Making Your Phone a Blessing, Not a Curse

I'm curious, how many of you guys know who this is? Don't say it, don't say it. Just, if you know who it is. If you're here in a millennial and want to feel very old, watch this. How many of you have no idea who that is? Raise your hand. Okay, and some millennials tell them who that is. Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell. And that is Zach's brick phone. Zach was the coolest guy in school for many reasons. But one of them was because he was the only kid in his school, in his high school, with a phone. And Saved by the Bell was my favorite show. I watched every episode. And I can remember sitting there thinking, what I could do if I had that phone. Like all of the endless possibilities if I had that phone. And what happened is my brother actually got that phone. He was an early adopter. He had the brick phone. And so the first thing that I did when he let me borrow it is I skipped school. I had a friend, a female friend, write a note. She had pretty handwriting. Write a note from my mom, I'm saying in air quotes. And it just said, Jonathan wasn't feeling well this morning. And if he gets worse, he has our permission to go home. And if you need to call me, here's my number. And that number was my brother's brick phone number. I had another female friend holding that phone, pretending to be my mom. It was a flawless plan. There was no way I was getting caught except for when I gave Miss Kenny, the attendance woman, the note. She compared it to my other notes. And I got busted.

And so this is a great example of technology. Like you can use it for good or you can use it for bad. As soon as I got access to that phone, I used it for bad. This is how this works. It can be a blessing or a curse. But that phone, do you know all of the things that that phone could do? Do you know all of the capabilities that that phone could do? It could just make calls. No apps. No text message. You didn't even know who was calling you. Like the only way you could find out who was calling you is answer and say, who is this? No caller ID. Like that's all that it could do. And still I found out a way to use it for bad. And so that's what I want to talk about with us today. Is this idea that technology can be a blessing or it can be a curse. And really I want to help you make your phone a blessing and not a curse. Because it's like these things go with us everywhere now. I know that the teacher back then said, hey, you're not always going to have a calculator with you. And they were right. Because we've got a calculator and a supercomputer and the World Wide Web with us at all times. A gateway to all kinds of evil at any given moment. And if you're a parent, you especially need to know the ramifications for this. Yesterday, I was excited to have breakfast with Weston. We went to breakfast and we were out of town. He was with me, traveling with me. And so we stayed at a hotel with the waffle bar. He loves that. And he got up to go get his waffle.

And I sat down with my phone just to check and saw I had a bunch of text messages. Kind of going through those. And I looked up and he was done with his waffle. And breakfast had come and gone. And I had spent the entire time on my phone. I don't think we realize the implications of what that's going to do to our kids. And in fact, the American Psychological Association put out some stats. I'll read them to you. Between 2005 and 2017, depression in reported adolescents aged 12 to 17 rose 52%. Those adolescents are 19 to 24 today. In young adults, 18 to 25, depression rose 63%. Those young adults are 25 to 32 today. The CDC said between 2000 and 2018, suicide rates in the United States increased by 37%. Why? Why? What's happening? More than 20% of adults have reported having mental illness. The American Psychological Association said teens with the highest social media use rated their overall mental health the poorest. While teens with the lowest use rated their overall mental health the highest. Additionally, 10% of the highest use group expressed suicidal intent or self-harm in the past 12 months. Lifeway Research discovered that individuals who read or who spend an hour a day studying the Bible spend an average of two and a half hours on social media. Speaking of health, I woke up at 2.30 this morning with the stomach bug and so if I don't look the don't have the color in my skin right now or have to stop for a second we our amazing team came up here at 6 a.m. to record this message and I will say that I am struggling so pray for your boy and and I I wanted I just I felt like hey the enemies does not want you guys to hear this message and it needs to be out this week I met with someone addicted to alcohol I met with someone addicted to nicotine I met with someone addicted to THC I met with someone addicted to pornography and all of us

were addicted to our phones this series is born out of my own struggle my name is Jonathan Bacluda and I am a believer in Christ who is addicted to my phone I've got accountability in place I'm working through it and the reality is so are most of you and that doesn't let me off the hook it just means we're all in this together and we've got to figure out what to do and I have met with pastor after pastor I met with our friends at RO who are experts on this studying it very closely and we collectively believe this is among the greatest dangers to believers the greatest danger to the church today this is what is hindering our thriving relationship with Jesus Christ if you're a guest with us today it's always my preference to teach the scripture to read a passage to explain it and illustrate it today's gonna look different I'm going to teach two ideas out of the Bible for the first half of the message and then give you five points to make your technology specifically your phone a blessing and not a curse in the second half of the message and so there's a clear and obvious rhythm in the scripture there's a clear and obvious rhythm in the Bible and it's this God blesses his people and then his people use those blessings to make false gods or idols or use those blessings to have others worship them okay God blesses his people we take the blessings we use those blessings to make false gods or to have other people worship us and so one a great example of this and there are many is in Genesis 32 Moses I'm sorry Exodus 32 Moses is up Mount Sinai and the Israelites get tired of waiting for him and so Aaron takes all of their gold and throws it or cast melts it down and makes a golden calf and they worship it and then this is what they said these are your God's Israel who brought you out of Egypt so God had set them free from slavery to the Egyptians they're wandering in the desert and they're frustrated and impatient so they make fake gods to worship but here's my question for you where in the world did a bunch of slaves get millions and millions and millions of dollars in gold have you ever wondered this Exodus 12 says this the Israelites did as Moses instructed this is when they're in slavery being set free they did as Moses instructed and asked the

Egyptians for articles of silver and gold for clothing the Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people and they gave them what they asked for so they plundered the Egyptians okay quick recap they're in slave God got there in slavery God sets them free on their way out God gives them millions of dollars in gold they get tired of waiting on God and so they take the gold that he gave them and they make false gods and they worship them and they credit those false gods for the work that the one true God did this is the rhythm that you see in Scripture okay it starts in Genesis 3 with the fall and sin and then we know the whole world goes corrupt and God destroys the world by a flood and then Moses Moses I'm sorry guys my head Noah builds an ark okay this is an example of technology one of first examples of technology in the Scripture. Let me read to you how technology is defined. This is from Merriam-Webster definition. The practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area such as engineering. Okay? So now we know that technology, it's something that man created with gifts from God and it can be used for good and it can be used for bad. C.S. Lewis said, and I'll paraphrase, however great something's potential for good is equally great is its potential for evil and technology is no exception to that. And so if that's the definition of technology, what's one of the very first examples of technology? The wheel would be. The wheel would be one of the first examples of technology. What you see in the Scripture from the beginning is God says, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. In Genesis 1, He says, be fruitful and multiply. In Genesis 7, after Noah gets off the ark, He repeats this command, be fruitful and multiply. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number. Multiply on the earth and increase upon it. But in Genesis chapter 11, you're gonna see the use of technology gone wrong. It says, Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used bricks instead of stone and tar for murder. This is the invention of bricks right here.

We're seeing it, okay? Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth. God tells them to fill the earth. They say, Now let's stay here. They invent bricks and they use the bricks to make a tower so that they can make a name for themselves. This is what we do, guys. We take something that's meant to be a blessing and we use it as a curse on our lives and a curse on our families and a curse on our children. This is the best example of that today. So I want to help you make technology a blessing again. I'm gonna give you five things to do. So the first thing you're gonna do is build boundaries. Number one, build boundaries. As you think about boundaries or limits, like in your car, there are speed limits and there are off limits. Well, on your phone, there are time limits and there are off limits. There are times that you need to be off your phone. The easy ones are meal time. If you go out to a restaurant, leave your phone in the car. If the family sits down for a meal, have a drawer where everybody puts their phone in, okay? This is something that we are starting to implement in our family. There has to be those time limitations. You have apps. You can set boundaries on your phone. You can set how many hours you want to be on your phone. You can have it turn off at a certain time. So there are time limits and there are off limits. The off limits, this is a gateway to all kinds of evil in your pocket. There's pornography, there's gambling, there's greed, materialism, there's comparison. Lots of sin can happen on your phone. There are places on your phone that you must not go. I have the same conversation. I've said this many times. I have the same conversation right here often. Somebody comes up, they know my story, they know my past of pornography addiction and my journey of recovery through that, and they'll say, hey man, pastor, my story is just like yours. And I'm like, what do you mean? Like, I'm struggling. I'm like, what are you struggling with? They can't say the word typically. I'm like, you got to say it. You got to say it so the enemy loses his grip and say, I'm struggling with pornography. Hey, let me ask you a

question. How do you access pornography? To which they say, my phone. To which I say, where's your phone? To which they say, in their pocket. To which I say, I thought you said you were struggling. They said, I am. I said, no you're not. You're not struggling. You're carrying it around with you everywhere you go. Man, what do you want me to do? Get rid of my phone? Yes. Of course. Like, of course. Or get accountability software or something, right? I'd say, man, that just seems legalistic. Let me read to you the words of Jesus. Matthew 5. I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her. in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to throw into hell." If you have a problem with Jesus's words, I promise you the problem is not Jesus. The problem is with you. And so yeah, he's speaking in hyperbole. You know, talking about the hand and the eye. But at least lose your phone or brick your phone or get a brick phone. You know, do something. And that leads me to my second point. Remove distractions. So as you remove distractions, this can be apps that you don't use. This can be temptations. You want to make it really difficult for yourself to send through this device. And so you understand if that's you and there's something that you need to do. And so remove distractions. Remove the noise. Listen, January 1st, a new year, it's a great time to unsubscribe to a bunch of emailers. It's a great time to go in your phone and delete all the apps that you don't use. Or maybe you use them but they're just a total waste of time. Maybe in this time we need to, you know, as we're fasting from technology, you need to just decide like, hey, I'm not gonna play that game anymore. I just, I don't care. I've spent too many hours there. I'm gonna delete that social media. I'm not using it for good. I'm not using it to further the kingdom. I would be a better Christian without it. And so remove those distractions. But there has to be time then when you're sitting down, and as I said in, you know, Build Boundaries, that

you remove yourself. Speaking of distraction, there's my alarm, okay? And so there has to be time where you remove your phone, rather, you have to remove your phone from the situation, right? And so there, you know, Simon Sinek says this. He says that the whole situation changes when someone has their phone out. What it's communicating, what it makes the other person feel like that they're meeting with, is that whatever might happen on their phone is more important than them. Do you know why they feel that way? Because it's true. Because it's true. And it doesn't matter, he says, if you turn your phone over, it doesn't change anything, just the device being out. And in fact, he instructs us put it on airplane mode and put it away out of sight when you're meeting with someone, when you're with your family. There's a new term that has come up. It's called FUBBING, which stands for phone snubbing. And they're watching the impact of this on children. And they're saying that parents who consistently FUBB, okay, their children, they're seeing the same side effects as abandonment. And they're seeing behavior issues later in life tied to this activity. So something has to change. That's why Jesus told us in Matthew 5, we may have to gouge it out, we may have to cut it off. Something you can do is, like, if you're expecting a phone call, you put your phone away and you say, hey, I'm gonna check that in 10 minutes. But in the next 10 minutes, I'm gonna be all in with you. But then, then I'm gonna check because I've got a call coming. You can just explain that to them. But it doesn't have to remain out. And a lot of us, we hear that and it's like, hey, put our phone away at mealtimes. That's a good idea. But we don't, we're not gonna do it. Do you know why? Because we don't want to. That's why. Which is consistent with the idea of addiction. And this is why we have to, number three, invite accountability. You have to invite accountability, bring others into the problem. Okay, so here's what I want you to do. How many of you have iPhones? Raise your hand if you have an iPhone. Okay, raise your hand if you have an Android. Okay, we know you think you're better than us or not. Any of you have no phone? Anybody here no phone? If there's hands raised in the room, can we just applaud them? Can we just thank them for, I mean, kudos to you.

You know, I don't, I don't know how you do it, but if you're here, praise God for you. But what I want you to do with your iPhone is pull it out. And I don't really know how to do this on Android. If you do, because you have an Android, you probably know how. But go to settings. If you don't know how to find settings, just, you know, swipe down to the search bar, type in settings, and go to the main settings screen where you can put it on. airplane mode and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and just go to battery and click on battery. May take a minute to load, and there you have your screen time. That number kind of, if you just scroll down a little bit, you'll see the first big number. It's, you know, something hours, something minutes. And then you have your apps right there. Look at those. Which is your most used app? Which is of you, you know, how many of you, Instagram, most used app? Facebook, most used app. Text messages, most used app. Okay, Bible, most used app. Okay, I want you to scroll down how far until you get to the Bible, or really anything faith-based, anything kingdom-minded. And you might consider deleting the apps ahead of it, or not using them, or fasting from them, right? What I want you to do is screenshot this, okay? So scroll where it has your screen time and your apps, and just push in the power button and the, you know, the up button, the volume up button, and screenshot it.

Okay, and now I want you to text that to your life group. Say, help. Help. And some of you don't want to. And I mean this as kindly as I can say it. It's not just the meds talking, but when was this ever about what you wanted? Like we're putting to death the deeds of the flesh the Scripture calls us to. This is an epidemic in our day, and it's costing, it's literally taking our children from us. So 1 Corinthians 6, 12 says, I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything. Listen to this, the typical teen spends 270 minutes, or four and a half hours on weekdays, and 380 minutes on weekends looking at their phone. That's about 30% of the time that they're awake. And so parents, here's a parents corner, you ready? I want all the parents in the room to say no. Okay, on three, one, two, three. No. Okay. But everyone has one. But I'm gonna be the only one who, no. And I get it, you're like, man, but what if we really mess our kids up by being too strict? You might, and you might, that's true, you might.

But you absolutely will by giving them a device without boundaries, okay? And so what we do in our phone, or in our house, rather, is we have a home phone that the kids can use when they're younger, and when they go into high school, they take that with them at all times, and they know that it's our phone. They can use it, but it's our phone. And this minimizes the challenges with privacy, or us looking, because it's our phone. So I can look at it any time I want. They know they're not to take it in their rooms, they know they're not to take it in the bathroom. We, in pastoral ministry, we've seen an influx of online predators. We've seen an influx of sexual exploitation where someone gets a picture of someone, and then they charge them ransom, and it's happening, and people aren't talking about it, but they'll talk to us about it. There's lots of articles on it, right? And you just gotta know that there are predators everywhere, and I'm not fear-mongering. Like, the problem is, and this is well said, is we are too protective of our kids in the world, and not protective enough in the virtual world, where the bad guys truly are hiding. And so number four, cultivate community. Don't do this alone, but also what I mean by that point, cultivate community, is use your phone

to bring people in face-to-face, okay? Here's some more stats. Time spent hanging out in person dropped 20% from 2003 to 2023. Among people younger than 25, it dropped 35%. Adults having dinner with friends on any given night dropped 30% in the same time span. The National Restaurant Association says 74% of restaurant traffic was delivery or takeout in 2023. And so we're not doing life together. Like some of you, you're watching from afar and you've been doing that since COVID. And it's time to gather with the saints again. Okay. If you're watching from another state and you're like, this is my church, I go to Harris Creek. Then you need to bring other people into your living room. You need to invite them in so that you're not doing this alone. This is our corporate gathering. This is the gathering of the saints. So use your device to get people to your table. Use your device to get face to face with others. Some of you, you've missed community because you just didn't feel like going. Again, when was this about you? Stop building towers. Stop building towers. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says, Okay. Don't forsake the gathering together. Cultivate community. And then number five, keep in touch. This is a great, correct use of this device. Proverbs 20, 7, 10 says,

You know, I talked to my mom on Fridays, right? She lives three hours away, but we talk on this device every Friday. I know you're like, I don't, but I don't want to talk on it. I want to text. Who talks on the phone anymore? Again, we want to be healthy. Mental illness is up. Anxiety's up. Depression's up. Suicide is up. What are we going to do about it? We've got to do something. And so, you know, you just to keep in touch with God, you have your Bible on it, right? I'm not saying it has to be the primary place where you read your Bible, but if you have some time in an airport or on the plane or wherever you're at, like put it on airplane mode, read the scriptures. With greater advancements come greater risks. More and more relationships are long distance today, and your child can go to second base without being in the same zip code. You need to know that, right? And so we have to be aware of these things, ask questions and help our kids. I've, the kids, they're not going to be able to go to school. Ask questions and help our kids. I've, the kids that are helped most by the parents, I know they're so resistant, but they are so, I've seen the product of parenting for over a decade and they are so thankful. And so in summary, to help your phone, your device be a blessing and not a curse, you're going to number one, build boundaries. Number two, remove distractions. Number three, invite accountability. Number four, cultivate community. And number five, keep in touch. And you can remember this because as you think about one of those first technologies, the Israelites, I'm not the Israelites, rather the God's people, as they get off the ark and they go about the world and he says, be fruitful and multiply and they build a tower. Um, they used bricks with the invention of bricks. And so that's the, the acrostic there, B-R-I-C-K. And I think that can help you use your device as a blessing and not a curse.

Um, I don't want you to be discouraged. First Corinthians 10, 13 says, no temptation has seized you except what is common to mankind and God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. And when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Technology can be a blessing or curse. Think about what's happening right now. This amazing team showing up, streaming this so that you can still catch the message. I know that it's not going to be the greatest delivery you've ever heard. I know it's kind of a weird, uh, you know, different than normal. And yet we can still do it because of technology. You guys didn't even know this. I got sick four times in the middle of the message. I'm sure because there's some master editing. Uh, I'll just end with this. My, my love language is gifts and I, um, I love buying gifts. I love giving them in creative ways. You know, my, my wife is kind of lost on her. Her love language is acts of service. That's, that's tough, but, um, she wanted. The Suburban, this was in a past, you know, this was before ministry days. I was in the world and she wanted a Suburban and, uh, yeah, I bought her an Escalade, Cadillac Escalade, gave it to her in a creative way, put her on the side of the road, put her for sale sign on it. I knew she'd see it in our neighborhood and she'd asked me to call on it. And so I called and, and she went in the, I said, Hey, they said to look at the, all the information's in the glove box. And when she opened it up and just said, Monica, it's yours, you know, this is your new car and, and, you know, as a gift giver, it's, you know, she's, she's grateful. She's like, Oh babe, thanks.

You know, but she just doesn't care that much about material things. She's kind of, Oh, thanks. Well, one time for her birthday, I went to Home Depot and I got a box and I bought a, you know, a master lock, just a padlock with a key. And I took the sawzall and I cut a phone size hole in the top of the box, similar to what John talked about two weeks ago. And, um, and I gave her the key. I, she opened it and I said, Hey, this is yours. And I gave her the key. I said, this is yours. And my phone's going to go in there when I get home. And she wept. I mean, I've cried tears of gratitude, hysterical. I mean, she wept just in gratitude. And, and so there's something about that. Right. Um, and so what I gave the family this year for Christmas. Is this device? I think we have a picture. It says, ironically, it's not a commercial for them, but it says brick. And I have no ties to this company. We get nothing, but, um, it says brick. And what happens is if you tap your phone to it, it, it makes your, it breaks your phone and makes it where you can just make phone calls. And so when I get home after work, I tap my phone. There's no battery in it. It's amazing technology. And I tap my phone to it. It makes my phone where I can just make phone calls and it won't be unbricked until I go back in my car and tap it again.

And this, uh, allows me to be in like, I don't want to send my, listen, I think I'm a good dad and we make memories. We have fun. We play games. We have meals together. But if my kids are going to have any complaint against me, it's going to be that he was on his phone too much. And the shot clock is running out. I'm about to launch one into the world. And I just don't want that to be her story. And I don't want to shame you guys. Listen, the cross, it takes care of your wrongdoings. Jesus died for your sins. God raised him from the dead and the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead can help you with your phone addiction. If you want help, he can help you build boundaries, remove distractions, invite accountability, cultivate community, and keep in touch. Let me pray. Father, thank you for the amazing team that got here early this morning to make this happen. Thank you for just technology and the blessing that it can be. And father, I pray that you would protect us from the enemy who wants to use it to curse us. And I pray that we would just, um, seek you just as we find those boundaries, those times where, where our phone needs to be removed. Certainly that's when we're spending time with you, that we would put our phone in the other room, give us the courage to get away from it, to disconnect from it, help us. God, I'm afraid, not afraid, but concerned that we've gone too far. We need your help.

We love you. We give you praise and we worship you now in Jesus name. Amen.