Two Ways to Be Online

The title of the sermon today is Two Ways to Be Online. Two ways to be online. Have you been online today? It seems that the people of our day think that the life worth living is found online. So have you been online today. When you hear the word online, do you immediately think that he's talking about the internet? But there may be another way to be online. Does the Bible have anything to say about computers, cell phones, social networks, and the information age? We're living on the cutting edge of the greatest technological revolution in human history. At least we think so. We don't yet know how the great pyramids were built. Geico commercial now says there was a mistake. They held up this square, and yet the pyramids are not square, per se. We just read this article from the news items about being able to get online by 2020 with a brain. Some kind of chip will be implanted in the head, and you'll be able to do all kinds of things with that chip. Pre-kindergarteners and people in their 90s are communicating in ways that are truly mind-boggling. Some have called this, as we've already noted, the information age, and the internet has revolutionized the world in many ways. Ways that we cannot even imagine. Affecting us in ways we don't yet really know. All the ways that it's affecting us. Thomas Friedman, who covers the international beat and other economic news for the New York Times back in the early 90s, wrote a book titled The Lexus and the Olive Tree. On one hand, he's contrasting in the Middle East those who are driving around in Mercedes and Lexuses and those kind of luxury automobiles with many of the Palestinians and others that are attending their little sheep or goat herd and living off the olive trees and whatever else they can do to eke out a living and how the world has passed them by the contrast between the Lexus and the Olive Tree. And he talks about in there the democratization of information. Now, democracy demos has to do with people. So people all over the world now are privy to information that in the past people could only dream about or perhaps not even dream about. Anywhere in anybody, anywhere in the world that has access to the internet can get information on anything you can possibly think of. You cannot think of a topic that you put in your search engine and your so-called googling or you bing it or whatever you do and up will come probably hundreds of thousands of hits. Does the Bible say anything about this time and where all of this is headed? Let's go to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12.

Just before the minor prophets in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1. Of course, Daniel was given many prophecies that deal with the end times. He talks about the four world-ruling empires that were to come on the scene in chapter 2. Many prophecies of 70 weeks prophecy in chapter 9. We're reading here in Daniel chapter 12 begins to sort of summarize things and at that time, the time at the end, molecules shall stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people. There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to the same time.

Now Matthew talks about this and so do Mark and Luke. The time of the Great Tribulation, a time of trouble that the world has never seen. A time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time, the people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. That is, the book of life, as it says in Revelation 13.8. But everyone whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life will be deceived.

They will worship the beast's power and receive the mark of the beast and the consequences thereof. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake the resurrection, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. I like the term glorious radiant spirit beings in the family and the kingdom of God.

And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Of course, one of the great purposes of the church is to take this gospel to the world and to disciple, that is, to teach all nations, and to bring them into a relationship with God and Christ, turn them to righteousness so that they can be justified before God, receive the very essence of his being, the Holy Spirit, so that they will live forever, so that they will be among these that are spoken of here figuratively as stars forever and ever.

But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. And that literally means what it says, the time of the end. You could look up the Hebrew meaning. Many shall run to and fro. And of course, we have running to and fro today as never before, with all the various forms of travel even into outer space.

There's a fellow automobile dealer out of Atlanta, Georgia. He's a Lamborghini owner, but he decided from a little boy, he wanted to break the record of driving coast to coast. So from Manhattan, New York, downtown Manhattan, to Redondo Beach in southern California, he chose an 04 Mercedes, because it'd get better gas mileage than a Ferrari or Lamborghini. He put extra gas tanks in the back. He equipped it with all the latest cop detection technology, laser blocking, radar. He had people who went out in front, 150 miles in front of him, so that they would be able to assess the roads, construction, accidents, whatever.

And he took off, there were two guys with him, in the car with him, and he drove from Manhattan to Redondo Beach in 28 hours, in a few minutes, 2800 and something miles. He averaged 98.45 miles per hour. Total road time, the road time, including a stop, or how many stops he had to make was the 28 hours. The total time stop was 40 minutes. Probably none of us will ever do that, but people are running to and fro as never before.

The airlines are full, there are articles this past week about how they're trying to make the the seats more and more narrow, get more and more people on, and they are using these, what they call regional jets, and they fill them to the brim. Every flight I've been on the past two or three years totally full. So there's no doubt that people are running to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And we've surely seen an increase in knowledge.

Before the 19th century, it was said that the world's knowledge doubled every century of human history. That is on an average kind of basis, not that it doubled every century.

More conservative sources state that knowledge doubles. Well, some sources today say that knowledge doubles about every year, but some more conservative estimates say that knowledge doubles every five years or so. It's very difficult to measure that exactly. This increase in knowledge at such a rapid rate would have never been possible apart from the computer, iPad, cell phones, and the internet with all its possible connections. I mean, you can store on a little chip the amount of knowledge that in the past filled a library. It is a mind-boggling thing. Now let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3, where the Apostle Paul addresses the behaviors that will be extent widespread at the end of this age. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1. This note, in the last days, Daniel writes about at the end of the age, in the last days, perilous times shall come. I mean, it used to be like every few weeks some guy would go mad and go into a public place and start gunning down people. It seems now it's two or three times a week. As the case yesterday, where this guy at LAX, Los Angeles airport, he has been upset by TSA, the inspectors there. So he goes in, I think it was terminal two or three, and opens fire. He kills one of the TSA agents and injures three other people. And in some of these cases, it's absolutely miraculous. It seems that far more people were not gunned down or even killed. Perilous times shall come. We're living in tough transitional times. We're living in critical crucial times. For men shall be lovers of their own selves. Narcissism will reign supreme. It's all about me. It's all about me and my. What will satisfy me? What can I do to satisfy me?

Covetous, wanting things that you don't have, can't have. And so the commercial world, the world of advertising, is geared toward training you to covet, to want everything they possibly can. And they pair it. They know their trade very well. They know their craft well, how to advertise, how to pair it with that which appeals to beauty, romance, adventure, youth, and of course, most of all, sex. You will be sexy if you buy this product. If you use this product, that's all you need, baby, because that will turn everybody on.

And the public is fool enough to believe it.

Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers.

A blasphemer does not give credit to God. It blasphemes that which is holy, that which is sacred. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. You can't have natural affection. There should be just some kind of link between you and the person beside you just because they're a human being, that they were created in God's image. And you care for them, and you want them to succeed. You want to help them succeed. You don't want to kill them. But people now have become so out of sorts without natural affection that they go out and kill innocent people because they're mad at one person. Truce-breakers, in other words, they don't keep their word. False accusers, incontinent, wishy-washy, here and there, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Oh, don't get up and talk to me about what I should do. I've made up my mind before I came here. There is nothing, no appeal, that's going to change my mind about anything. Of course, I'm going to go because I like to be there. I like to be with my friends and all of that.

See, one of the main things that parents can do for a child is to help them have a perfectly teachable heart. Can you be reached? And sadly, electronic media has made it more and more difficult for a child, a young person, to be reached. And for that matter, adults as well. Older people.

Traders, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. See, that's really, to a large degree, where the rubber meets the road. Lovers of pleasure. Oh, the world is dressed up with all this glamour and glitz, and it looks so good, and I can have such a good time, and so much fun. That's where I want to be. That's where the action is. So I love that more than I love God. What do you mean? I would give that up for God.

That's why we are trying to teach the youth, and of course you can resist it, to develop a relationship with God from the very earliest of your days. You begin to talk about God to them, and they begin to talk about God, and you begin to understand that there is a higher power who loves you, who cares for you, who desperately wants to see you succeed, who wants to see you in his family. Having a form of godliness, to have a form of godliness means you at least have some kind of spiritual religious kind of pretense. At least you show up and you say that you believe something, but deny the power thereof. See, the power is that through God and his Spirit you can be converted. You can have the mind of God and Christ, and not the mind of the flesh. A form of godliness, but denying the power of the from such, turn away. Now, this verse 6 seems sort of out of place. It's sort of thrown in there almost, it seems. Four of this sort, verse 6, for this sort, these kind of people we described above, for of this sort of they which creep into houses, and lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with different lust. I mean, it's all about sex today to a large degree. On the way back from Texarkana, just a few minutes ago, I was listening to NPR, National Public Radio. They were talking about the slaves in the world today. There are 30 million young women who are being held as sex slaves in various parts of the world. The sex trade traffic is very heavy. They were talking about this, and a large percentage of these are in India, that at this one site in India, there are 15,000 girls, 15,000. And now, many of them have been afflicted with AIDS. And so, Venero disease, that kind of thing, runs rampant through these kind of places. And there are these people who are sitting in high-rise buildings, or in basements, or wherever they are, driving limousines and whatever, smoking fine cigars, and drinking the best whiskey, and wearing the best clothes, and the gold chain around their neck, who are trafficking human beings. If you think the slave trade is over, you had another thought coming. But of course, this is not just talking about that. This is talking about what people are doing, virtually everybody, that falls into the description of these first five verses. You probably have never heard it explained in that way, or this point brought up, of this sort are these people, who lead silly women captive, led away with different lusts. Now, the Daniel thing, knowledge shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Oh, yes, we may develop a chip, a chip that can be implanted somewhere in the head, and with that chip, you can get on the internet. Oh, you can explore the world. They can do all kinds of marvelous things. They already have in some hospitals robots who are cleaning the hospital. Be nice, we get a couple here.

Imagine some of you would think that.

We have the most faithful cleaning crews on the planet. I'm sure they're better than robots. But several websites claim that a staggering 30 percent of all internet traffic is pornography. Most sources state that 30 percent of all traffic on the internet is porn. The Daily Mail, which is a UK paper from Britain, writes, the only sites that he clips this in size are the likes of Google and Facebook. The researchers uncovered the viewing figures for the report from Google's DoubleClick Ad Planner, which uses cookies to gather information about users. So this information is pretty valid, pretty accurate. You could put in your search engine percentage of internet traffic devoted to porn, and there will be several articles that will come up and tell you about the same thing. Sources state that 12 percent of all internet sites – not traffic sites – are dedicated to displaying porn. And what's more, viewers are increasing significantly each day. More and more people are frequenting those sites. Jesus plainly states that, as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so shall it be at the end of this age. Let's look at Luke 17 and verse 26.

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. In other words, just before Jesus Christ returns to this earth. They did eat, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. See, Noah was out there preaching for 120 years, and I'm sure they were making fun of him all kind of – who knows what they were saying? Oh, that goofy old boy, he thinks the flood is going to keep building his boat out here on dry land. Why would he do that? We know it hasn't rained out here. You couldn't float a boat out here if it came a toad strangler. I mean, it's no way. But they went about their business until Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot. Of course, the days of Lot – you remember the argument that Lot had with his uncle Abraham about the best pasture. So Abraham said, look, Lot, choose whichever one you want. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and he wound up in Sodom. And if you pitch your tent toward Sodom, you too will wind up in Sodom. But Lot was able to maintain his integrity to a certain degree while in Sodom. And God came and told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom. You know the story of Abraham bargaining with God. Perchance, we find 50 righteous and all the way down to 10. Well, it wound up with Lot, his wife, and two daughters.

The sons-in-law, they didn't want any part of it. They didn't go. So Lot's wife, as was leaving Sodom, turned to a pillar of salt. The two daughters – I recently gave a sermon on Jordan prophecy. The two daughters fathered Moab and Ammon. There's only one group of people that is spoken of more disparagingly than Moab and Ammon in the Bible, and that is the Edomites.

As in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, thou shalt it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

And so that is the direction that the world is going. If we go back to Genesis 19, you get a little bit of a flavor of how bad it was in Sodom. In Genesis 19, the two angels show up to help Lot and his family get out of Sodom. And when these two angels show up, and they show up as human beings, the people of Sodom gathered around because they saw strange flesh, new flesh, and they wanted to have sexual relations with them. In Genesis 19, verse 1, and there came two angels to Sodom, and even, and Lot sat at the gate of Sodom, and Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. He said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night. Spend the night here. Wash your feet. You'll rise up early and go on your way. And they said, No, we'll abide in the street all night. And he pressed them greatly, and they turned in unto him and entered into the house. And he made them a feast, and to take unleavened bread they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round about, old and young. All the people from every quarter, and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the two men which came unto you this night? Bring them out unto us, and we may know them. And in Bible language, that means that we might have sexual relations with them. And, of course, it got so bad that God had to blind them, that is, those who were pressing against the house had to blind them and scattered them. We're living in a sex-saturated culture. Prime time sitcoms are now laden with sexual indones. The boy-girl relationships now occupy the minds of many youth as young as five years old. As young as five years old, about ten years ago, an elementary teacher in this area told me that one of the main problems they had with first graders, this is like ten or more years ago, was centered on boy-girl issues. Until large-degree parents, relatives, oh, you've started school. Yeah, you got a girlfriend yet? Who's your girlfriend? Who's your boyfriend? Well, you know, stupid stuff. The computer, iPads, iPods, cell phones, coupled with the internet, and its social media networks have greatly ascurbated, that means sharpened, brought it more out, and accelerated this tragic trend. The range of messages that youth engage in today are frightful. They range from sexting to bullying. Bullying is so bad. Almost every day a mother or a child, usually a girl, is pleading with officials to stop the bullying of her child, usually at school, and much of it through electronic media, cell phones, and the computer. On Thursday of this week, it was a mother whose 13-year-old daughter attends Spring Hill High School here in Longview. Her daughter had already cut herself, and she's beside herself as to what to do. They plead with school officials to do something, but they are not able to do much, it seems, or won't do much. You know, this thing of bullying, it is so, in a way, it's hard to understand. This past Thursday night, the Miami Dolphins played Cincinnati Bengals. One of the Miami Dolphins players, a big strapping like 6'4", 250-pound thinky plays linebacker, did not show up for the game. And as they investigated, they found out, he said, I cannot take the bullying of my teammates anymore in the team lunch ring. So now the players are all sad. Oh, we want you back.

We want you back. So they're making an effort now for him to come back. Maybe he will. I don't know. I mean, here's this guy who plays pro football in the NFL, and it has gotten to him to the point that he doesn't show up for the game.

If parents are the perpetrators of what's going on in this country, do not step in. If parents are the perpetrators of what's going on in this country, do not step in. There is little hope of it stopping. I don't think school officials, I don't think that civil officials are going to stop it. It has to begin in the home. We're in the days that's spoken of by Isaiah. If you turn to Isaiah chapter 3, so many parents are held hostage by their children because of so many different threats. Of course, the the leading cause of death among people 30 years of age and under automobile accidents, and they think many of these are of a suicide nature. And the second leading cause of death among that age group is suicide.

In Isaiah chapter 3 verse 1, Now behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay in the staff. It has to do with a time of scarcity of bread and the whole stay of water. The mighty men and the man of war, the judge, the prophet, and the prudent and the ancient, the captain of 50, the honorable man, the counselor, the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes. See, all of those who used to be leaders, they don't want any part of it. They're too busy arguing over whether or not they're going to be reelected or get a pay raise or what can they do politically to ensure that their nest continues to be feathered. They don't want any leadership position, so it's children raising children. Just turn it over to the kids and see what happens. I will give children to be their princes and babes shall rule over them, but the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, everyone by his neighbor. Oh, we didn't know that! So they're interviewing this morning people of this guy who went and shot those people at LAX yesterday. He was my roommate. He was such a nice guy. I would have never dreamed that he would have done this, showing that people don't really know people. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, the elderly, the adults, and the base against the honorable. So not afraid to speak evil against dignities. Verse 9, The show of their countenance is witness against them. Oh, yeah, we are tough. I mean, we may have an AK-47. We just in the future look at you. In Chicago, they gun them down every weekend, and they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. We don't care. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings. Those who do the right thing. If you stick to your guns, if you don't compromise, if you do that what you know in your heart is right, you're going to eventually come out on top. That's God's promise. Say to them, say to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat, that is, the evil ones, the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked. It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children of their oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.

Do you know what your children are doing with their cell phones?

You know, there is texting, and there is sexting.

Sexting generally refers to sending sexual images and sometimes sexual text by a cell phone and other electronic devices. One concern is that youths may be creating illegal child pornography because they send lewd and nude pictures of themselves. A lot of them say, well, I'm just sending it to my girlfriend or my boyfriend, but it winds up going viral and everybody knows about it. And once you get it out there on the internet, it is almost impossible to have it taken off. It will haunt that person for the rest of their lives. Some have committed suicide because of it.

And, of course, if you don't commit suicide, you're jeopardizing your future if you do that kind of thing because it's there as a record, a witness, a testimony against you.

If you want to get into a school, it's there. If you want a job, it's there. And so on it goes.

It is said that there's an organization called National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reveals that 20% of teenagers have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. It seems high to me, but I don't know. That's one out of five. 93% of teenagers, 12 to 17, are online. That means they have access to internet. The largest percentage of any age group. Only 8% of families with teens have no computer, and only 4% of homes with computers don't have access to the internet. 80% of teens, 12 to 17, own a game console to play all these various games. Even when they play the games that seem, and I just see bits and pieces on television and advertisements of this new game that's coming on, I think they're the most hideous things, even the so-called safe ones I've ever seen. Of course, almost anything you want to put out, there's somebody who tries to justify it and talk about how wonderful it is, that it might help you with your eye-hand coordination, it might help you in discerning this, that, or the other. Oh, wonderful it is. Stimulates the brain, kills the emotions, and eventually your intelligence. 75% of all teens have a cell phone. A typical teen sends about 50 texts per day. Most teen cell phone users make one to five calls a day. 31% of teens who take their phones to school send text messages every day during class time. I'm told that now some can put it behind their back and text a message. Probably easy to do. For them, I can't do it right here, but I mean... 73% of teens are on social internet sites like Facebook. Perhaps our parents should have their sons or daughters or son and daughters to write an essay titled Why I Need My Cell Phone at Church. I'd like to read a couple of those when you get them.

And another one titled Why I Need My Cell Phone at School. A better case could be made for having the cell phone at school better than at church because of possible emergencies that could arise.

Let's notice the Bible admonition with regard to our children.

And we're all children. I don't care how old we are. In Proverbs 29, preach the word, be instant in season, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering. For the time shall come in which they shall not endure or sound doctrine, but with itching ears shall turn themselves to fables. Or, preach unto us smooth things. Preach deceit.

Some of these mega churches now, they've got one there in Tyler, Green Acres. They cover a city block and more.

I mean the whole thing revolves around various activities. Most anything you want to need, name from needlecraft or whatever, you can go there and have a class.

I said Proverbs. Proverbs 29 in verse 15. In Proverbs 29 verse 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom.

Why? Because it causes you to leave foolishness behind, but a child, left to himself, brings his mother to shame. You could add daddy there as well. There are youths that are left to themselves in church services. I don't know if it happens here. I see youth sitting with their parents most of the time.

Oh yes, the parents may be sitting on the same row. I've seen this at the feast. Or, in some cases, right beside them. But it is as if the young person doesn't exist. They don't look at them. They don't touch them. They don't direct them. They ignore them. They are left to themselves, and yet they are in a crowd. There are young people who are texting during church services. I don't know if we're doing it here during services. I know the keyboards heat up after services. It seems that it is more important to communicate with someone that is somewhere else than to talk to people standing right in front of you. They can't talk to you.

They're off somewhere else.

We tend to think of taking care of the physical needs first and then the emotional. But both the emotional and physical needs should be basically met at the same time. As the physical needs are taken care of, there is oftentimes contact and comforting and reassuring words can be spoken. If the heart and the emotional needs are not met, you can teach them all the way and take care of all their physical needs. But it won't do a lot of good. Because one of the plaintive cries of youth today is, you never spent any time with me. You never gave me the time of day. You were always too busy. And I recently read here in the sermon the lyrics to the Cat Stephen song of Cats in the Cradle. Yeah, and I grew up to be just like you did. Yeah, my boy, he grew up to be just like me. If the heart and the emotional needs are not met, we're in deep trouble. Failure to learn this lesson is why we are where we are with our children in this age.

Their heart and emotional needs have not been met. They have not been properly nurtured. They have not been properly disciplined. Not disciplined in the sense of discipline has to do with the whole package of setting the rules, the expectation, and then defining what will happen if that is not met. And then following through if it is not met. So the children have turned to their peers to have their emotional needs met. The country music of the 50s began to shift to the emotional affection of our youth from parents to their peers and friends. Country music made a big transition in the 50s as Elvis Presley came on the scene and the Blue Suede guys, Blue Suede shoes guy, came on the scene. The emotional affection of youth from parents to their peers and friends. And we have now what's called the generation gap. The generation gap. Can't talk to you, you can't talk to me. We're on a different page. I'm tuned in. My emotional needs are being met. I'm hearing oh donno, donno, whatever, whatever it is. And it is, I mean, it's catchy, it's haunting, it's it's a powerful pull. Of course, it's gone from oh donna to unspeakable.

Paradoxically, the more that youth engage in social media, the less their emotional needs are met. How so? They lose contact with the human voice. The human voice is one of the most reassuring things that there is. Researchers say that the number one way whereby a person perceives that you care for them is through three spoken words. I love you.

The sound of the human voice.

They yearn for friends and acceptance, but the more they strive to keep up with the social media, the more they may become. The more lonely they may become. Loneliness is epidemic among youth, and for that matter the whole population of the western world. Just this past week, a talk show interview, well actually this was several weeks ago, just before the feast. I think I might have used this in the sermon I gave at Panama City. Just this past week, which is now about probably six or seven weeks ago, Rick Patino, coach of the University of Louisville men's basketball team, they won the national championship this past year, NCAA Division I, stated that he now faces quite a challenge on recruiting trips. He goes to the recruits' home. The parents ask him to dinner. They sit down to the table. They begin to try to engage in conversation, and the potential recruit pulls out his cell phone and starts texting his friends. Here he is with a person who, in one sense, holds his future in his hands, potentially, but he has other things to do.

Once a young person receives a cell phone, it will become increasingly difficult to reach them at an emotional level, unless the parents carefully teach them. And I know nobody's going to take away their child's cell phone, and I'm surely not advocating it. But I'm surely advocating to the youth and to the parents, you had better think twice before you push send.

There are several studies coming out now showing that electronic devices, and especially cell phones, are addictive. Huffington Post executive lifestyle editor, Lori Leibovich, states in an interview, quote, we all know we're attached to our smartphones, but sometimes the addiction doesn't really hit us until we are left without it. Research shows that 73 percent of Americans would feel panicked if they lost their mobile phone, while 14 percent took it a step further and said they would feel desperate without their cell phone. The prospect of taking a subway ride without a phone was paralyzing for Huffington Post live host, Katherine Becker, who recently wrote about her anxiety after leaving her phone at the office, quote, we've all gotten so used to having these appendages. It's like it's a part of the body. Now, if evolution were really true, that in a number of years, growing out the ear would be. We've all gotten so used to using these appendages, her words, not mine, these devices that are almost like our limbs, that when they are not there, we start to panic. She said this in a conversation with Huffington Post live. Another study shows that Swedish children may be suffering emotional harm because of their mobile phone-dependent parrots. One in five parents in Stockholm confess to having lost sight of their child in a dangerous place while focusing on their cell phone. A new survey revealed that one in five Swedish parents have been asked by their children to put down their cell phone. The problem appears to be particularly prevalent in Stockholm, where one in three children complain about their parents to pay for mobile devices. Parents put down their kids and pick up their phones. It's like this all the time. Preschool teacher Anna Lindlaw told Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagblat, something like that. Kids have to play by themselves while parents sit and stare at Facebook. I see that happening. I go to various places, to a restaurant. Maybe I'm waiting somewhere for something to be fixed. And the child is there and they're running around. I saw it yesterday. A child running around and the parent can't pay any attention to that. A CNN reporter who covers the media beat says, there's one image I could not get out of my mind after spending a recent weekend with close family friends, and that is the image of their kids ages 10 and 13 on their cell phones all weekend, all the time. It was this guy down in Austin, Texas, who became so put out with the fact that they came to dinner and the two children pulled out the cell phones, and the mother, some of the time, they could have no conversation. It was there on their cell phones. He left by himself. So he is skilled in woodworking, so he made this nice cedar box that had all these slots where you could put your phone. So he took a picture of this and he put it on Facebook. And the next morning, he had thousands of hits from all over the world of people who wanted this box. Now he's selling these boxes at 60 bucks a throw around the world. So the deal is now that when you come to the dinner table, you put your phone in the box, a nicely prepared cedar box, and then after dinner, you can get it out. There's also now available, and the parent in California was doing this, and I don't know how many of these carriers have this service, is that you can pay $5 a month to the carrier of whomever your child's cell phone carrier is, and the phone will be shut down from x hour to x hour. This particular person was from 9 p.m. at night until, I think it was 7 o'clock in the morning. Now, of course, in the morning, you have got to text your friend about the homework assignment that you haven't yet done, and you try to get it done. Oh, that's another story, but anyway.

So what are you parents going to do? Are you going to pretend that your child is different from all other children? My child would never misuse his or her cell phone. I just say, don't be naive. You know, I was a child once. I was a pretty good child, but I sometimes didn't always tell it just the way it was.

None of us tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth all the time, at least before we converted a lot of things that we did as children we wish we hadn't have done.

Don't be naive.

Don't be naive. We have to be involved in every aspect of their lives. You must fulfill your role as a parent. You are their parents. You're not just another person in the circle of friends that winds up getting a message when they hit send.

Spend the time now or pay the price later. There will be a price to pay for everybody. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that shall also reap. There are no exceptions. The only way that penalties can be removed in the eternal spiritual sense, of course, is through going to God and asking Him for forgiveness of repenting and turning to Him. We must teach our children how to have a personal relationship with God. The best online service in the world is free. The title of the sermon, Two Ways to Be Online.

Wireless Communication. Of course, even with so-called wireless communication, if the electronic grid goes down, it'll all be over. You can throw those phones away. But this line will never go down. It's always there, and it's always free.

So if you've been online today, you can be online with your Father in Heaven at any time. It's free. All you have to do is call on Him from the darkest dungeon to the brightest sunlit peak on the face of the earth. You can be in the depths of despair or in the heights of ecstasy, no matter where, no matter when. Free online. Wireless communication. There are no limits. Unlimited access. 24-7.

He will hear you. You can talk to Him about anything and everything.

Developing a personal one-on-one relationship with God is far more important than any text message you could possibly send or receive.

That's what we need to focus on in the Church too, so much with our youth.

The basic cop-out that I've heard through the years, I have taught thousands at Ambassador. I have given how many classes and sermons and Bible studies and all of that. To my parents' church, I never had really proved it for myself. In other words, you never believed there was a God. You never believed that you could have a relationship with Him. You never believed that it was about God, the Eternal Creator, Spirit Being. That holds everything about you in His hands. He got the whole world in His hands. The old hit song of the 50s went, and so He does.

And He wants you to take hold of His hand. He wants you to be online with Him. From an early age, from cradle to grave, and if that commitment is there between you and God, nobody can take that away from you. All parents may take away the cell phone for a day or whatever. You may be over the limit. Some parents get so distraught of the extra 20 to 30 dollars a month because too many calls, too many texts, whatever it is. But here there is no limit. There is no limit.

And to say, well, I never proved it. It was always Daddy's church or Mama's church, my parents' church. That's a cop-out that won't hold water. It won't stand the test of time. Almost every person. I've got people near and dear to me. Oh, do they believe God exists? Oh, yes, we believe God exists. We pray diligently. We don't believe that God has all these rules.

The Bible calls it the perfect law of liberty. You want to be set free? Walk in the perfect law of liberty. You talk about freedom. You talk about peace. There it is. No guilty conscience. No worry.

You know that there's always someone there. Someone that you can get online with in a millisecond all the time, every day, for all of your life. Let's go to Ecclesiastes 11.

Ecclesiastes 11.

Ecclesiastes 11, verse 9. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Many of you are here this weekend to have a fun fellowship, and that's good. As long as it's all within that which is proper and right in the sight of God. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. That doesn't mean you just do any old thing. It means that that which is right, walk in it. Because, as we shall see later, there is a kicker right here. But know you that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh for childhood and youth or vanity. Now this word vanity in the Hebrew literally means temporary last short time. It's gone almost like the snap of a finger. Remember now your creator in the days of your youth while the evil days come not, nor the years drawn nigh when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. And then the book concludes chapter 12 verse 9.

And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, yes, he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs. If you want to become wise and increase wisdom, study the book of Proverbs. Verse 10, the preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written was upright even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd. And further, by these my son, be admonished of making many books there's no end, and much steady is a weirdness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, for God shall bring every work into judgment and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. So I hope that parents who are here, the grandparents, I'm now a great-grandparent. As I said, I was once a young person. I have taught and coached from the junior high level through college. I have played at almost every level, including professional baseball. I have played with people who are in the hall of fame. My baseball coach was a rookie of the year with the Red Sox.

You know, I've seen, of course, I haven't seen, I guess, what Solomon has seen, but I've seen a lot, and I've dealt with a lot, and I know a lot about life and what it takes to succeed. And so I hope that what you hear from Sabbath to Sabbath in your Sabbath services, in Sabbath school, in teen studies, wherever and whatever it might be, that you take it to heart. You can always harden your heart and reject. But there is a great God, and God wants that relationship with you, and He wants it now. So two ways to be online. I prefer the one that is free.