Revival Through Mental Health

I'm gonna pray, Lord, you're so good. Our hearts are full already from two amazing days, but Father, help us to enter into this space with open minds, open hearts, open hands to receive what you would like us to receive in this place, Father. You are here and we're grateful. Thank you for working in our midst. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name, amen. Well, hey, family, I'm a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I struggle with drugs and alcohol and perfectionism. My name is Rodney. Hey, family, it's so good to be here with you today. Man, there's a thought I've been chewing on as I've been preparing for my time with you, and it's this, that a sound mind and a whole heart begins at the feet of Jesus. A sound mind and a whole heart begins at the feet of Jesus. And I wanna, we're gonna spend some time with you this morning talking about how do we have revival specifically through our mental health, but also what's the connection to the emotional and spiritual components and how do those all kind of weave together. There's a story in the gospel that you're familiar with, but I love how God's word speaks to us in different seasons, aren't you? It's amazing to see how he speaks to us. Mark chapter 3, verses 1 through 5, there's a powerful loaded couple verses here that really show us some things that we can learn specifically to revival in our mental, emotional, spiritual health. Let me read this important life-changing story. Another time, Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, stand up in front of everyone. Then Jesus asked them, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Love that. So there's tons of things we can pull out of that, and I'm going to pull a few things out of that in our time here this morning, but I want to start our time asking you a question as we have open hands, curious hearts, open minds, and hearts that want to hear from the Father. What is your version of a shriveled hand that you walked in here with today? What are those things that may be killing you through an addiction that nobody knows about? Maybe there is some struggles that are destroying your mental health, some things that you're trying to manage under your own power, and yet some of us have those withered parts inside of us that nobody can see. It's the anxiety that's hidden with a smile. It's that quiet room that holds the trauma in our body from past abuse that we've told no one about. Maybe it's the depression that's turning down the volume in your life, and it feels like it's literally killing you. I've been there. See we all struggle, and it's so important to know this, we all struggle with mental health in some capacity. If we make mental health those people just like we did in recovery, we're in trouble. We all struggle with mental health. Can we all agree with that? Okay. But we know that some of us struggle in more significant ways just like in any area of recovery, amen? And it's okay to not be okay, and I love that Celebrate Recovery creates a safe space that

we can bring whatever withered parts, whatever things that we're hiding behind our back because we're afraid, maybe ashamed, maybe we feel like we're too broken. But right out of the gate, the thing that jumps out in this text, in this beautiful gospel message, is we can understand that Jesus is approaching this man with a withered hand, and he's calling him out of hiding. Guys, Jesus calls us out of hiding. He says stand up. He doesn't just say get up, he says stand up in front of everyone. You remember the first time you came out of hiding? Boy, it was scary, wasn't it? But aren't you glad you did it? Here's what's so important. In leadership especially, it's so easy to slip back into hiding, isn't it? You know, the enemy will give us these whispers of, how long you been doing this? You can't tell them about that. Aren't you a leader? Don't you lead broken people? Haven't you arrived? We know it's bogus, but we believe those lies, don't we? We can slip back into hiding, and Jesus is calling this man with a shriveled hand out of his dark place, and he's doing the same thing for us. You know, growing up in a broken home, when I got into grad school, I learned that I actually had more stepfathers than I realized. Isn't that a funny aha moment, right? I used to think I had seven stepfathers. I actually made that in my testimony. Then I started doing something we call a genogram,

and it's just a fancy word for a family tree, and I went, oh my gosh, there's a few more dysfunctional fathers in my life. You can imagine with physical, verbal, emotional, sexual abuse that that's going to have an effect on our emotional mental health, isn't it? And it did on mine. You know, I was listening to John Ortberg, an author, recently, and he was bringing this story back to my heart and to my attention. I love that he points out that this gospel message is drawing us to this primary point of man's inadequacies and weaknesses. We are inadequate. We are weak. We have weaknesses. But what's fascinating about this story, and we have to understand in ancient times, disabilities were not seen too good. In fact, if you had a disability, you were seen as unholy. So if you didn't have a disability, guess what? You're pretty holy. And so can you imagine this man with a withered hand thinking, if anybody sees this, they're going to think I'm unholy. Why would I show you this, those withered parts inside of me, maybe my depression, my anxiety, maybe the anger or the fear that I'm consumed with, whatever it is, or maybe it is an addiction, whatever it is, I can't let you see this because I don't want to be perceived as not being holy enough and Christian enough and not having enough faith. So we go into hiding. Just like many of us in the room struggle with depression,

I've battled depression in my life just to be vulnerable with you. Anxiety, I've dealt with plenty of trauma, too much that I could talk about right here, but I spent many years hiding. And I think this man with a withered hand had spent many, many, many, many years in hiding thinking that if anybody sees this, I'm going to be seen as less than. Jesus says, get up. Stand in front of the people that think you're unholy. What? Aren't you glad that our public setting of standing up is in a safe space like Celebrate Recovery? We don't have to go out in public and say, hey, guess what? I'm really messed up, right? Eventually we do. And then people are like, shut your mouth. I'm done with that, right? We can't shut our big yapper once we've experienced the grace of God, right? Jesus asked this man to expose his disability in a public setting. It wasn't shame-based. It was grace-based. It was healing-based. He's asking this man to confront his vulnerabilities, to confront the very thing that he's been hiding that's literally killing him. Bring your weaknesses out of hiding. And it makes me think about what are the good reasons why we might not come out of hiding. You know, as a trained therapist, I'm big in attachment language and just understanding, I love being a part of Celebrate Recovery now 20-plus years and seeing what God has done in this space.

We are about taking people that might be in a wobbly place and bringing them to a place of security. And security is just saying, God, I know you love and care for me. When you see a mother that loves their child wholeheartedly and they hold them, or that dad that's holding them in their arms, and you're safe in my arms, that's a secure place that nothing can harm me when I rest in the arms of the Almighty God. But if you're like me, maybe you've fallen into maybe an anxious attachment. Anxious attachment would mean to God that we see someone, we have a sense of connection with God, but it's often pretty fragile, isn't it? In fact, Maybe I'm too much for God. You ever been there? I've been there. Ortberg asked this question, I think it's a fascinating question, and I wanna ask you, and maybe just with your curious open hearts this morning, fresh into day three, if we know God can think about many, many, many things at one time, amen? He's all-knowing, he's all-powerful, but let's just pretend for a moment that he's only thinking about you. You're the only thing on his mind in this very moment. What is it, what is it, what do you assume that God feels when you come to his mind?

In fact, just check in with your heart, what do you feel about me when I come to your mind? Maybe you're like me, there were times in my life where I assumed that it was disappointment, maybe anger, maybe even disgust for the ways that I tried to manage those withered parts of my life under my own power. See, to walk in revival, I need to understand that there's a secure, loving father that wants to be with me, and I don't have to do this on my own. It doesn't mean that all the fixing happens, right? We still struggle, and I like to use this term, I like to use this term, struggle well with my mental health. I know that sounds weird, but I want to struggle well. Maybe you are in a good place, and you think, no, God loves me, and I'm secure with him, I'm safe in his arms. But let me just tell you this, one of the most famous verses, we see him in a lot of football games, John 3, 16. I don't know why it's at football games, it's kind of weird, but anyway, for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes will have eternal life. It does not say, for God was so disappointed,

that he sent his one and only son. For God was so angry with you, that he sent his one and only son. For God was so disgusted by the ways that you're managing your withered parts, that he finally sent his son. No, he says, for God so loved the world, that he sent, in spite of what your withered parts are, he sent his son to die for you. Isn't that good news? Amen. Some of us in the room are addicted to striving, aren't we? What if I missed that devotional? I didn't pray enough, I yelled at my kids today. No, secure places, we're broken, and he loves us just as we are. And then there's avoidant, that's the style where we believe that the caregiver, Jesus Christ, doesn't really care for us. But here's what, as we go back to that gospel story, the man with the withered hand. God, God doesn't heal what we keep hidden. He wants us to stand and not hide, but practice vulnerability. Now, can I just talk about vulnerability just as a sidebar? I did a podcast on this recently, but it's an important point that we need to be careful and understand that there's a fine line between being real and reckless.

I think this is one of the beauties of the small group guidelines, is it gives us safety to say, hey, we don't need the play-by-play, just give us the broad picture, but bring your vulnerability. Share with a reverence for this process and the one that's meeting us in it. I think sometimes in my struggle, and maybe you can relate to this, what keeps me from walking in revival is I glorify the sin and the struggle more than I do the Savior that meets me in the struggle. Some of you are saying, you're just meddling now, Rodney. No, I've been there, I've done that. We highlight that struggle more than the Savior, and we begin to create this shift. Celebrate Recovery is about pointing us upward, and when we make the sin and the struggle bigger than the one that meets us in it, we start looking backward. Yes, we gotta acknowledge what's in the past, but we don't wanna get stuck there, so I don't wanna glorify the struggle, I wanna glorify the one that's meeting me in the struggle so that he can point me upward, amen? That's what we're trying to do in this space. And I said this on the podcast recently, that vulnerability is honesty with intention, not information for attention.

Vulnerability is honesty with intention, not information for attention. See, there's a, it's being real, it's being raw, but being raw and real with a purpose. And oversharing in that graphic space can shut me down, it can shut you down, it can shut down the beautiful process that God brings us into with Celebrate Recovery. So instead of, in this space, as we come out of hiding and we walk in revival in our emotional, mental, spiritual health, instead of pretending like everything's fine, aren't you glad in Celebrate Recovery when we check in with each other? How you doing? We don't say fine very often, do we? Even if we're fine, we go into detail. Let me tell you what God is doing! But I love that when we're not fine, you know, we pass each other at church sometimes, how you doing, I'm fine, I just saw you yelling at your wife in the parking lot. No, everything's great, we're a happy family. We don't have to say we're fine, do we? And it's changing this language, walking in revivals, to be able to say, you know what, I'm not great today, honestly, but I'm trying to trust God. Thanks for asking. I'm going to open share, right? Jesus calls this man with a withered hand out of hiding,

he's calling us out of hiding. The second point is Jesus challenges unhealthy norms. He challenges, now, what I love about what we're doing in the celibate recovery through the mental health, which initially was an initiative, now it's just a part of us, is we're creating, we're breaking the stigma. Jesus is approached by these legalistic-minded people that put rule following over compassion. He's challenging them, he's challenging the unhealthy norms. Their central question is, in verse two, is it lawful? Is this right? Jesus challenges unhealthy norms, and celibate recovery's doing that through mental health to break down the walls of the stigma attached specifically to mental health, but we're talking about any kind of hurt, hang-up, or habit, and I'm so glad that we have a safe space to do that. We're talking about any kind of hurt, hang-up, or habit, and I'm so glad that we have a safe space in celibate recovery to do that through our open-share small groups, our step-study small groups, our mentors, our accountability, our sponsors, right? So Jesus is challenging some unhealthy norms, but it got me to thinking about what are the unhealthy norms I need to challenge in my recovery? Even thinking about, and Jenny did such a brilliant job talking about emotions yesterday.

Wasn't that a blessing? I could just say ditto, but I have a couple thoughts because I can't shut my mouth. I have a big yapper, but anyway. But it is interesting as we're challenging these unhealthy norms in our life. When you were growing up, I love that celibate recovery is a safe space to lament. Now, what's lamenting? It's the expression of sadness and sorrow, but it's more than that. It's the expression of sadness and sorrow before my theology comes into play. So here's where we get hung up. Hey, I feel sad today. Be joyful in all things. What? I feel kind of angry today. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Gosh, I feel kind of anxious. Don't you be anxious about anything. Paul said that. I feel kind of scared today. Approach the throne with strength and courage. Now, hear me loud and clear. I'm not saying that God's word doesn't have weight, but sometimes we have to allow ourselves to feel and be human so that we can embrace the truth. If you grew up in a family system that said those are bad, don't do that,

we can break that stigma. We can challenge those unhealthy norms that are literally killing us in their rigidity. Jesus confronts these systems with grace and restoration. I love that. And here's the convicting thing. If we believe in Ephesians four, that we are to put off the old self and put on the new self, we have to at least ask the question, have I made my withered part inside of me or outside of me my identity? This is one of the reasons why we introduce ourselves the way we do, and aren't you glad? We don't say, I'm Rodney, I'm bipolar. I'm Rodney, I'm a schizophrenic. I'm Rodney, I am anxious. I'm Rodney, I'm depressed. No, we say, I'm a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. And let me be honest, I struggle with depression. I struggle with bipolar. I struggle well with these things, right? Don't make it our identity. Our story should reflect our new identity. New, new, new identity. To not glorify those old chains, it may be my struggle, but I'm a child of the king. And I don't want to make that my identity. So put off the old self. Jesus challenges those unhealthy norms.

Maybe today, to walk in revival, we need to challenge some of those unhealthy norms. Maybe not to our fault, but we've taken on, we've made our identity. Challenge those. Third point. We see a beautiful picture that Jesus felt deep emotions to. Scripture says that he was angry and deeply distressed. He was pretty ticked off, wasn't he? And yet, he was without sin. He was angry and deeply distressed. Now, I wish I could go through all the examples in Scripture to show Jesus fully God, fully man walking this planet. But let me just give you some of the things, if you're worried about you feeling certain things, as it contributes to our mental and emotional and spiritual health. Listen to these things that Jesus experienced while walking the earth. Compassion, anger, yet he was without sin. Indignant, consumed with joy. Troubled, greatly distressed. Sorrowful, depressed. Deeply moved, grieved. He sighed. He wept. He sobbed. He groaned in agony, surprised and amazed. Now, here's the thing we've got to hold on to. If we believe, and I hope to God you do, that we are created in the image of God, and Jesus is an emotional being, and we are created in his image, wouldn't that make sense that we are emotional creatures? We don't want to be a slave to those, do we? And this is what I hear in churches too often.

It's good intention, but don't listen to your emotions, they'll lie to you every time. I think that's actually not true. I think emotions are very, very honest, because they reveal to us what we are believing. What is, is there something that needs to be addressed? Jesus felt deep emotions too, and Lord knows running from my pain, running from my emotions led me to some really unhealthy numbing agents. I put things in my body that nobody should put in their body. From a little boy, I started using them when I was 10 years old. Running. And we have to understand that there's some unmet emotional needs that only the Father can be in that. And oh, by the way, he brings you guys in to help with that as well, but Jesus Christ meets us in those unmet emotional needs to give us the security that we long for in our hearts. And I love that. But here's what I've learned in my own recovery, that when we look at compulsivity, compulsivity, and I know nobody in the room struggles with compulsive behaviors, but just humor me for a second. Compulsivity is when my mind is trying to do the work that my heart was designed to do. God gave you a heart for a reason. You can't think your way out of certain things. You gotta feel your way out and know that he will be right there to scoop you up and hold you in that secure place and say, I gotcha, I'm gonna comfort you, I'm gonna love on you in this space. Strong emotions are not sin. They can be signs of clarity.

They can give us signs of conviction, maybe injustices, and suppressing them only keeps us in hiding and darkness and unhealth. You don't have this on the screen, but I want you to listen to this quote by Miriam Greenspan. She's an author. She says, there's no such thing as negative emotions, only unskillful ways of coping with emotions we cannot bear. There's no such thing as negative emotions, only unskillful ways. That's why those habits become so prevalent in our life because we're running from the hurts in the hurt-hangups habit cycle. Unskillful ways of trying to cope and manage those things that are killing us. See, we don't have to see them as bad. We can find the wisdom in them and then be able to learn to embrace those beautiful truths that he's given us. Jesus felt emotions, deep emotions too, and that's so important. I wanna just touch on a couple things specifically to kinda expand a little bit on what Jenny shared yesterday, but just a couple thoughts, and I won't spend a lot of time because she did such a great job, but fear. Fear and anxiety are kinda close cousins, aren't they? They love to hang out with one another. Fear is just this human ability to grant something, grant power to someone or something. See, fear and anxiety are God's design for your creation. I know that sounds crazy because we read about do not fear, do not be anxious all the time, don't we? But if you got on the freeway during rush hour traffic and semis were zipping by and cars are zipping by

and motorcycles, right, if you didn't have a little bit of fear and anxiety inside of you, you're probably going to die. It's a beautiful muscle inside of you that gives you a sense of readiness and alertness to be on guard for what might be in front of you. It keeps us alive. There's a bear coming. I'm not afraid. Maybe I am afraid. Maybe I should be afraid. Now, hear me clearly. There is a hierarchy to fear. When the scripture says in Proverbs that fear is the beginning of wisdom, fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that doesn't mean we're terrified of him. It means there's a reverence for him. And what we're doing is we're taking the things that should bring up some fear and making sure the hierarchy of God is up here and whatever this is that we're facing is here. Keep the hierarchy in the right order. I don't wanna be controlled by that fear that's happening. Same thing with anxiety. I like to think of anxiety as kind of a watchtower. It's on the lookout to see what's coming. It's sole job, it's a beautiful muscle God put in your body to give you a sense of readiness and alertness to say, I'm looking out

for any perceived or actual danger. And here's what happens. It does its job in a beautiful way and then it comes back and says, hey, I was on the lookout, I found something, I think it might be a threat. And we say, we do one of two things. What are you doing here again? Get out of here, you're not welcome here, anxiety. And we shame it and we shove it down and we beat it up. It's just doing its job. I believe that oftentimes when we see people going through panic attacks, it's when we've ignored the signals that anxiety's trying to tell us and it says, if you're not gonna listen to me, I'm gonna get louder and louder and louder until you listen to me. What we want to do in that space is say, hey, thanks for telling me. Now let's go figure out if it's an actual threat or a perceived threat. I'm gonna invite God into that, I'm gonna invite the body of Christ into that. It's a brilliant muscle created by God. And yes, there's a physical, there's a biological, there's a spiritual and emotional component to these things. And sometimes we have a chemical struggle in our brain that needs some medication.

Let me just say this, I think it's been said before, if you have to take medication for anxiety or anything, a depression, please do not shame that. Please do not shame that. Woo! Sometimes, and I'll be honest with you, there's been times where I've had to take antidepressants. I went in a season, now, I was in a situation where I didn't have to be on them long-term, but I needed them. Some of you need them, and it's okay. Let's make sure that we use them. Now here's the big thing, though, to walk in revival. Use the outside resources, but don't substitute the medication with the heart work. Do the heart work. Because then we get back into that old self-victim mentality, we say, I just can't help, this is just who I am. No, you're a child of God. You struggle with that, use the tools, but do the heart work in conjunction with that. What about anger? I know none of you struggle with anger. This is pointless. Just one thought on that. The function of anger is a violation of a boundary. It's a rise against an injustice. We see injustices every day, don't we? But here's one quick thing I'll say about this.

The Celebrate Recovery Step Four is such a brilliant process because it helps us to deal with the old anger that might be keeping us stuck. who hurt me, what did they do? We're addressing the old anger. So if you're in that place, why do I always get short with people and explode when something happens? You may have some old anger that's bumping into new anger and it's keeping you from coming out of hiding and you're pushing the people around you away and it's keeping you from walking in true mental, emotional, spiritual health. So there's always an event, there's something happened, there's the mind, what do I think and believe about the something that's happened? And then we have the emotional response, what do I experience about what happened? And then I express that to God and I express that to another person. The last one I'll touch on is depression. And as I mentioned, I struggle with depression. It's something I have to battle. You know, there's times, you probably don't know this, but I'm a little bit of an extrovert. Some of you are certainly like, what?

You know, there's some times where you kind of leave family gatherings and you leave forever family gatherings and you had a blast, but then you get home and you go, ugh, I think I'm too much for people. Seriously. And then you start thinking, man, what the heck was I thinking? Why did I get up on top of that house? No, no. But in all seriousness, I start thinking, man, the enemy starts whispering, going, Rodney, people just tolerate you. Seriously, that's what the enemy does. In my mental health journey, though, in the recovery process, I've learned to talk that out loud. And me and my wife have something we ask each other all the time. Hey, how's your heart? Something just shifted in you. And it's the permission to say, yeah. And sometimes I have to take a minute to think about that. Yeah, what is going on? I feel down, I feel heavy. And then I can kind of go back and say, oh yeah, I'm in that negative head space again

where I feel like the people that I love and care about don't want me here. And then we're just kind of numb, right? We're in that space. Now, here's the thing about depression. Sometimes we look at depression and say, you feel depressed? We just gotta get you happy. That can be a little bit cruel, can't it? Just be happy. It's a Bob Newhart, stop it, right? Just do better, Rodney. It's like, well, that helped. Gosh, thank you. The opposite of depression is not happy. Because when we're in depression, we're just numb. The opposite of depression is just to feel. So you could say it this way. The opposite of depression is expression. And sometimes it's enough to say, I just feel numb. I feel frozen. I can't even put it into words. Johnny touched on that in his talk the opening day. Sometimes just knowing that God hears the moans and the groans and saying, we feel emotions in our body long before we can put it into words. I feel it in my throat. I feel heavy in my chest. And we organize that. Here's the important thing.

When we're talking it out, when we're expressing in our depression, we can respect depression, but it doesn't mean we have to come underneath its power. You don't have to come underneath its power. Knowing there's physical, biological, spiritual, emotional components of this. And sometimes it's a little bit disguised, isn't it? We sleep too much, we don't sleep enough. We're highly functional, but we don't feel sad. We're irritable, but we don't feel sad. We have an inability to focus and concentrate and make decisions. We can kind of feel frozen in this space. And just a couple quick things on that. Our goal is to interrupt the process. And yes, sometimes we need medication. We already talked about that. We're not gonna shame medication. But we're gonna do the heart work. We're gonna express what's going on, even if it's just in my body. Sometimes we need to be mindful that, like in anxiety and depression, oxygen can be the greatest antidepressant medication we could ever have. Isn't it funny? We see all through the scriptures, Jesus says, breathe. Chaos in the world, breathe.

And Johnny did brilliant talking about that pause, right? Breathe. You know, I like that frame of just that breathing. In through my nose, two, three, four, just find a picture frame in your house. Hold, two, three, four. Out my mouth, two, three, four, five. Pause, two, three, and go through that a few times. You know, a couple quick breaths can interrupt that. Even changing our posture can interrupt it. It's not gonna fix it, but it's gonna interrupt it to get us to the next space as we're expressing what's going on. Carl Jung says this, a considerable amount of human suffering comes from our attempt to avoid legitimate suffering. We avoid the suffering that needs to be put into words. How are you? I'm not good, but I'm trying to trust God. Next point, healing requires action. Healing requires action. Jesus does something bold and says, hey, all these people that have considered you unholy and attached a stigma to you, I want you to stand in front of them, but then he says, he speaks a second time, and it doesn't get easier. He says in verse five, stretch out your hand. Stretch out your withered hand. Jesus is inviting this man to take a step of faith

even though it may have felt, it had to feel risky. Don't you think? Had to feel vulnerable to do that. Restoration oftentimes requires us to act, to move, to risk, to participate in the healing journey. No more minimizing it. Bringing my scary parts, my withered parts to safe community and to the Father. No more minimizing it. Faith is not passive. Even in my brokenness, we're called to respond to Jesus's voice with obedience. So instead of suppressing them, we can express them and bring them into safe spaces. That's the whole model of our small group ministry at Celebrate Recovery. Use the resources, use your therapy, use the outside community, but use the meetings, use the curriculum, use what we're doing, but make sure the Holy Spirit is in the middle of all of that stuff. So why would this guy with a withered hand take action? Why would we wanna take action on those withered parts hidden inside of us? Because Jesus restores holistically. I'm not gonna do it if I don't know he's gonna do something with it. Jesus heals and restores holistically. It says his hand was completely restored, but here's the thing we cannot miss.

Of course, he healed him physically, but don't miss the shame and the dignity that was gone. This guy had a lot of stuff going on. He also speaks to the emotional restoration, the public dignity. This man went from shame to strength. God's not just healing the physical. It includes emotional dignity, restored identity, a renewed wholeness in Christ, even if I'm still struggling. There's probably no one in this room that can say I no longer struggle, but he wants to restore your dignity, your identity, give you renewed wholeness. Here's a cool thing. Jesus doesn't heal this man in private. Could he have done that? Of course, he could have done that. He heals him in community. That's a powerful thing about what happens in celibate recovery. It's stories more about physical healing. It's about removing the stigma. It's bringing to the light what was once in the darkness, the courage to be seen with our withered hands, our withered parts. He brings his pain to the center of the room and says, stretch it out, stretch it out. The cool thing about Jesus is he doesn't do partial healing, does he? He aims for full restoration inside and out.

I love that. So instead of striving alone, we can acknowledge our need for God's strength. Instead of shame, we can embrace God's mercy and his acceptance. Now, all my strivers in the room, I wanna say something to you directly. I think we all probably dip into this. occasionally. Your identity is a gift as a result of surrender. Your identity is a gift as a result from your surrender, not a reward for your accomplishments. Your identity is a gift. You are a child of God. But I struggle, you're a child of God. But I have really hard days, you're a child of God. Your identity is a gift. He didn't give you your identity as a reward for all your striving and accomplishments and what you get done in any given day. It's not a reward for your striving. It's a gift from your surrender. What if in this space you invited God into your weakness rather than pushing through on your own? A sound mind, a whole heart begins at the feet of Jesus, doesn't it? You know this reach out the hand got me to thinking about the different places in Scripture where we see the significance of how God uses hands to heal, to meet us in our needs, to bring comfort in our withered spaces, the withered parts inside of us. Just let me bathe, don't try to keep up with these and jot them down because I just want to bathe you with these stories just to affirm that God's doing something big even in this space. Matthew 14 31, Peter steps out of a boat to walk on water toward Jesus but when fear overtakes him he begins to sink and cries out, Lord save me! Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and catches him. Jesus responds quickly to our cries for help even when our faith falters. Matthew 8 3, a man with leprosy kneels before Jesus and says, if you're willing Lord can you make me clean? Jesus reaches out his hand and touches something unthinkable. You don't touch people with leprosy and he heals them. Jesus is not afraid of our uncleanliness. He responds with humility. He responds with faith. Exodus 14 21, at

God's command, Moses stretches out his hand over the Red Sea and the waters part. The act of trust leads is to Israel's deliverance. See, trusting God with bold obedience often precedes any breakthrough. Can I be obedient, reach for the one Savior that will meet me in this space? First Kings 17 14, a poor widow prepares to die with her son due to famine. At Elijah's instruction, she reaches out in faith by using her last bit of oil and flour to feed the prophet. God provides miraculously. Reaching out in obedience, even in scarcity, brings divine provision to our life. What about Second Kings 5, where Naaman, a Syrian commander with leprosy, humbles himself and obeys Elijah's odd instruction to wash in the Jordan River seven times. His skin is restored. Healing often follows humble, persistent obedience, especially when it just doesn't make sense. And then in Mark 3 verse 5, in the synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus tells a man who'd been in hiding for who knows how long, hiding the withered, shriveled parts of his life. This man with a shriveled hand to stretch out your hand, and the man obeys and his hand is completely restored. Obedience and faith opens the door to healing, even when it's risky, even when it's public. See, faith plus action is reaching out. It's more than just belief. It involves movement. It involves humility to push past the fear, to invite God into that, push past the shame, push past the pride of, what will people think if they know I struggle with that? Father's willing, he's caring, he's able. Jesus repeatedly shows that he is willing to heal. Jesus often responds immediately to our desperate cry for help. Showing our marks, showing our withered parts can be scary. One of the sweetest prayers that we can pray is, Lord, Lord, help me. Lord, I need you. So I asked this question at the beginning, I want to ask it again. What are the withered parts? What's your version of a withered hand that you walked in here with today? We're day three of the Celebrate Recovery Summit. What's the part of you that needs healing but it feels too broken to expose?

As I said, many of us have withered parts inside of us that the things that no one sees. It is that smile that is hiding the anxiety that we're struggling with. What if in this space, we took the words of Jesus and came out of hiding and challenged those unhealthy norms and allowed ourselves to feel and go to the Father who wants to meet us in that. And through obedience, stretch out our hand. If you're struggling with anxiety, would you be bold in this space to stretch out your hand? Jesus needs you. Some of us are struggling with the effects of abuse. Statistically, many of you in this room are struggling with abuse, the effects of abuse, and I'm so sorry. Some of us stay in a quiet room that holds the trauma in our body. Jesus doesn't heal what's kept hidden. Maybe you've come to believe that that abuse has given you identity that you're too broken. Maybe in this space that you would stretch out your hand and let Jesus into that space if you're hurting from the effects of abuse. Some of us are struggling with depression. And yes, it's turned down that volume, joy. Here's what I want to tell you, and this is really on all mental health struggles. You are beautifully and wonderfully and fearfully made. This does not make you less holy. But it's not your job to carry it on your own. Some of you have taken on an identity that because I struggle with this, I must be less than or I'm unholy. Maybe in this space, through your hearts, help me, Lord, stretch out. Lord, meet me in my depression. If you're struggling with depression, maybe today is about reaching out your hand. We have many in the room that are struggling with some PTSD, some of our veterans. Suicidal ideation is a real thing, isn't it? I dare say that there's some in the room that may be struggling with suicidal

ideation even in this space. Could you be so bold in this space? To stretch out your hand, to let your forever family into that, you're not alone. Some of you are crippled and frozen by fear, and literally frozen. Or maybe it's the anger that's pushing family and friends because you have old anger that hasn't been addressed, and it's bumping into new anger, and you don't know what to deal with it, and you're just trying to just work harder and get busy and get ahead of it. Maybe today is about stretching out our hands. You know, my granddaughter has a genetic disease where she will maybe say two words in her lifetime. So, she uses her hands a lot. And it just struck me about 2 o'clock in the morning a couple days ago, the significance of her trying to communicate a need and the use of her hands to reach out to someone that loves and cares for her, to give me an opportunity as her daddy. To meet her in that need, and it just got me to think about how much more, I love my granddaughter with all my heart, and I wish to God she could talk, but I thank God that she can use her hands to tell me what's going on in her little heart, and the same way the Father is saying, I know what's going on in your heart, I just want to be invited into it. And Jesus says, stretch out your hand and let me into that pain, let me meet you in that depression, let me meet you in the anxiety, the suicidal ideation, maybe it's an addiction that you've been hiding and running from, and you've been trying to seek that approval and that sense of strength, and the enemy's given you these lies that that is going to be better to keep in hiding. Maybe today is the day that you stretch out your hand and say, Lord help me, I need you in this space, not to shame you, but to heal you, to restore you, to give you revival in your heart. When we talk about confessing, sometimes we forget that confessing is just coming into agreement with what God already knows.

The sweetest prayer we can pray is, Lord help me, Lord I need you. And so, I'm going to enter into a time of just, you know, what I love about the Psalms is they give us words to sing and pray to our Father. This is very prayer-filled worship that we're about to enter into. Whatever that withered part that you've been hiding and believing that you're unholy because of that withered hand. It's the irony of the same hand that we're stretching out and saying, God, I'm broken. It's the same hands that we lift in praise and say, God, I worship you because I know you're going to meet me in this. I trust you. I need you. Will you meet me in this? Will you give me the comfort? Will you give me the strength? Will you give me the power to face this, to struggle well, though I may struggle, I want to struggle well. I want to bring you into this. It's the same hand that we worship. And so, I'm going to invite you just a heart posture of crying out to the Father. Just make it your prayer through song. And if you want to kneel, you can kneel. In fact, some of you may want to use this as just a space to pray. Maybe you want to pray for someone. I want you to, as you're raising your hands out and praying through song, remember, whatever this shriveled hand, whatever this withered hand is, it's the same hand that we're praising, the one that will bring us comfort and strength and renewal and revival. He's the one that we're worshiping in this space. Amen? So, I just want you to prepare your hearts. If you need to close your eyes, you do that.

Let's just spend some time through song talking to the almighty God, the creator of the cosmos that wants to meet you in your withered parts of your life. Lord, I come and I confess my weakness. And I confess my weakness. I find my rest. Sing it directly to him. Without you, I fall apart. You're the one that guides my home. Sing it to our loving father. Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you. Oh, my one defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you. Yes Lord, where sin runs deep, your grace is full, your grace is found, it's where you are, and where you are, is where I am free. Yes, sing it to him, holiness is Christ in me. With all your heart, make it your prayer to him, Lord I need you, oh I need you, every hour, I need you, oh my one defense, my righteousness, oh God, how I need you. The Father is here right now, amen, he is with you. Some of you are still holding that withered part, and you're like, I just can't give it to him. We can have assurance, Jesus died for you, he didn't die just to make bad people behave, but he wants to make his sons and daughters that he calls holy, healthy, he wants to do that for you. That means we can bring our struggles, we can stretch out our withered hands to him, as we continue to worship, stretch out those hands, let him see the withered parts inside your heart, put your trust in him in this space, as we worship him. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, he's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time. Born of his spirit, think about what you're singing, washed in his blood, and what he

did for me, uncounted, it's more than enough, worship him, cause I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail, he will never fail, I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail, he will never fail. Sing perfect submission, perfect submission, let me hear your sweet voices. Oh, this is heaven, I know the underworld, tomorrow's more than I say, so this is my story, this is my soul, praise God, praise him my reason, king and savior, oh the day, sing it out, I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail, he will never fail. Yes, I trust in God, my savior, the one who will never fail, he will never fail. Do you trust in God in this space? Do you trust him? Yes, I do. He is here. He is meeting you in this. He wants to guide you with this. Sing, I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. That´s why I trust Him, That´s why I trust Him. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. That´s why I trust Him, that´s why I trust in God. My Savior, one who will never fail. Yes! Who will never fail. I trust in God. Sing it to Him. My Savior, one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. Do you trust in Him in this way? He´s a way maker, isn´t He? I want to close out with one more song here.

He is in this space. He´s meeting you here. I want you to sing it directly to Him. Don´t sing it to anyone else. Sing it directly to Him. Have a conversation with your Father. Amen? Let´s worship Him. You are here, moving in us. I worship You, I worship You. You are here, working in this place. I worship You, I worship You. You are here, moving in us. I worship You, I worship You. You are here, working in this place. I worship You, I worship You. You are a way maker. My God, that is who You are. Oh, we make a miracle work. Promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are. You are here, turning lives around. I worship You. Do you believe that? I worship You. You are here, turning lives around. I worship You, I worship You. You are here, bending every heart. I worship You, I worship You. We make a miracle work. Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh, we make a miracle work, promise keep. Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.

That is who you are. Sing it to me. That is who you are. With gratitude, that is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. Here's the important line of this song. Even when I don't see it, you're working. You believe that? Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, yeah! You never stop working. Sing it! Even when I don't feel it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop. One more time. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. You never stop, you never stop working.

Wayne Baker, miracle worker. Promise keeper. Light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. One more time. Wayne Baker, miracle worker. Promise keeper. Light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. Give him a big praise, Alfred! God is working even when we don't see it. Even when we don't feel it. But don't you dare ever run away from allowing him to be in it with you. He loves you that much. God bless you. Thank you so much.