["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Hymn number 310, Footprints of Jesus. Hymn number 310.
Hymn number 310. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,
Come, follow me, and we see where Thy footprints falling lead us to Thee.
Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
We will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Though they lead o'er the cold, dark fountains seeking His sheep,
O'er along by Siloam's fountains helping the weak.
Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
We will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
If they lead through the temple, holy, preaching the Word,
O'er in homes of the poor and lowly serving the Lord.
Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
We will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Then at last, when on high, He sees us, our journey done,
We will rest where the steps of Jesus stand at His throne.
Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
We will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Good singing will open with a 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 there right on the first.
Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all.
He is my strength from day to day, without Him I would fall.
When I am sad, to Him I go. No other one can cheer me so.
When I am sad, He makes me glad. He's my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, my friend, in trial sore.
I go to Him for blessings and He gives them over and over.
He sends the sunshine and the rain. He sends the harvest golden grain.
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He's my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, and true to Him I'll be.
Oh, how could I, this friend, deny when He's so true to me?
Following Him, I know I'm crying. He watches over me day and night.
Following Him by day and night, He's my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better friend.
I trust Him now, I'll trust Him when my sweeting day shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend, beautiful life that has no end.
Eternal life, eternal joy, He's my friend.
I want to thank Pastor Shelley 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.
I also want to thank Evangelist Ferrer 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.
And coming to a church like this is a huge blessing because I'm going to be preaching to a group of people that are pretty much really solid and that know the Bible really well.
And that's in a huge part to Pastor Shelley and Evangelist Ferrer.
So thank you, Brother Ferrer, for all your hard work.
Thank you to those that helped me move yesterday, both from Fort Worth 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.
If you need any help from him, please don't feel like you can't contact him.
He is absolutely still your pastor. He's still here for you guys.
Evangelist Ferrer is still your evangelist. Nothing's changing with him either.
He's still the evangelist of this church.
And in fact, I'm not ordained in any way, shape, or form.
So if there's a baptism, that's on him. 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 going to 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'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 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 going to be our weekly Bible study. Really looking forward to that.
This Wednesday, we're going to start 1 Samuel. So just so you know what book we're going into, 1 Samuel is what we're starting with.
And then also next Sunday evening, we're going to be changing the evening service time to 4.30 p.m.
This is going to 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. 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 going to start that service at 4.30 p.m. So soul winning will still be from 2 to 4.
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, 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 in the music ministry, you can practice your songs.
If you're doing something with the computer, you can get that set up, 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 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 move to Oklahoma, this place is really awesome.
Soul winning is really good. It's a really conservative area. I like how much rural areas that there are.
It feels like old school Americana. That's what Oklahoma feels like to me. It feels like stepping back in time.
And I just 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 can start memorizing that there.
Service times on the left. Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m. Sunday evening 5.30 today.
But like I said, next week that will be 4.30. 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 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 salvation and baptism stats there for the year.
And I heard how you guys are reporting salvation is just texting the person that's leading the time. Is that correct? Okay.
Great. On September 1st, we'll have the next Sunday fellowship. 5th Sunday fellowship.
That's your family favorite dish. Alex, you better not bring any fried dog or anything weird like that.
No lizards, anything like that. I hope you can make it, Alex.
Alright, 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 coordinating rides and stuff like that.
So, you can be on the lookout from him for that.
Saturday, August 24th is going to be a ladies event at the Brickopolis Mini Golf and Parret 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 4th through 6th is the Heritage of the Lord Conference.
And that is a conference that's dedicated towards the youth at 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.
All the sermons pretty much are just dedicated towards the kids.
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 and 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 in our third song.
Alright, for our next song, if you would, grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 34.
I know that my Redeemer liveth, hymn number 34.
Hymn number 34. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and on the earth again shall stand.
I know eternal life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand.
I know, I know that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know his promise never faileth, the word he speaks.
It cannot die. Though cruel death my flesh shall sail, and yet I shall see him by and by.
I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand.
I know, I know that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know my men should be prepared, that where he is, there I may be.
Oh, wondrous thought for me, he careth, and he at last will come for me.
I know, I know that Jesus liveth, and on the earth again shall stand.
I know, I know that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
Good singing. As the offering plates are being passed around, turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter number six. Ephesians chapter number six.
Ephesians chapter six. Children, obey your parents in 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 good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men,
knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall you receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither 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 ye may be able 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 ye 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 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, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and 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, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and 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 in love with faith from God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with you all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, I'm thankful, Lord, for the Hawes family, and that you've just been able to open the doors for them to move down here,
and I pray, Lord, that at this time you'd help us to minimize distractions, Lord, to pay attention to the preaching of your word,
and help us, Lord, to worship you in spirit and truth, and Lord, I pray that you would glorify Father Hawes with your Spirit,
and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen. All right, well, 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 ye 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 is 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 and our flesh and 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 1 Peter 5 and let me read for you while you turn to 1 Peter 5, 2 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.
And the Bible is 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.
1 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 of my sermon this morning is Weapons of Mass Distraction.
Weapons of Mass Distraction.
You know, we are at war and, you know, there's, currently 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 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 it.
And one quick disclaimer for this sermon, I am not against social media.
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. In fact, I carry a gun every day of my life. In 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 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% of Gen Zers, Gen Z is 1997 to 2012, 26% 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 Zer, way more.
I mean, it's just getting, it's starting to get pretty bad here. The average American checks their mobile device 159 times a day.
Wow. Just like, oh, oh, 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% 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% more time than that watching TV.
93% 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 have an agenda behind the social media.
What you have to realize is that 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 5.15. It says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.
The word circumspect just means watchful, discreet, cautious, prudent.
The Bible is 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.
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.
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 going to 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, OK, I see that time is very important, that it's a resource that I can't get back.
So what am I going to do? I'm going to understand what the will of the Lord is and I'm going to 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 going to be wanting you to do the will of God.
They're going to want to take you away from the will of God, which is why the 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, 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 one.
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 TikTok, 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 TikTok is absolute trash.
And when TikTok was created, all it was was just a platform of dancing girls half naked.
You're going to tell me that that's a good platform. You're going to 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 one, verse one.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel 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 doth 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 one, 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? It's 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 TikTok 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 three, why would you want to do this? It says, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth 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.
1 Timothy chapter 4, I'll read for you while you turn to Revelation 1. 1 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 readeth. And they that hear the words of this prophecy keep those things that are written therein for the times 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 readeth, 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 are we just 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 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.
Does anyone else have a family member like that? It's like, they're just so intelligent. You know why? It's because 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. Now what's another thing we should be valuing as important in our life is church.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 in 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, the Bible says that we should serve him with 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 things. 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 going to listen? Why even come to church if you're not going to look down in your Bible?
Why even come to church if you're not going to do it with reverence? Go to Ephesians chapter number 6.
You know, something else that God really wants you to spend time on is your family.
Verse 4 of Ephesians chapter number 6, 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, but 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 fear for generation alpha, which generation alpha is like my kid's 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 going to have this image in their mind.
You know what I'm talking about?
I'm really terrified that that's the image that children are going to have of their parents.
They're going to 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 they're 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 2 Corinthians 10, I'll read for you.
Ecclesiastes 12, 13, it 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.
You 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 it could rob you from your time.
Here's another potential danger of social media,
is that it can negatively influence your mind.
It can negatively influence your mind.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Look at what it 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 exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Notice, in this spiritual battle we're in,
we should be bringing into captivity the thoughts
that war against the knowledge of Christ.
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.
Have you ever met a really interesting person, or a really smart person,
or maybe you saw one on TV, and you're like,
man, I'd like to kind of get inside that person's mind
and see how they think and how they look at problems.
Have you ever thought that about someone?
Well, how about the Lord Jesus Christ?
That's a pretty awesome guy. 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 mind spiritual things
or to have the mind of Christ?
It means that you think like Christ, and it means that you think about Christ.
Now, does 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 going to go promote biblical doctrine on social media.
And do you think that 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.
Now, 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.
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, 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, 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 eye affecteth mine 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,
if you're watching a bunch of stupid, just meaningless, vain videos,
that is going to affect your heart.
That is going to cause you to not want to necessarily be very spiritual or walk in the spirit.
Oftentimes, it's going to want to draw you away from the Lord, away from the things of God,
and negatively impact your mind.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number 1.
1 Peter chapter number 1.
We're going to go to 1 Peter 1 and 1 John 2, close together there.
1 Peter 1 and 1 John 2.
1 Peter 1, 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.
Now, 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 going to choose what I'm going to think about today.
I'm going to read what I want to read, and if I want to look up something online,
it's going to be what I purposely seek to look up.
I'm not going to 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.
1 John 2, 15, go to 1 John 2, 15, it says in verse 15,
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love 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 use, for an example, reels.
It's called different things, reels, shorts, TikToks.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about videos that are usually 60 seconds long or shorter.
The Bible says to gird up the loins of your mind and to love not the world.
What are you doing when you're watching those?
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.
I don't see how just mindlessly scrolling that is not in violation of girding up the loins 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.
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 going on YouTube and being like,
how to build a deck and watching a video on how to build a deck.
You're not looking up something like, hey, you know,
aircraft ground school and learning ground operations.
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 I want 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 can be used for good.
It could be used for bad.
So while these stupid forms of media exist, let's go ahead and make some reals.
I think that's great.
Pastor Mejia does a great job of that.
And Pastor Mejia 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 going to go put Christianity into this thing and then I'm out.
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 switched.
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 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 4.
Philippians chapter number 4.
Like I said, these companies aren't 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's 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 of 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.
There's so much false doctrine on the internet today and it's like 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 girding up loins in their minds, 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.
2 Timothy chapter number 3, 2 Timothy 3.14 says,
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, note this part, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
You know 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 is 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 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 is 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.
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 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 say.
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 could be an influencer and you could 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 is leadership?
Leadership is simply just influence.
That's what it is.
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 TikToks 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 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 looketh 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 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 10, 15 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 what 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 and this kind of plays in what I was saying how mine eye affected 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 going to affect your heart.
That often times is going to 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, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
You know what social media often times 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?
Often times 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 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.
And you know who else this really affects?
This really affects women.
Because if 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 groceries.
She's buying the kids clothes.
That's just natural that usually women are the one 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 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 families 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 at 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 price is far above rubies.
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 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 what's going to 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 going to 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 what 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 that 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 consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
It is not going to make you happy to buy that next Amazon box. I promise you.
You know what? It's probably going to leave you feeling empty and probably make your husband feel broke.
That's what it's going to leave you guys feeling like.
It's not fun. It's not something that's good.
It's something we need to watch out for.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. 1 Corinthians chapter number 6.
While you're turning there let me read 1 Timothy 6.
It says, But godliness with contentment is great gain.
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? Hey, 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.
Read your Bible. And you will have a happy content life.
But be content with those things.
Now, before we get to 1 Corinthians 6, number 4 this morning,
Excessive social media can lead to addiction and an unhealthy lifestyle.
Here's a statistic.
It says 56.9% 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 the sake of time I'm not going to 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 TikTok 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.
It 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 brain's 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 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 comedown 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 comedown state, we really want that second piece of chocolate or 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 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 TikTok 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 100 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 6 12 says, 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 is 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 or Matthew 14 23 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 the things Jesus did was 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 with 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 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 is 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' feet and heard his word.
But Martha was covered about much serving, and came to him and said,
Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bitter 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 commends 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, okay?
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 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 in to 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, OK, 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, OK, 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.
You know, 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.
You know, 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 could just be entertained every second of the day.
You could 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 could 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 a dopamine the right way.
You know, last 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 is 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, 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. 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.
Human 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 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. Proverbs 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 1. Boom, you owe yourself a chapter of the Word of God.
You mess up again, there's Psalm chapter 2. You know, 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 wakened 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. In Jesus' name 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've 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 and live.
Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
I've a message full of love, hallelujah, a message, oh my friend, for you.
Tis a message from above, hallelujah, Jesus said and I know tis true.
Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
Life is offered unto you, hallelujah, eternal life thy soul shall have.
If you'll only look to him, hallelujah, look to Jesus who alone can't see.
Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.
I will tell you how I came, hallelujah, to Jesus when he made me whole.
Twas believing on his name, hallelujah, I trusted and he saved my soul.
Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live.