- Hi, everybody. This weekend I'm beginning
our annual fall tour of our campuses where
I intend to visit each of our campuses and see you in person. You know that Saddleback Church
is just one church family, but we got so big we just couldn't fit, well, we couldn't fit in Angel Stadium, much less fit in one campus, so we now meet in multiple buildings. And this weekend I'm starting my tour at Saddleback Irvine North
where Pastor DJ is the pastor. So I'd like for all of us
and all of our campuses, when I say three, one, two, three, to wave and say hello, Irvine North, to all of our brothers and sisters in our Saddleback family at Irvine North. Okay, ready, one, two,
three, hello, Irvine North! All right, now this weekend
I wanna share part five in my series on how God turns
setbacks into comebacks. You know, all of us have
to deal with many, many different kinds of setbacks
in life, financial, health, relational, job
setbacks, career setbacks, personal setbacks, spiritual setbacks, many, many other kinds. But today I want us to
look at what do you do when a setback leaves
you emotionally empty. You know, one of the common
negative side effects of setbacks is that they can drain your emotional tank empty,
so you've got no reserves for dealing with daily life. You know what I'm talking about. You just feel empty, you feel
like you're running on fumes, you got nothing left to give, you drag yourself through the day. Now in last week's message, Sheila Walsh referred to Elijah, and this
week, I'd like to go back and take a little closer
look at the life of this guy named Elijah, because Elijah
clearly illustrates for us how God helps us when
we're drained emotionally. Now if you know anything
about this man named Elijah in the Bible, you might not
expect him to have experienced emotional burnout, because God
did so many amazing things, so many miracles in and
through Elijah's life. And yet the Bible tells
us in James 5:17, quote, Elijah was a man just like us. What does that mean? It means he was susceptible
to the same troubles and the same temptations, same moods that we all face every single day. Now from one particular
setback in Elijah's life that we're gonna look at
today, God shows us both the warning signs of when
you are emotionally empty. You need to know these signs. You need to know the
gauges in your own life. And it also more importantly
gives us the steps that God uses to refill
your life with hope and joy and love when you have just hit bottom, your tank is emotionally empty. Now there's a fascinating
story in 1 Kings chapter 19, but actually it starts a
chapter before in chapter 18. And here's the background. Israel was being led by a very wicked king named Ahab and his wife named Jezebel. You've probably heard of them. The nation had fallen
into moral bankruptcy. The whole nation had turned away from God to worshiping stone
idols, and they were even sacrificing their children. It was a very brutal, bloody religion to idols named Baal. There was only one true prophet
of God left in the nation. His name was Elijah. And one day Elijah just gets fed up with all of this idolatry
and he issues a challenge. He goes, how long are
you guys, the nation, how long are you gonna
waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. And if the idol Baal is
God, well then follow him. And he boldly suggested,
let's have a God contest. This is a great idea, and
he's pretty bold in it. So the entire nation
gathers on Mount Carmel in the Land of Israel, and Elijah says, okay, here's the plan. We're gonna have a God contest. We're gonna sacrifice two bulls, and we'll let the 450 prophets
of this false god named Baal, you guys go pray to your idol, and then I'll pray to the real God. And here's the key, whoever
answers with fire wins the God contest, and after
that, we will worship and serve whoever God wins. And the people goes, great idea. Well, the prophets of Baal, they go first, and they build their wood and they put the cows on the wood, and they pray all day
and they chant all day and they dance all day, and
nothing of course happens. And of course Elijah is
teasing them the whole day. In fact, he even makes fun of 'em. He says, is your god asleep? At one point, this is
actually in the Bible, he says, maybe your god's going
to the bathroom right now. He can't hear you. Maybe you need to shout a little louder. Maybe he's sitting on the toilet. And he makes fun of 'em,
and of course they fail. That evening, Elijah
says, okay, let's really, it's my turn, so let's
make this a real contest. Here's what I want you to do. I'm not just gonna call on God to send down fire, but I
want you to soak the wood on my side of my sacrifice
with 12 barrels of water so that the wood is actually waterlogged. Okay, we're gonna make it
a little tougher for me. And then Elijah prays
a very simple prayer. It's in 1 Kings chapter
18, verses 36 to 38. It's here on the screen, and it says this. At the time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah went up to the altar and he prayed. It's a very simple prayer. Lord, I know you're the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel, now prove
that you are the real God and that I am your servant,
and show these people that you told me to do this. Lord, answer my prayer
so these people will know that you're God and that
they will change their minds. And it says out of that simple prayer, he didn't have to pray all day. It's just a couple-sentence prayer. Then the fire from the Lord
came down and burned up not just the sacrifice and all the wood, but it also burned up
the stones and the ground around the altar and it dried
up all the water in the ditch. Now the people are astounded. They began to worship God and they rose up and they go all you other false prophets, you have been leading us astray for years. And they got so mad at
all the false prophets, they killed 'em for all
their years of deception and the sacrificing of their children that these false prophets
had been requiring. And there was a great spiritual revival. But of course with every
mountaintop, there's a valley, and in the next scene,
chapter 19 of 1 Kings, Queen Jezebel hears about it,
and these were her personal false prophets, and she
gets ticked, she's mad. Now notice on your outline,
at the top of your outline, 1 Kings 19 of verses one to five, and then verse 10, it says this. So King Ahab told his
wife Jezebel everything that Elijah done and how
he had ordered the death of all their false prophets of Baal. So the queen sent this threat to Elijah. May my gods strike me
dead if I don't kill you by this time tomorrow. Wow, it's a death threat from the queen. Elijah, it says, was afraid,
and he ran for his life. He left his servant in
the town of Beersheba and he walked for a full
day into the desert. Finally he came to a broom tree and he collapsed under its shade. And then he prayed that he might die. He said, God, I've had enough. Take my life, just let me die, for I'm no better than my ancestors. And exhausted, he fell
asleep under the broom tree. Later, down to verse 10,
it says Elijah told God, God, I have always worked
hard for you, Lord, but your people have
abandoned your covenant. They've destroyed your places of worship, and they've murdered
all your true prophets and I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me, too. This guy's on the edge,
he's empty emotionally. He's on the edge of burnout. Now from this story we
can draw a lot of lessons from what happened that
deal with your life and my life today and how God
turns setbacks into comebacks. This story, first of
all, illustrates 10 signs of emotional burnout, 10 signs that are all in Elijah's life. When your emotional tank
is empty, you need to know these signs so you can respond. But more importantly,
it teaches us how God refills your emotional
tank when you're empty. Okay, so let's get right into it. First, how do I know when
my emotional tank is empty? Well, look at what Elijah says and look at what Elijah does. There are 10 things, they're
all underlined in that passage there on your outline. Let's just go through 'em very quickly. First, I know I'm emotionally
empty, my tank is empty. When that happens, number
one, fear creeps into my life. You start becoming more fearful. The Bible says Elijah was afraid. When fear comes into your life, it's 'cause your emotional tank is empty. Number two, I find myself
running away from things when I'm running out
of energy emotionally. The Bible says Elijah ran for his life. Question, what are you
running from right now? What are you running from? It's a sign that you may
be emotionally low on gas. Number three, I start
backing out of relationships. Notice the third thing it says. He left his servant in
the town of Beersheba. This is a guy had been with
him for a long, long time, and he's just walking away from him. Are you walking away from a relationship? That can show that you're
emotionally drained from all the stuff you're going through. Number four, you might write this down. I make foolish decisions impulsively. When I'm emotionally drained, I make foolish decisions impulsively. It says he walked for a
full day into the desert. Okay, question, how smart's that to walk for a full day in the desert? First, he's headed in the wrong direction. And second, he's got no plan. He's not taking water with him. He's walking in the wrong
direction with no plan. That's a sign that you're
on the edge of burnout, a sign that you're making
foolish decisions impulsively. Number five, I push myself
past my physical limits. Write that down. If you're doing that,
you're headed for burnout. You push yourself past physical limits. I can get more done than I think. It says he collapsed under
the shade of that broom tree. Okay, he had just kept walking
and walking into the desert until finally he just collapsed. Number six, when you're
physically or spiritually or emotionally burned out,
when you are on the edge of emotional emptiness,
my work seems pointless. Notice the phrase there. He says I've worked hard, but he says I really haven't seen any results. I haven't seen anybody change. He says nobody's making any change. The nation's still in a mess
and they're still serving false gods and they're
offering sacrifices to idols. He blamed himself for things
that weren't his fault. Now the nation's falling apart
and he takes it personally. He goes, I'm a failure. You know, one of the
great causes of burnout is trying to control
everything, this Atlas syndrome. Friend, you can resign as
general manager of the universe. It's not gonna fall apart,
because the whole world does not rest on your shoulders. There are a lot of things
that are beyond your control, and you're not responsible
for other people's response in life. You know, as a pastor, I have to deal with this all the time. It's my responsibility
to teach God's truth. But I'm not responsible
for what you do with it. If I was, I'd worry myself to death. Okay, he was just taking
too much responsibility. Number seven, a seventh
warning sign that your emotional tank is empty. I complain that I wanna quit and give up. That's what Elijah did. Notice he says, God, I have had enough. It's like telling God,
okay, I'm up to here, I'm at the end of my rope, I'm
ready to throw in the towel, I'm ready to jump off the cliff. And when your emotional tank
is low, you lose your vision. You forfeit your future. You forget your goals. You just wanna give up. You wanna stop caring. Elijah says it's just not worth it. I'm ready to throw in the towel. Now let me give you a couple more. Number eight, when your
emotional tank is low, you feel isolated and attacked. I feel isolated, I feel
lonely, I feel attacked. Notice the phrase, Elijah
says, I'm the only one left. Okay, he's having a pity party. I'm the only one left and
they're trying to kill me, too. Now the truth is, Elijah's
exaggerating the problem. We always do that when
we're emotionally low. We make the problem
worse than it really is because the truth is, in Acts 19, excuse me, in 1 Kings 19 verse 18, look at this on the screen. God says this. Actually, Elijah, there are
7,000 other faithful souls in Israel who have not
bowed down their knees to the false god of Baal,
so you're not the only guy. You're not the only one. Quit having a pity party. There's 7,000 other people
who've been faithful to me, who haven't gone off the
rails, who've been true to me. But Elijah is so drained emotionally, his view of reality is distorted. I mean think about this. He's just had this enormous
God contest where he wins against 450 false prophets in
front of the entire nation, and now just one woman with
an empty threat is a setback and he's running off to hide in a cave. Think about this, if Jezebel
had actually intended to kill him, wouldn't
she have sent a hit man instead of a messenger to warn him? Why do you send a messenger to warn a guy and say I'm gonna kill you? Just send a guy and kill him. Why warn him so he can escape? So he's not thinking straight because he's emotionally drained. Number nine, the ninth sign
that you are on the verge of burnout is I compare myself to others and I feel bad about me. Now we've talked about this many times. The Bible says anytime
you compare yourself to other people, it's foolish. The Bible tells us not
to compare ourselves with others, and Elijah says, for I'm no better than my ancestors. We depreciate our worth
when we feel burned out. We put ourselves down mentally. The self-talk replays over
and over in your mind. I'm nobody, my life doesn't matter, my work doesn't matter,
my life has no value. Note the phrase I'm no better than. That's a comparative phrase. One of the main causes of
being emotionally drained is you start comparing
yourself to other people. You compare everything and then you start motivating yourself
with criticism, I must, I should, I have to, and
you become hyper-critical and you become your own worst critic. And finally you feel guilty
for not getting it all done and just say it's hopeless. And friends, what I'm
talking about right now is called emotional reasoning. It's focusing on your
feelings instead of the facts. I feel it, so it must be true. You know, every pro athlete,
every pro performer, speaker, musician, minister, they often get discouraged
after great performance. After every mountaintop,
there is a valley. You're emotionally depleted,
so you can't think straight. And what you have to
do is you have to learn to ignore your emotions,
learn to ignore your feelings. I don't ever make any
decision the day after Easter or Christmas because my
feelings are highly unreliable. You know, I remember
one time when Kay and I were on the honeymoon
and I said, you know, I don't really feel married. She said, well, doesn't
matter whether you feel it or not, buster, you're married. Maybe you say, I don't
feel God is with me. Well, feelings lie. That's emotional reasoning. Let me give you number 10. A 10th signs that your tank,
your emotional tank is empty is what Elijah did, and
that is I think death might bring relief. Notice it says Elijah
prayed that he might die and he says take my life, Lord. Just let me die. Now let me just say to those
of you who are listening right now, whether you're on
the internet or on Daily Hope or in one of our campuses,
maybe you felt that just dying would be the way to relief, and you think maybe taking my life would be the way to do that. Don't, don't. Taking your life is a permanent solution to a temporary mood. Don't. There are people who care,
we care, we love you, and you need to get help,
and don't, never make a major decision when you're depressed. Now of these 10 things, you
look at that as a checklist, looking at that, now do you
realize why James tells us in James 5:17, Elijah was
a person just like us? Because you can identify with
a lot of those 10 things. Now that's good enough in
itself, but this passage has even more to share
with us, and it teaches us how God refills our emotional tank. And I want you to notice
now the next three things that God does in spite of all the things that Elijah did when he
ran out of gas emotionally. Okay, so let's look at these three things. Write these down. Number one, the first
way God refills my tank is God makes me rest my body. God makes me rest my body. Psalm 23 two and three,
from the most famous Psalm in the Bible is this, he makes me lay down in great, lie
down in green pastures. He leads me beside still
waters, he restores my soul. Sometimes God has to make you lie down 'cause you're not smart
enough to do it yourself. He's gonna force you to actually recharge your body physically
because your physical, you can't be spiritually
and emotionally strong while you're physically depleted. This is what happened to Elijah. 1 Kings 19 five to seven. It says then Elijah laid down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping,
an angel touched him and said, get up and
eat, and he looked around and he saw some baked bread on hot stones and a jar of water. Oh, he's got some donuts. And so he ate and he drank
and he laid down again, and he went back to sleep. And it says then the angel
of the Lord came back to him again and touched
him again and said, get up again and eat some more, for there's a long journey ahead of you. So Elijah got up again and
he ate and drank again, and his strength was revived. You know what I love about
God is how practical he is, that the antidote to Elijah's burnout was eat and sleep and eat and sleep. God's first prescription was
food and rest and relaxation. God did not scold Elijah. He didn't say, come on man,
you're having a pity party. He didn't even lecture,
he just let him sleep. Sometimes the most
spiritual thing you can do is go back to bed, take a nap. Psalm 127, verse two in
the Living Bible says God wants his loved ones
to get their proper rest. As Vince Lombardi, the great
football coach, used to say, you know fatigue makes
cowards of all of us. And it's amazing how different things look after good night's sleep. So the first thing God wants to do is if you're emotionally over the edge and you're drained and you're
on the edge of burnout, he says you need to
take care of your body. Kay and I have a phrase at our house we call control the controllables. There are a lot of
things you can't control. You can control what you eat,
you can control your sleep, you can control what you do and some of those things in your schedule. Control what you can control. God wants you, he makes
you rest your body. That's the first thing. Some of you might need to go
get a checkup with the doctor if you've been going through depression. It's not a sin to be sick,
it's not a sin to be depressed. So go and maybe get a physical checkup and do whatever you need to do. And here's the second thing God did. First he dealt with his physical needs. Eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. That's his first antidote to
his depression, his burnout, his empty tank, emotional tank. Second, God encourages me
to release my frustrations. How many times have you heard me say this, revealing your feeling is
the beginning of healing. and we find that in the next few verses, 1 Kings 19, eight and nine, it says this. Next, Elijah traveled 40 days to get to Mount Sinai,
the mountain of God. You know this mountain,
it's where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments,
very famous mountain. And it says there he,
Elijah, came to a cave where he spent the night. So he's run across the desert, he spent the night in
a cave at Mount Sinai. But the Lord said to him, what
are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here? And then Elijah said, and
in the next few verses, Elijah just unloads his
complaints and his frustrations. Now you know and I think
even Sheila mentioned this last week, whenever God
asks you a question, he already knows the answer. And when God says to Elijah,
what are you doing here, God already knew why
Elijah, he wanted Elijah to own up to why he was there. And Elijah's answer to that question, what are you doing here
in a cave in Mount Sinai, was to start complaining
of all the things. And in that, God says, I know, Elijah, you're carrying a bundle of emotions. So he says what's bugging you? Get it off your chest,
it's okay, spill your guts. God is encouraging Elijah
to blow off some steam. And in that cave and in
his prayer, Elijah vents his frustration and he
actually, if you go through this passage, specifically
deals with six emotions. Verse three, he vents his fear. Verse 10, he vents his anger. Verse four, he vents resentment. Verse 10, second part, loneliness, low self-esteem back up in
verse four, worry in verse 10. He says I'm afraid, I'm bitter, I'm angry, I'm lonely, I'm worried, I'm depressed. Here's the point, God isn't shocked when you can complain to him. He'll listen to you until
you run out of words. Have you ever wondered
why some of the Psalms are in the Bible? 'Cause every emotion known to
man is covered in the Psalms. In many Psalms, David is just unloading. It's kind of cathartic, he goes, God, right now life sucks. I don't like what's going on and I don't, and he just complains. You know what, God put those
in the Bible for a reason, to show that it's okay for you to release your frustration. You gotta rest your body. That's the first step back
to refilling your tank, rest your body. And you gotta release your frustration, that's the second step back
to refilling your tank. So if you're feeling down,
if you're feeling empty, you've had a setback and it's caused you to just lose the joy, lose the hope, lose the love, lose
the enthusiasm in life, then you just need to
tell God how you feel. 1 Peter 5:7 says cast
all your cares on him because he cares for you. Just pour out your heart to Jesus. By the way, let me give you a little tip. It helps to share with friends and a small group or a counselor. That's why I always encourage everybody get in a small group. You know, out on the patio at your campus, there will be people out
there who will help you learn to sign up to a small group if you're not. When I'm out on the
patio, when people share their hurts with me and
they go, they'll say, Pastor Rick, I've never
told this to anybody, first place, I get excited 'cause I know they're gonna have some healing. But usually my first question
is, are you in a small group? Because if you're in a small group, revealing your feeling is
the beginning of healing. Now there's a third thing that God does to help restore and refill our tank when we're empty after setback. Okay, rest your body, okay? Rest your body and
release your frustrations. Then number three, God
tells me to remember and refocus on him. I need to remember what he said, I remember who he is, I
remember all his promises, and I refocus on him. You get your eyes off your
problem, off the troubles, off the trials, off the temptation, and start looking to Jesus. You get a fresh awareness of God's power and God's presence and God's personality. This is the third step
in Elijah's recovery, and it's found in the next couple verses, 1 Kings 19 verses 11 to 13. Now here's the instructions. The Lord said to Elijah,
go stand in front of me in the mountain and I will pass by you, and then a very strong wind blew past. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after that, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And then there was a wildfire, but the Lord was not in the fire. But then there was a quiet, gentle sound. A whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he
covered his face with his coat and he went out and he stood
at the entrance to the cave, and the voice said, Elijah,
why are you still here? He's asking the same question again. God's saying, God says I
want you to get alone with me 'cause I got something for you to see. And God puts on a multimedia
event extravaganza for Elijah. First a wind and hurricane,
and then an earthquake, and then a firestorm, and
finally a small whisper. What in the world is
God doing in all this? He's demonstrating his power. The point is, Elijah, you're
worried about one woman. I'm in control here, you can relax. You see, the root of
burnout, the root of being emotionally empty is
you're trying to play God. You're trying to be God. You're trying to control
everything and you can't. You know, Frank Sinatra
sang his famous song, it was actually the theme for
his life, I Did It My Way. But do you know what his
last words were when he died? I'm losing it. Those were Frank Sinatra's
last words, I'm losing it. Why, because he wasn't
in control of his life as much as he thought he
was, and you aren't, either. Let me share another
verse from another guy who was emotionally empty. He was another prophet,
and his name was Jeremiah. And one of the books that he
wrote is called Lamentations, which means my complaints. And he writes it for posterity. He is releasing his frustrations
to God, his lamentations. He's complaining to God,
God, I don't like this. But Jeremiah finds the antidote
to his emotional emptiness by remembering how good God is. And by doing this third step
of refocusing and remembering, remembering what God is like
and refocusing on what God has said and his promises,
and in this verse that I want you to look at, and
I want you to write this out on a card and put on your
mirror or on your dashboard or on your refrigerator. He mentions five specific qualities that pull him out of his depression when his emotional tank is empty. It's Lamentation three, 19 to 24. Now let me read this to
you, and I want you to just let this savor and simmer
and soak in your mind. Jeremiah says this. Remember, he's down, he's empty. He says, just thinking of my troubles and my wanderings, what's wanderings? It means you're lost, you
don't know where you're going. When I think of my troubles, when I think I haven't the slightest idea
where I'm going in life, when I think of my
troubles and my wanderings, it fills me with sadness and bitterness. He says, it's all I ever think
about, and I'm depressed. But this is the big change here. Then, but then I remember,
this is step three, remember and refocus, but then I remember something that fills me with hope. Okay, you ready? I hope you're listening
right now at every campus, listening online, because
what I'm about to read to you from the word of God will give you an amazing new shot of hope. He says, then I remember
something that fills me, fills me with hope. And he says five things. Number one, the Lord's
steadfast love never ends. His unfailing mercy keeps
me from being wiped out. Number three, because of
his great faithfulness, each new day, he is, number
four, always kind to me. So deep in my heart I say to
myself, the Lord is all I need. He is my, number five, real hope. Those five things will
pull you out of depression, out of burnout, will refill
your tank if you will remember and refocus on those
five qualities of God. You know, a lot of people like chocolate when they're depressed. A lot of people turn to
sugar when they're depressed. Let's go get some ice cream. Let's go have some pie. And a lot of people turn
to sugar as an antidote. When they're emotionally empty,
they wanna fill up on sugar. Today I wanna give you a
different kind of sugar to turn to when you're emotionally empty. So everybody get out of
pencil and write this down. Here's Pastor Rick's prescription. It's God's sugar pill for you. Remember these five things, S-U-G-A-R. Remember God's steadfast love. Write that down, that's the S. Remember God's unfailing
mercy, that's the U. Remember God's great
faithfulness, that's the G. Remember God is always kind, that's the A. Remember God gives real
hope, that's the R. S-U-G-A-R, that's real sugar. Steadfast love, unfailing
mercy, great faithfulness, always kind, real hope. That'll give you a sugar high. It's a high that won't bring you down. It's the love of God. Build your life on those
five qualities of God that Jeremiah depended
on that pulled him out of his sadness, his grief, his depression, his emptiness after his setback. Now finally, here's the last
thing that God says to Elijah. 1 Kings 19, 15 and 16. He says to Elijah,
Elijah, go back, go back, go back the way you came. Go back the way you came
to the desert of Damascus. And he says when you get there, here's what I want you to
do, I want you to anoint, what's anoint, it means
you're gonna appoint some other people to help you. I want you to anoint
Hazael, I want you to anoint a guy named Jehu, and I want you to anoint a guy named Elisha. I want you to go back
to where you came from, and when you get there,
I want you to anoint Hazael and Jehu and Elisha. Now what's going on here? God gave Elijah a brand-new assignment. Why did God do this? Because God wasn't through with Elijah, and God isn't through with you. I don't know what setback
you're experiencing right now that's drained you, drained
your emotional tank, you're running on empty,
you're running on fumes. You may be feeling burned
out and out of gas, and I don't have anything to give. Well, God brought you here today, and God brought you here so
you could hear these words and so God could say this
to you, are you ready? God says, I'm not through with you. I'm not through with you. I'm not through with you. One of the quickest ways
to defeat depression, get involved in helping somebody else. Jesus says in giving your
life away, you find it. Elijah needed to get his eyes off himself, refocus on God's purpose and God's plan. You may be depressed,
you may be burnt out, you need to stay in love. I need to go back and do
what God wants me to do. And by the way, notice that
in finding a place of service where you can give yourself
away, that's a major part of seeing what God wants
to do in your life. And that's a major part of
joy returning in your life. And I'm sure that there
are people here today who feel like Elijah did. Some days you don't wanna get out of bed, some days you feel that
everything's piling up against you. Some of you today are physically
and emotionally exhausted. You may have a short
fuse with other people. And no doubt, some of you here today have even considered taking your life. Are you sick and tired of
feeling sick and tired? There's hope in Jesus. He cares, and we do, too. So here's God's recovery plan to get well. You gotta deal with all these
dimensions of your life, the physical and the spiritual
and emotional and relational. You gotta take care of
your physical needs. Okay, rest, schedule change. You gotta face and deal with
the emotions you're feeling and you need to release
those frustrations. You gotta refocus and recenter
your life around Christ and sugar, S-U-G-A-R, those
five qualities of God. And you gotta get involved
in helping somebody else. Many years ago, back in 1981, I went through an entire year of burnout. Took a full year for me to recover. You say how did I recover,
I followed these steps. You will make it with God's help. Let me pray for you. Jesus, you know that many people are tired and you know that they're
frazzled by their emotions, and some of 'em are empty. And there are people here
I know that this message has really spoken to them. And as we went down through
that checklist, they were going, yep, that's me, yep,
that's me, yes, that is me. Would you help them today
as they turn to you? Would you restore their soul? Now you pray. Say, Jesus Christ, I wanna
take these initial steps to refill my tank. Help me to rest my body. Help me to do whatever I need
to do to get in better shape to take care of the
physical parts of my body that I've been ignoring,
I've been trying to burn the candle at both ends or whatever. And then say, Lord, I need to release, I need to release my frustrations. And just tell him what
you're worried about. Tell him what you're bitter about, tell him what you're sad about, tell him what you're afraid of. Tell him what makes you
angry, he can handle it. Release your frustrations. You may need to take some
time off this afternoon or tomorrow or tonight or some other day and actually spend some
time making a list of things you wanna share with God. And then finally, would you refocus and remember God's steadfast love and God's unfailing mercy and God's great faithfulness, and remember God is always, always kind. And remember that he is
the source of real hope. That's real sugar. Father, I pray for
everyone listening today, for those who've never opened
their lives to Jesus Christ, may they do so right now. If you've never done so, say
Jesus Christ, come into my life and start changing me from the inside out. I wanna know you, I wanna learn
to love you and trust you. I pray, Father, that you
would bless each person in the sound of my voice
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. - Thanks for checking out
this message on YouTube. My name is Jay, and I'm
Saddleback's online pastor. I wanna invite you to take your next step by checking out our online community or help get you connected to
a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have
to offer you right now, first, learn more about
belonging to our church family by taking Class 101. Second, don't live life
alone, and get into community with others by joining
an online small group or a local home group in your area. Third, join our Facebook
group to be more engaged with our online community
throughout the week. Take your next step and
learn where a local campus is near you by visiting saddleback.com/online or email online@saddleback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
