Depression, Part 2

Today on the summit life with Jeannie Greer do not get some spiritual walk with God and notice it bugs me. Well, Jesus is not. Yes, Jesus is enough for Jesus came to do something on earth about his bring salvation and restoration and blessing and I want to see that goodness at work in the world in my life and my family and our church and our community. I'm your host Molly made a batch testing once said that her deepest emotions often function like smoke from a fire they can indicate what is going wrong in our hearts before we can even articulate it in this new teaching series. We began yesterday. Pastor Jenny shows us that the aim of the Bible's teaching on emotions to suppress them or even manage them but to read accurately express them honestly allow the gospel to reshape them completely. So let's rejoin Pastor JD as he addresses the first difficult emotion of depression are the most your life you talk to yourself more than anybody else. The Martyn Lloyd Jones that ultimately the aim of the Scriptures is to teach you how to talk to yourself the right way because your emotions with your emotions don't have brains. They Think they can't show faith. You have to show faith, you have to think for your emotions. You have to tell them what reality is and how they should feel there is a phrase that I want you to remember throughout this series will come back do it again and again we must never feel our way into our beliefs. We have to instead believe our way into our feelings don't fill you in your beliefs. You believe your baby are feeling a lot of Christians get that. We walk by faith not by sight. What I don't get is that we walk by faith and not by feeling for many Christians what they feel is the most reliable indicator of what is true. I feel like God has forgotten me feel distant from him. Jeremiah says I feel all of those things what God's Word tells me they are not true and I choose to believe his words even though I can feel them right now. Luther Luther used to call this drowning out the voices of despair with a louder voice of the gospel. At times he would physically shout the devil go to a quiet place and say no I am not and I'm not been for sake of God's word tells me that in Jesus death on the cross for maybe you want to do that ghost warrior by yourself and people like you lost your mind but you can physically shout. God is good.

My father is good and I call to mind right now is many acts of faithfulness approve that brothers and sisters. If you cannot recall them have somebody do it for you. That's why Christian community is so important because he inevitably there's going to be times where I lose my way and I need somebody else to call to my mind the promises of God in the goodness of my heavenly father and remind me of those is the first thing Jeremiah does as he calls back to mind the goodness of God revealed in the acts of God number two Jeremiah says I'm learning the lessons of God's try to teach me know and be really careful with this one because I do not want to imply that whatever suffering are going through.

The reason God has you and it is because he's got some grand lesson for you to learn these.

I will let you out of it until you learn that lesson. The folks there many times this is not true that there is nothing in this story that indicates the Jeremiah suffering was any kind of response to anything Jeremiah had done. Jeremiah had been a faithful prophet of God, since he was a young man, yet still it was no reason the Jeremiah was in this again from Jeremiah's life. Look at what Jeremiah says verse 26 is good that you should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth.

Let them sit alone in silence when it is laid on him. It is good because God often does his best work in us when we suffer even when we don't know why we are suffering but here are a few things he might be doing not always what you might be doing one of you sometimes are suffering God's trying to take out some idle from our lives on one 1971 it was good for me to be afflicted, because until I was afflicted, I did not pay attention to your decrees. Sometimes God uses suffering some way to get our attention.

By the way that happened you know exactly what you try to get attention about in your life.

The Holy Spirit will always let you know you will let you say the mystery of what you bring to mind immediately. Sometimes God might be just something trying to humble you, §16.

David's been betrayed by a son David is driven out from Israel.

As David is leaving and shaming to see that he doesn't deserve this jerk named semi.

I just followed along behind him, insulting him and pelting him with dirt and rocks and one of David's mighty men is like, go over and relieve this guy of his head and it was a no no I know what he's doing is not fair, but I dislike God is trying to humble me right now is going to sit here and take it and I want to trust God to vindicate me. There are times where I'm like yes what is happening is not fair that criticism is not fair, but I think God is probably trying to humble me and teach me to trust more damage so it's good for man to sit silently and just wait on the vindication of God. Sometimes God uses times of waiting to prepare you for ministry. I pointed out to you before the times of waiting in Scripture after you fill call by God or so, and I would call them standard. God calls Moses to deliver the children of Israel. Moses Doug go out and deliver the children of Israel. Instead he gets into the desert for 40 years and then God has and deliver the children of Israel. Paul gets called to be Jesus. Apostle to the Gentiles that happens in acts nine did not actually commissioned as a missionary to ask 13 scholars say there is a minimum a minimum of 17 years between acts not annexed 13 where Paul is waiting on God to put him into the van. God told him he was in heaven.

Do waiting that one at one of that one of the best ones.

One was most encouraging to me from the life of David.

David is a shepherd boy gets taken out of pastor and anointed with oil, you're going to be the next key word is David go to go back to the palace Tron robes to do what you interview the magazine gratify Goliath. No, in fact, it's really a GED.

Read the story in your Bible, you'll see that right after the verse where it concludes you David's call this little white space in the minutes first changes the subject's are talking about somebody else and I mean that they can what happened in that white space scholars say that white space was about seven years long to hear David or my head says him to be king. Where do I go back to the pastor.

I got the anointing to be king and I will walk around policy for the next seven years that we know we know now that that was were God did some of his best work in David that was were David develop the courage to be able to face the line of the barracks where he probably wrote the 23rd Psalm. The most famous works of song in all of Christian history in that white space of your life that white space again activities were God does his best work. Some of you are in a white space right now. I got existing silent. It seems like there's nothing that's happening in God's like I'm doing my best work in you, you could trust that I'm working in your white spaces just like I was working in Paul and David's and Moses says it's good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Sometimes the pain God is giving you the ability to relate to others, you won't have the same kinds of pain that you could not relate to. If you had what do it yourself. Charles Spurgeon, who again told his congregation. He was confident he spent four days of depression than any of them told his congregation. I would gladly go into the depths of depression. 100 times. It might help me learn how to cheer her downcast, spirited depression that I might better know how to speak a word in season to the weary.

The same thing. The play apostle Paul said the apostle Paul said God let me suffer. God broke me so that I can comfort others with the comfort wherewith I have been comforted.

Second Corinthians. God let me taste the salvation of Jesus from the depths of the pit so I can help you when you were in that pit and I can say from first-hand experience. God is good and you can trust in their remind me that statement by AW toes are in order for God to use you greatly when God calls a person a man or woman wants to use the greatly he will often first wound them deeply you have experience that recently got his let you walk through some painful chapter got divorced, so I cheated on you. You got diagnosed with cancer you lost a child or you lost a parent you been diagnosed some disease.

It you'll see an answer you want to the pain and the tragedy the mistake of abortion. Also, you could minister to people in those same situations. She sometimes the good lesson that God is trying to teach is not even in you, which is through you and somebody else and I want to be able to testify to what I told you couple weeks to a few months ago about the cardboard testimonies base would usually play worship song in a group of people come across stage and every scoreboard and on the front of a piece of cardboard is a one word description of their life before Christ one sentence description and on the back. When you flip it over as one word, one sentence description of their life. After reading Christ best for those of ever seen a woman comes up on station annexed a middle-aged man and she flips her card over and it says diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer.

The man puts his card over and says I was the doctor who diagnosed her. I was an atheist. Then he flips his card over and on the back of it, it says to her joy in the midst of suffering. I came to faith in Christ. Then she pulls over her card and it just says worth it.

What Jeremiah is saying is I'm confident that there's really come a time when on the flip the car to run the chapter my life and it's can say a big old profound effect is good for a man to sit and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Number three. He says him a realizing God's plans are, ultimately, for good and for blessing you hang with me here. There are two different extremes that different kinds of Christians gravitate toward the midst of suffering, based on your church background. Some in the midst of suffering, say well, Jesus told us there'd always be tribulation of the world we have tribulation, that we would carry his cross, which means that a no use praying for things get better we should only expect pain and misery disappointment. But God can help us get through it.

People who lean this way usually identify as reformed and they love the theology books others reveal. I know God has appointed us to walk in blessing, but story Joseph. You might be imprisoned now. The guy got a palace for you right around the corner you hang on your net on just prison right now. Pretty soon you will be beginning age you decide on with the blessed mind as you grow the more charismatic churches sometimes tend to gravitate through those answers. There's nothing I both answers are partially correct in both answers are incomplete by themselves. That is all. Jeremiah takes both sides of your watches.

Jeremiah says the Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will open the word portion is a reference to the allotment of land that each family got when they were given the promised land, God gave to each of the different families. A section of the land and they passed down from generation to generation and that was their portion and germ. I was like I got a Morland.

The Babylonians stole little I've got nothing left but you know what God is my portion. In fact, think of God's blessing like a pie and maybe get one piece represents a good marriage one piece represent good job in one piece represents good health.

Jeremiah says God is the best piece of his own pie and I don't want to lose any of those blessings. But if I lose them all as long as I retain God in God is my portion God's better than the whole pie because God is the best part of the blessed God is my portion, and if I have that I can have joy even about anything else right, but then he says what this verse 32. I'm also confident about God cause grief, he will have compassion. According to the abundance of his steadfast fatherly love. No, let's be clear, Jeremiah wanted deliverance from prison.

He wanted vindication in the eyes of the people.

Jeremiah wanted reunion with his loved ones and restoration of salvation for his people.

What he says I am convinced that God could change things in the days to come. Why does he think that he thinks that because he knows that God is the father of goodness in blessing go in the account of the creation.

One of the most predominant words in Genesis 1 is the Lord bless God created the world to bless it. Which means you wanted to flourish and prosper not to suffer when God gave Abraham his promise to bring salvation to the earth the express that promise. In terms of restored blessing.

He said Abraham I want to bless you and bless you and I will use you to be a blessing.

All the nations and all the families of the earth, so we have every reason to look for as God's people. We have every reason to look for blessing and restoration in our lives now because that's the kind of father we have some 2713 King David said I'm confident I will look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That's the key phrase in the verse in the little intimacy God's goodness. I get I get the heavens going to be awesome and I get word is gonna line rule around the goodness of God on their but I'm convinced I as you see it now. Thank you goes on in Psalm 30 to say that God can the dead praise you after the grade you have a mechanic for you. Now I want to tell my generation now about your goodness and I would be able to demonstrate it to instances in my life for your goodness in your restoration have broken through writer's home and gave him back. Says it will brazenly says God does not just work wonders for the dead. In other words, is not just in the suite by-and-by that we experience God's goodness, we experience it right now, so do not get so spiritual that you overlook God's intentions for the world are good and don't just sit back and say well, Jesus is enough. Yes, Jesus is enough.

But Jesus came to do something on earth, and that is to bring salvation and restoration and blessing and I want to see that goodness at work in the world now. I want to see it in my days in my life and my family in our church and our community bring them tired of people who try to be more spiritual than the Bible though. Jesus sometimes causes grief. I know ultimately he shows compassion. The art of history and the art of my life is long but it ends towards Jesus and his mercy and compassion in my life so his new number for Jeremiah's last thing you must is a lot of this you should get them tomorrow look for the goodness of God. You should get up tomorrow look for the goodness of God, because the steadfast love the Lord never ceases, was mercies never come to inhibit their brand-new every morning when the sun rising in these just got great is your faithfulness to love that image of the new morning because mercies and his faithfulness likeness on the rise is new every morning, washing away the shadows of the darkness of the night. Today, this day may feel like a terribly dark, terribly dark.

Never in the night of mistakes and despair because mercies you, brand-new, tomorrow morning is certain and as bright as the sign I used to cling to this part.

I still cling to this verse when I have one of those days writers really struggled with some sad and I'm still not down and defeated again by mistake after mistake, in my hardly think about. Surely God is given up on me and I remember this verse like no tomorrow is a brand-new day and that son of God's mercies is gonna rise in my life as if that didn't know night as if it was the first day that I never live to be unaffected by the darkness of the previous day and God could be ready tomorrow morning to begin a new gracious work it be that very day.

Some of you might feel like you have messed up so bad there is no more plan for you, but I'm telling you the darkness of this day is over and tomorrow morning. God's mercies this morning. God's mercies are to rise like the new son in your life like a friend of mine says if you're not dead. God's not done. He is not done with you.

His mercies are brand-new this morning and they will be new, it can tomorrow morning she for those whose depression has a primarily spiritual root cause.

This is the hope that drives depression away your emotions, let me tell you, there's nothing ahead but darkness and despair sit brothers and sisters.

You must call to mind Jesus got out of the grave, which means that he's got good plans for you. He's got plans for your family. It means ultimately your story is getting ended big. Not the you gotta proclaim that glorious gospel to yourself. You gotta teach yourself to think that way, you got to not feel your weight your beliefs.

You believe your way to those feelings. You should call to mind that it is by grace that you were saving faith and nothing of yourself was the gift of God and that means that God has preordained good working you don't walk in them.

It was not your goodness that made him call you is not your goodness is going to sustain you.

You have to call to mind that you were safe for a purpose and that purpose was to bring blessing to others to cause happiness to others and not cause pain.

The fact that you came to know God was not an accident. God called you he called you for a purpose.

David said you knew me and you knit together in my mother's will for that purpose.

Before I'd ever seen the light of day.

You'd written down all these good works you intended for me to accomplish in a book and those thoughts that that idea that all my days have been laid out according to your plan for blessing.

Those thoughts are precious to me in the driveway. The darkness of doubt and despair. You might feel like Jeremiah like you have been forsaken, but this you must call to mind the steadfast love the Lord never ceases mercies never come to an end and never will new every morning great is your faithfulness of God. For many this could be a watershed moment in your life because up until now, your emotions and dictate in reality you. Like I said your emotions can survey that on the brain. You have to show faith to reach me these three chairs of Uriah read about several years ago by getting watchmen the Chinese Christian who would do all kinds of suffering and darkness and despair. He said, is it really had Christian happiness you think about like freeman that are walking on the wall at this three chairs are present wall. He said in the first place you could have faxed back to the first, will is behind fact you got faith in the Baha'i faith you got feeling decent. Here's the thing when faith has its eyes on fact that those who God is thought to what Jesus is done and feeling keeps his eyes on faith that all three are able to walk on the wall just fine that faith feeling is is but the moment that faith turns around and starts to look at feeling them both faith and feeling will fall off the wall using the same thing Jeremiah saying Mr. my feelings call to mind the goodness of God called mind the goodness of God based on the facts of who Jesus is what he is done for me on the cross.

It may not naturally arise out of my circumstances, but it arises out of the Bible that Jesus is sealed with his blood and proven with his resurrection, and I'm not feel my way and I believe someone to put my faith in the fact of who Jesus is and what is gonna let my feelings I want to teach them to follow this faith in these facts are not to feel my way to Belize Mobley my way, my feeling. So again Jeremiah's it get up and look for the goodness of God brings one final question one final question is how you know you know God has steadfast love for you that you might wonder. You might say I don't know that I'm not a life filled mistakes. I feel like God has plenty of reasons to cast me aside and maybe he's punishing me for some of my past great question. I'm so glad you asked. Here's how you know. Reread this chapter again to put this chapter the mouth of Jesus. What Jesus, the one who experienced real exile wasn't Jesus really the one who was driven from Jerusalem with a whip away from God's people away from the presence of the father. He loved driven to a cross.

Wasn't Jesus, the one whose body God or like a bear. The one into whom God drove and shot the arrows of his wrath wasn't Jesus the one who literally drank what by the way the New Testament word for word what is goal that you 27, 34, when Jesus went to the cross. He was given a sponge with vinegar mixed with golf. Jesus literally fulfilled what Jeremiah was talking about in Lamentations 3, Jesus drank the all the bitterness of God's wrath in our place, drank a cup of God's wrath of the Dragon to that not a single drop will be left for me and so that when I get up in the morning I don't have to drink the cup of God's wrath. There's an overflowing cup of goodness and mercy that bothers me all the days of my life. In other words, in other words, Jesus lived in the darkness of Lamentations 2020 so I could experience the light and the blessing verses 21 to 33 Jesus went into the depths of depression so that I could crawl out of it. Now you see I see when darkness seems to hide his face. I can rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy. Gail my anchor holds within the veil on Christ the solid rock I stand all of the grounds sinking sand all the other seat, every emotion, I have a sinking ground every circumstance I have is transient and changing who Christ is and what he did, not solid around, put my faith in that solid rock, and I want to hold onto it in the midst of a life that may feel like an egg is suffering to once again friends you get up tomorrow you get up and look for God's mercy God's not dead, the wrong shall fail the right prevail. Peace on earth, goodwill to men transfers one last time as I know better at your for my depression and to trust in the Lord simply with all my heart seek to realize afresh the power of the peacemaking blood of Jesus in his infinite love nine upon the cross and put away all my transgressions. My faith is found, arresting that in device or create a trust and trust in the fact of who he is and I let my feelings follow the steadfast love of the Lord is never ending there listening to Summit life Bible teaching ministry of Janie Greer and if you happen to join us late. You can listening an online@janiegreer.com did he tell us about this new series smoke from a fire you shared a bed in our teaching so far. But what exactly do you mean by that phrase phrase actually comes from St. Augustine when he said that our emotions, he said those are like smoke that are it is arising from the fire and if we follow us.

This trail of smoke back down the fire. We can see the altars that were worshiping at the touching indication it's an indicator light of one's action going on in your heart to rather than just trying to suppress your emotion or deal with your emotion. I need to be less sad, less worry you got actually figure out what is it that is the fire that indicates the altar your worshiping at that's creating that emotion that we have a new devotional book. I'm really excited about this a great great tool to help you actually do this on the skull smoke from a fire's letter series and I think you make a great accompaniment to use you as you listen to and study and ponder the six asked for the 10 day devotional and Scripture guide when you get today at the suggested level I $35 or more. Our way of saying thanks for your financial support makes this ministry possible. It helps people around the world into the gospel message.

Everything donate and asked for your copy when you call 335-5228 six 633-5224, you can request a new workbook resource online Janie Greer.com I'm not even if it's inviting you to join us again Thursday we moved to another machine that I'm sure you struggle it will have to come back Thursday here Greer your ministry