July 30, 2024 • 30 mins
In this episode Pastor Eric refutes a claim that Psalm19:1 is Scripture about going outside to find a cure for depression and anxiety. He will discuss what the passage really means and what is the true cure for depression and anxiety.
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Pastor Eric (00:51):
All right, welcome to another episode of Faithcast Coming from Faith
Baptist Church in Visalia, California Myname is Eric Noorthoek, and I am one of
the pastors here And I actually createcreated this podcast for My church is
(01:16):
an opportunity for me to communicate somethings that are near and dear to my heart.
And I just don't have time in otherways to communicate other avenues.
And so that's really thepoint of this podcast.
I have no idea you know, who'slistening beyond my church members,
but I know that there are a numberbecause I see the, the stats.
(01:41):
And so if you are from Visalia andyou are not part of our church, then
I would encourage you to come andand check us out Sunday mornings
at 10 30 is the main service.
We do have a Sunday school at9 30 in the morning as well.
And then six o'clock.
We're pretty old fashioned that way.
(02:02):
We continue to do our evening servicebecause, well, there's a lot of people
who enjoy it and it is a great wayto continue fellowship and, and to
worship our Lord and just dedicatethe whole, the whole Sunday to that.
So anyway, it is good to be here.
I am so glad to be back.
(02:24):
I want to do something alittle bit different today.
Last week I, or last, it wasn't lastweek, a couple weeks ago, whenever
the last time I put out the podcast, Iwent through a live counseling session
and we looked at worship disorderand how to get rid of it and how the
Word of God is sufficient for that.
(02:45):
And this week I want to go throughanother video, for me it's a video,
for you it will be a podcast.
the audio of someone who is offeringbiblical prescriptions for mental health.
Now, the reason why I want, why I wantto do this is because there are so many
(03:05):
people who offer What they consider to bebiblical and helps that are supposed to
bring Healing and and I want you to seehow the Word of God is handled in this.
This is From a group.
(03:28):
I think this is a medical doctor.
I think he's a cardiologist actuallydoesn't represent himself as a
Psychologist but it's clear he isapplying psychology, although he seems to
reject the use of medications as a cureall but there is this series of Bible
(03:51):
studies that were put together that aresupposed to help with our well being
physically, emotionally, spiritually.
And the, their, their descriptionhere is, Welcome to Biblical
Prescriptions for Life.
This is a movement leading towarddiscovery of God's desire for
our well being, physically,emotionally, and spiritually.
(04:12):
Join us in experiencing realphysiological benefits of applying
Biblical principles from God's Word.
In our lives today.
This is important to me because this,this guy, I'm sure he knows his stuff.
And when it comes to medicalworld, and I'm sure he's got
excellent medical advice.
Sounds like he's, he's a wellpracticed in his career as a physician.
(04:35):
And and I'm sure that if I were togo to him to seek medical advice,
I would get some great advice.
He, he knows his stuff, but.
When it comes to applying biblicalprescriptions in this Bible study that,
that is that, that he put together,he, he says his team put together
it sounds Christian, and it soundsbiblical, but the way that the Word
(04:58):
of God is being handled is lacking.
And I would call this, and Idon't know if I said this earlier
or not, I can't remember, but Iwould call this an integrationist,
or an integrational perspective.
And so this is kind of an integrationistperspective, and this is what a lot
of people do where, when, when they.
(05:19):
Claim to offer help and you goand you get therapy and all this,
they're bringing in psychology to it.
And then they're attempting to usethe scripture as a part of that.
And so I just want to work through thismainly because I don't want my people
here at this church, I, I or, or anyone,I don't want you to be deceived by well
(05:41):
meaning, well intentioned, good soundingguys who have credentials, who have
letters behind their name as if they havethe answers it all comes down to how you.
Handle the Word of God and and so thisis really, I think this will be an
interesting exercise to walk through this.
(06:03):
And I, I think this is interestingbecause when we talk about biblical
prescriptions the, the questionwe need to ask ourselves is.
What does the Bible actuallysay in what does it mean and
how do we apply it to our lives?
Not what do we want it to mean?
What does it say?
What does it mean?
What is the author's intent?
(06:24):
That's what we're aiming for when we arelooking to the Bible to find prescriptions
for our life because it is the wordof God that has the answer answers.
It is fully sufficient for everythingwe need for life and godliness.
That's what Peter told us.
It is the sufficient for equipping usfor every good work, that's 2 Timothy 3.
(06:46):
16.
As Paul told Timothy and thisis why it was so important,
Timothy preached the Word.
Paul made this very adamantas his, sort of his last will
and testament in 2 Timothy.
And I want to listen to this guythis, I would call an integrationist.
(07:06):
a guy who you know,claims to be a Christian.
Maybe he is.
I don't know.
I, I don't know him.
But he is offering prescriptionsfor improving your mental health.
He calls them biblical prescriptions,but are they biblical prescriptions?
That's what I want to evaluate.
Is this truly, this integrationistapproach where we're going to
(07:27):
take the Bible and we're going tosort of blend it with with mental
health psychological advice.
Is this really the answer that we need?
So, so let's let me, let me beginwith this first prescription.
I've skipped ahead in the, in the video,so we're jumping right into His first
(07:49):
prescription here, so we'll listen fora little bit and then I will interrupt
with some Commentary and let's let'swork through this together So here we go.
Unknown (08:01):
And the first one is Psalms 19 verse 1 Psalms 19 verse 1 It
says the heavens Declare the gloryof God and the firmament shows his
handiwork Well, whenever we see theglory of God how beautiful he has
(08:22):
You know, we see the heavens, we seethe earth and how beautiful it is.
It does something for us chemically.
Remember, we were designed tobe outdoors and not indoors.
Pastor Eric (08:36):
Okay, real quick.
Notice he says, he takes Psalm19 which he read verse one, the
heavens are proclaiming or tellingof the glory of God, their expanses,
declaring the work of his hands.
It goes further, verse 2, dayto day pours forth speech, night
to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are therewords, their voice is not heard.
(08:57):
The line has gone throughoutall the earth in their utterance
to the ends of the world.
In them he has placed a tent for the sun.
And it goes on to describehow God is revealed in nature.
And immediately you, you'llnotice this jump from this.
scripture passage, which is arevelation of who God is to the chemical
(09:23):
changes that this is going to affect.
So, so Psalm 19, according to thisgentlemen is telling us that we
need to be outside because we werecreated to be outside in order
to have our chemical in order tohave chemical changes in our body.
And so immediately we've gonefrom the, the, the spiritual
(09:45):
revelation, the spiritual realitiesof God to our physiological.
And this is one of the issuesI have with with psychology.
It's a major issue.
And that is that everythingis ultimately physiological.
It is physical that, that, that ourproblems with depression, anxiety,
whatever, they're, they're physiological.
(10:06):
These are, these are chemicalimbalances, which that.
Has been completely debunked, this ideathat there are chemical imbalances and
that's what's causing our problems.
This is, like, depression hasbeen, we've been told that it is
the result of chemical imbalances.
That has been debunked maybe about ayear ago, there was a major article
(10:28):
that came out that just shook up thepsychological and the psychiatric world
where they were able to go throughand prove that this idea that there's
chemical things going on in your brain.
And that's the reason why if youget a chemical imbalance, that's
a reason why you have depressionthat, that whole thing was a theory.
(10:51):
It was it was somebody that wassomething that was proposed, but
it has been proven to be false,debunked based on the science.
And and so now we're,we're back to square one.
What does cause depression?
these depression and anxiety.
But what, what I, what I want usto see here within this worldview,
(11:14):
this integrationist approach,it actually isn't blending in.
The spirit in the physical, like it'strying to, it all becomes physiological.
It all becomes physical and so whathe is saying here is that you're
depressed because you aren't goingOutside, you need to be outside.
(11:34):
I don't dispute that beingoutside isn't good for us.
I, I mean it, that, that it's good for us.
I, I think that beingoutside is a good thing.
Being in isolation and beingshut in is just, just not good.
There's all kinds of problems.
You isolate, you die.
We weren't made to be isolated.
But
if we're really going to understandthe makeup of man which is to say
(11:56):
that he is both physical and he isspiritual, are we actually saying
that the reason why he has depressionor she has depression and anxiety is
because Of lack of being outdoors.
Let me let's listen tohim just a little bit more
so, so let's continue.
Unknown (12:14):
So let's talk a little bit about how our physiology changes when we're out
of doors, when we see the glory of God,when we see the beauty, his creation,
when we're outdoors, just being outdoors.
Helps us get fresh air, helps heroxygenation through the whole body.
It also helps us with vitamin D.
Everyone's heard about vitamin D.
(12:35):
Vitamin D is needed to helpeventually make a chemical in
our brain called serotonin.
When people are outdoors, they tendto move more, moving more helps the
circulation, more oxygen, more blood,better supply of nutrients to the brain.
But one of the things that does whenwe're outdoors, we see the beauty
(12:56):
of God, these awe inspiring things.
Whether it be a sunset,whether it be the ocean.
Well, when we ever see his beautifulhandiwork, we see the glory of God.
And when we appreciate the gloryof God and come into his presence,
there's something very specialthat's done in our physiology.
Pastor Eric (13:19):
So, so we're seeing again, back to physiology.
That we need to go outdoors.
We need to see the glory of God outdoorsin order to change our physiology.
And again, I really do think thatbeing outdoors is a good thing.
And it does, you know,get the blood flowing.
Like I don't dispute any of those things,but he's giving medical advice here.
(13:41):
Which is, is good advice from a,from, from a medical worldview.
Sure.
You, you're, you're indoors,you're, you're turning pasty white.
That, that happened a lot during Covid.
I remember when during covid
We were renting a place thathad three or four acres.
And so it didn't affect us in that way.
But I remember inviting a familyover so we could have a grill out.
(14:04):
And they were extremely grateful becausethey had been stuck inside of their,
their apartment downtown and down in L.
A.
And their kids were pasty white.
It was, they needed that vitamin D.
I mean, that's just good medical advice.
But is depression andanxiety a medical issue?
(14:26):
That's the question.
That's one of them.
And, and I think it could be sometimesthere, there are certain things
that go on in the body that cancause you to feel certain things.
So you're going to feelings thatare medical, but ultimately is the,
is the answer a medical answer?
Is it a physiological answer?
That's the first question.
And the second question, is Psalm 19telling us that we need to go to sleep?
(14:52):
outside.
Is that the prescription?
When three, you know, he, he's titledthis three biblical prescription
for improving mental health.
And the first prescription from,from this expert, is that if you want
to overcome anxiety and depression,you, you need to take the biblical
prescription from Psalm 19, whichis telling us we need to go outside.
(15:15):
Is that what Psalm 19 is telling us?
Is this truly a good use?
of the scripture.
Well What is Psalm 19 saying?
I mean, I read the first part, he readverse one, but in Psalm 19 you have
verses one through six, which is what wewould call the natural revelation of God.
(15:38):
It is God's revelation of himself.
And and this, this idea like Psalm 19verse one is, is that God exists, that
this is the unmistakable witness thatthe heavens are telling the glory of God.
No one.
in their right mind can look up ona clear night, you know, assuming
(16:01):
you're outside of the city, youknow, and, and look at the stars.
And if you can see the stars in thegalaxies, the Milky ways, all that,
and really deny that God exists.
I mean, the fool says in hisheart, there is no God in the,
in the, in the heavens reveal.
This is what we call natural revelation.
That's what Psalm 19 is telling us.
(16:22):
That that is, it'sunmistakable and it's untiring.
Verse two, day to day pours forth speech.
I mean, it just goes on and on and on.
And if, if nature could talk, thisis how it's being described here,
as if it's speaking it's revealingthe knowledge that God exists.
There is no speech, nor are there words.
(16:44):
It is not in words, it's,but, but it's so evident.
It is untiring and it isunderstandable and it is everywhere.
Their line has goneout into all the earth.
God has revealed himself ina way that's unmistakable.
That's what Psalm 19 is telling us.
(17:06):
And then that's, that's, that'swe could say indirect revelation
or natural revelation, butthen it transitions in verse 7.
Verse 7 says the law of the Lord.
In a verse 7, we have what,beginning of verse 7 to the end,
we have what we would call specificrevelation or direct revelation.
(17:28):
Not only has God revealed himselfthrough nature, but God has
revealed himself through his word.
This is the entire point of Psalm 19.
It is unmistakable.
God did not leave us to our ignorance.
God did not leave us to, tothe position where, where we
(17:48):
don't know that God exists.
And not only has he revealed himselfto us through through nature, but
he has also revealed himself veryspecifically through his word.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
And verse 7 says, the law of theLord is perfect, restoring the soul.
(18:10):
Now that's important because thisintegration is A mental health expert is
telling you that Psalm 19 says you needto go outside in order to be restored
from your mental health problems.
Verse 7 says this, Psalm 19,verse 7, The law of the Lord
(18:34):
is perfect, restoring the soul.
It does not say thatnature restores the soul.
Now, again, I'm not saying thatthere aren't physiological benefits.
It's If we're going out innature, it's a good thing to do.
There's medical benefits, it's clear.
But if we want to talk about thereal problem with the heart, with our
(18:58):
issues, is that it comes from the heart.
It comes from the soul.
There's nothing physiological thatyou can do to restore the soul.
What you need is to know who God is,very specifically through his word.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
It is the only thing thatcan restore the soul.
(19:20):
The testimony of the Lord issure, making wise is simple.
So not only does it restore thesoul, but it builds up to maturity.
The precepts of the Lord are right.
Rejoice in the heart.
Again, this internal, this, thisantidote to depression, to sadness is
the, the, the precepts of the Lord.
(19:40):
How do you have joy?
How do you have a rejoicing heart?
Well, God's word, that's the answer.
The commandment of the Lord ispure, enlightening the eyes.
I mean, listen to these descriptions here.
When you're depressed, you know,you're sad inside your eyes.
People look, look at you and theysay, is there something wrong?
Cause they can see something in your eyes.
It doesn't seem right.
(20:01):
So there's physical, physiologicalmanifestations of the spiritual issues.
But God's word tells us thatthe word of God is what is
necessary to enlighten the eyes.
To lift up the head that is down,you know, the eyes that are downcast.
(20:27):
Verse nine.
The fear of the Lord isclean, enduring forever.
There's, there's a purity.
There's a cleanliness to it.
This is a, forever cleanliness.
This is the hope that it bringsus to a point of maturity.
That it cleanses us fromour immaturity in our sin.
That, that it, that affects us.
It changes our thoughts.
(20:48):
That, that, that it worksout into our actions.
This is why.
The words of God, the judgments of God,it's described here, we can say the
word of God is more desirable than gold.
Yes, than munch find goldsweeter also than honey, and
the drippings of honeycomb.
These are physical things, like gold.
If I could just have, you know, treasures,if I could just have money, if I could
(21:10):
just have gold, then I'd be happy.
I mean, that's what people think.
What would you do if youhad, if you won the lottery?
What would you do if youhad a billion dollars?
Well, I think, you know, I thinkit would solve my problems.
That's what people think.
But, but here it says thatGod's Word is better than gold,
and, and there's, there's the honey.
(21:31):
This is sweeter than honey.
The sweetest thing probably in that day.
Something desirable.
It's more desirable than that.
And then verse 11.
It says, moreover, your servantis warned by, it has the
power to convict us, verse 11.
Verse 12, it has the power to cleanse us.
A verse verse 13 through, verses 13to 14, it has the power to correct us.
(21:56):
Keeps us back from presumptuous sins,so that they don't rule over us.
So that we can be blameless.
And be acquitted of great transgressions.
And then it ends with this desire.
Verse 14, Psalm 19, verse 14.
Listen, this is not telling us that ifyou go outside, you're going to be cured.
(22:28):
You're going to have your problems solved.
Your problem, and I'm, youknow, I'm oversimplifying what
he's saying to some degree.
He's not saying that all ofyour problems will be solved
but this is a prescription.
And actually he prefaces atthe beginning saying that these
prescriptions are biblical andthey're better than medications.
(22:49):
That, you know, to some degree that'strue from a medical standpoint.
If you were indoors.
And you are not getting enoughsun to get out, get some
vitamin D that's good for you.
It is better than takinga medication, sure.
But if we're talking about realcure, real biblical prescriptions for
improving mental health as he calls it,enlightening the eyes, restoring the
(23:11):
soul, being made pure, made, made clean.
Psalm 19 is not telling you to go outside.
It is telling you to trust the Lord.
It is telling you to, to, to recognizethrough nature that he exists and that
he is all powerful and the, and thestars tell us that he is everywhere.
(23:32):
I mean, they're, ubiquitous andthat he has omniscient knowledge.
I mean, it would take, it wouldtake omniscience in order to
put the stars and the planets,everything in perfect alignment.
Amen.
And then everything to be working in sucha way that the earth doesn't burn up,
all these things prove that God is wise.
Well, how do we get access to that wisdom?
(23:52):
How do we get access to that God?
It is through His word that's the pointof Psalm 19 and the reason why I wanted
to bring this up I really want us tosee is this integrationist approach
(24:13):
What it is doing is it what these guysare doing is they are taking the word
of God and they are pulling it out ofcontext and they're in there presenting
it in a package that sounds good.
I mean, who would, who would dispute that?
It wouldn't be good forus to go outside more.
I mean, it's just good advice,but this is not your problem.
(24:39):
What is your problem?
Well you have a worship disorder.
That's what it is.
You want what you want.
The way you want it, when you want it,and when you don't get it, you find
yourself depressed and discouraged.
This is the problem with your children.
I mean, the Bible has revealedthis kind of thing to us.
Luke 6.
(25:00):
Luke 6 says this verse 43.
There is no good tree which producesbad fruit, nor on the other hand a
bad tree which produces good fruit.
For each tree is known by its own fruit.
For men do not gather figs from thorns,nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
The good man out of the good treasureof his heart brings forth what is
good, and the evil man out of the eviltreasure brings forth what is evil.
(25:23):
For his mouth speaks fromthat which fills his heart.
What this is saying is that there,the, the tree is known by its
fruit, so it is an internal matter.
Our issues are rooted in our hearts.
That's the problem.
(25:44):
We have we have bad fruit, you want a treewith good fruit and a tree with bad fruit.
You, you can spend all your day.
trying to diagnose the fruit on that tree.
But the problem is not the fruit.
You have rotten fruit becauseof a source that's much deeper.
(26:05):
It goes down to the roots.
It is the roots that are the problem.
The roots of the tree.
They are, they are corrupted.
They are producing bad fruit.
It is out of the heartthat the mouth speaks.
This is the problem of man.
(26:26):
This is the problem with your children.
This is the problem with everysingle one of us is out of the heart
that the mouth speaks is out of theheart that we have corruption and
and sometimes pressures of life.
You can picture that tree illustration.
(26:47):
You have the tree.
And you have the fruit,and then you have the sun.
The sun is heating up, and it's hot.
And man, it is, it is boiling.
And, and the fruit beginsto rot under that sun.
Because it doesn't have the, the, the,the ability to, you know, to endure.
(27:09):
Because it's rotten to begin with.
The problem is not the sun.
The problem is not the the The fruit.
The problem is, is, is the heart.
And we spend a whole lot of timeblaming the sun, the heat in our life,
the difficulties, the trials, people.
They're just the sun.
(27:30):
For our fruit issues, and what weneed to do is look to the root issues.
Stop picking fruit andstart dealing with the root.
And the only way to do that isto get into the Word of God and
find out what it says about you.
(27:51):
And the more you're in it, themore you're going to discover those
corruptions that are in your heart.
As John Kelvin is attributed with sayingthat the heart is an idle factory.
It's true.
The source of anxiety, depression,the source of anger, the source of all
of these issues, the issues of life.
(28:12):
They are inside of us.
And no amount of goingoutside, is going to fix that.
No amount of physil physiologicalprescriptions is going to fix that.
This is what I'm trying tocommunicate in every way that I can.
Every way that I can.
This is the answer.
(28:33):
It is to deal with the heart.
It is to deal with it God's way.
It is to deal withaccording to the scripture.
I hope this has been helpful.
I find this very helpful for me asI have worked through my own issues
(28:55):
in my heart and I've got plenty.
I've got plenty.
As I've dealt with my children issuesIt is so helpful to think well, there's
there's something going on in theheart And then to pray god, give me
wisdom To know how to deal with that
Again, this is a ministry of faithbaptist church If you are not Part
(29:18):
of our church come visit us 10o'clock on Sunday mornings here in
10 30 here in Visalia until next
time.
All right, welcome to another episode of Faithcast Coming from Faith
Baptist Church in Visalia, California Myname is Eric Noorthoek, and I am one of
the pastors here And I actually createcreated this podcast for My church is
(01:16):
an opportunity for me to communicate somethings that are near and dear to my heart.
And I just don't have time in otherways to communicate other avenues.
And so that's really thepoint of this podcast.
I have no idea you know, who'slistening beyond my church members,
but I know that there are a numberbecause I see the, the stats.
(01:41):
And so if you are from Visalia andyou are not part of our church, then
I would encourage you to come andand check us out Sunday mornings
at 10 30 is the main service.
We do have a Sunday school at9 30 in the morning as well.
And then six o'clock.
We're pretty old fashioned that way.
(02:02):
We continue to do our evening servicebecause, well, there's a lot of people
who enjoy it and it is a great wayto continue fellowship and, and to
worship our Lord and just dedicatethe whole, the whole Sunday to that.
So anyway, it is good to be here.
I am so glad to be back.
(02:24):
I want to do something alittle bit different today.
Last week I, or last, it wasn't lastweek, a couple weeks ago, whenever
the last time I put out the podcast, Iwent through a live counseling session
and we looked at worship disorderand how to get rid of it and how the
Word of God is sufficient for that.
(02:45):
And this week I want to go throughanother video, for me it's a video,
for you it will be a podcast.
the audio of someone who is offeringbiblical prescriptions for mental health.
Now, the reason why I want, why I wantto do this is because there are so many
(03:05):
people who offer What they consider to bebiblical and helps that are supposed to
bring Healing and and I want you to seehow the Word of God is handled in this.
This is From a group.
(03:28):
I think this is a medical doctor.
I think he's a cardiologist actuallydoesn't represent himself as a
Psychologist but it's clear he isapplying psychology, although he seems to
reject the use of medications as a cureall but there is this series of Bible
(03:51):
studies that were put together that aresupposed to help with our well being
physically, emotionally, spiritually.
And the, their, their descriptionhere is, Welcome to Biblical
Prescriptions for Life.
This is a movement leading towarddiscovery of God's desire for
our well being, physically,emotionally, and spiritually.
(04:12):
Join us in experiencing realphysiological benefits of applying
Biblical principles from God's Word.
In our lives today.
This is important to me because this,this guy, I'm sure he knows his stuff.
And when it comes to medicalworld, and I'm sure he's got
excellent medical advice.
Sounds like he's, he's a wellpracticed in his career as a physician.
(04:35):
And and I'm sure that if I were togo to him to seek medical advice,
I would get some great advice.
He, he knows his stuff, but.
When it comes to applying biblicalprescriptions in this Bible study that,
that is that, that he put together,he, he says his team put together
it sounds Christian, and it soundsbiblical, but the way that the Word
(04:58):
of God is being handled is lacking.
And I would call this, and Idon't know if I said this earlier
or not, I can't remember, but Iwould call this an integrationist,
or an integrational perspective.
And so this is kind of an integrationistperspective, and this is what a lot
of people do where, when, when they.
(05:19):
Claim to offer help and you goand you get therapy and all this,
they're bringing in psychology to it.
And then they're attempting to usethe scripture as a part of that.
And so I just want to work through thismainly because I don't want my people
here at this church, I, I or, or anyone,I don't want you to be deceived by well
(05:41):
meaning, well intentioned, good soundingguys who have credentials, who have
letters behind their name as if they havethe answers it all comes down to how you.
Handle the Word of God and and so thisis really, I think this will be an
interesting exercise to walk through this.
(06:03):
And I, I think this is interestingbecause when we talk about biblical
prescriptions the, the questionwe need to ask ourselves is.
What does the Bible actuallysay in what does it mean and
how do we apply it to our lives?
Not what do we want it to mean?
What does it say?
What does it mean?
What is the author's intent?
(06:24):
That's what we're aiming for when we arelooking to the Bible to find prescriptions
for our life because it is the wordof God that has the answer answers.
It is fully sufficient for everythingwe need for life and godliness.
That's what Peter told us.
It is the sufficient for equipping usfor every good work, that's 2 Timothy 3.
(06:46):
16.
As Paul told Timothy and thisis why it was so important,
Timothy preached the Word.
Paul made this very adamantas his, sort of his last will
and testament in 2 Timothy.
And I want to listen to this guythis, I would call an integrationist.
(07:06):
a guy who you know,claims to be a Christian.
Maybe he is.
I don't know.
I, I don't know him.
But he is offering prescriptionsfor improving your mental health.
He calls them biblical prescriptions,but are they biblical prescriptions?
That's what I want to evaluate.
Is this truly, this integrationistapproach where we're going to
(07:27):
take the Bible and we're going tosort of blend it with with mental
health psychological advice.
Is this really the answer that we need?
So, so let's let me, let me beginwith this first prescription.
I've skipped ahead in the, in the video,so we're jumping right into His first
(07:49):
prescription here, so we'll listen fora little bit and then I will interrupt
with some Commentary and let's let'swork through this together So here we go.
Unknown (08:01):
And the first one is Psalms 19 verse 1 Psalms 19 verse 1 It
says the heavens Declare the gloryof God and the firmament shows his
handiwork Well, whenever we see theglory of God how beautiful he has
(08:22):
You know, we see the heavens, we seethe earth and how beautiful it is.
It does something for us chemically.
Remember, we were designed tobe outdoors and not indoors.
Pastor Eric (08:36):
Okay, real quick.
Notice he says, he takes Psalm19 which he read verse one, the
heavens are proclaiming or tellingof the glory of God, their expanses,
declaring the work of his hands.
It goes further, verse 2, dayto day pours forth speech, night
to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are therewords, their voice is not heard.
(08:57):
The line has gone throughoutall the earth in their utterance
to the ends of the world.
In them he has placed a tent for the sun.
And it goes on to describehow God is revealed in nature.
And immediately you, you'llnotice this jump from this.
scripture passage, which is arevelation of who God is to the chemical
(09:23):
changes that this is going to affect.
So, so Psalm 19, according to thisgentlemen is telling us that we
need to be outside because we werecreated to be outside in order
to have our chemical in order tohave chemical changes in our body.
And so immediately we've gonefrom the, the, the spiritual
(09:45):
revelation, the spiritual realitiesof God to our physiological.
And this is one of the issuesI have with with psychology.
It's a major issue.
And that is that everythingis ultimately physiological.
It is physical that, that, that ourproblems with depression, anxiety,
whatever, they're, they're physiological.
(10:06):
These are, these are chemicalimbalances, which that.
Has been completely debunked, this ideathat there are chemical imbalances and
that's what's causing our problems.
This is, like, depression hasbeen, we've been told that it is
the result of chemical imbalances.
That has been debunked maybe about ayear ago, there was a major article
(10:28):
that came out that just shook up thepsychological and the psychiatric world
where they were able to go throughand prove that this idea that there's
chemical things going on in your brain.
And that's the reason why if youget a chemical imbalance, that's
a reason why you have depressionthat, that whole thing was a theory.
(10:51):
It was it was somebody that wassomething that was proposed, but
it has been proven to be false,debunked based on the science.
And and so now we're,we're back to square one.
What does cause depression?
these depression and anxiety.
But what, what I, what I want usto see here within this worldview,
(11:14):
this integrationist approach,it actually isn't blending in.
The spirit in the physical, like it'strying to, it all becomes physiological.
It all becomes physical and so whathe is saying here is that you're
depressed because you aren't goingOutside, you need to be outside.
(11:34):
I don't dispute that beingoutside isn't good for us.
I, I mean it, that, that it's good for us.
I, I think that beingoutside is a good thing.
Being in isolation and beingshut in is just, just not good.
There's all kinds of problems.
You isolate, you die.
We weren't made to be isolated.
But
if we're really going to understandthe makeup of man which is to say
(11:56):
that he is both physical and he isspiritual, are we actually saying
that the reason why he has depressionor she has depression and anxiety is
because Of lack of being outdoors.
Let me let's listen tohim just a little bit more
so, so let's continue.
Unknown (12:14):
So let's talk a little bit about how our physiology changes when we're out
of doors, when we see the glory of God,when we see the beauty, his creation,
when we're outdoors, just being outdoors.
Helps us get fresh air, helps heroxygenation through the whole body.
It also helps us with vitamin D.
Everyone's heard about vitamin D.
(12:35):
Vitamin D is needed to helpeventually make a chemical in
our brain called serotonin.
When people are outdoors, they tendto move more, moving more helps the
circulation, more oxygen, more blood,better supply of nutrients to the brain.
But one of the things that does whenwe're outdoors, we see the beauty
(12:56):
of God, these awe inspiring things.
Whether it be a sunset,whether it be the ocean.
Well, when we ever see his beautifulhandiwork, we see the glory of God.
And when we appreciate the gloryof God and come into his presence,
there's something very specialthat's done in our physiology.
Pastor Eric (13:19):
So, so we're seeing again, back to physiology.
That we need to go outdoors.
We need to see the glory of God outdoorsin order to change our physiology.
And again, I really do think thatbeing outdoors is a good thing.
And it does, you know,get the blood flowing.
Like I don't dispute any of those things,but he's giving medical advice here.
(13:41):
Which is, is good advice from a,from, from a medical worldview.
Sure.
You, you're, you're indoors,you're, you're turning pasty white.
That, that happened a lot during Covid.
I remember when during covid
We were renting a place thathad three or four acres.
And so it didn't affect us in that way.
But I remember inviting a familyover so we could have a grill out.
(14:04):
And they were extremely grateful becausethey had been stuck inside of their,
their apartment downtown and down in L.
A.
And their kids were pasty white.
It was, they needed that vitamin D.
I mean, that's just good medical advice.
But is depression andanxiety a medical issue?
(14:26):
That's the question.
That's one of them.
And, and I think it could be sometimesthere, there are certain things
that go on in the body that cancause you to feel certain things.
So you're going to feelings thatare medical, but ultimately is the,
is the answer a medical answer?
Is it a physiological answer?
That's the first question.
And the second question, is Psalm 19telling us that we need to go to sleep?
(14:52):
outside.
Is that the prescription?
When three, you know, he, he's titledthis three biblical prescription
for improving mental health.
And the first prescription from,from this expert, is that if you want
to overcome anxiety and depression,you, you need to take the biblical
prescription from Psalm 19, whichis telling us we need to go outside.
(15:15):
Is that what Psalm 19 is telling us?
Is this truly a good use?
of the scripture.
Well What is Psalm 19 saying?
I mean, I read the first part, he readverse one, but in Psalm 19 you have
verses one through six, which is what wewould call the natural revelation of God.
(15:38):
It is God's revelation of himself.
And and this, this idea like Psalm 19verse one is, is that God exists, that
this is the unmistakable witness thatthe heavens are telling the glory of God.
No one.
in their right mind can look up ona clear night, you know, assuming
(16:01):
you're outside of the city, youknow, and, and look at the stars.
And if you can see the stars in thegalaxies, the Milky ways, all that,
and really deny that God exists.
I mean, the fool says in hisheart, there is no God in the,
in the, in the heavens reveal.
This is what we call natural revelation.
That's what Psalm 19 is telling us.
(16:22):
That that is, it'sunmistakable and it's untiring.
Verse two, day to day pours forth speech.
I mean, it just goes on and on and on.
And if, if nature could talk, thisis how it's being described here,
as if it's speaking it's revealingthe knowledge that God exists.
There is no speech, nor are there words.
(16:44):
It is not in words, it's,but, but it's so evident.
It is untiring and it isunderstandable and it is everywhere.
Their line has goneout into all the earth.
God has revealed himself ina way that's unmistakable.
That's what Psalm 19 is telling us.
(17:06):
And then that's, that's, that'swe could say indirect revelation
or natural revelation, butthen it transitions in verse 7.
Verse 7 says the law of the Lord.
In a verse 7, we have what,beginning of verse 7 to the end,
we have what we would call specificrevelation or direct revelation.
(17:28):
Not only has God revealed himselfthrough nature, but God has
revealed himself through his word.
This is the entire point of Psalm 19.
It is unmistakable.
God did not leave us to our ignorance.
God did not leave us to, tothe position where, where we
(17:48):
don't know that God exists.
And not only has he revealed himselfto us through through nature, but
he has also revealed himself veryspecifically through his word.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
And verse 7 says, the law of theLord is perfect, restoring the soul.
(18:10):
Now that's important because thisintegration is A mental health expert is
telling you that Psalm 19 says you needto go outside in order to be restored
from your mental health problems.
Verse 7 says this, Psalm 19,verse 7, The law of the Lord
(18:34):
is perfect, restoring the soul.
It does not say thatnature restores the soul.
Now, again, I'm not saying thatthere aren't physiological benefits.
It's If we're going out innature, it's a good thing to do.
There's medical benefits, it's clear.
But if we want to talk about thereal problem with the heart, with our
(18:58):
issues, is that it comes from the heart.
It comes from the soul.
There's nothing physiological thatyou can do to restore the soul.
What you need is to know who God is,very specifically through his word.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
It is the only thing thatcan restore the soul.
(19:20):
The testimony of the Lord issure, making wise is simple.
So not only does it restore thesoul, but it builds up to maturity.
The precepts of the Lord are right.
Rejoice in the heart.
Again, this internal, this, thisantidote to depression, to sadness is
the, the, the precepts of the Lord.
(19:40):
How do you have joy?
How do you have a rejoicing heart?
Well, God's word, that's the answer.
The commandment of the Lord ispure, enlightening the eyes.
I mean, listen to these descriptions here.
When you're depressed, you know,you're sad inside your eyes.
People look, look at you and theysay, is there something wrong?
Cause they can see something in your eyes.
It doesn't seem right.
(20:01):
So there's physical, physiologicalmanifestations of the spiritual issues.
But God's word tells us thatthe word of God is what is
necessary to enlighten the eyes.
To lift up the head that is down,you know, the eyes that are downcast.
(20:27):
Verse nine.
The fear of the Lord isclean, enduring forever.
There's, there's a purity.
There's a cleanliness to it.
This is a, forever cleanliness.
This is the hope that it bringsus to a point of maturity.
That it cleanses us fromour immaturity in our sin.
That, that it, that affects us.
It changes our thoughts.
(20:48):
That, that, that it worksout into our actions.
This is why.
The words of God, the judgments of God,it's described here, we can say the
word of God is more desirable than gold.
Yes, than munch find goldsweeter also than honey, and
the drippings of honeycomb.
These are physical things, like gold.
If I could just have, you know, treasures,if I could just have money, if I could
(21:10):
just have gold, then I'd be happy.
I mean, that's what people think.
What would you do if youhad, if you won the lottery?
What would you do if youhad a billion dollars?
Well, I think, you know, I thinkit would solve my problems.
That's what people think.
But, but here it says thatGod's Word is better than gold,
and, and there's, there's the honey.
(21:31):
This is sweeter than honey.
The sweetest thing probably in that day.
Something desirable.
It's more desirable than that.
And then verse 11.
It says, moreover, your servantis warned by, it has the
power to convict us, verse 11.
Verse 12, it has the power to cleanse us.
A verse verse 13 through, verses 13to 14, it has the power to correct us.
(21:56):
Keeps us back from presumptuous sins,so that they don't rule over us.
So that we can be blameless.
And be acquitted of great transgressions.
And then it ends with this desire.
Verse 14, Psalm 19, verse 14.
Listen, this is not telling us that ifyou go outside, you're going to be cured.
(22:28):
You're going to have your problems solved.
Your problem, and I'm, youknow, I'm oversimplifying what
he's saying to some degree.
He's not saying that all ofyour problems will be solved
but this is a prescription.
And actually he prefaces atthe beginning saying that these
prescriptions are biblical andthey're better than medications.
(22:49):
That, you know, to some degree that'strue from a medical standpoint.
If you were indoors.
And you are not getting enoughsun to get out, get some
vitamin D that's good for you.
It is better than takinga medication, sure.
But if we're talking about realcure, real biblical prescriptions for
improving mental health as he calls it,enlightening the eyes, restoring the
(23:11):
soul, being made pure, made, made clean.
Psalm 19 is not telling you to go outside.
It is telling you to trust the Lord.
It is telling you to, to, to recognizethrough nature that he exists and that
he is all powerful and the, and thestars tell us that he is everywhere.
(23:32):
I mean, they're, ubiquitous andthat he has omniscient knowledge.
I mean, it would take, it wouldtake omniscience in order to
put the stars and the planets,everything in perfect alignment.
Amen.
And then everything to be working in sucha way that the earth doesn't burn up,
all these things prove that God is wise.
Well, how do we get access to that wisdom?
(23:52):
How do we get access to that God?
It is through His word that's the pointof Psalm 19 and the reason why I wanted
to bring this up I really want us tosee is this integrationist approach
(24:13):
What it is doing is it what these guysare doing is they are taking the word
of God and they are pulling it out ofcontext and they're in there presenting
it in a package that sounds good.
I mean, who would, who would dispute that?
It wouldn't be good forus to go outside more.
I mean, it's just good advice,but this is not your problem.
(24:39):
What is your problem?
Well you have a worship disorder.
That's what it is.
You want what you want.
The way you want it, when you want it,and when you don't get it, you find
yourself depressed and discouraged.
This is the problem with your children.
I mean, the Bible has revealedthis kind of thing to us.
Luke 6.
(25:00):
Luke 6 says this verse 43.
There is no good tree which producesbad fruit, nor on the other hand a
bad tree which produces good fruit.
For each tree is known by its own fruit.
For men do not gather figs from thorns,nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
The good man out of the good treasureof his heart brings forth what is
good, and the evil man out of the eviltreasure brings forth what is evil.
(25:23):
For his mouth speaks fromthat which fills his heart.
What this is saying is that there,the, the tree is known by its
fruit, so it is an internal matter.
Our issues are rooted in our hearts.
That's the problem.
(25:44):
We have we have bad fruit, you want a treewith good fruit and a tree with bad fruit.
You, you can spend all your day.
trying to diagnose the fruit on that tree.
But the problem is not the fruit.
You have rotten fruit becauseof a source that's much deeper.
(26:05):
It goes down to the roots.
It is the roots that are the problem.
The roots of the tree.
They are, they are corrupted.
They are producing bad fruit.
It is out of the heartthat the mouth speaks.
This is the problem of man.
(26:26):
This is the problem with your children.
This is the problem with everysingle one of us is out of the heart
that the mouth speaks is out of theheart that we have corruption and
and sometimes pressures of life.
You can picture that tree illustration.
(26:47):
You have the tree.
And you have the fruit,and then you have the sun.
The sun is heating up, and it's hot.
And man, it is, it is boiling.
And, and the fruit beginsto rot under that sun.
Because it doesn't have the, the, the,the ability to, you know, to endure.
(27:09):
Because it's rotten to begin with.
The problem is not the sun.
The problem is not the the The fruit.
The problem is, is, is the heart.
And we spend a whole lot of timeblaming the sun, the heat in our life,
the difficulties, the trials, people.
They're just the sun.
(27:30):
For our fruit issues, and what weneed to do is look to the root issues.
Stop picking fruit andstart dealing with the root.
And the only way to do that isto get into the Word of God and
find out what it says about you.
(27:51):
And the more you're in it, themore you're going to discover those
corruptions that are in your heart.
As John Kelvin is attributed with sayingthat the heart is an idle factory.
It's true.
The source of anxiety, depression,the source of anger, the source of all
of these issues, the issues of life.
(28:12):
They are inside of us.
And no amount of goingoutside, is going to fix that.
No amount of physil physiologicalprescriptions is going to fix that.
This is what I'm trying tocommunicate in every way that I can.
Every way that I can.
This is the answer.
(28:33):
It is to deal with the heart.
It is to deal with it God's way.
It is to deal withaccording to the scripture.
I hope this has been helpful.
I find this very helpful for me asI have worked through my own issues
(28:55):
in my heart and I've got plenty.
I've got plenty.
As I've dealt with my children issuesIt is so helpful to think well, there's
there's something going on in theheart And then to pray god, give me
wisdom To know how to deal with that
Again, this is a ministry of faithbaptist church If you are not Part
(29:18):
of our church come visit us 10o'clock on Sunday mornings here in
10 30 here in Visalia until next
time.
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