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Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
In this podcast, we delve into relevant themes and timeless biblical truths that speak to the challenges and joys of everyday living. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or simply seeking encouragement, our messages aim to empower you to grow in faith and discover your unique purpose.
Join our vibrant community of believers as we explore how to apply God’s Word in practical ways, fostering a deeper connection with Him and one another. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enrich your life through these dynamic teachings. Connect with us and find out more at www.bridgechurch.tv!
Hey guys, today we're looking at the Netflix documentary, Social Dilemma.
It is eye-opening, it is revealing, and I think every parent, every adult in the building needs to watch this series.
The fact is, social media is shaping the way you think, shaping your attitudes, and shaping your behavior today.
Most of us have smartphones.
These smartphones are constantly with us.
But can I tell you this?
Your phone is being used against you and against your relationships.
Satan the thief is using modern technology to rob us of our joy and to destroy our relationships.
The first mobile phone was invented April 3rd, 1973 by Motorola.
It didn't become commercialized and in or for sale until about 1983.
In 1983, these phones were sold and they were often in bags plugged into cars and they were used for emergency situations only.
I remember my uncle back in the mid 80s, I was astonished that he had a phone in a bag in his car.
We thought he was rich.
We thought he was the president of the United States.
He had a Lincoln town car with a phone in it.
And man, we were mesmerized by the idea of that phone.
And that phone linked him to the world around him, even though he wasn't in a building.
That's the first time I ever saw a phone.
Years later in 2007, Steve Jobs comes on the scene and he introduces the iPhone, which is a smartphone.
And over the next two decades, the iPhone in all smartphones exploded in popularity.
Now we're connected, we're connected
to the world.
We're connected to people.
We're connected through social media.
We're connected through text.
We're connected through FaceTime.
We're connected through live calls and chat.
And though we're connected, we're the most disconnected and dissatisfied people ever to live on planet Earth.
Now, with the advent of
smartphones and smart devices came another technology called social media.
Social media companies are big business.
When you think about social media, you have to go all the way back to 1997 when the first social media came on the scene and it was actually Six Degrees.
Sixdegrees.com connected people in a way that social media had never connected people.
But that wasn't the first time social media was experimented with.
The first time it was experimented with was in the early 1970s in the realm of academics.
Even at the University of Illinois, a social media was developed to keep students in chats and keep them connected while they were in school.
It didn't really fly to the degree that we have social media today, but it did keep people connected.
It did its job in the academics.
But today we have social media that stems from six degrees.
And since then, a host of other social platforms have come on the scene, such as Friendster, MySpace.
The first social platform that my kids ever used was MySpace.
And I told them very quickly that MySpace is MySpace.
I am going to look into those accounts.
Then you had LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, known as X Today, and Instagram.
All these companies are big business.
And if you are not paying for the product, you are the product.
How much of your life are you giving to these companies?
How much of your life are you spending on social media?
I believe social media is shaping the way we think.
our attitudes, and ultimately our behavior.
And it's having an adverse effect in our relationships and in the minds and hearts of young people.
And I believe God's word speaks to that.
And we're going today to look at Romans chapter 12, verses one and two.
It simply says this, therefore,
That word therefore is there because Paul is saying, in light of what I just said in the last 11 chapters, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.
holy and pleasing to God.
This is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is.
His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
I wanna say this again.
If you're not paying for the platform and you're not paying for the product,
You are the product.
Social media is robbing you of your attention.
Because they're robbing you of your attention,
those companies are gaining traction and gaining influence and getting rich.
Who or what are you giving your attention to?
If you give your attention to social media, it begins to transform who you are.
You know, we give our lives oftentimes to things that are useless.
And when we give our lives to things, they have power to form us.
Tony Miller once said, whoever is in forming you is forming you.
We must understand this as followers of Christ.
Our total allegiance, our first allegiance is to Christ alone.
He said, Paul said, in view of God's mercy, present your bodies as living sacrifices.
This is your spiritual act of worship, meaning give your attention to the kingdom of God.
Give your life to the kingdom of God.
You know, how much time are you devoting to social media?
Is it 30 minutes a day, an hour a day, two hours a day?
Are you addicted to your phone?
Let's take an addiction test.
I'm gonna ask you some questions.
Number one, do you check your phone before you get out of bed?
If so, you might be addicted.
Do you get anxious when you don't have your phone with you?
If you happen to leave your phone at home and you're three miles away from your house, do you start breaking out in sweats?
Are you mindlessly scrolling constantly through your newsfeed?
Are there relationships in your life that are suffering because of screen time?
Think about it.
Do you receive validation through comments, likes, and shares?
Has that become your identity?
Are you struggling to focus on Bible reading and prayer?
because your attention is on your phone?
Are you losing sleep because of late night scrolling?
Do you sleep with your phone in the bed?
If so, you might be addicted.
Do you text and drive?
Man, what a danger to yourself and to others.
Do you text and post during church rather than enjoying the moment?
Do you have your notifications on during church services?
Chill out, it's okay.
But these are signs of a greater problem within our culture, a greater problem of addiction.
Through social media, are we being conformed to this world?
I would say yes.
But Paul says in Romans 12 too, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Don't be conformed.
That word conformed is actually two words that means together with God.
and changeable form or fashion.
When you conform, it means you're coming together with the world and it's changing your form, it's changing who you are.
Could it be that in our modern day that Satan is using modern technologies like social media to conform us into the image of himself?
And could it be done on purpose?
To conform, it means to don't allow this world to put you into its pattern of thinking, its attitudes and behaviors.
My daughter, Peyton, loved to bake as she was growing up and she had cookie cutters.
These cookie cutters were designed to push through dough and as she would push through the dough, whatever the shape of the cookie cutter was, that's what the dough became.
Can I tell you that's the way our lives are sometimes?
That social media is the cookie cutter and it's forming our lives in a way that's very detrimental to our own relationships, to our own mental health, to our own well-being.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus, said in 1 Peter 1, verse 13 and 14, he said, therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus is revealed at his coming.
As obedient children, look what he says, as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
He's saying, when you came into God's light, you have a new mold.
That mold is Jesus.
And don't allow the world to conform you into its image because you're walking in darkness.
Today, this is simply what we're doing.
We're pulling back the cover of social media and shedding light on what's going on and how that social media is transforming our thoughts, our attitudes, and shaping our behaviors.
And when we receive light, we are responsible to walk in the light.
Again, you are being conformed from an outside source and you don't even realize it.
That Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all social medias know and track your behavior to the point
they can create a social media addiction in your life.
And I believe many people suffer from anxiety because of social media.
Anxiety can create the addiction to social media, and at the same time, addiction to social media creates anxiety.
And we find ourselves in a habit loop when it comes to social media.
We get a cue.
from social media.
That's a notification and it fires off dopamine inside of our brain that excites us and gives us a level of energy.
Have you ever heard a notification on your phone and you get excited?
That's designed that way.
They have programmed us to the point that dopamine fills our brain when we hear the cue of a notification, and that cue becomes a craving, and my brain is primed for anticipation.
It drives me to scroll, check, swipe.
That's the behavior that they want.
They want us
constantly feeding on social media and have our attention on social media because we are the product that sells advertisement.
And in return, those companies are making billions.
We get a cue, a notification, the craving comes.
Our brain is primed that way to want to see what's happening in that notification.
So we begin to scroll, we begin to check, and we begin to swipe.
And guess what?
We want a reward, a constant reward.
This is the mechanism that matters the most when it comes to addiction.
It's the unpredictable nature of likes and comments and shares on social media that fires off dopamine in our brain, giving us that euphoric high.
It's the unpredictable rewards that fires off dopamine more than the predictable ones.
Meaning this, when I get a cue and then I get a craving, I need a reward, a constant reward, seeing the unpredictable of how many likes, how many comments, how many shares, what people are saying, if they're agreeing with me or disagreeing with me.
And then eventually we crash.
We crash.
After the check, after the dopamine dips below the baseline and producing boredom and restlessness in our lives, it triggers a craving for another check.
And it creates this habit loop in us of needing a cue and needing balance.
cravings, a response to the cue, and then we have a constant reward of checking our likes, and then we crash again.
And we stay in this cycle called a habit loop of just going up and down
up and down.
It's like a merry-go-round.
We're in this time warp, so to speak, that we're just constantly going through this habitual loop in our brains, and we have become addicted to a dopamine high that's caused by social media.
I want you to think about that.
Gen Z has been called the most anxious group
Generation.
Gen Z are those people born between 1997 and 2012.
There's never been a more anxious generation than that generation.
Could it be the anxiety has increased because of social media and our use of smart devices?
I believe it is.
I believe it is.
And you might be asking, well, does God's word speak toward anxiety?
It surely does.
Paul said in Philippians chapter four, he said, rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again, rejoice.
Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything.
Paul says, don't be anxious, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
I want you to think about that.
He says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and petition with thanksgiving.
Could it be our mindless strolling, checking our phones,
Getting a cue from a notification that creates a craving in us is robbing us of the simplicity
of prayer that brings about peace of mind and stability in our relationships.
I believe it is.
I believe that can actually happen.
The word anxious, when Paul says be anxious, that literal Greek word picture there, it actually means don't let things pull you apart.
Anxiety pulls us apart.
And then Paul says again in Romans 12, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Paul is saying, allow your life to be transformed from the inside out and not conformed from the outside in.
The fact is, after watching this documentary, our brain has been changed through social media.
But here's the good news.
God made it possible where our brain can be rewired.
Again, we go back to Romans 12 too.
Do not be conformed to this world.
Conformity happens from the outside in.
to the inside, but be transformed from the inside to the outside.
That God is at work in you, both the will and the work for his good pleasure.
The work that God does in us doesn't start from the outside, it starts from the inside.
Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
That word transformed comes from a Greek word, metamorpho, which we get our word metamorphosis.
It's a transformation.
You can even say it's a transfiguration.
And you, through the help of the Holy Spirit, God's Word, godly accountability, small groups gathering together as the people of God, worshiping God, can rewire our brains in a way that create healthy lives and healthy relationships.
Now, I wanna talk to you as we close this
about two things.
I wanna talk about personal responsibility and parental responsibility.
I am personally responsible for my mental health.
I am personally responsible for how I use my smart device.
So because I'm personally responsible, I have to set some guardrails up to help me to navigate the world in which I find myself in.
We can't leave the world.
We're in the world.
And we need to learn how to navigate through this world and put up guardrails in our lives.
Oftentimes at the beginning of the year, we often have New Year's resolutions and we go on diets.
But I believe today, this is a new day and we need to turn over a new page, a new leaf, so to speak.
and put some guardrails in our lives when it comes to phone use, social media use, and here's one.
You might be struggling today.
You might be addicted to your phone.
You might be addicted to social media.
Number one, set a daily limit to social media use.
Set a daily limit.
It could be 15 minutes, 30 minutes,
Just set that practically.
Just say, I'm not gonna use it no more than 30 minutes and begin to discipline your life that way.
Number two, delete the apps from your phone.
Make them harder to gain access to.
Several months ago, probably four to six months ago, I deleted X off my phone.
I found and discovered that it was not feeding my soul.
It was a lot of gossip, a lot of craziness on there.
I actually contacted X and filed a complaint about what was coming across their platform.
It did no good because they don't care because attention sells and you are the product.
So I deleted that app completely from my phone.
Sometimes you have to take out things that are destroying your life.
Number two is delete all apps from your phone.
Number three, turn off all notifications.
Just turn it off.
If not, you're gonna get the cue.
There's a notification.
It's gonna cause a craving in your life to see how many people's liked your posts, seen your posts.
Guess what?
Just turn off your notifications.
Just say, I'm going to have a cell phone that's quiet.
I don't want my cell phone determining my behavior.
Number four.
pick one replacement habit, meaning this, go outside, take a walk, go outside, play with your kids, create a,
a replacement habit in your life, go exercise, go lift weights, do something that's more productive.
Now I said we had personal responsibility and we have parental responsibility.
If you are a parent here today, you have parental responsibility.
You are not your children's best friend at this moment in their lives.
You are their parent and you have a responsibility.
You can be their best friend when they get in their 20s.
Right now, you are a parent.
Put controls on their devices.
Limit the use of social media among your children, your teenagers.
Don't even let your children have social media.
Wait until they get further along and to their late teens if you can.
You have to be the parent.
put some filters on the phone, put some parental parameters on the phones.
You are the parents.
You take not only personal responsibility, but parental responsibility for your kids.
As we conclude today, I want to ask you this question.
Are you tired of the habit loop when it comes to social media?
The cue, the craving, the constant reward of dopamine from seeing likes and seeing information and then the crash.
Are you tired of that habitual habit loop?
If you are, God's grace is available for you.
And Jesus said this, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart.
And you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
I believe in a world full of anxiety and things vying for attention.
We need to learn how to rest now.
in Jesus by coming to Him and giving Him our weariness.
Weariness is the mind being tired.
And I believe today,
All over this building, people joining us online, there are many people dealing with weariness in their mind.
I wanna pray with you today.
Jesus is the answer.
Let's come to him, let's pray.
Lord, I just thank you for each person
God, I thank you for this information that we have received today.
Help us not to take it lightly.
Help us to be people that are proactive.
Help us to take personal responsibility for all the parents that are here today and joining us online.
I pray, God, that they will take parental responsibility.
And God, I just pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon people and heal them.
God, help us to manage our social media so that social media doesn't manage us.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.