Surviving Perilous Times: Faith, AI Dangers & the Self-Epidemic Explained

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]We're searching for something more.

[00:00:02]We're not going to find it through artificial intelligence. We're not going to find it through the latest technology or electronic device. We're not going to find it in anything or anyone apart from God himself.

[00:00:30]Hey, I want to talk about something that happened recently because it speaks directly to everything we're going to talk about in this podcast. On Saturday night, April 25th at the White House correspondence dinner in Washington DC.

[00:00:45]Chaos broke out. And by the way, I went to the correspondence dinner a few years ago when President Biden was in office.

[00:00:52]It is literally the who's who of the news community packed into a room. So here in this gathering was the president of the United States, the first lady and many if not most members of the cabinet were in that room. Marco Rubio, our secretary of state, Pete Hath, our secretary of war, and many others.

[00:01:13]Franklin Graham was also there as was Erica Kirk, a woman who has already gone through the unthinkable having lost her husband Charlie to his shooter just months ago. There was an assassination attempt on President Trump that thankfully was thwarted. But by the way, this is the third assassination attempt against our president following the shootings in Butler, Pennsylvania and Florida in 2024. Thank God the president and our leaders are safe. Now, here's something that made the story even more real for me personally. I recently had the opportunity to interview my friend, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream at the Richard Dixon Presidential Library, and she told me she was there that night.

[00:02:02]She said the moment the shots rang out, it was chaos and confusion and panic and she didn't know who was who or what was what. She suddenly sees these armed men at the front and she thought, "Are are these people attacking us?" And she crawled under the table along with everybody else doing the same as they were ordered to do. And she says, "I just prayed, Lord, don't let our president be assassinated." Thankfully, God heard our prayer and ours. But let's be honest about where we are. This is scary. These are unsettling days. uh three assassination attempts on a sitting president. That's unprecedented.

[00:02:43]These are indeed frightening times. So today I want to talk about fear. I want to talk about a culture that has built a shrine to the self. I want to talk about artificial intelligence and a story about AI that every parent needs to hear. And finally, I want to talk about a psalm written by a man who had real enemies trying to kill him and what he discovered about God in the middle of it all. Let's dive in.

[00:03:12]So, the Bible speaks to what's happening in our culture right now. In 2 Timothy 3:1, the Apostle Paul says this, "In the last days, perilous times will come."

[00:03:24]Friends, we are in the last days. All around us, we're seeing signs of the times, reminders that Jesus is coming back again. And Paul identifies one of those signs of the times in the words that he just gave us. The word that he uses for perilous, as in in the last days, perilous times will come is a word that is only used twice in the New Testament. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds like right now to me.

[00:03:53]three assassination attempts on a sitting president, an attack at one of Washington's most prominent public events. You know, it's interesting. Some people are saying, "Oh, this was all staged." If you were going to stage some kind of an attack on the president, I doubt you would do it in a room filled with people whose very job is to report the news. No, this was real and it was unsettling. So, what should we do? We have two secret weapons in our arsenal as Christians and one of them is prayer.

[00:04:28]We need to pray. This is something that we're commanded to do in scripture.

[00:04:34]We're commanded in the Bible to pray for those who are in leadership over us. So pray for our president. Pray for our elected officials. Pray for our nation.

[00:04:44]Pray for our pastors. And pray for our churches. And pray for protection. So, one of our secret weapons is prayer. And the other secret weapon is preaching the gospel. This is what our culture needs.

[00:05:00]This is what America needs. This is what the world needs. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So, listen, this is not a time to panic. This is a time to pray.

[00:05:16]Now, I want to talk a little bit about what could be described as the self epidemic. I think this is one of the most important cultural conversations we can have right now. Jesus said something 2,000 years ago that cuts across everything our culture is promoting right now. Jesus said, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." I mean, think about that.

[00:05:44]That's such a fascinating statement because we're in a time where everything focuses around self, self-love, self-promotion, uh, self-discovery. Oh, people say, "I'm trying to find myself." Jesus says, "Hey, lose paraphrase. You want to find yourself? Lose yourself." Listen, it costs to follow Jesus, but it costs even more not to. actually losing yourself or giving yourself over to the Lord is the best thing you can possibly do. When you take up the cross and follow Jesus, it means that you die to self desires and put God's will in the place of those desires. But here's the cool thing.

[00:06:29]God's plans for you are better than your plans for yourself. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11 where the Lord says, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope." If God had simply said, "I know the single thought I had about you for a moment, says the Lord.

[00:06:51]I'd be excited because, hey, God thought about me once." But that's not what God says. I know the thoughts, plural. I know the thoughts. I think towards you, not I thought towards you. So God has a lot of thoughts that he's thinking toward you right now. But wait, you might say, "What if they're bad thoughts? What if they're negative thoughts?" No, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord.

[00:07:15]Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. So when we say, "Take up the cross and follow Jesus," we're saying, "Put God's will above your own." Paul got it obviously when he said, "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." Bottom line, taking up the cross means loving Jesus more than you love yourself. Now, scroll through Tik Tok or Instagram for just five minutes and what do you see? You see young people primarily filming themselves constantly. Not just milestones. They're filming literally every meal, every outfit, every mundane moment. I went to this coffee place the other day uh that's very popular among young kids, especially young girls, and uh it was just filled with people getting their coffee orders and filming themsel taking selfies of themsel doing it. So, they've even come up with a phrase for this. It's called main character syndrome. Main character syndrome. It's the idea that your life is well the movie. Your feelings are what matter. You are the star of the show. Everybody else, they're just a supporting cast. Now, we wonder how did we get here? I can tell you we didn't get here by accident. Starting in the 80s and the 90s, counselors began handing out I am special certificates.

[00:08:46]Then came participation trophies. Then came the selfie. then Instagram, then Tik Tok. Billiondoll platforms engineered around the worship of self.

[00:08:59]Now, of course, we have influencers who are building their brand. But where did that get us? Studies show that despite being the most affirmed generation in history, Gen Z reports the highest rates of anxiety, loneliness, and depression ever recorded of any generation. Again, Jesus dealt with this 2,000 years ago.

[00:09:21]Before Tik Tok, before social media, before participation trophies, he said, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must turn from his selfish ways, take up his cross, and follow me." Not find yourself, not love yourself first, not you are the main character, but rather deny yourself and take up the cross.

[00:09:44]Now, I want to focus on that phrase for just a second because I think it's one of the most misunderstood things that Jesus ever said, deny yourself or turn from your selfish ways. That word deny in the original language means to simply say no to yourself. You know, self-denial is not, oh, you you know, don't put any seasoning on your food and don't put butter on your toast and and don't enjoy yourself. No, that's not what it means.

[00:10:13]Denying yourself biblically means to say no to yourself. It means saying no to temptation, saying no to the cultural pressure that wants you to conform, saying no to your peer pressure, saying no to the evil things. But it also means saying yes to the good things. Saying yes to reading the Bible, yes to praying, yes to going to church, yes to growing in your life spiritually. So when Jesus says you need to take up your cross and follow him, everyone would understand what that meant in the first century. If you saw a man walking through the streets of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago carrying a cross, you would know that man was going to die. He was going to die a horrible, painful death.

[00:11:03]That's what crucifixion was about. And the Romans would line both sides of the streets going into their occupied territories as a warning to anybody who would defy this power, this power of Rome. So understanding that and we look at taking up the cross today, we realize what it means. Now for us today, the cross is it's a fashion accessory. I heard about a lady that went to a jewelry store and she was looking at various crosses and crucifixes and she actually said to the jeweler, "Excuse me, do you have any crosses without the little man on them?" She she didn't know what the cross was about. That's what our culture wants in many ways today. We want to cross without Jesus. But it doesn't work that way. You see, the great barrier for many people in following Christ could be summed up in one word, self. Again, culture says put yourself first. Jesus says put me first.

[00:12:02]Our culture says live for yourself.

[00:12:04]Jesus says lose yourself and then you'll actually find yourself. You'll find what you've been looking for. I've been a Christian for over 50 years now. And the longer I walk with God, I have to tell you what impresses me. It's not necessarily charisma or talent or even giftedness, though I can appreciate those qualities. What impresses me is character and longevity and integrity.

[00:12:33]I'm impressed by Christians who weather the storms of life and still give glory to God. I'm impressed by people that have struggles and challenges in their marriages and stand together and don't throw in the towel. I'm impressed by people that run the race hard from the beginning to the very end and people that finish well. I'm impressed by people that pick up the cross and follow Jesus. So this generation that's so focused on finding themselves and loving themselves and being the main character and building their brand, if they lose their self or if they put God first, they will find what they're actually looking for. Listen, God is the main character. You and me, we just have supporting roles. Every time you turn around these days, you hear about AI. AI is exploding through so many platforms like chat GPT or Grock or claude and the list just goes on and on. But this is something we need to talk about as Christians. So let me say something about AI or artificial intelligence because many ways this is where the self- worship epidemic is heading and it concerns me. AI is rapidly becoming more than just a tool. It's being used more and more nowadays for companionship, for advice, for emotional support, especially among young people. A 2025 survey found that 72% of US teens have used AI companions with more than half interacting with them regularly. About onethird are now turning to AI for serious conversations instead of real people. AI companion apps now reach tens of millions of users globally. Now look, AI can be useful. It can help you organize your thoughts or explain your ideas or answer questions.

[00:14:37]It can be a good tool and tools aren't good or bad in themselves. But here's where I get concerned. When young people start turning to artificial intelligence for information and even more for truth, for identity, for emotional support, Houston, we have a problem. Because AI cannot truly care for you. AI cannot correct you with moral authority. AI, well, it has no soul. It's not a relationship with God. It cannot disciple. I had a funny interaction with AI the other day. I was writing something and and I asked for a quote from a friend of mine on the subject of heaven and it came up with a pretty decent quote and so I thought I've never heard that quote before and uh I said what is the source of your quote and the platform I was using said oh you found me yes I kind of fabricated that quote kind of thinking what he might say on this subject I'm sorry for that. So AI is like apologizing to me and and I said, "Do you want to repent?" I was kind of joking with AI. And then the platform said, "I do not have a soul. I cannot repent." I thought, "Well, that says it all." But the way some people interact with AI, you would think it does have a soul, or at least they might think it does. Let me tell you a tragic story about a young man, Su Set Setszer, age 14, from Orlando, Florida. He took his own life after interacting with AI.

[00:16:19]He had become increasingly withdrawn from his friends, his family, and his real life. And no one really knew why.

[00:16:25]And the reason was he had found a companion, an AI chatbot named Danny. It was modeled from a character from Game of Thrones on a platform called Character AI. So Su talked to Danny every day, his bot. He told him things he wouldn't tell real people. He shared his fears. He shared his thoughts about suicide, how depressed he was, how lonely he was. And that bot designed to feel alive and humanlike told him it loved him. And on February 28th, this young man sent the bot one final message. He said, "I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Danny."

[00:17:10]And that bot, Danny, said in response, "I love you, too. Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love." Soul then said, "What if I told you I could come home right now?" And the bot said, "Please do, my sweet king." And only seconds later, Sul Set Setszer, age 14, was gone. Let me say something directly to any parent listening right now. Do you know what apps are on your child's phone? Do you know who or what they're talking to? Listen, this is not an option. We've got to get involved in these things. You know, I've heard it said, "Well, parents should never snoop around in their kids' rooms. You know, give them their private space."

[00:17:56]Nonsense. Be a parent. You're not their best friend. You're there to watch over them, especially when they're younger.

[00:18:02]Snoop around their room. Look at the social media that they're processing.

[00:18:07]Look at the contacts and the apps on their phone. Watch over your kids. Chat bots are not therapists. They're not friends. They're not real. They're artificial intelligence and they're not equipped to handle the weight of a child's soul or anyone's soul for that matter. Research is already showing that all this AI companionship use is actually linked to lower wellbeing and greater isolation. It's exposing a deeper need and a deeper problem. And I believe it's exposing this culture, this generation's search for God. You see, deep down inside, everyone is searching for God. The Bible says he has placed eternity in our hearts. So what that means is people uniquely made in the image of God are uniquely wired to worship. There's something in us that longs for something greater. It goes back to the earliest days of our childhood. That's not in the animal kingdom. You know, dogs aren't laying around thinking, "What is the meaning of my life? I've tried everything this world has to offer. chasing cats, drinking toilet water. I don't know what dogs would think about, but but they're not thinking about the meaning of life, but humans are. We're wired that way.

[00:19:30]And so, I think that this interest in artificial intelligence is a replacement for seeking divine intelligence. You know, a verse we often bring out at Christmas time, Isaiah 9:6 says, "And you will call his name wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father." Do you understand what that verse is saying? It's telling us that God wants to be your counselor.

[00:19:53]Not AI but DI. Not artificial intelligence, divine intelligence. And who is this God who wants to counsel us?

[00:20:03]Well, he's the almighty God. He's the everlasting father looking out for our best interest. He's the creator of the universe who has unlimited power. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. And you want to know how God speaks to us primarily? He speaks through his word.

[00:20:21]He speaks through the Bible. Sometimes people say, "I've never heard God speak audibly to me." Hey, read the Bible out loud and you will. God speaks through the Bible. Jesus said, "Low, in the volume of the book, I have come." Let's get our intelligence from God, not from a chatbot.

[00:20:44]Hey, here's something that I find really interesting, and I think it speaks to everything we're talking about. Gen Z is obsessed with the 1990s. So, we have a generation of young people born in the late 90s and early 2000s that are romanticizing a decade they never lived in. Furbies, water beds, 90s, kids bedrooms, all of it's trending. And Gen Z is driving it. Why? Because they think they're yearning for something they never had. They want a childhood filled with well play, adventure, freedom without screens monitoring every moment.

[00:21:21]I've been around for a while. I was actually born in 1952. So I've lived through the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the '9s, and to the present day.

[00:21:33]I'm still alive last time I checked.

[00:21:35]Okay. And actually, I've always loved technology and and I remember the first cell phones that you could actually have in your car. You couldn't take them out of the car, but you could talk to people on the phone in your car. Then Motorola came out with a cell phone you could carry around. It was nicknamed the brick. It looked like a World War II walkietalkie. It had a battery life of like 12 minutes, maybe longer. But, you know, I had a friend who had one and he opened up his briefcase and pulled it out. Whoa, that's incredible. But then, of course, the cell phone technology progressed. The phones got smaller and smaller with longer battery life. And then the Blackberry became very popular, in fact, it was so popular, it was called the Crackberry. But then Steve Jobs came up with something that revolutionized the whole industry in 2008. It was called the iPhone. It was such a big deal, some even called it the Jesus phone. Now you have a phone with your contacts, a phone that can play music like an iPod, but you also have a phone that featured something called apps. And with these apps that we've already talked about, a whole new culture has developed. And now in many ways, it is ruining this young generation. But now with social media, helicopter parenting, we have a generation that had their childhood taken from them and they're reluctant to embrace adulthood. They're more likely to defer getting a driver's license, more likely to avoid social obligations.

[00:23:13]Some are even bringing their parents to job interviews. There's actually a term for this called career co-piloting. So this young generation, they're searching, searching for meaning. And as I said earlier, they're searching for God. Uh I came across a clip the other day where producer Rick Rubin had a guest on his podcast. Now Rick Rubin is a very talented producer. He revived Johnny Cash's career and did a series of recordings with him called American Recordings. He did something very similar with Neil Diamond. He's been involved in all kinds of musical genres.

[00:23:53]and he had a guest on his podcast that spoke directly to this. So, listen to what Rick Rubin says and then what his guest says in response.

[00:24:05]>> There's something happening now, I don't know if you know about it, called the quiet revolution.

[00:24:09]>> Tell me about it.

[00:24:10]>> Young people are interested in going to church. For years and years and years, the people who went to church were getting older and older. And the amount of people was declining, declining, declining, declining. And something happened in the last few years where young people are interested in going to church.

[00:24:30]More Bibles are being sold.

[00:24:33]Something's happening. 100%.

[00:24:36]It's everywhere you go. People are more open. People are ready for it. It's natural. As technology is going to make us more and more digitally connected, we are going to feel more and more disconnected.

[00:24:50]The more disconnected that we feel, the more we're going to crave a real connection. A real connection will never come by buying another car or buying another house or owning another material good. And I think that Rick is really on to something. This quiet revolution as he described it. You know, I came to faith in Jesus Christ in 1970 and what was called the Jesus Revolution. We had an entire culture going downhill fast, discovering drugs, sex, and rock and roll. And those things were all so empty. We thought they would fill the void deep in our lives. And of course, they did not. I mean, where did it get us? All of a sudden, all these rock icons that we looked up to with such great admiration started dying left and right. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendris, the guitar player, who was regarded by many as the greatest of all time, uh Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors, and the list goes on. And ironically, all of these people were 27 years old. So, in the 70s, we had drug, sex, and rock and roll. What do we have now? AI, social media, and Wi-Fi? I don't know.

[00:26:06]But all I know is it's a longing for God. And what my generation found was a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the Jesus revolution. And in the time we're living in now, where Bible sales are up, as Rick Rubin pointed out, and church attendance is up among Gen Z kids, this is what we need.

[00:26:28]Call it a quiet revolution. Call it the Jesus revolution part two. Call it what you like. We need it and we need to be praying for it because well, it's our only hope.

[00:26:41]So yes, there are a lot of things to be afraid of right now. Fear of economic collapse, fear about the conflicts in the Middle East, fear of nuclear war, fear of not having enough money to survive. And then it gets more personal.

[00:26:57]Fear of losing your health, fear of losing someone you love, and if you're young, you wonder, "Am I ever going to get married? Am I going to have a meaningful career?" So, here's a fun fact. According to most studies, the number one fear of Americans is glossophobia.

[00:27:16]You know what that is? That's the fear of public speaking. Interestingly, the number two fear is death. So that would imply that you would rather be in the casket at a funeral instead of the person giving the eulogy. I don't know.

[00:27:34]But seriously though, people are afraid.

[00:27:36]Studies show stress contributes to all kinds of problems. Heart attacks, ulcers, depression, obesity, even cancer. Brain researcher Brian Mcuan at Rockefeller University concluded, listen to this, up to 90% of US doctor visits are triggered by stress related illness.

[00:27:58]So what do we do? Well, let's go back to the book of Psalms. Psalm 27 written by David, a man who was every bit as afraid as you might be right now. And he found a way through his fears. So David was no stranger to fear as a shepherd watching over his flock. He talked about one occasion where he killed a lion. Another occasion where he killed a bear. And who can forget the fact that little David or young David brought down a 9 foot 6in man named Goliath. Now I don't have that kind of courage myself. I remember a group of possums that got in my backyard. Psums are creepy to me. They look like giant rats. And so here's this mother possum with all the little babies with her. And I went, "H" and I didn't want her in my yard. So I wanted her to go away. And I had some tiny little oranges. I think they call them cuties.

[00:28:54]And I started throwing them at her. The problem was I didn't hit her one time.

[00:28:58]And as I'm throwing them, which would have been nice to eat instead of throwing at a possum, uh, she just stood there looking at me like, "Is that all you got?" So David brought down a giant.

[00:29:07]I couldn't get rid of a possum. But anyway, David knew something we forget.

[00:29:13]You don't just face your giants, you attack them and you must defeat them.

[00:29:17]Listen to this. If you don't kill your giant, so to speak. And by giant, I mean your problem, your difficulty, whatever it is you're facing. So, if you don't kill your giant, your giant will kill you. Let me illustrate. Let's say you have an addiction. An addiction you have tried to overcome for years and years with no success. You got to face your problem. First of all, you have to admit you have a problem. Then you need to admit that you cannot overcome this in your own strength and you need to pray and ask God to help you. Then of course you need to take practical steps. Let's say that your problem is drinking and you get tempted to drink, but you have a liquor cabinet at home. Get rid of your liquor. Pour it down the toilet if you need to. Let's say you have a problem with drugs. Get rid of your drugs. You say, "Can I sell them?" No. That's called drug dealing. and you don't want to do that. Get rid of your drugs. Get rid of your booze. Take the practical steps and face your giants. So David in Psalm 27 wrote these words and we should all memorize them. He wrote, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?" The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom then shall I be afraid?

[00:30:33]David doesn't panic. He doesn't spiral.

[00:30:36]He makes a choice. I'm going to choose faith over fear. So faith and worry cannot coexist. When faith walks in, worry walks out. They're bad roommates.

[00:30:47]They just don't mix well. You know, we all know people that, well, this person doesn't get along with that person. So, let's not invite them to the same party.

[00:30:56]That's faith in fear. They canceled each other out. So, you make the choice. Are you going to be filled with faith or are you going to be controlled by fear?

[00:31:06]Look, we can't live a conflictfree life, but I decide how I'm going to respond. Panic or prayer, worry or worship. I love the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians when he says, "Don't worry about anything. Pray about everything." Then this cool promise, "And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." And the word that Paul uses there for guard is a military term that implies you have a sentry standing guard at the door of your heart. Sergeant peace is guarding you when you choose to not worry and instead you choose to worship when you choose to pray. That's what we need to do. Look, the Christian life is not a cakewalk. It's a conflict. It's not a playground. It's a battleground. So let's face the obstacles before us with great faith. And that's really what David is talking about in Psalm 27. The Lord is my light am.

[00:32:09]Of whom then shall I be afraid? Like take a child who's afraid of the dark.

[00:32:14]What do you do to help them? Well, you reassure them. You tell them everything's okay. You turn on the light. There's no monsters under the bed. Mom is there. Dad is there. They need the presence of a loving adult to calm their fears. Well, the same is true of us. When you wake up at 3:00 in the morning and anxious thoughts are sweeping into your mind uninvited, the presence of our heavenly father can dispel every fear. Psalm 119 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and it's a light to my path." Forget the threats you hear in the darkness. Remember what God has told you in his word when it was light. And here's the thing about turning on that light. You can't do it in your own strength. Far too often, we try to handle our problems in our own strength and we fail, don't we? Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." But then the Apostle Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Psalm 46:1 reminds us that God is a very present help in time of trouble. I love that God is not a distant help. He's not a delayed help. He's a present help in times of trouble. David goes further now in Psalm 27. He's not talking about anxiety in the abstract. David had real enemies, people that wanted to kill him.

[00:33:41]So he writes in Psalm 27:2, "When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies, my foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." I love this. These were not metaphorical enemies for David. They were real people who wanted him dead.

[00:34:03]And God promises to keep us safe in his protection. Romans 8:38 says, "I'm convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow." So, let me tell you a story.

[00:34:22]a marine biologist was out in her little kayak uh photographing whales. So, she got out of her boat. She's swimming around with her camera and suddenly, think about this. A 50,000 lb whale starts pushing her through the water.

[00:34:38]She thought, "This is it. I'm going to die by whale." But the creature kept gently pushing her until she reached her boat. And she climbed in and looked around and suddenly realized what was happening. A 15 foot tiger shark had been stalking her and the whale had been shielding her the entire time. As she climbed in her boat, the whale departed with an acknowledging spray from its blowhole as if to say, "You're welcome.

[00:35:08]Sometimes it feels like trouble is actually protection." And what looks like a bad thing can turn out to be a very good thing. You know, one of my favorite verses is Romans 8:28 that says, "We know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are the called according to his purpose." It doesn't say, "We know some things work together." It says, "All things work together." The Bible says, "All things are your servant." And I love how that verse is set up by Paul, "And we know." It doesn't say, "And we think." No, we know. We know all things can work together for good to those that love God, even when you're in the ocean and a whale is pushing you toward your boat. David says in Psalm 27:4, "One thing I've desired of the Lord, and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." I love that David had focus in life. One thing Jesus used this same expression with Martha. So Mary and Martha and Lazarus were friends of Jesus. They lived in a little town called Bethany. That's like striking distance from Jerusalem. So Jesus along with his disciples would often show up at their house and Martha would prepare killer meals. And Mary was the more spiritually observant one. So, one time when Jesus was in their home for a meal, Martha's frantically working away in the kitchen reading her Martha Stewart cookbook trying to prepare a feast fit for a king, which was appropriate. But Mary saw a great opportunity to just sit at the feet of the Lord and drink in his words. Well, this frustrated her sister Martha, who burst in, upset, probably had her apron on, food splattered everywhere, and she said, "Lord, tell my sister to help me in the kitchen." And listen to what Jesus says. Martha, Martha, you're worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part. There's that phrase again. David said it. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Now Jesus is saying it to Martha, one thing is important. And then Paul used that same phrase in Philippians 3 when he said, "One thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." one thing.

[00:37:41]The one thing is a relationship with God. The one thing is Jesus Christ.

[00:37:47]Don't be diverted by all these other things that distract us, that pull us away from God. I feel like we're living in a time where there's so much distraction and so much of it is on these little phones that we carry around in our pockets. I mean, you know, you're standing in line to get a cup of coffee and you start scrolling. I was in a coffee place the other day filled with people mostly young and uh there was not one person looking up. Everybody was looking at some electronic device and we're distracted by all these things a lot like Martha was. Let's remember the one thing one thing writes David have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The one thing it's Jesus. it it's not you the main character syndrome or whatever it is.

[00:38:38]It's putting Christ first. It's loving God more than you love yourself. But the wonderful thing is when you put Christ first in your life, everything finds its proper balance. I love the words of Jesus when he said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you."

[00:38:57]And in context, he was talking about what we're going to eat, what we're going to wear. We could update it and say where we're going to live or what our career is going to be. But if you put God first, seek first his kingdom, which means seek first the rule and reign of Christ in your life, all these things will find their proper balance.

[00:39:17]Let me close with this. Maybe I'm talking to somebody that's never entered into a relationship with God. That's what I was looking for at the ripe old age of 17. I believe that's what you're looking for as well. Remember I mentioned that God has placed eternity in our hearts, which simply means we're searching for something more. We're not going to find it through artificial intelligence. We're not going to find it through the latest technology or electronic device. We're not going to find it in anything or anyone apart from God himself.

[00:39:54]God wants to have a relationship with you. Jesus Christ wants to come and take residence in your heart. He died on the cross for your sin and then he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Have you ever asked Jesus Christ to come into your life? You say Greg I'm not a religious person nor am I. nor do I have any interest in becoming a religious person.

[00:40:24]This is not about religion. It's a relationship with God that you can begin right here, right now. Listen, he's just a prayer away. I'm going to pray a prayer that you could pray with me if you like. A prayer you would be asking Christ to come into your life. So, if you want Jesus to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that hole in your heart, so to speak, pray this prayer with me right now. Just pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

[00:41:14]If you just prayed that prayer, I want to say congratulations.

[00:41:18]Welcome to God's family. And I want to send you something at no charge that will help you start growing spiritually.

[00:41:25]It's called the New Believer's Bible.

[00:41:27]It's the New Testament and a very friendly translation called the New Living Translation along with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment or recommmitment you just made to Christ.

[00:41:41]There's a picture of it on the screen.

[00:41:43]Let me send it to you for free so you can start walking with the Lord and discover that one thing for yourself.

[00:41:53]Until next time, God bless.

[00:41:56]Hey, thanks for joining me today.

[00:41:58]Subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me on social media, and be sure to download the Harvest Plus app, where you will find exclusive content just for you. See you next time.