This week we launch a new mini-series of sermons entitled, Modern Problems, Ancient Solutions.  In this short series I have chosen to address two modern problems that weigh us down—depression and bitterness.  This coming Sunday I will speak on the modern problem of depression and point us to the ancient solution found in Psalm 42.  The following week I will address the modern problem and ancient solution of bitterness.  Then on May 29, Josh will be preaching on the modern problem of guilt. 

Modern Problems, Ancient Solutions seems to be an appropriate mini-series to follow on the heels of our previous sermon series on The Vital Signs of a Healthy Church.  Healthy Christian living is not limited to what we do in church.   When you think about it, a church cannot really be corporately healthy unless its individual members are also spiritually healthy. 

When someone is overcome by serious physical illness, we rally around these folks with our prayers and our emotional support.  But when someone is struggling with spiritual health issues, we either ignore the problem, hoping it will soon go away, or offer only superficial help.  “Just have faith,” we say.  Much of the time when people talk about “faith” they are talking about a vague hope that God will somehow pull them through. That's too nebulous a concept to be reliable. Many of the same people who claim to have faith keep plunging through life ignoring God's principles for healthy living.  If we spurn the good advice that the Bible contains, we won't escape the consequences–even if we have faith.

This Sunday we will focus on spiritual depression and how to overcome it.  You may be surprised to learn that overcoming depression has much to do with the preaching you listen to—not from me or anyone else in the pulpit, but the preacher you listen to more than anyone else—you.

Martin Lloyd-Jones put it this way, “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself” (Spiritual Depression: Its Cause and Cure. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965).  Find out what you should be saying to yourself this Sunday as we take a close look at the modern problem of depression and its ancient solution.