(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And then this pulpit is a little bigger than I expected. There's more to me, I promise. It's a blessing to be here at Steadfast Baptist Church, and we're praying for you guys. We admire you guys. And of course, Pastor Romero has been a huge blessing to us, and we're thankful for his example in the men in our movement, men like him who are willing to stand up, tell the truth, and be an example to the rest of us. I'm really thankful for this church. We're gonna focus on 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse number 11, where the Bible reads here, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. And the title of my sermon this morning is, Gamers in Light of the Bible. Gamers in Light of the Bible. Now, what is a gamer? Okay, some people might think, I don't know, I don't even know what that is. What is that? Well, game is a term used to define someone who basically dedicates their life to playing video games, okay? And yes, it's true, all right? It's out there. Now, why preach on this subject? Well, it's different for the fact that, really, this has become an epidemic in our society, not just amongst young people. You know, it's obvious we would think, yeah, someone who plays video games is a teenager, you know, a little kid, a 13-year-old, you know, maybe even up to 18 years of age. But no, now we have grown men who play video games, who can't stop playing video games. In fact, they dedicate all their time to just playing video games. You know, it's not bad that a teenager plays video games, you know, if they have time to do so. But when a grown man who's supposed to have responsibilities like a wife, like children, like a job, dedicates all their time to just playing video games, that's wrong. And we live in a society, a Peter Pan society today, where men don't want to grow up. You say, well, I don't know, I think you're exaggerating when it comes to that topic, you know, I play a little bit of video games, I'm a grown man. Well, you know, here's the problem, is that if you look at the top 10 YouTubers on that platform, you'll see that more often than not, without a shadow of a doubt, the ones who are the most popular are gamers. I'm talking about, there's guys out there who have millions and millions of subscribers with millions of views, and what are they doing? All they do is play video games while everyone watches them. One of these guys is named PewDiePie, okay, don't look him up, just his name alone sounds like he's a faggot, but this guy has over 55 million subscribers and millions of views. You say, what does he do on there? Does he do like a Bible study? Is he going through like the book of Revelation and Daniel? Is he teaching great Bible truths? No, he's playing video games, and people just sit there and watch him on that screen play stupid video games all day long, 55 million of them. That shows you the state that our country is in. This guy's 28 years old, he's 28, oh but he's making, he's making a lot of money, yeah, but not by the sweat of his brow, okay, he's a lazy bum sitting on his rear end, just playing with a controller and a console, making money off of youngsters. It's garbage. He said, well, what's wrong with that? Well, the Bible just says right there, when I was, when I became a man, I put away childish things. Here there comes a point where we as men have to grow up, you know, and part of growing up is taking responsibility. Part of taking responsibility is putting away childish things. You see, a child is selfish. A child likes to play with childish things. A child is very much self-centered, but when a grown man does that, there's a problem with that. Peter Pan syndrome, the Neverland syndrome, I never want to grow, I want to just keep playing video games for the rest of my life, and you look at the statistics of these guys who do this, it ranges from like age 25 to 40, and the majority of the people who do this are age 35. You don't believe me, go to your local coffee shop, and I guarantee you'll find a 35 year old drinking coffee and playing video games, you know, and let me start by saying this is that video games in and of itself, they're not sinful, okay? You know, you got video games like Pac-Man, does anybody know what Pac-Man is? How about Tetris? Does anybody know what Tetris is? See, Mario Brothers, does anybody know Mario, you know, the guy who runs sideways, he spits fireballs, he jumps into trash cans, and he jumps on top of mushrooms? Those are the good old days, right? But you know, we're living in the in the greatest technologically advanced era in history, where technology is just advancing at a rapid rate. Well, that is also true in regards to video games. I mean, you look at the video games in comparison to like 10 years ago and what they are now, it's vastly different. I mean, it looks real, you know, and of course the violence has to get more gory, there's more guns, more violence, more fornication, more just sinfulness that takes place in these video games, and it just keeps waxing worse and worse and worse. This is not Mario Brothers anymore. You know, there are games out there that are wicked, and what do they do? A lot of these games, they promote fornication, murder, theft, paganism, greed, fantasy. You know, these video games are not necessarily geared towards the young people anymore, they're geared for the 35 year old who's sitting on the couch without a job. The guy was on unemployment, you know, with his Xbox or PC or whatever is popular now today, living in his mother's basement. He doesn't want to pay rent. So, what are some examples of some of these video games that we're talking about? Well, I don't know too much about video games, I never really was into video games. I like Tetris, you know, because you're accomplishing something in Tetris. But I had Tetris when you used to have the game board that was like a brick. Remember that? And with the little cartridges, did you have to blow into to make it work? That's back in the day, that's throwback right there. By the way, that never worked, that's all superstition. But the video games today are different. One of them, and this is in no particular order, but these are like some of the most famous games, one of them is called Grand Theft Auto. Now, Grand Theft Auto, from what I know, there's various forms of it. They come out like every couple of years with a new one in different cities. You say, what's wrong with Grand Theft Auto? Well, just listen to the title. The Bible says, thou shalt not steal. The thief cometh but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy, the Bible says. And that's the theme verse of Grand Theft Auto. Why is it? Because it's not just, the game is solely based upon you doing whatever you want. You can live out your most wicked desires in that game. Stealing cars, killing innocent people, and yay, even fornicating in a video game. Now, this video game literally is a video game where anything goes, you can do whatever you want. Go to Genesis Chapter 11, if you would. Genesis Chapter 11. This is the video games of today. You know, it's a platform where, you know, back in the day, it was just like, you know, Zelda, where you were the good guy. And what was the purpose? To save the princess, right? Same thing with Mario. You're trying to save the princess. There was a time when being a good person was like lightly looked upon. It was looked upon in a good way. But you know, Grand Theft Auto, you're the bad guy. And the way you succeed in Grand Theft Auto is by committing a lot of sin. You can't succeed without sinning. You can't succeed without stealing cars and killing people, killing the police and killing innocent people and fornicating and doing all these things. You have to be a wicked person in the video game in order to succeed. Now look what the Bible says in Genesis 11 verse six. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language. And this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. The Bible says this is obviously talking about the Tower of Babel, but that's true even for people today. You know, people are just looking for a reason to not be restrained to do whatever they've imagined to do. And that video game Grand Theft Auto is wicked. Let me say this. No Christian, no safe person ought to ever be involved in a Grand Theft Auto video game. Wicked as hell. Why is that? I'm telling you, the only thing you're supposed to do in that video game to basically succeed is kill, slaughter, steal. And look, this isn't I'm sure 12 year olds and 10 year olds are playing this game, but I guarantee you more often than not, it's men in there in the thirties, 25, yeah, even forties who are playing this wicked video game. It allows them to fulfill the most wicked imagination. There's no restraint to them. It's a video game where you literally have to sin in order to succeed. Go to proper chapter number six. Probably chapter number six. I don't know how long ago Grand Theft Auto came out. I remember when I was in saved, it was out. I wasn't really a video game kind of guy. Even before I was saved simply for the fact that I just like being outside. You know, if I was going to commit a crime, I just rather do it in real life kind of thing. But this is very popular and it's still popular today from what I know. Okay, looking proper. 6 16 says these six things that the Lord hate. Yea seven are an abomination of him. Ah, proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that divides its wicked imaginations. Feet that be swift and running to mischief. A false witness that speak of lies and he that so a discord among the brothers said, Well, they're not really doing these things, but they're doing them in their heart. You know, they're spending hours. They're just plotting to kill innocent people. And it's just like lightly looked upon. It's fun. It's funny. You know, they can live out their most wicked desires within that video game vicariously. What a James chapter number four. So Grand Theft Auto is wicked. Okay, but you know what? You have guys on YouTube that are super poverty because why? Because people are watching them do these things. They take pleasure in them that do them. You know, these guys are a bunch of reprobates on these on these video games. People take pleasure in watching other people kill people. That's wicked as hell. You know, God's people shouldn't be a part of that. God's people should never never have pleasure in seeing other people kill people, whether in movies or in video games. And look, some of these movies are some of these video games look real enough that it looks like a like a movie. It looks like a real person. But the second video game that I know is pretty popular is this video game called Call of Duty. Okay, I've never played it, but I've heard of it. It's you say, What is it? Well, it's a game where there's perpetual warfare. Okay, sound familiar? You know, perpetual warfare. And there's always an enemy. So you're always finding an enemy, even if the enemy is not even real. Okay. And look, these guys in the military who are just bloodthirsty and every time they go overseas and they want to kill people, you know what they're doing? They're living out everything that they played in that video game. These are the same guys who were playing Call of Duty when they're 13 15 20 years of age. You know what they're doing? They're going into the military because now they want to act out what they've been playing all these years. Yeah. Look at James Chapter four in verse number one says from whence come wars and fighting is among you. Come they not hence even of your own lusts that war in your members, you lust and have not you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight in war. Yet you have not because he asked not. Some of these guys are very violent, even outside of the video game console. Okay, they're very agitated. They're very moody. Let me say this. No guy ought to be an emotionally moody person. Something's wrong with you if that's the case. Okay. Oh, yeah, I just you know, I'm having a bad day. Suck it up. You know, ladies can have an emotionally moody day. They have that. But you know, guys don't have that. You know, I just I just had a bad day. Put a smile on your face. Read your Bible, quote some verses, pray and get over it. You know, but you know what? The society has raised up a bunch of little sissy men, soy filled sissy men who get hurt over everything. You can't tell him anything without them getting their feelings hurt. You know, there was a time when you would say something that would offend someone who said, You know what? I needed that. Therefore, I'm gonna change that. But you know what we have today is like, I don't agree with that. I know he's talking about me. I don't know. Yeah. Or here's my favorite. You know, little kids do that. Yeah. When a grown man does that, there's a problem with that. Okay, you need to grow some hair on your chest and get over it. But you know, these are the same guys are playing video games. You know, they're not living in reality. Okay, they get easily offended. This is what they call the millennial generation, right? Because they got everything handed to them. They always had a trophy for even participating and all these things. And what happens? They get they get a fire breathing preacher to come tell him the word of God. And what happens? They get all offended. I don't agree with that. You know, that's not in the Bible, you know, just murmuring and complaining. You know, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. If you get offended and any message that Pastor Romero preaches or anybody else, you know what? That just goes to show me it goes to show you you're left with the word of God. It ought to measure how much you love God's word. It's like, Well, I got offended at that. Well, guess what? Bring your life in alignment to God's word. Live out what what's being preached. And guess what? You won't get offended. You'll be able to nudge the guy next to you. He said, What if they're not next to me? Just look over at them from across the room. That would work. But this game call of duty, that's exactly what it is. And it's purely killing. All you do is kill. That's all they do in that video game. Okay, and it's wicked. You know, there's here's the thing. There's better things to do with your time and to play video games, especially if you're a Christian. Go soul winning. Go pray. Go read your Bible. Oh, man, I haven't read my Bible. Well, you know, probably wise because you're playing too much video games. You know why you can't pay attention in church is because you probably too much video games. You're thinking about level three instead of going to Chapter three. You know, you're paying attention. Your mind is still stuck on that video game, and you're not paying attention to God's word that's being preached from the pulpit. You know, these video games, they're distraction. They dumb you down is what they do. But here's another game that's fairly popular. You know, you have Grand Theft Auto. That's wicked. You have this video game of Call of Duty. That's wicked. There's another game called God of War. Okay, how many have ever heard of God of War? How many have ever played that? No, you don't have to show me. That's a wicked video game. We say, What is it? It's a video game based off of Greek mythology. Now go to Genesis Chapter number three. This video game, I looked it up and, you know, you go there and it's just like two million views, three million views, you know, and they're like 30 minutes. I was like, I'm not gonna watch a 30 minute video giving me a synopsis. I just want like a quick, you know, just tell me what it's about. And one guy, he said, Look, this is basically the story of the God of War. It's a guy who basically is a demigod. And the story goes, you know, he basically, I don't know, basically he becomes a god, is what he does. He ends up killing his own wife and child. Okay, and his whole entire conquest, his entire quest is basically to kill the great gods, you know, while he himself is a god. You say, Well, you know, that's not bad. I mean, is it really? Is it bad as Grand Theft Town? Well, let's look at Genesis Chapter three, verse five says, For God doth know that in the day he eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and he shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Yeah, but that's not in reference to that's look Mormons. You shall be as gods, God of War. You shall be as gods. It's the same template that saying uses for all this garbage, right? You know, you shall be as gods. You can be the God of War, you know, and literally this this character and God of War. You can follow him from when he was like a young man all the way to when he has Children. He's already old. I mean, it has an entire story based off of it. But you know, we have people who are actually imitating this guy, and they're they're the God of War. Okay, that's wicked. Greek mythology. All those things are wicked. Deuteronomy 32 16 says they provoke him to jealousy with strange gods with abominations provoke they him to anger. So what does it say? The strange gods are the abominations. So you know what you're doing when you're behind that screen playing God of War. You're playing an abomination is what you're doing. You're imitating an abomination. According to the word of God, they sacrifice them to devils, not to God to God whom they knew not to new gods. They came newly up whom your fathers feared not. You see, there's always a new God coming up, you know, and back in these days, it was actually like a God that they would, you know, rear up a statue. Now it's just a console. Now it's just a video game. You could put it in your home. Now it's an image that you have on your television screen or on your whatever on your monitor on your PC. So these video games are wicked. And I think we can all agree that these are so wicked that no Christian ought to be a part of these things. No grown man should be a part of these things. Okay, no grown man ever to have should ever have an appetite to play this. Why just like to play every once in a while, then you have too much time on your hands. Go read a book. You know, go extend your vocabulary. Go do something productive with your life. You know, but we have grown men who don't want to grow up. They don't want to add to their to their character. They don't want to become better what they do at their jobs as a as a husband, as a son as a father. They don't want to become better church members. No, they just want to sit in front of a screen and waste their life away playing video games. Now here's the here's another game. Now this game is not necessarily simple in the sense of it's like violent. It's just really stupid. And the thought of foolishness is sin, the Bible says. So even being stupid is sinful. Okay. That's why one of the reasons one is sinful because it's stupid. That's why Flat Earth is sinful because it's stupid. And anybody who adheres to those things, you're stupid. But this is the game here. This game doesn't necessarily involve killing people or robbing from people or anything like that. This game is called Minecraft. How many have ever heard of Minecraft? Okay. This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I saw this and I'm like, is this from like the 80s? Because it's like blocks, literally like blocks. It looks like Mario Brothers on steroids is what it looks like. The purpose of Minecraft is basically to wander around this fantasy world creating structures and finding treasures or just wandering around. I saw this video of this guy because I'm like, what does that have to do with Minecraft? I don't understand this. And the guy said, you know, you don't really have to really do much in this video. You can just walk around. He goes, if you want to kill some zombies, you can kill some zombies. That's fine. If you want to build the tower, you can do that too. You can just do whatever you want. He said, it's a beautiful place. It's a video game. He said, look, look, as he's playing this, because he, you know, I have to watch this because he's like, he's, all these guys, they're commentators on their own video games is what they are. Usually they put like a little picture of themselves, a video of themselves, and they got the headgear with the little mic and they're just, you know, this guy was just, he was showing, he's like, oh look, it's getting dark. He goes, it gets dark in this game too. You know, sometimes it gets more dangerous at night. He goes, it's a beautiful game because at the end of the day, you do whatever it is that you want. Just go, just go admire the landscapes. You know, it's a, it's a wonderful world where you can do whatever you want. That's stupid. And yeah, it is wicked. Because look, we as God's people, not my will but thine be done, right? We ought to desire what God wants for our lives. We ought to want a desire to adhere to what the Bible says, not just to wander around aimlessly. Go to Jeremiah chapter 14. In this game, you can actually even play as a spectator. So in other words, just like, well, I don't want to fight anybody. I don't even want to build anything. I just want to watch everyone do everything, you know. And they will literally be there for hours, hours and hours and hours just wandering around looking at a stupid screen at a fake world that does not exist. How loser is that? You're a loser if that's what you're doing. And don't tell me you're being productive. You're like, oh yeah, but we're building this tower. It's fake. It's not even, and that's the ugliest building I've ever seen. It's like, it's Mario Brothers on steroids. Okay, you would do better and be more productive playing with Legos. I seen some pretty amazing structures with Legos. I would never play with that, but you know what? That's more constructive than Minecraft. But you know Minecraft has 74 million users. Let that number sink in your mind. 74 million people playing Minecraft on a daily basis. They say it's one of the most popular games out there. And it's a bunch of people just doing nothing with their lives. You know, and it's funny, but at the end of the day, you think about it like, man, Satan has these guys trapped like good. Because you're just rendering them useless. Especially, and I guarantee you, many of those 74 million are Christians. I guarantee you, many of them are saved. You know what? Satan has rendered those people useless. They've lost their saver as salt. They're good for nothing but to be cast down, to be trotted under the foot of men. Why? Because they're not doing anything with their lives. They're wasting their life away. Look at Jeremiah 14 verse 10 says, Thus saith the Lord unto this people. Thus have they loved to wander. They love to wander. They have not refrained their feet. Therefore the Lord doth not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. They love to wander. I mean, that's what the guy said. It's a lovely game. You just walk around. He goes, look at the grass. Look at the oceans. Why don't you buy a plane ticket and go to like a real place where they have these things? At least that's worthwhile. These crappy graphics. I mean, you're literally wasting your time looking at something that's very just junky, okay? It's foolish. Now, here are some dishonorable mentions. I didn't have time to check into these because I really don't know, and I don't want to waste my time even studying this stuff. Warcraft. Counter Strike has 600,000 users. League of Legends has 81 million users. Fortnite Battle Royale, which has 4 million concurrent players. And by the way, some of these video games, you can actually play with different people from all around the world. I mean, I just heard a story on the news of a guy who's been like playing Call of Duty with some other guy, and this guy's like 50 years old, and they finally met for the first time. And when they met, they like hugged. They're like taking pictures. That's stupid. What in the world? Are you serious? You know, I come here to steadfast Jacksonville, I met Brother Alberto, but you know what? I'm friends with him because he's a soul winner. He's doing something for the Lord. You know, it's not like we know each other because we're playing video games. Like, thanks for helping me get level 5, brother. You're the man. You know, and it's just like, that's stupid. But you know, there's people like that. That's their life. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. Gamers in light of the Bible. You know, it's a joke, and that's exactly what it is, but it's also just sinful, okay? And it's a very popular trend now. I'm telling you, you go on YouTube, the most popular YouTube guys, many of them are actually in Hispanic countries like Mexico. These guys have like 70,000, or excuse me, 70 million subscribers. Just people, dumb sheep following these people by the droves. And look, I don't even know what's worse, playing a video game or being the one who's actually watching them play? Because you're clicking on YouTube looking for this guy, you're just like, thumbs up. You know, I mean, what in the world? Who's dumber? 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number 12 says, All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any, the Bible says. So what does that mean? Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 10. The Bible's telling us here that all things are lawful for us, but not all things are expedient. And he said, I'm not gonna be brought under the power of any. Look, it's lawful for me if I wanted to play Tetris, okay, to play Pong, or I don't know what other video games there are out there. I'm not sinning if I do that. But you know what? I'm not gonna be brought under the power of that. And these guys are addicted to these video games. I knew a guy. Look, I went to Bible college. Don't hate me for it. I'm sorry. Okay, I went to Bible. And I remember this guy in Bible College. He literally like for like some spring break, he went home to Bakersfield. He had this huge game console. He had this game console. We had to actually put coolant in the PC to keep it running. Insane. And he said, he goes, I played for like 16 hours straight. I was like, did you? I mean, did you eat? He's like, I don't even eat because I just drink Red Bull the whole entire time. The only time I took a break is when I have to use the restroom. You know, I put pause and I go do that. And I was like, you did that for your entire spring break. He's like, Yeah, it was great. I'm like, I mean, you look at his life now. He's a product of basically that you say, Well, it seems he's some great pastor. No, he's not. He's easy. Some great soul winner. No, he's not. Does that surprise you? No, because that's what that produces right there. Ah, lazy, lethargic bum. He's doing nothing with his life. Okay, look at first Corinthians Chapter six in verse 12 says, All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought in. I'm sorry. First Corinthians 10. They're almost the same. 23 says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. So the first verse says this, that we are not to be brought under the power of anything, even if it's lawful for us to do okay, it should not have a control over your life. Pun intended, right? But first Corinthians 10 says that we ought to do things that edify others. You see, gamers are selfish people. They want to fulfill their lust and their desires, so they're willing to put off everything just to play a video game. Whereas a Christian ought to look for things that edify other people. How can I use my life to be a blessing to someone else? Okay, so winning is a good example of that. But just in just in life in general, you ought to be a person who's selfless, who's who's paying attention to the needs of other people. That's a mature man. You see, when a man gets married, when a man gets married, he can no longer be selfish. I remember before I got married, it was just like, you know, pizza at 12 o'clock at night if I wanted stay up, read, do whatever I want. But you know what? Once you get married, guess what you get? You have you have a life to take care of. You you're gonna have Children one day. You can't live unto yourself anymore. Now you have to pay attention to another life. Okay, and that's how it ought to be. Men ought to have a desire to want to take over, take, take over someone to take care of someone, which is part of taking over a man to take care of other people. I'll get into that just a bit. These guys, they want to rule over this world. Why don't you rule over a family instead? Now the Bible says there, verse 24, Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth, the Bible says. You know, instead of, you know, racking up the points and racking up your wealth on video games, why don't you rack up spiritual wealth? Okay, treasures in heaven that cannot wax old and worth moth and rust does not corrupt, the Bible says. That's what we ought to be doing. You see, men ought to have purpose in their lives goals, not video game goals. Real life goals. Okay, but for strength in 16, these guys are addicts. You know, they're addicted to these things, and it's it's sad. And look, it's not even good for their health just in general. I mean, you're sitting in front of a computer for hours on end. You know, go walk around your block for some time. You know, go run a mile or go kickbox or jujitsu or do something for your body's sake. Don't just sit there and play video games all day long. First Corinthians 16 verse 13 says, Watch, he stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men. Be strong. Let all things be done with charity. I beseech you, brethren. You know, the house is the fondest that in that it is the first roots of a chaos and that they have addicted themselves to Xbox to PlayStation. No, to the Ministry of the Saints. See, these people are legit. These people are addicted. But you know what they're addicted to doing God's work. Like this is what I live for here. Serving God, preaching the word of God, you know, soul winning, being a blessing to others, serving the Saints. That's my life. That ought to be the life of every single Christian. Okay, I'm not gonna be a pastor, though. You know what? But you don't have to be a pastor in order to give your life to someone else for the sake of the Lord. Okay, to serve God with your life. You don't have to be. You don't have to have a title. You don't have to have a position. You know, God has called all of us to do these things now. Let's skip some things here. Go toe Ephesians Chapter number four. So these guys are addicted to these games, and it's it's really sad. You know, I mean, what are they gonna have on their tombstone when they die? I made it to level 50. You know, I finished Call of Duty. Well, there's another one coming out. So what are you gonna do then? You know, what? What will you have to show for your life at the end of your life? If all you do is play video games, it's garbage. Ephesians 4 17 says this. I say, therefore, and testifying the Lord, they henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds. See, that's expected of unsafe people. You know, the PewDiePies of this world and these these these stupid reprobates out on YouTube land. Well, all they do is just play video games. Yeah, I expect PewDiePie to do that for the rest of his life. He's going to hell. He doesn't have the gospel. But you know what Christians the Bible tells us here. Don't walk as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds. You know, their minds are empty. Their minds are no and void of the things of God. But we have the Bible. We have purpose there. We have. We have goals in our life that God has set forth for us to accomplish. The Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For ye are is what workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So God says, As soon as you get saved, guess what? Now I got some works for you to do, and they don't involve a video game console. Okay, now. So what? Why are some of these reasons? Why do they get involved in these things? Okay, Why do video or gamers? Why do they give their lives to these things? I looked this up in a couple different resources, and they all basically say the same thing. Number one reason why these people get involved in this game or in gaming is this matter of competence. Okay, they desire to seek out control or to feel mastery over a situation. They want to be successful. Now, how do they get that from video game? I don't know. But I guess when you're playing, you know, call of duty or whatever, and you're playing that and you beat it, it's just like, Yeah, I'm the master here. You know, I've mastered this level. You know, I've mastered this game and and I'm successful. I finished it. Now I gotta spend $100 plus to get the next one. Go to 2nd Timothy Chapter number two. So they want to. They want to feel like they're they're in control, have mastery over situation. That's why they're playing this. You know, I mean, these guys are proud, too, by the way. These guys are proud. He could be the most laziest, slothful, glutton you meet. But he thinks he's boss when it comes to video games and hit all his 17 year old buddies think he is to 2nd Timothy Chapter two. Verse four says this. No man that worth entangled with himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully, the Bible says. So the Bible is telling us, Hey, look, God wants to reward us. He wants us to get a reward. He wants to crown us. But you know what? We have to strive lawfully. What is that? According to the Bible, she's nothing wrong with getting rewards. There's nothing wrong with having control or having mastery of something. But it has to be in this book, according to this book. But you know what? Satan always has a counterfeit. He always has a different option and alternative for you to be successful. Well, you know what the Bible says? This book of the law shall not depart out of their mouth, but thou shall meditate there in day and night that thou mayest observed to do according to all that is rendering for then that shall make the way prosperous. And then now shall have what? Good success. These guys want success in Call of Duty and Minecraft. Get good success when you obey the word of God. You know, at the end of someone's life was lived for the Lord. They can put on their two stone successful for God because they went so many, you know, mastered this life because I, you know, did X, Y and Z. According to the Lord's will, they can say those things, you know, and at the end of at the end of life, when we get rewarded by the Lord, guess what? He's gonna give us crowns. And these things fadeth not away, the Bible says. Go to 1st Corinthians, Chapter number nine. She's not bad to have goals. It's not bad to want to be rewarded. It's not bad to want to be successful. These are things that are built in by God himself. But you know, we have to fulfill those needs in a biblical manner, not through video games. Look at 1st Corinthians 9 25 says, No, you're not that they which run in a race run all verse 25 but one receive at the prize. So run that you may obtain God say, Look, everyone's running. You need to run so you can obtain that. He's pushing us is what he's doing. Verse 25 and every man that's striving for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, like, you know, the point systems and, you know, they get invited to this forum or this convention because they're good at Call of Duty. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we an incorruptible, incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainty. So fight I not as one that beat at the air or street fighter right or mortal comeback. But I keep under my body and bring it to subjection list by any means. When I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway. We're working for an incorruptible crown. Okay, a crown that's not gonna fade away. A crown we can keep for all of eternity. But you know what? Christians who get involved in gaming drinking squat at the judgment seat of Christ. It's like you got your reward down there. You know, you spent your money and you wanted to be the best Call of Duty guy in Minecraft guy you could ever be. There you go. All yours, buddy. That's all you're getting. The Bible says you have to turn their Jeremiah to 11 says half a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods. But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. That's the problem with video games is it's just not profitable at all. You know, I don't know. I know there's games you can play on your phone, and sometimes people use video games on their phone to basically distract them if they're doing some sort of project or something like that. I need to get my mind off of something real quick for like five minutes. You know, I play this video game or whatever, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when you dedicate your life to the stupidity when your life is video games. It's not profiting you anything. The Bible says in First Samuel 12 20 and turn ye not aside for then should you go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain. So the number one reason why gamers exist is because they want to be competent. They want to master something, and they use the avenue of video games to do it. It's vain. It doesn't work. But the second reason is this is called autonomy. They have a desire to feel independent or to have a certain amount of control over their actions. You know, when you're there and you're leading the team and you're killing the zombies and stuff and you're, you know, doing all these things, they feel like they're in control of that. It's like, dude, you don't even have the physique of the guy in that video game. But they want to have control. When a video game, you can have control over those things. The only problem is it's not real. So one day when you turn off that video game and that monitor, guess what? Welcome to the real world. They find satisfaction in ruling over an imaginary world to be able to rule over a city. We know the Bible says he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that rule with his spirit than he that taketh the city to God says, I esteem those who are able to rule themselves. And if you can rule yourself, you're better than any call of duty champ. You're better than any Minecraft or or whatever other games Grand Theft Auto game there is. You're better than them. Why? Because God steams those who are able to control their own emotions in their own lives. If you can lead yourself, discipline yourself to do the things of God. God says that's valuable. The Bible says he that have no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. Okay, that's important. God says, Look, you need to be able to rule yourself before you can rule a wife before you can rule a home, a church, a people before you could be a leader. Guess what? You need to rule yourself. Lead your self. Make yourself read the Bible. Make yourself pray. Make yourself do the things that maybe you don't want to do. Rule yourself. Rule your emotions. Rule your temper, right? Some of these guys have hot tempers, and I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but I'm sure this man out here got a bad temper. You know the Bible teaches us? Rule that. Okay, you know, we all get mad. We all get ticked off every once in a while. But the Bible says he that is slow to anger. See, anger is not sinful. Be angry and send not, the Bible says. You know, when it becomes sinful, it's just like you just let it fly. You know, you're just like, just get all crazy. No, a man who is temperate gets ticked off and says, All right, it takes a lot for you to get mad. In other words, Okay, those are typically the scariest guys. You know, it's like, man, this guy's controlling himself. I'm gonna stop the guy who just blows his top off and just makes a fool out of himself publicly. That guy's not scary. He's just a fool. Okay, he's not shutting his lips. He's not a steam, the man of understanding, according to the word of God. But the Bible tells us here that you've got to rule your own spirit. Now go to Ephesians, Chapter number five. Here's a good way that you can fulfill that desire of ruling. Okay, and this is biblical. Look at Ephesians 5 23. The Bible says here for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, the church is subject unto Christ. So let the wise be to their own husbands in every thing. You know what God wants us as men to be rulers over a home, a marriage, Children, that family unit. But what do we have today? 35 year olds were not willing to take the responsibility of getting married. I'm not ready for that yet. You know what they mean by that? I'm not ready to put my video games away. Look, I've been in churches where there's men who are in their forties and they have a family and they're still playing video games. The wife is frustrated. She's she's angry. She's like he's not paying attention to me. The kids, you know, he's acting like his own kids. You know, there's a problem with that. You need to be able to learn how to rule a wife. You know, before you can get five imaginary soldiers to follow you, why don't you try to get your wife to follow you? Amen. You know, try to get your wife to follow you. That's a big that's a big deal. That's something that God has set forth in his words to say, Hey, have her follow you. That's important. You say, Why is that? Because that's our resume is men. If we can get our family to listen to us, to follow us and to obey us. Okay. And I'm not talking about ruling with like like a dictator and you do what I say because I'm the man Ephesians five memorize it quoted. No, I'm talking about being able to leave without having to do all that. I do that to my wife just to mess with her every once in a while, jokingly. But at the end of the day, you know what we rule by our by our character, by our attitude, you know, re rule. We were benevolent with our families. Okay, but at the end of the day, we're in charge. But you know, the problem is with these gamers, they're lacking that they have no leadership skills. They can't lead about a wife. That's why they're on a video game because they can't get a girlfriend. And if they get a girlfriend, they can't get him to marry them. Okay, it's stupid. You know, why don't you get yourself a wife? Why don't you get married, have Children and learn how to rule home? That's honorable. You know, I respect the man, even if it's not a pastor, if he has his house in order, I want to learn from that man. You know, anytime I go anywhere, I always keep my eye out with the for the men who are able to have their house in order. Why? Because they're doing something right. They're able to do with a lot of pastors in the old I have be failed to do, which is what to leave their homes to leave their wives and their Children. That's important. Okay, you know, I've been in churches where it's just like the pastor's wife is really the pastor. You know, she's the one in charge. She's the one who's got the pants in the family, as they would say, You know, he's got the title, but she's the one who's who's ruling. That's not how it ought to be. Okay, I guarantee you those pastors are the ones who were gaming back in the day. All right. Revelations one, verse six, says and that made us kings increased unto God and his father to him. Be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You see, God will make us rule is one day. If we're working for him, go to go to Luke Chapter 19. The Bible says in Second Timothy Chapter two, you have to turn there. Go to Luke 19 Second Timothy Chapter number two in verse 11. It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him if we suffer. We shall also rain with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. That denial is not referencing salvation. It's like, Well, if we deny Jesus one day after we get saved, he's gonna deny his eternal life. You know, we can't lose our salvation. We understand that. What is what denial is he talking about? The denial to rain, to get gifts, to gain rewards when we get to heaven. Okay, look at Luke 19 verse 15. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called them to him to whom he had given the money that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound at gain £10. That's when you go to the buffet. All right, verse 17. And he said it to him. Well, thou good servant, because that has been faithful and very little have thou authority over 10 cities. So you don't need Minecraft. You don't need all these other video games. You can actually rule 10 cities. This is the best video game right here. No difference. This is not a game, and it's not a video. It's real life. You know, if you work for God, you're faithful to him. You're steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Bible says that guess what? We're gonna rule over 10 cities one day. If we're faithful, you know, then you could do all the wondering you want and look at all God's creation. And you know what? It's completely approved of the Lord. What do we have today? No, I'm not satisfied with that. I want to stick to the fake world. And what they'll often say is this. They made a poll. They said, Well, why do you guys like to play video games? And they are. They really? They said this because it's a way to escape escape. What? You're not You're not. You're in your room. Where are you going? You're delusional. You're not going anywhere. And if the power goes out, you're for sure not going anywhere. But that's what they said. They're like, I just wanna it's escapism. You're trying to escape reality. You know, life's really not that bad. Life's great. Better than hell. You know, especially if you're saved, man, life's great. There's a lot of great things that happen in life. A lot of enjoyable things. Look, yesterday we had a great time, you know, fellowshipping with the brethren. It was awesome. There's enjoyable things in life, not just being solitary, you know, by yourself in front of a screen trying to escape reality. You know why you're trying to escape reality is because you're a failure in life. Okay, you're a loser is what you are. What? What should I do? Throw away the video games, get some purpose in life and be a real success in God's eyes. Okay, but the third reason why they say they like playing video games is relatedness. Now, what does that mean? They want to feel like they matter to someone. I mean, I don't know how that even works with video games, but they want it. They desire to have a sense that they are making a difference in someone's life. So just pop in a video game in whose life? There's not even a princess involved anymore in these games, you know, but they literally feel like they're making a difference in someone's life by playing a stupid video game. Well, how about this? And if some have compassion, making a difference. Mom says in other safe with fear, pulling them out of the fire. You know, if you really want to make a difference, the greatest way to do it is by solely. That's why it's a blessing that God ordained this ministry of solely that everyone could be a part of. Not just the pastor, not just the evangelist, not just the deacon. Everyone can get involved in Sony. Why? Because Sony fulfills the desire to want to make a difference in someone's life. You say, Well, you know, I just want to go around and testify. Well, God, you know, the best way to go around and testify is testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best way you can make a difference in someone's life. What greater thing that we can be a part of than rescuing someone out of the fire? Go to Daniel Chapter 12. I'm a reaching for 1st Thessalonians, chapter number two in verse 19. The Bible says, For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for you are our glory and joy. You know, Paul is saying one of the most joyous things is the fact that when we get to heaven, I'm gonna see the people that I led to the Lord. They're my crown of rejoicing. Why? Because these are eternal souls that at one point we're gonna go to hell. But because of our intervention, because we decided to go out and preach the gospel to make a difference in someone's life, their entire destiny was changed because of it, because we decided to take time out of our lives to go out and give them the eternal word of God, salvation, and they got saved. That's huge. Don't ever downplay this matter of salvation and how you can make a difference in someone's life. We make differences by preaching a great sermon. We make differences by maybe buying a meal for someone. But the greatest difference you can make is by preaching the gospel, going out and soul winning. I, um, in El Mani, man, El Mani is so open to the gospel. Just that lay in general. I know there's fags out there. Okay, I get that. All right, but we don't. We don't. We don't see them very often. They're more more so in Hollywood, not to say they're not in our area, but it's very open. And man, it's you run into a lot of, um, just touching stories when you when you witness to people and they get saved. There's a lady who I witnessed in Spanish, and, um, this is probably one of the greatest only experiences I've ever had. And I honestly believe that this lady was probably very close into becoming a reprobate. You know, we often throw that term around very loosely and just all that person's reprobate or something. But not not everyone's a reprobate, you know? But there are people who are close to becoming a reprobate. And I talked to this lady. I knocked on her door and she was cleaning her house. And and I said, You know, in Spain, I was telling her, Spanish 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven. And she said, No, I'm not. And I said, Do you have time? Can I show you from the Bible? You know, Bible says you can know for sure. She goes, No, I'm cleaning the house right now. And I said it only take a couple minutes. Are you sure you don't get a couple minutes? And she said, All right, go ahead. Well, that shows you be determined, you know, be meek, be humble, be determined. And so I gave her the gospel halfway through. She said this, You know, I'm kind of bitter towards God. And she said, The reason I'm a little bitter towards God is because my Children died. She lost. I think it was two Children. It was just some sickness that the Children had. And she's like, I always wondered why, you know, why did they die? No, God, why did you take him from me? And I just briefly parked it there to let her know because she told me the age of her Children that her Children were in heaven. I said, You know, they're in heaven right now. And I gave her some verses and and she began to tear up. And I said, That's why that's why I want to tell you this because I want you to go to heaven, you know? And here's the thing I said, You might be separated from them right now, and you probably haven't seen them in a while because they passed away a couple years ago. But you know, if you get saved, you will see them again. And in fact, you'll see them in the clouds. Promise. Give her the rest of the gospel with tears in her eyes. She got saved, you know, and it was very touching and she was very thankful. And I said, um, her name is Socorro. And I said, Socorro, do you have anybody else in your family who would like to know about this? She said, My daughters, I want my daughters to be saved. She said, Come in. She brought in her daughters. Both of her daughters got saved. And I said, Hey, girls, is there anybody else in the house who needs to get saved? She goes, My brother, my brother needs to get saved. They called her brother. He came down. He got saved. You know, and you know, they didn't come to church. You know, they might come later on, but you know what? I'm gonna see there's my crown of rejoicing. You know, they're my joke. The fact that I know that I will see them one day in heaven and her Children and the Children that I never met. I'll see them again one day. You know, that's how you can make a difference. Not playing video games. I don't care how many people you rescue from the zombie apocalypse in your stupid video game. You're not making a difference in anybody's life. Look at Daniel 12 verse three says, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn away many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Another guy that this happened about two weeks ago I went soul winning with a guy in our church. His name is Milan. And we're in one of these areas that was kind of rough. Like there's areas that are open, but they're starting areas just not receptive. But we got want to knock every single door in Omani. So we're not gonna these doors is just like one person after. No, this, you know, I'm catholic. I'm Pentecostal. I'm whatever. And it's just like, Well, it's just one of those days, you know, and we get to the last door and there's a guy. The garage door was open. You can see a guy in these washing dishes. And I said, Hey, how's it going? You know, my name is Bruce. I'm from faithful word Baptist Church. Want to give an invite to our church. He comes out because it says thank you. And I said, You know, I give him the 100% question. And he says, No, I'm not sure. But you know what? I don't have time right now. And again, I said, You know, it only take a couple minutes. Just just a couple minutes. And he said, All right, go ahead. So I give him the gospel, and he just stuck on repenting your sins. I mean, he's stuck on it like he's just like, No, I think I already got saved. You know, I think I already got saved. I repented my sins X amount of years ago. All these things. And I was there for literally, like, 40 minutes. Now, my gospel presentation is not 40. I'm not a Genesis to Revelation gospel preacher. I'm sure you've met some people like that. Okay, you know, I don't take that long preaching the gospel. If it's a fairly if a person is very receptive and they're understanding everything I tell him, it doesn't take too long. Okay, but there's but this guy was just like and he wasn't being contentious either. He really wanted to know. He had questions. He just could not get off of this repenting your sins junk. So I'm giving him the gospel, and I'm trying to tell him it's not by words. I'm giving him all these verses and just going to every single every single verse I can think of. And then finally, it's like the light bulb went on. And he said, Wait a minute. He said, Are you saying that all I have to It's funny because this is all I've been saying. He goes, All I have to do is believe and I can go to heaven. I said, Yes. And he goes, And if I sin after I believe, which this is very interesting because I never even mentioned anything about this, he goes. But if I sit after I get saved, I'll get punished. But I'll get punished here. I wouldn't go to hell. I'm like, You got it. And he goes and then tears started coming down his eyes. Why? Because he finally realized I've been doing it the wrong way this whole time. So the guy gets safe or and they say, Would you like to call upon the name of the Lord, you know, right now? And he said, Yes. And so we started praying. And then, you know, I'm I'm saying the words and he's not repeating the words. And I'm like, Is this guy messing with me or something like, you know, I'm like looking and I'm like, Just repeat after me. He goes, Just give me a second. And tears are just flowing down his face. His voice is cracking, and he's just like he's in tears that he's he's getting saved and he got saved. Amen. So then I said, I said, Man, you know, now you understand it. He understood every single thing. He repeated everything I told him. And I said, Do you have any questions? He said, Yeah. Where's your church? You know, but that's my crown of rejoicing right there. Don't ever downplay when you leave someone to the Lord. That's right. That's greater than any video game you can ever play. Any princess you could ever rescue on a video game. This is where the real work is, right? I'll finish with this. So the Bible tells us in Psalms 51 it says, Then when I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. What's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this. You know, why preach on gamers? Because it's an epidemic in our country. And far too many people are lifting up these lazy bums on YouTube as being some great heroes of our country for being able to destroy an imaginary enemy. You know, our enemy, though you can't see him, is real, which is Satan. Okay, these enemies of God. And by the way, some of these enemies of God we can see. Okay, you know, these are this is a real war. If you want to be a part of a real war, get a part of this spiritual warfare, not a video game war, not a video game warfare. This is real war taking place here. War for the souls of men against Satan and his minions. The end of the sermon is simply this. At the end of the day, we need to realize, Hey, we're living in reality. Okay? And that's where we need to stay. You know, if you need to read a book, a magazine or an article just to give your brain some rest from work, you know, because that's, you know, like work. That means like a job, right? That's something you do just to stay in yourself and your family. You know, that's okay. But if that's your life, that's not okay. You're turning your brain to mush. Okay, and you're not living with a purposeful life. Let's be a people of purpose, doing the will of God from the hearts. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And, Lord, thank you for purpose. Thank you for the good works that you've ordained us to do and for the many souls that are out there that we can win on and have a crown of rejoicing. And I pray God that you'd help us as your people to really look down on the video games and the entertainment of this world that seeks to take our attention away from that which is most important. Help us to set our affections on things above and not on the things of this earth. Help us to steam those things which are in heaven, those things which are biblical, which are right and righteous and not on these things that are vain, profane and empty that can profit us nothing. And I pray that you help us to do so in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.