Dealing With Depression Series

TEXT: 1 Kings 19:1-9

"And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord take my life for I am no better than my fathers!" Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat." Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

INTRO: Disclaimer: I am not a doctor / counselor / psychiatrist

I am a preacher and pastor with a mission:

1. Reach the lost

2. Build great lives

* People get offended because they think I am preaching directly to them

„« Please understand that I can't preach a message to one person

„« I am usually preaching to me

* Hole...the wounds in our souls...come from

1. Accidents / abuse

2. Planned / purposed

* When those wounds are exposed

* The tendency can be to respond in hurt...manifested in:

1. Anger...Explosive

2. Depression...Implosive

* The question is anger or depression a sin?

Anger...Ephesians 4...Be Angry / Sin Not

Depression... In itself is not a sin

It is, however, the result of a sinful world

It is also a symptom (fruit)

Of something disturbing

The balance of our life either:

1. Emotionally...Soul

2. Chemically...Body

3. Spiritually...Spirit

Simply: It is an indicator that something is wrong...

...like the engine light on a car

Moses suffered from depression

Job

David

Paul

Charles Spurgeon

Abraham Lincoln

* According to Psychiatrists Minrith and Meier:

The majority of Americans suffer from serious

depression at some point in their lives

* I've never suffered from any serious depression

* I have suffered from anger

* But, I've been around plenty that have

* I know a little bit what it looks like

¡÷ WHAT DEPRESSION LOOKS LIKE

1. Persistent sad or anxious mood

2. Anger -- restlessness -- irritability

3. Sleeplessness

4. Reduced appetite and weight loss

5. Increased appetite and weight gain

6. Sexual disinterest

7. Loss of pleasure or interest in things once enjoyed

8. Persistent physical symptoms that don't respond to treatment (chronic pain, digestive disorder)

9. Difficulty remembering, making decisions, concentration

10. Fatigue, no energy

11. Feeling guilty, hopeless, condemned

12. Thoughts of suicide or death

¡÷ COMMON CAUSES

1. Death or serious illness of someone close

2. Loss of love or attention from someone close

3. Break-ups, divorce, loss of romantic relationship

4. Family problems, parents divorce

5. Isolation, loneliness (nursing home)

6. Rejection

7. Physical, verbal, sexual abuse

8. Generational vulnerability (grew up in that environment)

9. Chemical imbalance

10. Hormonal changes

11. Substance abuse

12. Hospitalization

* Today I want to give some simple beginner steps to help!

* Next week we will dive a little deeper

1. SILENCE COMPLAINTS

* Complaining is like fuel to the fire

* It reinforces the stronghold

* Lock that devil into that hole / habit / habitation

* We reap what we sow

* Sow bitterness...you won't reap peace and joy!

* Remember Jude 6...Devil roams in dark places

Philippians 2:14

"Do all things without complaining and disputing."

1 Corinthians 10:1-5 and 10 (NIV)

"For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. ... And do not grumble, as some of them did -- and were killed by the destroying angel."