Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Good evening.

Welcome to Harvest Students.

My Name is Junior, and I’m the Assistant Pastor of discipleship here at Harvest.

I am usually excited about being here, because I get to spend time with you guys, getting to know each other, having fun in the process, and learning how to follow God.

So Today we come to the end of our Series called “12 ways your Phone is changing you”.

I don’t know about you but i’ve learn some things over the past few months that will stick with me, for instance:

Chapter 1 - We are addicted to distractions - I’ve learned that there is a habit forming behavior that makes me want to run to my phone every time it rings or vibrates, and i don’t always need to do that.

Chapter 2 - We ignore our own flesh and blood - I’ve learned that people are more important than things.

We know that instinctively but we don’t always show that in practice.

Chapter 3 - We Crave Immediate Approval - I’ve learned that I am not the center of the universe, it is ok when my posts aren’t liked, or commented on.

These are just to name a few things

Chapter 4 We Lose Our Literacy

Chapter 5 We Feed on the Produced

Chapter 6 We Become Like What We “Like”

Chapter 7 We Get Lonely

Chapter 8 We Get Comfortable in Secret Vices

Chapter 9 We Lose Meaning

Chapter 10 We Fear Missing Out

Chapter 11 We Become Harsh to One Another

Slides

Chapter 1 - We are addicted to distractions

Chapter 2 - We ignore our own flesh and blood

Chapter 3 - We Crave Immediate Approval

These are just to name a few things

Chapter 4 We Lose Our Literacy

Chapter 5 We Feed on the Produced

Chapter 6 We Become Like What We “Like”

Chapter 7 We Get Lonely

Chapter 8 We Get Comfortable in Secret Vices

Chapter 9 We Lose Meaning

Chapter 10 We Fear Missing Out

Chapter 11 We Become Harsh to One Another

So today our focus is on Way # 12 We lose our place in time

There are 2 passages of scripture in the bible that guides us in the way we use our time:

The passage in Colossians speaks to making the best use of our time as one of the ways we use wisdom.

So it should be read like this: “Walk in wisdom, especially in the presence of persons who are not Christians, one of the ways you can do this is to make the best use of your time”

The second passage in Ephesians it says: “ 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

In other words, give great attention to the way you live.

Don’t be unwise.

Be Wise.

Make the best use of your time, because time is running out, as a matter of fact you’ve already wasted a lot of time, you don’t have one more second to waste.

Now when God is talking about a person who is unwise or a fool, he’s not talking about a person who is limited intellectually.

You can be bright academically but still a fool, as a matter of fact some of the most brilliant scholars are fools: Stephen Hawkins, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens etc.

These men have brilliant minds but when it comes to the most important things in life, they are foolish.

To live morally is to live wisely.

Biblically, an “unwise man” is named so because of unbelief and sinful actions (; ).

He lives apart from God and against God’s law (, ; ), and can’t comprehend the truth () or his true condition (, ).

Certainly believers are to avoid behaving like fools (see ; ).

So these 2 passages gives us a wealth of insight into what God thinks about how we should use our time.

So How does our Phones make us lose our place in time?

With our smartphones we are conditioned to reflexively respond to whatApp messages, text blasts, snaps on almost all social media platforms, breaking news, youtube notifications etc.

Like trying to focus on flashes of images as we scroll over social media feeds, discussion groups etc. you name it.

In chasing after these fragments/pieces we simply lose time.

Losing time surfing social media: instagram, youtube, facebook + messenger, email, whatsApp, snapchat.

The other day i was at home, i had just dropped Porsia off to work, and got back home around 9am, it was my day off so i thought let me catch up on what’s going on.

I checked the ample social media accounts i had, watched a few youtube videos, i thought i felt a little hungry but was curious as to how i could have been hungry that quickly, i just had breakfast just around 8am. glanced at the time on my phone, you wanna know what time it was?

12:30 a few minutes to 1pm.

That’s how these things suck you in, one day you’re a teen and the next time you came out of the social media glance it’s you 19th birthday.

And the big question is have you accomplished what God wanted for your life by that age?

Here are 2 ways our phones makes us lose our place in time:

1.

We lose track of time.

Think about it, in one moment we:

So we are taking in so many things at a certain speed that we track of time.

Think about it, in one moment:

an email from your teacher comes in about some thing in your school work.

a message from someone of the opposite sex that you’re attracted to.

breakings news of a tragic accident

a notification that your battery is low

a popular video of your favorite celebrity

a new tune by your favorite artist

a dumb question in a chat room about something already shared in the chat room

a judgy chain message about how you should live your life

a not so interesting graphic for a not so interesting event

You name it!

All of this information coming your way while having to deal with what’s happening off of our phones is stessful.

I feel your pain!

This is exhausting!

We talked earlier about how God wants us to spend our time.

Two ways you can make the best use of our time:

Think of it as precious - Sometimes we behave as though we have all the time n the world.

Instead of using my phone doing my devotions, connecting with family, helping others, serving at church etc. i’m using my phone to sin, waste time, talk foolishness, gossip, slander, take in stuff that is not good for my physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological health.

You should be using your phones to plan your day wisely.

efficiently

Treat it as precious - you can do this by planning how you use your day, and sticking to it.

Plan by starting with your time not your task - tasks are unlimited, time is limited.

Someone said the most valuable asset we have is time.

Not money, we lose money sometimes and we get it back sometimes, but time lost can never be regained.

Don’t lose track of time because it’s precious.

Let’s look at Ecclesiastes 3.

ECCLES

King Solomon observed that our souls must handle being tossed back and forth, because life is a series of changing seasons that require changing responses.

And God created us to carry multiple emotions simultaneously, such as joy and sorrow.

But in the digital age, those seasons come at us too quickly, and because they hit and leave so soon, we seldom feel the weight of our emotions.

But in the digital age, those seasons come at us too quickly, and because they hit and leave so soon, we seldom feel the weight of our emotions.

Behind the safety of our phone screens, we can more easily shield ourselves “from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others, and the complexity of their personal experiences.”