- Sunday evening at Hillsong Church. How good is that? Welcome, we've got a great crowd in here. All 50 of them, beautifully, socially distanced. You guys gotta do all the singing 'cause they're supposed to not sing. Yeah, a little bit under
your breath is, you know. Sorry, can't say that. Sorry, we would never do that. Are you well, are you ready to praise God? Are you ready for what the Lord is about to do in this service? Father, we commit this time to You. Have Your way, we pray. Lord, we believe that every person who tunes into our service
no matter where they are will sense the presence of
God right now in Jesus' Name. Amen, Amen, Amen. Come on, let's go! - Come on Church, here we go. Come on, let's sing this out. C'mon, it's not time. C'mon, wherever you are, from the famous! Come on. ♪ Singing ♪ - Come on, why don't you give
God some praise in this place. Wherever you are, c'mon! Lift up the Name of Jesus. - Come on Church,
together we sing this out. Come on we lift up His praise together. Lift up His praise tonight, we praise You, Jesus. Well this is our story, Church. Let's sing loud. ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We praise You Jesus ♪ - Come on, we sing it. Come on, we sing it again. There is no other name. Come on, we'll sing it one more time Come on! ♪ I know ♪ I can see the light! Come on, we sing that
again, I can see the light! Lord, we sing it Come on, we sing together, Church. Come on, we declare. - Come on, Church, why don't you praise
God in your lounge room, wherever you are right now. Give the glory to God. There is no name like the Name of Jesus. Beautiful name, a wonderful
name, a powerful name. And well done, team. Put your hand towards
these prayer requests, we've got a whole lot of them as always. I think some of them
may go across the screen right now, as we pray. There's too many, you can see, for us to name them all one by one. But we know that God heals people from sickness, from disease. He answers our physical needs. He answers our material needs, He answers our spiritual
needs, our emotional needs. And so Lord, I just
thank You in Jesus' Name that nothing's impossible to You. And Lord, nothing is too small for You. Lord, I just thank You, You care about the great things and You care about the smallest things when it comes to caring for Your children. Father, we put our hope in Jesus. We thank You that our hope
is in the Name of the Lord. We thank You Father for the victory, which is ours in Christ Jesus. We thank You, Lord, for what
You have already won for us. By Your stripes, we are healed, Lord, in Jesus' Name. We just believe for
testimonies and stories of Your faithfulness. During this pandemic, Lord, we believe that we hear stories of turnaround and reversal
of people's finances. We hear stories of Your protection and Your miracle working power. So Father, we thank You
for it in Jesus' Name. Amen, come on! Amen. Amen. Wonderful. Well as always, there's plenty
of praise reports as well. I think I have some right here somewhere. Not that one, not that one. Not throwing those away,
they're too precious. Here we go. Fantastic. So Vivian is praising God. You've gotta have fun. - You do.
- It's church. Church is to be enjoyed, not endured. - Exactly.
- Amen. It'll either be the
quickest hour in your life, online church, or the slowest,
shortest, hour of your life. So we're gonna make this hour count. And, Nathanael?
- Yeah? - You've been preaching great. - Thank you. - I'm glad I taught you all I know. - You have. - You really have been. Hey listen, Vivian is praising God because of a good report from the doctor about her pregnancy, and also her husband's
had a promotion at work. I love those good stories. Marissa, praising God because she was blessed with a car this week. Have you ever been blessed with a car? - I don't think so.
- Never? Are you holding that mike up high enough? - I think it's good. It's all good.
- Okay. Well you should know,
you're an expert by now. Gwen, praising God, her and her husband were
able to put a down payment on their dream home.
- Amazing. - You don't even own your own home. - No, not yet.
- You don't. Why is that? Why is that? Why don't you own your own home? - That's a good question for everyone to to be talking about. Put on the chat why you think I don't yet, why we don't yet own our first home. Let's see what the chat says. Hey, and if it's true or not- - Yeah, but you're nearly 50 years of age. - I'm almost 60. - He said he's almost 60. Okay. How old are you, 40? - 45.
- 45. - Yeah.
- Wow. - A couple of weeks ago. - A couple of weeks ago you turned 45? - Yeah.
- Phenomenal. - Your text was awesome. - You're still very handsome. - Thank you. - I find you attractive. You know what this reminds of like? You know, just a duo
like Bonnie and Clyde. - Yeah.
- I'm Clyde. Thelma and Louise. The old Western, you know, with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. What was that? - That was a long time ago. - That's right, you're only 45, I forgot. Hey praise reports, real quick. We're thanking God for
someone's small business, very successful. Someone else's promotion at work. Thanking God, COVID-19 tests for five family
members came back negative. Those tests. I think the test is worse than the COVID. I mean, well, have you had one of those up your nose.
- I haven't had one. - But when it reaches whatever's up there, they just keep pushing. It's very uncomfortable I know I'm a whinger. And other people who are probably- Brian Clyde Houston, it
says there in that chat. Houston and Wood, there you go, they're talking about duos. - Someone, Pastor Brian putting
Nathanael on the spot. That's unlike you.
- Yeah it is. - When you're weird with your friend after not seeing them in months. Oh you're just lucky we've
gotta be social distanced 'cause I'll give him a kiss. On the cheek, obviously.
- Obviously. - Well listen, there's
a lot of praise reports. We're very grateful for
all that God's doing and what God's doing in the
lives of people everywhere. It really is amazing. You guys here can all be seated. I guess in your home or wherever you are, car, wherever you might
be watching, I guess. Hopefully you're not watching
while you're driving your car. Yeah, that wouldn't go down too well. But what I would say is, you know, it's a challenging season. We had a vision morning
this morning though. We called it, The Vision Continues. Exciting news, new plans, fresh vision. And we're able to announce
some pretty exciting things, including in Melbourne. We commenced an entity
called Community Events. Community Venues, excuse me. Community Venues, I'll get it right. And have secured Festival
Hall, very iconic. Old, old. I heard this morning
it's over 100 years old. That building has been
owned by the same family, I think, for its entire history. And so it's kind of a big deal. And in the days to come, certainly not yet, with
everything the way it is, but in the days to come, we are excited about completely
restoring that building and making it perfect for us to be able to use on weekends, but it'd still be Festival Hall, still be available to the community. And it will be even more effective, I think, reaching the
community, which is great. So that was one of the
things we talked about. We mentioned Hillsong Atlanta is gonna be starting early next year with Sam and Toni Collier. And lots of other things as well. Online church, we're taking
a global approach to that. And Ben and Lucille Houston are going to be looking after that, a couple over in California. Sam, a graduate of Hillsong College. They have become the lead
pastors in California. Ben and Lucille lead
pastors online, globally. And lots of other things. So there's good things happening. Tell people about Kilo of Christmas. - Kilo of Christmas, well, this is the time of the
year that our church is, generous as they are in every season, and this is the opportunity
to go above and beyond. Obviously, it is a challenging
season for many people. So we really have set high
goals for really helping people. And so there's going to be
information on the screen for you to do what you can, and go above and beyond even, to really be a blessing
to many, many families across our nation this season. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I think, our church really rallies. Got a big heart. - Yeah. Hillsong College transforms lives. - It does.
- Prepares people for ministry and we've got many, many graduates. You're a graduate, aren't you Rachel? - [Rachel] Yes, I am. - Hillsong College. You have a great experience? - I did, yeah. - Would you tell me, even if you didn't? - Uh, (throat clearing) there's
always room for feedback. Yes, I had a great experience. - Jad, you went to college. You made it through? - Well, you know, it's just was an awesome
powerful time, Brian. - And you graduated? - Well like I said, it
was a powerful time, Brian. I hear JD somewhere. Did you graduate JD? - I would only speak
highly of our college. I went in '95, '96. I mean, who wouldn't speak
highly of our college? - You were there '95.
- '95. - And '96?
- Yeah. - My goodness, you really are getting on. - I am.
- Incredible. Maybe I've been away too long. Oh actually I love her, I
can't remember her name. - Katie.
- Katie. - Katie.
- Katie! Katie, of course. How can I ever forget that? Katie, you went through
Hillsong College, yeah? - I did. - Yeah, good? - I really loved it so much. - Awesome. I went to Christian Life Bible College. To be honest, it was like Sunday School compared with the awesome
content at our college. And I'm telling you all of
this because this Wednesday is an open day online, open
day on Hillsong College. So you can have a look at
all of our lectures now, both in our higher education courses and our vocational courses,
all of it is available online. And Wednesday is an open day, which means you can literally
just join in with us and you'll see right there
on the screen, the link. And so if you go there
on Wednesday, it's open, you'll be able to register first and then be part of a
day of Hillsong College. And I'm sure you'll be sold. And so praise God. Keep praying for the college because, online, obviously, it's fresh challenges. It's a new season and we're
looking forward to the day when we can also have students
from all around the world, back here in Australia. It'll be a great day. So thank God for that. All right. It's time for us to consider our giving, our tithe and our offering. And I want to encourage
everyone in our church to continue faithfully to put God first, and to remember the work of the Lord, it takes all of us together
to see it go forward. So that's what we're believing for. Over to you. - So I was thinking about
The Vision Continues, which Pastor Brian talked
about this morning, was very exciting and always
inspiring to be a part of. But in Philippians 2:1-4, and I'm going to read over here, it says, notice in Christ, notice this, we're talking about vision, And then it goes on and then at the end, it talks about looking
after your own interests, but also looking after
the interests of others. And this is one of those moments where we don't only look
after our own interests, we look after the interests of others. And God is interested in your life. He's interested in my life. He's interested obviously in His Church, the lost, the poor, the world, He's greatly interested. And we play a part in this moment of basically stretching
out and being generous to those around and about us in giving of our tithes and our offerings. But notice it says, being like-minded, so
there is an alignment. And I love like-minded people. Our church is filled
with like-minded people. Generosity causes people basically to be on the same page, as does vision, having the same love. Well we love the church, we love Jesus, we love the world, we love the poor, we love the lost. There's so much to love. We love our neighbour and being
of one accord and one mind. Well, there's nothing like giving. There's nothing like this moment that brings people together. That basically we focus all our attention, basically on the things that God loves. So how awesome we get this opportunity right now to be a blessing. Maybe you've done
something during the week and maybe you feel right now, I really had in my heart that people are gonna
sow something right now that basically has set
in motion, a miracle. So why don't we really do
something absolutely special and significant right now? So while you do that,
I'm gonna pray for you. But let's watch this short
video in ways to give. - Giving online is
quick, easy, and secure. Here's how. Go to hillsong.com/give. Or click the Give/Donate button, if you're joining us on
Hillsong Church Online. Enter your tithe amount, and your phone number or email address. If it's your first time, we will send you a verification code. You can also activate recurring
giving by ticking the box. Enter your card details, and you're done. Thank you for investing
into the lives of others. - Come on, let me pray for you. Father, I thank You. Lord, for the generosity of Your people. Father, I thank You for Your
faithfulness in our life, no matter what season we are in. Lord, we make a choice to put You first. And Father, we sow something today, Lord, that's gonna set in motion, Lord, the miracles that
You have in store for us, and we do it with great confidence in the truth of Your Word in Jesus' Name. Amen, Amen. Thank you Church. - Well done, well done.
- Over to you. - So I'm ready to go. Thanks so much, Nathanael. And I'm so grateful to all our
church, and visitors as well. Those who have been
tuning in with us online. I know a lot of people have been able to be a part of our services
because we're online, and it's just fantastic to watch all the lean in, our team and our pastors. I read a statistic now
that our team overall have made contact 365,000
was the last I saw, different contacts with people, individual contacts with people, which to me is staggering, just during the last seven months. And so we certainly haven't been dormant. We're doing everything we
can to reach out to people, and be a blessing to people, which, of course, is
what we're called to do. So thank God for it. I think you guys can- Oh we're gonna sing one more song. Come on, we've got time. Let's just worship one more time. - Come on, let's sing together. - How good is that? So Father, we just thank You again for Your Word and the power of Your Word. We thank You for Your love. Lord, You are too good to
leave us where we're at. You're taking us forward, You're taken us onward,
in Jesus' Name, Amen. All right, you guys can go your way. It's over to me. Think Better, Live Better. I really wanna talk about mental health, 'cause it's a big deal right now. It's a big issue. And so with that thought, we think better, and if we do that, we're
going to live better. I just spent 14 days in hotel quarantine. Wasn't necessarily looking
forward to it too much. And Bobbie was probably
looking forward to it less because it meant she had
to be in a room with me for 14 days straight. Couldn't go anywhere. But it wasn't that bad, to be honest. And I thought I'd use the time wisely. So I studied hard and got
a PhD in psychology while- That's obviously nonsense, right? It's obviously not true. And that's really what I'm saying. I'm not an expert in
psychology or mental health. I'm a pastor, I'm a
preacher of the Gospel. I hopefully am a leader. But I'm also a keen observer
of people and of life. And as a 66 year old observer of people, I think you learn some
things along the way. I mentioned I'm not an expert, and I would say to anyone
who's really struggling with their mental health, get professional advice. Go to people who can properly help you, especially if their foundation is faith. And never ever just internalise it. I believe that you can go to somebody and they may be able to
give you certain things that can help you to
step out and set free. But the Word of God, it gives us so much great instruction about our thinking and about our mind. And one of the sad impacts
of 2020 and this pandemic is, all the, you know, accompanying
uncertainty about the future and the continued isolation for some, especially down there in Victoria. We love you. Speaking of Victoria, well
done Richmond last night. I know Ben Fielding, who's sitting here, I think co-wrote "What a Beautiful Name," and multitude of other songs. He's so excited that Richmond won the grand final last night. He's a Melbourne boy, and
so he's just thrilled. Really, really, really
thrilled about that, aren't ya? Hm, not, all right. Hey, so a whole lot of people through all of these
restrictions, recession, all sorts of pressures, so many people are struggling mentally. And simply being a
Christian in and of itself, doesn't necessarily give you immunity from sometimes facing challenges mentally with your mental health. And you know what? I care about people. Bobbie and I really care about people, as do, I think, all our team and staff. And I don't like it if I know
that people in our church may be under pressure mentally
or any other way, really. But I think the Word of God
really does give us help and enables us to know how
we can work through this and step through it, come
through the other side. It doesn't have to define you. It doesn't have to be
the rest of your future. Thank God He's a deliverer, He brings deliverance, but He also, I think, can
give us the instruction for us to take charge, when it comes to our mind, and not let it just be passive and wander and have its own way. Psalm 147:3 It's not talking about external wounds, not talking about physical wounds, it's talking about the brokenhearted. It's talking about what's
going on inside people. And thank God we have a God
who heals the brokenhearted. It's a promise Jesus, when He talked about the Spirit
of the Lord being upon Him, it's one of the things He said. He said to heal broken hearts. And so thank God for Jesus. Thank God for the power of His Word. Thank God for the resurrection. Thank God that there is
victory in Jesus Christ. And we can find healing
from all those things that try to rule us. I can see this chat going well here, Manfred, Louise, Jake,
people of Bolivia, something. Audrey, Hillsong Church,
Le Sand, Hillsong Church, Sarah, Le Sand, Amanda, Michelle. Wow, there's plenty of them. We need more men on there. Sandy, Mark Anderson, good on you, Mark, Tasmania, incredible. Well listen, if you're struggling, you're not the first. You're not the first person
and you're not on your own. - I've had my time around 2012. I was that guy who, that
was never gonna be me. You know, I was never gonna be that guy. But I found myself in a place
I never believed I could get. And so I certainly don't take it lightly. And I certainly don't point
a finger at anybody else 'cause I've been there. Psalm 142:2, I like this
Psalm, I talk about it a lot. I like it because I think
people can identify with it. David, he's at an all time
low, and this is what he says. I think, David, I think he was stressed,
struggling mentally at this time. Genuinely, I do. He said complaint, trouble, In other words, they're out to get me. No one acknowledges me. there's nowhere to hide. He goes on and he says in verse six, "I am brought very low." He had really reached a tough place. And so you think about King
David and the wonder of his life and the Scripture talks
about him in his old age, and when he died, fuller days. So I believe God can help you as well, no matter how low you
may be feeling right now. And people in life sometimes make choices. The prodigal son, he made choices. He went his own way, and the way he lived
brought him to a point where he reached the bottom
of the bottom of the bottom. But what I love about that
story is the Scripture says that when he came to his right mind, that's when he started moving
back to the Father's blessing. When he came to his right
mind, right thinking, and I believe the Word of
God can help us do that. The rich young ruler, was the opposite. He asked Jesus, what do
I need to do to be saved? And they had an
interaction and Jesus said, well, because money had a hold of him, He says, give up everything you've got, take up your cross and follow me. The Bible says he went away,
sorrowful at that word. And it's the very last
thing we hear about him. He went away sorrowful. In other words, that was
gonna frame his future. I don't think we have to
have our future framed by whatever's going on
in our world right now. I think we can learn, we can grow. We can overcome, we can step forward. We can take charge when
it comes to our thinking. And so, sadly, some people, they step away from their faith, and they go away sorrowful, and it will frame their future. And it's that kind of choice that often can have an effect on people
emotionally, mentally, and in so many other ways. We gotta make right life choices, make right decisions. And if you make right decisions, that will lead to the
right things in your life, in Jesus' Name. On a totally different scale, King Saul, he just made
all these bad decisions. God was saying, do this, he did that. The priest, Samuel, he
encouraged him this way, he went the other way. He made all sorts of
mistakes until eventually the Scripture talks about him having a distressing spirit from God, distressing spirit from
God in the Old Testament. You wonder why from God? Does God really give
people an evil spirit? 'Cause some versions say that, that basically he had
an evil spirit from God. But in the Old Testament, the
truth is it wasn't like today when we think of the wonderful
things coming from the Lord, and the terrible evil things
coming from the devil, they then everything came from God. So if you're going through a bad time, I guess people believed it came from God. He had a distressing spirit. And he opened the door to that. We gotta be careful in our lives
what we opened the door to. And that again comes
back to our life choices. What are you gonna open the door to? If you're filled with condemnation, if you're filled with guilt, if you're being ruled by
regret and all these things, you're opening the door
to a distressing spirit, whether it's a literal demonic spirit or just something that is distressing you. And, of course, there's
degrees of mental challenges. There's people who right
now, they're anxious, and you know, they're struggling, and they're a little down on themselves. And so they're mentally
stressed all the way through to like in the Bible there was a demoniac. I mean, he was literally out of his mind. I mean completely out of his mind, because he was filled with demons. You might not be at that
point, I pray you're not, but we should never take it lightly. And we should always realise
there's hope in Jesus, 'cause there's so many things that can wear you down mentally, things that have an
impact on your wellbeing. I mean, for me, some of those things is the impact of an overwhelming
sense of hopelessness. That can grip you, you
just can't see hope. I think it's such a sad thing when people lose sight of all hope. You can live a certain
amount of time without food, a lot less time without water, but you were never created
to live without hope. Proverbs 13:12 Makes what sick? The heart sick, it's an internal thing. When your prayer is answered, the desire comes, it's a tree of life. So some people it's the impact
of overwhelming hopelessness. For other people, it's the
impact of plummeting self-worth. And that can happen so easily. Just things attack your
sense of godly confidence and your self-worth. And the devil will always
try to play with that. Moses, that's what was
exposed when God called him to something that was radical
and far too big for him. You could see that, first of all, he had to get his eyes off himself and get them onto the promise of God. Because he started off by
saying after he was told that he was gonna go to Pharaoh and tell him he's gonna
let God's people go. First thing he did is questioned himself. He said, who am I? And then he questioned God. So people are gonna ask me, who sent me? What should I tell them? So he started, who am I, then he was like, who are you? And then he started talking
about his weaknesses. I'm not eloquent. I'm of slow speech and a slow tongue. And you could see, he just had a poor sense
of self-worth when he said, no one's gonna listen to me. They won't blisten to
me, if I get up here, and I'm down on myself and
I have no godly confidence, and I speak in a way where I feel no one is gonna listen to me, everybody's listening to me. Look at you all. Hey, really? You gotta look after
that sense of self-worth 'cause the devil, he
will try to attack it. Ultimately, he tried to opt out, because he didn't believe
that God could really use him. He said, please send somebody else. As for Gideon, a similar story, wasn't it? When he was called, again, it was radical. He was hiding in a wine press. And all of a sudden, the Lord calls him. And the call is big. And listen to what he says That one verse, oh, if, why, where, but. Don't allow the devil to get
you to second guess yourself and lose that sense of self worth. Amen. And then some people, they
start struggling mentally because of the impact of loss control. I mean, if I think about it
from where I'm at right now, churches, we've never
had a season like this, and we never thought the
season would ever come. I don't know when we
can go back to church. I don't know when people will feel safe to be packed in like they do
at the football last night, absolutely jam, no social distancing everyone cheering and
spitting and screaming. And then you come to church,
not even allowed to sing. Don't laugh, don't laugh. No, you can't laugh. Well, listen to me. So it's something I can't control. And that can be a feeling
that's stressful for people. And there's things that sometimes, you get made redundant. It wasn't your fault,
you were working well, it's just that the company
had to make changes. It's out of your control. And that can stress people mentally. I think there's the impact of lost vision. Vision is such a powerful force. And you know that verse Proverbs 29:18, I read it from The Amplified it says, or she, in Jesus' Name. Happy, fortunate. Blessed, happy, fortunate, and to be envied. Isn't that wonderful. And then some are struggling when it comes to their thinking to me. And where does that come from? Vision, because it's the lack of vision. It's the lack of vision that
causes people to perish. So let's live our lives filled with vision and don't let your current
circumstance rob you of vision. That's why our church,
we're a visionary church. We'll always have more vision than money. Yes, we will. We need vision because
people tune into vision, but it also is good for the wellbeing and the soul of our church. And then some people, it's just the impact of isolation. We weren't created to be alone. Some time aside or time
alone can be a good thing. Jesus, he went out to the
wilderness for 40 days. I heard someone talking lately
actually about wilderness. So for us, we think of the
wilderness as a barren place, a dry place, a desert,
which it is obviously. But apparently the Hebrew
word has a little bit of a different slant on it. And it's more like a meeting place, a meeting with God. You think about in the Scripture, where people in the back of the
desert or in the wilderness, including Jesus, you know, and think about how it
was a place of revelation, a place of meeting God. But we're not created to be
alone, not to live alone. I mean, if you might literally live alone and that's why living in a community, in other words, having a church family, having community, having connection is
such a powerful thing. I think that's the biggest
thing that we miss. And we can do church online and we're reaching a lot of people, but it's that sense of community
that I think people need. I need it. You need it. Proverbs 18:1 it's talking about
willfully being isolated, Or as it says in my New King James Bible, it says the man who isolates himself, rages against all wise judgement. It's not smart. And that's why the devil
would love to isolate you. And the impact of isolation, especially extended isolation, can really pay a toll
on people's thought life and on their mental health
and their mental wellbeing. And then another is the
impact of worry and anxiety. Now I don't know, maybe you've got a lot to worry about right now. Don't worry. Be happy. We've got Pastor Robert Fergusson up here, I think he should come and sing it for us. ♪ Don't worry ♪ ♪ Be happy ♪ Hey listen, this is how the Bible puts it, Proverbs 12:25 It's there. If worry and anxiety
are gripping your soul. It ultimately is a form of fear. 'Cause it's all built
on what might happen. It might happen. What if. In Luke 12:29, Jesus was
speaking, He was teaching, He said listen, "nor have an anxious," what? He's talking about things
that afflict your thinking, anxiety and worry. But we don't have to live anxious. The Bible says be anxious for nothing. If we trust God, if we live by His Word, so many things can lead to
people's mental condition, not being where it could be
or even where it should be. There's all the other
obvious, obvious things that attack a person's
mental health like abuse, any form of abuse. Right now apparently,
domestic abuse is on the rise, and people, their whole life
sometimes can be affected and the way they think, and the condition of
their mental wellbeing because of abuse. Abuse, it is a disgusting thing. It really is a tool of the devil, trying to rule people's lives. And weariness. Some people, you're just over it. You're tired. You're just weary. You gotta be careful with that. The Bible tells us not to be weary. Do not grow weary in doing good. You're doing good. You're doing good. You're doing good. You're doing good. Don't grow weary in doing good. For in due season, there's an end coming in due season. Another thing I hate is
bullying, any form of bullying, any level of life, I hate seeing children getting bullied. 'Cause again, it can lead to
so much sadness and mental, mental challenge. And trolling. I get trolled every day. Fortunately I'm big enough
and tough enough to handle it. And I've discovered
this wonderful mechanism on my phone called block. And I use it fairly regularly. I get trolled over all sorts of things. But as a little kid, when sometimes they've been
told by other little kids stuff that just totally
destroys them mentally. It's sad, it's sad. And then there's life's
disappointments, heartbreaks, all of those things. So many things that can
affect our mental health. But what do we do about it? You don't neglect it. You don't just neglect your
thought life, your thinking, your mental health. You gotta take charge. You say, isn't God in control, yes, but I'll show you from the Word of God, He wants us to take responsibility. And it can be the hardest thing when you're at your lowest point, to stir yourself from that, but that's where the Word of God can be your greatest weapon, your greatest strength. When it comes to breaking
out and stepping out and coming back to freedom and peace in your heart, in
your soul, and in your mind, in Jesus' Name. You gotta take charge when
it comes to your thinking. We're called to be the
head and not the tail. Notice the head, the head. Praise God. And so, while we're talking
about the head, how is yours? How is it? Don't feel bad, down on yourself, because you're not doing well. But listen to what you can do. The Bible talks about renewing your mind, being transformed by renewing your mind. It talks about girding up
the loins of your mind. 1 Peter 1:13, Gird up the loins of your
mind, what does that mean? You know what it is? It literally is, prepare
yourself for action. Prepare yourself for something
difficult or challenging, so you're ready. You're literally ready to go to work. The expression originally
referred to tucking up, you know, how in Bible times,
everyone wore long ropes. A man would walk around in long robes. Well if you're gonna
run, it's pretty hard. And so literally, they
would pull up their robes into a belt or a girdle, and it meant they could
run or they could work. You can't dig a ditch if you've
got clothes down to here. And so that's girding up
the loins of your mind. Literally, prepare for action. So don't stay still. Just don't be vacant when it
comes to what you're doing. You gotta gird up the loins of your mind. Get to work with it. In the New Living Translation, it says, And in The Message, listen, roll up your sleeves. I already have. I got in trouble with my wife right before I was walking out the door tonight. She said, "Have you ironed your shirt?" I'm like, it looks good. And anyway, she's probably
right now in the service. Tell me on the chat,
Bobbie, how's my shirt? Does it look all right? Because she was very concerned. All she wrote is, "Ha ha, ha ha." That was my parting gift,
"Did you iron your shirt?" The answer is actually no, but still. Hey listen, roll up your sleeves. Put your mind in gear. Put your mind in gear. Be totally ready to receive
the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Gird up the loins of your mind. Put your mind in gear. So how do you do that? How do you put your mind in gear? Well, I think firstly,
let's just recognise, our feelings don't lead our thinking. Our thinking always leads our feelings. And if we understand that, then we know where our battle lies. And your battle doesn't lie
with the way you're feeling. The depression in itself or whatever else, that sense of hopelessness. No, it starts with your thinking. Thank God. The Scripture talks about putting on the helmet of salvation. Everything that's ours
is through our salvation. Everything that's available
through our salvation, we can put it on like a helmet. All of the promise of God, all the promise of Jesus Christ, in Christ is yes and amen. Put on the helmet of salvation. I love what Paul said,
it's one of my favourites. He had his day in court. He'd been persecuted and being
opposed and being imprisoned. And he had his day in court
and he literally said, "I think myself happy." "I think myself happy," it's a verse, I'm not sure it made it up there. It's actually a verse in the Book of Acts. I think myself happy. You can think yourself sad. You can think yourself discouraged. You can think yourself depressed. You can think yourself a lot, but what a powerful thing when you decide my feelings aren't gonna try and rule me, my thoughts are what rule me. So I'm gonna think myself
happy in Jesus' Name. It starts with our mind. And that's why our mind is
the actual battle ground. That's where the battle is. And the Scripture says,
2 Corinthians 10:3, It started with strongholds, then it talked about arguments, then it talked about high things, then it talked about thoughts. Let's flip it around. You see, if we entertain certain thinking, a certain thought, it
becomes a high thing. And other words it becomes
a predominant thought. It keeps on ruling you. You go to bed at night,
it keeps ruling you. And then, if we still don't
take that thought captive, what happens? It becomes an argument. Now it's making total sense to you. You could argue the case for that defeated or negative thinking. And a thought becomes a high thing. A high thing becomes an argument. And ultimately, an argument
becomes a stronghold, which means it now has
a strong hold over you. Well, we're not gonna live, allowing our thought life to be ruled by anything else except the Word of God. And the Bible says take
that thought captive, it's a menace to you, it's a menace to your wellbeing. And so often, what's
going on in your emotions, the way you're feeling, it's all because the devil's playing havoc with your thinking. So I think there's
positive, practical things that we can do. I'm gonna finish in just a moment, but for example, do
you check your friends? As in are they a blessing to you when it comes to your thoughts and your mental wellbeing? Job's weren't, he called
them miserable comforters. And because that's what they were, they were blaming him for his condition, and speaking death to him,
not speaking life to him. Miserable companies are you, he said. Just build the right people around you and trust your friends. Be open. Speak to them. We don't have to let all our
garbage out all of the time, but it's the worst thing you
can do to hold everything in. Accountability is a good thing. And accountability starts with ourselves. Be honest with yourself. And then be honest with others. In Jesus' Name, trust your friends. Then you know what the
best thing you can do? You really want to turn
your thinking around? Just keep focusing on other
people, help other people. A very famous psychologist, psychiatrist, he was asked in a lecture, he says, "What would you say
to someone who is depressed?" He said, "I'll tell him,
get up off the couch, walk out the door, cross
over the railway track, find someone you can help." That was it. Focus on other people, get
your mind off yourself. And you know what? Get yourself perspective, and
how do you get perspective? Because when the devil
is playing with our head, when we're struggling
with our thought life, when our mental health is astray, it's hard to get perspective. It's all about losing perspective. Things become big,
molehills become mountains. Something that might be small. I remember my brother
many, many years ago, when he was, well, a
long, long, long time ago. And he went through a season in his life where he was struggling
and he was crying because, what if my car won't start
to go to work in the morning? There was nothing wrong with his car. The enemy attacked his perspective. He's good now. I have to add that because he might be watching the service. And then vision, I mentioned vision. Just keep looking forward. Don't let anything rob you of vision. That hope, that dream, it might get hazy, but
don't lose sight of it. Don't lose sight of it. Vision is powerful. Without it, people lose restraint. I think the saddest
thing when young people lose sight of God often is because they were never instilled
with a sense of vision. Vision, keeps people pointed. It'll keep you pointed. And it will be good for
your overall wellbeing. Then remind yourself good things, good experiences. You know, good seasons
in your life, good times, people you love. Remind yourself. Because that way, your
thinking isn't ruling you, you're taking charge over your thinking. When I had my one and only panic attack, it was the worst experience. And we got onto our doctor,
Joe Thomas here in Sydney, part of our church, and he said to me, "Just think about something
that relaxes you." I couldn't breathe and
I thought I was dying. He says, "Just think of
something that relaxes you." And we were actually up
in Noosa at the time. And I just looked out, saw the ocean, the ocean always relaxes me. And you know what, it works. And so, are you doing anything
to change your thinking? Focus on good things, focus on the good report. Think on these things, the Bible says. Whatever things are pure,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are of
good report, et cetera, and our minds wander when they're passive. And that's when they try
to take charge of us, but we can capture those thoughts. Think on good things. And then, you know what? It's getting pretty practical now, but just listen to good music. Listen to the right music. If you're struggling mentally, you might have music that is speaking into the way you're feeling,
but is it helping you? Is it helping you? Remember Ray Charles? Ray Charles, a blind and black amazing, I guess, blues singer. He used to sing that song. ♪ Born to lose ♪ ♪ And now I'm losing you ♪ ♪ Born to lose. ♪ Hey, look if I'm in a bad way mentally, I shouldn't be listening to songs that tell me I'm born to lose. I mean, really, I need
to be listening to songs that tell me I'm born to win, that tell me about who Jesus is. That point me towards Him, that point me towards the promise of God, that point me towards the goodness of God. Amen! And listen to the right voices. You know even preachers,
don't listen to anyone. Don't listen to just anyone. Make sure that you're listening to people who speak life into you, life-giving messages. Even the most challenging Scriptures coming with a life-giving spirit, will bring transformation to someone, but they'll also bring life
to someone, if you believe it. Say Amen, up there. - Amen.
- Amen, Amen. Amen! And so, keep that right perspective. I already mentioned it, depression has its own
perspective, and it's a lie. It's a lie from the pit of hell. Keep your perspective
based on what God says, what He says about you, what
He says about your future. Amen. And I already mentioned this, have the right friends. Yeah, it's critical. You know what? Dream the right dreams. Some people are so frustrated,
so down on themselves, because they're not
dreaming the right dreams. What do I mean by that? Well, when I was a little boy, I wanted to be an All Black. I grew up in New Zealand, the All Blacks is the national rugby team. Every New Zealand boy
wants to be an All Black. Well, if you've ever seen me do anything, even the way I walk, it was obvious I was never
gonna be an All Black. I mean, coordination is
not my gift, not at all. And so if I was spending my whole life still frustrated about the dream, I'm dreaming the wrong dream. But when I dream about
serving God, being a preacher, building a church, pastoring a church, that dream will keep me inspired. Sometimes I think people
are dreaming dreams, they don't line up with
God's promise for their life and God's future for them. If I decide I'm dreaming
about being a businessman and making money, that's
the wrong dream for me. And if a businessman thinks I'd love to do what Brian's doing, what
Pastor Brian's doing, it's the wrong dream for them. Dream the right dreams. Line them up with the will of God, 'cause I believe God wants to
bring you through to victory. Hey! We're out of time in this service. We're having too much fun in this service. So listen, just close
your eyes for a moment. Just for a moment there. Can I ask you, you're
struggling with anxiety? If so, just put that
in the chat right now. Just write the word, anxiety. Write it in there 'cause
we're gonna pray for you. We're gonna believe that God
is gonna bring you victory, in that, in Jesus' Name. Are you full of worry? Full of fear, full of anxiety? Just write it into that chat. Father in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You are victorious. And that we live in the
power of Your victory. I pray You'll bring peace, that perfect peace that
comes when our mind, when our thinking, is stayed on You. Help us to stay our
thinking upon You, I pray. Lord, I ask it in Jesus' Name. Maybe you're just feeling overwhelmed. There's just a lot of stuff going on. Well in Jesus' Name, again, peace, peace, sweet peace, wonderful peace from above. A wonderful, wonderful peace. A gift of God's love. Do you know Jesus personally? You made a choice to
give your life to Him? He loves you, He's for you. I'm gonna pray a prayer right now. It's a prayer of faith in Jesus. If you have never really
opened your life up to Him, if maybe you're not been
doing well spiritually and you seem far from
Him, He doesn't move. He's the constant. But we could be living in a way where, we're sort of living dislocated from all of His promise in our lives. What a beautiful day to get it right. If you have never, ever
accepted Jesus into your life, into your soul, into your heart, as Lord and Saviour, I'm gonna pray that prayer. And I would ask you wherever you are, people are spread all over the globe as part of this service, I'll ask you to pray this with me. Then afterwards, I'm gonna
ask you to write in that chat, I prayed that prayer. I prayed that prayer. 'Cause that's right
there, you stepping out, and saying, I prayed that prayer. This is my future. Walk with Jesus, relationship with God. Let's pray these words, Dear Jesus. This is the moment. I surrender my life. To you. From this day, Jesus. I believe You forgive my sins. You give me a brand new start. I'm a new creation. A follower of Jesus Christ. I thank You, Jesus. It's a new day. In Your Name, Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen. That's it. On YouTube, in Hillsong
Church Online, FaceTime, wherever you are, write into those chats, I prayed that prayer. And today is a day of salvation. Lord, I thank You, You bless
Your people and You keep them and Your face is shining upon them. I thank You, Lord, we
can go into a new year, filled with victory, filled with hope. Lord, our trust in You, Lord. I pray You'll keep renewing people's mind and You'll teach us the principles of being transformed by
changing the way we think. Lord, we just thank You
for it in Your mighty Name. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. You be blessed. Thanks for being part of our service. God bless you. - Amen, Amen, Amen. We love you, Church. Wherever you are, be encouraged today.
