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hi everyone i'd like to talk to you
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today a little bit about
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mental health and leave you with three
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biblical prescriptions that i know will
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help you
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[Music]
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hi for those who haven't met me i'm dr
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james markham
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and i want to thank you so much for
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joining us on this youtube
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channel and i want to encourage you to
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invite your friends and neighbors
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because we're growing
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and our goal is simple we want to have a
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community that loves each other
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that supports each other that cares for
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each other
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and please leave comments and
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suggestions below
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where we can know how you're feeling and
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thinking about these things
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but today i want to leave you with three
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biblical prescriptions
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that you can use to help your mental
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health
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i know in this pandemic that we've been
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through
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and in life there can be lots of anxiety
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lots of fear lots of depression
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everyone's going through a lot this year
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and they've looked at the statistics and
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over the last year we've had more
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problems with anxiety
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suicides depression than we've ever had
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before
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so i think it's a good idea that we talk
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about some biblical prescriptions that
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will help us
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remember a biblical prescription helps
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the whole body
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we call this holism it helps many
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different chemical pathways in the body
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whereas a prescription medicine we call
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that reductionism
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for instance medications might change
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one specific
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pathway but it doesn't change lots of
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pathways throughout the body
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so biblical prescriptions really are
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more holistic
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some people do have genetic problems and
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need prescription medications
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but we want to always try to change our
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physiology
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with biblical prescriptions if possible
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and sometimes these different
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prescriptions or treatments can work
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together
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but i hope you haven't suffered from
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anxiety and mental health but i'm going
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to leave you
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three biblical prescriptions and the
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first one
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is psalms 19 verse 1. psalms 19 verses
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1.
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it says the heavens
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declare the glory of god
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and the firmament shows his handiwork
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well whenever we see the glory of god
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how beautiful he is you know we see the
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heavens we see the earth and how
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beautiful it is it does something for us
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chemically remember we were designed to
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be
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outdoors and not indoors
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so let's talk a little bit about how our
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physiology changes
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when we're out of doors when we see the
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glory of god when we see the beauty his
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creation when we're outdoors
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just being outdoors helps us get fresh
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air
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helps our oxygenation through the whole
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body it also helps us with vitamin
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d everyone's heard about vitamin d
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vitamin d
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is needed to help eventually make a
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chemical in our brain called
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serotonin when people are outdoors they
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tend to move more
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moving more helps the circulation more
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oxygen more blood better supply of
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nutrients to the brain
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but one of the things it does when we're
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outdoors we see the beauty of god these
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awe-inspiring things whether it be a
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sunset
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whether it be the ocean well when we
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ever see
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his beautiful handiwork we see the glory
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of god
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and when we appreciate the glory of god
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and come into his presence
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there's something very special that's
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done in our physiology
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we through going outside and
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appreciating nature
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we can see his handiwork we can become
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close to god
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we can come into a state of worship we
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know
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when we worship god our chemistry
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changes
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there's been several studies that have
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been done that shows the part of the
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brain the
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anterior cingulate cortex the god brain
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changes
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less stress better immune system
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lowers blood pressure we tend to have
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deeper
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breathing we relax when we go out in
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nature we might touch nature we know
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that people that
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garden that go on walks i've heard of
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some people that get really depressed
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and feel terrible that they just go out
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in nature and have these big
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walkabouts where they just go and hike a
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trail where they spend a large
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amount of time outdoors well not only do
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you connect with nature
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but this also gives you a chance to
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connect with your creator in different
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ways
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so it's very important for our mental
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health a biblical prescription if you're
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having problems with anxiety
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if you're having problems with
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depression get outdoors
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see god's beauty now what does that look
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like
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well for some people it might be taking
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a walk
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for some people it might be going on
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vacation
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for some people it might be walking on a
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trail or riding a bike or
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going on a canoe or walking in a garden
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a botanical garden
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or going to the zoo for some of us it
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might just be going outside and watching
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a sun
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sunrise or a sunset or it might be going
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to the ocean
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or it might be listening to a brook
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where some way
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we could connect with god's creation
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unfortunately some of us might not be
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able to go outside at all
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well we can still visualize things
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can you think about what it would be
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like to see a sunset we could get a
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picture of a sunset
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or you could go somewhere on the
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internet and see something that's
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beautiful
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the grand canyon waterfalls great
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beauty mountains a beautiful things that
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god made
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when we do this there's a physical
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change in our body
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it also can bring us closer to god it
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can also be
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an act of worship so i want you to
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remember that text psalms 19
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1 and make ways to be outside
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or to appreciate the beauty that god's
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made
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it's a biblical prescription something
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holistic
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that will change your entire chemistry
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make a plan to do this remember god
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created adam and eve and they were in a
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great garden so they got to experience
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this
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all the time for much of earth's history
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we didn't stay much time indoors we were
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outdoors
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all the time and when we do this there's
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physiologic changes
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that help our mental status so that's
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number one
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biblical prescription well what's number
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two
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the second biblical prescription and i
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want to have us
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turn to john and that's in the new
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testament
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one of the gospels john 4 verse 10.
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and i'm going to flip there to them and
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you can turn there with me
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i'm john 4 verse 10. and that
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text is a text that christ said himself
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jesus answered and said to her
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the woman at the well if you knew the
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gift of god
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and who it is who says to you give me a
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drink
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you would have asked him and he would
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have given you
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living water so the second biblical
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prescription i want to give you
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is water remember when we come to christ
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in worship
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that's the living water but we also need
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physical water no matter what season it
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is
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the brain mental health does good when
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we're
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hydrated well it's been estimated that
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up to 70 percent of our brain is
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water we don't get enough water it puts
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stress on our brains we get dehydrated
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it also stresses out the rest of the
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body and when we're bodies under stress
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guess what inflammation occurs the
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stress
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chemistry is turned on we just don't
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feel as good we don't breathe as well
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our brain is affected remember the whole
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body
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is interconnected so something as simple
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as
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water can help our bodies tremendously
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but i also want you to remember in this
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text not only
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physical water which continues to keep
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us alive
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but living water remember the physical
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water helps our body
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but the living water jesus that also
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helps our body
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and in this text john 4 10 it says
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it is he who says to you give me a drink
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that's christ saying
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you would have asked him and he would
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have given you not more than the
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physical water
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but by being with him by being with
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christ you can have
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living water so in helping your mental
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health
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we want the physical water we want the
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living water
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now what does that look like in your
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life well it might be simple as getting
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a drink of water every morning before
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you brush your teeth
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before you eat a meal it might be
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drinking water instead of soda pop
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it might be just consciously making sure
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you're hydrated
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well you want to drink enough water till
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your urine comes out
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clear but as you drink
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the physical water spend a second
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to remember the living water have i
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connected with the living water today
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have i worshiped today have i asked
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christ to help me
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with all of my problems whether it be
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anxiety or depression
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have i asked god to help my brain do
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better
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have i asked god to find the other
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things that he can give me that i can
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improve my brain health
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and he might lead you to things like
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walnuts and almonds or blueberries or
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better diet
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he might lead you to turning off media
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or focusing on positive things and not
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negative things
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remember every input affects our brains
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and this living water can give you power
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to see the things
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and the inputs you need to do to change
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your entire
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physiology number one prescription
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being outside number two prescription
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water and living water and now let's
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look at prescription
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number three and we're going to the
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proverbs for that
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proverbs proverbs 16 verses 20.
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so the third biblical prescription i'd
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like to leave with you today
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is one of happiness you know
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in this world that we're in a lot of
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people are pretty
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tight they're uptight they're not happy
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well it's okay to laugh it's okay to
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focus on happy things
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it's okay to do things that are fun it's
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okay to see the lighter side in life
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it's okay to belly laugh well in
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proverbs 16
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20 it's another biblical prescription
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and it says this he who
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heeds the word wisely will find
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good and whoever trusts
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in the lord happy is he
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it doesn't necessarily mean that we have
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to be giddy
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and laugh all the time even though that
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helps us make a chemical called
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endorphins but when we trust in the lord
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when we worship him when we realize that
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the trials of this world
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including anxiety and depression and
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fear when we trust in the lord guess
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what
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he promises that we would happy as he he
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would give us a place
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inside where we know that even though we
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face trials
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sometimes he's allows our trials
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including
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problems with mental health to make us
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stronger
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to encourage that relationship because
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god sees us
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forever not just for the here and now
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so many of us battle with mental health
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but these are some things
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that we can do biblical prescriptions
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and when we're
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outside we have physiologic changes when
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we drink
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water we also can improve our body when
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we're happy and see the good side of
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things and when we trust in god
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and we have that peace that comes from
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that relationship
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we have true joy inside and also
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you know getting back to happiness you
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know one thing that helps me
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and you might want to try this as you
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know sometimes when you're feeling bad
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you might be a little depressed might be
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a little unhappy
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just find something funny to laugh at or
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some people just laugh at themselves
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just laughing out loud in itself
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creates chemistry endorphins that are
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good for you
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so even if you don't have anything
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that's funny just occasionally
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go through the motion
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[Laughter]
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[Music]
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just by hearing other people laugh you
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might laugh
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you might be more happy but when you
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have that laugh or that focus on being
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happy
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i want you to also remember this text
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whoever trusts the lord
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that's where true happiness and true joy
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can be in forever so we don't have to
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depend
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on everything else that's going on so
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when we think about
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depression and anxiety and all the
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mental health problems we've had
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focus on these three things and
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hopefully
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through worship and through this
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relationship with god he'll help you
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find
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other physiologic things that you can do
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to improve your mental health
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thanks for joining me today and i want
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to
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share with you some other resources if
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you're interested in worship we have a
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worship app that you can come to and
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look at we want to stay
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involved in you and community where we
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can pray for you
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and be with you and encourage you and we
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want to
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invite you to leave comments let other
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people know
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that you're praying for them that we're
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pulling together as a christian
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believers and that we want to continue
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to have god leading us
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as we search for biblical prescriptions
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for life
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you
