Good Day church and today we’re gonna be talking about suicide and wishing death upon oneself in the Bible.
Now, before we get started, let’s join together in prayer.
Blessed Father who is in heaven, we pray in the name of Messiah ish.
We call upon you and your Holy Spirit that you might be present throughout this church and in everyone’s heart who’s listening, that you might kick out any other spirit that’s there
and make room for yourself.
Fill those voids and fill each one of us to fill our hearts and then I might be a mouthpiece for you as I preach today’s sermon.
For you are holy to me, father and you’re holy to all of us.
We love you with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls and all of our strength.
We fear you and you alone Lord.
And we choose not to fear any man, but to put our fear, our trust, and our love into you and you alone and by your grace for love originates from you and your heart.
May we love one another as our selves yet on my will, father in heaven but yours and yes was holy name grace Jesus the Nazarene I pray. Amen.
Welcome to today’s sermon.
This is gonna be one of the most powerful moving and uplifting possible sermons that you can experience.
If you’ve ever dealt with depression, you might be dealing with it right now, or you know someone who is, I encourage you to share this broadly.
This can save lives and this is something that I’ve refined and worked through over and over again by the grace and guidance of Holy Spirit above to deliver it for you right now so that you might remember how important you are to the Lord our God, how loved you are and how there’s a future for you.
Let’s begin. Sometimes life can simply be overwhelming.
Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in it all.
Sometimes sadness can turn into self-sabotage or at least the desire to stop trying and this can be a slippery slope.
Let’s take a look at the topic of suicidal ideation or hopelessness in the Bible.
First we have Elijah, after being pursued by Jezebel following victories on Mount Carmel, on Mount Carmel, and angel comes from heaven and provides food for a long journey.
God then appears in a still small voice, not in the thunder, not in the wind, not in the lightning. In one Kings 1914, we see now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the Gods do to me and even more if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die
and said, it is enough now, oh Lord, take my life for I’m not better than my father’s.
He laid down and slept under a juniper tree and behold there was an angel touching him and he said to him, arise, eat.
Then he looked and behold there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.
So he ate and drank and lay down again.
The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, arise, eat because the journey is too great for you.
So he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to horrib the mountain of God.
What we see here is that Elijah, in spite of a great triumph with God, experiences fear of man again and again.
We will see that those who wish for their lives to end in the Bible fear man, not God.
Now, if you’re not familiar with this story, there is a standoff between those who worship Baal and those who worship the Lord our God.
And Elijah goes and represents on the top of Mount Carmel or Mount Carmel.
This, uh, represents God as a prophet of God and ultimately says, if I’m a man of God, may fire come down from heaven
and burn this other army of men.
And so this happens two times in a row where all of these men die and fire comes down, fireballs come down from heaven and burn these men, men and incinerate them.
And then the third time the leader of that army, of that group, of those worshipers of Baal, and nothing happens on the other side, right?
Nothing happens with Baal. It’s just a false God.
This is a false, this is idolatry, false deity.
This is what’s taking place. And so God is proving himself and allowing Elijah to be a mouthpiece or a voice for him.
On the third time, the man says, I know you’re a man of God.
The leader of the other army, the the leader of the worshipers of Baal, please spare my life.
And so those lives were spared.
Elijah has this great victory for God to glorify the Lord our God and then gets scared of Jezebel.
Can you imagine? So God’s just proved himself in all these different ways and shown he is the all powerful God.
But then Elijah exhausted and no longer feeling the spirit of God gets, gets afraid of Jezebel, that he’s gonna be tortured and killed, that he’s gonna be incinerated, runs off into the wilderness and pleads with God to die.
Now, I know we can all relate to circumstances in our lives where we feel just utterly exhausted.
We no longer feel spirit-filled, and for whatever reason, in spite of all of the miracles that we’ve seen in our lives, we feel discouraged.
And so that’s what’s happening right now. Let’s continue.
So coming back, we want to say that again and again.
We will see that those who wish for their lives to end in the Bible fear man, not God.
Yet the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
This comes from Proverbs nine 10 when we fear the Lord, Lord, first and only, we have no reason to fear man as usual.
What we see here is that God commands us to live and act a particular way that benefits us.
The 10 Commandments are for us, repentance is for us, loving one another is for us.
God created this world for us as we have a good God.
God serves us as in the time of Yeshu walking this earth.
And for those of you who aren’t familiar with Yeshu as the name, this is the Aramaic name for Christ.
Jesus the Nazarene, when he introduced himself, hi, I am Yeshu is how he would’ve introduced himself.
He’s the Messiah. So Yeshu m Mia is Messiah and Arame.
Now imagine he’s speaking in his original language.
This is why I refer to him as Yeshu because this is the name that he went by walking here on Earth, right?
So what more direct way to communicate.
So each time that you hear me refer to, yes, Mia or Yeshu, I’m speaking about Christ Jesus the Nazarene, each time you hear me refer to Christ Jesus,
the Nazarene I’m speaking about, yes, Mia.
Okay? Yet somehow we think that God is commanding us out of self-interest from the beginning, God has created a world for us that we might have fellowship with him in heaven.
Sure. God enjoys or is blessed that he has our fellowship in heaven, or at least those of us who are free of sin, who have given our lives to Christ Jesus, the Nazarene and who love God with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls, and all of our strength.
Sure God seeks for others to experience godliness in and through him as he’s a great and generous God.
However, we often misplace God’s intentions in his teachings towards us.
Although if we step back and evaluate our God, we’ll quickly see that He gave us a playground here on earth.
He tests us for our own learning and improvement and he has planned a reward for us from before we were even born and for after we die, we have to remember this, okay?
God knew us and fashioned us in the womb and had a plan for us from the beginning.
So if you’re feeling discouraged, remember this, it’s very important.
What he asks is that we acknowledge that he is God and that he sent his son, that he is real, that he loves us, that he matters too, and that we would not exist without him and his good deeds like providing food, water, the right temperature and so on.
Next we have Saul.
If you don’t know about Saul, Saul was one of the kings of Israel and so he was succeeded by David. And as that Bible Bible story goes in the Old Testament, we’re gonna learn a bit more about this right now.
Saul was filled with fear that he would be tortured by the enemy, so he falls on his own sword.
In first Chronicles 10, we can read more about this.
The battle became severe against Saul and the archers found him and he was wounded by the archers.
Then Saul said to his armor bearer, draw your sword and thrust me through with it.
Otherwise, these uncircumcised Philistines will come and abuse me, but his armor bearer would not for he was very afraid.
So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
When his armor bear saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died a king who was once great and then sinned against the Lord enter into a state of fear.
At this time, Saul had not killed the last of the Lord’s request of him during battle, and so his kingship was going to be stricken from him instead of fearing God.
In that moment, he goes into battle, realizes he’s wounded and fears man torturing him.
This is not where we need to place our fear.
We need to place our fear in the Lord above.
God gives us the ability and the instructions to fear him first and only so that we don’t fear man and we live a life of peace.
Not only had Saul been told that he would lose his kingdom for he had not listened to God with the Amic lights, but he then began to fear man, strangely, as scared as Saul must have been when he was told he would lose his kingdom and be punished for not killing the king of the Amic
Amalekites, he did not kill himself.
We see here that Saul’s fear of man was greater than his fear of God.
Something that God surely knew about Saul before deciding to remove his kingship.
God seeks those of us who are willing to love God the most, fear God the most, and look to God for all that we are and all that we do.
When we enter into a covenant with God, we must understand that God is our provision.
Christ Jesus said that he is the manna that came down from heaven and he’s the living water.
When we take communion God through Christ, Jesus has asked us to nourish ourselves with him.
A man does not survive on food and water alone, but everything that comes from the mouth of God, we do not survive even a day here on earth,
let alone in heaven above without God.
You know, you might not realize, but it’s written that God is actually the light.
There’s no need for sun anymore.
When we get to heaven, God is the light.
He’s the source of light for us for eternity.
God is the man.
God is the source of nourishment for us and for our souls, and it’s the same here on earth as it is in heaven.
If we choose to accept this about the Lord our God.
How about euthanasia?
You might be wondering, is wanting to end one’s own suffering, an extension of fearing man, not God?
What should we do when faced with the fear of suffering through health, challenges, pain and terminal illness?
Can we trust God with the outcome?
And how, if at all, is this different than Christ accepting his cup for the crucifixion?
The Lord suffered through surging and crucifixion, but did not choose to take his own life in spite of his clear capability to do anything he wanted
to do on this earth as God in the flesh.
He instead chose the will of our Father in heaven to be done unto him and he endured until the end.
Now, he demonstrated his ability to take life by being able to wither a fig tree.
He demonstrated his ability to walk on water and overcome this world.
He was able to raise life from the dead, including his own.
He could have had He had he chosen, come down from the cross or allowed himself to die without all of the torture, but he endured it to glorify His and our Father in heaven.
And finally, let’s take a look at the example of David.
There are at least two distinct references of David seeking death in the Old Testament, remembering
that King David succeeded, uh, king Saul at the time, perhaps many more depending upon how you interpret the Psalms.
Were they David writing about himself or God writing through the prophetic hand of David or both?
On any note, David sought to lose his life as a result of his relations with Bathsheba.
When he took a census of Israel with Bathsheba, David had to deal with the loss of a child.
He attempted fasting to avoid this outcome, but it did not work.
In the case of taking a census and sinning against the Lord, thousands upon thousands die as God’s punishment for David, as he asks the destroy angel to take him.
Instead, once more we see suicidal ideation or the wish of death.
It is ridden. Then it happened in the spring at the time when Kings go out to battle that David sent Joe AB his servants with him and all Israel
and they brought destruction on the sons of Amon and besieged rabbi.
But David stayed in Jerusalem.
Now at evening time, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house and from the roof he saw a woman bathing
and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.
So David sent servants and inquired about the woman and someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of ilium, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite.
Then David sent Messengers and had her brought, and when she came to him, he slept with her.
And when she had purified herself from her own uncles, she returned to her house, but the woman conceived.
So she sent Word and informed David and said, I am pregnant.
Then David sent word to Joab, send me Uriah the hit type.
So Joab sent Uriah to David.
When Uriah came to him, David asked about Jo’s wellbeing and not of the people and the condition of the war.
Then David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet.
So Uriah left the king’s house and a gift from the king was sent after him, but Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house
with all the servants of his Lord and did not go down to his house.
Now this is when David begins to fear man as it’s written in two Chronicles 1114.
If you’d like to pull out your Bible and reference this with me.
So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joe AB and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
He had written in the letter the following, stationed right on the front line of the fiercest battle and pull back from him so that he may be struck and killed.
The Lord punishes David for these great sins, both for adultery and for murder.
His son with Bathsheba will die as a newborn.
He fast and prayed in hopes of mercy from the Lord and yet there was nothing he could do.
He begged the Lord to take his life instead, but the Lord did not listen to him.
In this case, David fears the Lord, he does not die, and ultimately he’s shown grace by the Lord God Almighty, the grace that has shown his first future son that is the son of David and Bath Chiba Solomon, who will rule the Israelites.
Now, when it comes to David Teo census, this refers back to Moses Teo census for God in Numbers 26, which demonstrates God’s dominion over the Israelites and them being his people, God’s people.
It is written then it came about after the plague that the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest saying, take a census of all of the congregation of the sons of Israel from 20 years old and upward by their father’s households, whoever is able to go to war in Israel.
So Moses and Eliezer, the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho saying Take a census to the people from 20 years old
and upward, as the Lord has commanded Moses.
Yet when David takes a census, he does so on his own accord as a statement that the Israelites belong to him, to David, their king.
This is offensive to God and is a great sin.
God punishes David by giving him three choices.
David expresses that he fears what man would do to punish him if his enemies were to attack or prevail over them, which was one of the choices,
but he finds solace in the Lord and chooses God’s punishment instead.
And while David was right that God would eventually relent 70,000 people died as a result of David’s sin.
David feared man, not God, and David also knew God’s grace.
After seeing what the Lord was doing, David once again attempted to ask for his life to be taken for the punishment to come upon him and his father’s house.
In all three instances, we see that fearing man or woman results in suicidal self-sabotaging thoughts.
In all three instances, we see that God has total power and authority over man.
In every instance we see that listening to God is important.
This is especially true if God has given you much responsibility, which can be perceived as pressure for he who is given much responsibility, will have much expected of him.
So you might be wondering, how can I best apply these scriptures to my life so I no longer feel depressed, self-sabotaging, or suicidal?
Well, lemme start by saying that I’ve gone through too at least three times in my life I’ve considered suicide.
The most real these scenarios was when I was in college and had just broken up with a woman who I thought I would marry.
After almost a year of putting her off and telling her that I thought it was best, we meet other people and avoid a long distance relationship.
I finally decided that I wanted her back.
Well, she had met someone and they were now committed.
Not to mention my life seemed to be crashing down.
I was oversleeping for classes, almost filled outta school, and my parents had threatened to disown me.
My search for identity was in man or woman, not God, and I found nothing.
Remember, you are more valuable to God than many sparrows.
God loves you so much that he sent his only begotten son to be tortured and crucified for you to be forgiven.
He has prepared a special place for you in his home in heaven, and he has invited you to live with him for eternity, forever and ever.
Not only this, but he knew the end of you from the beginning of you as he fashioned you in the womb.
Instead of thinking about religion, church, or anything related to God is more pressure.
Realign your thoughts, feelings and actions.
Spend time with God, invest in God, for God has invested in you.
When you feel sad or disheartened, look up, pray, repent and ask God for the strength you need in every moment.
Seek God in the strong moments. Thank your God.
In the weak moments, reach out to God and ask for help.
It is more than okay to be a beggar before God.
God, like any good father seeks to help you.
He finds satisfaction in loving you, attending to you, and consoling you when you feel sad.
It’s not that he wants you to feel sad, it’s that he wants to be there for you when you feel sad.
In Genesis 50 20, it is written as for you.
You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to keep many people alive.
Now this is the story of Joseph Jacob’s son, one of the uh, founders of the 12 tribes of Israel, one of the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Here we see that even when man intends harm upon us, God can use it for your good.
Joseph, the son of Jacob who became Israel was abandoned and thrown in a pit by his brothers.
But God anointed Joseph and used it for good while his brothers intended for him to become a slave and for their own personal gain.
God made Joseph equal to Pharaoh in Egypt and used Joseph’s provision to help Israel survive, grow and multiply before saving the Israelites
in a future generation.
Some of you may feel like you’re in Joseph’s shoes.
Your family has forsaken you.
You’ve been accused, spent time in prison and no one cares that you’re alive.
But that’s where Joseph was just before God raised him up and used Joseph for the salvation of his holy people.
Your past doesn’t dictate your future.
A few other scriptures come to mind.
Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for disaster.
To give you a future and a hope I came that you might enjoy life and have it abundantly declares the Lord.
Be patient, be still, and wait for the Lord.
He’s faithful and he will deliver in the in-between.
Humble yourself before God and allow, do not resist our heavenly Father.
In Revelation 22, 13 is written, I am the alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
Since God is both the beginning and the end, it means that you’ll never be alone, never be forsaken and never be forgotten.
Put your faith into the Lord and you will find salvation.
It is ridden. I will never leave you or forsake you in Colossians three, two, set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Life can be distracting between relationships, bills to pay, social pressures and other environmental pressures.
But make no mistake about it.
These things are not as substantial as they seem.
Focus your intention on serving and loving God, treating others with the compassion and grace with which you wish to be treated even when they do not treat you this way.
And give of yourself to the point of death.
Do not stop giving, loving or showing compassion.
Be kind. Be gentle and be gracious.
No human being is more worthy than you are.
And Luke 12, five, it has written, but I will warn you whom to fear.
Fear. The one who after he has killed someone has the power to throw that person into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him. These are the words of Yesh.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
According to Proverbs of Proverbs, God made Solomon to be the wisest human being before our Lord and Savior, Yesh or Christ Jesus.
The Nazarene Christ repeatedly reminds us that fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Not only does God have power over man, all of man’s doings, but God also has the power to destroy someone after death.
For this reason, we must pray for those who persecute us.
And we must be reminded that no matter how much pain we are in right now, it does not compare to hell a life for eternity without God.
In one John four 18, it is ridden.
There is no fear and love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
God’s laws are for us to keep because they help us love God and love one another.
The 10 commandments can best be summarized by these two choices.
Love God and love one another.
When we love God and we love one another perfectly, there is nothing to fear.
We are living in relationship with God.
We are guided and we are together as one people before the Lord our God.
When someone needs our help or guidance, we are there.
When someone pushes us away, we wait patiently and set an example in love.
We pray for them, we accept them, and we seek God for them when they do not know how to do so for themselves.
In this way, I’m seeking God for you Today I am praying.
I’m asking God to intervene in your life right now, to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to embody you entirely.
So there’s no room for Satan or any other demonic force that is attempting to trick you into sacrificing your own eternal life.
Remember, you will live forever either, either in heaven or in hell.
This is truth and it is ridden.
And finally, last but certainly not least, God reminded us 365 times in the Bible.
Do not be afraid. Fear not, et Cetera.
Many of the same meaning phrases once for every single day of the year.
Isn’t that amazing? We can be reminded through scripture once every day, all year long.
Do not be afraid. Do not fear. He’s the Lord God.
He has come for us once and he will come for us again.
He’s the truth the way, and the life placed your fear in the Lord so you will not fear for your life or any other man or woman.
Be steadfast and surrender any time you feel weak.
Thank the Lord. When you feel strong and contagiously bring others to God in the very same way you’ve been brought back to the Lord today.
In closing church, I remind you of one thing.
Over 300 prophecies of Christ Jesus have been revealed to date with many more to come.
He spoke it and it happened 300 times.
So when the Lord says to seek him with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, and all of your strength, and you too will be saved
and written into the book of life.
Believe him. God chose what is perhaps the most painful death.
Sacrifice himself as the lamb of God.
And promise to return is the lion of Judah to wreak final judgment upon evil, he will deliver.
It’s not your fight, it is God’s fight.
And God is fighting for you. God is willing to die for you.
God is willing to give what is most dear to him for you.
God is willing to perform miracles for you.
God is willing to heal you.
God is willing to grant you peace and perhaps most inspiring of all if you allow him.
God is willing to live inside of you in your heart as Holy Spirit.
Turn away from sin. Repent.
When you have impure thoughts or make impure choices, come back under God’s authority, not Satan’s by professing your apology
and love for and to God.
Remember his son. This is a significant thing he has done for you.
Imagine if you sacrificed your only son to be scd, crucified, spit on and beaten in order to save someone you have never met
face to face before.
This was and is a bold action that God has taken for you.
Remember, God has loved you and God has loved you first, that you might love him.
And if it seems foreign for you to love someone or something that you have never met, consider this
love can be practiced.
Every moment, every breath that you take, every choice that you make can either lean towards love for God or not.
And if you didn’t make the choice to lean into loving God in the last moment, this moment is brand new.
You can make a new choice. You can practice.
God gave you time. Time for God is an illusion for us.
It’s a new opportunity.
Every single second, we might think that we messed up, but because of the gift of time, we have another chance to do things right This time
around our sins can be forgotten.
They need not perpetuate for eternity. Our love.
On the other hand, can reverberate affect one another and be bounced around heaven in God’s memory of you as you live eternally with him.
Celebrate the moment. Celebrate the moment you get to heaven and hear a heavenly cheer.
You’ve made it. You’ve had to adapt.
You’ve had to humble yourself before God.
And man, you’ve had to start again.
You’ve had to feel all sorts of feelings, make all sorts of choices, and almost make all sorts of other choices you ended up not making yet.
In the end, it’s all behind you.
Now your entrance to heaven is going to be grand and God is waiting for you there right now with open arms and a loving heart.
Not just any loving heart, but the loving heart.
The heart from which love was born continues to be created and exponentially grows every single day.
Church, you are the chosen few.
You have limitless value to God or God would not have created you.
You are important to God, or God would not have died for you.
God pursues fellowship with you.
So will you pursue fellowship back with God?
Or will you ignore God’s calling on your life due to temporary circumstances?
Oftentimes, what seems endless in the moment looks fleeting.
In hindsight, when we reflect upon our lives and hardships we have endured.
Trust God and trust God’s plan for your life, for it leads to eternal life with your father in heaven.
He has not chosen because of religion.
He has chosen you because he loves you and because you love him too.
It’s because you believe in His son.
And God is asking you to put self-interest and self-sabotage aside.
Help others find him and find purpose.
In doing so, set your face upon God.
Seek God. And you’ll find out just as I have, that God is asking you for help.
Wow. God is asking you to help. He’s not demanding it.
He’s asking.
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