Gaming, Streaming & Scrolling: Why What We Choose Matters

Gaming, Streaming & Scrolling

I'll tell you right now, I don't know about you, ma'am, but it is one of my greatest challenges throughout my life is making the right entertainment choices. Um It's just such a huge part of life, how we relax, what we talk about with our friends, what social media celebrates.

Does God Care About Entertainment?

So the big question: does God care about what we entertain ourselves with? He does. Okay. Good? If so, why? But why does he care? And how do we decide what's okay? And even bigger question than that, not just what's okay, but what brings glory to God And what um what doesn't harm our relationship with him? Uh here's what today isn't. We're not bashing movies today. We're not bashing TV or social media or video games. Honestly, I love good movies. Seth does, big video game guy. The only time I play video games is when my kids talk me into playing it because I'm so awful.

They just love playing me and they just laugh hilariously as I wipe out constantly And they beat me eight million to one in whatever game we're playing. Um but we both love those things. And here's also what today isn't. shows or music or video games you should and should not watch. That's not what today is about because we're more interested in in helping equip God's people to know how to choose What we should fill ourselves up with and what we shouldn't. So today is about what are the standards for a warrior of Christ?

Maybe you came here not real interested in being a warrior for Christ, but maybe you've chosen that. While you've been here. Maybe you did come here wanting to be a warrior for him and you want to grow stronger in your relationship with him and make the greatest possible difference you can make. with your life because you love the people around you, you want them to know the Jesus that you know. Um so what are the standards for a warrior, especially one that's serious about honoring God and partnering with him where he equips you and powers you up to make a miraculous difference in your lives. We and in the lives of others. We talked about this a little bit.

last night that sometimes I don't think we know how much power is available to us. Do you know the Bible says that the same power and get this this is There are certain verses you stop and you go, okay, well, I need to read that one again and again and again. The same power that resurrected Jesus Christ. Lives in his followers. Okay, hang on. The same power that resurrected the only man to come back to life by his own power.

That power lives in us. We have amazing power available to us, not just to live our lives in a way that pleases God, but to live our lives in a way that attracts People to our great Savior where they can have that hope too. So hopefully today we'll encourage us to kind of hit the brakes just for a moment and think for a second. Is it possible? I'm sabotaging sabotaging my usefulness to God. The power he wants to fill me with.

He doesn't He's he he isn't uh like I said last night, he's not a god on a cloud trying to hide this from us, saying I'm gonna try to make you guess how you can have your power in my life. He's such a good God that he makes it really clear how he can. That's why it's so important to study and memorize his word. So is it uh last thing I want to be doing is sabotaging my uh usefulness to God. And the power he wants to fill me with by what I'm choosing to entertain myself with, because there is a direct connection between the media, the entertainment.

that we put into our hearts, that we put into our minds, and how much power God gives us to make a difference. Yes, I did say feed ourselves. Doug, wait a minute. Did you say feed ourselves? I'm just watching something, man. I'm just listening to it. Yeah, well No. Uh check this out Proverbs 4:23 One of my life verses in one of one of the first scriptures we memorized in our family.

Guard Your Heart

Above all else. So there's a lot of scripture in the Word of God. Every now and then God it seems like is almost clearing his voice and and getting an even bigger megaphone out and going Alright, if you're gonna listen, listen now. Above all else, think of everything that's in Scripture. Above everything else, guard your heart For it is the wellspring of life. Everything you do flows from it. So whatever fills this thing up, whatever fills our soul up, our heart up, will come back out in our words and in our actions. Um Boy, I'll tell you, the enemy. So if if above all else guard your heart, for it's the wellspring of life. The enemy, above all else, poison that heart. He wants you to forget the most basic guard your heart law. You ready? Garbage in, garbage out.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

We all think we're strong enough to watch that thing that we shouldn't, to listen to that thing, to play that game that we shouldn't. We go, it won't affect me But God says, don't fool yourself. It will, it does. You put garbage in, you'll get garbage out. He has made our minds such miraculous sponges that everything is a seed. Everything is a seed. For something that'll come out later. Um you ever watch something and just when it ends you feel like you need to take a shower almost? You're just like, uh, why did I watch that? I feel awful, I feel gross. That's because what we watch never just stays at the eye level. It doesn't just go in here.

You feel like that because it entered your heart Never stays at eye level. It seeps into us. Luke six forty-five says this. This is this is crazy. The good man, crazy good, the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, or the good woman of the good stored up in her heart. And the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out here we go again. For out of the overflow of his heart the mouth speaks, not too far from here to here. So the you fill this up and eventually you fill it up with enough stuff that it overflows and it comes out of our mouth.

That is Luke 6:45. Out of the overflow of his heart, the mouth speaks. I I call it a velcro heart. It all sticks. Everything that you watch, everything you listen to, it all sticks. We were um uh we we uh my beautiful she loves when I do this, my beautiful, amazing, talented, she's putting her head down so you So you won't won't look at her. She's back there. That's Anna. Hi Anna. Hi Anna. You're the best baby. She is. She is. Anyway, I'm not gonna get started there. Um, but we would always we used to live in Arizona, spent twelve years on the Hopi Reservation working with young people there and families And um we would have to always drive through Amarillo, Texas to get from uh to get from from Arizona out to Arkansas where our family was.

So have you ever noticed anything in particular? Anyone ever drive through Amarillo? Have you driven through Amarillo before an I-40? You ever notice anything in particular as you drive through I-40? There's a yeah. Yeah, there's a real beautiful scent that starts to fill your nostrils. Um I thought for a while, what do we call this in a Christian environment? It's cow something. Dung. How about dung? It's there is there is an enormous someone's got a uh ranch there that has like eight billion cattle. And when you're about two miles from this place, oh man, bring your your are there nose plugs?

I know there's earplugs. Say there should be if there's not, because this smells Awful, especially in the summer. Woo! Gets all boiling up. That's really great. And so for a few miles it just stinks, it stinks, it stinks. So we one time we stopped at a giant gas station, and I asked the lady working there, I'm like, how can you guys work? How can you stand this? And she goes, Stand what? So that that smell. Don't you smell that? No. Oh, you must be talking about the cow smell. Well, you know what? We get used to it. After a while, you don't even notice it anymore. Uh man, just because it use it it uh you got used to the dung smell doesn't mean it's not dung.

Uh We get used to the garbage that we're watching that we put into our eyes and our and and we put into our heart. Um we get used to it. It's it's awful and we j all of a sudden we start we get our our hearts get hardened instead of guarding it and our hearts still being soft for the Lord and for the kingdom, our hearts get hard Um because we've gotten used to it, just make worse and worse decisions. And that's how the enemy gets in, man.

He is sneaky Um I read once this this terrifying thing that if terrorists um really wanted to do a number on us as a country they would poison our water supply. They we have such massive uh protection of our water supply in this country because of that. That's what the enemy does. He wants to to poison the source of your life. which is your heart. If he can do that, he can affect your relationships, he can affect your worship, he can affect your attitudes, your thoughts, your actions. So he's got a real interest in what you entertain yourself with.

And um about to turn over to Seth here, but last thing I'll say here is this pollution of our hearts has never been easier for the enemy to do for us.

God's Standard for Holiness

Ephesians 5, 30, think of just these things alone. These things they're amazing. I've got one, everyone, just so many people have these things, but it's amazing how quickly you can access garbage on here Um Ephesians 5. 3. So get how easy this is. Think about the so much of the entertainment out there, and then listen to the scripture. Among you talking to believers, the body of Christ, there must not even be, are you ready for this word? There must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. A hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity. It's shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. Whoa. It's shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

We don't just talk about 'em We pay movie theaters to pour it in our mind. We pay for for uh services on our phone to do it for us. So that's why today we're not we're we're just gonna talk about how can we honor God rather than a list of do's and don'ts and now one of my favorite teachers no pressure at all in the world my brother Seth.

Seth's Story

What Doug said. Is this thing on? Okay. Well I agree totally with what everything that Doug has said and I think it's something that I've struggled with Um being that I I didn't grow up Christian, I didn't grow up in a Christian home, grew up in a very uh worldly home, broken home too, so entertainment was a big thing. I feel like when you grow up in poverty, entertainment is your only escape. There's a few things I've noticed uh working and being a person of poverty growing out of that. You always have something in your house. For some reason, doesn't matter the how the outside of the house may look or the trailer or whatever it is inside always seems to be a big TV.

That and some Air Jordan is sitting somewhere. But there's always a TV. Now they've they've done studies or they've just Like when they go through like budgeting for people who are going through poverty, the number one thing that they don't want to give up is their subscriptions, whether that's like Netflix or Hulu or whatever it is. And the reason why is because that's their only escape when they have to go home and sit there, is turn on the TV and allow that to help you escape or kind of you know disassociate with everything.

So entertainment is all around us, screens everywhere. And as a new believer, I became a believer in 2000 13, uh the end of 2013. And I was later in my age, um, my early twenties, and I've already seen a lot of movies and I loved video games and I enjoyed uh everything the world had to offer. Even my music selection had some words in it, you know, then that was my basic vocabulary for the day was curse words all the time. And I was influenced by the entertainment industry and by people I I looked up to.

So, yes, the the world have influence on you and what you watch? Yes. You kind of become what you take in. And I think that that's a part of my life, you know, where I was given into whether it's whatever is happening in the rap scene or whatever lyrics are being said there, even in some of the heavier music I used to l listen to. There were some very very uh inappropriate things of even, you know, hurting oneself and stuff like that. So, and I listened to this, I'm like, okay, well, I really like the way it sounds, but if I really read the lyrics, they're not very uplifting, it's not very positive, anything, it makes you more depressed. At least for me it did.

And again, I didn't have eyes to see us because I didn't know that any of that was even a problem. Again, I didn't grow up in a church where people are even in a household where they said that that's not something you should listen to. If anything, it was influenced a lot As a little kid, I think it was encouraged that I cussed and they thought it was funny. They laughed at it. If I could do that. I had older brothers who would teach me things that were inappropriate. Even on things that we would look at and watch, it was very inappropriate And that was just normal for me.

But it's not normal. It's the opposite of normal. That's not how God designed us to be What I notice is yes, there's a a a way of being desensitized to everything. The longer you're exposed to these as as as the cow smell in Texas. I never want to be used to that smell. But as I look in my past, yes, there are some things, other things I was used to, and it was just something that I was like, this is how it is Especially in my in the entertainment stuff, violence and different things I would watch. I was really big on horror movies, really big on uh you know just things that were probably not the best to watch and as a little kid it terrified me but I enjoyed watching it which makes no sense.

But You become desensitized to these things. And I think in a world where where it's like some people take pride in like, oh, you looked away when that happened, or you covered your ears when that part of the lyrics came on, or Like that's nothing to brag about. I know I should take great pride in that when I can disturb somebody next to me with my music or see how they react. But th that should be something that we don't we shouldn't take pride in that.

One is this generation, even my generation, it was kind of sad to see that there was really nothing, hardly anything, that would make them blush. And I mean that by to feel embarrassed about something they're looking at, something they're reading, something that they're like they just had no gauge of like, oh, this is bad. And when you get to that point where you can't When someone says something like, oh, that feels you know that feels like you shouldn't be saying that, or makes makes you feel weird, like I don't know. We've come to a place where where where anything can happen. We kind of get to a place where we cross the line where if someone was to do something, would we even react to it?

I mean we see it on video games, we see it on movies where people get all kind of violent things done to them If we were to see that in person, how would we react? Would we look away? Would it make us sick? Would it make us But we l expose ourselves so much to it on on the screen, and something does happen in reprogramming your brain as you're doing that, that we wonder why the world is violent and why things happen. And maybe it might be influenced.

I do believe it's influenced, but what we take in and how even us if we saw someone getting beat up on the side of the street, we probably wouldn't do anything because we're so desensitized and be like, that's just normal It's sad. And as natives, I think we know when we're desensitized of someone got abused. That's normal. It's not normal. That is not how God designed any of this. And that's if anything, that's abnormal.

And so really in the scripture that you read, I really enjoyed it because It does set uh for new for believers and even for myself as an as a believer, um, I had to really reprogram my brain. Now when I hung up my friends again when I went when I got saved and I knew I had to stop cussing and certain things So I was hanging out my friends and they were They were cussing, and I found myself like actively having to say things and not end with a curse word Even the jokes and stuff, the inappropriate jokes that we would say. And they started noticing this over time.

Now, was I a popular person after that? Probably not. You know, I got called a lot of names and joked on by my friends because I chose not to do those things. Um But it was because I really valued what Jesus did in my life and I and I wanted to reflect Jesus, not my old life that was dead and gone. So there is that that influence you have afterwards because it it kind of when I knew things were real in my life as a as a believer in Christ was when I was driving with my friends.

And when they had the music and and and I think they were playing some some new songs that they had. Um and I and I gave him the ox chord, he was listening to it, he was ready to play his music. And there's one part on a song where a curse word was gonna come up And I I've never said anything. I never said, hey, don't say this around me. Hey, don't cuss around. I never said that. You know, Jesus did a great thing in my heart, so I can control myself, but I'm not gonna police everybody around me to say, hey, don't say this around me I never did that. I probably get joked on if I did do that. And they wouldn't listen to me.

So we're driving, right? And the part of the song with the word that comes up, he turned the volume down. Now I never told him he had to turn the volume down whenever I was in the car. And then when it was over he turned it back up. And I looked at him and I was like, what was what was that for? And he says, oh he's like yeah, well there's a curse word in there. It's like Well it never bothered you before, he said, yeah but and the friend that bags it all where we're driving with Seth, that's why.

And I'm like, What But yeah, we're driving with Seth. We were not gonna be like we don't do that or something like that. And I was like, since when? But that's when I knew things were real in my life that it was a con consistent enough that I was being the influence on them instead of them being the influence on me. So it i it is a a when you become a follower of Christ, it is very powerful. And I realized even in my entertainment that I was more sensitive to things.

Especially after getting married and then having a child, there's things that I wouldn't want my daughter to see. And and and You know, especially on on whatever shows we're watching and stuff. So I think it's just God opened up a new compartment in my heart that I didn't know was there. And I have in a lot of ways some people, oh, you got soft or whatever whatever it is. I don't care. Like I love Jesus, I love the life I live now and I don't need all the trash, you know, to make friends. If people genuinely like me for who I am, then those are real friends. They just like me because I give in to everything they do, they're not real friends. But he'll support me with the people that I need in my life.

And I'm glad I made a decision when I got saved to clean up my life through Christ. The Holy Spirit really convicted me on things. And even today, on On certain things uh I find myself uh kind of cringing or even blushing at some of the things people say I went to go watch a movie recently and it was PG 13. I think it was Avatar, the new one new one that came out. And we're sitting there, oh Avatar, that's just about aliens and stuff.

Like like I forget that they have uh Marines in there. And we're watching it and I took a couple of people I was discipling, young men, I was like, oh, I looked it up it was PG thirteen and I think it should be fine. Like so we go in there and I forgot that PG thirteen has changed over the years. And we're sitting there watching and all of a sudden, curse word, boom. I think it was uh it was like a little little white guy with like dreads. Running around, I forgot his name, but it reminded me of the rest because I know someone like that who does run around and cuss all the time. So we're sitting there and the first one hit and I and I just like looked at them and I said I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry guys, I did not want it, I had no idea that was in there. I felt bad. It was like watching that movie with my mom and and she won If she uses this fee, I'll be like, man, I feel kind of embarrassed. Um or or like if there's a uh imagine watching a show with your parent and a love scene comes on. That's how awkward it felt. Of just hopefully that makes it awkward. Hope we're not that desensitized. But Like I was just like there was cussing and it kept happening over and over and I kept and at one point I just said hey if you guys want to leave we can leave because this is you know I I did not know any of this and I and I I learned at that point that I need to research what we watch and so now I look up everything and there's websites for that where you can actually look up how many curse words if it's even appropriate for that and I'm glad they have things like that today.

So I totally agree with Doug. And I am an example of that of over the years I've had to give up things, but I've gained so much more in the process. So it's not about giving up things. It's what you gain in the process. So go ahead, Doug.

Entertainment and Spiritual Growth

That's so good. Um, I had the same exact experience with uh Back to the Future. It's like one of my favorite movies ever and and I was so excited to show it to my kids when they were like got old enough to understand it. The good news is that this is an example of this, that even if you've become desensitized, the Lord renews our hearts. He renews our minds. The Bible says that in Romans that we can have our minds renewed, uh, by the word of God. So that's the good news.

One way I know that is because when I wa I I would watch back to the future when I was much more de a a much more desensitized to these things. before I came more serious about this. And oh my. We started watching it. I didn't put any anything, any of the the um filters, the clear point, nothing on there. I'm just like it's PG 13, it's fine And man, that that uh uh Marty McFly's got a mouth on him. I mean it was JC this doc and JC that and it's that's the one that makes me cringe the most is when Jesus' name is used as a swear word. If that doesn't bother you, ask the Lord to renew your mind That that that one just I I will I'll turn something off when that starts to happen.

Um and uh uh so I actually I was apologizing to my kids. I'm like kids, I'm sorry We want to see the rest of it. So so we we put it through a filter at that point. And we'll talk about i uh at the end here we'll we'll share some great tools you can use uh to help with this. That was such a great point. Uh I've never thought of that before, but There are more examples these days of people not helping. You see all these videos and someone's beating up like an elderly person and everyone's just filming it. When they could easily pull the guy off the th that's mugging this person but and no one does anything and I think you're right, it's because we've just

become desensitized to it. We're just like, oh, this that's another thing I'm watching. Um yeah and and the other thing, you know, Seth, uh talked about, you know, friends at some point maybe uh starting to treat you a little differently. If your friends start to look at you and notice that you're different And even bug you a little about it. That's a good thing. That's a good thing because eventually that will attract many of them to the savior you have. They might be making fun of you in that moment. I'll tell you this, my wife Anna, who was very clear that she's a follower of Jesus in her family and has led some of her family members to Jesus, praise God.

Uh but they'd make fun of her, they'd give her a hard time, they'd they you think you're better than us. See, she would never act that way towards them, but those were the things that they would say publicly, but I can remember two times specifically where those same people came to her privately And said, you're different than everyone else I know in our family. I want what you have. And she led them both to Christ. So The Bible says that the more you become like Jesus, the more you're gonna look like.

You ready? Everyone loves every this is all in the news these days. You're gonna look like the Bible uses the word alien He look like an alien. People are gonna be like, that is a weird person. Because they don't do all the stuff we do. It's good. It's good. And you'll also even have Christian friends that will be like, Come on, what are you better we're we're all watching this, we're all listening to this They'll want what you have eventually. Um so yeah, it's never just a media choice. You're when uh when you put on Netflix, when you put the earbuds in, when you when you get social media fired up, um Just know you're not just making a media choice.

You're choosing something that brings life or something that brings spiritual death or hurt. There is a phrase in this scripture that I love. Listen to this in Second Timothy's uh first and second Timothy are great uh uh uh b books of the Bible to read because this is This is the Apostle Paul. He's talking to a young man. A lot of people believe Timothy, Bible scholars, historians believe Timothy was a teenager when Paul was sharing these things with him. He's already, Timothy's already a leader in the church, so you can be young and be a leader. And this is what he told me.

He said, Hey Timothy, listen, in a large house, now a large house, he's talking about the body of Christ or the church. large house the church as in the capital C, Christians, the the the body of Christians, not the building. In a large house there are articles, there are things made not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some of those things are for noble, pure purposes, some for not. If a man or a woman, of course, cleanses themselves from the impure, in other words, makes decisions to fill themselves with pure things, and not the impure, they will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy. This is this phrase is everything to me.

I know I'm not always this, but I pray I am. Useful to the master. Useful to the master to partner with him on Amazing kingdom stuff. And prepared to do every good work. Anything he asks you to do, you're prepared to do it. He has fortified you. Right before that it says flee from sexual immorality. It's not just about running from the junk. It's about running towards Jesus and the Word of God. So again, more than media choices.

We're talking about making choices that put us in a position to be used by Jesus to do holy work. Big stuff, eternal stuff. Um we gotta talk for a second here.

The Influence of Social Media

Another sneaky method is social media. Now you're not necessarily in social media because they've got a lot of ways that they they try to protect people from this. You're not going to see the worst of the worst on there. But something that's supposed to be a way to connect and stay in touch with friends just has kind of become a place where we're regularly exposed to stuff that pollutes us. Um what's worse is some of us are are doing the polluting, especially as it pertains to gossip and and um and becoming a part of arguments that are pointless, that's not they're not going to to convince anybody of anything. You're just going to be looked at as an argument person.

Um remember that scripture. We are Christ's ambassadors. And b another word is representatives. We carry The spirit of Jesus Christ in us. And when people look at us, they're seeing him or they're not. And when they see him, they want what you have because he has be changed you into the kind of person they want, the kind of thing things that they want, the kind of qualities and and joy that they want. So just ask yourself when you're on social media, would would Jesus share that?

Um would he use would he engage in that kind of argument Would he suggest that that movie or that that show? Um so just a quick note there I'm going to hand this over to Seth because when it comes, like I said, when it comes to video games, I actually saw this thing over here and I was like, what's that? Oh it's a video game. Oh okay. So my kids know them a lot better than I do, but um Seth you got some real wisdom on this so

Go for it.

Gaming: A Tool or a Trap?

Yeah, I I think I really like technology. I like new technology. And I like video games. I play video games. I like 'em. Uh so much so I just brought portable video games so I can actually play something while I'm here. So it's not that you know I'm giving up everything like that. It's just that I think a lot of it is time management. of of scripture tells us that that everything is is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. And it also teaches things on uh how much time you spend on something will really dictate where your heart's at.

And for for me it's like, you know what, I play video games, but I'm not playing video games all day. I think when I when I was at like the peak of playing video games when I was younger, um I was very lazy. It's like all I did. You know, just sit there and, you know, the the soda cans kind of just pile up around me and it was bad. But some of you guys probably relate to that of of when you're locked in and when you're playing something and you it's it almost envelops you to where you're you don't want to give it up.

And so when I say giving up a lot of video games was hard, it was in my life. For me personally. But geez is worth it. And so much more that I gained through it. But I also like really like gaming with friends. Uh who here jumps online? Do you guys you guys jump in squads? You guys okay Alright, where are all the people with solo queue? Where you at? You guys are you guys are crazy. I don't know about you guys. Alright, I don't think I could ever solo queue in something I always have to get a squat or something. It's not that that I'm like, oh, this is evil, don't touch it. You know, and I try to stay away from that kind of mindset. But rather I look at is how can that be used for good?

So when I jump online and I again don't really play many solar games, you know, anymore because it kind of takes me away from family or from What I could be doing outside instead with friends and stuff. So I'm not really big on on solo games anymore. So but when I do jump on I like to to you know add some friends on and And a verse came to me in Romans chapter 14, verse 90, and said, Let us therefore make every effort to do what feed are what sorry, what leads to peace into mutual edification.

And so the influence in those moments, because I do jump online with some people who aren't saved, and that's even a ministry in itself. As I get to talk to them and and and guys, you know, we don't we don't go to coffee shops and sit around and talk. For guys, I'm talking to the guy gamers right now. Maybe I'm pretty sure anyone can relate to this, but when you jump online and you put your your headset on and you guys talk, life just becomes a topic sometimes. You know, and that's where like all the I guess romance comes out. It's like, how was your day? And it's like Sarah calls my friends like my second wife because it's like

Some over here having conversations, hey, how's it going, man? Talking about life and stuff. She's hearing this full-blown conversation. She's like, who are you talking to? Oh, it's uh so-and-so from Arizona or wherever. So it's a great way to connect because I'm all the way in Arkansas. So talking with people connects. And then a lot of students jump on too, and I get to talk with them whenever they jump on. But it's just a way to connect, but I want the influence to be coming from my end and not their end.

As far as like I want to the peace of the of the Lord to be even in this situation The conversation is going to be guided by by either the humor, jokes, or even the, hey, you know, and I try not to like just go blatant with like scripture verses to them and say, hey, in in John so-and-so, it says this. No. I try to add it into the conversation or find moments to to ask them a question um to reflect on something maybe scriptural. That's how I influence it, and that's how I I bring that piece of Christ in there. But it could be a powerful tool if you use the right way.

And so I I I use every technology as a tool only for that reason. I think I only have a game console now because it's the only way I stay in contact with friends. um and and students and people that that I minister with are people I find some people even from after some of these sessions I've done said ask me for my gamer tag and different things and so every now and then I'll jump on with them. Um and just ask them, hey, since since WLS, what's been going on in life? So it's a good way to connect.

And I've even prayed with people online. Now I'm not one to actively do that and be like, hey, let me pray for you. No. It naturally came up and it doesn't always happen, but when it does, it I don't know. It feels great to be able to pray for for my friends, feels great to pray for um You know, if someone someone I'm playing against sends me an invite and they're cursing me out because I'm trash, I get to pray for them too. So It's good to pray. It's good to use this as a tool. So instead of demonizing this and saying, this is bad, that's bad.

I do think for some of these things, there is a way to use it to reach those who will never go to church. Those who will never step into a miniature, those who will never go to a WLS. How are you going to reach them when they don't even go outside anymore? This is what they're looking at. This is the screen. So like Jesus, I'm going where they're at. Not expecting them to come to where I'm at. And some may think that this is unclean like oh but we just went over so I taught on it.

Jesus went to where it was unclean And I'm not comparing myself to Jesus, but I do think that with that is he wasn't afraid to be with the Gentiles. He wasn't afraid to hang out with, you know, the tax collectors. And I think I adopted that heart of as m as as hard as in so many situations when people are cursing at you and stuff online. Um, I think they're just keeping a level head, trusting God in the process, and finding opportunities to speak on his goodness. Because I've had people ask like, hey, you know, tell me your story, and yeah, I get an opportunity to talk about the gospel. So Great opportunity to build community. Because the days are evil.

That's a great example of that. You know, even when you're when you're playing the video game and Seth is is um if you know him he's an amazing dad uh to his and and husband Um and it's kinda hard if you're playing uh video games twenty-four-seven to be to be that. So uh I appreciate man how much you have your priorities straight. Um I will say this, my my son Taylor uh just went through the on Eagles Wings Leadership Center um nine month program. Before he went, there there's a lot of spiritual growth that happens there in community and uh something to think about But uh before he went, he played video games a lot.

Um and there's nothing wrong with that. He would he would love the um I i it there's nothing wrong with the games he was playing. He wa he loves the uh like the World War II flying games, like the the all the different airplanes and everything. But he'd he played a fair amount and since he came back from the the leadership center, thanks to Seth and other great disciplers of his that he looks up to as as mentors and friends. He actually almost never plays them now. That doesn't mean that that spiritual growth means you don't play video games, but for him It is meant he chooses now. He was never a reader before. He goes and he reads Christian books now.

He goes and he works on his music. He likes he likes putting together um mixes like as a DJ and those types of things. And he's getting really good at it because he's choosing instead of just to spend all those hours, hour after hour, on video games, he's doing things that's growing his relationship with the Lord. So thank you, man. Huge impact in his life. Um yeah. Yes. Um Yeah, imagine it just i something that helps me make decisions is imagine um someone said to me that said this to me once and I was like, ooh Um he said, so when you're sitting on the couch there about to make a decision what to watch, just imagine that Jesus himself is sitting next to you there.

I was like I don't even know if I'd watch uh the Yankees if I did that, but but uh uh but it's it was interesting because he is the Bible says that That the Spirit of Jesus lives inside us that we're the temples of the Holy Spirit. I had a pastor tell us say once, he said, So what are you suggesting? What are you um subjecting the Holy Spirit of God to watch with what you're watching. Because it's the temple of the Holy Spirit. Um What you how you think about media uh it changes completely when you consider this uh scripture, like I just mentioned. First Corinthians six nineteen, your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. In Jeremiah it says this.

This is interesting. The heart is deceitful. In other words, our hearts are liars. Above all things, so our our hearts are experts at creating sin loopholes, rationalizing. It it's not right for everyone, it's wrong for everyone else, but I can handle it. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this I can handle it. It's not going to affect me. We lie to ourselves. We're great at it. That's why we're so good at believing the it's only lie. It's only Only a movie, it's only a song, it's only a TV, it's only a video game. It's only one time David, King David, it's only a peak. I'm gonna take a look at Bathsheba. I'm gonna take a look at a woman that's not my wife, that's someone else's wife.

The Bible says he was supposed to be off at war like kings are doing, but he decided to stay back, hang out a little bit, and Sees a woman without clothing, decides, I'm gonna take a peek, more than a peek, ends up sleeping with her pregnant. He ends up killing his best friend, having his best friend killed. Because he didn't want him to find out about it. Now that's that's not all that's not gonna happen every time you make

A bad decision, media choice, but it's a great example of it's never just only a little, it's never just oh only a peak. It's it's never just only something I'm looking at. Um it's interesting. Uh that's King David. If he had handled it like Joseph, you know Joseph, the guy with the coat of all the different colors. Um He had he was sold into slavery. He's lonely. He is is uh he's got no friends and all of a sudden one of the most beautiful women in the country who's married to Potifar, one of the great political leaders there. She goes after him. She's like, no one will find out. Bible says he was a good looking guy. No one will find out. He says God will know

And this is interesting. The Bible says he refused to even be with her. He wouldn't even be in the same room with her. Because he knew it's never just a peek. It's never just a little flirt. You know how many times Affairs start that ruin marriages and families just from a text. Um It's bigger than you think because everything's a seed. King David learned the truth of Galatians 6:7 the hard way. Don't be deceived. God can't be mocked. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean? God can't be mocked. You reap what you sow. If you sow to please the sinful nature, remember garbage in, garbage out. If you sow, sow seed like a farmer to please the sinful junk in us, you will reap destruction.

So the Bible Paul actually said, it's really interesting. In the book of Romans, he says Look, while we're on earth here, before we're we're in we're in heaven with the Lord and we're made perfect, right now we have a bu we've got a a battle going on inside us. He calls it the flesh, which is our our sinful nature. We've been rescued from that, but we still have to fight Temptation. And so the flesh is fighting the spirit all the time, and including in the Apostle Paul, one of the great Christians ever, as we know that we know of.

What that means, God can't be mocked if that wasn't true, that you reap what you sow. That what goes into the heart, what goes into the mind and heart comes out in other ways. If that wasn't true, then he would be mocked. Because it's his truth. Um that's why David said, boy, talk about learning the hard way with Bathsheba. Did we ever known anyone named Bathsheba before? Man, I know David's. Why no Bath Chibas? Anyway, um King David said this in Psalm 1, but he learned it the hard way. Listen to this. I pray this sometimes with with our with my sons. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. He learned the hard way. Let me tell you what vulgar means real quick.

This is the actual definition if you go look it up. It means making explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions. Coarse and rude. Man, how many jokes are about bodily functions? Making explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions. The the original language and if you start to love the Lord and love his word, I really suggest if you come across a Bible verse. or a word in a Bible verse that really is interesting to you, I would suggest going doing what's just called an original language search You can see what the original word was in the Greek and the New Testament. I won't go deep into this, but we're in the Hebrew and the Old Testament, and see what the actual the original language meant very specifically

And the original language for the word vulgar means this, to make something that was private public. That's interesting. Something that's supposed to be private in the bedroom and the bathroom whatever is made public. That describes so much as of what's in movies and TV. Um so much out there is vulgar. Um And that's that scary thought. The title of this is our uh of our of our time together today as we start to wrap up here

Is uh are we are we feeding the beast inside us, that sin nature, that battle that we have? Are we feeding it? Where will it lead us back to a sin we've escaped from. That video last night are those exploding bridges, just getting rid of whatever for some of us. uh uh a sitcom that's got a girl dressed a certain way or that's or a guy or a or a um or certain kind of jokes or whatever, those can be and the Holy Spirit will tell you You go, man. I'm starting to think about those things I was set free from. I'm starting to think about maybe going back to that. Whatever you do, don't watch that thing anymore. Don't listen to that thing anymore because the enemy is a liar and he's sneaky and he's an accuser and he'll do everything he can to get back in.

Um James one twenty seven says this. Boy, this is good. Religion That God our Father accepts as pure and faultless as this. I'm listening again. So here's God the Father Himself. This is what I say is following me Look after orphans and widows in their distress, so in other words, helping people that have a hard time helping themselves, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. And 2 Corinthians says, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit.

Here's why. You ready? Here's why Perfecting holiness out of reverence for God, not because of some set of rules Not because we think he's gonna stomp us for making bad decisions. He loves you more than you can ever fathom. And that's why he gives us his standards. And so we choose. To entertain ourselves with things that don't offend him out of reverence for him, because we recognize he's the one true God. He is set apart and holy. And he wants us to live that way, to be like him, so we can experience real joy and real power.

And therefore even attract others to him as they see him in us. So don't just say no to the junk So I'm gonna wrap up with with um a thought here and then and then please wrap up with uh Um your thoughts. So don't just say no to the junk. Say yes to the many music, TV, movie, video game choices that won't sap your effectiveness for God. If you have a pen, if you've got a phone and you can take a couple notes here, I'm going to tell you a few places that will that you can go to that will tell you what you're about to watch. Not just the the the swears and the sex and all the stuff that's in there, but also what the themes are, if it's something that glorifies God or doesn't.

So check this out. There's a uh if you just put in plugged in. And to Google, it'll come up plugged in. It's a great site that will that will they've seen the movie, they'll let you know. um what is uh what is and isn't in there. Um there are these things, uh there are these um um streaming services called VidAngel. Clear play, movies your way, these filtering services where if you j if we're just willing to to and and a good choice would be not even to watch the stuff in the first place, but maybe there's a movie or a TV show that is uplifting, but you just go, man, it's just got a few words in there and and I don't want my kids here. I don't think I don't need to hear it.

Um you can you can filter those things out. And there's a there's a um movie studio that's making more and more great movies called Angel Studios, um, that that puts out a lot of high quality good stuff. Um So what's that? Pure flex. Thank you. Thank you. That's right. So live by this standard. Other Christians might think you're weird. That's okay. We are. We're supposed to look like aliens Um someone might accuse you of being legalistic. You tell them legalism is when you make up your own rules. Legalism is when people make up their own rules and say they're gods. Legalism is not when you're serious about obeying God's standards. He says, whatever you do, guard your heart, and he's saying it because he loves you.

And so you can make the kind of difference with your life that he's given you that you never could have made otherwise. So guard your heart. You'll be glad you did. My brother. Agree totally with Doug. And good stuff. I I we I mean we did this last year, but it's just a great reminder uh even to myself as we continue to do live in in a world where media is everywhere where We have to continuously remind ourselves, you know, how the life that we've been given by Christ. If we call yourself a believer in Christ, you've given a new life. And so for me, I think a gauge, and it might be like, well, how do I know what to watch, what not to watch?

And and again, for me, a simple gauge that I've used When I started taking my my walk with Christ more seriously and what I really wanted to change in my life was a simple, does it lead me to sin? I think is a key thing. And I think that's where God is concerned about in your heart. Will it lead you to sin? Well That gauge in my life is well, because I can't name everything in your life or everything you're going to see or watch or hear. But it's a good gauge if you watch something or you listen to something or you tune into something, does it lead you to sin after?

And for a lot of us, even if it is watching something very tempting on a commercial or TV or ad or whatever it is, and it leads you to turn to a different site, well, it's leading you to sin. Other things too might even be um we had a student at the LC and she wanted to watch a movie. She wanted to watch a movie called Split. I don't know if you guys know what that is. And it deals with uh a lot of violence and a lot of psychological stuff and and and I was just like I don't know I was I don't know about this movie. I said make sure you put it through uh ClearPlay. We use ClearPlay on our campus. Make sure you put it through clear play and you guys can watch it.

She's all excited. Oh, we get to watch it. Such a good movie. She must have watched it before she came to LC and wanted everyone else to watch it. And I I had no idea completely what it was about, but I I looked it up real quick and I said, well, if you put on clear play, I think you should be fine. What we're if it's the cursino like, if it's the scenes, even violent scenes where it's like domestic violence like it'll list it and you can click it on and off. Yeah, sorry. Oh yeah, the leadership center we call it LC over there. So She plays the movie. I'm watching from kind of the middle of the of the of the lobby just to kind of see how it plays out.

And I kid you not, she turned it on. It played like Three minutes of the intro and then all of a sudden it was just like choppy. Because it skips all the bad things. Three minutes. And they finished that movie like in fifteen minutes.

Making Wise Choices

Imagine you know you would have wasted a whole hour of your life, you know, on trash. I just thought it was a funny so just be prepared if you use any of those things. Uh you'll you'll be surprised what it filters out. And You know, I think that there's a very there's a huge benefit in that. I know those things are not beneficial watching those things. Um But I'm not gonna tell you like what to do. I'm gonna say trust the Holy Spirit as you go forward. The closer you get to Christ, you know, the more things he's going to expose in your life.

The things that you should take off. And how like becoming the image of Christ in these things. I remember going to uh even when I was in Alaska, um there's a story because this guy was selling these like duck Carved out of like wood. And they're really cool ducks. And he like paint them and stuff and he was selling them. And I asked him, I said, how how do you how do you make these ducks? Because I was curious. And he said, well, here's what I do.

And he's a very older native guy. He says, here's what I do. He grabbed a block of wood. He says, I take this block of wood and I just cut off everything that is not a duck. And I was like, all right, that makes sense. And I look at his hands and I look at and there's cuts and there's his tools are worn out. And I imagine this person who has who has been intentional about everything he's doing and in the process has callused his hands, there's wear and tear that shows that there's hard work that needs to be put in.

And I think if we want to be more like Christ, there's no laziness in doing that. It's going to take work And like his hands, we're going to be a little callous, we're going to be stronger in the process, but we're just going to beat us up a little bit. But it'll be worth it because you see the results at the end. And so I just want to encourage you guys with that is it walking with Christ is not easy. Walking this world, easiest thing ever. And I know from experience.

I have to be accountable to nothing. I lived my life the way I wanted to, and that leads to destruction and death. But with Christ Man, you talk about putting work. And I'm not saying we work for our salvation and stuff, but I mean like clearing things up, making conscious choices, say not that. A real man does that and a real woman does that. I was told by a mentor in my life, he challenged me in this when I was younger. He said, first in life, and I'll challenge you today, in life, you're given a choice, right? Are we not uh uh a result of the choices we make even today? How your hair is, how your clothes are, how you, you know, these are choices that you you actively make.

Maybe even choices of coming to WLS. That was a choice you made to be here. So you are the sum of choices you've made in your life so far. So first you're given a choice. Then you make a choice, right? And then last, your choices make you. The best thing about choices going here in your media, you know, whatever it is, is that you can choose to do something today. You don't have to wait till you're my age or any other age to have wisdom or to to you can do it now and you guys are the leaders of today, not just tomorrow. We need strong young leaders who are going to be bold in Christ and lead our generation and our people to a better place and not just give into this world.

So I'm encouraging you guys, make better choices, and that gauge of knowing doesn't lead you to sin. Well, if it leads you to Christ, then it's good. If it leads you to sin, it's bad. Then you know I don't need that in my life. So hopefully that helps.