I have often said that I grew up a proficient sinner. My context encouraged it, and I was gladly spurred on by peers. I grew up in Maine, where cultural Christianity died a long time ago. It wasn’t until I was a 21-year old in the Navy when I first turned from that sin and…
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” Luke 15:4 In Luke 15, the religious leaders were upset with Jesus. Some people who were messed up…
If Luther was correct, then the Christian life is the repentant life. And repentance is essential for biblical counseling.
When was the last time you complained? I live in Philadelphia, and this past winter was one of the worst we’ve ever had. From November through March, all I heard was, “It’s so cold. I hate the snow. I can’t wait for summer.” Philadelphia also has the tendency to get uncomfortably hot, and guess…
The following post is part three in a series of posts titled: Can Jesus heal mental illness? by Heath Lambert. Read also part one , two, and three of this series. In this post I want to talk about the relationship of suffering to the spiritual issues that our culture often refers to as mental illness. At times the biblical counseling…
The following post is part three in a series of posts titled: Can Jesus heal mental illness? by Heath Lambert. Read also part one and two of this series. Jesus, healing, and the spiritual nature of mental illness In Part 1 of this series I discussed the difficulty of defining mental illness because it is not a…
The following post is part two in a series of posts titled: Can Jesus heal mental illness? by Heath Lambert. You can read part one here. “Mental illnesses” are spiritual issues In my previous post I tried to demonstrate that mental illness is not a concrete object like a wheelbarrow, but is an abstract…
In the following videos, Heath Lambert discusses biblical counseling and its relationship to expository preaching, calvinism, ecclesiology etc. with Jay Adams, author of Competent to Counsel and founder of the modern day biblical counseling movement. Part 1: What is the relationship between biblical counseling and preaching? Part 2: What is the relationship between biblical counseling…
One of the questions we get asked a lot in the biblical counseling movement concerns whether Jesus can heal those with a mental illness. The question is asked by people who are concerned about Scripture’s sufficiency and Jesus’ relevance to deal with the most difficult problems that people face. Before we can answer the question we…
[tweetable]The Bible is all about the grace of change. It’s a story of new beginnings and fresh starts.[/tweetable] The Bible holds before us that hope that we can change, and in so doing, act and speak in new and better ways. And although the Bible clearly presents that change generally is a process and…
Whether we engage in the private ministry of God’s Word as pastors, missionaries, counselors or just a concerned brother- or sister-in-Christ, it is important to answer the question, “What is thorough, biblical help?” Surely, the answer to this question must begin with a faithfulness and an accuracy as we study and apply the Scriptures…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below, Heath Lambert talks with SSM contributor Josh Hayes about Counseling the Hard Cases, a book Lambert co-edited with Southern Seminary’s Stuart Scott. Lambert is assistant professor of pastoral theology at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern. JH:What trends in the counseling world compelled you to put together Counseling the Hard Cases?…
(B&H Academic 2012, $32.99), Stuart Scott and Heath lambert, eds. “The Bible isn’t a scientific text book, right?” Such a statement carries the commonly held notion that because the Bible speaks primarily to theological and spiritual matters — in pre-modern, non-scientific language — it does not provide the church with resources sufficient to handle the…
