SPEAKER_01 0:03

Stop letting digital distractions weigh down your marathon of faith and discover how the simple discipline of unplugging can rewire your life for real relationships and spiritual restoration. Join me, Pastor Richard, as we continue our journey from superficial to spiritual. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 to 2, it portrays our life of faith as a long distance race that requires endurance and discipline to finish. To be able to go to the distance, the author says we have to cast off, we have to discard, we have to get rid of everything extraneous that weighs us down and that holds us back. And brothers and sisters, and especially youth, we are in a race. But I fear that some of us may be in danger of not completing our race. Some of you may not be able to make it to the finish line because you're still weighed down. And so this morning, from the Word, we want to do what it says. We want to do what Scripture says. We want to cast away everything that weighs us down. Get rid of every distraction so that we can run the race and run it well all the way to completion. And so, you know, if you're struggling today, if you're disgusted, if you're somehow loving your distractions more than you love God, you know what? Life can be rough. I get it. We go through difficult periods in life, and sometimes those periods can be quite long. But I tell you this morning that if you choose your own way instead of God's way, you're going to regret it. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the joy that was set before him? It was that you and I would be restored to relationship with God, that we would be able to be cleansed of our sin and be able to be reunited with our Creator. And it was with this love that was inside that Christ came and died for us. And it says we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, heroes of the faith who have gone before us, remaining faithful and enduring to the end of the race. They went through tough times too, my friends. And now, if we could only hear them, they are cheering us on. You can do it. Go! You can do it. You can make it to the end of the race. You may be facing challenges today. You may be facing something having to do with finances, perhaps it has to do with health, perhaps it has to do with the workplace, but they are cheering you on. Remain strong. Endure. Keep pressing on. Finish this race of faith and finish it well. So we're going to run with endurance. We're going to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Jesus isn't just the reason for our faith, He's the one that makes us perfect in our faith. That means that we start each and every day. We say, Lord, help me today to be faithful. And Jesus, he takes that, he takes that small, simple faith. Perhaps even just a small prayer at the beginning of each day. We don't have to make it a big, long story. We don't have to somehow learn and study King James English to make our prayer sound more powerful. Each day we can start the day, Lord, help me to be faithful to you today. Would you lead me and guide me today? And whatever you're facing, He will take that and He will continue to work perfection in your faith, just as He's continuing to work perfection into my faith. And so we cast aside everything that weighs us down. We turn away from distractions and we keep our eyes on Jesus as we run this race. If I use the term phone zombie, do you all know what I'm talking about? Anyone? Do you know what a phone zombie is? Phone zombies, they are all around us. They're looking at the phone, they're looking at the phone, looking at the phone. Sometimes they'll run into things, they're still looking at the phone. We've seen them all around. Some of us have every once in a while been that phone zombie. And some of you here this morning are still that person as well. If you and I are going to finish this long distance race, if we're going to make it to the end, if we're going to endure, if we're going to cast off everything that holds us back, you know what? We're going to have to do something about this. We can't be going around, not seeing anything around us. But we need to fix our eyes not on our phone, but on Jesus. Amen. Did any of you ever play Tug of War as a young person? Anyone? Okay? A few hands, not too many. I guess this is not something we do very often anymore. I only played a few times, but you know, I loved it. You grab onto that rope with all your strength, you dig in your heels as deep as you can, you grit your teeth and you grunt and you strain and you pull that rope. It's a very primal competition. There's no finesse here. We're looking at brute strength. And it's the one time, the one time in your life where being stubborn is considered an asset. All right? And uh today, all of us, but especially our youth, are in a modern tug of war. On the one hand, our youth, they have some real awesome aspirations in life. Uh I don't know if you know this, our youth, they they're really desiring real relationships and not fake friends. They like to invest in experiences and not possessions. They're looking for meaningful work, not wasted time, and they they understand we we need to live for today and not just tomorrow. And so they really have some awesome aspirations, and I have hope for our future generation. I really do. Those who say disparaging things, strawberry generation, is nonsense. All right? People who say that, sorry, you're wrong. It's nonsense. This new generation, they really have some amazing values, and I'm excited to see how they shape the world as they continue to grow. But on the other side of this tug of war, uh, you know what, there's some significant challenges as well. Media has become extremely manipulative. The expectations on them for education are very high and very stressful. There are societal standards that are difficult for them to accept. And they're in a time where uh we're turning into a super-aging population, right? And so the whole economics of that, the whole burden of many things, is also in a sense falling on them. So on both sides, there are two things pulling here, and so how can our youth compete against today's loud, modern digital age? And for that matter, how can we, not just youth, adults, retirees also, how can we continue to pull for our team? And if you and I are gonna have any hope of finishing our marathon of faith, we we have to learn how to live our life unplugged. We can't always be plugged into the internet and media. So what happened? Why is manipulative media such a problem for us? Uh, do you know James Cook University here in Singapore? They have articles on social media addiction and on gaming disorder. Um, you see, our our brains, our brains are in a sense like play-doh. I I was gonna make some dough to have as a visual, but then I thought this is gonna be messy, we're not gonna do that. But just imagine with me, our our brains are a little bit like play-doh. And if you've, I'm sure most of us have played with play-doh before. Um, it means our brains can be molded. They're not just a fixed structure, but they can be molded. And I have a video, a short video, that I hope will explain it a bit better than I can. If we can have that video, please.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Not so long ago, many scientists believed that the brain did not change after childhood, that it was hardwired and fixed by the time we became adults. But recent advances in only the last decade now tell us that this is simply not true. The brain can and does change throughout our lives. It is adaptable, like plastic. Hence neuroscientists call this neuroplasticity. How does neuroplasticity work? If you think of your brain as a dynamic, connected power grid, there are billions of pathways or roads lighting up every time you think, feel, or do something. Some of these roads are well traveled. These are our habits, our established ways of thinking, feeling, and doing. Every time we think in a certain way, practice a particular task, or feel a specific emotion, we strengthen this road. It becomes easier for our brains to travel this pathway. Say we think about something differently, learn a new task, or choose a different emotion. We start carving out a new road. If we keep traveling that road, our brains begin to use this pathway more, and this new way of thinking, feeling, or doing becomes second nature. The old pathway gets used less and less and weakens. This process of rewiring your brain by forming new connections and weakening old ones is neuroplasticity in action. The good news is that we all have the ability to learn and change by rewiring our brains. If you have ever changed a bad habit or thought about something differently, you have carved a new pathway in your brain and experienced neuroplasticity first hand. With repeated and directed attention towards your desired change, you can rewire your brain.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

It's about how things are reinforced and as they become easier, they are the quicker thing that we go to. And the reason that social media and uh gaming are becoming addictions and disorders are because of this taking place. As these canals are carved in our brain, uh it brings us some sense of satisfaction or pleasure faster and faster. And so the more we do this, the more it's reinforced, the stronger it becomes. Tough day at school, all right? Time to doom scroll Instagram, time to play Roblox for a couple of hours. Uh rough day at work, all right. We can spend a few hours on YouTube just watching video after video, uh, struggling with a painful health issue. Maybe it's time to spend the entire afternoon watching Chinese drama. Jesus says to bring to him all of our burdens, all of our burdens, to take his yoke upon us, and that we will find rest for our souls. It's our souls that are not being satisfied, but we're trying to satisfy it with the wrong thing. And we're struggling in this marathon of faith. We're allowing ourselves to get weighed down, we're allowing distractions to start taking us off course from where we should be going. And if we don't do something, we're not even going to finish the race, we're going to be disqualified. And that should be very concerning to us. We need to learn the spiritual discipline of unplugging. Did you know that Jesus himself practiced unplugging? You see, Jesus knew the dangers of being consumed by work, by his ministry, and so he made a habit for himself. Here's what the Bible says. It says, Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. God himself come to earth, regularly practiced, getting away, getting away from all the busyness, having a time for prayer, having a time to speak to the speak to the Father, and to listen, and to be restored, to be refreshed. See, solitude, it wasn't isolation. Jesus, he was, he was unplugging, he was preparing himself for ministry. I think there's something we can learn here, my brothers and sisters. I think there's something important for us here. Unplugging, it can benefit us in in several ways. You know, we when we unplug, when we kind of take a step back for a time from all these digital things, you know what? We we experience mental restoration. Mental restoration. We end up feeling less anxiety. We feel more peaceful. We experience greater mental calmness because the speed at which things go is very fast, right? If you watch cartoons for the young kids, I don't know if you've noticed this as parents, but each image is on there for about one second, maybe two seconds, change, change the scene, change the scene again. Um all these things is affecting us, this neuroplasticity, right? It's affecting our attention, our ability to focus on things. But as we practice unplugging for a time, we begin to restore, we begin to bring things back to the way it should be. And we experience improved clarity and better focus. We experience even better sleep and better daily energy. Did you know that? And we experience social benefits as well when we practice unplugging. And I know for our youth, uh, you know, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, whatever it is, uh, you know, these are all about social connection. And these, you know, provide what feels like a safe place to express ourselves, to uh to say what you really think. But the reality is that everyone, including us, when we do this, uh we're just trying to reveal our best self. Everything is calculated, right? And if you use Instagram, you post your photos on that. Uh even if there's a photo of you looking uh hair all over, whatever it may be, uh, that's also intentional. Everything's intentional when we do this, and that's true for everyone. Image is calculated and cultivated. And the reality is what we end up with are fake friendships. We think we're connecting well, but actually it's just showing what we want to show. It is still not the real us. And when we instead we unplug and we live in the moment, we end up with uh cultivating real relationships. Relationships that reveal both sides of us, the side that we are proud of, the side that we like, also the side that's a bit still needing some work. We we reveal ourselves to be imperfect. And that gives other people confidence to also reveal themselves as imperfect. We begin to have real connections, to accept one another as we are, and not only as who we want people to think we are. But the most important thing is when we unplug, we experience spiritual benefit as well. When we unplug, when we take some time off, we get back sometimes hours, hours every day that can be used for something else. It can be used for prayer, it can be used for that time of reading the Bible personally, our devotional time that we always mean to do, but somehow we end up too busy and suddenly it's the end of the day. Well, we get time back when we practice unplugging. We end up with space for self-awareness, for reflection on our lives, and for contemplation. I've experienced some of these uh benefits. In Kalimpong, India, I was with a small team and we were practicing a medical mission. This was in the jungle hills uh near to Darjeeling in India. And so we use this medical mission as a platform for evangelism to share the good news about Jesus. And so what we would do is we'd hop in the Jeep, all crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, medicine stacked up to our laps, uh, and we would travel maybe for two or three hours until the end of the road. And when we got to the end of the road, we'd unload everything and we'd start hiking into the jungle, usually for a couple more hours, long into the jungle, and we get there and we'd set up our medical camp and we would see patients until there was no light left. We see them, we we prescribe the medicine. Uh this is at a leprosy colony, uh, one of the places where we did the medical mission. And so we go in, and then when there's no more daylight, when we can't see our patients anymore, uh finally we can stop the medical camp for the day. And then we'd go and we'd carried in a generator and projector as well. I don't know if you've ever had to carry a generator for hours. They are heavy. They are really, really heavy. And, you know, heavy things we learn through balance on our head. Uh, so the whole body is supporting, and we'd be hiking into the jungle. So we get in there and it'd be nighttime, and there's no power, there's no water in these villages. We're out in the middle of nowhere in the jungle. And so when we would set up the projector to show the Jesus film and the local language, who came? Everyone, everyone came. Because normally there's nothing to do. When there's no more light, I guess it's time for bet. It was exciting. It was exciting. And so this was a way that we were able to bring the gospel into many, many places where they would have never heard the name of. Jesus. And during those times, well, let me tell you, there was no signal, there was no power, there's no nothing. Really, we were able to learn to live in the moment. We didn't have the digital distractions. And it was very beneficial. It was very beneficial. I had a lot more time for God during that time. No distractions. And I got to know my team very well also. Our relationships were real. We knew each other in the good times and the bad. And we learned to accept one another and encourage one another. Now, perhaps you're thinking to yourself, now hold on, wait. There's nothing really wrong with social media, though, right? There's nothing wrong with listening to Spotify. There's nothing wrong with watching a bunch of cat videos. There's nothing wrong. The Bible doesn't have anything to say about it. Okay, well, you know, there's nothing wrong with eating McDonald's as well. But if you eat McDonald's three meals a day, day after day after day, there's going to be something wrong. There's definitely going to be something wrong. I'm not advocating we go back to somehow pre-internet days, but I'm just telling you from scripture, we are in a race, we are in a marathon, and if we don't get a hold of these things and we let them control us, we're in danger of being disqualified. My brothers and sisters, you you've received such an amazing faith. This message of the gospel is valuable. Don't let yourself be disqualified by these gadgets and this media. Don't do it. Your faith was bought at, you know, it was bought at such a price. Jesus came and died for us. Don't lose it for something so small. So insignificant in comparison. And I'm not just speaking to our wonderful young people here either, not just speaking to you. You know what? As an adult, it's challenging to me too sometimes to put away these distractions. Retirees, I know very well some of you are spending many hours on this thing. Hey, nothing wrong with social media, digital media, but we can't let this thing be controlled. We can't be letting it weigh us down. We can't be letting it distract us because God has a call on our lives. Whether you're in your 80s or you're in your teens or whatever age, God has a call on your life and you're here for a purpose, and you're gonna miss it if you spend all your time distracted. We've got to take back control of our focus, our attention, and our time. And we have to rewire our brains. We have to put in the good habits, let those bad habits die so we can pursue Christ, so we can fix our eyes on Him, so we can finish our race well. Here's what the Bible says in a letter written to the church in Ephesus. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. All right, we just break this down here. We are given a mandate to walk wise because the days are evil. We've got to be smart about how we live our lives. We've got to walk wise because the days are evil. We're constantly being bombarded with sound and media. And if you like me believe the Bible when it says there are such things as spiritual beings, as angels and demons, as Satan, someone who turned against God and fell, and now is trying to turn all of us against God as well. You know what? He's trying to use these tools to turn us away from God. So we can't let these things control us. We do live in some evil days. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to debate anything on the internet. Anything, anything at all. One person says, Audi makes the best car. The next one says, no, BMW, and then suddenly people are calling each other Nazis, and it gets way out of hand. It can be very toxic. There's something deeply wrong and broken about humanity, and that's because of sin. And so we need to walk wise because the days are evil. We need to make the absolute best use of our limited time. All right? And you may be thinking, okay, here's the point in the sermon we're uh told to do more, do more, do more, do more. That's not it. We're not cutting back time from digital media so you can do more. This isn't just about being productive. This is about fixing our eyes on Jesus. When there's noise all around, I don't know about you, when I go to the eye zone after our service, when there's so many voices, I have trouble hearing. All right? Even I'll sit with my my good ear, the left ear is the better ear, I'll sit with my left ear and try to hear, but with all the voices, it's a struggle for me to be able to just hear only the person speaking to me. This is what it's like in our lives. When there are a lot of noises, a lot of things going on, a lot of sound and image we're being bombarded with all the time. But we need to walk-wise, we need to make the best use of our limited time. When we shut out the noise, it's not so we can do more and just fill in the space with more doing, it's so we can listen to the Lord. When's the last time you had a moment to reflect on yourself? How am I actually doing? What is important to me? Is our family on the right track? These are reflective questions that we rarely ask because everything is filled with busy, busy, busy. We need to make the best use of our limited time, and that includes just unplugging and giving space for God to speak. So we don't fill it with lots of things, but you know, some of that time maybe it'll go to reading, perhaps resting. I think we're all lacking enough rest, all right? Taking a walk, reading your Bible, spending time with your friends without staring at something the entire time. The devil wants us to waste our time, but the Bible tells us to make the best use of our time. And so here's how I want to challenge you this morning. I want to challenge you to commit to a specific digital detox at least once a week. At least once a week. For our family, we've decided that from five o'clock in the evening until 6:30 every day, uh the phones are going to be put away and not touched. Wasn't very easy in the beginning. It's occasionally still not easy to be honest, but this is something that uh decided this is good for us. And at any mealtime where we're sitting down together, uh no devices. We're just gonna be here, we're gonna be real, we're gonna be present with one another. For some of you, perhaps that's a good starting point. Or you could commit to setting aside perhaps a Sunday as an internet free day. All right, sounds a bit scary to some of you, perhaps. What am I gonna do the whole day? Um let you know, mom, dad, children, whoever, the household, turn off the mobile data on your phone, turn off the internet modem sitting there by the door, which has not been turned off in the five years since you've received it. It's just a suggestion. But church, in all seriousness, don't let yourself be disqualified by devices in media. Your faith is something precious. There are people passing away every day without knowing Jesus or following Jesus. And the Bible is very clear. There is only salvation in the name of Jesus, and that salvation was purchased at a great price. Let's not risk being disqualified in our race. Let's not let ourselves get distracted and off course. Let's not let these things control us, but let's control them, let's use them in a measured way as a tool and not let it take over our lives. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each Christian church, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.