amen so for the second verse it's two by two third verse three by three and fourth
verse what four by four all right on that second verse are you ever burdened
with a load of hair does the crossing heavy you were called to bear too many
blessings every towel will number 228 228 on that first verse I'm on Thursday
so winning tonight we have our outer fellowship some instructions for that
fellowship the line will begin at the glass doors parents please make sure you
are present with your children so that when they get apple cider it is a hot
beverage excuse me and so we'll make the line starting at the doors and kind of
fanning out towards the left of the of the building here Thanksgiving banquet
will be Friday November 21st there will be no service on the 20th some
announcements for that on Thursday this is an announcement from from Pastor
Mejia says our Thanksgiving banquet is coming up this Friday September 21st at
7 p.m. all are welcome to attend but if you are coming and/or bringing a guest
it is vital that you RSVB today so that we have enough tables chairs and food
thank you also we need a few ladies on Wednesday evening to come to the church
building at 5 p.m. to help with the decor as well as a few men that evening
to help with the setup of the tables and chairs ladies please see Mrs. Mejia
and men go to brother Hernandez and then we need some men to help put the
chairs away excuse me we need some men to help put away all the auditorium
chairs away in the up in the mother baby room and also we need you can go to
brother Hernandez for that please help us by removing your belongings from the
chairs thank you all right midweek service will be Tuesday November 25th
there would there would not be a service on the 27th and then we have our science
meetup on November 23rd on Sunday it's after the p.m. service please silence
your phones and not be disturbance to the service and with that open up your
himmels the song number 441 song number 441 great is my faithfulness song number
441 on that first verse we need tonight we're in second Kings chapter 1 Bible
reads then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab and Ahaziah fell
down through a lattice in the upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick
and he sent messengers and said unto them go inquire of Baal's above the God
of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease but the angel the Lord said to
Elijah the Tishbite arise go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria
and say unto them is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go
to inquire of Baal's above the God of Ekron now therefore thus saith the Lord
thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up
but thou shalt surely die and Elijah departed when the messengers turned
back unto him he said unto them why are you now turned back and they
said unto him there came a man up to meet thus
and said unto us go turn again unto the king that sent you and say unto him
thus saith the Lord is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou
sendest to inquire of Baal's above the God of Ekron
therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but
shalt surely die and he said unto them what manner of man was he
which came up to meet you and told you these words and they answered him
he was an hairy man and gird with a girdle of leather
about his loins and he said it is Elijah the Tishbite then the king sent unto them
a captain of 50 with his 50 and he went up to him and behold he sat on the top
of a hill and he spake unto him thou man of God the king hath said
come down and Elijah answered and said to the captain of 50
if I be a man of God then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and
thy 50 and there came down fire from heaven and
consumed him and his 50 again also he sent unto him another
captain of 50 with his 50 and he answered and sent unto him oh man of
God thus hath the has the king said come down quickly
and Elijah answered and sent unto them if I be a man of God let fire come down
from heaven and consume thee and thy 50 and the fire of God came down from heaven
and consumed him and his 50 and he sent again a captain of the third
50 with his 50 and the third captain of 50 went up
and came and fell on his knees before Elijah but sought him and said unto him
O man of God I pray thee let my life and the life of these 50 thy servants
be precious in thy sight behold there came fire down from heaven and burnt up
the two captains of the former 50s with their 50s
therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight and the angel of the Lord
said unto Elijah go down with them be not afraid of them and he arose and went
down with him unto the king and he said it to him thus
saith the Lord for as much as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal's
above the god of Ekron is it not because there is no god in
Israel to inquire of his word therefore thou shall not come down off
that bed which thou art gone up but shalt surely die
so he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken and Jehoram
reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of
Jehoshaphat king of Judah because he had no son
now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did are they not written in the
book the chronicles of the kings of Israel
pray dear Lord God just thank you for this time we have Lord to hear the
preaching of your word Lord just please be with pastor during the service Lord
that you give him boldness and you just fill him with the Holy Spirit Lord as
he preaches your word unto us Lord and that us in the congregation could take
these truths from your word Lord and apply to our lives tonight and that we
get home safely. We put this all in Jesus name amen.
In second Kings chapter 1 and what I want to preach on this morning or this
evening should I say I'm sorry is secular therapy versus biblical
counseling. Secular therapy versus biblical counseling. Look at second
Kings chapter 1 and verse number 1 it says then Moab rebelled
against Israel after the death of Ahab and Ahaziah fell down through a lattice
in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick
and he sent messengers and said into them go inquire of Beelzebub
the god of Ekron whether I shall recover
of this disease but the angel of the lord said to Elijah the Tishviah
arise go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them
is it not because there is not a god in Israel
that you go to inquire of Beelzebub the god of Ekron obviously what we see here
is that Ahaziah has this accident where he falls through an upper chamber
and apparently he acquires some sort of sickness some sort of infection that
leads to a disease and the disease is terminal it's going
to kill him and instead of going to god for the answers
instead of seeking out the lord and seeking out his favor
his wisdom what the bible says why this came upon him
he ends up inquiring of Beelzebub the god of Ekron a
false god in order to receive the answer for the situation that he's in
And of course, the angel of the Lord comes to Elijah to go rebuke Ahaziah.
And he tells them, is it because there's not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of
Beelzebub?
And what I'm applying this to, of course, is the fact that, you know, today, obviously,
we would expect unsafe people, people who don't have God, they don't have the Bible.
We expect them to seek after wisdom and knowledge that's not found in the Bible because they
don't know any better, right?
They're not going to go to God.
They're not going to go to church.
They're not going to necessarily search out the Scriptures to see and seek out the answer
for the problems that they have.
But you know, there's a major problem when Christians, those who are saved, those who
claim to believe the Bible, seek after these unsaved people who don't have the wisdom
of God.
And you almost want to ask them, is it because there's not a God in Israel that thou inquire
of the Elzebub, the God of Ekron?
Why are you seeking out these people who don't have the Bible as their foundation,
who don't believe in the word of God?
They don't have salvation, they don't believe the Bible to be the final authority.
Why are you seeking after the Elzebub for an answer that God can give you, right?
It's important for us to realize and understand that as Christians we have the word of God
and we should always seek out biblical counseling, not secular therapy.
And this evening I want to make a distinction between the two because quite frankly we still
have a young church.
And as a young church you can be biblically grounded, you believe the word of God is authoritative,
but you know if you're not told that this stuff is wrong and that you shouldn't seek
out counsel from people who hold to these types of philosophies and secular thinking,
you can be deceived and duped into thinking that it's appropriate to go to a therapist
or whatever for the problems that you have or whatever mental issues that you're suffering
from.
From the problems in your marriage that you're having, well you know I know I'm a Christian
but I heard therapy also works.
Let's get a therapist to kind of referee what we've got going on here.
Let me get a therapist to help me with my mental issues.
No, we need to go to the Bible.
Now let me give you a couple of introductory statements before I get into my main points
here.
Let me say this is that I do believe in counseling.
And the reason I say this is because there's a podcast, you know one of my friends did
a podcast and they were talking about marriage counseling.
And most of my friends are just completely against marriage counseling and I can definitely
understand why.
Like any just kind of counseling, like private counseling.
I understand a hundred percent why I didn't actually watch the entire podcast, but if
I were to surmise why they're against it, I probably would agree with it simply because
in the old IFB counseling was a big thing.
But the problem is, is that the pastor almost ended up not being a preacher and more so
just a counselor.
Like most of his ministry was dedicated to just counseling people every single week and
it's often like the same people every single week.
Like basically problems would never become resolved and it's almost as if these pastors
ended up becoming therapists instead of a biblical counselor.
And so I can see why my friends would be against it and I'm in a hundred percent agreement
with that.
But let me give you some of the philosophies I have by way of introduction regarding counseling.
Number one is that obviously as I'm going to mention in the sermon, most of the counseling
that you're going to get from me comes right here, right from the pulpit, from the preaching
of God's word.
That's a fact.
But I will say this, not everyone pays attention in church and in fact there's probably someone
in this room right now that's not paying attention to what I'm saying.
And it's not because you're a carnal person, maybe it is actually, you know, it's not because
you're a bad person or a sinful person, it's just the nature of man that sometimes things
go in one ear and out the other.
So one of the reasons I'm for personal counseling if someone's going through an issue, they're
experiencing a problem, it's because of the fact that although I provided the answers
to your problems behind the pulpit, you're not always going to be paying attention to
that.
Okay.
Secondly, even if you do pay attention to the preaching, you forget, you know, sometimes
just people forget sermons, they forget concepts, they forget biblical principles.
You know, I can pour my heart into a particular sermon to help you with your issue, but you
know what?
Six months down the road, you're probably going to forget what I preached about.
Okay.
Which is one of the reasons why I have to preach the same sermons to bring, to stir
up your pure minds by way of remembrance.
But quite frankly, I can't expect for you to implement all the principles that I share
behind the pulpit because even if you do pay attention, people forget, okay?
So not everyone pays attention.
If they do pay attention, sometimes they forget.
And then as I mentioned, counsel from the pulpit often goes in one ear and out the other
because it doesn't immediately apply to them, right?
So let's say I give some biblical counseling regarding marriage or singleness or whatever
it may be, finances, relationship, principles, you know, am I just going one ear and out
the other with you?
Because it doesn't necessarily immediately apply to you right now.
So you may think to yourself like, this is good, but it doesn't really apply, therefore,
you know, I'm not going to really take it to heart.
And the problem with that is that maybe six months down the road, a year from now, it
will apply.
And then people come to me and say, hey, have you ever taught on this particular subject
or what's your, what's your, you know, perception about this?
What do you?
And I'm thinking to myself, well, I already preached on that, but because it didn't apply
to them at that moment, maybe they didn't really regard it.
It wasn't really important to them.
Therefore they didn't really meditate upon it.
Let me also say this is that I do counseling because sometimes let me just be honest,
some people just need a little extra attention, nothing wrong with that.
You know, that's why I'm the pastor here.
I'm here to do so.
You know, I don't give my undivided attention to people online.
Sometimes people online have this like entitlement, you know, attitude, or they're just like,
I should be answering every single DM that they send me.
And you know, I remember one time like I made a video and they're like, wow, you finally
made a video on this after ignoring me for so long.
You know, I can't and just like getting mad at me.
And I'm just thinking myself like you're not even a my church member.
You're some dude online, we probably disagree on the essentials of the faith or something.
But you know, people online have like this entitlement, you know, type of attitude where
they feel like I need to be there always for them, but I'm not their pastor.
However, I am your pastor, okay?
And let me just clear something up real quick is that I don't want you to ever think that
if you're asking me, calling me or asking me for advice, that somehow you're wasting
my time.
You know, sometimes people are like, well, I don't want to bother you, I feel like you're
always busy.
But my busyness is you, you know, this is my church.
And so don't ever feel like you can't approach me.
And you know, you can't talk to me about some problem that you're going through that I'm
some sort of that you're some sort of burden to me doesn't work that way.
Okay.
I'm your shepherd.
This is my job.
And, you know, if I didn't like doing it, then I would go do something else.
But the reason I'm doing this is because I love my church.
I love my church members.
And so, you know, some people, sometimes people just need a little extra attention.
Maybe they need help on a specific issue in their life that maybe I didn't cover in a
sermon.
Right.
There's instances where people ask me for counsel on things that I haven't preached
about.
Or I need to counsel them one on one to kind of help them through that particular issue.
Okay.
But let me also say this when it comes to biblical counseling, I don't referee fights.
Biblical counseling is not refereeing any type of fight.
And I'm 100% against that.
And I feel like the old IFB didn't really follow that principle.
It was often like if they're doing marriage counseling, really what it was is like two
people putting on boxing gloves and it's just like, and then you know, you're just kind
of saying who wins and it's like, you should have ducked, you know, just kind of like refereeing
the two or something like that.
I don't do that.
If I ever counsel people, whether it's in marriage or relationships, if they're not
listening and they're fighting against each other, I'm just like, we're done until you
can learn how to behave yourselves and act like grown adults.
Then we, you know, we're the counseling box because I'm not there to referee fights.
Okay.
Also, let me say this is that I don't counsel for long.
You know, if someone doesn't do what I tell them to do, then I immediately stop counseling.
But even if they do do what I tell them to do, I still don't do counseling long.
Meaning, you know, sometimes I'll meet with people for two weeks, three weeks, maybe even
four weeks at the most, six weeks, depending upon the problem.
But even beyond that, I don't because if I have to just keep counseling a person, helping
them through that issue, eventually if they apply what I'm telling them, they're going
to come out of that problem.
They're going to be able to figure it out for themselves.
They will be able to recover themselves from whatever issue they're experiencing.
So if it's beyond like seven weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks, obviously something is not being
done.
You're not following instructions and so forth.
So I don't do counseling for long.
That's not how I do it.
And then also, you know, I don't counsel if people aren't doing the bare basics, meaning,
you know, if I counsel you for any length of time, I want to know that you're reading
the Bible.
I want to know that you are walking with God.
I want to know that you're going to church, you know, not just showing up for the counseling
appointment without going to church.
You know, I want to make sure that you're doing the bare basics because you know, I
need you to be in a spiritual state of mind.
You're walking in the spirit.
You're essentially giving yourself a fighting chance against whatever it is that you're
dealing with.
And I'm not trying to counsel just carnal people who aren't willing to get right with
God and are walking with the Lord.
And so this is some of the principles that I live by as far as counseling other people.
Let me start off by saying also this is that we all need counseling from time to time.
Okay.
Because what is counseling?
Counseling actually comes from the word admonish.
It's like a Greek word that's, I think it's a newthetic is what they call it, newthetic
counseling is counseling that is biblically based, okay.
And it basically just means an admonishment.
And obviously when I'm preaching God's word, I'm admonishing you, but I'm going to show
you a couple verses from the Bible that also tells us that we admonish each other, right.
You're going through an issue, you can speak to an older brother or sister in Christ that
can admonish you in that area.
Another way of saying is that they're counseling you to make the right decisions, but we all
need counseling from time to time.
Proverbs 11, go with it if you would to first Corinthians chapter one, first Corinthians
chapter one, Proverbs 11 verse 14 says, where no counsel is, the people fall.
But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety, the Bible says.
So obviously sometimes people are void of knowledge, they're void of wisdom, not because
they reject wisdom, but maybe they don't necessarily possess the wisdom necessary at their particular
spiritual age.
So they need someone to counsel them to make the right decision.
We need people to help us to direct us in the right way.
You know, because every man does that which is right in their own sight sometimes, right?
And they may think that a decision they're making is a right decision.
But if they were to speak to someone who has experience, who knows the Bible, who recognizes
biblical principles, they can steer them away from bad decisions to make the right
decision.
Is that called?
It's called counseling.
It's called admonishing a brother or sister in Christ.
And I've admonished plenty of people throughout my Christian life where individuals were asking
for advice and they kind of gave me the solution and I was just, I'm thinking to myself, that's
a really bad solution.
I'm glad you came for counseling.
Because in their minds they're like, "Oh, I thought this was a good decision to make."
And they're just like, "No, that'll just destroy you."
It's a really bad choice to make.
But you know, it's not because they're evil or bad or they have some sort of nefarious
agenda, it's not because they're carnal, they just lack wisdom.
And so they're in need of someone who has the biblical knowledge or just slash experience
of life to kind of walk them through the decisions they have to make.
And so look at 1 Corinthians 1, 19, going back to what we see in 2 Kings 1, it says
in verse 19, "For it is written, I would destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world?
That's not God made foolish the wisdom of this world.
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
So in other words, a Christian shouldn't be going to a therapist who doesn't know God
expecting to be closer to God when they have this counseling session with this therapist.
Why?
Because the wisdom of man, the wisdom of this world doesn't draw people to God.
Because they're not biblically based, they don't know what the Bible says.
The world by wisdom doesn't know God.
He says it pleads God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
And obviously we know that as Christians, any form of counseling needs to be based in
the Bible.
Right?
In the word of God, Proverbs 19 verse 21 says there are many devices in a man's heart.
Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand.
Go to first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter one, Proverbs
21 verse 30 says this, there is no wisdom, nor understanding nor counsel against the
Lord.
And what is it saying?
It's saying that the counsel of the Lord is superior to every method and wisdom and knowledge
that the world has to offer.
Now you think to yourself, well, I know some unsafe person out there with the podcast or
I know this therapist or this secular person who's not a Christian, but they seem to give
good advice.
Why is that?
Why is it that they seem to have a good answer for this particular area?
I'll tell you why, because the answers that are given you is actually found in the Bible.
And a lot of times people give credit to these secular individuals for giving the right answer,
not really take into account that where they got that from is the Bible.
And any good counseling you can get from some secular therapists is probably already found
in the word of God.
Why?
Because there is no wisdom nor understanding or counsel against God.
There is not a counselor or wisdom in this world that is superior to the wisdom of the
Bible.
Not only that, but we have to understand that the Bible is sufficient to navigate us through
life's problems.
Now, a lot of these therapists and psychiatrists even, these are kind of like the quick get
quick get.
No, not get rich quick.
What am I saying?
The what?
No, that's not what I'm thinking about.
The quick fix is what I'm thinking about.
What are you thinking about over there?
It's the quick fix.
He said get rich quick.
Whoa.
Let's talk after the service, right?
You need some counseling.
It's the quick fix.
Right?
It's kind of like the bandaid over the problem, whereas the Bible, yeah, it does take a little
more effort on your end to actually reach a solution.
And you know what?
It may not be as pleasant or immediate, but it's actually effective and it'll help you
in the long run.
The point that I'm making is the Bible is sufficient to navigate us through life's problems.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Peter 1 verse 3, it says, "According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things."
You see that?
"All things that pertain unto life and godliness."
But I want you to notice this, "Through the knowledge of Him that hath called us unto
glory and virtue."
So God has all the answers for us, but it comes through the knowledge of Him, right?
We can find the solutions to life's problems that we face in the Word of God.
And let me just say this, is that sometimes we think to ourselves, "Well, I need a solution
to this problem.
I need to fix this problem in my life."
But that's not always the answer.
Sometimes there's problems in our life, and you know what?
It's not necessarily a matter of like, "I need to fix this because it's hurting me."
You should just kind of deal with the problem yourself.
Sometimes we have to live with problems.
Sometimes life is just filled with stress.
Sometimes life is filled with grief and sorrow.
It doesn't necessarily mean you need a solution to every single problem that you have.
We can't run away from life's problems is what I'm saying and try to mask it with something.
There's solutions to some problems, but in other cases, some things just won't go away
and we need to learn how to live with them.
The point that I'm making is that the Bible is sufficient to navigate us through these
life's problems.
You think to yourself, "Man, I just don't know if I have the time though to study the
Word of God, to scour the Bible, to find a solution to my problem."
Well thankfully, God not only gave you the Holy Spirit that dwells within you to read
the Bible, but He also gave you a church where the Bible is being preached.
And even on top of that, He supplemented it with counselors that can give you godly counseling
even thereafter.
So you have all these avenues, you know, the multitude of counselors is what?
The Holy Spirit that dwells within you, the multitude of counselors includes the pulpit,
the multitude of counselors includes just older brothers and sisters in Christ that
are knowledgeable about these things that can help you out and navigate through those
problems.
Biblical counseling simply means to admonish one another through Bible preaching and of
course personal counseling one-on-one with other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Romans 15 verse 14, you'll have to turn there, says, "And I myself also am persuaded of
you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able
also to admonish one another."
Now let me just caveat this, because I don't want everyone to think that just because the
Bible says that we can admonish one another, it doesn't necessarily mean that you should
be admonishing one another, meaning that there's certain people that aren't necessarily qualified
to do so, right?
Like a babe in Christ probably shouldn't be admonishing another brother or sister in Christ
in matters that they're not necessarily equipped to address.
A single guy should not be admonishing a married individual on how to run their marriage, how
to raise their kids.
They obviously are not qualified for that.
This is speaking in a general term that Christians in general have a better answer than those
who are in the world.
And we see that, right?
First Corinthians 6 tells us that the least esteemed in the church should be able to
judge matters.
Why?
Because we have the Bible, we have God, and so we're better equipped to help one another
than some unsafe person who doesn't have the Bible as his authority.
Let me also say this is that saved spiritual men should be the ones counseling.
Okay?
The Bible says in Galatians 6.1, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest
thou also be tempted."
Meaning that, you know, we should seek after the counsel of those who are faithful to the
Lord, who are knowledgeable in the Word of God, and have succeeded in areas that we would
like to succeed in as well.
Okay?
Now, go with me if you would.
Go back to 1 Corinthians and go to chapter 2 if you would.
1 Corinthians chapter 2.
Let's talk about modern therapy versus biblical counseling.
I hope that none of you get therapy, okay?
This sermon is meant to deter you from ever receiving, and I'm not talking about like
physical therapy, I'm talking about like therapy for your mental health, or because you're
struggling with your relationships, with your marriage.
You can find these solutions within the Word of God.
And let me explain to you why we as Christians should not go to therapy in order to solve
our issues or navigate us through life.
First and foremost is because of the source of authority, okay?
Christian therapists is basically anchored in human psychology, theories from Freud,
Rogers, Skinner, and other wicked and fallen men built on evolutionary assumptions and
secular humanism, and it actually rejects absolute truth, meaning that, you know, how
is this person going to help you with your problems if they reject the Bible as being
the final authority?
They don't believe in an absolute truth.
They don't believe that the Word of God should be used to help people with their life's
problems.
They reject absolute truth.
They embrace subjective feelings and basically say that man is basically good and simply
misunderstood.
Okay?
These are the kind of people that are helping you when you're going to a therapist.
Biblical counseling on the other hand is anchored in the Word of God.
It's perfect and it's the final authority.
The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
It's profitable for doctrine, yes, for proof, yes, for instruction in righteousness though.
And it says that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, meaning all
you need to be a functioning member of society to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
is the Bible itself.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 says, "For what man knoweth the things of man save
the spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit
of God," the Bible says.
So ask yourself this, does that therapist have the spirit of God?
You know the mere fact that they're absent of God's spirit, they're an unregenerated
person shows you that they're unqualified to help you in any matters of life.
Now here's the thing folks, is that you might have a therapist out there that is saved.
I'm sure it exists out there but quite frankly being saved is not the only thing that's
necessary or the only qualifications to help you, they need to actually be grounded in
the Bible as well and not do this amalgamation of the Bible and secular thinking, secular
philosophies and needs to be purely the Bible.
He goes on to say in verse 13 which things also we speak not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
This is showing us that we need to make sure that whatever counseling session we get into
one foundational agreement that we need to have is do we both believe that the word of
God is the final authority.
Are you going to give me counsel from what the Bible says and here's a good way to kind
of determine if that's the case or not.
You know when you go to counseling or if you go to a therapist for example for marriage
do they reinforce the biblical roles or are they just enabling you in your rebellion against
your husband or enabling you in your selfishness because you don't want to love your wife.
If they're enabling you to give in to your carnal desires against your spouse obviously
that's not biblically based.
It doesn't matter how much they say they believe in Jesus.
It doesn't matter if they claim to believe in the word of God.
If they are perverting the biblical roles of the home it's unbiblical to get out of
there and run screaming in the opposite direction.
If you tell a therapist like I'm considering divorce, you know, that's an option.
Out!
Run screaming!
Because this person is masquerading as a Christian all the while literally contradicting
what the Bible actually says.
There's like pastors out there that are becoming like these therapists just enabling people
in their rebellion, right?
And you know I thought we as pastors are supposed to just you know uphold biblical doctrines,
biblical positions, reinforce marriages, not split them, not make them go asunder, right?
We need to make sure that we reinforce, and you're like well what about if this relationship
is till death do us part my friends?
Till death do us part, we made a covenant before God that is till death do us part.
You know what?
You know the last time I checked, pretty much everyone who's gotten married says you
know for better or for worse.
Maybe we should bowl that word there worse in some cases.
You know those vows are not just something you say just because it kills time at the
wedding or something.
It's not something you just say just because it's like it's traditional, it's because
you're making an oath before God that you're going to have and hold this person for the
rest of your life or for the rest of their life.
And so pastors unfortunately are becoming like these therapists where they're literally
undermining the biblical roles of the home, counseling people in the opposite direction
of what the Bible actually says.
We shouldn't do that.
That is the secular form of thinking and obviously that pastor, like those therapists, are undermining
the Bible.
And by the way, don't just run screaming in the opposite direction from the therapist.
Run screaming in the opposite direction from the pastor who does that.
Don't just think, "Oh, they're a pastor of a Baptist church, they seem to be preaching
the word of God, they seem to love souls."
Yeah, but what's their view on the biblical roles though?
Are they enabling sinners to continue in their sin and their rebellion?
If so, then that's obviously not a good case.
People need to avoid people like that.
And so when we look at modern therapy versus biblical counseling, we need to look at the
source of authority, but we also need to look at the diagnosis of man's problem.
You see, modern therapists will assert that man's problem is environmental, trauma, pressure,
or misalignment in emotions.
They attempt to reframe behavior, not necessarily confront sin.
And this is what's often referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy.
How many of you ever heard that?
CBT, not EBT, CBT is a counseling method built on one central idea.
Your thoughts affect your feelings and your feelings affect your behavior.
So if you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel and act.
And they often assert that guilt is unhealthy and it should be removed and you should accept,
you should have self-acceptance.
And so they'll identify negative thoughts or distorted thoughts that a person has about
themselves.
And they'll challenge those thoughts because here's one thing about therapy and here's
one of the main reasons why it doesn't work, is they can't tell you that you're wrong.
Therapists cannot tell you you're wrong.
No matter how destructive you are to yourself, no matter what habit you're involved in that's
destroying your life, your marriage, those around you, they cannot tell you that you're
wrong.
So what they'll do is, for example, you have someone going into therapy and says I'm really
heavily involved in pornography, you know what I mean?
Like I'm struggling right now, I'm really involved in pornography, I'm having all these
bad thoughts, they'll give you other alternatives, but they can't tell you hey, doing this is
actually destroying you, which is crazy.
And here's the problem with therapy.
You can't improve as a person without being corrected.
That's a fact.
But what they do is like, oh, let's see what kind of unhealthy thoughts you're having about
yourself and let's just kind of reword those thoughts that you're having about yourself
to help you change your behavior, help you change your thoughts, let's challenge those
thoughts and replace them with healthier, happier thoughts.
Well you know if someone says I always fail, CBT shifts it to "sometimes I struggle but
I have succeeded before" they'll say instead of saying this is hopeless CBT shifts to "this
is difficult but I can try steps to handle it" ok and this is you know it sounds good
but honestly it's kind of gay and it doesn't really work it's better to just be biblically
sound because here's the thing folks you know if you say I always fail and it's true then
you just need to change what you do so you don't fail.
I feel like therapy is more like a consolation prize or something you know what I mean?
I don't want to get ahead of myself let me read some more stuff here about CBT.
So they want to change behaviors and once someone thinks differently according to them
CBT teaches them to try new behaviors, practice coping skills, break old patterns and face
fears gradually.
It often includes homework like journaling thoughts which how do you even do that?
Journal my thoughts?
Practicing breathing.
Bro you don't know how to breathe?
It's like living one, that's like the first thing you learn when you come out of the womb.
You get smacked on the behind and then you just scream and then you just get it from
then on.
It's pretty easy.
It's so easy you just, you're doing it right now you weren't even thinking about it.
Practicing breathing and you know obviously I'm making a joke out of this but you know
sometimes people are like well it's good to just meditate and take deep breaths.
You know I get that but I already know how to take deep breaths and quite frankly taking,
breathing isn't necessarily something that I need to learn how to do to fix my problems.
The problem is if I don't breathe, if I stop breathing then I got myself an issue.
So journaling thoughts, dear diary, practicing breathing, trying a new routine, tracking
emotional triggers.
What triggers me?
Being around Hike triggers me a lot.
Being around this person triggers me a lot.
So it teaches people to be really sensitive to their environment.
Basically teaches people how to not handle pressure because folks we are around triggers
all the time, but if you are just an easily triggered person then you need to fix yourself
because you know what this whole world should trigger us all the time because we are not
of this world.
It's just like oh we know you need to track your emotional triggers and avoid people like
that.
No you just need to toughen up, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
The Bible says he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like the city that is broken
down and without walls.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
He that ruleeth the spirit that he that taketh the city, that's what the Bible says.
Not like, well I need to stay away from this person because they, what if the person that
triggers you is your spouse?
You going to stay away from your spouse?
Oh, my spouse is triggering me so I need to just, I need to have some space, no you don't.
You need to close the space between you and your spouse.
You need to obey your husband, you need to love your wife, you need to teach yourself
to do so on a regular basis.
Well my emotional trigger is coming to church.
Yeah, you better believe I triggered you.
If you're not right with God, you're going to get triggered.
If you're involved in sin, you're going to get triggered.
It's a term that's just abused and misused, oh I'm just constantly triggered.
Then you have a short fuse and you need to lengthen your fuse a little bit and stop being
so quick to anger, easily frustrated.
You obviously don't have rule over your own spirit.
You need to learn meekness, humility, patience, endurance.
These things help us with relationships, right?
And look, I know what I'm talking about because I grew up with a very short fuse.
I grew up around people with short fuses.
Just impatient, always angry, fighting everyone, just constantly wanting to get into fights
in the brawls.
But you know, there comes a time when you've got to put away childish things, right?
That's how children act.
Children are easily provoked.
Children are easily angered.
But once you become an adult, a spirit-filled adult, you should be able to just handle when
people are misbehaving around you without you blowing your top off.
Be a patient person who's in control, meek.
Not only that, but you know, obviously there's some truth to what they're saying, right?
They want to replace bad thoughts with good thoughts.
And that's obviously something that's found in the Bible.
You know, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself.
But I want you to notice this, against the knowledge of God.
So here's the thing, folks, is that, you know, they're like, well, if they have a bad thought,
they need to replace that with a healthy thought.
But hold on a second, what if that bad feeling that they're having, they should have, right?
You know, if a person is just heavily involved in pornography, and they're just like, I just
feel ashamed, you know, the therapist should say, yeah, you should be ashamed.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
You should be disgusted with yourself.
You should be embarrassed that you're involved in that sin, right?
Well, you know, the therapist is not going to tell them that.
The therapist will be like, well, at least it's better than, you know, cheating on your
spouse or something.
At least it's better than you not doing this other, being involved in these other vices
or whatever.
Folks, sometimes the icky feeling is necessary.
You should feel shame, you should feel embarrassed, you should feel grieved.
Yes, in some instances, you should feel depressed sometimes.
You should feel angered and discouraged.
These are all natural emotions on the spectrum of the human soul that we should experience
and not avoid.
Oh no, you shouldn't feel depressed.
You know, we love you, you should love yourself.
No, you know what, sometimes we do need to feel depressed because God is not into those
who are of a contrite spirit.
And maybe your depression will lead you to actually read your Bible more.
Maybe it will cause you to pray more.
Maybe you'll experience the fellowship of the suffering when you're going through a
time of depression and discouragement.
And obviously there's instances where someone is perpetually depressed.
They need some help, but you know, the majority of people in this world are not like that.
You know, they're just depressed because they got triggered.
You know, this triggers me, my mom triggered me, my dad triggers me, school triggers me,
working an eight hour shift triggers me.
They're just so sensitive, they just can't live and it's wrong.
And so they don't need a therapist to just continuously enable them to have that way
of thinking.
People need to be confronted and told that they're wrong, okay?
Sometimes we need to have negative thoughts.
People feel shame, they feel grieved over sin, they should feel that way.
And you know, this is the problem with therapists is that all they do is validate people.
You know, they just validate them, whatever it is that they're feeling, you know, however
it is that they feel, whatever feel they have to do, they just kind of, they're just yes-men
to people with problems.
And so they don't really help them out, do they?
Therapists are basically people who, you know, what the Bible says, you know, these teachers
having itching ears, they just kind of tell you what you want to hear so they can keep
getting paid.
Okay?
Look folks, you know, couples, I think the worst possible idea for a couple who's struggling
is to ever go to a therapist.
It's the worst idea ever.
If you are struggling in your marriage, never go to a therapist.
Why?
Because all they're going to do is validate one or the other.
If one of the couples thinks that they need to get a divorce, you know, the therapist
is like, "Well, you know, that's an option."
What do you mean it's an option?
You say, "Well, what would you tell them, Pastor Mejia?"
Well, I point out their faults.
Yeah, the reason you guys are fighting is because you're rebelling, you don't love her
enough or these are the problems you're having.
If you just fix these and you follow the biblical rules, you'll be a-okay.
You know, oh, the reason you're like this is probably because you're lazy.
You don't work.
Well, that kind of hurts my feelings.
It should hurt your feelings, but you know what?
Your feelings will not be hurt.
You'll feel a lot better if you get a job and you actually go work.
You feel a lot better.
Well, I like to play video games all day and that's what makes me happy.
You know what?
Don't do what makes you happy.
Do what's right.
And obviously I'm addressing Christians here, okay?
Unsafe people don't know any better, but Christians do know better, or at least they
should.
But, you know, I think couples going to a therapist is probably one of the worst ideas
ever.
You're going to get advice and admonishments that are not grounded in the Bible.
You're going to be validated in your emotions.
You're not going to be told that you're wrong, but you know what?
We need to be told that we are in error.
We need to be told that parts of our lives need to be corrected.
That's part of the Christian life.
Take personal responsibility, right?
And favor one another.
Part of having a successful marriage is just being selfless in your marriage.
And I get it.
There's exceptions to this rule.
You might have someone who has been selfless towards their spouse and that's not reciprocated.
He said, what about them?
Well, the Bible is still right.
The Bible is still true.
And let me just remind everyone this because we live in a society where it's just like,
well, even amongst Christians that we should obey the Bible because the Bible will produce
and yield the results that we want.
But that's not necessarily the right attitude we should have.
It's true.
Let me say this.
We need to obey the Bible because it's just right to do, regardless of what kind of outcome
you get.
Well, I want a happy outcome.
Don't matter what you want.
You're not the main character.
Jesus is the main character.
You know, we need to please Jesus.
And this is the part of finding true joy is when you take your eyes off yourself and
put them on the Lord Jesus Christ and others.
You know, our obedience to the Bible should not be determined based upon how will it affect
me though.
Now, how about how does it please the Lord?
That's why we should obey the Lord because it's right to do.
You know, like I said in that podcast a couple of weeks ago, people were telling me they're
just like we're talking about homeschooling and they're telling me they're like, Hey,
it's just not practical for your wife to homeschool six kids and it's just a lot.
And I was just like, well, sometimes I just don't do what's practical, but it's always
right to do that, which is biblical.
I'm not necessarily doing it because it's practical, though sometimes it is, but you
know, sometimes it's not.
We do it not because it's practical, we do it because it's right to do.
And this is the attitude we need to have is that we can't have this disposition that I'm
only doing things because I want things to come out in my favor.
I want it to improve me.
I want to be happy.
Sometimes we just need to obey the Bible because it's just right to do.
Not sometimes, all the time.
And so they often see guilt as an unhealthy thing, but guilt is not a mental health issue.
It's a spiritual problem.
Go to Psalm 51 if you would.
Psalm 51.
And look, please don't misunderstand me.
The right thinking is absolutely important.
But I'm not up here talking about the power of positive thinking.
I'm talking about the power of biblical thinking.
The Bible says in Philippians 4a, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report.
If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."
So God obviously is very much interested in what we think about.
So you know, we shouldn't be negative thinkers, blackpilled all the time, just worried, just
kind of having this fatalistic attitude because of the fact that we have a lot of hope in
Christ.
There's a lot to be thankful for.
We're saved.
We have the Bible, and the Bible commands us to think on these particular things, right?
Think about things that are true, honest, just.
Think about things that are lovely.
That's why I think about my wife all the time, you know.
Think about these things.
It's good to think about because, you know, we don't want to walk around with this just,
this wounded spirit, this depressed, just clouded disposition.
We should have the joy of the Lord in our hearts, right?
And you know, we should have a happy countenance as well.
So it's important, you know, when you come to church, leave your problems at the door,
okay?
Come in here to worship the Lord, to congregate with God's people, to sing the hymns, to
sing the hymns, amen?
To belt out the hymns and read the scriptures and hear the preaching of God's word and
be revived in our spirit to help us carry us through the week or to learn something
from the Bible.
We have the joy of the Lord that's our strength.
So obviously, I'm not downplaying the importance of good thinking.
We need to think on good things.
But their good thinking is just like, "I'm so good.
I'm just wonderful and I'm not a failure and I can succeed.
I can do it."
A little train or whatever.
These corny thoughts that people have.
We need to redirect our thoughts to the truths of the Bible.
The joy of the Lord is my strength.
I need to encourage myself in the Lord.
The Lord loves me.
Quote scripture to yourself.
I've loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I will draw
thee.
Nothing can separate me from the love of God.
You need to reinforce your mind with biblical truths, not some corny, secular way of thinking
that's only going to make you more selfish, self-centered.
And so, you know, I just don't think guilt is good.
Well, guilt is there to show you that you need to get right with God.
Look at Psalm 51 verse 1, I believe King David is writing this psalm in light of his sin
against Bathsheba and Uriah, and of course God most importantly.
He says in verse 1, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me."
Sounds pretty negative.
Sounds pretty guilty.
"Against thee, the only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou might
est be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."
Here we have a person who's taking personal responsibility.
They're like, "I've sinned against God."
And let me just tell you something, folks, is that confessing your sin before the Lord
is probably one of the greatest therapy sessions you can have.
You're just kind of letting it all out there and say, "I've sinned against thee and thee
alone.
This is what I've done."
And you'll walk away feeling great.
We're talking about something really nasty after the Sunday morning service, the stomach
bug that's going around, and people throw up and stuff, and we're talking about throwing
up and whatnot.
And I guess, apparently, all of you heard our conversation when we were out there because
we were being loud.
But one of the guys says, "After you're done throwing up, you just feel a lot better."
Right?
Which I don't know if that's the case for everyone, but I've had instances where I'm
puking and after I'm done puking, I just feel great.
Right?
Because you just emptied all that stuff out.
Well, that's kind of the way it works with confession.
Is it not?
You just kind of get rid of all those impurities, all that sin, all that iniquity, and you just
kind of feel better thereafter because you've been cleansed of your unrighteousness.
He says in verse six, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts and the hidden part
thou shall make me to know wisdom."
He's saying, look, God wants you to be honest with yourself and actually put truth in your
heart, not, you know, put these flattering labels and titles about yourself within yourself.
I can do it.
How about I can do all things through Christ with strength in me, right?
He says, "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than
snow."
Sounds to me like guilt is a good thing because it helps you to realize that you're still
sensitive to sin.
There's a problem if you don't have guilt.
If you can commit transgressions, iniquity and sin and it doesn't bother you, you got
that old leprosy.
It's just been in you for quite some time, it doesn't bother you anymore.
We should be sensitive to those things and if we have guilt, the reason we have it is
because God wants us to get right with Him.
Confess it, cleanse ourselves and move on with our lives.
He says in verse 8, "Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice, hide thy face from my sins, blot out all my iniquities, create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
What is a right spirit?
He's not referring to the Holy Spirit.
In the Bible, Spirit is referring to also our attitude, our disposition.
Sin can often cause us to have a bad attitude.
Someone who is involved in sin, unconfessed sin, can often have a bad disposition.
I've seen this before as a pastor, and you know what it helps you to have a right attitude
so you're not a jerk all the time, so you're not just completely upset all the time.
You just have this countenance of just anger and depression.
How about you just confess your sin, you restore the joy of your salvation, and God can fix
your spirit.
He can fix your countenance.
The point that I'm making here is that modern therapists enable you in your sin.
They enable you in the area that's going to destroy you in the long run.
Whereas biblical counseling actually gets to the heart of the matter.
Biblical counseling says you're wrong, what you're doing is wrong, it's sinful, and if
you continue in that you're going to destroy your life.
Look folks, open rebuke is better than secret love.
Let's talk about the method of counseling.
The method of counseling, modern therapists will encourage introspection and self-focus.
And I know this because I know, I personally know someone who has gone through and is going
through therapy over the same things over and over again, not in our church, just someone
who I know in my personal life.
And you know, one of the reasons why we're not as close as we used to be is because,
you know, me along with other people in that person's life are like triggers.
So the therapist often says like, you got to do what's right for you.
You know, if it's you know, you got to do what makes you happy.
You got to do what helps you.
And if you feel like being around these people, you know, kind of triggers you or makes you
feel a certain way, then you got to avoid people like that.
That's wrong.
Okay.
There's nothing wrong with me.
There's nothing wrong with my company.
Amen.
But you know, therapists are more about self focus, whereas Christianity is more about
focus on others.
One of the greatest medicines to help your selfishness or your depression is start helping
someone else.
You know why people get depressed during Christmas and these holidays is because they're only
thinking about themselves sometimes.
And you know what, sometimes it's hard for people because maybe they are lonely, but
let me just give you the antidote to that and that is be others focused.
Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, focus on souls, focus on how you can be a blessing to your
brothers and sisters in Christ and I'm just going to tell you right now, your depression
will be alleviated.
That is the solution many times to discouragement and depression is just taking your eyes off
of yourself, you know, and put your eyes on someone else.
Help other people, right?
So also another method of counseling is that they give coping strategies rather than conversions.
You know, coping strategies is kind of like a, you know, it's a wild goose chase.
It's a fool's errand, because basically what they're saying is your problem can't change.
So here's a way that you can cope with this problem for the rest of your life, you know,
breathing exercises, don't be around these people that trigger you or whatever, cope
with the problem.
Whereas really the Bible teaches us conflict resolvement, right?
You know, here's a way to cope with this relationship because this person hurts you, you stay away
from them, you don't talk to them, you have minimal contact with them.
Whereas what the Bible teaches is just forgive them.
And if they're a person that's unforgivable, then put it in God's hands and let God exact
vengeance on that person, okay?
And you know, one thing that, you know, I didn't put in here is, you know, that will
help you.
Here's good therapy for you.
And precatory prayers is great therapy, and precatory prayers is great therapy, okay?
You know, just praying that God strikes vengeance on those who hurt you, it's great therapy.
You know, if you're like stressed out, you're like, "Man, these people, I can't believe
they did this to me," just give your most awesome and precatory prayer against that
person.
I'm just telling you, it's like that vomit.
You'll just feel a lot better afterwards.
Oh man, I just don't know if that's the right thing to do.
Is that a Christian thing to do?
Well, let me give you some advice.
If it's not the right thing to do, don't worry, God won't do it.
Like if it's not the right thing to do, if you didn't pray according to His will, don't
worry, He's just not going to do it.
He's just not going to answer it.
But the result is still the same.
You'll feel better.
If it is the right thing to do, it will just increase your faith because God's going to
destroy that person.
And then you realize like, wow, I prayed according to His will.
Because sometimes people are like, has God really a Christian thing to do?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
Because you know what?
God knows that we're human.
He knows that we can only handle so much.
And you know, we have within us the desire for justice.
You know what?
A man's soul becomes vexed is when justice isn't carried out.
When wicked people are just allowed to go unfettered, unpunished, nothing happens to
them, it vexes our righteous soul from day to day.
And God understands that, therefore, we put it in God's hands.
We don't take vengeance upon ourselves.
We don't put it into our own hands.
We leave it in God's hands.
We ask God to punish that person and we feel better about it whether He does it or not.
That's not the right kind of thinking though.
You just need to make sure you stay away from people that trigger you.
Well put it this way, I'm trying to get God to punish the people that trigger me.
How about that?
But you know they give these coping strategies, how to cope with your problems.
They avoid moral absolutes in order to protect your feelings.
They want to protect your feelings so that you're not offended by the absolute truth
that you're a sinner and you're wrong.
And really it leads people back to self, back to themselves, they use techniques to promote
self-esteem and self-love, but that's all hooplots, nonsense, it's stupid, it's only
going to make matters worse.
And you know what, if therapy works, why do people keep going back to therapy?
If it was that effective, first of all, you're paying all this money, they're a bunch of
snake oil salesmen is what they are.
They're there to validate you in your sin that keeps you in that condition, but makes
you think that you're getting better, just so more money can come into their pockets
and you've been doing it for years.
At least this counseling is free, it fixes your problems, makes you better because here's
one thing about therapy, my friends, therapy can give you the coping strategies, it can
do the CBT, the cognitive behavioral therapy, but one thing therapy cannot do is literally
it cannot make you better, it can't make you a better person.
It is unable to make you a better person, all it can do is kind of put you in a bubble
and provide an illusion that you are getting better by coping with your problem rather
than actually eradicating the problem through scripture and it can't make you better, it
can't make you a better Christian, it can't make you a better member of society and look
I've talked to people who've gone through therapy for years and I'm like this person
is different than they were five years ago and in fact they're worse, they're more selfish,
you feel like you gotta walk on eggshells around them, they can't handle any form of
pressure, they can't handle any form of stress, they can't handle a paper cut, they can't
handle anything, it makes them weaker and softer and it actually makes them just detestable
to be around.
They make themselves so detestable to be around because you can't joke around them, they're
super sensitive, you might trigger them, you know they might have an episode right then
and there, it's just like man what in the world?
But this is the result of not dealing with things in a spiritual manner my friends.
Don't run away from stress, "I don't want to get jobs, I don't want to be stressed."
You're just going to be a weakling of a Christian because you know you need stress, you need
pressure and you need disappointment.
You need to know what it's like to be disappointed and not be able to do anything about it.
Just accept failure sometimes, those things are necessary in life my friends.
Biblical counseling focuses on truth, not your feelings.
The Bible says, "He that rebukeeth a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth
with his tongue."
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend," the Bible says, "but the kisses of an enemy,
the kisses of a therapist, are the people."
Okay, let's see here, go to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two, we're almost
done here.
Save your money, save your money, you know, look, if you want, you know, that type of
therapy, I can get one of those beds and put it in my office and stuff, kind of a little
curvy bed or whatever.
Now let's start from the beginning.
And then you start telling me, no, no, no, no, I mean like Adam's sin, and that's why
you're in the condition that you're in right now.
You know, this is why, this is the problem here.
You're the problem.
Okay?
The problem is your sin.
You know, have you read your Bible?
No?
Well, there's your problem right there.
You're not reading the Bible.
You're not in a spiritual state of mind.
You know?
Do you go to church?
Not really.
There's another problem.
Man, there you go, man.
Look, and then I'll write up the, I'll write up the little prescription, you know, read
three chapters of the Bible every day, pray every day, come to church three times a week.
Just do that for a month and then you tell me if you're, if you continue to struggle
with that thing.
I promise, and look, look, free, free 99, go soul winning and you'll feel a lot better.
You go soul winning for a month.
You go preach the gospel and get people saved for a month.
I promise you, you'll feel a lot better.
Why?
Because we're made to serve and we're not made to just constantly be introspective.
Oh, there's something wrong with me.
Yeah.
There is something wrong with you.
What's wrong with you is you're just thinking about yourself too much.
And join the club.
Something's wrong with all of us.
We all got a little quirkiness in us and we all got shortcomings and problems.
We're all trying to navigate through this thing.
But here's the thing though, like at the end of the day, we understand that if we take
our eyes off of our problems and put it on someone else's problems, a lot of the times
our problems actually begin not to go away, but they don't seem as bad anymore.
When you realize that people around you have bigger problems than you, then you're just
like, you know what?
I welcome my problems actually.
My problems actually are not that bad.
Look at Philippians 2 verse 1, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies, fulfill ye
my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind,
let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
Can I give you a prescription for the next couple of months?
Consider it a way to be a blessing to someone else, maybe on your team, maybe someone who
you know in the church who doesn't have as much as you do, go be a blessing to them.
I know these holidays are going to be hard, but no one should have a hard holiday in our
church because you have a church.
You got us, you got me, you got fellowships, you got us, you can cause it, and if you don't
have me, you have your team leaders, there's people in our church that love you, but let
me just help you, just go help someone else in our church and I promise you, you'll have
a great holiday season, a great Thanksgiving, a great Christmas.
It'll help you.
Why?
Because he says there, don't, he says mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Don't look on your own things, look on the things of others, okay?
And so we don't necessarily need coping strategies, you know, you're thinking, yeah, but I have
a lot of anxiety.
Well, let's give some practical advice in this regard.
Number one, let's, let's go ahead and slow down the Red Bull consumption, just try that,
okay?
Oh, did I trigger you?
Because, you know, if we're going to identify a particular problem that you have, you know,
and don't blame Adam, okay?
You look right over here, brother Cody, don't look at Adam.
Adam is not putting the cigarette in your hand and making you smoke, okay?
He's, he, you know why Adam's so happy?
Because he brings us Red Bulls all the time, you know, he's, he's thinking on things of
others, okay?
He expects you to be a grown man and to consume a moderate amount, okay?
But, you know, if you're struggling with anxiety, let's go through practical things first, okay?
Don't jump into medication.
What you should do is lower the caffeine intake, get good sleep, exercise, let's do that for
two months and let's see if anything changes.
Just practical things.
And then after that's done, then we need to get involved in the, maybe you need to memorize
some scripture or maybe here's a major culprit of anxiety, social media.
That often is a major culprit of anxiety.
People are just on social media too much looking at bad news, all the bad stuff that's happening,
all this, that, and the other.
And then people are just like, I'm getting an anxiety attack.
Then just close the app.
They just be ignorant of it.
But then if I close them, I'm not going to know what's going on because you know what?
Bad things will happen in this world whether you know about them or not.
News will continue to happen whether you know about it or not.
So it's best sometimes to just get off of social media.
And often that reduces your anxiety by a large percentage.
You'd be surprised.
And then after that you know memorize some scripture.
Let's get some biblical perspective because quite frankly as a pastor I've just seen anxiety
and social anxiety more than I've ever seen it just before just as a Christian.
I see it a lot especially within the younger generation.
A lot of people just have social anxiety.
And look we shouldn't have social anxiety when we come to church.
Like we're meant to be social with one another.
It's called fellowship.
There should be no social anxiety.
That's often a result of being too much on social media,
not getting enough sleep, going to sleep at 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock
in the morning because you're scrolling social media.
You're not eating enough protein.
You're not exercising.
You're consuming too much caffeine or whatever maybe.
And then you're just like, oh man, I just got too much.
I need a therapist or something.
No, you just need to not consume so much Red Bull.
Maybe one an hour instead of two an hour.
I'm just kidding.
I know there's an unlimited supply there.
But how about we just tone it down just a little bit
if you're struggling with anxiety or something.
Now, let me also say this is that I'm not
trying to mock people who legitimately
have these particular issues because
of a chemical imbalance.
This is a real thing.
And most people in here, that's not you.
I'm talking about people who legitimately have a chemical--
because don't walk out here like, you know what?
I have a chemical imbalance.
It's like, I am autistic.
You just try to diagnose yourself.
No, there's people out there who actually do have these issues.
There's a chemical imbalance.
And they need to get some sort of medical help sometimes.
I've seen that in times past.
But that's not for everyone, though.
Most of the time, there's practical things
that you can do to fix those issues.
And so don't come and be like, oh, yeah, I
just have this anxiety and this depression
as you're pounding three shots a day of Starbucks
or something like that.
And you're going to sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning.
You're doing everything that literally induces your anxiety.
And you're just like, I just don't know why.
I don't know why.
I'm like, you know, don't cope.
There's no need for coping when you can just resolve things.
And look, folks, the Bible says to judge ourselves.
The Bible encourages us to judge ourselves.
That means you need to stand before yourself and say,
you need to shape up in this area.
This needs to be fixed.
You need to start reading more Bible.
Stop being lazy.
Get a job.
Like, the new man needs to step up,
kind of have a conversation with the flesh,
and say, stop being such a lazy bum.
Go get a job.
Or, yeah, go to sleep on time.
Or, yeah, go get some exercise in.
This is why this is coming upon you.
Judging yourself is a good thing.
All right, go to Romans chapter 8.
We're done.
What is the goal of counseling?
Well, modern therapists, personal happiness.
As long as you're happy and you're paying for this,
that's the goal, right?
It's such a scam.
It is such a scam, because it's a strategy
to perpetuate your problems when you keep coming back
and paying for therapy.
And the goal is personal happiness,
self-fulfillment, emotional comfort,
adjusting the individual to life without changing
their nature.
And they just want people to feel good.
Whereas biblical counseling, what is the goal?
Holiness, getting right with God.
Spiritual maturity, growing in your faith.
Increasing in the knowledge of God.
Becoming a better Christian, right?
And in fact, look at Romans 8.28 says,
"We know that all things work together for good,
to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
What do we see here?
The goal for the Christian is to be more like Jesus.
The therapist can't say that
'cause there is no absolute truth with the therapist.
It's really what you want.
Whereas we actually have a standard to go by.
We actually could strive for goals
because the goal is to be like Jesus Christ.
And here's the thing is that we know,
we know that this side of eternity,
we will never be exactly like Jesus Christ.
But yet because it's commanded of us,
yet because God tells us in his word,
we endeavor to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's often,
even though we know we'll never reach
at this side of eternity,
it still just makes us better and better and better.
Endeavoring to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
To be a partaker of his divine nature.
You know what will make you a better wife?
Be more like Jesus.
You know what will make you a better husband?
Just be more like Jesus.
You know what will make you a better son?
Be more like Jesus Christ.
You know what will make you a really good church member?
Be more like Jesus Christ.
Be a better daughter?
Be more like Jesus Christ.
Be a better worker, a better employee,
a better boss, a better student.
Just be more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the standard that we should go for.
And that is the end goal for biblical counseling,
is to be more like Jesus.
Point that I'm making here is that I
would hope that you as a Christian have enough sense,
especially after tonight, that you would reject
modern therapy, because it doesn't work.
It can destroy you.
It perpetuates you.
It can enable you.
It can cause you to just become a worse, not just Christian,
but just a person.
It doesn't make you a better person.
It makes you a worse person.
Whereas biblical counseling, whether from the pulpit
or in person, face to face, keeps
to make you more like Jesus Christ, thereby not only
fixing your problems, but enabling you to fix
someone else's problems, too.
You see, someone who goes to therapy,
not only do they not fix their problems,
they become a problem to someone else, too.
Not only are they just still struggling with their problems,
they actually become problematic to everyone else.
Whereas a person who gets biblical counseling,
not only do they get an answer to their problems,
then they become themselves a problem to the Father.
They actually begin to help other people.
And that's God's goal for you, right?
It would be a blessing to someone else.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your Word.
Thank you for biblical counseling,
the admonishments that we receive from the Word of God,
from preachers, from older brothers and sisters in Christ
who have the knowledge of the Bible,
and the experience to back it up.
I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to reject
the philosophy of secular therapy, Lord.
Recognize that it can damage the mind of a Christian.
It can cause them to get out of church,
to adopt worldly philosophies and ideologies
that are not grounded in the Bible.
And ultimately, it can destroy them, Lord,
and even be a detriment to those around them.
I pray that you'd help us as your people
to give heed to biblical counseling.
Is there not a God in Israel that people would go
and seek the counsel of Beelzebub?
I pray that you'd help us to seek you out.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Psalm number 363, wonderful words of life.
Psalm number 363, 363, on that first verse.