Four Steps to Restoration | Pastor Ethan Boggs | Vibrant Church

0:01 I want to continue a series that we launched last week called Headspace. Everybody say Headspace. Headspace. And it is in this particular series where we are talking about mental and emotional health from a biblical perspective. Now, I'm sure there are from the outset some individuals in here that maybe you find yourself thinking about. Well, we don't need to know about all of this. And really, Pastor Ethan, don't you think some of these people who claim they have depression or anxiety are simply just being emotional or maybe acting a little too soft, and maybe they just need to toughen up? And I just want to say from the beginning of the message that depression and anxiety and worry, this is real.

0:47 Can I get an amen? And we talked about this last week, And I'm going to talk about it more today. But the truth of the matter is that you can be strong and still struggle. We talked about that. You know, a study just came out among 75 nations that mental and emotional health is now the leading health concern in the world. So obesity, cancer, things like that are now sliding down the list in the world of emotional health. And so today, I believe that God wants us to know what his word says about this topic. Can I get a big amen, somebody? 1 Thessalonians 5.23 says these words. Paul writing, said, may God himself, the God of peace,

1:34 sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and... Talk back to me, somebody. be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Look what it says in another translation. May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together, spirit, soul, and body, and keep you fit for the coming of our master, Jesus Christ. The one who called you is completely dependable. And if he said it, he'll do it. And I want you to understand something. What we see, what Paul writes, is Paul wants us to understand that our

2:22 spirit and our soul and our body all matter to God. And today as we're going through the scriptures, if you wanna find me, I'll be in 1 Kings chapter number 19. We're continuing where we ended last week. What happens is the prophet Elijah says, It's used by God in a supernatural way. He calls down fire from heaven. God uses him to defeat 450 false prophets. He's an amazing man. I mean, he's literally, I mean, his followers on Instagram are through the roof. He's amazing. He's significant. He's powerful. He's anointed. That's all in chapter 18. But if you just keep reading through the scriptures, you bump into chapter 19 and find that after he is threatened by the most

3:11 powerful woman in the land, the wife of the king, her name was Jezebel. The Bible lets us know that Jezebel sends him a mean tweet and the scripture says that Elijah begins to panic and he gets into a low place in chapter 19. This week, we're going to read a little further into Elijah's story and pick up where we left off. If you didn't catch it last week, I would encourage you to go back. Now, listen, this is going to be my word of warning to all of you. For the next 30 minutes, this is going to be a unique message. It may be the most practical day-to-day message I have ever preached, but If you will open your heart and your mind to hear a word from God, I believe God will strengthen all of us and speak to us in a unique

4:01 way. Are you ready? Now, this again is the practical steps in the Bible that are backed by research and science that I believe will lead us into God's best for our lives. 1 Kings chapter 19. Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. While he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. Do you see how low things have gotten for him? He goes on to say, I have had enough. Take my life, and I'm no better than my ancestors. Then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep all at once. An angel

4:48 touched him and said, get up and eat. He looked around and there by his head was some biscuits and gravy and a cup of sweet tea. And he ate and drank and he lay down again. Verse seven, the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and and spent the night. I wanna give you some things that I would say that if you find yourself in chapter 19, in a low place, if you find yourself in a heavy season, a season of depression, maybe a season of anxiety and stress and worry,

5:38 I wanna just show you some practical things, four things that we find in this text. Are you ready? First one, eat. Somebody say amen. Amen. Maybe I should clarify. Eat well. Now here's what I know. Here's what I know. It feels good to eat bad. Let me tell you about one of my favorite dishes on the planet. Cracker Barrel has this dish. And if any of you want to pay for my lunch today, country fried steak with gravy, Mashed potatoes, green beans. I'm talking good

6:27 stuff. I love, I love brisket with baked beans and colored greens. And the church said, I love that. One of my favorite, this serve, we're about to eat somebody in here right now. I love quesaboreas from every Mexican restaurant. It's a heavy dish, but it feels good to eat bad. Let me tell you about my favorite dessert in this town. And I thought about this. I prayed. I said, Lord, what would you want me to share with the people of God? He said, tell them about that dessert at Harvey's.

7:13 They have a butter cake at Harvey's. It comes with peaches. Come on, people of God. And a spoonful of ice cream. When it comes out, it always has two spoons. I always say, no, don't eat a second one. Because I'm not sharing it. How many of you ever had that at Harvey's? Come and wave your hand. You haven't lived. Second service, where are you at? If you haven't had the butter cake with peaches and ice cream at Harvey's, you are living underneath God's best for your life. I think it's important to know that it does feel good to eat bad.

7:59 But it is important for us to understand that the food that we eat in 2026 is much different than the kind of food they were eating at the time. 60% of the calories that we eat are highly processed foods. Here's what's interesting about that. Highly processed foods have been studied to help, that links us to higher levels of depression and anxiety. So here's what we need to know. The Bible says, 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 8, that he was strengthened by that food. So if the food that he was eating strengthened him, we need to understand that the food that we eat doesn't necessarily always strengthen us. Hence the butter cake, the peaches, and the blessed ice cream.

8:49 Unhealthy fats are associated with increased risk of depression. And I'm not here to shame anybody. I'm not here to talk down to anybody. I just want you to hear my heart today. This is right in the scripture of the redemptive plan. When Elijah's at his worst, God just wants him to eat. And Mississippi and Alabama are one of the leading states in experiencing a health crisis. And the truth of the matter is how we treat our bodies does affect our mind. And it's not just eating well. It's also eating together. The University of Michigan released a study that showed that teens who have regular family dinners are less likely to report symptoms of depression. But less than 30% of those families, or families in the United States, actually have family dinner together regularly.

9:40 Reports say, from a Harvard study, that 80% of teenagers claim that after being with family, those feelings of heaviness and depression lift. 80%. Here's what I want you to see. If we're not careful, we're letting our kids sit on devices, watch TV, be alone, be isolated, and then we're trying to put them with counseling, put them on medication. I'm not against any of this, but we're always trying to fix it. And maybe a meal wouldn't hurt somebody. And again, don't misunderstand me. I'm for all of those things in the right context. 70% of meals are eaten outside of the home. And 60 years ago, 60 years ago, the average dinner time for a family was 90 minutes. 90 minutes.

10:30 You know what it is today? 12 minutes. 12 minutes together as a family. What I'm trying to help you understand is that eating well and eating together has massive impact benefits with the heaviness in our soul. Now, I want you to understand this, and I'm not a health freak, okay? In fact, this point right here, I can't wait to be past this. Amen, everybody. But here's what's important for us to know. If we're not careful, People are going to come to me or our team or small group leaders or one of our great pastors and they're going to say, can you pray for me? I've been in depression. I've been in work and never ever evaluate some of the

11:16 normal day-to-day decisions that could play into being depressed. Let me ask you a question. How many of you in the mornings, let's go to Cracker Barrel one more time. If you get Five pancakes before work? It's gonna take you a minute to kinda come back. How many of you know you put that much stuff on the inside, it's gonna take a minute to get focused with. It's just, we're just not gonna function well with putting that kind of food In our bodies, how you feel is oftentimes connected to what we're eating and how we're treating our bodies. And I say all that to say, many people will come and say, Pastor Ethan, can you pray? Pastor Ethan, can you rebuke a demon? And here's what I want to know. Is there some natural

12:04 steps that you haven't taken? Come on, talk back to me. That may help with this feelings that you're dealing with. Let me give you another one. The first one, number two, sleep. Ooh. That's a good one, dude. Sleep. Look what it says, verse five. Then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep. Listen to me. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. When you go home today, you tell your kids, leave me alone. Me and God's gonna spend some time together. I need to take a nap. You've heard the joke of the man that was sitting in church today. and fell asleep. The pastor got irritated and he kept

12:52 preaching and he kept preaching. He got louder trying to wake the man up. Got so frustrated the man wouldn't wake. Finally, he says, can somebody wake that man up? The wife of the man says, you're the one to put him to sleep. You wake him up. Listen, sleep is a gift from God. Think about it. Every night you go to sleep, it's like dying without commitment. It's amazing, isn't it, sleeping? You go unconscious. It's super vulnerable. Do you ever think, is it just me? This section is dumb today. I don't know. You're wonderful people. Don't quit. Anyway, the, but it is, you go to sleep. What you're saying is, God, I trust you. I've done everything I could do

13:37 today. I didn't get it all perfect. I didn't get it all right, but I'm going to go to sleep tonight. And when I close my eyes, the Bible says he gives his beloved rest. And when I wake up in the morning, his mercy is going to be new in the morning. Sleep is a gift from God. And God tells him, you need to sleep. He sleeps two times. Somebody told me one time I stopped asking people how they're doing and I started asking them how they're sleeping. Because sleep will tell on how you're doing. According to a National Academy of Sciences, sleep is one of the main things that allow us to operate at our highest levels. Poor sleep affects more than our energy. It affects our emotions, decision-making, and spiritual alertness. They say 100

14:25 years ago, 98% of people slept more than six hours per night. Now, only 66% of people sleep will actually sleep more than six hours a night. Being awake for 19 consecutive hours is equal to cognitive impairment similar to being drunk. Been up for 19 hours. Navy SEALs teach that when you are sleep deprived, threats feel bigger, decisions get worse, and emotions become unstable. When you just have it rested. Now Elijah chapter 18 is on the top of the mountain. God is doing

15:12 supernatural things in his ministry. Chapter 19, he's in the valley. Struggling with depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. He's ready to be done. He said, I'm finished. And what God does is make sure he eats a good meal and he just takes a nap. Now this is what I think we need to know. Years ago, I heard this, and I practice this a lot. In fact, me and my wife will talk through this from time to time. But there's a study years ago done, and they called it HALT, H-A-L-T. It's an acronym for four words that says don't make big decisions when you're one of these four words. Number one, you're hungry, angry, lonely, tired.

16:00 When you are dealing with a decision, when something's really big, something is, it's like a lot going on, this is not the time to be talking about anybody's mother-in-law. When you're hungry, angry. You know that most family fights happen right before dinner? Because everybody's hangry, lonely, tired. They've worked all day. Kids have been in school all day. It's a testy time. Did you know that more people fall into pornography on Monday afternoons than any other day of the week because they're tired? You make poor decisions when you're hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. And Elijah, we're gonna see in a few moments, is gonna have an encounter with God. Elijah, in just a few sentences away, a few verses away,

16:48 he's gonna have a moment with God. But before he gets there, it's almost like God's like, halt! Elijah, you're not in a good place right now. And before we over-spiritualize chapter 19 and get our prayer group together and get the anointing oil out, before we get into all that, let's not forget Elijah. That you're a person that has physical attributes that you just need to rest. You need to sleep, you need to eat some food, and you need to get your soul recalibrated. Third thing he tells them is move. Just move. Move, look what happens in verse eight. So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. We know this already, but the Bible

17:38 lets us know that when God created Adam and Eve, he put them in a garden and it really wasn't this ideal situation that we often think, we think of the garden, we think there's big fat angels feeding and fanning Adam and Eve. like it was utopia. In a spiritual sense, yes, but the Bible says that they had to work it. They had to tend to it, had to care for it. And you know what that is? That's physical movement. God called us to move. 52% of Americans don't move enough. A recent survey that just came out last week said, we don't have a reason to move. Back in the day, our grandparents, they lived from the earth. They had to go out and weed the garden, had to go out. Now we go to the store. Or the store comes to us.

18:29 You literally can get on your phone. Isn't this amazing? It's a great time to be alive. It really is. You put in your phone the food you want to put into your body. And you can go to Walmart and some person puts it in your car. You don't even, the hardest thing you've done the whole time was this. That's the exercise we have today. That's it, that's just, literally, we're just not moving enough and studies say that when we don't move, it affects how we feel. I wanna show you this, Harvard research has found that just 15 minutes of walking or 15 minutes of running or one hour of walking per day can reduce the risk of depression by 26%.

19:19 Had nothing to do with the devil. Had everything to do with not moving. Let me show you this picture. This is your brain before and after walking. The brain on the left is 20 minutes of sitting. The brain on the right is your brain after 20 minutes of walking, has healthy activity. You just feel better when you keep moving. We're not made to sit. Look at 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 through 20. I never heard this in my Pentecostal church growing up, but I'll read it to you now. Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore,

20:05 honor God with your body. The Bible says, Paul lets them know, your body is a temple. The Holy Spirit lives in our bodies. Our body's a temple. Someone say, I'm a temple. You know, I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I'm building a mega church. You know what I mean? It's this section again. It's always this section. Our body's the temple. He wants us to know spirit, soul, body, it all matters because here's what happens. We're accrediting the devil for feelings when we just haven't ate, slept, and moved well. Look what Dallas Willard said. One of the greatest deceptions in the practice of the Christian religion is the idea that all that really matters is our internal feelings, ideas,

20:59 beliefs, and intentions. It is this mistake about the psychology of the human being that more than anything else divorces salvation from life, leaving us a head full of vital truths about God and a body unable to fend off sin. What Dallas Willard is trying to help us understand is It's similar to what Paul wrote, that God wants to sanctify his spirit, soul, and body. Wants us to understand that you can be strong in your spirit, but your body could not be able to be the carrier of the glory it's meant to be. And he's calling us to be sanctified spirit, soul, and body. Are you still here, everybody? So chapter 19, Elijah's in a crashing moment, just to recap. And God

21:50 rings his bell by sending an angel to and informs him, you need to eat, you need to sleep, you need to move. Now that's great, that's good. All of you have read that on blogs before, all of you have heard of Ted Talk, all of us know those truths. But here's where I believe we need to listen in and hear what the Spirit says to us today. Not only does he invite him for a moment of food, sleep, and movement, but it leads to number four, listen. Listen, this is where the story gets interesting. Now chapter 19, again, low place. But as you drift through the chapter, you get halfway through that thing, the Bible says things begin to

22:35 shift. Look what happens in verse nine. And the word of the Lord came to him. Look at verse 11. The Lord said. Verse 13. Then a voice said to him. Verse 15. The Lord said to him. In our final moments together, I want you to think about this. What if he couldn't hear God well until he was in a good place personally? Could it be that the word of the Lord was always willing to speak to him, but he couldn't hear until he got rest, until he ate, until he slept, until he slept? Until he moved. In other words,

23:22 could your physical person be so poisoned with culture and rushing and food and no sleep and screams that is disrupting your ability to hear what the Spirit of God has to say? Does that make sense, everybody? Notice, after he did those things, God began to talk. After he got well, spirit, soul, God began to speak to him. after his nap, after a good meal, after some moving, as simple as it is, God began to speak to him. Look at Psalms 119, 107. David says these words, I am severely afflicted, O Lord. Revive me through your word.

24:09 I don't know about you, but I love the moments where a word from God sticks on my heart. It was in that moment in a low place that after he's refreshing himself and restoring himself from a place that was so hard and so difficult that he could hear God and when God spoke, it changes everything. One word from God can change your life. One sentence from God, one scripture, one thought, one thing can hold your soul. Is there anybody in the room that knows what I'm talking about? That you've been in a chapter 19, but one word from God held you through every valley. The Bible says that he restores my soul. David said that my soul finds rest in God. If you read through the story, the Bible says that it was in

24:58 a still small voice that God began to speak. Maybe the reason we can't hear him, we're just too busy, too rushed, too active, eating too much stuff that's not good for us, sitting around too much. Our soul. We're preoccupied by appetites, our emotions, our feelings, our agendas, that God couldn't speak to us if we, well, we couldn't hear God speaking if we tried. I'm just talking to you for a minute. I believe the word of the Lord can absolutely change your life. But we got to silence our souls. You know that scripture.

25:48 Be still and know that I am God. Simplify. Powerful implications. It's hard to be still. Isn't it hard to quiet your soul? And the Bible's letting us know that if you can be still and I will show you who I am. In fact, you don't know me till you're still. You don't know me until you can just rest and restore your soul. I will show you who I am in a whole new way. Some of us are running at 100 miles an hour every day, waking up first thing in the morning, grabbing our phones. Studies show it's one of the first things we grab is our phones

26:33 in the morning. One of the last things we look at before we go to bed is a screen. That's why our sleep is so disruptive. The blue light keeps us up. not sleeping well. So literally culture is set up to poison our physical body. And then we're rebuking the devil all day. Can y'all handle some real preaching today? That's just what I think. Could it be that God is saying, simplify your life, get some rest, Elijah, get off your phone, Elijah, get, get your heart restarted, Elijah. I'll speak to you here in a few verses. but I need to get you in a good place. You ever notice that about like wifi? If you're not in good connection, is it frustrating? If you don't, if you're dating somebody

27:22 and you want to know who they really are, put them in a room and see them not get wifi on their phone. I mean, the devil will come out of anybody when you can't get wifi. Here's the thing. What I've learned is is the motive is always sending the signal, but it takes us positioning ourselves in such a way that we can receive the signal. God is sending a signal out to your heart today, trying to get your attention, trying to get you to rest, trying to get you in a good place. But you're so distant, so busy, so occupied, just living your life. And you're just not still. And so you're having a hard time picking up the reception. But I believe I'm in a church today of people who say, Holy Spirit, here I am. Have your way. You're the potter. I'm

28:10 the clay. Speak, Lord. Your servant, hear it. And listen, I don't know what situation you're in. I don't know what heaviness you're walking through, what pain you're dealing with, what neglect you've been navigating, trauma, PTSD, whatever it is. I want you to know God has not lost track of you, Elijah. Verse 19 can be lonely. Chapter 19 can be scary. Chapter 19 can make you wonder if God's real. Chapter 19 can make you wonder if God's there. But I've come to tell you today, he's there. He's never left you. And he's never forsaken you. This week, our little daughter, she's six years old. And every time I use an illustration of my kids, I always give them five bucks just so you know. So I'm broke today. I got to give her $5. But Lily, the other

29:00 day was acting up and was acting crazy. And I said, if you don't stop, I'm going to tell Miss Sarah that you're being bad. Miss Sarah is one of the people here at the church to help with our kids. She's so grateful. She's wonderful. And she literally looked at me and said, oh, oh, oh, don't tell Sarah. Well, then she goes back to being bad. I'm like, well, Sarah's name didn't work too good. I say, if you don't stop being bad, I'm going to tell Miss Lindsay. Lindsay's on the team here, and Lily adores Lindsay, and Lily's like, oh, no, don't tell Lindsay. I said, okay. A little time later, she started doing something bad again. By the time we're all done, I've evoked all your names in our home. I just... Lily says, don't tell them. And finally, I just got so tired of her just not listening. I said, Lily, if you don't stop, I'm going

29:46 to tell Jesus. She goes, he already knows. I want you to know something. Jesus already knows. I don't know what valley you're in, what difficulty you may be facing, but you are not in this alone. He can see you right where you are, and he already knows. Are you here, everybody? I want to pray with you today. I don't know what mountain you're facing, what 19 you're in, but maybe, just maybe, you need to simplify your soul in this moment of restoration. Thaw your heart out and let God speak. So I'm going to give you four

30:33 things real quick I want you to do this week. This is the simplest. I've never had a sermon like this, but I want to really challenge you. Again, even when I wrote it, when I was writing this down, I really didn't know how you would receive this. But let me give it to you, okay? Number one, I want you to eat one meal together. I want you to eat one meal together, all right? Even if it's McDonald's, turn your head around and look at each other while you stuff the McNuggets, all right? Number two, walk intentionally. Walk intentionally. Get out and move. Get out and move. Do a prayer walk. Number three, unplug completely for six hours. Somebody's like, my pen ain't working no more. Unplug for six.

31:23 How many of you this week are going to do it? And it can't be when you're sleeping. I saw you. It was like, oh, I could do that tonight. No, no, no. I'm talking when the sun is up, baby. Six hours. Okay. May the Lord bless you. Number four, I want you to listen for God. As you quiet your soul, get out in nature, open his word, get up earlier than everybody else, stay up a little later than you have to, but say, God, I've been in chapter 19, I've prayed, I've cried, and now God's saying, I got some ideas. Let's restart you.

32:09 Eyes closed and no one looking around. Father, in this room are people who are navigating pain, navigating hurt, navigating sorrow, navigating 19. Talked to a man between services that last week or two weeks ago, just navigating was in the hospital of some of the darkest seasons someone can face. Struggling with certain ideology or ideations and things that would be torturous. And I know God You knew right where he was. I know you love every person in this room. And like Lily, he already knows. And so, Father, today, for the hurting and the broken, I pray the Spirit of God touch their soul today. Bring them to life,

32:55 wherever they may be. I pray the story doesn't end on the first half of chapter 19, but it ends on the second half of chapter 19 with the Lord speaking to their soul.