 If you have your Bible, let's go to 1st Kings chapter 19 and verse five. I'm just going to take the 1st Kings chapter 19, that whole chapter. If you are interested in notes, they are available on the YouVersion Bible app. And those of you watching us online, we're going to drop that in the chat right now. 1st Kings chapter 19. With it, I'm going to also target or touch on the issue of depression. Pretty much on developing routines on beating depression in 2022. Now, you may say, you may come here today and you're like, well, depression is not my problem. You don't know what 22 has in store for you. There's a lot of challenges that each person, people, groups experience that bring enormous amount of stress, enormous amount of depression. Because our church is more younger, among the millennials, the number one cause of death has been, in the last two years, a suicide, not COVID. More people are dying among young people today because they're taking their own life than COVID, car accidents or other illnesses. And depression is rising and it's rampant in the United States. It's rampant in our generation. And I want to address that by touching on the things from the scripture and how we can prevent and how we can overcome stressful, overwhelming and difficult times. First and foremost, I'm not a doctor. Also, I'm not a therapist or a counselor. I'm a preacher. So I'm going to talk about the Word of God. I'm going to speak on from the Word of God and I'm not going to touch on the areas that I don't know or I'm not an expert in. But looking at the story of Elijah, before we go to the story of Elijah, I want to mention that depression is a mood disorder characterized by extreme sadness. Poor concentration, sleep problems, loss of appetite and feelings of guilt, helplessness and hopelessness. Winston Churchill said, Depression followed me around like a black, black dog all my life. A young lawyer in 1800s suffered such a deep depression that his friends did everything they could to keep all razors and knives away from him. He wrote these words, I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall be better, I cannot tell. I awfully for bore, I shall not. This lawyer became the 16th president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln. Charles Spurgeon, who's considered the best preacher that ever lived outside of Apostle Paul, he struggled with periods of depression. History tells us that there were times Spurgeon was so depressed, he would refuse to leave his home to go to church. On one occasion, his deacons physically carried the pastor to the pulpit. And this can happen to anybody. The guy we're going to look at today, his name is Elijah. He was actually probably the greatest guy in the Old Testament, the most powerful one. Him and Moses are like these two top dudes in the Old Testament. Elijah was so powerful, like he could at his command bring fire. And this was not like some kind of a magic trick. Elijah was so powerful by God that he was just talking to God back and forth. He would command and the rain would stop coming for three years. God would feed him by birds. God would speak to him. He would raise the dead. And at one time he challenged 400 or something prophets on one mountain and literally obliterated them. He destroyed them. He brought the fire from heaven and eventually killed all of those prophets. And I mean, this guy was the bad guy. He was crazy. He was powerful. And then Jezebel sends this message to him in chapter 19 of 1 Kings says, Hey, I'm going to do and do and do this and this and this and this to you. If this and this and this doesn't happen, pretty much, she says, Hey, I'm going to kill you. She doesn't intend to kill him because if she wanted to kill him, she would send an assassin, not a messenger. Jezebel is a queen of intimidation. Her expertise is intimidation, not actual killing. And Elijah got so scared that he ran. Now, nothing wrong with being scared and running until you start seeing his prayer life. He runs and then he does this thing. He starts talking to God. And this is where the mistake that we sometimes make as Christians is when we tell people who are depressed that they don't have enough faith. And we need to stop that. Or we tell people that are depressed, pray more. A person who is depressed, their prayer cannot help them. Because the prayer, they're swimming in their own vomit, their own feelings. They're swimming in their own broken mood. And you look at Elijah's prayer, when he is depressed and this is what he's praying. He says, Lord, I've had it enough. A lot of us feel like that sometimes. And then he tells God this. He says, Lord, kill me now. Now, and this is the only time that God did not listen to Elijah. Elijah is used as an example of an intercessor and a great prayer warrior. In fact, in James, it says that Elijah was just like men like ours. He had the same passions and when he prayed, God heard. But this is the time, God's like, I'm not answering that. I don't want you to die because you want to die. I actually intend for you never to die and to be raptured to heaven. At his lowest point of his life, he's praying to God, I want to die. So sometimes when you're depressed, prayer is not a solution. Because in prayer, you can get more depressed. You can pray yourself into a deeper depression. What is the solution? We're going to look at what his solution was. Prayer wasn't one of them because he went to prayer first, start praying, start praying and then he actually prayed himself almost into suicide. Then God does something. The first strategy I want you to see that we need to prioritize this year. Whether you're going to battle with stress, anxiety of being overwhelmed or depression or not, this is a good strategy and routine for this year. Number one is get your physical health in order, meaning develop discipline for your physical health. When Elijah was finished with his prayer, the angel of the Lord came. The Bible says, and he made him some food and Elijah slept and he arose and he ate these three things, eating, sleeping and exercising. I know a person who deals with people who have mental disorders, a doctor. And he says, many people who come to me and who claim they have depression and anxiety, he says, before I put him on medication, I ask him, how is your sleep? Are you exercising? Are you eating? Are you and he's like, until they get their life in order in the area of physical discipline, he says, I don't put them on medication. Because why should we treat your chemicals? If you haven't taken control of your choices before you go see the doctor first develop a discipline. Look at your life. Are you sleeping? Are you eating properly? And are you exercising? You may say, this is not spiritual. It has nothing to do with that with why I'm feeling like that. My mood, my sense of being overwhelmed, my sense of being stressed out and depressed has nothing to do with that. My husband is the problem. My children are the problem. My boss is the problem. Biden is the problem. COVID is the problem. Everybody is the problem. But perhaps maybe getting off the couch, putting aside the chips and drinking fifth can of Pepsi and running on the treadmill or running outside for one mile a day, setting a time when you sleep and getting out of bed on time. If you do that for 30 days, you will see a drastic effect on your mood and your emotions on your physical body. Your physical body will affect your mood. Look at what God did to the prophet. The prophet was suicidal. He did not want to live and the angel of the Lord does not come and slap him with rebuke and says, come on, Elijah, pray harder. He comes to him and he gives him a meal. And he says, homeboy, you tired, bro, go to sleep. He goes to sleep. He wakes up and you would think the angel will come and preach a hellfire message. The angel gives him another set of food and he says, go back to sleep, sleep, food and exercise can do more good to you than taking another pill. I'm not against medication. But what I'm saying is if you're supplementing with medication, what you're missing with discipline sooner or later, you will develop codependency on that meds and you will lose power as an individual and the created human being that God gave you will power. God has given you freedom of choice. Don't yield that choice by living as a slave to your chemicals. In fact, the statistic tells us a study by Dr. Andrea Dunn found that patients who did 35 minutes of walking six days a week exercised, experienced a reduction in their level of depression by 47%. So 35 minutes of walking six days a week and 47% of depression was dropped. This study conducted at the Cooper Research Institute in Dallas, Texas shows that as little as three hours of regular exercise a week reduces the symptoms of mild to moderate depression as effectively as prozac and other antidepressants. In addition, the proven benefits of exercise in treating or preventing depression extend to even moderate physical activities such as gardening, walking the dog or cleaning your house. Your body as Christians, we teach that our body is the house of the Lord. You have to take care of it for God and you also have to take care of it for you. This year, I want to encourage you to make a decision, a healthy decision to get your health in order. Develop healthy disciplines. If you are you have extra weight, may this be the year where you bring your weight to a healthy normal weight. You will receive the dividends from taking care of your body. You will be compensated by God by giving attention to your physical body. If you ignore your physical body this year, you will experience consequences on your emotions on the length of the days you spent on this earth and also on many, many other things. We have a person mean my wife who takes care of our house when we are gone and this is not because we're divas, Paul, Brad, but we love this person and our way of helping this person is her taking care of the house. We were just gone for this last week. We went out of town for a few days and she stayed with in our house. She took care of this four leg creature we have called Jacko and she took care of the house and everything. And so when we came back, not only she did what we asked her to do, but she went above and beyond. She cleaned the driveway and took Jacko make sure he had his play time. I'm like, he doesn't need to have a play time. This guy, his emotions are not connected to his play time. So she really, she just took care of it. I came to the house and the house not only is clean. The house is not only well taken care of, but extra things that, you know, we didn't ask her to do and because of that, we compensate her and mean my wife like, you know, we should bless her more just as a New Year's gift. Partially because she took care of the house so well, she received compensation. And as I wired some money, I started to think about how the Lord feels when I take care of my body. He looks at you when you take care of your body, when you get on that treadmill, when you say no to those foods that you know, you shouldn't be eating. This is not only helping you. God is pleased with you taking care of your body that he will compensate you by what? Releasing endorphins. By what? Improving your mood. By what? Improving your sense of you feel good about yourself when you run, when you sleep good, when you take care of your body, when you live a disciplined life. God will compensate you. I promise you that you will experience the compensation of the Lord when you take care of the temple of the Lord. But if this year you become lazy. If this year you simply let it go. If this year you was like, well, I'm just going to accept and everybody should accept the way I am instead of taking responsibility. My friend, I have a warning from the Lord for you. You will experience consequences of that on your mood. You will experience consequences on your emotions. You will experience consequences. God will not be pleased. I'm not saying you won't be saved. I'm saying is that God is not pleased when we don't take care of our body. Elijah's first strategy from God was not more prayer. It was physically taking care of his body. Your body is important to God just because your body is not spiritual. It does not mean it does not matter. We don't believe in what the Greeks believe that that the matter is not important and evil because only spiritual realm is important. That's why we pray for healing. That's why we talk about physical things. Why? Because your physical body matters to God. He created it. He heals it. He will reward you for what's done in it. He will raise it from the dead one day. It matters to God. Your body matters to God. You want to walk this year overcoming stress, develop good stress. You know what good stress is? It's taking care of your body because it's stressful. Nobody likes to run. Nobody likes to take care of their body. Nobody likes to do that. But if you focus on the good stress, it will beat the bad one. The second thing I want you to see what Elijah did is after he slept, he ate and he exercised. The Bible says that we see in verse 3. Chapter 19 verse 3. It says the following. And when he saw that he arose and ran for his life and went to Bathsheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. This year, I want you to make a decision to embrace community. Now, the idea of health for most of you, that's already, you've already decided that you looked at the weight scale, maybe, maybe your spouse or your parents told you, hey, you're fat or hey, if you keep doing this, this is going to be bad or our society tends to kind of, there's this pressure from our society to take care of our health. Everybody does that and there's nothing wrong with that to some degree and that's good. But the second thing what I want you to notice that society will not focus on is this. The second cause of Elijah's depression was loneliness. Elijah was a very lonely man. In fact, when he brought the fire on the mountain, he told the Israelites, he says, I alone am left. So he's telling them, I'm the only one left and you would think, oh, okay, but it's actually something deep in his heart. He always was lonely because then he tells God again in the cave, I alone am left. He says again, I alone am left and in this verse, we read that he runs for a long time with his servant and then he leaves his servant at this area and goes by himself. It's not that nobody wanted to be around Elijah is that Elijah on purpose intentionally lived alone. Now, maybe he was too powerful. Maybe he was too anointed. Maybe everybody never measured up to his standards. I don't know the real reason, but one of the things that God provided for Elijah in that mountain and on that cave is he says, you're going to have to find yourself an Elisha and you're going to have to be surrounded with people. When COVID hit United States, you know, masks, social distancing was implemented and from Dr. Fauci to every other doctor, they're saying right now that the pandemic that is following the restrictions that we implemented to keep COVID at bay are going to be worse than the COVID itself. Because as humans, we were never created to be alone. The first thing that God said that was not good when he created humanity and nature is it's not good for men to be alone. Something happens to your immune system when you're alone. Something happens with your ability to be joyful when you're alone. You were never created to live lonely. You have to choose this year to be in the community. If you are afraid of community because you were hurt before release those hurts because those hurts are not as important as your health. Maybe you are easily offended. You're quick to judge or maybe you're one of those people that you seem to always get in a place where you see only hypocrites and that thing about your personality. You have to leave that behind because community is more important. There is no perfect community. There is no perfect family, but each one of us needs a community and family. A few practical things. One, prioritize your family this year. Prioritize being with your family. Structure meetings with your family. Don't just like well once in a while we'll get together. Make it a weekly family gathering. God was so specific about that that he created Sabbath for the children of Israel. Sabbath was not simply running around errands and going to Home Depot or going to Walmart and catching up on your to-do list. Sabbath for Israel was a time around the table with the family in the good meal. You turn everything off and you spend 24 hours celebrating God and celebrating your family. That was what Sabbath was for years, thousands and thousands of years and that my friend is good for us when we spend time around our family. Maybe your family doesn't come to church. Maybe your children or your spouse, they're not of the same convictions as you are. It does not mean that for one day or one night you cannot put aside your political convictions and get together and focus on what's important. This year make a decision that once a week you will spend time with your family. It will do something to your emotions and it's also something that honors God. Secondly, make a decision this year that you will join a small group. Maybe you've never been to a small group and the idea of being in a circle of people who potentially could like poke on your business and make you like confess stuff. That's not what our small groups are. But you have this weird thing that you're going to be trapped in like an AA meeting or something. You have to get up and say, my name is John and I'm an alcoholic. I want to let you know first of all small groups are not about that or maybe you're like, well, I just don't have time. I have so many friends on Facebook and Instagram. Most of those friends and most of those people on your Facebook will not show up to your hospital when you get hurt. They don't even know who you are. You need to have tangible Christian friends who care for you and who will help you. Come on somebody. In a few weeks we are relaunching our small groups and we're going to have many groups that you can choose. They will last about 10 weeks where you can come. We have provided childcare for your children. You can drop off your children and go to a small group. It's so important. This is what at Hungry Gen you receive pastoral care is through our small groups. I want to invite you this year. Make a decision. Don't wait until that Tuesday night comes and say, well, I'll see if I have nothing else to do. The devil will always find something for you to do. Make a decision. For 10 weeks my church is doing it. I'm part of my church. I'm going to be in the small group. I'll find new friends. I'll find your connections and I'll be in the place where I can be accountable. Number three, make a decision this year. Not to skip church. Not to skip church. I understand that there's not one word in the Bible that specifically says don't skip church on Sundays. But the Bible talks in Hebrew that do not miss the gathering of the believers. As it's a habit of some. Don't skip church. Make a decision on Sunday morning unless you're sick or dead. But even when you're dead they still, they'll still bring you. We got you covered. Some people go to church when they are hatched, matched and dispatched only three times in their life. So go to church more often than when you're hatched, matched and dispatched. Don't be a CEO Christian where it's a Christian where it's Christmas and Easter only. Be a person that makes a decision. Every week to the best of my ability I'm going to be in church. That doesn't mean if you miss once in six months there's something is but you come to church. Make a decision to be in church. I'm committed to a local church in this coming year even more than I've been before. To the point where I as of right now canceled all of my trips because and when I am not preaching on Sunday morning I'm still here because just because I'm not preaching it doesn't mean I'm not a Christian. I'm there to serve. I'm there to receive and I'm there to be there. Why? Because the church needs me and I need the church. Amen. Don't be alone. Don't be like Elijah who left his servant and went and then he said Oh God, I'm so alone. Well, why did you leave that guy alone? And that's a lot of people like, Oh, I don't have any friends. Nobody's helping me. Nobody's showing up. But when the call is to come to a small group are you saying, Ah, that's not for me. When the time is to come to church. Ah, that's not for me. I want you to break that off this year. Break that off this year and come to church. Don't be an organ in the bank. You know, there's bank organs. There's banks that actually hold people's organs. It's a living organ that could function in the body. But it happens to rest in the bank. God wants you to be an organ in the body, not an organ in the bank. Don't be this whole thing where I don't need the church. No, you don't need but the church needs you. You want to be in the body because you are organ in the body. It's kind of like if my liver will say, well, I don't need Vlad. Ah, yes and no. Vlad needs you, liver. If my hands will say, well, I don't need the body. Sort of not really. You need the body and the body needs you. You are an organ in the body. Do not be an organ in the bank. Number three, I want you to notice this about Elijah is that when he leaves his servant and that's something we are not going to do. When he receives food and he gets enough sleep and he rises up, something we are going to do. He goes on for 40 days in verse eight of chapter 19. It says this. So he arose and ate and drunk and he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as horrib the mountain of God. He escaped to extended fasting. Elijah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and he went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights. That indicates to us he did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. Now I understand we have young believers here. People who are for the first time here and also children. So I'm going to be sensitive of how I present this but I believe a fervent believer in Christians practicing fasting. Jesus said when you fast not if you fast you were created to fast. How do I know that? Because every day you're fasting because the first meal you have is called breakfast. You're breaking your fast. You were created by God to fast. Fasting is good for you. Now if you're a nursing mom or if you're taking medication or if maybe you're working in some kind of a job where you absolutely cannot fast I am not talking to you right now but I'm talking about to an average person that is sitting in this room and watching us online to practice fasting. Elijah he runs from Jezebel but I want you to see where he runs to. He doesn't run to a club. He doesn't run to his ex. He doesn't run to some kind of a drug dealer and buy some weed. Elijah he doesn't go into a party lifestyle. Elijah runs and escapes into an extended fast. Now I don't recommend somebody to go into a 40 day fast but 21 day is a good place to start. Maybe a three day is a good place to start. A seven day is a good place to start. And what do you mean by fasting? I mean by fasting is when you abstain from food for the spiritual reasons. This is not a diet where you go on a keto diet. This is not as simple. I'm going to cut this food so I can lose these pounds. The benefit of fasting will be physical but the cause of fasting and the motive of fasting is always spiritual. Now there's nothing wrong with fasting one day a week fasting one meal. Those are good but I want to challenge you. If you've never done this in your life and you are in the good health and you have enough fat stored up for many days. Like the Bible says about that man who stored up a lot for many days and you're good. You got it. You can go in the strength of your belly for a long journey. I want to challenge you to consider contemplate. Just ask the Lord if that's something he would want you to join in this month and see what God will do. Last year when we did our 21 day fast I will be very honest with you the last time I attempted 21 day fast was 12 years ago. That was when I was single skinny and I wanted to get married. I did not last 21 days because I was so skinny on the 17th or 18th day I started to faint and partially I was getting drunk enough water but I got so scared when I started to faint that I quit my fast. I went ate some crackers and I was like man fasting is not for me. And since that day I became scared of an extended fast. I thought that extended fast is where you meet Jesus literally. Like if you really want to meet Jesus like in next 21 days that's what you do. You meet the Lord as you fast because you're going to die. And so my friend cousin and pastor Ilya he practiced the 21 day fast almost like it felt like it was every other month because every other and with him I never saw on him I was like bro you're lying because when I fast within three days you know like because you see I almost look like I'm a cancer survivor like my whole face is shrunk only bones are seen when he fast nothing is seen he's just like normal. And so he would you know say hey I'm fasting and he wouldn't publicize it or anything and last year I really felt like there was this unhealthy fear of extended fasting and I knew that I won't die because I'm now a married and I have a little bit more weight. And so we decided with the church to do a 21 day fast. A young man an older man actually not a young man I see him as a young man in my small group came to our church only six months and when he came to our small group and I've noticed he's like he's drinking water we usually drink coffee and he says oh I'm fasting and I was like well you've been in church only for about six months and you just recently gave your life to Christ he says I know and he was a general contractor so he has had businesses and fasted all 21 days on water and he prided himself that he didn't take even one sip of coconut water or any other water just water. And I was like well I'm pretty sure there's an extra blessing for that. As you know people took like electrolytes or anything in their water to kind of give themselves an energy but he prided it was only water H2O nothing added to it. All 21 days. But last year by God's grace I was able not only to finish 21 days I was able to finish 40 day fast. Now this don't clap for me this is not too because the goal is this I want to tell you I did not die. Right now looking at the 21 day fast I'm actually very excited. This is weird I was never excited about fasting as I am excited about this coming fast. I really believe God's going to do something incredible and something amazing. It will help you to fight off spiritual forces. I'm not saying alone this but it will help you to fight spiritual forces. Elijah when he was depressed he escaped into extended fasting. Maybe you're trying to escape from something this year may I give you a good escape strategy extended fasting. You may say but how do I do that? We have the PDF right behind me and we can give it to you that you can practice. God will help you but the secret of fasting is this you have to go in the strength of this food. If you fast and you don't develop the courage to eat this food what's going to happen is that you will focus on the food you're not eating instead of feeding on the food that you're required to eat which is the word of God. First three days will be hard. First three days headaches and especially if you stop drinking caffeine you know and you will feel a little bit moody and cranky about the fourth day something switches. Your flesh begins to shut down and your spirit begins to eat of this food. Your mind becomes sharper. You become more sensitive to the voice of God and after that it's just mental battle. It's just as long as you mentally stay focused you will be able to overcome that for the glory of God. Are you with me? This is no pressure but if something that the Lord puts on your heart I want you to join us this year. May your success this year not be like I made more money but hey I fasted and I finished it. And if you choose that fast then you stumble and an accident you eat the cracker. Don't drop the ball just resume the fasting. Don't guilt trip yourself you didn't lose your salvation when you ate a cracker and for those of you working on construction or very heavy jobs that you're like you know what Vlad this is very hard. I want to encourage you maybe try a Daniel's fast where it's no sweets no meats no dairy and no sweets. I said sweets twice because they're very important. But this is my rule for people who work in very heavy jobs. If it gets through the straw it's under the law. As long as you don't blend your sandwich. Because I know people who literally took their steak grind it. I was like okay bro just go eat the steak you don't need to fool anybody but hey if it really helps you. Number four the Bible says Elijah he sleeps he eats and that's taking care of our physical health this year. Number two is we see that we shouldn't avoid community. Number three is fasting and number four is Elijah gets into a cave and the Bible says this and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said what are you doing here? Elijah First Kings 99. Number four and this is what I want to challenge every believer this year is to make a decision to be in God's word experience God in his word. According to the American Bible Society 78% of American households own a Bible and average household has three Bibles available but the problem is that most Americans have the access to a Bible that they don't read just 11% have read the entire Bible and majority of 30% of American survey have no more read than several passages or stories. So that means that 11% of people in this room and I will not ask whoever has read the whole Bible I don't want to embarrass anybody but people in this room have read the Bible from beginning till end. And it's not because we don't have enough time because on the average an American spends two hours on their phone and social social media and four hours a day watching videos. My goal is not to tell you turn off your social media. My goal is not to hey renounce YouTube that's not the goal. The goal is this is that we shave off some time of social media and we bring the word of God into our life. You have to find your cave and the word of the Lord has to come into your cave. If you want to have a new year this year I want to challenge you to have new year and to have new you and that is this make God's word as standard in your daily life. If you read the Bible every single day for six minutes you will finish the Bible in two years. If you read the Bible for 12 minutes you will finish the Bible in one year. If you read the Bible for 25 minutes you will finish the Bible in six months. If you read the Bible for 50 minutes you will finish the Bible in three months. If you read the Bible for two hours and 29 minutes you will finish the Bible in one month. I want to encourage you to read the Bible every single day. I am not against reading the Bible through one year. The goal is to read the Bible every single day. Whether you read three chapters a day, you read one chapters a day, but read the Bible every single day. Why? Because the Bible is the only book in the world that's God breathed. God actually breathed. He exhaled into this. Every time you read it, you inhale it. The only book. Not one book how to win friends and influence people. Reach that, pour that. So many books in the world. Even I have three books. None of them are God breathed. Even genealogy is God breathed. Even book of Leviticus and limitations is God breathed. The Bible doesn't contain the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is powerful, sharp, and it's living. It's the only book where the author will continue to speak to you. This is God's presence. The Word of God came to Elijah. Have you noticed the Word of God came? Why? Because the Word walks. The Word talks. The Word transforms. The best decision you can make this year. It's good to run. It's good to watch your diet. It's good to be in the small group. It's very important that you and I, we choose to fast this year. But my friend, I'm going to tell you where rubber meets the road. Is if you carve every single day and you pick a Bible with the translation you understand. And you sit every single day in front of this book. Even if it's one chapter or three chapters. And you sit there and after you're done reading, you meditate on it and let it speak to you. Your life will never be the same. Mark my word. Statistics says the following. A key discovery from one research found out this. That Christians who read the Scriptures four or more times a week look radically different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers. Let me say it again. The lives of Christians who do not spend at least four times a week in the Bible look the same as the lives of non-believers. The Bible makes all the difference. And this is what statistic found. Someone who engages the Bible four or more times a week is 228 times more likely, more likely to share their faith with others. 407% more likely to memorize the Scripture. 59% less likely to view pornography. 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness. If you're spending your free time browsing and watching porn as a young guy, listen to me. And maybe you've installed porn protective or defenses against porn on your phone. The best defense against porn is the Bible. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not have seen against you Psalm 119. 11. The secret to beating porn, loneliness, and a lot of emotional problems is consistent diet in the word of God. If you don't feel like reading it, make yourself read it. If you don't have time, make yourself some time to read it. Even if you're coming here today and you're saying, man, I'm not sure if I'm a Christian or not, I'm gonna tell you one thing. If you make a decision to take 10 to 15 minutes every single day with this book and you make a rule for your life, your life will never be the same in 12 months. I promise you that. The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. This book of the law shall not depart your mouth but you shall meditate any day and night and then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. The Bible says that the righteous man, the good man, the blessed man, he doesn't stand, he doesn't walk, he doesn't sit, but he meditates in the law of the Lord day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water whose leaves shall not wither and he will bear his fruit in its season and whatever he does, he shall prosper. This is the power of being in the word of God. And the Bible says Elijah is depressed, Elijah is lonely and he gets to the cave and the word of the Lord came. Every morning when you open the Bible, God will come to you in the form of his word. Every time you wake up and you read the Bible, whether it's in the morning or in the evening or during your lunch hour or in the car as you are on the break in your work. And after you've done scrolling, after you've done reading the news, after you've done seeing what happened or what is happening in the world, you open your Bible app. The word of the Lord will come to you. You're like, man, I've never seen God. When you read the Bible, he will come. When you read the Bible, he will visit you. I want to challenge you this year with few practical things with the Bible. Number one is read the Bible daily. Make a decision to read the Bible daily, whether you read through the Bible or you just read every day. The goal is to read the Bible daily. I used to read the Bible through in one year. I found that challenging because my competitive nature got the best of me and sometimes I'll be very honest with you, especially in the Bible app. I let, I opened the Bible app and closed it and didn't read it just so that I don't lose this streak. Confession time. There were times I let the Bible read in the empty room and I left my phone, went to a different room just so that I could finish the check mark. Now a few years ago, the Lord has delivered me from that plague and I no longer read the Bible in one year, but I still read every single day to the best of my ability and I usually finish within a year and a half. And this is why, because second thing that I want to encourage you is to read the Bible as a study Bible instead of just a Bible. Why? When you have a study Bible, it has little notes on the bottom that can help you to understand what you're reading. One of the reasons people do not like to read the Bible is because they don't understand what they're reading. How did Cain get his wife? What about that Adam have a belly button or not? Okay, the Bible commentary won't help you to answer that, but there are so many questions that people have and behind me there is a different Bible studies that I would encourage you. Get one and read the Bible through it. The goal is not to finish it in one year. The goal is to read it every single day to be fed to understand what they're speaking and have a speak to you. The third thing that I want to encourage every person today is this, is to download a Bible memorization app. Why? Because most of us spend more time on our phone than we should and instead of going in and penalizing yourself and saying, I will spend less time on my phone, that's not gonna happen. That will fail three days from now. I'll just be very honest with you. Oh, I'm just gonna delete every social media. Yeah, but then you're gonna spend more time on something else. This is what I would encourage you. Instead of trying to fight the bad habits, replace them with good ones and make a decision that every day you will spend some minutes memorizing scriptures so that you will put God's word inside of you. Are you with me? I'll read the Bible daily. Get a Bible study where you read, right now currently I'm reading to three Bible studies. That's why I'm slower in my reading, meaning as I read two chapters, three chapters, then I reread them in a different Bible study. I want to understand. I want the Word to speak to me. I want the Lord to come to me every single day and He does and He meets me on the ground in the cave of His Word. Amen. Just praying, if you are down, just praying, you're just expressing your hurt and frustration, but when you are reading, you're letting God speak to you in His mind and He can pull you out from your misery through His Word. Amen. Number five, and we're coming to an end. I know this was longer today than usual. Actually, it's about the same as usual. Number five, live for a cause in the midst of the chaos, and the Bible says that God's came to Elijah and He says, go return your way to the wilderness of the Damascus and when you arrive, anoint. So God gives Elijah a new job, a new assignment. He gives him a purpose. According to Victor Frank, which is the guy who survived the Nazi concentration camps, and he also developed this very new way that psychiatrists and psychologists used today. He said this, that you find meaning in life by creating the work or doing a deed, by experiencing something or encountering someone, or by attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. Dr. Karl Menninger, a famous psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health and he was answering questions from the audience and someone said, what would you advise a person to do if a person felt nervous breakdown coming on? Most people thought that he would say, go see a psychiatrist immediately, but he didn't. To his, to their astonishment, this doctor said this, lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need and help that person. To overcome discouragement, he said, do not focus on yourself. Get involved in the lives of other people. I want to encourage you this year, one of the best ways to fight off discouragement, burnout, and this is almost seems like that this is contrary, is to find a cause and give your life to it. Find a cause and give your life to it. Pastor Chris Hodges shared a story where 22 years ago, a church was doing a 21 day fast and he was under verge of depression, clinical depression. He was about to admit himself to a hospital because he felt so empty. He was the associate pastor of Bethany Church, which was very large church at the time and still is very successful, had everything he needed, finances, no problem, health, no problem, marriage, no problem, had everything anybody ever dreamed of. Chris Hodges in the year 2000, he is almost on a nervous breakdown, almost like mental breakdown about to submit himself to the hospital, but decides to take a 21 day fast with this church. During a 21 day fast, God shows him a vision. He sees a large auditorium and him ministering in front of people and God gives him a vision of his church. Eventually goes to Bellingham, Alabama and starts a church. Today, it's a second largest church in the United States. 22 years later, and he says this, what pulled me out of my depression is God giving me purpose. One of the things that can help you pull out of discouragement is having a cause and having a purpose. If you're in this room today or watching us and let me just speak for just a moment to those people who are maybe not just depressed, you're on the edge of suicide. Number one is that you don't have to die to end your pain. Suicide is not a solution. It's a permanent decision to a temporary problem. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is our savior, not the robe. As Christians, we believe even if what you're dealing with right now is because of your sin, maybe you've committed a mistake. You fell into something that you cannot forgive yourself and nobody will ever forgive you. Maybe you're like Judas, you betrayed somebody and there's a weight of sin that comes upon you so strong that you feel like the only way out is for me to take my life. Listen to me very carefully. If you're watching, rewatching or if you're sitting quietly in this room, you don't need to take your life. Somebody already has given his life for you. His name is Jesus Christ. Suicide is not your salvation. Jesus is. Something, a therapy, a doctor and a counselor cannot give you is forgiveness of sin. Something I can offer you today is because the man I'm talking about actually died in your place. That means that you don't need to pay for your sin. You don't need to pretend it didn't happen. You don't need to pretend it did not matter. It did. It hurts somebody. It's wrong. But there is somebody who took that on upon himself and Judas, you don't have to die for your sin because somebody not very far from here on the hill of Calvary died in your place. All you got to do is come to him and give your life to him. But maybe you are here because you're overwhelmed with the problems of life, with the challenges of life, the kids, the wife, the mortgage and you don't know what the future will hold. Maybe there's just challenges that nobody can help you. And honestly, there's nothing in this world can happen to change that situation. I want to tell you something. Still, if there is breath inside of you, there is hope for you. The Bible says God makes things work together for good for those who love God. The Bible doesn't say that everything is good, but he will, he can't turn around things for your good if you love him. If you hang in there and if you don't drop the ball, but instead go into prayer, go into the word, go into fasting, something will happen. God can supernaturally turn around your life in the way you have never fathomed or imagined. Elijah wanted to kill himself, but God planned to take him on the chariot of fire to heaven. Your current mood and your current emotional state is not an indication of what God wants to do in your life in the next three months. How you feel right now, it may feel like you're at the lowest of the lowest and there is only darkness. I'm alone left here Lord. Nobody is serving you. Just about is still raining and God says Elijah, a little news flash. There's still 7000 people and I don't want you to die in this pit. I want to take you gloriously to heaven in the chariot of fire. I want to challenge you today. Don't end your life. Yield it to God. Even if you've attempted and tried so many times to change that circumstance and you failed and you said, that's what I'm going to live with. Listen, if God doesn't remove the thorn in a flesh, he will supply you with strength. But there is hope for you. Another personal or practical advice. Medicine is not a sign that you lack faith. Just because you prayed, just because you fasted and emotions of depression linger. Go see a doctor. Taking medication is not a sign you lack faith. In the bible, we see in heaven, there will be trees that have leaves and these leaves will provide healing. In Ezekiel he says these leaves will provide healing. In the bible, one of the authors of the New Testament was a good doctor. His name was Luke. Christians were the pioneers of hospitals and medicine. In fact, the first hospital was actually a monastery that turned into a hospital. Why? Because Christians believe that their leader was a great physician and therefore we should be at forefront helping the sick people. Not shaming them for taking medicine. Now, will medicine heal you? Probably not. But it will treat you and it will help you to manage whatever you're going through and help you to get back on your feet. Apostle Paul, the great man of God that he was, tells a young Timothy instead of telling him to quote the scriptures, he says, take alcohol for your frequent stomach problems. That tells us, as Isaiah prophesies to Hezekiah the king and he says, you're going to die and then God reverses the whole thing and Isaiah gives him advice. He says, take some of nature things on your boils and you will recover. God can use medicine. Don't be afraid to seek the doctor. Don't be afraid to go see a therapist. Don't be afraid to go take medicine. Do not simply say, well, no, this problem is just spiritual. I just need to keep attacking it. Well, if you've been attacking it spiritually and it's not changing, go see the doctor for Christ's sake. For the family's sake. For the sake of your well-being this year. It's not a sign that you lack faith and anybody who says that to you, it's wrong. The last thing that I want to mention on a practical level, depression is not a pet that should be entertained. It's a pest that should be exterminated. Ultimately, behind every depression is a spirit of Jezebel. Elijah did not have really a problem with his health or his diet. Elijah had a force that he had to confront. It was Jezebel to provoke the whole thing. A lot of times behind extended periods of depression and anxiety is actually a demonic spiritual forces and medicine cannot help with demons. They can help with physical chemicals, but they cannot help with demons. If you've taken medicine, if you've done all the spiritual disciplines and you're noticing it's still there, seek deliverance. Come to our prayer line this month. Get delivered because there is such a thing as spirit of heaviness in Isaiah. There is such a thing as spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1.7. There is such a thing as distressing spirit. The Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 16 it came upon Saul and it made him manic. He started to throw spirits like he kind of lost episodes. So, there is such a thing as spiritual world. This is not just portrayed in movies and paranormal activity movies. This is actually real. There are spiritual forces. I'm not saying every mental disorder is demonic, but there are demonic spirits behind some mental disorders that cannot be removed from medicine, therapy or counseling, but it can only be removed through the act of exorcism. Amen. So, these are the lessons that I want us to take on this year. Let's prioritize our health. Let's prioritize community. Let's prioritize fasting. Let's prioritize putting God's Word in our life. Let's live with the cause. And if you're going through a heavy depression right now, suicide is not a solution. Medicine is not a lack of your faith. And deliverance is not just an option. It might be a necessity. Amen. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video. 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