Family Strong, Part 3 - Supervillain: The Enemy Inside Your Home

[Music] thank you. [Applause] [Music] we are in part three of a series called family strong and have a very important message to bring to our families tonight. those that are here, those that will watch this later, I pray that this will be a strong word to you, not to diminish you or to critic criticize you, but to strengthen you and to instruct you.

we are in a war. it is not a physical war, it's a spiritual war, and this war has been raging for six thousand years. but if you're alert at all, you know that this spiritual war has accelerated in our generation. there is now an all-out attack, a full frontal assault on the institutions that God has ordained from the very beginning. those being marriage and the family. there is hardly a day that goes by when there's not some new attack or debate or law or perversion perpetuated against those who bear the image of God, the human family.

now, you did not sign up for this war. I'm fully aware of that. I didn't sign up for this war. but if we fail to fight in this war, we become casualties. our families become casualties. your family's spiritual destiny is your responsibility. when God saved Noah from the flood, he saved his family too. when God called Abraham to follow him, he didn't just call Abraham, he called his family too. when God stepped in and preserved Joseph in Egypt, he preserved his entire family too. when God blessed David with a dynasty that he said they'll never fail for a man from David's family to sit on the throne of Israel, when he did that, he blessed all of David's family and his lineage. when God judged Aiken, guess what? his family was judged too. when God restored Job, He restored his family too. when God saved Rahab and delivered her, he delivered her family too. so family is very important. and I'll say it again, your family's spiritual destiny is your responsibility.

when Israel was given the Ten Commandments way back in the book of Exodus, one command specifically honored family: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may belong upon the earth." another command specifically honored marriage: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." in fact, you can go back to the opening chapter of the word of God and you'll see that God introduces the sanctity of life, that we are all made in the image of God, the covenant of marriage, and the importance of family, all within the very first chapter of the Bible. "God created man in his own image, he created him in the image of God; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: watch this: and have dominion over everything." all of creation, every living thing that moveth upon the earth. you were not created to be dominated by the devil, and to be dominated by sin, and to be dominated by addiction. you were created to have dominion. and nowhere is that more important than in your family.

we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. the word "family" in the King James version of the New Testament, in the English language, is only used once. and here it is: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." every kind of family unit is valuable to God, and every kind of family unit is loved here at CCC. God does not care about your history, he cares about your destiny. he doesn't care about your past, he cares about your future. he doesn't care about the mistakes you've made, he cares about the miracle that he wants to make in your life and in your family. so we all come from different places. your earthly family may be damaged or distant or dysfunctional, but you have a church family here. your earthly family might be sick or sinful or struggling, but you've got a church family. you may feel alone or abandoned, but you've got a church family. and this beautiful church family, according to the Apostle Paul, we share the same name, and that name is Jesus. and so this church, the apostolic church, it's a safe place to be rooted and grounded and learn and grow. it's a safe place to receive blessing and strength, and most important of all, to be loved, because God loves his people, and his church loves the people that God adds to that church.

first century Christianity, the original form of Christianity that you read about in the Bible, it was centered on the family, but not in that selfish way that we hear about today. it wasn't quite in the way you might think. the word "church" appears in the book of Acts 18 times. not one time does the word "church" ever refer to a building. the word "house" appears in Acts 39 times, and almost every time the word "house" is describing the place where the church met and ministered and preached and prayed and sang and worshiped and baptized and evangelized and saw miracles and sent missionaries. it happened in houses. those were the only buildings they had. so in the New Testament model of doing church, family and household and church and church services, they were all interdependent. you couldn't tell where one stopped and the other started. that's why Paul, when he's signing off to the Romans, he says this: "Likewise greet the church that is in their house."

and so the the question begs to be asked: is the church the center of your house? because that's the way it was for these biblical Christians. let me be more specific, maybe that would be helpful. our prayer and bible study, part of your daily routine? our worship and witnessing, part of your week? does your family gather with God's family, or are you just some kind of online spectator? our apostolic preaching and teaching heard in your home, with all the technology that we have? our apostolic teaching and preaching heard in your home more than just on Sunday? do you put God's kingdom first in your family's financial priorities? are you involved in ministry in your church, and are your children involved alongside you? is there an environment of godliness and holiness in your home? and maybe the most important question of all: if the next generation uses you and your home as an example to imitate, will the church become stronger or weaker in the upcoming generation? can you truly say what Paul said: "Follow me as I follow Christ"?

now, the word "family" isn't used frequently outside of all the the historical accounts in the Old Testament where it's talking about the family of Israel, it's tribes and nation building and dividing territory. but the concept of a home that is devoted to God, it's everywhere in the Bible. Psalm 127: "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." all of you workaholics, some of you maybe have made the error of spending far too much time devoted to your career and your boss and your workplace and ignored your family. let me tell you, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain. Except the Lord build the house, your laboring in vain to build it." and the psalmist gets pretty in our face: "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrow: so work yourself to death." "for so he giveth his beloved sleep." and then without pausing to take a breath, he transitions here, because really, this is what this is all about. this is why your home needs to be more of a priority in your life than your job. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." when the enemy comes to attack, when the enemy is trying to have a council that would be a detriment to you, if you've got a godly family and a godly heritage, there's pushback against the enemy. our children are not just kids, they are the heritage of the Lord that he has given us. it's not worth sacrificing your family on the altar of your career. it's not worth sacrificing your family on the altar of distractions.

Psalm 78: "which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. Thank God for our elders. We will not hide those things from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done." I don't want to just be an ecclesiastical tour guide in some dusty Pentecostal museum, telling my kids and grandkids about something that happened to somebody else in some other generation. I want to have a now word of what God is doing around the world, and I'm part of it, and I can share that with them. I want to pass this on, that the why, that the generation to come might know these things, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God. it is my number one desire that my family, my children, my grandchildren set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. say, "that's a lot of reading." well, here, here's a succinct verse for you: "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations." it's not enough for me to have truth, I want my kids to know truth. it's not enough for them to have truth, I want my grandchildren to have truth. here's how it's supposed to work: "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts."

now, I know because of my age, they give me kind of the senior set to teach on Wednesday night. they don't have me doing kids ministry. I don't think I have that calling. they don't have me doing youth ministry. I'm not sure I would even relate. so they gave me all of you. but let me tell you something, at my age and at our age, I don't want to be the weekend of the church. I don't want to be the the wimpy end of the church. I don't want to be the feeble end of the church. I want to be the strong end of the church, passing truth from one generation to another. if anybody should be worshiping Jesus in this church, it's the generation that has seen his faithfulness over decades, not the kids that have only known him for two years. if anybody should be strong in their faith, and strong in prayer, and strong in response to the word of the Lord, it should be the people that have walked with him and seen his goodness and his faithfulness.

now, parents and grandparents, your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something that you do. I am running my fastest and working my hardest to try to do something for the Lord and his kingdom and his church with my one and only life, because that's the only life I've got. but my greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not even be something I do, it may be someone that I raise. I pray that Emily and Matthew, I pray that their families, Ryan and Katricia, I pray that those precious little grandkids running around, I pray that God uses them, if Jesus tarries, to do things that I'll just sit back and think, "Wow, God is sure using their generation." I hope there's never any jealousy or or any envy or any resentment that would ever creep into our hearts that God has anointed our kids. my goodness, that's what we've lived for. that's what we've prayed for. that's why we've spent all these years preaching and building buildings and giving to missions, is because we want that next generation to be anointed.

now, we love these verses. this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." I love that verse. but I want that verse to be fulfilled in my generation. that my sons and my daughters, our sons and our daughters, aren't just sitting around enjoying our religion, aren't just sitting around enduring church, aren't just sitting around going through some kind of form. but I want an anointing of God to come on the next generation of apostolics. I want them to go further. I want them to dig deeper. I want them to reach higher, because God has a job for them to do.

we like this verse. verse, oh my goodness, I, I wish I had a dollar for every time this verse has been quoted. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost. you know, every once in a while, in just about every generation, some guy comes along, some lady comes along, some preacher comes along and starts just trying to deconstruct the new birth, deconstruct the power of God. I thank the Lord every day for the privilege of repentance, for the privilege of being baptized in Jesus' name for the remission, the washing away of my sins. you know what else I thank him for? I thank him for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I thank Jesus for Acts 2, but I thank him for Acts 10, because in Acts 10, a bunch of Gentiles got ushered in to the New Testament church. and if they hadn't come in, we wouldn't be in. if they hadn't had this new birth experience, we would have never had an opportunity to have it. there was a lot of opposition and tension. you know what finally won the day? it was when they heard a group of pagan Gentiles speaking in tongues. that's when they said, "Okay, this is the same experience as we had at the beginning." there's the only reason there's any kind of Gentile Christian of any denomination, breed, or stripe today is because somebody heard those Gentiles speaking in other tongues. that's the reason we got allowed into the church in the first place. if you think I'm going to be embarrassed by praising God and speaking in tongues, praying in tongues, worshiping in tongues, you got another thought coming. you already missed that train. speaking in tongues, it edifies me. speaking in tongues strengthens me. I can pray with my understanding, and I can pray in the spirit as well. there are times in a church service when it is so refreshing just to say to God's people, "We just need to pray in the spirit right now." I thank God for the gifts of the spirit. when God speaks to us publicly, and we all, you can feel the difference. we all just kind of quiet down because we're expecting God to speak. but there are other times when the Holy Ghost prompts the people of God, that have the spirit of God, to pray in the spirit of God and just lift up their voice and push in the spirit. the intellectuals don't like that, but the Pentecostals love that. something breaks open in the supernatural realm when God's people pray, and when they pray in the spirit. just about once in every generation, you'll face a challenge to that. I don't care who tells you different. I'm thankful for that right there. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." if God gave me this gift, you, oh my goodness, I'm stuck. I can't get off this. if God gave me this gift, you bet your life I'm going to use it. I'm going to love it. I'm going to evidence it. and I'm not going another step until God's spirit-filled people, lift up your hands and your voice and just pray in the spirit for a minute, because that's so powerful when you do that. it changes something in a service when you do that. not everybody has the privilege, because not everybody's been filled with the Holy Ghost. but you have been filled with the Holy Ghost, so you have the privilege and the honor and the blessing of praying in the spirit. I worship you, Jesus. I worship you, Jesus. I worship you, Jesus.

but here's my point: "for the promise is unto you." I've already got it, so I'm good. "but it is also to your children." and that's where I have a responsibility to my family spiritually. your family's spiritual destiny is your responsibility. it's not just enough for Beverly and I to have the Holy Ghost and be baptized in Jesus' name. I want my children and my precious grandkids to be baptized in Jesus' name and have the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. they're going to need it in this generation. "the promise is unto you, and your children, and to all that are afar off." watch this: "even as many as the Lord our God shall call." as many as Jesus calls, he wants to fill with the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. "and with many other words did Peter testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation."

now, we love to quote those verses from Acts 2. but if we really want our sons and our daughters to prophesy, if we really want our young men to see visions, if we really want our children to receive the baptism and the promise of the Holy Ghost, we have to experience Pentecost for ourselves, and then we have to pass that experience on to our kids. of course, Satan doesn't want apostolic power transmitted to the next generation, and that's why he viciously is fighting the families of this present generation. Pharaoh tried to slaughter all the baby boys just to get to Moses. Herod tried to slaughter all the baby boys just to get to Jesus. and the devil wants to kill the next generation spiritually, or even physically if he can, before they can become a threat to his kingdom. the only thing standing between that diabolical, devilish plot and your kids is you. and if you don't pray, and if you don't go to war, and if you don't battle in the spirit, they are helpless.

the longest part of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost is the part that wasn't written down. "and with many other words did he testify and exhort." and what was it that Peter was so passionate about that he spent more time saying that than he did the first part that we have recorded? here's what he said. here's the end of his sermon. here's the longest part of his sermon: "save yourselves from this untoward generation." with many other words, he did testify and exhort. and that's what he kept telling them: "save yourselves from this untoward generation." the word "untoward" means crooked or twisted or perverse. and if that was an accurate generational uh name two thousand years ago, they're twisted, they're perverse, they're crooked, they're untoward. if that was accurate two thousand years ago, you know it is exponentially more true today. and that's why Paul gave this final warning to Timothy in the last letter that he would ever write on this earth: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." here's what's going to happen in the last days, Timothy. see if you recognize any of this: "men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, no self-control, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." and here's the last one: "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." they're content to just go through some religious motions. and Paul said to Timothy, "You stay away from that mess. From such turn away."

so I stand here in the month of March in the year 2023, and I tell you, yes, it is a treacherous time to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and it is a difficult day to raise a family. you certainly will not get any support from the anti-god, anti-bible, anti-christian culture that we live in. you're much more likely to encounter contempt and criticism, resistance and ridicule, hostility and even hatred. good is being called evil, and evil is being called good. light is being called darkness, and darkness is being called light. truth is being called a lie, and every lie is being called the truth. so yes, Peter was right, and Paul was right. it is a crooked, twisted, perverse, untoward generation that we are living in. let somebody say amen.

and yet, the greatest villain we face in raising the next generation of apostolics is not a culture with animosity toward the church. it is not a court system with the ability to deconstruct our morals. it is not a government with the ambition to eliminate our freedoms. it is not a school system with an agenda of manipulating our children. it is not even any one of a thousand antagonistic fringe groups who aspire to be accepted as normal here in Canada. they all desire to remake society in their own image and then declare the rest of us intolerant simply because we won't go along with all their warped ideas. that's the generation we're living in. and yet, those are not our worst enemy. yes, they are some of the villains you will encounter if you attempt to raise godly children in the 21st century, but they are not the worst enemy you will face, not by a long shot. because here's why: all of those enemies that I just mentioned are out there. they are beyond the boundaries of the Christian home. they are foreign to the standards of the apostolic church. they are beyond the guardrails of holy scripture. they are out there. all the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside. and all the water in the world, all the sin in the world, all the opposition in the world cannot devour a Christian home unless it gets inside. and therein, brothers and sisters, lies our problem.

in this war for the family, there is a villain so crafty and cunning, so shrewd and subtle, so silent and slippery, that this villain has been able to sneak past the defenses of parents and pastors. it has been able to avoid the admonition of sermons and scripture, and it has been able to slither into the living rooms and bedrooms of multiplied thousands of Pentecostal homes. all spiritual villains have tactics to use against the church, but this enemy, it's a super villain. it has one great evil strategy. it is after you, and it is after your children, and it has one power above all others: it has the ability to wrap itself in the cloak of entertainment, disguising its motives and agenda so well that even apostolics have warmly welcomed this super villain into their homes. its name is media. and like the demoniac named Legion in the Bible, it has multiple personalities. our English word comes directly from the Latin language, where "medium," which is the singular form, or "media," the plural, it means an intervening agency or instrument. in common speech, media was first applied to newspapers 200 years ago. it's kind of primitive media by today's standards. but today, media means everything from books to radios, televisions to smartphones, laptops to tablets, apps to websites, Facebook to YouTube, and from news to sports to movies, from podcasts to photography to pornography. because media is not just about technology, media has always been about content. in years past, our beloved elders led the apostolic movement to take a stand against the evils portrayed on television, because that was the predominant visual technology for many decades. time has proved their concerns were both perceptive and prophetic. but even the elders could not have imagined what we are facing today with a flood tide of filth. television is actually now a dying medium, much like newspapers. but the internet is everywhere. it's on every device. it's in every hand. it influences every mind. technology is not the problem, content is the problem. and the problem is this content is in our homes.

in late 2010, New York Times columnist Nick Bilton was interviewing Steve Jobs. Apple's first tablet, the iPad, was just hitting the shelves. and this article, referencing their conversation, was written after Steve Jobs' death a little later. and so Nick Bilton is writing, and I want to quote a few paragraphs: "So your kids must love the iPad," I asked Mr. Jobs. "They haven't used it," he told me. "We limit how much technology our kids use at home." I'm sure I responded with dumbfounded silence, because I had imagined the Jobs household was like a nerd's paradise. but since then, I've met a number of technology CEOs who say very similar things. they strictly limit their children's screen time, often banning all gadgets on school nights and allocating strict time limits on weekends. I was perplexed by this parenting style. after all, most parents seem to take the opposite approach, letting their children bathe in the glow of tablets, smartphones, and computers day and night. yet these technology CEOs seem to know something that the rest of us don't. Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired and now chief executive of 3D Robotics, he has instituted time limits and parental controls on every device in his home. quote, "My kids accuse me and my wife of being overly concerned about tech, and they say that none of their friends have the same rules." that's because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand. I've seen it in myself, and I don't want it to happen to my kids." end of quote.

back to Nick Bilton: "I never asked Mr. Jobs what his children did instead of using the gadgets that he and his company built. So I reached out to Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs' biography, who spent a lot of time at the Jobs home. Here's what he said: 'Every evening, Steve made a point of having dinner at the big long table in their kitchen, discussing books and history and a variety of things. He said no one ever pulled out an iPad or computer in Steve Jobs' home at the dinner table. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.'" end of quote. although some non-tech parents I know give smartphones to children as young as eight, many who work in the technology industry wait until their child is at least 14. while these teenagers can make calls and texts, they are not given a data plan until 16. but there is one rule that is universal among technology parents. everyone I polled. here's how Tech CEO Chris Anderson puts it: "This is rule number one: there are no screens in the bedroom. Period. Ever."

now, all of that begs a question: what does it say about the safety of a product if its creator forbids his own kids from using it? and it begs another question: what does it say about the spiritual state of your family if you have absolutely no rules about media in your home and you're raising kids? we could spend a lot of time on the negative social and educational effects of the internet. it's unequivocally, it is this is an unequivocal fact: the more media a child watches between the ages of one and three, the more likely they are to develop attention deficit problems in school. every additional hour of media per day increases that risk of attention deficit problems by 10 percent. say, "Well, I'm past that, pastor Raymond, so I'm good." even if you avoid problems in elementary school, or avoid problems with your kids in social settings where they're so used to a screen that they don't know how to interact with real people, even if you avoid all that, the dangers of media become exponentially worse as your children get older. and if they have unrestricted, unsupervised internet access, your teens and your pre-teens will most definitely encounter peer pressure, dangerous social media challenges, violence, drug use, gang activity, negative body image, self-harm, hate groups, scammers, racism, suicide, cyberbullying, sexting, pornography, and online predators. they will encounter all of that, sometimes without ever looking up from their smartphone. you say, "Well, so far we're good." even if you somehow avoid all of those dangers, remember, you're not trying to raise average kids, you're trying to raise apostolic kids. if they have unrestricted, unsupervised internet access, even good kids can help but randomly encounter immodesty, sensuality, profanity, immorality, nudity, homosexuality, and a whole raft of other things. even good kids can't help but encounter blogs that bash the Bible, and chat rooms that criticize churches, and debates that try to deconstruct doctrine, and heretics that hate holiness. even good kids can't help but encounter an anti-Christian bias, an LGBTQ agenda, and an anti-authority attitude. even good kids, even our kids, even your kids. so quite literally, don't leave your children to their own devices.

you say, "Well, I'm good. I don't have any kids at home. I'm older, my kids are grown and gone and got kids of their own." you be careful online too. I looked this up just before I walked up here. Facebook is now the number one cause of divorce in North America. a study conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers showed that Facebook was the cause of an astounding 66 percent of divorces. the Journal of Cyber Psychology has also released studies showing very similar trends. there are dangers online in our world. so I will speak to parents, but if you think this doesn't apply to you, you probably need to listen even more.

let me speak to parents for a moment. as a parent, these are your minimum responsibilities. these are the minimums. these are not maximums. you don't get extra credit for this. you're not super spiritual if you do this. you're just a good parent trying to raise apostolic kids if you do these minimums. number one, you need to set boundaries for your kids. limit media exposure for very young children. make all children's bedrooms media-free, especially at night. I beg you in Jesus' name, including their cell phones. I don't care what age they are. if they live under your roof, and they eat your food, and they cost you money, you better have enough guts to make the rules in your home for their own safety. require them to watch movies and use their laptops and their devices in public areas of your home. set boundaries. secondly, parents, monitor content. in Jesus' name, don't use media as a babysitter because you're off on your own. use media parental controls where you can to block inappropriate content on your kids' devices. now, this one shouldn't be controversial, but it sometimes is. retain access to your kids' phones, including all passwords. and I would add, especially if you are dumb enough to be paying for that and you don't even have a password to access it. are we uncomfortable yet? I'm working hard. require your kids to add you as a follower on any social media app they use. well, they won't like that. I don't care. it is their soul we are talking about here. you say, "Oh no, they're a good kid." even good kids encounter garbage and trash and demonic deception and the worst kind of perversion on those, and sometimes they do it in the same room where you're sitting with them because they're off in a corner. set boundaries. monitor content. establish house rules. media consumption, media consumption should not be your kids' main recreational activities. for heaven's sake, let your kids go out and breathe God's good air once in a while. put away phones at meal times. oh, here's a big one for all you adults that think this isn't about you: ignore text messages during conversations. how about that one? I was traveling somewhere between the North Pole and the South Pole one month of one year, and I sat down with the whole family that was hosting me. I was the special guest. we sat down at a table in their restaurant of choice, about to order some delightful food. I looked up from the menu, and everybody was on their phone. I thought, "I guess I'll look at the menu again." when you're conversing with people, for heaven's sake, can I just add one more? when your pastor's preaching the Bible, say, "Stay off your phone." [Applause] thank you. all you know, non-phone people that forgot your smartphone in the car. how about the rest of you? if this church thing is as important as we say it is, it's important enough that you can go for 90 minutes without checking Facebook frantically to see if somebody's put a thumbs up on your latest post. by the way, would you stop that in Jesus' name? you were not valued because of how many thumbs up or little hearts or little huggies that your post got. you're a child of God. for heaven's sake, grow up. are we uncomfortable yet? I'm working hard. don't let media infringe on family activities or interfere with family relationships. pastor, he's the nice pastor. I am not. I've never claimed that. I've told people, if you need a hug, his office is right over there. if you want to be told the truth, come on in. I've told people that. don't let media interfere with family relationships. if you've got a child or a teenager or a preteen at home that ignores you and stares at this and just won't talk, this needs to go locked up somewhere for a few days until that changes. tell them the mean pastor said so, and he doesn't care if they don't like it. set boundaries. monitor content. and establish some house rules in your home. make sure that your home reflects the values that you are trying to pass on to the next generation. we are not trying to create media consumers, we're trying to create the next generation of apostolics. number four, parents, please watch for warning signs. check their browsing history. if your teen hides their screen when you walk into the room, do not hesitate. do not wait. check their browsing history. if you don't know how to do that, ask your four-year-old. be on the lookout for new email accounts or new social media profiles that they set up, because that means they're hiding something, and it is a big red flag. if your preteen or your teenager becomes sullen or withdrawn, or loses interest in their friends, or they start to kind of hide out in their room, or they start to do self-harm, my goodness, don't wait on that. act on that. media is almost always part of the problem there. and finally, just in case I have not offended you yet, number five, lead by example. obey your own rules in your own home. be a godly parent. if you want your kids, and you should, to have media-free times and media-free places, then you have media-free times and media-free places. didn't think anybody started Jericho on that. share your passwords with your spouse in Jesus' name. know what your kids are watching, and speak up if it's wrong. and by the way, if it isn't right for them, it usually isn't right for you either. I know there are some things, there's newscasts, and there's violence, and there's, you know, destruction and war, and and you don't want your kids. so I'm not talking about that. but if it's something immoral, that's not right for them, it's not right for you either. somebody say, "Lead by example."

if that last point made you uncomfortable, there's a good reason for that. most parents won't exercise discipline over their kids' online activity because they don't exercise discipline over their own online activity. that arch villain, that that super villain, if you will, has entered into their hearts, and so the whole family doesn't stand a chance. they have no spiritual or moral authority to deal with the enemy that they have allowed to come into their own home and into their own heart. and their kids are going to bear the brunt of that, because while the kids are just doing God knows what on the internet, their parents are off in a different room doing God knows what on the internet. and that's why it's such a problem. and I want to say this as strongly as I can, and I know I look like and sound like I'm angry tonight, and I am. I am so angry at the devil because we are getting slaughtered out there with some of our teens and some of our children and some of our families, and it's needless. if we would learn to pray in the Holy Ghost, not just when we're here, but when we're home, if we would learn to serve God in holiness, not just when we're here, but when we're home, we wouldn't have to put up with that mess. so yeah, I'm mad. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad for you. I'm angry on your behalf. the devil has had sway over too many apostolic homes and marriages and teenagers and children, and it needs to end in Jesus' name. [Applause]

because here's the problem: you can't pray yourself out of what you disobey yourself into. if you're going to fill your mind with all that garbage and trash, you can't pray your way out of that on Sunday morning in two seconds and enjoy service. you're going to carry a truckload of condemnation. you're going to carry a boatload of guilt and shame all week long. and you're going to waste so much time in your prayer time just saying, "Jesus, sorry. Jesus, I'm sorry. Jesus, I'm sorry." what a waste to spend your life on the hamster wheel of sin and repent, sin and repent, sin and repent. you are wasting your life. there are souls to win, there are churches to plant, there are missionaries to send, there are miracles to see, there are great things for the church to do. but we can't do it if we're all enslaved by this. this Proverbs, Solomon begged us, and he should know because he messed up so much: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." if your heart is polluted, everything in your life is polluted. if your heart is enslaved, everything in your life is enslaved. oh my goodness, I'm stuck. lift up your hands and pray. pray some way. pray in English. pray in tongues. pray in the spirit. pray in intercession. pray some way. I don't feel a liberty to go another step until we pray a little bit. I know I've got the oh my goodness, I'm not talking about that low percolating kind of prayer. I'm talking about somebody that says, "God, I need this help in my home. I need this help in my mind. I need this help in my life." Tessa, in the name of Jesus.

see, the problem is, problem is, right now, while we're sitting here in this sanctuary, and I'm glad you're here, there are people watching at home, and I'm glad you're watching at home. but there are people watching at home that have something going on in another window on their computer screen while they're supposedly attending church. you know how much they're getting out of church? they're buying a boat right now. they're not attending church. they're not hearing a word I'm saying. I'm the I'm the face. they probably got me turned down underneath whatever news clip they're watching. that's not the same. it's not equivalent. the psalmist said, "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way: O, when wilt thou come unto me? God, I will walk within my house." somebody say, "Within my house." "with a perfect heart." how do you do that, Mr. Psalmist? how do you do that, King David? "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." that's how you do that. "I hate the work of them that turn aside from godly things." that's how you do that. "It shall not cleave to me: a froward and bold heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person." I am not allowing that super villain inside my home. it is not going to make its base of operation in my living room or my bedroom or on my smartphone.

here's what you need to know about the entertainment industry. I don't care whether you're talking about Facebook or YouTube. I don't care whether you're talking about movies or any other kind of media. I don't care whether you're talking about sports or newscasts. the entertainment industry is always looking for addicts. one more click, one more post, just one more game, just one more movie, just just one more hour. so why don't we stand up to something that is only looking for addicts? here's why: because we're addicted. that's why. we have to recognize the battle that we're in. we have to recognize the enemy that we're facing. and we also have to recognize the consequences for the next generation. they won't win spiritually if we lose spiritually.

almost finished. I know I'm making you uncomfortable, and I don't care. I care too much about you to not make you uncomfortable on this subject. First John 2: "I have written unto you, fathers, elders, older generation, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, young people, younger generation, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one." how do you pass such a precious experience, such wonderful truth, from the older generation to the younger generation? how do you ensure that they will be strong, that the word of God will abide in them, that they will overcome the wicked one? here's how: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." I feel the anointing of some elders behind me tonight. I don't care if you back me up. I got them backing me up. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." define it for me, John. okay. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, it is not of the Father, it is of the world." and that's why people can puff up in pride and arrogance and say, "Preacher, you got no business meddling with what I do in the privacy of my own home." if you have that kind of spirit, it's no wonder you're spiritually cold and indifferent and backslid. it's no wonder you're having challenges in living for God, and your precious kids are having challenges in living for God. there is a world out there, and that world is sinister and dark. I'm not talking about the people, they're the victims. I'm talking about the spirit of this age, and we welcome it into our lives and don't even realize it when we interact with it on these things.

pastor, are you saying get rid of smartphones? for heaven's sake, no. I'm not saying that. are you saying don't ever watch this or don't ever do that? no, I'm not saying that. I'm saying guard your heart, because it affects everything you do. don't love the world. you're going to love the world if you spend far more time on this than you do with this. you will love the world. you say, "Am I supposed to read the Bible all the time?" I don't know. you tell me. are you on Facebook all the time? are you on YouTube all the time? are you doing texting all the time? then you probably could spend some more time with this. you're not okay, but I am very okay right now.

in conclusion, here are three tests for every apostolic believer who is online. three tests. you don't have to tell me the result of the test. you can sit there smug and super spiritual and act like this doesn't affect you. that's fine. but if you're honest before God, these tests will help you decide whether you are being victimized by that super villain or whether you've got victory over that super villain. three tests. number one, the content test. there's a lot of good stuff on the internet, pastor. yeah, but if you hit the one rotten apple in the whole bunch, you can become addicted and ensnared to all kinds of evil online. the content test: would Jesus be pleased with what I'm doing online? if that answer is a no or an "I'm not sure," you need an altar in your life. secondly, the control test. could you give it up? oh yes, I could. really? how about right now? and if that recoils in your spirit, then you can't give it up. you're so addicted. you know what some people, they just have to know everybody else's business, and so that's why they're online all the time. but some people know in everybody's business turns into all kinds of sinister things. it can turn into envy and jealousy because somebody else posts all their great pictures and all their great stuff and all their great activities, and you're jealous. but it can turn into something a lot more sinister than that. it can turn into re-engaging a relationship with an old flame that you had when you were in the world, and it can break up your marriage. never us. oh no, 66 percent, that's nothing to worry about. it can result in one's pure, victorious, worshiping, prayerful apostolic young men and women sitting around hiding an addiction to pornography and coming inside and trying to fake us all out with a performance when it used to be Pentecost. it's pretty sinister. the control test: are you controlling it, or is it controlling you? and finally, if you say, "No, I'm good, pastor. I'm really good with those two." okay. one last one. the clock test. how much time are you really spending online? are you wasting time that really belongs to God and to your family? the clock test.

parents that are here tonight, parents that will watch later, you need to set some house rules that glorify God and protect your family and close the door to the enemy. your kids don't need a buddy, they need a mom and a dad. you are responsible to know their friends, set their boundaries, correct their behavior, and for heaven's sake, monitor their media. but they don't like it, pastor. to which I say, who cares? it's your home, and they are your responsibility. you don't understand, pastor, if I lay down the law on this, they may just run away. in my experience, over just 40 years of ministry, they end up running away anyway, only they spend the last few years before they do addicted and setting themselves up for failure. it's your home. your family's spiritual destiny is your responsibility.

and my closing scripture: "and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, then choose you this day whom ye will serve." and Joshua said to Israel, when many of them were wavering, and many of them didn't want that kind of leadership, he said, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I speak and preach and teach to young couples, grandparents, I teach to our church, I teach to our single adults, I teach to our wonderful young people tonight, everybody that's here or everyone that will see this later. I beg you, for your soul's sake, be very careful of what you're doing online. there is a super villain. he is active. he is aggressive. and his name is media. and so much of media is sent from the very pit of hell. say, "Pastor Raymond, my goodness, that's a negative message." no, it's not. it is perhaps one of the most important things you could hear relative to your family. if you don't set the bar and the boundaries and the borders at home, you are setting your kids up for sin. who would want to do that? I adore you. I exhort you. I beseech you in every strong Bible word you could think of in Jesus' name. proceed cautiously, because there is a super villain, and too many apostolics have welcomed it into their homes. if I haven't succeeded in making you uncomfortable by now, I probably never will. but I meant to.

would you lift up your hands and your voice? Lord Jesus, I pray right now for our church. I pray for our church family. I pray for our families. I pray for our single adults that are just adrift in a world where there's so much sensuality and overt sexuality. and I I pray for them, God, that their faith would fail not, in their convictions and their commitment would fail not. I pray, God, for our teenagers, Jesus. there are such wicked things out there trying to snare them and addict them at a young age. I pray for our precious little innocent children. we just kind of ignore the problem until something terrible happens, and then we're all shocked and and we feel so bad and and we're so horrified. but God, help us to set some boundaries and some borders around our homes and around our church that would protect our families. and God, I pray for every senior, every senior saint, every middle-aged person, every couple that thinks this doesn't apply to me, and they're going to go home tonight and turn on media. yeah, and maybe it won't even be appropriate, and they think that they're okay. Jesus, I pray that conviction would seize us. I pray that Holy conviction would seize us, because we cannot pray ourselves out of what we disobey ourselves into. Jesus, I pray that you would put some Holy Ghost boldness in some parents. they've already slacked off on the rules. they've already relaxed their standards. they've already just kind of let it go. but God, I pray you'd put some Holy Ghost boldness and some Holy Ghost wisdom in them to challenge their home and to challenge their kids and to get this back on track before you're coming, because we don't want to lose a generation of apostolics. I feel like I'm the only one praying, church, and I usually don't, but I feel like I need some help, not just from the Lord, but some help from you. I'm asking some prayer warriors to stand to your feet, extend your arms, lift up your voice, and just pray for a minute. we got a couple of minutes, surely, to protect our homes in prayer. I'm gonna stop because there's a danger. you listen to me. I just want you to pray for a minute.