Speaker 1: 0:13

That's good. So Jackson actually just graduated yesterday. Congratulations, I see Adam. Who else I see Adam did. Who else graduated Right here? All right, congratulations, graduates. Life begins.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Some of you guys may have graduated from college recently. Welcome to life. You're like it's smacking me in the face right now. That's great. For the rest of us, we're chugging along. This is great. Glad to hear Quick announcement before I jump into this.

Speaker 1: 0:40

Next week we are not having church service in this building. We are not meeting here at 11 or 9 o'clock. Do not come here, go somewhere else. I'm going to tell you where to go, but I'm going to say this a whole bunch of times You're not coming here. We're not having service, but we are serving in the community. For our Serve Day we're going to be at the Benicia Community Park. We're going to do a walk in the morning to Lake Herman and back, and this is to raise awareness and funds for clean, fresh, safe water wells in Uganda. So we're partnering this year with Hope for Water. It's an organization we've done a lot with.

Speaker 1: 1:17

If you've ever walked by the drinking fountains, you've seen a bunch of like placards. Those are like tons of wells that this faith community has raised money for in the past to drill deep bore water wells. That literally impacts thousands of people. It's kind of obnoxious to think about it, but I mean, we literally bathe in drinking water and there are people and this is what's unimaginable there are people all over the world that actually don't have access to clean drinking water, that are dying from waterborne illnesses, especially young people. And how do I know this? Because I've actually been there and seen this with my own eyes. I've like smelt it, all the feels, and it was like shocking to me.

Speaker 1: 2:08

And so, over a decade ago, after one of those trips that myself and another member from Northgate went on, we came back and we started this thing that ended up turning into Walk for Water to around here, raise awareness. And so for our serve day we're not meeting here, I know it's Father's Day we actually reserved some picnics. I'm going to say hey, dad, go take your kids on a walk and raise awareness, go enjoy the weather and then go and do your barbecuing, or you can have a picnic there at some of the tables that we have, but we're meeting there next week. The walk's going to start at 9. And then we're done. When you're done, walking to the lake and back, it'll be really beautiful. So you still have a week left in opportunities.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Here's an update about our serve day is that there's still plenty of room for people to sign up. As far as our goal of drilling five wells, right now we're at four, so we're almost there. Yeah, we're only a handful away. So we had some generous people that were matching funds, so we've met all of the matching money, which is like free money, which is great. There's some other people, I think, that are playing with the idea of matching. I just found out last service that somebody else is going to match a whole other. Well, so technically, we're already at our goal of five and we're almost to six.

Speaker 1: 3:13

So here's this week, what you can do as far as participation goes Rally up some people from your workplace and say, hey, this week can you throw me $10 or $50 or whatever it is towards this effort, raising awareness, because it's just not OK and we can actually do some things about this. You might even take this week and say, hey, I'm going to drink nothing but water this week and everything you would have spent on some other type of beverage. You can put that towards a fresh water well and you can participate. It's really beautiful when all of us gather our things together. It can really go to impact some things. So next week we are not meeting here. Are we going to meet here next week, thank you, okay, some of you set a reminder right now, so it goes off. I'm closing the gate and I don't want you to be mad at me because we're not meeting here. Okay, so next week we're not going to be meeting here. I'm going to say it one more time we're not meeting here next week. Don't yell at me that I didn't say this, because I'm saying it a lot. We're not meeting next week here. We're going to go serve in the community. Okay, all right, let's do this, but we're not meeting next week, so don't come back, but the week after we're going to be right back into this, the serve day. Okay, so I want to welcome you.

Speaker 1: 4:25

This is week three of this series that we've been doing about this really honest, honestly series and conversation about the subject that we all experience, at least to some degree, and that's the subject of mental health. In this series we've been calling Hope and Help, where we're unpacking these conversations about where we can find some practical hope and some practical help and I just want you to know right now today maybe you got invited by a friend, maybe you got a mailer, maybe you heard we were doing a series on mental health. Maybe you stumbled across us here actually online on the internet, and you're with us and I just want to welcome you wherever you are geographically. But also I want to say this I want you to know that you are welcome right now here as you are, however you might be joining us emotionally or mentally. I want to give you a personal thank you. A couple weeks ago, we kicked this off and I shared some of my own mental health journey. Your comments have been so kind. I'm so thankful that some of just me exposing some of the things that I go through was disarming for many of you and empowered you to continue to walk through this. So thank you for doing that for me and continue to do that for others as we continue this journey.

Speaker 1: 5:40

I know for a number of us at one time or another, if we're being really honest, we're not always honest about how we're doing, and maybe there's a really good reason for that. Maybe one time or another you were honest about how you were doing and it wasn't received really well. This is why it is so critical how we handle one another and how we give unconditional grace in the midst of others and what they're carrying on to and what they're kind of keeping hidden and the storm or the fog that they're living in. Because when we don't, when we don't actually see others or make them feel accepted in the midst of their stuff that they're going through as they then pull away from us, it will be harder for us to give the help and the hope that they need. The further that we pull away, the less bright the light is, and this creates even more isolation, which leaves them destitute and vulnerable.

Speaker 1: 6:44

It can impact people's relationship with God Because what will happen is they will begin to judge God by our actions and our representation, which is why we are to be representatives of Jesus. That just means a light to the surrounding communities in your neighborhood, in your workplace, like an example of what human communities ought to look like according to God's love and his grace and his generosity, and this expression is supposed to be of God to the hurting world. And when we handle that glorious mission poorly, it changes how other people see God and this culminates in them having a hard time in relationship with others. You know, if followers of Jesus or Christians can't be trusted, if God can't be trusted, then who can right? And what happens is they begin to retreat. Trusted, then who can right? And what happens is they begin to retreat further into themselves and loneliness begins to set in and isolation leaves them vulnerable. And that is why you see out on the lobby, on that wall, our vision, and that is to represent well and here's what I want you to know A Christian or a church person or a follower of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:00

It is not an adjective. A Christian is not a perfect person, it's not somebody who has all the answers or who you know in the past used to struggle a long time ago. A follower of Jesus and a Christian is a standing. It's a standing in the way that you stand before God, that you didn't earn it, that you didn't bring anything to the table, and it's not because you've got all the right answers or live a holier than thou or holier lifestyle altogether, because you don't have it all together, but you're following the one who does. It means that I'm gonna continue to take off the mask and we must represent God, this to our communities that it is okay to not be okay and that there is help and hope.

Speaker 1: 8:52

One of the areas where we have struggled with as Christians, historically, or church people, is being too narrow-minded when it comes to our view on mental health and mental illness. And so over the last two weeks we've said that mental health issues can be found in one or more of these four categories. So it can be in one category, it can be in all the categories, it can be just a couple categories, and those are situational, biological and I did change that word. I'm going to explain in just a moment why Clinical and spiritual. So situational. Situational might be the loss of a loved one, like experiencing a season of high change or high stress. A subcategory to this one could be behavioral how much time you spend on social media or not making time to actually create or curate, invest into meaningful relationships.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Then there's the bucket. That's biological. This is how you are hired, wired. I know in the past two weeks we actually used the term medical, but biological gives this greater clarity. By the way, I actually take each one of these messages before we give them and I throw it in front of a psychiatrist to get kind of some feedback, and so that was some of the feedback is. We wanted to give a little bit more clarity and breath into what we're discussing. We used medical before. That encompasses a lot more stuff, but biological, I think, zones in a little bit more as we're unpacking this throughout this series. Some people have kidney issues. Some are allergic to bees. There are those who have chemical malfunctions. Then there's the bucket that's clinical Issues are things that need to be addressed professionally, like it could be areas that need to be examined or like sifted, diagnosed, treated, prescribed. This could relate to a situational trauma from the past, chemical malfunctions, maybe even in the present.

Speaker 1: 10:39

The final bucket is spiritual. This relates to an issue of faith or even sin, like how we, as followers who are navigating mental illness, or like this community that's actually trying to love those who are navigating mental illness. We have to be careful because a narrow-minded approach is going to limit our ability to access and to give them access to the hope and help that is desperately needed. Now I want you to hear me really carefully. Everything is spiritual. Everything is spiritual. There is not an area of your life that does not have spiritual meaning, purpose and consequences. However, not everything in your life is exclusively spiritual. Out of these buckets there's, like this big filter. On the other side of this filter is how we feel, operate and live. So why does this matter? Well, as Jeff spoke last week, he talked about how we have an enemy, a very real enemy, who opposes in all four of these buckets. Now let me remind you we don't want to be too narrow-minded when it comes to a very complex, broad issue.

Speaker 1: 11:56

For some of you maybe a well-meaning follower of Jesus, or maybe you heard a sermon somewhere or maybe at a church, and they just kind of over-spiritualized the biological or the clinical problem that you have and just kind of made you feel like you just weren't enough, that you weren't good enough, that you weren't accepted as you were, that you were really broken, and that was actually then part of the reason why you're going through some of your mental health struggles, and for some of you maybe it's even kept you from church altogether. And I just want to take some time and actually represent some things to you. You see this all throughout history, I mean even in the Bible, there's Jesus' story where he is encountering a blind man and the question from the community and his disciples was who messed up? Who sinned Him? Did he do this? Was it his sin or was it his parents' sin? So I mean, even back then, that's the way they looked at it, which Jesus just responded like why would you say something like that? Like where are you getting that idea? No, that is not at all what has happened here.

Speaker 1: 13:07

So, so we don't want to over-spiritualize, but we also don't want to over-correct and diminish the spiritual realm or the power of prayer Like this. We never want to diminish or explain away anxiety, depression or poor mental health by suggesting that there must be something wrong with your spiritual life, but we also don't want to diminish the fact that there is a spiritual realm, that you and I are in a spiritual battle, and I want you to know, whether you realize it or not, or whether you believe it or not. Right now you have a very real enemy, and it's not a. Right now you have a very real enemy and it's not a general enemy, it's a very special enemy with a name, and his name is Satan, and he's doing everything within his power to keep you away from God, and actually he attacks our mind in all four of these categories. Now some of you are like come on, pastor Larry, like you're telling me that you really believe in Satan. Yes, yes, I do.

Speaker 1: 14:15

There have been moments and I'm guessing some of you feel this way as well where you've had this experience. I've had instances of such darkness in my own life dark thoughts, dark feelings, dark emotions. There have been times that I have been tempted to do the unthinkable and I'm like where in the world did that come from? And ironically, it has been the encounters with the lies of Satan that has actually reinforced my belief in the truth of a good God. I think I find it kind of interesting that, statistically speaking, more people statistically actually believe in God than they believe in Satan, and I think that he relishes that. I mean, think about it If you had an enemy. What better way to defeat your enemy than to convince them you're not real or make you think that it's just like some cartoon character with horns and a pitchfork just playing pranks on everybody. Right, like I'm going to trip them, right? You just need to know this. The best way to lose a war is to think you're not in one. The best way to lose a war is to think that you're not in one.

Speaker 1: 15:35

He attacks you spiritually by getting you to ignore truths, biblical truths, or believing things that aren't true, that aren't biblical. You might think, and begin to think more and more, that you're just too messed up to love God and that he wouldn't love you anymore, that you might think that you've got to get your life together and put together before God will love you and accept you. And so he attacks you in the situational buckets by getting you trapped in these sinful patterns and pushing people around you that then sin against you, and he can attack your biological and your clinical by getting you trapped in these sinful patterns and pushing people around you that then sin against you. And he can attack your biological and your clinical by getting you to avoid seeking help or convincing people around you that you're relying on to actually downplay the battle that you're in. In the gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 44, it says he, satan, was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Speaker 1: 16:42

So again, last week Jeff spoke about the first lie that Satan tells us. There's many. We've chosen three to debunk. He tells us that we are meaningless and worthless, that we are not known and because of the battles that we face, our feelings, that we feel that our value, our meaning and significance have been reduced, diminished or, worse yet, extinguished. And the truth is that God made you and he made you as a significant person in a personal way and he knows you See, one way I can describe it is Satan's like a lawnmower.

Speaker 1: 17:22

You know, like the ones that you have to push, you know, get yourself in shape, not the ones that you have to push to make it go, but like the pull guy. And you just look like a weirdo. You're like you know what I'm talking about? The pull one. So he's like that, he's like the pull one. And what happens is he's just like telling you these lies and you're sitting there and you're going like you're going, he's just going, you're worthless and you're doing happens again, you're worthless. And then this change happens. It shifts to. Suddenly you start telling yourself and believing it I'm worthless, I'm worthless, I'm worthless. And then the mower starts and then it begins to mow up everything around you, every relationship, everything around you, every relationship, every financial decision, every good thing in your life. And Satan just has to get the lie started. Just get you believing in the lie and we will mow down the rest.

Speaker 1: 18:21

This week I want to talk about the second lie that Satan whispers to us, and that is we are not accepted. We are not accepted. See, this lie comes in various forms. It could show up in the biological bucket as you come to grips with the reality. You were put together differently. Your struggles have ruined you. You will never be able to be the person that God has created you to be. You'll never be able to live out your purpose like other people are able to live out their purpose, and in the life that you were hoping to have one day, the dream life that you've been chasing just seems to like slip through your fingers, and Satan gets you to then make your diagnosis bigger than your choices and, at times, bigger than your God.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Satan oftentimes tries to get you to take ownership of your diagnosis, like it's my anxiety, it's my depression, it's my chemical malfunction, it's my schizophrenia, it's mine. What happens is we begin to treat it like our identity. You know you walk around. You would never do this, but you walk around and you're like, hey, have you seen my wallet. Have you seen my cup? Have you seen my keys? We would say things like that, but we would never as we call that ours. We would never go up to someone and say, hello, I am my wallet right, I am my keys, I am this. You would never do that as well, and you should never come up and say, hi, I am depression. That is not your identity. Your identity is not the cup. Your identity is not your anxiety. Your identity is not your diagnosis. Your identity is not your diagnosis.

Speaker 1: 20:06

A great book that has given me much help in this is a book that's titled you Are Not your Brain. You Are Not your Brain. Jeffrey Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding says clearly the brain can exert a powerful grip on one's life, but only if you let it. It can show up in the situational bucket, coming to grips with the weight of your actions. You have done something for so long under the cover of darkness, but now, suddenly it's coming into light and people are gonna start looking at you differently. They will judge you. The mask is being removed and people will see you for who you are.

Speaker 1: 20:40

And this, friends, is Satan's playground. This is where he begins to remove all light and help and hope and he pushes in here and he doubles down and he starts to whisper these things to you like it would be better off if you weren't here. It would be better off, people would be better off without you. No one is ever going to allow you to get over this. There's no coming back from this and for others, it's the result of incredible pain and damage ever going to allow you to get over this. There's no coming back from this and for others, it's the result of incredible pain and damage that's been done to you by others Because others have had a low view of you and eventually have eventually you become to have this low view of yourself.

Speaker 1: 21:27

You begin to believe the lie and this becomes especially damaging in our most sacred of relationships that many of us have dealt with growing up and the lies over time that we have begun to believe and take on as our identity that no one could ever love me, that I deserve this life, I deserve to be treated this way. Now look how much ground Satan has taken, and we haven't even talked about the spiritual bucket, and you yet can see the spiritual implications. In each one of those illustrations, he begins to tell you that God couldn't love you, either that you are too far gone, that you have messed up too much, that your situation is actually bigger than God, or your situation is actually too small to bother God. You have this problem and you've been going to church and you've been around people, and so it must not work. You're not doing it right and so you should quit, you should walk away, and it's probably not real anyway. And the hardest part of all of this, the hardest part, is that the very part of your body that is being attacked is also the same brain that is making decisions about a path forward, brain that is making decisions about a path forward. And so, if that's the lie, we should unpack what's the truth. So, if you're here today and you need a little help and a little bit of hope, this is critical. This is a critical to our path forward as Jesus people. So I'm going to give you quickly four truths.

Speaker 1: 23:08

Truth number one God is not surprised by our struggle. He's never like oh, what you had me Like, geez, you put on a good face, right. He's not surprised by our struggles. John, chapter 16, 33, it says Jesus is saying hey, I've told you all of these things so that in me you may. In me you may have peace. If you're looking for peace, just by the way, right there it's in him, in this world. He knows You're having trouble, you will have trouble, but take heart In me. I have overcome the world. There is peace. He's not afraid of our brokenness, he's not allergic to our pain or our misery and he's not dodging your suffering. This is not the nature and the heart of God. When Jesus came to earth, he came to help and to heal and to bring hope. Read all throughout the Gospels and you will see this over and over and over again how much time Jesus took to actually minister to those who were dealing with pain from one of these four buckets, if not all four of these buckets.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Truth number two nothing is too small for God. Satan would have you believe that God is only for big things, like when you've actually ran into the wall, not just nicked it right. Only call on God when things get really out of hand. In light of all of the problems in the world, you really shouldn't bother him with your little things. Lies, it's lies. Luke 12, 6 through 7 says are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Nothing escapes his notice. He cares about everything that you are going through, whether it's big or small. And honestly, if we're honest, the problem is is we don't tend to go to God until those small things have turned into big things.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Truth number three God has the power to restore that which is broken. He has the power to restore that which is broken. He has the power to actually restore that which is broken, and he does this in one of two different ways. Sometimes he does it in the here and the now and for his glory and to demonstrate his power. I know people who have been healed of issues of depression and anxiety and suicidal thoughts, and it's a beautiful and wonderful thing to behold. But sometimes he chooses to bring about healing and restoration upon his second, coming like way down the road. And now I know that some of us, when we hear something like that, we can become to get frustrated by that statement, because who wants that healing, who wants the I have to suffer through this for a long time, that one day healing doesn't sound all that good to you. However, this is the one I really love the most.

Speaker 1: 26:18

And Luke, he said I'm the son of man. I come to seek and save what is lost. And it is the people who turn their struggle into a story. They turn their tragedy into a testimony, while other people have a shallow understanding of living in the strength of God. It's these people who have a deep understanding of dependence that, even in my worry, I will trust. Even in my anxiety, I will choose to follow. Even in my depression, I will still give him glory. Even in my pain, I will praise. And God uses these faithful stories to create faith in others.

Speaker 1: 27:02

And the problem is that never happens. If we're not ever honest about not being honest, like we have to actually do that. When we keep our stories to ourselves, when we keep our struggles hidden, everyone around us thinks that they're the only one. Well, I'm going to tell you in reality, you're surrounded by people who are in the same situation as you. We exposed it a couple weeks ago. You all are a mess, we're all a mess, and we're sitting next to a mess. And it's not just your spouse you think, it's just them. It's the other person too that you think, has it all together, right, paul the apostle. Paul cried out to God deliver me multiple times from this thorn in his flesh. We never knew what it was and God didn't remove it. He didn't remove it. He didn't remove it and Paul didn't stop fulfilling his calling and Paul didn't stop praising him in the midst of the storm.

Speaker 1: 27:54

Truth number four, final truth it's never too late. You are accepted. You are accepted. Somebody needs to hear that today, because you have such a low view of yourself, either because of the negative thoughts that you've been saying to yourself or others say to you or what they've done to you, and you need to know you are the crowning achievement of God's creation. You are the crowning achievement. You are the apex. It's you. It's you and you may not have a very high view of yourself, but he has a high view of you. You may not believe in God, but he believes in you and Satan hates you. He actually hates you and Satan hates you. He actually hates you and he's doing everything he can to destroy you. It's never too late. I mean, look at this, look at this.

Speaker 1: 28:55

Jesus is on the cross and there's two thieves with him. We read about this in multiple gospels, but in the gospel of Matthew it says in the same way, the rebels who were crucified with him, jesus also heaped insults on him, along with everybody else that was heaping insults on Jesus. Mark says those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. You know they're trashing him and they're getting crucified too. They're cussing him out Like they're tearing him apart.

Speaker 1: 29:26

And Luke says one of the criminals who hung there that hurled insults at him, aren't you, the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal then all of a sudden rebuked him and said don't you fear God? He said, since you are under the same sentence, we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus answered him truly, I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise. So what changed? What shifted?

Speaker 1: 30:04

Luke also tells us just a little bit early that the two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. And when they came to the place called the skull, they crucified him there along with the criminals, one at his right and one at his left. And Jesus said, after they've been hurling insults on them. Everyone, the crowd, the criminals on either side. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He went from hurling insults to Jesus to turning to Jesus for salvation and Jesus accepts. It's never too late, you are accepted. No matter what you've done or you've been through or you think you're going through, it's never too late. You are accepted by him.

Speaker 1: 31:03

I mean, I think you know, like when we get there, I want to find that guy and be like so, like, how did this all pan out? Right, because there's like this scene. I'm sure that took place. So all of a sudden, he's on heaven's doorstep and like the angel's there and they're like can I help you? It's like I don't know I'm here and he's like how did you get here? And he's like I don't know. He's like huh, interesting, I have some questions. Let me get the supervisor angel and they come over and it's like interesting, I have some questions. What are you doing here? I don't know. Have you been baptized? No, what's your favorite memory verse? I don't have one.

Speaker 1: 31:43

Do you sing worship songs? Like, do you have a? Like a K-love list? No, what is that Right? Okay, let's just get to something important. Can you explain to me the inerrancy of scripture? What Right Do you understand the theological discussion of justification and sanctification?

Speaker 1: 32:00

I have no idea what you're saying. Okay, let's just get to the bottom line. On what basis do you deserve to be here? And I can only imagine his response was I don't know. The man on the middle cross said I could, it is never too late. It's never too late. It's never too late. You are accepted. It's never too late. You are accepted, you are known and you are loved. We're going to actually respond and worship together and we're singing a song, and in the song there's a word from Genesis. This is one of the first names of God that was given to us. It's Jireh or Jehovah Jireh. And Jireh means the Lord provides, he's a provider, and so we're going to sing to. That means, as a provider, that he's enough and that we're're enough and that we're accepted. So would you please stand as we respond in worship. I'm going to give God another hand clap of praise for that message today.