God Will Heal Your Mind | Heal Your Hurting Mind: Part 2

Welcome to Life.Church. We're here to help you become who God created you to be, and we'd love to hear from you. Take a quick survey at life.church slash podcast connect to let us know how we can support you on your faith journey. And now let's go to the message. Well, unfortunately, I know that there are a lot of you right now that are in the middle of real pain and you're hurting deeply, and there's no doubt about it, when you're hurting deeply, that is very, very, very hard. But there's another kind of hard that we don't talk about often in the church. And that's the hard season when you're functioning and you're showing up and you're doing all the right things, but inside something still feels off. It's not that you're falling apart completely, but you're still living consistently discouraged. It's not that you're battling with ongoing depression, but you're also not really happy and thriving. You're not in the middle of a crisis right now, but you still don't feel at peace. That place is what I call the middle. You're not in a horrible place where life is falling apart and you feel like you're about to break down, but you're also not experiencing the breakthrough and the joy of the Lord in the way that you know you should. That's the place that we call the middle. Not a horrible place, but it's definitely not where you wanna be. And when you're stuck in the middle, you actually start to ask different types of questions. You're not asking like, God, are you there? Do you exist? But you're asking God, why don't I feel you right now? You're not asking, am I even saved? You're asking God, why am I still struggling with the same thing I've been carrying for so long? And for some reason, we don't talk about that place a lot in the church. We talk to the extremes. We talk to the times when you're down and you're out and you're hurting and you're desperate. And we talk about the breakthrough, the miracles, the power of God. We're good at talking directly about the hard times. God is close to the brokenhearted. He sees you in your pain. When you draw near to him, he draws near to you. You cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And we're really good on the breakthrough. God can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. You're an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and by the words of your testimony. You're blessed coming in, no weapon formed against you. We'll prosper in a moment, God can heal you. We're good at speaking to the difficult times. It's a longer walk than I realized. And we're good at celebrating the breakthrough times. But what about when you're not falling apart and you're not fully restored either. Where is God when you're stuck in the middle? If you've been there, or maybe you're there right now, not horrible, not great. I wanna tell you that you are not alone, that God is with you. And I wanna promise you, our good God is still at work, even when you feel stuck in the middle. So today, would you pray with me? Father, we need you in the desperate times. We need you in the breakthrough times. And God, we need you in the ordinary days when we're stuck in the middle. We thank you that you're always good. Your word is always true. You're always faithful. And so today, God, we cry out to you and ask you to meet us right where we are, that we could experience your goodness, your grace, your power, your love, your mercy, your healing, and your hope. We pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody who agrees said, amen. Elbow the person next to you and tell him, if you're in the middle, God's not finished with you yet. Tell the other person, the one you didn't choose, Just tell him, hey, he's not finished with you either. He's not finished with you either. Tell your second choice. We are in a message series called Heal Your Hurting Mind. It's based on a new book that we released last week. The good news is it's helping people. The bad news is it was sold out most places most of the week. And so if you're looking for one, it may take a little while to get to you. They're on back order and they're fulfilling back orders, but there will be books available. And more importantly, we pray that there'll be healing available. The story behind the book, I wrote this with Dr. Wayne Chappelle. What I wanted to do is I wanted to write from a spiritual pastoral perspective, but it would be unwise and incomplete for me to do a book on mental health without a professional. And so I chose a very godly, a very unique psychologist to write from the psychological and physiological side. And I wanna review where we started last week because this isn't really like even just a four-week message series. This is kind of like a four-part message that we're building on week by week. Last week, we looked at the reality that in order to understand where you are, you have to know how God created you. God is a triune being. He created us in his image. He's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created us as spirit, soul, and body. God cares about all of you. In other words, you are not just a body, and you're not just a body with a soul. What is the soul? The soul is your mind, your will, and emotions. But you have to understand how God designed you. What are you? You are a spirit with a soul that lives in a body. Primarily, you are a spiritual being that has a soul that lives in a physical body. And that's why when you call on Jesus, those of you who've been spiritually born anew, you are saved. I should say it over here. In a moment. It's the breakthrough. It's the salvation. The old is now gone. The new has come. Spiritually, you're made new in Christ. Your sins are forgiven. You are a new creation. And that happens in a moment. We learned last week that salvation is instant, but sanctification, becoming like Jesus, is a process. Salvation happens in a moment, but healing of the soul takes time. You can be saved instantly when you call on Jesus, but your mind, your will, and your emotions, they're renewed over time. So today, we're gonna look at a story in the Gospels, and we're gonna see a moment with Jesus where healing is actually not instant. In this story, sometimes healing is instant, but in this story, we're gonna see that healing is progressive, and it actually comes in stages. We're in Mark's Gospel today, chapter eight. I'll start in verse 22. This is the Word of God that says, They came to Bethsaida, and some people, some people, we're gonna come back to that, brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked him, do you see anything? And the man looked up and said, I see people, and they look like trees walking around. Once more, everybody say once more. Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly If you are a student of the Bible you may say I thought that Jesus put mud on a guy eyes and then had him wash and he was healed with one touch. If you think that, you're actually right. There's another story in John's gospel, John chapter nine, about a guy that was blind and Jesus spit on the ground and put some mud on him. Jesus touched him one time when the guy washed it off, his eyes were healed. So in one story, he's healed with one touch. In this story, it actually takes two. Same savior, different process. Let's dive into the word. We're gonna look at verse 22 that tells us this. They came to Bethsaida and some people, it's interesting, this is the second time we've seen that phrase in Mark's gospel. Some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. The phrase, some people. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about another story in Mark's gospel where it said some people brought a man who couldn't walk to Jesus. Some people brought someone in need. The last time they couldn't get into Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole to the roof and dropped their friend down. This time they just bring someone to Jesus. And what's interesting is that Mark doesn't tell us who some people are. There's no names, there's no background, There's no details because the point isn't who they are, but what they do. They don't need names because I think Mark perhaps was trying to show us that this could be anybody. It's ordinary, everyday people, just like you and just like me. Just some people that are not even named that have the faith to bring their friend to Jesus. And God used ordinary people to start a miracle the blind man couldn't start on his own. Notice what these some people, these friends did and did not do. Notice they did not try to fix the blind man themselves. They didn't try to be the savior. They didn't need to have all the answers. They didn't try to heal him themselves. They didn't pretend they knew the solution. They just got their friend to Jesus. And Mark's gospel, when you look at how often He shows us that some people brought and some people brought. The gospel shows us clearly just how much we need each other. Because there are moments, and many of you are in one right now, moments you were never designed to do alone. because one of the enemy's oldest tactics is to isolate you, to take you away from support, to take you out of the body of Christ because if he can disconnect you, he can discourage you. And when you're isolated, that's when the lies are the loudest. And that's one of the reasons why some of you are hurting right now. Well, I don't need people and I don't need to open up to people. There's some of you watching online that like, I don't need the church. I don't want, I'm just gonna consume content. And I'm not saying that's not bad, that's good. But it has all you have without the family of God. You're missing something that God wants to give you. And that's why we talk about it all the time. If you don't have strong Christian community, how do you fight off the attacks of the evil one? Because I can't do it by myself. I need the prayers of God's people. I need the encouragement of God's people. I need the correction of God's people. I need the support of God's people. I cannot do it without him and his people, and neither can you. Because if the devil can keep you disconnected, he can keep you stuck in your sickness. And this was me. I told you last week that I had a period where I just broke down. And for years and years and years, I was strong. Never thought it would happen to me, but the accumulation and the weight of the added work year after year, year after year, year after year, year after year, decade after decade, caught up to me and it hit me pretty hard. And I don't know, I mean, if I'm looking at it objectively, it was probably fear of being vulnerable and it's probably pride of not wanting people to know their pastor was struggling, but maybe it's fear, maybe it's pride, but I just, I didn't wanna ask for help. And honestly, I didn't even know how to ask for help because I'm the pastor, right? I'm the one who's not supposed to struggle. I'm the one who's supposed to help other people. And so I just hurt very privately for a while. And I would smile when I was preaching and preach with great passion. And I just continued to try unsuccessfully to fight the battle alone. Well, thank God for Amy. Every day, I thank God for Amy. I thank God for Amy. I got the Holy Spirit in Amy. and sometimes I think they're the same person. And she reached out to a couple of people I work with and a couple of good friends and said, we gotta get Craig help. And so they did. They found a very godly man, Dr. Chappelle. I call him Dr. C, because it's much more fun to call him Dr. C. And the first thing he did after putting me through these tests is he assembled what he called my wingmen. And these are very close friends. These are trusted people. A couple of them were actually girls. And so it should have been my wing men and my wing women. He assembled my wing people. Because you know, I gotta be politically correct or you'll come after me. Someone will take me out. I have my wing people, my wing people. I have my tribe, my team. I have my support people to some people to help bring me closer to Jesus. Because I actually was saved instantly years ago when I knelt down in a softball field and called on the name of Jesus. I was saved instantly, but healing takes time. And I don't talk about it a lot because it's painful, but as you know, mental health is not static. It moves and it shifts, and you often heal in stages. And part of my story is that I am the oldest adult child of an alcoholic, my dad, who there was not a night. after 10 o'clock in my childhood where he was not drunk. Thankfully, years later, he found healing and sobriety and ended up living a great and godly life. But during my childhood, I really kind of learned three things. I learned to keep the family secrets. I remember it at the age of five, covered up. I learned to read the room. What's gonna happen? And I learned to strive and perform to try to keep everything stable. And so I spent years thinking that my identity, my worth was in what I do, what I produce, how I perform, how I achieve, how I deliver. That's how I keep everybody safe and stable. And those lies don't just necessarily disappear when you get saved. You're forgiven, you're spiritually reborn, but your soul, your mind, will, and emotion still takes time to heal. And many of you, you're stuck in some place right now in the middle, and you can relate. You're not falling apart, but you're also not living the life that God wants for you. And sometimes you're like the blind man. You're hurting and you're not strong enough to take the next step. It is in those moments you need some wing people. You need the body of Christ. And God uses ordinary people to help carry you when you can't carry yourself. And other times, you're not the blind man, but you're one of the unnamed people. You're some people. You notice when someone's hurting and you care about the one that's struggling. And when other people step back, you don't, you step in because you care and you love and you carry them and you carry their burdens and you may never get any credit and you may not even see the full miracle, but God uses people like you to start miracles that others could never begin on their own. And what I want you to see is it's, we are designed by God to experience God with people in community We best experience him with those together because he created us to know him and to love each other And so if you're one of the ones right now that you're carrying someone, you're trying to bring someone to Jesus, you've got a spouse that needs hope and healing. You've got a child that's breaking your heart, is running from God and you're praying every day for help, protection, do whatever it takes. You've got a friend that you love, someone you're believing for, you're standing for. What I want to tell you right now, take this to the spiritual bank. Never underestimate what God can do when you simply bring someone to Jesus. You point them to Jesus. You pray them to Jesus. You invite them into his presence. And if you're like the blind man and you're hurting right now and you're struggling emotionally, Here's what I wanna say to you, and I want you to hear this. I wanna tell you, as your pastor, if more than one person in your life that knows you and loves you and cares about you, if more than one person like that tells you that you need help, you probably need help. And I wanna tell you, that is not an attack. That's actually love and kindness. and if right now you feel like God may be speaking to you, what I'm gonna tell you right now is he's speaking to you. You are not here by accident. You are not alone in the middle. God cares, I care, we care, the people around you care and he's not gonna leave you stuck in the middle. Jesus sees this guy and he does something no one asked him to do, and no one expected him to do. Scripture tells us this, he took the blind man by the hand. I like this. What did he do? The first thing he did is he touched the blind man by the hand. He reached out and grabbed him by the hand and led him outside the village when he'd spit on the man's eyes, which is admittedly odd. if I pray for you today, I will not spit on your eyes. I'll just pray because I'm not Jesus. And he can do that, but I'm not gonna try. When he spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked him, do you see anything? He looked up and said, I see people. They look like trees walking around. I see something, but it's not completely clear. I love the imagery. The first thing Jesus does is he takes the man by the hand and walks with him because healing is often a journey with Jesus. And then he asks the guy, do you see anything? And he's like, I see people, they look like trees. I mean, you imagine what it's like to see for the first time. My youngest son, Stephen, he's really, really smart and he was struggling reading. We thought, what's wrong with this kid? We didn't ever think, maybe his eyes are bad. We took him to the doctor. They tested his eyes. They put these glasses on him. And I remember the first time he saw, great, he got so big. And he literally, he looked outside and said, leaves. He saw leaves on the tree. And he saw, and it was like, it was so emotional. He could see this guy. He can sort of see. There's people that look like trees walking around. Jesus asked him, do you see anything? And he answers honestly. Jesus knew the answer. He's not asking for information. He's asking the guy to be honest about where he is. And he doesn't exaggerate. He doesn't say, I see completely. He doesn't tell Jesus what he thinks Jesus wants to hear. He says, something's changed, but I'm not all the way healed. Not completely, it's not completely clear. And that's where many of us are right now. We're stuck in the middle. We might've been in a really bad place. And then we experienced the presence of God and he touched us. And we're a little bit better, but we're not completely healed. He did something very, very real. But he's not finished yet. And so sometimes instead of just calling what it is, not as bad as I was, and I'm not already there, instead we get scared in the middle. And instead of admitting, well, we're not whole, but we are better, sometimes we just pretend like we're fine or we just assume something went really bad wrong. Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe God let me down. What I want you to see is nothing went wrong. Because Jesus doesn't make mistakes. This guy was a little bit better. He was partially healed. But what I want you to know is that partial healing is not failed healing. It's healing in progress. It's healing in progress. For me, Dr. C explained that I'd been in fight or flight for a long time in my mind. and so he worked on breathing exercises, which I'll be real honest with you. I thought, I'm paying for this advice. Like, I know how to breathe. I'm pretty good at it. I've been doing it for decades. But he taught me to breathe in a different way that would physiologically reset my brain and my body and it started to help. I wasn't all the way better. I wasn't as bad as I was. I was getting a little bit better. I was making progress. And so what I want some of you to see is like, you may be doing better than you think. Some of you. Now, some of you are in a really bad place, but some of you, you are making progress. Maybe someone betrayed you. You've got real hurt, a real deep wound, maybe some church hurt. And you're not fully healed, but you find yourself back in church. And you're thinking, I didn't want to forgive them before, and now I actually do want to forgive. I haven't forgiven them yet, but I want to. Guess what? That's progress. Or you may say, I still feel anxious. I battle with anxiety, but I do know what to do. I have some tools. I've got some verses, and I know how to cast my anxiety on God. I'm not completely healed, but I'm better than I was. That's progress. If you find yourself still battling with some negative thoughts, but you recognize them faster and you do capture them and you've learned, you don't do it every time, but you do it some of the times, you replace those lies with spiritual truths. Why? Because you're not gonna be conformed to the patterns of this world, but you're gonna be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You're not all the way there, but you've made progress. Maybe you're in the middle. You're not overwhelmed and you're not at peace. You're not panicking every moment, but you still have some anxiety. You're not at rock bottom, but you're not doing great either. You're in the middle. You're in the middle. That's exactly where Jesus meets you. Not where you were, not where you hope to be, but exactly where you are. And the good news is he doesn't leave you in the middle. He doesn't leave you in the middle. Look at God's word. Verse 25. The Bible says once more. Everybody say once more. Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Once more. Once more. Once more. Jesus touched the man once, and then he touched him a second time. Jesus touched him once, and Jesus touched him again. once more. Not because the first touch failed, but because sometimes healing is a process. And so this is a message for someone here, someone watching that you know he touched you once and you experienced his presence and you experienced his power and you knew his forgiveness. The same Jesus that touched you once stands ready to touch you again If you find yourself still battling with anxiety and after prayer you still have some and it still there I want you to hear it He has not given up on you To the one who fighting the same temptation and you've fallen and you stood back up and you confessed it and you tried to overcome it and you slipped back into it again. Jesus isn't finished with you yet. He's not mad at you. The same power that touched you once will touch you again. To those of you who are disappointed, you think I should be further along by now. By this stage of life, I thought I'd be doing better. I thought I'd be making more. I thought I'd have someone with me. I thought I'd be further along. I want to tell you right now, a hurting mind is not a broken mind. It is healing in progress. No matter what you're going through right now, no matter where you are, our total and complete goal isn't just healing. It's dependence on Jesus. It's needing him. And that's where I am right now. I want you to know right now where I am is I'm a lot better, but not all the way better. I'm a lot better, but still have a little anxiety. I'm a lot better, but still need the word every single day. I'm a lot better, but I still need God's people every single day. And guess where I am. I am at the point where I have been the whole time dependent on him, his power, his truth, his people, not all the way healed. I'm still in a sinful, broken body and won't know total healing until heaven, but completely dependent on the power and the presence of a good God and his people right where I'm supposed to be. If you find yourself there right now, you're still, you're in the middle. You're not all the way there. You're not better. You're not broken beyond repair. You're in the middle and Jesus never leaves you in the middle. What I want you to hear is he finishes what he starts. The Bible tells us that he who began a good work in you will carry it on into completion, into the day of Christ Jesus. If he touched you once, he stands ready to touch you again. If you experience his goodness, he is still good. He still loves you. He's not finished with you. If he touched you once, he stands ready to touch you again. So Father, we pray. we pray for the second touch and the third touch and the 14,229th touch. I'm gonna do something a little different today, church. What I want you to know is that we are family. Some people say, a light church is kind of a big church. I'd say this, we're a collection of a lot of small communities. That's what we really are. You are in the service you're in right now. It's a collection of, it's a small part. And I want you to feel that you're a part of a community. Here's what I want you to do today. You can go ahead and open your eyes. We're going to pray and open your eyes. Bible says, watch and pray. That's how you always pray when you're driving. You always watch and pray. So we're going to be prayerful with our eyes open today. I want to talk to those of you, two groups that are, if you're hurting right now, if you've got some mental health issues going on, I'm going to encourage you in a moment just to stand. And I'm gonna tell you right now, you will not stand alone, not for long. We are gonna stand with you. I wanna talk to those of you that may stand for someone else. You're standing for a spouse. You're standing for a friend. You're standing for a child. I'm gonna ask you just to stand. And I promise you will not stand alone for more than two seconds. And we're gonna stand with you. And we're gonna pray with you as a body of Christ because you were not designed to get through this alone. And we're gonna ask God for another touch. And you're gonna feel his presence and feel his touch through someone else. So without hesitating, without thinking, but don't overthink this, just all of our churches, if you find yourself maybe dealing with anxiety or fear or depression or negativity or overwhelm, you're standing up already. Go ahead and just stand around the room. If you're standing for someone else, would you stand? Now, as the body of Christ, would you stand with them? everybody else stand with them. And I want you to take a moment, if you will, and just kind of appropriately, maybe on a shoulder, just reach out and touch someone near you. And just, if you wanna get all lovey and just put your arms around people. If you're not a touchy person, sorry, we won't do this next week, but we're doing it today. Okay? And we're gonna pray. God, thank you that we're surrounded by some people that love you and love us. And God, we thank you for your family. We need your family. We need you, God. We need your presence. We need your power. We need your healing. We thank you, God, for those that are Christians that have been spiritually saved. And we thank you that healing still takes time and that this is a part of the process. Jesus, you touched us once. Would you touch somebody again? Touch them right now. God, I pray they'd feel your power, your love through a touch on their shoulder, that you've touched them once. Now touch them again. And God, help us to see your goodness, the progression of your healing that you're not finished with us yet. God, we call on you in your family. God, help us to be completely dependent on you and dependent on people. God, we cast all our cares on you. We cry out to you. We thank you, God, that when we cry out and draw near to you, you draw near to us. God, for those that aren't breaking down and not breaking through, that are kind of in the middle of God, we need you now. We need your healing, we need your presence. We ask for it in Jesus' name. If you agree, say amen. Stay standing, if you will. We're not quite done yet. We're gonna do something, one more thing. We're gonna keep this real simple. Some of you, just pay your, just give me one second. Some of you, you're trying to get better on your own. And healing of the soul starts with salvation of the spirit. some of you are trying to heal your mind and you haven't surrendered your heart yet to jesus and what i want to tell you in the family of god right now there are a lot of people that go to church and think they're christians that really aren't christians let me tell you about god's love for you god loves you so much that he sent his one and only son jesus that whosoever believes in him wouldn't perish but would have eternal life jesus didn't come just to make you better He came to make you new. And if you've never truly trusted in him, let me just tell you, today is the day of your salvation. Not later, not when the anxiety clears, not when you clean your life up, not when you get all better, but today. Today, today. And so what we're gonna do in the family of God is we're just gonna call on Jesus and say, I need your help, I need your forgiveness, I need your salvation. And all we're gonna do is we're gonna pray right where you are. And guess what, we're already family, so let's just do it. If you find yourself trying to heal in your mind without having been saved in your spirit, we're stepping away from our sin. We're stepping toward Jesus. We're calling on him. And when you do, he forgives all of your sins and he makes you brand new today. All of our churches, those of you who you know you need it, you may be close to the things of God, but you've never really surrendered to him. Today is the day you say, all of me, I give my life to you, Jesus, be first, save me. That's your prayer. Would you just lift your hands up right now? In the family of God, lift them up right now. We say, God bless you guys. Lift them up and we celebrate with you. Over there, others say, lift them up and say yes. In the family of God, we celebrate, we celebrate, we celebrate with you, we celebrate with you. Online, type in the comment section, I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. And just pray as a family of God. Pray with me, pray, Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Save me. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I can know you and serve you for the rest of my life. My life is not my own. I depend on you. I depend on your people. Use me to bring people to you. I give you my life. In Jesus' name, I pray. Could you celebrate today? Welcome those born into the family. We are celebrating with those of you who just made the decision to follow Jesus. Check out the show notes for helpful resources and next steps. Remember to head over to life.church.com podcast connect to share a little about yourself and how we can support you.