 Schools and police departments all over Metro Detroit are trying to manage what is being called American School Shooting Day on social media. It's a tic-tac challenge encouraging students to make a threat against their school, hoping school leaders will out of an abundance of caution close school for the day. Attorney say Seattle Public Schools may be the first district in the country to sue social media companies. The 92-page lawsuit says social media giants have violated Washington's public nuisance law and intentionally contributed to the youth mental health crisis in the state. The brains, particularly the developing brain of young children and teens, is starting to get quite used to these short form videos to the point where what the actual brain science behind it is that we see dopamine, which is your feel good hormone. It is what is involved in addiction. It's what's involved in the reward circuitry of your brain. We see that it gets spiked up. So when they're looking through and they're scrolling through these real quick videos, that's what's happening. They're getting these dopamine hits that feel good just the way it does when people sometimes use drugs or they use alcohol or they become addicted to other things. Members of both parties are ramping up calls to regulate the popular social media app. And this week, the head of the FBI became the latest government official to warn the app is a threat to national security. A number of concerns. FBI Director Christopher Ray says because TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, the data of the roughly 80 million Americans on the app could be weaponized. Keep your place there in Psalm 101. We'll get there in just a moment. So Psalm 101, a short Psalm in your Bible, but it's interesting because a couple of verses in Psalm 101, not just the verse of the week, but a couple of verses that kind of focuses on where our eyes are and things that we're looking at in our lives. And this morning, I have kind of a unique sermon for you. This morning, I kind of gave it away on Wednesday night if you're here at church, but I learned a lot this week just looking into this subject. Obviously, this isn't something that I knew a lot about. I'm not talking about the Bible. This isn't something I knew a lot about before a couple of weeks ago, but I feel like and the more I read into it, the more I looked into it, the more it deserves a sermon. And what I want to talk about this morning is very specific, but I'm preaching a sermon this morning on TikTok. All right, I'm preaching a sermon on TikTok. So you say, what is TikTok? So TikTok is an app, really. I mean, it is a website you can go to, but it's really an app that you go to. And it has, first of all, just a couple of minutes on what it is. It's basically an app that you download. Most people have it on their phones, I guess. This app has been downloaded and it's used by one billion users in 2022 was the latest count. Now, if you don't know what the population of the world is, the world is basically 7.9 billion right now. So that is like one in eight people are on TikTok using TikTok. Look, folks, as far as statistics in the world go, you're not going to find too many things in the world that one in eight people use. You know, the world is very diverse, different countries, different nationalities, all these different things. One in eight people in the world have this downloaded on their mobile devices or whatever it is. Basically, what TikTok is, is a site or an app that specializes in short form videos. What it specialized, it started out a few years ago and it was 15 second videos only. Now I think they've gone to three minute and then in 2022 or just recently, they're moving to or have moved to possibly 10 minute videos as well. But basically, it's short form videos. So it's these little quick videos and they're perpetually plain. So you go to the app and you open it up and it just plays video after video after video after video. You say, well, what's the problem? Let me read you just kind of an internet definition of TikTok. It says, TikTok is a hub for and this is kind of what's happened culturally from this and I'll dig deeper into this in the sermon. But the internet says, TikTok is a hub for viral trends and challenges often kickstarted by influential, influential creators or celebrities. These trends catch on easily, especially as users share content to other social media platforms. So basically, what this is saying is TikTok and the reason that you've heard of it and I've even heard of it before I even went to see what it was all about is because it's very influential in our culture today, TikTok. Okay, so it's something that needs to be addressed. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it something that I should be worried about? What about for my kids? Look at Psalm chapter 101. Look at verse number three. Psalm chapter 101. Look at verse number three. So I'm going to give you five points this morning on TikTok from the Bible and kind of convince you or show you from the Bible what kind of attitude we should have as Christians and especially as Bible-believing Christian parents. What our attitude towards these types of things should be. I'm going to give you five points. The first point I'm going to make as you look down at Psalm chapter 101 in verse number three is this, content. Okay, content. Should we be concerned about things that we are looking at and that our kids are looking at? And what's the difference? Right? What should I allow? I mean, here's really the thing. Okay? Let me just give away the answer. The Bible doesn't differentiate between what an adult should be looking at and what a child should be looking at. The Bible basically says, look, there's certain things that you shouldn't look at. It doesn't say unless you're 17, unless you're 18. Look at verse number three. It says, I shall set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Look, I mean, this is pretty strong. I mean, is that not the strongest language? I mean, what does hate mean? It means I strongly dislike something or someone. That's what it means. We're taught today that, you know, you're not to hate anything. All these people trying to show your kids things. All these people trying to put things in front of your eyes. Oh, no, we should just accept everything. That's what we're being told today. Now, I'm going to just give you some articles and some quotes from some internet sites. And I'll tell you what those sites are in this sermon. But just to kind of show you what, you know, the attitude of, you know, conservatives and Christians, I put that in quotes is towards this app. All right. So I shall set no wicked thing before my eyes. That's what the Bible says. So content is important according to the Bible. What we view, what we listen to is extremely important according to the Bible from common sense media. And I don't endorse common sense media. But this is a well known conservative, you know, reviewing site. Here's what they say about TikTok. All right, you'll understand why I don't put too much, you know, stock in what common sense media says about anything. You know, my common sense media review is the Bible. Okay, but look at what just common sense media says, it says, this is a question. Is TikTok appropriate for kids? And it says this, TikTok can be kid friendly. It can be a kid friendly experience if you supervise your kids. Use safety settings and stick to songs you already know it's heavily music, music videos and things like this on TikTok. It's really it has an emphasis on that. But then look what it says, it says this is common sense media but TikTok's emphasis on popular music means many videos include swearing and sexual lyrics. So it may not be age appropriate for kids to use on their own. Even with limits, it's easy to find people wearing revealing clothing and dancing suggestively. Although TikTok won't let you search for objectionable content such as pornography and just, you know, things like that. Okay, turn to Matthew chapter five. Turn to Matthew chapter five. Look, the internet in general, and I've said this till I'm blue in the face, the internet in general, especially for you with younger children, you know, children that are still in your home, the internet in general needs to be something that is handled very cautiously in your home. This is a big problem. Look, things need to be put in place. As a parent, things, controls need to be put in place in your home to make sure that, you know, these things, these inappropriate things, including pornography, do not get into your home. Protections for adults need to be in place in the home. Alright, look at Matthew chapter five and verse number 28. Look, this idea of internet pornography, that's not the point of the sermon this morning, but it just, it goes without saying. Okay, look at Matthew chapter five and verse number 28. Jesus said, but I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. In first Corinthians chapter seven, Paul says, the wife in verse number four, says the wife hath not power of her own body but the husband. And likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife. Defraud ye not to one another except it be consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempts you not for your incontinency. Now this is talking about the physical relationship between a husband and a wife, but the point I want to make is Jesus said that lusting after, you know, look this is a, let me just point out the men here. This is a problem that men struggle with more than women. All right, lusting after a woman is committing adultery with that woman. You're committing adultery against your wife with that woman in your heart. Okay, obviously it would be worse to go and actually commit actual adultery, but Jesus is saying look that's adultery in your heart. And then first Corinthians chapter seven is basically saying that you belong to each other. It's saying a husband and a wife, you know, you belong to her and she belongs to you. You know, that's why a husband can be jealous over his wife. Jealousy is a good thing in the Bible. Envy is a bad thing. Okay, jealousy is something I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm protective over something that's mine. My wife is mine and I am hers. So if I go and I'm lusting as Jesus said after another woman, look I'm defrauding my wife. I'm committing fraud against my wife. So this, anything that puts that in front of our eyes we should, we should stay far away from. Okay, so look, I've often said this about YouTube. You can put protections in your, look, we're on YouTube, I get that. But YouTube as a parent and as a parent who's been, who's, who's raised children, who, who are now in their teens, you know, as a, as a parent, I put protections in my place in, in my, in my home for the internet that were very effective. They were very effective. But the hardest thing for me to control, I'm not saying I didn't control it, was YouTube though. Because everyone says, oh, YouTube's harmless. You know, there's no pornography on YouTube. You know, there's no bad things on YouTube. That is so wrong. There needs to be plugins installed, all kinds of things installed to make sure that suggested content isn't constantly coming up on YouTube. Because look, there's plenty of trash on YouTube. There's plenty of garbage on YouTube. And TikTok is, is like everything wrong with YouTube times 10 is what TikTok is. All right, it's very hard to control these types of things. And especially the biggest mistake that Christian parents will make is that, oh, it's just YouTube or it's just TikTok. There's no actual nudity there. The Bible says that anything, you know, your above your, you know, anything basically below your waistline to your knees is your nakedness. There's naked people all over YouTube and there's naked people all over TikTok, according to the Bible. So we need to get our definition straight today on what evil is before we even get into this sermon. All right, now look, YouTube, here's another thing about YouTube. It actually, it has dangerous things that need to be controlled, but YouTube has value at least. You know, you can find things on YouTube that, you know, you can find preaching on YouTube. This is why we put our sermons on YouTube. Look, I don't think we're going to be on YouTube forever. We're going to eventually get taken off of YouTube because of the things that are preached from the Bible. But whatever, I mean, if we can, you can find preaching, you can expose people that don't live in an area that has a good Bible preaching church to Bible preaching, that's a good thing. We can use it for that. If I need to fix my washing machine, I can find out some guy that videotaped it on YouTube. I do that all the time. All right, look, YouTube has value. It needs to be controlled though. It needs to be controlled. Right, but what can you learn that is good in 15 seconds? First of all, what can you learn that is good in 15 seconds? There's nothing that you can learn how to do in 15 seconds. But that rate therein is the problem too for parents. Is this 15 second feed? Look, parents today, nobody in this room should do this, but parents today, the reason that they give their kids screens is so they can have a break from being a parent. They cannot be a parent for, hey, here's a screen, watch this. How in the world can you control content that is rolling up on your kids suggested by some algorithm 15 seconds at a time? The answer is you can't. Okay, you cannot do it. At least these parents that put a movie in front of their kids or a cartoon in front of their kids, at least they know what those kids are watching for that time. Of course, I don't approve of that either. But you would literally have to be engaged as a parent every 15 seconds to control this TikTok. You would have to be a more engaged parent than you would if you were the type of parent that gave them the screen, if you were actually being a parent. It makes no sense. It would be harder than actually parenting to control what your kids are watching on TikTok. There's basically the point of the first point is this. There's no way to control the content your kids are seeing on this app. There's no way. Which brings us to our next problem. And I'm going to read to you an article from Epic Times. There's many articles on this though. This was the most appropriate one I could find. There's many articles talking about this exact same thing. So the first problem with TikTok is the Bible says we should set no wicked thing before our eyes, meaning especially before our kids' eyes. And there's no way to control it. So if there's no way to control if there was something in my house, there was no way to control what media was coming through that thing, I would not have that thing in my house. It's very simple. It's very simple. Here's an article from the Epic Times. The first one is this. The first one is content. The second point is this. Brain damage. And this is secular science. And then we'll look at what the Bible says. From an article in Epic Times, or not the Bible, this article says this. Excessive social media use is comparable to drug addiction. There's many other studies that are showing this. I'm talking secular studies. And look, you know what I think about secular science? Secular science is just catching up to the Bible. That's all it's doing. Secular science and scientists have been catching up to the Bible for thousands of years. The Bible has had it right from the beginning. Of course, continuing, not all drugs are created equally. Some are more potent than others. Most people would agree with that. The same goes for social media platforms. Of all the platforms out there, TikTok appears to be the absolute worst. The American people are hurting. The article continues. Drug addiction is at an all-time high, with about 33 million citizens being affected by substance abuse. That's about one in 10 people in the United States, by the way. Drug abuse alters the brain. It hijacks the central nervous system, manipulating thoughts, actions, behaviors, and emotions. Most people would agree with that. More specifically, drugs directly affects the brain's reward circuit. After repeated exposure to certain substances, the brain starts to adjust to the surges of dopamine. In short, heavier doses are needed to require to get the same high. Once a person heads down this perilous path, turning back is difficult. Social media works similar to alcohol and harder drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are problematic, but TikTok, an app created by Bite Dance, a company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party is even worse. In fact, the platform has been labeled the most addictive social media site, with young people spending an average of 12 hours plus on the app each week. That's more than two full days each month, 24 days per year. I'll cover the time aspect towards the end of the sermon. I'm going to continue reading this, and then I'm going to talk about what the Bible says. In 2020, the TikTok became the world's most world's most downloaded app. Since then, representatives from Paracelsius Recovery, a mental health addiction clinic in London, told the BBC that they've seen an explosion of young clients exhibiting telltale signs of TikTok dependency. Over the last 12 months, referrals for TikTok addiction have increased five-fold. The founder of the clinic, Jan Gerber, believes TikTok should be compared to hard drugs. She quotes, It is very similar impact on the brain's biochemistry to hard drugs, Gerber said. TikTok has a severe impact on individual happiness, everyday life, and productivity. It's being compared by secular scientists to being addicted to heroin. All that to say this. Now look, here's a real conspiracy for you folks. Are you conspiracy theorists this morning? Here's a real conspiracy. Here's the thing folks, the collective west doesn't have a chance this morning. Let me tell you a story. When I read this and I read the cultural influences and the cultural effects that this is having on our society in America, you know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of you turn to Revelation chapter two, and I want to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you the backstory of Revelation chapter two. There's a story in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 23, Numbers chapter 24, and Numbers chapter 25. And there's a king, there's a, before the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land, they were, they were kind of, they were kind of mixing amongst these, they were passing through these nations. The king of Moab wanted a certain prophet named Balaam to, he was afraid of the nation of Israel. And he wanted this prophet, Balaam, he said, I'll pay you all this money, and I want you to curse this nation for me. You know, have God curse this nation for me. The story goes in Numbers 23, Numbers 24 and into Numbers chapter 25 that God would not allow this prophet to curse the nation of Israel. This prophet was a bad guy. He really wanted to do it, but God just wouldn't let him do it. He wanted to get the money. He's like, I want this money. Balaam was like, I want to curse them, but he just, God wouldn't let him do it. So, what happened was, and he was, look, Numbers chapter 24 at the end of the chapter, Balaam finally goes home and he's like, God just won't allow me to do it. And it looks like he just goes home and he leaves Balaak, the king of Moab, and he just, he leaves. He wasn't able to get the money. God wouldn't allow him to do it, but turn to Revelation chapter 2 if you would, and look at verse number 14. The New Testament gives us a little bit of insight about what actually happened to the children of Israel here, because in Numbers chapter 25, in verse number 1, I'm just going to read that for you as you're in Revelation chapter 2, the Bible says, in Israel abode in shittim, and the people began to commit hordom with the daughters of Moab. So in Numbers chapter 24, the last verse, Balaam is heading home. He's like, I wasn't able to do it. I wasn't able to collect the money. God wouldn't let him curse the people. Balaak was upset, the king of Moab. Balaam was upset. But then in the very next verse, in Numbers chapter 25, verse number 1, you see that the nation of Israel is just, they're mixing amongst the people of Moab, and now they're just committing fornication. They're just, they're mixing with these people that God told them not to mix with, and they're just like doing all the horrible things that they're doing. They're worshiping the false gods. They're, you know, fornicating with these people. Look at Revelation chapter 2 and verse 14 though. Revelation chapter 2 and verse 14, we get a little bit of insight on what happened between Numbers chapter 24 and the beginning of Numbers chapter 25. And the Bible says in verse 14, it says, but I have a few things against thee. Now this is Jesus talking to these churches. He's rebuking these churches, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. This is talking about Balaam from Numbers 23, who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. See, Balaam realized, hey, I don't have to curse. I don't have to stand at this altar, and I don't have to curse these people in God's name. All I have to do is tell Balaam, hey, bring your people amongst the Israelites, hang out with them, dwell with them, and their own disrespect for God will destroy themselves. You see, that is exactly what this TikTok reminded me of. Look, the people that are enemies of this country, they don't need tanks and bombs. All they have to do is provide something, create something, create a platform that will allow our own depravity to destroy ourselves from inside. It's exactly like the story of Balaam and Balaam. Look at the article continues in Epic Times. And there's more danger to it than other than just, you know, the depravity of everything. It says, besides stealing your private data, the app also steals your happiness through all this addiction. It makes you addicted to it. Of course, the thievery one assumes is by design, launched in 2016 by Bite Dance, a tech giant based in Beijing. TikTok, now get this, TikTok is actually banned in China. China does not allow their own people to download this app. Hello! All they needed to do was create a platform and give it to us in our own demented, depraved philosophy and culture will take care of us. Instead, China, they have a lighter version called Douyin. They have a lighter version called Douyin. It's milder content. There's none of this extreme stuff on it, and they only allow children in China to be on it 40 minutes a day. So they clearly recognize the danger of what they've created and sent to the world. The article continues, and unlike the content that appears on Douyin, which is mild in nature, the content on TikTok is, for lack of a better word, controversial, with users actively encouraged to hold their breath until they pass out, expose themselves in a sexual manner and drive in a reckless manner and other things like people have committed suicide and done all kinds of crazy things because of trends on this app. Look, folks, this will be the downfall of Clown World right here. In 2020, the United States government, they banned it. There was executive orders that Trump, and I'm not endorsing any president here, but there was executive orders put in place to ban this from this country. Of course, then, when Biden came in, all those things were lifted, but the point is they were banned on threats of national security because of an app, because of private data and all these different things. Folks, turn to Matthew chapter 24. This is why, this is why you, I mean, I'm going to say an extreme thing this morning, but you must be a Bible-believing Christian. If you're going to survive all of this, and your children are going to survive all of this, the only way to see through it all is to be a Bible-believing Christian. That is the only way. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. Because, look, to the secular world, what you're being asked to believe today is that content doesn't matter. What you must believe is that how kids are raised, it doesn't matter what they see. It doesn't matter what they are exposed to. Look, the irony of this is, is that no one believes this. No one that is normal, no unsaved normal person believes that content doesn't matter. Otherwise, why do we have a rating system for movies? Think about that. Why is there a rating system like G, PG, PG-13, R, whatever else? Because nobody in secular society believes that content doesn't matter when it comes to children. But that is what our culture is saying, is trying to push, is that content doesn't matter. I mean, why not allow just pornography everywhere for everyone? Why not allow that if content doesn't matter? I mean, why is there such a thing as adult entertainment if content doesn't matter? Why differentiate? But even a secular person with logic, 99% of secular normal people out there know that content does matter, yet they're going along with everything. This is why you must be a Bible-believing Christian. You must, because content does matter, and even though everyone knows it does matter, they're doing it anyway. They're acting like it doesn't matter. You see? The Bible tells us that there will be things in the end times that only the Christians will realize. Do you know that? Are you in Matthew 24? Look, folks, kids today, even secular scientists, that's why I read you that article. And you could find dozens and dozens and dozens of articles from secular scientists saying that kids' brains are being developed until they're 20, 21 years old. This is where the drinking age comes in. This is why you can't drink alcohol until you're 21. You should never drink alcohol, but you should not drink alcohol until you're 20. Why is that? Because scientists say that children's brains are developing up to the point of 21 years old, and then, hey, alcohol's fine. But the point is, is that even secular scientists understand that damage can happen, just like the Bible is saying, but they're all going along with it anyway. This is how you can understand that non-Christians are just going to go along with all these things in the end times. This is a microcosm of all that. That's exactly what we're seeing. Kids today, look, kids today, folks, are being abused and confused is what's happening. And their brains are being changed by it. They're being confused by what they're being exposed to. Look at Matthew 24, verse 24. Jesus tells us that the Christians are the only ones that won't fall for these things, even the big ones. Verse 24, for there shall be a rise, false Christ and false prophets. It shall show great signs and wonders. It's so much that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect. You know what the Bible is saying here? The Bible is basically saying, like, hey, the elect being the saved, the elect being the people that have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the people that are saved, the people that are sealed, right, not chosen. It's just the people that are saved is what the Bible is talking about here. It's saying, look, everyone's going to be deceived except the Bible believing saved Christian. It's exactly what we're seeing today. And it's funny because you go up to people and say, you go up to any normal parent today and you say, do you think that you should just let your kid just watch anything? Nobody would say yes. Yet, they're just, they're going along with all of it. They're going along with this philosophy, this worldly philosophy that teaches, hey, it doesn't matter what you put in front of their face. It does matter, folks. It does matter. Gen Z. Gen Z. All my kids, all my kids are Gen Z. If you're 11 to 26 years old, you're Gen Z. Every single one of my children is in this generation. I have seen pull after pull after pull saying that one in six, 20%, 16% of Gen Z, they think that they're LGBTQ, whatever. They've been abused and confused is the problem because content matters. What you put in front of their face matters. And look, I don't believe those numbers because those numbers come from the alphabet people sites, many of them, many of the sources, these polls, I don't believe that. I think there's just a lot of confusion being sown today. And guess what? You can confuse children. Children can be confused. Folks, there is a demonic influence out there today across the internet, TV, and all media that is trying to penetrate your home. There's trying to get into your family. And apparently, if you are not a Christian that knows the Bible, you will fall for it because that's what I'm seeing today. What you expose your children to matters. The Chinese know this. Is the Chinese government a Christian? The Chinese government is modern-day Baylack is what we're seeing today. They know this. They know that these philosophies in the West are not sustainable for a society. They're not saved Bible-believing Christians. They just understand thousands and thousands and thousands of years of human history on what is sustainable and what is not. They're modern-day Baylack. Just like Baylack didn't need the curse. They just had to hand out a platform that we could use to exploit our own depravity, to exploit our lack of wisdom and respect for God in this country. That's all they had to do. But back to the brain. Back to the brain changing. No Christian child or adult should spend any time on TikTok. My kids are old enough to where they wouldn't even have any interest in this. But if I had children that were 0 to 12 years old, they would be nowhere near this type of thing. Because you can't regulate the content and it's addictive. It's habit forming. You know that I don't believe the Bible doesn't say addiction is a disease, but you can form habits of sin. You can train your body to like sin. Or you can train your body to listen to the Spirit, listen to the Bible and fight that flesh. Or you can just give in to the flesh all the time and grieve the Holy Spirit. We know it's this constant struggle until this body dies, that I'm going to be fighting the flesh and fighting the flesh against the Spirit that is within me. Everybody. And you can strengthen the Spirit. You can be filled with the Spirit which will put down the flesh in your life. You can make it so you read the Bible. You come to church. You study the Bible. You teach your children the Bible. You can make it to where sin is just, it pops out at you. It's exceedingly sinful, the Bible says. You see sin, you're like, I want nothing to do with that. Or you can give in to it. You can give in to it and go the other way. You can train your body to need it. Here's the third thing. It destabilizes. Talking about, still talking about effects on the brain. It destabilizes children. It'll destabilize you, this type of thing. You say, what do you mean? It's like, look, many studies, there's another one. Many studies show kids, they're getting all kinds of neurological things. They're getting tics. They're getting things like they can't pay attention to anything, ADHD. I mean, hello. You give them something that changes subject every 15 seconds and then you expect them to focus on a task and do their homework for two hours? I mean, you have to wonder if people are just, they've just lost their minds. Kids can't pay attention to anything. Here's another interesting stat that I read just a few months ago. Construction productivity in the United States. This is super interesting. Construction productivity, meaning what a man could build in one hour in 1970 versus what a man can build today in 2023. It's down 40%. Isn't that interesting? That a man today is literally half as productive. It basically takes one and a half men to do the same amount of work that it took one man to do in 1970. Are you starting to figure it out yet? Turn to Proverbs chapter 23. It destabilizes. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob said to Reuben, he said, unstable is water, thou shalt not excel. He said to his son, he's like, because you're unstable, you shall not excel. Excel at what? Anything. If you're unstable, you can't succeed at anything. Unstable people will not be successful people. You say, what does it take to be successful then? Look at Proverbs 13. Look at verse number four. The Bible says the soul of the sluggard desireeth and hath nothing. Talking about somebody that's lazy. But, here's the opposite side of the coin. It says the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. So, the Bible here is saying is that, you know, if you want to be diligent means consistency all the time. If you want to be successful, you must be consistent and hard working, not just today, not just Tuesdays, all the time. That's diligence. That's what the Bible is saying. So, something that destabilizes, that makes it to where you can't be consistent, you can't focus on something is going to just lead you down this path of being unsuccessful. What do you see with young people today? Well, they can't stick with anything. They can't hold a job. We've never seen anything like it before. They can't hold a job. Look, you know what? You know what happens if you can't hold a job for more than a month? A wise man once told me it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert on anything. 10,000 hours. That's four to five years at a professional skill trade job of some kind. Well, I can only stay at a job for two months. Well, you shall not excel. It's very simple. The Bible has the answers. Everybody else just catching up. How about this one? How about excelling in your spiritual life? How about excelling in your spiritual life? What if I'm just like, you know, what do you see today? People can't stay in church. What do you see today? People can't stay in their Bible. What do you see today? Like, literally nothing works in your life if you can't stick to anything and you just go from the next thing to the next thing to the next thing to the next thing. Not excel at what? Not excel at anything. Why would you ever want your kids learning this? Getting trained this way. Turn to Proverbs chapter 18. Content matters, folks. It's changing who people are. Look, it's changing who you are, but it's really going to change who your kids are. It's really going to change who your kids are. Look at Proverbs chapter 18. Here's another one. If you need some more, here's number four. It's a waste of time. It's a waste of time at best. At best. You say, I found 150, 200 TikTok videos that I could put in front of my kids and they're not bad. First of all, I don't believe you. Second of all, best case scenario, it's a huge waste of time. You know one of the things I'm often asked? Probably one of the most common questions that I've asked as a pastor. Ever since I became a pastor, probably the most common question that one of them, that people ask me is, how are you able to pastor a church and work a full-time job? And look, it's a complicated answer. I mean, there's a lot of things that go into that, but the simplest answer to that is this. I don't waste a lot of time. Notice I didn't lie to you and say I don't waste any time. I measure how much bandwidth that I have by how much time I'm able to waste in my life actually. It's kind of a measurement. If I find myself wasting time in my life, I would never waste time this way. But if I find myself wasting time in my life, I'm like, okay, I need to find some more productive things to back this down a little bit. It's kind of a safety valve that I use. But the answer to how I am able to pastor a church and work a full-time job, I even work a lot over time sometimes. And the answer to that is I just don't waste a lot of time. People waste tons of time. The average screen time that people have in their lives is like seven hours. You say, well, people are at work and of course they have screens in front of them at work. From 11 to 14 years old, you know what the screen time is? Average in the United States, nine hours a day. That is crazy. That's insane. They're literally at best wasting their entire life. Are you in Proverbs chapter 18? And it's much worse than just a waste of time. You give me two hours of uninterrupted time and I can make some stuff happen. That's my little rule. I got like a two-hour window. You want to get something done at home, you know, at work or whatever? You need two hours of uninterrupted time. Multitasking is a myth, folks. You can't do it. You can focus on one thing at a time. You need two hours of uninterrupted time. I can set up tools. I can get a plan. I can get some work really done in two hours. But you're bouncing from one thing to the next. You'll never get anything done. Look at Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number nine. There's something, you say, oh, it's just a waste of time. No big deal. Look at this, though. Look, the Bible has all the answers. Science will be catching up to this one for years, too. Look at this. Verse number nine, he that is slothful in his work. This is something that's lazy. His brother to him that is a great waster. You see that? You know what that's saying? You know what that's saying? It's saying wasting time, which in turn, hopefully I've proved you, makes you unproductive by wasting time. What it's saying is that those things go together being slothful and wasting time. You know what? It'll make you lazy, is what the Bible is saying here. It'll make you not want to do anything. If you're lazy when you're 14, what chance do you have in this world? What chance do you have in this life? You know, the thing is, folks, we're wrecking these kids before they get started. What chance does a 14-year-old, a 15-year-old have? They're spending nine hours a day in front of a TV, a screen, whatever. How many times you go to a restaurant and you see people all the kids got, you know, they're doing, they're just, they're done. They're gonna be lazy. They're not gonna be able to do anything. And that's exactly what we're seeing with this new generation coming up. You have to be a Bible-believing Christian. I don't like black statements, but you want to be successful, you want kids that succeed, you must follow the Bible and throw off all this garbage. Here's number five. You're like, there's more? Here's number five. And this is for social media in general. This is for social media in general. Here's the thing about social media, folks. Turn to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12, verse number four, is maybe one of my, I think it's my favorite, it's my favorite prophecy at this time, because I think it really points to what we're going through today. Social media in general. Here's my fifth point. It's not real. It's not reality. All these people with all these lives on all these social media sites and all this stuff, look, it's fake. You're not gonna see anybody put on Facebook like, man, my wife and I are really having a hard time. I'm not being a very good husband because I'm doing all these, you know, garbage things and I can't get this sin out of me. You're not gonna see people posting that on, you know, social media. It's just, it's all these fake lives about, look at all the great things and how great we are and all this and none of it's reality. None of it's reality. But here's another thing that you need to succeed. You need to understand how to deal with reality. These kids need to understand that life isn't just peachy all the time. That life isn't, you know, it's not about the people that you look at and say, that person is successful. It's not that they've succeeded more than they've failed. It's just that the failures didn't stop them. It's that they know how to deal with reality. Most, you know, successful people or whatever, however you want to define success. How about we define it with our spiritual lives? How about we define it with our spiritual lives? Some of the best Christians that I know have, have just, have failed horribly in their lives. But they're always coming back. They're always getting right. That is a person that will be successful in their spiritual life. It's somebody that can always come back. It's the person that they fail once and they're too proud to come back. They'll fail their whole life. It's not about how many failures and how many successes. I've had, even in my secular life, I've had way more stupid ideas than I have had good ideas. But it's just, you learn how to let go of the stupid ideas. You let go of the failures and you move on with the successes. You get it right. Turn to Daniel chapter 12. Are you there? Look, people need to take these screens, these TVs, all these media devices. Most people, you better off just smashing them into pieces. Just smash them into tiny little pieces. You say, oh, but I watch YouTube, but I watch, I watch your sermons on YouTube. Well, that's great. That's great. That's why we don't focus a lot on short clips here either. Because like, just philosophically, like, hey, you should listen to a whole sermon. You should listen to a whole sermon. It's not something we spend a lot of time with the media department making a bunch of little short clips for you so you can pay attention 30 seconds at a time. Like, no, you should listen to a sermon that's an hour long. Then maybe you'll actually learn something. Here's an idea. Here's an idea. Go to church. You're like, I don't have a good church near me. Move. Move to somewhere that has a good church. Look, there's nothing else that matters. Reality is what we need today. Learn something. Do things. Look at Daniel chapter 12 and verse number four. The Bible says, but thou, Daniel, thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. In the time of the end, that's what we're going to see. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. There has never been a time in human history where there's more knowledge available to the common man than there is right now today. But guess what? This is talking about collective knowledge here. The irony is this, we've also never seen a time in history where people are dumber than they are today. How can those two things go together? You say, what do you mean? But we individually have never been dumber. But you think about all the information that's available. Everything's available. I had to change out a little pulley on my dryer the other day. And some guy, God bless him from wherever, videotaped how to change out that little tiny pulley at the back of that machine. So seven people, maybe one of them could watch it. But collectively we have never been dumber today. How is that? Find me somebody under 30 that can weld. Find me somebody under 30 that can wire something. Find me somebody under 30 that can build something. Find me somebody under 30 that can work on an engine. You're not going to find these things today. Find me somebody that came out of college. Here's what you're seeing today. People come out of college after six years and they know nothing. How is that possible? This is why the trades make more money because you know what? They know how to do stuff. They know how to build things. How about find me somebody that can put a compass on a map and get themselves somewhere? They're like, what? What is he even talking about? You ever notice when you go and visit a town or a city that you've never been to and you type in the address? Say you have to, I've done this many times. You go there and you have to go to a conference center or something for three days in a row. You type in the address from the hotel and you drive there and you have to, what do you have to do the very next morning? You have to type in the address again because you don't know how to get there because all you did was type it in and it just said turn left, turn right, turn left, turn right, turn left, turn right. Using a map, if you would use a map, you would use the map. You would get there the first day and you not have to look at the map again. Isn't that interesting? Because using a map requires you to use your brain. Instead, all these things that we have, they just make us, they just, they just dumb us down. They just dumb us down. I don't even know where I was going with this. Look, folks, content matters. We should set no evil thing before our eyes and it doesn't say unless you're 18. You should not be setting anything evil before your eyes. I don't care how old you are. And it's our responsibility as parents to raise up these kids in the nurture in admonition of the Lord. Nurture meaning I'm going to protect them from these things. How can I protect my kids from these things if I'm letting it into my own home and I'm doing it myself? It's not possible. We'll talk about that tonight. The second thing is that these things are changing us. These things are changing these kids. We must be vigilant as parents. And if you can't control it with all this media that's flying around today, don't have it in your home. I don't care how extreme you have to get. The damage is real. And look, I thank God for the Bible this morning. I thank God. Look, I'm glad that Jesus Christ came and that I'm saved and that by trusting in him alone I am saved. But I thank God for the Bible. I was thinking the other day. I was thinking, you know, Jesus came to sacrifice for our sins when he was on the cross. He bear our sins in his own body. But, you know, why did he even have to say anything? Why did Jesus, if he came here to be the sacrifice for us and all I have to do to be saved and have eternal life is to just trust on what he did. And nothing of myself, trust on that. Why did Jesus have to say all this stuff in the Gospels? Here's the thing. He didn't. He did it. I'm glad he did though. Why did God, why did Jesus Christ, who is the Word? He's the Word become flesh. Why did God have to do it? All he had to do was save us for us to go to heaven. I'm glad he said stuff. Because when we see these things happening, just like the Antichrist, just like the Mark of the Beast, the Bible tells us the Christians are going to see those things and be like, whoa, not me. That's why we see these things. And we're like, whoa, not us. Everybody else is acting in this illogical. Look, I'm not saying that these are all bad people out here. But they're being, they're being deceived. They're being deceived. Because the only thing that will stop us from being deceived is being saved and knowing the Word of God. That's the only thing. I thank God today that we can be in church. But I thank God that we have King James Bible in front of us. Because you know what? It's the protection for my children and for your children. But we better know what it says. Better know what it says. Otherwise, it doesn't stop them.