Do You Want to Get Well? John 5:6

1. Do You Want to Get Well?John 5:6 The Biblical Roadmap to Spiritual and Mental Wholeness Calvary Gospel Church Adult Sunday School January 12, 2014

3. DEPRESSION Suffering God Cry Out to the Lord

4. Depression is a Form of Suffering • Depression is painful • The mental pain seems unbearable • The pain feels meaningless RECAP

5. Suffering • Depression is a Form of Suffering • Depression is painful • The mental pain seems unbearable • The pain feels meaningless • Biblical struggles parallel modern-day depression • Elijah (1Kings 18-19) • Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-23) • Jeremiah (Book of Jeremiah) • Jonah (Jonah 4) • God speaks in our suffering • Encouragement • Purpose • James 1:2-4 (NIV) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

6. James 1:2-4 The Message Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. New International Version 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

7. Suffering • The Causes of Suffering • Other People • Betrayal • Abuse • Us • Fears • Anger/Rage/Bitterness • Selfish desires • Addictions • Misguided beliefs • Our Bodies • Diseases • Deterioration from old age • Post-partum struggles • Side effects of medications • Possible chemical imbalances • Love for the sick or deceased • Satan (Book of Job; John 10:10a) • God (1 Samuel 2:6-7; Isaiah 45:7) 1 Peter 5:6-8 (NKJV) 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

8. 1 Samuel 2:6-7 (NKJV) 6 “The Lord kills and makes alive;He brings down to the grave and brings up.7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;He brings low and lifts up. Isaiah 45:7 (NKJV) 7 I form the light and create darkness,I make peace and create calamity;I, the Lord, do all these things.’ John 10:9-11 (NKJV) 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

9. Suffering • Multiple Causes • Joseph (Genesis 37-50) • The Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:7) • Unknown Causes (Job) • Our Response to Suffering • With a clenched fist • With an open heart Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Job 42:1-3 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

10. GOD • Suffering Leads to Questions about God • Consider Who God Is • Jesus Shared in Our Suffering • He was despised and rejected (Mark 14; Mark • 8:31; Hebrews 2:10) • He was a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3; Mark 7:34) • His suffering led to glory and beauty (Ps. 126:6) • God is Good and Generous (Ps. 81:10; Isaiah 55:1-3) John 6:29 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” • The Suffering of Jesus in Mark 14: • The chief priest and teachers of the law were looking for a sly way to arrest and kill Jesus. • Judas agreed to betray Jesus for a fee. • Jesus predicted that one of His followers would deny any knowledge of Him. • Jesus predicted that His other followers would abandon Him. • The leaders arrest Him. • He was spat upon. • He was struck with fists and beaten to the point where he could have died from the lashing alone. And this was BEFORE He was shamed and crucified! Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer – Isaiah 53:10

11. Cry Out to the Lord • Depression Separates Us from Others • Depression Bends Inward • Two Choices • Calling out to God: liturgical worshipper • Not calling out to God (Hosea 7:14) • God Names the Silences • God Speaks to Us and Desires to Be Spoken To • God’s Liturgy • Straightens the Trajectory in Our Lives (Heb. 12:2) • Prepared for Us in Advance • The Psalms of Jesus (Ps. 13:1; Ps 22:6; Ps. 55:4-7; Ps. 69:2-3; Ps. 88:3, 6, 13-14) • Try entire Psalms (e.g., Psalm 22) • Call Out Often (Isaiah 62:6-8) Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

12. Psalms 62:6-8 (NKJV) 6 He only is my rock and my salvation;He is my defense;I shall not be moved.7 In God is my salvation and my glory;The rock of my strength,And my refuge, is in God. 8 Trust in Him at all times, you people;Pour out your heart before Him;God is a refuge for us. Selah

13. Two Great Prayers in Scripture You May Read and Pray During Your Liturgical Worship (You may want to change the pronouns such as “you” and “your” to 1st- person pronouns, such as “I,” “me,” and “my”) Ephesians 1:17-23 (NKJV) 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

14. Ephesians 3:14-19 (NKJV) 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.