1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:02,960 Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:05,520 We hope today's message is encouraging to you. 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,760 Good morning. It's always an honor to be able 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,960 to be asked to go and be before the Lord and hear what He has 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,160 for his people. And this message is no different 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,680 in that I believe the Lord has something He cares so much 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:30,200 about, and that is you. And He cares so much about your 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:32,320 wholeness and your health and your healing. 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,440 And so today I'm just going to get out of the way and let him 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,000 bring what He wants to bring. Will you pray with me? 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,160 Holy Spirit, we invite you to come and have your way in this 12 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,720 place. Shut out any voice that's trying 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,800 to speak. Counter the to the truth of your 14 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,880 word. Create any distractions or do 15 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,360 anything that would prevent your people from hearing the truth 16 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,400 that you have for them that you came to give them life to the 17 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,400 full. And so with this, I step out of 18 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,360 the way. It's your mouth, it's your body, 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,040 it's your mind, it's your heart. Do what you want to do. 20 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,680 And anyone who wants to receive the truth of the word would 21 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:11,000 wholeheartedly say Amen, Amen. We're in a series called Weeds 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,280 in My Garden. And the reason that we're doing 23 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,520 this lengthy, wonderful series is because you matter. 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,880 And because we want you to know and God wants you to know that 25 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,440 this is a place that you can freely and safely and please, 26 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:29,040 you should say I'm not OK when you're not OK. 27 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,840 And that you will know that in the safety of who God is and how 28 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,840 much He loves and cares for you, this is the best place inside 29 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,720 the church to say I'm not OK. Will someone help me take me to 30 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,040 Jesus so that I can be made whole and healed with somebody? 31 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,440 Say Amen. We are not trying to replace the 32 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,920 medical community or suggest that people may not ever need 33 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,720 medical intervention or clinical treatment to support your 34 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,120 healing journey. But what we are saying is that 35 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,240 no journey to mental health, wholeness and healing can be 36 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,480 separate from your spiritual journey because you are a 37 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,880 spiritual being inside of a physical body. 38 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,920 And your spiritual being and your physical body are so 39 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:18,080 intimately intertwined, they cannot be separated and hope to 40 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,920 have healing without the complement of what they mean to 41 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,040 each other. And so this morning I want to be 42 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,520 honest and say on the topic of depression, I do not want to 43 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:35,760 minimize your pain. In no way do I believe the Lord 44 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,200 wants to minimize your pain and say that if you just prayed 45 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,840 harder and you believed a little more, you'd be fine. 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,440 It's not what we're saying. But you know what else I don't 47 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,840 want to minimize the goodness of God and the hope and the healing 48 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,840 that exists and understanding how He made you was to be 49 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,320 victorious in your physical, mental and emotional health. 50 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,960 And if you are ready to receive that, would you open your hands 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,440 and say, Lord, I want it all. So I'm asking you to hold this 52 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,840 tension that as I begin to speak about the spiritual and the 53 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,240 physical components of mental health, specifically depression, 54 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,520 that you will resist the need to counterbalance what is being 55 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,480 taught by your reality. What I mean by that is if it 56 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,960 starts to approach something where you're saying like I don't 57 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,200 think you have any idea what I really feel. 58 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,320 I don't think you really have any idea what I'm going through, 59 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,600 and you start to push back or lean away from the truth. 60 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,040 I ask that you would lean in and let the Holy Spirit, by the 61 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,760 truth of the Word and the text for this morning, minister to 62 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,480 you. Would you hold out hope that 63 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,240 wherever you are today is not the end, that there's more that 64 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,640 he has for you? Because today we are discussing 65 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,600 depression and depression is recognized as the most common 66 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:59,920 mental health illness globally. 246,000,000 people are 67 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:02,800 recognized globally to be affected by depression. 68 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:04,840 And those are just the ones talking about it, right? 69 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,720 So let's get really specific about what depression means. 70 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,520 Depression is like sitting under a giant, heavy weighted blanket, 71 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,720 pressing down on and around you, pushing down upon every part of 72 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,120 you. But it's not comforting. 73 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,320 This is not a comforting blanket. 74 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,440 It's a suffocating, crushing, pressing down sadness, Feeling 75 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,080 gloomy and low in your spirit, feeling weak or dull, 76 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,040 discouraged. Maybe Things that used to 77 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,320 interest you are just like, yeah, I don't care about that 78 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,160 anymore. Things that used to bring you 79 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,120 joy or pleasure. No matter how hard you try, it's 80 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,400 just not there. Basic functions, getting up and 81 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,720 going to work or taking care of yourself or your family, They 82 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,720 feel impossible. This is depression, but I don't 83 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,480 want you just to take my word for it. 84 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,000 I want you to listen to some of the 100 people who were willing 85 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,760 to speak and say what it felt like to them to be depressed. 86 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,680 They gave this information to a website called My well-being. 87 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:15,440 Will you listen to their voices? Depression feels like everything 88 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,360 I know is gone and I'll never be able to get myself back. 89 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,200 Like you can't breathe deep enough to expand into 90 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,480 significance. Complete blankness, losing sight 91 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,160 of the answer to why anyone really does anything that 92 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,720 doesn't have great purpose like small talk, going out, getting 93 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:42,680 dressed, or wearing makeup. Like happy memories from my life 94 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:47,360 before my depression hit aren't real, and that depression is the 95 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,640 actual reality. Suffocating. 96 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:56,400 Depression feels like I'm living on another planet where I don't 97 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,520 belong. At first glance, no one would 98 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:00,080 think anything of my being there. 99 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,480 I look just like everyone else, I act like everyone else. 100 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,080 I seem to function just like everyone else on this planet. 101 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,840 But the air and the gravity are different, and my body hasn't 102 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:11,560 acclimated to this new environment. 103 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,200 I can still function on this planet, yes, but it's a little 104 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,920 bit harder to breathe, a little bit harder to run or jump, and I 105 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:20,520 get tired out a little bit faster. 106 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,920 And I'm trying to hide all this from the planet's residence 107 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,960 because if they find out I don't belong here, I'm not sure how 108 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,960 they will respond. Like every negative thought I 109 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:32,720 have of myself becomes my true experience. 110 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,360 Not finding joy in anything. It physically hurts. 111 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,840 I feel confused and betrayed by my joints, back, knees and 112 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,240 brain. It feels like there isn't time 113 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:52,120 to be an adult and to rest. So I rest and rest and life 114 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,520 piles up. It physically hurts. 115 00:06:56,840 --> 00:07:00,320 It's like life piling up and there's nowhere, no place to 116 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,880 find joy. This is depression, but it's in 117 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,000 stark contrast to what Jesus said he came to give us in John 118 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:10,960 10/10. He said he came to give us life 119 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,440 and to give it to the full or to give it to us abundantly. 120 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,520 That's the framework of why we exist as a church, to help 121 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,080 people find abundant life in Jesus. 122 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:24,600 And so the message that God has for us today is that he loves 123 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,320 you so much. He's so full of compassion that 124 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,840 he does not want any of his children to live with chronic 125 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,720 depression. So there must be another way. 126 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,160 Today we're going to explore what is going on in our physical 127 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,440 bodies, our emotions, and our spirits and learn how to win the 128 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,720 war over depression. If you could use a little of 129 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,400 this for you or someone else, would you raise your hand? 130 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:53,240 Yes, to do this, we've got to tackle a giant lie that is 131 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,960 living very rent free in the church. 132 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,440 And I don't mean just this church, I mean in the capital C 133 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,560 church. That lie is this. 134 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:06,400 God's people don't battle depression, not the ones that 135 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,920 really love him, right? This is a lie straight from the 136 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,400 pit of how all you have to do is look into the Bible and see a 137 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,200 victorious king named David who battled depression and very 138 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:22,000 difficult circumstances. You need only look at Elijah. 139 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,320 Elijah who had one of the greatest victories recorded in 140 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:30,560 all of scripture. History 850 Anti God spirits 141 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,799 Spirits of Baal were annihilated in a victorious way and the 142 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:38,919 moment that was over Elijah went out into the wilderness crushed 143 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:41,360 of spirit and said, God, I'm the only one. 144 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,560 I'm doing this all by myself and I think I'd rather die. 145 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:47,520 That's just in the Old Testament. 146 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,720 What about Jesus when he went into the garden facing the agony 147 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:55,680 of the cross, and he was so much in despair that his body sweat 148 00:08:55,680 --> 00:09:00,480 blood through his pores? And what about Paul when he said 149 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,560 in Second Corinthians 18, we think you ought to know, dear 150 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:07,480 brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the 151 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,280 province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed 152 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,480 beyond our ability to endure and we thought we would never live 153 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,080 through it. Paul the victorious drastically 154 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:24,000 changed, full of the Spirit, apostle to most of the New 155 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,840 Testament churches struggled and faced with difficulties that 156 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,960 cause depression. This is a lie and we cannot 157 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,000 believe it or tolerate it anymore. 158 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:35,960 So let's revisit it one more time. 159 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,080 This is the lie. If you are under a sustained 160 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,280 blanket of heaviness, you aren't a good Christian. 161 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,720 That's again, it's a lie from the pit of hell. 162 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,240 And so we are going to shatter that today and learn what God 163 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,680 wants us to understand regarding depression. 164 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,560 And here's our first truth. We will all face experiences 165 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:59,000 with the potential to evoke periods of depression. 166 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:00,880 It's called life on planet earth. 167 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:04,640 You were made for heaven. We're passing through this life 168 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,160 and in this life where sin has rule and death has reigned apart 169 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,280 from what Jesus has done for us, right? 170 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:13,920 We are going to experience things that are going to cause 171 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:19,200 difficulties, cause crushing, cause pressing that could evoke 172 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,640 periods of depression. In Proverbs 1814, we read the 173 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:30,200 human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed 174 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,240 spirit? And that word for crushed there 175 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,000 includes depression. So what is the Scripture saying? 176 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,560 Like our bodies can get sick and we can recover, It'll be all 177 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:42,040 right. But a crushed spirit, I'm not 178 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,920 sure we can get over that. Who can bear a crushed spirit 179 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,680 that leads us to this next truth? 180 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,520 Isolated periods of depression can become chronic depression. 181 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:54,720 But here is what God is telling us. 182 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,760 We were not meant to bear the crushing things on our own. 183 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,200 The Lord is trying to lead us to a new way of handling the 184 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,200 pressing, the heavy, the potentially crushing. 185 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,160 And it comes from Psalm 34, verse 18. 186 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:15,800 The Lord is close to the broken hearted and He rescues those 187 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:21,360 whose spirits are crushed. Something about our proximity to 188 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:25,120 God when we deal with the crushing things is the key to 189 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:30,120 our understanding how to win the war over depression by Jesus 190 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,840 sacrifice through the power of the Holy Spirit. 191 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,760 God wants to show us something new today, how to face the 192 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:38,920 pressing, how to face the crushing. 193 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:43,640 What He wants to do is set our baselines and He wants to build 194 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,680 our resilience. What do I mean by that? 195 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:49,680 Your baseline. My baseline is like the way I 196 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:53,840 face my everyday circumstances. It's the perspective I have when 197 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,200 I face my life, the day in and day out, things that happen. 198 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:01,640 It's my standard mood, the way that I perceive what's going on 199 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,160 around me. And resilience is the ability to 200 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:07,120 bounce back from difficult things. 201 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:12,480 So God wants to set our baseline and he wants to help us with our 202 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,720 resilience. So if you think right now, today 203 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:20,080 I want to show you a graphic and explain just a little bit on the 204 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:24,120 vertical axis, you see the words Lovejoy and peace. 205 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,040 This, the higher you go up, the higher and more abundant the 206 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,880 Lovejoy and peace is what Jesus came to give a full and abundant 207 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,800 life. And then on the horizontal axis, 208 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,680 you'll see your lifetime. It's just you and time going by, 209 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,040 right? So what I want to ask you today 210 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,680 is if you were being honest, where is your current baseline? 211 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,120 If your current baseline is really low, like on this 212 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,840 graphic, then the pressing and the depression and the pushing 213 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,560 is going to push that line even farther down right. 214 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:56,480 And the lows are going to be low. 215 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,880 And even the highs of life, the things we should be enjoying, 216 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,680 aren't going to feel like highs because they're not because our 217 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,520 baseline is living in the basement. 218 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,520 But what God wants to do is this next graphic, and I would say 219 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,320 even higher. He wants to set your baseline 220 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,720 with a fullness of abundance, love, peace, and joy such that 221 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:22,560 the highs are all out of this world high and the lows are not 222 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:24,560 that low. And your resilience and your 223 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:26,960 ability to come back to that baseline is strong. 224 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:31,400 And what I'm not talking about is plastering a Jesus smile on 225 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,000 your face. I'm not talking about pretending 226 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,600 you're so happy and full of joy that if you were any better, 227 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,360 you'd be two people, right? That's not what I'm talking 228 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,240 about. I'm talking about the real, 229 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:48,160 lasting, sustaining, abiding fullness of Lovejoy and peace 230 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:52,480 that Jesus came to give us. God wants to set that baseline 231 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:57,080 in your life really high, and He wants to make you resilient and 232 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,520 strong so it's easy for you to come back to that high when you 233 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,440 face difficult circumstances. This is what we're going to be 234 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,520 talking about today. What if it is possible to build 235 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,160 habits and rhythms that fortify you against the pressing and the 236 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,680 crushing? This is what Jesus was talking 237 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:19,840 about in Matthew 7, verses 24 through 27. 238 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,400 He said anyone. Does that leave anybody out? 239 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,800 Does it leave anybody out? Anyone who listens to my 240 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:33,280 teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house 241 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,720 on a solid rock. Though the rain comes in 242 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,120 torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against 243 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,600 that house, it won't collapse. Why? 244 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:44,680 Because it's built on the bedrock. 245 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,480 That bedrock that Jesus is talking about is, if you want to 246 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,600 learn my ways, your baseline, your bedrock can be really high 247 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:58,120 on abundant love, peace and joy. But what happens if we don't? 248 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,360 Anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish. 249 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,600 Like a person who builds a house on sand, when the rains and the 250 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,080 floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will 251 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,120 collapse with a mighty crash. You notice Jesus, Jesus doesn't 252 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,200 say if the winds and the rains come. 253 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,480 What does he say when when the winds and the rains come? 254 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,880 Jesus is giving us the key to win the war against heaviness 255 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:27,440 and depression. And here it is. 256 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,760 Build your house, build your life on the solid rock. 257 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,840 This will be your baseline of abundant Lovejoy and peace. 258 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:40,480 And today the Lord has for us treasures from the Word and from 259 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,280 science to help reveal what the Spirit is teaching us. 260 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,600 He wants to raise your baseline abundant living and increase 261 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,040 your resilience to do that. We're going to start by talking 262 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,800 about your amazing body. Everyone say I've got an amazing 263 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,760 body. God put inside your body 264 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,200 something called neurotransmitters and the 265 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,640 neurotransmitters are the communicators. 266 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,920 They're the they're the messengers that help all the 267 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:12,120 things our body needs to do get translated information wise from 268 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,200 cell to cell. So there's a cell here, a giant 269 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,480 gap and another cell. It's not really giant, but you 270 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,800 get what I'm saying. So across that gap, the chemical 271 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:25,160 messenger goes and says, hey, we just enjoyed that, you should 272 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:27,400 feel great. And then it keeps going and your 273 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:31,520 mind says that felt great. Somebody tell me, have you ever 274 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,320 heard of adrenaline? You've ever heard of that? 275 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,400 That's a neurotransmitter. It's a chemical messenger that 276 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,040 says we've got to do something, get all your energy up. 277 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,280 What about endorphins? Anybody believe the lie that you 278 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,760 can run long enough that you'll get an endorphin high? 279 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,760 I said that in first service there were 4 runners. 280 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:51,760 Like in the 4th row. They're like, yeah, I was like, 281 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:56,520 not you, No, OK, but those are chemical messengers. 282 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:58,720 Those are ones we're kind of familiar with. 283 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:03,520 But pleasure, memory, muscle action, and regulation of mood 284 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,920 are all controlled by neurotransmitters. 285 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,960 So the important neurotransmitters when it comes 286 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,760 to mood are serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. 287 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,359 I'm telling you those now because you're going to hear in 288 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,640 just a moment how God made your incredible body to have a high 289 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,000 baseline and strong resilience. Are you ready? 290 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,000 I'm going to tell you three things pretty quickly. 291 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,040 Number one, everybody say tears. Your tears are amazing. 292 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,080 And if you've ever had a good cry, you notice you feel better. 293 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:37,560 Yeah. When you think about 294 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,760 antidepressants, the medicines that are used, and sometimes 295 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,920 they are necessary. I'm not saying they're not. 296 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:47,640 But what they do is they attempt to increase serotonin and 297 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,160 norepinephrine. They do it a couple ways. 298 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,600 They can increase the bucket, add stuff to it. 299 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,440 They can prevent it from breaking down so you can use it 300 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,760 better. Or they can help the neurons 301 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,680 talk to each other better, right? 302 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,480 That's what the medicine seeks to do. 303 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,360 But listen to what God put inside of your amazing body. 304 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,080 You have three kinds of tears. Two of them are the regular 305 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,480 everyday keeping you healthy and alive. 306 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,320 Basal tears keep your eyes wet, Just the normal wedding. 307 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,400 And then you have reflexive tears. 308 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,400 If I was standing next to you, Daniel, and I cut an onion, your 309 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,920 eyes would make some reflexive tears to get rid of that toxin, 310 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,760 right? But did you know you have 311 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:31,360 emotional tears? Scientists studied the chemical 312 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:33,960 composition and looked at it under a microscope. 313 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:38,960 The substances in your emotional tears are completely different 314 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,080 than your basal and your reflexive tears. 315 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,440 Why? Because God gave you an outlet 316 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,160 and a way for your body to come out of fight or flight or to 317 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,960 come out of a lot of pain and to emit neurotransmitters and 318 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,040 regulate your mood through your body. 319 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,760 Here's the problem, especially if you're a gentleman in the 320 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:01,640 room. Anyone ever told you you 321 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,480 shouldn't cry? Yes. 322 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,000 Then we're denying ourselves the very tool that God has given 323 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,240 you. If you're a gentleman in this 324 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:11,960 room. I would say this to the ladies 325 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,440 too. Don't deny the very outlet that 326 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,000 God has given you for your healing, for your baseline to be 327 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,600 high and your resilience to be strong. 328 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,800 We've got to allow the emotional tears to do their work. 329 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,600 And that's just one example of your amazing body. 330 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,120 A second example has to do with sunlight and sleep. 331 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,960 Everyone say sunlight and say sleep. 332 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,040 When you are exposed to sunlight, especially in the 333 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,400 morning, you know what your eye does? 334 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:43,200 Your retina takes in that light and it tells your brain to make 335 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:47,880 serotonin. God made your body to respond to 336 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,840 light so that our bodies will help keep our resilience and our 337 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:57,640 baseline high. Ecclesiastes 11/7 says the light 338 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:01,480 is pleasant and it's good for the eyes to see the sun. 339 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,040 Now the author probably meant like if you see the sun 340 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,240 tomorrow, you're living right? So that's a good thing. 341 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:13,800 But could he also have meant God made you so that you interact 342 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,080 with the sunlight and your body has greater health both 343 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,680 physically and mentally? Isn't God amazing? 344 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,800 The third way that God is making your body a partner with your 345 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,440 mental health is your gut. Everyone say gut. 346 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,320 A healthy gut creates those neurotransmitters. 347 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:39,040 There was a study done at UCLA in 2024 and they looked at two 348 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,800 groups of people. They looked at groups who were 349 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,960 very resilient, didn't have a hard time bouncing back, right? 350 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,320 And then they compared them to a group that was very not 351 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,280 resilient. The things that knocked you 352 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,680 down, knocked you down for a long time. 353 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,840 What they found was fascinating. And this is the way one of the 354 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,480 physicians said it. He said resilience truly is a 355 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,560 whole body phenomenon. Wow, big surprise. 356 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,760 We have this whole community of microbes in our gut, and you 357 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,800 know what they do? They exude therapeutic 358 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:17,560 properties and biochemicals that help mood lift and resilience 359 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,600 strengthen. Isn't God amazing? 360 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,320 But do you know how your gut gets healthy? 361 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,200 By consuming the things that God made as close as you can to the 362 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,360 way that He made them. So could it be that we're 363 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:34,440 potentially getting off because we have more processed food at 364 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,840 our fingertips than ever before? So if we will nourish ourselves 365 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:43,360 with fiber, real food, plants, animals, whole grains, as close 366 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:46,520 to the source as God made them as possible, we will have 367 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,320 another boost in our baseline and our resiliency. 368 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:55,000 I'll say it again, God is amazing and as we move from the 369 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,040 physical to the spiritual, don't lose your wonder and your awe 370 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,440 because the physical is concrete and we can hold it right. 371 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,480 We get that we're going to move into the spiritual things that 372 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,600 God did, but hold that same confidence as I share these with 373 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,240 you, OK? In the same way that God 374 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,240 designed your physical body to support a baseline of excellent 375 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,960 mental health and resilience to stay there, He also designed 376 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,640 your spiritual body with very specific needs. 377 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:29,360 And the number one need that your spirit needs is to connect 378 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:32,680 with God. The overarching need to be 379 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:38,280 consistently connected to God is our #1 driver for our mental 380 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,880 health when we are disconnected from God or we keep part of our 381 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,120 life. You can have this part God. 382 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:50,000 You can have Sunday morning and maybe Monday night, but you 383 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,800 can't have my broken heart. You can have this part of me, 384 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:56,640 God, but you can't have my business. 385 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,680 You can have my personal finances, but you can't come 386 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:04,640 over here and business or you can't have access to this wound 387 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:07,040 because I don't know if I can trust you with it. 388 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:12,360 We're withholding the part that God wants to pour life, abundant 389 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:14,960 life into. And so today I'm going to give 390 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,840 you an assignment for this week. I want you to write down however 391 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,800 you choose to do it. Write down John 15. 392 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:28,600 John is one of the gospels. It records the teaching and the 393 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:34,360 life of Jesus and his disciples. And in John 15, if you will 394 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:38,280 study it, you will see the example or the image that you 395 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:44,440 are a branch and God is the vine and how intimate and how 396 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:50,160 dependent is a branch on a vine. Think about the life flow, the 397 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,760 nourishment when God was saying through Jesus you are a branch 398 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,560 and you have an amazing vine and you have an incredible gardener 399 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,840 that wants to tend to you. He is saying you've got to stay 400 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:10,160 close, connected, dependent, interrelated, communicating with 401 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,720 God. And so the number one spiritual 402 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,360 tool for raising your baseline and improving your resilience is 403 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:24,520 giving God access to all of you all the time, communication, 404 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,760 abiding and presence. I put it this way, we are going 405 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:32,680 to be real with God and we're going to let God be real with 406 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,320 you. You're going to be real with God 407 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:40,320 and let God be real with you. In this pace of life, we are 408 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,640 moving faster than ever. You know, you can travel all 409 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,360 over the world and back in a very short time. 410 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,960 You can consume all kinds of information that's at your 411 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:55,240 fingertips all the time, but the pace that you were designed to 412 00:24:55,240 --> 00:25:02,480 run it in your spirit is slow. The slow, reflective interior 413 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,920 examination of your life is critical in your communion with 414 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,080 God. It's critical to your mental 415 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,000 health because God designed you this way. 416 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:18,480 Proverbs 2027 says this. The spirit of man is the lamp of 417 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,840 the Lord. Now you notice in that 418 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,720 scripture, it's a lowercase S, the spirit of man. 419 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,240 This is your spirit. You're a body and a spirit. 420 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:33,160 Your spirit lowercase S is a lamp to your body. 421 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,800 What does that mean? Your spirit connects with the 422 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:40,000 Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit searches the innermost parts of 423 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,840 your being. God knows what is going on 424 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,400 inside of you. And if we will make a practice 425 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:50,360 to sit with them and say, would you check me out by your word, 426 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,960 Holy Spirit, what's going on in me? 427 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,280 Would you show me what's in me? Because your Spirit connects 428 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,080 with the Holy Spirit, examines what's going on inside and 429 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,920 brings forth the information. So when we start to notice our 430 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,120 baseline is dropping, the very first moment we notice our 431 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,080 resilience is not bouncing back. We need to start asking this 432 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,280 powerful question. Holy Spirit, what is going on 433 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,480 inside of me? The psalmist in Psalm 42 says it 434 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,960 this way so powerfully, and you could write this question down. 435 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,680 It says, why so downcast? Oh my soul. 436 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,920 But that's not a question you can ask on the go. 437 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,840 That's not a question. I mean, you can, and I'm not 438 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,480 saying you shouldn't, but this is a practice of stillness, of 439 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:47,480 nearness, of set time with the Lord and your weekly, daily 440 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:53,800 rhythms to ask Him Lord, what's going on inside of me. 441 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,200 And when we do that, the Holy Spirit will do amazing things. 442 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:00,200 Sometimes the Holy Spirit corrects us because we need it. 443 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,280 You're off. That's why you need to sleep, 444 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,560 eat, get out in the sun. You need to move your body. 445 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,240 You need to get off your phone. You need to stop listening to, 446 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,720 reading or watching, whatever. It might be, right? 447 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,560 It might be correction, It might also be wisdom, it might be 448 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:21,360 healing, but it might be perspective on what God is up to 449 00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:24,200 in your life that you cannot currently see. 450 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,520 That's what happened in Second Kings chapter 6, verse 15 451 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,200 through 17. What you need to know just a 452 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,600 little bit of context in this passage is that Elisha is a 453 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,920 prophet of God. He's full of the spirit. 454 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,720 He's doing what God has called him to do, to speak to the 455 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,000 nation of Israel and to say when they're off, right? 456 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,320 Or to speak to other kings and say of other nations. 457 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,000 This is what God is going to do if you don't listen. 458 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,640 So he had a few enemies. Can you imagine? 459 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,520 So in this context, He had no one warring on his side. 460 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,640 He was with his servant here. And in this conversation, we're 461 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,480 going to hear what they're thinking about what's going on. 462 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,680 In verse 15, it says when the servant of the man of God got up 463 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,880 and went out early the next morning, he saw an army with 464 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:14,960 horses and Chariots had surrounded the city. 465 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,720 Is this depressing? Yes. 466 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,280 Oh no, my Lord, what shall we do? 467 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:22,920 The servant asked. Don't be afraid, the prophet 468 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,960 answered, Those who are with us are more than those who are with 469 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,880 them. And the servant was like, I 470 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,240 don't see anybody. I don't know what you're talking 471 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,640 about. And then Elisha praised the 472 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,480 prayer that we must pray. Open his eyes, Lord, so that he 473 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,320 may see. And then the Lord opened the 474 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:46,200 servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses 475 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,480 and Chariots of fire all around Elisha. 476 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,600 Are these things in the natural? No, in the natural, they're 477 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,280 alone, they're surrounded, they're doomed. 478 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,800 But in the supernatural, God, what are you up to? 479 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,360 Open my eyes so that I can see. Why did I lose this job? 480 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:06,440 What's happening, what's going on in this relationship, what's 481 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,560 going on in me? If we will cultivate A nearness 482 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,840 with God and being real and letting Him be real with us, we 483 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:18,240 can then say, open my eyes and let me see, and God will do it. 484 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,800 But we must slow down. We must notice when our baseline 485 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,960 or our resilience is dropping. And we must ask, why so 486 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:28,880 downcast? Oh, my soul. 487 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,120 And with this practice, there's one more thing that our spirit 488 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,960 needs. Our spirit needs to cultivate 489 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,880 gratitude. Now, you notice that I did not 490 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,520 say do gratitude. You notice that it does not say 491 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,920 be grateful. It doesn't say be happy. 492 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,400 What's the word that came first? Cultivate. 493 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,120 I've got a cultivator here in the front couple rows. 494 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,680 How do you cultivate? You dig, you prepare the soil, 495 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,520 you plant the right seeds, you water it with the right things 496 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,400 and it grows right. This is the way gratitude works. 497 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,840 But something amazing about your amazing spirit and body is that 498 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,560 God designed you those neurons that when you practice 499 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:18,240 something, the more you practice it, the easier it is for your 500 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,440 brain to do it. Science calls it hebbs law. 501 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,080 Everyone say Hebbs, Hebb's law says remember those neurons and 502 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:31,600 the gap, The more you use this neurotransmitter, the easier it 503 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,560 is for them to find each other. And when you truly practice 504 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,960 gratitude. And what I mean by that is 505 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,000 saying in the last 24 hours, where did I experience joy? 506 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,400 Not like this. Not like, oh wow, I'm so 507 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,640 grateful that I have 14 piles of laundry because it means I have 508 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,920 people in my house that I love. That's not what I mean. 509 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:57,360 Unless laundry brings you joy, and if so, you're a sick 510 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:58,480 individual. No, I'm kidding. 511 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,800 I'm kidding, I'm kidding. What I mean is the practice of 512 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,320 slowing down and saying, where in the last 24 hours did I 513 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,520 experience joy? Let's see, for me, I got to sit 514 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:13,520 at my son's baseball game and watch him play a sport that he 515 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,000 loves with my older son there cheering him on. 516 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,120 I got to watch our oldest and our youngest interact in a way 517 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,720 that's so special and unique and that brought me joy in the last 518 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,360 24 hours. And this is the way you 519 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,160 cultivate micro little gratitudes and big gratitude. 520 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,120 You can go on to the big things. If nothing else, we can always 521 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:40,640 declare, Jesus, you bring me joy because you bring me life 522 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:42,760 eternal. When I know you as Savior, you 523 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,000 stood in my place, You took what I deserved and you resurrected 524 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,800 to do to new life, defeating sin and death. 525 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:55,160 I am grateful for that. And when we build daily, weekly, 526 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,840 yearly rhythms of looking for the joy within our day-to-day 527 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,520 lives, I mean actually writing them down. 528 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,000 Do you know what happens in your amazing body? 529 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:10,320 Your amazing brain hardwires these positive pathways, making 530 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,120 it easier for your brain to find positives over time. 531 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,440 We started a gratitude practice and I found myself in Marshalls 532 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,160 the other day. If you've ever been to 533 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,680 Marshalls, you know the torture I'm about to describe. 534 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,520 They have a corral like Disney. They expect it to be an hour 535 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:29,560 long wait and they have all kinds of distracting things in 536 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:30,720 line. You know what I'm talking about. 537 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,160 And I was standing there thinking I'll just pull out my 538 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,120 phone and just scroll, right? Like who's what's happening on 539 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,680 phase one? But I decided instead to keep my 540 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,760 phone away. And I just stood there and said, 541 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:46,320 let's see what happens. And joy thought joy things. 542 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,640 Gratitude came to my mind. Gratitude came to my heart. 543 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,440 Why? Because there's been an 544 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,160 intentional practice of cultivating gratitude. 545 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,560 And when I gave it room, I had joy in line at Marshall's. 546 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,080 I'm telling, hey, you can clap for that. 547 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:05,960 Yes. But what you should really clap 548 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,080 for is this. There is a chemical benefit to 549 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,200 cultivating gratitude in your body. 550 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,800 It triggers the release of, guess what, dopamine and 551 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,320 serotonin, enhancing your mood and your willpower, which I 552 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,440 would call your baseline and your resilience. 553 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,040 Did God know what he was doing? Yes. 554 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:29,560 In Philippians 44, the apostle Paul gives us this challenge. 555 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,320 Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. 556 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:38,160 Why? Because it's good for us and 557 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,080 because God is real and He's active and He's at work 558 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,760 everywhere. And if we will choose to see and 559 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:48,600 say open my eyes, there is no circumstance that we will be in 560 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,760 where we cannot see and feel and know His presence. 561 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,080 Where we cannot ask Him to show us what He's up to and join Him 562 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,880 where He's working. So if we practice habits, build 563 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,440 our lives in such a way that we nourish both our physical bodies 564 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:10,120 and our spirits, our baselines will rise and our resilience 565 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:15,000 will strengthen. But what happens if we face a 566 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,719 circumstance that plunges us into despair? 567 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:27,480 What happens if you lose a spouse or your child gets sick 568 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:32,840 or you literally run out of every dollar that you have? 569 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,040 When you're facing destitution, When your body starts breaking 570 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:39,760 down? What about these places, Pastor 571 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,239 Christine? Will our baseline and our 572 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,560 resilience be enough at that point? 573 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:50,080 Is it possible to navigate these seasons of life with abundant 574 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,239 Lovejoy and peace? I would say yes. 575 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,960 Now, I don't mean you're going to enjoy them, and I don't mean 576 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,920 that it means happiness. What I mean is that there is a 577 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:04,680 deep, indwelling presence of God that can satisfy our every need 578 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,080 regardless of what we're going through. 579 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,560 But we've got to do some specific things. 580 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,720 We have to commit to not evading or pretending that it's not 581 00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:18,440 happening, and we also have to stop setting up camp there. 582 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,240 Those are not the only two options. 583 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,880 It's not just avoid it or say, I guess I'll die here. 584 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,440 Jesus is showing us another way. We go through it with God and 585 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,280 with good community. Saint John of the Cross talks 586 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,840 about these seasons as a dark night of the soul. 587 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,680 Aren't those powerful words? Mark Buchanan calls them winter. 588 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,680 And winter is not something that we often drip into, right? 589 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:50,240 We're often plunged. We don't expect it. 590 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:53,080 We didn't ask for it. It's a wintery plunge. 591 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,560 Now, I'm about to tell you right now, I'm a native Floridian and 592 00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:01,320 I openly confess I have never experienced winter, not in the 593 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,760 natural. And So what I'm about to tell 594 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,640 you, you've just got to trust me that I have read about it. 595 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:08,440 And I do know some people that have told me some things. 596 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:15,040 But when you face a spiritual winter, I would confess to you 597 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,040 that as a leader in the church, I believe we have not done a 598 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:22,720 good job of teaching believers how to winter because we pretend 599 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,000 like we shouldn't get there. We should live an eternal 600 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:26,120 summer. Right? 601 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,320 When I faced the wintriest winter of my life, I was ill 602 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:35,120 equipped and ill prepared for that season. 603 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:39,200 I didn't know it. I'd been in church 30 years and 604 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,600 no one had ever taught me, and I own that. 605 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,160 So if you're here today and you're like, are you telling me 606 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,680 that if I'm under heaviness it's my fault? 607 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,120 No, I'm telling you it's probably our fault for not 608 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:52,600 teaching you how to winter with Jesus. 609 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,160 Because we can be present with Jesus in every season of our 610 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,160 soul. And when we winter with Jesus, 611 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,600 it changes things. In fact, it's the only way it 612 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:06,280 changes things. We must learn how to winter and 613 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,280 that is what I'm going to close with today. 614 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,440 I want to share with you about my winter and I want to tell 615 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:16,600 you, I want to tell you that I wish I had known what I know 616 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,600 today before I faced it. Because in winter, what we've 617 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:22,720 got to do, it's going to sound familiar. 618 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,240 It's the same things that establish your baseline and 619 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:27,880 build your resilience. But what's different in this 620 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,880 season is that like in physical winter, you might need to stop 621 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:36,280 almost everything else and focus on the most vital need at hand. 622 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:38,920 What do I mean? You might need to be ruthless 623 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,080 about any inputs or outputs that are not making you whole and 624 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,200 getting you closer to being near Jesus in your winter. 625 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:51,800 If you came to Illuminate Church in 2016, you would not have 626 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,040 known likely who I was. That might sound strange to you 627 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:00,480 because Tim was the lead pastor, but in 2016, a wise counselor 628 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:04,520 said to me as I was leading our daughter, we were leading our 629 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:06,480 daughter through a health crisis. 630 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,880 Physically. They said you've got to pull 631 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:10,760 back from anything that's not necessary. 632 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,440 Isn't that what you do in winter? 633 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,880 Animals hibernate, right? They go and they hide and they 634 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,680 sleep because their body's got to do what it's got to do to 635 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,040 stay alive. Now, I'm not telling you to 636 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,320 isolate from people of God. I'm not telling you to isolate 637 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,440 from God. I'm telling you run to God with 638 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:31,160 people of God and winter and keep the main things, the main 639 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,960 things. And what are the main things? 640 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,440 Worship. Washing yourself in worship, 641 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,600 speaking truth over yourself when you can't believe it, 642 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:45,480 asking the Lord to show you. Where are you at work in this 643 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,800 that I cannot see? Where can I join you? 644 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,680 It's about being in the Word almost exclusively. 645 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:53,520 Nothing else. You might be playing worship 646 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,400 music in your house and in your car 24/7. 647 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,880 You might be reading nothing else or allowing anything else 648 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:03,240 into your mind gate other than the Word, and it might be like 649 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:06,640 this. Oh God, I don't know what you're 650 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,680 doing. I don't know where you are, but 651 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,760 I know that you're good and in you is no darkness. 652 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,000 There is light in you and no darkness at all. 653 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,080 So if I'm experiencing darkness, I need to see you. 654 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,240 I need to know where you are. It's wrestling with the Lord. 655 00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:30,000 And in Psalms 126 five it is said this way, and I believe 656 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,280 this is one of the best explanations for winter. 657 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:39,240 It says those that plant in tears will harvest with shouts 658 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:42,440 of joy. They weep as they go to plant 659 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,760 their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest. 660 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,520 Because the truth of winter is that it ends, but we don't get 661 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:53,040 to control when it ends. Winter will end. 662 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,240 The spring will come. The blossoms will rebloom. 663 00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:59,440 There will be new life. The pruning will make way for 664 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:02,400 new life. But we don't get to control when 665 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,440 winter ends. And so until it does, we plant. 666 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:09,960 We plant like this. Oh, God. 667 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,360 I don't know what you're doing with Audrey. 668 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,640 I don't know. Are you going to take her from 669 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,960 me? Literally on my face. 670 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,920 God, are you going to take her from me? 671 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:26,400 What are you doing? Open my eyes that I may see. 672 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,440 You see. She came home from school sick 673 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,720 one day. She was about 8 or 9 years old. 674 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:35,320 She came home early and that sickness did not go away. 675 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:37,720 It's shake. It's shapeshifted. 676 00:40:37,720 --> 00:40:40,680 It changed. And over a course of 3 1/2 years 677 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:45,600 we spent day after day, night after night, crying out and 678 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:49,520 searching for a Doctor Who could help, someone who could answer. 679 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:51,640 Crying out to God. Would you heal her? 680 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:57,200 She was 45 lbs at 845 lbs at 945 lbs at 10. 681 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,000 And while we knew it was digestive and something was 682 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,040 going on, no one could answer it. 683 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,480 And at my breaking point of me saying, I guess I can't fix this 684 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,840 on my knees with the Lord, I said, are you going to take her 685 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,080 from us? Is this what's going to happen? 686 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:21,360 And he said, Christine, I love you and you're going to wait in 687 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:22,840 this winter. He didn't say winter. 688 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:27,560 He said you're going to wait. You can wait with me or you can 689 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,000 wait without me. You choose. 690 00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,760 And on that day I learned what I wish someone would have taught 691 00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:35,960 me, like the Lord is teaching you now. 692 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:41,920 That winter with God in His presence is the only way that we 693 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:43,960 don't get crushed. It's the only way that the 694 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,720 Spirit of heaviness doesn't come and sit on us and take us over. 695 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,640 Because the Holy Spirit gave me counsel that day. 696 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:54,600 As soon as I said your way, Lord, I'll wait with you. 697 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:56,800 Whatever you say, I'll wait with you. 698 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,840 I heard something I had not heard any other time in this 699 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,840 journey. And the Lord said I will feed 700 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:08,560 her when it makes no sense and she is an oak of righteousness 701 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:13,320 on display for all the world to see my splendor. 702 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,320 And I said, Lord, I don't know what that means. 703 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,720 He said that's OK. What I want you to do is every 704 00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:23,120 time you get scared, every time you get sad, every time you feel 705 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,040 like you want to control this and wrestle it, I want you to 706 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,160 say to yourself, and I want you to get everyone around you to 707 00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,760 say, oh, no, no, she's an oak of righteousness. 708 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:36,520 I know what you see in the natural She's an oak of 709 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:41,360 righteousness on display, a work of splendor for all of the world 710 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,920 to see the Lord's glory. And as we came through those 3 711 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,360 1/2 years and the people around us joined us in prayer and got 712 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,560 close, and I shunted everything else away and spent time 713 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:57,920 literally like this. God, I know what you said. 714 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,040 I know that it's true, and I don't. 715 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:09,360 I don't know what to do with what I see, but I believe if 716 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,840 you're going to feed her when it makes no sense, and I believe 717 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:17,880 that she's an oak of righteousness on display, full, 718 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:24,000 alive and healthy. And so I rise and I say, OK, I'm 719 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,280 going to declare that again and again and again. 720 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,440 And the healing did not come overnight. 721 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:34,120 It came in waves. There were stretches of good 722 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:38,160 days and lots of bad months until the stretches were lots of 723 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:41,320 good months and short bad days. Until today. 724 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,960 She's 19 years old and she's 100% physically healed. 725 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:59,240 Yes. There were gifts of this winter 726 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:02,720 season that I could not have gotten any other way and I would 727 00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:06,560 not give them back. Dependency on God, awareness of 728 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:10,280 how to abide with Him in the darkest and most painful places, 729 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:14,440 ability to hear His voice and to stand in faith and declare what 730 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,800 I see in the Spirit over what I see in the natural. 731 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:23,200 I would never give those back, but I would never have asked to 732 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:28,520 get them that way. Not for her, not for me, not for 733 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:32,160 her brother older or younger, not for my husband, not for our 734 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,600 family. But you see, the only way to 735 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,080 winter is to shut everything else out. 736 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:43,480 Get so close to the Lord. Stay in a posture of worship on 737 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,920 your face, on your knees, listening for the truth and 738 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:52,520 declaring it until until the blooms breakthrough and the 739 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,000 spring comes and new life is born. 740 00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,320 The only way to winter is with God. 741 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:03,800 That word that the Lord gave me. She's an oak of righteousness. 742 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,240 I had no idea that it was somewhere in Scripture and when 743 00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:10,200 I found it and read it, I want to tell you as we close our 744 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,760 service today that this is what God is offering us in the area 745 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,720 of mental health, spiritual, physical, emotional, wholeness 746 00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:22,440 and healing is this passage. And it includes those words that 747 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,960 were Audrey's. God longs to provide for those 748 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:30,640 who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead 749 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:36,080 of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of 750 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,560 praise instead of a spirit of despair. 751 00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:43,960 And they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the 752 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:47,840 Lord for the display of his splendor. 753 00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:56,360 And so God today, Yes, thank you, Lord, God today is standing 754 00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:00,320 before you, each one of you. It's now about you and God, and 755 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,240 you've met with him and you've heard the truth and he's 756 00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:05,640 offering you a couple ways to respond. 757 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,520 The first way is to say I've never received Jesus as my 758 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:12,920 Savior. I didn't know that what I would 759 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:16,240 get is a constant abiding filling of the Spirit and a 760 00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:18,680 companion to do all my days of life with. 761 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:20,960 I didn't know what Jesus did for me. 762 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:24,920 We talked about it in communion, but I'll offer it again here. 763 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:30,640 Now, there's a gap between you and God, and God desires so holy 764 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:34,040 and so completely to be in a love relationship with you that 765 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:38,440 He sent his Son Jesus to die on a cross, to rise to bear your 766 00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:41,920 sin, and to bring you victory over death and life. 767 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:46,680 He's calling you to follow Him, and that's called being a 768 00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:48,560 disciple. And today, if you want to 769 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:52,560 receive Jesus as your Savior and walk with Him all your days and 770 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:55,480 into eternity, He's offering that to you today. 771 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:58,640 The way we do that here is we do it corporately together. 772 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,480 Everyone's going to say a prayer so that you know what the body 773 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,880 of Christ feels like around you when you choose to follow Jesus, 774 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:07,720 but you'll be saying it. If this is your first time, 775 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:11,160 you'll be saying it, confessing with your mouth, believing in 776 00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:13,160 your heart, and you will be saved. 777 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:15,800 So would everyone join with me in prayer. 778 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,520 And if you're making that decision, declare it to the 779 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,320 Lord. Everyone repeat after me. 780 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:31,480 Holy Father, we see the links you went to, to rescue us, to 781 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:39,760 spend eternity with us, to abide with us today, and every other 782 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:48,440 way that we have sought to be made right with you is now dead 783 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:53,080 to me. I change my mind and I say, 784 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:59,320 Jesus, you are Lord, you are my Savior and I receive your free 785 00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:04,000 gift, eternal life that begins now. 786 00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:07,920 In Jesus name. We say thank you for all of 787 00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,200 those being saved. And if that's you today making 788 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,640 this decision for the first time, knowing that abundant joy 789 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:15,560 and love and peace is what he has for you. 790 00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:20,120 If you're declaring I received Jesus today, would you boldly 791 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:24,000 raise your hand and allow one of our ushers to bring you a card, 792 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:25,760 a gift that we want to connect with you? 793 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,520 Raise your hand in the air nice and high. 794 00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:31,440 If you're declaring Jesus as Savior and Lord, Amen for the 795 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,640 first time, keep it up. Go ahead and keep it up. 796 00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:42,320 Anyone else? Keep your hand up nice and high 797 00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:45,080 until one of our ushers gets to you and brings you that card. 798 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,120 If you're declaring Jesus as Savior for the first time today, 799 00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:53,760 we rejoice with you. And the last thing I want to 800 00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,960 offer to you today before we close is that in the authority 801 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,200 that Jesus is giving you as a disciple, you have an indwelling 802 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,040 power and filling of the Holy Spirit, and you have the 803 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,800 authority to tell the spirit of heaviness to go. 804 00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:10,960 Did you hear that in the Scripture that you would have a 805 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:14,200 garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair? 806 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:17,200 The spirit of despair is a bad counselor. 807 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:20,120 The spirit of heaviness is a bad counselor. 808 00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:25,000 We have one spirit to counsel us rightly and truly, and that's 809 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:28,200 the Holy Spirit. And maybe nobody ever taught you 810 00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:32,680 before today that when we open up the door and we say, I guess 811 00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:35,240 I'll just die here, this must be my life. 812 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:38,560 We're inviting the spirit of heaviness and depression to live 813 00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:41,120 with us. And if today you would say, I 814 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:43,840 think I've done this and I don't want this anymore, then I'm 815 00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:45,520 going to ask you to stand boldly. 816 00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:48,840 Stand right where you are at your seat and say I want to 817 00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:52,800 break up with the counsel of heaviness and depression, self 818 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:58,000 pity, despair, anything that you believe is counseling you and 819 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:01,240 sitting on you like a heaviness. Thank you for being bold. 820 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:06,960 Thank you for being bold. I encourage you stand and you're 821 00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:09,680 standing. You're saying I want what Jesus 822 00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,720 is offering me, what Jesus did for me on the cross. 823 00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:16,280 I want abundant life and I want to break up with a spirit of 824 00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:18,960 heaviness and despair. Continue to stand. 825 00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:20,920 There's boldness in your declaration. 826 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:24,360 Anyone else? We're going to pray together 827 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,760 again. And I ask everyone to repeat, 828 00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:30,600 and if you are standing, you are declaring in victory and power. 829 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:34,960 This will be yours today. Everyone repeat after me, Jesus. 830 00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:40,160 Your death gives me life, Your spirit gives me power. 831 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:50,160 And I repent for listening to the counsel of any spirit other 832 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:52,960 than yours. And we're going to name them 833 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:57,640 ready. Depression, heaviness, self 834 00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:05,880 pity, despair, fear, all of you must go by the blood of Jesus. 835 00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:13,280 This house is full of the Holy Spirit and so no other spirit 836 00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:17,800 gets to stay. And in the name of Jesus, we 837 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:20,480 seal these decisions. By your Holy Spirit and your 838 00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:24,800 power, we kick out any spirit other than yours. 839 00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:26,560 Holy Spirit, come and have your way. 840 00:51:26,720 --> 00:51:30,400 Would everyone stand as we rejoice in what God is doing in 841 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,720 our midst today? Thank you, Lord. 842 00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,600 Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your 843 00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,160 heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with 844 00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:47,400 us, you can text connect to 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate 845 00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,000 dot church. Have a great week.