We wanna welcome all of our campuses and what an incredible series this is, hide It or Heal It. And we're taking some time this spring to talk about mental wellness. And I hope you were here last week. We had Lee Smith, he's a godly guy, great counselor, uh, licensed therapist that we have a relationship with. He helped us begin our recovery program here, and he had some amazing things to say, uh, about getting counseling, getting help, and who needs to do that and, and how that works.

And one of the names he mentioned in that conversation was the name of Elijah. And, uh, so I wanted to take Elijah today and kind of unpack this guy for you, because there are a lot of people, especially men who when they have emotions that they don't know what to do with or, or there's some anxiety or depression, uh, typically they think, well, I just gotta suck it up and I've gotta work through that. And, and this is nothing to worry about. And, and you're gonna find today that Elijah, who was a godly man, I mean Elijah was such a godly man that many people thought Jesus was Elijah. Okay?

So this guy's incredible. He does some amazing things. Uh, he, uh, has this like sh showdown with, uh, the prophets of Baal, 850 prophets of ba and and they're trying to make fire happen. He calls down fire from heaven, he prays, uh, and it doesn't rain for three and a half years, and he prays again and it rains. Uh, he runs 31 miles in a dead sprint, okay?

I mean, this guy is amazing. And then you find him in chapter 19 and he's ready to take his life. So one of the things I wanna tell you is that, uh, emotions and mental challenges and anxiety and depression, that's not just a fad. I, I, I mean people have been anxious and depressed since, since Genesis three. And if you're thinking, especially men, I hate to keep coming back to that, but especially men, that, hey, hey, I'm not supposed to get anxious and I'm not supposed to get depressed.

And you don't understand how God wired us. 29% that sort of terrorized us in, in, in a community where there's so many colleges, 29% of people ages 18 to 24 have been clinically diagnosed with anxiety or depression. That's up 15% over the last 10 years. I mean, I mean, this is not just like some little thing. Well, I'm worried a little bit, or, Hey, I had a bad day, or I didn't do good on a test.

No, this is anxiety that comes over you and you can't get out from under it. You say, well, why does that happen? Well, there's several reasons. And one is genetics. Now, now, when you go to the doctor, if you know this, like when they're talking to you, they're asking you all these questions, they're asking those questions for a reason, and they say to you, Hey, do you have anybody in your family do you have a family history of, of heart disease?

Why? Because genetically you may be predisposed to have heart disease. Do you have anybody in your family that's had cancer? Why? Because you may be predisposed to have cancer.

Not, not all the time, but, but it can happen. And that's they with, with, uh, all kinds of things they'll ask you. But typically they don't ask. You ha have, have you had anybody in your family that has battled anxiety and depression? And, and they should because hey, that is genetic as well.

And, and there's nothing wrong. Like, like if you're here and you're going like, well, I don't wanna tell anybody that I'm anxious or depressed 'cause I think I'm crazy. You're not crazy. That's like telling somebody with diabetes, oh, you're just crazy. Your blood sugar's off.

You're, you're messed up. Oh, you mean you take medicine for, for cholesterol and, and high blood pressure? Oh, that you're crazy. No, our bodies are very complex and God made us that way. You are a body, but you're also a soul.

And if you know Jesus, you have the spirit of God in you, but you're a whole being. You say, well, how would I know? Uh, because there were years that I went without knowing that I was battling anxiety. I just thought, you know, feeling that way and, and this tension that would come outta nowhere. I just thought that was normal.

And I just thought everybody felt that way. I just thought, you know, like these things that would happen, especially in the spring, like right now, every year I would get this anxiety and I'd be irritable and anxious and, and get real short with my family, you know, or real short, with whoever was around me when I was younger and, and I didn't know that I had been genetically predisposed to be anxious and depressed. And so what I did is I used that like, like you can, when you don't know something's wrong, you can use that. And when I'd be real anxious or angry, then when I'd get on the football field, I mean, they said that guy's a, he's a bad man. No, I, I'm just struggling with anxiety and like, if I saw you and you know, the, and the whistle hadn't blown, I would knock your head off because I just kind of like, it was just natural to use that to kinda flow out of me in into sports.

The problem is you get to a place where unless you're a professional, you're not playing sports and you have to deal with, so what does it look like if, if you are battling clinical anxiety? Not, not that you get anxious, some when you get on an airplane or, or you get down a little bit when your friends don't call you. No, this is clinical anxiety. And so the DSM five R this is what clinicians use, this is what hospitals use, this is what they say. Clinical anxiety looks like, that you're keyed up and on edge, that you're easily fatigued, that you have difficulty concentrating, that you're irritable, you have muscle tension, you have difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep, or you sleep all the time.

Now if you have three of those, three of the six over six months, if you went to the doctor and, and because you were like, I don't know what's wrong with me, I dunno what's wrong with me, it's probably because you are dealing with some anxiety that just kinda working out more and, and, you know, going to more saunas, you know, it's not gonna solve it. And, and this has been going around a long time. Winston Churchill an amazing, you know, war leader when he was in England, uh, Abraham Lincoln, I mean, we do this all day long. Mother Theresa, they found some of Mother Theresa's diaries. And in her diaries she was saying how, I'm not sure I even believe in God.

I'm not sure if I'm even a Christian. You know why she was doing that? She was broken down, she was facing anxiety and depression and all that she was doing. So you say, well, well what do we do? Well, I'm not gonna psych the Bible, but the Bible is gonna psychology you because the Bible is all about not just your physical being but your soul.

And if you are battling anxiety and depression, I don't care how old you are, I don't care if you're a man or a woman or if you're a teenager or whatever, you're not crazy. You're not crazy. You're facing some challenges. And we want you to know there's hope. We want you to know that we care.

We want you to know that we respect the fact that you are struggling and that God wants to help you, and that we wanna help you and there's people we know that can help you. And and there's all kinda ways you can find some peace in the middle of the storm. So one Kings chapter 19, if you'll open your Bible's there and, uh, or if you have the out, which probably you'll look on your phone more than look at your Bible, but that's fine, as long as you get the Scripture, you're gonna find where this guy is who's an amazing man. And, and he's finding himself in a place where he says to God, he says, I, I just want to die. I've had enough.

I quit. I throw in the towel, I'm done. And you're gonna find out some things not to do when you're anxious and depressed and some things to do when you're anxious and depressed. And we're gonna end with some major encouragement. So begin with verse one.

Ahab told Jezebel, don't ever name your kids Jezebel. Her name means Baal is God. She was wicked. I mean, it's all kinda words I want to use for her, but they've told me I can't do that, uh, because I'm older now and I got 'em grow up. But, but she was trashy.

And so here she is, skanky. And so here everything, Eli, I'm sorry, but that, that shouldn't have come out. I'm so sorry. Kids don't use that word, school. So Jesse sent a messenger to Elijah to say, may the Gods deal with me, be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of the prophets that you had killed.

I'm gonna kill you. That that's in Hebrew, that's what it means. And Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. He, the one guy he could confide in who would encourage him while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, probably about 10 to 12 miles.

And he came to a broom tree and he sat down under it and he prayed that he might die. He said, I've had enough Lord, I'm done take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors. And he laid down under the bush and fell asleep. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up all at once.

An angel touched him and said, get up and eat. And he looked around and there by his head with some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. And he ate and he drank and he laid down again named Lord, came back to him a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and he ate, and he drank and strengthened by the food. It's pretty awesome food.

He traveled 40 days and 40 nights into the wilderness until he reached horab, the mountain of God. And he went into a cave to spend the night. And while he is in the cave, the word, the Lord came to him and said, Elijah, what are you doing here? He said, I've been very zealous for you Lord. And the Israelites have rejected your covenant.

They've torn down your altars, they've put your prophets to death with the sword. And I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too. And the Lord said, well go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord. For the Lord is about to pass by then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after an earthquake can the fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came, a gentle whisper. And when Elijah heard, he pulled his cloak over his face and he went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. And the voice said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

And he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites rejected your covenant. They've torn down your altars. They put your prophet to, he's got this down with the sword. I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too.

The Lord said, go back the way you came. Go to the desert Damascus when you get there. Anoint Hael king over aem, also anoint jehu king over Nishi, king of Israel and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat from Abel, uh, majola to succeed. You as prophet and Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazel, Elijah will put to death any who escape the sword of jehu. Yet I reserved 7,000 of my people, of my prophets that have not nailed to bell or kissed him.

Now, let me give you three things to not do when you feel you're depressed and you are anxious, which is, if you're like me, that is a lot of the time, especially going into spring, especially as the time changes, there's something about that time change, man, I'm like, would y'all stop doing that y'all to really get me? Okay, three things. Number one, He took criticism to heart. Don't, don't, don't let criticism kind of immobilize you. Because when you are tired and you're burning the candle at both ends, when somebody criticizes you or comes into your life and says, Hey, I don't like what you're wearing.

Hey, I don't like what you're doing. Hey, I don't like, whatever. If you're not careful, that little paper cut, you'll bleed to death. Criticism is one of the things the enemy will always use to break you down when you are vulnerable. I was going back and reading the passage before I walked out here and God showed me something in the passage and I'm like, Lord, why didn't you show me that earlier?

I could have kind of teased that out and worked that. He goes, no, because this right now, you're gonna get it right now. And he says that he was afraid. This is what you translated into Hebrew, man. Are you ready for this?

What what he was really saying was, Hey, I see that I have failed. Do you know every man's greatest fear? I'm a failure. I'm not enough. He's in his fifties and he's preached and he's done all these miracles and, and now he sees that he is, he's a failure.

You know where that's coming from. Do you know who your greatest critic is? Yourself? Who said that? Thank you ma'am.

Thank you for coming today. Because here's the reality. You know that nobody has talked down to you more than you've talked down to you, and it doesn't take much. I mean, you, you got shame in there and you've, you've got frustration in there and you're, you're, you're looking at, at all the social media and oh, they've got it right and oh, they've got it good. And look how perfect she is as a mother.

Look how great he is as a dad. Look how they made their kids behave. Look how they dress. Look at the garden. All of a sudden you're like, you're a loser.

And the devil piles onto that and he pulls you down and he takes away your joy. Listen to live is to be criticized a little. Caitlyn Clark, who plays for Iowa, she's a basketball player. She's breaking all the records. Uh, you know, I I love watching her play.

I mean, she, she broke the, the record for the lady's basketball, uh, points by, by putting one foot on the logo, the Iowa logo, and cheating from the logo. And like, what, you know, what people have been saying about her or everywhere on the media? She's not that great. She's not that good. I, I don't know where y'all getting this.

She, she really not that good. Listen, there'll always be people like that. Don't, don't take their words to heart if you're young, if if you're, if you're 14 years old, they're gonna be people that are gonna talk down to you and be negative to you. You don't have to listen. Don't value criticism from a person you would not take advice from.

He let criticism get ahold of him. Here's the second thing he did. He isolated himself. He had a friend. He said, this is what I'll do.

Oh, this is a good idea. I'm gonna leave my friend here and I'm gonna go into the wilderness. I'm gonna be all by myself. I'm gonna isolate so nobody will know what I'm going through. Does that make any sense to you?

You say, well, yeah, that's kind of what I do. I, I mean, I don't want anybody to know when I'm struggling. I don't want anybody know that I'm weak. I mean, I mean, if they know that I'm weak, then they may not like me. Here's the reality.

Nothing good grows in the dark. To, to be alone is the worst place you could possibly be. And God says, I made you for community. It's not good for you to be alone. It's not good for you to be alone and struggle all by yourself.

And it's so easy to hide. I mean, you can overdo everything. You can overwork, you can overdrink, you can over travel. This is springtime. It's about time for travel ball.

And for many people, we won't see you again until September because you're busy and you're going, here's the third thing. He had grandiose thoughts. He said, God, I'm the only one you got left. I am so important. God, you need me.

And Lord, they've killed all your other prophets. They put them to death and, and, and now they're trying to kill me. And God, you know you need me. Here's the reality. Listen, listen.

He didn't take God serious enough. And because of that, he took himself too serious. You said, well, what do I do if I'm anxious and depressed? Lemme give you four or five things that if you find yourself anxious or depressed, that, that you can do. Number one, we pray.

I love this. When you're looking at Elijah in this passage, what he's doing is he's simply having a conversation with God. He's saying, God, this is how I feel. God. God, this is where I am.

Listen, you say, well, I, but listen, I have anxiety and I pray all the time, and I still feel, feel anxious. I know that. And I know medication's important and I know counseling is important, but my friend's, prayer is so Powerful. When you understand that all those feelings you have, you can pour those out to the Lord. And you say, God, this is how I feel, God, this is what I'm going through.

God. God, would you please help me? God would, would, would you, would you please intervene on my behalf? When I was a teenager, when I was young, um, I had trouble at night like turning my brain off. Is anybody else like that where you, you go to bed at night?

Yeah. Two of you. Yeah. The rest of you? Yeah.

Okay. You sleep like a log. Okay? And so, so I had trouble turning my, my brain off. And so what I started doing, I didn't know.

I, I was, uh, struggling with anxiety and depression. I thought everybody's mind was like this. And I started praying through the 23rd Psalm. And it was crazy what happened when I began to pray at night and got my mind on the truth of Scripture rather than how I felt how was possible for me to begin to rest. Jesus prayed 38 different times in the New Testament.

There's one chapter where he prays the whole chapter, when you are anxious, pray. Here's the second thing, rest. Listen, I I, if you don't rest, if you don't sleep, you're gonna reap a lot of frustration in your life, in, in your marriage, next to prayer. The most important thing in your life is that you get some rest. He says, uh, uh, lay down and, and go to sleep because this is too much for you.

Lay down and, and go to sleep because this, and for some of you, that is the word that you needed today. That until you're getting a deep sleep where you are rested, because you are a whole being, you're never going to have a sense of control over your emotions. Jesus, when he slept, he slept so soundly. He slept through a hurricane. Even God rested on the seventh day.

Gee, here's my question to you. Are you sleeping at night? You said, that didn't sound very spiritual. The most spiritual thing you can do sometimes is take a nap. Here's the third thing.

Eat and drink and be willing to take medicine if you need medicine. The angel touched him. I love that. And he brought him some food and some water and he took it and he was strengthened. Paul says to Timothy, 'cause Timothy was, had had some anxiety.

It was, he was nervous. He said, he said, take some wine for your stomach's sake. Why? Why would he say that? What wouldn't he say?

Just pray more. Hey, you need to pray more and, uh, you need to go to church more. You need to be in another Bible study. He said, no, no, no. You're a whole being there.

There are times when, when medicine is so important to you, say, but I don't wanna do that. Listen, for, for many of us like me, it's the only answer to really help you overcome the anxiety that you're feeling. Years ago, I was, uh, on a mission trip in, uh, India, and we were in the northern part of India with some missionaries from our church. And, uh, he wanted to take me to this village. It's right on the border of Nepal in India.

And you could see the mountains in the background. I was beautiful. And, uh, it, it was like at the Wild West. I mean, there was, there, there was no hospitals there, there, there were no, uh, um, drug stores. There was no law enforcement, which made me nervous.

And we go into this village and I heard people hollering, and he said, well, I said, what are they saying? He goes, there's a holy man here. And I kept saying, well, who is it? And he said, it's you. I said, well, hold on.

I'm not that holy. You know, I've struggled even getting out here. I didn't even wanna come on this trip. And, uh, and so, so there was this kid running around in the village, and they, and they were running after him, and, and they tackled him and they brought him over. They said, he's, he's possessed by the devil.

I said, no, he's just a teenager. I'm just kidding. Uh, so they brought him over. It is a true story. Have I anybody heard this story before?

Okay, good. Y'all are new. Alright, so here's the thing. They, they brought, brought him over to a chair, and they set him down in the chair. And I'm thinking, what am I, what am I supposed to do?

He got up and ran off. They tackled him, brought him back, set him on the chair, and, and they kept waving me over. So I thought, I didn't take this in seminary, this class. So, so I go, I go over, this is a true story. This really happened.

So I go over and I kinda, I put my hands on his shoulder and, and I just kinda, every time he tried to get over, I just kinda get in a little bit harder. And then I started praying, man, I prayed as hard as I could. God, God, please help this young man, God come in, whatever's going on inside of him, God give him peace. And I kept, I mean, I just kept praying. He kept moving.

I kept pushing him down. I kept pushing him down. Now all of a sudden he didn't move. I thought I'd killed him. And, and, and afterwards I kind of backed up and, and, and, and he, he stood up and he turned around and he was weeping.

And he came over and he hugged me. I was like, wow. But, but here's the thing. We live in a place where you don't have to just depend on prayer alone. You have an opportunity to go to a counselor.

You have an opportunity to go to the doctor. You have an opportunity to get what you need to be able to move forward and to be healthy. Here's the fourth thing. Find someone to ask you questions about your life. You say, well, my friends do that.

Yeah, but that, but they're not counselors. I love this about the, the angel of the Lord. He said, why are you here, Elijah? Somebody in your life, man, it is worth a $25 copay. It's worth $150 an hour for you to go to someone who is trained to begin to pull things out of you so that you can understand what you're going through to tell you that you're going to be okay.

He's here on Mount Hori. And, and that's where the 10 Commandments were given to Moses. And here God is saying, I'm not just about the law. I'm not just about religion. I'm not just about you doing more.

He says, I'm also a God of grace and mercy and compassion where he wants to know you, to know that he loves you And he's for you no matter what you're going through. Here's the fifth thing. Get back into God's presence. You know, Elijah had been so busy working for God and being religious that he forgot to spend time with God in being quiet and listening. When he is in the cave, God says, I'm about to pass by.

And here comes the hurricane, the the hurry of the hurricane. Here comes the earthquake. And every like an event, and everything is shaking. And, and then there's lightning. And here's all these exciting things that are happening.

Then all of a sudden in a quiet still voice, he speaks to Elijah and begins to pull him back in a relationship with himself. And he clarifies his purpose. Can I just tell you that whatever bad is happening in your life, that God wants to use that as a part of his plan. See, your greatest pain and your greatest passion can be brought together to do some amazing things with the opportunities that are before you. He wants to use you, but he wants you to be healthy.

He wants you to walk with him. You say, well, Jeff, what, what makes you not a, you know, you're not a medical doctor. Uh, I'm not. But, um, 15 years ago I drove up to this campus and I had been running and going and burning the candle at both ends. And, um, I drove up to this campus and I had that Elijah moment where when I drove up and I was got to, you know, to jump outta the car, here I go, another dag a lot going on.

And man, I was under so much pressure, so much criticism. You know, I didn't know if things were gonna come together. We were borrowing money, we're trying to build buildings. And I, and I drove up and I turned off the car and, and, and I, and I thought, my arm's not moving. Hey, I stand in my, I talk.

We, we gotta, we gotta go. Couldn't make my arm move. It was like I had an outer body experience. I was watching me, uh, not be able to, to get outta my car. It, It, it was like I hit a wall and I thought there's something wrong.

Physically, I was in good shape and I've been working really hard for God. And so I drove over to the doctor. My friend who's a medical doctor, he goes to our church and he kinda did some tests. And I took this test on online and he said, Jeff, you're sick. I said, what do you mean I'm sick?

He said, no, I mean, like, bro, you're, you're sick emotionally, your soul, you're sick. And I said, well, what am I supposed to do? I said, well, we're gonna start you on some medicine. I said, ah, yeah, you, you need it. I'm gonna send you to a counselor.

And it scared me so bad that I went and between the counselor and that medicine saved my life. So I just wanna tell you, I know it's uncomfortable to talk about anxiety and depression and, but if you feel that way, you're not crazy. You're not crazy. There's something broken and we wanna help you. We want to love you.

God still gets you. We get you. And today I want us to do something. And we don't do this kinda series often, but I just want you to bow your heads for just a moment. All of our campuses, if you're at home and you're able to do this, bow your heads for a moment.

And you know, sometimes when you're up here preaching, you're thinking, man, you know, they don't understand what I'm talking about. Nobody really struggling with this. It's just me. If you'd be willing to admit this is with your head bowed, you struggle with anxiety and depression, would you hold your hand up? Please.

Huh? I know this sounds bad, but you're making me feel better. Yeah. Thank you. I love you.

If, if you know someone that's struggling with anxiety and depression, would you hold your hands up? Wow. Uh, yeah. Would you let them know that this is a place where it's okay to not be okay? That they're not crazy, that they're loved by God?

You can put your hands down even before you lifted your hands. I need you to know something. God sees you in that cave of despair. Oh, he sees you and he is right with you to offer you everything you need. And we're here to walk with you.

I want you to take just a moment in the next 60 seconds to prepare your heart and, and maybe for the first time in a long time, give yourself a break. Hey, you're loved counselor told me, Jeff, you're doing a good thing. And it shocked me. Can I tell you, you're doing good things. You're loved.

Let God speak to you after that time when we begin to sing, if you wanna come to the altar and just offer these things to the Lord, if you wanna put on the cross over there what you're struggling with and what you need help with, and you want to give that to Jesus, if you wanna come, take the Lord's supper, take it back with you, or stand here at the altar and just be reminded that there's healing in the name, in the blood, in the sacrifice body of Jesus. But today, we want you to know it's okay to not be okay because Jesus came for you and for me.