SPEAKER_01: The disclaimer here, I've got two of them.
SPEAKER_01: One is this is a series for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what age of life, stage of life, background of life, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: At some point, you will be in search of peace of mind.
SPEAKER_01: Because at some point in your life, you will battle thoughts and emotions.
SPEAKER_01: You will relish thoughts and emotions.
SPEAKER_01: You will have an interaction with thoughts and emotions.
SPEAKER_01: You will feel feelings because you're a human being, and that's how you were made.
SPEAKER_01: And so, no matter where you would plot yourself in your journey with Jesus or what age or stage of life you are, this conversation for four weeks is for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because all of us interact with feelings on some level at some point in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to toss out a disclaimer because of how serious we get in some of these conversations, because they're going to be honest.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to be filtered through God's word, but they're going to be honest conversations.
SPEAKER_01: And so I need to toss out kind of a you ever been to a restaurant?
SPEAKER_01: Like I saw a restaurant once that uh I thought this was funny.
SPEAKER_01: You pull up, and they got a sign right there at the entrance that says, remember what the valet who parked your car looks like, because we do not have valet parking.
SPEAKER_01: I thought that's brilliant.
SPEAKER_01: That's brilliant.
SPEAKER_01: But it's uh it's a disclaimer, right?
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a disclaimer.
SPEAKER_01: So I have a disclaimer for everyone, and I wrote it down so I wouldn't mess it up.
SPEAKER_01: So here it is.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read this to you, and it's simply this as we enter into this series, peace of mind.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here it is.
SPEAKER_01: I am not a licensed counselor.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I do have a master's degree in counseling, but I am not a licensed counselor.
SPEAKER_01: So this is not licensed counseling advice.
SPEAKER_01: This is your pastor teaching through how to have a healthy relationship with your thoughts and feelings, using God's word as our guide, as we do in every area of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Because we believe church should be the safest place to have conversations about mental and emotional health.
SPEAKER_01: That no one should feel uncomfortable or that they should feel any shame of any form of stigma.
SPEAKER_01: And we want this series to be a set of conversations that help us in these areas that we deal with every day.
SPEAKER_01: Again, using God's word as our guide, as we always do.
SPEAKER_01: Now, to be clear, as this is not licensed professional counseling advice, the conversations we have over the next four weeks may be introductions or fuel for you that you believe or maybe discover through these set of conversations that you need to unpack some things with a professional.
SPEAKER_01: You may even be advised by a professional to supplement counseling or therapy with some form of medication.
SPEAKER_01: Again, I'm not a professional, but I know there is value in taking time to unpack certain things in our lives with pros who can help see things that we can't see and give us skills to help improve our mental health and emotional well-being.
SPEAKER_01: All that to say, there is no judgment for anybody who walks in the room who deals with stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And if you believe that you need to go even further and sit down with a professional, we want you to know that if you're looking for that kind of help, we are here for you to help you however we can.
SPEAKER_01: And while we do not offer professional counseling services, we do have context in the uh San Diego area that we know and trust who we would be happy to refer you to.
SPEAKER_01: And so we have created kind of a one-stop shop on our website, sunrise.net slash counseling.
SPEAKER_01: Sunrise.net slash counseling.
SPEAKER_01: What you're gonna find there is if you want to connect with a licensed professional counselor, we have links there to where you can set up appointments through people who are licensed professional Christian counselors.
SPEAKER_01: We have that.
SPEAKER_01: You can set that, reach out directly to them and schedule that.
SPEAKER_01: We have links to that on our website.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you just want to sit down with a pastor and unpack some stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We have pastoral counseling.
SPEAKER_01: There are forms you can fill out to set up a time there as well.
SPEAKER_01: There are resources available, sunrise.net slash counseling.
SPEAKER_01: That's there for this entire series.
SPEAKER_01: That's there just for good.
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to be able to help you.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you have someone in your life who you think, man, they could benefit from this.
SPEAKER_01: Sunrise.net slash counseling.
SPEAKER_01: There are resources there.
SPEAKER_01: As we leave the messages up on our website and on YouTube, they can be often given or sent.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you can share those online to help people in your life if you know that they are going through something.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's someone in your life you know deals with things, and you want to bring them as the weeks approach us, as we look at things like fear and anxiety and depression and sadness and anger and grief and loss, and maybe there's folks in our lives who we know would be blessed by having an honest conversation about it in a safe environment where there is no judgment, there's just collective learning together using God's word as our guide.
SPEAKER_01: That is my big set of disclaimers.
SPEAKER_01: So now we can jump right in.
SPEAKER_01: Mental health, emotional health deals with our thoughts and our feelings.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times, here's what happens: um, we either get driven by emotions, we either get defeated by emotions, or we define ourselves by emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we run from our thoughts and our feelings because we don't know how to deal with them, and it's easier to just avoid them.
SPEAKER_01: And uh sometimes we end up looking like this guy here, and maybe you feel like that when you're trying to deal with your thoughts and your feelings and have healthy relationships with your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Is you try to run from it and oh my goodness, and it goes.
SPEAKER_01: Or you try to just power through it and like this guy.
SPEAKER_01: No, I can go X amount of miles per hour on the treadmill because the person next to me at the gym is going faster than me, and I will not lose to this person.
SPEAKER_01: Any competitive people out there?
SPEAKER_01: No?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the person next to you, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, we don't exercise.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's a different conversation.
SPEAKER_01: We run from them, we're driven by them, or oftentimes what happens is we define ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been to a party and found one of these labels?
SPEAKER_01: It says that hello, my name is, you know, you put that name.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe for some of us, hello, my name is shame.
SPEAKER_01: My name is frustrated, depression, grief, stress, anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: And we define ourselves by the things we struggle with.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what we're gonna do is we introduce this set of conversations.
SPEAKER_01: We are going to look at what emotions actually are.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time we run from them because we don't even know what they are.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at what God's word has to say about healthy relationships, how to navigate them, how to not be defined by them, but we're gonna understand that mental health is indeed health, and health requires habits to attain.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna look at some practical things we can do.
SPEAKER_01: But at first, we need to understand that God actually does want you to have a healthy relationship with your thoughts and feelings, and it is possible.
SPEAKER_01: It is possible for some of us.
SPEAKER_01: We just needed to hear that this week that it is possible to have a healthy relationship with your thoughts and feelings.
SPEAKER_01: It is possible to navigate emotions.
SPEAKER_01: It is possible to be healthy emotionally and mentally.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that because God wants that for us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's our very theme verse for this entire series, is found in Isaiah chapter 26, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: It says this, you can read it behind me.
SPEAKER_01: It says, You will keep in perfect, what's that word?
SPEAKER_01: Peace.
SPEAKER_01: All who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna learn some things about our thoughts and our feelings here as we fix our thoughts on God, and as we pursue peace in these areas, but in order for us to do that, we need to understand what our thoughts and our feelings even are.
SPEAKER_01: What are emotions?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think of it like this: you know, maybe depending on, I don't know, how you uh grew up, or maybe conversations that you've had, you've heard this phrase before.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, quit being emotional.
SPEAKER_01: Or you're just being emotional.
SPEAKER_01: And what that does is that creates this almost negative connotation for emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Someone tells you you're being emotional and you're made to feel bad about that.
SPEAKER_01: But here's some reality to understand emotions are not your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: God created your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: If God created all things, mankind included there, and God created the mentality of a person, the mind of a person, then it would be a reasonable deduction for us psychologically to understand that God created emotions.
SPEAKER_01: You hear people say all the time, oh, I, you know, I have a I don't like my personality.
SPEAKER_01: Well, your personality is designed by God.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you do with it that matters because God created your personality, God created your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: So emotions are not your enemies, and emotions are not things that you need to be shamed by or afraid of.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with being emotional.
SPEAKER_01: You're a human being, so you will feel that.
SPEAKER_01: The issue for most people is we don't understand what emotions are, and so we end up having a very unhealthy relationship with them.
SPEAKER_01: Emotions are not enemies that attack us, emotions are not things we need to hide from, run from, because we'll be judged if we have them.
SPEAKER_01: That is not what emotions are.
SPEAKER_01: Emotions are simply this messengers.
SPEAKER_01: Emotions are messengers.
SPEAKER_01: Think of your emotions like psychological text messages.
SPEAKER_01: Emotions will tell you things, fear will tell you things, feelings will tell you things, anger will tell you things.
SPEAKER_01: Happiness will tell you things.
SPEAKER_01: And the emotions on their own are not bad.
SPEAKER_01: They are sending you messages.
SPEAKER_01: Having feelings is not wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You're made to feel emotions.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the issue.
SPEAKER_01: The issue is that everyone deals with emotions and having a healthy relationship with them requires that you even understand what they are.
SPEAKER_01: When you're afraid, are you embarrassed because you're afraid?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you aware that your fear is trying to tell you something?
SPEAKER_01: And so instead of uh running from your emotions or losing to your emotions, if you understand what they are, you have the capacity to learn from your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Because again, emotions are not our enemies, they are messengers, they are normal, and they're not good or bad at their core.
SPEAKER_01: They just are and they can tell us things.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between understanding your emotions and being driven by your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Because we can do this sometimes for us.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us, we just needed that pass to think, okay, yeah, I feel some things.
SPEAKER_01: Am I wrong for feeling these things?
SPEAKER_01: No, having feelings isn't wrong, but your feelings aren't always right.
SPEAKER_01: So when you base decisions off of feelings, that's when you tend to trip over yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Has anyone made an emotional decision that right after you made it, you thought, wish I could take that back?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone brave enough to admit that?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great.
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, if you're married in the room, you better raise your hand, or your spouse is going to elbow you.
SPEAKER_01: We know this.
SPEAKER_01: Because we don't learn from them, because we we're driven by them.
SPEAKER_01: So we either just ignore them or they they take a hold of us because we're not we're not looking at what they are.
SPEAKER_01: So what we instead, what we do is we say, either I don't want to deal with this, and so we lock it down in a box, and we don't feel like we can ever be emotional, and so we're we're we're not reserved, we've we're recluse, and we don't want to let anybody in, and we don't even want to let God in.
SPEAKER_01: God, I don't want you to see this as though God does not have x-ray vision to your soul already, but we try to we we try to hide those.
SPEAKER_01: Or we say, Yeah, man, but this is the deal.
SPEAKER_01: I struggle with this because it's who I am.
SPEAKER_01: We have that conversation.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's become really popular to find identity in things.
SPEAKER_01: Because every human soul is looking for acceptance or recognition or affirmation.
SPEAKER_01: And so people are looking for identity in all sorts of different ways.
SPEAKER_01: And so what ends up happening is we don't understand what our emotions are, so we either run from them or we wrestle with them, and when we wrestle with them, we tend to lose to them because we we don't learn from them, and so instead we look at it as we're just ashamed of them, or we give up trying to have a healthy relationship with them, and instead we start to define ourselves by our struggles.
SPEAKER_01: And so the mental and emotional things that we deal with, these issues in our lives, we tend to label ourselves by our mental health and emotional health struggles.
SPEAKER_01: And so we end up walking around life with those sticky tags.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I have anxiety, so I am anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: Hello, my name is anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I've had a lot of stuff happen to me, so I am angry.
SPEAKER_01: Hello, my name is anger.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you don't know what's going on in my life, and I just can't get over this, and I'm just I'm depressed.
SPEAKER_01: Hello, my name is depression.
SPEAKER_01: And we end up defining ourselves by our emotions, because what we're really looking for is rest for our souls, and we think that if we define ourselves by the things we deal with, we won't actually have to deal with them.
SPEAKER_01: We can finally relax and just accept this reality that this is who we are.
SPEAKER_01: But what happens?
SPEAKER_01: We wear that label, we label ourselves with our struggles, and what happens?
SPEAKER_01: We we never experience peace of mind, we never experience the way we want to.
SPEAKER_01: What does it do?
SPEAKER_01: It only holds us back from God's best, which is why God says there is peace of mind if you trust in Him and fix your thoughts on Him.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what happens: we fix our thoughts on the things we deal with, not what God may teach us through the things we deal with, and anything we can learn about ourselves as we deal with other things.
SPEAKER_01: And so we end up getting caught in this trap, this identity trap, because we're tired of running from or losing to our emotions.
SPEAKER_01: So we just say, then this is just who I am, and I'll finally get a break from it.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I can just say this is who I am, I don't have to put in the work to grow through what I go through.
SPEAKER_01: And so we end up taking issues in our lives and making them idols in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: This is an issue I deal with, and it's too hard for me to deal with, so I'm going to put it in a place in my life where I focus on it.
SPEAKER_01: It gets all my attention, it gets my effort, and it is how I see myself.
SPEAKER_01: And so an issue becomes an idol, and then before you know it, an idol becomes an identity.
SPEAKER_01: This is a phenomenon we see all the time.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, psychologists talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: We end up talking about our issues so much that it becomes a self-medicating practice.
SPEAKER_01: Almost like a pacifier for your mental and emotional well-being.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we talk about our issues all the time, we get attention for it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, but I'm this, and people perk up when I say this because then they think, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: And I get attention for it.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't want to admit that we do this, but we do.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're looking for help.
SPEAKER_01: We just don't know how to ask for it.
SPEAKER_01: The more we talk about it, the less work we have to put into growing through it.
SPEAKER_01: Because then we can rest in the fact that our issue has become our idol and our idol has become our identity, and it's easier to sit in it than work through it.
SPEAKER_01: But what we actually just want to talk about is what we're going through, not how we're gonna go through it.
SPEAKER_01: Because it takes real work to deal with mental and emotional struggles.
SPEAKER_01: Real work, often daily work.
SPEAKER_01: So, how is it that in a society that has more access to professional care, more resources available to help us in the areas of mental and emotional health?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that we would see such a rise in mental health reporting and struggles?
SPEAKER_01: Why would we see rates of depression and anxiety and issues being reported?
SPEAKER_01: Why would we see that skyrocketing when we have so many resources available to help us?
SPEAKER_01: It's because we are afraid of putting in the real work that will be required to have the peace of mind that God does say we can have.
SPEAKER_01: But there's there's a word that we're going to look at as we get really practical that is going to be required.
SPEAKER_01: But instead, what a lot of times people do is we fixate on the issue.
SPEAKER_01: So the issue becomes our identity.
SPEAKER_01: Psychologists have a word for it.
SPEAKER_01: It's called rumination.
SPEAKER_01: You may even hear it called repetitive stagnation.
SPEAKER_01: You talk so much about your problems because you focus solely on your problems.
SPEAKER_01: And because you focus on your problems so much, they become bigger in your brain.
SPEAKER_01: This is a psychological phenomenon, and you become stuck.
SPEAKER_01: So your problems appear to get worse and bigger because you only focus on them.
SPEAKER_01: So not only do you get stuck in your struggles, but you base your identity on your problems.
SPEAKER_01: So your problems become your personality.
SPEAKER_01: We take issues, we make them idols, and then we base our identity on those issues.
SPEAKER_01: So those issues become idols, and that becomes our identity.
SPEAKER_01: So we never grow through our issues.
SPEAKER_01: We just say, This is who I am, instead of how can I grow through this?
SPEAKER_01: And those issues become the filter through which we see life.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't have to be labeled by your struggles, and you don't have to be controlled by them, you don't have to be defeated by them, defined by them, or driven by them.
SPEAKER_01: But you will be if you don't do what God says do in order to find the peace of mind that you're actually looking for.
SPEAKER_01: And it is this trust God with your thoughts and your feelings.
SPEAKER_01: Now that sounds like a very churchy pastor thing to say, so we're gonna unpack that, not only with scripture.
SPEAKER_01: We are going to unpack that practically because it is going to involve work.
SPEAKER_01: Caveat here, you may always struggle with something.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that made you feel real good.
SPEAKER_01: There may be an issue in your life that you battle for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: So get to training so your body has the ability to perform, right?
SPEAKER_01: What happens?
SPEAKER_01: As we get older, our muscles atrophy.
SPEAKER_01: You see this a lot.
SPEAKER_01: We have conversations as you approach different decades in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You want to stay physically active.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you want to be mobile and have the physical capacity, because the moment you stop moving your body and exercising, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Your muscles atrophy, your cardiovascular strength declines.
SPEAKER_01: And next thing you know, your health starts to go downhill very, very quickly.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't put in the work in different seasons of life to set yourself up for prolonged health, you are going to feel the effects of poor health quicker and steeper than you might.
SPEAKER_01: It is no different with mental and emotional health.
SPEAKER_01: Good health requires healthy habits.
SPEAKER_01: Eating right, resting, exercise, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01: Mental and emotional health, same thing.
SPEAKER_01: There are practices that are required for us to pursue that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're thinking, great, where's my kind of, you know, one-time pill I can take, and that'll fix my issue here.
SPEAKER_01: This is not that conversation, and that's probably not going to be your life.
SPEAKER_01: If you struggle with fear, you might struggle with fear for the rest of your life, but it doesn't mean you have to be defined by it or defeated by it.
SPEAKER_01: You might have an issue in your life that you're just going to have to battle, but you can have success in the battles.
SPEAKER_01: It just might be a daily battle that you face.
SPEAKER_01: And that's okay because God has guidance for us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, the wisest man who ever lived wrote these words in Proverbs 25, 28.
SPEAKER_01: You can read it along with me, it's behind me.
SPEAKER_01: It says this in Proverbs 25, 28.
SPEAKER_01: A person without self-control is like a city with broken down walls.
SPEAKER_01: See, emotions are not your enemy, but they can be if you don't understand what they are and have a healthy relationship with them.
SPEAKER_01: Emotions are messengers, but when you let them define you and defeat you, then they can become an enemy.
SPEAKER_01: So you need to have a healthy posture towards them, which starts with understanding what they are and then understanding who made them.
SPEAKER_01: If God made your emotions, then he can handle your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: But unless you have the self-control needed to understand what they are, understand whose they are, and understand what to do with them, you're going to be like a city with broken down walls.
SPEAKER_01: Always susceptible to the dangers of emotional decision making.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about that as we unpack certain thoughts and feelings that we deal with in the future.
SPEAKER_01: But some hope for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: Not only do we have this promise that there is peace of mind available if you fix your thoughts on God, all who trust in Him.
SPEAKER_01: But it is going to require work.
SPEAKER_01: You need to understand that.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to look at four things all of us can do at every stage of life with any emotion that we wrestle with.
SPEAKER_01: But there's some hope in here that I want to share with you is that God not only wants this peace of mind for you, but he actually gives you access to the source of success in battling these.
SPEAKER_01: Again, it might be a daily success you have to pursue, but it's available to you.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Paul teaches the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: He's writing to them in 2 Corinthians 10, and he says this, he says, The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
SPEAKER_01: On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us walked in the room, some of us are watching online, and that issue in our life has a hold on us.
SPEAKER_01: And we are just begging for relief.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the good news of what the Spirit of God gives the Jesus follower: divine power, divine means not of your own making.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a theme here you're going to see when having healthy relationships with emotions.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what's fun here?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to encourage you with this.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to actually picture this because this might help you in navigating your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Those words divine power to demolish strongholds, there's a word there in power to destroy fortresses or strongholds.
SPEAKER_01: And it's actually this Greek word called dinatos, and it means powerful or mighty.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what word we get in our English language from this Greek word?
SPEAKER_01: Dynamite.
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
SPEAKER_01: To think for a moment that as a Jesus follower, you put your faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God indwells in you, guiding you, nudging you, giving you strength for this journey we call life, that very relationship gives you oom power to defeat strongholds in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It means when you do battle the issues in your life, you don't have to come to the battle afraid or unprepared or ill-equipped.
SPEAKER_01: God actually offers this source to you because he cares more about your emotional health and your mental health than you might think.
SPEAKER_01: And so what does he offer?
SPEAKER_01: He offers a source for success.
SPEAKER_01: But you got to tap into the source.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where we find peace of mind.
SPEAKER_01: All those who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why most people do not have a healthy relationship with their feelings.
SPEAKER_01: Because their feelings have become their God.
SPEAKER_01: Everything I do in my life is defined by my feelings, including my own identity.
SPEAKER_01: And everything I chase in life is driven by my feelings.
SPEAKER_01: I want this, I'm gonna do this, because if I do this, what I want will be satisfied.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get this, I'll be good, I'll feel good.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens?
SPEAKER_01: We don't trust our thoughts and our feelings to God because our feelings become our ultimate God.
SPEAKER_01: We don't take our thoughts and our feelings to God because they've already replaced Him in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: So my anger becomes my God because I can just sit in it.
SPEAKER_01: So my my lust for things becomes my God because it makes me feel better.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't give that to Him.
SPEAKER_01: My fear becomes my God because it's my identity, it's my idol now, and I'm I'm not gonna, no, no, no, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I can't, I can't go do this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't have this conversation.
SPEAKER_01: I can't share this with God.
SPEAKER_01: God won't understand my feelings.
SPEAKER_01: I'm ashamed of my feelings, I'm ashamed to admit them to God.
SPEAKER_01: And what do we end up doing?
SPEAKER_01: We don't do it on purpose.
SPEAKER_01: It's accidental, it's incidental.
SPEAKER_01: What do we do?
SPEAKER_01: We say, God, I'm gonna define myself by my feelings, and so they're gonna take your place.
SPEAKER_01: And so not only do my feelings tell me who I am, my feelings tell me what I should do.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, look, if you want peace of mind, I've given you boom power to defeat strongholds.
SPEAKER_01: But you're gonna lose to your emotions if you lack the discipline and self-control to trust God with them.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, the same author who writes to the Corinthian church there in 2 Corinthians, says this in Romans 15, 13.
SPEAKER_01: He says, in Romans 15, I pray that God, what is it, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you, what's that say?
SPEAKER_01: Trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: Then you will overflow with confident hope through the what?
SPEAKER_01: Power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Your thoughts are powerful, make no mistake about it.
SPEAKER_01: Ask any medical professional or psychological professional, they will tell you the mind is a powerful thing.
SPEAKER_01: But God's Spirit can give you power over those thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Again, it might be a battle and it might be a constant practice, but the power is available.
SPEAKER_01: But you're not going to get the power unless you plug into the source.
SPEAKER_01: We all live on our phones.
SPEAKER_01: When your phone dies, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: You freak out.
SPEAKER_01: I went running the other day without my phone.
SPEAKER_01: I was afraid of getting lost.
SPEAKER_01: I was running around my own neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01: Because I have conditioned myself.
SPEAKER_01: I need my phone.
SPEAKER_01: The source of power is if you forget to charge your phone.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness, your alarm doesn't go off.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody can't get a hold of you.
SPEAKER_01: You can't get on Instagram.
SPEAKER_01: You can't surf on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: You can't check your stock.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my no, what am I gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: Work can't get a hold of me.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you ain't mad about that one.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you tap into the source of success that God offers.
SPEAKER_01: You trust Him with your thoughts and feelings.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's where we get practical, and it's not just gonna sound like a pastor talking to you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get real.
SPEAKER_01: As a card-carrying member of the daily battle squad, because I got mine too.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I'll share mine with you.
SPEAKER_01: They are worry and fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: I battle those.
SPEAKER_01: I have the spiritual gift of worry.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone else got that one?
SPEAKER_01: It's great.
SPEAKER_01: What a plague.
SPEAKER_01: That's why our friend Darren Higgins is here next week teaching us through fear, worry, and anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: He is a personal pastor to me.
SPEAKER_01: He has spoken that truth into my life, and I want him to share that with everyone.
SPEAKER_01: That's why.
SPEAKER_01: That's real talk.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't expect to get that.
SPEAKER_01: That's real talk.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what you do when you trust God with your thoughts and feelings.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you do with anything you trust.
SPEAKER_01: When you trust someone with something, what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You give it to them.
SPEAKER_01: I trust the bank not to lose my money.
SPEAKER_01: So what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You bring your paycheck or your direct deposit.
SPEAKER_01: Where does it go?
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't go to your sock drawer.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe for some of you it does.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just encourage you?
SPEAKER_01: Not professional financial advice, but interest rates, they're good.
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You have somebody babysit your kids.
SPEAKER_01: It's your most precious commodity in life.
SPEAKER_01: And the babysitter comes over, and what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we've just wanted two hours of uninterrupted conversation.
SPEAKER_01: We're so excited, man.
SPEAKER_01: We're so excited.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: And then what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You give your kid to that person, which means they're now in control of it.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever that is, your money, your child, your time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna trust this friend with my time.
SPEAKER_01: So they're dictating how we're spending it, aren't they?
SPEAKER_01: What do we do when you trust someone with something?
SPEAKER_01: You give it to them.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the question we have to ask ourselves when approaching healthy relationships with our thoughts and feelings.
SPEAKER_01: Are we giving them to God?
SPEAKER_01: Are we willing to replace, well, God, this is how I feel about it, with God, what do you say about it?
SPEAKER_01: Because our emotions are not our enemies, but they can become our enemies if we let ourselves be driven by them, defined by them, or defeated by them.
SPEAKER_01: And we will be defined by them, we will be defeated by them, and we will be driven by them if we don't trust God with them.
SPEAKER_01: Meaning, God, I'm angry.
SPEAKER_01: Help me.
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Help me.
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm bitter.
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm jealous.
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm hurting.
SPEAKER_01: Help me with me.
SPEAKER_01: What do you say about it, God?
SPEAKER_01: What do you say about me?
SPEAKER_01: What do you say about this?
SPEAKER_01: Show me a better way.
SPEAKER_01: And his word has a better way.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna unpack practically what that is, but for every conversation we have, I'm gonna give everybody four things.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put them on screen and we're gonna leave them up on screen.
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to take a photo after service, you can.
SPEAKER_01: Here they are.
SPEAKER_01: Can you read those?
SPEAKER_01: Four things to do with every emotion that you deal with in any area of your life.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just say this to you?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes one of the best things you can do is to feel your feelings.
SPEAKER_01: They're there for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: Feelings are real.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean they're right, but they are real and they will tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: So feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't run from it.
SPEAKER_01: You know what happens when you run from it?
SPEAKER_01: You ignore it.
SPEAKER_01: And you ignore it.
SPEAKER_01: But the feeling doesn't go away.
SPEAKER_01: You just ignore it.
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually, like water boiling over, it spills out of you.
SPEAKER_01: And it comes out in different areas and situations in life that you don't want.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever had a rough week at work?
SPEAKER_01: Stuff going on and you're stressed.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, you're stressed, and you're angry at your boss, or you're angry at your coworker, or you're you're angry at something, and you're dealing with something, and you go home and you're you're making dinner, and one of your kids at the dinner table knocks over their cup and spills water on the tablecloth.
SPEAKER_01: It's water on a tablecloth, and you lose your ever-loving mind.
SPEAKER_01: I take it by your laughter.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us have been there.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: You didn't feel those feelings.
SPEAKER_01: Feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Let it tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: What is this telling me right now?
SPEAKER_01: What's really my issue right now?
SPEAKER_01: Feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Next thing to do, express it.
SPEAKER_01: Express it to God.
SPEAKER_01: Again, He has X-ray vision to your soul.
SPEAKER_01: He sees it anyway.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to go even further and encourage you to express it with someone you trust.
SPEAKER_01: God made you to be in the context of community.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_01: God actually wants you to have community and friendships and relationships in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, he would have made Adam and been like, we're good.
SPEAKER_01: Find someone who loves God, loves you, and wants you to grow in your relationship with God, someone you trust, and express it.
SPEAKER_01: Find that safe person, that safe place that you can do that.
SPEAKER_01: That is healthy.
SPEAKER_01: I have that.
SPEAKER_01: I will tell you, I have that.
SPEAKER_01: Every day I talk to this person.
SPEAKER_01: Every day.
SPEAKER_01: Don't matter if it's Christmas Day, every day we talk.
SPEAKER_01: And we are safe to share that.
SPEAKER_01: And I cannot tell you how strong of a practice that is.
SPEAKER_01: Feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Express it.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's where it gets gets gets tough.
SPEAKER_01: Submit it.
SPEAKER_01: God, I don't want to be angry, but I am.
SPEAKER_01: Help me.
SPEAKER_01: What should I do?
SPEAKER_01: No longer are your emotions telling you what to do.
SPEAKER_01: You're asking God what to do with your emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Submit it.
SPEAKER_01: And the next thing to do is this, and this is the one that takes real work.
SPEAKER_01: Work on it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I feel it.
SPEAKER_01: What is it telling me?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to share that with somebody.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to express it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, God, this is where I'm at.
SPEAKER_01: I know this is what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: I've got somebody in my life who I can trust with it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what do you want me to do with this?
SPEAKER_01: What do you say about dealing with this?
SPEAKER_01: How do I approach this?
SPEAKER_01: Do I need to let this go?
SPEAKER_01: What do I need?
SPEAKER_01: Does this tell me something about my faith with you?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then and then as you figure out how to navigate a healthy relationship, put in the work.
SPEAKER_01: Feel it.
SPEAKER_01: Express it.
SPEAKER_01: Submit it.
SPEAKER_01: Work on it.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about practically how to do that in the next several weeks in specific areas we deal with.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that the introduction to the series is helpful for everyone and gives us a launch pad so that we too can learn together, grow together, and understand how to have healthy relationships with our thoughts and our feelings because God cares more about our mental and emotional well-being than we think.
SPEAKER_01: And as His word guides us, we learn how to feel it, submit it, express it, and work on it so that we can have victory even daily sometimes in these areas of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Again, if you need to dig deeper, we have pastoral counseling available.
SPEAKER_01: There are resources, sunrise.net slash counseling, if you want to sit down with a pro.
SPEAKER_01: We do not have to be driven by, defined by, or defeated by.
SPEAKER_01: If we go to the source and are not afraid to grow through things together.
SPEAKER_01: So as always, I pray this is helpful.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you'll bring somebody back with you next week who will benefit from the conversation from our friend Darren.
SPEAKER_01: I believe it'll be very helpful.
SPEAKER_01: And in the weeks to come, let's pray before we linger in the lobby and our youth connect, and you maybe meet somebody and just spend some time with people at church this morning on this beautiful day that we get together.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you again for your word.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that it guides us.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that this conversation is a helpful one.
SPEAKER_01: And it moves us all in the direction of navigating our thoughts and our feelings in a healthy way that honors you and that taps into your leading in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Because the power that you offer only comes when we submit these things to you and we trust you and we follow your lead.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray that whatever needed to be heard today was heard today, and that it guides us.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us today at Sunrise Church.
SPEAKER_00: We hope this message encouraged you and blessed you.
SPEAKER_00: If one of the ways that you choose to worship with us here at Sunrise is by giving online, there's a link right here that you can follow and it'll take you to that payment portal.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that you donate helps not only go towards reaching people in the greater San Diego area, but also all around the world through our ministry partner.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to get further connected, whether in person or online, you can email this email right here, and either myself or some one of our team members will be there to answer it and help you get connected in any way that you need.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us, and we'll see you next week.