WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.959 Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.039 Good morning, everybody. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:24.480 How are we today? 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:29.199 Come on, if we're gonna put our hands together, let's give Jesus all the praise that he's due. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:36.880 Some of you may think, man, this is a clappy church. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.359 But when you have so much to celebrate, he's alive, the tomb is empty. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:44.880 Um, it's reason to clap. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:51.520 Matter of fact, the Bible says, clap your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:56.880 So, nothing wrong with a clap, nothing wrong with a thank you, Jesus, right? 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:06.799 I want to say hello to all of our campuses, everybody joining us online or on demand later in the week or some other time of the year, of course, all of our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:15.760 And if you're here for the first time or the very first time in a long time at every campus, let's put our hands together and just say hello and welcome everyone that's joining us. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:18.879 We are glad that you are here. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:20.799 You picked a great Sunday to be in church. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:25.280 There's no better way to start your week than in God's house with God's people. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.519 Um, just Sunday's the best day. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:28.719 I love Sundays. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.840 And so we're in this series called TikTok Theology. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:36.879 If you're new to church, this series is simply a collection of talks around one common theme. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.920 And we began last week talking about the source of truth. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:44.879 If you missed that, I encourage you to go wherever we stream it online and catch that message. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.879 But we've been wrestling with this question: what is your feed feeding you? 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.040 It's feeding all of us something. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.400 So, what is it feeding you? 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:57.680 And this isn't a series about how TikTok's from the devil and you should delete it off your phone. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.879 Um, I I enjoy social media, I use it. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:06.000 I'm just wanting us to think about what's it feeding us and how's that affecting us? 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:08.560 And let's make sure we're feeding ourselves the right things. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:09.599 Amen, everybody. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.080 So I want to bring a message entitled This. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:14.080 If you're the note taker, you can write it down. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.719 If you're not, write it down anyways. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.080 Um, this is the message titled Unfollow. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:26.800 Some of us need to unfollow some things in our life, maybe some people in our life. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:28.319 We're gonna talk about that today. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:29.840 Before we do, let's pray together. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.400 Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.199 So, Holy Spirit, speak to us through your word. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.840 And we believe we'll never be the same because of it in Jesus' name. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.360 Everybody said amen. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:42.400 Amen. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:51.919 So, a little over uh 20 years ago, about 23 years ago, I guess now, um, I made the most expensive purchase of my life up to that point. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:58.639 And if you're a guy and you've ever been moving towards engagement, you've had the same experience. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:04.560 I sold things, I saved up money, I think I sold a nine millimeter. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:06.560 Someone had given me. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:22.240 I was just, I was, I was pawing everything to try to get this group of money together so I could go to the jewelry store there in Virginia, and I could, I could get this ring that that my friend Fred, who ran that store, helped me design. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:41.840 Now, when we got engaged, Tammy and I, we were, I was living in New York City and Staten Island, and it was a youth pastor there, and Tammy was living in, well, she was based out of Virginia, but she was touring with a group, and so we would only get really to see each other very rarely during that year uh that we were engaged. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:49.919 But so I had to drive down to see her, but we would talk on the phone a whole lot, and I'd put so much money into this ring in my perspective at that time. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.439 I'd put so much money into this ring that um I had a special place in my closet for it. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:58.000 Um I I would say I guarded it, y'all. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:03.199 Like we would talk on the phone uh at night whenever I get back from work and she would get done for the day. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:10.960 We would talk on the phone, and sometimes I would have the box open, talking to her, looking at it, thinking, you have no idea. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.800 I'm about to ask you to marry me in a couple months on September 23rd. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.399 I'm gonna ask you to marry me. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:21.279 And so I'm but I would come home from work, I would go up to the closet and just make sure it's there. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.079 You know, no sign of break in in my house. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:27.439 I'm just making I was living alone, only guy in the house. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:28.959 Like, I was just making sure it was there. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.839 How many of you know that when something is valuable, you guard it? 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.399 Come on, any dads with a daughter. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:35.199 Okay. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.439 Your sons, you're like, take care of yourself. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.720 Your girls, you're like, I could end up in jail for you. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:44.079 And I would not be mad about it if someone hurt you. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:45.360 Um you why? 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.680 Because you guard things that are valuable. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:53.920 The Bible tells us that there is something in our life we should be guarding above everything. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.199 I want to show you to you Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:58.639 You can look on the screen with me. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:06.399 It says this above all else, guard your Everby campus, everybody say it out loud, guard your guard your heart. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:12.240 Not just your engagement ring, not just your children, not just the family that means good to you. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:16.560 Above everything, above your worship, guard your heart. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:18.160 Think about that. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:21.040 Above your prayer life, guard your heart. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:22.160 Why? 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:26.480 Because everything you do flows from it. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.279 So the Bible is teaching us this principle that we all have to get today. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:46.399 Super important principle in your life, is that every decision you make, every choice you make, every place that you go in life, and we talked about last week that your destiny and your life is the culmination of the choices that you make, but they begin in the heart. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.480 That everything, how I parent comes out of my heart. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.680 How I control my finances comes out of my heart. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.319 How I treat friends comes out of my heart. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:06.399 How I respond to people that aren't like me and don't look like me or think like me, that don't believe in Jesus, that's coming out of my heart because everything comes out of my heart. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.839 So the Bible says, guard it above all else. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.600 Put some parameters around what you let into your heart. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.839 I like the way that the New Testament says it. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.920 It says, a good person produces good fruit from the treasury. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:21.519 I love this mental image. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:29.759 It's almost like when you put good and you deposit good into the treasury of your heart, then what happens? 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:31.839 Good comes out of it. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:48.079 But if you're letting an evil produces person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart, so here's what here's what I want you to catch today is the actions of evil don't come because someone just acts evil. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:53.759 When you do something that you're like, oh, why did I do that? 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.199 That isn't how I want to respond, that isn't how I want to live. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:04.720 We all have to grapple with this fact that its source or the origin of it was an evil heart. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.560 We don't want to think about it that way. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:10.079 So let's go to the positive. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.240 When good comes out of you, it's not like, man, I just did good. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:17.120 No, it's because there was good in your heart. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:25.120 And the Bible says this as a person thinks in their heart, so are they. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.199 Now think about that for a moment. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.120 You don't think with your heart. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.360 Your heart isn't a brain. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:39.439 So what the Bible is telling us is that using this metaphor of what gets in our heart is really affected by how we think. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:47.279 We say it like this: I've told my kids since they were little, what gets in your head gets in your heart, and what gets in your heart becomes your character. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.319 So let's guard what gets in your head. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:55.600 Because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.360 Are y'all following me? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:01.199 And so I'm asking you again, what is your feed feeding you? 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:08.160 Is it storing up in the treasury of your heart good things, godly things? 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:16.800 Or is it storing up in the treasure of your heart things that interrupt your relationship with God, that pull you away from God? 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:25.120 And I some of you may think, well, I'm not on social media, but we're all getting inputs from all different places of our life. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:37.120 Let me show you some of the stats that I found that were fascinating about us as Americans, that we spend 136 minutes a day on social media. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.399 Y'all, that's over two hours of our time. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.440 We're better than the rest of the world, though. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:47.039 141. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.120 If there's a positive to this, we're winning. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:51.679 Okay. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:54.399 Listen to this. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:01.200 This same study found that the average American spends only about 35 minutes per day intentionally socializing face to face. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:13.200 So we're spending two hours letting inputs come from people we don't even know sometimes, don't know their values, don't know their thought. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:23.679 We're letting all these inputs come into our life, but we're only spending about 35 minutes a day actually looking face to face, eye to eye with people, and really building relationships and seeing life from a different perspective. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:24.480 Are you following me? 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.720 And some of you may be like, why I'm not on social media? 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.360 Well, let me hit on your favorite news channel. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.399 Because they're all unbiased. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:37.759 If you believe that, I got something else to sell you. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:50.879 So here's what it means it means that over an average lifespan, age 13 to 80, if you continue in these patterns, you'll have spent six years and four months on social media. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:58.000 Compared to spending one year and eight months having real conversations in real life. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.320 And here's the source if you need it, Bureau of Labor and Statistics. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.600 So, what's your feed feeding you? 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.480 I'm not saying you get rid of it or it's not up to me. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.440 I'm just saying, above all else, guard your heart. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:22.159 Be careful what are the inputs that are coming into your life, because what gets put in does come out eventually. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:30.159 And here's what we end up doing when we come to faith in Jesus or we come to God and we think, I've got to change my life. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.200 We think, I've got to be better. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.440 I've got to do hard, try harder. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:39.679 I I just need to be less angry, I need to be less judgmental. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:46.320 And so we go through all these things that we need to do, and we're just like, I'm gonna white knuckle it, and we're trying to deal with the output. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:52.559 I'm wanting to propose if you would deal with the input, some of the outputs would take care of themselves. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:59.679 But if you would let the right things in, then from the treasury of a good heart, good would come out. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.279 From a treasury of a godly heart, godliness would come out. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:04.320 Are you following me? 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:14.559 But we got to start putting the right treasuries into our heart so the right stuff comes out of us instead of just going, I'm modifying my behavior. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:20.879 That's why some of you, you're like in with God and out with God and in with God because you're like, I'm trying hard and I couldn't accomplish it was too hard. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:28.639 That's because Christianity isn't about trying, it's about surrendering, and it's about going, God, what do you want to put into me so the right things come out of me? 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.279 Come on, let's put our hands together if you believe that. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:32.639 Okay. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.279 So I'm gonna give you a few things. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:36.399 You can make your own list. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:41.759 I'm not saying this is exhaustive, but I want to give you a few things that you need to unfollow in your life. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:42.480 All right? 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:44.000 So I want you to write these down. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:47.039 Number one is you need to unfollow negativity. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.159 Need to unfollow negativity. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:54.559 I love the way the amplified version of the Bible puts this scripture in Proverbs. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:00.399 It says, uh, soothing tongues, what, and this is it, it describes it in the brackets is the definition. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:06.080 Speaking words that build up in courage is a tree of life. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.639 So you get to determine what you want to be. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:16.240 But a perverse tongue, speaking words that overwhelm and depress, crushes the spirit. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:19.919 Have you ever been around those people? 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.960 Don't raise your hand if you're sitting beside them. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.639 That you don't ask them how they're doing because you don't want to know. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.960 Because you know the moment you go, how you doing? 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.600 Well, let me tell you. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:40.960 Everything's bad, the world's falling apart. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.080 You see the news, going to hell in a handbasket. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:45.600 That's what we're doing. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:52.080 Negativity in, it'll come out. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:53.200 Are you following me? 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:56.240 Some of you are like, no one ever asked me how I'm doing. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:02.000 Hey, I don't know. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:04.879 If the spirit speaks, listen. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:05.840 Okay. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.399 Are you following me though? 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.600 And if if you're not careful, negativity sells. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.200 Positive doesn't get clicks. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.120 Are you following me? 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:29.519 So if you think the feed is just feeding you godly stuff and good stuff and the best about humanity and the best of people, you're living in a fantasy land. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.000 What sells, what gets clicks, is the negative. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:35.200 It's the awful story. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:39.200 I actually had a media outlet tell me one time we were doing some really good stuff in the community. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.039 I said, Man, you should cover this story. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.519 You like to cover the things about us that you know you're not so kind about, you ought to cover the good. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:46.720 You know what they told me? 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.519 Oh, we don't we don't cover things like that. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:53.679 Because positivity doesn't sell. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:55.919 Are you following me? 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.200 What's your feed feeding you? 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:02.080 If you let negativity in, can I tell you something? 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.159 The world's not going to hell in a handbasket. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:05.919 The church is on the rise. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:07.120 I mean, this is statistics. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:08.080 This isn't just my opinion. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:09.519 This is Barner Research. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:13.200 There are more young people coming to Jesus right now than ever before. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.240 Cells of the Bible are through the roof. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.440 There's a revival happening among young adults right now. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:33.200 This isn't going to hell in a handbasket because the tomb is empty, and from generation to generation, civilization to civilization, the word of the Lord has remained, the Spirit of God has remained, and the church has remained. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:34.960 Are y'all following me? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:36.240 We just need a little. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.399 We get so myopic, we think about our generation. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:42.720 We just need to read a little bit of history. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.799 The church has been okay for 2,000 years, everyone. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:49.279 And he's still on the throne. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:52.879 That's what we should be talking about. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.600 That's what we should be proclaiming. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:59.200 We should be like Paul encouraged the church in Ephesus. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.480 Don't let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:04.559 Don't let any unwholesome talk. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:08.559 But only what is helpful for building others up. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:11.759 Just stop and go, is what I'm about to say helpful? 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.240 According to their needs. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:14.720 Why? 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.480 So that everyone may benefit that listen. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:21.039 So anybody around that's hearing what you're saying. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.679 If they overheard your conversation, it would be beneficial. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.840 Some of you need to unfollow negativity in your life. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:41.519 And some of you, depending on your family system or what you were raised in, it's the bent of the people in your life. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.360 And it may be a harder toe for you. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.720 But it doesn't mean that you can't move out of that. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:50.799 Can I tell you something? 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.320 You can still love people and have boundaries with people. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.519 You can still love people and say, hey, we're not having that conversation. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.399 Hey, with me and you, you can talk about that with anybody else. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.320 With me and you, we're not going there. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.759 Alright, so we're going to unfollow negativity. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.799 Number two, unfollow temptation. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.120 Unfollow temptation. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.600 James chapter one talks to us about temptation. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.159 He says, When tempted, no one should say God tempted me. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.480 So there's to build some, that's good theology. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.080 God doesn't tempt you. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.600 So whenever you do something bad, it's not like God was leading you there. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.879 For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.679 So it's clear as clear as mud, right? 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:33.440 No, it's plain right there. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.039 But each person is tempted. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.559 Here's when we're tempted. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:43.519 When they are dragged away by, watch this, their own evil desires and enticed. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.240 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.919 And sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.960 So don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:03.519 Every good and perfect gift comes from God above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:09.599 So time out, let me insert this, not a part of the message, because I want to help some of you not feel so shamefilled. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:11.920 Being tempted is not a sin. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:18.240 It's when you give in to the temptation that you have moved into the conception of sin. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.480 And then as sin grows, that's when it becomes destructive in your life. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:23.839 Are y'all following me? 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.039 Some of you are so shamefilled because you're like, I'm still tempted by that. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.680 I'm still tempted sometime to take a drink, and I'm still tempted sometime by look. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.519 That's not the temptation. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.720 The temptation is whenever you give into that thing. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:38.160 Does that make sense? 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:38.799 Okay. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:39.680 Is that helpful? 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:40.559 Okay. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.000 And so temptation, we're not tempted because God did it. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.920 And the text doesn't even say we're tempted because the devil did it. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:56.240 It says we're tempted because we were drawn away by our own desire. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:03.680 Paul said it like this we all have a sin that so easily besets us or gets us. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.519 In other words, the enemy knows where the chink in your armor is. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.680 And there's one thing, for some of you, it's anger. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:13.039 You explode. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.720 You can get there in a second. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.799 For some of you, you're so calm and chill, we wonder if you even have a blood pressure. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.359 Are you for some of us it's pride? 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.119 And for others of us, it's lust. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.319 For it's all these different things in our life. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:38.240 And the enemy knows the one, but it is that thing in you, that desire, that draws you. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.799 And so the question shouldn't be how much I can I do and be okay. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:50.880 It should be how much can I get out of my life so I create a big enough barrier that my desires don't drag me into sin. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:52.480 Are y'all following me? 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:58.400 Whenever I was a student pastor, always the question was, so how far can I go with her before it's sin? 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.640 It's like teenage years, come on, you know. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.440 All the temptations are around hormones. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:18.720 And I was like, the thing isn't how close can I get to the ledge without falling off, it's how far can I stay away from the ledge? 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:30.559 Which means that if you're feeding your mind and your ears things that lead you toward temptation, then you need to unfollow. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:40.799 Because the more you feed that, the more you draw away from God, and the more bondage there is. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.799 But the more you draw towards God, the more freedom there is. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.400 Away from God, bondage, towards God, freedom, right? 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:51.039 That's what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.799 That the Lord is spirit, and what? 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.039 Where the spirit of the Lord is, everybody say it with me. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.960 There is freedom. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:58.799 And that's really what we want at the end of the day. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:00.400 All right, number next. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:02.240 Fear. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:04.480 Fear. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:09.440 Many of us are feeding fear by what we're following. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:18.079 The scripture says this that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.359 God, fear in your life is not from the Lord. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:27.599 Because God's given us power, love, and a sound mind. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.599 And some of us we we feed the fear. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:38.880 We we feed the fear by what we watch, we feed the fear by the headlines we read, we feed the fear by the things that we follow in the algorithm. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.640 And some of you are like, Are you just saying you stick your head in the sand, you just don't know? 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.279 No, but you can have selective hearing, everybody. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:52.240 You can choose that I don't have to hear and listen to everything that's coming at me every day of my life. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.960 This would be one for me, is that um I learned that this is actually a word. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:58.079 I thought I made it up. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:02.240 But I like to, I tend to catastrophize everything. 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:12.799 Like I can get bad news and I've I've already I'm already like living on the streets and dead, and my family is desolate. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.519 Come on, anybody else be honest in the house of God? 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.720 Every canvas you got, you you go to the end, the worst possible. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.440 You know, I can have a cough and I'm like, I have lung cancer. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:22.559 I just know it. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:25.440 I don't say it out loud, but it goes through my mind. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:29.200 Like I've learned to control my mind and my words and what I speak over in my life. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:30.079 Are y'all following me? 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:31.440 But it goes to that place. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:31.920 Why? 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:33.759 And so here's what I know in my life. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:35.519 I don't feed fear. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.160 I don't put things in my life, I don't watch things, I don't listen to things. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:41.920 I'll turn it off real quick. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:46.880 I if it I don't care how much the movie, I'll walk out of the movie, I don't feed fear in my life. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:48.559 I've got to feed faith. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:54.720 I don't follow things that incite fear, I don't read things that incite fear. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:55.680 I just don't do it. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.079 I feed faith over fear. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.759 I decided a long time ago. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.839 As unfollowing fear in my life because I refuse to be bound by it. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:08.880 And for some of you, you continue to you feed fear through what you watch, through what you listen to. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:12.000 You feed fear by the conversations you have with other people. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.759 You get together and you talk about things that have probably never happened. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:18.319 As if they are happening. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:23.440 And then you live in the reality that it's not even a reality of what could happen. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:27.599 And so then you limit yourself from all the wonderful things that God wants you to do. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:39.839 Because you're afraid to take the step of faith because there's a possibility that down the road someone could say something that would do something, and then the plane's gonna fall right out of the sky and we're gonna crash, and that's why I won't go into mission field. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:40.960 It's like, what? 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:42.400 How did we get here? 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:54.640 And so we live bound, keeping us from experiencing everything God wants for us because of these fears. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:58.880 I'm not saying it's not real, I'm just saying you don't need to feed it. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.359 1 John chapter 4 says this. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:13.440 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect by love. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:15.279 How do I fight fear? 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:22.799 I don't fight fear with just pulling myself up by my bootstraps and just, you know, I gotta go face it. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:24.000 There is a piece to that. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:29.599 But the way that you kill fear in your life is you focus more on the love of God for you. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:42.079 If God loves you and God has good plans for you, then if God's calling you to take a step of faith, then you don't need to fear because you have the love of a good God. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:44.960 So you need to unfollow it. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.160 Number next, unfollow isolation. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:51.359 Proverbs 18, 1 says this. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:53.519 Listen what happens when you isolate yourself. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:24:00.319 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires, so selfishness, and he rages against judgment, so you become unwise. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:06.240 Selfishness, and you lose wisdom when you isolate yourself. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.079 Now, can I say this to you? 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:14.000 It's one of the one of the real cons, I think, of the media age we live in. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.839 And again, I'm I'm not against it. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:18.240 I I use it, I'm I'm in it, I get that. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:26.559 But it not just isolates you into your own little world, it isolates you into your own little tribe. 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:37.440 Because the algorithm will feed you the echo chamber of the things you want to hear, and you never end up seeing the perspective of somebody else in the world. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:56.400 And so what happens whenever you get into this tribal idea of I'm just reading everyone that thinks like me, sees the world like me, sees ethics like me, sees people like me, thinks like I'm just getting at feet and it's being reaffirmed, reaffirmed, reaffirmed, reaffirmed, and my endorphins are going off because that's what's happening biologically within you as it's being reaffirmed. 00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:00.400 And then what happens is it's starting to turn into us versus them. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:07.920 And it's my perspective against them, and it's what I believe about the scriptures against them. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:09.200 And can I tell you something? 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.160 How can you ever reach a world you are against? 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:16.640 For God so loved the world. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:24.400 In other words, people that don't think like you, act like you, talk like you, didn't grow up with you, don't live in the neighborhood as you. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:29.200 If they become the enemy, how can they ever get the good news of the gospel? 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.079 So isolation is dangerous as you begin to isolate in. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:34.799 Why? 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:36.720 Because you become selfish. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:39.039 It's about me. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:40.799 I'm Daniel, I'm your friend. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.240 This is the Bible. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.680 It becomes about me. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:47.680 And you become unwise. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:48.160 Why? 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.519 Because you never you don't have other collective varying voices. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.640 The Bible says in a multitude of counselors, there's wisdom. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:56.960 And you shut out wisdom. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:00.160 You don't sit down to go, I never saw it that way before. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.640 Never thought about it from I never I've never walked in your shoes before. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:08.000 Oh, I didn't know what it's like to be a single mom. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.160 Sorry for some of the things I assumed. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.400 Oh, I didn't know what it was to walk through a divorce. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:18.960 Sorry for the things I oh, I didn't know what it was to grow up in your neighborhood. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.319 Thanks for sharing that for. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:25.200 But if I just get people that think like me, talk like me, and are y'all following me? 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:33.359 I isolate myself, and how can I ever be effective for the gospel if I'm living in isolation? 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:39.440 The Bible tells us the opposite of this is finally you should sympathize with each other. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:48.799 You should love each other as brothers and sisters, not like teenage brothers and sisters when you're fighting adult when you should be getting along. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:51.279 It says, be tenderhearted. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.000 What if we all just followed this verse? 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:57.519 Be tenderhearted and a humble attitude. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.599 That would change the world. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:04.960 Last one, you need to unfollow comparison. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.720 You need to unfollow comparison. 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:13.119 Look what they have, look what they did, look what I don't have. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:18.240 Have you ever noticed that when we compare, we never compare to someone that has less than us? 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.799 It's always someone that has something more than what we had. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:27.920 How many of you know that? 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:31.039 Maybe you're at church today. 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:36.400 There's people that probably have racked up debt in their life because of comparison. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:38.480 I gotta have what they have. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:40.160 I gotta get what they got. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:42.160 I gotta go where they went. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.920 I need those same pictures so I can post them about my vacation. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:50.640 Comparison will rob your joy. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:54.480 It's the thief of contentment. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:57.920 Scripture says this in James chapter 3. 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:08.799