Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP191123A
|
00:00 ♪♪
00:27 [ Congregation sings ] 15:56 >> Is your soul stirred up this morning? Oh, that is so powerful. 16:02 You know, when the choir, 100-voice choir, by the way, when the choir opened up 16:08 right there at the beginning with that piece or minister of music composed, 16:11 "Holy, Holy, Holy," and they just exploded with that. Boy, I was just swept up 16:18 imagining bowing in the throne room of God and the 10,000 times 16:26 10,000 angels singing. Wow. You know what? 16:30 I don't think it gets any better than this. In fact, I'll tell you, 16:35 this Feast of Hymns is my favorite worship service of the entire year. 16:42 >> Amen. >> Yeah, amen, amen. And this is the 20th 16:46 anniversary, and the man sitting at that pipe organ right now, 16:51 the console, designed this, invented it and has kept it going these 20 years, 16:57 and I am so grateful for him. Aren't you? Yeah. 17:08 All our musicians, this is just kind of a... 17:16 I was going to say overdose, but that's not the right word. This is just a high day 17:21 for music in this church, and we are blessed. Speaking of mental health, 17:27 and we've been talking about it now for several Sabbaths in a row, 17:32 the website for the National Alliance on Mental Illness has a headline that reads, 17:38 "You are not alone." And under that headline, three statistics. 17:46 Let me run them by you. One in five US adults experiences mental illness 17:52 each year. 17:54 My. One in six US youth aged 6 17:59 to 17, that's a narrow slice, experiences a mental health 18:03 disorder each year. And the third one: One in 25 18:09 US adults experiences serious mental illnesses each year. 18:16 You are not alone. 18:20 Guess what. We got it. We know it. Wall Street Journal, 18:23 just a few weeks ago, on the screen: "It is conventional wisdom that 18:27 the interest, that the Internet, rather, has been a toxic force. Possibly the year's most 18:32 astonishing news story was that parents in Silicon Valley, where online life was created, 18:38 are trying to keep their children away from the screens," that these parents invented. 18:43 "Life lived online, as practiced by many, is a destructive, dehumanizing alt-reality," 18:49 end quote. To the place...Guess what? They have coined a new mental 18:55 illness with this term: Snapchat dysmorphia. Ever heard of that? 19:02 Listen to this. I'm reading. "Plastic surgeons are sounding 19:05 the alarm on a disturbing trend that's emerged with the growing popularity of social media: 19:11 patients seeking cosmetic surgery to resemble how they see themselves in Snapchat filters." 19:19 People are showing up at the plastic surgeons. "I want bigger eyes. 19:25 I want wider lips. I want a narrower nose, please." Researchers at the Boston 19:32 University School of Medicine wrote, I'm quoting again, "This is an alarming trend 19:36 because those filtered selfies often present an unattainable look 19:42 and are blurring the line of reality and fantasy for these patients." 19:46 So what's all this have to do with Thanksgiving? Everything. 19:49 I want to share with you one line from scripture. Open your Bible to Philippians 4 19:53 where mental health and Thanksgiving are inextricably bound together. 19:57 Pull out your device or your Bible, Philippians 4. Drop down to verse 6. 20:03 I'm in the NIV. Philippians 4:6: "Do not be anxious." 20:06 By the way, anxiety disorders are the number one mental health issue 20:12 this Thanksgiving for Americans. All right? "Do not be anxious 20:18 about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, 20:22 with thanksgiving," there's that word, "with thanksgiving, 20:26 present your requests to God." One short line, embedded in it the quiet 20:33 assurance that there is help for our mental health issues. In fact, let me read the two 20:38 verses together. Go back to the beginning of verse 6. 20:41 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer 20:45 and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And," I keep reading, "And," 20:51 hallelujah, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 20:55 will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." "God, I need something done 21:03 with my mind, my emotions." Here's one line, that without oversimplifying 21:12 the reality of what we suffer, could be the key to fresh, new mental health. 21:20 Thanksgiving, thanks living, you know what? We've kind of sold 21:24 that concept short. I'm going to share with you an observation 21:28 from a psychiatrist, an Adventist psychiatrist named Timothy Jennings. 21:33 You may have heard of him. He and his wife and Karen and I and some others toured China 21:37 together several years ago. He's written a fascinating book he shared with me. 21:41 Here's the title of the book, "The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View 21:45 of God Transforms Your Life." Now listen up. This is incredible. 21:50 He shares the physiology of what's going on behind mental health breakdown 21:55 and mental health turnaround, and I'm really going to be stuck on my notes here 21:59 because this is way above my pay grade, but I want you to catch this. 22:04 Put a picture, please, on the screen of the human brain. What's all this have to do 22:08 with that brain? Listen, that little 3-1/2-pound organ 22:11 that's between all of our ears, I want you to look how Christ, the creator, because Jesus 22:16 was the one who created us, look how the creator has made us. 22:19 The genes in our brains produce a protein called BDNF. I'll put that on the screen 22:25 for you. What's that stand for? Brain-derived, in other words, 22:28 the brain makes it. Neurotrophic, in other words, that which is made assists 22:34 the brain cells, or the neurons, to grow stronger. Brain-derived 22:38 neurotrophic factor, BDNF, and the idea is, folks, you got to have the BDNF 22:45 you can possibly get. In fact, Jennings, Dr. Jennings, calls it the brain's fertilizer. 22:50 Let me put Jennings on the screen for you. "When this protein is available, 22:55 the neurons that get it grow stronger and send out more connections 23:00 to other neurons, increasing brain circuits," and that's 23:03 the object of the game. You want more and more of them. "The brain even makes new 23:07 neurons under the influence of such proteins. With this protein available 23:12 in the right-brain regions," okay, up here, "we can learn faster and easier." 23:16 Now who wouldn't want that on a campus like this, huh? Faster and easier, keep reading. 23:22 "When this protein and other proteins like it are unavailable," 23:26 however, uh-oh, "the brain stops making new neurons, and the neurons we have begin 23:34 to wither and die." You've got to have plenty of BDNF. 23:40 Now fortunately, our creator, Christ our Lord, when he created us, 23:45 designed white supporting cells that surround the neurons and protect them 23:49 like a space suit that an astronaut wears when he's out space walking. 23:56 These white supporting cells bathe the neurons in rich, nutritional fluids 24:01 that the neurons like, including more BDNF. So it just fosters more BDNF. 24:08 However, the enemy, who has taught the human race to fear... 24:13 You say, "Dwight, we just got that on our own." No, no, no, no, no. 24:17 Somebody injected it into us. I mean, the Christ is, that evening, 24:24 moving through the garden. He's looking for... "Where are they? 24:26 Where are my two kids? Yo, Adam, where are you?" And Adam comes trembling out, 24:30 and the creator accosts him, "Why are you hiding from me?" "Because I heard you, 24:35 and I was afraid." "Fear? Where did you hear about fear?" 24:39 Somebody has injected the human mind with fear to the place 24:44 chronic fear and anxiety, listen to this, "cause inflammation in the brain, 24:50 and fear and anxiety-induced inflammation damages the white brain cells that 24:54 protect and support the neurons. And chronic stress which is this famous 24:58 fight-of-flight syndrome ends up turning off the gene that produces BDNF." 25:06 My fears and my anxieties turn off the gene that needs to make what I need most of all: 25:12 BDNF. Are you getting this? It's a big deal. 25:18 "And once this gene is turned off, brain volume begins to shrink 25:23 causing chemical changes which correlate with disorders like major depression." 25:28 That's the big headline with mental health in this nation this year. 25:31 It's depression. It's what everybody is talking about, but God will not 25:36 be bested by that enemy, and I love this, as Jennings writes on the screen, 25:40 "The good news is that many brain regions remain changeable throughout life 25:45 thanks to a condition called neuroplasticity. As we exercise healthy 25:49 neural circuits, these circuits develop, strengthen and expand. 25:53 Moreover," this is great, "the brain prunes unhealthy circuits 25:58 when we leave them idle." So if we quit accessing those unhealthy circuits up here 26:02 for fear, chronic fear, anxiety, we just say, "No, I'm not going down that way," 26:07 as we leave them alone, the brain just comes along and just...cleans them out. 26:14 You catch that? God can actually heal us of the inflammation 26:19 in this organ. What's that have to do with Thanksgiving? 26:23 Everything. Come on. Read it again. 26:25 Don't miss this, please. Verse 6: "Do not be anxious about anything, 26:28 but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 26:32 present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 26:41 will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." You want to guard your mind 26:47 from unmental health, unhealth? You want the fresh new lease on mental health? 26:54 We're going to close with this, Dr. Timothy Jennings, "I'm calling it a DIY, 26:59 do-it-yourself guide, how to thank your healer." It's in your worship bulletin. 27:03 I need you to pull it out because you're going to fill it in, 27:05 and I know you're going to keep these nine steps. I've actually added a 10th. 27:09 Let's go. In your worship bulletin, number one, 27:13 "Worship a God of love and reject God-concepts that induce fear." 27:19 It's a big killer, folks. Fear is what's killing us. 1 John 5:18, 27:23 read it out loud with me. "Perfect love drives out," all what? 27:28 "Drives out fear." Drives out fear. Focus on this God of love. 27:33 Number two, jot it down. "Practice regular meditation on some aspect 27:37 of God's character of love at least 15 minutes a day." Get that number down: 15 minutes 27:43 a day. We're reading a book in our Grow Group 27:45 which is also a House of Prayer in the evening. It's Neil Anderson's book, 27:48 "Victory Over the Darkness," and I see that they're coming by. 27:52 If you didn't get one of these study guides, hold your hand up. This is a take-homer. 27:55 You're going to want this, so as they're walking by your way, 27:58 just raise your hand at these great Pathfinders. Up in the balcony as well. 28:02 Those of you watching online, by the way, you go to our website, 28:04 if you're watching on television right now, newperceptions.tv, and you're looking for this 28:10 teaching called "A DIY Guide: How to Thank Your Healer." You find that, and you'll 28:14 have the study guide there. All right. Number two, "Practice regular 28:17 meditation on some aspect of God's character of love at least 15 minutes per day." 28:21 So Anderson's book... This is dynamite, "Victory Over The Darkness." 28:25 He makes a huge point. On the screen: "Because Satan's primary weapon is the lie, 28:31 your defense against him" is the what? "Is the truth. When you expose 28:36 Satan's lie with God's truth, his power is broken. We are not"...I love this. 28:40 "We are not called to dispel the darkness. We are called to turn on the light. 28:45 Deceiving spirits are like cockroaches." You've seen cockroaches. 28:49 Not up in the North as much. Down South we got them and when I grew up 28:53 on the island of Singapore. This is the truth about cockroaches. 28:57 Watch this: "Deceiving spirits are like cockroaches. They come out only at night," 29:00 true, "and when you turn on the light," guess what? Boom, "they head to darkness." 29:07 That's Anderson's point. Fifteen minutes every morning, that's Jennings. 29:10 Turn on the light of God's truth, and by the way, where should 29:13 I go for 15 minutes? Go to the life of Jesus. "I am the light of the world," 29:16 he says. You go to his life, one story a day, 29:19 15 minutes at a time, one story. You can do a story in 15 minutes. 29:23 Just meditate on it. I love this from Ellen White. By the way, she agrees 29:29 with Neil Anderson. Put her words on the screen. "When the enemy comes with his 29:32 darkness," yep, we know, "sing faith and talk faith, and you will find 29:39 that you have sung and talked yourself into the light." Hallelujah, yeah. 29:46 Okay, jot it down. Number three: "Be truthful and eliminate falsehood 29:49 of any kind from your mind." Timothy Jennings again, "This is particularly important 29:54 for those" of you, those of us "who have suffered abuse. Abused children because of 30:00 the level of brain development, will misconstrue the meaning of the abuse and will conclude 30:05 typical falsehoods such as, 'I'm ugly. I'm gross. I'm nasty, dirty, 30:11 disgusting and unlovable.' While the facts of history cannot be changed," 30:15 we can't eradicate that abuse in your past, "the awful feelings once 30:21 experienced belong to that event in your past, not the self. The appreciation of truth 30:27 is healing." Let it go. Don't believe the lie. 30:32 Number four, jot it down. "Live to give." Get involved in some 30:36 sort of ministry, some sort of volunteer opportunity wherever you live, 30:41 on this campus. Look, I meet every other Tuesday evening 30:44 with nine undergrads, okay? We call it the Collegiate Council. 30:48 It's a huge help for me. And I didn't set them up to this, but I was just thinking 30:52 as I was writing this: Every single one of them, all nine of them, are involved 30:56 on their own initiative with volunteer service opportunities on this campus. 31:01 That's the secret to mental health. Get out of your own cocoon. 31:04 Get into the life of somebody else. That's what he's saying. 31:07 Number five, jot it down. "Establish relationships with people of loving 31:11 and mature character, and terminate destructive and exploitive relationships." 31:16 Come on, your dormitory deans, your school counselors, the psychologist, 31:22 pastors are mature individuals who, with compassion, will care about you 31:27 and offer counsel to grow and improve your own mental health. Number six, jot it down, please. 31:32 "Trust God with your life and your life's outcomes." What's Jennings talking about? 31:40 Jennings on the screen: "One of the greatest sources of worry and fear is trying to make," 31:44 that's his emphasis, "trying to make life turn out the way we want 31:48 rather than simply choosing what is right and trusting God with the outcome." 31:52 And I got to say this, and we have wonderful parents here, 31:55 and I had wonderful parents, but sometimes parents mistakenly 31:59 transfer their dream for their lives to you as a child. 32:03 They say, "Listen, this is what you want to do. 32:04 We know. You're going to be great at 32:06 this. We just have seen from the very 32:08 beginning." Sometimes they're right. 32:09 Sometimes they're not. I watched a kid once. 32:11 His folks were really pushing hard to get him into med school, 32:14 and so he goes through the whole shooting match 32:18 of preparing for med school and its tough science classes, 32:22 and it just did not work out. 32:25 He then spun around and went the way his heart was telling him, and he's 32:30 a huge success story today. It's when we try to force ourselves into something that 32:35 maybe is not God's will for me that we get in trouble, right? Okay, what was that, number six? 32:40 Let's go to number seven. "Live in harmony with the physical design protocol 32:44 for life such as regular sleep, drink plenty of water, exercise mind and body 32:49 regularly, avoid toxins and eat a balanced diet." Number eight: "When mistakes 32:55 are made, resolve guilt as soon as possible. Forgive those who mistreat you, 33:00 and don't hold to anger or judges as such emotions activate the body's 33:05 inflammatory cascade." "I'm not going to say a word to him until that guy apologizes." 33:10 "Until she apologizes to me, I am not going to change." But you're hurting yourself 33:15 because you're inflaming your brain with that anger, with that chronic stress 33:19 and fear and anxiety. You're ruining yourself. Get off of it. 33:23 Let it go. That's what he's talking about. Number nine: "Resolve fear, 33:28 as unremedied fear truly destroys." We don't realize 33:33 how debilitating fear is. If you got fear issues going on, talk to somebody. 33:38 Come on. You don't have to hang on to this. 33:40 Talk to somebody. You weren't made to live with that. 33:44 You can be set free. I promise you, but you got to talk, 33:49 and I'm throwing in number 10, no extra charge. Number 10: "Wake up thankful." 33:56 What's wrong with that? In fact, I drove by Apple Valley on my way to church 34:00 this morning, and I pulled over and scribbled it down. The sign on the marquee at Apple 34:04 Valley right now, Apple Valley Market: "Begin each day with a grateful heart." 34:10 Wake up grateful. From the little classic "Ministry of Healing" 34:14 on the screen for you, this choice Thanksgiving nugget. Here it is. 34:19 "When you open your eyes in the morning, thank God that he has 34:23 kept you through the night. Thank Him for his peace in your heart. 34:27 Morning, noon and night, let gratitude, as a sweet perfume, 34:31 ascend to heaven." Morning, noon and night, wake up grateful. 34:37 After all, what did we just read? One more time: "Do not be 34:41 anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, 34:45 with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which 34:51 transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 34:58 For wasn't it Jesus, on the eve of his own execution... Didn't Jesus say these words, 35:02 "Peace, I leave with you"? "My peace, I give to you," not as the world of social media 35:09 do I give to you. "Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be" 35:14 ...What's that word? "Neither let it be afraid." Wow. 35:20 I don't know about you, but this Thanksgiving, you know what I'd like to say? 35:24 Thank you, Jesus. 35:29 ♪♪ ♪♪ 35:49 ♪♪ ♪♪ 36:08 ♪♪ ♪♪ 36:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 36:46 ♪♪ ♪♪ 37:06 ♪♪ ♪♪ 37:25 ♪♪ ♪♪ 37:44 ♪♪ ♪♪ 38:03 ♪♪ ♪♪ 38:22 ♪♪ ♪♪ 38:42 ♪♪ ♪♪ 39:01 ♪♪ 39:15 ♪♪ ♪♪ 43:25 >> For a few weeks now, we've been inviting all of you 43:28 to help us to feed the needs in our community. 43:34 So we now prepare for the noisiest and most delightful offering of the year, 43:40 truly my favorite. So for our processional offering, you're invited 43:45 to bring your gifts of food and song, your tithes and offering 43:51 and your Thanksgiving letters to the platform. Our Pathfinders will be lined up 43:56 right here in the front. You'll see the baskets marked for those different 44:01 types of gifts, and you can just put it right in there. 44:04 You'll pass your gifts of food to the other Pathfinders on the outside, and they'll 44:10 place them on the stairs for us. Perhaps you're wondering, "Man, I forgot 44:16 my bag of nonperishable foods," and you want to still give. Well, take a tithe 44:22 and offering envelope, put some money in there, and note Thanksgiving, 44:27 and we'll make sure that it goes to feed some needy families this season. 44:33 Our deacons will dismiss you row by row. Use the side aisles to come down 44:38 in the center and wall aisles to return back to your seat. The words of the hymns 44:44 will be on the screens, so while you're bringing your offering, sing with us 44:49 as we give thanks to God for the rich blessings in our lives. 44:54 ♪♪ ♪♪ 45:12 ♪♪ 54:17 >> And, oh, God, with that amen, the celebration ends. Our hearts are full. 54:28 We have freely and joyfully lifted them to you in gratitude. But, Father, we can't end this 54:37 moment without breathing a prayer for those who, 54:45 in spite of the music, struggle with darkness. For weeks now, they've been 54:53 on our hearts, on our minds. They're young. They're not so young. 55:04 They're here. They're not here, but we collectively join together 55:12 in humbly praying 55:21 that the peace of God which transcends understanding might, as a bright light, 55:31 shine into their minds, shine into their emotions, shine into their very being, 55:40 and let them know the God of the universe has himself walked this way, 55:49 experienced this darkness and has achieved the one victory that will set us all free. 55:58 >> Amen. >> So whether you do that now or you do it later, you win. 56:09 >> Amen. >> And we, in Christ, win as well. 56:13 So we go home with courage. We go home with hope. We go home believing that this, 56:21 too, shall pass. In Jesus' name, let all the people say, "Amen." 56:30 >> Amen. >> Amen. ♪♪ 56:37 [ Congregation sings ] 57:09 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support 57:11 that comes from our viewers, and we've made a conscious 57:13 decision not to continually appeal to you for that support. 57:18 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're needing to make constant 57:21 upgrades to our technology. So if God has blessed you, and you'd like to further 57:26 the work of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:29 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. Every bit of your gift 57:33 goes to the mission of blessing your community and our world. 57:36 You can donate on our website, newperceptions.tv, 57:39 or call the number. You know the number: 877 57:43 -HIS-WILL. Again, that number is 877, 57:46 the two words: His Will. And may the God who has blessed 57:49 you continue to pour into your life the gifts 57:52 of his joy and his hope. Thank you, and I'm looking 57:55 forward to seeing you right here again next time. |
Revised 2024-01-24