SP767 Day 4
All learning has to finish with the question "so what?"
Little children do not have feelings. They are feelings.
We are (as pastors) are in a profession where intimacy is an integral part of, so it is common and unavoidable that we will run into boundary issues. Thus, be extra cautious.
It is not "Jesus and me" and "Jesus and us". It is not "I am in Christ" but "we are in Christ."
There are different types of experiences and we all experience God differently. There is not one right way experience God.
In our culture, we appreciate "feeler" more than "thinker" when talking about experience.
When you listen, listen to what is said as well as what is not said.
In temptation, you have said a hundred "yes" before you get to that fatal "yes".
The reason we don't sin more is not because we lack the ability but we lack the opportunity.
If the church is the target of the devil's attack, the pastor's heart is the bull's eye.
Do not use the word "cannot" unless it is absolutely accurate. ("I can't come" usually is just "I won't come". If you won't, don't say you can't because you actually can.)
Stop assuming people have common sense.
"I do not mean to slander them, just that their theology is not something that the Lord has lead me to embrace."
Cultivate the difficult, but necessary art of empathetic detachment so you are available but not “available.”
Boundary violation is gratification for yourself at someone else's expense.
Pastors need to take good care of themselves because they have less people to take care of them.
Women in our culture are trained to distrust their distrust and to be nice ("I know there is something wrong but I don't want to hurt his feeling"), and that puts them in a lot of potential dangers and harms.
