The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
The Local Vineyard Church is a church located in Richmond, Virginia. The Local is a part of the VineyardUSA network. You can find more information about The Local and VineyardUSA by visiting https://localvineyard.church
The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
The Most Dangerous Myths of Mental Health
What happens when your peace suddenly vanishes? One text, one headline, one setback, and that sense of calm you were enjoying seems to evaporate instantly. In the opening to our "Peace of Mind" series, we confront the reality that peace often feels frustratingly fragile in our chaotic world.
By examining biblical figures like Elijah, David, and Jeremiah—faithful servants who accomplished great things while battling depression and despair—we discover that loving Jesus and fighting anxiety are not mutually exclusive experiences.
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Have you ever noticed how fragile peace can be? Like one moment you're feeling good and then the next you get a text message or you see something on the news, or you get a discouragement, and it feels like your peace is gone, feels like it's gone. One time, when Aaron and I were first married, we lived down in Virginia Beach that's where we're from and we had this nice little condo down there. And there was this one particular night that we were sleeping peacefully in our beds and then, as I was sleeping, probably dreaming something good, all of a sudden I wake up to Erin punching me in the chest. Ah, I was like what'd you do that for? And she says do you hear that sound? Did you hear that sound? I was like, no, my chest hurts. She's in the bathroom, something's in the bathroom, and I was like what? And I go to listen. And then all of a sudden we hear in the bathroom like the top of the toilet lid shifting around, erin screams, I scream and then she says Erin says I think someone's in the bathroom. I say, hey, google, turn on all the lights. And then I run out of the bedroom and Aaron's like where are you going? It's in the bathroom and I was like I know, so I regroup myself, I grab a steak knife, because that's all I had I run back into the bedroom Aaron's all in the corner of the room and then so I started to slowly go towards the bathroom.
Speaker 1:I was a little brave. I was a little brave, I opened the door and I see our window, our bathroom window, open, and there is a footprint on the toilet seat which was right underneath the the window. Someone was trying to break into our house. Talk about peace being gone, right. And so we call, you know, we run out of the room, we call the police. Police show up, they try to run prints on the window and the toilet, but it was all dewy outside so they couldn't do it. Then the police officer, he says to me, he says, hey, do you own a gun? And I was like, no, I don't own a gun. And then he looked at me. He said, well, how are you going to protect your wife? And I said, well, I mean, I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies. Does that help a little bit, you know? And so here you go.
Speaker 1:So next day goes, you know, I go to work, I tell my pastor about what happens and I get home, and when I got home, guess what I see at the house ADT vans all in front of my house. Aaron called them, and she had every single window censored, every single door set up, and I was like, oh my gosh, how much did that cost? And she said she said the price of getting my peace back priceless. That's a true story, but that happens, right, peace sometimes feels like it's gone in a moment, and who knows that?
Speaker 1:We live in a world that peace is hard to come by. We live in a culture that's hard, and our country is hard to have peace. You can't look on the news, can't scroll through anything without feeling this anxiousness, or this fear, or seeing this division. We have political division, we have opinion division, we got political division, we have opinion division, we got commanders, fans. There's just, there's so much going on. So how do we have peace? How do we have peace? How do we have peace? And especially where we see peace attack the most is where, in our mental health. Our mental health, that's what, what, that's what weighs on us a lot now. I truly believe, though, that God wants us to live with peace, not anxiousness, not fear, not worry, and so today, what we're doing, we're kicking off a brand new series called peace of mind, and today we're going to talk about some of the most dangerous myths that have that have happened within the church on on the topic of mental health.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, here you go, here's my prayer for this series, and this is my prayer I'm gonna. I want to kind of it's a bible verse, I want to kind of pray over us as we dive into this topic for the next five weeks. Okay, here we go. It's found in first california, first thessalonians.
Speaker 1:The apostle paul says it this way may god himself, the god of peace, who's thankful that our god is a God of peace, who's thankful that, even though the world may have troubles, the world may have problems, your life has challenges we can turn to a God who's not just a God who is capable of peace, not a God who just has a little bit of peace, but he's a God of peace. It's beautiful. So may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come on, he's coming back again. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. He will do it. God is my peace and God is your peace. So here you go.
Speaker 1:I'm glad, though. I'm glad that the church, capital C church, is finally getting better at talking about the subject of mental health, of mental health. For years, mental health was treated kind of like someone else's problem that we just didn't really talk about in the church, and the message that people picked up was if you follow Jesus, you shouldn't struggle. If you follow Jesus, well, jesus fixes everything, like the moment you come to know Jesus, well, he's gonna save you and redeem you and restore you. That's my best like southern preacher thing. Is that pretty good, okay Now? Now here you go. The truth is, he does restore us and he does save us and he does receive us, and all things do work for good for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purpose. And even though God does all of those things, that does not mean we still might not struggle. We still might not have struggles and we still might not have things. You know, here you go. What I'm about to say right now might freak some people out, but also may help people feel relieved and heard.
Speaker 1:Just because Jesus saves you doesn't mean he fixes every area of your life instantly. Just because he saves you doesn't mean your life is instantly fixed. Just because Jesus, just because Jesus, just because your sins are forgiven, doesn't mean everything magically changes. I never heard someone say man, I gave my life to Jesus and the next day I woke up with a six-pack abs. Never met that person. I would be good, though. You know, I never met someone who said I gave my life to Jesus and then my credit score went through the roof. It was awesome. Credit score went through the roof. It was awesome, you know. In other words, just because you come to Jesus, it doesn't mean that your boss is now going to be nice to you, it doesn't mean your bank account is going to be what you want it to be. Or just because you come to Jesus, it doesn't mean you're going to be healed mentally instantly.
Speaker 1:There's still traumas and things that we work through, that we work through. But here you go, you know. First, let me be clear. First let me be clear, because when we talk about mental health, what are we talking about when we talk about it? Let me be honest. I'm a pastor, I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm not a doctor. Okay, I've read a lot on this subject and I obviously spent time with God about it, but I do not claim to be an expert. But I do know what the Bible talks about and I'm going to focus on that spiritual side of the topic. Okay, here you go. But mental health if you're talking about mental health, it has to include at least these three things. It has to include your emotional well-being, your psychological well-being and your social well-being. That's what we're kind of talking about.
Speaker 1:Mental health isn't static. You can be doing great and then life happens. Then life changes happens, your body shifts, trauma hits and suddenly you're not in the same place as you once were. Mental health shapes how you think, which shapes how you feel, which shapes how you act. It affects how you handle stress or relate to people. The choices you make are the choices that you don't make, whether you bounce back from hardship or you stay stuck. Your mental health might determine how you cope if you do things, if you do wrong things as a source of comfort, or if you make right choices. It determines how you choose your friends, or the quality or the not-so-quality of your marriages. And here you go.
Speaker 1:There are so many misunderstandings when it comes to mental health, but today I want to focus on two that we predominantly see, that we can see in the church and, like I said, I believe the church has come a long way but I want to highlight them and I want then I'm going to share a little bit about what I feel like the Lord wants to do. Okay, myth number one is this Christians shouldn't struggle with mental health. I mean, that's the myth. Oh, they shouldn't struggle. You shouldn't struggle. If you struggle, if you struggle with mental health and you're a Jesus follower man, that must mean you're not praying enough, you're not reading Leviticus enough. You know there's some secret sin in your life and that's actually. If you handle those things, then your mental health is going to be perfectly fine. Here you go.
Speaker 1:But scripture shows us faithful people. The scripture, the holy word of God, shows us faithful people throughout scripture, who struggle mentally, who did great things for God, yet had hardship in their thinking. Check this out Elijah stood against 450 prophets of Baal and stood against them and later wanted to die. David defeated Goliath and took Israel to new levels of kingship, but he still wrestled with despair and thought God abandoned him. Jeremiah he was called the weeping prophet. I don't want that title. He felt forgotten and cursed the day, and he cursed the day he was born. See, loving Jesus and fighting anxiety, depression are not opposites. They are not on the opposite side.
Speaker 1:If you find yourself like so many people today, you're struggling with your mental health and you don't know what to do. The message sometimes in the church is well, you just need more of God. Well, if you just pray more, if you serve more, if you do more, then then you're good. And what and what happens is there is this introduction to duty If I do more for God, then God will love me Rather than grace. All I have to do is receive God's love for me and live from a place of that. And so this is what happens If I just do do more, then I'll be happy and so and so what? What I want to say is this I came to tell you that you do need more of God and you might need some sleep too. You do need more of God and you probably need less scrolling on your phone. You do need more of God and you might need a better diet. You do need more of God and you probably need less TV time and you do believe in God and just keep praying for the commanders too. They're going to do good. This year, jane and Daniels ain't hurt. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:So if you're struggling, you feel anxious, depressed or like you just can't make it, even while you're praying, even while you're going to church, even while you're seeking God, it doesn't mean you're a bad Christian. It doesn't mean that at all. It actually just means you're a bad Christian. It doesn't mean that at all. It actually just means you're a human. Just means you're a person who's going through everyday problems. And here's the thing at LVC. Our hope for LVC is this that everyday people like you and me, everyday parents, everyday workers, everyday people with their comings and goings, that everyday people will learn here you go Not magically just become Jesus followers Will learn Meaning taking steps, taking motions on how to become a Jesus follower. How to become a Jesus follower. I'm learning, I'm in the process of it, and a part of that is relying on God for that.
Speaker 1:So the myth is that Christians shouldn't struggle with mental health. The truth is you can come to Jesus just as you are. You can come to him just as you are, broken and all. He wants you and he's glad that you come to him. The second myth is this God doesn't care about your mental health. Well, god doesn't flat out care about it. That's not something that he's concerned about. He has bigger things going on in the world. To think about your little mental problems, your issues, no, no, no, that's not true.
Speaker 1:See, when you think God doesn't have time for your problems, again we go to the Word of God and we see in the book of Psalms that it was filled with people who have problems. Right, people had tons of problems and didn't know how to process it. All the time had different emotions going on. You know, the Psalms say this the Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall, I fear? The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. God is our refuge and our strength. He's our ever-present help. In what Time of trouble. See, the Lord cares about you. Go to the Psalms to see how much God cares about you and how some people really struggle mentally. See, here you go. There's a lot of Psalms that you want on your coffee mug. He makes me lie down in green pastures, amen. But there's some other Psalms that you don't want on your coffee mug. Now that's going to make me feel depressed in the morning when I get my morning cup.
Speaker 1:In the Bible there's this guy named Heman Not to be confused with He-man, but Heman is the guy that you wanted in your life. You know he was well-respected. He was the guy that everyone looked up to. You know. Just to show some of his qualities, the Bible says he had great wisdom. He had musical ability, meaning he could hit the jiggle note. You know that's good. He was committed to parenting, meaning his kids were good, while there was other bad kids running around. He had service to the king. He was a great dude. Heman was an awesome man. But I want to show you what Heman wrote in Psalm 88. And I'll give you a little spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:It's one of two psalms that don't end with a redemptive theme at the end of it. Most of the psalms end they would say, oh, my life sucks, but God, you're so good. You know that's how most of them end. This one doesn't. This one doesn't end like this. Okay, here you go, let me show you. Let me show you this.
Speaker 1:He says this I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I'm counting among those who've gone down to the pit. I'm like one without any strength left. I'm set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. God, you've forgotten me. I feel like I'm cut off from your care. Man, that's some honest stuff.
Speaker 1:It continues. He says but I cry to you for help, lord, in the morning, my prayer comes before you, and I love that. I love that in the morning, my prayer comes before you and I love that. I love that in the morning time, because I believe there is a principle of first things. I think if you spend time with God in the morning, it will set your day for the, the kind of day that you actually really want. But, but here you go, but, but he's crying out for peace.
Speaker 1:But this is what, how he ends it. He says why, lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? You've taken me from my friend and neighbor. Darkness is my closest friend and you're like wow, jacob, thanks for making me feel depressed today. This is, this is this guy's, this is this guy's feelings. I mean, he just laid it all out for the Lord. He put it all out there. This is. He said darkness is my closest friend. Now, this guy loved God. He was a man of God, and this is in the Bible. This is in the Bible. You and, and you want to know what I love that there is a psalm in the Bible that does not have a positive ending to it.
Speaker 1:Not because I'm a negative guy, I'm a pretty happy dude but I love it because God is not afraid of our honesty. God is not afraid of our real, raw emotions. God's not afraid and God can handle it. I will say this God wants to handle it. God wants to hear your real, unfiltered self. He wants to hear it more than your Twitter account does, and you'll get better results back if you talk to God about it instead of Facebook. See, God wants to hear about it. He wants to hear about your feelings, your emotions. See, here you go Every night at the Gaines house during dinner.
Speaker 1:We go around the table and we ask three questions. We ask three questions to all of our kids, and our kids are seven, four and three, so they're young. But we ask these three questions what was my high for the day? What was my low for the day, and where did I see God today. Where did I see God today? And the reason why we ask about the lows is not because we want to hear about something sad while we eat some spaghetti. No, the fact is this Sad things happen.
Speaker 1:We can pretend like they don't, but pretending doesn't get you anywhere. Sad things happen and it's healthy to talk about sad things, because often we find God in those places, in those places, and so we got to talk about it. We got, we got to bring it out. Darkness is my closest friend, he says, and I think it's safe to say we've all been there before. We've all been there looking fine on the outside but breaking down on the inside. You know, and we all know the drill, a surface conversation. Someone walks up to you how you doing oh, god is good, and all the time God is good. Amen, brother, you say it on the surface, but on the inside you're sad because your dog, skippy, got mowed down by a car Poor Skippy. But we don't talk about it.
Speaker 1:Guys, guys, you want to know one of the best places to hide Church Church. I don't want to express my feelings, I don't want to let people know what's really going on. I don't really want. No, no, my hope lbc is that it's a place where you can come, you can bring yourself to church and you can talk to people who won't judge you or dismiss you. But but when you bring your problems to someone else, there's freedom there and there's hope there and there's healing there and we can find the joy that god has for our lives. Can I get a good amen on that one? Your problems to someone else, there's freedom there and there's hope there and there's healing there and we can find the joy that God has for our lives. Can I get a good amen on that one? Okay, because here's the thing. Here's what I want to remind you of.
Speaker 1:Getting help isn't weakness, it's wisdom. Getting help isn't weakness, it's wisdom to do that. Jesus says it like this. He says love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with what? All your mind, with all your mind. Heart. I got that. One Daily time with God. That's good. I can do that one. Let him heal the wounds of my heart. Soul, that's how you care for your body, for your whole self. Yes, god, I got it.
Speaker 1:But the mind the mind well, that's where I struggle with is in my mind, like I don't know about you guys, but if I'm especially having like a conflict with somebody, I can write a whole screenplay in my head on how this situation is about to go down, where the beginning, middle and end action scenes and somehow Tom Cruise shows up. You know, you know I can do that, I can make it happen. But when we surrender our mind to God, when we surrender our thoughts to God, that's where healing comes. Because here's the truth. Your life, your life and my life, your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. It's always moving in the direction of the strongest thoughts.
Speaker 1:Here you go, let me talk about the brain for a second. You can call me Professor Jacob, the strongest stuff. Here you go, let me talk about the brain for a second. You can call me Professor Jacob.
Speaker 1:The brain is actually built over time and it starts at birth and then it starts to evolve and what happens is the brain makes all these connections, simple connections that are called what? Neural pathways. In the first few years of life, your brain this is kind of crazy. Your brain makes a million new connections every second. That's a lot. After a while, your brain this is kind of crazy. Your brain makes a million new connections every second. That's a lot. After a while, the brain starts to learn. Learn and the connections are simplified through a process called pruning. Your brain gets more efficient and it starts to think in patterns. In other words, once you think a thought, it's easier to think that thought again. Once you think it, it's easier to go back there. It's like a mental rut or a pathway that's easier to continue to think those thoughts.
Speaker 1:Now, that's good if your thoughts are healthy, but that's not so good if your thoughts aren't healthy. Have you ever been there before Thinking the same thing over again? You don't even know why you're thinking about that thing, because there's a neural pathway in your brain that you, that we've created, that we've created, and it can be trauma-induced and things like that. But but here's the here's the thing. If your body's unhealthy, what do you do? You go see a doctor, change your diet, exercise, get treatment. If your mind's unhealthy, what do we typically do? Go to social media, spend six hours on our phone a day? Actually, if our minds are healthy and our thoughts are healthy, let's find some other comforts that stimulate our brain to get us away from actually processing the real thing that we're going through Too honest, trust me, I've been there before, I've done it. But no, if our mind is unhealthy, we need to. We need to. If our mind is unhealthy, we need to do the same. We need to maybe see a doctor, a counselor, or, as the Bible describes Jesus as the great physician who renews your mind.
Speaker 1:For me, media was my problem. Watching videos and constant arguments was hurting my mental health, and we know right now in our country, that's happening right now, don't we? You can watch so many videos about hot topics and things that people aren't experts about but they pretend to be experts on, and we consume it and we consume it. And it doesn't make you feel better after you're done consuming it. No, you feel drained and heavy and you say I'm not going to go to church now, I'm not going to talk to these people now, and heavy. And you say I'm not going to go to church now, I'm not going to talk to these people now, I'm not going to do that, and it's everything our spiritual enemy wants to happen. It's everything our spiritual. If our spiritual enemy can divide people, divide households, then he celebrates and wins. But when we see the power of Jesus, it's in unity, coming together and saying, god, we pray your healing over our pains, we pray your healing over. But here you go.
Speaker 1:For me it was media, and then I ended up going to process. I was on my phone, probably, you know, around five years ago. I was on my phone probably six, seven hours a day, went from there to you know under like an hour a day and it changed everything, honestly changed everything, changed everything. The next thing for me that made my mental health harder this one you might laugh while you might even start easing your way to the exit door. My next problem was church. It was church and not church in the sense of dealing with church hurt or things like that, nothing like that.
Speaker 1:But my mind was constantly thinking about church and not church in the sense of dealing with church, hurt or things like that, nothing like that. But my mind was constantly thinking about church, church, church, church, church, church, church, church. You know it, make it, make more sense for you. It might be. If you're really passionate about your job, you might always be thinking about work, work, work, work, work, work. No matter what. You're trying to play with your kids, you're trying to hang out, but you're thinking about work. You're thinking about those things and that's how it was for me. I was constantly thinking about it, constantly thinking about thinking about church, and so.
Speaker 1:So the mistake I made was, when it came to my worth and my responsibilities, I put church, which sounds godly and spiritual, in the place where God was supposed to be, in the place where God was supposed to be, and so my worth was tied will the church grow? My worth was tied to how are things going If someone leaves? And it's a shot at me. That's what you know, if I can be honest today. That's what it was tied to, and it wasn't tied to my obedience and my love and the love that God has for me and that he is. He is affectionate towards me and cares about me.
Speaker 1:It's tied to the wrong thing and, friends, the, the thing that happens a lot is when it comes to our mental health, we can be, we can have our, our worth tied to the wrong things. And when our worth is tied to man, when I, when I get married, then I'm going to be happy. Nope, that marriage is going to let you down. When, when I get this job and start making x amount of numbers, man, then I can do. Nope, because you're going to discover that money never buys the value that you really thought it was going to have, and and we make these connections, and, and, and, and we and we're in these ruts and we're on these things. But here's the hope, here's the hope, and this is the hope that I can't wait to share with you guys that I get excited about. The hope that we see is found in isaiah 26.
Speaker 1:It says this you'll be kept in perfect peace. Come on, come on, come on. Perfect peace, not not, not circumstantial peace, not momentary peace, not peace when my team wins the game, not peace when that goes my way, but you'll be kept in perfect peace. How are we going to be kept in perfect peace? All who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on God, we'll be kept in perfect peace when we get to a place that our thought life is constantly going back to the presence and the person of God. And I love this. I love, I love this because, because what is this perfect peace?
Speaker 1:In the Hebrew language, it's the word shalom, and I love what the author does here. He says shalom, shalom, meaning shalom in every area of our lives and anytime you see a Hebrew word like that. Repeat it twice. It means this is important. You should look into this. It's like. It's like this you can, your kids can be driving you crazy.
Speaker 1:They can be fighting over something. You're like why are you fighting over a toy that I bought you? You freeloader, and you're gonna be angry. And instead of walking into that room ready to give them the wrath, you say shalom, shalom, peace in every area, peace in my mind. And then you can walk in that situation, defuse it and teach them something about it. Come on, instead of taking someone else's sin against you as a personal attack against your ego, you say shalom, shalom and say God, I hand that person to you, I hand that problem to you, I'm going to love that person when everything inside me wants to give them an uppercut.
Speaker 1:It's shalom, shalom. It's saying I refuse to allow my mind to be weighed down by the problems and I'm going to fix my eyes on God, who is the pioneer and perfecter of my faith, and I'm going to keep looking towards Him, because that's where perfect peace is found. It's not found in CNN news, it's not found in Fox News. It's not found on your political opinion, it's not found in your bank account and you can keep going to that well, and you're going to come back dry every single time. But when you come to Jesus, he's a fountain that never gets dry. He's the living water that keeps giving. He's the one that is the beginning, the middle and the end. And I'm going to keep going back to him and fix my thoughts on what is true and what is real and what ignites my soul for something more meaningful. And when the enemy says your life is valueless, it's you that that, that your depression. You'll never get over it. Your anxiousness, you'll always be a prisoner to it. When I begin to fix my eyes on Jesus and I'm struggling with this anxiety and I'm struggling with this worry, but I just look a little bit towards Jesus I begin to find hope. The disciples, the disciples, these dudes walked with Jesus and they still had anxious thoughts. These dudes, they were part of the miracles and they still had all these fears.
Speaker 1:There's a story this is one of my favorite stories. They just go do a miracle. They're going on a boat, they're heading out into the middle of the water. Scripture says a violent storm arose, a violent storm comes up, and these guys are fishermen, most of them are fishermen. They didn't know how to handle a storm, but this storm, apparently, was so bad that they're all freaking out Chaos. Scripture says there's water coming in to the boat and then they run to the back of the boat and guess where Jesus is. Scripture says that Jesus was laying in the back of the boat, snuggled up with a cushion. He was all tuckered out. He was sleep in the middle of a storm, and I love this one part of this story.
Speaker 1:They run up to him and they say do you even care? Do you even care that we're drowning? Did you know that your spiritual enemy will want to try to convince you that, while you're in your mental storm, when you're in your anxiety, when you're in your depression and fear, when your worry is taking control, your spiritual enemy wants to convince you that your Savior does not care, that your Savior is distant and sleeping, and doesn't? He's sleeping on you. Yet I want you to get this. They run up to him. They say Jesus, don't you even care? Jesus gets up what time? They say oh, there's a storm going on. Oh, you stressed out about this Storm. Be still, be still, be quiet. And the storm becomes calm. Now, this is the part I want you to get friends.
Speaker 1:The disciples were scared, they had doubts, they had fears. But what did they do? That's so good. They went to Jesus anyways. They went to Jesus anyways. They went to Jesus anyways.
Speaker 1:A lot of times we like to take this story and say, oh, they had doubts and they were just so doubtful. These disciples, here you go. In their doubts, in their fears, they still went to Jesus and they honestly said do you care? And someone in here needs to say that to Jesus right now, jesus, do you even care about this circumstance I'm going through? It's time to stop playing church and have a real, authentic relationship with Jesus. Do you really care about this? Because, because, what are the disciples doing? Go on, this is my best part. This is the best part. What are the disciples doing?
Speaker 1:Their minds are fixed on God. Their mind, in the storm, is still fixed on God. Did you know that you can be in the storm and have your mind still fixed on God? Did you know you can be in the middle of an anxiety attack that feels like it's going to take you out, but my mind is still fixed on God? Did you know that you can be dealing with a problem that you can't believe, but my mind is still fixed on God, and when my mind is fixed on God, shalom, shalom, perfect peace in every area. Because you want to know what it's really about, guys? It's about intimacy with your Father, intimacy with God, intimacy and drawing near to Him, and Scripture tells us it promises when we come near to God, he comes near to us. How beautiful is that. So here you go, friends. I want to challenge you, encourage you, challenge you. However, you want to hear, to journey with us for the next four weeks. Maybe you came because you got a mailer in your mailbox or a friend invited you.
Speaker 1:Today You're checking out church. I want to encourage you to come back for the next four weeks as we explore these topics of anxiety, worry, fear, negativity, and I believe that God wants to bring healing and freedom in your life, because Jesus says this my peace I give you. I don't give peace as the world gives, but he gives you his perfect peace, and I love when Jesus says this to the disciples, and I believe in John 14. He says this the moment before he goes to the cross, and so it's as if Jesus is saying peace is not found in perfect circumstances. Peace is found in the presence of a perfect God, and so, even when circumstances aren't great, then we can be in the presence of God. He gives us peace and hope.
Speaker 1:So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your goodness and your favor and we say peace, shalom, shalom, peace in every area you may be in here today, you are in the battle of your life when it comes to mental health, and you've tried things. You've tried counseling, you've tried small groups, you've tried alcohol, you've tried numbing yourself, and nothing takes away that pain. And so, just right where you are, just in your heart, begin to say Jesus, I need you, I need you Jesus, I need more Jesus, I need more of you, lord. That's like the Holy Spirit saying, if some people in here you do, you just need some more sleep. You need more sleep. The world does not revolve or does not rest on your shoulders, but instead God is inviting you into a place of rest and peace. Come, holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:That's like the Holy Spirit saying someone in here your loneliness, I mean your mental health, has led you to loneliness. You feel so alone, and I just want to remind you personally that Jesus says I will never leave you nor forsake you. You are not alone. You are not alone, you're not alone. I dealt with grief, another word I just felt with. The Lord says he wants to heal you of grief, and it's not about checking off a list and getting over it, nope, nope. The Lord says he wants to walk with you in the process of it. Come, holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. More of you. If you're in here today and you're like Jacob, that sounds good. I'm Holy Spirit. More of you. If you're in here today, you're like Jacob, that sounds good. But I don't even know this Jesus you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I never made a decision to trust Jesus with my life, or maybe you have before. But life happens, things happen. You kind of walked away from that. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life, all I'm going to do, I'm going to count to three and on three, I just want you to shoot a hand up in the air so I can see who I'm praying for. I'm not going to call you out or have you come up front, nothing like that. I just want to see who I'm praying for. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life again. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life again, or trust him for the first time on three, just shoot your hand up. One, two, three. Bless you, bless you, bless you. And everyone say this prayer with me, right where you are. Just say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new. Today I trust you with my life. Today. I follow you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen, let's give God some praise in here today.