Tech and Materialism

Harris Creek Baptist Church

Harris Creek

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 523 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Looking at Revelation 3, Nate encourages us to take a closer look at our spiritual condition. He warns that spending too much time on fleeting distractions, like endless scrolling or tech overload, can leave us feeling spiritually empty and distant from God. Instead of chasing instant gratification, we’re reminded to focus on eternal treasures—things that deepen our relationship with God and give lasting purpose. Through true repentance, we can reconnect with Him and experience the fullness of His love and the meaningful life He has planned for us.

Tech consumption can cause spiritual poverty

Invest in eternal over instant

Repentance results in relationship

Life Group Discussion:

Can you identify specific ways technology has become a distraction in your daily life?

What are some “instant” gratifications in your life that may be hindering your investment in eternal priorities?

How do you view repentance—as a burden or an opportunity for renewal—and why?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, one night I was on my phone, Adelaide had already gone to sleep. I'm watching an NBA
0:05.1	basketball game and just kind of scrolling through social media. All of a sudden an ad pops up that
0:09.3	says, hey, available right now, flash sale, Taylor Swift signed CDs for $19.87 or $89. 89. Okay, yeah, whatever, 1988, yeah, it was $19. $0.87 or $89. $89. Okay, yeah, whatever, $19. $19.89. Yeah, it was $19. $19. Now, I saw that, and I just go, this is how I'm sending my girls to Baylor. Like, I'm going to buy these things and resell these things for a whole lot more. This is genius. So I immediately click the link and buy a few.
0:40.8	And then I go to eBay right after and look, and all of a sudden I realize, oh, my goodness.
0:48.7	Like her team apparently does this all the time.
0:51.6	And there's CD after CD after CD that are like maybe signed,
0:56.5	maybe not signed. They're like for $3.50. I'm just going, how did this happen? I'm busy watching
1:05.0	the NBA, and now I'm buying a Taylor Swift CD. Like, what in the world just happened?
1:13.3	But this happened.
1:21.7	Like, these things make it so easy for us to buy whatever on earth because whatever is constantly being sold to us all the time on our phone.
1:25.8	No matter where you go on your phone, you're really being sold
1:28.2	something. Like, if you pull up your email, I don't know if this happens to you, but it's happened to me. I'm like, how did I sign up for all these email lists? I don't think I did, but I just happen to get all these emails and everything happens to be 50% off all the time. And I'm like, Well, I got to get it then.
1:43.5	I've got an app on my phone called Brad's Deals,
1:46.0	and it compiles all these deals from all across. percent off all the time. And I'm like, well, I got to get it then. I've got an app on my phone
1:44.9	called Brad's Deals and it like compiles all these deals from all across the online. And my trap is
1:52.4	polos, which is embarrassing. But I'll bring a polo to Adelaide on Brad's deals. I'm like,
1:57.4	it's 75% off. And she's like, but you've got 75 polos. I'm like,
2:02.5	okay, you're right. I get it. But we're just constantly being sold, even if you're on social media,
2:07.5	like with real ads or with influencer ads that you can't necessarily tell if it's a real ad or not,
2:12.9	you're being sold things. A company spent $220 billion on social media advertising last year because it
2:22.7	works. Ramsey Solutions did some studies and they found that the average American spends
2:28.9	about $4,000 in impulse spending with 66% of those purchases happening on your phone because it's so
	...

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