“HELP! I’M IN A FUNK.”

“HELP! I’M IN A FUNK.”

TEXT:  Proverbs 15:13; 17:22; 25:20

-This series of messages is born out of a desire to help people handle the emotional, mental duress that is compounding society today.

-I began last week talking about our well-being. We are made SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY. Tri-Chotomy.

-I believe when the spirit is sick, the emotion is sick.

I also believe without consistent emotional health; it is difficult to maintain your spiritual health.  

I have seen many people have spiritual highs that are not maintainable because of wrong emotional processing.

I also talked about our emotional well-being which can become low. This is called depression. I also talked about our spirit becoming wounded, hurt, and cut, this is deeper! (a combination of the physical and emotional becoming worn)

Proverbs 15:13; Proverbs 17:22; Proverbs 25:20

Prayer: Search out those who need it the most. Those who are walking, but wounded. Those needing care in a cold world. Where there is seemingly no help.

People feel that they are in a pressure cooker.

Those who are living in this world, and who are trying to scrape together a living. You are co-existing with making a living and with trying to maintain relationships.  Many find themselves a casualty. It seems harder and harder to do both. (Make a living and have relationships)

It almost seems that these things are happening by the cunning skill and planning of someone who was in charge. “The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy.”

He is doing a good job, but we are letting Him. isn’t it time we pick up our shield of faith? “The just shall live by faith.” In these last days, God needs many gleaners in the fields. Many harvesters, and many workers to be used for the kingdom of God.

Many in the body of Christ are needed so badly in various ministry positions, various ministries, but many Christians in many Churches cannot be used because they are unusable at the present time.

These people are going to heaven, they are receiving their rewards (although they might be smaller), but they are unable to be fully used, whether in part or in whole for the kingdom of God. They are wounded, they are cut, they are stabbed with a sharp knife, they are bleeding like a stuck hog, and they need intensive care for their emotional states.

ILLUS.: People need help, businesses need help. Once happily married people are now walking around in shock unable to understand what happened to their relationship.  How did this come about? How did my relationships with my friends deteriorate so badly?

ILLUS.: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE DAY: When the boss would call you in, and say, you’re doing such a great job, you’re appreciated.  Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, and go be with your family? THEY DON’T EXIST ANYMORE.

-The competition is fierce; the boss is under the gun, He is stressed. He has transferred his spirit to the workers, because of the competition.

-Everyone is being affected by a “crisis mentality.” Trying to survive, there is a crisis spirit among people……….salesman. It says: “I must do better”.

ILLUS.: Some people are threatened constantly on the job. A boss who is always hanging the possibility of a worker losing his/her job. They live with that for years…thinking they may lose their job.

Q-What kind of competition is that on a man.  ALMOST UNBEARABLE.

There are a lot of people in situations like that. Scores of them; it is the world’s system. Don’t get caught up in it. It is deadly. The environment is in crisis. The job market is in crisis. It will fill you with stress before you even know it.

 THERE ARE 3 THINGS HAPPENING TO PEOPLE TODAY.

• Information Overload
• Habitual Cyclical Stress
• Lack of respite and renewal

#1 – INFORMATION OVERLOAD.Daniel 12:4

-Information overload (also known as infobesity, in-fox-ication, information anxiety, and information explosion) is the difficulty in understanding an issue.  This effectively causes decisions to be reduced because one has too much information (TMI)about that issue, and is generally associated with the excessive quantity of daily input.

-Burnout is physical, depression is emotional, and information overload is mental. It makes you unsettled, and you worry way too much about things that are useless.

-Information overload creates an unfocused Spirit-man. Today people are depleted of physical energy and emotional resources. You and I are not made by God to worry about everything.

-You would be shocked how your natural physical body affects your emotional body.

-THINGS begin to cave in on you. If you get bumped a little, then you make an issue out of something that isn’t real.

-No one loves me, no one cares, nobody calls, No one visits me.

SEE THE BUCKET IS GOING DOWN BUT THERE IS NO RESERVE.

-If you have been a Christian for a long time. If you are needing prayer, encouragement, you need to seek it out.

The Bible says: “In the last days, the devil will wear the saints out.”

This is why we need revival.

#2-HABITUAL CYCLICAL STRESS

You get set up for wounding when you are emotionally depleted. When you let the bucket down emotionally and there is nothing there, and there is always someone there who is an agent of the devil who is there to come in for the kill, and it is called wounding.

If you’re burn-out, you have the hope of rebounding. You go off somewhere and get rejuvenated.

Some sleep, some rest…get everything off your mind. Spend some time in R & R. There are not enough trips you can take to rejuvenate yourself if you don’t learn how to focus.

In depression, you may be physically ok, but when you have the opportunity to drop the bucket down and get some emotional energy…and after you are rested up, you feel better, but in this condition, you are hypersensitive to feelings -you take on other people’s offenses. This information overload and habitual stress create a recipe for complete mental, emotional, physical burn-out.

When a person is wounded, they go through things and don’t behave as they used to.

#3 – LACK OF RESPITE AND RENEWAL

God says: Don’t begin what I have assigned you to do without being filled with God’s assignment.

-God made you to rest, then you get up and go. You’re energized.

-But due to stress, you don’t sleep well, so after you have gone, gone, gone, you are depleted of energy…that is burn-out in the physical.

-But it also affects you in the emotional part of your being. Just as God gave you the capacity to rest and get rejuvenated in the physical; He also gave you the capacity to get over things in the emotional.  QUICK!

Philippians 4:7

Biblical Sabbath: “A 24-hour block of time in which we stop work, enjoy rest, practice delight, and contemplate God.

*Sabbath rest brings renewal, recreation, and respite for enhanced revelation from God.

*Sabbath rest will bring growth and healing to our spirits, souls, mind, and bodies.

*Sabbath rest will build the person and build the family.

These damages are not limited to non-Christians…it happens to Christians and non-Christians.

HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS:  After you reach physical burn-out, you reach down into your well of the emotional reserve, and that has been tapped out, and there is nothing there. You become emptier and emptier unable to fill your emotional reserve up.

THE RESULT OF OVERLOAD:

1. You try to rest, but you can’t.
2. You cannot rejuvenate.
3. Life appears “heavy.”

When depression comes, which is the physical and emotional side of the depletion of resources that God has given you to rejuvenate yourself.

-[God has given your body the ability to sleep and to feel refreshed afterward, but when you are depressed & burn-out you won’t feel refreshed. ]

-God has also given your body the ability emotionally to get over things “quick.” We live in an offended society, and it is affecting Christians and non-Christians alike.

-When you go from being wounded to depressed, then we can’t feel the things we should feel.  Usually after a few days’ rest, a change of scenery, a good family activity, a great experience in the presence of God. …It will take the depression away. It will make you feel normal again.

ILLUS.: People say, “I don’t have any problems that a few days on Maui Beach wouldn’t heal.” But what if that isn’t the issue? What if the problem is the offense? Then 30 days on the beach won’t solve it.

But today people are letting their bucket down in their emotional reserve, and there is nothing in the bucket. Their resources are depleted, they are running off adrenalin. There are so many people who are going off adrenalin…” I’ve got to do this “…the sheer stress of excitement.

ADRENALIN WORKS LIKE THIS.: It goes into play, when you can’t go, something stimulates your pituitary, and it dumps adrenalin into your system. It works like a caffeine dump or a caffeine pump.

ILLUS.: Like the lady whose child was under the car, and being crushed, no one was around. She went to the bumper and lifted the car off the child.  The adrenalin took over. In the natural, it could have never been done, but she had no choice.  After the incident was over, and she realized what took place. She crashed. She broke physically & emotionally.

TODAY – People have been going on ADRENALIN. I want to feel better. I want to be stimulated. I want to experience a MANIC…and now it has run out. (MANIC- DEPRESSIVE)

When the Adrenalin wears off, (and people will say….Bro. Temke I would never do what you’re about to say) [Just listen] Sometimes a Christian can become so stressed, that they will write people off, say curse words, and do things that they would never dream that they would do.  People are shocked when they say those words. They have become so stressed and worn, that they act in ways against their own conscience.

SHOCKING

• You would be surprised what people will do when they become maxed out. What about the fruits of the spirit, what about the integrity of the Child of God? What about my restraint? Yes…you should have it.
• If you don’t rest, don’t pray, and if you don’t take care of yourself, you will max out. This is why people so easily become caffeine-addicted, the adrenalin is gone. There is nothing else. They are burn-out physically. They can’t go. This is why people need Melatonin and Serotonin to sleep. This is why Starbucks has become so rich.
• It gets to the point that you must have something. Then when you get so stressed out, and so maxed out -You know you must keep on going; you’ve got to make a living. You can’t lose everything that you have worked for.        So when you can’t move anymore. People try to get their level up artificially. They turn to alcohol. Some will turn to food.  They will turn to anything to keep going.

NOW these things ought to come from the HOLY SPIRIT and they are available to you. THIS IS THE BENEFIT OF BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If a person insists on other means of strength. Then they will eventually lose out with God.  We can’t use God when we feel like it.

ILLUS.:Too many use God like a toy on the shelf. We will develop a warped view of what God should be – then you begin to blame God for everything.

The Bible says: “But be filled with the spirit.” God made us be filled with Him. Without Him, we are not complete.

-When we don’t access His Spirit… we are still longing for completion.

He doesn’t want us to fill our lives with things that hinder, hurt, and maim our spirit. God’s spirit will energize you; some people have not been taught about walking in the Spirit.

-Some people have been in church for years, and have reverted to the ways of drinking alcohol to get stimulated, and sleeping pills to rest.

-Some go further and get hooked on medications to get an “up.”

-They can’t seem to get going.

-The adrenalin is gone, the face is empty…the joy is gone….the look in their eyes…..NOTHING. The Bible says, “The eyes are the light of the body.”

ILLUS.: I have seen people in Churches, who were writing checks that their bodies could not cash.

“Get some rest, take it easy. Love the Lord, His Yoke is easy!”

-If you are not careful, your body will crash, and so will your family.

-When that happens, life will cease to exist as you know it.

ONE STEP FURTHER: When you get to this point, the adrenalin is gone; the energy is gone, the strength is gone.

-You can hardly go, the steps are harder than ever to take. Well-I wouldn’t drink, I wouldn’t take medications. No, but you maybe can have an affair. THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE.

-I have known people so stressed…so worn out. So far out of their body.

-FINALLY, SOMETHING CAME ALONG: 

-It provided stimuli… A false sense of stimuli…False energy, false caffeine. Then life took on new meaning……life became energized for the wrong reasons…..that is still sin…regardless of how you spell it. 

This is how these things happen.

Sometimes it is living above your means. It is a distraction from their mind. It becomes a release to their mind. Endorphins flow…..and they feel good momentarily. (Sin is always for a season) It is a respite from where they have been, they feel almost relieved. They feel that God and everyone else is against them.

SOME JUST RECLUSE. THEY ARE SO WOUNDED, AND THAT EVEN ADDS GUILT. It is another step….DOWN TO THE BASEMENT OF NOTHING.

Q-How many know that this is the truth?

WOUNDING takes place when someone wounds you with words.

Not only is there the temptation of false stimuli, but you are burned – nothing in the bucket anymore. (The vast majority of the time, it has nothing to do with Church, but we usually blame it on the church)

This is when the devil will use someone and their words to WOUND.  That doesn’t mean the way you feel is justified.

It is devastating to the person who receives the wounding, and many times the one who does the wounding doesn’t even know.

The older I get in God…….the more I appreciate my Jesus…so much wisdom, so much discernment. When He said: “Judge not lest ye be judged “…..wow what a statement.…….No one has the credentials, insight, or understanding to try to judge someone. NO ONE SHOULD TRY OR BEGIN TO JUDGE.

We don’t know everything there is about each other.  Where we are from.

Your actions don’t always reveal and portray what you feel and mean.

ILLUS.: Moma went to a park for a picnic. Had a large bluff area that had a precipice jaunting out over a cliff. The Moma said: (As she was unloading the car) “Now sit right here, and don’t move, and stay away from that place over there. Don’t go near it. The unthinkable happened……The baby was hanging over the edge with the diaper just shining. The Moma carefully walked up and grabbed the little girl…..pulled her away…said: “I’m going to kill you.”

Haven’t we all done that? What is the Moma saying: “I love you so much, and you scared me so bad.” A person under stress will say things under the fear that will come out in the wrong fashion.

How many times have there been people who lashed out at their spouse, treated them like a dog because of fear, but deep down you cherish your spouse?  How many times have your children done something that makes you fear, and they come in and you say hurtful, accusatory, condemnatory things…….things that will plant deep hurts in them.

DEEP FEARS ARE PLAGUING PEOPLE TODAY……

FEAR IS CREATING A GENERATION OF EMOTIONALLY WITHDRAWN,  RELATIONALLY DEPRIVED, FEARFUL, AND SPIRITUALLY DEVOID PEOPLE.  

Inside you are really screaming out: “I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE SPECIAL TO ME….I want you to do good…please marry right….get a good education and live a prosperous in life…..IT COMES OUT WRONG…

If we judge how wrong we are…we don’t know what someone is feeling….what they are going through. “JUDGE NOT LEST YOU BE JUDGED.”

Think of the people burned out, depressed…no more to draw from….BEGAN TO TALK….BEGAN TO SAY THINGS….NO SHAPE TO RECOVER…….When you are emotionally not able to recover….you are a prime candidate to be hurt.

People in the church, on the verge of losing their families. Losing everything. “WELL.THAT SHOULDN’T BE”.

Easy to say….especially if you don’t understand their plight. SO EASY TO JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE, BUT WHAT DO WE DO WHEN OTHERS BLEED?

Do you circle like a shark in the waters?  Everybody in the Church needs ministry bad…. Maybe they don’t act normal…they don’t act just right.

We make remarks like: “What’s a matter with them? They are acting differently.”  “They have a spiritual issue.” They must think they are better than us!” On the inside, they are really dying.

Then we go in for the kill: “Comfort  the weak and feeble-minded”

5 Wounds that can take place:

1. CUTTING WORDS. Psalm 55:20-21

Words that cut to the dividing of soul and sunder. It is just as though the words are as oil. They are smooth, he is sweet-mouthed, yet His words were as a drawn sword. They are loaded. They have an ulterior purpose. (Behind my back).

• The words are from a trusted friend, and those words cause a cap to be put on you, and you are held down.

ILLUS.:Like a cut in the kitchen. Not deep, but enough to cause pain and discomfort.  It is like someone coming along and hitting me in the face…The devil says: “GOTCHA”. Takes you a while to heal. “

-Get over it bless God”…easy for a religious person to say.

ESSENCE: It is time for the body of Christ to have mercy.

It is time for the body of Christ to have “MERCY”

2. PIERCING WORDS. Psalms 57:4 

People shoot arrows with bitter words. It is like an ambush.

There is a big difference between a cut and a piercing. A pierce hits arteries and organs. It is deep. It is hurtful. When you are ambushed by someone you feel deep pain.

-I have never believed Christians should entertain themselves at the expense of others.

ILLUS.: Like being on the job, and someone dislikes you and nuzzles to the boss, and begins to fire on you. Ever had that happen? When it pierces, the sword must come out.

3. BITING WORDS. Psalm 64:3

Biting words come from a known enemy.

• Cutting words come from trusted friends.
• Piercing words are an ambush.
• Biting words are from a known enemy.

Psalm 54:2-4

We have enemies whether we like it or nYou’llu’ll not be loved by everyone. MISINTERPRETATION, MISINFORMATION, MISREADING, MISCOMMUNICATION, AND CIRCUMSTANCES create biting words.

There are times that you have no reason why you have enemies. People you love will believe something about you, and never ask you anything about it.

Under many lips is poison. When you are exhausted, then someone comes to bite you. IT IS THE DEVIL BEHIND IT ALL.

4. POISON WORDS. Hebrews12:15 

This comes from words you choose to accept. A bitter person can defile others, with bitter venomous words. I have been with people, who have a bitter root in them.  The fruit given off was bitter – The words of a talebearer go down deep. It causes a bitter atmosphere, a bitter relationship.

-There is a bitter presence on them.

-Now maybe…they had a cause…we need to be compassionate, but if you have bitterness in you…you have to seek healing. It is our fault if we ignore the cross.

5. BURNING WORDS. James 3:6

-Ever known someone who used their tongue to damage?

-I have seen people who were full of fire, they will burn you if you let them touch you.

-An alarm goes off in our spirit.  You almost need a fire suit when you talk with them.

Do preachers go through that? NEVER….

-The devil will place CUTTING, PIERCING, BITING, POISON, & BURNING WORDS on you to strategically PUT YOU IN A FUNK.

When you are in a FUNK… you should do 2 things:

1. Get before the Lord.
2. You should rest. Simplify your life.

-God is not exhausted He is exalted.

When there is no more strength left. Do something about don’ton’t let it ruin your family. Hear me: Life is worth more than having name brand things……..

FAMILY IS MORE IMPORTANT. One day you may curse those things you thought were important. You will spill over with venom at them.

HOW DO YOU MINISTER TO SOMEONE IN THIS CASE?

1. Give them your ear.
2. Pray repeatedly.

Do you know why people depend so much on the pastor? Because church people are burned out on other Church people, who shared their heart and were hurt in the process. Do you know why people leave churches? Turn and look at someone next to you. People have felt abused, confused……but you must refuse to let it eat you.