August 1, 2023
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
As you consider this triad of biblical categories—“saint, sufferer, and sinner”—which of these lenses tends to control the way you see and speak to God’s people around you? Each of these perspectives on our Christian experience is obviously important, but my sense is that—dare I say it?—our conversations with one another often suffer from a grave imbalance: ...
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April 28, 2023
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
Have you noticed how the Apostle Paul repeatedly references multiple associates—“fellow workers” and “ministers”—with whom he serves. As Colin Marshall and Tony Payne observe, “Up to 100 names are associated with Paul in the New Testament, of which around 36 could be considered close partners and fellow laborers.” [2] For example, there are Prisca and Aquil...
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March 31, 2023
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Prayer
Like yours, my heart has been heavy with grief this week in the wake of the evil suffered by Christians in Nashville. And, perhaps like yours, my heart has struggled to find words to speak to God in prayer....
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March 10, 2023
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
By now you know that Harvest Church is hosting a special conference this spring called “Caring for One Another” (Friday-Saturday, April 21-22), featuring Dr. Ed Welch. Perhaps you’ve wondered, “Why should I attend this conference?” Great question! Here’s offering several reasons for your prayerful consideration:
...
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January 13, 2023
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
At the heart of biblical change is a relational transaction: the real you engages the real God in the midst of real trouble. When someone seeks my pastoral counsel, this is one key principle that I try to help the person understand in the early stages of the counseling process.
Of course, grasping this concept is one thing; putting it into practice is another. Inevita...
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October 28, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Report
| Tags: Love & Truth, counseling, Church Life
This month began with a bang as twenty-five Harvest members participated in the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation’s National Conference in Hershey, PA (19 of us in person plus 6 by live stream). The worship, teaching, and fellowship (and chocolate!) were fantastic. But let me share three examples of how the flywheel is gaining steam as we grow forward.
...
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September 9, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
| Tags: transformed, mind, Will of God, Bible
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2)
Ponder this pivotal command and promise with me for a moment.
...
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August 5, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
| Tags: wisdom, counseling, Wise, James, CCEF, Conference
Clearly, the needs for wise care within the church far exceed the capacity of any pastor, and clearly, the solution is to multiply wise helpers within the church through training. “How?” is the million-dollar question! The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) is a biblical counseling ministry that God is using worldwide to help pastors like me answer th...
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June 17, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
| Tags: Proverbs, the tongue
Here’s inviting you to join me in assessing and redressing a small but important slice of daily life: the words we speak to the people around us.
But first some context to orient you. Two weeks ago, I preached from Proverbs 9. In the preceding chapters, we overhear a father counseling his young, soon-to-be-launched-into-the-world son by means of a series of ten father...
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April 29, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
| Tags: pride, humility
What kind of heart does God revive? “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’’” (Isaiah 57:15)....
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March 12, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
“How do I act right when my spouse acts wrong?” That’s a great question! Let me recommend one resource that works out biblically-wise answers in ways that are practical and true to life: "How to Act Right When Your Spouse Acts Wrong" by Biblical counselor Leslie Vernick.
In what follows, I’ve tried to summarize what Vernick says in 200 pages. If you find yourse...
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February 4, 2022
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
How do you get FROM Big Ben TO Buckingham Palace? Or more generally, how do you get FROM any point A TO any point B within a six-mile radius from the center of downtown London? You’ll find no better guides than the drivers of the Black Cab. The reason? As Gregory Hudson puts it, “Cabbies are famed for possessing a detailed understanding of the city.” First comes a fe...
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October 21, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
I love the Bible because it is truth spoken in love by the Wonderful Counselor. Every day, otherworldly voices—other “counselors”—intrude and compete, beckon and beguile, sound plausible and pleasing. But wonder of wonders, God inserts himself into the conversation. He is not silent. He does not leave us guessing as to who we are and what life is really about. He s...
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September 3, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
According to Scripture, “wisdom” is the art of knowing how to live, and one behavior that the Book of Proverbs is especially concerned to highlight and transform is the way we speak. Since God is the speaking God, and since we are created in his image, key questions confront us: Does the content of our talk image God’s truth, and does the intent of our talk image God...
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July 16, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christianity
Gotta moment for something different? Cindy and I got such a kick out of the following that I thought you might enjoy it, too;...
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June 18, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Counseling
In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk in the news about government surveillance. I know little to nothing about this earthly sort of intelligence gathering, but I have come to know something about the unearthly sort of personal monitoring revealed in the Bible: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the...
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May 7, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
| Tags: counseling, CCEF Conference
Pastors looking at their congregation through the lens of Scripture see both a wonderful prospect and a daunting challenge.
The prospect? Scripture helps pastors see from a distance the glory of God’s people coming into their own: “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15)....
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April 1, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Uncategorized
On this Good Friday, I thought I’d share one of my favorite hymns. It was written in 1664 by Samuel Crossman, a Puritan minister who (along with 2000 clergy) was expelled from the Church of England for opposing its Act of Uniformity (1662). Many years later the hymn fell into obscurity, but in 1925 English composer John Ireland recast the hymn into a tune of his own. ...
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March 5, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
| Tags: god, Fear
Thirty-five years ago, I was sitting on the steps of my college fraternity house and reading these words written by the apostle Paul: “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). It was a well-timed word that cut like a knife; I had just become...
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February 5, 2021
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Worldview
Many Christians view the Bible as if it were an “encyclopedia”...
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December 18, 2020
by Greg Norfleet
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Category:
Christmas
“Nativity” refers to a person’s “birth,” particularly the circumstances associated with a person’s birth. So, what are we to make of the nativity of Jesus? In Luke 2:1-7, God speaks three words of hope to kindle a heart of faith....
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