You are invited to trade your struggle for His strength, knowing that His divine power has already provided everything you need for a godly life. Take the step today to surrender your life to Jesus, allowing His peace to replace the weight of your depression.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
My name is David John Phillips. I am the pastor here at Real Church. And actually, I'm getting rid of water bottles too. Boom. There we go.
David John Phillips. I'm the pastor here at Real Church. And as I say every Sunday, and I mean it everything I have, there's no place that I'd rather be than here with you, a church family, getting to preach the good news of the *gospel* and encourage you in Jesus. It's a big deal. And I I heard my wife say it in the beginning, and and we mean it.
If this is your first time, you're welcome here. If this is your first time, we pray that you felt the love of Jesus, that you experienced his love from the moment that you pulled into the parking lot until you made it into your seats. And it's our prayer that you would walk away from here today encouraged and with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. Amen? Like, you are you are why we do what we do.
Our goal is to take what God has shown us and the joy and the peace that we have because we're walking in relationship with him and spread it to as many people as possible. And 1 of the ways that we get to do that is on a Sunday morning. We're encouraging 1 another. We're having a blast. We're worshiping together, but we're also reflecting the love of Jesus to the best that we possibly can to everybody that walks through our doors.
Amen? Amen. Awesome. So we are going to get into the message. We have started a series called monsters.
Were you guys here last week, a monster of doubt? Were were you guys encouraged last week? Yeah. I apologize. The podcast, we didn't get it recorded last week, so I'm I'm sorry.
If you want the notes from the message last week, I can email them to you. Just email info@realchurch.us. And then also, as always, you can take out your phone. Go to if you wanna follow along with the notes that that I'm using for this message today, you can go to realchurch.us on your phone. Realchurch.us.
Click on this Sunday, and then click on hey. You're amazing. Click on this Sunday, and then click on view sermon notes. And I have all of the notes up. You can follow along in your Bible app.
It'll automatically connect there, and you can take your own notes, and it's awesome and wonderful. But in the monster series, we have been diving deep into some of the monsters of the mind. Monsters a lot of time that that cause us to doubt our faith. Monsters a lot of time that cause us to to be to weaken our faith or or want to weaken our faith, want us to step back from understanding who we are in Christ. And as we talked about already last week, we talked about the monster of doubt.
And this week, we're gonna talk about the monster of depression. And I believe that these messages during this series next week, we'll talk about the monster fear. I believe these messages are going to encourage you, gonna show you some biblical truths, some promises that you can hold on to, but also some real practical how you can walk this out in your daily life, what it means for your daily life day in and day out. In Jesus' name is is is the prayer. So we're gonna get right into it, the monster of depression.
And before I pray, I wanna tell you this too. The title of the message is the monster of depression, and it's not gonna look like I'm talking about that at first. The first part of the message, we're gonna dive into some scripture. We're gonna dive into it's gonna be fun. And then we're gonna get right into and and and just punch a hole in depression for for what the word says about it.
I'm gonna share a little bit about my own personal testimony, my own personal story of walking through depression for 8 years of my life. And then and then we're gonna round it back out with the word that we started with. Okay? Alright. Let's pray.
*Father*, I just thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you that you love us. Lord, and I thank you that this service is not about any 1 person other than you. It's about you and glorifying your name, glorifying your who you are, and understanding a little bit more clearly who we are because of what you say we are. So, father, I pray distraction, every amount of confusion, every everything that would would hinder your word going out or hinder us receiving your word, whether it's lies that we believe, whatever it is, we just rebuke that.
And we say, father, open your word to us. Lord, let us walk away from here with a deeper understanding of who you are, who you say that we are, and a deeper understanding of how much you love us, father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay.
So let's get started. Let's go to 2 Peter-1:3. It says, his divine *power* it's God's divine power. Right? His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.
I just wanna stop right there. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. Now the word godly, right, English word, and I'm a little English here, godly, li is a suffix that means like. So if we read that like that, then his divine power has given us everything we need for a god like life. Now before you say, woah, heretic.
No. Remember, Ephesians-1 or chapter 5 verse 1 says, we are to be imitators of god as dearly beloved children. John-14:9 says, Jesus says, if you've seen me, then you've seen the father. *Hebrews-1* verse 3 says, Jesus is the exact representation of the father in bodily form. And then in 1 John-4:17, it says, in this world, we are like Jesus.
As he is, so are we in this world. Therefore, you are called to represent God, to experience his nature, to experience his joy, to experience his peace, to experience all of who he is in your daily life now and to be the representation of him to your family, to be the representation of him to your job, to be the representation of him to your city, to be the representation of him to your church, to be the representation of him to your enemies, to be the representation of him to those that hurt you, to be the representation of him to everyone in your life. *Father*, show us this kind of life. Lord, put us a a desire in us, every single 1 of us to seek after you. Lord God, to know what you mean by what you're saying here, not just to know it, but to believe it and to receive it and to walk in it day in and day out, where it's personal, where it's real for us.
In Jesus' name. Amen. You know, when I'm reading the word and I see something that just stands off the page, I see it and it begins to make all of these connections like what just happened. You know what I do? What I just did right here?
*Father, let that become part of my life*. And as you're reading the word on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings, Friday nights, as you're getting because you you realize his word is life. Right? I'm experiencing as I'm reading this. I'm I'm growing in my understanding of him.
As as you read it and and you see something and it's a promise, it's a truth about who you are, just stop and say, father God, would you submit that in my heart? I don't wanna just believe that you do that sometimes for some people, but you do that for me because I'm your son or I'm your daughter. Amen? It's personal. It's not just it's it's alive.
It's living. It's active. It's real. Alright. Let's keep going.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who is called us by his own glory and goodness. It's through our knowledge of him. How how do we grow in our knowledge of him? Spend time with him. Spend time in his presence, in prayer.
See, what you experienced up here, they don't just practice for Sunday morning to sing. Like, my little sister, the the the blonde head in in the front, I can I can vouch for her? Constantly, she is worshiping Jesus with everything that she has. Late at night, I'll get up to go get a glass of milk sometimes, and her door shut, and she's just worshiping God. Just spending time in his presence, singing and and and alone.
That's why it pours out so freely because it's not an act. This is real life. Amen. This is how we live and it spills out because it's so real because it's not just a performance because it's so real. It spills out on everyone we touch and everyone we talk to.
They see us and they see Jesus. Why? Because that's how we live. It's the normal Christian life. I'm not just talking about us as me and Rachel.
I'm talking about us as the body of Christ. When you spend time in his presence, his divine power has given us everything, not some things, not a little bit. Everything that we need for a godly life, a life that clearly represents him, that when people see us, they think of God and are drawn into relationship with him. Everything that we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him. Now has given.
Not we'll give if we do enough. Not we'll give if we act right. It's not something that we have to attain to. No. It's has given.
Original text, you know, the New Testament is written in Greek. It's in the perfect tense, which means it's a special tense that's used, and a lot of times it has theological significance when that's used. Stick with me here. Has given in the perfect tense is something that has happened in the past, but carries value in the present and will continue to carry value in the future. He has given it in the past.
It carries value now and will continue to carry value in the future. Not only that, a little more Greek lesson. It's in the middle voice. Everybody say middle voice. In this context, in this passage, what that means is God has actively given you everything, and there's a voluntary participation in the receiver in what he has given.
You catch that? *God* has actively given you everything, and there's the voluntary participation in what he has given. Meaning, I think there's a lot of people that say, oh, I believe that god has given all of these promises, but deep down, they don't really think that it's personal for me. He's given all of these promises, but that person over there who's doing things just right, they're the ones I see them receiving it, but I see my circumstances right now. And, man, it it you know, it's really these promises, this everything, it's not everything for me.
And so they're not voluntarily receiving what God has actively given. I've been there before. You follow me? His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him by his own glory and goodness. Let's keep going.
Verse 4. Through these, he has given us same. It's it's it's something that he gave in the past, matters today, continues to matter. Same is something that he has actively given, and and we voluntarily participate in what he's actively given. Follow me here.
Through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises. We we sang about it. He has given them already. All of his promises to you are yes and amen. Why?
Because you're his son and you're his daughter. He has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them through what? Through the promises that he gave. Through them, you may participate in the **divine nature**. Everything that you need for godly to for a godly life.
Right? You may participate in the divine nature. Mean meaning, you may be ex you may experience all that it means to be a son or a daughter of God now. We're not just believing in Jesus for the sweet by and by, ladies and gentlemen. Amen.
That is not the gospel. I'm not just believing in Jesus so that 1 day I can make it to heaven. No. I'm believing in Jesus and and I'm experiencing heaven now in my heart and in my life and it's flowing out and people are saying, wow. What do you have?
Because I want what you have. I wasn't gonna go here. You know, when when I when I look at Jesus' *life* when I look at Jesus' life, the religious people hated him. Some of them turned to him, but the religious people hated Jesus. Right?
They they hated they hated Jesus. The sinners and the children loved Jesus. The sinners and the children the sinners and the young, they loved him. But the religious hated him. And we are the body of Christ.
The church is the body of Christ. Why is it that in many churches, the religious love the church, but the sinners and the young hate it? We're a representation of Jesus. Wanna be a church where the sinners love to come because they experience life, where the young love to come, and the old, where everyone loves to come and experience Jesus. And the religious hate it until they experience life through it, and then they're changed from the inside out.
Okay. Where am I at? Alright. So the question is, because we get to participate in his promises now, what are his promises? Well, we can find his promises in his word.
Right? Well, what's 1 of his promises? Let's go to Luke-12. I love you guys so much. This is fun.
*Luke-12* and verse 31 and 32. It says, but seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. We don't seek these things. A lot of times we get we get stuck in seeking these things. You know, whatever these things are, love, happiness, life, money, blah blah blah blah blah.
You know? No. No. We seek his kingdom, and these things will be given. We're not seeking his kingdom to get these things.
We're seeking his kingdom to to know him more, to be in relationship with more because he is life. We're seeking him and him alone, not selfishly, but selflessly because he selflessly gave his life for us. So we're seeking his kingdom, and it's a promise that if we seek his kingdom, he's gonna give everything that we need. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Question is, what has he given us?
He has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Now, you know, we know in Romans-8, it says that we're sons and daughters of him, so we're we're heirs of the kingdom and co heirs with Christ. We inherit everything that that is a part of the kingdom. That's just what we do. So what is it that he's talking about?
*Romans-14:17*. We seek him, and this is a part of what we get. You ready? I love it. *Romans-14:17*.
It says this, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness. Everybody say righteousness. Righteousness. Of peace. Everybody say peace.
*Peace. And of joy*. Everybody say joy. Joy. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteousness, of peace, and of joy.
Right? So we seek him. He's pleased to give us the kingdom. We're seeking him, and we're experiencing *righteousness*, *peace*, and joy. And really, I think peace and joy flow out of righteousness.
What is righteousness? Righteousness is "right standing" with my father in heaven. Right? It's a promise. He who knew no sin, 2 Corinthians-5:21.
He who knew no sin, Jesus, became sin for us so that in him, and if you're in him, this is for you, we might become the righteousness of God. Right? So you're in right standing because of your belief in Jesus Christ. Receive this promise. Voluntarily receive what I'm about to tell you.
You are in right standing with him right now based on your belief in Jesus. From that, we can know because we're in right standing with him that our heavenly father is standing right next to us no matter what we're going through. And because he's standing right next to us in the middle of whatever trial we're experiencing, we have peace that passes understanding. And we have joy un speakable and full of glory. No matter what, we must trust in what he has said.
The monster of depression. What is depression? WebMD says depression is marked by feelings of sadness, worthlessness, or hopelessness, as well as prob problems concentrating and remembering details. Depression is not from Jesus. His kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy.
Psychiatry.org says that depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and include feeling sad or having a depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, increase in purposeless physical activity, purposelessness, Difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions, feeling worthless or guilty, thoughts of death or suicide. Depression is not from Jesus. Depression comes from the word depressed, which means the act of pressing down. When 1 experiences depression, they are feeling pressed down in an area or multiple areas of their life, and it begins to consume their thoughts and become their identity, it's a weight that we are not meant to bear. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So if it's harder than easy and heavier than light, then it's not from Jesus. *Depression* is not from Jesus. Symptoms must last at least 2 weeks to be considered depression. Therefore, depression is a long term thing. Now I want you to catch this.
I want you to understand this. This is very important. Sadness is not depression. Okay? Sadness is temporary.
*Depression* lasts. It's okay to be sad. *Hebrews-1:3, the sun is the radiance of God*'s glory and the exact representation of his being in bodily form. Therefore, if you wanna know who the father is and how the father is, look at the son. If you wanna know who god is, right, look at Jesus.
Amen. Amen. Right? The exact representation of him in bodily form. Alright?
So, therefore, *John-11:35*, smallest, shortest verse in the Bible, *Jesus* wept. Jesus cried tears. Why did Jesus cry? I don't have the message is not about that today. Maybe we'll preach that 1 day, but, you know, Lazarus died.
Did Jesus cry because Lazarus died? I really don't think so. There was a lot of people, a lot of his dear friends who were very, very sad because Lazarus died, and a lot of people that didn't believe that he could raise him from the dead. Their hope and their trust was in Jesus coming earlier than he came and because Jesus didn't come when they prayed for him to come or they wanted him to come, then they were disappointed in Jesus. A lot of times we get like that, right?
*Jesus* doesn't move on our timeline and so we feel like, man, hopeless. I think Jesus was probably weeping because people who is some of his closest people didn't understand who he was. Anyway, that's a whole that's a whole another message but Jesus, the point is Jesus was sad. Jesus wept. In 1 John-4:17, in this world, we are like Jesus.
So sometimes, we're gonna be sad because of certain circumstances that happen in our life. It's a natural thing. It's an emotion. God created us to be a representation of him in the world. We get emotions from god.
They're a good thing. Catch this. Just as sadness is temporary, but depression lasts. Happiness is temporary, but *joy* lasts. Just as you can be momentarily happy in a state of depression, you can be momentarily sad in a state of joy.
Though my sorrow may last for a night, his joy comes in the morning. Romans-14:17, his kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, of peace, and of joy, which means that anxiety and depression flow out of a lack of right standing or righteous a lack of right standing with God or a lack of understanding of your right standing with God. And there's some of you that are saying, wait. Wait. Hold on.
Wait. Pastor, *depression is a "chemical imbalance"* in the brain. You're right. Depression is physical. It is a chemical imbalance in the brain.
You're right. I 100% agree with you. And you must understand too that spiritual affects the physical. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. When I have faith in his word, this his his spiritual supernatural word affects my physical reality.
It might not be exactly when I want it to happen, but it will happen because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. The flip side is this, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. So when I have faith in a lie, the lie becomes my physical reality. When I have faith in what was spoken to me, you're not enough or that thought that came into my mind or that circumstance that happened, you're not enough. You you're you're not good enough.
You can't do it. Or you can't live life without that person. Or God didn't work in that way. Or whatever the lie is. Let's see.
I wrote down some other lies. I'll never get better. I can't. I won't. That decision I made, I shouldn't have made, and now I'm forever tainted.
Now I'm not good enough. Now I can never make it back to whatever status I have. So I am hopeless now. Those are all lies. And because our faith in those lies, we begin to see the physical manifestation of those lies in our brain.
Chemical imbalance. You might say, well, hold on. Pastor, you're a pastor. Yeah. But I've experienced this.
I've I've walked in this. My testimony, I was 14 years old, and man, I was on fire for Jesus. And then I I got distracted by the girl in the tight pants when I got to high school. I did. So about 3 months, like, my my focus was off of Jesus.
Man, I was it was like revival in my life before that. And then all of a sudden, everything stopped because she became my heart's affection instead of him. Remember, you seek first the kingdom and he gives you everything you need but when you seek for something else, everything Amen. Amen. Yeah?
Okay. So she became my heart's affection for about 3 months, you know, 14 years old. And and well, then I just knew that's not who I am. Like, the Holy Spirit was working on me and dealing with me. My conscience was saying, what are you doing?
And so I began to do everything that I knew how to get back to where I was before. I was a church boy. Right? So I knew how to pray. I prayed for years.
I knew how to read the Bible. I even though I was 14, I've been reading the Bible since I was 4 years old. You know? I knew his word. Man, I would get on my knees and pray and seek God and try to get in his presence and and read his word and all this kind of stuff and fast and and wake up in the middle of the night like, you know, I used to think about the the the heroes of old, like the the the Billy Grahams and the and the watchman knees and the and the others back in the day and how they would seek him.
And and I saw Jesus getting up in the middle of the night, so I'd get up in the middle of the night for hours on the end and pray and stuff. And no matter how much I tried, no matter what I did, there was nothing I could do to work or to to to make God work in my life like he did before. There was nothing I could do to feel his presence again because I was seeking after feeling and not resting in what he'd already done for me. So so now I'm I'm doing all of this stuff, and I can't hear him like I think I should hear him in the moment, and I can't feel him like I think I should feel him in the moment. And so then all of a sudden, this "false guilt" and false condemnation starts to come at me, and I start searching myself to see what's wrong with me, and this false guilt rips me to pieces.
Next thing you know, I'm feeling condemnation like I'm not good enough, screwed up, and I'm never gonna get back to this revival stuff that was happening in my life. What must I do to experience this again? And it was all about me doing. It was all about my effort. It was all about being more religious, getting back to God.
All about me, me, me, me, me. I couldn't see it. So this guilt and condemnation begin to rip me to shreds. Next thing you know, I can't eat. I can't sleep.
I'm hopeless. You you might laugh all. Why would you think that? Look, we all believe a lie sometimes and we shouldn't. We should believe his word.
Can't eat, can't sleep. My brain starts the the chemical imbalance starts to happen. Right? So I used to be a wiz at math. Next thing you know, everything's working slow.
I feel like I'm going crazy. It's "mental torture". And I've said this 1000000 times, and I believe it with everything I have in me. I would rather go through any physical torture than that mental torture. It was terrible, and it didn't last for 2 weeks.
It lasted for 8 years. Some of you are like, well, that's nothing. It's been lasting for 20 years. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
It's it stinks. 8 years later, 22 years old, I read a book. Really, my dad gave me a book that was on the same topic 8 years before. I was just too prideful to to listen. I said, I already know what grace is.
I get it. I read a book. It says, there's nothing you can do to make god love you less. I know that and it says, there's nothing you can do to make god love you more. And it hit.
Wait a second. I've been trying all this stuff to make god love me more so I could experience him more in my *life* when **god already loves me** as a son. So I've been working to rest in what I or I've been working to obtain what I could rest in in something that I already have, when I could rest in something that I already have. It wore me out. And so in that moment, all of the sudden, the root of my depression there's always a root.
The root of my depression was gone. The lie was exposed. *God* healed me instantly of depression. Now, he healed me of depression, but the physical reality of the chemical imbalance in my brain still took some time to manifest from that healing. So I had peace now and I had joy, but my brain still felt slow.
The difference was I didn't have fear that I was going crazy anymore. I could rest despite the circumstance in his goodness. And it only took a little bit of time, couple months before that physical manifestation of the lie that I believe went away because the truth overcame it. Now you may say, okay. Well, that's your testimony, but that's different from what I'm experiencing.
I didn't I didn't believe what you believe. That that's not what caused my I get it. I understand. And that is my testimony. But I bet if you think back, there's probably 1 of 2 reasons that your sadness became sadness for a long longer period of time.
1 of 2 reasons. First reason, maybe. Maybe your depression started because you think you made a wrong decision. And now, because you weren't good enough or wise enough in that moment or or you screwed up because you chose to do this or do that and do that. Now, future is tainted and you'll never be what you could be and now, there's a sense of hopelessness that has set in.
Maybe it's that. If that is the case *Jesus says you're forgiven* Jesus says that all things work together for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. That's the truth. All things, even your stupid decisions. Jesus says, your love and you have a future in him and he can make change that dumb decision that you made.
Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't but he can change it and turn it and make it out to work almost as if he had planned it in the beginning. He didn't. But almost as if he did because he's that good. He's that amazing.
Or maybe and and and you know what? If that is the case, if that's why we're experiencing depression, then maybe just maybe our identity is in our ability to choose the right things all the time. Because if our world was crushed when we chose wrong, that means our identity You're you can always tell where your identity it was based on what crushed you. See, we're pressed but not crushed because our identity is in him. Yeah.
So if if we were crushed when we screwed up, we put too much trust in ourselves. We put too much trust in our ability to be in control. But when we can trust in what he says about us and our identity is in him, then when we fail, we can "fall forward" because we know that he's gonna teach us and grow us in wisdom so that we don't have to make that same mistake last time. Amen? Number 2, the other possible cause in a lot of people because of a circumstance that didn't go as you wanted it to.
And now your "world's falling apart". Now, that circumstance could be someone died, which is terrible. Could be a spouse that that passed away, your mom, your dad. It could be a kid. I mean, that is terrible and their sadness is good to mourn.
Could be because the circumstances at your work are not going. The the circumstances are piling up 1 after another and they're not going as you feel that they should go and next thing you know, you allow sadness to creep in. Could be because you lost your job or because you lost your spouse or it could be because, you know, these people are always bullying you, always saying these these things about you, or you just you don't feel like you're who you should be, or you don't feel like you're smart enough. You the circumstances of life are not going as you think they they should, and now your world is crushed, and you've allowed your world to be crushed. Maybe that's it.
Is if that is the case, once again, and I I I love you, and I'm I'm I wanna say this delicately. If circumstances are crushing your world, lack of money, lack of job, you're showing that your *identity* was in those circumstances. I'm not talking about I'm not talking about sadness, but I'm talking about if the sadness has become *depression* and it's depressing you. It's it's become your state. Joy is not your state but that sadness has become your state.
What has happened is we allowed that circumstance to become our identity. So when that circumstance or when whatever that was that we treasured so much was ripped from us, we lost ourselves. And I want you to know that we are created not to live for circumstance. We're created to live for Jesus. And our identity is in Christ, in Christ alone.
And in him, we can have peace and joy despite the circumstance. We can have peace and joy despite what we're going through. Look, we we lost the baby. My wife had a miscarriage a month and a half ago. 6 days, it was sad.
It was terrible. 6 days after the miscarriage, my wife, in the midst of her sadness, shares her testimony. Because of the *joy* that's deeper than the sadness that is carrying her through. It's still sad sometimes. But there's a joy and peace that passes the sadness.
So we don't live there. We live in his joy and peace. Our stick the sadness is temporary, but the joy is the state of being. And that only happens in relationship with the 1 from whom joy comes from. That only happens when you understand your standing with the 1 who gives you peace and joy.
It's my identity. He who loves his life will lose it, but he loses his life for my sake will find it. Everything that has my heart's affection other than him. *Father*, teach me to put my heart's affection not even in my wife. My heart's affection is him.
And as my heart's affection is in is in him, he teaches me to love my wife as he loves her. As my heart's affection is in him, he teaches me to love my kids and to love have the right relationship with money, have the right relationship with people, have the right relationship with my job, where if those things are taken with me from me, it doesn't crush me because my identity is in him, and he can never be taken from me. *Jesus* is the answer to your lack of joy, if that's what you're experiencing. Jesus is the if you have family members that are experiencing this, don't go to them and say, what you're going through doesn't matter, and it doesn't mean anything. Jesus is the answer to your lack of joy.
They're gonna look at you like you're crazy. No. You love them. You have compassion on them. You empathize with them, but you don't enable them to stay there.
Because they need to hear truth, and they need to see the love of Jesus in you and through you so that you can help them and pick them up out of what they're stuck in. So they see the joy and the peace that is flowing through you, and they feel the love of *God* in you and through you, and it helps to heal them of what they're going through, and they become hungry for what you have, because you are to be the representation of God in your world. You're to be the representation of peace and joy, and to show them what it means to have a a right standing with God, and what that how that works out. So, you can be sad with them. Your heart can be moved because of their sadness but you can be the miracle that they're looking for.
I still get sad sometimes, but my sadness is temporary because my *joy* is not found in whatever I'm sad about. My joy is found in Jesus. And some of you are experiencing depression right now, and you're fighting with me. But but but there's no buts in his word. But God.
That's the only 1 that matters. And the truth of who he is overrides your circumstance. And my promise is you trust in his word. You trust in what he says. You put your faith in what he has spoken, and you rest in him.
And eventually, your circumstance, the mountain of that depression will be cast into the sea because your faith is on what he has said. If you have faith of a "mustard seed", where does faith come from? faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Right? You hear what he says about it.
You put your trust in what he says about it. And eventually, either your faith or the mountain has to bow. Don't let your faith bow anymore. Let the mountain bow. The mountain of that circumstance bow.
You follow me? *Father*, I thank you for who you are. I thank you that you are good. I thank you that you are here. Lord, I thank you.
*Depression* is heavy. Sometimes it takes heavy words to lift off. So I just rebuke depression in Jesus' name. Lord, I speak joy. We're gonna trust your word over.
We're trusting our circumstances, *God*. Just keep your eyes closed. Heads bowed if you don't mind. There's some of you in here today are experiencing *depression* or are experiencing just a lack of relationship with God because you've never really known a relationship with God. You've never known what it means to be forgiven and to walk in right standing with him.
And if that's you and you want to experience what I'm talking about. You've experienced something today and it's drawn you and you're like, man, this is real. It's time for me to give my life to Jesus. It's time for me to know him personally. I it's time for me to believe.
Maybe there's something in you that's drawing you and pulling you. I'm gonna count to 3, and I want you to just raise your hand. Nobody's looking around. I just wanna have a conversation with you right there in your seat. If you wanna give your life to Jesus today.
1, raise your hand. 2, 3. I see you. 1, 2, 3. Keep your hand up high so I can see.
Anybody else? 3? Anybody else? Okay. I want you to look at me in the eyes.
No. Everybody else keep your heads bowed. I just wanna talk to these 3. Look at me in the eyes. Do you believe that Jesus died for you?
See that the Bible says that *Jesus* Jesus paid the price for your sin. See, your sin is what separated separates you from God. You're choosing not him. You're choosing self. Separate all of us.
But see, Jesus paid the price. The price for your sin is death. Jesus died for your sin in your place. Do you believe that? Yes or no?
Yes. Do you believe that? Not only that. See, Jesus rose again 3 days later, showing that his death was good enough to pay for your sin. And he rose again so that, like my little my 5 year old says, you could give him your *life* that hasn't been working, and he could give you his that will never fail.
Do you believe that? Yeah. The Bible says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus did that, confess with your mouth that he's Lord. Right? Believe in your heart Jesus died and rose again.
You will be saved. Are you ready to confess him as your Lord? Which means I might not understand everything, but right now, I'm choosing to turn from my what the way I've been living and to follow you, Jesus. Are you ready for that? Alright.
Well, let's pray together. Would you guys close your eyes and just imagine a good heavenly father right before you. And just pray this with everything you you have inside of you. Mean it. And everybody, if you could pray with me.
Say say, Jesus. Jesus. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for rising again so that I could experience your life. *God*, thank you for sending, Jesus.
I ask you to forgive me of my sin. I've been living for me, but it's time for me to live for you. You are my Lord. I receive you. Thank you, Jesus.
Keep your eyes closed. Bible says that you are forgiven. Blessed is the person whose sin is never counted against them. That's you. Never.
Why? Because Jesus' price was good enough for all of your sin. And that's for everybody. So everybody say this. Thank you, Jesus Thank Jesus.
For forgiving me. I'm forgiven. I'm in right standing with you right now because I believe. I receive that. Teach me what that means.
Amen.
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