Dealing with Depression | Standing with God in a Sinful Culture

We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. Coming up today, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us take stock of where we are with the Lord and make the necessary adjustments. You say, I want the fire of God to fall on my life. I want the power of God.

Good. Repair your altar first. Trying to live a godly life in an ungodly world can seem like we're trying to walk up a downward escalator. The culture is trying to drag believers right into a quagmire of hopeless humanism and angry atheism. But God has a plan.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us revisit one of the most exciting stories of the Old Testament when a single prophet of God confronts 850 feckless false prophets and watches God's plan unfold. Last Saturday, I'm walking up my stairs and I'm holding a Yeti cup. You know what a Yeti cup is? They're the metal cups.

Nice cups. You don't want to drop it, right? I've got my Yeti cup loaded up with ice and water and my toe catches the top stair. Now the weird thing is I'm trying to get my footing, right?

Holding the Yeti cup aloft because I did not want to spill the ice water. And somehow I'm kind of running along for a foot or so and I go airborne and go face first into a built-in desk up there. I open my eyes. There's blood on the floor and my back hurts really badly and I cried out to Kathy, I've fallen and I can't get up. I didn't say that exactly but it was close.

I said, I'm hurt. And she heard the sound upstairs. It sounded like I heard a buffalo with all the noise and the Yeti. Oh, by the way, I spilled the water.

Yeti cup goes flying. And so we went to the ER and I had actually, my tooth had punctured my face and actually came through the other side. And so they had to sew my lip up from behind. I still have the stitches. It's still a little bit swollen.

And actually put a stitch on the outside. Then I had a little, hit my nose pretty hard. Then I had to go to the x-rays and all this stuff. So, you know, the guy says, I'm going to take you to get your back x-ray. Do you want to ride in the wheelchair? I said, no, I'm fine. You know, I'm walking like, that's kind of hurt.

Go ahead and take that wheelchair ride. And it was really great because this guy was a Christian. He goes, I'm not supposed to say this but I listen to you on the radio all the time. Let me pray for you. So the whole time he's like praying for me. I loved it because God always has his people everywhere, doesn't he?

So it was great. So I say that to explain what happened to me but also to segue into our message. I fell. I wasn't expecting to fall. But I did fall.

Unfortunately I didn't embrace my fall with my hands as one should. But I took it right on the face and we're going to look at, in a way, what could be described as a fall in Elijah's life or at least a slump where he fell into a deep depression. But we're also going to look at his recovery. But before we do that we'll look at the victory that preceded it. So we remember that all the prophets of Baal were gathered there together for the big showdown.

850 prophets of Baal versus one man of God. And so it was getting ready to happen. But here's an interesting thing I'd never noticed before as I was relooking at this story. And before that fire fell on the altar, the altar had to be repaired.

So here's my first point if you're taking notes. If we want to see God work, we must do our part. If we want to see God work, we must do our part.

1 Kings 18, 30, Elijah said to the people, come here to me. They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. See before the fire was going to fall, the altar had to be repaired. And I ask you right now, does the altar of your life need to be repaired? You know you look at your own spiritual life and you realize it's not what it used to be.

You used to be stronger than you are now. Does your altar need to be repaired? You no longer read the scripture every day as you used to. Prayer is not a part of your life as it once was.

Your church attendance is erratic at best. If so, your altar needs to be repaired. You say, I want the fire of God to fall on my life. I want the power of God.

Good. Repair your altar first. To the church of Ephesus, Jesus says, I know how hard you work and how discerning you are, but I have this against you. You've left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen and repent and do the first works again.

Interesting. He says, first remember, was there a place in your life when you were stronger spiritually than you are right now? Just ask yourself that question.

Was there a time? If the answer is yes, now we come to step number two. Remember and then repent. He says, repeat and do the first works quickly, but first you have to repent and then repeat.

Do it again. Interesting that Jesus says, how you have fallen. To leave your first love is a form of falling. This is something we all need to do in our own life. As the apostle Paul said, get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

Well, that's Paul McCartney, but similar sentiment. It's sort of like a marriage. How many of you are married? Raise your hand.

How many of you are happily married? Raise your hand. Interesting. Not as many hands. Not really.

It's about the same. Except for this couple right here. So if in your marriage you have lost the love, so to speak, you should not wait for the emotion of love to return. Rather go back and start doing loving things.

In other words, make the emotion and the emotion will catch up. And we talk about a spiritual awakening in America. How much we need it. How much we want it. God wants to send it.

So what's the problem? We have to do our part, then God will do His part. And what is our part? Second Chronicles 7 14 gives it to us. God speaking says, if My people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Loose paraphrase. Repair your altar.

Get ready for the work of the Holy Spirit. And we look at our country right now. And we look at the acts of violence right now are just out of control. And every time you open up a new site, there's a new act of violence, a new shooter, someone driving their car into a crowd of people, someone with a knife.

It's something. And people say, well, we need to just stop the guns. Get rid of the guns.

I'm sorry to say that's never going to happen. We don't need gun control. We need self-control. It starts with the heart. The heart needs to change.

The heart needs to change. And so this is the thing that people don't talk about. The root of all of this is that we've turned away from God. We've thrown God out of our classrooms. We don't want those Ten Commandments. We don't want a prayer in the school.

Don't even bring your Bible on the school campus. Or we do these other things where we say we redefine the family. We can't even say what a woman or a man is any longer. And we wonder why our young people are confused.

Right? And so we see this breakdown. The breakdown of the family is at the root of almost every problem in America today.

It is. 85 percent of these people that take guns and shoot people came from a broken home. Specifically a fatherless home. Those numbers even go higher when you look at other people who are engaged in criminal activity. Drug abuse. The list just goes on and on and on. We need to turn back to God. Repair the altar. Repair the family. Let it start with your family.

It's so easy to point a finger at someone else. But make sure your family is strong. Make sure you're the spiritual leader in your family. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives.

Hi, Pastor Greg. My wife and I listen to you on the radio daily and love your teaching. We also watch most of the movies you've produced, including Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. We grew up with Johnny Cash and this movie made us cry.

We also love the movies A Rush of Hope and Jesus Revolution. As we share this message with you, we're still grieving the loss of our grandson, who was killed in a hit and run accident. Please keep up the great teaching as we are so thankful for everything you do. We appreciate hearing how these daily studies are impacting lives, even through painful situations.

Would you consider sharing your story? If so, call us and let us know. Call 1-866-871-1144.

That's a special number, 866-871-1144. In one of the past year's most requested messages, we're talking about committing ourselves and our families to God today. Pastor Greg's study is based in 1 Kings 18. It's an account that underscores the need to worship God and not let anything else take his place.

Well, back to the shootout of the Carmel Corral. So here they are up on the mountain, 850 prophets that bailed versus one prophet of God. Elijah says, let's let the real God answer by fire. Look at 1 Kings 18, 27.

About noon time, Elijah began mocking them. They'll have to shout louder, he scoffed, for surely he's a god. Maybe he's away on a trip or he's asleep or he needs to be wakened. And so they shouted louder. Oh, I left out one word, one phrase.

Perhaps he's daydreaming or is relieving himself. We don't want to miss that one. So shout louder. So they shouted louder following their normal custom. They cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out.

They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice. But still there was no sound, no reply, no response. Elijah says, hey, maybe your God's asleep and you need to wake him up. Oh, I'm so glad God doesn't fall asleep. Do you ever fall asleep? You didn't plan on it? Why is it when we fall asleep we always deny it when someone asks us? Were you sleeping?

No. No, you were. You fell asleep. The other day I ate something and it put me into a temporary food coma.

You know what I'm talking about? And I was asleep for like, I don't know, five minutes. I woke up. I literally didn't know where I was for a moment. Where am I? What just happened? I'm under the influence of an In-N-Out Burger.

I don't know what it was. I'm so glad that doesn't happen to God. God doesn't go into food comas. God is not asleep at the wheel. God is always paying attention to what is happening to us.

Psalm 124 says, He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. 2 Chronicles 16, 9 says, The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. So God is not just awake. God is aware. God is watching. And because He's omniscient, which means all knowing, and omnipotent, which means all powerful, and omnipresent, which means present everywhere, He's fully aware of what you're facing, of what is going on in your life, and what is going on in the world. I love what Elijah says then. Verse 27, Maybe your God is daydreaming or is relieving Himself.

Yes, that's what he meant. Maybe your God's on the celestial toilet. That was a joke at their expense, but I don't think they were laughing. Yes, Elijah was mocking them, but in a way their own gods were mocking them. Because their own gods were nonexistent. Their own gods had no power to do anything. I love this statement when it says, They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response. And I think Ahab saw this.

King Ahab could see that Baal had no power. Baal was not there to answer the call of these people, and sometimes the Lord will allow people to see the futility of their own gods so they will turn to the true and living God. I think most of us, if we look back on that moment in our life before we came to Christ, we had probably come to a point where we had seen the emptiness of life.

You know this book I've written, Lennon, Dillon, Allison, Jesus, it examines the spiritual life of a lot of these people that had unbelievable fame and success and wealth. And they climbed to the top of the mountain and they found out there was nothing there. And for many of them they had to hit rock bottom before they would look up. They had to see the emptiness of these so-called gods before they would turn again to the true God.

These false gods are sort of like filters we put on photos to make things look better, but really they don't look better at all. I read about an Instagram influencer, age 28, who tragically took her own life. There was a column written about her and there was a comment made by another influencer who said, quote, social media does not bring happiness, it does not bring fulfillment, it does not bring connection, end quote. And I thought that's very true, it just doesn't. But we want to present ourselves as very happy and very attractive and look at the life I'm living, but we don't see what it's really like.

69% of adults and 81% of teens use social media. This influencer went on to say, quote, it's really just smoke and mirrors. They're just showing an edited part of their life that they want others to see, end quote.

That's true. And that's everything this world offers. It's just smoke and mirrors. It's fake, it's not real. They're false gods. It'll never satisfy you. But some people spend their whole life figuring that one out.

And other people see it sooner and they come to Christ sooner. Well anyway, here's the big contest. So Elijah says, yeah, you guys go, do your thing. Okay, you done? Okay, wow, what a mess.

Blood everywhere, seriously? Now it's my turn. And he says, I want you to repair the altar, which they did. Now I want you to douse it with water. I want you to do it again, do it again. Three times they douse the altar.

Why? Because when God answered this prayer, he wanted everyone to know it was the Lord. It wasn't a coincidence, it wasn't a special trick. It was something that was supernatural.

Bringing me to point number two. Our job is to pray. God's job is to answer. Again, our job is to pray. Our job is to pray.

God's job is the answer. Do you have a problem right now? Do you have a challenge right now? Do you have a concern right now? Now, have you prayed about it? Is there something you really need in your life? Have you prayed about it?

Maybe it's a healing, maybe it's provision, maybe it's a mate, maybe it's something else. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. And not only that, but Jesus says, ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. So our job is to pray, God's job is to answer. Verse Kings 18, 36. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and I am your servant and I've done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me so these people will know that you, Lord, are God.

And that you are turning their hearts back again. I love this prayer. Just confidence in God. He didn't cut himself, he didn't scream, he didn't yell, he didn't jump up and down. He just prayed.

What happened? Verse Kings 18, verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice of wood, the stones, and the soil and looked up the water in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried. The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.

Love this. But God was not done. Not only did he send the fire, now he's gonna send the rain.

Don't forget they've been experiencing a horrible drought. They haven't seen water for over three years and God revealed to Elijah that it was going to rain. But when you looked up in the sky, there was not a cloud in the sky.

Not a single cloud. You know, and sometimes weathermen get it wrong, right? Oh, it's gonna rain today and it's clear or it's gonna be clear today and it rains. I, listen, you wanna know if it's gonna rain, just find out when I wash my car. It always rains in that day. And as I've told you before, bald men always know when it's raining first.

That is absolutely true. We'll walk along and I'll say, it's raining. God will say, no it isn't.

Oh yes it is. Because I'm a bald man and I just felt the first drop hit me, right? So, but he knew because the Lord revealed to him that the rain was gonna come.

Here's what I find surprising in the narrative. Elijah goes and tells King Ahab, hey it's gonna rain. You better get in your chariot and head back to the palace. Get those rain tires on the chariot, King. A powerful rainstorm is coming and the king gets into his chariot and off he goes.

Bringing me to point number three. God answers prayer the way he wants and when he wants. God answers prayer the way he wants and when he wants, underline the word when. First Kings 18, 43. He says to a servant, go look toward the sea. And the servant went and looked and said, there's nothing there. Seven times Elijah said, go back.

So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, there's nothing. And the seventh time the servant reported, well there is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea. Elijah said, go to Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.

Isn't this interesting? Elijah knew it was gonna rain before everybody else knew. And I think when you are walking with the Lord and you are living by faith, you will see things other people do not see. You know, Hebrews 11 one says, faith is a substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. Faith sees invisible things. You see what can be, not just what is, you see past it. And the Lord can direct you.

And here's another thing to consider. We as believers know a storm is coming. People in our world today are saying, well what's going on?

There's violence on the streets and the crazy things happening on the stock market and the aggression of powers overseas and it's almost like the end times. But I don't know, it is the end times. We know it. We know it because we read our Bibles. We know that prophecies are being fulfilled before our very eyes. We know the antichrist is coming. We know the tribulation period is coming. We know judgment is coming. But best of all, we know that Jesus Christ is coming again.

We know it. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie talking about seeing our lives through eyes of faith and with the insight we get from God's Word. Today's message has been full of encouragement, good evidence that God takes care of those who are truly His.

But maybe you feel like you're on the outside looking in. Maybe you've never come to the Lord and made things right in your relationship with Him. Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who wants to make things right with God right now?

What I would say is He's only a prayer way, which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, He will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Greg and meant those words sincerely, then we want to welcome you into God's family and we want to help you get started in your new faith. Pastor Greg would like to send you his New Believers Bible free of charge along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. Now today's message from Pastor Greg was titled Dealing with Depression. Also, several minutes ago, Pastor Greg mentioned his book Lennon, Dillon, Alice, and Jesus. You can get more information about that book and how to order it at harvest.org. You know, Pastor Greg, whenever we study the subject of heaven, it's such an encouraging dose of hope. That's right. And you write about heaven in your brand new book As It Is in Heaven.

We're making it available right now. When someone close to us passes away, it can be so shocking. On a day-to-day basis, we forget that death awaits us all, should the Lord tarry. How can we remind ourselves that our days are numbered and we need to make them count?

Yes, that's right. The scripture tells us, Lord, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. You know, in ancient days, they used to write a phrase over, say, a financial record. So you're checking out your bank balance, and they would write these words down, memento mori, which means think of death.

Mm, how morbid. Think of death? But it's a good thing.

It's like, hey, I have so much money in the bank. Yeah, dude, but think of death. In other words, you can't take it with you. Ha, but you can send it on ahead when you invest in the work of the kingdom, can't you?

But here's my point. It's grounding to think of the afterlife. It's important to think about the next life, and it should affect us in the way that we live in this life. So, Lord, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Every day is a gift from God. The beat of your heart is a gift from God.

The breath you're drawing in your lungs right now is a gift of God. We have no guarantee of a tomorrow. Therefore, we should live every day as though it were our last day, because one day it will be. I don't say that so you'll be afraid. I say that so you'll be practical, and make your days count, and make your life count, and don't just throw it away, because one day you're gonna enter into the next life, the afterlife, and there'll be rewards given to you for your faithful service to the Lord.

Think of this. When you share the gospel with someone and you come to Christ, you'll be joined in heaven by them one day, and so we wanna do everything we can in this life to get ready for the afterlife, and it's gonna be beyond your wildest dreams, so maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that's in a hospital room, or the effects of old age are kicking in, or they've had a recent problem or catastrophe, and it just seems like this is the end, but there's a better life ahead of you. There's a better world coming in heaven, and that gives us hope, and it gives us perspective to keep walking forward until that day we see Jesus face to face. So I've written about this in this book called As It Is in Heaven. So if you've had questions about heaven, and I think we all do, I think you oughta order a copy of this book, and I'll send it to you for your gift of any size, and whatever you send will be used to help us continue to bring the gospel to people and to teach the word of God through this broadcast you're listening to now.

Get your copy of As It Is in Heaven. Yeah, that's right, and we'll be glad to send it right out to you. It's our thank you gift for those who partner with us right now, so contact us with your donation and be sure to ask for As It Is in Heaven.

You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call, 1-800-821-3300, or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, I want to encourage you to check out the new Harvest Plus app. It's on Roku, Apple TV, and Google Play, among others, and you can stream incredible content on all major platforms for free. You're gonna find live events, our evangelistic films like A Rush of Hope, Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, and our newest film, Fame. Plus, our TV programs, our podcast, Harvest at Home, and a lot more.

Stream it all on any device for free using the new Harvest Plus app. Well, next time we move forward in the story and discover Elijah surprisingly found himself in a time of depression. We'll uncover some principle for those challenges in our lives. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins A New Beginning is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If this show has impacted your life, share your story, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and help others find hope.