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Hey friend, and welcome to the Jaben Chavis Leadership Podcast. Man, I'm praying these are a blessing for you in your leadership. It has been such a joy to bring this back and to bring this to you and I hope the content is helping you, helping your team, helping your organization. Whether you're in the business world or the church world or you're a senior pastor, wherever you're at in life, I'm praying this is is a help to you. Hey, make sure that you like and subscribe. And you're following the City Light Vegas page where we are live streaming our services every Sunday. We are dropping a brand new sermon every Sunday night. We're bringing you fresh leadership content like this every Wednesday and then every Friday we are dropping worship. So bringing you a lot of content. Really trying to make this page a resource for you, for your teams and just for your walk with Jesus both in and outside of the church. I want to talk a little bit about you, the leader today and I want to talk about your emotional health and I want to talk about kind of how to navigate and deal with the emotions specifically of ministry. I've been preaching out of Psalm 42 a lot lately as the psalmist is asking questions. And what's interesting about the questions that he's asking is he doesn't necessarily get answers. So he's saying things like, why, why am I so discouraged and why does. Why is my heart broken and why am I feeling this pain and my enemies are speaking against me? Where is your God? He's going through all of this pain. In Psalm 42, I thirst for God, for the living God, and then I will put my hope in God. I will praise you again. He says, so all of this stuff is going on in Psalm 42 and in Psalm 43, which a lot of theologians believe is is the same one and just a longer version of that. But all of this is happening. And I remember years and years and years ago an older preacher telling me, jabin, the death of the preacher is a death by paper cuts. Death by paper cuts. It's a little cut here and a little cut here and a little cut here and a little cut here and a little slice here and a little slice here. And before you know it, you've got you bled out. Your life has bled out and you kind of even don't even know where it happened. But you know, this person left and this relationship got weird momentum. You lost momentum here and you thought this was going to happen and it didn't happen. You thought this was going to take six months, and it took 18 months. And before you know it, it's a lot of little things. It could be unaddressed sin. A little bit here and a little bit here. What Solomon called the little Foxes, right, in Song of Solom end up ruining the vine. Little things here and here and here and here. And I know what that feels like, especially now in this season of my life. It's not the big temptations, right? It's not the big things. It's just a lot of little things. It's a lot of change. It's a lot of little cuts. It's a lot of little pains. It's. You know, even in my life, my life has changed so much. Especially in the last year and especially since even moving into our building. And from the outside looking in, all of it is good, but all of it has brought change. Change of relationships, change of season, change of rhythms, change of change. Just all change. And again, even good change is change. Hello. Even good transition and what I believe Henry Cloud called necessary endings. Like, even if you know it's good, even if you know it's God, it's still different, still change. So I'm just. I'm just kind of working through all that. I think a lot of you are as well. So here's three questions I'm asking myself. Okay? Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to? Is anyone among you in trouble? James, chapter five. I love this little phrase. Let him call. Let him call. Let him call for the elders that they could anoint him with oil and pray for him. And the prayer offered in faith will heal the sick man. I just think there's something there. Are you in trouble? Who are you calling? Who are you talking to, man? I'm a little discouraged. Who are you talking to, man? I'm so frustrated with my staff. Who are you talking to, man? I just don't feel like church is breaking through. Who are you talking to, man? Me and my wife have just not connected. Who are you talking to? I just want to encourage you, even today as you're watching this, to pick up the phone and call somebody and just get honest with somebody about your life. Who are you talking to? It might be a great sin. You might. You might be dealing with alcoholism. You might be dealing with a pornography addiction. You might be. You might be committing adultery. Or, man, you might just be, like, a little bit down and you just kind of don't know why. Who are you talking to? If you can keep talking, God can Keep moving if you can. If you can keep talking, you're safe. Who are you talking to? I talk to people. I'm connected to people. I'm not isolated. And I want to tell you, you could be isolated, whether you're like my friend John Termini on the island of Hawaii, or you could be isolated living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or you could be isolated living in Dallas, or you could be isolated living in Vegas. It's a choice. It's as connected as you want to be. So whether you're off on an island five hours from the mainland, whether you're in Vegas, which is its own island, kind of five hours from civilization, whether you live in Dallas, Texas, and there's a million preachers surrounding you, isolation is a choice. Who you calling? Who you processing with? Who you crying with? Who you laughing with? You've got to keep talking. Number two, what are you doing? Is there anything right now that you know. Think about what I'm saying. Anything in your life right now that you know about that you know, you need to remove it from your life. You know it. Whether it is a big sin or it's just something that you have not confronted, something you've not dealt with, something you have not brought change to. Is there anything you're procrastinating about? Is there anything that you know that if you could address that, it would be a hinge that would begin to change something major in your life? I'd go after that thing. What are you doing? Is there any. Is it a TV show? Is it a friend again? Is it a sin? Is it. Is it how you eat? Is it how you're sleeping? Is it. What. What are you. What are you doing that you. What is it? Is it people around you that you know, you need to create distance? What are you doing? What are you doing that. That you know, if you could. If. If the Holy Spirit's shining a light on something right now, I'm gonna have a little drink of coffee because I'm preaching good. So cheers. Something in your life that you would go, man, I need it. I need to address that. I need to address that in my marriage. I need to address that in my family. I need to address that in my private life. I need to address that on my staff. Is there anything. I would challenge you? Because when you are not confronting things in your life that you know you need to confront, not only are they there and continuing to do damage, but they're eating up emotional and mental space. I had to make a tough decision this week about some staff Transitions. Nothing bad, just transition. I knew I needed to do that a year ago and it's been eating up real estate in my mind. I just didn't want to do it. I finally did it. I feel so much better. And it wasn't even a bad one. It was just a. We've got to make some moves within the organization. Moving people in and out of the organization, moving people's jobs within the like, all little things that I knew I needed to do that. I've just been so overwhelmed with the building and so overwhelmed with construction and so overwhelmed that I finally was like, all right, we're gonna, we're gonna make these moves. That's just one little thing. And I feel so much better. Imagine for you, if it's like, if there's something that God's putting his finger on, someone you need to forgive, something you need to make right, something, man, do it. What are you doing? And then lastly, what can you do to bring healing and energy to your life? And I've talked about energy and I've been talking about energy and I'm going to talk more about energy. But what are you doing to bring healing and energy to your life? So let's start spiritual. Get in the word, get in prayer and start there. Start spiritual and then go holistic. But start spiritual. Pray first in the word, first prayer and fasting back to a spiritual desperation. When's the last time you did a three day fast? When's the last time? And you just got in the Word all day? When's the last time you just had a. Had a day with the Lord? When's the last time you went on a prayer walk? You just prayed in the Holy Ghost. Start spiritual. Make sure that that is healthy and strong and vibrant and then go holistic. What hobbies can you add? What decisions can you make to start bringing energy? Whether it's golf or the gym or on and on and on gardening, whatever it might be. I was talking to Chad Veach about this. I recently was on his podcast. And if you would have asked me a few years ago, what's your hobby? I would have said music. You know, I'm a former worship leader. I'm a musician. So though I'm not leading worship anymore, I still love music. Play piano, play guitar, play bass, drums, sing. I love music and I'm good at it. I'm actually good at musical person. And if you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said, well, my hobby is music. And I realized that music is too connected to Work. Like if I pick up a guitar, I feel the pressure. I got to write a worship song. Or if I. If I play the piano, I feel like I gotta. It's too connected to work. It's too connected to my career and it's too connected to ministry. And I don't know how to just enjoy the guitar. I can't just pick it up. I have to pick it up and kind of like try to make something happen. And I feel the pressure to do that. So it's not a hobby. It's not adding energy. Music is a part of work for me. It's a beautiful part of work. It's a creative part of work. It's a blessed part of work. It's something. I'm so grateful God's given me that ability, but it's still work. So I had to find a hobby outside of that. For me, that was golf. For me, that's Orange Theory. For one hour, I can walk into that Orange Theory. No phone and it's just me and that screen. It's just me against me. It's just me against whoever's next to me on the treadmill. And you just go in and for one hour, I'm just not a. Not in anything. Not a preacher. I'm not a. I'm not a. I'm nothing. I'm just. I'm a competitor. For one hour, that helps me. It gives my mind a break. Golf gives my mind. All I can think about is that little white ball. Counseling. I said what could bring healing and energy counseling. Who are you talking to again? I talked about talking more in the context of friends and spiritual. But maybe counseling is what you need to do. Maybe you need to go on a retreat. Maybe you need to go on a five day retreat and just get honest. Maybe you and your wife need to go on something. Just what could bring energy and healing to your life? I would do it. And I would not just do it once. I would try to do whatever you can to incorporate that in your life. So people go, man, you golf twice a week. Wow. Yeah, I do. Yep. I'm filming this on Tuesday. I golfed Sunday, nine holes. I will golf Thursday and I will golf Friday. And I make no apologies for it because I have. Because I have to keep this thing. And I'm not talking about my mind. I'm talking about my brain. I'm not talking about my soul. I'm talking about my body. I got to keep it fresh yesterday. Monday I did Orange Theory. Today I'll take the day off. Tomorrow I'll do orange theory again. I'll golf Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning, I'll do orange theory again. Sunday I will do no orange theory, but I'll play golf nine holes after church. I've had to do this or I'll go crazy. So what could bring energy? Maybe it's planting a little garden outside in your house. Yeah, it's getting a. Whatever your hobby is going to be. Figure that out. Because that Psalm 42 thing is real. And let me just say this, and I'll wrap it up, because I've been already going long. In Psalm 42, David says, why am I discouraged? He kind of gives some hints why he's discouraged, but he doesn't really know. You know, my enemies are talking. So I have an enemy. I miss going into your house with the congregation. There's that. But really, in general, he kind of. He doesn't really have answers. And you're not always going to have answers for why you feel what you feel. I don't always have answers for why I feel what I feel. So I just got to work on health and healing and energy and family and walk with Jesus because those. Those emotions are coming and going. Those emotions are coming and going, and I don't want to. I could preach all this again. I don't want to. So I recently preached a sermon called Facing Disappointment. I'd love for you to grab it. It'll be in the. In the notes below. Facing Disappointment. Such an important message. I don't want to start preaching all that again, but. So I've got to work on anything I can do to stay healthy while the emotions are happening. In Jesus name. I love you. I believe in you. I'm praying for you. I believe you're in the right place at the right time. I believe God's hand is on you. And I believe that if you'll work on some of these things, it's going to keep you going for a long time. And it's not just going to keep you going for a long time. You're going to have a good time. You're going to actually enjoy the journey. In Jesus name. All right, see you next week. God bless you.