The Eric Metaxas Show - Jack Graham (Encore)

Episode Date: August 27, 2021

Jack Graham shares the deep depression which almost totally sidelined him, and provides helpful advice from his new book, "Reignite: Fresh Focus for an Enduring Faith." (Encore Presentation)

The following program is pre-recorded. The Eric Mattaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Albin. Yes, sir. This is a segment called Ask Mattaxas. I just realized I am Metaxus. So you ask me the questions. These questions have been sent into us by you, the viewers and listeners to this program

on Instagram. We got a ton of all. We got a lot of questions. Yeah, here we go. And before we get to our guests, I'm going to try to answer as many of these as I can and go. Okay, one. Who gave you your wicked sense of humor? Uh, the comedian soupy sales. Oh, good. Now, that's not true. No? My sense, I write about this in my book, uh, fish out of water. My, this is true. The German side. My mother and my grandma, my grandmother

was hilarious. And my mother, my Tanta Eleanor, what it was constant joking with them. And I realized that I got most of it from them. Now, my, my. My cousin, Yangos in Greece and my dad, they have their own sense of humor. But it's really bizarre that most of that constant joking kind of comes from them. Again, I write about it in the book in detail. But that's true. That was the culture hanging out with my mom and my grandmother and just watch TV and make fun of the people on TV. That's great.

Okay. Second question. Do you have any suggestions for unbiased browsers or search engines? Not really. although Bing.com or Duck Duck Go, either of those, Bing or Duck, Duck, Go. Yeah, my wife uses Duck, Duck, Go. Okay, are you planning or on writing another biography on a historical figure, and if so, who? I'm not because I think, you know, a lot of times people come up to me in book signing lines and they say,

hey, I got an idea for a book and you're like, okay, like it'll cost you like five seconds of your life. It will cost me two years or three years of my life to write the book. So it has to rise to the level where I think people are going to read it, people are going to buy it. It's a lot of my time. So if it doesn't sell a certain amount. So I can write about an obscure figure and nobody's interested. So it's hard to write a biography. I really have to feel God calling me to write a biography.

So right now, I don't feel the calling to do that. Don't you have seven more women in the pipeline? Seven more women is in the pipeline. Seven more men is out. Yeah, there he go. Okay. Do you ever imagine you'd be an, or did you ever imagine you'd be an advocate for free speech? That is the, that's the easiest know of my life.

The idea, I never imagined that free speech would be threatened in the United States of America. And it's sick, folks. And, and you know, listen, a lot of you listening to this, you might be part of the problem. You're buying into the fear and you're being quiet. Don't be like that. You're not in junior high school where you worry about what everybody thinks. speak the truth and trust God. Worry about what God thinks

and what comes out of your mouth. And then you don't have to worry what people think. But in this country, we would have never achieved what we achieved in this country if we had not valued every kind of freedom, particularly free speech. And if you don't understand that and don't live that out,

you're walking down the wrong path. Please take that seriously. Well, I like this next question. What was your nickname in college? I had some friend Spike Lee's brother, David was a dear friend and one of our roommates and he called me Rico. Like, Rico. And so the people in the room, I mean the other roommates, because we had a whole big suite, they would say Rico. And the funny thing is, I never think of that.

And no one's ever called me that. But it's kind of like one of those things. It's like in the family. Somebody has a name for you. And it's not like a real name. It's just kind of they see you and they say, hey, Rick, you know. So nobody calls me that. Where did it come from?

The Rico. Well, it comes from E-R-C-E-R-C. It's like Rick, Eric, Rick, RICO. Anyway, never mind. Okay, here's a guy named Robin from Australia. I love your Bonhofer book, movie someday. Would I like to go to a movie with you, Robin from Australia? Well, I'm married, Robin.

I can't just go to a movie with anybody. No, actually, I think what Robin is saying is, are we going to make a movie of the Bunhoffap? Yes. Yes. We need a little bit more funding. The tranches are like a quarter of a million is the minimum investment. I think it's a good investment.

But we are, we're making the movie. I mean, we just have to get this tiny bit left. If there's any big investors. A quarter of a million. Yeah, a million. I don't have that. Not a quarter of a hundred. Okay.

But I'm just saying like we are, we're basically there. We're there. And I hope it'll come out next year. I mean, that's not, I'm not kidding. This is very exciting. I never talk about it because when you're talking about the funding, you just don't talk about anything else. But it's very exciting.

Yes, the answer is yes. Praise God. Okay, now this is going to get you mad. Give me one or two main reasons why you believe the landing on the moon was legitimate. I don't know where I was. I think I was someplace giving a talk. And I made fun of the flat earthers. Like I used flat earth as, you know, like if somebody doesn't believe X, it's like saying the earth is flat.

And a woman came up to me in the line with something on her phone because she's become convinced that the earth is flat. And I was so annoyed that I said, I rebuke you because I thought, you've got to be kidding, lady. Like all the things in the world that we could be arguing about. And you've decided that you want to believe that. like Aristotle knew the earth was not flat. Like this is not a new thing. It wasn't Columbus. So the idea that people would say,

I don't believe we land on the moon, I believe it was a hoax. I mean, I have met people who walked on the moon. I have met Buzz Aldrin and talked to him about it. He took communion on the moon. I write about that in my book, everything I always wanted to know about God,

but we're afraid to ask. There's a million reasons, but the idea that there are people out there who aren't convinced to this, I just got to say, you need to get a lie, folks. Well, this is not a good question. They saw Capricorn 1 with O.J. Simpson, and that's why they believe it was a hoax.

Okay, where do you fellowship? Where do I fellowship? Yes. Well, I don't want to give the official name of our church, but I've been traveling and speaking so many Sundays and churches that I have really not been going to our church. Central Presbyterian on 64th in Park, wonderful church typically, but I've just not been able to go. And then whenever I'm in, when wherever I am home on the weekend, I visit my, my old folks, my parents, my mom and dad up in Connecticut. So a fellowship is more like it's been more friends and praying with Suzanne and that kind of thing, which by the way, I don't approve of not having a church home or a church life. So we're going, COVID kind of screwed us up.

But I think a lot of people say that. So the answer is, you know, let me get back to you on that because this is a weird, it's been a weird season in my life. Anne and I have started going to jump. Jonathan Kahn's Beth Israel in Wayne, New Jersey. Okay, here we go. How long do you think it will be be until New York City's back to pre-lockdown days? How long? Well, de Blasio has brought the city back to 1978 levels of crime, poverty, and graffiti.

So I don't know if we're going to get back. We need three other Giuliani's to come in. But basically, it basically is. I would say now I know that the theaters and stuff, they're opening up in September. So like any time, I would make my trip. I would make my plans and there's a lot of good churches here. Yep. How do you have such an amazing memory of your life?

Fish out of water was amazing. Everybody says that. Yeah. And I don't understand why. I mean, my memory is my memory. I don't think I have particularly wonderful memory. But everybody says it. How do you remember this?

And I remember all these details. I'm amazed. Honestly, I don't really know how. I just, you know, I just wrote what. I know. And I guess I have a pretty vivid memory in some things and other things I don't. Okay. How do you pronounce A-C-H-A-I-A-A-A-A from First Corinthians? Is it Greek or Latin? What name is that? Achaea. Akea. Akea from First Corinthians is Greek. The Achaeans, if you read Homer, the Greeks are sometimes called the Argives, sometimes they're called the Achaeans. But it's Akea. And it's,

It is Greek. Thank you. Okay. Great. Does God approve of spaceflight? Only if it's not on Wednesdays, Fridays, or the Sabbath. Uh-oh. Actually, I got an email from somebody. I don't know if this is the same person, but somebody emailed us and actually said, isn't, aren't the heavens the realm of God? And does God disapprove of spaceflight?

And I thought, I never thought of that before. In my book, Fish Out of Water, I actually say that, when the man landed on the moon in 1969, it rained for like three weeks straight after that. And I thought that it's because the man in the moon is crying. I remember I told my parents that because I thought it was kind of a strange thing that we went up there. But the short answer is no, absolutely not. Last question. How can we pre-order is atheism dead?

Go to ericmetaxis.com. Go to ericotentatx.com. Pre-order the book, but definitely send it for my newsletter. If you're not sent it for the newsletter, you're dead to me. Dead to me. Do you understand? Dead to me. Ericmatxas.com. Thank you.

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800, 500, 800, 8384. I use it. It works. Well, I left Kentucky back in 49 and went to Detroit. Ladies and gentlemen, we're at the NRB in Dallas. And I can't say anything negative about Dallas because I'm sitting here with Jack Graham, who is the head pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church. You probably haven't heard of it.

It's a little country church, not many parishioners. Jack, welcome. Hey, thank you. I need to clarify something with you, though. You are in Fort Worth, Dallas. I know you're in New York, and you don't know Texas that well. But you mean I'm so close to Fort Worth that I need to say Fort Worth, Dallas, D of W? Because Fort Worth, I was raised in Fort Worth, Texas. And we were raised to love God and hate Dallas. You know what? I forgot about that. And now you have gone over to the dark side. You're working in Dallas. I was in Dallas, but we moved the church to Plano, actually, Plano, Plano, Texas.

So we got out of Dallas. So technically. No, I love Dallas and the Cowboys and all things. I actually love Dallas, too. I was at an event at Dallas Cowboys Stadium the other day. They're renting that sucker out for high-end events. It cost a billion dollars to build it. And, oh, yeah.

Well, they've got, did they need to build it? That's not go into that. So Jerry Jones is not here. We could say anything we want. So seriously, though, I love Dallas. I get to Dallas more than any part of the country. I've spoken in your church a few times. We've become friends.

Always welcome. And eventually former friends, but I'm still willing to have you on my program. Jack, I joke around with people I love. Your new book is called Reignite. Fresh Focus for an Enduring Faith. Okay, Jack Graham, what is Reignite about? Well, it will forever be known now, I guess, is my COVID book. It came out during the pandemic.

And I wanted to write a book about really my life story. in terms of not me personally, but just how I view the Christian life. And now as a veteran believer, I've been tracking with the Lord. As a what? As a what? A veteran believer? That means I'm older. But I just wanted to say, so what are the essentials of the Christian life? How do you keep going? How do you finish well? And so that was the goal, the enduring faith. The writer of Hebrew says you have need of endurance. And then COVID hit. And in the midst of all of that, we were having a lot of that.

having all these mental health issues and depression, anxiety, and addictions increased, and the suicides and all that's been fully reported. So you don't think locking people in their houses forever is a healthy idea? No, and getting back to church was really critical for us. Church is not necessary. Didn't you read that someplace? Church is not necessary? Yeah. Fortunately, here in good old Texas, our governor, Governor Abbott made church as essential from the

beginning. So we got a pass on that, and that's good. But, you know, with all the struggles going on in people's life, the suffering, and we had just begun intensely working what we call life recovery people, you know, the church has not been that great at facing mental health issues over time. And so here you've got all this going on. And in 2009, now 12 years ago, I had a battle with anxiety, depression that I talk about. I've never kind of spilled my guts on. this like I have in this book and I did it not to get attention but to maybe say I've been in this arena I know what this feels like I now listen I know you and I just want to say I am very surprised to hear that because because I know you and because of your personality I have been

public about struggling with not anxiety but with serious depression so I'm really curious to hear whatever you can share with my audience right now about that because you really do not seem like the kind of person that I would imagine to be susceptible to that. And so I'm particularly glad that you're being open about it. So what was it around 2009, if you can say? Yeah, sure. Well, it was cancer surgery, for one. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And by the way, if you're a man over 40 years of age, make sure you get your PSA checked. And because prostate cancer is highly curable, if it's called early, they did catch it. Unfortunately, they called it a little late. And I was...

I was getting news that maybe we didn't get it all. So the first thing that happened after my cancer surgery, I went in with a lot of confidence, as you might expect, a lot of faith, just thinking, okay, I'm going to get in, get out. And I was literally back in the pulpit in 11 days. That was not a smart decision because then I started feeling overwhelmed and lost. The first thing that happened, I couldn't sleep. I was sitting, laying there at night imagining this cancer crawling all over my body.

That was the anxiety piece. And ultimately, you know, I just, you know, I broke down. And anxiety, the Bible says, creates depression. So it's the stress, it's the pressure. It was really described by my doctors as kind of a PTSD, a post-traumatic stress syndrome kind of thing. You know, when you're dealing with the mind, obviously, it is almost infinitely complicated.

And so when people talk about a toothache or a headache, even those things can be complicated. But when you're talking about a soul ache, When you're talking about whatever depression is, there can be an infinity almost of ways to get there. When you talk about health stuff, that alone is a big piece of it. Because a lot of people, if you've been healthy and up, you don't even know what it's like to suddenly take a body blow. In fact, even as a pastor all these years, I was kind of learning about the whole thing of mental health along the way. but until I experienced it.

You know, if you'd walked up to me, Eric, and said, you know, I'm really depressed. I know you're a Christian and you're a strong believer, but you're saying I'm really depressed. Years ago, like a lot of other people, I might have said something like, well, snap out of it. Right. You know, read your Bible more, walk it off, pray more, you know, get over it. And now we know that depression, anxiety, many of these things are brain illnesses and injuries even. and if I could have snapped out of it, if wishing and hoping and praying would have gotten me out of this thing, I would have been out momentarily. But it lasts at a long time.

I know they said, well, you know, it's probably going to take you six months to a year to get through this. And again, you do know my personality. I'm going, no, no. I'm Jack Graham. I'll be done in a couple of weeks. And I just couldn't pull myself up. That was the craziest thing. I've never been able not to pull myself up.

and to get going. And I felt like a dead man walking. Well, see, now the funny thing is, now I'm assuming there are people listening to this program who have struggled with some kind of depression. So many people have. And the problem is, you know, it's not like I lost a finger. Look, there's no way to show anybody what it is.

There's no way even to know yourself, is this depression, or is this some new kind of reality? Is this reality? And so when it hits you, even responding to it, I mean, again, if somebody stabs you, you don't say, well, who knows? Maybe that's just something my body is doing. You know, like, okay, I need to get stitches. I need to get to a doctor. But depression is so insidious that a lot of times you kind of think, well, maybe I need to just pray harder or maybe you need to do it.

And then guilt can come in where you're beating yourself up. What is wrong with me? And I don't want to tell anybody because they're going to see right through me that this is this is baloney. This is not. So it's particularly insidious. And so you, just to get to the physical piece now, so were you having some kind of treatments? Was there any physical component as this happened or was this after all that happened? In other words, where were you in terms of your physical health when you went through the season?

Okay. So the physical health was good, though there was concern that maybe I would need further treatment, which I ended up getting some further treatment. And now here we are 12 years later. I'm happy to report I'm cancer-free. And we beat the cancer. So it was the emotional side that knocked me down, not the physical side. It was the fears.

I mean, here I am a pastor. I even remember writing in my journal before going. into the surgery. Lord, don't let me flinch in the fire. So I really wanted to be strong. I didn't want to flinch. And I did flinch, but to use the story of Shadrakech and Abendigo, you know, Christ was with me in the fire, the son of man. And I will say like we preach, like we teach, you know, the adversity brought greater maturity. I'm a better pastor. I'm a better comforter of people having experienced this. I understand this. If somebody tells me they're having a mental health issue, I get it a lot more. And so it's very real. And you're right. It's not

something you can see from the outside. It's not a wound. It's not, you know, you're not limping except in your soul. Well, it's just wonderful to have you talking openly about this. The book is Reignite Fresh Focus for an Enduring Faith talking to Jack Graham. Now, Jack, part of the problem, I was talking to Vody Baakum earlier. Certain things are so insidious. In other words, if somebody says, hey, you got depression, you need to pray more

or listen to more worship music or whatever. That could solve certain kinds of depression, which is why you really do think like it could be me, because there are people who are doing the wrong things. If you're not exercising, if you're not any number of things, that can contribute, right? But it's been my experience that you could do everything right, and even the depression can make it difficult to pray, can make it difficult to focus and read scripture.

So you need to have discernment about that kind of thing. One of the things that happens is you start believing lies because depression lies to you. And the thing that I dealt with so much was you're stuck like this forever. You're never going to be better than that. I want to come back and talk about that. Depression-alized you and you think you're going to be stuck with it forever. That is a major, major piece of deep depression. We'll be right back talking to Jack Graham.

The book is Reignite. Hey, get rhythm. When you get the blues. Come on, get rhythm. Folks, I'm talking to Jack Graham. The book is Reignite. We're in Dallas. Jack, this is your home turf.

Thank you for stopping by. We are talking about depression. I've been public for years. I've struggled with it in all kinds of ways. And you said depression lies and part of the lie. And this is why it's so insidious. It's so dark, how it comes in. And even if you are strong in the faith and you know the word and you've walked strong with God,

you can begin to believe the lie. And you said for you, it was that this is never going anywhere. This is the rest of your life. if you're going to be like this? Yeah, I'm thinking, I was 59 at the time, so I'm thinking, you know, my life as I've known, it is over, or our ministry is over. When will I ever preach again? I took off a couple of months.

I had a sabbatical coming from the church. I took it. I got back in the pulpit, but I still wasn't ready. I was crawling into that pulpit most Sundays just getting through it. So it was the biggest battle was the battle within yourself. And you can say the lives come from Satan. They certainly do. but you also, I view the body is, I view our lives as body, soul, and spirit.

First Thessalonians 513 says, sanctify yourself, body, soul, and spirit. So the spirit and the soul are different, the body, of course. So all of the body, the soul, the spirit, catch each other's diseases, if you will. So diseases of the mind, which is the soul, can impact the spirit, and certainly impact the body. There are physical symptoms to depression being exhausted, being tired, body aches, even, things of that nature, headaches, all kinds of things. But the mind, the inability to concentrate, that's a big one.

So how am I going to read my Bible? Right. If I can't even concentrate, if I can't even read a sentence. I mean, that's how serious this can become. But you just, you know, what I talk about in the first 60 chapters of this book, just kind of tell my story. The first 60 chapters of the book. The first 60 chapters? No, excuse the first 60 pages of the book.

Holy guacamole. Now, the first 60 pages. You threw a staring to me. I thought no one will ever buy this book now. 60 pages, let me clarify. This is a thin book. It's only 54 pages. What are you talking about?

No, it's a thin book. The first 60 pages, go ahead. Yeah, is this story. And I talk about some things that a lot of Christians don't want to talk about. In fact, there was a time in the church. If you were depressed, you didn't tell your friends at church. Yeah. Because...

Listen, I know. Unfortunately, Jack, you're talking to somebody who we actually understands this, because I remember one time. Yeah. I also had chronic fatigue, which is another in-coate, confusing diagnosis mixed in with depression. I remember, I was at a church. This has to be 20 years ago. And I said something. It was an old pastor.

This is like out. We were on vacation, so I didn't know this guy. And I said some to him about this. I made the mistake of telling the 84-year-old pastor, chronic fatigue. And he says, well, here's what you do. And he told me. Read this scripture, memorize the scripture, and say to yourself once a day, you won't have chronic fatigue, you'll have chronic victory. It was like that simple.

Read the word, whatever. And I remember thinking, I want a magic pill. I would like to believe that, but I think you're not understanding what I'm telling you. Right. Yeah, for sure. And when you are depressed and you have these mental challenges, I mean, there's no question. you know, keep praying, as the scripture says, and keep reading your Bible and force yourself to get out among people and keep serving.

Just like you force yourself to exercise. By the way, exercise, steady exercise, good exercise is equal to an antidepressant in many ways for people who are moderately depressed. So exercise is very good. So you've got to keep moving. You do all those things physically and mentally. But ultimately, I came to believe that for many people now, my depression was not chronic like many people have.

There are some people like my friend Sheila Walsh, who writes the forward of this book, who has battled this for her whole life. Great people in history, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, men in the Bible like Moses and Elijah and Jonah and Paul himself. He said, I despaired of life at one point. So no one is immune to this. I don't care how great a Christian you may be, how strong in faith. You keep practicing your faith. You keep one step at a time going forward, but I actually went to therapy as well.

And I talk about that. And, you know, for a pastor to actually go to therapy and to take some meds to get myself balanced, that was a big deal for me. I'm so pumped up on goofballs and Adderall right now if people only knew. That's how I deal with this. And a tumbler vodka. Actually, I'm kidding. But I've got to tell you, the shame that some people have, they say, I wouldn't take an antidepressant.

That's a lack of faith. That's like taking aspirin is a lack of faith. You're a fool if you believe that. But there are plenty people right now laboring under self-condemnation that if I do this or if I do that, and I just want to say that that is out of the pit of hell. That is God's. It's a lot. You're working against God's purposes in your life because sometimes that's what you need to get up and out.

And the same thing with exercise. My friend Tommy Nelson, who's pastor here in the Dallas Fort Worth area, also, he's public with his battles with anxiety, depression. And I quote him in the book, he said, you know, talking about taking medication, he said, he went to a doctor. And he said, I would have taken rat dung if I thought it'd make me feel better. You know, I mean, that's how bad this stuff can be. So don't, don't, if you're a Christian, don't say that medication is wrong. If you take medication for your diabetes, if you take medication for your cholesterol, if you take medication for whatever, this is something that medication can have. help you. It's not the end all. Yeah. But it is certainly for me, it was, it enabled me to get

balanced again, to get on my feet again. There's no doubt about it. And I would say prophylactically, if you're not exercising, if you're not eating right, if your weight is not near what it should be, all those things can contribute. So it's kind of like somebody says, what about if I quit smoking? It's like there's no downside. So do those things. But sometimes, and in my case, You still have to have medication or whatever it is, and don't let the enemy beat you up. We're talking to Jack Graham. The book is Reignite. We'll be right back.

Folks, we're talking about depression and we're having fun. It's the Airman Taxis Show. I'm talking to my friend, Pastor Jack Graham, Prestwood Baptist right here in the Dallas area. Wait, what part of the Dallas area? Fort Worth Dallas area. No, but your church is specifically in Plano. Plano. Plano.

What? And Prosper. So you have multiple campuses? Yes, sir. I think even saying that publicly is pride. I condemn you. Okay, so the book is... That's depressing.

The book is reignite. Actually, I want to say this too, because I don't know if I've ever said this on the air. There are times when I've been so depressed, I cannot read the Bible. I cannot pray. And God has allowed me eventually to get to a place where I realize even there, he loves me. Yes. And I remember reading, you know, Richard Vormbrond, he wrote a book called Tortured for Christ. He went through living hell in communist prisons and stuff.

And he talked about being so debilitated that he couldn't pray. He couldn't do anything. This was just because of what he'd been through. But he said, I would just inside be thinking, I love you, Jesus. I love you Jesus. In other words, even when you can do nothing, mentally you can battle this just by saying what is true. And that can be a powerful weapon. So even if you don't feel what is true, because when you're depression, you don't feel

truth. You feel these lies. But your brain still knows no matter how I feel. Jesus loves me. Nothing can mess with that. My emotions mean nothing compared to that truth. And my emotions can lie to me. But if I could just lie here and say, Jesus, I love you, Jesus, you love me, if that's all you

can do, that is powerful. You don't need to be, you know, a prayer warrior, getting up at 6 a.m. and hitting your knees. Because sometimes you cannot do that. And if you literally, if you can't do that, you need to know, not only is that okay, that's okay with God. Yeah. And get people who you trust to be on your team to pray for you and people that love you who, I mean, thank God for Deb Graham. I mean, she walked with me through this and she had never seen this in me in any way. And then you dumped her for a younger wife, didn't you?

No, not at all. Is Deb here? She's beautiful, and I would never. We just passed 51 years of marriage. You guys, listen. Hey, praise God for that. I know, right? We're at a point where we should say this.

You know, having someone by your side who loves Jesus and who's, I mean, there's no substitute for that. You know, it's sometimes the simple things. You know, for me, I don't know how others feel, but I kept saying to Deb and, and, you know, my closest friend, am I going to be okay? Because that whole thing is, no, you're broken. You're, you're totally and completely broken. You're never going to get well. And I would say, am I going to be okay? And just to hear somebody who loves you say, you're going to be okay. You're going to make it. It was very, very important. As you know, I wrote a biography of Luther and I preached about him in your church. A little bit about depression. And that's why I bring him up because I remember him, and this is so cool, right?

When he was going through hell, and I think he had anxiety and depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, I'm not even kidding. I think he had that stuff that would attack him viciously. And to say it's a satanic attack, yes, it is, but it's a combination of things, and we don't know. But he would have people pray for him, and he would say, and this is brilliant, their faith was enough for me. In other words, God is so gracious that even if you have no faith, you're just dead. and you get people to pray for you, God responds to that. It's not like, oh, it's on you, it's on you, it's on you. People can pray for you, and that can just magically lift you out of things,

or at least be a comfort to you intellectually, that God is with me through their prayers, even if I don't have the ability to believe anything right now. I'm just lying here. Exactly. And in the book, you know, I move from, you know, this story, 60 pages about this story and how I got through that to talking about enduring faith. And so the bulk of the book is about enduring when times are tough, whether you're depressed or whatever mental or spiritual anguish you may be facing, we all suffer, we know that.

And so I talk about a lot of basics and how over the years I've learned that you can trust God in every season of life, including seasons of life. of suffering. And the God of all comfort, the Bible says, comforts us, and with the comfort that we are comforted, we comfort others. I remember going into the pulpit very quickly when I could barely get up there to speak, so I just took promises of God that I'd memorized, and I just scribble some notes and talked about the various promises of God each week. And I thought these are really terrible sermons, because I could barely concentrate to prepare. And when we put those on television and radio later, they became the number one requested.

sermon series on those promises when I was so weak, when I could barely crawl up there and preach, the number one thing. And it's that truth that when we're weak, God is strong. And in our weakness, it's in our brokenness that we're built back stronger than ever. That's why I called it Reignite. Well, Reignite is the book. Jack Graham is the author, pastor, friend. Jack, you know, the scripture that I remember, when I am really the most down, the one scripture that I remember, and I feel like, I can't think of anyone that's been more important for me, but where it says all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes, all things, depression, debilitate.

In other words, no matter what you're going through, we have a God who is able to take the worst thing in your life and to work it together for good. Standing on that promise, it just, there's nothing else that you could say. say, I'm lying here. I don't know if I'm going to get better. And you know, even that doesn't matter because God says all things work together for good. It's just an amazing thing that God put someplace in scripture very clearly that. So that every single thing there is, including the worst thing you go through, works together for good for those of us that love him.

And that's a comfort. And what you just said, you know, you comfort those because you've been through this. now you can sit here at this microphone with this book and minister to people, you would not be able to do that. The Lord is using you because you allowed him to take you through that season. Yeah. And that is our prayer. The other scripture that, you know, I really want people to hear because some people may be watching, listening to this right now who are just hanging by a thread, and you're wondering, you're believing some of those lies, you're going to be stuck. I'm going to be like this forever. And guess what?

There may be, you may be going through this a while longer. But the God of all hope, may the God of all hope fill you with peace and joy in believing that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Hope is real, and hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the sure and certain confidence that our future is in his hands. Well, that's a great place to end. My friend, Jack Graham, congratulations on 51 years of marriage. Thank you. That is the most beautiful thing.

Congratulations on the book, Reignite. Folks, I think, you know, we're talking about something that's very important. The book is Reignite. Jack Graham, thank you. My pleasure. Hey, folks, this is a reminder. While we're doing this program, talking a different guests and all that kind of thing, I want to remind you, the world's going crazy.

We're seeing evil things happening. So here's what we do. We trust God. Now, if you don't trust God, you've got big problems. I can't get into that right now. But the fact is that God is God. That doesn't change. Circumstances change.

Another good thing you can do is ignore the chaos and do something good for someone. We always want to provide opportunities for you to do that. So Albin and I and a lot of people at the Salem News Network, we go to Food for the Poor because they are an organization we've worked with for a long time. Right now, we've got what? This is the last week, basically. So we have days left to raise funds for kids and families in Haiti. I want to say it again that this is a nonprofit relief organization, Food for the Poor, who deliver emergency. food and medicine in Haiti.

They're trying to get emergency help to parts of the country. They now need help from the U.S. military. Okay, there's a Pentagon spokesman John Kirby talking about what's happening in Haiti right now. And by the way, I want to be clear, we are feeding kids who are malnourished and some of them starving. So we want you to go to our website, metaxis talk.com. This is a good thing that you can do today in the midst of all the chaos. in the world. So we're asking you to do that. Let's play the John Kirby clip. We know there is much

more work to do in Haiti to help the Haitian people, and we're committed to being there and to doing that for as long as possible. We're very proud of all the men and women of the department that are assisting in this effort and truly making a difference on the ground. Well, I also want to say things are so bad there that you've got all kinds of people. Even, I mean, if you can believe it, Sean Penn, you can believe it because he's a person with a big heart. I don't agree with him politically. But when it comes to suffering kids, sometimes you've got to get politics out of it. So Sean Penn, the actor, was in Haiti.

Let's play the Sean Penn clip. We have been from day one with heavy equipment crews, still finding bodies. It's really awful. The circumstances there, it's very complicated. Medical teams are treating hundreds of people, both from very traumatic injuries to now increase. increasingly gastrointestinal issues due to the rains and so on, you know, from infants to elderly. Well, anyway, I just want to say everybody is in agreement. They need our help. And this is a good thing that we can do. And again, I want to say that sometimes you have to get your focus away from

the news and think about what can I do today. Turn off the radio, turn off the whatever, just say, What can I do? Well, helping these kids and families in Haiti is something you can do. It is an unmitigated good in the midst of the madness. So we're asking you, partner with us, we partner with Food for the Poor. Go to our website. I'll give you the phone number in a minute. But we have $37, $37, $37, $3,000, if you give that amount, feeds a kid for six months.

Amazing as that is, that is true. That's how far food for the poor stretch. as your dollars and obviously things are so bad because of the the earthquake recently the storm so please go to metaxis talk.com give what you can there's all kinds of stuff there if you want to give by the way monthly that's tremendously helpful it's very little per month and it really adds up but we've only got days left in this campaign so I just want to urge you if you haven't done it thanks to those of you have done it here's a phone number if you prefer to call 844-863 hope 844-863 hope this is a good thing you can do today folks 844-863 hope you're literally

saving lives in Haiti think about that for a second in the midst of the craziness in the news 844-863 hope or go to metaxis talk.com many of you have already given I want to say thank you and God bless you folks and God bless America