David Hughes - Did I Just Trigger You?

Anybody spend a little too much time on your phone, anybody, anybody out there, is this a safe space? Is this a safe space? If you're new to our church, by the way, I'm David, and we want our church to be a no judgment zone, but anybody make some noise if you spend a little too much time, maybe too much screen time. I think Sunday mornings, they tell you your average screen time for the day for the entire week. How I can spend 37 hours a day on my phone, somehow I do, and, you know, so I use it for lots of reasons. I read my Bible on my phone. That's a good thing. Often, my GPS is really helpful because there's traffic in South Florida. So many great things. I use it as like sound machine at night to help me sleep, listen to music, but social media. I love social media. I'm probably addicted to social media. Anybody else, you enjoy social media? Anybody enjoy social media? Come on, make some noise. Don't, we're not judging anybody. That's it, like six people who enjoy social media. Make some noise right now. In fact, what is your favorite platform? Is it Instagram? Is it TikTok? Is it Facebook? What's your favorite? What's your favorite?

Is it X? Is it MySpace? Somebody on MySpace? When I say three, shout out your favorite platform. Ready? One, two, three. That's a lot of us. Now, a few people in the room, you don't do social media, and I respect that. You probably have very nurturing, good relationships with people you talk to face to face. That's great. I spend a little too much time on my phone, and I want to talk about that, but it's not all bad. There's lots of great things on social media. Oh my gosh. You can find out information. You can find out the news on social media, sports. I love me some sports. Is LeBron coming to the Miami Heat? I don't know. I'm trying to find out on social media. All kinds of interesting things. In fact, here's something. If you do social media, it's a great way to stay up to speed with what God is doing in our church. God is moving this summer in our church in a powerful way, so if you don't follow three happy people, put your hands together for what God has been doing. Kids camp was amazing, but United Camps, their camp for middle school and high school that just happened. Y'all, I don't have words for what happened in this room. Over 850 young people worshiping and hearing great messages and having this on steroids

lip sync competition and just the fun factor, and then over 90 kids choosing baptism. Wow. But the church has an Instagram and a Facebook. It's a great way to highlight and celebrate what God is doing, and if there's a ministry need in real time, we can let you know. If there's a disaster somewhere, how we can resource and help out, so I'd really encourage you, if you're on social media, take your phones out right now. If you don't follow the church, follow the church. I have accounts too, but follow the church. It's better than following me. Great way to celebrate great things that have just happened or things coming up like Rally Loud Young Adults, Rally Loud, our three-day event for 18 to 30-year-olds. God is moving in the younger generation in a powerful way in our church, but it is, I'm telling y'all, it's the best young adult event maybe in the United States right now. There'll be 1,000 to 1,500 young adults. It's three nights. It starts on Thursday, so Thursday and Friday, our first baptism's downtown. It's incredible worship, great guest artists coming in, then afterwards, food trucks, after-party DJ. It's phenomenal. And then, for people like me, you haven't seen 30 in a long time, and you're a little jealous. Okay, so the final night's at this campus, Saturday night in two weeks, everyone's invited. So my fellow 30s and plus, we get to come. I'm just telling you, it is something so special, but all that stuff is on the church social media. Follow and invite, share. What would the Apostle Paul have done with a smartphone? How would he have used that to share the good news of Christ? So use it.

It can be a spiritual weapon of mass destruction. So much so good on social media, on your phones. I do too much, but what fascinates me is that thing they call the algorithm. I remember five years ago, I'd never heard the word algorithm. It's a mathematical term for a problem-solving mechanism, right? The algorithm, it is so smart. That algorithm on my social media can read my mind. It anticipates things I'm interested in. I don't mean just my Explore page. I hardly ever go to the Explore page. Just on my feed, it will show me things to check out. And oh my gosh, there's so many things I find intriguing. Now, if you don't know me, you can guess a few. Like on my Instagram, that's my favorite format, Instagram. I'm a pastor, so I got lots of churches. I follow churches, I suggest churches, and pastors, and preachers. I love to check out churches around America, the churches that are like First Baptist Church and Church by the Glades. I love other churches, like our churches. Now I like churches very unlike our churches. I like other churches, and I think it takes all kinds of different churches to reach all kinds of people. So pastors and preachers, you can guess, but with the pastors and preachers, I like paleontology. Your preacher digs dinosaurs. I've loved dinosaurs since I was a kid. I preached a series one time

how dinosaurs can fit into the Bible. So I find paleontology, I get those accounts, and hobbies, of course, you can guess with me, lots of fishing on my Instagram, fishing and fitness, I love to work out, so fitness and football, influences. By the way, we have influences in our church, have big followings, share interesting kinds of stuff. I love NFL football, college football, all kinds of things, but there's all amazing things. I have so many things I'm interested in, and they show up, all these different things on my social media, man, I'm telling you. My gosh, I love history, the 70s, 80s, 90s, NASA, I'm a bit of a Disney geek. All those things show up. I follow this dude that goes to our church, he catches giant iguanas, he jumps in canals. I love it, and the algorithm. In fact, when I think about history, not just American history, which I love, but ancient history, history of the Middle East, history of the Caribbean, what a fascinating part of the world, all this, European history. In fact, here's an example, I took lots of history in my undergrad and graduate program. That's part of being a pastor, you study church history and history of the Middle East and history of Europe. In my study of European history, I never heard of this dude, and I found him

on social media, didn't have an account, he's dead, but Charles II of Spain. And so an account popped up, and that's good old Charles II of Spain. And as I'm going through the comment section on this post on a history account, none of the comments were about history. No comments about his reign as the king of Spain, his policies, not a single comment about what he did. All the comments were about his nose and his chin, his beady eyes, I mean, and they were mean, oh my gosh, they were horrible, they were harsh, they were so critical, they were so incredibly unkind, just beating up, and I get it, the brother's not a supermodel. I mean, this is his official royal portrait, I mean, he probably didn't even look this good. It's like that one pic you put on your profile, it's the best possible pic you've ever taken of yourself, right, that's that for him, that's on his Hinge account, right, but oh my gosh, people are being so cruel and so mean about his nose and his eyes and his appearance, I, wow, not about history at all. Make me think about this, if you're like me, and you enjoy social media, the one word that does not come to mind when you think about the space of social media is the word kind, kind. You don't see a whole lot of kind, there's not a whole lot of encouragement, there's not a whole lot of understanding, there's not a whole lot of sympathy,

there's not a whole lot of tolerance. What you find on social media, sadly, there's some good stuff out there, but you see a lot of criticism, you see unfair critique, you see people like taking clips without context, soundbites, manipulating, misrepresenting, you see polarization. I feel like the algorithm pushes us towards extremes, extremes like if you have a certain subject matter or philosophy or set of political beliefs that you hang on to, it pushes you further and further that way, and you start to think, oh my gosh, I am so right, we are so right, my tribe is so right and so smart, and that group, they're so wrong, they're kind of dumb. Be kind, be kind. If you're here and you're not a Christian, right, you're not a Christian, you're here in a duress because mom, I made you come today or something, or your wife made you come, if you're here, listen, just be a good human. There's so much mean and hate and criticism out there, just be, but if you are a Christian person, I got a verse, I got a verse for you. You go to John 17, everyone turn on your Bible or your phone, John 17, John 17, just to make sure you're wide awake and with me and highly caffeinated this morning, 10 o'clock, say it with me, John chapter 17,

loudly everyone, John chapter 17. Go there, I'll be there. In just a moment, a little verse by verse, there's something Jesus said. But before that, here is a command of Scripture, Ephesians 4, 32. I want you to read loudly the two highlighted words. This imperative says, be. Kind. Be kind. It could be be kind, period, right? Be kind, I don't care what they said, what they did, how strongly you feel, how right you know yourself to be. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. And just for fun, compassionate. Compassionate, this means, it's a strong word in the Greek. It means a somatic empathy. That you empathize with other people to the degree you physically feel it. When they hurt, you may not agree, but you hurt. You try to understand. You try to put yourself in their Nikes. And then forgive, forgive. Forgiving each other. I didn't highlight that, but man, I need forgiveness. I need, sometimes I'm so wrong. Sometimes I blow it so badly. So let's not just cancel each other,

let's forgive each other. Amen, so be kind, be kind. So I'm just telling you, I love social media. There's so much good and inspiring and encouraging, but watch out, there's so much hate. There's so much that pushes you towards that extreme. I'm right, we're right, my tribe is right. And they're so wrong. And if this talk is making you uncomfortable, my title today is this. Did I just trigger you? Did I just trigger you? If your arms are folded, unfold your arms, relax. I'm not here to judge anybody. And let me just say, hear this, I mean it with all my heart. I have peppered into this sermon unintentionally, surely some of my opinions, my opinions. If it's my opinion, look, take it or leave it. If it's my opinion, I try to teach the word of God, but I'm a human being, so if I say something that's of David and not of God, who cares? I don't like my opinion sometimes. I get a little older and look at something I believed strongly 10 years ago, I thought, what an idiot, right? So if it's my opinion, it's fine. It's my opinion, take it or leave it. I never try to mislead you. I don't try to push you towards some extreme or my philosophy, but if it's not my opinion,

if it's God's word, especially if it's Jesus' word. I'm gonna walk you through something Jesus said verse by verse in John chapter, John chapter, John chapter, thank you, 17. Jesus, he said actually something, Jesus prayed, and this is called by some theologians, the Lord's Prayer, the Lord's Prayer. Like, oh yeah, the Our Father Prayer? Actually, that prayer's a great prayer too. That's in Matthew chapter five. That's the one you memorized maybe as a kid. But they called this the Lord's Prayer. Why? It's the longest recorded prayer in the Bible, 25 verses, but Jesus didn't give it a title, so called the High Priestly Prayer or whatever. It's a brilliant prayer, but I wanna walk through what Jesus said and what he prayed for and kind of bounce it off of our context today of just so much in the media and social media that we all have to navigate, us and our kids. In fact, the song we sang right before we came out, Brittany did so well, that cute little pop song. It's by the great theologian Natalie Merchant from the 1990s, just talking about what our kids had to navigate on screens in the 90s. In the 90s, it was VHS. Today, they have these supercomputers bombarding them with messages where our kids, if we don't help them out, will be so insecure,

will be so afraid, will have standards of beauty that are so unrealistic that will judge whether or not they matter based on a like or a follow. So let's get to what Jesus prayed about. Ready, here we go, verse one, verse one. After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed, and prayed, okay. All right, let me stop before I go through the actual prayer he praised, the amazing, this High Priestly Prayer, the Lord's Prayer. Who was at the prayer meeting? Who was at the prayer meeting? Because Jesus prayed in public many times. He taught 5,000 people at once, that's a big crowd. He also had a very powerful personal prayer life. He'd go to the mountaintop many times and pray all alone, especially for a big decision, brilliant. Well, think about how theologically rich that is, that Jesus, as God the Son, felt the need to pray all night long to God the Father. If Jesus needed to pray that much to God the Father, how much more do we need to pray and seek the wisdom and encouragement of God the Father? But who was at this prayer meeting? It was the 12 apostles, the 12 apostles, and the good news was we found a post. We found an ancient historical post by John on his social media about the whole event, when Jesus, here's his post. It was a great, great post right there

that we found, and of course, we made that up. We made that up before the service. But you do recognize this very famed painting by Da Vinci, and that is Jesus and Da Vinci's personification of the 12 apostles. Now, it is helpful, we all know. This was not a selfie, like no one had a selfie stick and took a group photo. No, this was painted 1500 years after the event, and so it's helpful, but historically it's not accurate. Just a couple of thoughts, like number one, Da Vinci, I think, was Italian, and all these guys looked like Europeans. Jesus didn't look like a European. By the way, Jesus looks like the most depressed person in the world in the middle, doesn't he? He looks, in fact, another thing, just my personal opinion, my opinion. I don't like this, it's beautiful, but some of the disciples look kind of soft. I mean, they kind of, John looks like a chick, right? I don't, these were men, my brothers. The disciples, and Jesus is a carpenter, the disciples were fish, they were outdoorsmen. They weren't soft dudes. These men had muscles, worked with their hands, they had calluses, they were jacked, had hair on their knuckles, hair on their chest, and hair on their back, right? They were men, not a bunch of soft guys in bathrobes.

But anyways, it helps us a little bit. But they're the ones present when Jesus is praying the prayer. They're the ones eavesdropping as God the Son talks to God the Father about something he wants for them and for us. It continues, verse one. Father, the time has come, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you, verse two, for you granted him, Jesus saying about himself, authority over all people that he might give eternal life. That is the best gift God gives. God will give you purpose, and God will give you peace, and God will give you acceptance. But the best gift Jesus gives is heaven. If you don't know that you've received the gift of heaven and salvation, when I shut up in just a few moments, find a prayer partner at the edge of the stage and knell it down today. Receive the gift of eternal life for the sake of time. I want you to read the whole prayer, get alone, and just think through and read through, even pray through this great prayer. It's 25 verses, John chapter 17, but I gotta jump around for the sake of time. Look what he says in verse nine. Here's the target or the subject of the prayer. I pray for them, that's the 12. I am not praying for the world. So he's not praying for the cultures.

I'm not praying for the culture, I'm praying for my disciples. I'm not praying, Father, change the world, the world's broken. Don't change the world, change the disciples. Important to understand this. Let me jump again, let me go to verse 20. Excuse me, verse 11, verse 11. I will remain in the world no longer, so at the end of his earthly ministry, but they are still in the world. I'm coming to you, Holy Father, protect them by the power. Wow, Jesus prayed that God the Father would protect us, because sometimes if you have authentic faith, this world can be dangerous and critical and harsh and full of hate. The name you gave me, ready? Here's who he's praying for. So that they may be one. So they may be one as we are. Wow. Y'all, that is so theologically textured. Jesus, God the Son, said, here's my prayer for them, that they would be one, that the 12 would be one. They'd be so unified, their oneness would reflect our unity. The perfect, seamless, holistic integration between God the Father and God the Son. I'm praying for the 12, that they would be one. It continues, I'm gonna jump down to verse 20, verse 20.

Here we go, verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone, but I pray also for those who will believe through. Okay, now he's not just praying for the disciples back in the day, but those who will believe. Y'all, he's praying for us. Jesus prayed for you, Jesus prayed for me. Jesus is praying for Church by the Glades. I feel like, man, I wish people prayed for me more. Jesus prayed for you. Jesus prayed for you. Now he's looking through the quarter of a time, he's seeing us, he's praying for us. Verse 21, verse 21. That all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe, verse 22. I have given them the glory. We sang the doxology a moment ago, ancient song, ancient song, same word, doxa, the glory that we reflect the Church, the glory of Jesus. That they may be one as we are one, as we are one. I in them, you in me, so they may be brought to complete. Louder, complete. So Jesus prays, Jesus prays. Father, protect them. Father, I pray they'd reflect our glory. But six times, they'd be one.

Let me break it down. Jesus is saying this because the world's watching. So the world may believe. So here's the crazy thing. Jesus, here's the distinctive of authentic Christians. It's not our preaching. It's not our prayer. It's not our praise. It's not our programs. It's our oneness. It's our oneness. It's not what you would expect. It's not even our orthodoxy. I mean, good doctrine's really important, right? I wanna traffic in the truth. I want to be theologically right. But he didn't pray for that. That we'd be one. That Christians in this church and Christians all around this city and Christians all around this world would be so unified that the world would look at us and see our oneness and go, what is going on? Why? Because this world is so divided. Everybody out there's mad at everybody. They're so full of hate. And so we're right, they're wrong. My tribe is right, their tribe's idiots.

And here'd be one unique. He didn't pray for the culture because it'll never get fixed in the culture. But he prayed for the subculture called the church. But in this crazy divided world that we would be one, that we would be unified. Incredible. So I'm thinking about this. The blessing of God is found not in the knowing of God's word, but the doing of God's word. It's in the application. I'm thinking, so how in the world can we be one? So I got some theories. Here's some theories, maybe jot these down. Here's one way we can all get along really well. Right, here it is. If I get my way all the time, if you guys would just agree to let me have my way, what are you laughing at? My way all the time. Wait, it'd be beautiful, right? If you just all would agree to do it my way all the time, right? If my family would just agree to do it my way. Anybody have a family? Anybody have a family? Does that one work? Does that one work, right? Anybody have a roommate?

Does that work at all, right? If you have a cat, even, doesn't work, right? Doesn't, maybe a dog, doesn't work. And so guess what? That's never gonna happen. Never gonna happen. That everybody's gonna do exactly what I want. In fact, if you've decided you're gonna be unhappy unless you get your way all the time, you're gonna be unhappy a lot. Just welcome to reality. How about this? How about this? That doesn't work. How about convincing them that I'm right? I'm gonna hop on that comment section. The algorithm has posted something that I feel strongly about. I have a lot of strong convictions. They said what? Oh my, I'm gonna come right back at them. I'm gonna come back. I'm gonna come back and debate and share my great point of view. I'm gonna come back, show them how right I am and how wrong they are. When's the last time you ever convinced anyone of anything on Facebook? When's the last time, right? They had a strong opinion.

You have a different strong opinion. You came in all hard and strong and called them names. And they thought, oh my gosh, I'm an idiot. Thank you so much for showing me how stupid I am. You're so right and I'm so wrong. See, that's a lot of us. And I'm talking to Christians right now. If you're non-Christian, it applies, I guess, to the world, but the world's never gonna be broken. It's always broken, it's never gonna work. But for us, a lot of us think we can just all get on the same page. All these major issues, all kinds of big issues I feel very strongly about and that's fine, I get it. We could just all get on the same page. We'd just be fine. But why is that so? Did you notice Jesus didn't pray for our sin? He didn't pray for our sameness. He prayed for our oneness. He didn't pray they could just get all on the same page about everything. He didn't pray, Father, I pray you'd make them all Republicans. Lord, please be glorified in the Democratic Party. Did I trigger you? Did I trigger you? I mentioned politics. Did I trigger you? Did I trigger you?

I'm not trying to trigger you. But you know, it's probably not gonna happen, at least here. I love all kinds of churches. Some of my dear, dear friends who I love, and they're great pastors, great churches. But how do I say this without being critical? I'm not being critical, but they're just in different parts of the country and these parts of the country and their churches are just more monolithic. I mean, you've been to a church, perhaps, and like almost everywhere in the church is kind of the same age. They're all senior adults. Or my daughter goes to a great church in Nashville and they're all like young guns, all young, super young people. That's amazing. People like to hang out with people they have connectivity with, right? There's churches in America, not by policy or on purpose, but that are mainly one race. There are great black churches in America and there are churches that are primarily Hispanic and there are white churches in America. But would you stop and look around this room? Would you stop? I mean y'all look like a flippin' bag of Skittles. And I love it. I love it.

I love it. But when there's a social issue out there that people feel strongly about, you're a pain in the butt to pastor because you feel so strong and you get worked up. I get it. I get it. I want you to feel strong. I'm not telling you to be devoid of opinions. We live in a country where we celebrate freedom and the right to express our voices. But can we be the one place in this world? Because our church is not monolithic. We're not one of those churches, everybody's the same age, same race, they all think the same, they all vote the same, they all have the same minivan in the parking lot. If we can be so not same, but still be one. Still be one. Still be one. I mean, the world is going to look and go, what the heck? How do they pull that off? How are they unified? See, the answer is not uniformity, we'll never get there. It's unity. So the only option is submitting to the loving lordship of Jesus. We got to put Jesus so in charge and subordinate every other thing to his great commission and recognize, I don't want to agree, maybe I don't even want to like you. He prays six times, father, make them one. Make them one. And this has been hard since the beginning. Those guys on the screen. Those guys. I'm shocked they got along. I'm shocked they didn't kill each other.

You're like, wait a minute, time out, pastor. That's a monolithic group right there. That's a homogenous group. They're all dudes, they're all men. Patriarchy, right? There's no women in the picture. John looks like a chick, but he's not, he's a man. And they're all one race, they're all Jews. They're so alike, yeah, but their personalities, their dispositions. I'm shocked they didn't have fistfights every time they got together. I mean, Peter is boisterous and loud and impulsive. And Thomas, not a doubter, Thomas is cerebral. He's careful, he's considerate. They're so unalike. Nathanael, the Bible says Nathanael was a man who had no guile, meaning this, he's innocent, he's sweet, he thinks the world's a beautiful place. The other Simon, not Simon Peter, but Simon the Zealot, thought the world was broken, the world is dirty, roll up your sleeves, get dirty, get violent. Nicknames, I love good nicknames, James and John, Jesus called the sons of thunder, why? They're loud, they're boisterous, they're ambitious. Four disciples never speak a word of the Bible. Their only shot at oneness was King Jesus. So listen, I never want to preach out of frustration or pain, but please don't go looking for this and don't worry about debating with people online because you can't change anyone's mind. But our church is not your typical church because we're not in your typical context and we're very passionate about the Great Commission, about bringing people to Jesus. So we will do some things other churches don't do. And I'm not saying we're right and they're wrong, I'm not saying that, it's just what God's called us to do. And so what happens is on social media from time to time, we get a lot of hate.

We get a lot of hate, sadly we get hate from other religious people sometimes. And I've gotten a lot of hate over the years, but guess what, I'm a grown man, I'm fine, I've done this for a long time, it really doesn't bother me too badly. It bothers me if somebody reads it in the church and you get distracted or persuaded by it. Their hate online, they're not looking for truth, they violate context, they're looking for clicks. They're looking to draw you into that hateful camp. And listen, so I've been called every name in the book, I've been called demonic. I'm a demonic pastor, it's a demonic, that's pretty bad, right? But I look at that, they don't know me. They don't know I've been here 27 years, they don't know that I've been trying to be faithful to God's word that we teach the Bible, that a lot of people come to Jesus in our church. Yeah, we're creative, we do some things other churches don't, because we do life in South Florida. South Florida, less than 3% of your neighbors identify as committed Christ followers. We're in a mission field, so we don't play it safe. Demonic, not demonic for the record, hashtag not demonic, not satanic. In fact, you know, what is demonic is division. Well, think with me theologically, if Jesus values our oneness, the devil hates anything Jesus values. So his desire is division. And I would argue, biblically speaking, his supreme satanic strategy from the start has been to separate. In Genesis, he separates Adam from God. Then he separates Adam and Eve from the garden. Then he separates Cain from Abel. He separates Jacob from Esau.

He separates Joseph from his 12 brothers. That's just in Genesis. And now, if he can put wedges between Christians that we argue and get mad, even hate on other slightly different Christians. Don't we all believe that a dead man came back to life and salvation's found in his name? Thank you, thank you. Could Jesus pray we'd be one? So think about with me. We always ask Jesus, please answer my prayer. Jesus, I pray for healing. I pray for resourcing. I pray that my son would come to Christ, my daughter. I pray, Lord, I pray for these things. Lord, answer my prayer. Well, stay with me. Jesus prayed for you. For those that will believe, he prayed for me. We ask Jesus to answer our prayers. Now, the devil desires division and hate and anger and fragmentation. But Jesus desires unity. He prayed for our unity. Here's my question. So whose prayer are you gonna answer? You can be the answer. I can be the answer to Jesus' prayer that we would be one, not same. It's hard to be one when you're same.

It's hard to be one when you're different. But the algorithm, the algorithm, it's pushing you towards the poles. It's pushing towards the extremes. See, it's not trying to bring balance. That fiend's not trying to bring balance. It's trying to figure out what we have an appetite for, and we all are intrigued by what is critical and hateful and salacious. And so we go further down that hole. You gotta watch yourself. I love social media. It can be great, but it can be so unhealthy. Quick, quick example. I got my youngest in the front row. If you haven't seen, wait, Zane did an announcement. So Zane, I'm six foot one. He's now passed me up. Why, because he eats all the time. He is so expensive. Back during the school year, his lunch at school was at 10.30, which meant I had to buy second lunch at three o'clock when he got out. But he eats a healthy diet. Primarily he eats good protein, but a couple times a week while we're watching TV typically, Zane'll say, dad, can I have some Doritos? He loves flaming hot Doritos.

If only somebody had a bag. Anybody have a bag, have a random bag? Oh, wait, there's a random bag of flaming hot Doritos right here. Thank you. Wow, that was quite the throw, Luke. I like it. And have you ever had them? They're so good. I'm not a junk food person. They are, here, I'll throw it back to you. You can share some, ready? Come on, communion time, front rows. Share some Doritos right there, Zane. They are so amazing. Now, if he has it a couple times a week, it's junk food, but not a big deal. But what if, like, when he woke up in the morning, I had a second bag there right by his bed when he woke up. Then he walked to the breakfast table, there's another bag there. And on the car ride, I used to drive him to school before he got his license. What if sitting there on his seat was another bag of flaming hot Doritos, and then in his backpack and his locker and at his lunch, you go, David, you're a horrible parent. That's out of balance. It's so unhealthy. I would never do that.

But his phone is with him all those times. The phone for your kid is with her or him all that time. It's not just the hate, it's the insecurity. It's, oh my gosh, someone unfollowed me, and it affects their self-esteem. Y'all know when someone follows or unfollows you or likes you, it's just a flick of a thumb. Be smart. See, the algorithm, the algorithm is trying to feed you what's gonna keep you online. The great theologian, Natalie Merchant in the 90s was right, if lust and hate is the candy, oh, they're gonna give you what you want. So I'm checking out history, and I get a pic of Charles II of Spain. Poor Charles II of Spain. Everybody's hating on the brother because he's not good looking, right? And they're being so cruel, but I did some research. He's a Habsburg, and he actually was a very good king, but he had all kinds of health problems. He was born with all kinds of issues. Like yes, his jaw was too big, his tongue was too big, his stomach was too small, his lungs were underdeveloped, his heart was undersized when they did the autopsy, and he died in his early 30s. All kinds of health issues, developmental delays, didn't talk till he was four, didn't walk till he was eight. What it was was the Habsburgs. ruled the thrones of Europe for 200 years and to protect their bloodline they married each other

for generations. Poor Charles's mom and dad were uncle and niece. This is the result of inbreeding. Your algorithm is inbred. It's showing you just one stream of thought. It's not showing you balance. It's not showing you the other argument. It's just showing you what you want and it is using you. It's trying to get you angry and mad and the devil loves it. Jesus called us to oneness. Oneness. I'm gonna give you the other side. I'm gonna give you the other side. One shows up in this passage in this prayer. Jesus prayed we'd be one a half dozen different times but the word one shows up in your Bible. Ready for this? It shows up in your Bible. My gosh. It shows up 2,000 times. In Joshua 23 it says one warrior in God's name puts a thousand to flight. In the book of Acts the church, the church by the way, it's a big church, a mega church, says was in one accord, one heart, one mind. Jesus is the good shepherd who will lead the 99. Search high and low for what? The one. Deuteronomy chapter 6. It says hear O Israel the Lord thy God. The Lord is one. In Ephesians it says there is one Lord and one faith and one baptism. In 1st Timothy 2 it says there is one mediator between one God and mankind, Jesus Christ. It says in Ephesians 2 that he is our peace making both Jew and Gentile into one people through Christ. It continues in Psalm 23. It says better is one day in the house of God than 10,000 days anywhere else. It says I will ask one thing of God. I will dwell in the house of God forever. Daniel was one man who stood against the culture and faced the lions. David was one young man who took his faith and slingshot and stood against a giant. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were met by the one. The king said that looks like the son of God. John 3 16 says for God to love the world he gave his one and only son. In Romans 12 it says we are different. We are many members but we are one body for we are the church and we're the one place. We're to love each other, be kind to each other, respect each other, and let the world watch and see the difference we make. Father God may we be kind and may it start in the parking lots. In Jesus name I love y'all so much. See you next week at Church by the Glades.