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Walking Free - Mental Health, Spiritual Root
21 Plays23 hours ago
Vernon talks through some stats on mental health and provides insights on Ephesians 4:17-24.
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Transcript
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Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free.
00:00:21
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Welcome everybody this is Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and We're back for another Facebook Live and Walking Free podcast. And of course, I have to always talk about, because it's getting so close, just a quick reminder about our um golf for grace that's coming up. So let me just take you over there. And ah that's coming up November 4th. And just as a quick reminder,
00:00:55
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if you have not registered, now is the time. It is going to be at the incredible Windermere Golf Club in Cumming, Georgia on November 4th. That's the day before the election. I know we can all kind of come together, have some fun before the country, you know, has its time of voting. And it's been rough. I mean, we're a divided country.
00:01:23
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and I think there's only one thing that can bring this divided country together, and that's Jesus Christ. We come together in Christ because we're all one in Christ, right? Paul said, well, whether Jew or Gentiles, male or female, how about this? Democrat or Republican or Independent or whatever your flavor of politics is, we're all one in Christ.
00:01:53
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and That's what we need to focus on. And guess what? You can all come together oh and help us out on November 4th at Windermere Golf Club. It's going to be a blast. So if you haven't already, ah you can go to our website at gmit.org forward slash golf for grace. It's right there. You can register and I hope you'll support us. And if you can't golf,
00:02:25
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um Maybe you know someone who likes to golf. it This is going to help us help the 75% of our clients who need some level of financial support. And that's what your donation does. It helps us operate and provide those financial that financial assistance where it is needed.
00:02:49
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and keeps us helping people walk free. That's what we do. That's what we love is helping people. That's our vision is millions. We've helped thousands and thousands over the last 40 years. We want to help millions of men, women, families here and around the world walk free in Christ. We want them to let go of the lies that they've held so long.
00:03:20
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and embrace the truth. That really gives them hope. That's the goal. That's the vision. Help us get there. we We love counseling. We love training. We have our encounter that's going to be coming up soon, which is a small group environment. You can check that out on the website. But I just want to encourage you again, if you have not yet ah registered Please register, forward it to someone who you know loves golf. And if you can't, you can still donate. Help us out. It really makes a difference. You really make a difference. So if you do that, that would be awesome. I am not in my normal location. You might be able to tell I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Lovely town. Really like this town. We are here ah just for a little bit. I'll be back home in Georgia.
00:04:16
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ah very soon. So, um if you can help us out, do that. Today, I want to talk about this mental health crisis that's just, it's going on, it's prevalent ah across the country. But I want to show you a couple of stats first, and then I want to dive in to a little bit of scripture. I'm only going to take about, what, 20, 25 minutes max.
00:04:43
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and talk about some of this mental health crisis. Maybe you've seen it in your own family. Maybe you've experienced it yourself. ah Maybe you're in the middle of it. Maybe you've seen it at work, at church. Well, the mental health crisis is real. And let me jump over here ah to some stats. And this is from the CDC.
00:05:13
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And it's for the US, a percentage um of folks who regularly had feelings of worry, nervousness, or anxiety, adults 18 or over. Right around, what, 11, 12%? That's where it's hovering. that's Think about it, 300 million people in the US
00:05:42
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And you're looking at what, 15 million people?
00:05:46
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Regularly feelings of worry. We get this at Grace Ministries' request for counseling all the time. If you ah look at those who had feelings of depression, excuse me, it's hovering around 5% of those adults in the US who regularly had feelings of depression.
00:06:10
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And it's hovered, in fact, it's increased a little bit over time. Now, if you look at also um some more data from the Mental Health America, um and you look at what i what's called the adult ranking for all mental health, and this is interesting, it's ranking by state. So you can kind of see what states you're in, what you're living in.
00:06:33
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um States that are ranked 1 to 13 have a lower prevalence of mental illness and a better access to care. States ranked 39 to 51 indicate adults that have a higher prevalence of mental illness and a lower access to care. And here's the seven measures that are combined and that are making up this this measure.
00:07:02
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adults with any mental illness, AMI, those with a substance use disorder, SUD, adults with serious thoughts of suicide, or um adults with SUD who needed but did not receive treatment. You can read the rest here. And this is what it looked like across the US. The lighter color states um are a little better in this area. For instance, if you come up here,
00:07:33
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Virginia at about ah nine Georgia my home state ranked 39 That's on the lower end here. So a higher prevalence of mental illness overall and a lower access ability to access care and This is alarming if we go on down and you can see the states here and out where they are in this ranking. If we look at just any mental ah illness again,
00:08:11
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Georgia ranks 15, 22% of Georgians have some level of mental illness, reported mental illness. Florida, right at 20%. California,
00:08:29
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twenty two ah percent 22%. And again, overall, 23% of adults experience mental illness. That's 60 million Americans. This is something that we really need to understand and we need to take seriously. If I look at the youth rankings here,
00:08:58
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In 2024, the youth ranking, and I'll just go down here on the any mental illness or one major depressive episode.
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Georgia, excuse me, still getting over this cough. Georgia, 17% of youth reported a major, at least one major depressive episode.
00:09:26
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How are your youth in your state? And you can see the rankings here from 16% and that's the best, 16% all the way down to, to, excuse me, to Oregon, almost 25% of youth with a major depressive episode.
00:09:53
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Sears thoughts of suicide. For youth, 12% of youth in Georgia have have had serious thoughts of suicide. Overall, 3.4 million youth, % have experienced serious thoughts of suicide. What are we doing? How's the church?
00:10:22
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coming alongside and helping in this area. How are we as parents? Do we know? Do we have a level of understanding to help our youth with this? You see, there is a mental health crisis in our country. And I believe it's there's a lot of spiritual roots that are affecting this mental health ah crisis.
00:10:55
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Let me jump back here and just talk to you for a moment. you know i'm I'm not one to say, yeah, let's just throw a Bible verse, right? Throw a Bible verse, you know take three Bible verses, couple prayers, and call me in the morning. that's not That is not how it works. ah You can't throw a Bible verse at this Now I believe that the Bible has a lot to say, but I think often we misuse it and we make it more about knowledge versus heart and relationship. It's, I believe the the scripture is all about relationship. Uh, it's all about our relationship to a heavenly father that loves us. That's not giving us another to do list. Jesus didn't come.
00:11:47
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and say, come unto me all of you who labor in a heavy burden and I will give you something else to do. That's not how it goes in Matthew 11. He says, come unto me all of you who labor in a heavy burden and I will give you rest.
00:12:06
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If your Christian life is ah like this and just stress-filled, that doesn't feel like rest to me. Doesn't look like rest. Jesus came to give us rest for our soul, for the suke part of us, where we get the word psychology. For that mental and emotional health, he wants to give us rest. And that's what I believe is missing. I think often we're putting some heavy burdens
00:12:42
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And maybe even unintentionally, I don't want to put a, like throw a shade and all the church is bad. I just think maybe even unintentionally, we have put some burdens on people and Jesus wants to take those away. And perhaps some of it is some misunderstandings of scripture, maybe. You know, at Grace Ministries, we have a we focus on God's grace.
00:13:10
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and we focus on what is called the exchange to life. That when we receive Jesus Christ as our savior, and that's what it's all about, it's receiving that free gift. Salvation isn't one more thing to do, it's something to receive. And that's what I want for you, to receive it.
00:13:34
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to believe Jesus is God, that he came to this earth to show who God is and to offer himself as payment for everything we've done wrong because there is a price due for our sin. Our sin separated us from God. Jesus came to restore that and he died on the cross. And you might say, well, how can one man pay for the sins of the whole world? Well,
00:14:02
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If Jesus is who he claimed to be, if Jesus is God, I think that an infinite God can take the sins of a finite mankind from the past all the way up to the last person who ever breathes their last. Can take all of that and make payment. Don't you think? Yeah. Well, that's what Jesus came to do. And he says, look I'm not asking you to do anything. I want you to receive my free gift. And my gift is forgiveness and life. You can rest. That's what he came to do. And he came to set us free. And that's what ah Grace Ministries, what we we long to share, is the fact that that old you that old you, that old nature was crucified with Jesus when you received his gift.
00:14:58
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and you were buried, raised up brand new, and joined with him. that's That's the good news right there. You are brand spanking new. You're not a retread. you not ah You're not ah you're not you know just a little remake. You're brand new. That old you died, you've been made brand new, joined with Jesus Christ forever in fellowship with him.
00:15:26
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And there's nothing you can do as a believer to separate you from the love of God, Romans 8. And I think part of this part, not all of it, part of the mental health crisis, especially among believers in Jesus Christ, Christians, is that we don't understand what God has already done.
00:15:52
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We're trying to get what we already got. We're trying to do what he's already done. When he says, no, you can rest. Oh, you're talking passivity? No, I'm not. I'm talking rest for our soul. And that's what ah that's what Jesus came to do. and I think that's part of the spiritual root issue that we want to help folks walk through. And one thing we've done at Grace Ministries is we have partnered with ah the Christian ah Trauma Healing Network. It's Beth b Broome and her team, incredible folks ah who are licensed counselors and incredible believers, and they are trauma specialists. And all of our counselors have gone through their trauma-informed level one. Some of us have gone through their trauma level two certification. So we can be more trauma-informed in our approach, yet maintain this grace-based
00:16:51
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um Exchange life foundation we married that together so we can offer a sensitive approach to counseling right where folks are and Lead them to understand that God has done something incredible and it's a journey You're not under any condemnation God's just with you in the mess and he's walking with you every step of the way loving you every step of the way that's the our loving Heavenly Father so I thought I'd jump over to some scripture quickly and Let's see if I can get over there right now bada-bing bada-boom and This is 4 17 remember we were last time we talked about making the most of your time and
00:17:48
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This backs up a little bit more in Ephesians, a little more context around that last one. And Paul is writing and he says, so this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind. Being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God,
00:18:13
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because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart. You know, it's not often we intellectualize the Bible. We intellectualize and and we just want to understand the idea, the concept, the principles, right? That's okay. But I mean, that's what those who are unbelievers, who don't know Jesus Christ, that's all they got. That's what they do. And Paul's saying, look,
00:18:42
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Don't walk just like they do, just in the futility of their mind. There's something more. Something incredible happened to you. Yes, you need to understand it, but you need to experience it in Him. So don't just walk in the futility of your mind, being darkened in their understanding, an unbeliever, excluded from the life of God.
00:19:08
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We don't want to exclude the incredible power and life of Jesus Christ in us because he wants to flow through us and express his power and victory and love and kindness and love through us, his very life through you. That's the goal. He says, Paul continues, and they, having become callous have given given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. You met folks like that? But you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him just as the truth is in who? Jesus. Jesus said, I'm the way and the truth and the life
00:20:07
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See, no one comes to father except through him. He's the way, the truth, the life. The truth is all about Jesus and Jesus in you. And he just wants to express his power in life through your uniqueness to folks in your sphere of influence. So he says, look, you didn't learn Christ in this way. It's not just all up here.
00:20:33
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in your mind and doing the mental gymnastics. He says, look, in reference to your former manner of life. So he's giving you this reference point. He says, you lay aside your old self. And he's defining your old self. He goes, wait, burn out that you said your old self was crucified. It was, Romans 6. Don't you know that your old self was crucified with him? When you believed your old self, who was your old self? That old spirit, that old nature.
00:21:01
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What's crucified? What happens when you're crucified? Well, if you die. You died with him. You were buried with him because you're in him, right? And you were raised. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. You're a brand new creation in him. You're not an old retread. You're a brand new tire. A brand new creation in Christ.
00:21:23
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That's who you are. But he says, look, in reference to your former manner of life, we'll just call it this, lay aside the old self. Those old faults, those old way of reacting, that old ah behavior, those old coping mechanisms that you use just to survive in life, I want you to lay aside that stuff, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. The enemy, the world wants to say, hey,
00:21:54
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This is familiar. This will work. It hasn't worked, folks. It just hasn't worked in the past. It works to a point and then it falls apart. And then you try to, you know, re-up the game, doing some similar strategies. That stuff just doesn't work. Lay it aside and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Be renewed. Let the truth of who Jesus is in you.
00:22:23
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and the truth of your new creation, that you are brand new, that you are dead to sin and alive to God, let this truth captivate you, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and he says then put on, like putting on a new new set of clothes, put on the new self, your new self, put it on.
00:22:44
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What is the new self? Well, the new self is holy. Put on holiness. Why? That's who you are. The new self is righteous. What do you do with that? Put it on on the outside. Why? To be more righteous? No. That's just who you are. Put on kindness. Because you're kind. God made you kind. Put on the new self, which in the lightness of God has already been created.
00:23:12
Speaker
and righteousness and holiness of truth. That's the new you. You have already been created in that. You don't have to do the old stuff. In fact, in reference to that old stuff, lay it aside. Put on who you really are and what you really want. And to give some examples here.
00:23:35
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and I'll let you read through those. It looks like, um hey, remember when you were lying and speaking falsehood? Well, speak the truth. For we're members of one another. Yeah, be angry. When we talked about that last night, I said, okay, be angry. That's an emotion. Be angry. Just deal with it. And the number one way to deal with anger is often because it's relational forgiveness. I want you to know There is a spiritual root often with this mental health crisis.
00:24:11
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And that root is the deception of the world, the enemy saying, you haven't changed. You haven't changed. Look at you. You're just an old sinner. You're just, you're just a hypocrite.
00:24:29
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Trying to do your church thing and be kind. That's the enemy. You're a hypocrite when you don't act in accordance with who you really are. Who are you? You're a righteous, holy, kind, loving, brand new creation in Jesus Christ. Do you know it? I want you to know it. That's what I really want. I want you to know it and believe it.
00:24:57
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and Begin to walk in that so Let me just end with that um And you're right Sue it just works Jesus works Jesus is the one who is working in us always always working. I Want you to experience his life I want you to experience his love You don't need to perform and jump through hoops for Him anymore. If you're gonna read your Bible, read your Bible. But don't do it to get any more points with God. Jesus got you all the points you need. Oh, you wanna go to church, fantastic. Go to church, it's great. Worship together, fantastic. Doesn't make any more spiritual. Jesus got you all the spiritual you're gonna need in Him.
00:25:51
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I want you to know he has made you brand new. He has made you 100% righteous and holy in him. Do you always act that way? No, neither do I. Do you always walk that way? I'm not going to sing that song. It just came to my mind. Walk that way or whatever it is. No. No, you don't always walk that way. That's okay. Jesus is with you, loving you right through it.
00:26:20
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But you will be your happiness your most happy, your most content when you just rest, let go and say, Lord, thank you for loving me. I trust you to empower me to walk as you've created me in kindness and holiness and righteousness. Empower me to do that. And just go be the incredible you that God created with your unique talents and gifts.
00:26:48
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And please be aware, be caring, be kind for those who are hurting. There's so much hurt in this world. Our youth and students are hurting. Your friends, family hurting. You may be hurting. Give yourself grace.
00:27:13
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receive the fact, the truth, that you are loved by a loving Heavenly Father. That's what I want you to know, and I want you to express that patience toward others because they need it. You could be the one that God uses to help someone take one more step to walk free. So why don't you just ask the Lord,
00:27:40
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Lord, is there someone you want me to encourage? Is is there someone you want me to call today? Someone you want me to write, to email, to text, to message, just to say, I'm thinking about you. I'm praying for you. You're loved. Well, you know what I'm going to say right now, don't you? I want you to stop thinking about it, stop talking about it, and I want you to start walking. Until next time, I hope you have an awesome, awesome rest of your day. Take care.
00:28:18
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in