This Week’s Top Five: The Best of the Best Around the Net (8/28/10)

The Big Idea: The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to the top five Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

We Are One

Every pastor and every church member needs to read this post. Pastor Tullian Tchividjian of Coral Ridge explains why his church has “gone blended.” That is, rather than divide his congregation between contemporary praise music and traditional church hymns, Coral Ridge has decided that it is a theological, Gospel issue to use both types of music. Read his compelling reasons in We Are One.

The Bible Is Not About You

Justin Taylor links us to, summarizes, and comments on Tim Keller’s sermon that The Bible Is Basically Not About You. It’s all about Him.

The Archer and the Arrow

Discerning Reader is a premier Christian book review site. This week Tim Challies reviews an important new book on preaching—The Archer and the Arrow.

32 Minutes of Holy Encouragement

Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile blogs daily at Pure Church. He loves highlighting other pastors as in this post on 32 Minutes of Holy Encouragement. In it he links to Pastor Ligion Duncan’s sermon “Every Dream Lost. Every Dream Fulfilled.” Of it, Pastor Thabiti says, “It’s riveting from start to finish, filled with hope for all of us who have, are, or will experience deep loss in God’s providence.”

Bob Newhart Counseling

Justin Taylor’s Between Two Worlds Blog has a great guest post by biblical counselor David Powlison. It starts with the classic Bob Newhart Stop It! Video. Then Dr. Powlison explains several features of robust biblical counseling in The Riches of Biblical Counseling.

Join the Conversation

Of The Best of the Best Around the Net, which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

The Anatomy of Anxiety, Part 18: Bob Newhart Counseling? 

Bob Newhart's "Stop It!"

 

Note: For previous posts in this blog mini-series, please visit: 1: http://bit.ly/aHstk, 2: http://bit.ly/20R01P, 3: http://bit.ly/HAoxI, 4: http://bit.ly/1I6XmF, 5: http://bit.ly/19Jdqt, 6: http://bit.ly/19vCXx, 7: http://bit.ly/21wPLg, 8: http://bit.ly/m50On, 9: http://bit.ly/4vhNIt, 10: http://bit.ly/1ClPr4, 11: http://bit.ly/2Sb2Ec, 12: http://bit.ly/2xv4BV, 13: http://bit.ly/baNuS, 14: http://bit.ly/UFIy1, 15: http://bit.ly/31fQYo, 16: http://bit.ly/3mmTm4, 17: http://bit.ly/7kmOo2

Purpose: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Here’s How Not to Do It: Bob Newhart Counseling!

Conquering enslavement to fear is a discipleship process, not an exhortation event.

Here’s what I mean.

Some so-called “biblical counselors” would quote, “Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication let your requests be made know unto God.” Then they would exhort godly behavior. “So, quit sinning. Start trusting.”

That’s not biblical counseling. That’s lazy counseling. That’s Pharisaical counseling.

That’s Bob Newhart counseling. In the classic Mad TV skit a counselee sees him because she has a phobia about being buried alive in a box. His two-word counsel. “Stop it!”

To see how not to counsel phobias, go here.

The Rest of the Story: The Ten Dynamic Elements of Victory Over Anxiety

Often I learn best from what not to do. So…don’t do what Bob Newhart does. If you are, then…“Stop it!”

What do we do instead to overcome anxiety and to help others to have victory over anxiety?

Biblical counseling for anxiety is a Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed relational process of changing lives with Christ’s changeless truth so we move from stuck anxiety to courageous trusting and bold love.

Over the rest of this blog series, we’ll see that it involves ten dynamic elements:

1. Spiritual Guiding: Dancing to the Heartbeat of Redemption

2. Social Guiding: Enjoying Healing Conversations and Connections

3. Self-Aware Guiding: Soothing My Soul in My Savior

4. Mental Guiding: Replacing Condemning Lies with Grace Truths

5. Motivational Guiding: Choosing to Live and Love with Courage

6. Emotional Guiding: Managing Moods by Becoming Emotionally AWARE

7. Physical Guiding: Living as Jars of Clay

8. Life Situational Guiding: Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round

9. Life Style Guiding: Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines

10. Commencement: Experiencing Ongoing Victory Over Anxiety