The Sound Mind: Media and the Mind - Pastor Brad DeLong

All week this week, we have found ourselves in the Lord's presence. Sunday, just a moving of the Holy Ghost, and then Monday night, uh the presence of the Lord swept into this place. Uh Tuesday morning, prayer. Tuesday night, CR, I didn't ask, uh them, but I'm just assuming that they were gathered, believers were gathered, and the Lord's presence was there. And I don't ever want to take for granted that we have free access into the presence of the Lord.

Hardly anything will contribute to a sound mind like his wonderful presence and healing. That's our topic for tonight. We welcome you back. You can be seated in the presence of the Lord. And thanks to our guests who joined us tonight.

We welcome you to Apostolic Pentecostal Church. It's an honor that you are here and you are uh jumping in kind of midstream with us as we discuss this incredible or important topic of the sound mind. How many of you have enjoyed these last six weeks of discussion together? All right, couple of us. I've enjoyed it and I'm a little biased but uh I've also taught some of them but I've enjoyed it thoroughly.

I I've enjoyed studying and and teaching about the mind. And to recap, we started this series by defining what a sound mind is. A mind that is reasonable, sensible, self-controlled, disciplined, and then I added healthy, growing, and full of love for good measure. We talked about the spirit's work in the mind as well as the work of the word of God and the effect of the word of God and meditating on the word of God on the mind. Two weeks ago, we we took a little bit of a shift into some more practical clinical considerations.

And we have said from the outset of this series, a sound mind is the result of a partnership between a determined and disciplined Christian and the work of the spirit of God in the word of God. So, uh we believe that being in the presence of the Lord can and will help shape the mind and make the mind healthy. We also believe that if you leave the presence of the Lord and you have no discipline whatsoever when it comes to your mind uh that that's going to work against. So we need both. And uh of course we need the help of the body and and all the wisdom that comes from that as well.

You got to have both. And and we also need sleep like we talked about last week. How many of you took the test? Did you take the test? Anybody?

Did you take it? All right. Did anyone just did anyone get like a 50 or above? Any overachievers IN THE ROOM? AH, THE OVERACHIEVERS.

There they are. My brother, he's an overachiever. I knew it. I knew it all along. The man can sleep.

No. Uh, how many of you need more sleep? Anybody? You need more sleep. Okay.

Yeah, I'm with you. All right. Tonight's subject will hopefully help with that since it has tremendous effects on our sleep and of course our mind. We're going to deal with something that occupies statistically occupies most of our time while we are not asleep. That is the topic of media in the mind.

Media in the mind. So just buckle up everybody. We're diving in. Okay, you ready? We're going to start with 1 Corinthians 9.

Paul is uh the chapter heading at least in the New King James is talking about self-denial. Paul says, ' Do you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way, this is verse 24, that you may obtain that prize, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate, a word meaning self-controlled. They're disciplined in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown, the one that we all want to receive.

Therefore, I run thus. I run in this way, not with uncertainty. And this is how I fight. Not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body. I bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

He's talking about some discipline there in all things. And I remind you tonight before we pray that the Lord cares about your mind and the things that will affect your mind, including modernday media. We're going to talk about that effect, some of the principles, uh, some disciplines to help shape our minds, especially with regards to media. Before we do, I need the Lord's help. We all need the Lord's help.

We all need the Lord's word. So, would you join your voices with me? And can we pray that the Lord would speak to us and that we would open our hearts to receive it and heed it in Jesus' name? We know that your word is going to edify tonight. You're going to give understanding.

You're going to give wisdom. And we need your help not only for ourselves but also for those who are discipling, those who are in our homes. Oh God, we need your help to have a a healthy relationship with media. I pray Lord that you would touch us and give us understanding that maybe we haven't had to this point. We honor you and thank you in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. All right. I'm going to start by saying this is a huge huge topic. Uh, we could take weeks, we could take months, probably years unpacking it, but I've got I've got 42 minutes.

So, here we go. I have done uh had done and have done quite a bit of research. I did uh quite a bit for our healthy home series last year. I'm going to lean on some of that research in principle. So, you might hear uh if you can remember all the way a year back, you might hear some of those uh that research come to bear.

And you'll hear some similar themes if you were in that session. But we're going to focus in on the effect of media on the mind as well. There's there's just so much on this topic as you can imagine. I'll try to be expeditious with our time. We will begin uh by looking at a working definition of what we mean when we say media in this session.

For our purposes tonight, media is defined here as one, the medium of information or a means of mass communication uh the technology that provides that as well as the content. So just think of the what comes through the medium like your phone and then the phone itself. I'm working with a broad definition of media for the sake of tonight's lesson because your mind will interact with and be shaped by most if not all forms of media and its mediums with which you come into contact. That's the point of most of it if you think about and boil it down. So media for this lesson and in many contexts is going to be defined by the information itself.

what you're viewing, the entertainment, the things coming across, the news, all the things as well as the tapes, DVDs. Yeah, I lost some of you. My daughter came to me a while ago was like, "Dad, this is a DVD." And she said it so slowly and I thought, "Oh, man." All right. Uh even like your Apple Watch, which gives you uh uh information, just all of it. Okay.

All of it. Why? Why are we talking about all of it? because your brain tends to interact with all of it and it's shaped by all of it whether we know it and recognize it or not. As you might imagine, I've got some stats right off the bat to to prove that to you.

I love stats, but these are troubling. All right? And before I give them to you, I also want to say, and you'll hear me say this multiple times, not all media, not all technology is inherently evil. Okay? We are using technology right here and now.

you most of you probably have technology in your pocket or purse uh next to you. It's not all evil. It's uh it's often a tool that we use. Media is also of able to be harnessed for wonderful purposes. We are live streaming uh this service tonight.

We are going to use media to show you scriptures and so media can be used in a positive way. Uh so please don't take this lesson and then look at the phone in your pocket as the sum of all evil. Especially when you consider that media's effect on the mind tends to become unhealthy when it's coupled with an unhealthy appetite and unhealthy consumption rates. It's not the devices fault when we misuse it or overuse it, especially if it is a tool. I believe where we really get in trouble with media is not only what we consume, but how much of it we consume.

So, I can eat salad all day, but if I eat 10,000 calories of salad in one day, it ceases to become healthy. I don't even know how you would do that. Some of that really good dressing. I guess media and technology can be the same way. The more you consume it, the more detrimental it can become, especially if you're consuming things that are unhealthy to start with.

One writer said of of media and entertainment content, "No content is neutral. Nothing is neutral. I would contend most media in mediums are not neutral as well. So, I just said that iPhones aren't evil, but they were made with a purpose in mind. Probably mostly to make money and they also have some qualities about them that tried to grab your attention.

They're they're not all evil. Some were created some even for philanthropic purposes. But that said, uh it all media and its mediums tend to have an effect on you whether you have a sound mind or not. I shared some of these stats uh last year. I checked them again, made sure that they were current.

They are and others have gotten worse through 2026. They were already horrific. And I'm going to talk about our consumption problem. Okay. Worldwide, people spend an average of six hours and 40 minutes a day on screens.

Let that sink in. 46 hours and 40 minutes per week. 42% of their waking hours on screens. In the US, the average screen time per day was over 7 hours a day recently per user. 32 hours and 18 minutes a week on TV, 16 hours 24 minutes on a smartphone, 4 hours and 19 minutes on a tablet, 56 hours and 56 total minutes a week on average in the US.

That's 9 hours a day or 47% of waking hours. It should be noted that does not include work screen time. That alarmed me. I thought that doesn't even add up. That even makes sense.

But unfortunately, these are worldwide, some worldwide numbers. Nearly half or 41% of American teenagers, 13- 18 have screen time of more than eight hours a day. 81% of children under the age of 13 have their own device that they use for screen time. And this is despite the fact that most parents tend to agree our kids have a media problem and that it's negatively affecting their mind. So in other words, you see this, we know, the whole world knows we have a problem, but we don't know how to fix it.

Entertainment screen time among children in the US has risen to five and a half hours a day. Uh the most recent study that they did, I don't even have to tell you the effect for you to know. I can see some of you grimacing for you to know that that's not good. We'll get into the effect, but it's not. Some children have averaged over eight hours a day.

You can't quantify the kind of neurological damage that causes. Only 5% of users 8 to 12 reported no screen time. Gen Z spends about nine hours a day. And this one got me. YouTube consumption.

Anyone want to guess how many hours of video or watched on YouTube a day? Any guesses? Anyone? Take a stab at it. 10 hours.

Worldwide. Worldwide. Yeah. How many hours worldwide a day? Anybody?

No, no, no, no. I mean like total everybody together. Uh, who said that? One billion. Yes, brother Jordan.

One billion hours a day on YouTube. 76% of that is driven by the recommendation engine. That's important to note. We'll talk about that in a moment. An author of one of the articles I referenced above, it's been fact checked.

said, "It's incredible that we spend nearly half of our waking hours glued to screens, whether on a smartphone, desktop, tablet, TV." The the world knows we have a problem. It doesn't matter what affiliation you are, we have a problem. Media and its mediums, I'll say again, they are not always and inherently evil. Uh this phone in my pocket is a tool. It's a device, but these statistics and the results that we're seeing because of them confirmed we have no idea how to really use these They don't.

Coupled with the fact that screens and other forms of media are actually designed for addictive use and behavior. This is common knowledge. You see that you and I are especially susceptible to misusing media. If I put just a full-blown tray of candy in front of my kids and didn't teach them how to use it, what do you think they're going to do? Did anyone whenever you got your iPhone, did anyone or your smartphone or you know your first one, did anyone say, "Here's your thousandpage manual and here's how many hours a day you should." Did anyone get that memo?

No, I didn't either. They just handed it to us and they took our money. Yeah. And you'll most uh notice much of the data out there is on children and adolescence because there's a there's great alarm in our culture, especially over kids. But you also see adults aren't doing any better.

Some are using it 60 hours a week themselves. 41% and I think this is low. Uh it says 41% of adults have a hard time managing screen times. I would guess it's much higher than that. But at the risk of uh belaboring the point I want to show you one more thing on consumption and something I showed in our session last year.

It this has greatly alarmed me. Some of you may have seen this before. Sister Megan, if you wouldn't mind putting that up. You're not going to be able to read this, but I will break it down for you. There's just a a system of dots.

Every dot represents one month of an 18-year-old's life. So, if they expect an 18-year-old to live to 90 years old, that's how many dots you see. Again, representing every month of that 18-year-old's life. This was presented by uh an organization called Project Reboot during a TED talk. And uh it's 864 remaining months.

If they maintain that uh the average that a person spends during certain activities, they're going to spend 288 months sleeping. That's the top one. Praise God. We need sleep. You spend a lot of time of your life.

That's that's how much uh uh if you're 18 in the room, you're going to spend on sleep. 126 months in work or school, 18 months driving. Those of you that are driving in traffic, you might uh edge that up a little bit. uh 36 months eating and cooking, 36 months chores or errands, 27 months in hygienic uh activities, and then they will spend they'll have 334 months of free time, 28 years of free time. That number has actually expanded dramatically in the last 100 years, as you can imagine.

This is the most alarming part. If it holds true, according to Project Reboot, this was done, I think about two years ago, they will spend 312 of their 334 months on a screen. That's 93% of their time they will spend on a screen. This is again if they stats, they will spend 26 years looking at a screen. 26 years.

It doesn't take a lot to get to that math. It really doesn't. They'll waste their lives looking at a screen. We have a screen time and a media consumption problem. As a result, we have a sound mind problem.

Amen. We do. And I know that there's other stats that are helpful. And someone told me literally yesterday, you can make stats prove anything you want them to prove. I get that.

But I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point. I think most agree that media use uh is out of control and it greatly affects our minds and our health, but we are often still habitually using them or consuming too much of them, which further indicates that they're affecting us. Media in general and the devices on which it's employed are not uh like I said, they're they're they're not always evil, but they are very addictive and we have a hard time detaching ourselves from them. A part of my mission tonight is to simply show you what overuse and unwise use of media can do to your mind. Sometimes the more you know, if you knew that uh the the the medicine you were taking was causing your health to decline, if someone said, "Hey, you're going to lose 5 years of your life from this medicine and you're really not going to gain anything from." You would push it away.

Just something in you would say, "Uhuh. I ain't doing that." Maybe the more you know, the more you'll want to make a change. And I know that that's been the case in in my life. The more likely you will uh you'll be to take some steps towards health and towards having a sound mind, which requires knowledge of how media is affecting you, as well as discipline, which we've been discussing for the last six weeks. I'm going to give you some of the discipline steps, but I want to teach why.

Why do we actually need to take them? If you don't believe you need to take them, you won't take them. So, I'll give you a little more why. I gave you this consump consumption stats. Here are the media and the mind stats.

Yale medicine, now you can adhere to them or not, but I think they have a decent medical program, says digital media consumption heavily impacts mental health. Key impacts include double the risk of depression and anxiety for adolescence especially, exceeding three hours. Three hours. They're averaging nine, many of them. Three hours of daily social media use and nine hours total on a phone.

But uh they they go well beyond three. Significantly increased stress, fear, emotional distress linked to constant news consumption. They tend to focus on adolescence. But we know adults have some of the same issue. And again, if someone told you, hey, if you do this for three hours a day, you're you're the odds are double that you're going to have depression and anxiety.

No one in their right mind is going to say, "Oh, well, I'll take my chances." No, we're going to change something. It we would if we hear that, we're going to take it seriously. And I say that knowing that I have the high propensity of still misusing it. Like many others, I may hear the stats, read them, and think, well, that's not me. That's that's another stat.

I'm not even an adolescent. Uh I'm far from an adolescent. But the adage is true. We are what we eat. and our consumption and our kids' consumption matters.

Social media, my goodness, I was talking to another pastor today and and I knew what I was teaching on and uh we got on the subject of social media and I I mean he could have taught this lesson. It's a foregone conclusion at this point. Heavy use of social media strongly linked to anxiety, depression, loneliness, even if users feel like they can control it. This is uh for the most part. There are there are very few exceptions to this.

There's a cognitive decline. Constant influx of notifications leads to reduced gray matter in the prefrontal cortex in the interior singulate cortex. It impairs decision making and emotional regulation. When you get off of something like that after spending hours on it, you don't feel at your best emotionally, do you? No one No one's like, "I don't mean you don't." Constant switching between apps disrupts your focus.

It leads to shorter attention spans, to mental fatigue, to literal brain rot, from consuming high values of lowquality content. This is one of the more alarming ones, the dopamine loop. Anyone ever read on this platforms designed for instant gratification? They create a compulsive need for you to check an app that fuels addictive behavior and acts as a dopamine-driven feedback loop. It creates an obsessive behavior and sleep disruption.

And I'll tell you a little more on that in just a moment. Multitasking alone, just just the amount of times we switch between apps. And it's again, it doesn't make any of us evil. But the amount of times your phone will switch screens, it does have an effect on our minds. It trains your brain to want to switch constantly.

Affects your attention span. I've talked to teachers, attention spans have gone off a cliff. When it comes to tech, there was a popular study done. It was almost 10 years ago. So, you can imagine might even be less than this.

And I I mentioned this uh told some people this. It it literally said our attention spans have decreased to less than that of a goldfish. That a goldfish can focus on something for uh 9 seconds especially. And they some say that this is linked to like YouTube videos and all that and we we get to eight on average seconds. A news cycle isn't helping.

High frequency of news consumption is associated with anxiety, being overwhelmed, being afraid. Constant exposure to vivid, negative, violent news can lead to increased depression, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness. I remember a time when we were not used to seeing on a newscast people literally dying. Isn't that It just blows my mind. You can see on a newscast someone die right in front of your eyes, whether it's a military fight, whether it's and and it's kind of like, oh well, yeah, we've seen that.

We're almost desensitized to this. And then we talked about the sleep disruption and then also it leads to social isolation when overused and used in the wrong way. Just a few of the documented side effects. Okay. Estimates say if you have too much screen time, these things are are uh are they've been documented to happen in usually two hours.

Over two hours is too much. Insomnia, eye strain, headaches, addictive behavior, neck, shoulder, and back pain. changes in your cognition, in your thinking patterns, reduced physical activities. I know I just threw a ton at you and my was not to overwhelm you, but I'm what I'm saying I'm trying to get at is it's it's really tough to have a sound mind with all that going on. Very tough.

Seems almost impossible to have both high and unhealthy media use and a sound mind. Those two don't go hand in hand. Recently I heard an assessment done by Jonathan height. He's the author of The Anxious Generation, a book on technology, cultural changes that affected our kids. He said, and this again this blew my mind, reals.

Anyone ever seen a real 8-second video or 30 second video? Reals in social media that YouTube developed, short videos that allow you to swipe and view a new one instantly. Uh the ones that whether you knew it or not, are directly catered to you by an algorithm that knows your likes and dislikes. The more you use the phone, the more it maps you out and it it pulls those in and it knows what you like. Why do why does it show me so many cooking videos?

Well, it knows that I like food. All right, you think that's coincidental? It's not. Okay, those are designed like a slot machine to give you a dopamine hit every new video. If you think about it, all right, this is what's every time you swipe, there's a dopamine hit.

This has been well documented. A feel-good hormone and moment like you're playing a slot machine. The next video is random that keeps you engaged. You want to know what the next video is. Your attention is grabbed by the short and fun video.

It caters to a short attention span. You swipe, which is a a a game that your brain loves. It's so easy. It's so satisfying. It's so fun.

They even added this little bouncing technique on it to tell your brain. You ever seen of I mean none of you ever played slot machine, but you've seen the video of and we've heard stories of people not getting off of those machines for like a day. Well, you you know why? Their brain is stuck. I just sat there and watched reals for two hours.

What happened? Your brain got in what they call a dread loop and it's just feeding and it knows they they know what they're doing. They've wired I mean they know how the the brain is wired. It it keeps a person in that loop. That's just one among many forms of modern media that are designed to be addictive because they want to keep your attention, not because they want to destroy your life necessarily.

And I I reiterate, they're tools, but many untested ones that have wreaked havoc, and they're now they're I mean, look, type it social media lawsuit on Google. There's a there's a million of them. People are coming online. They're realizing, oh man, we were guinea pigs. No one gave us instruction manuals for all this.

It is incredibly detrimental, especially when it's used the wrong way. We I mentioned the social media lawsuits are they're trying to outlaw it for kids and they uh they're being successful in some areas because they've seen how destructive it is. That when you can graph it, they've graphed it. That when social media took off, mental health went this way. And when the iPhone, they've marked two areas where mental health declined dramatically.

One was when the iPhone came out. The other was when Facebook took off. Can you use Facebook and still have a sound mind? I don't know. Come on.

I mean, don't ask me. Can you use it three hours a day and have a sound mind? Statistically, no. You can't. Phones are are included in this.

Smartphones are known to alter cognitive function. They trigger the brain's reward system. They they have rewards built into them. There's a reason that that notification symbol bugs you and you have to go clear it. It's a reward system.

Excessive use, of course, anxiety, depression, fear of missing out, and we talked about blue light. They affect uh attention spans and and memory, and there's reduced cognitive capacity. One author said, "When your phone is in the room, you are inherently dumber. That's the effect it has. Email app is gified.

There are people addicted to email. You know this. It's so It's it's uh it pleases your brain to clear that cash out. Why is it a swipe? Because they know it's satisfying.

They know what they're doing. And again, I'm not talking about the they like some conspiracy theorist. Developers know. I might even be addicted to email. I don't know.

It uses instant gratification, uh muscle memory, all the things. It's a foregone conclusion that this this phone is designed to be addictive. It's designed to send you constant feedback. It gets to the point where you pick up your phone because of muscle memory and you don't even know why you're holding it. What was I going to do?

You're three apps in and you're what was I doing with this phone? I didn't even know I had it in my hand. And I mean I shared last time how many times a day we touch it. And I mean it's just it's wild. It's designed It's designed to be an extension of this, but it also can have great effects on it.

Here's what we know. Media, especially social media, entertainment, screen time, news media, along with the devices that display them, they greatly affect our minds and our thoughts. As such, our interactions with them have to be guided by principles. And I know some of you are probably ready to take your smartphone out in the parking lot and run it over with your vehicle. Don't do that out there, okay?

do it at home. No, I've I've had the same temptation a time or two because of overuse. And for what it's worth, if your phone is causing you to sin, if your phone is is constantly tripping you up, if your phone is keeping you away from the Lord and just the use of it and you just cannot seem to overcome it, get rid of it. I'd rather enter heaven without my phone. I'm probably not going to take it anyway.

Get a get a a dumb phone, a flip phone. Those were cool. That said, I I realize again, it's a technological tool. Uh and if if what I'm viewing on it is evil, if if media whatever media is coming through is evil, I we know what to do with that. We shun even the appearance of it.

We shut it out. I I need to completely remove it from my life. But if it's like my my phone or the iPad I'm teaching on right now that I use for work and I use for ministry and and I I use for connection as well as uh uh good things but also have the capacity trip me up like any other potentially destructive tool I have to use it with discipline and with guiding principles. An analogy I've used is with uh some my some of my chef knives at home. I use principles when I use those very sharp tools.

I have the pinch grip. You heard about this very good control. I use the claw so I don't cut my fingers off and I and I don't cut towards me. Thank you, Dad. I cut away from me.

And even when I'm cleaning it, I keep the blade away. I have principles when it comes to using that tool that can be very destructive, but one that when I have discipline, I could make some pretty good stuff with Tim, right? He's our resident chef over there. I have to be guided by principles. In the same way with this and other forms of media with our remaining time, we'll get into those principles starting with the ones found in the word of God.

Thankfully, the Bible written well before our smartphones came on the scene and the teachers and leaders who have used these principles help us with this epidemic of misuse. When it comes to the moral and spiritual side of things, the content itself, which is arguably the most important discipline we need to have in place to to make sure that we're viewing the right content, we have ample scripture to help us. David had never laid eyes on a smartphone or computer screen, but he writes this under the direction of the Holy Ghost. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will you come to me?

I'll walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me.

I will not know wickedness. That's kind of hard to do in 2026, isn't it? To not even ever interact with wickedness, Mike. I mean, uh things things I you're driving down 270 and wickedness is on the billboards. It's difficult, but I believe it's possible.

David said, "My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land that that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit is not coming in my house. He who tells lies will not continue in my presence. There's two things stand out to me about this declaration.

One, I'm not going to allow anything wicked to be set before my eyes or allow my eyes to be fixed on something wicked. Maybe I can't help it if something is displayed without my uh you know, I I have no control over it. again think a billboard I didn't know was coming but I can help it if I fixate on it. So he he says we have the choice and I know in our world evil seems to pop up everywhere around us but David refused to look at it and dwell on it. He made the choice to filter it out to turn away or in our our case turn it off.

He didn't fast forward skip hope it would end. He cut it off. He made the choice ahead of time. We will not view it. And secondly, in the later verse, he did not allow access into his home from those who worked iniquity or those who were in sin.

He didn't have the means for them to come in digitally. We do. I think the principle would apply. He drew a line at the threshold of his home that no ungodly influence would dwell there or I would say here. It was a house rule that no deceit, deceitful persons, those who tell lies, those who are intentionally in sin would be welcome.

The same and more could be said when it comes to our devices, media mediums. If that program, that person, that show celebrates and promotes, shows things that are vile to God, then we just don't let them in our house. Here's a helpful rule. You don't have to take it on, but I encourage you. If you have to fast forward it, just turn it off or don't turn it on.

If the program has parts within it that need to be fast forwarded, you may just don't watch it. That may sound unreasonable, but here's the guiding principle from First Thessalonians 5. Test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Shun even the appearance of evil. King James would say 2 Corinthians 6. Do not be unequally yolked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

And what accord has Christ with bile? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God? Talking about us, with idols, for you're the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God.

They'll be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. These are our guideposts.

These don't move. They're forever settled, and they they work when it comes to media usage, including Paul's words to Timothy and then to the Philippians. Second Timothy 2, flee youthful lust. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Then Philippians 4:8, which we've talked about during this season series.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, noble, just, they're pure, they're lovely, they're of a good report. If there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things if you want to have a sound mind. and I believe we all do and you want to have a healthy relationship with media. I think we just line those things up with whatever's on our phone, our apps, our stream services, our social media feeds. See, just see what passes the test.

Some of you may be thinking, not much does. And I think that's the point. It is the point. We're led by example to hate every false way from Psalm 119. To distance ourselves from things that aren't just carnal, but things that waste our time, things that waste our days and our talents.

Just the timewasting aspect alone is an important guide for us. And we need to take this into account. We have to guard against unwise and overindulgent use of screens and technology and media. In fact, uh if you looked at that golden rule equation, it brings to mind the words of Moses. He said, "Lord, please teach me number my days." I look at that and think, how many of those dots have I spent looking at a screen, not necessarily for work, how many of those months, and it might, well, I haven't spent months.

Those hours add up. How much time? One of the most, everyone here, I think, would say time is probably the most precious commodity we've been given, the greatest blessing. And yet I I'm speaking honestly. How much time have I given to things that actually hurt my mind?

It's pretty remarkable. Ephesians 5, see then that you walk circumspectly. Walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise. Redeem the time because the days are evil. And then James 4 says, our life is a vapor.

We don't know what tomorrow ends. And he adds this. Therefore, to him who knows to do what is good and doesn't do it, to him it's sin. We know we got to number our days, redeem our time. We've got to be about the work and the will of the Lord.

And it it may not be that what we're viewing is sinful. I don't think anyone here is like, "Oh, I'm just want to watch everything that's vile." It may be the amount of time we dedicate to it, which is where we have a lot of problems. Our lack of stewardship, our fixation on that for hours, that that qualifies as a sin against the Lord. Especially if we're ne neglecting what we know to do. We know we've got to hide God's word in his heart or in our hearts.

And if I am spending so much time ingesting everything else that I don't have time here, I know that's not right. If I am spending so much time ingesting things and not talking to the Lord, like just I could just look at my screen time. I don't have time to pray. I encourage you log your time. see how much of it goes to media and then revisit it.

We've got to be wise and disciplined. It's difficult to grapple with. I know it's something I've grappled with now. I've been praying about for years. I was a part of the guinea pig generation like many.

We they didn't know what would what it would do. But now we know and we've got to grapple with it. As I said earlier, we don't just uh address what we're digesting and hearing and watching, but also how much. Some may focus on one only, but in order to have a sound mind, we've got to focus on what we digest and how much of it. So, again, the salad analogy, great to eat salad as long as it's got, you know, I mean, there's some salads out there.

My goodness. Uh 4,000 calories. What in the world? I got to see how much as well. We have to have the discipline.

Paul said this again, 1 Corinthians 9, our text. He said, "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things." It's verse 25. They do it to obtain a perishable crown. But we're not we're not in this. We're not talking about discipline so that we can uh it it does have short-term benefits, yes, but it has eternal benefits.

This discipline, therefore, I run in this way, not with uncertainty. I fight not as a shadow boxer. I discipline my body. I bring it into subjection. That way after I preached, I won't become disqualified.

Sound mind, our use of media requires self-discipline and the help of the Holy Ghost. We need both. You can start by just taking some practical steps and we're coming to a close here. First of all, smartphones have tracking data, screen time. Androids have an app called digital well-being.

iPhones have screen time metrics on your settings tab. If you open those, it tells you exactly where you are. It tells you your most used app, how long you spent on it, how much time you spent that week on the phone, how many times you picked it up. It'll tell you everything. That knowledge is powerful.

Use it. Uh probably you get a some of you might get a report every single week on your screen time. I I check mine. I try to check it regularly, which is ironic because I'm using more screen time to check it, but it's, you know, good purpose. You can set limits uh on that page and and on that app.

If you're going over a two-hour limit during nonwork hours, consider just setting a limit. We can easily limit ourselves, I believe, to to two hours of scrolling or searching or Google or or uh what whatever that farm game is. Hopefully, we can shoot for less. If you use your phone for work like I do, I'm just saying it's very difficult to draw the line. Well, I use it for work.

What if someone calls me at 3 in the morning? I don't get very many of those. But we can justify those things. I I would draw that line as if you can do this. Draw that line at the threshold of your door when you walk in.

There's people who literally have boxes that have timers and locks on. They put their phones in and it seals it and they can't get it out. watched videos of people smashing those to get their phones out. Do you you think we have a problem when someone is someone's inventing that? You know, my goodness.

Uh delete some apps. I'm telling you, this is one of the most effective ways. If there's an app that's taken all your time, there's an app that you use it and you feel miserable afterwards, or there's an app that that oh man, I I didn't even want to see that. Why did it show me that? Delete it.

I'm telling you, I tell you from experience, you might at first be like, "Oh man, what am I going to what am I going to look at? How am I going to see what my friends are?" I don't think you're going to miss it. You might, but I don't think you are. It's pretty effective when you just delete it. It's one of the shortest and easiest ways to discipline yourself.

And again, I don't think you'll miss it. Have set times. have set places where no screens and media are allowed. Dinner time is a great place to start. This is one of my soap boxes I'll teach on on a different day.

The the power of family dinner dinners in your home with no smartphones. Uh bedrooms, concealed places, especially if you had kids, phones in in closed door rooms, not a not a good idea. And I'm just giving you what the experts say. Uh specific times of the days, no screens, no media, helpful. Replace those times with devotions.

We have healthy homes challenge out there. Pick it up. Uh games, some kind of healthy activ. Just get yourself unstuck. If you are sitting there and you've been home for an hour and you're doing one of these, jar yourself and I don't need that.

How what am I doing? Get unstuck and put your phone away. The phone itself tips from the experts. Make it less appealing. Set it on grayscale.

Makes it reduces the brain stimulation, desire to scroll. Create physical distance. This is where you could buy one of those time lock boxes. You can find them on uh Amazon. Keep it out of your your room.

Uh get an analog clock. Set some firm boundaries, specific times to check emails and social media. I saw that I had 16 email notifications and I'm one of those that I clear my emails. I don't have 7,000 of them. and it bothered me and I'm No, no, I don't need to check that right now.

Sorry if that was one of you. I'm I'm telling on myself. Hide the that app. If there's an app that you keep going to, hide it. Put it somewhere else.

Replace that activity with offline activities that are healthy. Use parental controls. I'm asking someone here, if you have kids that have some kind of device that they're using, please have software on it that lets you know every single place they're going. Uh, please don't let them have it in a closed room. I'll let you look this up uh on your own time, but just look up what's going on with Roblox right now, the game Roblox, and I I think you'll get a picture.

One moment can mark them. And know this, okay? We can do this. Amen. We can do this.

We have the strength, the knowledge, the discipline. We have the word of God, the spirit of God. We can do this. You have the help of the Holy Ghost if you allow the Lord to intervene. Pray on it.

Ask the Lord for his help. If you're if your kids, if you see that your kids are in that that category and they're they're overusing it or you got a a family member that's over, pray that the Lord will help you to put a boundary in their life and they will thank you for it. Pray for discipline. Pray about what apps to keep, which ones you should get rid of. Pray about the limits you should set for yourself and your family.

A prayer I pray every day. Lord, help me to be better with my appetite. Help me to be better with my screen time. Help me uh everything that I see, everything I hear, everything I listen to, everything I say. I want to be closer to you.

I want everything that I consume to honor you. And I know that the Lord has helped me with that tremendously. So pray and the Lord will help you because he has a vested interest in your mind. Let's stand together. The truth is, as I said, media is not going anywhere.

There's lawsuits and all the things, and I I'm for every healthy step we can take, but the reality is it will likely occupy more and more as a culture of our minds and our time as time goes on. I don't really know how. It seems like we're at saturation point, but uh the the stats keep going up. We need the Lord's help to have a healthy relationship with media to be disciplined with it. I told you I pray for this and it is not beyond the Lord's power and it's really not in any way inappropriate for us to ask the Lord because of the epidemic that's happening here for us to ask the Lord.

Lord, maybe you're doing great. Maybe you're healthy with media. Lord, help me to help me to stay. Help me to help others. If you're mastering this right now, you are in a small, small minority and you ought to help somebody.

All right? Or maybe you're on your way to health. Lord, help me fasttrack this thing. Or maybe you're unhealthy and you're struggling with it. The Lord can intervene and help you by the power of the Holy Ghost.

He can help you by the power of the word of God to to have the discipline you need to overcome these things and to heal your mind. Would you help me pray right now? No matter where you stand, would you lift your voices with me? Jesus, we're so thankful for your investment into our hearts and minds. And we know uh that that this media storm did not take you by surprise, but the principles of your word are already helping us tonight.

I pray, Lord, that you would help us to have sound minds, minds that have healthy relationships with media, Lord. Minds that are disciplined when it comes to media. If there's someone that is struggling or someone that might even be addicted, Lord, or even a family member of ours that's addicted to media use and unhealthy consumption, I pray in the Holy Ghost that you would help us to break those things to set the boundaries that we need to set. Give us the strength to do it. Oh God, if we're on our way to health, I pray you'd put your hand on our back and continue to push us forward and and continue to trim away things that we don't need.

And we're also praying uh for those who are healthy that you would empower them, give them opportunities to train and develop and disciple someone who may not be. We trust in you now and we thank you in the name of Jesus we pray. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen.