Meditate Don't Medicate — Ken Graves

Well good evening. Does anybody here have troubles? Apparently. Does it rain on you every now and then? Thought so. And every now and then it's not just raining, it's storming. Will them. I do believe the Lord has something to say to us tonight.

Would you just pray a prayer with me real quick the Lord will open up our understanding just a little more. Father you know how we are we miss a lot of things. We misunderstand a lot of things. A lot of things we don't get, don't see.

Give us please ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to receive. Because there is a purpose to all of our trouble. And I pray that tonight everyone in this room leaves with a greater sense that there is a purpose.

That it's not all just chance random happenings. That you truly are able to cause everything to work together for the good of those who love you. Please Lord there be anyone here tonight whose relationship with you is not right.

They're not yet surrendered to your Lordship. Please help them to see all the more. The need for them to do so because you care for yours. We all have trouble but we don't all have the anchor. We don't all have the shelter that you provide.

There's not purpose to everyone's troubles. Lord please open up the understanding of the unbeliever if he's here tonight. This we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Let's look at 1st Peter chapter 1.

Trials, Joy, and the Keeping Power of God

1st Peter chapter 1. Life is a mix. Storms happen. Troubles come. Right here in 1st Peter chapter 1 I think that there is sort of a hint at the recipe of life. 1st Peter chapter 1 written to you who have been born again.

You who, verse 5 says, are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Receiving the end of your salvation even the salvation of your soul. Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soul. There's a mix that is hinted to right there. I don't know if you noticed it but there's a mix.

A mix of joy and trouble. Greatly rejoicing. We greatly rejoice in the keeping power of God and we greatly rejoice in his kindness. But like it says in verse 6, though now for a season if need be you're in heaviness through manifold temptations.

For a season and everything is seasonal and there is trouble that comes and it comes for a season sometimes the seasons a whole lot longer than we wish it was. But there's that mix of what is described here.

Trials in verse 7 and at the same time in verse 8 joy unspeakable. And you would agree that that is really a sort of description of your life in general wouldn't you? Trials, you get all kinds of trials but at the same time you get all kinds of reasons to be happy and to rejoice and joy isn't necessarily the kind of thing that's affected by troubles.

It's unaffected you know really it's it's anchored in something that doesn't change even though circumstances change. Trouble, trials. There's some aspects of life that many of us would if we could leave out of the recipe.

Speaking of recipes, you ever break into your granny's pantry trying to find the wellspring of all those goodies, the place, the very source where it all comes from? You ever break into your grandma's or sneak in there and just kind of look around and find things?

Like pure baker's chocolate. Did you ever find that and think you found a gold mine and just rip into it? You ever bite a mouthful of that stuff when you were a little kid? And experience the great distance between the height of your expectation and the low of your horrible reality?

With a mouthful of that bitter isn't it? Very few things were as bitter and nasty and chalky as a mouthful of baker's chocolate. One occasion I thought I'd scored big. When I went into my grandma's pantry and I thought I'd found this huge tub of this white frosting.

I ripped the top off and I found me a soup ladle, not a little spoon, a soup ladle. Look this way, look that way. And I scooped out a mouthful of that lard. And I was a great while wiping it off the roof of my mouth with a towel.

Trying to get free from it. These are elements, these are necessary elements to the things that grandma's baking. By themselves they're not so good. But they're important. Without them, without the bitter and the sweet, you don't have a chocolate cake.

And you know without those elements of pain in life, without danger there's no adventure. There's a purpose to trouble. There's a purpose to our pain. You're all familiar with the phrase, in fact I'll say the first half and I bet you can finish it.

No pain, no gain. Oh you know that one don't you? Now is this something you know experientially or is it something you know theoretically? No pain, no gain. I'm convinced it's a law in God's universe.

It isn't just a law down at the gym, it is the way it is in life. And that's what's being hinted at here in 1 Peter chapter 1. That the trial of your faith, it has a purpose to it. Pain is not without purpose.

No pain, no gain. Pain is the very chisel that your maker wants to use to shape you. You know something, let me ask you this. Whose workmanship are you? I've probably asked you this before and I'll ask you again.

Whose workmanship are you? We all say that we're God's workmanship. And we also, we do understand certainly that we're under construction, that God's working on us, He's making us. We're not done, we're so far from, we're all half baked.

None of us are anywhere near completion. So very far from it. Yet, you know, we say we are His workmanship and we were created for good works in Christ Jesus which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Creation, Human Identity, and Following Jesus

Created, we are created, we are not the products of chance random processes and lucky accidents. We did not evolve. Evolution is a stupid lie. Evolution is the original lie. It is the original lie. Satan is according to the Lord Jesus in John chapter 8 the father of lies.

That means he's the first liar. He started it when evil first began in this universe, it began with evolution as a thought. You know who he lied to first? He lied to himself first. Before he ever sold his lie to anyone else in this universe, he sold it to himself first.

He bought his own bill of goods. Convinced himself that he could ascend, that he could become like the Most High. How many Most Highs can you have after all? He said I'll become like the Most High. The only way he could convince himself that he could become like the Most High, the only way he could have convinced himself that he could ascend was to first convince himself that he had ascended to there.

That he wasn't created or limited by his creator. He had convinced himself without a doubt that he evolved and could. He sold that lie to earth. It's his first lie to the human race. It is that whole theory of evolution.

Long before Charlie Darwin ever put some kind of mechanism to it in his little fairy tales, it was the foundation of all false religious beliefs. Still is. Most of you have seen through that. Most of you know.

You know, still to my, in my life, one of the dearest people in my entire life was my middle school science teacher. I probably spoke to you about him before. Mr. Larry Asincy. It wasn't that long ago.

I called him, hey, hey, hey. It wasn't that long ago that I had him over. I asked him to come up to the church. I called him. He lives some distance away, but I stayed in touch with him. He was my middle school science teacher, and he taught us the theory of evolution as a, you know, a guy freshly out of the University of Maine, a zoology major who went to that school as an atheist, was confronted by the complexity of life and living things.

And the reason, the more he learned, the more he couldn't escape the truth that there's a maker and a designer. And he came to our school, having been born again. And he, and listen, that guy taught us the theory of evolution.

He taught it right. He taught it like a theory. The reason he taught it, why it's not the fact of evolution or the law of evolution. It's a theory, a dumb theory of that. And when he got done teaching it to us, you couldn't possibly believe that fairy tale.

He taught it well. Mr. Larry Easton was the best witness to me. The best, these are the guys that really pushed me over the edge when I started reading the scripture because of his influence, because of his witness.

And at 13, reading the scripture, there, discovered where I came from. And discovered that I had a maker. And heard the voice of one calling me, saying, follow me and I will make you. Follow me and I will make you, I heard.

And Lord Jesus, he calls and says, you follow me and I'll make you. Alright, so you know that you didn't evolve as a life form, as a species. But psychology has sold you another bill of goods. It's the other form of evolution.

That basically you, as an individual, as a person, are the product of all the chance random processes, your environment and all the things that have been done to you. We find ourselves explaining who we are right now by what we've been through.

Where we came from. As if we're not his workmanship. See, I believe we do have a choice. Turn over to 2 Peter, just a few pages over, chapter 1. The one who made us knows us. He knows us and he loves us and he is the one who is remaking us.

Christian. You're not limited. You are not bound by the things you've been through. You cannot allow all of your circumstances and all of your pains to make you. Because if you do, you're just going to be one horrible, wrecked, banged up version of humanity.

With all kinds of justification for being stupid. One of millions of victims. But if in fact you follow him, if in fact you are his workmanship, that's not the case. Look at this. The one who made you says, 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life. That's kind of a big subject, isn't it? That he has given unto us all things that pertain unto life. He's given us everything we need to live life and godliness.

He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness, that is, being the people that he wants us to be. You know what it takes to be the people that God wants us to be? It takes faith. And faith, really synonymous with trust.

It's not just intellectually agreeing that something is true. It's actually being willing to bet your life on it. Trust. It takes faith to please God. It's the one thing he's looking for. His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

And don't stop right there. It says, by the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue. Everything that we need to live life and be the people that God has called us to be is found in a person.

In a right relationship with the one who called us. Everything that we need. Now, do you guys believe that? Everything. Everything that we need. And I'm asking you this for a reason. What about in the storm?

What about during times of great storm? What about in the middle of your pain? Does he know about your pain? Has he felt your pain? Is there a purpose to your pain? All of those questions are answered in just knowing him.

In knowing him, you discover, man, he's been here. He's walked in our shoes. He knows all about pain. He knows about the pain of obedience. Man, he obeyed to death. Philippians chapter 2. It's all found in him.

Just knowing him. These forces whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. Now, those are some sweet adjectives. My fellow Christians, we have overused the word neat. We've overused the words cool.

We at Calvary Chapel need to expand our vocabulary. Our adjectives. Get a thesaurus. When it comes to God and all that he's done for us, the adjectives like this. Exceeding great and precious. What kind of promises are there that are exceeding great and precious promises?

Do you hold to those? Exceeding great and precious promises. That by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust. This is something I want to show you.

Pain, Death, and Resurrection in God's Work

Would you turn over to Matthew chapter 27? Some of you will receive this. Some of you will close your ears as soon as you hear where I'm going. Telling you ahead. So you won't be shocked when you find yourself doing it.

I love the story of Joseph. Love the story of Abraham. The story of David. The story of Moses. Those few people that the scripture actually gives us like their whole life story. And in those occasions where God gives us the whole life story.

We see there is a pattern in God's dealing with those people. There is birth. There is death. And there is resurrection. Have you seen it in your life? Maybe you haven't seen it because you haven't lived long enough to see the resurrection.

But you know something about death. A dream will be born. As a result of a call from God, whether it's Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David. A dream is born. Before the dream is ever going to be realized, he's going to die a thousand times.

And it's during that time, during the death of that dream, during the death of a vision. During the suffering that you've got to go through on your way to it being realized. It's there that God's shaping the guy.

It's there that pain is doing something. Pain has a purpose. That is in the hands of God. If you really actually do believe Romans 8 .28. That He is able to cause all things to work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Do you believe that? Yeah, well. Look at this. Matthew 27. It is the record of His crucifixion. The God man. The Son of God. He left heaven, became human, took upon Himself flesh and blood. Lived a sinless life.

Now is dying a sacrificial death. In verse 33. When they were coming to a place called Golgotha. That is to say a place of a skull. They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall. And when He tasted thereof, He would not drink.

They offered Him a drink. This was the closest thing to mercy you would ever experience at the hands of Romans. As you are being publicly executed. And it was an anesthesia. The effects of a narcotic.

Wine mixed with gall. Mark refers to it as wine or vinegar mixed with myrrh. Now Lord Jesus when He tastes it. He identifies it by taste. He spit it out. He wouldn't receive it. Now what is He doing? Is He just trying to be a tough guy?

Oh I think He is the toughest man that ever lived. The man of men indeed. The Son of man. He is the ultimate man. But no He isn't just trying to be tough. I believe that He understands that there is a purpose to His pain.

His pain on the cross was on our account. And He wouldn't be numbed from it. You know there is a legitimate place in life for anesthesia. You know this. White Proverbs 31. It tells us and I believe it has application to all of us here.

It's not for kings to drink. You remember those words? Proverbs 31. It's not for us who are going to be leaders to drink. Lest we drink and forget. Now the forgetting is not in the sense of a loss of information in our head.

Forgetting in the sense of becoming apathetic. Numbed. It's a danger. We could forget. We're supposed to experience and supposed to know things. Proverbs 31 says give strong drink to those who are perishing.

Let them drink and let them forget. Let them remember their poverty and their misery. No more. This is a legitimate place for anesthesia. Now what is anesthesia? Let's talk about this for just a second.

Anesthesia, Medication, and the Pain of the Soul

I'm going somewhere with this. What is anesthesia? It is a toxin. Alcohol is a toxin that enters your brain and creates brain dysfunction. Alcohol doesn't make you sharper, quicker in thought or in action.

Although you certainly have the perception of it. Everybody that gets drunk has the perception that they are like cat-like man. They're ready to fight them all. They're completely out of touch with reality.

They think man I am the, I'm a stunt driver. I'm the best driver. Drunk man is an obscene thing. I've had the privilege of witnessing on a few occasions. Never drank in my life. I've seen what it does to my family.

It makes our family's genetics with alcohol and you get something so stupid. I just don't want to be there. Every now and then a family reunion will happen. You can see this various stages of brain dysfunction coming over the place.

And if you stay sober and get to watch the whole thing, you see it for what it is. Oh, but the distance between what they perceive and what is, is great. You'll see a guy at one of these family events, wedding reception or something.

One of my cousins walking up. In his mind, as he approaches a woman, I've been noticing you all night. And so in his mind, it's like that. But in reality, it's like, want to dance? No. In his mind, he's like, I am.

I'm Bruce Lee. In his mind, everything in reality is happening in slow motion. Pathetic. It's brain dysfunction. Alcohol creates brain dysfunction. We have the technology today to do the same thing with many other substances.

And it's a good thing. God has given man their capacity to invent, to discover. And in his proper context, it's a good thing. I have a daughter that I love so much. She's 17 now. I have a son as well, a stepson.

He's 27. And he has made me a grandfather. And you know, matter of fact, I just had the privilege to talk about what an honor, what a blessing, what a setup from God. My stepson is in the war in Iraq.

He serves in the United States Army. And he, listen to this. Hey, he, Micah, he just won a bronze star for valor. Now this is not like your John Kerry Purple Heart for your boo-boo thing. This is, and please, forgive me.

I do not mean to disrespect for those of you who earned that medal. But I'm talking about something right now that they just don't give away. You really got to risk your life. You got to do something self-sacrificing and brave.

And he did. And what a privilege that this last weekend, I had an engagement to speak at the Men's Conference for Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa at Anaheim Convention Center. 10 ,000 men gathered. And my stepson just happened to be home on two weeks leave.

And he met me there, flew in the same time that I did. And I could bring him up on the stage. And 10 ,000 men told him the story of how he left the safety of the bunker, ran out there to grab his friend.

This mortar attack was wounded. Drug him into the safety of the bunker at his own risk. And his friend died there in his arms. He's a man. And his heart was broken. And he was weeping in there, crying in the bunker with his other buddies.

And they wiped the tears out of their eyes. And they picked up their weapons and went to work. And they took out the attackers. And for this, a medal. I'm really proud of him. My daughter, I used to, I love that little girl.

And I always hate to see her hurt. But she's a little girl and you know it was necessary to, and discipline at times has to be corporal. And I, you know that old thing where parents say, you know this is going to hurt me more than you?

Well it did with me, I'm telling you right now. When it came to spanking that little girl, I'd rather do anything but that. Oh, it hurt me so bad. Not with Micah, not him. I go, this is going to hurt you way more than me.

Just wanted you to know. Not going to bother me a bit. But one day she broke her arm. My precious little girl. I would save her, I would spare her any pain that I could. And she's out playing on the monkey bars and she broke her wrist.

A little tiny little wrist. She's just a little girl, just about to start kindergarten. And I cried thinking about it. And I scooped her up and carried her over. And I got to take her to the hospital.

And of all things, all I have is my old Jeep. That old CJ7. You guys know what the suspension's like in those things. Poor kid, every single bump, every pothole. Those main roads just hurt her all the more.

It broke my heart to hear her cry. Oh man, I got to take her in here and lay her on this gurney. And trust the doctor. Now he's going to set that bone, that's going to hurt. It's going to be painful. Oh, this is going to be so painful.

So painful, her little growth plate was involved. So painful that they said we need to put her to sleep. To do this. And was I ever grateful then for the anesthesiologist? That guy's got to, he doesn't get paid enough.

And the trust that it took. Because basically, this man is going to come in here. And intravenously introduce toxins to the brain of my little girl. Poison. In just the right degree, just the right amount.

That she is unconscious. Too much more and she'll go into a coma. And a little more beyond that, this toxin could kill her. As is the case with alcohol. And watch as that substance went down that clear tube and into her vein.

And her little eyes rolled back in her head. And her mother and I, oh the prayers we prayed. Oh my heart, so moved. They were able to, because of that anesthesia. Do something that was so painful. Would have been almost impossible if not very difficult anyway.

There's a place for anesthesia. But it's not. A way. Of life. There is a purpose to pain. The Lord Jesus hanging on the cross was offered an anesthesia and he rejected it. Because there was a purpose to his pain.

Critique of Psychopharmacology and Trust in God

Many of the most drugged generation in the history of the world. I don't know if you know this, but I'm going to throw a couple of things at you. 1998, the journal for the American Medical Association.

Published a report that said. The number one cause of death in America was heart disease. The number two cause of death in America was cancer. The number three killer was stroke. Do you know what number four was?

Medicine. Now that study only factored in, only counted all of those people who died in hospitals. Under the direct care of a physician or medical staff. Didn't even factor in all of the suicides that are the direct result of Prozac or other antidepressants.

Or the people who are crashing their cars because of their, or industrial accidents because of impaired judgment. The result of the anesthesia they're living on. When it's all added up, there are experts like Drs. Bregan and Cohen.

Who've written extensively on the subject. They actually believe that medicine then becomes the number one killer. Exceeding heart disease or cancer. Now think about how many people you know that have been affected by heart disease or cancer.

There are that many people who are dying. And those who are not dying are living less of life than what God has intended for them to live. Just attempt to help this fellow man is killing him. The over prescription, the reaction to, or the wrong drug for the.

And yet we have pharmaceutical companies that are producing new so-called psychopharmacological solutions for all your problems. They're trying to give you a pill for a problem for your soul. Not understanding the effect of the real you.

Not understanding that you are not your brain. Your brain ain't you. Man, that thing is long after it's worm food, you're still conscious. Very conscious on into eternity. The real you is not your brain.

Right now, they see you as a bag of chemicals. They want to manipulate you. Chemically. Say that they're helping you. They tell you, you got a disease, you got a disorder. Do you know they're making these diseases up?

Do you know that every time the American Psychiatric Association gets together, they discover new diseases? They do that talking. The diseases, the disorders that they come up with, you catch them by word of mouth.

I don't know how many of you guys here have been told you're bipolar. I got news for you. You are. So am I. Does that mean you have the capacity to know great depths of pain? Yes, you're supposed to. And the capacity to know great heights of ecstasy and joy?

You're supposed to. You're made that way. And it's from the depths, the depths that we're supposed to experience, that you cry out to God. The psalmist had to be bipolar. Have you read his writings lately?

They've given him a pill, the fake herd, and they've ruined the experience. I want to be merciful. I'm saying for the sake of mercy, there is, for mercy's sake, there's a time for a pill. But I'm telling you, from the Lord, it's not to be a way of life.

Some of you, don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not telling you, as a person who's been prescribed all kinds of medications for supposed mental disorders, that you just need to trust God and go off your pills.

That's not my message to you. My message is, you need to live, I believe you can live free from those things. But if you just go off, and some of you have done this, you will crash. You know what that's called?

That's called DTs. Every drug addict experiences it. You'll experience a greater depression than you ever had before you went on that thing. I'm not a doctor, you can disregard everything I'm saying to you about this right now, and go, you know, that guy didn't even graduate high school.

And you're absolutely right. I'll tell you what I do know, and I have studied this work, and I know that you're not just a bag of chemicals. And that the experts and your chemicals ignore the most important things, that you are a spirit, and most of what is wrong with you and me, is directly related to our relationship with God, or lack thereof.

You got trouble in your life? Hey, you got trouble? We all have trouble. God uses our troubles. Some of you are struggling with the past, the things that have been done to you, and I'm telling you, look to the scripture.

And I don't want to seem insensitive when I say this, but I believe the Lord will say to you tonight, get thee over it, with his help. I'm not trying to belittle your pain, I know your pain is real, but I'm telling you, there's a purpose in the hands of God, it is a good thing, it makes you who you are.

It is part of what God uses to shape you, and to shape your dependence upon him. Can you receive it? I don't know. Storms, man, we all got them. But who are you following, who is with you in your storm?

Jesus Calms the Storm

You or this? We really thought we knew him. We answered his call, and we followed him. Mismatched band of men we were, sailing off into tomorrow. You know, I never knew a man to work so hard, and spend himself like him.

At last I saw him finally lay down, as though light was growing dim. The darkness, it came, as did the wind. And that lake became a beast, that howled and roared and reached for us, 13 mortals, for its feast.

Now all I believed seemed like a lie, and nothing made any sense. Waves of terror swept over my soul, each one even more intense. And I felt my way to the back of the boat, to where I'd seen him lay. So human was he, that in his fatigue, despite the pounding waves, he slept, like a man unaware that there was any reason for fear.

Like one who knew just where he was going, and what he was doing here. One angry thought broke through my fear, as my panic reached its peak. It erupted out as a hostile question, I couldn't help but speak.

We're going to die, I cried out loud, to the one who led us there. You said let's go over, but we're going under, how is it that you don't care? And at first, he said nothing. But seemed to be struggling, with a mind not fully awakened.

Straight from his dream, into our nightmare. Still he wasn't the least bit shaken. I stood up suddenly and steadied himself, with one hand he held to the ropes, like holding the reins of a stallion, he rode that rising and falling boat.

One hand in the ropes, one hand in the air, as we cowered along the sides. He confronted that beast that caused us to cower, so frightened and so terrified. And the words that he spoke, they were not a request.

And they were not a victim's plea. Now his words were not louder than the howl of the wind, or the roar of the Galilee. But his words carried power, undeniable power, even the force of the wind had to flee.

Mightier than the thunder of great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea. And he spoke to that storm like it was a dog. His command muzzled its jaw, it fled with its tail tucked in its legs, as we huddled in silence and awe.

Everything was quiet upon hearing those words. The water, the earth, the sky. But none were as silent or speechless as we, who just witnessed this with our eyes. A man who took lordship over nature, for whom nature immediately complied, now turned his gaze upon us little men, just beginning to slowly rise.

Were you frightened? He asked us. How is it that you have no faith? We had no answer to giving. And looking back we could only say that we were afraid of what was against us, because we did not realize what manner of man it was that we followed and trusted with our very lives.

We had no answer for his question of us. We had many more questions of our own, and someone finally spoke those words that still echo in my soul. What manner of man indeed is he? Still more than I can know.

The Lord Jesus is with you through your storms. Don't freak out. Don't panic. Let him prove to you in the storm just how powerful he is. I know that without a doubt many of the things I just said to you are going to provoke more questions.

Pray upon it. Will you talk to God about it? What I'm saying to you is that anesthesia is for a time, but it's not to be aware of life. Don't try to always escape your pain. The pain of the soul. I'm talking about the pain of the soul.

I'm not talking about your body. People are always asking me. You're saying that I shouldn't be living on my psych meds. You're saying I should quit. Would you tell a diabetic to stop taking his insulin?

My response is always the same. No, I would tell somebody who's not a diabetic to stop taking insulin. Pray with me about this, please. Dear Father in heaven, I pray for my brothers and sisters here, people who have suffered in life and will again.

And I pray to you, Lord Jesus, that you'd help us to understand that there is a purpose to our pain. That there is a God in heaven that is able to cause all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Lord Jesus, I pray that you'd help us to put our trust in you. Not in the very best intentions of man or his science. Lies of man's wisdom. Lord Jesus, please help us to put our complete trust in you.

The only one who can save, the one who made us, the one who knows us. In the holy name of Jesus, our King. Dear Christian, while you're praying, while you're silent now, I ask that among you, Christians, other people here tonight whose faith, it would seem, has been failing.

You've gone through and are going through the death of a vision. You've been tempted to look in a lot of directions. You've been trying to explain who you are or even understand who you are based on all the things that have been done to you.

Maybe you have resorted to the potions of man. Psychopharmacological solutions is the biggest word in my vocabulary. Maybe you have. And I'm asking you tonight, is the Lord touched your heart and talked to you?