Tech and Materialism

Well, one night I was on my phone, Adelaide had already gone to sleep, I'm watching an NBA basketball game, and just kind of scrolling through social media, and all of a sudden an ad pops up that says, hey, available right now, flash sale, Taylor Swift signed CDs, yeah, there we go, for $19.87, or 89 cents. 89, okay, yeah, whatever, 1989, yeah, it was $19.89. Now, I saw that, and I just go, this is how I'm sending my girls to Baylor. Like, I'm gonna buy these things and resell these things for a whole lot more, this is genius, so I immediately click the link and buy a few, and yeah, and then I go to eBay right after, and look, and all of a sudden I realize, oh my goodness, like her team apparently does this all the time, and there's CD after CD after CD that are like maybe signed, maybe not signed, and they're like for $3.50. And I'm just going, how did this happen? I'm busy watching the NBA, and now I'm buying a Taylor Swift CD. Like, what in the world just happened? But this happened. Like, these things make it so easy for us to buy whatever on Earth,

because whatever is constantly being sold to us all the time on our phone. No matter where you go on your phone, you're really being sold something. Like, if you pull up your email, I don't know if this happens to you, but it's happened to me, I'm like, how did I sign up for all these email lists? I don't think I did, but I just happened to get all these emails, and everything happens to be 50% off all the time, and I'm like, well, I gotta get it then. I've got an app on my phone called Brad's Deals, and it like compiles all these deals from all across the online, and my trap is polos, which is embarrassing, but I'll bring a polo to Adelaide on Brad's Deals. I'm like, it's 75% off, and she's like, but you've got 75 polos. I'm like, okay, you're right, I get it. But we're just constantly being sold. Even if you're on social media, like with real ads or with influencer ads that you can't necessarily tell if it's a real ad or not, you're being sold things. A company spent $220 billion on social media advertising last year because it works. Ramsey Solutions did some studies, and they found that the average American spends about $4,000 in impulse spending,

with 66% of those purchases happening on your phone, because it's so easy to buy things on your phone. In fact, my perception is, I'm like, this is great. Like, my credit card information's saved on my phone. I can just hit Apple Pay and buy things really, really easily. I think this is awesome how easy they've made it. But companies are thinking, this is awesome how easy we've made it. They just hand over their money easily to us. You see, while our phones have made it easy to buy things, they've also given us tremendous access to buy whatever we might want. I grew up right outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota, about 15 minutes away from the Mall of America, which I don't even, do you guys know what the Mall of America is? Okay, yeah, it's this massive mega mall. It's like four or five different stories. The middle of it has an amusement park. Just crazy. Like, if you walk in and go to the directory and you're trying to find Foot Locker, it's like Foot Locker's on this floor, this floor, and this floor. Just wild. So people would fly in from all over the world to go shop at the Mall of America because there's such a wide variety of stores right there. But now, you do not have to get on a plane

because the Mall of America is in your pocket. Or even more than that, the Mall of the world is in your pocket. You could buy art from India or dog food from Canada right now on your phone. The accessibility to things is amazing. And also, so is the comparison of things. You know, there's a commandment that says, do not covet what your neighbor has. And whenever that was given, it's like, okay, don't covet Brad's donkey right over there. But now with your phone, it's made the whole world your neighbor. Like you can be coveting what someone on the Amalfi Coast is wearing and eating and driving, and you're gonna want to buy what they have. You see, our phones are a financial trap, which is why, one of the reasons why, the average American is over $6,000 in credit card debt. That's an interest rate of about 25%. This is crushing us. So as we are continuing on in our sermon series called Remove, talking about how our devices are removing us from the life in which God intends for us. Today, we're gonna talk about tech and materialism, tech and materialism. Last week, we looked at a... say on technology and John talked about how we really are addicted to our phones and they're taking us from the life that we are meant to live and we've really become decentralized to it, desensitized to it. We're just constantly on our phones and we don't even really think twice about

it. So we've provided a few resources, if you weren't here last week, of ways to get off your phone. There was a company that generously provided us a few things and Aro, one of them, is an app that you can use that will really gamify your screen time so you can try to stay off your phone more. It really helps, especially when you're doing it within community, within life group. I had a lunch with a young adult this week and he said it's been awesome to compete with his life group to see who can stay off their phone the longest and in fact they sent us all the data from our church this last week and we spent a collective 142 days off our phone by using that app. Also, we gave out some workbooks to try to work through our addictions to our phone. If you did not grab one last week and you are interested in grabbing one, we still have some left over at the welcome desk and if you would use it, we would recommend you to go and grab them. John mentioned that we're going to be doing a tech fast this month, so what are the things that you need to fast from? Maybe it's an app you need to delete. Maybe it's a specific time of your day where you want to stay off your phone because we want our screen time to go down so that we can disconnect from technology and connect to God. Really, we want to start to control our phones because they have been controlling us. Over these next few weeks of this sermon series, we're going to talk about a few different sins that are magnified by our use of tech. Today, we're going to talk about materialism and we're going to be in Revelation chapter 3. So, if you have your Bibles, open them up to Revelation chapter 3. It's the last book in Scripture. We're going to be in the third chapter. Now, Revelation was written by John while he was in exile on the island of Patmos and this was a vision given to him by Jesus. There's a whole host of things in Revelation, but specifically at the beginning, Jesus gives him a message for seven different churches in that region. We're going to specifically be in the last letter, the last message to a specific church that John was to give to them. I believe that this message to this church will speak tremendously to our church as well. I'm not alone in this. A famous pastor and author, his name is John Stott, he said this, perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to today's church than this one. I strongly agree. This was a letter written to the church of Laodicea, so let's see what Jesus has to say to them and to us today. Verse 14. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish that you were either one or the other. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. To explain this passage, I need to give you some background. I think you're going to learn something this morning. The city of Laodicea was known for three different things. The first thing they were known for was gold, because Laodicea had a banking center that was really important for the whole area of Asia Minor. People would travel there for the specific reason of banking. They had a massive gold exchange, so they were known for, one, gold. In fact, I think we've got a picture of it on the screen of just what this city looked like. A tremendously wealthy city known for gold. Secondly, it was known for black wool. It was in a place where sheep were really designed to live and thrive. Since they were such healthy sheep, their wool was glossy, and it was perfect for clothes. Really, since this wool was just the exact right type of wool for wearing clothes, this was known all throughout the world. Laodicean wool was known all throughout the world. If you were wearing Laodicean wool, it was like you were wearing designer clothes. It was a status symbol. So, Laodicea was known for gold, for black wool, and then finally it was known for eye salve. Because there was a massive medical school in this area that had created this eye salve, a powder from a rock in this region, where if you put it on your eye, it would relieve itches or pains, and it would go worldwide. So, this wealthy city was known for three things, gold, black wool, and eye salve. Something else interesting about this city… is that it wasn't built along a water supply. It was built along the trade routes, which allowed it to be wealthy, but it didn't really have great access to water. So there's two cities near them, Hierapolis, which was to the north, had a hot spring, and Colossae to the southeast, which had a cold spring, but they were each about six miles away. So they built this amazing aqueduct system that would transport the water from six miles away to their city. And we've got a picture of what it looks like today,

still standing today. Now, the issue is, after that water traveled six miles, it was no longer hot, and it was no longer cold. It was lukewarm. But more than that, it also wasn't very sanitary because these pipes were not sanitary. By the time it traveled six miles, it had picked up minerals and sediments, and it was really filled with sulfur. So by the time it got to Laodicea, it smelled bad and tasted bad. Like, if you were dropped in the city of Laodicea, you would drink their water and immediately want to vomit it out. Jesus is writing to the church of Laodicea saying, what you experience with your water every single day is my experience with your faith every single day. I want to vomit it out. It's lukewarm and impure. Now, I've read that passage a bunch. It's a relatively famous passage, but if you'd have asked me about a week and a half ago, hey, what made that church lukewarm, I wouldn't have really been able to tell you. So what is it? What is it that made their faith so lukewarm? Well, Jesus tells us in the very next verse, he says this. You say, I am rich. I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.

But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. You see, their material state had blinded them from their spiritual state. They did not feel like they needed Jesus because they didn't feel need. They had all they desired. But you see, while Laodicea was known for its gold, it was spiritually poor. While it was known for its healing eye salve, it was spiritually blind. While it was known for its expensive wool, it was spiritually naked. Their material state had blinded them from their spiritual state. And Jesus is saying, your wealth has made you delusional. You don't think you need me because you've bought all you need. And you know, whenever we are lukewarm in our faith or feeling apathetic towards Jesus, it's almost always we lack dependence on him because we don't feel dependent for him. Like in our day-to-day life, we don't feel like we need him. We can get by on our own. And our phones are a big reason for that. In many ways, our phones have replaced God's role in our life. Whenever we have a need, we don't go to him, we go to it. For instance, for our daily bread, right now you can pull up your HEB app

and put it in an order so you can pick it up on your way home. You can go to Walmart Plus and have it delivered straight to your door. Your phone can provide those things. Or if you're feeling bored with your life, you need a change up with your life, you can buy a plane ticket to anywhere in the world right now on your phone. You could buy a brand new car right now on your phone and have it delivered to your house tomorrow. In many ways, our phones are our providers of all that we need. But Jesus said, this is a dangerous place to be. When you think you can meet all your needs without me, you're in tremendous danger of a lukewarm faith. This is point number one. The first thing we can understand, we can contextualize this text to our life. Point number one, tech consumption can cause spiritual poverty. You see, the verse doesn't say that wealth creates spiritual poverty. Scripture does not say that wealth is wrong. It doesn't say that wealth is a sin, but Scripture makes it clear over and over again that wealth is dangerous. Wealth is dangerous. Because look at what their wealth made them think. Reading the text again, they said,

I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. You see, their issue was they used all their wealth on all they desired. Whenever they had a want, they bought it, similar to what we do with our phones. And that slowly taught them, I don't need anyone else. I can provide. provide for myself. I don't need to wait on God to give me what I want. I can just go out and get it. And the more they provided for themselves, the more they felt like they were their own God. In fact, there's a famous story about this city that exemplifies this. And in 80, 60, there was a massive earthquake that ruined the entire city. The whole city was in ruins and they were underneath the Roman Empire. So Rome came to them and said, hey, we've seen what happened to your city. We would like to provide financially to you to help rebuild your city. And I don't know, maybe for the first time ever, a city said, thanks, but no thanks. We don't want your money because we have enough money on our own. We want to rebuild it ourselves. And Roman historian Tacitus said this, Laodicea arose from the ruins by the strength of her own resources

and with no help from us. You see, they took tremendous pride in the fact that they didn't need anyone or anything. And their mindset towards Rome was the same mindset they had towards God. Hey God, that's cute that you offered to help. We just don't need you. We've got it all under control on our own. I've acquired wealth. I fulfilled all my needs. I lack nothing. But that right there is antithetical to the message of scripture. Because you see, let's compare what they say in Revelation chapter three to what David says in Psalm 23. See, they say, I have acquired wealth. I lack nothing. Versus the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. So who do you rely on to provide what you need? Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest. But oftentimes we live like, go to Facebook Marketplace, all you who are weary and it will give you rest. Who provides what you need? When you are fearful, does the Lord give you security or does opening up your bank account give you security? When you are anxious,

do you give your anxieties to the Lord or do you buy stuff on Timu to relieve your stress? When you're struggling with your identity, do you allow God to speak into who you are or do you go to the TikTok store to buy something trendy to make yourself feel more impressive? When you've got time on your hands, do you browse the scriptures or do you browse Zillow? In other words, are your needs met by more stuff or by more of your Savior? And the lesson from the Laodiceans is the more you consume, the less dependent upon Him you'll feel and it's a dangerous place to be. Last week, we mentioned that every sermon in this series, we wanna have a parent's corner to try to equip parents to raise their kids well in this technological world. And this week, when I was telling my wife whenever I was teaching, what I was teaching on tech and materialism, she's like, man, I think that's gonna be helpful for a lot of people just based on what happened to us financially November and December. I'm like, that's right, because as a parent, you can spend so much money in those months, which is a dangerous thing because you don't want to raise your kids to look like this. You don't want Veruca Salt

from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Daddy, I want it and I want it now. The issue is in the world that your kids are raised in, that's what they're likely to turn into because they are so used to immediate gratification. But immediate gratification will not bless them, specifically spiritually, because this is not how God operates. More often than not, God will not give you what you want when you want it, how you want it. So to disciple them well, man, one thing you can do this week is to sit your family down and say, hey, mom and I, we've been talking and we've just realized that we've been doing more impulse buying than intentional buying. So we just want to be more thoughtful with what we are buying. So we are going to be slower with what we buy because whenever we're quick, we're prone to make poor decisions. So whenever we have something that we want, we are going to wait on it. It's not just with your stuff, kids, it's with my stuff as well. If I've got stuff on eBay that I want to buy for my grill, I'm going to wait on it. If there's a hat from Sendero I'm going to want to buy, I'm going to wait on it because we want to turn this button, buy now with one click into this button, buy later in one month.

We want to be slower because we want to be wiser. So really my recommendation. is to buy something this week that will help you buy less. And that is a whiteboard and a whiteboard marker, or just a whiteboard marker and write it up on a window. And just write what you want with the date you're going to buy it, whether it's a week from now, a month from now, whatever. Have your stuff up there, have your kids' stuff up there. And here's what I've realized. The longer you wait, the clearer it will be if it's an impulse buy or an intentional buy. The same will be true for their kids. This will help them. The longer they wait, the clearer it will be if it's an impulse buy or an intentional buy. So anything beyond like food, clothing, or shelter. And in reality, we're probably good with clothing. So if it's food or shelter, you can buy those things. But anything beyond that, learn to wait. And it will bless your kids spiritually if they live in a house where they have to wait to get what they want. Because as a parent, a goal is to provide financially, but the goal is to make sure your family loves the provider more than the provision. And if your kids always get what they want when they want, you can spoil them spiritually because this is not how God works. And just like the Laodiceans,

your family will be well-dressed materially and naked spiritually. So point number one, first thing we can learn from them, tech consumption can cause spiritual poverty. Now, anyone remember the three things that Laodicea was known for? Gold, black wool, and ISAF. There we go. Black wool, gold, and ISAF. Look at what Jesus does. He's pretty good at this teaching thing. Verse 18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so you can become rich. And white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness. And salve to put on your eyes so you can see. You see, he's attacking every single thing that they put their pride in. All the stuff that they're relying in. And he says, don't buy that stuff, go to me. I've got the good stuff. You think your gold makes you rich? In me, you can have eternal riches. You think your wool makes you impressive? Imagine wearing garments white with forgiveness. You think your ISAF brings comfort? I'm the God who will wipe away every tear and will take you to a place where there is no pain for all of eternity.

I've got the good stuff. Don't buy things here, buy from the right supply. And this is point number two. Second thing we need to understand, invest in eternal over instant. Invest in eternal over instant. You see, these Laodiceans thought they had provided all they needed, but in a blink of an eye, everything that we have here can be destroyed. And this is a lesson that America has learned just this week. In fact, here's a picture of what we've seen this week in the LA area. These were some of the most expensive homes in our entire country, and in a day, they're gone. And it's awful. If you're looking for ways to help, there's an organization called Convoy of Hope, which is doing great work here, but this is really the lesson that we can't unlearn, that what we have here is not sure and will not satisfy. I mean, just think about what's the most exciting part about Christmas gifts. It's opening them. And it's really all downhill from there. A month later, it's on the shelf and you're shopping on Amazon to try to get something else to fulfill that need, that desire, because that other thing did not.

You see, this process just repeats itself because the things we buy here are not sure and they will not satisfy. So Jesus says, don't invest in the instant things, invest in the eternal things. Don't rush to the Target app for joy, go to me. Don't go to your sports gambling app for a rush, go to me. Buy from my supply. The issue is access to what he's selling is extremely difficult. Like the price tag on his spiritual gold is really high. The price tag on his garments of white is actually more than any of us in this room can pay for. Access to his healing eye salve is more than what you can afford because access to all of those things came with a price tag of perfection. And scripture says that every single one of us has fallen short. of the glory of God, to get into that relationship with him, to access those things, we can't do on our own. So God, since he so loved us, saw our state, and the only way to get access to God once again was if there was a perfect penalty paid for our sin. There's only one man who could do it, and it was God's Son himself. So he sent him from heaven to enter into earth to live 33 perfect years, only to be abused, beaten, mocked, and crucified. And as he took that final breath on the cross, he paid the cost for you to have access to everything that God could provide. And now, what he means by saying, buy what I can give, is really accept what I've paid for you. So once we accept his gifts, we have access to him. But I also think there is another step, because the more you give to him, the more you'll receive from him. I do believe the more time you give to him, the more money you give to him, the more of your resources you give to him, the more effort

you give to him, the more you'll receive from him. This is not prosperity gospel teaching. What I believe is the more you give to him, the more peace you'll receive from him. The more you give to him, the more eternal riches you'll receive from him. The more you give to him, the more joy you'll receive from him, which is why Jesus is saying, hey, buy from me. I can provide you what you need. So he counsels us to invest in eternal things over instant things, because it will change who we are and what our heart looks like. To illustrate that, I've got something coming out right now that I think will clarify how we use our money will change our hearts. You need to understand that your heart is tied to your money. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, he says this, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So I've got this piggy bank right here. It signifies your resources, your wealth, and your heart is tied to it. You just got to know God has designed you like this. This is not wrong. This is just how you've been designed. Your heart is tied to your resources. And the issue is we spend so much of our time investing our resources into worldly things. And scripture says whenever we invest our money and our resources into worldly things, our heart will follow it. So our heart will love worldly things. The good news is though, this week as I've been studying this scripture, I've realized there's actually a way around it. Because if you just take your heart and you put your heart in eternal things and you just say, okay, I'm going to love Jesus more. I'm going to read the Bible more. I'm going to pray more. I'm not going to give my resources to eternal things, but I'm going to hold my heart in eternal things. I'm not going to change what I give. I'm just going to change what I do. And I'm going to make sure my heart loves eternal things. It will stay there. You can get around it. The only way to move your heart from worldly things to eternal things is by taking your resources and moving them. Because your heart follows what you have. It's nothing to apologize for. It's how God designed you. If you want your heart to look more eternal than earthly, you need to move your resources from worldly things to eternal things, because your heart follows what you give your resources to, which is why Jesus says, buy from me. Invest in me. I've got the good stuff. I've got the stuff that's sure. I've got the stuff that's steady. If you keep investing in this world, your heart will look like the world. And the issue is, man, we just want to invest in the things of this world. This last week, I'm sure all of us in this room received our giving statements from Harris Creek in 2024. Obviously, all of us did. At least we did. Whenever we got it, my wife pulled it up,

and she's like, hey man, are we sure this is the right number for us? And I was like, yes, it's fine. I don't want to talk about it, because I know you're saying, hey, should we give more? And I'm like, no, it's fine. We've already talked about a process. That's our number. Meanwhile, a couple of days before, I was on StubHub, and the Minnesota Vikings are having a great year. None of you care, but they are. There we go. Man, that was awesome. They played the Detroit Lions last week. I was on StubHub, and I was like, hey, Adalie, I can get a ticket for this. How would you feel about me flying out to that game? It was a huge game. She's like, Nate, a couple months ago you flew to London with some friends to watch the Minnesota Vikings. I'm like, I know, but it's a huge season. It's a big deal. Here's what I realized. It's a lot easier for me to up my giving to the Minnesota Vikings than it is to up my giving to godly things. That's a heart problem. So, where are you at? Man, compare your Amazon statement to your giving statement if you have one. What does it say about what you love? Do you love your stuff or do you love your savior? Just be honest about it. It's going to help you acknowledge where you're at. Do you love your stuff more than your savior? Point number two, second thing we need to learn, invest in eternal things over instant things. Jesus continues, verse 19, those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So, be earnest. That word comes from the same Greek word for hot. He's saying, don't be lukewarm. Be hot. Be earnest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Now, what's interesting about this is this was written to a church. This was like if Jesus wrote to Harris Creek and said, Harris Creek, behold, I stand on the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will enter into their house. It's like, what do you mean? We're a church, but what Jesus is saying is you've got stuff inside your house, but your savior is outside the house. Or in other words, you've got junk. You just don't have Jesus. Now, what's important to understand about this passage is this isn't Jesus saying, don't have money. This is not him saying, don't have stuff, but this is him saying, don't let your stuff have you, because I want to have you. I want a relationship with you. You have to read this entire text through the lens of relationship, because you see, while the Laodiceans had grown lukewarm in their relationship with Jesus, Jesus had never grown lukewarm in his feelings towards them. He had always pursued them.

Even when they stiff-armed him and said, we don't need you, Jesus said, I want you, because he wants a relationship with us, and he doesn't want our stuff to get in the way. But in reality, for many of us, whenever we have a need, behold, Amazon stands at the door and knocks, and we're excited to open it. Or whenever we're hungry, behold, DoorDash stands at the door and knocks, and we're eager to open it. Meanwhile, Jesus stands at the door and knocks. We can't even hear him, because we're trying to find a trampoline on Facebook Marketplace. You see, we want stuff, but he wants us. Jesus' offer to us is an invitation to repent of where our heart has been put in the wrong place. So, point number three, we can learn. Repentance results in relationship. Well, what does it mean to repent of our materialism? I think the wording that Jesus chooses to use here is to reference another part of Scripture. I don't know that. Whenever I read this part of Scripture, I'm immediately reminded of another moment in Scripture, because when he says here, hey, I desire to come over to your house and dine with you, in Revelation chapter 3, I think of what happens in Luke chapter 19. There's this moment in Luke chapter 19 where Jesus is walking along the road, and there's a crowd of people on either side. Then all of a sudden, he looks up, and he sees this wee little man. His name is Achias. He wasn't just a wee little man. He was a very, very wealthy man. He was a tax collector who had a lot of things, primarily through taking more than what he was owed. Now, he could legally do that in that time. So, he was a wealthy man. Jesus said, hey, I want to go over to your house to dine with you. As soon as Achias lets him into his house, what happens to Achias? Verse 8, but Achias stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Once he's with Jesus, he says, I no longer love my stuff more than I love my Savior. Here's what you have to understand about Jesus. When you let Jesus into your house, he'll change how you run your house. Are you willing to let that happen? So, for you, what's he asking you to change? What's he asking you to turn a 180 and repent of? Does your screen time show that you've spent more time with him or you've spent more money on you? What app is he calling you to delete? Maybe he's asking you to remove your credit card from your phone. Maybe he's asking you to just give away some of your stuff, some of your stuff, that which you love, that which you are using

but has your heart. Maybe he's asking you to just give it away so you can start making room in your house for Jesus. I think for some of us, myself included, we need to say, hey, I'm letting go of my things so I can let Jesus in. So what's that for you? So in summary, point number one, tech consumption can cause spiritual poverty. Point number two, invest in eternal over instant. And point number three, repentance results in relationship. This week I was talking with some staff members about what to talk about during the parent corner section because I've just got younger kids. So I was trying to figure out what your experiences are with older kids and a few of them said, oh my goodness, my kids, they just wanna spend all their money that they get for Christmas or birthdays or whatever allowance on V-Bucks, on Fortnite or Robux on Roblox. And I've never played either one of those games, but you like have a character in those games and you can buy these Robux that you can spend these Robux on different virtual outfits to look cooler in the game. And you can use these Robux to upgrade the vehicles that you drive in in this game. And I hear that and I'm like, holy smokes. That's not very smart. Like to take your money and to invest it

in a virtual world, that's gonna go away. Like you might be done playing this game in like six months and it's gonna be gone and over. Like you can't get that money back because you've spent it on a world that will not last. And as I'm thinking that, I'm going, how foolish am I to spend what I have on a world that will not last? You see, so much of my motivation is if I can just get more EarthBucks, I can wear different clothes. If I can just get even more EarthBucks, I can drive what they're driving and I can start to upgrade my car and I can start to upgrade my car. I can drive what they're driving and I can start to upgrade my world here. And all of a sudden, it's gonna be over. The lights are gonna go out. James 4 says, what is your life? Your life is a mist. It's like a vapor. It's gonna be gone in a flash. Who invests all they have in a mist, a foolish person does. But the wise person sees their life here and compares it to the place where they're gonna be forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and says, I wanna take all my time, energy, resources

and pour it into that world, the real world, the ultimate world, the eternal world. I don't wanna waste it here. I wanna give all of it there. You see, the easiest thing to do with your life is to keep trying to fix your life with worldly things. You know, the anxiety in your heart, the comparison in your heart, the identity struggles that you have, you can keep buying newer clothes here. You can buy the better car here. You can buy the bigger home here and your heart will still look like the world. It's still gonna look broken. You can keep trying that. Many people have and many people have failed. You see, the only way to heal your heart and to restore your heart is to move what you have into what he wants for you. And when you move your resources into earthly things, to eternal things, your heart will look and feel more like how God intended it to be. Let me pray that that'd be true of us today. Father, I pray that you would give us supernatural wisdom, a wisdom that says, although I want this thing, I don't need this thing. I don't need to buy more and more and more and more because I don't need to supply all my needs. You are my shepherd. I wanna rely on you.

I wanna be dependent upon you. So Father, may we use our resources well. May we use our phones and devices well that wouldn't distract us from you, that wouldn't pull us away from you, but instead, we would use our devices in a way that glorifies you, and that we would use our money in a way that glorifies you, and that we would use our money in a way that makes our heart godly. So Father, would we change our ways? Would I change my way? And instead of always spending on me and on things here, Father, may we just get so much joy out of buying from your supply, believing that what you have to offer is better than anything this world has to offer. And God, may we just see it as a joy to be able to give to you, because we're just giving out of response to what you've already given to us. You have given us eternal life through your son, Jesus Christ, because he lived and died and rose again. We can spend forever and ever and ever with you. So we wanna worship you through our songs, with our living, and with our giving, because we wanna live in response to the fact that Jesus is alive and with us and for us. And it's in his name we pray, amen.