⁠>> Click HERE to get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling sent straight to your email! <<⁠

Throughout this season, we’ve examined how God views sin and the sinner. While God is not soft on sin, He is exceedingly gentle and compassionate to the sinner and knows our humanity and our frailty. We finish our discussion of the Gospel Waltz and the Sacred Struggle with the third step of the waltz: Love. We may also refer to this step as “obedience” or “action.”

When we seek to fight sin, we need to seek a change in our hearts – the root. We do this by targeting the three main actions of the heart. First, we target our cognition (beliefs) by weighing our beliefs with God’s Word. When we meditate on our beliefs, we can recognize where our beliefs about ourselves and our world do not align with our Father’s. For some of us, our relationships or our situations are influencing us to believe we aren’t loved or worthy, leading to destructive and sinful behavior to cope. Yet God understands this weakness, and He encourages the body of Christ to comfort and help the weak. As we understand more of His Word, we can reshape our thoughts and our feelings to align with the promises of God.

Next, when we recognize our affections (desires) are pointed away from God, we can position ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. We do this by beholding God and recognizing how He offers our hearts a more true, right, and beautiful version of our desires. Though we cannot produce God-honoring desires on our own, we can meditate on our Father and set aside time to know Him better. The more we understand His heart, the more willing we are to come to Him with our sins and our weakness.

Finally, we change our actions by making choices in our hearts that reflect God’s will. Even when our hearts don’t yearn to follow God, we can choose to act in a way that honors Him and honors others. To fight sin, we need to actively plan against it and set up safe guards and accountability within our community. Even when change is slow or we regress, our community reminds us to not grow weary in doing good.

Resources:

S8 Ep. 3 / The Capture of the Heart

Season 8 of Conversational Counseling on “The Sacred Struggle: Sin, Responsibility and The Journey to Transformation.”

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineer and producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne.

>> Click HERE to get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling sent straight to your email! <<⁠

In the Gospel Waltz, believing is an important step we may overlook when moving from confession to action. When we confess, we must pause to believe and behold as God transforms our minds.

The devil intends that our sin will destroy us and those around us, but when we can view our failures as a way God draws us back to His heart, we begin to see more of His grace and love and to realize again and again that we can’t save ourselves by our own power. After we confess, we may choose to move to action, but we miss a beautiful step of repentance. Our confessed sin can become a catalyst for worship and for the continued transformation of our minds as we turn our eyes back to our loving and forgiving Father.

Through our confession and belief, we have the opportunity to fall even more in love with our Savior. He is a God who doesn’t require spiritual rituals for us to earn our salvation nor does He force us to hide in shame from our sin. Though there are often consequences for our sin, God welcomes us back after discipline. As we believe in Him, we can recognize who He is, what He’s done through the person and work of Jesus, and what He will do in our future and in the coming restoration.

Resources:

Character of God Series (Episode 1) - BibleProject

Still Sinning after All These Years - A Biblical Theology of Sinful Failure with Barbara Duguid

Extravagant Grace: God’s Glory Displayed in Our Weakness by Barbara Duguid

Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure by John Piper

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

S1 Ep. 5 / Character of God: Sovereignty, Wisdom, Love

Season 8 of Conversational Counseling on “The Sacred Struggle: Sin, Responsibility and The Journey to Transformation.”

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineer and producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne.

⁠>> Click HERE to get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling sent straight to your email! <<⁠

How do you view the sin in your life?

Sin is the catalyst for all the problems we face in our lives. In some circumstances, sin is our responsibility, but we also feel the pain of sin when another person sins against us. Sin can manifest itself through the decay of our fallen earth, not only in our lives but in our weather or the death of plants or animals. Whether we see an atrocity on the news, struggle through a season of suffering, or feel the weight of another’s sin against us, sin continually impacts our lives. From a young age, many of us have learned to focus on the consequences of sin and rely on our confession to free us from our sin. Though good things, overemphasizing sin can lead to fear and shame instead of recognizing God’s free gift of salvation and hope of transformation.

In this season, we will discuss sin, our responsibility, and the journey to transformation. God did not leave us to fight the battle against sin alone. Though our fear or shame may drive others from us, God does not fear our sin and brokenness. Sin separates us from God, but it does not have the power to separate God from us. The Bible shows us in a multitude of ways how God is moving in the lives of those who sin to draw them into a closer relationship with Him. Where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds all the more.

Resources:

⁠Holier than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him by Jackie Hill Perry⁠

Holy Holy Holy God - Jackie Hill Perry (Passion 2022)

⁠The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri Nouwen⁠

⁠S1 Ep. 4: Gospel Waltz: Confess, Believe, Love⁠

Season 8 of Conversational Counseling on “The Sacred Struggle: Sin, Responsibility and The Journey to Transformation.”

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineer and producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne.

⁠>> Click HERE to get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling sent straight to your email! <<⁠

The suffering and brokenness we experience in the now and the not yet can overwhelm us and shape our view of ourselves. In our final episode of Season 7, we welcome our dear friend and talented artist Lauren Duncan to the podcast to share her story of infertility. As we look back on her journey through brokenness and suffering, we see elements of the Grand Narrative that point us to the Father.

In her infertility journey, Lauren faced shame and inadequacy from many fronts while she and her husband went from doctor to doctor searching for answers. With each closed door, she felt overwhelmed, unable to make sense of her circumstances. Unable to conceive her own children, Lauren experienced an identity crisis since she could not do what she was “supposed” to as a woman. In this season, she took hold of the idea of “beautify and multiply.” Instead of multiplying her family, Lauren multiplied her paintings, illustrations of her suffering, her prayers, and the Lord’s promises in her life. Painting and writing became her outlet to seek the Lord and express her emotions, and she began to share her work and the truths she had learned with others. Through her own journey, she has been equipped to listen well and empathize with others as they navigate similar seasons of suffering.

Now as Lauren looks back on her story, she can see how God brought her through this painful season and reminded her of her identity. He has now blessed her with three children through adoption. Yet even in her blessing, she still feels the lingering pain and shame of infertility. As we live with the reality of the Fall, we are not promised that God will take away all of our pain or suffering, though He promises to remain by our side through every season. We must wake every morning and reorient to God’s Story, reminding ourselves of our identity in Him and looking forward to His final restoration.

Resources:

Lauren Duncan Art

Made to Create

Painted Prayers

J&M Bookstore

S1 Ep.1/The Lens: Saint, Sufferer, Sinner

Season 7 of Conversational Counseling on “Telling One Woman’s Story with Lauren Duncan.”

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineer and producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne.

⁠>> Click HERE to get free visuals, handouts and discussion questions for Conversational Counseling sent straight to your email! <<⁠

In Part 1, we share the importance of orienting ourselves to God first before we look horizontally to listen and support others. But how do we orient ourselves toward God? In this episode, Brenda and Alex share parts of their testimonies to practice plotting out our stories on the Grand Narrative. Through these stories, they highlight the cultural and personal experiences that shaped their views of the world and influenced sin struggles and painful moments, but they also remind us how God has held them since the very beginning.

God’s Grand Narrative reminds us that He is the hero of the story of the whole world. He sent His Son to redeem us and to give us worth, despite the false beliefs about ourselves we have internalized. As we look backwards, we can recognize God’s hand, even though we did not consciously feel it in the moment. This exercise teaches us more about God’s character and about His love for us and can open the door for the Holy Spirit to minister to our hearts. As He has been faithful in the past, He will be faithful to restore us and give us rest in the future. Knowing our stories not only allows us to build our faith but also equips us to listen and support others.

Resources:

S4 Ep 9: Perfectionism

Season 7 of Conversational Counseling on “You Have a Story.”

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineer and producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne.