Unfollow | Pastor Daniel Floyd

We're so glad you can make it today, come on. Let's praise the Lord together in this place and thank Him for being such a good God. Let's sing this together. ♪ Wandering into the night ♪ ♪ Wanting a place to hide this weary soul ♪ ♪ There's backbones ♪ ♪ And I try with all my might ♪ ♪ But I just can't win the fight ♪ ♪ I'm slowly drifting ♪ ♪ A backbone ♪ ♪ And just when I ran on the road ♪ ♪ I met a man I didn't know ♪ ♪ And he told me that I was on the road ♪ ♪ You picked me up and turned me around ♪ ♪ You placed my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Because You healed my heart ♪ ♪ You changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ I thank God, I cannot deny what I've seen ♪ ♪ Got no choice but to believe, my doubts are burning ♪ ♪ Like ashes away, so so long to my old friends ♪ ♪ Burden and care, unless you can just keep them away ♪ ♪ No, you ain't welcome here ♪ ♪ From now till I walk the streets of gold ♪ ♪ I'll stand high on You to save my soul ♪ ♪ This wayward son has found his way back home ♪ ♪ You picked me up, You turned me around ♪ ♪ You placed my feet on solid ground ♪

♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Because You healed my heart, You changed my name ♪ ♪ Forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ I thank God ♪ ♪ Hell wants another one, I am free, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ I am free, come on Church, declare it ♪ ♪ Hell wants another one, I am free, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ Hell wants another one, I am free, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ Hell wants another one, I am free, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ Hell wants another one, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ Yes, I am free, hell wants another one, I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ You picked me up, you turned me around, you placed my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the master, I thank the savior, you healed my heart, you changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the master, I thank the savior, you healed my heart, you changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the master, I thank the savior, I'm not the same, I thank the master, I thank the savior ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, oh, yes, I thank God. ♪ Come on, let's give a shout of praise. Come on, he is worthy of all of our praise. Have you come into the house of the Lord this morning to worship him? Come on, he alone is worthy. God, there is no one like you, no one above you. God, we give you all the glory and all the honor. You deserve it all, you alone, God. Come on, church, we're gonna sing this out together, you are the one. ♪ And you are the one, creation obeys when you speak, and dark turns to light, and death comes to life, oh, Jesus, when you breathe. ♪ ♪ And you are the one, calming the wind and the waves, and you'll make a way, your promise remains. ♪ ♪ Oh God you've never changed ♪ ♪ For you were, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, King of all majesty ♪ ♪ And you reign in victory ♪ ♪ For you were, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, Jesus be glorified ♪

♪ Forever lifted high, we exalt you King of kings ♪ ♪ Forever lifted high, we exalt you King of kings ♪ ♪ And you are the one, the lion who roared from the grave ♪ ♪ The storm rolled away, for you overcame ♪ ♪ You're worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ You were, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, King of all majesty ♪ ♪ And you reign in victory ♪ ♪ You were, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, Jesus be glorified ♪ ♪ Forever lifted high, and all the glory is yours ♪ Come on church, lift it up. ♪ And all the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ Come on, he deserves it all. ♪ All the glory and all the glory is yours ♪ ♪ And all the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, you deserve it all ♪ ♪ You alone, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ You're on your throne, king of all majesty ♪ ♪ For you reign in victory ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne, Jesus be glorified ♪ ♪ Forever lifted high, all the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, all the glory is yours alone ♪

♪ Now and forevermore, all the glory is yours ♪ ♪ You deserve it all, God, you deserve it all, Lord ♪ ♪ It's yours, it's yours, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ Come on, lift it up to Him and tell Him, God. ♪ All the glory is yours, we give it back to you, God ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, you deserve it all, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ Come on, one more time, give it back to Him, Jesus. ♪ All the glory is yours, you can have my life ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours, it's for you only, now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ It's yours alone, God, and we give you all the glory. And we worship you alone, for you are worthy to be praised. We give you all, we give you all the glory. And we worship you, our Lord, for you are worthy to be praised. Yes, Lord, we just set our eyes on you, Jesus. Set our eyes on you, the precious fountain from Calvary's mountain. Flowing down to you and I. It washes us clean, oh, what a mystery. That red blood makes me white. Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood, oh, the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love, oh, the marvelous love. Let the redeemed sing a song. Praises belong to the Son. The blood, the blood, the blood, oh, the wonderful blood. My precious Jesus, oh, I'm so thankful for the day you saved my life. As I remember, my heart grows tender.

Tears begin to fill my eyes. Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? And isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so divine could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood, oh, the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love, oh, the marvelous love. Let the redeemed sing a song. Praises belong to the Son. The blood, the blood, the blood, oh, the wonderful blood. Thank you, Jesus. Yes, we thank you for the cross. Thank you for the price you paid. Yes, we praise you for the blood. Praise you for the blood. The blood of Christ. The work you did. The work you did is finished. All of our sins forgiven. And now we get to live it. The wonder of the working blood. The cross was your decision. But death was not the ending. But you rose and now we're risen. The wonder of the working blood. ♪ The work You did, thank You, Lord ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven ♪ ♪ And now we get to live it ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The cross was Your decision ♪

♪ But death was not the ending ♪ ♪ You rose and now we're risen ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood, yeah ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood on my blood ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful blood ♪ ♪ You love, you love, you love ♪ ♪ All the marvelers now ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful blood ♪ ♪ You love, you love, you love ♪ ♪ All the marvelers now ♪ ♪ So let the redeemed sing a song ♪ ♪ Praises belong to the Son ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, the wonderful blood ♪ Come on, aren't you thankful today, church, for the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away our sins, that speaks forgiveness over us, that made a way for our healing? Come on, one more time, let's thank God for the precious blood of Christ Jesus. ♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen ♪ And we have a moment today, church,

to continue to celebrate the blood of Christ in taking communion. And at Gateway Church, we practice what's known as open communion, which means you don't have to be a member of Gateway, but if you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we invite you to participate with us. And when you enter the auditorium, you should have received the communion elements, but if you didn't, you can just raise your hand right now, and our team would love to serve you. Paul says something fascinating in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. He's talking about communion, and he says, for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes. I don't know about you, but when I think about announcing, I think about sharing information or giving an update, but that's actually not what Paul had in mind here. You see, the word that's translated announcing here expresses the idea of forceful public declaration. In other words, it's a proclamation. It is preaching a sermon, if you will. Now, you may have thought today that Pastor Daniel was the only preacher in the house, but guess what, you're preaching today. And here's why I say that, because when we partake in communion, we actually preach an illustrated sermon.

And Paul gives us the content of this sermon. He says that we're announcing the Lord's death. In other words, we look back and we remember that Christ was crucified on a cross for our sins. And then he says, until he returns, which means the grave wasn't strong enough, hell wasn't strong enough, death wasn't strong enough to hold him down. He got up on the third day with all power and glory and honor, amen. And he says, so until he returns, which means we look forward with hope. So Paul says, we look back and we remember what Christ did in love, and we look forward knowing we have hope of a returning savior, amen. And so today, that's what we remember as we receive communion. Would you take out the bread? And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body given for you. Would you take and eat? Likewise, Jesus took the cup and he said, this is a new covenant in my blood, which was shed for you. Would you take and drink? Amen. Now you can set the cup down. We're gonna continue to celebrate all that Jesus has done.

And so Father, we just take a moment and we do one more time. We declare that your blood is amazing. Your blood is wonderful, your blood has saved us and rescued us, and we glorify you and honor you and give you all the praise in this place today. ♪ The work you did is finished ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven ♪ ♪ And now we get to live in the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The cross was your decision but death was not the end ♪ ♪ You rose and now we're risen, the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The work you did is finished ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven ♪ ♪ And now we get to live in the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The cross was your decision but death was not the end ♪ ♪ The cross was your decision but death was not the end ♪ ♪ You rose and now we're risen, the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ We praise you for the blood, the wonder of the working blood ♪ Come on. ♪ The wonder of the working blood, the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood, the blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, your love, your love, your love ♪ ♪ Oh the marvelous love, the blood, the blood, the blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, your love, your love, your love ♪ ♪ Oh the marvelous love to let the redeemed sing a song ♪ ♪ Praises belong to the Son, your blood, your blood, your blood ♪ ♪ Oh the wonderful blood, the work, the work you did is finished ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven and now we get to live it ♪ ♪ The one the cross was for, the cross was your decision ♪

♪ But death was not the end, you rose and now we're risen ♪ ♪ But death was not the end, you rose and now we're risen ♪ ♪ It was the wonder of the world came to life ♪ ♪ It was the wonder of the world came to life, it was the wonder of the world came to life, oh ♪ ♪ It was the wonder of the world came to life, it was the wonder of the world came to life, it was the wonder of the world came to life, oh ♪ ♪ We're singing, oh precious is the throne that makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other thoughts I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ We're singing, oh precious is the throne that makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other thoughts I know, nothing but the blood, oh nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ We're singing, oh precious is the throne that makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other thoughts I know, nothing but the blood, oh nothing but the blood, oh nothing but the blood, oh Jesus ♪ Man, aren't you grateful for the love of Jesus in this place today? So powerful getting to sing with you, getting to lift up the name of Jesus together. Hey, you picked a great day to come to church today. We're so glad that you're here. We've got an incredible message as Pastor Daniel's continuing TikTok theology. So before we get to that, why don't we just turn to somebody? Tell him that you're glad to see him. Make him feel welcome here today. And welcome to Gateway. Good morning, everybody. How are we today? Come on, if we're going to put our hands together, let's give Jesus all the praise that he's due. Some of you may think, man, this is a clappy church. But when you have so much to celebrate, he's alive, the tomb is empty. It's reason to clap. Matter of fact, the Bible says, clap your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph. So nothing wrong with a clap, nothing wrong with a thank you, Jesus, right?

I want to say hello to all of our campuses, everybody joining us online or on demand later in the week or some other time of the year. Of course, all of our Gateway gatherings and our prison campuses. And if you're here for the first time or the very first time in a long time at every campus, let's put our hands together and just say hello and welcome everyone that's joining us. We are glad that you are here. You picked a great Sunday to be in church. There's no better way to start your week than in God's house with God's people. Sunday's the best day. I love Sundays. And so we're in this series called TikTok Theology. If you're new to church, series is simply a collection of talks around one common theme. And we began last week talking about the source of truth. If you missed that, I encourage you to go wherever we stream it online and catch that message. But we've been wrestling with this question, what is your feed feeding you? It's feeding all of us something. So what is it feeding you? This isn't a series about how TikTok's from the devil and you should delete it off your phone. I enjoy social media. I use it. I'm just wanting us to think about what's it feeding us and how is that affecting us? And let's make sure we're feeding ourselves the right things. Amen, everybody. So I want to bring a message entitled this. If you're the note taker, you can write it down. If you're not, write it down anyways. This is the message title Unfollow. Some of us need to unfollow some things in our life, maybe some people in our life. We're going to talk about that today. Before we do, let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you.

So Holy Spirit, speak to us through your word and we believe we'll never be the same because of it. In Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen. Amen. So a little over 20 years ago, about 23 years ago, I miss now, I made the most expensive purchase of my life up to that point. And if you're a guy and you've ever been moving towards engagement, you've had the same experience. I sold things, I saved up money. I think I sold a nine millimeter someone had given me. I was just I was I was pawning everything to try to get this group of money together so I could go to the jewelry store there in Virginia and I could I could get this ring that that my friend Fred, who ran that store, helped me design. Now, when we got engaged, Tammy and I, we were I was living in New York City and Staten Island and it was a youth pastor there and Tammy was living in her. Well, she was based out of Virginia, but she was touring with a group. And so we would only get really to see each other very rarely during that year that we were engaged. But so I had to drive down to see her, but we would talk on the phone a whole lot. And I'd put so much money into this ring in my perspective at that time. I'd put so much money into this ring that I had a special place in my closet for it. I would say I guarded it, y'all, like we would talk on the phone at night whenever I get back from work and she would get done for the day. We would talk on the phone and sometimes I would have the box open, talking to her, looking at it, thinking, you have no idea. I'm about to ask you to marry me in a couple of months on September 23rd. I'm going to ask you to marry me. And so I would come home from work. I would go up to the closet and just make sure it's there. You know, no sign of break in in my house. I'm just me and I was living alone. Only guy in the house, like I was just making sure it was there.

How many of you know that when? Something is valuable, you guard it. Come on, any dads with a daughter? Yes. Okay. Your sons, you're like, take care of yourself. Your girls, you're like, I could end up in jail for you. And I would not be mad about it if someone hurt you. Why? Because you guard things that are valuable. The Bible tells us that there is something in our life we should be guarding above everything. I wanna show you Proverbs chapter four, verse 23. You can look on the screen with me. It says this, above all else, guard your, everybody on campus, everybody say it out loud. Guard your, guard your heart. Not just your engagement ring, not just your children, not just the family that means good to you. Above everything, above your worship, guard your heart. Think about that. Above your prayer life, guard your heart. Why? Because everything you do flows from it. So the Bible is teaching us this principle that we all have to get today. Super important principle in your life is that every decision you make, every choice you make, every place that you go in life, we talked about last week that your destiny in your life

is the culmination of the choices that you make, but they begin in the heart. That everything, how I parent comes out of my heart. How I control my finances comes out of my heart. How I treat friends comes out of my heart. How I respond to people that aren't like me and don't look like me or think like me that don't believe in Jesus, that's coming out of my heart because everything comes out of my heart. So the Bible says, guard it above all else. Put some parameters around what you let into your heart. I like the way that the New Testament says it. It says a good person produces good fruit from the treasury. I love this mental image. It's almost like when you put good and you deposit good into the treasury of your heart, then what happens? Good comes out of it. But if you're letting an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. So here's what I want you to catch today is the actions of evil don't come because someone just acts evil. When you do something that you're like, oh, why did I do that? That isn't how I want to respond. That isn't how I want to live. We all have to grapple with this fact that its source or the origin of it was an evil heart. We don't want to think about it that way. So let's go to the positive.

When good comes out of you, it's not like, man, I just did good. No, it's because there was good in your heart. And the Bible says this, as a person thinks in their heart, so are they. Now think about that for a moment. You don't think with your heart. Your heart isn't a brain. So the Bible is telling us is that using this metaphor of what gets into our heart is really affected by how we think. We say it like this. I've told my kids since they were little, what gets in your head gets in your heart and what gets in your heart becomes your character. So let's guard what gets in your head because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Are y'all following me? And so I'm asking you again, what is your feed feeding you? Is it storing up in the treasury of your heart, good things, godly things? Or is it storing up in the treasure of your heart things that interrupt your relationship with God that pull you away from God? And some of you may think, well, I'm not on social media, but we're all getting inputs from all different places of our life. Let me show you some of the stats that I found that were fascinating about us as Americans that we spend 136 minutes a day on social media.

Y'all that's over two hours of our time. We're better than the rest of the world though, 141. If there's a positive to this, we're winning. Okay, well, listen to this. This same study found that the average American spends only about 35 minutes per day intentionally socializing face-to-face. So we're spending two hours letting inputs come from people we don't even know sometimes, don't know their values, don't know their thought. We're letting all these inputs come into our life, but we're only spending about 35 minutes a day actually looking face-to-face eye-to-eye with people and really building relationships and seeing life from a different perspective. Are you following me? And some of you may be like, well, I'm not on social media. Well, let me hit on your favorite news channel. Because they're all unbiased. If you believe that, I got something else to sell you. So here's what it means. It means that over an average lifespan, age 13 to 80, if you continue in these patterns, you'll have spent six years and four months on social media compared to spending one year and eight months having real conversations in real life. And here's the source if you need it, Bureau of Labor and Statistics. So what's your feed feeding you? I'm not saying you get rid of it or it's not up to me.

I'm just saying above all else, guard your heart. Be careful what are the inputs that are coming into your life because what gets put in does come out eventually. And here's what we end up doing when we come to faith in Jesus or we come to God and we think I've got to change my life. We think I've got to be better. I've got to do hard, try harder. I just need to be less angry. I need to be less judgmental. And so we go through all these things that we need to do and we're just like, I'm gonna white knuckle it. And we're trying to deal with the output. I'm wanting to propose if you would deal with the input, some of the outputs would take care of themselves. But if you would let the right things in, then from the treasury of a good heart, good would come out. From a treasury of a godly heart, godliness would come out. Are you following me? But we got to start putting the right treasuries into our heart so the right stuff comes out of us instead of just going, I'll modify my behavior. That's why some of you, you're like in with God and out with God and in with God. Cause you're like, I tried hard and I couldn't accomplish it, it was too hard. That's because Christianity isn't about trying,

it's about surrendering and it's about going, God, what do you want to put into me so the right things come out of me? Come on, let's put our hands together if you believe that. Okay, so I'm gonna give you a few things. You can make your own list. I'm not saying this is exhaustive, but I'm gonna give you a few things that you need to unfollow in your life. All right, so I want you to write these down. Number one is you need to unfollow negativity. Need to unfollow negativity. I love the way the amplified version of the Bible puts this scripture in Proverbs. Says soothing tongues, and it describes it in the brackets is the definition. Speaking words that build up in courage is a tree of life. So you get to determine what you want to be. But a perverse tongue, speaking words that overwhelm and depress, crushes the spirit. Have you ever been around those people? Don't raise your hand if you're sitting beside them. That you don't ask them how they're doing because you don't want to know. Because you know the moment you go, how you doing? Well, let me tell you, everything's bad. The world's falling apart. Do you see the news? Going to hell in a handbasket.

That's what we're doing. Negativity in, it'll come out. Are you following me? Some of you are like, no one ever asked me how I'm doing. Hey, I don't know. If the spirit speaks, listen. Okay. Are you following me though? And if you're not careful, negativity sails through your soul. It's like a sailboat. If you're not careful, negativity sails. Positive doesn't get clicks. Are you following me? So if you think the feed is just feeding you godly stuff and good stuff and the best about humanity and the best of people, you're living in a fantasy land. What sells, what gets clicks is the negative. It's the awful story. I actually had a media outlet tell me one time, we were doing some really good stuff in the community. I said, man, you should cover this story. You like to cover the things about us that, you know, you're not so kind about, you ought to cover the good. You know what they told me? Oh, we don't cover things like that. Because positivity doesn't sell. Are you following me? What's your feed feeding you? If you let negativity in, can I tell you something?

The world's not going to hell in a handbasket. The church is on the rise. I mean, this is statistics. This isn't just my opinion. This is Barna research. There are more young people coming to Jesus right now than ever before. Sales of the Bible are through the roof. There's a revival happening among young adults right now. This isn't going to hell in a handbasket because the tomb is empty. And from generation to generation, civilization to civilization, the word of the Lord has remained. The spirit of God. God has remained, and the church has remained. Are y'all following me? We just need a little, we get so myopic, we think about our generation, we just need to read a little bit of history. The church has been okay for 2,000 years, everyone, and he's still on the throne. That's what we should be talking about. That's what we should be proclaiming. We should be like Paul encouraged the church in Ephesus, don't let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth. Don't let any unwholesome talk, but only what is helpful for building others up. Just stop and go, is what I'm about to say helpful? According to their needs, why?

So that everyone may benefit. But listen, so anybody around that's hearing what you're saying, if they overheard your conversation, it would be beneficial. Some of you need to unfollow negativity in your life. And some of you, depending on your family system or what you were raised in, it's the bent of the people in your life, and it may be a harder toe for you, but it doesn't mean that you can't move out of that. Can I tell you something? You can still love people and have boundaries with people. You can still love people and say, hey, we're not having that conversation. Hey, with me and you, you can talk about that with anybody else, but with me and you, we're not going there. All right, so we're gonna unfollow negativity. Number two, unfollow temptation. Unfollow temptation. James chapter one talks to us about temptation. He says, when tempted, no one should say God tempted me. So there's built some, that's good theology. God doesn't tempt you. So whenever you do something bad, it's not like God was leading you there. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. So clears mud, right? No, it's plain right there.

But each person is tempted. Here's when we're tempted. When they are dragged away by, watch this, their own evil desires and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, gets birth to death. So don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters, every good and perfect gift comes from God above, coming down from the father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. So timeout, let me insert this, not a part of the message, because I wanna help some of you not feel so shame filled. Being tempted is not a sin. It's when you give into the temptation that you have moved into the conception of sin. And then as sin grows, that's when it becomes destructive in your life. Are y'all following me? Some of you are so shame filled, because you're like, I'm still tempted by that. I'm still tempted sometime to take a drink, and I'm still tempted sometime by... That's not the temptation. The temptation is whenever you give into that thing. Does that make sense? Okay, is that helpful? Okay. And so temptation, we're not tempted because God did it. And the text doesn't even say we're tempted because the devil did it.

It says we're tempted because we were drawn away by our own desire. Paul said it like this, we all have a sin that so easily besets us or gets us. In other words, the enemy knows where the chink in your armor is. And there's one thing, for some of you, it's anger. You explode, you can get there in a second. For some of you, you're so calm and chill, we wonder if you even have a blood pressure. For some of us, it's pride. And for others of us, it's lust. It's all these different things in our life, and the enemy knows the one, but it is that thing in you, that desire that draws you. And so the question shouldn't be, how much can I do and be okay? It should be, how much can I get out of my life so I create a big enough barrier that my desires don't drag me into sin? Are y'all following me? Whenever I was a student pastor, always the question was, so how far can I go with her before it's sin? It's like teenage years, come on, you know. All the temptations are around hormones. And I was like, the thing isn't how close can I get to the ledge without falling off, it's how far can I stay away from the ledge? Which means that if you're feeding your mind and your ears,

things that lead you toward temptation, then you need to unfollow. Because the more you feed that, the more you draw away from God and the more bondage there is. But the more you draw towards God, the more freedom there is. Away from God, bondage. Towards God, freedom, right? That's what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians. That the Lord is spirit and what? Where the spirit of the Lord is, everybody say it with me, there is, there's freedom. That's really what we want at the end of the day. All right, number next, fear. Fear, many of us are feeding fear by what we're following. The scripture says this, that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God, fear in your life is not from the Lord because God's given us power, love, and a sound mind. And some of us, we feed the fear. We feed the fear by what we watch. We feed the fear by the headlines we read. We feed the fear by the things that we follow in the algorithm. And some of you are like, are you just saying you stick your head in the sand, you just don't know? No, but you can have selective hearing, everybody. You can choose that I don't have to hear and listen to everything that's coming at me

every day of my life. This would be one for me is that, I learned that this is actually a word. I thought I made it up, but I like to, I tend to catastrophize everything. Like I can get bad news and I'm already, I'm already like living on the streets and dead. And my family is desolate. Come on, anybody else to be honest in the house of God, every campus you got, you go to the end, the worst possible, you know, I can have a cough and I'm like, I've lung cancer. I just know it. I don't say it out loud, but it goes through my mind. I've learned to control my mind and my words and what I speak over my life. Are y'all following me? But it goes to that place. Why? And so here's what I know in my life. I don't feed fear. I don't put things in my life. I don't watch things. I don't listen to things. I'll turn it off real quick. I don't care how much the, I'll walk out of the movie. I don't feed fear in my life. I've got to feed faith. I don't follow things that incite fear. I don't read things that incite fear.

I just don't do it. I feed faith over fear. I decided a long time ago I was unfollowing fear in my life because I refuse to be bound by it. And for some of you, you continue to, you feed fear through what you watch, through what you listen to. You feed fear by the conversations you have with other people. You get together and you talk about things that'll probably never happen, as if they are happening. And then you live in the reality that it's not even a reality of what could happen. And so then you limit yourself from all the wonderful things that God wants you to do, because you're afraid to take the step of faith because there's a possibility that down the road, someone could say something that would do something, and then the plane's gonna fall right out of the sky and we're gonna crash, and that's why I won't go on the mission field. It's like, what? How did we get here? And so we live bound, keeping us from experiencing everything God wants for us because of these fears. I'm not saying it's not real. I'm just saying you don't need to feed it. First John chapter four says this, there is no fear in love,

but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect by love. How do I fight fear? I don't fight fear with just pulling myself up by my bootstraps and just, you know, I gotta go face it. There is a piece to that, but the way that you kill fear in your life is you focus more on the love of God for you. If God loves you and God has good plans for you, then if God's calling you to take a step of faith, then you don't need to fear because you have the love of a good God. So you need to unfollow it. Remember next, unfollow isolation. Proverbs 18 one says this, listen to what happens when you isolate yourself. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires, so selfishness, and he rages against judgment, so you become unwise. Selfishness and you lose wisdom when you isolate yourself. Now, can I say this to you? It's one of the real cons, I think, of the media age we live in. And again, I'm not against it, I use it, I'm in it, I get that. But it not just isolates you into your own little world, it isolates you into your own little tribe. Because the algorithm will feed you. the echo chamber of the things you wanna hear.

And you never end up seeing the perspective of somebody else in the world. And so what happens whenever you get into this tribal idea of I'm just reading everyone that thinks like me, sees the world like me, sees ethics like me, sees people like me, thinks like, I'm not just getting it feed and it's being reaffirmed, reaffirmed, reaffirmed, reaffirmed. And my endorphins are going off because that's what's happening biologically within you as it's being reaffirmed. And then what happens is it started to turn into us versus them. And it's my perspective against them. And it's what I believe about the scriptures against them. And can I tell you something? How can you ever reach a world you are against? For God so loved the world. In other words, people that don't think like you, act like you, talk like you, didn't grow up with you, don't live in the neighborhood as you, if they become the enemy, how can they ever get the good news of the gospel? So isolation is dangerous as you begin to isolate in. Why? Because you become selfish. It's about me. I'm Daniel. I'm your friend. This is the Bible.

Comes about me and you become unwise. Why? Because you never, you don't have other collective varying voices. The Bible says in a multitude of counselors, there's wisdom. And you shut out wisdom. You don't sit down to go. I never saw it that way before. Never thought about it from, I've never walked in your shoes before. Oh, I didn't know what it's like to be a single mom. Sorry for some of the things I assume. Oh, I didn't know what it was to walk through a divorce. Sorry for the things I, oh, I didn't know what it was to grow up in your neighborhood. Thanks for sharing that. But if I just get people that think like me, talk like me, and are y'all following me? I isolate myself. And how can I ever be effective for the gospel if I'm living in isolation? The Bible tells us the opposite of this is finally, you should sympathize with each other. You should love each other as brothers and sisters, not like teenage brothers and sisters when you're fighting adult. When you should be getting along. It says be tenderhearted. What if we all just followed this verse?

Be tenderhearted and a humble attitude. It would change the world. Last one. So you need to unfollow comparison. Need to unfollow comparison. Look what they have, look what they did, look what I don't have. Have you ever noticed that when we compare, we never compare to someone that has less than us? It's always someone that has something more than what we had. Have you know that, and maybe you're at church today, but there's people that probably have racked up debt in their life because of comparison. I got to have what they have. Got to get what they got. I got to go where they went. I need those same pictures so I can post them about my vacation. Comparison will rob your joy. It's the thief of contentment. Scripture says this in James chapter three. It says, but if you harbor envy, set the core of comparison, selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it and deny the truth for such wisdom. It's like some of you are saying this is wise, but it's not. It doesn't come from heaven, but it's unspiritual. Listen to the strong language.

It's demonic for where you have envy, I wish I had what you had. Wish I could go where you go. Wish I could do what you do. Where you have that, it says their disorder and every evil practice. This is the verse I hope that you would follow, that you'd get deep into your heart. Psalm 16, I love this verse. Lord, you alone are my portion in my cup. You make my lot secure. Here's the verse. The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. My boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. Can I tell you how this works for me as a pastor? It took me a while to get here, I'll be honest. To go, God, whether I speak to 10 or 10,000, my boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. And if you want to do more in my life, I'm grateful. And I'm going to give everything I have to serve you, but my boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. I'm content. I'm grateful. and comparison will rob that from you. Some of you need to mute some things because it's feeding discontentment in your life. Need to unfollow some things, need to stop watching some things, because it's feeding discontentment in your life.

And it's not that, God, you've determined my boundary lines. You've done more in my life than I could ever think or imagine. And they fall in, I love that word, pleasant places. Man, I have a delightful inheritance. So how do we do this? How do we unfollow these things? And why is it so important? I wanna show you Romans chapter 12. Are you still with me? Say amen. Amen. All right. Romans chapter 12, it says this, and you should know this verse if you've been around church. If not, it's a powerful one for you to remember. It says, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you. Give your bodies to God because of all he has done. Let them be a living and a holy sacrifice. In other words, God wants your whole life, not just your Sunday. He wants your whole life. The kind that he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him, all right? And then in verse two, he says this, don't copy the behaviors and customs of the world. But here's the alternative, let God transform you. That word transform is where we get the idea of metamorphosis. It's a calipiter to a butterfly.

So you become something that you were not before. Let him transform you into a new person. And here's how he's gonna do it. God's not, you're not gonna wake up one day and all of a sudden go, just living for God in every way. Just got this Christian thing nailed down. The Holy Spirit did it. All right, the Holy Spirit will help you, but this is how God's gonna transform you by changing the way you think. What gets in your head gets in your heart. And so God's gonna change the way you think by renewing your mind. And why is this so important? Because then you will learn to know what? God's will for you. I mean, if you wanna know that, right? And his will is what? It's pleasing and perfect. So here's why is this so important, what we're feeding into our heart and into our mind. No matter the outlet that it's coming from, and this is why, so that you can hear the voice of God. That's why this matters. Because I need to know the will of God, which is pleasing and perfect. But if the voices that I have that are competing for God's voice, the voice of fear and comparison and isolation,

and I'm trying to figure out which one's God's voice. Because we're allowing all these other voices to get in. That's why it matters so much. So three practical things real quick. I'm gonna show you a verse, give you three practical things on how you do this. How do you do this in the everyday of your life? And then we'll pray together. Paul tells the Corinthian church, he says this, we are human, everybody agree? Okay, just making sure you're awake. But we don't wage war as humans do. So we're in a battle, that's the assumption, but we don't battle like the world. We use God's weapons and they're mighty. They're not worldly, so it's not tanks and ammo and, but we use God's and what do we use them to? To knock down the strongholds of, listen to this, human reasoning. So the way humans think. And Paul calls them strongholds, these houses of thinking. And we're gonna use that to what? And to destroy false arguments. You ever argued with yourself? And so we destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from what? Knowing God. And here's how we do it, here's the how. We capture rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

We capture rebellious thoughts, we teach them to obey Christ. So here's super practical, you can take this home, start doing it today. And if you'll do it day after day after day, I promise it'll change your life. Number one, you gotta recognize lies. That's it. He says, we're gonna grab rebellious thoughts. Well, how do I do that? You gotta recognize the lie. I'll never be enough, lie. Not smart enough, lie. Always live with fear, lie. God can't use me because of my past, lie. Some of us, we just let thoughts run in our mind all day long and we never arrest them. We never stop them. They go, is that really from God or is that from the enemy? Is that from something I've been fed? Or is that from what God has to say? So you gotta stop and you gotta recognize it. You gotta take long enough to go, that's not of God. No, I will live a long life. No, my catastrophe isn't gonna hit me. And if it does, God is with me and God is for me. You gotta stop to recognize the lie, but then you can't just recognize that that's not enough. You have to replace it with truth. Let me give you an example.

Everybody look at me. Every campus look right here real quick. I want you to think about a big, beautiful purple elephant. You got it? It's like a plum purple. Can you see it? See the big trunk? It's just spraying water everywhere. Isn't it pretty? Big purple elephant. Now stop thinking about the purple elephant. Just stop it. Stop. Stop looking at the big elephant eating hay. Moving along very slowly, this beautiful plum colored. And this is what some of us do. Stop being fearful. Stop being prideful. Stop being insecure. It doesn't work that way. To replace the purple elephant, you gotta think about the pink zebra. Isn't that amazing? Pink and black. Can you see it? It's just pink and black. You have to replace it with something. You can't just go, stop being fearful, stop being. No, you've gotta have a greater truth that says God hasn't given me a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And that's what I'm believing today. Are you for me? And so whenever I think that life is gonna fall apart and I catastrophize, no. My God has good plans for me and they're not to harm me, but they're giving me a hope and a future and no weapon formed against me will prosper. This is my inheritance as a child of God. I have to take the time to recognize the lie, replace it with truth. I've gotta meditate on it. This is what the scripture said. Oh, the joys of those who don't follow the advice of the wicked or stand with sinners. But here's what they do. They delight in the law of the Lord and they meditate on it every Sunday, day and night. And if you do, they're like trees planted along the river bank, bearing fruit in each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do. This is the word of the Lord for you. When you meditate on it day and night. So after you recognize it, you replace it, what do you do? You repeat, you keep doing it over and over and over and over again. And you know what will happen? Your mind will be transformed.

You'll know the voice of God and you'll be able to discern the will of God in your life. So I'm gonna share this with you in closing. This is my journal. I visited almost every morning in my life. It's the current one. I have ones for over the years. The team actually had this made for the staff and it says on the front of it, write it down anyway. Isn't that funny? So every morning I write what I feel like God's saying to me from what I read in his word, a journal, things about the day before, things that are coming up in the day. But there's index cards in here that hold my spot. And I don't read them every morning, but there was a time where I was holding them all during the day. Because there was some inputs that were causing fear, lacking peace, that were creating some outputs in my life that I did not like. And so I wrote down some things and day after day, I would meditate on the law of the Lord. You can do it digital, but I went analog. These are called index cards. I used a pen, it's an instrument that you, that say things like this, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and love and of a sound mind. Had to remind myself of that

when fear wanted to knock on my door. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Had to remember this one, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. I underlined understanding. Some things didn't make sense to me. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. When I felt like I was losing hope, I remember this one, but as for me, I will hope continually and I will praise you more and more. I read this one a lot. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate. I wrote in parentheses, let your mind dwell on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, those do. And the God of peace will be with you. Remember this one. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? How about this one?

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. For when I'm catastrophizing, have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. In moments of discontentment, Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. So day after day, day after day, day after day, day after day, just reading, remembering them, remembering them until the voice of truth became the loudest voice in my mind and God gave me victory over fear. So recognize the lie, replace it with truth, and then repeat it until you have the victory. And what will happen? You'll hear the voice of God, you'll be able to confirm his will, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. You received the word of God today. Is that helpful? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Will you pray with me? Heads bowed, eyes closed at every location. You know, this is only possible. This isn't self-help. It's only possible with the help of God in your life. For some of you, the struggle that you're continually find yourself in of wanting to fix the outputs, I'm gonna do better, be better, try harder. That's not the pathway to Jesus. The pathway to Jesus is surrender. And some of you, that's the step you need to take today is to surrender your life to Jesus. You've never really given him the reins of your life. You've dipped your toe in, you've tried Christianity, kind of make it a Sunday thing, but you've never surrendered fully to him, saying, God, I'm mowing all in. If you've never done that, I wanna give you the opportunity to do that and maybe you're here today

and there was a time in your life where you were walking with the Lord, but you know right now that you're far from him. Some of you would say, if someone asked you, are you a Christian? You'd say, yeah, but if I were to ask you, are you close to God? You'd say, he feels a million miles away. It doesn't have to be like that. The Bible says that if anybody's in Christ, they're brand new creation. The old passes and the new comes. What that means is today can be a day of brand new beginnings for you. Jesus, like the prodigal son's father, is standing with arms open wide, just waiting for you to come to him. And I wanna help you take that step of faith and it's through prayer. And there's nothing special about the words I say, but if by faith you mean them, then according to God's word, today will be a day that your sins are forgiven, the old passes and the new comes. So before we pray together at every location, and no one's gonna come to you or point you out, I promise you, but I just wanna know who I'm praying with, myself and the pastor at your location. So if you'd say, that's me today,

I need a fresh start in God, I'm gonna count to three, I'm just gonna ask you to shoot your hand up real high so we can see, and then we're gonna pray together. So on three, if God's speaking to you, you let us know, one, two, three, you just shoot your hand up high. God bless you. God bless you, keep it up all over the room. I see you, more importantly, God sees you and all of heaven is rejoicing over you. You can put your hands down. Church, will you pray this out loud together for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up? Just say, Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today, I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning. In Jesus' name, everyone said a big amen. Will you put your hands together for all those who made that decision? Wow. In just a few moments, we're gonna close the service, but before we do, we wanna give you the opportunity to have any need that you may have met through prayer. We are a praying church. We believe in the power of prayer.

We believe what the scripture says, that the ear of God is not deaf to our voice. And so we'd love to come and join you in prayer, join our faith together. And we would also love to know if God's doing something great in your life. Maybe you've had an answer to prayer. And so in a moment, our prayer team's gonna come to the front, team's gonna lead us in one chorus, and you slip out and we'd love to pray with you. Maybe you think, this is my first time here. Hey, we'll pray with anybody, all right? So you just come down. They'll be down front up in the balcony. But if you made that decision to follow Jesus, one of the best ways that you can let us know about it is to tell someone on our prayer team. And then also there's two other ways. One, you can text Jesus to 71010, just that name, and our team will follow up with you, promise we won't spam you. Or you can let any team member know and connect central out in the lobby. Whatever you do, we just wanna know about the step of faith you took, and we wanna help you take another step in that journey. Well, will you stand with me all over the room? I'm gonna ask our prayer team to get in place. Let's worship together one more time,

and if you need prayer, you make your way forward. ♪ And I need you more than the air that I'm breathing you ♪ ♪ Captured my heart every beat and you're pulling me closer ♪ ♪ And I need you more than I am at your feet to ♪ ♪ To pour out my love and to praise you over and over ♪ Come on church, let's lift it up, I need you. ♪ And I need you more than the air that I'm breathing you ♪ ♪ Captured my heart every beat and you're pulling me closer ♪ ♪ God I need you more than I am at your feet to ♪ ♪ To pour out my love and to praise you over and over ♪ Amen, church, can we put our hands together and just thank God for such a powerful message on guarding our hearts, such a great word. And I'm gonna share just a couple of closing announcements as we get ready to dismiss our time together. But before I do, I just wanna let you know, you can keep coming forward, our leaders here at the front will stay here as long as we need to, to pray with you. And also those that are in our balcony area, we would love the opportunity to pray with you. Just a couple of reminders, next Sunday is the first Sunday of August and the first Sunday of every month, we have what's known as Growth Path, which is an experience that we've created for you to find out more about Gateway Church and really how you can get connected to the life flow of the church. And so if you haven't been a part of Growth Path yet, I encourage you to come out, be a part of that.

It's nine o'clock and it's the first Sunday of every single month. You can just text the word connect to 71010 if you wanna sign up or go out into Connect Central, but we encourage you to come and be a part of that. Also, if you are new here, we are so excited again that you chose to worship with us. Come on church, can you put your hands together and just welcome all those that are new to Gateway Church. So excited you chose to be here and we would love the opportunity to personally connect with you. And there's a couple of ways to do that. First of all, as we leave today, there's an area called Connect Central and I'll be there along with some of our leaders. We'd love to meet you, love to shake your hand, love to answer any questions that you have. And so if you have a moment, just stop by there. But if for whatever reason you can't do that, you can just text the word connect to 71010 or if you're joining us online, just text connect to 71010 and we'll follow up with you that way. I wanna pray a blessing over you today as we close out our time together and this is found in Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen, God bless you, we love you and we'll see you next weekend. Thank you. God bless you, God bless you.