John K. Jenkins Sr - Depression: A Cause and Cure - Part 2

I want to start off this message just like I did last week. I want to say to anybody who suffers from depression or has been diagnosed with depression that we recognize there are many reasons and different types of depression. Some people are depressed because their bodies have a chemical imbalance, and so medication is used to restore that imbalance to a stable state. If you are on medications, do not walk out of here after hearing this dynamic message and say you don't need to take your medicine anymore. Please stay on your medicine . Turn to your neighbor and say, "Please stay on your medicine." Tell the person on the other side too, so I know they've heard it twice: Please stay on your medicine. Seriously, I mean there's no shame in taking medicine for whatever the issue is. Don 't feel any shame. The purpose of this message is not to simply declare that you can be healed by someone laying their hands on you or whatever; take your medicine, dog, girlfriend, sister, friend-take it! I want to talk about this. Anyone who has been a member of this church for any length of time has heard me discuss my propensity for and experience with having had seasons of depression, where I can quickly become discouraged and despondent-frustrated, mad, angry, and just ticked off, if I could put it that way. I can get there quickly. However, over time , God has taught me principles to apply to my life that help me overcome and be victorious in this area of my life. One way I learned was by observing the life of the Prophet Elijah . Here is a man who, throughout his life and journey , experienced periods and seasons of depression. As a matter of fact, Elijah models this in such an incredible way. What 's amazing is that here is a guy with an incredible testimony . Let me quickly give you some context for this text today . God uses him in an extraordinary way. Here 's what happens: the people of Israel have strayed from God, and God raises up Elijah to challenge them about the fact that they have stopped serving the true God and are now serving a false god. Elijah makes himself known to the king , and through a series of events, he has a confrontation where he challenges the false prophets of Israel to come forth and call on their god, while he calls on his God . Let the God that answers by fire be the real, true, and living God. The Bible says that King Ahab and the false prophets of that day built their altar and called on their god all day. They started early in the morning, calling on their god to answer by fire, but he didn't answer . By noon , Elijah came over and said , "What 's the problem ? You guys have been talking to your god all day, and he hasn't answered. Is he busy? Is he talking to someone else? Is he engaged?" As a matter of fact, the Living Bible says maybe he's off sitting on the toilet somewhere and just can't come right now. That 's what it says; I'm just sharing what it says! Then, when evening comes , Elijah builds an altar. Not only does he build an altar, but he also digs a trench around it. In the midst of a famine , where it had not rained for three and a half years due to God's judgment on the land , he finds twelve barrels of water and pours it over the altar and the offering. The water runs down into the trench. Then he kneels down and cries out to God, and God responds quickly by sending down fire. Fire comes down, consumes the offering, vaporizes the dust, licks up the water, and proves that Elijah's God is the true and living God . This man has the favor of God flowing in his life. Here is a guy who declared the drought ; he went to the king and said there would be no rain until he spoke the word. For three and a half years, there was no rain. He is the man whom God fed supernaturally in the midst of famine and drought . God fed him with ravens, sending him bread and meat in the morning , at lunch , and in the evening . That 's unusual because ravens are scavengers; they find food for themselves and don't deliver it to someone else. But God reversed the nature of these scavengers, allowing them to bring food to him. Now I mention this because God has the ability to change the nature of people in your life who might be scavengers, so instead of taking away , they can bring blessings into your life.