Fighting Depression in 2020

With a global health crisis, civil unrest, and a presidential election, there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to 2020.

In such an emotionally exhausting year, how are those who experiencing depression supposed to hold on to hope? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. And you can post your question on our Facebook or Instagram account, or email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, we have a sweet good news story to share with you. When five-year-old Carver learned about the wildfires ravaging his home state of Oregon, he told his grandmother he wanted to do something to help the firefighters. While at a local store, Carver saw a baby Yoda doll.

He really, really wanted it, but he decided the firefighters would need the doll more than he did, so he sent it off in a care package along with the note. Well, a couple of days later, he received a note back saying how much the local fire crew loves baby Yoda. In fact, the firefighters now bring baby Yoda with them everywhere they go, and they document his travels in a Facebook group so that Carver and other people can see how much baby Yoda has helped them along the way. Oh, that's awesome. It's so funny. I think we were just at a Target the other night, and there were little baby Yoda stuffed animals for sale, and my kids were like, oh, we have to have one of those.

I don't know if you've seen the Disney Mandalorian with the baby Yoda, but he's pretty cute. Oh, that's great. Well, thank the Lord for sweet kids like that and for our wonderful firefighters who were on the front lines there of those terrible fires throughout the West.

Let's get to our first question of the day, and this one came in at 1-833-843-2673. My name is Michael from Port St. Lucie, Florida, regarding the Lord's Prayer specifically, lead us not into temptation. How do you come to grips with that specific passage when we know in the book of James that the Lord does not tempt us? That's my question.

Thank you. God is not the author of sin, and I think that's one of the things that we have to make sure we just say right at the outset. God is not the reason why we sin. We're to blame when we sin, and while God is sovereign over temptation, he's not the tempter.

Actually, there's this great promise that we get in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13. It says, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Now, it's clear from that verse that God is sovereign over temptation, isn't it?

What do I mean by that? Sovereign over temptation? Well, the Lord can keep us from trying circumstances, from circumstances where we might be tempted by the evil one. And you note in the Lord's Prayer the very next petition, deliver us from the evil one. Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one. So while God doesn't tempt us, and he cannot tempt us because he's God, he's good, in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to cling to God and to cry out to him that we wouldn't give in to temptation and that God would protect us from circumstances where we might be tempted.

Now, here's another thing to note, and sometimes that word can be translated different ways. It could be testing, it could be temptation, and so that's another thing to consider. But testing and temptation have the ability to uncover what is in our hearts.

I think that this is a really interesting thing for us to consider. In the Old Testament, when the Israelites came through the testing in the wilderness, Moses told them in Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, remember that these 40 years, the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness so that he might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. And then just a few chapters later in Deuteronomy 13, verse 3, you shall not listen to the words of the false prophet or the dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And so there are different ways to think about this idea of testing or temptation. One, there's God not tempting us, like James says. God is not the one who tempts us to sin. We're tempted by sin when we're drawn away by our own sinful desires, and that's what James says. And because God is good, because God is an evil, he's not the author of sin, he doesn't tempt us actually, 1 Corinthians 10, he's the one who keeps us from being tempted beyond what we're able to. What a wonderful promise we have there. And yet at the same time, we know that we experience trying circumstances in life, circumstances that sometimes are related to our falling into temptation, being led astray by our own sinful hearts, and so we're pleading with God.

We come before the Lord humbly as Jesus taught us to pray and saying, God, keep me. I know you're sovereign. I know you're all powerful.

I know you're in control. God, I need you because, like the words of that great hymn says, I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Come, thou fount of every blessing, a wonderful hymn.

But I think it's just so true. We can say, God, I'm prone to wander. Keep me, guard me, lead me not into temptation, deliver me from the evil one. That's what Jesus taught us to pray. It's not a contradiction with what James says because God does not tempt us in the sense that he's causing us to sin. But we do recognize that God is sovereign over the circumstances of our lives and so we cling to him and we look to him for help in the hour of temptation.

You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and here's an email that came in from Donna. She says, I live in a co-op and a couple of blocks away is a psychiatric medical center. We also have a shopping center close by, and sometimes they let certain patients out during the day and most of them panhandle.

We receive notices from management at the shopping center saying not to give them money because they receive food and a stipend from the city. Today, someone asked me for money for food and he didn't look homeless at all. In fact, he was actually better dressed than I was, so I said no. My question is, was it a sin for me to turn down giving money to this man? I don't want to be an enabler and give money to people who buy cigarettes or alcohol with it or feed people who don't want to work and panhandle all day. However, I still felt guilty saying no.

What do you think? Well Donna, first I want to commend you. I think the desire you have, the burden that you feel to give to the poor is Christ-like. I think that's honoring to the Lord. You know, I've always loved Proverbs 19-17. It says, whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deep. Isn't that a beautiful promise?

I mean, what a thing to say. God is saying, when you're generous to the poor, it's as if you're lending to me and I'm going to repay you. The Christian church has historically been known for its charity to the poor, and I think sometimes we can be overly critical of those in need by saying things like, oh, he deserved that, or she deserved that, or if they weren't so lazy, they'd be better off, they wouldn't be on the street and whatnot. And oftentimes we can do this in order to justify why we don't need to help those in need.

We have to be careful. We have to examine our own hearts here. I used to be a part of a church that had a thriving homeless ministry.

It really was a beautiful thing to see. And I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of my homeless neighbors in those days. And one of the things that struck me was how different each of their stories were. Sometimes it was a mental health issue that put them out on the street. Sometimes it was a history of drug use. And maybe it wasn't even that they were using drugs anymore, but that their brains had been so affected by drug use for many, many years that they couldn't thrive in the normal world anymore.

They were just out on the street. Sometimes it was related to abuse, maybe a difficult family situation or no family. I mean, you'd be surprised how many people just have no one. And personally, I think it's best to err on the side of compassion. Now that being said, I also met people who didn't want to work. And Paul says if a man won't work, he won't eat. There are circumstances where we are enabling people and maybe even contributing to their self-harm. And so we have to be wise because we don't want to do that. Oftentimes we don't know what the background is, but it sounds like in your case, Donna, you do know that the panhandlers you're referring to are being cared for by this psychiatric medical center, and they've asked you not to give them money.

And I think it's okay for you to say, okay, I won't. And I mentioned that the church I was a part of for a while, we had a thriving homeless ministry, and we actually asked individuals in our church not to go from member to member of the church asking for money. This happened countless of times. Homeless people in the church would go around and basically panhandle. And we would ask the people of our church not to give them money when they ask because the church had already committed in various ways to helping them.

And so I don't think you're sinning by not giving money to these individuals or to the individual you were referring to. But I do want to encourage you in your compassion for the poor and for those in need. I think that that's something that's honoring to the Lord. And I think each of us, we should ask these kinds of questions. And I think we should examine our own hearts and we should want to cultivate a heart of generosity toward those who are in need.

To be careful that we're not justifying why we don't help those who are in need, looking for reasons for which we don't have to help those who are in need. We want to be Christ-like here. And so thank you for your question. You're listening to CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And you know, here at CORE, one of our most popular Bible studies is our study on the Gospel of John. And we're offering that to you today. Yeah, it's a 10-week study and it's just a great way to learn about the life and ministry of Jesus.

And you can do it on your own or you can do it with a group of friends. And we've been getting great feedback from people who have been using this study right now. It's available as a PDF download or you can request a physical copy.

And the physical copies are actually really nice. There's also a leader's guide that's available if you want to go through this study with a group of people and you feel like the Lord is calling you to be a Bible study leader, check this out. Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to get your copy of our new Bible study on the Gospel of John. You know, this could be a great resource to send to your pastor or to a small group leader as they are planning their next Bible study. You can call us for this or any one of our offers at 833-843-2673.

That's 833, the CORE. Let's get to another question. Michael wrote to us and said, did Peter teach that Jesus delivers to us the Spirit, forgiveness, and salvation in Acts 2 38 and 1 Peter 3 21? Didn't the earliest Christians in church history hold to baptismal regeneration?

Hey, Michael. So it sounds like you're asking, you know, do those verses, Acts 2 38 and 1 Peter 3 21 teach baptismal regeneration? There are actually a couple of questions here. What did the earliest Christians in church history believe? And then what does or what do these two verses mean when they talk about baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit? So let me read first the verses that you're referring to. And then I probably should define what baptismal regeneration is for those who are unfamiliar with that phrase. First, Acts 2 38, Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then the other verses you were referring to, 1 Peter 3 21-22, Peter said, baptism, which corresponds to this, he's referring to the flood in Noah's day, baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Now again, what are these verses referring to? Are these verses teaching baptismal regeneration? What baptismal regeneration is, is it's the belief that when an individual is baptized, whether they're an adult or an infant, a baby, that at that moment, they are given the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit. They're born again in the very act of baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone who is truly baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is indeed a child of God. They're born again. They're regenerated at their baptism. And there were many Christians in the early church who embraced this view.

The question is, what does the Bible teach? And is that what Acts 2 38 teaches in 1 Peter 3 21-22? Well, I don't think that those verses teach baptismal regeneration. Now, there is a close relationship between the sign of baptism and the reality that it signifies. I mean, it signifies the forgiveness of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, our union, our engrafting into Jesus Christ. Those are all the things that baptism visibly conveys. But baptism doesn't save in and of itself.

Jesus Christ by faith saves us and he gives us these tangible signs of his salvation through which he communicates his grace to us. Now Christians have talked about this in different ways. As I said, early in the church, there were many people who did believe in baptismal regeneration. There are many Christian traditions today that do as well. But you also have people in the New Testament, when we read the New Testament, where it's very clear that they'd been baptized and still seem to be completely lost.

And I think we all have examples of this or have seen this around us or maybe even in our own lives. We're baptized, but we really didn't understand the grace of God or experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives until much later in life or believe in Jesus even. I think of Acts chapter 8 verses 13 and following. This is the story of Simon the magician. He's kind of an infamous character in the New Testament and actually later in church history as well. In Acts chapter 8, here's a guy who was a magician.

He was practicing witchcraft basically. And then he ended up being baptized. We're told Acts 8 verse 13, even Simon himself believed and after being baptized, he continued with Philip and sing signs and great miracles performed.

He was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet he had not fallen on any of them. But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

And when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you, because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Here you have a guy who was baptized. We're even told that he had believed. It's kind of an interesting text there, but he's still completely lost.

His heart is not right. And so see, one of the things I think is that baptism, it is this sign, it's a means of grace. It's one of the ways that God is powerfully at work in our lives.

We can't minimize it. It's not just an empty sign ritual that we do because we feel like, you know, God has given it to us as a sign of his salvation. And it's one of the ways God communicates his grace to us. But that grace, the work of God's Spirit, isn't necessarily tied to the moment the baptism is administered. There are people who believe in Jesus and are truly born again prior to having been baptized, and then they're baptized. There are people who are baptized, and the reality that that sign points to, the forgiveness of sins, union with Jesus, they don't experience that reality until much later in life. And that's where the grace attached to baptism hits them, if you will. And so I think that those verses that you're referring to, Acts 2 38, 1 Peter 3 21 and 22, they're talking about baptism as more than just an empty sign, right?

It's a sign of salvation, the forgiveness of sins. These promises are closely attached to the sign of baptism so that we shouldn't despise them. And yet at the same time, I don't think that we should conclude, based on the close association between the sign of baptism and the reality that it points to, that everyone who's baptized is undoubtedly born again. I think just common experience reveals that that's not the case, and of course you do, as I said, have examples in Scripture where you have people who had been baptized but who were still lost, it seemed. And so I appreciate the question and sort of thinking through baptism, and feel free to follow up, give us a call back if you'd like.

Thank you. Adriel, just for clarification, what does the Roman Catholic Church believe? Do they believe in baptismal regeneration? Yeah, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches as well, they believe in baptismal regeneration. And so, you know, according to the Roman Catholic Church, when a person is baptized, they're infused with these graces from God, including faith. They're made a child of God in that moment. There are a lot of Christian traditions that have taken this view, and then there are others that haven't taken this view, and I happen to be in a tradition that doesn't believe that all those who are baptized are undoubtedly born again or regenerated. The Spirit of God is sovereign. You know, Bill, you mentioned Roman Catholics, even they would say, you know, a person can be born again through baptism, but still be condemned and lost. A lot of intricacies.

Yeah, just another can of worms, Bill, that you're trying to open up here for us, but no, good stuff for us to think about, certainly as Christians, and ultimately we want to go back to the Word and see what the Scriptures say. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone number, if you'd like to connect with us, is 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. You can also submit a question through our Facebook page, and Kaylee did that. She said, 2020 has felt like a really emotionally exhausting year. It seems like in every area of life there is a conflict between people, and though I've never dealt with depression before, that is the only thing that makes sense of what I'm feeling throughout this year. I don't think I'm alone. How can people like me persevere and hang on when it feels like one thing after another is weighing life down? Kaylee, you're absolutely not alone.

I bet that everyone listening to your question right now is thinking, uh-huh, amen. Yeah, I feel the same way, and I could definitely say I've felt that same way as well this year. It's been a hard year for a lot of us. Just because you brought up depression, I do want to say that there's nothing wrong with scheduling an appointment with your doctor to express how you're feeling. Sometimes we can get the blues because of the circumstances around us, and that's totally normal.

There are a lot of things going on right now that make people who might ordinarily be pretty positive feel down. But there's also clinical depression, which is different from the normal blues we all get and could be the result of a chemical imbalance that a doctor can help you with. So God, in His kindness, has given to us common wisdom of doctors, physicians, medicine to help us with situations like that. If that's not ever something that you've pursued, maybe that's something for you to consider sitting down with your doctor in line with this, because we know that this is such an important issue right now in the church. We do have a resource called Nine Things Everyone Should Know About Depression, Kaylee, and you can download that over at our website, corechristianity.com.

Nine Things Everyone Should Know About Depression. It might give you some more insight into what you're feeling. But besides that, and practically speaking, set your hopes not on this world or the present circumstances, but on Jesus. I don't know how much you read the news or are on social media, but maybe it'd be a good idea to take a step back from media for a while.

You know, research is showing that it's really having a negative effect on us, and especially during the pandemic, use of social media has skyrocketed. It's really overwhelming. It's important for you to get away from all of that and to spend time with Jesus, to study his word, to be committed to prayer. You know, there's something stabilizing about that because it helps us to have the eternal perspective. Yes, things are hard right now, but I have a good Father in heaven who's given his Son for me and for my salvation.

So you don't persevere by clenching your teeth and powering through and just trying to have happy thoughts and a good attitude. No, I mean, the reality is we are, many of us, facing great difficulties. It could be sickness, it could be sickness in our family, it could be the financial strain that's been brought about by the pandemic, or just the isolation, the loneliness that so many people are feeling. Maybe you're feeling it right now.

We haven't been able to spend the time together that we really need to spend together. You know, Hebrews chapter 3 talks about encouraging each other day by day while it is called today, lest we're hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. But the difficulty with the current circumstances is we have all these pressures that are building on us, and we don't have the normal fellowship that we typically, ordinarily ought to have as Christians because we're distanced, many of us at least. And so there is kind of a recipe here for feeling down and depressed, and that's why I think we need to be stabilized. We need to sit before the Lord and surrender. Look to Jesus, cry out to him and rest in him and maybe take a break from, you know, all of the sort of information overload that we're getting from media and social media because I think that that can add to the stress. We are with you and praying for you, and we know that so many people are suffering right now because of the pandemic.

But again, let's take a step back. Let's enter into the presence of the Lord, sit at his feet and to hear his promise to us. In this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.