Prince of Jesus, hymn number 310, 100, and start there right on the first.
Singing will open with the word of prayer. Dear Father, thank you for this
opportunity to gather together and sing praises unto you. I pray that you would bless
the remainder of this service and fill Brother Oz with your spirit as he
preaches, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. For our next song, if you would, turn
in your hymnals to hymn number 220. Hymn number 220, Jesus is all the world to me.
Hymn number 220. Start the run on the 1st. Jesus is all up here. Family and I is
really excited to be here, so thank you guys for your patience throughout the
last several months. Definitely looking forward to it. First, I just want to make
sure I cover a lot of things this morning. So I want to really thank Pastor
Shelley just for the opportunity to send me and my family up here to minister in
this church. It's a huge honor and privilege and definitely something that
my family and I take very seriously. Also just want to thank Evangelist Furr and
his family because this church would not exist if it was not for all the hard
work that he's put in through the years really. And coming to a church like this
is a huge blessing because you know I'm gonna be preaching to a group of people
that are pretty much really solid and that know the Bible really well and
that's you know in a huge part to Pastor Shelley and Evangelist Fer. So thank you
Brother Fer for all your hard work. Thank you to those that helped me move
yesterday both from Perworth and here and just all the work that you guys put
in. Really do appreciate that. So as you guys know this weekend starting today
Pastor Shelley has sent me here to basically take over as the satellite
leader of this church. So I'll be preaching three times a week. I'll be in
charge under Pastor Shelley for the day-to-day operations of this church. So
I'm really looking forward to that and one thing I really want to make clear is
that Pastor Shelley is still your pastor. I'm not your pastor. So he's still
available to you as a great resource. Need any help from him. You know, please
don't feel like you can't contact him. He is absolutely still your pastor. He's
still here for you guys. Evangelist Furr is still your evangelist. Nothing's
changing with him either. He's still the evangelist of this church and in fact I
I'm not ordained in any way shape or form. So if there's a baptism that's on
him and he's got all that covered and so I just want you to know that he's still
here for you as well and that Brother Tanner is actually gonna be staying here
for a while just to help the transition go smoothly and I think the plan Lord
willing is for him to eventually move down to Texas and kind of take the job
that I was doing down in Texas working for Pastor Shelley so I don't have an
exact date on that but I'm sure Brother Tanner will let us know when that
happens. So as far as you know I've had a lot of people ask me questions about
when when's an ordination? Are you getting ordained this Sunday? No I'm not
getting ordained this Sunday and as far as a date for an ordination I do not
have one. So it does not matter how many times you ask me the answer will not
change. I don't know. The plan is basically for my job to transition and
for things to be running really smooth here for a few months and then Lord
willing if Pastor Shelley sees fit in a few months then there would be an
ordination service. But there's only one person, one human person that knows when
that day will be and it's Pastor Shelley. So if you ever have questions
about anything like that, that's the guy that you ask because I don't have any
more information. If I had more information I would share that with you
but I don't have that. Another thing, if you have a responsibility that you're
doing at this church, if you're a song leader, if you're a Bible reader, if
you're leading a soul-winning time, if you're on the safety team, whatever
responsibilities that you are doing at this church, I don't know what any of them
are. So, please continue to do that for the time being. If you're doing a job,
continue to do that unless I specifically change something. So, I don't
want things to just stop running because I got here and you think, "Oh, Dylan's, you
know, taking over every single task." No, that's not what I'm doing. So, if
you have responsibility, please keep doing that. I really appreciate that. As
far as church service times, Brother Tanner has been announcing that starting
this upcoming Wednesday, we are transitioning the midweek service from
Thursday to this Wednesday. So, starting this week, Wednesdays at 7 p.m. is gonna
be our weekly Bible study. Really looking forward to that. This Wednesday, we're
gonna start First Samuel. So, just so you know what book we're going into. First
Samuel is what we're starting with. And then also, next Sunday evening, we're
gonna be changing the evening service time to 430 p.m. This is gonna be, I
think, a good change because, especially in the winter, having a little bit of an
earlier service time and not having to deal with things being as dark and late.
And if you work early on Monday, it's kind of nice to get home a little bit
earlier. And if you have young kids, putting them to bed super late is not
necessarily the most fun thing in the world. So, there's kind of like a little
bit of dead time between soul-winning and that evening service that's just
being wasted of us just sitting around doing nothing, waiting for service to
start. So, next Sunday we're gonna start that service at 430 p.m. So, soul-winning
will still be from 2 to 4. If you go out soul-winning on Sunday you just want to make
sure you're very punctual with when you leave your soul-winning time that right
at 4 o'clock you know I wouldn't start knocking a new door at 3 55 that's
probably not a good idea. Make sure that we're heading back to the church
building that way if you're if you're in the music ministry you can practice your
songs if you're doing something with the computer you can get that set up you
know whatever it is that you need to do. So, looking forward to those changes and
again I just want to say thank you to you guys I'm really excited to be up here I
think Oklahoma City has such a huge potential to do a great work for God
it's it's such an awesome area it's a desirable place to live I mean the home
prices here are pretty much unbeatable anywhere in America I mean it's really
easy to move to Oklahoma from pretty much anywhere else it's really hard to
leave Oklahoma financially speaking so I could see people moving to the state
just because things are getting so expensive in America and it's just like
people are just being priced out of living wherever they are and the good
news is that if you moved Oklahoma this place is really awesome
soul winning is really good it's a really conservative area I like how much
you know rural areas that there are and it's just it feels like old-school
Americana that's what Oklahoma feels like to me it feels like stepping back in
time and I just I really like it here a lot the first time I ever visited this
church I really thought this was a special place and a special church so
it's definitely my honor and privilege to be here let's go quickly through our
announcements we have a new Bible memory chapter that we're going to be
doing Hebrews chapter 6 great chapter so please you could start memorizing that
there service times on the left Sunday morning at 1030 a.m. Sunday evening 530
today but like I said next week that'll be 430 Wednesday evening at 7 the soul
winning times are listed there with their respective soul winning leaders you
can contact them if you're interested in going to any of those times are all of
these times meeting at the soul winning or at the building yes all of them are
okay cool we have our nursing home ministry scheduled there that's Sundays
at 2 o'clock we do have our salvations and baptism stats there for the year and
I heard how you guys are reporting salvations is just texting the person
that's leading the time is that correct okay great on September 1st we'll have
the next September the next Sunday fellowship fifth Sunday fellowship
that's your family favorite dish Alex you better not bring any fried dog or
anything weird like that all right no no lizards anything like that I hope you
can make it Alex all right upcoming events Wednesday August 14th that's our
midweek service being changed the men's conference is next week Thursday through
Saturday looking forward to that I think brother fur is going to send a
message in the men's group as far as rides coordinating rise and stuff like
that so you could be on the lookout from him for that Saturday August 24th is
gonna be a ladies event at the brickopolis mini golf and parrots dessert
I'm not sure if I'm saying that right but that should be a good event please
do go to that if you would October 4 through 6 is the heritage of the Lord
Conference and that is a conference that's dedicated towards the youth
steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill the last time that we did that
conference it was a really big success lots of people came from out of state
and all the sermons pretty much are just dedicated towards the kids you know we
want to make sure that we're not just building ourselves as some great
spiritual army but that we're also replacing with the next generation
raising them up as well so please go to that if you can make it on the back you
have a space to take some notes this morning and at this time we'll have
brother Eric lead us on a third song right for our next song if you would
grab a hymnal and turn to him number 34 I know that my Redeemer liveth him
number 34 number 34 we'll go ahead and start there right on the first I know
singing as the offering plates are being passed around turning your Bibles to
Ephesians chapter number six Ephesians chapter number six these in chapter six
children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right honor thy father and
thy mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be
well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth and ye fathers provoke not
your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh
with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not
with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of
God from the heart with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men
knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth he's the same shall he receive
of the Lord whether he be bond or free he masters do the same things unto them
for bearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven neither is
there is there respect of persons with him finally my brethren be strong in the
Lord and in the power of his might but on the whole armor of God that you may
be able to to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the
rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high
places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that it may be able that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand
stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having the breast
breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked take the helmet of salvation
the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying always with all
prayer supplication in the spirit watching there and thereunto with all
perseverance supplications the supplication for all saints and for me
that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that
therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak but that ye also may know my
affairs how I do heikakas a beloved brother faithful minister in the Lord
shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same
purpose that ye might know our affairs and that ye might comfort your hearts
peace be to the brethren loved with faith from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ grace be with you all that love our Lord Jesus Christ and sincerity
amen let's pray
amen all right well we're in he we're in Ephesians chapter number 6 and let's
start reading in verse number 10 Ephesians 6 10 it says finally my
brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil now
that word wiles is not really a common word that we would use in our modern day
vernacular but the definition of this word is a trick artifice or stratagem
meant to fool trap or entice or deceive deceitful cunning or trickery so we know
that one of the tactics of the devil is to deceive us to trick us to lay a trap
for us to fall in so that we would be harmed spiritually and even sometimes
physically the Bible saying that we should put on the full armor of God so
that we can withstand the devil's tricks look at verse 12 it says for we wrestle
not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against
the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high
places the Bible teaches that today us as Christians we're engaged in a
spiritual warfare spiritual battle and this is something you constantly have to
be reminded of as a Christian because us in our flesh in our carnal nature we
tend to think of the carnal battle you know a lot of Christians get really
caught up with politics and with electing the right guy but really we
have to remember that the battle at the end of the day is always spiritual and
the effects that we see in our world are just simply byproducts of the spiritual
warfare that we're in go to 1st Peter 5 and let me read for you while you turn
to 1st Peter 5 2nd Corinthians 2 11 says this lest Satan should get an
advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices so when it comes to
spiritual warfare we don't want to be ignorant of the weapons or the devices
that the devil uses to trap entice or trick us and even if you were thinking
about carnal warfare you know our government spends an insane amount of
money time and resources into intelligence and counterintelligence why
because they want to know what the enemy has right they want to know the types of
weapons that the enemy has the types of training that they have their game plan
their battle strategy and so even just our nation spends a lot of time effort
energy and money human resources into learning what the enemy is doing the
Bible saying that we shouldn't be ignorant of the devil's devices just
like a carnal soldier wouldn't want to be ignorant about his enemy we too
should not be ignorant about our enemy the devil 1st Peter 5 8 says this be
sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh
about seeking whom he may devour you know it's important to remember as a
Christian that we actually are in a real battle a real spiritual battle and
that the devil is actually going around seeking whom he may devour and just
realize that the devil does want to destroy your life the devil does want to
trick you the devil does want to trip you up to make you stop serving God and
to cause harm to you in your life and so we as Christians we need to make sure
that we're living soberly that we're being serious that we're taking our
lives very seriously so that we don't fall into the traps of the devil and so
I want to talk this morning about a trap that I'm seeing that's more and more
common in our world that I think we just need to be sober about and think
about the title my sermon this morning is weapons of mass distraction weapons of
mass distraction you know we are at war and you know there's it's carnally
speaking there's weapons of mass destruction but you know the devil the
Bible talks about how he uses wiles to trick us to entrap us and I think one of
the tricks that the devil uses today against Christians is simply just
distracting us and so this morning I want to I want to warn you about some of
the dangers that I'm seeing when it comes to this topic of social media or
entertainment or video streaming platforms or things like that you know
I think that these things are being used by the devil in Christians lives on a
mass scale to distract us and it's a trick it's a trap that we need to be
sober and realize that it's happening so that we can have the right actions
regarding and one quick disclaimer for this sermon I am not against social
media I don't I'm not one of these guys that says we should all delete our
social media no Christian should ever be on social media I just simply look at
social media like this it's like a gun is like what it is and I like guns fact
I carry a gun every day of my life fact I have one on me right now just in case
any you know weirdos listening all right look I love guns but you know I've had a
lot of training in firearms before I would ever use a gun I'm very sober and
serious about how a firearm should be used and you know it's a big
responsibility and the gun itself is not inherently good or bad it's just a tool
it could be used for good it could be used for bad it could be used for
edification it could be used for harm and this is what social media is social
media is just like a gun so I would like to this Eve this morning talk to you
about several dangers that are posed by social media go to Ephesians chapter
number five Ephesians chapter number five so keep that caveat in mind when
I'm preaching this I'm not saying I hate social media delete it all it's
terrible no that's not the perspective I'm coming from but while you're turning
to Ephesians five let me read you some statistics about social media use the
average person spends two hours and 24 minutes on social media every day that's
regardless of age or gender that's just the average person two hours and 24
minutes a day the average American so we're getting a little more specific
here spends five hours and 25 minutes on their phones daily now that could be you
know work included stuff that could be entertainment that could be calling your
mom that could be anything but five hours and 25 minutes per day that is a
lot of time that Americans are spending on their phone on average 26 percent of
Gen Zers Gen Z is 1997 to 2012 to 26 percent of Gen Zers spend over nine
hours on their phone every day so it's like the average person the average
American here's a little more the average Gen Z here way more I mean it's
just getting it's starting to get pretty bad here the average American
checks their mobile device a hundred and fifty nine times a day Wow just like it
just oh oh just like endlessly checking your phone like it's some sort of weird
compulsion right users will spend four trillion hours on social media this year
combined four trillion hours Americans spend 36 percent more time watching TV
than they spend visiting social media sites so you just saw all the social
media stats well on top of that Americans are spending 36 percent more
time than that watching TV 93 percent of marketers use Facebook for advertising
now why is that statistic important because you have to realize that the
most high-tech pieces of technology that have ever existed in human history are
not just being given to you to use for free because they love you it's not like
hey here's the most expensive well developed well researched technology
that's ever existed ever and you could use it for free just because we love you
so much that's not how the world works they are making money off of this and
they're there they have an agenda behind this social media what you have to
realize is that you know every business has a product what does Facebook
Instagram all these social media platforms sell they sell advertisements
why do they sell advertisements because these companies want you to buy their
product so really what is the product that social media sells you you are the
product I am the product that is what social media is is making money and not
just us and the money that we spend on these advertisements but also these
social media companies are very notorious for selling your information
to third-party sites so they sell your data they sell information about you and
you and I when we use these free platforms it's not free you are the
product you are what's being sold and what are you getting in return for it
is what I want to ask you are you actually getting a lot of benefit from
it or are you just actually trading all of your time for it are you just giving
all of your time for it look at Ephesians 515 it says see then that you
walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise the word circumspect just means
watchful discrete cautious prudent the Bible saying that you should walk you
should live in a very cautious and prudent way and not like a fool would
like a wise person would you know what a fool would do a fool would not value
would not realize the value of time that time is a very valuable thing that God
has given to us and it's not something you could ever get back once it's spent
once time has been spent on something it has forever been spent on that and you
can't go back and redeem that you know once once your children are raised you
can't go back and try again and if you spent the whole time raising your kids
with your face buried into your phone you cannot redeem that time anymore it's
gone you know that is what that's an example of walking like a fool not
realizing the importance of time look at verse 16 it says redeeming the time
because the days are evil you know the wise person wants to redeem the time and
use it for something valuable because we know that time is a limited resource
and so we know that hey if I have something that's a limited resource I
need to tell my time what I'm gonna be doing with it not just allowing social
media to just consume me and just to spend hour and hour and hour and hour
wasting away on social media wasting away watching Netflix or TV doing
nothing with your life and your life is just ticking away for vanity for
absolutely nothing verse 17 wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what
the will of the Lord is you know the wise person would say okay I see that
time is very important that it's a resource that I can't get back so what
am I gonna do I'm gonna understand what the will of the Lord is and I'm gonna
spend my time doing what the will of God is let me just tell you the will of God
is not in alignment with the will of Facebook and the will of Mark Zuckerberg
and the will of all these CEOs of these you know extremely wicked companies
they're not gonna be wanting you to do the will of God they're gonna want to
take you away from the will of God just why this sermon is called weapons of
mass distraction look I think that these social media platforms are literally
being used as a weapon against Christianity by the devil and one of the
ways that that's happening is simply by stealing your time away from you because
by you using your time to do things that are spiritual you can make a huge
impact in this world and if Christians spend all their time doing things that
actually had value and eternal value you know this world will look a lot
different you know what's some what you know when we talk about understanding
what the will of the Lord is you know that means prioritizing things that are
spiritual what's an example of that well how about Bible reading go to Psalms
chapter number one the book of Psalms Psalm 1 you know Bible reading is
something today that seems to be on the decline and is it any wonder why it's on
the decline if the average Gen Z er is spending over nine hours on their phone
daily something tells me that that's not on the Bible reading app something
tells me that that's not the Bible memorization app that's a good time to
spend time on your phone if you're using those things but really what are people
doing they're just mindlessly scrolling tick-tock just like the most mind
numbingly stupid application that's ever been created you say you're a boomer no
I'm actually Gen Z so it's coming from a Gen Z guy to tell you that tick-tock is
absolute trash and when tick-tock was created all it was was just a platform
of dancing girls half-naked you're gonna tell me that that's a good platform
you tell me there's really any reason why Christians should be spending nine
hours a day on their phone with that garbage how should we be spending our
time look at psalm chapter 1 verse 1 blessed is the man that walketh not in
the council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the
seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord and notice this
and in his law that he meditate day and night you know the person that's blessed
of God is the person that's spending their time reading the Bible not just
every day here in Psalm 1 it's saying day and night that's a lot of time
that's a lot of time that someone would be investing into reading the Word of
God you know why someone would invest a lot of time into reading the Word of God
is because they value it as important you know our society today has become so
degraded and so vain that what we value as important as Americans is just
meaningless tick-tock videos meaningless 60-second reels meaningless
60-second shorts and it just eats our time away and I have a hard time
believing that the people that are addicted to this kind of stuff are the
type of people that are reading their Bible day and night verse 3 why would
you want to do this does and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
water that bring it forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not
wither and whatsoever he do it shall prosper you know I would bet to say that
if you ask someone hey would you like to prosper in your life that virtually
every single person would say yes but it's like okay but are you doing the
things that are necessary to actually get God to bless you and actually for
you to have a prosperous spiritual life are you actually reading the Bible day
and night or are you scrolling on your phone all day and like I said I'm not
against social media but here's where I am against it have you replaced your
Bible reading with scrolling on social media because let me tell you if that's
the case you have a serious problem you have fallen into the wiles of the devil
you have not been being sober and the devil is about to devour you that's
where you're at you are in a completely vulnerable situation if you've allowed
it to get that bad in your life first Timothy chapter 4 I'll read for you
while you turn to Revelation 1 verse Timothy 4 13 says till I come give
attendance to reading you know if God is exhorting us that he wants us to give
attendance to pay attention to reading in our lives that would tell me that the
devil does not want us to do that right so how would the devil get us to get
away from reading the Bible well distract us with other things and he has
a lot of ways of doing that some people he distracts through alcohol some people
he distracts through drugs some people he distracts through whores or the love
of money and some people he simply distracts with their phone it's that
simple Revelation 1 3 blessed is he that read it and they that hear the words of
this prophecy keep those things that are written therein for the time is at hand
you know there is a blessing attached to reading the Word of God you know the
Word of God is the most precious thing that we have in this universe and it is
absolutely sad and shameful that so many Christians are missing out on that
great blessing today because they're so distracted and you know right here it's
talking about blessed is he that read it and that's the context of the Word of
God and people should be reading their Bibles but if people are so distracted
on social media that they're not even reading their Bibles as Christian I
could also probably guarantee you that they're not reading anything else and
maybe that's part of why our country is becoming so stupid today and so
uneducated today is not only a reach not reading the Bible but us as a nation
we're just not reading anything at all because people are spending nine hours
a day on their phones and so they have way too they don't have enough time to
just read a book you know previous generations of Americans they used to be
so smart and you know when I when I think of people like my grandfather and
just other relatives I have that are of that generation it seemed like they just
knew everything about everything and does anyone else like have a family
member like that it's like you're just so intelligent you know why it's cuz
they read books that's why because they actually spend time in the Bible
hopefully number one and number two they read books instead of just rotting their
brain away on worthless stuff go to Hebrews chapter number 12 you know
what's another thing we should be valuing as important in our life is
church Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 and Hebrews 12 says this wherefore we
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may
serve God acceptably with notice this word reverence and godly fear you know a
lot of people they show up to church and they're here physically speaking but
they're not really here mentally or their hearts not in it you know Bible
says that we should serve him reverence and yet how many times have I been in a
church service before of all different types of churches where people are
spending the entire service on their phone you know what that is it's
disrespectful it's disrespectful to the preacher but way more important than
that it's disrespectful to God he's the one that shed his blood for the church
and gave it to us as a gift he's the one that gave us whoever your pastor is or
whoever your preacher is and to just sit there on Instagram you know I've seen
people do this I've seen people on eBay during church I've seen people checking
stocks at church I've seen people on Craigslist at church buying what are you
doing you know what that is it's not serving God with reverence that's for
sure it's being disrespectful and you're wasting your time why even come to
church if you're not gonna listen why even come to church if you're not gonna
look down in your Bible why even come to church if you're not gonna do it with
reverence good Ephesians chapter number six you know something else that God
really wants you to spend time on is your family verse 4 of Ephesians chapter
number six it says this and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord you know God
wants us to spend a lot of time into our family and raising a family is a lot of
hard work right but it's an important work that pays off right because if you
raise the next generation of soul winners they could take the baton and
they can continue to do the things of God that's an important investment that
we're making into our children and look the devil would love nothing more than
to distract you as a parent from your role of raising that next generation
because maybe you're super solid maybe you actually will go soul winning to the
day you die maybe you actually will go to church for the rest of your life
that's not necessarily guaranteed for your children yet and so maybe the devil
knows well I don't necessarily have to get this person I could just distract
them away from raising their children or I can get their children distracted
with social media as well and you know I I fear for generation alpha which
generation alpha is like my kids age they're being raised by millennials and
gen z you know my fear for this generation is that when they think back
of their time in their parents home they think back of what mom and dad was like
I'm just I'm really scared that they're just gonna have this image in their mind
you know I'm talking about I'm really terrified that that's the image that
children are gonna have of their parents they're gonna think back what was my mom
like she was on the couch scrolling her phone all day long hey what was my dad
like well during dinner he just sat on his phone the entire time watching
videos and it's like you don't realize that the message that you're sending to
someone when you're on your phone is that whatever is on this is more
important than you right when you're talking to someone and there's looking
on their phone they're saying hey what I'm doing right now is more important
than talking to you and you know who you definitely don't want to send that
message to your wife your husband your children yet that is the message that
you're sending you know I just want to warn you that the devil may be trying to
distract you at home away from your children away from your spouse so that
you will fail as a parent and so that the next generation will not be raised
in the ways of God go to 2nd Corinthians 10 I'll read for you
Ecclesiastes 12 13 says let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God
and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man you know serving
God keeping his commandments that is why we're here on this earth God did not put
you on this earth to doom scroll what's doom scrolling it's when you open your
phone you open a social media app you're not looking for anything there's
nothing like hey I would like to see how my mom's doing on Facebook and you go
and check out your mom's profile no no that's not what doom scrolling is you
just open the app you go to the video discover page and you just watch a video
and you scroll watch a video and you scroll and you're not mentally activated
engaged you're not even considering what you're looking at you're just wasting
your time that is not why God put you on this earth and just ask yourself is my
social media usage helping me get closer to God or is it harming my
relationship with God is my time using social media making me a better father
a better husband a better wife a better child a better employee or is it
actually harming every area of my life it doesn't necessarily have to be that
way like I said it's just a tool you could use it for good or evil but how
is it affecting you you need to be honest with yourself of where you're at
because I'm telling you this is a weapon of mass distraction we talked about how
could rob you from your time here's another potential danger of social media
is that it can negatively influence your mind can negatively influence your mind
go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 I'll go to says in verse 3 for though we walk in
the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds casting
down notice this imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against
the knowledge of God and bring it into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ notice in the spiritual battle we're in we should be bringing into
captivity the thoughts that war against the knowledge of Christ you know the
devil wants us to think things that aren't biblical the Bible says that we
have the mind of Christ how do you have the mind of Christ well it's by opening
up your Bible and reading the mind of Christ you have you ever met a really
interesting person or a really smart person or maybe you saw one on TV and
you're like and I'd like to kind of get inside that person's mind and see how
like how they think and how they look at problems you ever thought that about
someone well how about the Lord Jesus Christ that's a pretty awesome guy like
I want to get inside the Lord's mind well you can it's by reading the Bible
you know what the devil wants you to do the devil wants your thoughts not to be
in line with what Christ thinks he doesn't want you to be thinking about
Christ because what does it mean to to mind spiritual things or to have the
mind of Christ it means that you think like Christ it means that you think
about Christ now the social media companies want you to think like Jesus
Christ no they probably want you to think believe everything opposite of
what the Bible teaches they're not gonna go promote biblical doctrine on social
media and do you think the social media companies want you to think about Jesus
Christ of course not they don't even want to acknowledge that he exists in
fact people that are on social media that are posting biblical doctrine or
biblical sermons they often just remove those people they often just censor
that material what does that tell you it tells you that they want to
negatively impact your mind they want to negatively impact what you think I'll
read for you Matthew 22 37 when Jesus is being tempted by the devil he said this
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with
all thy mind Jesus commanded us to love God with all our mind how do we do that
like I said we do that by thinking like Christ and we do that by thinking about
Christ that's how you love God with all your mind I'll read for you Lamentations
351 the first part of the verse says this mine eye affecteth mine heart the
Bible teaches this principle that the things that you see do affect your heart
and like I said social media is a tool what if social media was just full of
Bible preaching full of Bible verses full of good doctrine full of videos of
men working hard and building stuff full of videos of moms homeschooling their
kids and just whatever you know just biblical things good things what if
social media was like that well it would affect people's hearts to want to be
like that you know what I grew up watching as a little child as a little
child I watched a ton of baseball me and my mom literally watched 152
baseball games a year as a child we would record it and I'd get home from
school and we would watch baseball and who wants to guess what I wanted to be
when I grew up oh yeah a professional baseball player why because mine I
affected my heart now if you're subjecting yourself to a bunch of trash
on social media if you're watching a bunch of girls dancing around half
naked you're watching a bunch of stupid just meaningless vain videos that is
going to affect your heart that is gonna cause you to not want to
necessarily be very spiritual or walk in the spirit oftentimes it's gonna want
to draw you away from the Lord away from the things of God and negatively
impact your mind go to first Peter chapter number one verse Peter chapter
number one we're gonna go to first Peter one and first John two close
together there first Peter one and first John two first Peter one verse 13 it
says wherefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
no girding up the loins of your mind what that makes me think of is you're
making an intentional effort what you're thinking about and what you're going to
allow to enter your mind you're not just mindlessly consuming whatever the world
wants you to consume but girding up the loins of your mind means I'm gonna
choose what I'm gonna think about today I'm gonna read what I want to read and
if I want to look up something online it's gonna be what I purposely seek to
look up I'm not gonna just open up the portals of the internet and just let
whatever flow into my brain that's not girding up the loins of your mind 1st
John 2 15 go to 1st John 2 15 it says in verse 15 love not the world neither the
things that are in the world if any man loved the world the love of the father
is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the
world the Bible says not to love the world but you know what a lot of social
media is let's let's use for an example reels right it's called different things
reels shorts tick-tocks what am I talking about I'm talking about videos
that are usually 60 seconds long or shorter right your Bible says to gird up
the ones of your mind and to love not the world what are you doing when you're
watching those you're just you're literally taking your phone and you're
just going okay world just fill me fill my brain world with whatever you want me
to look at whatever you want me to think about world just fill my mind fill my
brain that's what you're doing and I don't see how just mindlessly scrolling
that is not in violation of girding up the winds of your mind of taking captive
every thought into the obedience of Christ of not loving the world you're
literally just letting the world fill your brain and here's the thing that is
so bad about this exact form of media is that like I said you're not searching
anything you're not you're not watching you're not like going on YouTube and
being like how to build a deck and watching a video and how to build a deck
you're not looking up something like hey you know aircraft ground school and
learning you know ground operations and you're not learning anything you're
literally just opening up and just whatever video the algorithm wants to
pop up you're just letting that fill you that is toxic that is dangerous that is
not a good idea it is not a good idea to just let your mind just be filled
with whatever these social media platforms algorithms want to fill your
mind with because let me tell you something it's not Christianity that it
won't you thinking about it's not biblical doctrine it's not anything
good or wholesome it's pretty much all absolute trash and look this stupid form
of media exists unfortunately and so since it does I think we should make
content I think we should try to put our message out there because why social
media is just a tool that could be used for good it could be used for bad so
while these you know stupid forms of media exists let's go ahead and make some
reals I think it's I think that's great pastor me here does a great job of that
and pass from here has gotten lots of people saved as a result of that and
lots of people in church and baptized because of that that's a great use of
the tool but here's the thing you should view social media as more of an input
tool not necessarily an output tool you should look at it as like I'm gonna go
put Christianity into this thing and I'm and then I'm out right what you should
do is you should live here in the real world with real people with real friends
with real family and then visit online but today people have that completely
switch they live in a fantasy world they live online they live playing video games
and watching Netflix and scrolling reels and on social media and then every once
in a blue moon they visit their mom and dad they visit their wife they visit
their children that's how a lot of people are living today and you will
live to regret that lifestyle you will get old and you will regret that you
allowed the devil to trick you into thinking that social media is it was a
great thing for your life and something that you should be spending so much of
your time in you will regret that go to Philippians chapter number four
Philippians chapter number four like I said these companies are giving you free
access to this because they love you can you see how this is harming
people's lives how it's harming people spiritual walk what does the Bible say
we should be like Philippians 4 verse 8 finally brethren whatsoever things are
true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever
things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are good report
there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things again the
Bible is instructing us that we should be active in controlling what we think
about what we should be thinking about is things that are good things that are
true not just scrolling what the newest stupid conspiracy theory is from the
flat earthers online not listening to some bozo in his basement tell you why
if you go back to the Aramaic you could lose your salvation you know not you
there's so much false doctrine on the internet today and it's like that a lot
of that wouldn't exist in as much of a huge quantity if people just went to
church because a lot of these bozos that are false teachers online they could
never get themselves behind a pulpit they could never get any pastor to
actually allow them to stand behind a pulpit not to mention even be ordained
as a pastor themselves but because Christians aren't burning up loins of
their mind they're not thinking on the things that the Bible said to think of
they're just going wherever they want on the internet they're hearing a bunch of
losers teach false doctrine and what is it doing it's affecting their minds
people's minds are being affected today you see it in what people believe things
are changing fast in America why because there's weapons of mass distraction that
are attacking people today second Timothy chapter number three second
Timothy 314 says but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and
has been assured of note this part knowing of whom thou hast learned them
you know one one thing that's really important when you're considering any
source of information is of course the facts and the information that's being
present but also the source of that information it should play a role into
what you listen to or what you give credence to and the Bible's here saying
hey you should know of whom thou hast learned things you know a good source to
learn things is your parents a good source to learn things is your pastor a
good source to learn things is people that are saved your brothers and
sisters in Christ that's good people to learn from but today there's an epidemic
of what's called influencers and you know what a what a nefarious title that
is you know because they are influencing people and the devil is using vain and
light fellows of this world or literal whores sometimes to literally influence
Christians minds and to influence the people's minds of our country the Bible
saying here that we should consider the source of what we're listening to you
know it used to be that if you had if you were a leader if you had any
influence over someone if you had people following you and listening to
you it was because you earned that by accomplishing something you earned that
by being righteous by accomplishing something and so people said hey this is
a guy that we should listen to this is a guy that we should learn from but now
any bozo can just get online and just vomit their opinions about things that
they know nothing about just because they have a platform and you have to
realize that while it's great that we can spread the Word of God on a mass
scale using social media at least theoretically if they didn't ban us
there's also tons of garbage on there that is affecting your mind whether you
realize it or not you know there's a really good influencer in the Bible he
earned his influence his name was Job okay let me read for you Job 29 verse
8 Job was an influencer let me tell you why Job 29 verse 8 says this the young
men saw me and hid themselves and the aged arose and stood up he's saying
people respect me he says the princes refrained talking and laid their hand on
their mouth so when when leaders saw Job they were quiet they wanted to hear what
Job had to say verse 10 the nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to
the roof of their mouth people when they saw Job they wanted to listen to what
Job had to said they wanted to be influenced by Job why because the Bible
says that Job was the most righteous person living at that time and so you
know what Job actually earned his influence by being a godly man today
that's not necessarily the case you can be an influencer and you can be a
terrible person you could be an influencer and be a completely
uneducated person you could be an influencer and be a literal flat
earther that's how low the bar is in our society of influence I mean what is
influence what what is leadership it's leadership is simply just influence
that's what it is you know and we have someone today running for president that
wants to influence America Kamala Harris who is dumber than a box of rocks I mean
Biden at least he's senile so it kind of makes sense why he can't put a sentence
together but you know why Kamala can't put a sentence together is because she's
so stupid and she is standing up saying let me influence you America and
Americans have become so stupid many people will vote for her many people
want to be influenced by Kamala Harris it's like I wonder why when you're
rotting your brain for nine hours a day watching stupid reels and stupid
tik-toks you've just become a complete idiot you've let your mind be
completely corrupted go to Proverbs chapter number 14 Proverbs chapter
number 14 you know this is one of my favorite verses right now Proverbs verse
14 or chapter 14 verse 15 because it's so applicable to our generation it's so
applicable to the mass use of social media look at verse 15 it says the
simple believeth every word but the prudent man look as well to his going
you know another negative effect of this social media when it comes to
influencing your mind is just influencing you to believe stupidity
there's so much stupidity on the internet the the state of the truth
movement the state of people that believe in conspiracies is so
disgustingly pathetic right now that it's a joke you know I mentioned this
before that when someone you know ten ten fifteen years ago said that they
thought 9/11 was an inside job I was like yeah I think so too and I'm
thinking hey this is a pretty smart person that I'm dealing with someone
that's awake to the world but like now just because someone says that to me I
don't think that necessarily they're a smart person my next question is okay
great I agree with you but what what shape is the earth though because
unfortunately a lot of people when they believe one conspiracy they believe
every conspiracy and they believe in the Nephilim and they deny reality and I
just want to bang my head against the wall when someone denies reality and let
me tell you something I am NOT just talking about the world I am talking
about new independent fundamental Baptist Christians that go to church
three times a week that's who I'm talking about people that don't read
anything they spend all day on social media they don't read their Bible and
they're stupid people let us not be stupid Christians let us not be
unintelligent just because you're saved doesn't make you smart please don't just
consume social media endlessly and think that you actually know anything about
anything go to Exodus chapter number 20 Exodus chapter number 20 here's another
danger that I think social media can pose and that is I think excessive
social media use can lead to extreme covetousness extreme covetousness in
this kind of plays in what I was saying how mine I effective mine heart well
what are all these companies doing they're selling ads and you're just
looking at things to buy all day for nine hours a day that's gonna affect
your heart that oftentimes is gonna make someone become very covetous look at
Exodus 20 verse 17 it says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife or his manservant or his maidservant or his
ox or his ass or anything that is thy neighbors you know what social media
oftentimes is just literally designed to do it's designed to cause you to covet
your neighbor's house you know what else it's designed to do oftentimes it's
designed to get you to covet your neighbor's wife literally because so
much of social media unfortunately is just women posting pictures of
themselves posting videos of themselves inappropriately not properly clothed and
let's just be honest the effect that that has on man and it's it is a
dangerous thing and if you think you can just spend nine hours a day looking at
that stuff and that your heart is not going to become covetous you are a fool
and you're deceiving yourself you know who else this really affects this really
affects women because you look at the statistics the people that spend the
most money in the household is the wife you know she's usually the one that's
buying the grove trees she's buying the kids clothes that's just natural that
usually women are the ones that spends a lot more money so a lot of these ads are
specifically catered towards women and a lot of women today are literally addicted
to online shopping you know we've all we've all heard of the memes of like the
Amazon packages at your front door how it's like a tower of Amazon packages
right and look it's kind of funny but it's a serious problem too because a lot
of women today are literally ruining their family's finances and it doesn't
matter how much money the husband makes it doesn't matter how hard he works to
provide if the wife is just addicted to online shopping and just every single
day Mount Amazon is out the front door it's like you can't overcome that as a
man I mean a lot of these ladies like they could find a way to spend endless
amounts of money it's just it's just kind of how they are let me read for you
Proverbs 31 10 it says who can find a virtuous woman for her fight her price
is far above Ruby's the heart of her husband that safely trust in her so that
he shall have no need of spoil you know what the Proverbs 31 woman the virtuous
woman is doing she's not spending all day long shopping on social media
because here's the thing the Bible says that the eyes of man are never satisfied
it does not matter what you buy ladies it does not matter how nice of a house
you have it does not matter how nice of clothes you have or how much makeup you
buy or how often you eat out or how often you get your nails done you will
never ever be happy with that you never will when we walk in the flesh and we
just consume whatever you want to men and women we will never be satisfied the
only way you can be satisfied is by walking in the spirit of God by walking
in the spirit by reading your Bible by praying by being content in the Lord
that's the only way you could ever be satisfied so if you're thinking well if
I just shop a little more I'll be a little more satisfied it'll never happen
you'll just keep chasing it forever forever forever you know it's gonna
happen you'll literally ruin your family's finances and that is a huge
problem today in America and I think part of it is being fueled by excessive
social media use because there's always a new ad there's always a new thing and
it used to have to be like when you when you wanted to buy something it used to
have to be like okay I recognize there's a need in my life for something and so
I'm gonna go search for that product but now products are just being thrown at
you all day long that you never thought of you didn't even know existed and so
you're like oh I need that oh I want that oh I didn't even know I needed this
in my life and it's like yeah that's a problem though because here's the thing
you'll never ever be satisfied and so just realize that just be like hey I
need to stop staring all day at all these apps and all these advertisements
because it is affecting my heart it will affect your heart go to Luke chapter
number 12 Luke chapter number 12 listen to the advice of the Lord Jesus Christ
in Luke 12 verse 15 says and he said unto them take heed and beware of
covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the
things which he possesseth you know buying things does not make you happy
making money does not make you happy going on the next vacation does not make
you happy you know makes you happy having peace with God having peace with
your family having peace with your neighbors having a wife that loves you
having a husband loves you having well-behaved children that love God that
want to spend time with you look that stuff actually brings fulfillment and
Jesus is warning you look beware beware of covetousness because a man's life
consisted not in the abundance of the things which possess it it is not gonna
make you happy to buy that next Amazon box I promise you you know what it's
probably gonna leave you feeling empty and probably make your husband feel
broke that's what it's gonna leave you guys feeling like it's not fun it's not
something that's good something we need to watch out for go to 1st Corinthians
chapter number 6 1st Corinthians chapter number 6 while you're turning there let
me read first Timothy 6 6 it says but godliness with contentment is great
game for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry
nothing out and having food and raiment let us be there with content you want to
be happy buy some good food buy some really good quality food enjoy that
steak enjoy that organic whatever buy some durable clothing have a roof over
your head and go to church go soul winning and read your Bible and you
will have a happy content life but be content with those things now before we
get to first Corinthians 6 number 4 this morning excessive social media can lead
to addiction and an unhealthy lifestyle here's a statistic it says fifty six
point nine respondents sorry fifty six point nine percent of respondents from
a 2023 study say that they are addicted to using their phones now I have an
article here it's called constant craving how digital media turned us all
into dopamine addicts now for sake of time I'm not gonna read this whole thing
but let me just read a little bit of this so there's this woman dr. Anna I
think her last name is Lemke and she wrote a book called dopamine nation it
says her new book dopamine nation emphasizes that we are all now addicts
to a degree she calls the smartphone the modern-day hypodermic needle we turn to
it for quick hits seeking attention validation and distraction with each
swipe like and tweet since the turn of the Millennium behavioral addictions
have soared every spare second is an opportunity to be stimulated whether by
entering the tick-tock vortex scrolling Instagram online gambling and e-shopping
it says all this has consequences although we have endless founts of fun
at our fingertips the data shows that we are less happy global depression rates
have been climbing significantly in the past 30 years and according to a world
happiness report people in high-income countries have become more unhappy over
the past decade we've forgotten how to be alone with our thoughts we're forever
interrupting ourselves for a quick digital hit meaning we rarely concentrate
on taxing tasks for long or get into a creative flow addiction is a spectrum
disorder it's not as simple as being an addict or not it's deemed worthy of
clinical care when it significantly interferes with someone's life and
ability to function when it comes to minor digital attachments the effect is
pernicious it gets into philosophical questions how is the time I'm spending
on my phone in subtle ways affecting my ability to be a good parent spouse or
friend that's a good question says she wrote dopamine nation because she
believes that her recovering patients have acquired a wisdom we could all
benefit from to understand addiction you must first understand dopamine rather
than giving us pleasure itself as is commonly thought dopamine motivates us
to do things we think will bring pleasure as the brains major reward and
pleasure neurotransmitter it's what drives us to seek pizza when we're
hungry scientists use dopamine to measure the addictive potential of any
experience the higher the dopamine release the more addictive the thing we
experience a spike in dopamine in an anticipation of doing something as well
as when we do the thing itself which makes us want to continue doing it as
soon as it's finished we experience a come-down or a dopamine dip that's
because the brain operates via a self regulating process called homeostasis
meaning that for every high there is a low in this come-down state we really
want that second piece of chocolate or we won't we really want to watch another
episode she says but if we're not severely addictive the craving soon
passes when we binge on pleasurable things homeostasis means our brain
compensates by bringing us lower and lower and lower each time each time the
thing becomes less enjoyable we eventually become dependent on those
stimuli to keep functioning we spiral into a soy so soy we spiral into it
pretty much a joy seeking abyss the digital world enables binging on a
previously unseen scale because there are no limitations forcing us to pause
with substances you eventually run out of money or lines of cocaine but Netflix
shows or tick-tock feeds are indefatigable often you don't need to do
anything just hit next or the next hit automatically loads on your screen you
know we're living in a society and so distracted and so addicted that we are
spending every single spare second of our lives consuming media consuming
distractions people I mean literally you walk in the men's restroom and the dudes
in the urinal have their phone in their hand let me just tell you ladies a
little secret the dudes are on the urinal and they're scrolling Facebook as
they're taking a piss that's literally how addicted our world has become to
social media you know that that is not healthy and there are people where you
want to know why they're checking their phone over a hundred times a day because
they're addicted to it literally their body has become addicted their brain has
become addicted the dopamine hit of our phones has literally caused many of us to
be addicts on a grand scale it's pretty crazy to think about first
Corinthians 612 says all things are not or sorry all things are lawful unto me
but all things are not expedient all things are lawful for me but I will not
be brought under the power of any you know like I said social media it's not
inherently sinful but ask yourself this question who's in charge is social media
running your life do you without even thinking open your phone and all of a
sudden 30 minutes an hour two hours the whole day has gone by has passed you
without you intending to do so you have a problem you might seriously be
addicted to your phone you might seriously be addicted to social media
I'll read for you Matthew 24 20 or Matthew 14 23 it says when he had sent
the multitudes away he Jesus went up into a mountain apart to pray and when
the evening was come he was there alone you know one of things Jesus did was he
He went to a mountain by himself just to pray to God.
Jesus, he didn't have a phone, he didn't have a YouTube video, he didn't have a tablet or
anything like that.
He literally just went up to a mountain by himself, no other human beings around, just
to pray to God, just to spend time with God.
You know, I just wonder about Christians.
Do you ever in your life just have any time where it's just you and God, where it's quiet,
where it's just you praying to the Lord, just you reading your Bible, no other distractions.
You know, that's the example that Jesus Christ set for us.
He got alone with God.
He spent his time alone with the Lord with nothing, no distractions, no phones.
And look, it's hard to get away from your phone today.
You know, in this world of people working remotely, you know, it used to be that you
clock in, you clock out, and then your boss can't reach you till the next day at work.
You know, now it's just like you could be reached at any time, day or night.
If you wanted to just work from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, you
can do that.
And in a way, it's a blessing that we can work and be productive, but it also can be
very mentally taxing and it can get to an unhealthy level where you're never quiet,
you're never actually alone, you're never actually spending time with your family because
you're just completely addicted to your phone, you're completely attached to your phone.
That's a serious problem.
You know, I feel like for many Americans, the average day for them as they wake up and
they check social media, first thing that they do and they go to work and they spend
half the day on their phone checking social media all day at work and then they drive
home and they are on social media while they're driving and then they get home for dinner
and they're on social media at the dinner table the whole time with their family and
then when you lay in bed at night, you doom scroll next to your spouse and you watch reels
on Instagram next to your spouse and then you go to bed and that's it and that is how
so many Americans are spending their time and you know what I'm saying is true.
That is a serious danger that has presented itself in our generation.
Almost done here.
Go to Luke chapter number 10.
Luke chapter number 10.
It's not a healthy lifestyle.
Luke chapter number 10, very famous story here in verse number 38 says, now it came
to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at
Jesus's feet and his head and heard his word.
But Martha was covered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does that
not care?
My sister had left me to serve alone, bid her therefore that she help me.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall
not be taken away from her.
You know, we have a story here of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and Martha is working really
hard and working hard is great, right?
She's trying to be a good host.
She's trying to serve.
She's trying to clean for the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what she's spending her time doing.
But yet her sister, Mary, decided that, you know, that stuff's not the most important
thing right now.
I have the Lord Jesus Christ in my home.
I'm going to listen to him.
I'm going to spend time with him.
And Jesus actually commands Mary from making that choice and says, "Martha, hey, you're
really careful," meaning full of care, full of things to do, and you're covered about
with much serving, but your sister actually made the right decision here.
So you have Martha, who's corrected by Jesus for working too much, in a sense, and not
spending time on the spiritual things that she should have.
Well, if Jesus felt that way about Martha, what do you think he thinks about the Christian?
That he's not spending all of his time, or she's not spending all of his time working
really hard on being a good servant, on being a good housewife, on being a good provider,
and that's why he's neglecting some spiritual things.
No, rather, what would he think about the person that the reason he's neglecting his
life, the reason he's neglecting his spiritual walk, is simply because he or she is just
addicted to their phones.
What do you think he'd have to say about that?
Because what Martha was doing in and of itself was a good thing to do, that she should do.
You know what's a not good thing to do is to waste your entire life away on a screen,
to waste your entire life away on social media.
I can tell you right now, Jesus would not like that at all.
And why are people doing it?
Because they're literally addicted to it.
They're literally addicted to it.
So you know, so far we've talked about what are some dangers of social media?
Well, it's a huge time waster, right?
It negatively affects your mind.
It can lead to covetousness and it can lead to addiction.
Now, remember, I'm not saying, hey, let's get rid of all social media.
Let's never use these things.
It's a tool and it can be used for good or bad.
So what are some action steps that we could take to make sure that we're using these
tools responsibly?
Let me have you turn if you would to Psalm 119, Psalm 119.
Number one, here's the first action step that I think we could do.
And I myself did this, OK?
So take it for what it's worth.
You could do this.
You could not.
This is just my advice.
I think you should take a one week challenge where you delete all social media apps from
your phone.
Now, I didn't say delete your accounts.
I didn't say delete your social media accounts.
I didn't say don't have social media.
I said simply just delete the app from your phone because you know what I did?
I started this challenge in May and from the mid May up until this very week I was doing
this.
So I'm saying do it for a week, but I've done this since May.
I deleted all the apps.
If I wanted to go on Facebook, you know what I had to do?
I had to open my phone.
I had to go to the app store.
I had to download the Facebook app.
I had to log into Facebook.
I did whatever I wanted on Facebook and then I immediately deleted the app again because
you want to know the sad truth?
The first week when I took this challenge, you know what I was doing?
I was opening my phone to look for an app that didn't exist mindlessly.
I wasn't even thinking.
I was like, whoa, I just opened my phone to go on Facebook and I wasn't even meaning to.
And I have a feeling that there's probably people that are way more addicted to their
phones than I am.
So if I was doing that, week one, I wonder what some other people are like.
I think this is a good idea.
Delete all these apps for one week, you say, oh, I want to check Instagram.
You can download the app, log in, check what you want to do, then delete it.
Because you know what you're going to find is you're not going to be wasting so much
time.
And you could actually use it a little more intentionally saying, okay, I'm going on to
do this thing.
I'm going to go on and make this post, and then I'm out.
And all of a sudden, just time hasn't gone by.
So I've done that up until this week, and now I feel like my mind is a little more renewed
to where I think I could use these apps a little more responsibly now.
And here's the thing.
Maybe in a few months, I might have to reset myself again because this stuff is addicted.
It's literally designed to be addicted.
We all have the same flesh.
We all have the same cardinality.
Look, sometimes we just have to realize like, okay, this is a problem, and I need to take
control of this situation.
Here's another action step you could take is earn dopamine by doing something hard,
not just by doom scrolling.
Earn your dopamine by doing something that is valuable, that is actually not vanity rather
than just doom scrolling.
Look at Psalm 119 verse 71.
It says, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes."
People who have never really been through anything difficult, you'll often notice that
they're usually very weak people.
They have weak character, they're weak mentally, they're weak physically because they've never
gone through anything difficult.
Whereas if you know people where they've had a lot of problems, they have seen really rough
stuff, they've had really bad personal tragedies that have happened to them, and they've had
to cling really close to the Lord to make it through those challenges, you'll notice
that they're often way better people.
They're harder people, they're tougher people, they're stronger people, and spiritually they
often are too.
And look, we need to do things in our life purposely that are challenging, because we
live in such an easy time, we live in like the easiest time ever where you can just be
entertained every second of the day, you can pretty much always be in air conditioning,
there's always a fast food restaurant nearby, there's always an ice cream place nearby,
there's always a place where you can just unplug from the world and just feed the flesh
and just be lazy, you can always play another video game, you can always watch another show
that exists everywhere in our society, and so because of that, it used to be that life
was just hard and you just had to get through life, now you need to make your life hard,
you need to do things that is challenging to actually earn dopamine the right way.
You know last, it was actually a few days ago, time flies, I feel like I'm in a warp
right now, a few days ago I went to Phoenix and I predetermined in my mind, I am going
to go running in the desert even though I freaking hate the heat and it's just miserable
and I'm white as snow and I'm going to get so sunburned but I just, I went out there
and I just went running in the desert and I just felt good afterwards.
I literally physically felt good.
You know why?
Because God actually gave us dopamine for a reason.
To reward us to do things that are beneficial, to reward us for doing things that actually
help us.
And you know if you ever run, if you ever lift weights, you know these things bring
dopamine and that's good because you're actually getting a benefit from it.
But you know what you're getting zero benefit out of?
Just endless scrolling.
In fact, not only are you getting no benefit from it, you're probably actually being hurt
by it.
You're actually probably being harmed by it.
You know, read a book, go for a hike, lift some weights, go shooting, go learn something,
you know, spend time with your spouse, do something that's going to earn some dopamine
the right way.
There's this guy, Jocko Willink, does anyone know who he is?
He has this shirt that says no free dopamine, like that is awesome.
That is so true, like we should live our lives that way that no free dopamine, we're going
to earn it the right way by actually doing something that is beneficial.
Another action step we could take, number three, do not allow children on social media.
Do not allow children on social media at all.
You know how long I would allow my daughters to hold my loaded firearm?
Zero seconds, zero seconds, because they have no clue how to use it, and it is just a tool.
It's not bad, but boy can they be harmed by a loaded gun in their hands, can't they?
Let me tell you, allowing children to be on social media is like handing your kids a loaded
gun.
There's tons of absolute wicked, terrible stuff on the internet that's a shame to even
speak of.
Children trafficking, oftentimes, is they're using social media to recruit victims and to
recruit workers in these ways.
Letting your kids be on social media is a terrible, terrible, terrible mistake.
If they're not old enough to responsibly use a firearm, then they're not responsible enough
to be on social media.
If they're old enough to where you say, "Hey, this person's responsible enough," where they
could go to a range and they could operate a handgun by themselves, they know how to
disassemble it, they know how to shoot it, they know how to handle it the right way,
okay, maybe you could start to think about social media.
But if they're not at that point, don't even think about it.
Don't even think about it.
Lastly here, go to Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16, the last action step I think we should take
when it comes to this topic is that you need to replace your scrolling habit with a spiritual
habit.
Replace your scrolling habit with a spiritual habit, especially if you take this one week
challenge because you're going to need something to replace it with, let me tell you.
Psalm 16 verse 3 says, "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."
You say, "Hey, my mind is messed up.
I'm addicted to this stuff.
I'm addicted to social media.
I'm on it all day.
My thoughts are about Reels and about TikToks and about Instagram."
Well, commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established.
You replace that stuff with, "Hey, I'm going to delete those apps for one week, and every
time I find myself going, 'Oh crap, what did I just do?'"
It's like you have to read a chapter of the Bible now.
Every time you do that, go to Psalm chapter one, boom, you owe yourself a chapter of the
Word of God.
You mess up again, there's Psalm chapter two.
Some of you guys, you'll stop using social media real fast if you had to start reading
the Bible.
That's a good idea.
Let me read for you.
James 4.8 says, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded."
Philippians 4.13 says, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."
This might be a hard challenge.
It was even for me, but I hope that this sermon has waken you up a little bit to realize
that this is a serious danger in our society.
This is a weapon of mass distraction.
This is something that the devil is using to harm families, to harm Christianity, and
we need to gird it up.
We need to wrangle it in and get control of it and say, "We're going to use it the way
that we want to.
We're going to use it to propagate Christianity to good doctrine, but we're not going to let
it control us."
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this church, and thank you for the tools that you have given us in our lives.
Just pray that we would use them responsibly, that we would use them for good, and that
you would just help everyone here to take the exhortation to do this challenge seriously.
Just pray that people would participate, and that it would help them in their lives.
Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
All right, if you would grab a hymnal, we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude
the service.
Turn in your hymnals to hymn number 257, "Look and Live," hymn number 257, hymn 257.
We'll start there right on the first.
I have a message from the Lord, hallelujah, the message unto you I'll give.
'Tis recorded in His word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
Look and live, my brother, live, look to Jesus now.
'Tis recorded in His word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
I have a message full of love, hallelujah, a message, oh my friend, for you.
'Tis a message from above, hallelujah, that you look and live to you, hallelujah.
Eternal I shall have you in, hallelujah, to Jesus, who alone can say, look and live to Jesus now, and live.
'Tis recorded in word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
I shall tell you how Jesus, when he made me, I looked, I trusted, and he saved my soul, and lived, Jesus, now that you look and live.