Jesus Cares About Your Mental Health

I've been so excited about beginning this brand new series. And as we begin, I want to ask you some questions this morning. On a typical day, are your thoughts building you up or are they tearing you down? On a typical day, do your thoughts most often lead you into anxiety or do they lead you to a place of peace? On any given day, do your thoughts cause you to keep people at a distance or do they help you to get closer to others?

Does your inner voice tell you that you're hopeless or helpless? Are your thoughts God honoring Do your thoughts inspire you to believe that you can make a difference in the world? For the next several weeks, we're going to be talking about mental health. God laid this series on my heart months and months ago. I went to our team and I said, I feel like during the month of November that I'm to talk about mental health from a biblical perspective.

And I cannot tell you how excited I am about the next several weeks and about what God's going to do. And I've got great news for you today, not weeks from now, but today, God is going to bring healing and freedom to many people that are in this room and that are watching online. I want to welcome those watching us on the Pando app that are incarcerated in prisons all across America. We're so thankful that you could join us today and be a part of of this service and a part of what God's doing. Listen, I'm going to draw from different resources throughout the series.

One in particular is a book written by a pastor. Some of you have heard his name. He's a pastor out in Oklahoma, pastors a great church. His name is Craig Groeschel and he wrote a book some years ago entitled Winning the War in youn Mind. And we decided it's a great resource, but we decided to make this available to you.

There are limited copies and workbooks that go along with this that are in our bookstore today. And I encourage you grab a copy at least of the book Winning the War in your Mind. In recent years, an entire discipline of modern psychology has developed called cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This teaching reveals that many problems, eating disorders, relational challenges, depression, addictions, anxiety, are rooted in faulty and negative patterns of thinking. The Apostle Paul has some things to say about this in Romans, chapter seven.

And I want you, if you will, to stand to honor the greatest book of all time called the Bible. Do you agree? Come on, say amen. The Apostle Paul writing to the church at Rome. In Romans chapter 7, we're going to read verse 15 and then we're going to jump over to verse 21.

But this is what he says. I don't really understand myself. We could just hit the pause button right there. How many of you can relate to just that phrase?

Paul says, the guy who wrote over 2/3 of the New Testament, I don't really understand myself. I can relate. But he goes on to say this. For I want to do what is right, but I don't do it.

Instead, I do what I hate. Can anybody relate? Notice what he says? I have discovered this principle of life, that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all of my heart.

I think that would be so characteristic of so many of us. Like, we love God, we love His Word, but yet there's still this inner struggle constantly between living a righteous life and giving in to the deeds of the flesh, the desires of the flesh. And the apostle Paul says, I love God's law with all of my heart. But there's another power within me that is at war with my watch, my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

And. And then he says this. Oh, what a miserable person I am.

And then with a cry of desperation, the apostle Paul says, who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and by death? And maybe that's the cry of your heart. But I'm just gonna tell you today, God's gonna start you on a journey of freedom today. God's gonna begin a healing process. And some of you that are struggling in your mental health, some of you that are battling anxiety or fear or sleep disorders or addictions or whatever it might be.

God brought you here today for a reason.

There's miracles in the air.

And I'm believing with all of my heart. Signs and wonders will follow the preaching of the Word today. Let's make some declarations before you're seated. This morning, everybody together, even those of you watching online out loud. Here we go.

Ready? I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body.

I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this.

Come on, we'll complete it. Say it again. We'll complete it. Say it again. We'll complete it.

In Jesus name. Come on. Do you believe that today? Amen. You can be seated.

Listen to me. What we think today will determine who we will become tomorrow. Our lives are moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. That Being true. Do you like the direction that your thoughts are taking you?

Because your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Now, the apostle Paul could relate. And that's what we just read in Romans chapter 7. And the apostle Paul did not like the direction that his life was taking. It's like there's this inner war in the things I want to do, I don't do and the things I don't want to do, I do.

But five chapters later, Romans chapter 12, we discover that the Apostle Paul is giving us a two step process for freedom and for healing. Here's the process he says.

Remove. Remove the thought, remove the lie and replace it with truth. Remove the lie, replace it with truth. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. He says this.

Don't be shaped by the world. In other words, don't let the lies of the world shape your life. Instead, be changed within by a new way of acting. By a new way of what church?

I thought we had that verse. Sorry, I was expecting y' all to know it. We don't have that verse. Let me read it.

Voila. There we go. He says, instead, be changed within by a new way of. Say it. A new way of thinking.

Then you'll be able to decide what God wants for you. You'll know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. Listen to me. The battle for your life is won or lost in your mind. We're all under attack.

Everybody battles in the realm of their thought life. Listen, when we. If you're here, if you're watching online and you're in a relationship with Jesus, you invited him into your life. I'm not talking about religion. I'm not talking about a relationship with Christ.

When you invited Jesus into your heart in an instant by the blood that we just sang about, you were washed from the inside out. Old things were passed away and everything was made new. You went from darkness to light because of the power of salvation. When you invited Jesus into your life, all of a sudden your entire spirit is transformed in an instant. But your mind is not.

Your mind has to be renewed day after day after day. We have to recognize that there's an enemy of our soul. And the way that he attacks is, is by attacking your thought life. Now listen to me. If you ignore the battle, you will lose the fight.

Some of us don't want to admit that there's a war raging in our mind. So we do our best to just push it aside and to ignore it. And if that's your approach, if that's Your battle strategy. Listen to me. You're going to lose the battle.

You'll lose the war. You cannot change what you're not willing to confront.

We want to ignore it. We want to push it aside. But listen. Satan is looking every single day to take territory from you in your thought life. He wants to oppose the truth of the word of God that sets you free and replace it with lies to steal, kill and to destroy.

He's a deceiver, and his strategy is to defeat you and to persuade you to believe his lies. And every day he's looking to take territory from you and your thought life. John, chapter 8, verse 44 gives us a vivid description of the enemy that. That we battle on a daily basis. It says this.

There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Listen to me, Church. A lie that is believed as truth will affect your life as if it were the truth. Let me say it again.

A lie that is believed as truth will affect your life as if it were the truth. Growing up, most of us were told two lies. Maybe more than that, but at least two lies. And chances are you passed these lies onto somebody else. The first line was this.

You have to wait 30 minutes after you eat before you go swimming. Come on. How many of you were told that growing up? We used to have people that would put us on the stopwatch. Okay, you ate, you gotta wait 30 minutes.

And we're sitting on the edge of the pool dangling our feet in the pool. Hey, get out of the pool. You can't go back in. Hadn't been 30 minutes yet. Listen to me.

That is a lie. There is zero scientific proof, scientific research that backs up the fact that you need to wait 30 minutes after you eat before you get in the pool. They used to tell us this. If you get into the pool at 29 minutes, your body's going to cramp up and you're going to drown. What kind of thing is that to say to a kid?

But that's a lie we were told. Here's the second lie. Practice makes perfect.

I'm so sorry to tell you that's a lie. There's no such thing as perfection on this side of heaven. But let me tell you the truth. Practice makes permanent. Practice doesn't make perfect, but practice makes permanent.

And so if you practice a lie over and over in your head, guess what? That lie can become permanent in your thought life. But on the flip side of that, if you practice the truth of the Word of God over and over, it'll become a permanent part of your lifestyle.

Two truths that are so key for us when it comes to dealing with mental health issues. Number one, we've already said, and that is the battle for your life is won or lost in your mind. The second one is this. Your thoughts will control you. So you have to learn, with the help of the Holy Spirit, control your thoughts.

The caveat there is that phrase, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Here's why. You don't have enough willpower to control your thoughts. You don't have enough discipline to control your thoughts. You cannot do it.

You will not win the battle in your mind without the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, and beginning in verse 3, he says this. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. No bows and arrows, no guns, no cannons, no missiles. He says, on the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

To demolish strongholds. We're going to talk about that word in just a moment. Verse 5. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. The Apostle Paul is telling the Corinthian believers, the battle for your life is happening up here, not here.

Your spirit has been regenerated in an instant when you came into relationship with Jesus. But every day you have to renew your mind. Every day you have to take captive those thoughts that would try to usurp the authority of the word of God. You have to take them hostage. You have to cast them down every single day.

And it might be thousands of times a day you've got to wage war in the realm of. Of your mind. But listen to me, you cannot do it on your own because you don't possess the power to do it by yourself. Paul says, we have these weapons available to us to demolish strongholds. That word stronghold in the original language, in the Greek, as a word, ocharoma, it means to fortify.

Now, what would happen in ancient days is they would build a fortress at the highest point in the city, and they would put walls around that fortress, sometimes up to 20ft thick. And then they would hide the rulers or the political leaders inside of that fortress so that if an enemy attacked, they could not destroy the authority of. Of the city or the leader of the City. And the Apostle Paul draws from that word picture and draws from that analogy. And he says to the Corinthian believers, that's exactly what the enemy wants to do in your thought life.

He wants to build a fortress at the highest part of your mind. And then he wants to hide inside of that fortress. Lies that refute the word of God, lies that counter the authority and the power of the word of God. He wants to protect them with walls. And let me tell you what happens.

The longer we believe those lies of the enemy and the longer we tolerate those strongholds in our lives, the thicker the walls become, they actually become a part of us. We begin to believe that those walls protect us from the enemy. But the reality is they're keeping truth out and they're keeping the enemy inside. That's why Paul says, we've got to demolish those strongholds. We have to tear them down.

Solomon, wisest man who ever lived, Proverbs 23, verse 7, says, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Oftentimes in the Hebrew language, we find the word heart and mind interchangeable. You don't think in your heart. You think in your mind. And that's what Solomon is saying, as you think in your mind.

That's why it's so important that we demolish strongholds. Cause the enemy wants to tell you that you're hopeless. You're depressed, you're addicted, you're poor. You're gonna always be sick. And he bombards our minds with these thoughts that refute the authority of the word of God.

And the longer we tolerate them, the more protected those thoughts become in the stronghold of our mind. And as a man thinks, so is he. Solomon also said this In Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 22. A wise person. Watch.

Y' all still with me today. A wise person can defeat a city full of warriors and tear down the defenses that they trust in. But listen to me. You cannot defeat what you do not define.

And we have to identify the lies of the enemy. We have to identify that lie that has become a stronghold. And then we have to begin to replace the lie with the truth of God's word. And by doing so, you begin to chisel away at the walls that surround the that authority in your mind that wants to take precedence over the authority and the knowledge of God and over the word of God in your life. If you don't tear down the stronghold, the city will be rebuilt and the evil that is protected will still be active.

That's why we have to rid Our minds the enemy. That's why we have to do what Romans 12 says. We have to renew our minds, transform our minds day after day after day. Listen to me. Changing your life doesn't just happen by changing your behavior.

If that were the case, who needs Jesus? We just will ourselves into being a better person. We just discipline ourselves into doing the right thing. Change in your life begins by changing your belief system. Oh, y' all aren't hearing me today.

It's not about changing your behavior. Christianity has never been about behavior modification. It's always been about life transformation. And that only comes through the blood of Jesus. That only comes through relationship with Jesus Christ.

Hey, if it were up to behavior modification, go buy a bunch of self help books, go watch a bunch of TED Talks, and then will yourself into being a better person. But there's nobody on the planet that's able to do that. It happens through life transformation. It happens with us opening up the doors of our heart and inviting Jesus into our lives and inviting the Holy Spirit to come in and to do what you and I cannot do. Because to change your life, you have to change your thinking.

And you and I don't have the power on our own to do that.

Now don't feel discouraged. Don't feel hopeless. Cause let me tell you, the Apostle Paul reminds us that although we don't have the power on our own, there is a power available to us through a person. And the person is the Holy Spirit. Listen to what he says in Ephesians 1:19 20.

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. Wow. Did you catch that? The same power that took a dead man out of the grave for three days and raised him to life.

The Apostle Paul says that power is available to you and I. That same power, not a weakened version of the resurrection power of Jesus, but the same power that raised Christ from the dead, lives on the inside of us. So while we can't do it on our own, we can't change the way we think on our own. If we invite the Holy Spirit to help us, if we recognize that his power lives on the inside of us, then he activates that power in you and I to allow our minds to be renewed day after day after day, so that those fortresses, those strongholds, those lies, the accusations of the enemy are demolished and torn down through the weapon of prayer, through the weapon of the word of God, through the weapon of worship, through the weapon of consecration and pursuing him, we can have victory in our thought life, my friends.

The Apostle Paul says, this is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Ran across an article that was published just about a year ago, October 9th of 2024 by the Barna Research Group. And the title of the article, the title of the research really caught my attention. Here's the title. Worldview May be Key to America's Mental Health Crisis Worldview that grabbed my attention.

It made me want to read the article, which I did. Studies by the federal government say that one out of four adults struggle with mental health issues. Among the youngest two generations of adults, Millennials and Gen Z, a third of them are battling with mental illness or mental health issues. Study Highlights the Barna study highlights a startling connection between mental health and the possession of a biblical worldview. Barna says this you do what you believe.

Worldview determines lifestyle, and that includes mental health.

More than half of gen zers, more than half of millennials report experiencing anxiety, depression, or fear on a regular basis. These two generations also have the lowest levels of biblical worldview adherence, with only 1% of Gen Zers holding to a biblical WorldView and only 2% of millennials. Let me just tell you, over the last few months, we're seeing a radical shift in that because there's revival happening among millennials and gen zers, and they are returning to faith at greater numbers than in all of history, flooding churches, giving their hearts to Jesus, many of them saying, I went out and bought a Bible for the first time in my life. So let me tell you where the enemy thought he had won. God's moving among the younger generation.

Let me tell you, God's shifting this mental health crisis that's so prevalent among so many. Let me tell you. Five years ago, when we were subjected to the lies associated with the pandemic, a spirit of fear entered a lot of our children and our youth. And from that time until now, many of them have battled with sleep disorders. Many of our children and youth have battled with depression.

Many of them have battled with addiction and with thoughts of suicide.

And it's time that we help the next generation to understand how vitally important it is that they adhere to a biblical worldview, Barna says. Without a solid foundation of truth, their lives become inconsistent and chaotic, he says. The biblical worldview, by contrast, provides a framework that fosters emotional stability. And then he goes on to say this, those who possess a biblical worldview. Adults, they are significantly less likely to experience mental health struggles.

And then the last thing I will quote from Barney, he says this. I may have put it in your notes, I don't recall. But he says people with a biblical worldview are more likely to experience joy, peace and fulfillment. Watch. Because their lives align with God's design.

Their lives align with God's design. Listen, this is a real issue. My heart breaks for people that are struggling with mental health issues. We see it all the time. Throughout the course of this series, we're going to introduce you to biblical counselors that we believe have been put in place for such a time as this by God.

That can be a great gift to people in the body of Christ and to others. I'm going to have some of them on the platform during this series. We're going to hear from some of these professionals. And listen to me. I've been to counseling myself.

We're not at all opposed to counseling. In fact, I thank God for biblical spirit filled Christian counselors.

I thank God for them. And I want you to know you're in a place this morning or you're watching a place called the Refuge.

The name was Intentional. You're in a place that's safe. Some of you might not want to admit that you're struggling. Some of you might not want to admit that you have some mental health issues. But I believe God brought you here today for a specific reason.

And the reason I believe is that God wants to set you on a journey of healing. God wants to set you on a journey of freedom. I believe it's gonna start today regardless of what you're dealing with. Some of you may be suicidal. Some of you may be battle depression.

Some of you might have sleep disorder. Some of you might be battling addictions in your life. Maybe you're racked with fear, maybe you racked with anxiety. I'm just telling you God wants to begin to change the way that you think. God wants to begin to bring freedom to you today.

Here's what it takes. It doesn't take you figuring everything out, getting your act together before you come to him. It just takes some humility. It takes a willingness to say, jesus, I really can't do this without you. Holy Spirit, I need you.

I need you to come in and help me with these things. It's not about self help. It's not about behavior modification. It's about life transformation that happens when you step into relationship with Jesus.