The Bible and Mental Health

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Good mental health begins with possessing the mind of Christ.

In the summer of 2026 Beverly Heights spent ten Sundays on the Bible and mental health. We did it for four reasons: a mental health crisis that the numbers make hard to ignore; the rediscovery of an older, biblical way of caring for souls; twenty-five years of pastoral counseling; and a conviction that the promotion of a sound mind is a necessary and legitimate ministry of the church. Pastors are counselors. Their ancient work was the cure of souls, and the church has no business handing that work over entirely to the therapeutic culture.

The series does not pretend that the brain is not real or that doctors are not needed. It insists on a distinction the Bible makes and the culture has lost: between the brain, which is part of the outer man and deserves proper medical care, and the mind, which is part of the inner man and can be renewed only by Christ through his Spirit. From there it walks through what Scripture says about confrontation, identity, anxiety, depression, death, craving, suffering, and anger, and ends where it began, with the mind of Christ.

Each sermon below has its recording, a written summary, and questions for reflection. Listen in order if you can; the series builds. If you are in the cave right now, start with the sermon on depression, and then come and worship with us.

The ten sermons

  1. Lies My Therapist Told Me. Nate Devlin, July 5, 2026, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.
  2. Having a Healthy Heart. Kyle Bennett, July 12, 2026, Matthew 5:1-12.
  3. Confronting Our Stinking Thinking. Nate Devlin, July 19, 2026, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28.
  4. Have This Mind Among Yourselves. Nate Devlin, July 26, 2026, Philippians 2:1-11.
  5. The Christian Life and Anxiety. Peter Chace, August 2, 2026, Matthew 6:19-34.
  6. The Christian Life and Depression. Nate Devlin, August 9, 2026, 1 Kings 19:1-18.
  7. Life and the Psychology of Death. Nate Devlin, August 16, 2026, Romans 5:12-21.
  8. Bury the Craving. Nate Devlin, August 23, 2026, Numbers 11:31-35.
  9. The Psychology of Suffering. Nate Devlin, August 30, 2026, Romans 5:1-5.
  10. The Christian Life and Anger. Peter Chace, September 6, 2026, Ephesians 4:17-32.

A reading guide for the series

The series leans on a shelf of books, from Jay Adams and Greg Gifford to Philip Rieff, Carl Trueman, Bonhoeffer, Calvin, and Bunyan. We have gathered them into a short annotated reading guide, with a line on each author and where the sermon used him.

Download the reading guide

A word to the searcher. These are sermons, not medical advice. If you have reason to think something is wrong with your brain or your body, see a doctor, and let the church minister to your soul at the same time. If you are in danger of harming yourself, call or text 988 now.

New to Beverly Heights? We worship Sundays at 10:00 a.m., with Sunday School at 9:00. Plan your visit

More series: Parenting in the Pew. Church Discipline: A Five-Week Class.