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Alright, usually I have to put this thing way down. Go to Hebrews chapter 5, Hebrews chapter 5, Hebrews chapter 5 and starting there in verse 12, the Bible reads, For when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for the opportunity to preach. I pray that you would just help my words to be edifying to your people, help us learn something tonight. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, the title of my sermon tonight is The Dangers of YouTube Christianity. The Dangers of YouTube Christianity. And right off the bat I want to come out and make it clear that I'm for YouTube. I like YouTube. I think it's a great tool. I've used it every day of my life for a long time and, you know, especially when you're in a lame church where you're not being fed and where you're not hearing good preaching. It's really nice and it's a blessing to be able to get on YouTube and hear hard preaching where you're going to hear the full counsel of God preached in addition to what you hear at church. And also, just for us, even if you do go to a good church, it's just great to get more preaching. You know, iron sharpened with iron, it's a great thing just to get more to edify yourselves and, you know, Galatians 4.18 says, but it's a good thing to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I'm present with you. And look, listening to hard preaching is a good thing. Listening to soul-winning motivational videos and seminars, things like that, it's a good thing. However, YouTube and things like it can present a danger in a Christian's life and there's lots of things that YouTube can present, lots of dangers that YouTube can give to a Christian's life. I'm not going to have time to talk about all of them but I want to focus on three things tonight. So look there again at Hebrews chapter 5. The first danger I want to talk about is YouTube replacing your Bible reading. Look there again at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12, for when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. And every time I read this verse, I can't help but think of Christians who watch a lot of YouTube reading but skip their Bible reading. They watch a lot of YouTube videos, I'm talking about a big danger for people that are newly saved. People have been saved for less than a year, less than two years, and they think that they know a lot of Bible because they've heard lots of sermons. And if you listen to the preaching that goes on in this church or the churches that we're friends with, you're going to learn a lot about the Bible really, really fast. You're going to learn a lot but you're not going to know as much as you should. The Bible says here that for when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again. Some of these people, they've been saved for so long, they should be teaching others by now, but they still need to be taught. They still need the milk of God's Word because they skip their Bible reading. They skip their Bible reading. It's like a literal baby trying to eat a steak. That's what some Christians are doing right now. When they're watching their YouTube videos and they're not reading the Bible, it's like a literal baby that's trying to grow by eating a big juicy steak. It does not work. These baby Christians, they just need milk. It's like a baby needs milk to grow. Christians need the Word of God to grow, not just preaching of the Word of God but reading the Word of God. Matthew 4 verse 4 says, But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every video that proceedeth out of the YouTube account of Pastor Anderson. That's how a lot of Christians live their life. They're living their Christian life vicariously through Pastor Anderson's preaching and through the preaching of the pastors in our movement and it's not letting them grow. A Christian does not thrive. A Christian does not grow off of every YouTube video. He grows, he thrives by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and you're not going to get that just by listening to preaching. A lot of Christians, they're so prideful, they think that they know so much Bible but you know what? Honestly, anyone who's not read their Bible through cover to cover one time is still a babe in Christ and there's nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ as long as you don't stay a babe in Christ and if you haven't gotten that yet, that's what you need to work on. That's your next number one priority. If you're listening to YouTube preaching throughout the day but you don't read your Bible at all that day, you're in sin. There's something wrong there. Turn to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. What's dangerous about this though? What can be the danger though if a Christian just listens to Bible preaching but they don't read their Bible? What did I say? Acts 17. Well, number one, they won't be able to rightly judge the preaching that they're hearing anyways. Acts chapter 17 verse 11, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so and you know, hey, it's great that you have a zeal for hard preaching. It's great that you have a zeal for good preaching but you know what? You're not even gonna really know for sure what they're saying is true unless you're reading your Bible and you know, most likely, you are listening to what's true. Most likely what the pastor's telling you is true but you know what? He could be taking things out of context. He could just be giving you little spoonfuls of the Bible and you won't be able to rightly judge the preaching of God's word unless you have the whole picture. You have the big picture by actually reading your Bible. You know, what else could be a danger? Well, you're less likely to escape temptation if you're not reading your Bible. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 says, there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear. And a lot of times the best way to escape temptation is by the word of God. You know, Jesus Christ, do you think about when he was tempted in the desert by the devil? What was he doing? He was quoting scripture and he was doing that as an example to us. Jesus Christ himself, he was laying that example that the best defense against the temptations of the devil is the word of God. And you know what? When you're being tempted by sin, you're enduring some sort of temptation, you might be able to remember a sermon that Pastor Jimenez or Pastor Anderson or Brother Aaron preached about it. But you know what? It's not gonna be as effective weapon of defense or effective defense weapon than the word of God. The word of God is a lot more powerful in quenching the fiery darts of the wicked. You know, sermons can help too but you have to have the word of God written on your heart. The Bible says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. So the word of God can illuminate your steps. You could see where you're going by looking at the word of God, not just by preaching, okay? So the first danger is YouTube replacing Bible reading. The second one I wanna talk about is YouTube replacing church. A lot of people, they watch YouTube sermons and then they let that replace their church. They're assembling with other believers, okay? But you know, they do it because they think that there's no good church in their area or whatever the reason. Whatever the reason, it's wrong and it's sin, you know? If I can go to Sam Gipps' church because God commanded me to be assembled with God's believers, then you can go to some church too, okay? You're not better than...you're not so good that you are escaped now from God's commandment to go to church, all right? Hebrews 10 verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Look, now is not the time to be leaving church. Now is not the time to just be watching your YouTube sermons. But we gotta remember this even in this church where if life ever takes us away from Verity Baptist Church, chances are whatever church you're going to next is not gonna be as good. But you know what? You need to not just stay home and tune into the live stream of the preaching because God commands you to be in church, okay? Why can this be dangerous for people? Well, number one, because disobeying God is dangerous. You should be terrified to disobey God. If you're not in church, you're disobeying God and you should be terrified of the wrath of God that could come upon your life as a Christian. Not only that, you're not in church, you have no fellowship. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. First Thessalonians chapter 5. First Thessalonians chapter 5, look down there at verse 11, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also ye do and we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. So look, we're supposed to be comforting each other and edifying each other and knowing those that labor among us and that labor over us, but you're not able to do that when you're watching just YouTube videos at home and obviously in a church like this, we know the importance of fellowship because this is a fellowshipping church. Everybody's here close, everybody's here really welcoming and you know, I don't ever wanna forsake that. I don't wanna ever get that out of my life for fear of God and just because I love God's people, you know? And you know, when you're not in church and you don't have the fellowship, you don't have anyone to help you if you backslide. Go ahead and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes chapter 4, I'll start reading in verse 9, it says, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. You know, if the word of God wasn't enough, you know, for you to withstand that temptation and you do backslide, you know, you have God's people here to help you out too. We have each other to provoke each other to love and to good works and that's something that you don't get when you're just watching the videos online. Not only that, if you're not in church, you're not soul winning. That's just the honest fact. If you're not in church, you're doing very, very little soul winning or no soul winning at all. Why? Well, as the Bible says, how shall they preach except they be sent? You know, if you're not sent, chances are you're going to get in the flesh and you're not going to be preaching the gospel. But you know, if these things are absent from a Christian's life, if church is absent, if Bible reading is absent, if fellowship is absent, if soul winning is absent, look, you're still a babe in Christ and you need to get these things right and these are big dangers that YouTube can present to a Christian's life, okay? So we saw so far the danger of YouTube replacing Bible reading and replacing church, but now I want to talk about the danger of YouTube making you prideful. So the first two points of the sermon was talking mostly about YouTube consumers, but now I want to talk a little bit about the big danger for those who produce YouTube videos. There's lots and lots of dangers for what comes into your eyes and what comes into your heart, but you know what? There's also just as big, if not bigger dangers for those who are making YouTube videos. And I just want to make it clear, I'm not preaching this to try to attack anyone or make anyone feel bad. I think that these are some serious things that can destroy a Christian's walk with God by pride and I don't want any of my brothers or sisters in Christ to be destroyed by God. So I'm not preaching this in a bad spirit, I can promise you that. But turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9, starting in verse 9. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. Let's repeat that verse. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach. Let's repeat that. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over a man but to be in silence. But you know what's prideful today? You know what's a danger? What's a temptation? Is women knowing that they're not supposed to be behind the pulpit preaching? Women knowing that they have no authority to teach the Bible and these sorts of things. So what do they do? They get on YouTube and they preach behind their camera. I tell you what, that's a wicked heart and it's not right. It's not right. I believe it's a spirit of rebellion against the word of God. And I don't think any young girl, any girl at all should have a YouTube video when you're teaching the Bible, teaching spiritual things, it's wrong. And God is not pleased with it. I don't care if what you're saying is right. It's unseemly. It's wrong. And you know what? I don't know why they do it. I don't know if it's always in a bad spirit. I don't know if they're trying to attract men with it. But you know what? Godly men are gonna be attracted to a meek and quiet spirit. You know what? A godly man is not gonna be attracted to a girl who has her face all over the world, running her mouth about all the things, her opinions and her beliefs. No godly man is gonna be attracted to that. That's not right. It hurts them. It's not just mean. It actually hurts themselves. Go to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 verse 3. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. Okay, so what good things should the aged women be teaching? Let's see what the good thing that the aged women should be teaching. That they may teach their young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husband, that the word of God be not blasphemed. So you know what makes sense to me? It makes sense to me when a godly virtuous woman like Mrs. Anderson, you know, makes YouTube videos of seminars of homemaking and cooking and child rearing and homeschooling. You know what? That makes sense to me because she's a woman that's a virtuous woman and who's been saved for a long time and she has a lot of wisdom that we can learn from. And you know what? What is she doing? She's teaching the younger women to do all those things in verse 4 and 5. But you know what makes no sense to me? Young teenage girls, unmarried girls, teaching those same things, that's not biblical. That's sin and that's not right at all. That's not right at all. Where am I at here? But lest you think I'm just trying to pick on women, you know what else I think is pride? I think it's... Let's see here. Hold on real fast. Hold on. Let me make sure I don't get out of... Oh, yeah. I just want to... Before I move on here, I want to talk about one thing there, how it says discreet, okay? That the age of women should teach younger women to be discreet. How about the discretion to know what is appropriate to talk about and what's not to talk about? How about to know when it's appropriate to be... What's appropriate to be teaching and what's not appropriate to be teaching? How about that it's inappropriate for a young single girl to be teaching the Bible to the whole world? I don't think it's appropriate at all. But I'm not just talking about the women too because I think there's also a huge danger for young men. The pride of when a young man says he wants to be a pastor and he videotapes and posts on YouTube every aspect of his Christian life, hey, here's me praying. Here's me writing a sermon. Here's me memorizing scripture. Here's me reading my Bible. Here's me preaching. You know, I think that that can be a temptation of pride as well. And I don't think that every single video is made in that spirit, but you at least need to hear it so that you don't get that spirit in the future. Turn to Philippians chapter 2, a few pages to your left. Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. It was made in the likeness of men and being found and fashioned as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, because of that, God also had highly exalted him. Jesus is the greatest leader that's ever lived and ever will. And you know what he did? He made himself of no reputation. He was a servant. He humbled himself. And maybe I'm wrong, but sometimes it seems to me like some of these guys are going around trying to make a reputation for themselves on the internet. And it's like, wait a second, Jesus made himself of no reputation. I don't want a reputation. You know, I want to be a humble servant of Christ, but these men want to be, and you know, it's great to look up to men like Pastor Anderson and Pastor Men and say, hey, I want to be like that. That's great. But you know what Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez were probably doing to prepare to become a pastor? They were probably working full time. They were probably working overtime. They were probably starting a family. They were probably soul winning multiple times a week, reading their Bible, being a blessing to their church, doing whatever they can for their pastor, memorizing scripture, praying, writing sermons without telling anyone about it. They were doing it because they wanted to be humble servants of Jesus Christ. And that's why God highly exalted them, because they humbled themselves. And you know what? What do you want your reward to be? Do you want your reward to be a pastor, or do you want to be seen of men? If you're seen of men, you have your reward. You're the rock star that everybody loves. But if you want to be a pastor, then back away from that stuff. It's dangerous, and you're not really showing that that's what you really want to be when you're doing those kind of things. You know, it's a huge temptation, and it's a temptation of pride for men, and every man here knows that that's a big temptation for men. So you especially, if you want to be a leader someday, where that's going to be an even bigger temptation for you, then how are you handling that now, when you're not even close to being a pastor? And you know, you want to see how many likes, how many views you can get on YouTube. You better be careful of that and make sure that that doesn't creep into your heart, because why? Because I want my brothers to succeed. Anyone who wants to be a pastor, I want them to succeed and thrive, because I want the work of God to continue. You know, I want it to thrive. So I want them to take heed to this so that God doesn't destroy their goals because of pride, which will destroy anyone. So last verse, and we'll close, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Look, YouTube's a great tool. I use it every day, but let's make sure that we use it for the glory of God. You know, let's make sure that we're not getting prideful and that we take heed to these dangers that YouTube can present. So let's pray. Dear God, thank you for this day, and I thank you for the tools that you do give us. I thank you that we're able to listen to great preaching on YouTube in addition to what we get here in church. I just pray that you would help guard our hearts from these dangers, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen.