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Good morning! Welcome to The River Church Online. Glad you can be with us for Part 2 of our mini-series titled Release. We’ve taken a two-week break from our series on spiritual gifts to address something we’re all facing - feeling overwhelmed.

And last week, we talked about fighting overwhelming feelings by “releasing control.”

• If you’re interested in that, if you missed that sermon, it’s available on our FB page, YouTube channel, and website. Check it out.

This week, we’re going to see how we can fight overwhelming feelings by taking care of our spiritual health.

During the COVID crisis, you’ve probably heard the word immunocompromised a lot. It refers to those whose immune system (what keeps us healthy) has trouble staying healthy because it’s busy dealing with other issues. And during this crisis, they’re considered high-risk because something like COVID can easily overwhelm a body with compromised health. And that’s a principle relevant to spiritual health too. Many times, those with compromised spiritual health are at high risk for being overwhelmed. Therefore, we got to take care of our spiritual health.

Jesus knew this. He said...

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

When Jesus said this, He had physical needs. He was hungry. And the devil tempted Him to do something about it. But, Jesus was like, “I’m concerned about my spiritual health!” If Jesus took care of his spiritual health, we need to as well.

So, how do we do that? Well, let’s go to God’s word for answers. Like last week, I’m going to share a familiar verse for us to examine:

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

I want to study this passage by starting from a bird’s eye view. The book of Proverbs is written to teach this overarching principle: When you listen to God’s wisdom, life is better.” Solomon even starts off the chapter this way…

Proverbs 3:1–2 ESV

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

If you hold onto God’s commands – His wisdom – life will be better! You’ll live longer. You’ll have more peace. And that’s the broad intention of this passage. It helps to remember that as we read Prov. 3:5-6. With that in mind, Solomon says...

Proverbs 3:5 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

• The word “trust” here is not just believing information but believing with faith.

• The word “heart” is not just a body part or emotions, but your entire being.

Basically, Solomon says:

God’s wisdom for a good life starts with this: Giving your entire life over to God by faith.

He then moves onto “do not lean on your own understanding.”

• The word “lean” is to put your trust in something. To lean against something to support you, so you don’t fall.

• The word “understanding” involves your ability to think and comprehend. But there’s also a sense of “limited capacity.” Meaning, no matter how brilliant you are, you’re still finite. Your human understanding has limitations.

Taken all together, we can rephrase verse 5 this way:

You shouldn’t entrust your life to your limited understanding. If you lean against it for support, it’ll crumble because the weight this crazy world is too overwhelming. Instead, put your faith in God who has infinite strength and perfect unlimited understanding.

Proverbs 3:6 ESV

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

I love the word “acknowledge” here… It’s not just saying, “What’s up.” You’re not just acknowledging the homie as you pass by. No, this is intimate knowledge. Close relationship.

...But this is the cool part. When this word is used in connection with God, it is intimate knowledge acquired by:

1. Reflective thinking.

2. Personal experience.

And in this context, it suggests “being willing to let God reveal Himself to you - to experience Him - as He acts on your behalf.” And when you’re willing, you’ll personally experience Him making your paths - your life circumstances and conditions - straight.

On Saturdays, I do long runs with my running group. Sometimes the route has 10,000 turns in it. I’m like, “Man that’s too turns. I ain’t running that. Trying to remember all of that is too overwhelming.” But when someone says, “Hey, let’s do an out-and-back or a big loop” – I’m good. I know where to go. When we acknowledge God, he removes all the obstacles – all the crazy turns that overwhelm us. He’s like, “Go that way. I’ve cleared the way.”

Let’s me put it all together and apply this passage to our lives:

When life is chaotic because of the obstacles we’re facing… don’t rely on your limited ability to understand. It can’t support the overwhelming weight of this crisis-filled world. Instead, put all your faith in the Lord, who’s infinite power can handle anything. When you do, He will show Himself strong on your behalf and lead you safely home!

Isn’t that awesome? When we live by that wisdom, we won’t be overwhelmed, no matter what we face. Here’s the problem: Most of the time, we don’t want to listen to God’s wisdom. We want to do it our way. And we get overwhelmed. I was doing this as I was writing this sermon and I’ll share more later. But if we want to be spiritually healthy, we got do things God’s way!

Thankfully, doing that involves some simple changes. Similar to the simple changes we can make to be physically healthy. When we want to do that, what do we usually do? We start with the basics….

1. We get rest.

2. We take care of our mental health.

3. We diet and exercise.

When I look at our lives today, I believe we can make some basic changes spiritually using the principles found in Proverbs 3:5-6, as a framework. Like, the first thing we can do is...

1) Release the busyness:

Our culture values busyness. We’ve even designed technology that allows us to be busy all the time. We can be always “on,” like a machine. But, we are not machines. We’re humans. God designed our bodies to rest when we’re tired. And when we choose not to, we “lean on our own [human] understanding.” And we’re not designed to live like that, which is why we get overwhelmed.

So, to be spiritually healthy, we got to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” and get rest! It sounds silly, but rest is a spiritual act that requires faith!

For example, let me share a lesson God personally taught me while planting our church and wasn’t resting.

• Do you believe I’m in control?

• Do you believe I tell you to rest?

• Now think about this: When you trust Me and rest, it’s the only day everything I called you to work on (because God choose to allow us to partner with Him in His work) is completely in My hands.

• So, think about that… on my day off, when I’m not around or available - when I’m resting (by faith) - that’s the only day everything is running perfectly. Because my sinful, broken, and faulty hands aren’t messing things up!

Guys - if you work hard, doing all as unto the Lord, and are tired. Take a day off. It’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to take a nap. It’s okay to sleep 8 hours. Your spiritual health will improve and you’ll be better prepared to fight being overwhelmed.

Release the busyness, rest, and let God take over...

The next thing we can do is...

Release junk food thinking...

This connected to previous point. Currently, we’re so busy that we don’t value thinking. I mean really think. Like reflective thinking. The thinking that happens when we have space, time, and quiet to just ponder and process...

Do you feel like you never have time to just ponder things? If so, you’re probably too busy. Which is why you’re overwhelmed. Reflective thinking - having time to truly process - is important to your spiritual health.

Proverbs 25:2 ESV

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

This verse tells me there are glorious things in this life that require a discovery process. God made it that way. They don’t come quick. You got to search! It involves reflective thinking.

It’s mentally healthy to simply sit and think. But we don’t do that anymore. We live in a reactionary culture. And social media has taught us to respond instantly, sometimes without thinking. But that’s unhealthy - like bad eating habits...

You ever been hungry and reacted by grabbing junk food? Briefly satisfies, but ultimately hurts our health. And most of the time, we’re not even hungry. Sometimes, that feeling is actually telling us we’re thirsty. We didn’t need junk food. We need water. But we didn’t give ourselves time to think before responding. We just impulsively reacted!

We do that spiritually too! When we’re overwhelmed, we grab for worldly junk food: Netflix, drugs, alcohol, whatever… Temporarily satisfies but leaves us less healthy. That wasn’t what we needed. If we slowed down and thought deeply, we’d see that in our crisis, we’re spiritually thirsty! When we’re feeling overwhelmed, its’ an indication that we need the living waters Jesus has!

John 7:38 ESV

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

If you want to be spiritually healthy, give yourself space to think deeply and drink deeply of Jesus. And then, let Jesus’ words also change how they think!

The apostle Paul says...

Romans 12:2 NLT

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think...

How we think is important! Because if we make room for reflective thinking, but process with junky thoughts, we’re once again “leaning on our own understanding.”

We got to think with God’s thoughts. We must, “Acknowledge Him in all our ways”… We need to let God reveal Himself. And He does that through His word.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NLT

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Only God’s word has the truth and authority to teach us to think properly.

For example, let’s think about racism. That’s a pretty relevant issue we’re all processing. Maybe it’s overwhelming us. And let me suggest that we can’t use junk food thinking towards it and come away with a healthy perspective.

What’s happening in our country requires deep reflective thinking guided by the heart and words of Jesus. Deep thinking that allows us time to process:

• Why is racism wrong?

• Why is this still happening?

• Why are our black brothers and sisters hurt?

• What can we learn from their pain and voice?

• How can “consider others more significant than myself” and “weep with those who weep!”

• God, what would you have me do?

Those answers aren’t found in quick, snarky twitter posts, Instagram stories, or one-sided Facebook content. They require humility. They require reflective thinking and repentance. They need deep thoughts from a transformed mind, processed with biblical truth. It requires a heart crying out:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Maybe that sounds complicated to you. It’s not! Some of my best thinking happens on runs, walks, and driving around.

If you’re overwhelmed, release junk food thinking. Your spiritual health will improve.

Finally, we can improve our spiritual healthy by paying attention to spiritual nutrition and exercise. And that happens when we’re connected to Jesus and having Him release life into us!

Let Jesus Release Life:

Jesus said...

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

This is how it works. Jesus is the vine. The source of all life in the plant. We are the branches. We’re dependent on the vine to receive the nutrients we need to be healthy.

In our physical body, when we want to be healthy, we got to have good nutrition. If we don’t, our system will be compromised, and be easily overwhelmed. The same is true with our spirit. If we’re not getting the spiritual nutrition we need, our spiritual health will be compromised and overwhelmed.

You ever spend all day watching the news or scrolling through social media feeds and feel sick afterwards? You know why? Because that is spiritual junk food with little nutrition. It’s the same feeling you physically get when you eat too much McDonalds!

So, go to the spiritual Whole Foods and feed on God’s word! That’s how you abide. That’s how you stay connected with God. You regularly consume God’s word! I know - I’m always talking about God’s word. I have to! It’s nutrition that gives eternal life!

The apostle Peter said about Jesus’ words...

John 6:68 ESV

… “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

And then once you got that nutrition, you need to exercise. We get spiritually healthy by exercising our faith. That means being willing to be put into situations where we HAVE TO TRUST GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART! That’s when we build those faith muscles and get spiritually strong and healthy!

This is how crazy God’s kingdom is. It’s kinda upside-down. So, we’re talking about fighting overwhelming feelings, but the same situations that overwhelm us are the same ones that gives us opportunities to exercise our faith and grow stronger spiritually.

And when we’re spiritually strong, the next time we face an overwhelming situation, because we’ll be like, “Oh - I faced this before! I know what to do! I’m going to trust God with all my heart, even if I don’t understand. Because I KNOW God will lead me home!” You flex those faith muscles.

So, if you’re overwhelmed, feed on God’s word and exercise your faith and get spiritually strong! And watch how Jesus releases life into you.

Response:

As we close, let me recap today with this: We can overcome being overwhelmed by focusing on our spiritual health. And using the principles found in Prov 3:5-6 to our current lives, that involves:

1. Releasing busyness and resting.

2. Releasing junk food thinking and instead thinking deeply upon God’s word.

3. And staying connected to Jesus, which releases good nutrition and leads us into abundant life!

So, let me ask: Will we do things God’s way and be spiritually healthy? Or, do we keep doing things our way and be overwhelmed? I had to ask myself that question last night!

I’m gonna be honest with you. When I was reviewing this sermon yesterday I got overwhelmed. I thought it was terrible. Maybe you agree with that! I apologize. But I spent 6 additional hours yesterday rewriting it over and over again. Each time, I felt it got worse!

But, after lots of prayers from my brothers in Christ and the wise counsel of my wife (who the Holy Spirit often speaks thru) I realized God was teaching me to apply the very points He put on my heart!

Janelle told me, “Somebody needs to hear what God gave you. Just preach it.” And I realized I need to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding.” I think this is terrible – but I need to preach it by faith.

I wanted to do things my way and work on it over and over again, even if it kept me up all night. But God was telling me to rest. He was telling me to stop being reactive and changing what He was giving me (I also had to keep myself from junk food as I was overwhelmed – both literally and spiritually). And He told me just to connect with Jesus and step out and preach by faith – exercise my faith. “Acknowledge Him in all my ways and He’ll make the path straight”

So, that’s what I’m doing this morning…

So, I’m going to our time with some practical next steps:

1. If you’re overwhelmed, give yourself the permission to take the day off. Don’t worry. God’s got this. You can trust him to take over as you rest.

2. Give yourself space to think deeply, using God’s word to guide your reflections. Maybe that involves turning off anything that can distract you from all the junk food thinking! Or, maybe you keep your phone on and use it to spiritually Door Dash piritually nutritious food:

a. Right Now Media - which is available to you for free - has some great video bible studies available so you can renew your mind and think deeply.

b. Also, YouVersion Bible App has started a “Story” feature on the homepage of the app. It’s an awesome way to daily get God’s word into your heart!

c. Or, you can take a walk or drive and listen to worship music. Worship lyrics have a way of penetrating our souls and changing our thinking. I challenge you to listen to the song “Champion” Jon introduced today. It’s on Bethel Music’s new album. See if God doesn’t begin to change your thinking!

3. Then finally, spiritually healthy people are connected to Jesus. What I mean is they position their lives to receive whatever God has for them. To live completely by faith! I know that may sound super vague or even super spiritually complex… but it’s as simple as this:

a. The same way that many of us received a stimulus - a release of funds from the government during this crisis - is the same way you receive life from Jesus. Open up the spiritual bank account in your heart and receive His release of life.

Jesus is ready to exchange your feelings of being overwhelmed for a spiritually healthy life. Will you trust Him with all your heart to do that?