Christ is Life Podcast

And today, we're going to talk about the roadblock of technology. Now some of you, that makes you a little bit nervous about what I'm going to already say this morning about that little device that's in your hands or in your pocket right now, and and for some of you, you're going, Oh, great, I'm here to sit through a sermon that doesn't have anything to do with me whatsoever, because this is not a roadblock in my life, and wherever you fall in that spectrum, I hope and pray that you would be sensitive to what the Spirit is saying. Because the reality is this, we live in an age of technology. We live in a digital age, or what some call the information is of age. We are surrounded by it. We are kind of immersed in it all throughout our culture, and many of us are even consumed by it. Statistics say that those of us who carry around one of these smartphones here spend an average of four and a half hours on it per day. Four and a half hours. That's what the research says, and that's just phones. The research tells us that the average American adult spends seven hours and four minutes every single day on some type of screen outside of work, seven hours and four minutes. 31% of adults report being almost constantly online. 46% of US teens say the internet almost they use the internet almost constantly. 40% of adults check their phone five minutes after waking up in the morning. Within five minutes of waking up in the morning, you
want to guess at how many times you touch your cell phone today.
According to a global study across 31 countries, the average smartphone user touches their phones 2617
times per day.
I could keep going on and on with statistics, but I think you get it. You probably already knew that, to be honest with you. We're surrounded by technology. We're immersed in it. And many of us, again, are consumed with our technology, and in some ways, it may be making our lives better. There are some good things that have come out of the technology that are We are surrounded by and immersed in and sometimes consumed with. But the research tells us that for some of us, for many of us, it's not just not been helpful, but it's been harmful. The research tells us that we're more image focused, we're more anxious, we're more depressed, we're more divided, and we're even more lonely than we've ever been, even though we're more connected than we've ever been through technology. And this is affecting, honestly, people of all ages, which we'll talk about here in a little bit, but it is having a tremendous impact on our young people today. I want you to look at this graph, what you'll see is that throughout the 2000s it was relatively steady, kind of the the rates of self harm and and suicide and in mental health issues. But you notice that around the years 2012 and 2013 that all of a sudden those rates just begin to skyrocket. Do you know what happened between 2012 and 2013
close Instagram,
Instagram. Instagram came out in very late 2010 so it's just kind of getting going in 2011 there were somewhat close to around 10 million users already by the end of 2011 but over the next two years, that number grew to 100 million in about a billion people in 2018 and so we have these phones, these little devices, that all of a sudden, a few years prior to that, the technology began to be able to capture images both directions, so that you can take selfies. And then we have image based platforms that you can post those things to for everyone to see, and the comparison struggles that were already there take off astronomically even more. And the young people's joy is beginning to be stolen even more, and the self harm, suicide, depression rates just skyrocket after that. Now, again, I mentioned earlier that this is a problem for all ages. While it may impact our young people in a tremendous amount of ways, it is not just our young people. The studies are telling us that more and more people are being affected all across all spheres of life. As a matter of fact, I want to share with you just really quickly, a small little excerpt of an article that I read this week that was written by another pastor that has to do with this very thing. He writes this, Sherry was in my office and she began to cry. Her husband had put an arm around. On her, pulled her in close and said, Honey, it will all be okay. It was a kind sentiment, but it was wrong.
She had lost her mother,
not to death, but to Facebook.
I laughed too when I first read it,
until I continued to read
over a period of three years, her elderly mom went from Facebook illiterate to Facebook junkie, from Great Grandma liking photos of her great grandkids to full blown conspiracy theorists posting wild articles. Sherri watched her mom transform from a godly woman who quoted the Bible and taught her to respond to bullies by killing them with kindness, into an anxiety filled propagandist warning Sherry that the end was coming. Constantly, Sherry tried to intervene, but failed multiple times, and now she was sitting in my office crying and saying I lost my mom to Facebook. I told her, I know this is extremely hard, it's difficult, but I do want you to know that you are not alone. Your mom actually isn't the first person that I've seen transformed by social media. There are so many, even here in our church. So you can see, again, just this example is not a young person's problem, just a young person's problem. More and more senior adults are experiencing the roadblock of technology in their lives. And as you see, based on what the things we're saying here, this is not when we talk about the roadblock of technology. We're not just talking about it taking up a lot of our time, that we spend four plus hours, five, seven hours a day on our devices, and that it's pulling us away from our kids and the most important people in our lives, in the face to face, all that is true, and that can be a negative consequence of the amount of time that's spent on those things, but it goes far above even and beyond that, because what we're talking about is being formed and being shaped by the Internet, being shaped by the news, being shaped by social media, being shaped by video games and more. As a matter of fact, here's the way that John Eldridge writes about it. He says, My concern is that our ability to trust and believe has been secretly eroded by something that most of us are completely unaware of. It has to do with the fact that we are, all of us, disciples of the internet, we are disciples of the systems that tutor us where we turn to on a daily basis for guidance on living for most of us, that makes us disciples of the internet, even if we call ourselves Disciples of Christ, we're being shaped by the Internet, in social media, in national news. We're becoming disciples. We're learning about ourselves, about the people around, about our world view, about all things through the internet and social media and whatever the national news people are feeding us constantly while we have it on at our home all day long, Chris Martin, in a book called The wolf in their pockets that I'm reading through right now addresses it specifically around the idea of social media. He says social media has become our chief discipler. It conforms our minds to the patterns of the content we consume, and re engineers our habits with its practices we are shaped by the algorithmically, that's a hard word to say, curated delivery of the particular patterns of the world that best play to our fleshly desires, they beckon us into conformity with the world by drawing our hearts and minds away from God, he uses this word over and over
again, conformity
conforms Our minds. A lot of us are probably familiar with Romans, chapter 12, verse two, that says, Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. And again, when we look at what these devices, the social media and internet and news sources and all the above, when we're consuming it and just going to it over and over again, we're being conformed. We're being shaped by these very things away from Christ. Christ. Christ makes us into new creations, and we're made to be like him the moment that we come to know Jesus, because we're born again. We're transformed. We're regenerated into a completely different person than we were before. We're more like Jesus. We're like Jesus in that moment, but he is taking that and then conforming us outwardly into the image of Christ. After that, as we renew our minds to the truth and keep our minds fixed on him, but when we're minds are consumed on other things, we're being fed and taught about ourselves and about our worldview and about a number of other things, then we become disciples of those things. They become our chief discipler. And so digital technology can be a tool that Satan uses, can be, didn't say always can be a tool that Satan uses to conform us to this world. Why? Because we live out of what we believe. And what we believe, again, is being shaped by what we consume. For a lot of us, again, that's the online content, media influences, national news channels. And so again, when we build our worldview through these things, we begin to create habits and speech and actions around those worldviews that we're being discipled into. And then we're being conformed into this world, rather than Christ. And as that happens, Satan, who we know, is known and is the ruler of this world, the liar and the deceiver of truth, is leaving us stuck at this road block of technology. He knows we have abundant life in Christ. He knows that that's who we are, and that he can't do anything to take that away from us, but he can rob us from experiencing the abundant life that we have in Christ, if he can make us disciples of other things other than Christ Himself. And it's with these very things that he's succeeding in a number of ways. And so this is a problem. This is a problem for many of us today, and again, if it's not, it's impacting your kids or your grandkids. And here's the thing I would ask you to stay open to because we'll keep going through this all the way throughout. It may be a roadblock for you, and you don't even know it, because Satan is a master deceiver. What's the answer? Well, we turn to Scripture to find the answer to these things, and revealed in His truths. And one of the places that we see this is in Romans. I mean, we said Romans earlier, Hebrews chapter 12. This is what the author of Hebrews says, beginning in verse one, he says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us. And so the author of Hebrews is using this imagery of the Christian life being kind of like a race, kind of like a marathon race that we are in. We're on this journey of life, running this Christian race. And he says, as we run this race, we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. What is he referring to here? Well, if you've read the book of Hebrews, you may remember that one chapter earlier, he talks about this in Hebrews chapter 11, and he goes through a number of these Old Testament saints who lived their lives by great faith the assurance of what they could not seen, and they've had their hope and trust in what God was doing, even when they couldn't see it, and what he would do in the future, even far beyond them. And so he's saying, listen, as we run our race, and we're going, I don't know how to run it. What am I supposed to do? Then? In one way, he's saying, you can look to these cloud of witnesses as your examples. How did they live their lives through faith, by dependence in God, and now that we live on the other side of the cross, we can do it in a way that they didn't ever truly get to experience in its fullness, because the spirits come to dwell in us. Now we're in a union with Jesus. He is now our source, and we can live from faith and dependence on him and experience His life in us and even through us. And so we look to them to lead us to go, Okay, I'm going to run it through faith and dependence on Jesus, but here is the deal,
as we do so.
The author of Hebrews warns us that there are things that can hinder and there's sin that can easily entangle us to keep us from experiencing the abundant life of Christ during that race. And I think when you and I read that, if you're like me, my mind goes to this, the sin that so easily entangles because like they. It's pretty easy to see. I mean, I understand the bad choices that I've made, and I know whenever I step into sin, I can feel that sometimes, and I can be experiencing shame in my life, and I can I get how that entangles in a number of ways and keeps me from experiencing Christ on this journey of life and the fullness of life and joy that I have in Him, and that can certainly be found in the media aspect of things, through pornography and the cyber bullying and all the ugly, nasty things, when you think of sin out there that easily entangles us. But what I think a lot of us miss and may not quite understand, is what hinders us. The word hinders here carries the idea of of weight, weight being added to you, and that there you're you're not able to to move as well. It's slowing you down. It's kind of impeding your progress. It's this idea that you're you're running the race of the Christian life, and all of a sudden, just more gets added to your life, and it starts to feel heavy, and then more gets added. It's even heavier, and then more gets added, and it's even heavier to the point where you're slowing down and it's hard to breathe on this race, and eventually you're having to kind of crawl, and sometimes you're just going, I got to catch my breath, and I'm I'm stuck at this road block. I'm being hindered from moving forward in this race, because something is causing that to happen when it comes to technology, and we're talking about digital and social media, all those kinds of things, Satan is at work in this to hinder us. And what we need to realize, guys and I alluded to this just a second ago, is that he can be so deceptive that he can keep us from he's even realizing that we've been hindered by it, and are sitting at this road block of technology. And so let me share with you a few examples of what I mean. You guys probably all know this. Maybe you know it way better. I don't claim to be an expert on this, but social media is built on highly sophisticated algorithms. Those algorithms are designed to keep us on our device and keep us specifically on that app, on their social media platform, as long as they possibly can. They do not want us to get off of it, and so they're watching. They're looking at all the things that we're doing, the amount of scrolling we're doing whenever we pause, how long we look at a post, when we like a post, when we comment on a post, when we share a post, and they take note of those things. If you look at it longer, they must really like that content. If you like it, or you share it, you comment, they must really like this content. And we're going to feed them more of that content so that they want to keep scrolling, because they know that if they can keep you engaged on that, the more valuable their advertising opportunities become. In a sense, they don't really care about you and you having a great experience through this. They just are using you for money. They're trying to make as much money as they possibly can, and the algorithms are designed to keep you on it, as long as you can pull you away from everything else going on in your life to stay on that, because that's how they make the most. And there are some people who are being paid high dollar amounts of money to keep you engaged on that, the same way that people are paid to do that, to keep you in a casino, if you will, and not let you leave. This is the thing that they are doing. What we need to also know about this, besides just the algorithms that keep us scrolling, what we need to know is how they're even kind of doing that. This was an internal report that came out from Facebook that they admitted to and they said, our algorithms to their findings when they really look into it, our algorithms exploit the human's human brain's attraction to divisiveness. Why? In an effort to do what, to gain user attention and increase time on the platform, they found out, and they know, and they're not doing anything about it, that they are using the way to keep us online is our attraction to divisiveness. They are intentionally feeding us divisive content to keep us on the platform longer this highly emotional con. Content, which usually means the most extreme, partisan, intoxicating, divisive content that can be out there. Talk about being conformed to the pattern of this world, right? This is what they're intentionally trying to feed us behind the scenes, to keep us engaged on it, to make money out of it, and again, Satan is at work as the ruler of the world to use this in ways to rob us from our joy being found in Christ, aside from the algorithm, there are ungodly people that Satan is working in and through to disrupt our lives in ways that you and I may not even be aware of. For example, there was a study that MIT did, MIT right, and what they found through their study is that there are these foreign troll farms. Again, many of you already know this, but some of us have no idea, right? There's these foreign troll farms that are exploring the algorithm or exploiting the algorithms, listen to this to target specifically Christians in their effort to destabilize them and America, the country that we live in. What they found out at the time, this was a few years ago. I don't know if it's still true right now, but at the time get this, this is crazy. 19 of the top 20 Christian Facebook pages that were out there were run by these anonymous nefarious agencies. So you could be rolling through social media, and you come across this post, and at the very top of the post, the title of the page that posted, it is, Jesus is Lord. And what is the image is some kind of Scripture. And it says, If Jesus is your Lord, then post this, and don't be ashamed, right? And you go, yes, Jesus is my Lord and and I'm not ashamed of him, and I want everybody to know that. And so we like it and we comment on it and we share it. And then what we didn't realize is that this is a troll farm who's trying to get at us, to divide us and to keep us from experiencing life and to destroy the country that we live in. And so now Facebook goes, well, they liked it, they shared it. And so we're going to feed you more of that content. So you're going to get another post from Jesus is Lord soon, and it's not going to have a scripture reference on it. It's going to be the most extreme political, divisive content that you can find, and it's going to say something along the lines of Christianity and the truth, and this is what Satan is allowing to happen about the other people on this side or that side. And then you go, well, it's coming from the site that says Jesus is Lord. It's the one that had that really great scripture on it that I shared earlier, whenever I did that. And so you know what? It must be true. I want to make sure everybody knows about that. And so we like it, and we share that, and we send that to the next person involved, and all of a sudden we are being shaped by the very things we're being hindered. Satan is deceiving us and working us into thinking this is truth and this is the proper view of the world, and the way to view ourselves and the other people in the world. And then it's impacting our speech and our actions. It's how a great grandmother can go from liking stuff about their great grandchildren to being some conspiracy theorist and completely separated from her family, and it's what we're interacting with every single day for hours, and many of us don't even know it that this is what's happening and what is going on behind the scenes. Now, again, I'm not here to say that everything that we see on social media or everything with the internet is bad and that God
can't use it in good ways. God can certainly use social media for good. I could be up here and tell you a number of ways I just don't have time to this morning, that God has certainly done those things. But what we need to realize is that in the same way that God can certainly use it for good, we must be aware that Satan is also at work and able to take good things that God can use for His glory and to turn people to his heart to turn them away from him, and even those of us who know Him and be aware of the ways that he's taking those good things that sometimes God is doing, but then Satan can twist and deceive and move us just a little bit off of it and down this far trail, way away from where we just were. Satan is on the prowl, and he is constantly looking to devour you and to devour me. He hates you. He hates me, he hates us. And so as we begin to see that it is hindering us a little bit, then the author of Hebrews says, I. Get rid of it. Get rid of the things that hinder you and the sin that so easily entangles. And we'll talk about this more specifically later. But maybe that means getting rid of some of it completely. Maybe it means adjusting your habits around it, that kind of thing. And like I said, when we get to the practical section of it, we'll talk but I want to see a little bit more about what the author of Hebrews has to say after he says, to get rid of the things that hinder us and the sin that so easily entangles us on this race and this journey that we are on. Because here's what he goes on to say, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. What are we supposed to do as we get rid of those things, we fix our eyes on Jesus. We consider him Jesus. We set our hearts and minds on him. Why? So that we will not grow weary and we will not lose heart. We're on this race. We don't want to allow those things that can captivate our attention over here, outside of the truth of Jesus and the life that we have in him, because those things get weighty. They weigh us down, they hinder us, they entangle us. And when that happens, we grow weary and we begin to lose heart in those things, but not when we fix our eyes on Jesus. And so he says, Keep your eyes fixed on him. Keep your heart and mind set on him if you need a visual, and we use this all the time. Give me 30 seconds and we'll move on because but just continue to love the visual here, right? We know that we have a body and a soul, and we have a mind and emotions and will, and that we have a spirit in the moment we say yes to Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. We are in a spiritual union with Jesus at the very core of our being. What does Hebrews chapter 12 say to fix your eyes on Jesus? Well, where does Jesus dwell in you at the very core of your being, you turn your attention to who Jesus is and who you are, the new creation you are in Him, in the way that plays out. So we're turning everything in our heart, in our soul, towards Jesus. That's what it looks like to fix our eyes on Him. But what Satan wants to do is reverse that and take everything within us and keep us focused on the things of this world. Right? He wants us to keep us focused on the news media and the social media and every other kind of media that it is, and the divisive content and the things that he works in behind the scenes to deceive us and not even know what it is that's doing. And as we turn our attention there, where that's generally the focus of our hearts and our minds, then that's when the weariness comes. That's when the hindrances come. But it doesn't come when we're turning our hearts and our minds inward to where Christ dwells in us, to the new creation we become in him, in the way. Then he takes that and expresses his life through us into the world, to spread His grace and His love and His mercy through us. And so we fix our eyes on Jesus. We consider him. So the two things we're talking about here. When it comes to this roadblock of technology, we throw away everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and we fix our eyes on Jesus. That's how we move beyond the roadblock of technology. If it is a roadblock in our lives, what does that look like practically. I'm glad you asked. Let's talk about that. Number one, we must understand. We must ask Jesus, what role does social media, or any kind of media, news, media, whatever, play in my life? And the real question we ask along that is this, are Am I using it, or is it using me? Am I using social media, or is social media using me? Am I using the news, or is the news using me? How is media? How is the media that I consume shaping me? How's the media I consume conforming me to this world? Am I using media to get more likes, to form an identity, to impress people with who I am, to be known in this world, to find my value and worth through comparing myself to other people are returning to the news because we're living in fear and we've got to be in the know of everything that's happening in the world is. News using you to keep you watching for their ratings, seem to put more money in their pockets when you and I begin to understand why we're going to the things that we're going to, what's the purpose? Why am I constantly going to this? Ask Jesus reveal this to me. Am I trying to find my identity and worth? Am I trying to get something out of it in that that that's when we can begin to take these even more practical steps that we're talking about, when it may be a hindrance in our lives. And so this should probably come as a duh. Then once he reveals those things to us, He will lead us. Jesus will lead us to either set limits on or again, eliminate certain digital technologies if needed. Again, it may mean that we need to eliminate them completely, that that's really the step that he's asking us to take. Because if we're finding that it's hindering us, that it's leading us into sin, that's entangling us, that it's completely consuming our time, pulling us away from our kids and our attention to them, or relationships with others from our work that we're called to, or that we can't just see the deception of Satan and recognize the things that are going on, then he may be leading you to go,
just cut it out completely. You
don't want to take that chance. Now,
if he's not, he's probably at least going to say it's going to be wise to set limits on it, because while God can work in and through it to bring blessings to us and lead us in our lives, we know that Satan can be involved in it, and so too much time on it is what we've seen really leads to all the mental health issues and all the things that go on in our lives, and the all the stuff that we talked about already in this way. And so we go, okay, Jesus. Well, what do those limits really look like for me? I mean, for me, as I've thought about this and had more conversations around it, I've just started turning off every single notification that there is. I don't get a notification that pops up when someone posts anything on any social media accounts and platforms that I use, I don't get a post for, or a notification for, for email, or a number of other things. I've just tried to cut all of them out that I can possibly cut out, because the reality is this, I want to use it on my terms, not on theirs, and the more, the more notifications that pop up. Once again, a strategy of all the people who are highly paid to get us to come back to their stuff, to get us scrolling for a long time, to make more money of off of us, is one of the tools that they're saying, here's the notification. You gotta check it now drop everything that you're doing. And so if that's where most of us find that going, then let's eliminate the thing that hinders us and keeps us from doing those things. And so maybe that's what Jesus is leading you to possibly do as well. The third thing I would say practically is that we've got to start asking Jesus to help us become a little bit more media literate, right? We've got to learn more about the media that we're involved in. Is the website that I'm using a legitimate website? Is the post, even if it's called Jesus, is lord on my Facebook scroll feed? Is that really someone who believes in Jesus, and what is their theology? Instead of me just liking it immediately and sharing it immediately, saying, This is a good thing, then maybe we should wait a little bit to make sure that whatever it is that we're sharing with other people, and Facebook algorithm is going to recognize, or Instagram, or any of the other things. To give us more of those things, I'm going to slow down, check it out a little bit more and investigate before moving on. Maybe along these lines, he's going to lead you to read some more about it, you're going, oh my gosh, I didn't even know any of this was true. Is it true? Well, I've been reading a number of books and research and trying to learn more about it myself as well. And so maybe that's what the Lord will lead you to do, especially if you have kids or grandkids and it's a struggle of yours and the way you want to lead them in this particular area. And so right now I'm reading through I mentioned earlier Chris Martin's book, The Wolf in their pockets, and another one that I'm about to start is the anxious generation from Jonathan Hite, that I've just heard tremendous things about, that helps us see what's going on and shaping a whole generation who seems to be anxious because of the world that we live in and they've grown up in as soon as we put these things in their hands, over and over again, I just said this, but this is, again, a duh. We as parents and grandparents must lead our kids in their use of digital technology, and there's no playbook for this. I mean, there's really not. I can't sit here and say this is exactly what you're supposed to do in those areas. You've got to decide as parents, and whenever you pray and ask Jesus to be involved in it, how you're going to use media in your family, when you're going to give them access to things, when you're going to give them their own phones and access to social media and all of those kinds of things. But it's certainly a conversation that you need to have with Jesus and that you need to be I would even say talking to other. Parents and grandparents who have been down that road and are further down it than you, learn from their mistakes. They'll tell you, I promise you, they'll tell you, learn from their wins and the things that happened in that God puts people further down the road than us to disciple us and mentor us. And this is one of those areas where you can ask around. Don't just pretend it's okay and everything's fine. Above all, talk to your kids about the potential dangers involved in it. What we just talked about today, help them to fix their eyes on Jesus, to know their identity, their value, their worth. Doesn't come from comparing themselves to the things they're going to see out there, but in Christ and who they are, to avoid the trap of falling into those things. Just be involved in their lives and keep open channels. Help them to see they can come talk to you about those things. Just a couple of more. I don't know why that's in there. Twice, fix your attention on Jesus, right? This is okay. That was the hindrance parts. Now we're talking about Okay. Second part of Hebrews 12 is fix your eyes on Jesus. Well, let's fix our attention on Jesus. How, first of all, through time alone with him, intentional time alone with him. And then secondly, an awareness of his constant presence. What do we mean by that? Well, we're so consumed with these things. We're so consumed with checking on five minutes after we wake up and having the TV on and it's too quiet. And I mean, guys, if you are like me, you can't even go to the restroom with this thing sometimes without having to pull it out because I'm bored. I can't brush my teeth for a minute or two without having to scroll through something because I can't handle not doing something anymore, right? And so that's the thing. We put them down. Turn your attention. Jesus. Read Scripture away from those things, no notifications, put it away if it's a distraction, just read pray journal. Meditate on His truths. Renew your mind to the truth of who you are in Christ and all that you have in Him, and just be still and know that He is God, enjoy your relationship with him. But then, as you come out of that time where you're entering into the world and activities throughout the day, it becomes like the a couple of things. Number one, we have to be aware that we don't leave Jesus' presence after we have some time alone with him, he goes with us wherever we're at during the day. And so when we showed you the concentric circle diagram, and our mind and our will and our emotions are turned inward at Jesus. Then we walk into our day, not with what's out there that I can look for and capture my attention to bring me life and meaning and purpose and value and worth and love we go. I'm focused inwardly. As I'm walking out into the world, I'm directing here is my source that's going to be dispersed out into the world, not what I need from it to give me something, what I have in Christ that's going to be poured out into the world. There's a disposition to have where we set our hearts and minds on that even as we enter into the day with him and his constant presence. And the reality is, we talked about this a few weeks ago at the rhythms of grace series. He's probably talking to you in hundreds, if not 1000s of ways each and every single day because of his constant presence in your spirit. And the question is, can you see them, or can you hear them? With all of the technology that you're surrounded by and that you're immersed in and that you're consumed with, if you can't hear him, it's a hindrance. It's entangling you, and we got to take steps of getting rid of it again. Last couple of things, use technology to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. We talked about all the dangers. God can certainly use it. I had someone from Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. He sent me an email this week, and he said, You don't know me, but I stumbled across your church, and I started watching your worship service and your preaching, and I just want you to know that I am engaging with and participating in worship with you and the content that you're delivering from the stage, because it's so hard for me to find a church in my area that really is Grace based, that's teaching life in Christ and our identity in the new creation that we become, and all the ways that we kind of teach From here. And he said, it's just resonating so much with me, and so God's using that technology to be able to invest in him and pour into him, and it's why we have a social media page, because we recognize that God can do that, and we're certainly not the only site it we have that can do those things, but find the trusted sites be aware that just because it says Jesus doesn't mean it's really coming from someone do your work. I would just assume any preacher you're watching has great theology, all right. And so these are the things that we're aware of, but we certainly want to use it in these ways, instead of Mindlessly scrolling. And then finally, this is the last one. Be intentional. I. About developing more and more in person relationships. What does that have to do with technology? Well, because I think most of us are going to technology in some way to try to connect and and have intimacy, but it's a fake intimacy. It's not the real thing. And so we want to experience the real, authentic community, the Acts two kind of community that the Jesus leads us into. It's a life with him and a life with other brothers and sisters, where we're eating with one another, we're praying with one another and encouraging one another and worshiping with one another and carrying each other's burdens. This is the real stuff of community, the real intimacy. So the more we're involved with that, we'll go, oh, that other stuff isn't even compared to this, and the lure away from it is much easier. And then I guess I would just sum it all up with this. Patrick Miller, a pastor that told the Facebook story about the great grandmother, writes this, and I'll just end with this quote.
He says Jesus calls us to something greater than the digital media slot machine with its constant drip of Mal informative, information, tribalism, pornography, outrage and hot takes. Instead, he invites us to trust and experience Him, to conform to his mind, to walk in His steps, to enjoy the beauty of the good world he's made. Let's see the grandeur of Jesus' vision. Resist the digital Babylon around us and simultaneously work for its welfare, showing our whole society a better path forward. Amen,
all right, I got one. Amen,