Now We Go To School : The Three Little Pigs of Technology (Full Experience)

Come on, today's the day that the Lord has made. We're gonna rejoice. We're gonna be glad today. We're gonna sing. Let's put our hands together. ♪ I'm shaking off the heaviness ♪ ♪ I'm dancing out of my regrets ♪ ♪ I'm throwing caution to the wind ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Some say it's foolishness ♪ ♪ But I would say it's worth the risk ♪ ♪ I can't forget what Jesus did ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ Come on. ♪ Where are those chains that once held me? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done to me ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, come on. ♪ ♪ I found a friend that never quits ♪ ♪ No one loves as good as this ♪ ♪ And I don't care what anyone says ♪ ♪ I'll never be ashamed to praise like this ♪ Come on. ♪ Where are those chains that once held me? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪

♪ My sin is gone, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ Come on. ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean, come on ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, let me hear you ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, you took the cross ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clean, oh thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it ♪ ♪ Only God can do it, come on sing it out ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, oh let's sing ♪ ♪ Sing, where are those chains I once held me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, my sin is gone ♪ ♪ How can it be, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord, look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe, I believe, I believe ♪ ♪ Thank God I'm free ♪ Come on, any of you feel free this morning? Come on, anybody in here can say,

I'm free, thank you Jesus. Come on, that freedom is available to every single person in this room today because God gives it to you freely. You can experience this freedom freely. So how about you turn to three people around you and say, freedom is here. Come on, let me hear you, freedom is here. Okay, let's hear it one more time. Let's sing, ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back the way I was ♪ ♪ I'm never going back ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done to me ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord ♪ Look at, look at what the Lord has done to me ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was, I'm never going back ♪ Freedom is here. ♪ Look at what the Lord has done to me ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ Father, we're so thankful for what you've done in our lives. One line in that song, do you just say, look at what the Lord has done. The enemy is trying to trick you to look at what he's trying to do, what he's trying to take you away from. But the name of Jesus,

Jesus has taken us all to the next place. I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus I just want to speak the name of Jesus every damn addiction starts to break every tear is gold but there is freedom I speak Jesus say the name of Jesus your name is power your name is healing your name is life break every stronghold shine through the shadows burn like a fire come on let's speak the name of Jesus let's go I just want to speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety to every soul held captive by depression I speak Jesus we speak your name your name is power your name is healing your name is life break every stronghold shine through the shadows burn like a fire your name is power your name is healing

your name is life break every stronghold shine through the shadows burn like a fire shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the holy name Jesus shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the holy name of Jesus your name is power your name is healing your name is life break every stronghold break every stronghold shine through the shadows burn like a fire we lift up your name your name is power your name is healing your name is life break every stronghold

shine through the shadows burn like a fire come on will you lift up the name of Jesus today Jesus we give you glory and honour we lift up your name Lord you may be seated welcome to Fellowship Church one church family in many locations on behalf of pastors Ed and Lisa no matter what brought you here today whether you're searching for hope looking for community or wanting to build your faith or simply just curious about Jesus we'd love to help you take your next step through our Bible study classes connect groups, support and recovery our veterans Bible study and breakfast are serving you here at the church and in the community or FC Sports, there's a place here for you to grow. To take your next step, simply tap your seat or grab the Connect card in front of you and take a moment to fill it out. Our team will reach out first thing this week. And if there's something on your heart you'd like prayer for, we'd be honored to pray with you. Today, we begin a brand new series called Now We Go To School. And we wanna celebrate our students and how Jesus is moving in their generation.

All summer long, lives were changed at our beautiful camp and retreat center in East Texas called Elaso Ranch. Story after story of students discovering and responding to who Jesus is and the life he came to give them. A fire was ignited and this past Wednesday, they brought that fire home. Thousands of students from across all our Fellowship Church locations came together, bringing their friends out to meet Jesus at our first mix event of the school year, Unite Now. Unite Now. Romans 8, 29, where the Apostle Paul is giving every single individual who calls themselves a Christ follower what your ultimate goal in life is. And it is not to one day build a business, make a ton of money, get into the dream school, get the starting spot on varsity this year. The ultimate achievement in life for the Christian is to become more like Jesus. In the name of Jesus, Father, thank you for every single student here. And I'm just believing God for the best in this season. And if this is what God is doing now, imagine what he will do through our faith and generosity when we make even more room by building the anchor center. It's not just a building, it's the future home for rescuing and anchoring the next generation.

God, I pray that what is taking place in the next generation right now would not stop or end with this generation, but it would continue for generations to come. Oh, come on, Fellowship Church. Isn't it awesome to see all that God is doing? School is right around the corner. Do we have any students excited to go back to school? None. Any parents ready for their kids to get back to school, though? The Kelly family is ready for some routines. Welcome to Fellowship Church. And we wanna give a special welcome to all the teachers, school faculty, school admin. Can we make some noise to show them our appreciation for joining us today? We're so glad you're here. And whoever you are, we want you to know that we believe whatever God has in plan for your life is so much better than what you could dream up on your own. In fact, just this last week, there was a gentleman that shared he's been coming to our church for 20 plus years, but just recently took the step in to start serving and getting really involved in Fellowship Church. And I love what he said. He said, it feels like a whole new church and a whole new me. Here's why that's awesome.

We live in a world that defines influence as the amount of people that are serving you. But Jesus says influence is measured by how well you serve other people. And you can experience all that God has for you by getting connected. And so if you're here and you want to get connected, you can take this card, just take a moment to fill out some basic information about yourself, and you can drop that in the offering in just a moment as it passes. And for others, it might look like stepping up and beginning to tithe, bringing the first 10% of what you earn back to God and to his house. We don't pressure anyone to give here at Fellowship Church. We just simply teach what the Bible teaches, that we are blessed to be a blessing, that it is a privilege and a joy to be a part of advancing the kingdom of heaven here on earth. And it's why there are so many people giving above and beyond their tithes to the Anchor Center. And I've got some exciting news. Are you ready? I wanna say August 30th. August 30th, we are having a groundbreaking ceremony for the Anchor Center. We've got our permit right there that we got this week.

That is a beautiful piece of paper. And we're excited because we've got a ways to go financially, but we're taking this step of faith to see this God dream turn into a reality. If you wanna join us, tap your seat right there. We'd love to have you hop on board. And if you're excited about what God is doing in your life and in the church, would you clap your hands this morning for our host come and begin to pass the offering today. Host, you can begin to do that. And I'm reminded this morning of Isaiah 55 that said, God's word never returns void. That reminds us that God's word is always going to achieve its intended purpose. Here's why that's awesome. In just a moment, we're gonna hear the word of God opened up and we're not just gonna hear it. We are positioning ourselves for God to do something in and through our lives. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, I'm ready. to hear from God today. Now turn to your second option. Look to them and say, neighbor, I'm ready to hear from God today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me

as we pray. Jesus, I thank you for who you are, for all that you're doing. God, I thank you for that promise in Isaiah 55, that your word never returns void. And God, we also wanna live out James 1. We don't just wanna hear your word, we want to live it out in our lives. God, I thank you for every single person that's a part of this experience this morning, that it wouldn't just be filling a seat, but we would meet with you today. We ask all these things in your son's name. Everybody said, amen. Would you stand with us, church, as we continue to worship this morning? ♪ I wanna be close, close to your side ♪ ♪ So heaven is real and death is a lie ♪ ♪ I wanna hear voices of angels applaud ♪ ♪ Singing as one, hallelujah, holy, holy ♪ ♪ God Almighty, great I am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, none beside thee ♪ ♪ God Almighty, the great I am ♪ Sing, I wanna be here. ♪ I wanna be near, near to your heart ♪ ♪ Loving the world, hating the dark ♪ ♪ I wanna see dry bones living again ♪ ♪ Singing as one, every voice, hallelujah, holy, holy ♪ ♪ God Almighty, he's the great I am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, none beside thee ♪

♪ God Almighty, the great I am ♪ ♪ You're the great I am, you're the great I am ♪ Jesus, you are Lord. Yes, you are, yes, you are. Come on, sing this, let's sing. ♪ The mountains shake before him ♪ ♪ The demons run and flee at the mention of his name ♪ That's it, there is no power. ♪ There is no power in hell, nor any who can stand ♪ ♪ Before the power and the presence of the great I am ♪ ♪ The great I am, the great I am, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You're the great I am, the great I am, yeah ♪ ♪ The great I am, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ Every voice raise to heaven, we shout. ♪ Hallelujah, holy, holy, God Almighty ♪ ♪ The great I am, who is worthy, none beside thee ♪ ♪ God Almighty, the great I am ♪ We lift up your name today. He's the great I am. Keep up what all kings we say. ♪ The great I am, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You're the great I am, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ Come on, with all you've got, let's declare this. The mountains. Come on. There's so much power in the name of Jesus. Hey. Come on. Come on.

♪ The great I am, the great I am ♪ We lift up your name, King Jesus. ♪ The great I am, the great I am ♪ Nothing higher. ♪ You're the great I Am One more time with more grace. Hallelujah. Shout it out. Holy, holy, God almighty. You're the great I Am. Yes, who is worth none in heaven and on earth. God almighty. God almighty. You're the great I Am. Hallelujah. Oh, holy, holy, God almighty. The great I Am. Who is worthy none beside thee. God almighty. The great I Am. The great I Am. The great I Am. The great I Am. Lift up his name. He's the great I Am. Jesus, we give you all the glory in this place today. We thank you for what you're gonna do. In your name and everybody's shouting, amen. You may be seated. You may be seated.

Let's offer you the glory of Jesus. Let's offer you the glory of Jesus with every heart and everything. We thank you that you're here today to share the love with us today as one person. Now, where have you gone in your dreams last night? Over the past fortnight, having all of us come together to make our dreams come true andhoe fly up above the sky. Imagine the kids. And the pig will like it. George Bernard Shaw was the one that popularized that phrase but as you research it, he ripped off Christ's words in Matthew chapter seven, verse six, when Jesus said, do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under your feet and turn and tear you to pieces. The pearls, that's the truth. That's the holy things of God. That's the gospel of God. The pigs are the hypocrites. Is it just me or have you discovered that hypocrites are hypocritical? And then the prey, not P-R-A-Y, P-R-E-Y, would be you and me. Jesus was saying, use your judgment, use your discernment to stay away from the devil. From pig fights. And as you look around our culture today,

isn't it true that we're just surrounded by pig fights? We're surrounded by a lot of pigology. I am kicking off a series called Now We Go to School. And today we're learning about pigs. And I'm gonna talk to you today about a sector of our culture where we see more wrestling with pigs than any other sector. I'm talking about, you guessed it, technology. Technology, what the heck, knowledgey. Give me some rechnology. We need to collect knowledgey, don't we? Now, obviously, I'm pro and we should be pro technology. It's one of the best inventions of mankind. The connectivity, the opportunity to share the gospel, the opportunity to get to know people, to learn things. I mean, like that. Are we any better, though? So there's an upside, though, to technology. We need to baptize it. But then there's a dark side. There's definitely a downside. I think about the students. How many students do we have in the house? All right, all right. You're the most connected generation. history, yet you're the most disconnected. There's more depression, there's more anxiety, there's more suicidal thoughts today than ever before. It's ironic, isn't it? It's paradoxical. Well, man, Jesus is saying people are pigs, Ed. No, not literally. He is saying, though, that there are some conversations and

situations that you don't need to engage in. He's saying you don't have to comment on every post. He's saying if you see something and it makes you angry and I'm gonna say this or that, don't do it. Jesus is saying. There were pigs back then and there's pigs today. It doesn't mean we don't love the pigs and pray for the pigs. We just don't engage them. Why would Jesus say that, though? Think about that. Well, one of the reasons is, okay, let's say you engage a pig and let's say you win some argument on the golf course or in the boardroom or around the neighborhood or online. Let's say you win this argument. You've just beaten a pig. That doesn't really move the needle, does it? Think about the time, energy, and effort just to do that. It's not worth it. Also, too, notice that pigs, Jesus said it, they don't care about the truth. When you wrestle with a pig, think about it, pigs covered in mud. I mean, the pig likes it and then you become covered in mud and after a while you can't tell the difference between the two. Furthermore, pigs don't fight fair. They'll bite the fool out of you. You might not know this, but a couple of years ago, Lisa was bitten by a pig at a Lasso Ranch. Just thought I'd throw that out for you. And as you study theology and as you study Christian art, pigs are betrayed and they're symbolized in a lot of negative ways, like depravity. They're symbolized as being unclean. You remember the Gerasene demoniac? Jesus cast out all of the demons into a herd of pigs and then the pigs went over the cliff to their death. That's the first example we have of deviled ham, but I've got to throw in one preacher joke, a sermon, and that's an old school preacher joke. You know I'm a pastor's kid, so I had to kind of do that, giving love to all of the pastor's kids. Here's another preacher's joke. I just thought about this, and I don't tell a lot of jokes, but this is another good one. You know God must have loved coffee, right? The book of Hebrews. Come on, come on. Yeah, thank you. Technology, though, is where we see pigology. I'll say it again. Technology is where we see pigology. We see a lot of good things. There's a lot of potential there, but we see a lot of pigology, and Jesus is driving at that. You know Matthew 7, verses 1 through 6? That section of Scripture has got to be the non-Christians' most favorite section

of Scripture to quote. Now, they quote it out of context, but how many times have you heard people say, hey man, don't judge. That's what Jesus said. Hey, don't. You're judging me. Don't judge me. Those are common phrases. You know, God said don't judge. Well, Jesus did not say that in Matthew 7, verses 1 through 6. He said that we are to judge in a compassionate way, using our discernment and wisdom. For example, think about all the judgments you made just today from how you got to fellowship church, to your clothing, to the judgment call of what you had for breakfast, your kids, I mean, everything we do is judgment. So Jesus is saying, use discernment, use judgment. You can judge, but don't judge in a way that condemns someone. Only God can do that. That's why people say sometimes, and this is horrible language, they'll say, God damn it. So you can't say as a human being, you can't tell God what to damn, what to condemn. God, as we know, is the ultimate judge. But it does not mean we should not take a wide berth around the pigsty. So who are the pigs in your life? Seriously. Well, if they look like a pig and act like a pig and smell like a pig and snort like a pig, they're pigs. Doesn't mean we hate them. Again, we pray for them, but we take a wide berth around the pig pen. You remember the three little pigs? Well, I've pinpointed three little pigs of technology. And we see them and run into them all the time.

And what's interesting is, the three little pigs of technology are the core values of Satan himself, which is sort of scary, isn't it? Before I get into the three little pigs of technology, I know you can't wait to hear what those are. As I was praying about this series, because I'm talking about technology today, next week, I'm talking about bullying. Ooh, bullying is not just a student thing. It's also an adult thing. It happens on the freeway and also on the fairway. It happens when you're living life, when you're in school, when you're out of school. It happens offline and online, bullying. And we're talking about that next week. You won't believe what the Bible says about bullying. Incredible stuff. I'm gonna talk to the bullies next week, those of us who have been bullied, because you know what? I've been bullied. I really have. So have you, probably. And then I'm gonna talk about the innocent bystanders, those people that kind of hang out, you know, when people kind of hang out and they watch people being bullied. Huh. Let's talk about that, because the Bible, I mean,

has some awesome stuff to say about it. I'll give you a teaser for next week. Your bully can become a pulley that takes you to the next level. Okay, that's next week. The following week, I'm talking about depression. Depression's real. Do you realize some of the best Christians, some of the best men and women in the Bible suffered and dealt with depression? The final week, we're talking about, this is one of my favorites, peer pressure. I'm just peering at you and causing pressure as I peer. Adults deal with that. Technology has become a god, lowercase g, so I decided in my spare time, and this is not sacrilegious, but I've written out the technology prayer. You've heard of the Lord's Prayer? And I wrote this without using AI, okay? I'll recite it. Our technology, you are in heaven, hell would be my fame. A lot of us pray that prayer, don't we? Thy posts come, my DMs are done on Instagram as it is on TikTok. Give us this day our daily screen time and deliver us from our haters as we hate those who hate against us.

And lead us not into the wrong algorithm, but deliver us from the uncool. For popularity is my thing, then my power and my glory forever. Amen. That's a prayer, we don't want to admit it, that a lot of us pray. Now, before I get into the three little pigs, I have also conducted an informal poll about technology. I have asked a cross-section of people over the last several weeks about technology. Some are believers, some are not. I mean, some are complete hellions, and I've gone, hey, I want to ask. Good question. No, okay, okay. Tell me about technology. I said, do you think technology is good, mostly good, or mostly bad? Every one of them said, and I was shocked, it's mostly bad. Technology is a mirror, isn't it, of mankind. It's a mirror of who we are. It's a mirror of our depravity. Also, though, it can be a mirror of our potential. The three little pigs of technology. Pig number one, pig one, pride. Pride, the pig of pride. Scroll through any social media platform, you're gonna see pride.

I think about Isaiah chapter 14, verses 13 through 14. This is a writing about what Lucifer was trying to do in the heavenlies. You see, before Lucifer became the devil, he was in charge of worship in heaven. He tried to usurp God, so we see the sin of pride. And as I read what he was thinking, it sounds like some of the posts I've read before. Laughter. You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens, I will raise my throne above the sky. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly of the utmost heights of Mount Zephon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Pride, pride. Pride is the forerunner, the precursor of all sin. So before I sin, I'm always gonna deal with pride. Since pride is the forerunner of all sin, the ride of pride. Oh, that girl's on an ego trip. That guy's on an ego trip. Pride always distances us from ourselves, who we should be before God. It distances us from others, and it distances us from God and his church. Pride, the ride of pride. It's wicked. It's wicked.

Pride. Think about your posts. Do you edit your posts? You should. Edit those personal pronouns. I amaze myself in my pride. I really do. But see, I see pride in you, but I don't see it in myself. Oh, I'm not prideful, but you are. You are. And sometimes people think the most ostentatious person is the most prideful. Well, sometimes. But in other situations, it's the quiet ones, because they're prideful in their humility. So the moment you think you're humble, you're prideful. Anyway, that's the first of the little pigs. And I'm gonna unpack that more and more next time. But 2 Corinthians 10, 12 says, we do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. It's unfair to compare. So pride is when I put myself on a shelf that's designed for God. Pride basically says this, look at me. Now let's go to the next of the three little pigs, the second of the three little pigs.

The first being pride, the second being something that we don't talk about a lot, but I think is the foremost sin online and in technology, envy, the pig of envy. What is envy? Envy is when I'm sad over your successes and I'm a fan of your failure. I think you don't deserve those blessings, I do. Envy begins where my influence ends. Envy begins where my income ends. I'm not envious over a surgeon. I'm not envious over a professional athlete or a teacher or a coach, but you throw a pastor in there. What? He has this and that many followers and he speaks here, there and yonder. Look, God, I deserve that. Envy is the only sin, and I've written a book about this, my first book. I counted this past week, I've written 23 books. I have five right now that I'm publishing. And I'm really excited about them because we have just a great team that does that for us. But the first book I ever wrote was a book on the seven deadly sins. And as I researched envy, I discovered envy is the only sin that starts out ugly and ends ugly. The other sins start out, you know, with some promise. Like pride, I love to brag. I've written 23 books.

Ha ha ha. But then after the message, I'll say to myself, Ed, you're so prideful. What's this, humble brag time now? You see, I start out, oh, it felt good, but now, mm-mm-mm. Envy, though, starts out U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, ugly, and it ends U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, ugly. I struggle with envy. I mean, there's certain people I cannot follow because when I follow them, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh, mm. Those engines of envy start getting revved up, and I go down that U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, ugly path of envy. The Bible tells us boldly in Proverbs 14, 30, a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy, is this gross, rots the bones. Man, we got a lot of rot, don't we? Wrath is cruel, Proverbs 27, 4 says, and anger is outrageous, but he was able to stand before envy. In Galatians, you will not believe this. You know, when I discovered this yesterday, I just said, Lord, you are hilarious. And let me give you the context. The Bible says in Galatians 5, it lists this litany of all this negative behavior and negative stuff. And then in verse 21, it mentions envy.

So envy is with all these, you know, heinous sins. So I looked up the original word, the Greek word for envy. It's pronounced phonos. I don't know if you heard me. The Greek term in Hebrews, and I'm sorry, the Greek term in Galatians 5, it's pronounced phonos. Again, I've gotta say, look at your phone. Envy is that sin that's before all of us. Envy is what causes a lot of consternation in my life and in your life. It's what causes these pig fights, remember? Don't wrestle with pigs. Hey, students, don't wrestle with pigs. Adults, don't wrestle with pigs. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. Now I'm gonna sit down and talk to the students. Do you mind if we have just kind of a personal conversation, students, adults? Just zone me out, adults. I'm just talking to students now. I wanna tell you a little bit about my life. I grew up as a pastor's kid. I love my childhood. I love being a pastor's kid, I really do. Dad's 90 years old, so I'm still a pastor's kid. It's active. So being a pastor's kid,

I have front row seats to life change. You meet so many different people, and you learn about leadership and human nature. The good, the bad, the ugly. I have vivid remembrance of great things, but also I have some really tough things from my childhood from negative people, from pigs, straight up. Dad, my father is an outstanding leader. He built one of the largest churches in Christianity over the last 100 years. Dad's an unbelievable. leader. And while all of that was happening, now and then, he and mom would get these just negative things out of nowhere. And it hurt. When I think about it too much, it still hurts. I was like, you don't know my father. You don't even know the church. Who are you? You want to go down that path. Fast forward to 1990, Lisa and I come up here. One car, one kid, one dog, 30 families in a rent house. We helped start, we didn't start it, we helped start Fellowship Church. Man, first six months, man, it's happening. And I'm 27 years old. I've never pastored. I'm going like, this growth is unbelievable. I can't believe we're growing. And then it hit me. Boom. I get my first anonymous letter. I read it. It just, it just knocked me for a loop. I was in a pile. What? I read it and read it again. And I'm not a big crier, started crying. I went home. I go, Lisa, we're out of here, man. I did not sign up for this. Here people are coming to Fellowship Church and we're seeing life change. And man, I'm out. I really, I was out. And we spent pretty much the whole night, you

know, in prayer and just talking, Lisa and I did, and crying. And I happened to watch a message. I've never told this story before. Random message on TV. It was late at night. And this guy, I mean, it was Holy Spirit of God was just speaking encouragement. He was saying, Hey, Jesus was persecuted. Hey, you, you, you move with the movers. Hey, you go with encouragement. And God just used that. Students, I'm talking to you to, to, to show me, lean in to the right people. I don't mean people that agree with everything you do all the time, but, but you know what I'm saying to you, people that love you for who you are will speak the truth and love, but also who encourage you. And basically this guy was saying, I don't want to give this message. He was saying, stay away from the pigs. And I was like, wow. So I made a, I really did. I made a vow, a covenant that day, students, I will not read or watch or listen to any negativity about Fellowship Church or my family again, done. And you know what? I've pretty much kept that. Not perfectly, but I have. And, and I want to just tell you, my life is awesome. I love the ministry. I, I'm not like some victim. No, no, no, no, no. I just want to tell you a small percentage of what I deal with is negativity. You might think, eh, come on, bro. You're 65 years old. You have these orange glasses on. Yeah. I'm sure you don't deal with any negativity anymore. Yes. I'm sure they're pig casters. I mean, podcasters who are going to chop this message up and out of context. Yes. Yes. So, so, so, so we deal with it, but, but, but I do not read it. I don't look at it. I don't dive into the dumpster with the comments. So students, I'm going back to you now. Block, haters, stay away from the pig fights. Don't wrestle them. It's not worth your time and energy. And

here's a mistake I made one time. I thought, okay, this person's negative. If I sat down and explained to him all the information, he would change and go, oh, thank you. So I did that. I had coffee with a guy way back in the day, explained to him, ABC one, two, three. To this day, he's still a pig. So only God is going to change them. And it doesn't matter how much information students, you know, you give your bully, it's not going to move the needle. Okay. So that, that's just I just want to have that personal conversation with you, okay, does that make sense? All right, the pig of pride, the pig of envy, and the last pig, I could say we're spurring the horse to the barn, same metaphor. The last pig is the pig of lust. What is lust? Lust is when you have a God-given desire and it's gone haywire. Obviously you got lust of the eyes and then you have lust of the flesh. Lust of the flesh is lust for the worldly system, materialism, lust of the eyes is gonna be the sensual, sexual thing. We have been able to humanize animals and animalize humans, haven't we? That's what lust does, it changes people into objects with body parts. Pornhub receives anywhere between 100 to 300 million views a day, and that's not talking about OnlyFans and other sites, that's just Pornhub. And the vicious thing about pornography

is that it takes God's truths, it takes the best that God has for us, and it twists it and contorts it. We have so many people who are in such terrible, terrible situations because of pornography. It can and will ruin your life. It'll ruin marriages, it ruins families, and it is addictive. So the people know it is, yet there's a lot of this dark, evil twist that causes it, and it's from the enemy himself. In Ephesians 2, 2, it calls Satan the prince of the power of the air. Well, think about technology. Think about a lot of the music that we pour into our brains. Think about movies and television. I mean, yeah, there's some redemptiveness to it, but wow, there is some dark, dark stuff out there. So we are going to face, friends, temptation, we're going to face suffering, we're going to face ridicule, that's part of it. So if I had to boil it down as I end this message, the pig of pride, look at me. The pig of envy, why not me? The pig of lust, give it to me. God can transform our lives, did you know that? God is in the transformation business, Romans 12, one through two. He can transform our pride into humility.

He can transform our envy into contentment and joy. Good for you. And he can change our lust into self-control. Isn't God awesome? So before you post, before you scroll, ask yourself these questions. Am I wallowing with pigs? Am I wrestling with pigs? Instead, how about wrestle with God? You remember a guy in the Bible? His name was Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God. He didn't wrestle with his critics, he wrestled with God. That's who I want to wrestle with. That's who we're made to wrestle with. How about this? When you wake up, lean into Scripture before you scroll. How about this? Ask yourself questions like, is this helpful? Is this loving? Is this kind? Does this glorify God? And friends, once we start doing that, we can start a digital revolution, can't we? We really, really can. We can. So God wants the best for your life and mine. He wants us to literally baptize technology and we can if we surrender to him and do it. his way and pick up those pearls and toss the pearls

to the movers and the shakers that God wants us to run with. Final question, who is in your herd? Father, thank you for this message. Thank you for every single person here. And if you're here and you've never, ever, ever asked Christ to come into your life, you can make that decision, that choice today by saying, God, I admit to you what you already know, that I'm a sinner, I turn from my sins and I turn to you. I ask you, Jesus Christ, to come into my life. I give you all that I am and all that I will ever be. If you prayed that prayer, hey, that's the best thing you'll ever do. It's the best thing you'll ever do. Others here need to just give once again, we dedicate once again, your life to doing life God's way. It's so much time and energy and effort to spend on technology, Lord. And we wanna baptize it and use it for your glory and your honor. We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, next week, we'll continue this series as we talk about the bullies. But right now, if you're a teacher, a student, families, I want you to stand right now. If you're a teacher, student, families, I wanna do a back-to-school prayer for all of you. Don't be shy, stand. This is a back-to-school prayer because what a great season, what a great opportunity

to live for the Lord in humility, in contentment, in self-control, baptizing technology and staying away from pygology, right? Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for every family here that's represented, for the husbands and the wives, for the moms and dads, for the single families. I pray for every student, I pray for protection, I pray for boldness, I pray for commitment, I pray for love, I pray for discernment, I pray for wisdom, I pray for judgment over us all. God, may we walk in your footsteps and we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. You can take your seats. Just a few more things. No one's stirring, no one moving. Can we just collectively, as a church, celebrate anyone who just made the decision to commit their life to Jesus Christ? We wanna help you on your journey. You'll see at both sides of our worship center, we've got tables with hosts there. We'd love to answer any questions you might have. Maybe you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you a Bible or maybe you're just here and you want some prayer. We'd love to pray with you and pray for you. But how many know that following Jesus is a daily decision, an every single day thing? As a church family,

we wanna help make that daily decision easy. And so something that we're doing as a church that we're just launching today is, on our Fellowship Church app, we now have devotionals, not just for adults, but specifically for students and specifically for kids. Isn't that awesome? Just being able to have that and be able to use that. So if you don't have the Fellowship Church app, be sure to go to the app store and type in Fellowship Church and download that. Somebody say next Sunday, continuing this series. And then on August 23rd, we are launching something really exciting and to help share about it, can you help welcome Angela from our worship team to the stage? Who's gonna share some very, very exciting things. Isn't that right, Ange? Yes. Where is my Latin people? Is there anyone who speaks Spanish here? It's so good to have you here. We have something very special that's gonna start on August 23rd, Sunday. We're gonna start having Spanish translation every Sunday, every service. And we're also gonna have a Bible study class. So we're waiting for you there. Raise your voice, invite your friends,

and we wanna see you there. Wow, isn't that amazing? The reason why people are getting excited is because August 23rd, we are launching Spanish Bible study classes and having in-service Spanish translation. I was saying I could do this announcement and just be like, como se dice, August 23rd, como se dice, it's gonna be awesome, como se dice, Spanish Bible study classes. No, but it is. It's gonna be really, really awesome and exciting. Hey, parents, don't forget, we've got school-a-palooza, so make sure to pick up your kiddos and enjoy all the inflatables and water slides. Would you stand with me, church, as we share some declarations before we head out as a church family? Let's say it together on three, loud and proud. One, two, three. Jesus, thank you that in you, I am loved, forgiven, and blessed. For you, I will reach up and worship, reach out to share my faith, and reach in to become more like you. And because of you, I know the best is yet to come. Fellowship. Church, we love you so much!