{"id":31283,"date":"2022-09-10T15:24:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/where-pastors-can-find-unexpected-wise-counsel\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:24:16","slug":"where-pastors-can-find-unexpected-wise-counsel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/where-pastors-can-find-unexpected-wise-counsel\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Pastors Can Find Unexpected Wise Counsel"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jim Reardan photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Scott Patty<\/em><\/p>\n

A recent phone call was supposed to be a pastoral care situation. That\u2019s where someone asks me a question and then I give an answer. This is the way the pastoral world works, right?<\/p>\n

There are clients (congregants) and there are experts (pastors and church leaders), and each plays their role.<\/p>\n

Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

During said phone call, the church member I was supposed to be counseling asked me a question.<\/p>\n

But before I could give an answer, I began hearing from this person how the Lord was working to change her thinking, give her new perspective, and lead her to make some positive change in her life.<\/p>\n

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I just listened.<\/p>\n

After a few minutes, I began relating her words to my own life.<\/p>\n

I could see that what she is learning from the Lord applies to a situation I was experiencing. I sensed that she was speaking wise words\u2014sound, biblical truth.<\/p>\n

I actually determined to do something in my life based on what she was telling me about what\u2019s happening in her life.<\/p>\n

And then, before we ended the call, when usually I pray for the person I have advised, she asked me if she could pray for me. Then, she prayed.<\/p>\n

I hope that something I said in our conversation was helpful to her. I hope my prayer for her was encouraging, and that she had a sense that the Lord will answer that prayer and strengthen her today.<\/p>\n

What I know is that I was instructed, encouraged, and prayed for by my friend and fellow church member.<\/p>\n

That phone call was as much for me as it was for her. We were mutually strengthened by one another\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n

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See also  The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What I love about the church of Christ is that we aren\u2019t clients and experts, we are brothers and sisters who help each other.<\/p>\n

Pastors and other church leaders, while called to serve, aren\u2019t called to have all the answers.<\/p>\n

That day, I learned by listening and receiving I can be served even while I serve.<\/p>\n

Today, let yourself be served, instructed, and encouraged. Let someone you serve through pastoral leadership pray for you.<\/p>\n

Doing so will require you to be a listener, a receiver, and a friend. You might have to initiate the conversation. I encourage you to do so.<\/p>\n

May the Lord bless and build His church through more calls like the one I had that day\u2014and through friendships formed in the churches lead and serve.<\/p>\n

SCOTT PATTY<\/strong> is the pastor of Grace Community Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. He\u2019s the author of <\/em>Words of Grace: A 100-Day Devotional.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Words of Grace: A 100 Day Devotional<\/h2>\n

Scott Patty<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Reardan photo – Unsplash By Scott Patty A recent phone call was supposed to be a pastoral care situation. That\u2019s where someone asks me a question and then I give an answer. This is the way the pastoral world works, right? There are clients (congregants) and there are experts (pastors and church leaders), and … Continue reading “Where Pastors Can Find Unexpected Wise Counsel”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}