Alright, we're here in Leviticus chapter 19 and the Bible reads in Leviticus chapter 19
starting at verse 16,
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people,
neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor.
I am the Lord.
And today what we're talking about here in this first sermon is the power of social media.
The power of social media.
Now when I talk about the power of social media,
I'll also talk about the dangers of social media,
but the most applicable thing for this sermon is the power of social media
because I'm afraid a lot of people don't understand how powerful social media actually is.
When I'm saying the power of social media,
we're talking about Facebook,
we're talking about YouTube,
we're talking about Instagram,
we're talking about a subject that 50 years ago nobody would understand.
It's a different world that we live in today with the internet,
with Facebook and YouTube,
and it's important in today's world that we understand the power of social media.
This is a sermon that wouldn't have been applicable 30 years ago,
but it is a different world today.
And so all of us need to be aware of the power of social media,
and not just how powerful it is now,
but what's going to happen five years from now,
ten years from now,
and I'm afraid a lot of people just aren't aware of that.
And when it comes to the power of social media,
the first point is the power to spread information rapidly.
The power to spread information rapidly.
See, in verse number 16 what it said is,
you should not go up and down as a tail bearer.
What it's referring to is somebody who likes to gossip,
and just tell stories,
and just pass on information,
and it's saying going up and down as a tail bearer
because you literally had to walk and knock on every door to pass on a tail.
See, this is before cell phones.
This is where you had to go door to door to gossip.
In today's world, all you have to do is just take your phone
and just send a text message,
and you send it to like 100 people.
You post on Facebook,
and 1,000 friends saw exactly what you said.
You don't have to go door to door to spread information.
In today's world, all you have to do is make a Facebook post
and say, man, you know, my husband did this,
and everybody's aware of it.
You're spreading information so quickly to so many people.
See, in Leviticus 19,
it's literally talking about going door to door gossiping.
In today's world, it is very easy to gossip to lots of people very quickly.
And the Bible said in verse 16, thou shalt not.
This is something you should not do.
So when it comes to gossiping,
you shouldn't go on Facebook or Instagram and YouTube
and just gossip about other people's matters,
things that don't belong to you, things that aren't involved with you.
You should not be going around just gossiping and spreading information.
Verse number 17, thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart.
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.
The Bible says you should not hate your brother.
It's referring to a spiritual brother.
Someone who is a like-minded believer in Christ
and says you should not hate this person.
Instead of hating them, you should rebuke them.
You say, why would you rebuke your brother if you love them,
if you don't hate them?
Because people that say, I'm not going to rebuke my brother and talk to him one on one,
they just go and tell everybody else about it.
See, what you should do if you love them and care about them
is just deal with that with them and nobody else is aware of it.
But if you hate them, what you're going to do is not talk to them
and just tell every single person about it and then everybody's aware of it.
And in today's world, this is very easy to do with text messaging,
with Facebook messages, with YouTube, with Instagram,
and all the other platforms that are out there, social media.
It is very easy to spread information very rapidly.
It's very easy to start a fire, but not just a small fire.
You just started a large fire that goes to lots of different people.
In the past, it was very difficult to do that.
In today's world, you can spread it to so many people so quickly.
Turn to Proverbs 18.
So if you have a problem with someone, what you should do is go to them one on one
and try to deal with that problem.
Get it figured out, get it fixed.
Because once it spreads to a lot of people, it's going to be a lot harder to get the problem fixed.
Look, a small fire in your house.
Let's say, for example, there's some sort of something happens.
You have a small fire, you drop a match.
You have a small fire in your house, you can probably put that fire out.
Let's say, for example, you just get a bunch of gasoline
and then just throw a bunch of matches on it and it goes in lots of different directions.
Well, good luck stopping that fire.
You're going to have to call the fire department to fix it for you.
Now, a small fire is easy to put out,
but when you go to Facebook and just launch it to a thousand different people,
well, good luck putting that fire out
because you just sent it in a lot of different directions.
It's going to be very difficult.
And in today's world, it's very easy to start a fire that goes in every direction.
You say, why are you using the analogy of a fire?
That's what the Bible uses.
The Bible speaks about the sins of the tongue and the fire that gets started
and you can launch that fire in so many directions in today's world.
It's a lot easier to cause big problems very quickly in today's world.
Proverbs 18, verse 7.
A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul.
The Bible says someone who's a fool, his mouth basically destroys his life.
Because somebody who's just foolish just repeats everything they want to,
everything they think, and then everybody's going to find out about it.
See, the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin,
but thinking of foolish thought will not get you into that much trouble.
But once you just spread that foolish thought to everybody,
that's when you get in trouble.
That's when everybody's aware of it.
That's when you look like a fool.
If you just thought a foolish thought, then nobody's going to think you're a fool.
But when you actually spread that foolish thought,
then you actually become a fool and everybody's aware of it.
In verse number 8, the Bible says the words of a tail bear are as wounds
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
What is a wound?
A wound is basically something that is not healed
and is not going to heal very quickly.
For example, if you have a wound in your body,
that means every day you're just still having that pain.
It's not a scar where it's gone away,
but if it's an open wound, that means it's still there,
it still hurts every single day.
And when people spread gossip and criticize people
and say things behind people's backs, it is a wound.
It is not something that just goes away quickly.
It would be a lot better if you got a problem with your fellow brother,
just punch him in the face and it's over with.
But when you say words, it becomes a wound where basically it's always fresh
and it still comes up and that bitterness is hard to get rid of.
Somebody says something about you
and that sticks with you for months and a long period of time.
See, in the past, this was not as big of an issue
because if you have a problem with someone at church,
you don't see them for a week and you forget about them.
In today's world, though, social media is just like,
man, it just spreads very rapidly.
And you have to realize you're creating a wound,
not just a little small pain,
but a wound that is not going away any time soon.
Turn to Proverbs 26, Proverbs 26.
And while you're turning to Proverbs 26,
realize that it goes down into the innermost parts of the belly.
It hurts you on the inside, okay?
See, we all get hurt in life.
You step on something that hurts you.
You get scratched.
But when it comes to words, they hit the innermost parts of the belly.
They're a lot more painful than just getting a little scratch
or some sort of pain.
In Proverbs 26, verse 17, the Bible reads,
he that passeth by and medleth with strife,
belonging not to him, is like one that taketh the dog by the ears.
See, the Bible says that when you pass by
and there's a problem between two people
and you get involved in that situation,
it's like taking a dog by the ears, okay?
Look, when you have a young child,
when you have a baby,
one of the big concerns you have when your child is around an animal,
you're afraid that baby's going to grab the tail or the ears of that dog
because what's that dog going to do if its ears get grabbed
or its tail gets grabbed?
It might just bite.
And see, you have to realize that's a very foolish thing to do to an animal.
See, a dog is not likely to attack you unless you agitate it.
And see, the Bible says when you get involved in situations
that do not belong to you,
basically it's like taking a dog by the ears.
Basically you're going to get both sides mad at you
and you should have just stayed out of the situation.
Verse 18, as a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, Am not I in sports?
And the Bible speaks here in verse 18 about a madman.
What is a madman in the Bible?
Think of the mad hatter.
The mad hatter gets his name because he's crazy.
He's Baliyur, okay?
So when it says a madman, it's somebody who's crazy, okay?
And as a madman casteth firebrands, what is it saying?
It's basically saying some crazy person is just launching arrows randomly in every direction.
Imagine being in Resolve Park and having a loaded gun
and just randomly going pew, pew, pew.
That's what it's saying.
Basically a crazy person who's launching arrows in every direction,
launching fire in every direction.
Look, some people are going to get hit with that.
Now you might launch some random arrow or shoot a bullet and it might miss everybody,
but if you just randomly launch it in every direction,
sometimes it's going to hit and it's going to cause a big fire.
And you have to realize with gossip, sometimes when you gossip, no big deal,
but sometimes it just launches a fire that's just not going out anytime soon.
And if you launch it in lots of different directions, there's a big problem.
See, in today's world, if you put up a post on Facebook,
look, if you send it to 700 people, it's going to hit some people.
And it's going to cause some problems.
Sometimes I see people on Facebook
and they'll criticize their husband or their wife on Facebook.
I'm like, what are you doing?
I mean, you are a fool.
Your health is destroying you.
Is that going to fix your marriage?
You've got a problem with your wife
and telling everybody how lousy your wife is, what are you doing?
You're an idiot. You're a fool.
It's like that's something you deal with one on one.
Look, everybody has problems in life.
But what you don't do is just spread it to everybody.
Everybody's got problems sometimes.
Husbands and wives fight.
You have things that bother you. You get in trouble.
But when you put it on Facebook,
you are creating wounds that will not go away anytime soon.
Now, look, if it's something small,
it would be something small if you just have a fight and deal with it,
but once you put it on Facebook, you've created a wound.
And honestly, sometimes I see people within like-minded churches that post stuff,
and I'm tempted to send them a Facebook message privately and say,
Look, you are a fool. Take that down.
You are destroying your life right now.
And I have, actually, the one person, I sent them a message,
and I said, What are you doing?
Someone I knew, and I said, You are destroying your marriage right now.
You ought to take that off because it's just going to cause you problems.
It's not going to fix the situation.
You post on Facebook, then your wife posts on Facebook,
and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
Well, look, every marriage has fights.
What are you doing?
And look, we've got to realize the power of social media
because in the past, you wouldn't be able to start a World War III argument that easily.
In the past, when you get in a problem with your husband,
it's not that easy to just call up your mom or your dad and say,
Hey, you know what? This and this and this happened.
In today's world, it is so easy to go on e-mail or the phone or text messaging
or Facebook or whatever social media,
and you just spread that information so quickly.
And it's like, you know, you need to be careful.
You need to understand the power of social media.
Look, a loaded gun is very dangerous if someone doesn't know what they're doing.
You wouldn't just let your child play around with a loaded gun,
but yet people play around with social media,
and they do not realize the danger zones.
And they think that, well, you know, no big deal.
No, honestly, they start a lot of World War III arguments,
and they get themselves into trouble.
And honestly, for a lot of people, if they cannot control their social media,
they need to just get rid of it.
That's good advice for a lot of people.
Now, I'm not saying it's a send-out social media.
I have a Facebook account.
But if you can't control it, you need to just get rid of it.
That's just what it is.
In Proverbs 26, verse 20, the Bible reads,
Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out.
So where there is no tail-bearer, the stripes cease it.
The Bible says if there is no wood, the fire is going to go out.
And if there's nobody to spread the tail or the gossip, the fire goes out.
The problem is there's always somebody to spread that fire.
There's always somebody.
I mean, when you launch the arrows out to 50 different people,
somebody's going to spread that.
And that is what the problem is.
That's why we need to be very careful with social media
because somebody is going to spread that fire.
And it just gets spread and spread.
Then people have to pick sides, and it just becomes a disaster.
We need to be careful with the things we say.
Verse 21, as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire,
so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
The words of a tail-bearer are as wounds,
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Notice how that is repeated.
Why?
God is trying to drive home the fact that when you launch words,
it hurts people really badly.
It doesn't matter how strong you are or how tough you are.
Words are very painful.
Now, we should try to shake off words and not let them bother us,
but the truth is words will bother us more
than actually getting hurt physically.
Honestly, they go down. They are wounds.
See, if I get some sort of scratch on my body,
it's going to be gone in a few days.
But words can hit you,
and then from time to time, it's going to come up again.
It's going to bug you, even if it was six months ago.
And it's very hard. People struggle with bitterness.
That's why we need to be careful about the words that we say.
Verse 23,
Burning lips and a wicked heart
are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
He that hateth, dissembleth with his lips,
and layeth up to see within it.
So you have to understand,
he that covereth the transgressions seeketh love.
And if you really love someone,
you're not going to spread that information.
See, the power of social media
starts with the power to spread information rapidly.
Now, turn to 1 Timothy 5.
Now, look, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
See, we're able to spread the word of God
very rapidly in today's world.
Social media can be used for good.
I'm not saying it's inherently sinful,
because we are able to spread the word of God so quickly.
People are able to see
that we have so many marathon and bullet times tomorrow,
and your people can join
and wouldn't ever be able to find out
about something like that in the past.
You can spread information in a good way very rapidly,
but you can also spread information in a bad way very rapidly.
Look, our YouTube, our social media,
it's great because it spreads information very quickly.
But the problem is
that you can also spread bad information quickly.
In the Bible, Paul the Apostle
would send somebody to a location
to report about what's going on.
Here, you just kind of hit play,
and you just do a social media update,
just say, hey, here's the missionary update.
It happens like that.
It's very quick.
It's very easy.
So it can be used in a good way.
It's not inherently sinful to have a Facebook account.
See, like, murdering someone is inherently sinful.
Stealing is inherently sinful.
Social media is not inherently sinful,
but it can often be sinful.
There's a difference.
It is not a sin to have Facebook.
And honestly, I've heard someone preach before
that ended up being some sort of heretic at a preaching office.
It is a sin to have Facebook.
And I'm like, well, you know,
you just preach against a lot of pastors
that you supposedly love and respect.
But it's just like, you know,
you cannot point to a verse that says
it's a sin to have Facebook.
But what you can say is
it's very dangerous and can often lead to sins
and more trouble.
So, look, it's not wrong to have a Facebook,
but it can get a lot of people in trouble.
Okay.
Now, in 1 Timothy 5, verse 11, the Bible reads,
But the younger widows refuse,
for when they have begun to wax one against Christ,
they will marry, having damnation
because they cast off their first faith.
Now, obviously we know
once you're saved, you're saved forever.
But at the same time, the Bible speaks about
the warnings about when you get into a life of sin
it can destroy your lives.
Okay.
In verse 13, the Bible reads,
And withal they learn to be idle.
Basically, they have nothing to do.
They learn to be idle,
wandering about from house to house,
and not only idle, but toddlers also in busybodies,
speaking things which they ought not.
So the Bible speaks about women
who basically have too much time on their hands,
and they become busybodies,
and they go from house to house.
Once again, with a cell phone,
you don't have to go from house to house.
You can get in everybody's house in one second,
and you can spread that information more rapidly.
Now, look, obviously, this is a sin
that both men and women can struggle with,
but if we're honest, this is something
that women tend to struggle with more than men gossip.
Okay.
There are some sins that men struggle with more,
and there are some sins that women struggle with more,
and the Bible highlights women more so than men.
Okay.
That women would struggle with this sin of gossip.
Okay.
And what the Bible speaks about
is the importance of women to get married
and have families,
because anybody who has too much free time in their hands
can get into big trouble.
See, we see women who have too much free time in their hands
because their widows, their husbands died,
or they don't get married at a young age,
and they can be busybodies.
That's a sin they can struggle with.
When it comes to guys, honestly, if they don't get married,
they're probably more likely to struggle with fornication
or basically destroying their purity and things such as that,
so it's not good for either men or women to have free time.
David had free time and he committed adultery.
That's worse than being a busybody.
Okay.
So I'm not preaching against women.
I'm just being honest
that this is something the Bible says women struggle with more.
Okay.
And so having too much free time in your hands
is a bad thing for both men and women.
That's why the Bible says women will be saved in childbearing.
It's not saying that they'll have a safe pregnancy
because godly women died in the Bible during pregnancy,
and women can die during delivery.
When it says saved in childbearing,
what it's saying is by having kids,
it will save them, this is the same book,
from basically having too much free time in their hands,
becoming a busybody, and getting into trouble.
So quite honestly, for all of us, it's good to stay busy.
As men and women, you want to stay busy.
Look, if you're a guy who has a day off from work,
you should probably plan out some things you want to do that day
because if you don't have a plan,
you sit around and get into trouble.
Both men and women, that's the way it works.
If you need to have a plan with what you're doing,
too much free time is not really a good thing.
We all want to have more free time.
We say, man, I wish I had more time off work,
and then you have your free day and you do nothing.
You don't even do any Bible reading.
I mean, you say, man, I've been so busy,
I just want to have a little bit of free time,
and on your free day, you do no Bible reading,
you do nothing productive, you're just on YouTube for ten hours.
Isn't that a potential danger that happens?
And so quite honestly, too much free time is not actually a good thing.
God actually wants you to be busy in life.
Verse number 14 of the Bible reads,
I will therefore that the younger women marry,
bear children, guide the house,
give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
The Bible speaks about being good as a young woman
to get married, to have a family.
It will keep them out of trouble just as with a guy,
being busy keeps you out of trouble.
Now turn to Titus 2.
Now again, we like the sermons where you're ripping through the Apocrypha,
that's the second sermon,
but honestly, this is a sermon that could hit some people in various areas.
And quite honestly, we need both types of preaching.
You preach against the false prophets in the Catholic Church,
but you also need the personal sermons that will hit people like us,
including myself,
because all of us can struggle from time to time with gossip
and having too much free time
and using social media in a bad way.
The second point I want to talk about is this,
the power of social media, the power to destroy your career.
This is something I want the young men to especially listen up to.
The power to destroy your career.
It says in Titus 2, verses 6 and 7,
Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded,
in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works,
in doctrines showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
The Bible speaks about having a pattern of good works.
It means in all areas of your life.
When it comes to church, you're devoted.
When it comes to reading the Bible, you're devoted.
When it comes to how you deal with people,
you have a pattern of good works in all areas.
You're a nice person.
Just every area, you're doing pretty well.
It also includes with your jobs and your work,
a pattern of good works.
All of us need that pattern.
When your boss is asked about you at work,
they should say that you're a good employee,
you're a nice person, and you work hard.
If your boss thinks lowly of you,
honestly, that's not a good thing.
It's not a very good testimony.
The Bible says a pattern of good works.
Verse 8, sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of you.
Don't give the enemy something they criticize you for.
You need to live a life where basically
you're above reproach.
Think of Daniel in the Bible.
The only thing they could say about Daniel
is that he's too devoted to God.
And that is how they try to get him into trouble.
That's how they try to put him to death
because he was too devoted to God.
Now, I want you to understand this,
and I'm going to give you some statistics.
And this is statistics coming from the United States,
so it is not the exact same here,
but I want you to realize that everything that happens
in the United States happens here 10 years later.
That's the way it works.
I mean, the U.S. is more ungodly than the Philippines,
but when the U.S. feels really ungodly,
you can better believe the Philippines will fall
alive from 10 years later.
Now, look, I'm preaching against the U.S. and the Philippines,
so don't get mad at me.
The truth is the truth.
We don't live in a godly country.
I mean, if you walk outside, you can notice that,
and neither is the United States a godly country.
Neither is any country in the world.
The world we live in today is disgusting.
It's filthy.
It's on a downward slope to hell.
That's the reality of our world.
But I want you to realize that in America,
they say that between 70 to 95 percent of the time,
when they're looking for a new employee,
70 to 95 percent of the time,
they will look at your social media to see what you posted
and what you said.
70 to 95 percent of the time.
And so they will look at something from five years ago on Facebook,
and they'll say, well, wait a minute.
We're not going to hire you because five years ago you said this on Facebook.
Seventy to 95 percent of the time.
You say, but Brother Stuckey, I could just delete it, and it's gone.
It is not gone.
When you put something on the Internet, it is not gone.
It doesn't go away.
You need to research that because it's permanently out there,
and there are companies that make it a point to track every single thing you say
because employees will pay them money to get that information.
Everything you say is being tracked, everything.
And you put it out there and you delete it, it's not gone.
It's still there.
And sometimes employees will pull this up and say, he's got a great resume,
4.0 GPA, great work experience.
But wait a minute.
Look at what he said about the Sotomayors.
We're not hiring him.
This is reality.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I like the sermons where you're ripping the Catholics and the Sotomayors.
I'm trying to help you not work with Jollibee the rest of your life.
I'm dead serious.
And for some of you, what you should do is go home and delete your Facebook
and start a new Facebook with a fake name and a different email you created simply for that
because they will look at your name and they will not hire you.
And look, I've preached stuff behind the pulpit.
I will not talk to you one-on-one and tell you to take this down.
I'm trying to tell you in this sermon, though.
And if it applies, it applies.
I want you to be successful in life.
And if you post certain things, especially people that are very young in this room,
you will not get hired by a professional company.
I love it that you're zealous and I don't want to kill your zeal, but I want to help you out
because it's my job as I'm teaching you to teach you the Bible
but also help you be successful at life.
And look, the world we live in, you cannot just say everything you want on Facebook.
You will not get hired by real companies.
This is not a conspiracy theory. It's the truth.
And look, I know you hear the hardcore sermons, but realize this.
Anything I post on YouTube or Facebook, I will not lose my job.
I work for Barry Baptist Church, one of the most hated pastors in the world.
I won't lose my job. Anything I post, I'm fine.
If you own a company where you independently work, you can post anything you want.
But if you work underneath a company, they're going to actually look at the things you post on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram.
And look, I'm telling you, some of you people, you are shooting yourselves in the foot.
You're making it very hard to get hired by them.
Look at what it says in Titus 2, verse 9.
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again.
See, when we have bosses, we need to be obedient unto them.
Do what they want us to do, okay?
Now, I understand that if you're applying for a job, you don't work underneath them,
but you have to realize that they're going to want an employee that basically is going to be a good employee,
and they don't have to worry about it.
Now, I agree with everything that everybody in the church posts on Facebook.
I agree with all of it.
Look, I'm not being watered down. I agree with all of it.
I understand what the Catholic church did for thousands of years.
I preached through it five part series.
But when you post that on Facebook, 80% of employers are Catholic.
They're not going to hire you if you say you hope the pope burns to death.
They're not going to hire you.
I mean, it's just the truth.
Now, I agree with what you're saying.
I agree with every single word, but they will not hire you.
Why?
Because you're basically going against what they believe.
That's the truth.
And look, I know what it's like to be a young, zealous guy,
because ten years ago, I was the same way.
Man, I just let her rip on Facebook and just said everything on YouTube.
And I remember when I worked at a professional company,
and I'd been there for a year and a half,
and I basically got called into the principal's office, so to speak.
Not at school, but called into the boss's office,
and they said, we heard that you hate sodomites and hate women.
I'm like, what?
And they pulled up some sermon I preached years ago,
and it's just because you say you believe that women are supposed to raise kids
and guys make them money.
Then they basically don't understand what you're saying.
The unsaved world doesn't understand this preaching.
And so it's like, honestly, it put me fearful.
Am I going to lose my job because of something I said?
I've got a friend of mine who's going to probably be starting a new job in a week,
and he's basically going to lose his job because of something he said on social media.
And it was very small.
It's going to be all over the world.
It's all getting together for the end times,
and if you're not part of that one religion, then you're going to be outed.
Look, I believe we need to stand up for the truth,
but I want you to realize something.
I believe that if you're a pastor or the lead preacher or the evangelist,
you need to be willing to be on the front lines of battles,
but I do not want you guys to sacrifice your careers and your families
because you're overly zealous.
I don't think you need to go on Facebook and just post everything.
I think what you could do is if you have friends you're trying to teach,
you can send them those sermons privately.
I think that's probably a better idea
because, honestly, when you post it on Facebook,
you guys are making it very hard to get hired.
It's the truth.
And, look, I'm not going to tell you what to do.
It's up to you, but, honestly, many of you should consider just, you know what,
just delete my own Facebook, go with a new name.
Now, for some people like me, if I have to work in the secular world,
I'm past the point where I can basically just delete everything.
It's already out there. I preach the sermons.
For some of us, we're past the point.
It doesn't matter what you do.
It's like, well, you know, for you that are really young
and you're just kind of getting into this, honestly,
complete your Facebook, start a new one with it.
That is what you should do if you're smart
because otherwise, you know what, employers won't hire you.
And I love the zeal, and I remember what it's like to be like that,
but, unfortunately, zeal comes before maturity.
Zeal comes before really thinking at the end of the matter.
And, look, every single man in this room that's married with kids,
they agree with everything I'm saying.
Because life gets hard when you raise a family.
And when you're young, you don't think about that.
When you have a family, man, I've got to be able to be there for my family.
And, honestly, if you say certain things on social media,
in today's world, you can forget about being hired by a real company.
That's the truth.
Now, this might not be popular for you.
I know I'm not ripping on the Catholics, but, you know what, honestly,
it's my job to help prepare you for life.
And when it comes to being a young man or a young person,
you need to prepare for your career.
Because you're going to be having a career that you're going to work for
for 30, 40 years, trying to make it up in the company,
and, quite honestly, you're not going to be able to make it up in the company
if you're just randomly saying things on Facebook.
You're not going to hire you.
And not only is it 75% of the time that they screen you before they hire you,
but, basically, half of the time, your employer will look at things
that you post while working for your company.
They will make sure that you're still not saying anything against the sodomites.
Isn't that the issue in today's world, the sodomites?
If you make that issue publicly, they will not hire you.
Now, there might be some exceptions, but, honestly, by and large,
professional companies are going to look at what you say on social media,
and that is going to be a striking issue.
You can have a computer programming degree, you can have a math degree,
you can have a statistics degree, whatever degree,
but if you say certain things on social media, they say,
well, forget about that person.
Even if they agree with what you say, because, honestly,
because of the pressure that the sodomites are placing on people,
they've got to basically appease everyone.
And so even if the employer agrees, my friend who's probably going to lose his job,
his employer, direct boss, agrees with everything he said,
and he loves him as a worker, but, unfortunately, it's above his pay grade,
and he can't make that decision.
And the reality is when you say certain things,
and especially against the Catholics or the LGBT,
you will offend plenty of people.
Eighty percent of people in this country are Catholic,
and 80 percent of people in this country are pro-LGBT.
And so if you say something against them,
look, someone is going to be very offended.
They're probably not going to hire you.
It says in verse number 10,
Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity,
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
And, honestly, when it comes to the way we deal with our employers and our bosses
and the things we say, the unsaved world,
they're not necessarily going to understand the things you're posting on Facebook.
If they're not saved, they're going to think we're crazy.
This sermon seems normal to you, but pull a random person off the street,
and they're going to be like, what's wrong with this guy?
Is that lame? He's crazy.
They're not going to think it's normal at all.
People first need to get saved, and, honestly,
if you're going to share the sermons and stuff,
the best thing you can do is just share them privately, silently,
or create a Facebook account with a fake name.
Not just change your name on Facebook.
No, you really have to just delete the old one and start a new one with a fake name
and create a specific email address
where basically it's not attached to your name.
See, my email address has my name in it,
and they can track down stuff to know it too.
You need to create a separate email address for one purpose,
and that is to create a Facebook account where you can say whatever you want.
And then you'll be able to get away with it.
But, quite honestly, if you post pictures, they're going to track that back to you.
And I'm just trying to help you be wise.
Obviously, yeah, we want to be bold and stand up for the truth,
but at the same time, the Bible says, why is it serpents?
And quite honestly, a lot of you, you're going to get fired one day,
even if you've been working at companies for years,
because I know plenty of people in the U.S. that have been fired
because of certain things they said.
This is the truth.
Now turn in the Bible to 2 Corinthians 10.
2 Corinthians 10.
Look, isn't it true that we love a church like this
because you don't always come to this church and get a pat on the back
and say you're doing everything perfectly?
You come to this church because I preached the truth.
Now that might have hurt some of you, but you know what?
That's the truth, and I'm trying to help you out.
I'm saying it because I care about you.
It doesn't affect me if you get fired at your job.
It doesn't affect me at all.
But I don't want you to get fired.
I want to prepare you for life.
And the world we live in is different than it was 10 or 20 years ago.
People are getting fired all the time for things they say on social media.
Professional athletes all the time.
They get fired because of something they say.
There was a case 10 years ago with Tim Haraway.
Ten years ago where they asked him about sodomites,
and he's like, I hate gay people.
He's like, honestly, what would it be like to have a gay teammate?
He's like, I don't want a gay teammate.
He's like, I hate gay people.
And they said, well, that's bigotry.
And he says, well, I just don't want to have a gay teammate.
I'd ask to be traded if they wouldn't trade him.
What happened?
Well, he lost his job for ESPN working as an announcer.
Why?
Because you cannot work for ESPN, and it gave you.
And so what I'm trying to tell you is, yeah, you know what?
Stand firm for the things of God.
I'm not asking you to back down.
I'm not saying when you have a one-on-one conversation,
you pretend not to believe something.
But what I'm saying is you need to be careful with social media
because it's more powerful than you realize.
It's more powerful.
Look, I told this story before that 10 years ago, my friend
worked at Best Buy, and he had said something about Barack Obama
and made a joke about him hoping that he got killed on the phone
or made a joke.
I'm not sure exactly what he said,
but I think he made a joke that he was going to kill him or something.
And he meant it as a joke because obviously he wasn't going to do that.
And then literally that week, somebody came in and basically
worked for the government, and he told him what I did.
He's like, well, I actually track conversations that people say
and listen for key words in order to such and such for the government.
And he's like, for example, if you were to make a death threat
on Barack Obama, you know, I would get wind of that.
And he's like, so just letting you know, don't ever do that.
And he walked out of Best Buy.
He obviously tracked his phone call of what he said.
Look, social media, that's not even social media.
I guess it had to be the phone.
But the government will track what you say.
And if you say something on the phone or on Facebook,
look, those things are being tracked.
And if you delete it from Facebook, it's still out there in the cloud,
and companies specifically make their money by tracking everything that's deleted,
they keep it and they'll send it to companies who are screening candidates.
And if you say certain things on Facebook, you will be fired for
and you will not get hired.
This is not me being a conspiracy theorist.
This is a fact.
And just because it's not happening in the Philippines right now
and it's happening in the U.S., the Philippines will follow after the U.S.
And if you don't realize that, then I don't know what to tell you
because the Philippines always follows the U.S.
And the Philippines will follow after the U.S.
And you say, well, brother, you know, I've been fine in my company,
I've been there for ten years.
Yeah, you're going to lose your job when you have a family
when you're 40 years old with three kids and be like, man, what do I do now?
Because then when they ask you, how did you get fired?
Well, you can't tell people why you got fired because I said I can't stop myself on Facebook.
You won't get hired for a new job then.
And you will have to work at just kind of a remedial job.
Look, I want you to stay zealous, but I want you to be wise about how you are zealous.
In 2 Corinthians 10, the third point about the power of social media
is social media has the power to make you miserable.
It can make you very depressed.
You say, well, how?
In 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12 it says,
For we dare not make ourselves with a number
or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.
For they measuring themselves by themselves
and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise.
The Bible says you are unwise if you compare yourself to other people.
We just preached a three-part series on that.
What I want you to realize is a lot of social media
is just a competition of who can one-up somebody else.
Comparing yourself with other people.
Now, there's something known as overcompensation,
and overcompensation is if you have an area in your life
that you really want to hide and cover up,
where basically you're not very good at it,
you basically go to too big of an extreme on the other side
to make it look like it's not true.
For example, people maybe that aren't the smartest people,
if they don't think they're that smart and they think about that a lot,
they'll make it a point to make themselves look really smart
and then it's very obvious to people, well, that's not true.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about when people have miserable marriages,
usually on Facebook they have the best marriage.
They say, man, look at how happy our family is.
Oftentimes they are overcompensating because they have a bad marriage
and they don't want people to realize this.
Quite honestly, I know many cases of people
where they seem so happy on Facebook.
Their marriage was awesome.
And then I heard stories like, yeah, they're really close to getting a divorce right now.
They're really miserable.
They don't even talk to each other at home.
But, man, they have that nice anniversary picture.
The two years of marriage, look at how happy they are.
They got the big smile on their face.
Man, they're so happy.
In reality they're overcompensating because their marriage is terrible
and they want to cover that up.
This happens all the time.
What am I trying to tell you?
I'm saying that when you get envious at somebody on Facebook
because their life is perfect,
there's a good chance their life is terrible.
They might just be overcompensating.
Man, my job is the greatest job in the world.
I make so much money.
I get to travel all over the place.
Yeah, you also don't spend any time with your family
because you're in a different town every single night.
Right.
But my boss at my old job in Maryland, my first boss,
he made more than a quarter million dollars a year.
He made a lot of money.
And that would be basically 12.5 million pesos per year.
More than that.
He could have made up to 20 million pesos per year.
Very high up in his company.
But I remember being on the road with him in Kansas
and I remember we had this big presentation that I had done the Excel charts and the math on
and he was presenting it and he told the person just kind of in passing,
he said, there's no lonelier place in the world
than in some random hotel room away from your family during the week.
And it had nothing to do with what we were talking about
but it just showed what was in his heart.
Basically what he's saying is, I hate my life.
I really liked my boss but I'll be honest with you,
there was a small part of me that was worried I would show up for work one day
and hear the news that he had killed himself.
He had a family. He had kids.
But you know what? He never saw his kids.
He made all the money in the world.
Never saw his family.
But you have to realize when people talk about how great their life is on Facebook,
it might be miserable.
They post about, man, look at how much money I made.
That doesn't mean they're happy.
Look at how great my marriage is.
That doesn't mean their marriage is good.
Look at how great everything is in life.
They might be miserable.
Just because they're posting pictures where they're smiling,
that does not mean they're happy.
Turn to Proverbs 23.
See, the problem is when we go to Facebook,
we see people whose lives just seem so great.
We get envious happy.
You look at the unsaved world.
Doesn't the unsaved world seem so happy on Facebook?
Look at this party I'm going to.
Man, we had so much fun.
I mean, they make it look like they're actually happy
but don't we believe the Bible around here?
Let's see what a drunk actually thinks about their life
because the Bible actually tells us.
Proverbs 23 verse 29.
Does that sound good?
They're sad. They're miserable.
You say, does that drunk person seem so happy on Facebook?
Yeah, they seem happy because they're overcompensating
because their life is miserable.
The reason why they're getting drunk all the time
is because their life is miserable.
And I'll prove that to you from the Bible.
Who have sorrow? Who have contention?
Who have badly? Who have wounds without cause?
Who have redness of eyes?
They that tarry along with the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look, the person who's a drunk,
they have a lot of contentions and fights in their lives.
Right.
They're not happy.
Do you really think that wives want their husbands
to be getting drunk all the time?
The Bible says your eyes are going to hold strange women.
You will lust after women you're not married to.
Look, people whose husbands are drunks,
they're not happy about that.
Right.
They're not happy at all.
Now, they will look happy on Facebook, though.
See, social media will lie to you.
It's like the television commercials.
Aren't all these athletes,
they promote some alcohol or cigarettes.
Man, it's so great.
You're going to drink this beer, you'll look like me,
you'll be ripped, you'll be strong,
you'll be making $10 million a year.
No, you won't.
They're lying to you.
Right.
They make it look like they're happy.
Look, they don't even drink that stuff.
If you're going to be a pro athlete,
you can't drink alcohol.
Yeah, I know.
You can't be getting drunk all the time
because you're going to lose your job right.
It's going to destroy your life.
Right.
Or you're going to read the article
that such and such famous athlete,
beautiful wife, all the money in the world,
guess what, he's on trial for murder
because he got drunk at some bar
and somebody got shot.
That's good.
Or, for example, you know, he raped some woman.
He's on trial because he's sleeping around
with all these different women.
If he's so happy with all that money,
why is he cheating on his wife every single day?
Why is it that athletes are the biggest
poor mongers on the planet?
Because it's not fun to be in some different hotel room
every single night of the year away from your family.
Now, it looks great.
Look, it seems like being LeBron James
is the greatest thing in the world.
He's got all the money in the world.
He can travel to whatever country.
That sort of life is not actually fun, though.
Say, brother, I hate my job.
I work 50 hours a week.
I don't make much money.
Man, I wish I just had more money.
Yeah, you know, if you had the life of a pro athlete,
you would be miserable.
Your life would be terrible.
Now, everybody would think you have a great life,
but would you rather that people think you have a great life
or do you want to actually have a good life?
See, a good life is when, as a husband,
you work hard to provide for your family.
Husbands and wives spending time together as a family.
That's what a good life is.
But on Facebook, everybody's got a good life.
People rarely go on Facebook
and talk about how bad their life is.
When they go and talk about how bad their life is,
they're doing that because they want sympathy
because of the fact they're prideful.
It's a way of being prideful.
They want people to talk to them.
And so, look, just because somebody says
whatever on Facebook, it doesn't mean it's reality.
They could be lying to you.
Turn to Proverbs 31.
And, you know, honestly, I don't think for anybody
it's a good thing to be on Facebook for two hours a day.
I'm not saying it's wrong to be on Facebook,
but would you just go on Facebook
and just look at everybody's life
and look at everything that's happening?
It will make you miserable.
Because the world likes to lie to you
and there's going to be part of you
that gets a little bit envious because so and so.
Look at that really nice vacation they had.
But, you know, honestly, if you live your life
just chasing after money,
you're going to end up being miserable.
And when you compare your life to other people on Facebook,
you don't even know if that's reality.
And it's going to make you miserable
when in reality they might be upset.
They might hate their lives.
They're just saying how great their life actually is
when it's not.
Proverbs 31, verse 6.
Drink and forget his poverty
and remember his misery no more.
Now, this is a very misunderstood passage in the Bible
because people will use this passage to justify drinking.
It's like it teaches the opposite.
See, the reason why they're miserable
is because they drink.
And what Obama's trying to tell her son is basically this.
Hey, you are not a loser.
Let the losers drink.
Let them destroy their lives.
But you, you are better than that.
And let me tell to the people in the Verity Baptist Church, Manila,
you are too good to drink.
You're better than that.
It's not good for you.
Look, give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish.
Why is he ready to perish?
Because he's drinking strong drink every single day.
That's what it's saying.
Look, somebody who's basically drinking their life away,
they are destroying their kidneys and every part of their body.
It's poison.
The reason why people throw up when they drink so often
is because of the fact your body's rejecting it because it's poison.
And if you don't throw up often from drinking,
it's because you're drunk.
Because you've gotten used to poison.
Because when you first drink poison,
your body's like, man, I've got to get this out of here.
It's not good for me.
When you get used to it, it just means that you're drunk.
It's not something to be proud of.
It says, why none of those that be of heavy hearts?
Why do they have heavy hearts?
Why are they sad?
Because they drink.
So basically she's saying to her son,
hey, let those losers, let those people that are drunk,
let them be miserable, that are destroying their lives,
let them drink.
But you are too good to drink.
That is what she's telling you.
Verse number seven.
Let him drink and forgive his poverty.
Why is it that he's poor?
Because he's drunk.
People that are drunk,
they're generally not going to have a lot of money.
Why?
They're not going to be very good employees
when they're drunk all the time.
And because alcohol is expensive.
You're drinking away your life.
And so let him drink and forgive his poverty.
He's poor, he has bad health
because of the fact he's drinking
and remember his misery no more.
Why is he miserable?
Because he drinks all the time.
So let that person drink away their sorrows.
Hey, let the Catholic here in the Philippines
drink away their sorrows.
But us at Verity Baptist Church Manila,
we're better than that.
But I want you to realize that those people
that are drunks, you go to Facebook
and they seem like they have a great life, don't they?
They just smile, they're so happy at that party
you're not actually happy according to the Bible.
Right.
They're miserable and Facebook lies to you.
And the power of social media
is also to make you miserable.
Look, it can cause you to basically
spread information very rapidly.
It can cause you to basically be miserable
as you're comparing yourself.
It can cause you to harm your careers.
Look, social media is very powerful.
Turn to Matthew 6.
You know, there's another thing social media can do
and this is something that people never had to worry about.
You have the power to lose your rewards in heaven
due to social media.
Right.
Matthew chapter 6.
It says in Matthew chapter 6 verse 1,
Take heed that you do not your alms
before men to be seen of them.
Otherwise you have no reward of your Father
which is in heaven.
When it comes to alms,
this is not referring to your tithes.
Your tithe is your 10%.
Alms is basically like when you're helping somebody out.
It's not your 10%.
It's not required.
You don't have to give alms.
You're required to give 10%
but if you choose to go above and beyond
and help somebody out
who's basically struggling with something
that's basically alms giving.
It's something the Catholics will often use that term.
And the Bible says if you are to give alms
do not let it be seen.
Otherwise you have no reward of your Father
which is in heaven.
So basically if you're going to basically get alms
or to help people out financially
don't make it a point to say,
Hey, Brother Stuckey, 1,000 pesos here.
Look at who I'm giving it to.
Well you've got your reward.
Everybody's aware of it.
You lost your reward up in heaven though.
You're not getting your reward up in heaven.
Verse 2,
Therefore when thou doest thine alms
do not sound a trumpet before thee
as the hypocrites or the Bible Baptists do.
Amen.
They're the synagogues in the streets
and they may have glory of men.
Here they say they have their reward.
You say, why do they have their reward?
You say, why did you say that?
Because literally that exact situation happened
when the Bible Baptist pastor was very famous here.
Right.
You literally made it a point
to get it all over Facebook
and all over the news
and everyone thinks you're such a great guy.
But you've got your reward here on earth.
You're certainly not getting your reward up in heaven for it
because you made it a point to say,
Well, look at what I did.
Verse 3,
But when thou doest thine alms
doest alms
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
The Bible says
don't let your left hand know what your right hand doeth.
Obviously there's symbolism here
because look, we have the same mind
and you're going to know whether or not you gave money.
But basically you should be so discreet about it
and secretive
that basically nobody around you even knows.
Look, if you give a big offering in the offering plate
don't make it a point to let other people know what you're doing.
Don't let anyone on your right or your left be aware of it.
You're just doing it because you love the Lord.
You're not doing it to try to please man.
You're trying to do it to please God.
And look, obviously God likes it if you're generous
but you don't make it a point to let your works be known.
Hey, Brother Stocky, guess what?
I just spent the last two weeks fasting
and just wanted to let you know.
Well, you got your reward.
You're not getting your reward from God up in heaven
because you made it a point to tell people about it.
Don't let your left hand know what your right hand doeth.
Verse 4,
That thine alms may be in secret
and thy Father receiveth in secret
and himself shall reward thee openly.
Now let me just drive home this point
to a modern day application.
And honestly, you know, I do not see a problem
in our church with this.
I do not see a problem whatsoever
and I don't want there to ever be a problem.
But I'm giving you a real application.
And look, if other people hear the sermon, they disagree,
then it's fine.
Let me tell you something.
When you go soloing,
you don't always post on Facebook about it.
If you do that, you got your reward here on earth.
You're not getting your reward up in heaven.
That is what the Bible teaches.
You say, Brother Stocky, I don't know.
I think that's extreme.
Explain to me what it's talking about in Matthew 6.
You say, well, I went soloing.
I wasn't doing my works to be seen in a minute.
But then you posted them online.
Why did you post them online?
So men will see what I did.
Right.
You're doing your works to be seen in a minute.
Right.
Now, let me give you what my standard is.
And I'm not saying this is 2 plus 2 plus 4.
But like when we go to Bullockon tomorrow,
it's going to be exciting to have a video package
of the exciting event.
But in our normal soloing,
on our Wednesday soloing,
we go soloing every Wednesday.
Look, if we're stopping and taking pictures
every single Wednesday
and then posting it on Facebook for people to see,
how is that not doing works to be seen in a minute?
You will not get a reward up in heaven.
You say, I got three people saved.
You'll get no reward for it.
Right.
Say why?
You're doing your works to be seen in a minute.
Right.
And if that's not doing works to be seen in a minute,
then explain to me what it's talking about in Matthew 6.
Not giving you a real application.
And this is more applicable in this country
than other countries.
Because honestly, in Asian countries,
you tend to take a lot of pictures and stuff.
Is that not true?
Yes.
In America, no church would even dream of doing this.
But then in the Philippines, I look on Facebook
and I'm just like, you know, my goodness.
Part of you almost wants to compete with that.
And say, man, I want people to know the works that I'm doing.
We should never let that part of us get the better of us.
Right.
Look, I don't want us to ever be posting on Facebook about it.
Look at the souls we got saved on Wednesday.
Look at the souls we got saved on Sunday.
Look, that's just our normal soul winning that we do.
It's not something above and beyond to be proud.
That's just what we do as a church.
We go soul winning.
Today, we're going to go soul winning.
Now, look, I understand you.
And like I said, I don't see any problem in our church.
You know, we'll have a promo video
just kind of show what our church is about.
I'm not saying it's wrong from time to time.
But what I do see is some people just every single time,
they just always post and they're doing the work we see them in.
They will get no reward for it.
Right.
Look, I don't want that to happen to our church.
Now, that might hurt some feelings.
But, you know, it shouldn't hurt feelings in our world
because, honestly, I don't notice this having a problem.
But I'm just being honest.
And this is exactly what the Bible says.
If churches are always posting about everything that they're doing like that,
they're not going to get rewards up in heaven for it.
And it's a shame to go soul winning for hours
and to lose your reward because you're posting for everybody to see.
Do you ever see Pastor Jimenez do that?
No.
Have you ever seen a picture of Pastor Jimenez
and basically, you know, he's going soul winning.
Hey, here's my soul winning on Sunday.
No, he just goes soul winning and doesn't tell everybody about it.
And see, people naturally assume,
well, he must not be going as much as other people
because he's not always posting on Facebook.
It's like, no, that's just not arrogant.
Right.
It's because of the fact he's mop up kumbaba.
He's humble.
He's not always posting about it.
Look, we don't always need to post about it.
And I do not notice it, a problem at our church,
but I don't want it to become a problem.
Look, we have exciting events and we have video packages
and I think that stuff is great.
But you know, on our daily soul winning,
we don't always post about our daily soul winning.
It's something that's done very discreetly.
You say, why?
Because I don't want to lose my reward up in heaven
because I'm bragging about it.
And look, you know, honestly,
I'm not trying to compete with other churches.
If people think we do less soul winning, that's perfectly fine.
But we're not going to post online about it.
Now you say, why do you do video updates?
The reason why we do video updates is in the Bible,
Paul sends updates to the churches of what's going on.
But he's not bragging about it.
It's kind of a standard update, okay?
He doesn't try to make himself look better than somebody else.
And we will never do that in our church.
And look, you know, our soul winning on Sundays,
we go soul winning every Sunday, that's just what we do.
We go soul winning on Saturdays, that's just what we do.
We go soul winning on Wednesdays, that's what we do.
Now I don't think there's anything wrong with,
as we're encouraging one another in our church,
we're not competing against other churches.
And we're not going to go all over Facebook
and just say look at everything that I did.
Say why? Because you're going to lose your reward up in tech.
And quite honestly, some of the rewards I probably get
are going to be based on what our church does.
And if you lose your rewards, I'm probably going to lose my reward.
And I don't want to lose my reward because you wanted to go on Facebook
and say look at what I did, okay?
And so look, this kind of preaching might not be the most popular,
but honestly this sermon is very applicable.
But the next sermon I'll rip apart the Catholics.
I know we all love that.
But this sort of sermon is actually very practical.
It's going to actually help you in life.
Now turn to Ephesians 5.
And the last point I want to make here about the power of social media
is the power to waste your time.
People waste so much time on YouTube and Facebook
and they're not even living their own lives.
They're just kind of living through other people.
The Bible says redeem the time because the days are evil.
What it's saying is you're going to basically age one day
and it's going to be a lot more difficult to do the things you used to do.
Look, I'm one of the older people in this room, I suppose.
Me and my wife, we're older than most of the people in this room.
And look, as you age, things just get more difficult.
Look, I remember when I was in college, I used to go to the gym five days a week
and then I would also play basketball five or six days a week.
You don't stretch at all. You just go out there, you play.
Then all of a sudden you wake up the next day, man, you're ready to go again to the gym.
But I remember just playing basketball one time a week when I was at Barry Baptist Church
and the next day I'm like, oh!
And I was trying to turn around to look in the window as I'm driving.
I'm like, man, this is very difficult.
I need to start stretching. I'm not as young as I used to be.
When you get older, the days become evil.
It gets more difficult to do the things you used to do.
It's not going to be as evil or as easy.
And what you should do is redeem the time now.
The best time to serve God is when you were young.
The best time to accomplish something is when you were young.
But the best time to really make yourself successful in your career is do it when you're young.
Because as you get older, it's going to be more difficult.
If you're going to have a family, it's going to be tough.
Work hard while you're young.
It's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
The reality is as you get older, it becomes more difficult.
It's not as easy.
When I was in the actuarial career, it's really basically like a ten-year process of studying math exams.
That's kind of how you get promoted.
You pass exams, you get a raise, you get a bump up in pay and stuff like that.
And so the average test would take just like 700 hours to study for, something crazy.
And my attitude was this.
Hey, while I'm young, before I'm married, I'm just going to study for like four hours in the morning before I go to work.
And then after, I'm just going to basically run myself into the ground while I'm single.
Because when I'm married, I don't want to be spending all of my free time just studying math and not spending time with my kids.
I'd rather spend that time now and prepare myself.
See, the Bible says to redeem the time because the days are equal.
Turn to 2 Samuel 14.
2 Samuel 14.
And the Bible reads in 2 Samuel chapter 14 verse number 14.
For we must needs die and are as water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again.
Neither doth God respect any person, yet doth devise means that his banish be not expelled from him.
In verse 14 it says we are as water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again.
What is the Bible saying? Here's what the Bible is saying. Notice this water.
Are you going to be able to gather that back into the cup?
Nope.
See, guess what? One year of your life is gone. You were 20, now you're 21.
Are you going to get that year back?
No.
You just wasted three hours on Facebook today. What's that time? You're not gathering it up again.
You just wasted three hours of your time. It's gone. You're as water spilled on the ground.
Look, if you sit around and waste a day in your life, look, that free day that you had when you could have read the Bible,
gone so long and spent time with your family, it's gone. You're not gathering it up again.
You just wasted a free day. You're as water spilled on the ground. You can't gather that water.
And if you do gather that water back in here, I don't want to drink it.
I say, man, this ground is milder than me. It's dirty.
Look, your time, it's gone like that. And you're not going to gather it up again.
And look, you know, social media, you waste so much time on it.
See, it used to be that pastors would preach really hard against television.
Now, there's a lot of problems with television, but quite honestly, I've always thought the biggest problem with television
is the fact that people waste time with it.
I'm not saying about the ungodly stuff that's on there.
I'm saying that when you spend four hours of your day watching television, four hours a day,
and that was very common, especially when I was younger. Now it goes to social media.
But four hours a day, you do that for 60 years of your life.
You spent 10 hours, 10 years, 60 years of four hours a day of TV.
You spent 10 years of your life literally watching TV.
Do you really want 10 years of your life spent watching TV?
Do you want 10 years of your life going on Facebook and seeing what other people do in your life?
What a waste of time.
I mean, you could actually accomplish something in life.
And honestly, if you're someone who really struggles, you're just so curious about what's going on on Facebook,
you need to delete your Facebook because you're destroying your life. You're ruining it.
If you're spending hours and hours and hours every day just you're so curious what's going on, you're destroying your life.
You need to live your own life instead of worrying about other people.
Now, I'm not saying it's a sin to have Facebook.
But what I am saying is that if you cannot control yourself, if you're wise, you'll just get rid of your Facebook.
In all areas, whether you can't control what you say or you can't control how much time you spend,
you're better off just getting rid of it.
In the world we're living in today, Facebook is getting worse and worse.
Where all the ads that pop up, it's like, man, I don't want to see that.
It's becoming impossible to avoid.
And you can put in all the computer updates to block all these things.
You still get weird pop-ups that pop up.
That's the world we live in.
It's like, you know what, honestly, the world we're living in, it's only going to get worse.
I can't imagine what it's going to be like when my son is 20 years old.
It's like, you know what, honestly, social media is a very, very dangerous thing.
Turn to Psalms 90.
Psalms chapter 90.
Psalms 90.
Now, I actually have a strategy with how I drop that water.
I made it a point not to drop it on this side because someone's going to walk up here and just...
That's the reason why I dropped it over on this side.
But in Psalms chapter 90, and this is perhaps my favorite passage in the Bible in verses 9 through 12,
especially when you understand what's being said,
Psalms is in the very middle of your Bible, Psalms chapter 90.
And it says in Psalms 90,
What does it mean by a tale that is told?
Think of a fairy tale.
Think of a story.
Basically, you think of a fairy tale as some crazy story that's told.
That's basically what it's saying here, and we live our lives as a tale as a story.
Basically, you know, when you die, when you get to the end of your life,
people are going to tell stories about your life.
And the question you have to ask is, how do you want to be remembered?
What do you want people to say about your life?
Do you want them to say, boy, that person spent a lot of time watching TV.
Man, did he love his comedy.
He spent a lot of time.
Didn't have a very good relationship with his wife or his kids.
What do you want them to say about your life?
It says in verse number 10,
Basically, what the Bible is saying is, people live about 70, maybe 80 years old.
That's not that long of a life.
Look, I will be turning 35 in October.
That is halfway to 70.
That could be half of my life that's gone.
It comes and it flies away, as the Bible says.
Why? Time flies away.
It's spilled on the ground, and it's gone.
I remember when I turned 25 and one of my friends made a joke to me.
He's a couple years younger.
He said, oh, man, you're already a 25-year-old man.
I was like, man, that was like 10 years ago.
Where did that time go?
It went by pretty quickly.
Your life is going to fly before your eyes.
Verse number 11,
The Bible says for us to number our days.
I remember when me and my friends were in college,
and we took that very literally.
We literally counted how many days we had left to reaching 70 years old or 80 years old.
You know what I found?
It was a lot smaller than I really thought.
I was like, man, that's really not that much.
I mean, time really does fly by.
Honestly, if we would number our days,
if we had an idea that, hey, I have 22 days left to live,
we would live every day to its fullest.
But you have to realize our lives really aren't that long.
Those days are going to fly away,
and if you have wisdom, you're going to actually use each of those days to the fullest.
If you spend three to four hours of your time each day on Facebook,
that's a really wasted life.
Three hours is one-eighth of a day.
One-eighth of a day.
If you live to be 80 years old by reason of strength,
the same years of your life were on Facebook.
Now, here's the thing about this, though.
A lot of your life is spent asleep.
So that three or four hours is actually a very large percentage of the time you're actually awake.
It's like, do you want 20 percent of your life spent on social media?
Look, if you spend 20 percent of your life on social media,
I can promise you your marriage is not going to be as good as it could be.
If you would invest that time into spending time with your wife and your kids,
you're going to reap the reward that's going to be worth it.
How ill do you want people to tell about your life?
Look, I remember one time when I worked at Maryland.
During my lunch break, I would often just go out for a walk and try to memorize the Bible and pray.
I would always pray that God would give me an opportunity to preach the gospel.
Because it was kind of a town where basically there was a train station that came through.
There would be a lot of people that would be drifting in the town that didn't even live there.
So I'd kind of pray that God would give me an opportunity to preach the gospel, and oftentimes it did.
I remember I was just repeating this verse in my head, verse 9,
where I just said, we spend our years as a tale that is told.
I just thought in my head, I want people to tell some crazy story about my life.
Man, I remember Stuckey, something that's just almost beyond belief, something that's just so great.
I remember seeing someone just from a distance away, and in my head I was like, I want to get that person saved.
He was way ahead of me, so I started to speed walk and catch him, and he's kind of coming this direction.
I ended up catching up to him, and I ended up getting him saved.
I said, hey, my name's Matt. I just wanted to give you an invitation to church.
Do you go to church anywhere?
He's like, well, you know, don't really.
I said, well, more important than that, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?
He said, how do you approach a random stranger for trying to preach the gospel?
The same way you do it at the door.
You just kind of say the same thing.
Hey, my name's Matt. I just wanted to go to church.
That's not a weird question.
Then you immediately go to the gospel, and it works just like it does in any other situation.
I just remember repeating this in my head, and I said, I want to live a life that's actually remembered in a good way,
something I did, and I wanted to accomplish something.
I had a lot of goals in my life, especially about getting churches started here in Luzon,
and helping Matt and training people how to be pastors.
I don't know if it's going to take place.
I'm going to do the best I can to make it take place,
but you've got to ask yourself, what do you want to do with your life?
One thing you could do with your life is just live your entire life through other people
by just going on Facebook all day long, and you will be miserable.
See, the biggest problem with television is how much time people waste,
and now people that are against television, they just spend their time on Facebook and YouTube.
Now, in the days of Solomon, Solomon searched far and wide to see these random animals that he had never seen.
Look, you don't have to search far and wide to see them.
Just go on YouTube and you'll find them.
You can find anything you want, and that's actually a big danger
because you can go on YouTube and be entertained for 12 hours straight.
I could go on YouTube and find things that would entertain me for a really long time.
You can find anything on YouTube.
I can't remember. I was showing a few people at church the other day.
There's a video online, because I say when I was younger, I had this crazy idea.
I wanted to box a kangaroo.
I wanted to fight a kangaroo, and I thought, you know, if I can't beat it boxing,
I'll go for the takedown and wrestle it to the ground.
And I remember I saw this video on YouTube years ago
where basically a kangaroo was fighting another kangaroo,
and a kangaroo choked the other kangaroo unconscious.
I was like, whoa. I didn't realize that they could actually.
I mean, it almost looks fake, but I mean, it's real.
People at our church have seen it. I've shown it to you.
Literally choked out another kangaroo.
I said, well, forget about that for all of my life.
I'm fighting a kangaroo because on the feet it's going to knock me out,
and on the ground it's just going to choke me out.
But I want you to realize it was very entertaining to me.
And you can go on YouTube and just see video after entertaining video,
and on the side they say, hey, you might like this video.
And usually if you like this video, you're going to like this one too.
And you can go from video to video to video to video to video.
You can go from sermon to sermon to sermon to sermon to sermon.
The truth is, honestly, if you're spending three hours a day listening to sermons,
that is a bad balance in life.
You should spend that three hours.
If you want to do something spiritual, you should use that time growing soul winning,
reading the Bible, memorizing the Bible, you're going to learn more.
Or spend that time with your family.
Spend that time preparing yourself for works.
You know, study to make it up higher in the company.
Usually at companies you can work your way up,
but don't just spend three hours listening to sermons.
See, the power of social media is the fact that you can waste all of your free time
on stuff that in the end you're going to get no rewards for,
and it does not matter.
Now look, I don't think social media is a sin.
We have a YouTube account, I have a Facebook.
I'm not saying it's wrong.
I'm just saying that, you know what, if you're spending way too much time
and you can't control yourself, it's going to get you into a lot of trouble.
You would be wise to either find a way to control yourself
or just get rid of it all again.
Let's close the word prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today.
I just ask you to help us apply this to our lives, including myself.