How Did I Become Depressed? | Dealing With Depression Week 1 | Herbert Cooper | People's Church

well i'm pretty fired up about this series dealing with depression we're going to do a three-week series on this subject and as we dive into this i want to just first thank pastor chris hodges for his book and for the sermon series he preached called out of the cave i gleaned a lot of content from his messages from his book and the reality is all of us in life have extreme down days and some of you would even say that you've battled some type of anxiety or depression and i know that's true for me i i've had some extreme down days but there was a season in my life several years ago that i battled depression and so as i teach this series it's from a personal place it's from a pace place of pain it's from a place when i was isolated i was thinking crazy thoughts i was alone i was hurting i was ready to give up it was the one time in the 19 and a half years of pastoring people's church that my wife and i contemplated should we resign should we step aside can we really do this can we handle this and i was just in a bad place and so i know what it is to struggle with depression i have a lot of empathy when it comes to this particular subject and right now there are many people who are experiencing depression the pandemic over the last 19 months has had such a negative impact on people's mental health did you realize that that this pandemic that that at the beginning of this pandemic in 2020 that the mental health a hotline number went up 900 percent in 2020. the cdc says that one out of four young people under the age of 30 considered suicide in 2020. one out of 10 for everybody 30 years and older divorce filings went up 20 anti-depressant medication went up 300 percent listen it's not just a covet pandemic it's a mental health pandemic people are struggling and i believe this with all of my heart that this church is supposed to be on the front lines of helping people through these struggles we're not supposed to sit it out on the sideline god has called us to make a difference to bring hope to bring healing we're supposed to be a part of the solution and before i dive into the heart of today's message i want to share a few introductory thoughts about depression and the first is this there are biological reasons for depression i'm not an expert i'm not a medical doctor a psychiatrist a psychologist but as you study depression there are biological issues that can happen in our minds it's it's real and i'm not here throughout this series to talk about the biological reasons for depression i'm going to leave that to the experts but here's what i want us to get in our hearts today we can't allow biology to have the whole narrative or else we will miss some of the real solutions to win the battle over depression because it's not all just biological so that's what this series is all about a second introductory thought is depression is not just a malfunction of the mind it's a signal from the mind the depression is telling us something is off it's a signal it's telling us something is wrong i know when i battled depression it was a signal for me to let me know something is wrong something is off herbert and today if you're battling depression i want you to know it's a signal letting you know something is off there's a third introductory thought and that is there's a stigma around depression during our 21 days of prayer in august on one of the friday morning 6 a.m prayer services after the prayer service was over i walked out into the hallway was talking to some folks and someone said to me pastor you're wearing glasses and i was pausing to continue to listen and i like it good that's good that's good that's a positive good job by you good job by you and they said yeah i'm wearing glasses i didn't know you wore glass i said yeah i i wear them usually on the weekends i actually typically wear contacts without contacts i can't see good at all far away and so when i'm not wearing my contacts i wear my glasses that person didn't go you don't have any faith what's wrong with you wearing glasses no no that person did not look down on me because my eyes don't function at a top peak level my my eyes just they struggle some and some of you would say yep that's me my my kidney or my heart or my leg or my toes or my my hand somebody would say it doesn't function at a top level that it should function at and yet none of us look at somebody who's struggling with their their hand or struggling with their eyesight and so they need to wear glasses or like me wearing contacts nobody nobody looks down on somebody because they're struggling with their their leg or their arm but but i want us to understand that the mind is a part of the body and sometimes people's minds don't don't don't function at the highest level and that we have to understand there's not a stigma we shouldn't look down on one another because someone is struggling in the mind just like we struggle with our eyes or with our heart or with our other areas of our body it can be a stigma and it shouldn't be you can get help today you can be honest today and the fourth introductory thought is people in the bible struggle with depression i just want you to understand that depression is not anything new somebody needs to know you're not alone i i've struggled with depression and that there were great men and women in the bible who struggled with depression one of them was a prophet named jeremiah he wrote the book of jeremiah and and he wrote these words in the book of jeremiah jeremiah 15 verse 10. he says i wish i had never been born brother struggling i'm always in trouble he's always in trouble nothing's going good brother having success in anything always in trouble with everyone in judah i never lend or borrow money but everyone curses me just the same he's struggling in his mind and jeremiah some of you i love to just educate our church about the bible the jeremiah also wrote the book of lamentations in the old testament and the book of lamentations it's it almost feels like it's dedicated to depression i mean you should read the book of lamentations you want to be depressed just go read lamentations it's a book on sadness and gloom and despair and agony i mean jeremiah struggled with depression and he's not the only person in the bible to struggle with depression i could point out other biblical characters but today i want to zoom in on elijah elijah the prophet elijah struggled with depression and today i want to give you six ways you get into the cave of depression you see in first kings chapter 19 verse 9 when elijah was struggling with depression the bible says that elijah went into a cave and that's what depression will do it will drive you into a cave you'll find yourself in the cave of depression so today i want to talk to you about how you get in the cave of depression but i promise you next week i'm gonna talk to you how you get out but today i'm gonna get you in let me get you in so six ways we get into the cave of depression number one is this out of control lifestyles out of control lifestyles there are two out of control lifestyles that can lead to depression and as i'm teaching i mean this is just backed up by many other professionals that talk about outside of biology how people end up in the cave of depression and the first is out of control lifestyles out of control lifestyles one of the major reasons elijah ended up in depression was because his lifestyle was out of control elijah had out-of-control emotions out-of-control emotions let me say this to his church the hardest person to lead is yourself and when you don't lead yourself well it will impact your mental health elijah did not lead his emotions well his emotions were all over the place i mean you read in first kings chapter number 18 and elijah was what was having this this encounter with these these false prophets these these these prophets of baal and he defeated them and the bible says there were 850 prophets against one man named elijah and elijah's the scripture says in 1st kings 18 he built this sacrifice he put water all over the sacrifice and then he prayed to god to come down with fire and to consume the sacrifice and god did that very thing he came down and consumed the sacrifice with fire you talking about a spiritual and an emotional high and then jeremiah put the 850 prophets of baal to the sword and they lost their lives and then immediate i mean just immediately following the spiritual high this spiritual victory this emotional high right there in first kings 18 then then jeremiah prays to god god there has not been rain on the land for three and a half years we're in a drought and jeremiah calls out he prays to god he intercedes god send rain on the land and god answers his prayer and sends rain on the land after a three and a half year drought you talking about a spiritual high you talking about victory you're talking about an emotional high god is on the move god is using jeremiah and then you keep on reading and here's what happens next ahab who is the king told his wife jezebel who's the queen everything elijah had done in first kings chapter 18 and how he he put the prophets to the sword and so jezebel sent a message to elijah let me read that to you first kings chapter 19 verse 2. so jezebel sent a message 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 that of one of them she said i'm gonna kill you i'm gonna take your life verse three elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to beersheba in judah he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness he came to a broombush sat down under it and prayed that he might die i've had enough lord he said take my life i am no better than my ancestors i mean you would think after defeating 850 prophets of baal calling down fire from heaven you would think he would say bring it on so still bring it on you don't want none of this you don't know who you're talking to do you i just caught fire down from heaven but no no that's not what happened instead elijah goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows i've noticed that the enemy attacks me most after my greatest spiritual victories it's amazing it's amazing one of the battles i have to fight and it was a lot more challenging when i began pastoring than it is today but sundays after move of god preaching people saved lives changed it's amazing on sunday night sitting there in my chair depressed like why did i say that i should have said that why did i do that what happened where was that family at today what's going on right it's amazing after spiritual victories how the enemy can come in and begin to attack and i remember in my younger years of pastor i can remember thinking man the attendance was down 10 people i'd be depressed oh jesus lord have mercy i was just only the emotional roller coaster y'all go ahead and miss now i'm gonna be all right i don't listen i won't eat my doritos and praise the lord hope i hope i'll see you the week after but right i used to be depressed i'm serious and it's amazing how you can be on an emotional high your highs get too high and your lows get too low and i'm telling you some of you are finding yourself in the cave of depression because you don't manage your own emotions well you allow your highs to get too high and your loads to get to lows but not only did jeremiah land in the cave of depression because of out of control emotions but also because of an out of control schedule out of concord schedules can put you in the cave of depression i wonder how elijah's schedule impacted his mental health i i just i just went there in my mind he he just prayed down fire from heaven he he's been he's been in this in this intense battle with these prophets and and building this altar and sacrifice to the lord and calling fire from heaven and then defeating them 850 prophets with the sword i mean that's intense stuff right there and then and now he's calling out to god he's interceding for the entire nation god's sin right god's sin right god's sin reign and then right after god sends reign then jezebel comes with this message and the bible says that jared that elijah took off running for his life some scholars believed that he went on a journey about 15 to 16 miles i'm telling you the brother was just plum smack wore down he's tired it wasn't good let me give you a word of wisdom don't let your pace outpace you not everything that's doable is sustainable and a lot of people create a pace that is not sustainable and then their pace catches up with them that's why the bible says in ecclesiastes chapter four and verse six better one handful with tranquility then two handfuls with tall and a chasing after the wind some of you think well what do you mean one handful is better god gave me two hands so two handfuls is better than one handfuls no no no no no that's not what the scripture says it's not always good to have both your hands full two handfuls doesn't always equal peace of mind sometimes it's better to have one job instead of two maybe it's better to have one car payment instead of two maybe it's better to have one of your kids in one sport at a time instead of instead of two sports at a time but maybe it's better to go out to eat once a week than twice a week maybe it's better to do an extra extracurricular activity once a week instead of twice this week twice a week what i'm saying is people have a philosophy if one is good two is better if one dollar is good two dollars is better if one donut is good two is better if one oreo is good do is matter if one wife is good two is wrong don't you do that don't you do that more and more research points to our lifestyle please hear this church our lifestyles is a main factor that cause depression that was true for me when i looked back at my lifestyle during that season i wasn't taking one day off a week i was working 60 70 80 hours every week i wasn't sleeping good at night two and three hours of sleep at night going to bed late waking up early worried about so many things i was not taking care of myself and that led me into the cave of depression my own lifestyle helped me get in the cave of depression i want you to see number two number two number two how do we get in the cave of depression comparing yourself to others i want you to see this and i read it to you a moment ago in first kings chapter 19 verse 4 elijah said take my life i am no better than my ancestors why in the world is he comparing himself to his ancestors what does that have to do with anything it doesn't even make sense in the story when you read it but one of the reasons a lot of people get depressed is because they're so focused on what everybody else is doing and the compare game causes emotional pain and not emotional gain the more you focus on what they have and why they have it or what they're doing and why they're doing it the more it robs you of the joy that god wants to give to you listen to what the bible says in galatians chapter six and verse four pay careful this is so key those first three words pay careful attention pay careful attention to your own work for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else i got a word for somebody today you do you you focus on what god has called you to do you do you because if you spend your time comparing yourself to everybody else it's going to send you into the cave of depression i've got a word from god for somebody today somebody today that's watching me in this building at another campus online somebody today today needs to start a 90-day social media break it's driving you crazy you don't have any peace sitting there at night spending hours looking um i know that anytime even that's not even real that's not even real i just know that got you a house got you a date look at you eating steak again hate you hate you hate you stop what are you doing pay attention to your own work to your own like you do you it'll set you free it'll set you free preach pastor i'm trying to trying to help somebody today number three is this how we get in the cave of depression negative self-talk negative self-talk notice this in first kings chapter 19 verse 10 he replied i have been very zealous for the lord god almighty the israelites have rejected your covenant torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword notice what he says i am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too elijah said look god i've been working hard for you i've killed all those wicked people and i'm the only good person left look god no one else around israel is living for you except for little old me and now god they're trying to kill me too that wasn't true at all elijah's negative self-talk caused him to talk himself into believing a lie you know anybody like that they just talk so much they're just so negative they start to say stuff don't make sense like what are you talking about i'm telling you it's true now what you talking about right just just negative self-talk the devil loves negative self-talk that's his favorite environment because the battle is won or lost in the mind that's why second corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5 says take captive every thought and make it obedient to christ the battles won or lost in the mind an author named brian tracy said 95 of your emotions are determined by the way you talk to yourself that's why your bible says that life and death is in the power [Applause] of your tongue that's why the bible is so strong on this topic romans chapter 8 and verse 6 says the mind governed by the flesh is death but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace if you control your mind you control your life but an out of control life leads to an out-of-control mouth and an out-of-control mouth leads to an out-of-control life watch what you say stop the negative talk quit saying you're stupid and you're dumb and you can't do it and god will never bless me he'll never help me he'll never turn it around you got to stop speaking it quit talking to yourself that way silence the negative self-talk there's a a fourth way we'll end up in the cave of depression and number four is this inability to process pain in a healthy way elijah was growing through a painful season there's no doubt about it the queen wanted to kill him and one of the things that led him into the cave of depression was he did not process pain in a healthy way and i see this all the time so many people do not process pain in an unhealthy way i was one of those people when i ended up in depression i was going through some pain i was leading through some stuff and i did not process the pain in a healthy way and some of you find yourself there you're not processing your pain in a healthy way you're playing the victim i'm a victim i'm a victim i'm a victim i'm a victim it's not processing pain in a healthy way you're blaming everybody else you're just you're just everyone just point fingers all the time you're you're blaming everybody else's it's not a healthy way to process pain so if you're running from pain you're just running you're just trying to outrun it you're not processing pain in a healthy way some of you are mad at pain you're just mad at your pain some of you are not processing pain in a healthy way because you're shocked by your pain and friends you should never be shocked that you're going through pain pain is a part of life jesus said in john 16 33 i have told you these things so that it ma that in me you may have peace in this world you will have trouble now i've noticed something about life no i've never met one person that has this bible verse on their refrigerator or mirror i hadn't met one all right hey i just wanna use my bible verse for today you will have trouble having that one person but it's true in life you will have trouble you you will have you will have pain and the majority of people turn to unhealthy ways to cope with their pain they turn to drugs or to alcohol to overeating to tv binging or to video games to three o'clock in the morning people try to escape their pain in unhealthy ways and when the pandemic started in march of 2020 after the first month of the pandemic drug addiction went up 18 in april it went up 29 in may it went up 42 we're just getting worse and worse and worse and now today as a pastor i realize that we're trying to minister to all of the impact to all of the trauma to all of the pain that people have went through in 2020 and in 2021 and church pain and trouble is real and i just want to give you a different view of your pain i want you to understand that your pain has a purpose we all go through pain and we can either use it to make a difference or we can use it to cause us to plunge into depression here's what the scripture says in second corinthians chapter number one and verse three through four it says praise be to god and the father of our lord jesus christ the father of compassion and the god of all comfort now notice who comforts us in all our troubles i want you to know this about your god he wants to comfort you in your trouble he didn't want the bottle to comfort you the pills to come for you he wants to comfort you i didn't want the food to come for you he wants to comfort you in all your troubles but the question is why why it's not just for you to get better notice what he goes on to say so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from god there's purpose in your pain your pain does not disqualify you it qualifies you to help somebody else who's going through the exact same thing that you went through god wants to take your pain and your trauma and your disappointment and your hurt and your heartbreak and he wants to take it and he wants to use it that you would use it to make a difference in somebody else's life somebody needs to hear me your pain has a purpose your pain has a purpose number five is this how do we end up in the cave of depression number five is isolation notice this in first kings chapter 19 verse 3 elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to beersheba in judah he left his servant there mistake big mistake elijah left his servant and went on the journey by himself he thought i got this i can handle this by myself and he isolated himself the worst mistake you can make is to go on the journey by yourself to think you're going to figure it out by yourself and we do that i did that when i was in depression i'm gonna muscle my way through i'm gonna get through this i can handle this i can do it alone and we think that but if you go on the journey alone you will only end up deeper and deeper in the cave of depression i want you to remember this church don't ever forget this the first problem in the bible wasn't sin it was solitude the first thing that went wrong wasn't the devil in chapter three of the book of genesis it was actually in chapter two when god said the first problem the first issue i'm saying it's not good for us to be alone and your spiritual enemy wants you to be alone in your pain don't go through pain don't go through trouble don't go through heartache don't go through struggle don't go through depression alone it's the plan of the enemy to get you alone why we talk about small groups why we talk about community because the enemy wants you isolated he will wear you out in isolation no matter if you're going through trouble you need the help of people i want you to quickly i want you to quickly see this story of someone going through trouble and how people help them out of their trouble check out this video [Music] we had both been married both been divorced and i say neither one of us had a good example that we had lived we had like her parents who've been married 41 years other than that everybody was divorced or they were single so i didn't have an example of what that was supposed to look like i really really wanted to be a part of like a married small group so we could grow together meet people that were couples we didn't really have any couple friends and it was funny because i remember thinking like okay if he's going to be in a small group kind of doesn't want to be in a small group it's like your wife making mandatory friends for you it was a playdate and i really didn't want to go so i i just had these things in my head like oh god if you have this perfect small group it's gonna have like these things we need and he hooked us up with uh carlos and marcy moore and it was just all the things that i would never have dreamt of asking for in a small group because it was like somebody understands all those points like if you have a problem with your ex somebody there understands the biracial or blended or any of those things people understood and it was it was almost pretty instant that we were like wow these people are a lot more like us than we could have possibly imagined or asked for we got into a fight and got frustrated with each other and decided to separate but we were in two separate bedrooms we drove separate cars to work at the same place we were perfectly content coming home and eating dinner with the kids and hanging out with the kids and then when they went to bed we would just do our separate thing me personally i'd given up i was done i was like i'm tired of fighting i don't want to fight anymore i don't want to argue with you anymore and i got to that point where i just said we're just we're just going to get a divorce i remember um marcy texting me one time and saying like are you going to come to small group this week so i packed up the kids got in the car and he's like bye and for the whole summer he didn't come to small group i kept coming every week pretty sure i cried through most of them people kept reaching out to us one day uh ray asked me he said uh can you think you could come by and help me replace the starter on my daughter's truck i went to ray's house and i crawled underneath the truck and i think i expected him to preach at me instead he just listened to me regardless of what you and your wife are going through he was there for me and he finally agreed as like a latch last ditch effort to go to counseling we heard about the marriage conference and our our counselor that we was seeing he thought it would be a good idea things just really changed we sat with a bunch of people from our small group they prayed with us they talked with us and our counseling turned around we started talking and somewhere in there we just decided that we could we could do this and it was really cool coming back to small group because they just welcomed us back like it was no thing it was amazing for me to go to your small group to have hard conversations and if you're looking for an answer they would pray for you that's what your small group is for they're there to help you to get you through things i've looked for that pretty much through my whole life help healing hope strength victory comes when we're together small groups make that kind of a difference would you get in a small group don't don't be isolated don't be isolated get on the app find a small group zoom or in person whatever suits you best but get in a small group get in one it's so good for your mental health for your spiritual growth our leaders will be out in the lobby talking to you small group needs to be all around the lobby go talk to somebody get connected victory happens in small groups here's the sixth one here's the sequence i'm talking to you how we get in the cave next week we're gonna get out the cave here's the six reason we get in the cave spiritual warfare elijah was under spiritual attack he was taking ground for god's kingdom and jezebel was a tool of the enemy who was trying to stop him she was threatening his very life and i've come to tell somebody today as a christian you're in a spiritual battle there's a real enemy that is fighting there's a real devil who is a spirit who's out to steal kill and to destroy your life church hear me today everything is more spiritual than you realize you just name the situation name the battle you're in name the fight you're in everything is more spiritual then you realize you're fighting against a real spiritual enemy that's why the scripture says in first peter chapter five and verse eight be alert end of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around looking around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour some of you did not realize that you're in a spiritual battle for your mental health a spiritual battle for your family for your relationships for your peace for your joy for your faith and today i've come full of faith i've come prayed up and i believe today that something's going to break in somebody's life today depression's going to break off somebody today i really believe it a heaviness is going to break of somebody today some of you are dealing with strongholds today strongholds are going to break today in the presence of the lord i've got faith for you today that god's going to show up he's going to set somebody's free depression is going to get kicked out of your mind and your heart and your spirit today somebody today is going to get victory we'll just stand with me all around the location every location with your stem every location with your stand and come on just right now before they begin to sing at every location where you begin to lift your hands and say god do it today lord move today lord set free today lord heal today lord i pray today something has to break something has to break something has to break

Channel: People's Church

Views: 1,071

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Dealing with depression, depression in the bible, can you get depressed and be christian, christians with depression, how did i become depressed, I haven't given up, hypocrites, religious trauma, church burnout, church scandal, Peoples Church, herbert cooper, peopleschurch tv, youth takeover, jesus, next generation, worship, Elevation, Elevation Worship, MOSAIC, Steven Furtick, Erwin McManus, Craig Groeschel, Transformation Church, Mike Todd, Relationship Goals, oklahoma pastor

Id: 7GVfjINkwQ4

Length: 36min 7sec (2167 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021