Let's all turn to 1 John chapter 5, and just to get a perspective this evening as we go through this collage of questions about God's perspective on the current phenomenon, Pokemon Go, gaming in general, distracted living, fantasy, social media. And really the underlying premise is, are amusements neutral for a godly mind? So that's what we're looking at. But look at 1 John 5, actually verse 19. And this is the last living apostle. This is the one whom Jesus loved. This is the one that actually was, Peter wanted to be closest, John was closest. And this is the apostle John. kind of reflecting under the inspiration of God on something that we don't reflect on maybe enough. Verse 19, we know that we are of God and that's a comfort. But look at the second half. and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Now if you have italicized words that are added by the translators to give meaning you'll notice that under the sway of are italicized or something similar. So basically the Greek says the whole world lies, the wicked one. And the concept in the Greek mind is kind of lies in the lap of, or in the hands of, or in front of, but under the sway of is to give us the idea. So that means that there's nothing neutral. the whole world is under the sway of the evil one and we are under the sway of God and so there's either under the sway the power you know in as the temples of and the instruments of God or not so there's nothing neutral so this evening. Let's go through. And I'm just going to do each section of this, the first one being this, the current 20-year-old, all told, depending on who you read, Wall Street, Pokemon globally, possibly in the last 20 years, is $46 billion. I mean, wow that's a big business that's just one one element of the whole gaming world so we'll look at that before distracted lives fantasy social media and all the time answering the question biblically whether amusements can be neutral for a godly mind. So to start, let's move back from 1 John to Colossians chapter three. And there's a conscious command of God through the apostle Paul in chapter three to the church at Colossae that we already saw last week. Paul never visited. He says in chapter one, I've never seen your faces and you've never seen mine. So they had never met. And Paul is writing everything the Church of Colossae needed to make it in the ultra-distracting Roman world. And he says in Colossians 3, the first two verses, one and two, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. And it's present, imperative, plural. He's talking to the church and he's saying that as a body, you need to choose collectively. personally and collectively to choose to seek things above, because our natural settings are down. We just, we gravitate to what seems most real to us, rather than what's real, the eternal world, we look at the temporary and the world in rebellion, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. A second time, he says in verse two, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. So he's saying that the crucial choices are to seek and set. It's our choices and our desires. We seek by choice and we set our desires, our hunger, our appetites. Both of them have to be tuned in. And then we covered the other verses like verse five this morning. And why is that? Because, and you all know this verse by heart, the Bible says, love not the world, Why? Because 1 John 5, 19 says it's in the lap of the evil one, nor the things in the world. Why? Because they're under the sway of the evil one. For all that is in the world, and then the catalog of our temptations, the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father. And whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father, but whoever does the will of the Father lasts forever. And so what we see is a There's no neutrality. We can't be Swiss, you know, and just sit out the war. We must pick a side. We must choose to set our affections and seek with all of our heart. So that's a real challenge. But then it gets worse. God starts talking about what most of us don't really like to think very deeply about, and that is the rebellion going on, the occult world. the world of Satan, the world of witchcraft, occult. And in the world of occult, occultic, satanic, witchcraft, not of God worship. Now think about it. What are most of our current billion-dollar-plus movies about? They're about supernatural powers. There are only two sources of power in the universe. One, the rebellion, the evil one who is energized and people walk according to his power, and of course those demons have unbelievable supernatural power, and God. So there's this whole direction of our culture toward the occult, to the metaphysical, to supernatural power, without God, the true and living God of the scriptures, being attached to it. And almost what some people call a magical worldview. And a magical worldview is kind of Star Wars, that there's a force out there, and it can either be channeled toward good or toward evil. Instead of saying there is a living and eternal God and there is His greatest created, highest created being, Satan, Lucifer, fallen into rebellion, who is usurped and is going to be brought into judgment, but God is allowing him for his purposes to be loose. Of course, they would never say that. They just like this magical worldview and kind of a detachment from propositional truth and from, of course, the revelation of God. But look what God, way back in the Exodus teaching at the giving of the Ten Commandments and then onward with the Mosaic Law, look what he says. And all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make, now see they're coming out of, where, where did they come out of in the Exodus? Egypt. What is Egypt filled with? A whole pantheon of gods. And he says you're going out of the highly religious Egypt into the highly religious Canaan and God says all those gods are not with me, and if they're not with me, they're with the devil. You see, there's only one true and living God, and all other gods, as Paul said, are idols, and all other idols are demons. That means Buddhism is demon worship. That means that any worship of any image in the world is demonic. So God says, don't mention their names. So that's interesting in Exodus and he taught him that. Then we get to Deuteronomy chapter 18 and if you want to turn there and it's better to turn there because you see all the ellipses there that I left out a lot of things because there's too many words to put on a slide. But numbers, I mean Deuteronomy 18 Notice how specific the Lord is. Starting in verse 9, you know, and if you have any notes in your Bible, my little Holman or whoever published this said, avoid wicked customs. You know, that's kind of the editorial synopsis of this section. Good job, they got it. When you come into the land which the Lord God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. God's people, his covenant people, the people of the Word, the people that he had revealed himself to, they were not supposed to go into the ungodly, pagan, non-following the true and living God and practice and learn their customs. And so, he said those things are abominations to God. Don't learn what is abominable to God. Verse 10, there shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, nor one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer. That means no astrology, no horoscopes, no palm readers, no necromancy, none of that stuff. Hepatoscopy, where you look at the entrails of animals, none of that stuff. Don't try and find out the future by divination. Balaam kind of stuff. Don't let no one among you who practices witchcraft, what is witchcraft? It is invoking and using the power of the rebellion, of Satan, of the occult, of witchcraft. All of that is attached not to God. It's very powerful. Very powerful. I mean, you go to Haiti. I've been there a few times. Boy, the voodoo is real. They poke that knife or whatever into that little voodoo doll and the person goes... Now, it's a demon, but it's powerful. Satan is very powerful. So don't let there be among you anyone who practiced witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, someone who threw incantations and spells and everything else, one who conjures spells, a medium, you know, the one that can communicate with the dead, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. That's exactly what Saul went to. Now, do you remember, was Saul at the witch of Endor? I mean, this lady was practiced in this. She was truly, her livelihood was working with the demons. And if you know anything about magic, they make these deals and they actually capture demons and use demons. which is going to be interesting because it's very interesting. That is a little bit of what Pokemon's about. You capture these mythical creatures, these pocket monsters, and you use them. So there's a little interesting twist to the Japanese inventors. I mean, they know all this stuff because they're pagan and godless and involved with the occult. And so God says, watch out for that. Verse 12, for all who do these things are an abomination of the Lord. And then if you look all the way to the end, that I knocked out all the verses in between, but it says that God says, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you. He doesn't want it. So this whole section is about how to stay away from all that occultic stuff. Now Joshua, I mean now Moses is off the scene, Joshua has led the seven-year conquest of the land, and now he's at the end of his life, and he's giving his final words. Unless you go among these nations. Remember the seven nations of the Canaanites. These who remain among you. They hadn't driven them all out yet. And they had all their little gods, and their little poles, and their little groves, and their little practices, and their little high places. Just last month when we were in Israel, we were filming at a high place. A high place is about 18 inches off the ground. I mean, it's kind of a misnomer to us. It's a raised platform at the entrance to a city, about 18 inches high. And you would set up the little idol, and as you walk through the gate, you would just do kind of a little, you know, token, kind of like you do, respect, you know, when people go into the Roman Catholic Church, they show respect. When you go into a pagan city, you show respect to the idols, to the gods, to the demons. High places. They were everywhere. He says, you don't, don't learn that stuff unless you go among the nation. Those who remain among you, you shall not make mention of the name of their gods. God is very jealous. I mean, one of the worst things, you know, in a blended family is for one or the other of the partners to always be talking about their ex in a positive way, usually in any way, but positive is really bad, or the old girlfriend or whatever. And God says, I am a jealous God. That's one of his attributes, by the way. God is jealous. He is so righteous and holy and so loving that he demands exclusive attention from us. He hates us to be double-minded. He is grieved when we have anything higher than him, and it becomes idolatrous to him. So he says, don't make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them. You shall not serve them or bow down to them." So that's Joshua. Then we get to Proverbs, and we get, you know, 500 years later and into the time of the monarchy. And in Proverbs 4, it's very interesting, as the Lord inspired Solomon to write, "'Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil.'" There are the customs and the practices of the nations. They were very superstitious, kind of Friday the 13th stuff. By the way, what is Friday the 13th? Have you ever thought about that? What day is Passover? It's always on Nisan 14th, which is sunset on Friday night after Friday ends and the new Sabbath day, the Saturday. So what would be the date if Passover is on the 14th, what would be the date that the death angel swept through Egypt the night before? the feast on the 14th and that's why it was called Passover. It's a commemoration of the fact that the death angel passed over him. Do you know what the most unlucky day of the history was? The people that were around on Friday. the 13th. I mean, that one is stuck in history. It's very interesting. It totally corresponds with the death plague. But the whole world is superstitious. They don't know anything about the Passover. They just remember, don't walk under a ladder and black cats on Friday the 13th. But don't walk in the way of evil. Don't be superstitious. Don't be clinging to all those things, avoid it, don't travel on it, turn away from it, and pass on. Don't go down any of those paths that are connected to the old, to the evil, to the paganism, to the way that it's not of God. And then Jeremiah, and he's at the other end. Jeremiah was prophesying during the decline and fall of the southern kingdom, Judah. He was imprisoned by the king because he told the truth, and the Babylonians let him out of jail because they said, you must be great because you were telling him that we're going to come get you. But look what he's saying to the people that had apostatized. Thus says the Lord, do not learn the way of the Gentiles. Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven. That's the whole horoscope astrology deal. I mean, there are people that if they read in the New York Times that their sign says something bad's gonna happen, they're scared to go to work. They're pagan. They follow the signs of the heaven, and the Gentiles are dismayed at them. That is not neutral. It's not cute. Astrology, horoscopes, all of that is not of God. and it is not to be something we learn. So, with that in mind, Jesus in the New Testament begins talking directly about the conflict between the two kingdoms, because he is Every time the demons saw him, they knew who he was. They said, you're the Holy One of God, right out of Isaiah. You are God the Son. I mean, the greatest proponents of the deity of Christ were the demons. And he said, I don't need you saying that. It's true, but I don't need you. I don't need your backing. You know, kind of like in the current political thing, there's certain people you don't want to endorse you because their endorsement brings a lot of baggage with it. He says, but he said, I want to clarify. And Jesus is talking about being the good shepherd. He said, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy. He talked about the evil one, the wicked one, all the way through his ministry, the one that was coming in and sowing the tares, the one that was always coming to steal away in his demons the truth. And he said, he is like a bad shepherd. I'm the good shepherd. He's the bad shepherd. I am the Lamb of God. He is the wicked one. And his calling card is he steals, He kills, he destroys. God is always opposed to gratuitous bloodshed. Bloodshed for entertainment. Bloodshed for fun. Bloodshed for nothing more than bloodshed's sake. Satan's into that. God is opposed to it. God says, close your eyes, don't look at it. It's not something, Isaiah 33 says, that when you look at killing and destroying, that it keeps you from seeing the king and his beauty. It's mutually exclusive. You can't have a good, insight into God and be a lover of stealing, killing, and destroying, because that's of the devil. And Jesus said, on the contrary to the devil, I've come that you might have life and that you may have it more abundantly. So that's what the Lord said. Now Paul is going to the magic center of the ancient Roman world. The most occultic place of all was Ephesus. Ephesus had Diana, this grotesque fertility idol made from a meteorite, they said, that came down from heaven, and they carved it into this fertility sign of Diana. And into this place, Paul had to really teach them how to resist the occult. And what he says in chapter 5, all of chapter 5 is very important. But he says, chapter 5, verse 1, be imitators of God. And then he says in verse 8, walk as children of the light. And in verse 11, have no fellowship with the stuff from the dark. All that stuff that you used to be involved with before you're saved, all of those idols, all of the occult, all of the little amulets and the little incantations and all of the hexes and conjurings that were going on in Ephesus, he says, Don't have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And don't just stay away from them. Expose them. Point it out. Remember when Paul pointed out that the Philippian girl was an evil spirit-filled medium, that, you know, all the trouble broke loose as he exposed her for what she was? Expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. and all of the immoral things that were going on with the worship of the pagan deities. And then verse 15, see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. So chapter five is fascinating. In fact, let's turn there too, because I know that you all know this, but let me show you what in here he's telling him to stay away from. In chapter 5, he says, verse 3, fornication, uncleanness, it shouldn't be named among you. Verse 4 of chapter 5, filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting. He says Christians are not to be involved in anything, obscenities. And then he talks about in chapter, I mean in verse 5, about unclean people, covetous people, idolaters. And he just says in verse 7, don't be partakers with them. Why? Verse 8, you were once in darkness. Remember, we were all. We're all walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Jesus says we're all of our father the devil at birth. every sweet little baby. is of their father, the devil, at birth. A rebel against God. He said, that's how you started out. Don't, don't go back to the darkness. You are light in the Lord, verse eight. Walk as children of the light. Have the fruit of the spirit, verse nine. Verse 11, another imperative, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Anything to do with Satan's realm and his power, have nothing to do with it. Rather, expose them, okay? So, Paul's pretty clear, especially in that occult-laced place. So, with all that, don't learn the ways of the world, don't say their names, don't have anything to do with the darkness, God gives abundant life, not entertaining yourself with killing and stealing and destroying. Yet, that is the theme. of all but the mindless games. I guess they're all mindless, but I mean other than, you know, chasing birds or fruit or little, you know, ping, ping, ping, ping things. Most of the games, the role-playing games, are exactly involved with what God says the devil is involved with. Killing, stealing, destroying. And they even have those names, you know, the Destroyer and Abaddon and everything else. But how do we apply God's perspective to this? Well, here's, I mean, Do I think Pokemon in and of itself is bad? Is it bad to have little cards with strange creatures on them? Some of them look like little stuffed animals. Is it bad in and of itself? No. But when you read the definition, it's bad. When you read what the originators wrote down, they've defined. There's something called the Pokedex. It's your guide. There's 700 of these little things. Here's just one. I want you to see one. This is what everybody's doing when they have their phone, you know, down in Kalamazoo. the day there were 600 of them. They're going like that. They're looking through their phone at the landscape and they're ferreting out these little creatures. There's 700 of them. They're on all levels. They evolve into higher and higher levels of power. And you have to put a little ring around them, capture them, and all this kind of stuff. The game is one of the largest adoptions of augmented reality technology in history. Well, it's just because it's new. There'll be something newer and better and brighter, but it's just the current one. So, this is what they're doing. Is there anything wrong with looking at the park in Kalamazoo and looking at these fuzzy little things? No. Unless the fuzzy little things are actually what they're called pocket monsters. And if you read what they can do, the Bible has defined what they are. So it's really interesting to watch this. It really had a big bang of a start. There's Pokemon. It surpassed downloads for everything else. I mean, it was the top in the total number of people that were actively using it for time periods. So that's why it's been in the news so much. So, and you can read this anywhere. I mean, I read the articles in, you know, New York Times and Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and everywhere else. And basically what they talk about is that they say the danger is that people are walking in the street and all that stuff. But the Christians, identifying other parts. Now usually we go, and I want to say to you that I've picked some of the worst of the characters that they're looking for, but these are part of the menu. And so if you're looking In a glass of water from Flint, you would find that it's 99.999% water, but you're quite concerned about all those other ingredients, the lead, the cesium, the cadmium, the mercury, the arsenic. And you only have to have trace amounts of those before it's deadly, especially long-term consumption. So, here are just three. Is Pokemon dangerous? Potentially, yes, it is. It conditions the child, and the adults, who play the game into accepting a cult, and I'll define those in a minute, and evolutionary principles. What do I mean by that? Well, these creatures evolve. They get stronger, more powerful, it's amazing, and more lethal, and everything else. Here are three. Haunter. That's actually the name of one in the Pokédex. You can look it up. I have a picture in a minute for those of you that aren't into Pokémon. They can hypnotize people, they can eat their dreams, and they can drain people's energy. Abra. You ever heard of Abra Kadabra? Isn't that clever? They split the name and made it two characters. Abra reads minds. Kadabra emits negative energy that harms others. These are some of the stable of creatures. There he is. That's Haunter. Now doesn't that look just like a purple something? Looks like a purple stuffed animal with green eyes and teeth and disembodied hands. And so he's called Haunter. I mean, you know, but Christians go to haunted houses, right? And Christians celebrate Halloween. So what's wrong with having a Haunter? Because it all doesn't mean anything. It's just, just child's play and everything. So what you do is you get to, this is the Pokedex. This is the explanation. I mean, this is a highly, you have to really study this stuff to be good at it. And there's all kinds of forums where it helps you capture these things because they're really smart and they run away and everything. But Haunter, It's a purple Pokemon with a gaseous body. He has a round head, a pair of disembodied hands. Disembodied hands, uh-huh. Each hand has three pointed fingers. Its head is flanked by three large spike protrusions. Its eyes are large and triangular with small pupils. The gasses composing its head curve down to form several pointed teeth framing a pink mouth and a long tongue. Its body tapers to a jagged tail. Who would want one of those? I mean, if you're collecting them, you want it. Haunter, now this is where it gets ominous. This is not the Christian Research Network. This is the Pokedex. This is from Nintendo, and the American version. Hasbro owns the card part of this. And so, I mean, it's a very American business. And the websites, you can read this. They evolve and get progressively more lethal and powerful or more whatever. This is only a bad one. There are sweet ones, too. And I only picked the bad one to show you the occult connection. One of the bad ones, there are many. But Haunter hides in very dark places where it plots, look at this, to take the life. So it's a killer. Of the next living thing that comes near it, it silently stalks its victim and steals its life force with a lick from its gaseous tongue, which inflicts convulsions that persist until the victim dies. I mean, isn't this something? Wouldn't you like to have your kids laying in bed playing with this thing on their digital device? It has the ability to float through solid walls. What is that describing? A demon? That's what demons are. I bet I've said that a hundred times in this auditorium, that those walls and nothing on earth can stop a demon except being sealed by the Holy Spirit, which keeps it from entering us, but it doesn't keep us away from us. This is describing a non-material, intelligent being which God calls demons. So that's what this thing is. It floats through solid walls despite its predatory nature. It has been known to entertain and prank people in the anime. Additionally, it has even been shown to feel intense loyalty to a deceased trainer. Haunter lives in dark, abandoned caves. And then this talks about the first level, because of its ability to slip through black walls, it's from another dimension. Yes, it is. The spirit world. By licking, it saps its victim's life. It causes shaking and won't stop until the victim dies. If you trip and fall for no apparent reason or hear a sound when no one's around, it's a haunter. So you're training kids or adults to start thinking of supernatural creatures. It's just a game. But you're capturing these creatures and you're keeping them in your pocket. That's why they're called pocket monsters. You've captured them. And now they are, you're training them to do what you want them to do. So what happens if you catch this one? Interesting. And then, that's only the first level. If you get to generation two, in total darkness where nothing is visible, Haunter lurks, silently stalking his next victim. His tongue is made of gas. If licked, the victim shakes constantly to death, hiding in the dark." And it gets worse and worse until you get to generation six. And it says, the ultimate one is, if you get the feeling you're being watched in the dark when nobody's around, Haunter is there. Isn't it interesting that this very popular game, When it came out in 96, a million packs of these cards instantly sold. It boggled everybody. And actually, churches are now Pokemon stops. They want people to come in looking for Pokemon so they can, after they find their little demon, they can tell them about Christ. That's a great idea. I mean, wow. I can imagine Paul did that too, and I imagine that was part of the early church, you know? Put a little Baal thing up and get all the Baal worshippers and then tell them about the true and living God, as if that wouldn't confuse them. Haunter is a dangerous Pokemon. Wow, they finally said that at the very end. If one beckons you while floating in darkness, never approach it. This Pokemon will try and lick you and steal your life away. And I mean, I know, and I didn't do Abracadabra, and I didn't do the worst ones, I only did that one for you. But I want you to see, this is the level that augmented reality is taking people to. They can see demons. apparitions that are described as demons in places. It's just fascinating to think. Now, is it just electronics? Yes. Is it just a game? Yes, it is. As long as you don't define it that way, it's fine. But it's already been defined that way. That was the purpose it was invented. And you can read all 700 of them. Jesus said there's only two roads. And in fact, let's go there. I mean, this is something I think we have to decide about because people are getting more and more and more wanting for there to kind of be this middle ground. We don't want to be, you know, so divisive and we don't want to divide and be negative. Jesus was the most negative. He was black and white. He was compassionate and loving and filled with grace and truth. And this is what he says in Matthew 7, 13. That's Satan's way. The killer, stealer, and destroyer. It's the broad way. And there are many who go in by it. They're streaming through that gate. Because narrow, verse 14, is a gate. Difficult is the way which leads to life. And Jesus, who never exaggerates, says, and few there be that find it. You know, there's a notion in Christianity, there's a whole segment of Christianity that think Christ will return when we get the whole world saved. They haven't read the Bible. Christ returns when it's so bad that even the elect are going to start believing the lie. Christ returns and ends it all because the demons are going to kill every last living thing on this planet. And if he doesn't stop it, no life will remain. He doesn't come to a saved world that the Christians have Christianized and dominion reconstructive theology purports. They haven't read the Bible. Few there be that find it. It's a hard way. But beware of false prophets who come etc. etc. There's only one. There's only the love of the world or the love of the Father. There's no in between ground. Jesus said, when you try and go into middle ground, I want to vomit you out, because what you're doing is you are sickening me and not going my way. And in 1 John 2, which I've already quoted, but I'll read to you again, because it's even more powerful directly, Jesus says this, or John writes down that the Spirit of Christ in him said this, Do not love the world or the things in the world, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father isn't in him. For all that's in the world, verse 16, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but it's of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he that does the will of God abides forever. Very clear. No middle ground. What is God's perspective on Pokemon and gaming? that it's, at best, a waste of time, at worst, a doorway to the occult. At best, just the sapping of the greatest tool we have, our mind, and leaving it open for a backdoor for the haunter and others to get you. At worst, it's an open partnership, fellowship, with the God of this world who inspired that whole thing and made it such a global craze. Okay, how about distracted lives, fantasy, and all that? And we have to end soon. I'll just cover this a little bit. This is the LA Times. not today, but in January. The download, hi, I'm a digital junkie and I suffer from infomania. The whole article is about this not want to miss anything mentality. They even have not want to miss anything. I think it's like NWMTA or something like that. And it's just like, they don't want to be left out, and they want to know everything. And whether it's the newest study on sugar, or the newest study on coffee, or whether Donald Trump's hair is dyed or real, you know, I mean, it's just, we don't want to miss anything, and we just are reading all the articles. And it says it's just, it's... It's troubling our minds because it's like there's this overload of unprocessed information that's just there. And it's growing. And people don't even have the parts indexed that are important. It's just there. This is a British paper. I don't know where the date is. It wasn't very long ago. Oh, here it is, June 27th. Are you obsessed with your phone? Researchers revealed that addicts touch their handset 5,400 times a day, 2 million times a year. More than half of users check their phone between midnight and 5 a.m. People have an average of 76 sessions with their phone. Power users have 132. Facebook is the most touched app, while Google has the most sessions. To see how attached we are to our smartphone, researchers at whatever that is, explored the habits of 94 Android users. So I'm glad they did that. So iPhones are okay. The study found out the average person swipes, taps, and pinches their display 2,617 times a day for a grand total of a million times a year. And what they're saying is, it's just like, this is unheard of. phenomenal that we're so attached to these devices and we're just touching them all the time and this is godless I mean this is just nothing to do with the Lord it's just researchers saying that now this ad week of course this is I mean if you saw the earning figures come out and Bloomberg reported you know that Facebook blew away by and and mobile users are going that's what they're studying U.S. adults consume an entire hour more of media per day than they did just last year. See, this is growing exponentially. Doesn't this, doesn't that look just like normal life? This is a brand new phenomenon right here. This, this, everybody, this is what I was telling you about Michael Smith said. in our own world. This has changed. These people would be slapping, talking, laughing and everything else. Now everyone is totally focused somewhere else. Amazing. A daily total 10 hours and 39 minutes. Wow. You know, our phones record all that. This is when I'm going to close with this and a couple points. This was just on Piper's site. Now, if you want to read something sobering, read Desiring God's article on July 20th, The Evangelical Drug of Choice. We're obsessed with fantasy. The explosion of interest surrounding Pokemon Go is yet another example of our desire to escape the real world. of real people and real problems. And we get to enter into a make-believe world, or at least an augmented one. In less than a day, Pokemon Go shot to the top of the app stores. In less than a week, it's the biggest mobile game to date. But before we poke fun at Pokemon fanatics too quickly, consider that it's only one way our obsession with fantasy and entertainment manifests itself today. On-demand streaming, live television, video sharing websites, social media, platforms, growing majorities binge on as ways of escape. It's just, it's happened in the last five or ten years, and it's exponentially happening. Our ability to access entertainment and escape from reality is swiftly and effortlessly encroached on every aspect of our lives. Are you impatiently waiting at a traffic stop? Grab your smartphone. Is your wife annoying you? Log in to Netflix. Is the subject in class dry or irrelevant or in church? Check your Twitter timeline. Bored? Instead of meditating and praying, go search for a Pokemon." And it goes on from there for page after page after page of very convicting, looks at what we're being, we're floating. Remember, if you're not paddling against the stream, you're floating with it. And you don't know how strong the current is until you try to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, and try to not love the world. As soon as you do that, you go, whoa, the current, I mean, I can hardly paddle, it's so strong. Canoeing upriver. Isaiah 33, Isaiah says, who gets to spend time enjoying the presence of God? Isaiah 33, 14-17. And he uses God, described in a way later Hebrews would, as God is a consuming fire. Isaiah 33, 14b-17 says, who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings? To answer that question, verse 15 comes with a list of distractions to be avoided. Even back in Isaiah's time, which is 2,700 years ago, God says, avoid distractions. Here they are. He who walks righteously. He who speaks uprightly. He who despises the gain of oppressions. That means his business is not taking advantage of people and extorting their labor and not paying them. He who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes. He's not illegal and perverting justice. He who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed. They didn't have YouTube. So all they could do is hear gory stories. And they said, no, I will not be entertained with death, with destruction, even if it's imaginary. See, we've crossed that line. Christians have already said, it's okay to do those games because they're not real. Those shoot-up games, you know, they're not real. It's not real. So now is the sexual side okay because it's not real? That's where virtual reality is going. In 20 years, it's going to be so commonplace that people live in a virtual reality, probably not 20, 10, 5, exponentially fast. Is that sin? Jesus has already weighed in. He said, what you imagine is equivalent to what you do. So he's already weighed in on it. So imaginary killing is like imaginary sexual relations. God says the imaginary sexual relations is adultery. The imaginary killing is being entertained by bloodshed. And God says you should stop your ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut your eyes from seeing evil. And what are the benefits of that? The reward for staying focused on God in a world of distractions is offered by God way back in Isaiah 27 hundred years ago. And that's what makes godly people make choices to focus on God. Verse 16 of Isaiah 33 says, he will dwell on high. That's the incredible opportunity. That's speaking of being close to God. His place of defense will be the fortress of the rocks. That's an incredible offer. God says, I will make you secure in your life. Bread will be given him. The bold is what's in the scripture. It's an incredible reminder that when we spend time with God, he satisfies us. You've heard of the chasing the dragon thing that drug users use? You know, they get this huge high the first time they use some drug. and then they find out that they have to use more each time to try and get back up to that high level. That's what it is with even social media. It was so thrilling and exciting, all that, but then you have to spend more and more time to find anything. I mean, it's like sifting for gold. There's just all no gold. And you're just going on and on, but it takes longer and longer and longer because you've already seen all the movies on Netflix, you know, and you've already looked at everybody's profile. Now you're looking at them again, you know, and it's just... And what used to satisfy us, and who promised us to never have empty and unsatisfied souls, we're neglecting the bread. because of the distraction. His water will be sure. This is the description of a refreshed life. Jesus said in John 7, whenever we come to Him, He gives rivers of life-giving, refreshing water to flow out of us. And then Isaiah continues, God's word through Isaiah, your eyes will see the King and His beauty. There is a diminution. there is a decline, there is a complete drop in the hunger level and the satisfaction level of the word because it is so dry and boring compared to this. I mean this is just, and this is hard. And so what happens is our eyes get diminished, it's like we get spiritual cataracts, and we don't see the king in his beauty. God offers the incredible opportunity for spiritual insights. If we seek him, we find him. In all of his beauty, when we seek for him, what? With all our heart. God says you can't have access unless you're wholehearted. They will see the land that's far off. That's talking about where we're headed. The pilgrim mentality of Hebrews 11, they made it by all the distractions of life because they sought a better place, a heavenly place. They laid aside the weights that beset them and ran the road. And so the list of promise benefits are to those that are reverent, those that are focused on God. How do you get back real quickly? Three minutes. Make a choice to read God's Word before email or online activities each morning. Remember this? You know, I didn't realize the camera back there. People really watch our services. I just got a Facebook post of a group of missionaries that were watching last Sunday night's Q&A, and I don't remember doing it, but I did something like this. And they all said that they're putting their Bible over their phones because they want to read the Bible before they check their tweets and pokes and bumps and whatever those things are. Make a choice to seek first Christ's Word. And if you can't, if your hands shake and if your body's quivering and that haunter is licking you and your life energy is going out, you know you have a problem. Number two, make a plan. Create an intentional place of solitude so you can not only read God's word, but also avoid distractions. That's why I don't read and study the Bible on this. Why? Because all of the notifications come across. So-and-so just said this, and there's a thunderstorm coming, and the stock market just dropped 500 points, and Russia just did this or that. I don't want to be distracted. That stuff can go on without it. It's the most vital part of every day, to feed my soul. Make a choice. God before that. Make a plan. Decide you'll start a new habit. Instead of instantly at every stoplight, you know, till they honk behind you and you go, oh, you know. Pray in the car. Remember when you used to do that? Meditate on a verse instead of listening to the radio or music or playing on your phone for 15 minutes a day. It can transform our car time into an altar of sacrifice. Many of us are all alone in the car except for that someone else is there, often sitting right next to us in the front seat. God is waiting for us to talk to him. And we're staring at our phones. Amazing. Take the huge step. Fast. I mean, skip a day of reading online news. Use all that amount, or newspapers, or your favorite magazines, or sites, you know, don't pin anything for a whole day, to prove you're not addicted to it. Can you make it a whole day? Can you put away your phone? Did you know at the Word of Life Bible Institutes, where I speak internationally, they have a box, and the kids all put their phones in on the way into class. And on the way out, they fish them out with all the germs spread all over everybody's phone from everybody else, and they get their phone back. And they aren't distracted. It's very interesting. And instead, memorize a verse or meditate on something. And here's the ultimate one. Finally, ask the Lord if he's able to give you enough of his grace for you to have a no television or a no video or a no gaming week or a month and see if you can study through an entire book of the Bible. Have you ever thought of that? The ten hours a day that most people spend? Can you imagine what that could do for the kingdom? Unbelievable.