Some stats about Depression:
Depression defined:
Three categories of Depression:
Category 1: Mild, biblical example JESUS
Category 2: Moderate, biblical ex. ASAPH (Psalm 73)
Category 3: Severe, biblical ex. DAVID (Psalm 32)
Five biblical truths about Depression:
- Depression is expected in a FALLEN world.
- Depression is expected from those that don't know JESUS .
- Depression is dispelled by the WORD and WORK of God.
- Depression is possible for believers, because we still live in the FLESH.
- Depression someday will be HISTORY !
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:01-00:09
Typically at Harvest Bible Chapel we take a book of the Bible and walk through it verse by verse and we've been doing that this year through the Gospel of Mark.
00:11-00:19
And we're going to be getting back to the Gospel of Mark in the month of February, but this month we're going to be talking about depression.
00:21-00:28
Is there anybody here right now that is feeling a little down?
00:29-00:34
In any degree, you just feel like you have a little bit of the case of the blues.
00:34-00:34
Anyone.
00:36-00:38
If we're honest, from time to time, I think we all feel it.
00:40-00:41
Like what gets us down?
00:43-00:44
Go ahead and shout some things out.
00:44-00:45
What gets us down?
00:47-00:48
Snow?
00:50-00:52
I can't, snow and cold.
00:52-00:53
Yeah, how about Tuesday?
00:53-00:56
Did you see we're gonna hit like three degrees on Tuesday?
00:59-01:00
Yeah, how's that gonna feel?
01:01-01:02
What else gets us down?
01:04-01:07
Work, being alone.
01:07-01:09
Okay, especially going through the holidays.
01:09-01:17
You have Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and it's a rough patch to get through when you are alone, isn't it?
01:18-01:26
And we can look at the economy We can look at health scares and, you know, I was looking at the newspaper.
01:27-01:34
Just going through looking at the news, even outside of what's happening in our own little world.
01:36-01:39
Taking a break from that to see what's happening across the globe.
01:41-01:42
Here is Sunni arrested in Iraq.
01:43-01:46
Lawmakers' brother, five guards killed in raid.
01:46-01:58
Assad air raid targets market is another article talking about how more than 400 people have been killed in these attacks.
02:00-02:02
You can just pick up any newspaper.
02:02-02:08
Here's more Hurricane Katrina related stuff, the damage, the aftermath, the destruction from that.
02:10-02:11
Still haunting people.
02:12-02:41
hunt on for bank robber and officers slaying. And I'll hear, "Church Boy Scouts set to accept gay youths." And you know obviously the homosexual issue on the forefront of the news and how do we handle that church. And right at the top of the front page, something that I'm sure is depressing us all, is a picture of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
02:42-02:44
But we don't have to worry about that now, do we?
02:46-02:48
There are lots of things to depress us.
02:50-02:52
I want to give you some statistics.
02:52-02:54
Jot these down on your outline.
02:56-02:58
Here are some statistics about depression.
03:00-03:01
Depression is on the rise.
03:04-03:11
They estimate between 7% and 15% of Americans are dealing with depression right now.
03:13-03:16
16% of Americans will have it at some point in their lifetime.
03:18-03:26
The prevalent age range of people who are depressed is, do you know, ages 45 through 64.
03:28-03:33
Women are more than two times as likely as men to suffer from depression.
03:33-04:00
But men are more likely to go undiagnosed and not help. Men are four times more likely to kill themselves. This is sad. You know what the fastest growing demographic of people who are suffering from depression?
04:02-04:11
preschoolers. They estimate one out of every 33 children, one out of every eight adolescents.
04:14-04:36
It affects the elderly who lose loved ones facing deteriorating health. Depression results in more absenteeism than almost any other physical disorder, it costs employers more than $51 billion per year in absenteeism and lost productivity.
04:37-04:40
That's not including the high medical and pharmaceutical bills.
04:42-04:46
Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020.
04:47-04:50
They estimate it's like six years away.
04:53-05:00
show it's a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease.
05:03-05:08
It's not just something that affects the world, but sadly, it's something that affects the church as well.
05:09-05:18
And we've seen people sidelined, we've seen people leave the church, and we've seen people seemingly leave the faith.
05:20-05:21
Because of depression.
05:24-05:35
It's called the common cold of mental illness because nearly everyone is going to experience it at some point in their lives to some degree.
05:36-05:40
All races, all genders, all economic backgrounds, all ages.
05:43-05:48
You can read reports of six year old children attempting suicide.
05:49-05:55
There are people in this church that have been affected by it.
05:59-06:07
All believers should know how to deal with depression because God's Word has God's solution.
06:11-06:13
Parenthetically, let me say this.
06:13-06:27
When we're talking about depression, we are not talking about depression that's caused by other illnesses, whether it's Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or...
06:27-06:31
There are some other diseases that manifest themselves in depression-like symptoms.
06:32-06:40
That actually applies to less than 20% of people who experience "down moods." We're not talking about that, okay?
06:41-07:09
something different. And how dare we church when somebody is suffering from a physical problem that's affecting them mentally, we try to give them the buck up speech, right? OK, you need to see a doctor. In those cases, all right, we're not talking about those cases in this series. Nor are we talking about depression that's influenced by drugs, whether they're legal or illegal drugs.
07:10-07:12
Again, that's something different.
07:12-07:14
That's another sermon series for another time.
07:17-07:19
So here's a definition, depression defined.
07:20-07:21
It's a broad term.
07:23-07:29
Describing just jot some of these words down, it's a broad term describing sadness, sorrow.
07:31-07:32
Heavy heartedness.
07:34-07:40
Disappointment, gloom, discouragement, disillusionment.
07:44-07:47
And I must look at three categories of depression.
07:50-08:00
We're going to sort of lay a biblical foundation for this three categories, and I encourage you. To be here every Sunday this month.
08:02-08:03
Because this series is so important.
08:04-08:08
And if you're not dealing with this now, you're going to be dealing with it very soon.
08:09-08:10
So you need to be here.
08:11-08:13
OK, everybody say I'll be here.
08:14-08:16
That didn't sound like everybody tried again.
08:18-08:19
OK, I'll be looking for you.
08:21-08:22
I will save your seat.
08:22-08:23
This is very important.
08:24-08:25
Three categories.
08:25-08:28
Category number one is mild depression.
08:30-08:31
Here are some synonyms for mild depression.
08:33-08:33
Disappointment.
08:36-08:41
It's disappointment, you have expectations that just didn't turn out like everybody deals with that, right?
08:42-08:44
You're expecting something, you had high hopes and.
08:46-08:52
It didn't quite happen the way that you were expecting, and you're you're down about that, that's disappointment, it happens.
08:53-08:54
Disillusionment.
08:56-09:00
That's disappointment, but that's as disappointment over people.
09:04-09:05
Disappointment over people.
09:07-09:11
There's only one person that you can idealize, and that's Jesus Christ.
09:12-09:18
He's the only person that you can idealize, but sometimes, folks, I've been so guilty of this myself. We idealize people.
09:19-09:20
We idealize fallen people.
09:22-09:28
We idealize people who still live in the flesh and still make mistakes and still say stupid things.
09:28-09:34
And we get disillusioned sometimes with people in general.
09:36-09:39
Well, everyone has a case of the blues occasionally.
09:39-09:49
Everyone goes through periods where you just feel like, "I'm just not as content as I usually am." Mild depression can last a few hours or it can last a few days.
09:53-09:55
We're all about getting biblical at Harvest Bible Chapel, right?
09:56-09:58
Because Bible is our middle name.
10:00-10:01
I'm going to say something.
10:03-10:04
But I want you to hear me out.
10:05-10:07
All right, say we're listening.
10:09-10:14
The biblical example of mild depression is Jesus Christ.
10:15-10:23
Now, before you throw tomatoes at me or scream heresy, I just want you to consider this.
10:25-10:27
Jot these references down.
10:28-10:55
Isaiah 53, 3, a prophecy about the coming Messiah, says that the Messiah, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Now if you were describing someone that was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, wouldn't you say that's somebody that deals with some form of mild depression at times?
10:56-11:18
Hebrews 4.15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin." One of those weaknesses that Jesus identifies with us, you're going to see here, is mild depression.
11:20-11:21
Hear me out, you promised.
11:25-11:27
Jesus at times dealt with disappointment.
11:29-11:43
In Matthew, this is referenced in Matthew chapter 14 and verse 13, to give you the context, John the Baptist standing bold on the word of the Lord was executed for it.
11:47-11:49
How did Jesus feel about John the Baptist?
11:51-12:00
According to Matthew chapter 11, I believe it is, Jesus said, "Among men born of women, has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." It's a pretty high estimation in Jesus' mind, right?
12:01-12:03
Could you imagine getting that endorsement from Jesus?
12:04-12:05
Like seriously?
12:07-12:12
Well, the disciples came and told Jesus that John the Baptist was executed.
12:12-12:25
And Matthew 14, 13 says, "Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself." Now, why do you think that is?
12:26-12:26
He went to pray.
12:27-12:28
I'm sure of it.
12:31-12:35
But I don't think we can miss the fact that Jesus gets this depressing news.
12:36-12:42
This prophet, actually a blood relative prophet, has been executed.
12:43-12:47
And Jesus said, "I need to go be by myself for a while.
12:47-12:48
I'll actually be with my father for a while.
12:49-12:51
I need to get away from people for a while.
12:53-12:55
And you remember at Lazarus tomb.
12:57-13:05
Amidst all of the whirlwind of accusations against Jesus, questioning his goodness and the people weeping and.
13:07-13:09
Shortest verse in the Bible, do you know what it is?
13:10-13:12
John 11, 35 says what?
13:13-13:23
Jesus wept. The triumphal entry when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem and people were throwing the parade.
13:24-13:25
What was Jesus doing, you know?
13:26-13:28
The Bible says he was weeping.
13:33-13:35
So when you look at mild depression.
13:37-13:41
You see that in the life of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.
13:41-13:45
But listen, he never allowed these things to control him.
13:45-13:50
Don't think that Jesus was ever sinfully depressed because he was not.
13:51-13:53
Jesus always did the things that were pleasing to the father.
13:54-14:01
But church, we have to recognize when we look at the life of Jesus Christ, we see that even God in the flesh was disappointed at times.
14:01-14:05
Even God in the flesh wept and felt emotion.
14:06-14:07
True or false?
14:12-14:15
Grieving on occasion is OK.
14:17-14:23
As long as we don't lose hope, OK, so let's just get that out there, grieving on occasion is OK.
14:24-14:25
It's OK.
14:26-14:32
You're going through a hard time, you have a health issue, you've lost a loved one, job loss, financial problems.
14:34-14:36
Church, it's OK to grieve.
14:41-14:46
But as our example in Jesus Christ, we can be people who grieve.
14:48-14:58
But still maintain hope, in fact, that's what Paul was talking about in First Thessalonians 4, 13, when he said, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers.
14:59-15:09
about those who are asleep, meaning dead, he said that you may not grieve as others do. Who have no hope.
15:12-15:19
I've done a lot of funerals in the last 17 years, and there is a huge difference between a funeral where that person.
15:21-15:22
Who died, did not know the Lord.
15:24-15:26
Versus the person who died that knew the Lord.
15:27-15:34
It is night and day. At both funerals, there is grieving, we will miss that person.
15:36-15:37
So what makes the difference?
15:37-15:40
The difference is when that person dies in the Lord.
15:43-15:45
I think there's a part of us that's kind of envious for that person.
15:50-15:55
So mild depression, disappointment, disillusionment, let down.
15:58-15:59
It happened to Jesus.
16:01-16:04
Though he never sinned, though he never mishandled it.
16:08-16:14
Jesus felt and was moved and identifies with us in that.
16:15-16:18
So category number two is moderate depression.
16:21-16:23
Mild depression can last a few hours or days.
16:24-16:26
Moderate depression is deeper and lasts much longer.
16:28-16:30
Synonyms for that, discontentment.
16:33-16:34
Discontentment.
16:35-16:37
We start to fix our hope on people.
16:37-16:39
We fix our hope on circumstances.
16:39-16:41
We stop fixing our hope on God.
16:43-16:46
When you're putting your hope in people and circumstances, you're never going to be content.
16:47-16:48
It's just not going to happen.
16:53-16:54
Another word is despair.
16:57-16:59
Like I just don't want to be here anymore.
17:00-17:01
You don't want to be where?
17:03-17:04
I don't want to be anywhere.
17:08-17:09
Just want to be alone.
17:10-17:15
And when you are alone, you're grieving that you feel so alone.
17:19-17:20
You feel trapped.
17:25-17:30
And oftentimes people in despair do very uncharacteristic things.
17:33-17:38
And the danger here, obviously, is submitting to your feelings, focusing on them rather than on God.
17:40-17:44
When you focus on God, that reduces the intensity of the painful emotions.
17:45-17:49
But when you when you focus on your emotions, that actually has the opposite effect.
17:51-17:55
Because, Church, when when you're focusing on your feelings.
17:57-18:00
What you're doing is magnifying them by the attention that they're receiving.
18:02-18:03
And that's going to cause you to lose hope.
18:06-18:10
Focusing on the negative effects our mood, it can even interfere with our normal activities.
18:12-18:19
As I heard one preacher say, feelings make a lousy engine, but a great caboose.
18:22-18:26
Meaning, obviously, you shouldn't be driven by your feelings.
18:28-18:35
Feelings are a part of life and they should they should necessarily follow, but they should never be driving.
18:37-18:38
I want you to turn in your Bibles.
18:39-18:45
Let's look at this biblical example, Asaph from Psalm 73.
18:45-18:46
Everybody turn to Psalm 73.
18:48-18:49
We're just going to look at a couple of verses.
18:52-18:54
This is what moderate depression looks like.
18:57-18:59
I'm not some kind of psychologist.
19:00-19:03
Don't take these as like diagnoses for our purpose.
19:03-20:08
just kind of categorizing these by severity. Look at Psalm 73. Look at that first of all the first three verses. Everybody there? Asaph says, "Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped like what happened he says for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked and jumped on to verse 12 he says behold these are the wicked always at ease they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
20:13-20:25
Here's a man who was close to renouncing his faith, who was envious of others, who was discouraged, resentful, troubled, and perplexed.
20:25-20:32
An irrelevancy of what he penned just as much today as it was back when he originally wrote it.
20:34-20:37
Now, how many times do we feel like we try so hard to do the right thing?
20:37-20:38
I try so hard to do the right.
20:38-20:40
I try. I really try.
20:40-20:41
I try to do good by my family.
20:41-20:42
I try to take care of my family.
20:43-20:44
I try to do the right thing.
20:45-20:47
And it just seems like I'm always getting the short end of the stick.
20:47-20:49
Anybody else feel like that sometimes?
20:50-21:05
And you're like, look at this guy, this guy just goes through life, irresponsible. You know, we pay him, you know, twelve million dollars to catch a football and everything's, you know, peppermint and gravy in his world.
21:09-21:15
I can't catch a break. Why is that, God? Am I following you for nothing?
21:20-21:21
It's moderate depression.
21:22-21:24
I want you to read Psalm 73.
21:24-21:26
I'm not going to spoil it for you.
21:27-21:32
But I want you to read the whole Psalm because you're going to see that he doesn't rest there.
21:36-21:39
So Asaph looks like someone who dealt with moderate depression.
21:40-21:42
Then category three, severe depression.
21:44-21:46
Severe depression, what's that?
21:47-22:01
That is a permanent spirit of heaviness or gloom that affects, controls, and dominates every area of a person's life.
22:04-22:05
I'm going to read that again.
22:06-22:13
Severe depression is a permanent state of heaviness or gloom that affects, controls, and dominates every area of a person's life.
22:13-22:21
It's distinguished from moderate depression by the presence of utter hopelessness.
22:23-22:25
This isn't just feeling down.
22:27-22:29
This is feeling down and out.
22:31-22:34
This isn't I'm laying on the mat trying to get up.
22:35-22:38
This is I'm laying on the mat and I don't want to get up.
22:39-22:39
It's over.
22:43-22:48
It's not just difficult to keep going, it feels impossible to keep going.
22:50-22:53
Write down this synonym, the best synonym for this is despondency.
23:01-23:12
This is why, this is so, please hear me, this is so tragic when you get to this point because Because at this point you care about nothing.
23:14-23:16
And that's Satan's goal for you, by the way.
23:18-23:25
The tragedy of despondency, the tragedy of severe depression, is it's the problem that you don't feel like doing anything about.
23:27-23:27
Right?
23:28-23:40
At least if you're mildly depressed or you're moderately depressed, you're like, "I've got to snap out of this." You have a wonderful wife like mine that kicks you in the rear end and says, hey, snap out of it.
23:41-23:43
Come on, chop, chop, snap out of it.
23:45-23:46
But when you get to this point, you're like.
23:49-23:50
I don't even feel like.
23:51-23:53
This is just how it is.
23:57-23:58
And I don't care.
24:02-24:07
Instead of seeking help, you avoid the people who can help you.
24:08-24:11
As you know, Harvest Bible Chapel is a church of small groups.
24:11-24:17
And the reason for that, we can't properly minister to everybody with this hour and a half we spend together on Sunday.
24:17-24:18
We can't do it.
24:18-24:20
That's why we meet in each other's homes.
24:21-24:26
The people are pouring into each other and loving each other and relationships are forming and growing.
24:27-24:28
That's why we do that.
24:29-24:33
If you think Sunday morning is like the totality of ministry, this this isn't it.
24:34-24:39
This is the fire in the furnace, but small groups is where discipleship happens.
24:41-24:45
To get with some people where you can minister and.
24:49-25:28
Problem is, when you're at this point of depression, you don't want to be around those people, no matter how much they love you, no matter how well intentioned they are, you tend to avoid the very people who can help you. Here's a sign of depression. When your phone rings and you're mad that it rings. Has that ever happened to anybody else? It could be like Ed McMahon telling you you won the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes. You're just mad that your phone's ringing because you don't want to talk to anybody. I don't care who it is. Does Anybody else? Just me?
25:31-25:33
All right, come on, confession time. This is a safe place.
25:34-25:35
Has that ever happened to anybody else?
25:36-25:38
Like your phone rings, you don't even know who it is, you're like, "Ugh!
25:39-25:43
I don't want to talk!" Okay, a few of you.
25:46-25:50
Well, the biblical example is David.
25:50-25:52
If you're still in Psalms, I want you to turn back to Psalm 32.
25:57-26:00
Despondency, your life, your family, your ministry, God was.
26:02-26:16
Using you and now you've been trying to sideline yourself because of despondency, turn back to Psalm 32, this is homework for you, I don't typically give homework, but I want you to read this Psalm in its entirety.
26:19-26:28
But I just want you to look at verses three and four because you're going to see some terminology that we would associate with being severely depressed.
26:31-26:35
David says, for what I kept silent, you know the story, right?
26:35-26:36
Second Samuel 11, David.
26:41-26:46
Adultery and murder and cover up and more cover up and.
26:51-26:54
He's talking about when he kept silent about his sin.
26:56-27:09
He says, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
27:12-27:14
David's a biblical example of severe depression.
27:14-27:18
Look at these words. I just jotted these down on my notes. Wasted away.
27:21-27:25
You feel like that when you're severely depressed, oftentimes you just stop eating.
27:28-27:31
And you are literally physically wasting away.
27:32-27:34
David talks about groaning.
27:35-27:38
You know, you're severely depressed when you wake up feeling down.
27:38-27:39
You can't get out of bed.
27:39-27:40
You can't get dressed.
27:41-27:42
You don't want to eat.
27:43-27:50
The regular tasks, the everyday things seem to require far more energy than you think you can generate.
27:53-28:04
Notice David also says, "Your hand was heavy upon me." That's what it's like to be severely depressed, you feel like you're under the burden of a great weight.
28:05-28:15
And if you can't dress and you can't eat, things like being in God's word and praying and being part of fellowship, those things are out of the question.
28:18-28:20
So that's category three, severe depression.
28:23-28:33
As I close today, and this is the sort of set the ball on the tee for the next three weeks as we dig deeper into how God raises us up.
28:36-28:40
I want you to jot these down, these are five biblical truths about depression.
28:41-28:43
This is so important, the next three weeks.
28:45-28:50
You're going to leave with a lot more questions and answers if you don't get these five things down, this is very important.
28:52-28:55
Five biblical truths about depression, are you ready?
29:00-29:07
Are you ready? Is there somebody that's like I'm like depressed now, I wasn't depressed when I came here.
29:08-29:10
Now I'm so depressed, I don't even know if I can write this.
29:14-29:24
Turn to the person next to you and say, "We're going to get through this together." You guys are lousy comforters.
29:28-29:38
Turn to the person next to you and say, "We're going to get through this together." That's the spirit church.
29:39-29:42
biblical truths about depression. Number one.
29:44-29:47
Depression is expected in a fallen world.
29:50-30:09
Prior to the fall of man, you remember Genesis Chapter three, prior to the fall of man and the entrance of sin into the world and into human hearts, there was nothing on earth that would have caused depression. Think about that Garden of Eden before Satan deceived Eve and Adam was with her.
30:12-30:14
Before that, what would they have been depressed about?
30:15-30:16
Nothing.
30:17-30:17
Nothing.
30:20-30:21
Everything was perfect.
30:24-30:34
But because we now live in a fallen world, church, I say this with as much love as I can muster, what should you expect?
30:36-30:37
What should you expect?
30:37-30:39
Do you know what the Bible says about this world?
30:39-30:39
Do you know?
30:39-30:41
The Bible says this world is under a curse.
30:43-30:45
The Bible says this world is groaning.
30:46-30:51
The Bible says that Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
30:51-30:54
Do you know the Bible calls Satan the god of this world?
30:55-31:00
His intention is to kill and to destroy and to steal.
31:02-31:10
The Bible says that we are born with a sinful nature, that every single person by nature, when born, is evil.
31:12-31:19
And apart from intervention from Jesus Christ, people remain evil.
31:21-31:23
So we're in a fallen, cursed world.
31:23-31:28
Satan's called the God of this world, and we're surrounded by evil people, and we think this should be candy land.
31:29-31:30
Well, guess what?
31:30-31:31
It's not.
31:31-31:34
And the Bible does not advertise it as such.
31:35-31:36
Alright, so this is your reality check.
31:41-31:42
Life shouldn't be this way.
31:42-31:44
How did you think life was going to turn out?
31:45-31:47
I thought my life was going to be perfect.
31:47-31:48
It will be.
31:49-31:51
Okay? It will be.
31:51-31:57
There is the promise that Jesus Christ is going to return in perfect justice.
31:57-32:00
He's going to make all things new and all things right.
32:00-32:03
But it's not going to be perfect until then.
32:04-32:13
Until then, this is the condition of the world.
32:14-32:16
So can we change our expectations a bit?
32:21-32:23
Depression is expected in a fallen world.
32:26-32:30
We're going to talk so much more about that in the last message of this series.
32:32-32:33
Wrong expectations.
32:39-32:44
Number two, depression is expected from those who don't know Jesus.
32:47-32:51
Depression is expected from those who don't know Jesus.
32:51-33:07
If a person believes that God exists, but has no faith in him, has not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, has not been born again, has not been regenerated, that person has good reason to be depressed.
33:13-33:53
If they don't understand what the Bible says about justification, they don't understand what the Bible says about the person of God. They have a reason to be depressed. The person who does not believe in God should be depressed because they have no absolute standard, values are relative, and events seem random. And in the state they are in, they have no purpose in life. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have not been born again, depression is about all I can expect from you.
34:00-34:06
If you don't understand who Jesus is and what he's done, you need to talk to me. Talk to me after service.
34:06-34:09
I'll stick around. We'll take as much time as it takes.
34:12-34:16
But if you don't know the Lord, you should be depressed.
34:20-34:38
You don't understand the purpose for which we're here, we were created to have a loving relationship with our creator, to worship him, to have him be at work in us and through Plus, if you're not experiencing that, I expect every little stumbling block in life to knock you for a loop.
34:40-34:45
There's no joy apart from Jesus Christ, there's no hope apart from Jesus Christ.
34:46-34:50
And if you're trying to live apart from Jesus Christ, depression is your best option.
34:51-34:52
It's your only option.
34:54-35:00
Number three, depression is dispelled by the word and work of God.
35:00-35:07
Depression is dispelled by the word and work of God.
35:09-35:13
At salvation, the Bible says we become new creatures in Jesus Christ.
35:13-35:20
We are totally forgiven and we are restored into a right relationship with God himself.
35:20-35:24
We are transferred from Satan's kingdom into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
35:24-35:26
We are released from the bondage of sin.
35:26-35:59
We're given liberty. We're given new perspective on ourselves on the world and on the future And This renewal of the spirit gives us new desires It gives us comfort security purpose power for living And hope for the future and the assurance that God is always working for our good Depression is dispelled by the Word and work of God.
36:00-36:02
The Holy Spirit works with the Word of God.
36:03-36:06
That's why we stand up here and proclaim the Word of God.
36:07-36:09
Because that's how the Spirit works.
36:11-36:21
Often times when we are depressed, we read the Bible a lot less than we normally would.
36:23-36:48
which causes us to further defeat ourselves. I've never met a depressed person that's like, "Yeah, I've just been so depressed, but I'll tell you what, man, I've been reading my Bible like six hours a day. I've never met that person." You know who I have met? The person that's depressed. "Have you been in God's Word lately?" "Yeah, I haven't cracked the cover of my Bible in like three weeks." It could be a correlation there.
36:51-36:53
Depression is dispelled by the Word and the work of God.
36:55-36:56
Get your nose in the book.
36:57-36:58
Receive God's promises.
36:58-37:00
Look at the future that God paints.
37:04-37:11
Number four, depression is possible for believers because we still live in the flesh.
37:13-37:14
I alluded to this earlier.
37:16-37:24
Until we are fully transformed into the image of Christ, we will struggle with sin.
37:25-37:27
We will still be tempted.
37:28-37:35
The Bible says that upon being born again God puts His Holy Spirit in you, but we still live in the flesh, right?
37:39-37:41
And that causes us some problems along the way.
37:42-37:44
Paul talks about this in Galatians 5.
37:44-37:52
You know, the Holy Spirit controls us and He drives us, but there are times that we are still tempted to live in the flesh.
37:56-37:57
Romans 7 type stuff.
37:59-38:03
Depression is possible for believers because we still live in the flesh.
38:07-38:11
There's going to come a day we're going to leave this earth and this flesh behind.
38:12-38:17
But in the meantime, we're still going to struggle with living in the flesh.
38:18-38:23
One of the results - depression is still going to be possible even for believers.
38:27-38:33
Ok, so this idea that Christians should always be happy I don't see that biblically.
38:36-38:42
always to be joyful, but I think we know that there's a big difference between joy and happiness.
38:42-38:42
Amen?
38:44-38:47
Happiness is always based on circumstances, right?
38:49-38:51
"Yay, we're going to Splash Lagoon!
38:51-38:56
That makes me happy!" "I got a pack of ho-hos!
38:57-39:02
I'm happy!" Joy is so much deeper than that.
39:03-39:08
The joy is my whole world is crashing down around me, but I'm trusting God.
39:10-39:11
I know this is not the end.
39:12-39:14
I know God's going to carry me through this.
39:14-39:16
I know God's going to teach me some things through this.
39:17-39:20
I know God's going to use me to minister to other people through this.
39:20-39:21
That's joy.
39:24-39:25
But depression is still possible for believers.
39:26-39:33
And then finally, depression someday will be history.
39:37-39:38
There's no depression in heaven.
39:39-39:41
Taylor spoke about this last week.
39:42-39:49
He told us a lot about what Revelation says concerning heaven and the final state of things.
39:50-39:56
One thing you will not find in any corner of heaven is depression.
39:58-40:01
Because the things that cause depression will be gone forever.
40:03-40:07
In heaven, every single day is going to be the best day of your life.
40:10-40:16
Eternally living in perfect joy and basking in the victory that is Jesus Christ.
40:17-40:18
That's heaven.
40:19-40:20
That's what God's promised.
40:22-40:27
And that's why we can joyfully say that depression someday will be history.
40:28-40:37
As our worship team comes up to close us in worship, until we get to heaven, what are we going after in the meantime?
40:39-40:52
What we're going after is 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 8 and 9, where Paul writes, "We are afflicted in every way.
40:54-41:02
But not crushed. Perplexed. But not driven to despair.
41:05-41:06
Persecuted.
41:09-41:13
But not forsaken. Struck down.
41:15-41:16
But not destroyed.
41:18-41:35
You're like, "Pastor Jeff, I don't feel it." I would say, "Well, join us the next three weeks and see how to let God raise you out of depression." Will you pray with me, please?
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Why do you think depression is so prevalent? What do you think are the top reasons Christians get depressed?
Read, as a group, Psalms 73 and 32. Discuss: Why were Asaph and David depressed? How did it affect them? What did they do about it? Does the end of each Psalm have a different tone than the beginning? What principles can you pull out of these in dealing with depression in your own life?
Breakout Questions:
Are you dealing with depression, on any level, right now? Why? How can the group pray for you?