abstaining from involvement with pornography but

00:18:33.100 | sanctification is putting on a passion for holiness and a passion for true

00:18:42.600 | sanctification and likeness to Christ it is putting off the selfishness that

00:18:49.840 | would lead to involvement with pornography and putting on service and

00:18:56.640 | giving yourself away in service and ministry to others it is putting off the

00:19:05.840 | selfish isolation that would lead to involvement with this sin and putting on

00:19:13.880 | true fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church as

00:19:20.680 | Heath Lambert says all involvement with pornography is an expression of pride

00:19:27.200 | and so we want to help the counselee put off pride and arrogance and to put on

00:19:33.880 | humility and lowly lowliness of life of mind and so just think through those

00:19:42.000 | categories of put off put on one possible way to structure this

00:19:46.480 | counseling exam is to work through in a first paragraph your first session

00:19:52.840 | homework assignments and then work through in a second paragraph further

00:19:58.680 | assignments that you would give to help Eric or Erica work through this

00:20:04.000 | counseling issue and and then a third paragraph deal with the concepts of put

00:20:10.320 | off and put on that you're not going to be satisfied with your counselee just

00:20:15.080 | merely abstaining from pornography but you want to help the counselee put on

00:20:21.320 | Christlike virtue and Christlike character and become humble and

00:20:26.680 | selfless and involved in fellowship and engaged in a pursuit of God and a

00:20:33.240 | passion for Christlikeness and the worship of Christ and so that is the

00:20:39.480 | first case study which is the case study of Eric let me move to the second case

00:20:46.560 | study that is presented in the counseling exams and this is the case

00:20:51.080 | study of Sarah the case study says this Sarah is a 34 year old married mother of

00:20:58.880 | three who comes to you for help with depression she says that she has been

00:21:05.080 | feeling terribly sad for the last six months and has a lot of trouble keeping

00:21:10.400 | up with life she came to you seeking the opinion of a biblical counselor on what

00:21:16.000 | she should do Sarah has several friends who received antidepressants from their

00:21:21.960 | family doctor the medicine seemed to help for a while but they also

00:21:26.920 | experienced some unpleasant side effects that she is concerned about she asks you

00:21:33.640 | explicitly do you think I should see my doctor about taking an antidepressant

00:21:42.400 | and so the case study with Sarah deals with the issue of depression and the

00:21:50.800 | related issue of the Christian and psychotropic drugs or antidepressants in

00:21:58.760 | this case now if you've been with us in our study of year one and year two you

00:22:04.160 | know that this is material that we have covered both in our year one training

00:22:08.620 | and in our year two training we had a section on depression in our year one

00:22:15.960 | training and then also session dealing with Christians and psychotropic

00:22:21.480 | medications we then did a review of that material in our year two training I

00:22:28.080 | believe that was counseling exam number five we dealt again with the issue of

00:22:34.100 | depression and the related issue of psychotropic drugs so we would want you

00:22:41.200 | to simply review that material I will suggest to you to go back to counseling

00:22:46.560 | exam number five and just review the session that we looked at in that

00:22:53.080 | counseling exam and then relate that material to the case study of Sarah who

00:23:01.000 | is asking if she should take an antidepressant for her struggle with

00:23:07.240 | depression now just remember some of the material we covered in those sessions

00:23:13.200 | our definition of depression Gary Gilley writes that depression can be defined as

00:23:20.040 | that debilitating mood feeling or air of hopelessness which results in a ceasing

00:23:26.200 | of the handling of life he continues that a depressed person may want to

00:23:31.480 | sleep all the time you may cry easily you may stop going to work or doing a

00:23:36.760 | necessary task around the house you may stop eating or eat constantly he will

00:23:42.280 | feel that life is hopeless and so in the case of Sarah the exam question is this

00:23:51.400 | how would you respond to this question the question is do you think I should

00:23:56.120 | see my doctor about taking an antidepressant and then write out your

00:24:00.720 | answer exactly as you would provide it to Sarah so what we want you to do in

00:24:08.280 | this exam question is to go ahead and imagine yourself in a counseling room

00:24:15.240 | having a counseling session with Sarah and then just type out verbally what

00:24:21.880 | would be the language you would use to talk to Sarah and to walk her through

00:24:27.120 | the issue of depression and psychotropic drugs for example your essay might begin

00:24:34.880 | with some type of language like Sarah I'm so sorry to hear about your

00:24:41.600 | struggles with depression and then go on from there addressing Sarah in the

00:24:49.000 | counseling essay the counseling exam question let me just remind you to enter

00:24:58.080 | the counselee's world as you write out a response to Sarah make sure to give a

00:25:05.040 | compassionate response if depression is that debilitating mood feeling or air of

00:25:11.840 | hopelessness which results in a ceasing of the handling of life enter the

00:25:18.160 | council's world and see life through her eyes and make sure to give a

00:25:23.400 | compassionate response I will suggest to you to remind the counselee that she is

00:25:30.440 | not alone we talked about this principle in our overview of depression in session

00:25:38.440 | number five the number of Saints who have struggled with depression throughout

00:25:43.560 | redemptive history we talked about the fact that Job experienced some type of

00:25:49.400 | depression as he walked through this great season of suffering and sorrow we

00:25:57.080 | looked at the psalmist in Psalm 88 verse 3 who said for my soul is full of

00:26:03.440 | troubles and my life draws near to Sheol in verse 7 he says your wrath lies

00:26:10.320 | heavy upon me and you overwhelm me with all your waves verse 18 you have caused

00:26:16.840 | my beloved and my friend to shun me my companions have become darkness and so

00:26:23.340 | what's helpful in relating to a person like Sarah is just to remind her that

00:26:29.960 | you're not alone many Christians have wrestled with seasons of despair seasons

00:26:36.080 | of sorrow seasons in which there is some experience of spiritual darkness we

00:26:42.560 | think of even great men of God like ch Spurgeon who wrestled with depression

00:26:48.380 | William Cooper we mentioned in our session number five who wrote great

00:26:53.840 | hymns of the faith and yet wrestled with great spiritual darkness and so forth

00:26:59.880 | and so on many examples of Christians who have wrestled with great periods of

00:27:07.320 | darkness and despair and so just giving a compassion response just assuring the

00:27:15.360 | counselee that she is not alone assuring the counselee the Bible does address

00:27:20.240 | this issue and that the Bible does address this issue in a way that is

00:27:25.400 | compassionate and merciful and that our goal again is not to remove the

00:27:34.200 | depression per se but our goal is to help the counselee to walk with God

00:27:38.440 | through seasons of sorrow and spiritual darkness now as it relates to the

00:27:46.000 | specific question of do you think I should see my doctor about taking an

00:27:50.360 | antidepressant let me refer you to the session number five where we did cover

00:27:57.720 | some of this material as to how we might handle the issue of psychotropic drugs

00:28:04.320 | we did look there at two extreme views extreme view number one is that

00:28:09.320 | Christians should never take psychotropic medications and that would

00:28:14.280 | be a view I myself would not take because I don't find any command in the

00:28:20.080 | Bible that says thou shalt not take any psychotropic medications and if there's

00:28:25.600 | not a command in the Bible that says that then I definitely don't want to

00:28:29.080 | make up one on my own this view holds that the problem is always spiritual in

00:28:35.520 | nature and should only be addressed through spiritual means as we work

00:28:41.320 | through counselees with counselees and counseling ministry we just have to be

00:28:46.000 | really careful with that we don't always know that the problem is 100% spiritual

00:28:52.760 | it there may be a physical issue here there may be a true medical condition

00:28:57.640 | such as hypothyroidism or there might be undiagnosed diabetes or they might be a

00:29:03.840 | side effect from a medication there may be a true medical issue that needs to be

00:29:09.440 | addressed and therefore we just want to be careful about concluding that the

00:29:14.880 | problem is spiritual if we don't have all the information on the opposite side

00:29:22.100 | you have the extreme view that psychotropic drugs are the only answer

00:29:26.200 | for Christians this view would hold that the problems only physical in nature and

00:29:31.200 | therefore the answer is merely chemical and biological so it's one thing on one

00:29:38.760 | hand to say well you should never take a psychotropic drug that that is clearly

00:29:47.480 | sin we do not want to say that because the Bible doesn't say that but on the

00:29:54.080 | other hand you can go to the extreme and saying that all of my problems will be

00:29:58.880 | solved if I simply take a psychotropic drug or psychotropic medication and we

00:30:05.900 | just want to be aware of the extremes we could come to as it relates to this

00:30:10.680 | issue and find a balanced we gave you a proposed balanced view realizing that

00:30:17.720 | man is both spiritual and physical in nature we don't want to add extra

00:30:23.880 | biblical standards to the Word of God we want to beware of having a judgmental

00:30:29.080 | attitude when it comes to extra biblical standards I don't want to ever tell a

00:30:34.080 | counselee you shouldn't take psychotropic medications because I don't

00:30:39.480 | have the authority to do that from Scripture and I also don't want to

00:30:42.880 | unfairly judge a counselee who may have different convinced convictions on that

00:30:47.880 | subject then I do Romans 14 says we are not to judge one another as it relates

00:30:54.400 | to disputable issues which are not clearly spelled out in Scripture we want

00:31:00.680 | to realize that counselees have a wide spectrum of attitudes towards taking

00:31:04.040 | psychotropic medication we realize that medication can be a common grace measure

00:31:09.800 | to treat the symptoms of depression depression is sometimes a physical issue

00:31:14.720 | but it is always a spiritual issue and so our goal is to minister the Word of

00:31:21.240 | God to the heart medication is not a gospel blocker and so this is material

00:31:28.760 | we've covered already what we're asking you to do in this counseling question is

00:31:33.400 | to take this balance for you and then in your own words communicate to Sarah a

00:31:39.920 | view of medication that would strike this balance of we don't prohibit what

00:31:47.760 | God's Word doesn't prohibit but we also don't want to place all of our hope in a

00:31:55.280 | drug in an idolatrous way in saying that this drug has all of my confidence and

00:32:01.880 | all of my trust we want to bring a balanced biblical view to that

00:32:07.520 | discussion and that question is asking you to do that in your own words

00:32:11.440 | speaking to Sarah how would you shepherd her through that through that topic as

00:32:20.160 | you look at the next question question number 14 the question is what means

00:32:26.200 | would you use to find out more information about Sarah's current

00:32:30.640 | problem what information would you seek this is relating to the key element of

00:32:38.400 | inventory one of the six eyes of biblical counseling what kind of

00:32:42.960 | questions would you ask Sarah what are the categories of information that you

00:32:48.220 | would be seeking to understand as it relates to a counseling issue you will

00:32:54.000 | remember that inventory we defined as the ministry of active intentional

00:33:00.680 | listening to a counselee's thoughts emotions and feelings so as to minister

00:33:07.040 | to that person with knowledge and understanding we covered the preach

00:33:12.920 | acronym by Wayne Mac just categories of information that we might seek to

00:33:18.600 | understand as it relates to Sarah's issues physical resources and

00:33:24.920 | relationships emotions and feelings there is actions behavior conceptual

00:33:32.680 | thinking goals values desires and motives and then there is the historical

00:33:38.280 | view of Sarah's life the good and bad in past context present context failure

00:33:45.240 | school and job problems you will remember some basic skill sets of good

00:33:52.960 | inventory we told you to ask don't assume make sure that you invite the

00:33:59.800 | counselee into the situ into the conversation without prejudging the

00:34:03.680 | counselee and assuming a certain truth that may or may not be true learn to ask

00:34:11.280 | open-ended questions instead of close-ended question and then learn to

00:34:16.680 | utilize both extensive questions as well as intensive questions you'll remember

00:34:23.100 | we covered the whole idea that as it relates to Sarah you might want to find

00:34:27.920 | out an extensive ask extensive questions that kind of summarize the history of

00:34:36.160 | Sarah's life I might want to find out is this struggle with depression is it a

00:34:42.120 | lifelong issue has it been going on for a decade or more or is it really a

00:34:46.560 | recent development if Sarah says something to the effect of I never

00:34:52.400 | struggled with depression I just started struggling with depression three months

00:34:57.080 | ago and before that there really was not an issue then I'm gonna be asking

00:35:02.160 | intensive questions as to what happened exactly three months ago what are the

00:35:07.680 | physical things the relational things the emotional events that happened three

00:35:14.480 | months ago that may have triggered this spiraling down of a person's thoughts

00:35:20.520 | and emotions into a type of depression you will remember that we taught you in

00:35:27.600 | the three tree diagram that the concepts of heat and heart and root and fruit and

00:35:34.960 | that a good line of questioning moves from the external situation that a

00:35:40.680 | counselee is encountering the heat of life to the behavioral issues the

00:35:47.360 | external actions of behavior and then into the heart or the root issues of

00:35:53.320 | life and so as it relates to Sarah's condition I would want to find out when

00:36:01.120 | did the depression start were there are physical stresses as it relates to the

00:36:07.720 | the timing of when the depression really became intense is Sarah sleeping what is

00:36:14.840 | her schedule like what are the spiritual stresses upon her life are there any

00:36:20.600 | real spiritual battles that she is encountering in her Christian life I'd

00:36:26.840 | want to also find out things like broadly what is her salvation testimony

00:36:31.520 | when does she come to know the Lord what are the fruits and the evidences of her

00:36:37.640 | salvation I would want to use a personal data inventory form a PDI to find out

00:36:45.840 | more about Sarah's life and what she is going through if she is married and does

00:36:55.280 | say here that she is a married mother of three I would want to get permission to

00:37:01.520 | ask for the husband's input and his perspective on the situation those are

00:37:06.680 | just some avenues of data gathering and inventory that I might want to employ in

00:37:12.600 | learning more about Sarah's current problem and then just generally I would

00:37:18.880 | want to find out from any counselee what is the counselees church involvement how

00:37:24.560 | is the counselee serving how many times does the counselee attend worship

00:37:28.480 | services is the counselee in a small group who are the relationships that are

00:37:33.120 | ministering to this person spiritually what is the counselee reading in the

00:37:39.280 | Word of God is there a regular intake of Scripture and how is the counselee

00:37:46.120 | engaged in serving others those are some general diagnostic types of questions

00:37:52.920 | that I would be asking to know what is the spiritual condition of the counselee

00:37:59.400 | as we look at number 15 exam question number 15 the question is carefully

00:38:07.000 | described whether and how you would want to work with a physician to help Sarah

00:38:12.560 | through this ordeal as part of your answer to this specific question

00:38:16.960 | described in general terms how you believe biblical counselors should

00:38:23.160 | cooperate with medical professionals now again this is a review of previous

00:38:29.880 | information we looked previously at the whole concept that man is material and

00:38:35.800 | immaterial that man is physical and spiritual if you work through the

00:38:40.800 | theology exam questions with us you wrote an entire essay on the the idea

00:38:46.120 | that man is material and immaterial that the material side of man is always

00:38:50.880 | relating to and interacting with the immaterial side of man that man has a

00:38:57.280 | soul and man has a body and therefore we as biblical counselors we are not

00:39:04.280 | medical physicians we are not tasked to give medication to the to the body we

00:39:12.280 | are not tasked to prescribe certain medications or treatments to the

00:39:16.780 | physical body that we will partner with medical professionals to treat who treat

00:39:24.680 | the body and our focus is really on ministering the Word of God to the soul

00:39:31.040 | and so while we are tasked as biblical counselors to minister the Word of God

00:39:36.920 | to the immaterial side of man the soul or the heart we do want to be aware of

00:39:44.040 | what is happening physically with the counselee and so we will ask a

00:39:49.080 | counselee as part of homework assignment to go see a medical physician to get a

00:39:54.800 | thorough medical assessment and we just want to eliminate physical causes for a

00:40:01.880 | person's depression and so as Tom Maxim has written there are physical causes

00:40:10.720 | for depression such as side effect from medication a true medical problem

00:40:17.680 | diseases and medical conditions such as hypoglycemia there might be undiagnosed

00:40:25.920 | cancer or other issues there might be the a chronic pain issue from an illness

00:40:33.200 | or injury and so forth and so on so we just want to partner with medical

00:40:39.080 | professionals in order to rule out physical causes for Sarah's depression

00:40:46.120 | so that we might focus on the spiritual causes and minister the Word of God to

00:40:51.360 | the heart now if you go to AC BC's statement on mental illness and medicine

00:41:00.200 | that's available at the biblical counseling calm website again that's the

00:41:05.680 | AC BC statement on mental illness and medicine AC BC has a statement there

00:41:12.280 | that is very balanced that talks through what how a biblical counselor might

00:41:17.920 | partner with a medical professional and in that statement the this the AC BC

00:41:28.880 | statement says this I'll just quote a portion of it says that biblical

00:41:32.880 | counselors must acknowledge the human being struggle with physical and

00:41:37.560 | spiritual problems biblical counselor shall encourage the use of physical

00:41:44.760 | examinations and testing by physicians for diagnosis of medical problems the

00:41:51.000 | treatment of these problems and the relief of symptoms which might cause

00:41:55.240 | contribute to or complicate counseling issues so that's a good statement to

00:42:02.360 | read to quote you might want to quote that statement in your essay and that

00:42:07.360 | will give a good balanced perspective on how a biblical counselor might partner

00:42:13.200 | with a medical professional to help a counselee like Sarah okay let me move to

00:42:21.760 | the third case study and this is the case study of Tim and Emily and let's

00:42:29.400 | just talk through this case study I'll give you some pointers to write the last

00:42:33.080 | three essays but this is the longest case study in the sequence so here we go

00:42:39.080 | Tim and Emily come from a church across town and I've asked to meet you because

00:42:43.680 | of some help that you offered their friends several months ago they are

00:42:47.800 | coming because of a persistent problem they have had in their marriage they

00:42:52.760 | explain that in their six years of marriage Tim has always had a short fuse

00:42:59.960 | a pause at this point you will note in the course of this case study the

00:43:05.120 | language of short fuse is relating to the issue of sinful anger and so in

00:43:11.440 | order to address this case study please go back to the session we completed on

00:43:15.880 | sinful anger I am forgetting the number that was I believe that was session

00:43:22.360 | number six or session number seven go back and review that material and relate

00:43:27.080 | that material to the case study of Tim and Emily Tim going back to the case

00:43:32.600 | study has always had a short fuse he regularly loses it when he comes home

00:43:39.280 | from work which fills the evenings with tense communication their weeks are

00:43:44.320 | filled with arguments about everything from dinner being ready on time to

00:43:48.200 | whether they should have kids Tim thinks Emily is a good wife admits the problems

00:43:52.840 | are his fault but says he just doesn't know how to maintain control about a

00:43:58.960 | year ago Tim went berserk screaming at Emily kicking the kitchen table and

00:44:04.560 | throwing plates on the floor in response to Emily's complaint that he came home

00:44:09.000 | late without calling Emily was always uncomfortable with Tim's previous

00:44:14.320 | pattern of outbursts with this was different she was truly scared Tim was

00:44:18.640 | too in tears she told Tim that something had to change Tim talked to his pastor

00:44:26.040 | who told him that he needed to see a professional therapist which sadly is

00:44:31.440 | the route that many churches take in dealing with an issue like this to refer

00:44:37.480 | them outside of the church to a an integrationist counselor who bills

00:44:45.000 | himself or herself as a Christian therapist Tim followed the advice and

00:44:50.960 | made an appointment with the Christian counselor whom his pastor recommended

00:44:54.560 | Tim met with the therapist for a few sessions who ultimately recommended he

00:44:59.000 | see a psychiatrist for medical care when Tim met with a psychiatrist he was told

00:45:04.920 | that he had bipolar disorder and began to take the medications prescribed by

00:45:11.000 | the physician so you will want to note we had a section on sinful anger you

00:45:18.040 | wanna you'll want to keep that material fresh in your mind as you relate to Tim

00:45:23.560 | and Emily you will note we also had a section on bipolar depression as part of

00:45:28.920 | the depression study and you'll want to keep that information handy as well and

00:45:34.920 | if you need more information on bipolar disorder you will want to read Charles

00:45:40.520 | Hodge's book good mood bad mood you will want to review his section on bipolar

00:45:46.760 | disorder just so you know how to handle that topic but those are the two

00:45:52.160 | categories of information that we will need to bring to bear upon this case

00:45:58.200 | study of Tim and Emily so Tim has what by all accounts seems like a an out-of-

00:46:05.880 | control anger problem he's gone to a psychiatrist who has given him a

00:46:11.400 | psychological diagnosis of bipolar disorder he has been placed on

00:46:16.560 | medication in order to deal with this problem let's continue on in the case

00:46:23.280 | study Tim was initially discouraged to learn he had a disease that would likely

00:46:27.880 | last his entire life but he was thankful to have a plan to deal with the problem

00:46:32.520 | Emily was also encouraged that there was now at least something they could do

00:46:37.480 | the encouragement quickly gave way however when after several months on the

00:46:42.400 | medication Tim had still not really changed well as temperament seemed

00:46:48.480 | milder in general the loss of control and screaming were still present it was

00:46:55.800 | at this point that Emily began to regret ever marrying Tim all the arguments

00:47:03.360 | together with a couple's lack of children were taking their toll she

00:47:06.660 | realized she was in a marriage that she did not want to be in but didn't think

00:47:11.040 | she had any options so you see here the compounding of problem upon problem

00:47:17.120 | which is typical in life and in counseling ministry then last week Tim

00:47:24.440 | went completely crazy Emily suggested on a Saturday morning that Tim should cut

00:47:30.680 | the grass because he had not done it the week before Tim did more than scream and

00:47:35.240 | throw things this time as he yelled and became more worked up he threw the phone

00:47:39.400 | at Emily he missed her knocking a hole in the wall but they both knew he had

00:47:45.960 | crossed a line Emily said she couldn't take it anymore and wanted out of the

00:47:52.360 | marriage she told him that if something didn't change very quickly she was going

00:47:57.360 | to leave that is when he reached out to his friend who recommended you Tim and

00:48:04.000 | Emily both profess faith in Christ and relate their testimonies of conversion

00:48:08.000 | in their teen years both are also terribly discouraged Tim doesn't know

00:48:12.800 | how to treat Emily better since he is plagued by this disease Emily loves Tim

00:48:19.600 | and would like their marriage to work but she is worn out with the lack of

00:48:23.640 | change she feels badly about wanting to leave because she knows he has an

00:48:28.040 | illness but she is increasingly convinced that God is telling her to

00:48:34.000 | divorce Tim so a number of issues here there's a lot going on we're gonna work

00:48:41.120 | through this step by step and we are asking you as part of this counseling

00:48:48.600 | exam package to write I believe it is five essays on this subject so let's

00:48:57.520 | take this step by step and look at counseling exam number 16 which is the

00:49:03.400 | first issue how will you decide whether to pursue Tim and Emily as believers and

00:49:10.960 | unbelievers what difference will their status as Christians make in your

00:49:15.120 | counseling so that's the first step is it not is we want to determine whether

00:49:19.920 | we are counseling believers or unbelievers why is that important it's

00:49:25.840 | important because you do not want to be trying to pull out spiritual fruit from

00:49:32.040 | a spiritually dead unregenerate person if that is a recipe for frustration in

00:49:39.640 | biblical counseling so you want to get a good salvation testimony you want to

00:49:46.040 | understand how well do the counselees understand articulate the gospel you

00:49:54.360 | want to be get an understanding of their salvation testimony is there a clear

00:50:00.280 | before I knew Christ this is how I came to know Christ and then this is how my

00:50:07.120 | life was like after I placed my faith in Jesus Christ I was a new creation and I

00:50:12.240 | began to bear spiritual fruit you want to ask diagnostic questions such as if

00:50:18.800 | you were to die today and God were to ask you why should I let you into my

00:50:24.960 | heaven what would you say and I have asked many people that in meetings and

00:50:30.200 | in counseling ministry and you'll be surprised at the number of differing

00:50:36.400 | responses you get to that question what you want to hear something like the only

00:50:42.480 | reason I should be allowed into God's heaven is because of the work of Jesus

00:50:49.920 | Christ on the cross on my behalf and because he paid for my sin at Calvary

00:50:55.240 | and died on the cross for me by grace alone through faith alone that is the

00:51:01.080 | only way that I will ever be allowed into heaven that it is not by my works

00:51:06.240 | that I am saved but you'll be surprised at how many people answer something very

00:51:11.820 | vague or general or something that is related to their their church attendance

00:51:18.240 | or the number of works that they have done for the community or just things

00:51:23.360 | that really do not nail down the gospel with any type of precision so you will

00:51:28.040 | want to find out whether Tim and Emily have a clear understanding of the

00:51:34.000 | gospel now this makes a huge difference why is that because if Tim and Emily are

00:51:40.720 | unbelievers then we can't offer any hope for change until they come to the saving

00:51:50.380 | knowledge of Jesus Christ if Tim and Emily are unbelievers then as it as sad

00:51:55.880 | as it is to say they have a much bigger problem than their broken marriage that

00:52:01.080 | they are enemies of God and they are under the wrath and the condemnation of

00:52:06.560 | God's law and if they were to die today then they would face the judgment and

00:52:11.280 | condemnation of eternity in hell and they would not be have the hope of going

00:52:17.160 | to heaven and so if they are unbelievers then their greatest problem is that they

00:52:21.600 | need Christ and they need to be saved and they need the gospel they need to be

00:52:26.320 | forgiven other sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ and we can't offer

00:52:30.160 | the hope that their marriage will change apart from them coming to the saving

00:52:35.960 | knowledge of Christ however on the other hand if Tim and Emily are believers then

00:52:41.680 | we have the assurance of all that what scripture has said regarding the

00:52:46.140 | believer in Christ that they are new creations in Christ that they have the

00:52:50.920 | Holy Spirit dwelling in them that they have received all the promises of God in

00:52:57.720 | the scriptures that they have been forgiven of their sins that their future

00:53:02.320 | hope is in heaven and because they have received all the blessings of the

00:53:08.280 | gospel and that they ever they are united to Christ in his life death and

00:53:13.320 | resurrection then we can offer hope for change and that Tim and Emily can have

00:53:20.320 | their marriage restored and that they can forgive one another and they can

00:53:24.920 | experience unity and fellowship with one another and fellowship with Christ

00:53:29.520 | because of what Christ has done for them and so what difference does this make it

00:53:34.880 | makes all the difference in the world whether you understand Tim and Emily as

00:53:38.840 | believers or unbelievers I would be wanting to find out here with Tim is

00:53:44.400 | this issue of anger characteristic of every other issue in his life in other

00:53:51.440 | words is Tim bearing fruit in other areas of his life as a Christian but

00:53:57.160 | he's just really struggling with this one particular issue or is there a

00:54:03.000 | pattern of just a lack of fruit in every area of his life we are not saved by our

00:54:09.440 | fruit but spiritual fruit is the evidence of spiritual life that is

00:54:14.120 | residing in the soul we are not saved by our good works but we are saved unto

00:54:19.960 | good works and so I would be wanting to find out where is the spiritual fruit in

00:54:26.080 | Tim and Emily's life moving to counseling exam number 17 describe as

00:54:33.000 | fully as you are able your strategy to help Tim and Emily think biblically

00:54:37.680 | about his diagnosis and their use of bipolar and illness language now bipolar

00:54:46.000 | disorder I don't know if I have the source here but it has been defined as a

00:54:52.080 | behavior pattern in which a depressed individual experiences at least one

00:54:58.880 | episode of exaggerated mood elevation this is called the manic episode the

00:55:05.360 | dominant feature of bipolar disorder that's from Marshall and Mary Asher's

00:55:10.500 | book the Christian's guide to psychological terms and so in bipolar

00:55:16.680 | you have depression which is which leads to a manic phase and then back to

00:55:25.600 | depression and so from the psychiatrist perspective Tim may be swinging from

00:55:32.560 | these episodes of depression into these manic episodes of which present

00:55:40.540 | themselves in unbridled anger the biblical evaluation of Tim's behavior I

00:55:51.200 | believe if if you go back to our session on sinful anger this really is

00:55:58.640 | uncontrolled anger it is what scripture calls outbursts of anger and we would

00:56:09.180 | want to deal with the issue using biblical terms and biblical

00:56:14.840 | descriptions of Tim's behavior labeling Tim with a psychological illness

00:56:23.200 | minimizes his personal responsibility in the matter and also removes genuine

00:56:30.880 | hope for change if Tim is Tim's behavior can be explained solely due to his

00:56:41.160 | illness in this way then he has an illness that is to be managed rather

00:56:48.240 | than a sin that needs to be repented of Tim would feel that he has a disease

00:56:55.920 | that will last his entire life and that disease can only be managed rather than

00:57:00.880 | dealing with the issue in a straightforward biblical manner that he

00:57:05.480 | has a sin issue of unbridled anger that needs to be repented of Ephesians 4

00:57:14.680 | verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put

00:57:19.000 | away from you along with all malice be kind to one another tenderhearted

00:57:23.320 | forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you and so all the

00:57:28.600 | different forms of anger there is bitterness a long-standing resentment

00:57:34.280 | wrath which scribes a passion and agitated type of anger there is anger

00:57:41.560 | translates Greek term or gay which talks about the deep resentment that seeds and

00:57:47.560 | smolders clamor referring to the shout of cry or strife and outbursts that

00:57:53.440 | reveals a loss of self-control that word would describe Tim's behavior here

00:58:00.480 | slander literally evil speaking to speak of others so as to harm or defame malice

00:58:06.760 | wishing evil on others and Paul says that that all bitterness and wrath and

00:58:13.120 | anger and clamor and slander is to be put away from you a verb that refers to

00:58:18.040 | a decisive definitive action that needs to be carried out with a sense of

00:58:22.760 | urgency whatever the psychological diagnosis is if Tim is a true believer

00:58:29.800 | in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit he is called to put away to decisively

00:58:36.640 | put off all forms of anger bitterness wrath anger clamor slander and then he

00:58:47.280 | is called to put on kindness he used to be kind to his wife he used to be

00:58:54.280 | tenderhearted and he is to forgive just as he has been forgiven and because he

00:58:59.600 | is a believer he not only is called to that type of behavior he also has the

00:59:04.680 | power and the resources to live in this way if sin is the problem then Christ is

00:59:12.960 | the solution the diagnosis of sin is catch this the most hopeful diagnosis

00:59:20.120 | that we can give to a counselee because the Bible teaches that we have an

00:59:25.280 | all-sufficient Savior who has died on the cross and risen again in order to

00:59:31.260 | make atonement for our sin and to free us from both the penalty and the power

00:59:37.320 | of sin if Tim simply obeys the straightforward commands to put off

00:59:45.760 | anger and wrath and clamor and slander and to put on kindness and

00:59:52.160 | tenderheartedness toward his wife that marriage between Tim and Emily will be

01:00:00.320 | transformed and so I would be encouraging you to think through this

01:00:05.960 | counseling exam in relation to how do you help a counselee deal with sinful

01:00:13.240 | anger and and deal with the issue as a sin that needs to be repented of rather

01:00:21.920 | than in illness that needs to be managed now just as a side note you can do all

01:00:29.400 | of that without even getting into the discussion of should Tim be seeing a

01:00:33.560 | psychiatrist or should Tim be seeing a psychologist I wouldn't even be trying

01:00:39.400 | to debate any of that I wouldn't be getting into the debate of do you have a

01:00:43.280 | bipolar disorder or do you not I wouldn't even be getting into any of that

01:00:47.360 | as I do biblical counseling I would just be dealing with the issues as the Bible

01:00:53.680 | addresses them what is Tim's behavior how does the Bible describe that

01:00:59.080 | behavior and then letting scripture speak into that situation and I wouldn't

01:01:03.360 | even get being sidetracked into the whole discussion of well do you have

01:01:07.080 | bipolar do you not a bipolar or should you take the medication or should you

01:01:10.320 | not take the medication I wouldn't let myself get into all those rabbit trails

01:01:15.600 | I would just be dealing with the issues straightforward as the Bible deals with

01:01:20.360 | those issues I think that's our role as biblical counselors is just to minister

01:01:24.640 | the Word of God let me move quickly to number 18 Emily is convinced that God is

01:01:31.360 | telling her to divorce Tim write out your word-for-word response to Emily on

01:01:36.120 | this matter in your response be sure to address the themes of biblical

01:01:40.280 | decision-making and permission for divorce and remarriage two main concepts

01:01:47.360 | that you want to bring into this exam concept number one is that God tells us

01:01:54.680 | what to do through his written word and not apart from his written word and so

01:02:02.760 | you want to go back to the session we did in ACBC theology exam number 22 the

01:02:10.880 | Holy Spirit and guidance the main point in a session was that the Holy Spirit

01:02:15.280 | guides us through his written word not apart from his written word the Holy

01:02:20.760 | Spirit inspire the written word and so the Holy Spirit guides us as we

01:02:26.160 | understand and read and apply the written word not apart from the written

01:02:32.520 | word of Scripture and so if Emily is convinced that God is telling her to

01:02:40.720 | divorce Tim then you will need to help Emily understand that God only tells us

01:02:46.180 | what to do as we read and understand his written word and God does not speak to

01:02:51.640 | us apart from the written word of Scripture many passages we looked at in

01:02:56.840 | that session I'll let you review that on your own the second foundational idea

01:03:03.120 | that you're gonna want to bring into this exam is a biblical understanding of

01:03:07.200 | divorce and remarriage I've given to you a reference on your handout from Grace

01:03:14.160 | Community Church's statement on divorce and remarriage I would encourage you to

01:03:19.720 | review that we covered some of that in our discussion of the year one training

01:03:25.520 | on marriage looking at the two exceptions that is what my church's

01:03:31.840 | doctrinal statement holds to is the same as the Grace Community Church statement

01:03:36.520 | holding to the two exception clauses or the two exceptions to a to the divorce

01:03:44.960 | allowing for divorce giving permission for divorce not giving an encouragement

01:03:49.880 | to divorce or a prescription to divorce but giving an allowance there that would

01:03:56.040 | protect the innocent party the first exception is when one spouse engages in

01:04:01.840 | unrepentant adultery and the innocent spouse is permitted as a protection to

01:04:09.400 | divorce and to remarry and then the second exception would be if believer is

01:04:15.280 | married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever departs all of that is found

01:04:20.040 | in the Grace Community Church statement you will want to review that and talk

01:04:24.880 | through how the Bible addresses the issue of divorce and then the question

01:04:31.520 | is write out a word-for-word response to Emily on this matter so we're asking you

01:04:37.640 | to possibly do one longer paragraph talking through Emily of how God speaks

01:04:44.720 | to her only through the written word and then the second part of that exam

01:04:49.800 | question would be what does the Word of God actually say about divorce and

01:04:56.480 | remarriage quickly now to counseling exam number 19 what strategy would you

01:05:03.600 | employ to see repentance reconciliation and restoration happen between Tim and

01:05:10.360 | Emily I'd refer you here to the peacemaker materials by Ken Sandy which

01:05:18.540 | is also referred to in the work pursuing peace by Robert Jones look up in both

01:05:26.460 | the peacemaker and pursuing peace the seven A's of confession I believe I have

01:05:32.600 | this on a slide here no I don't but the seven A's of confession is very helpful

01:05:39.600 | address everyone involved avoid if but and maybe admit specifically acknowledge

01:05:46.440 | the hurt accept its consequences alter your behavior and ask for forgiveness

01:05:51.920 | and so the two concepts you want to bring into this exam question is how do

01:05:57.800 | you do a good confession and then how do you biblically forgive so biblical

01:06:04.760 | confession and biblical forgiveness are the two ingredients to biblical

01:06:10.280 | reconciliation where there is true confession and true forgiveness you have

01:06:16.360 | true reconciliation and so working with Tim and Emily for Tim to give a a true

01:06:25.040 | confession of sin using biblical terms avoiding if but and maybe admitting

01:06:31.640 | specifically acknowledging the hurt and then helping Emily to forgive biblically

01:06:37.840 | both and unconditionally from the heart and then extending conditional

01:06:44.440 | forgiveness based upon Tim's confession and bring about true reconciliation so

01:06:52.480 | the two parts there are biblical confession and biblical forgiveness

01:06:57.920 | both sections have material that I covered in the year one training and I'd

01:07:03.960 | encourage you to review that material last but not least exhales exam number

01:07:10.440 | 20 describe a detailed plan of restoring marital communication that you would

01:07:16.520 | pursue with Tim and Emily this question is going back to the concept of homework

01:07:22.160 | as we saw in counseling exam number 12 how would you assign specific homework

01:07:31.040 | that would be for the purpose of restoring marital communication so again

01:07:37.000 | thinking through the concepts of Bible reading Bible memorization specific

01:07:41.800 | assignments a very helpful work here is Wayne max strengthening your marriage

01:07:49.080 | there is a unit there in the book strengthening your marriage on

01:07:53.720 | communication I would be reviewing that unit in preparation to write this essay

01:08:00.920 | exam and just reviewing those concepts and then he has a number of good

01:08:04.660 | homework assignments that are related to the issue of communication and so just

01:08:10.400 | thinking of the concepts of what are the passages you would want him and Emily to

01:08:14.480 | read what are the verses you would want them to memorize what are some of the

01:08:19.040 | books or booklets you would want them to to read and to apply Stuart Scott has a

01:08:25.420 | good little booklet called communication and conflict resolution that would be

01:08:30.120 | again another good resource to read and review in preparation for this essay

01:08:35.760 | exam and then getting really practical such as setting a time and a place to

01:08:44.360 | talk once once a week if they're struggling with communication then

01:08:47.960 | perhaps they need a specific assignment like a date night or even just a time

01:08:52.680 | after the kids have gone to bed for them to have coffee or to have tea and to and

01:08:57.440 | to talk to one another for 15 or 30 minutes and then you can increase those

01:09:01.840 | homework assignments as they go along but here again you are writing out some

01:09:08.160 | detailed homework assignments that would help Tim and Emily restore marital

01:09:13.920 | communication and that brings us to the end of our case studies and the end of

01:09:20.160 | our counseling exams which also means that this is the end of our class I just

01:09:26.760 | wanted to take a moment and congratulate you for making it to the end of this

01:09:33.200 | class and and just thank you again for your faithfulness and studying the Word

01:09:37.240 | of God with me we began having the seminar online because of some of the

01:09:43.240 | kovat restrictions and our inability to meet in person and yet God has used this

01:09:50.080 | online format to introduce us to a number of friends that are not only here

01:09:55.240 | in Southern California but all across the country and even internationally

01:10:00.720 | we've been hearing that there are some who are in different countries who are

01:10:04.560 | tuning in to this webinar and and it is a joy to be able to count you as friends

01:10:10.840 | I love to would see would love to see many of you at the ACBC National

01:10:18.480 | Conference in the fall I know that this year's conference is in North Carolina

01:10:22.920 | and if not this year then perhaps in a year to come we will be able to

01:10:28.600 | fellowship in person but I do want to thank you for joining me and this has

01:10:33.880 | been a wonderful privilege to study these with you this morning I had a joy

01:10:38.000 | of affirming one of our counselors in church who completed phase 3 of ACBC

01:10:43.800 | certification Denise Lopez and she was able to work through all these essays

01:10:48.760 | and then work through the phase 3 of ACBC training and just to see the end

01:10:55.440 | of the process for her was a great moment in the life of our church and

01:11:01.200 | also in my own ministry and though that is the end of her training that is the

01:11:06.720 | beginning of her ministry and applying these issues to to the people who God

01:11:13.200 | will bring to her to that she may minister to them and to help them with

01:11:18.840 | the Word of God and so let me end with this benediction from Romans 15 verse

01:11:24.560 | 13 which says this may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and

01:11:30.640 | believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope I

01:11:36.160 | myself am satisfied about you my brothers that you yourselves are full of

ACBC Counseling Exams 12 20 Case Studies

Chapters