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We live in a world that's full of discouragement.
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We live in a world that's full of depression.
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I googled some basic things:
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"Depression is one of the greatest problems
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and killers of our time.
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Depressive disorders affect approximately
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19 million American adults.
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Depression will be the second largest killer
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after heart disease by 2020.
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"Studies show that depression is a contributory
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factor even to coronary disease, which is the first.
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Studies have shown that these are the people
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who tend to be most depressed:"
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Listen to this.
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Who are the people who are most depressed?
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"Persons 45 to 64, women, blacks, Hispanics,
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non-Hispanics..." It's like, isn't that everybody?
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"Persons with less than a high school education,
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those previously married,
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individuals unable to work or unemployed.
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Persons without health insurance coverage.
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Suicide is the second leading cause of death
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in college students."
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It's like if you don't have an education, you're susceptible.
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If you do have one, you are.
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"44% of American college students reported
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feeling symptoms of depression.
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Preschoolers are the fastest growing market
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for antidepressants.
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The rate of increase of depression among children
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is an astounding 23% per year."
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Why? Brethren, why all the depression?
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Why all the discouragement in this world?
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Why?
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What's going on?
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Why no hope?
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Well, of course they have no hope!
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Listen, just live your life in sin
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with a conscience that's defiled,
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and Scripture says eternity written on your heart.
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You know what?
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Romans 1 assumes every man, woman, and child
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has an idea about the existance of God.
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We know God exists.
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We know we're living in sin.
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Our conscience is defiled.
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Eternity is written on our heart.
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We've got some idea that death is foreboding.
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What does the world say?
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Come drink our kind of beer and get happy.
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Of course college students are depressed!
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You know why? Nobody's giving any sound answers!
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I can remember one time, I think one of you showed it to me,
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I saw a YouTube video.
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Some guy dying...
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And some woman, some kind of psychologist
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was in there, and she's trying to make him feel good.
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And he just bursts out and told her to shut up.
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And he said, "Look, I'm dying. I've lived a wicked life,
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I'm full of sin.
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All this stuff you have to say doesn't help."
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That's why there's so much depression
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in this world.
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Because people are dealing with the real problems
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and they're not given real answers.
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There's no hope in this world,
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because that's exactly what Scripture says.
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When you're separated from Christ,
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you're alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,
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you're strangers to the covenant of promise,
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which is the promise made to Abraham,
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you're strangers to it,
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well, you have no hope!
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You're without God in the world!
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Of course, you're hopeless!
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Do you think money helps soothe the conscience?
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Do you think beer helps? For a little bit maybe,
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but then you wake up.
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None of it helps.
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It just leaves us more empty,
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more despairing, more troubled.
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Then you've got all these college students out there.
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We can't even hardly get on the college students.
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They don't want us to go in there with the truth.
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We've got the message to set them free.
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We've got the message to give them hope.
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But they don't even want that kind of message there.
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You come carrying a Bible, they get
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all freaked out on the college campuses today.
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We can't hardly stay on one college campus in this city.
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Of course, 44% of them feel like they're depressed,
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and a lot of them want to commit suicide.
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There's no answers.
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Brethren, we've got the answer here.
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Here's where the hope is.
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Here's where the strong encouragement is.
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There is a God who will save to the uttermost
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all those that come to Him through Jesus Christ,
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and find an anchor for their soul there.
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He deals with it.
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The answers for every problem mankind has
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is answered in this Book.
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Every one of them.
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There are solid answers.
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There are good answers.