Heal Your Hurting Mind | Heal Your Hurting Mind: Part 1

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. So when it hit me, it hit really, really hard. and I didn't see it coming. I don't think anybody did. I was preaching every weekend, just like normal. My marriage to Amy, by the grace of God, has always been good and we were in a very, very good place. Physically, I was healthy, eating goods, sleeping okay, exercising and such. all exterior signs seemed normal, but I had been ignoring my soul, and my mind was paying the price. The first thing that I noticed was a shortness of breath, and I'd never really experienced that before. And then there was this mental fog followed by like sheer panic. And I was in a place that I'd never been before. I needed help and I didn't know how to ask for it. Because not only am I a Christian, but I'm the pastor, right? I'm supposed to be the one that's helping others. I'm not supposed to be the one that's struggling and falling apart. and unfortunately, some of you may be able to relate. Sadly, tragically, there are a lot of people today that can relate. Outwardly, you may look really, really normal, but inwardly, you might be battling with anxiety and stress or exhaustion and depression. If you're there, I wanna tell you right now, you are not alone. Our Heavenly Father is here. He understands your pain. And he wants to bring healing for your hurting mind. If you're hurting today, would you join me in praying? Father, we thank you for your goodness, for your grace, for your power, for your presence. And God, that we ask by the preaching of your word, by the power of your Holy Spirit, and by whatever means you choose, would you do a work in us today? Heal us, that we can be your grace and love for those who need healing as well. We pray this. In the name of Jesus and all God's people said, amen, amen. Today we are starting a new message series that's called Heal Your Hurting Mind based on a book that is coming out this week, Heal Your Hurting Mind, subtitled is Biblical Hope for Anxiety, Depression, Burnout, and the Emotions that No One Talks About. The reason that I wrote this book is because it seems like more and more people, even Christians today, are feeling this ongoing inward tension. Maybe you can relate. There are some of you, you know you've been saved by the grace of Jesus, born anew, and yet you're still struggling emotionally. Others of you, you have a real genuine faith in God and you still battle with fear. Some of you, you know you love God and you do love God and you need God and you call on God and you're in his word, and yet your mind just won't stop racing. Some of the tension that you feel, I wanna tell you right now, it does not mean that you're failing spiritually. In many cases, I think it's that we don't truly understand how it is that our good God designed us and made us, and if we don't understand how we're designed, we're likely to misdiagnose the problem, which is exactly what I was doing. And what I wanna do is I wanna show you in God's word what he says about how you are made and what he wants to do in you. Paul said, it's recorded in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23, he said this, may God himself, what kind of God is he? The God of peace. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. What does it mean to be sanctified? Well, when you're forgiven by Jesus, you're justified. That means your sins are forgiven. The theology term is like, it's just as if I'd never sinned. You're made new, you're justified. Sanctification though is the process over time where the Holy Spirit starts to renew you. You're not just say, but you're becoming like Jesus. Paul says, may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you. How? Through and through. May your whole, then watch what he says, spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless. Remember, our God is a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created us in his image. We are triune beings, spirit, soul, and body. May the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. May the God of peace sanctify you. He is faithful, and he will do it. I love what God's word says, is that he is faithful. He is true to his word. He will do what he promised. What does he want to do in you? He wants to sanctify you. He wants to heal you. He wants to make you like Jesus, spirit, soul, and body. So what are you? You're not just a body. You're not just a body. You may say, well, I'm a body with a soul. No, You're not just a body with a soul. What you are is you are a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. Sounds like a riddle that's hard to remember. What are you? You are a spirit, you're a spiritual being that has a soul, that's your mind, your will, and your emotions. You're a spiritual being that has a mind, a will, an emotion that lives inside of a body. Now, what happened years ago? Well, if you don't have Christ in your life, you may be spiritual, but you're spiritually dead. If you go back to the garden with Adam and Eve, do you remember what God said about eating from the forbidden fruit? God said, if you eat of that fruit, what's gonna happen? Does anybody remember? He said, you will surely die. Did they eat the fruit? They ate the fruit. Did they die physically? They didn't die physically. What happened? They died spiritually. If you eat of the fruit, you'll surely die spiritually. So what are we? We're a spiritual being with a soul. And when you receive Christ, what happens? You are spiritually born again. You're spiritually born. You receive eternal life. So you're a spiritual being with a soul, mind, will, and emotions. You are a spiritual being that lives inside of a body that has the soul. and with Christ you come alive. We have to understand what we are so that we'll understand how God heals us. And what started to happen to me is I learned when I was breaking down that I didn't have a spiritual problem. I was close to God, I was praying. I didn't have a physical problem, I was in good shape. What I had was a soul problem. My mind was anxious, my emotions were overloaded and my inner world needed healing. And here's the challenge when it comes to Christians and mental health. Sometimes we get weird in the church when it comes to mental health. Do you know sometimes Christians can be weird? Sometimes good weird, like you're supposed to be different. Other times just weird, weird, like the wrong kind of weird. And what happens is sometimes in this area, we tend to think when you get saved, you're justified, you're no longer. When you get saved then Jesus fixes everything And you supposed to be fine with no problems at all This is simply not true When Jesus saves you what does he do He makes you spiritually alive. You're spiritually new. Your sins are forgiven. You're a new creation in Christ Jesus. You're born again. Spiritually, you're new, but your body doesn't change. I've never heard anyone that said like, I called on Jesus. He forgave my sins and dang, I've got a six pack abs now. Where'd that come from? It's a miracle. I called on Jesus and my thighs got thinner and my hair got thicker. Glory to God. It doesn't happen that way. You're saved spiritually, but your body doesn't change. And the same is true with your mind, your will, and your emotions. So let's say it this way. What is salvation. Salvation is instant, but sanctification takes time. May the God of peace sanctify you, body, soul, and spirit. So the great news is we celebrate it in baptism today. Your sins are forgiven. You can be saved in a moment when you call on the name of the risen Christ. but healing is often a process. In other words, your spirit can be saved immediately but your mind, your will and your emotions, that's actually renewed or sanctified over time. That's why Paul said this in Romans 12 too. He said, hey, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed, be changed, be made more like Jesus. How? By the renewing of your mind. In other words, you can genuinely be a child of God. You're saved by Jesus. You love Jesus, but your mind still needs healing. You can say all day long, yes, Jesus forgave my sins and made me new, but you still might find yourself battling with anxiety. Or you can be filled with the spirit of God and yet still fight against depression. What do we do with that in the church? I'm gonna tell you right now, the church should be the safest place to talk about these issues. The church, I'm gonna say it again because you didn't say an amen back. The church should be the safest place to talk about these issues and to struggle with mental health issues. It doesn't make you a bad Christian. It just makes you human. It makes you human. And so I wanted to speak directly to you right now. If you're in the middle of a difficult place for whatever reason, that is not necessarily the sign of weak faith. It doesn't make you a spiritual failure. It's very likely a signal that a part of you, spirit, soul, and body needs healing. And the good news is you may have been saved, but God's still not finished with you. God is still working in you. God is for you. And he's working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So we're talking about mental health, excuse me. And what do we mean when we talk about mental health? Well, it's holistic. It includes your emotional, your psychological, your social wellbeing. When we talk about your mind or talk about your soul, we're talking about your inner world. It's how you think, how you handle pressure, how you respond whenever life whacks you upside the head and you say, I didn't see that coming and I didn't think she would do that and I didn't think I would be here and I didn't think I would be battling with this issue and I didn't think I'd be alone and I didn't think I would be so angry and I didn't think that anyone wronged me like that. What am I supposed to do now? Mental health impacts everything. Your relationships, your decisions, your attitude, your energy, your faith. And when we look around today, we see a lot of people battling with mental health issues. Why? We can dice it all the different ways because of the different pressures and because of social media and because of all the news that we see and because of all the different challenges and the list could go on and on and on. Just because they're common today and they are doesn't mean that we didn't see mentally challenging situations in the Bible. We see it all over. If you look with eyes to see, you can look at some of the great, some of the people that we talk about. Some of the people, if you were in Sunday school, you had a little flannel board guy in a Sunday school. You look at Elijah, remember Elijah? He's the guy that raised the dead and called fire from heaven. And at one point said, I'm so depressed, I don't even wanna live anymore. There's David, the Psalms, the guy who's known as a man after God's own heart. He cries out to God and said, why have you forgotten me, God? Why have you turned your face away from me? You see it all over the Bible. Jeremiah, the bold prophet that declared God's truth even when everyone else ignored him. What's he called? The weeping prophet who battled with loneliness and insecurity and literally the prophet of God cursed the day he was born. So if you find yourself in a compromised place, mentally, emotionally, you're challenged. Christians will often say, you just need more faith. You just need more God. And you do. You always need more faith. We always need more faith. Faith is powerful. Faith in the goodness of God. We always need faith and we always need God, but you're a holistic being, spirit, soul, and body. So you may need more God and you may need a nap and a Snickers bar or a nap and a protein bar because you're not eating a Snickers bar even more, even though there's some good commercials, but you're getting a protein bar because you're not just strong in the spirit, but you're strong in your body. I'm just making some of this stuff as I go to just work with you. I got a plan, but some of it just comes out, so you never know. So you need more God, and you may need different friends. Because bad company corrupts good character. Walk with the wise and become wise. A companion of fools suffer harm. Well, I'm hurting. Maybe you're running with fools. Maybe you need more God, and you need to maybe change your diet or talk to a doctor because your hormones are out of whack or you've got a chemical imbalance or you may need to talk to a counselor or to a pastor. Yeah, you need more God, but when we're talking about mental health, God looks at us holistically, spirit, soul, and body. So all healing starts with God. All healing comes from God. All healing, we give the glory to God, but God will often direct us, not just spiritually, but sometimes our mind, our will, emotion, and sometimes even in our body. What I want you to hear is that God cares about you and he cares about all of you, every part of you, every part of you. And you can see his care throughout the Psalms. There are many of the Psalms you want on your coffee mug. If you get up in the morning and you say, the joy of the Lord is my strength and caffeine is part of the joy of the Lord. And you have your little coffee mug, you'll see some Psalms on the coffee mugs. I'll give you three of them that literally talk to your mental health. The Lord, he's so good, isn't he? If you're brokenhearted, the Bible says he's close to the brokenhearted. The Bible tells us that our God is our refuge. He's our hiding place, our strength, our ever-present help in time of trouble. David said this, he said, whenever I'm afraid, God, I will put my trust in you. If I'm afraid, God, I call out to you. You care about every part of me. Those are coffee mug psalms. But I'm gonna show you a psalm that you don't want on your coffee mug. And it's written by a guy named Heman. If you're into like superheroes, there may be a movie coming out that's a different Heman. This guy was not married to She-Ra. And if you know that joke, you're old. So anyway, and some of you are old, just like me. This Heman if you look at him in the Bible he a really cool guy The Bible talks about some different qualities This guy was very well He was very wise the Bible says that He was a very gifted musician. The Bible actually says he was a good dad. He was a very good parent. And the Bible says he was really loyal to the king. So what I want you to see is this is a God-fearing, very well-rounded person. If he were living today, he'd be your small group leader that you say, this is a guy that I wanna be like. And I wanna show you what he said in Psalm 88. He said this. He said, this man of God, I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I'm counted among those who go down to the pit. I am like one without strength. But I cry to you for help, Lord. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? And look how he says this. Darkness is my closest friend. This is a man that was gifted, full of wisdom, a great worship leader, served God faithfully, and in this season was in a very dark place mentally. And this is in the Bible. It's in the Psalms. And that's why I want you to hear it, feel it, believe it. God is not afraid of your honesty. He cares. If you hurt, he hurts. And it's really hard for me to talk about, but I was like in a bad place. I had just worked and worked and worked and worked and worked and worked and taken on a little more and a little more and a little more and a little more and a little more. And then it was just too much. and so I ask for help. Some of you right now, you might not be in a great place and you hesitate to ask for help. You don't want to admit it. I should be strong. I need to take care of other people. And I want to just tell you and I want you to feel it that getting help isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of wisdom. It's a sign of wisdom. And so I called a very gifted performance psychologist, Dr. Wayne Chappelle, who actually helped me write this book. And I set up some time with him and I said, Dr. C, as I affectionately call him, I'm in bad shape. I'm in bad shape. And so he put me through just a battery of different tests, asked me question upon question, upon question, upon question. I'm going, this is expensive. More questions. This is expensive. We're needing to help me. And he put me through all these tests. And I said, what's the result? I'm in bad shape, right? And he said, Craig, I got good news for you. You're not in bad shape. Like, what do you mean? I'm breaking down. He said, no, no, no. And he goes, you're physically, you're very healthy. Top percentage probably of people your age. He said, relationally, you're really healthy. You're married to Amy. I've interviewed her, your kids. I mean, you know, you're very, very healthy. Spiritually, you're close to God. He said, the problem is mentally, you're completely exhausted. You pushed your body beyond your brain's capacity, and now it's all starting to push back. Some of you may be there right now. It's just too much. The anxiety is crushing. The fear keeps you awake. You're trying not to be depressed. You're trying to press forward. You're trying not to be burned out. What do you do when you find yourself there? What do you do when you're struggling mentally, emotionally, spirit, soul, mind, will, and emotions? What do you do then? Isaiah 26 is powerful. The scripture says this, that God, you God, will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Our God will keep us not in anxiety, not in fear, not in depression, not in negativity. Our God will keep us in perfect peace all whose thoughts are fixed on him. The phrase perfect peace is very, very powerful. Peace in Hebrew comes from the Hebrew word shalom. And in this text, it doesn't just say you'll be kept in perfect shalom. It actually says shalom, shalom, two different times. He says you'll be kept in shalom, shalom. This is called a Hebrew doubling. And it doesn't mean peace is doubled. It means peace to the infinite form. That's why it's called perfect peace. It doesn't say you're gonna be kept in occasional peace or you're not gonna be kept in momentary peace or not kept in circumstantial peace, but you will be kept in shalom, shalom, perfect peace, whole peace, complete peace, unshakable peace. Who will be kept in shalom, shalom? Who will be kept in perfect peace? He doesn't say those who doom scroll and read only about the rage bait that takes them into a frenzy, hating the other half of the world because our half is right and yet you're poisoned by the algorithms. Doesn't say that. Doesn't say those who feel left down all day long looking on social media and go, this makes me miserable, but I keep on doing it because it feels so good and it feels so bad. It doesn't say those who talk to themselves and saying, you're never gonna get better. You shouldn't be like this. You're broken. Real Christians shouldn't feel this way. No, you'll be kept in perfect peace. all whose thoughts are fixed on him. You'll be kept in perfect peace when your mind, your will, and your emotions are fixed on him. In fact, the word fixed from the Hebrew language is the word samach. And this word means to prop. It means to lean. It means to rest your full weight on something. My problem was I was resting my weight on my own strength. I was resting my weight on my own abilities. I was resting my weight on what I knew how to do and what I know how to do. And my strength is always limited. And I got to a point, I told Amy and I told Dr. C this, I literally, this is how broken I was. I said that this job will eventually kill me. And that's where I was. Like it's just too much. It's just too much. And not that it's any different than your world. You got maybe kids, you got responsibility, you got bills to pay, you got your own thing. In my little world, in my distorted thinking, I went so hard, my mind, my will, and my emotions were broken. I thought this is gonna kill me. That's not a good thought. You don't wanna be there. And so what do you do? We've worked on doing what the Bible says. The Bible says take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. I said, that's not a God thought. So whenever you find yourself having a thought that's not a God thought, you grab it and say, no, that's not a God thought. And then we replaced it with truth. And so literally that's what I was doing. Scientifically, I'm creating new neural pathways. Biblically, I'm renewing my mind. And my verse that I used over and over again was this, 2 Peter 1, 3, God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him. God's divine power, God's power, not my power. God's strength, not my strength. When I'm weak, his strength is made perfect. God's power has given me everything that I need for life and God's power. And the statement that I started to say, I took his word and I made it into a statement. I said over and over again, and it's this, God is my source and my strength. God is my source. God is my source and my strength. I have everything I need to do everything he called me to do. God is my source and my strength. I have everything I need to do everything he called me to do. That was my truth. that was God's truth converted into the words that I needed to help heal my mind, my will, and my emotions. You might need something different, but you have to start and say, wait, that's not a God thought. If you have something that's not a God thought, you start, you grab it, you take it captive, and you make it obedient to Christ. What does God's word say? You replace the lie with the truth. You take that which is not from God, you replace it with the truth of God, and you change your thinking. Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing. You're already saved. Salvation was in an instant. Healing, sanctification takes time. We're renewing the mind. And so over and over and over again, I would confess the truth and I would start at some other things he recommended. And did I get better immediately? The answer is no. Weeks went by and I'm still working. Months went by I still working About 18 months into it and I tell you more next week because this isn just a four series This is actually a four message Like this is just the beginning of the message Literally each week builds on top of each other 18 months into it I was better like way better way, way better, like way better. Like, who was that guy back then? What happened is I wasn't just saved, but God was renewing my mind. He was conforming me to the image of Christ. My sins were just forgiven. I wasn't just spiritually new, but I was becoming more like Jesus. So I wrote this book in the middle of the dark place with Dr. Chappelle, and in it, just tell you what we talk about. We talk about anxiety. We do a section on depression. We do one on negativity. Should have made that one longer. For some of you. Maybe me. One on anger. One on trauma. And we did a section on burnout. and I got as raw and real in it as I probably ever have. And I wanna just step back and step back into it. And I wanna tell you, we're building on this. This is just kind of like the introduction and next week we build on it. And I wanna just say it again, salvation, what is it? Salvation is instant, but healing is a journey. And so if you're hurting, maybe you did something to bring it on yourself. Maybe somebody did something to you wasn't even your fault. If it's your fault or not, it doesn't really matter, but it is your responsibility, no matter what, to pursue healing in Christ. And so what we're going to do today is we're just going to just pray about taking one step, just one step, just one step. My first step was to actually admit and ask for help. That may be yours. You may confess it to your life group. You may confess it to a spouse. You may talk to a pastor today. You may set up an appointment with the Christ-centered counselor. You may make a doctor's appointment. You may take a nap and eat a protein bar. But take a step. One step. One step. Salvation is instant, but sanctification, the healing, is a process. So that takes us back to the place that we started. And what I wanna do is I want to just take this verse and by faith, I want to like pastorally declare it over you. Whatever you're going through, I want you to hear it. I want you to feel it. I want you to believe it to the deepest place in your soul that God cares about you. And this is his word to you. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you, make you like Jesus, heal you, conform you. May God himself, our loving heavenly father, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the one who calls you. He is faithful and our God will do it. What will he do? He will strengthen your minds. He will steady your thoughts. He will meet you in your anxiety. He will comfort you in your sadness. He will give you hope when you're hurting because he is the God of peace and our God is faithful and he will do it. So Father, we seek you. We thank you for your presence. We thank you for your word. God, we thank you that by your power, you care about all of us, spirit, soul, and body. And today, God, we seek you to take one step toward you holistically as you heal us with the help of your body. As you're praying today, all of our churches, nobody looking around. I wanna just see, just be real honest. Let's just do this. Let's not close our eyes. Let's go ahead and open them up. Let's go ahead and just be real. I'm gonna tell you right now, I was in a bad place. Those of you right now that you are maybe mentally, emotionally struggling, could be anything going on, and you actually need a little, you need a touch from God, would you just have the courage to say, I need the presence of God in my life? Just lift up your hands around the place. Lift your, oh my goodness, lift them up high. You know what we might do today? If you're sitting next to somebody, near somebody, and you just wanna put your hand on their shoulder, we're just gonna pray right now. And God, I thank you for this holy moment. God, I thank you for every person who has the courage to say, we need a touch from you and we need the body of Christ to help bring healing. God, I pray for every point of brokenness. God, I thank you that your word is alive, that your spirit is healing, God, that in your body we find wholeness. God, I pray that you would sanctify us, the God of peace, spirit, soul, and body, that we would be found blameless on the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, we thank you and we declare that at this moment, because you are faithful, you will do it. You will hear the cries of our heart. And God, you will initiate healing in the lives of those who are broken. As you just keep praying today, just one step, just one step, just one step. What's it gonna be? Just one step, just one step, just one step, just one step, just one step. Just tell somebody, one step, one step, one step. You're not alone. God cares about all of you. As you keep praying today, there's some of you right now, you're spiritually broken, spiritually hurting. Without looking around right now, if I tell you you're a spiritual being, you may say, but if I'm spiritually not working very good. And the challenge is that when we're born, we inherit a sin nature spiritually without Christ. We are not alive. And that's why when you call on the name of Jesus, who is Jesus? The son of God, the perfect son of God, who came to earth not to condemn the world, but to save the world. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, Jesus, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have what eternal life. when you call on Jesus, he forgives your sins. He died in your place and rose again so your sins could be forgiven. And you're spiritually born anew. You're born again. You're born spiritually. And when you're born spiritually, guess what God does? He forgives all of your sins. He makes you brand new. Your body is not gonna change. Your mind is not gonna change. But spiritually, you're new. Now you have the spirit of God dwelling within you to sanctify you, to conform you to the image of Christ and you're never alone again. Today, those of you that you're watching and you know you're not walking intimately with God, for those of you at all of our churches, you say, I don't really know where I stand with God. I feel guilty. I've done some things wrong. I'm actually doing life without him. Guess what? You are not here by accident. You're here because our good God loves you. And he purposed for you to be here today to say yes to the grace of Jesus. When you call on him, he forgives your sins. He makes you new. At all of our churches today, Those of you online who say, yes, I need it spiritually. I need his forgiveness spiritually. I need his power spiritually. I want his peace spiritually. I need his grace. We're stepping away from our sin. We're stepping into his grace. By faith, you'll be saved. You're made right with God. At this moment, you're not here by accident. You say, I need Jesus today. I give him my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place, lift them up and say, yes. That's my prayer right there. God bless you. Others right over there, right here. Praise God for you. Others say, yes, Jesus. I surrender right there. God bless you guys. Oh, come on church. Others today say, Jesus, I need your grace. Right back over there. I surrender. God bless you. God bless you. Online, just type in the comment section, I'm surrendering my life to Christ. Just type it in there. I'm surrendering my life to Christ. And as the body of Christ today, we pray together. Pray aloud, Heavenly Father, save me. Forgive my sins. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit. so I could know you, God, and serve you. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus' name I pray. Church, could you worship the goodness of our God, salvation, life, and Christ. We're 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 slash podcast connect to share a little about yourself and how we can support you.