EPISODE 35 / THE ALGORITHM FROM HELL!

The speaker shares personal experiences of how his phone bombarded him with ads related to things he had discussed or watched online. He compares this algorithm to how Satan knows our desires and tempts us accordingly. He references the temptation of Eve in the Bible and emphasizes that Satan is an opportunist, constantly looking for ways to destroy us. He provides four ways to avoid temptation: know the word, know yourself, know the enemy, and remember there is always an escape route provided by God. The speaker encourages listeners to be aware of Satan's tactics and not be fooled by his algorithms. This has happened to me several times. I'm sure it's happened to everybody many times. But you will watch one thing on your phone. Maybe, for instance, the other day I watched a baseball video. And it just had some guys hitting a baseball with a corked bat. And it was fun to watch. These guys were cranking it out of the park. But my phone then started showing me video after video after video of guys hitting baseballs and I really didn't care about it. This kind of thing happens a lot. Another thing that happened, and everybody says it happens and they deny it, but I had a meeting with the school security team one day and I was talking to them about holsters, about gun holsters, having safe holsters that no one could just run up and snatch the pistol out of the holster. And I have never searched for a holster on my phone or even on my computer. Anytime I've ever needed a holster, I just go up to Sportsman's and buy me a holster. But my phone started bombarding me with ads for holsters. And it was obvious that the phone was listening, that it was generating ads based on what I said in videos. I like to watch boxing videos. Man, my phone blows up on social media of boxing videos. And they say this is an algorithm, some kind of mathematical equation that it determines this is the things that you want to see and these are the things that they want you to see. And so they feed it to you. So if you ever go search for something on your laptop, if you ever go look at something on your phone, they're going to begin to hit you up with that stuff. Well, I want you to know that it reminds me of what Satan does to us. He knows what we look at. He knows what we desire. He knows what we want to watch. He knows what our weaknesses are. Listen to this. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 6, the temptation of Eve. Now listen to what Scripture says. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. See, the devil knew. It says that it was good for food. It would satisfy her flesh. It was pleasing to her eyes. And it was prideful. She knew that she could obtain wisdom. The very thing that God said, don't do. You've got all of this garden. You have paradise at your fingertips. And you've got all of this freedom. Just don't do this one thing. And Satan knew exactly how to push her buttons. He knew how to tempt her. It was good for food. It was pleasing. It was beautiful. It looked good to her. And she wanted to be like God. She wanted to be the God of her own life. And that's much like sinful man. We want to be the God of our own lives. We want to be the captain of our own ship. First Peter 5.8 says this, Be alert and sober-minded. Your enemy, the devil, prowls. I want you to remember that. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I want you to know that Satan is not sitting as a lion. He's not waiting. He's not lying about. But he's up pacing, looking for an opportunity to pounce and to destroy. Some people want to believe in angels, but not the demonic realm. If 33 years of ministry and nearly 58 years of living have taught me anything, it is that the supernatural is real. That yes, angels are real. But most definitely, the kingdom of darkness, Satan and his demons are just as real. Now Satan, he's a liar. He's a deceiver. Scripture is clear on that. However, I want you to know something else about the devil. He's an opportunist. He roams around. He's looking for doors in your life that you've left unlocked. Cracks in your security system. Gaps in your fence. James 1.4 says that each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed, listen to this, of his own desires. The devil didn't make you do it. Satan is using our own lusts, our own desires to trip us up. To lead us to do things that we normally would not do, that we know better. To say things that we know better than to say. But we say them anyway. He uses our own desires against us. So he's a liar. He's roaming about. Pacing about. Looking for an opening. Looking for a chance. Using his algorithm to put things before us. To put people before us that will trip us up. And man, listen, he's wanting to sift us like wheat, as Jesus told Peter. He wants to destroy us. He wants to destroy our marriages. He wants our kids to waste their lives. He wants to ruin our reputation, our ministry for the gospel. He will do anything. So I want you to know that Satan is a lot of things. But I want you to know this, he's an opportunist. He runs his algorithm to see what bait would be best on the hook to catch us and destroy us. Just like Facebook algorithms, Satan knows our desires. He knows the things we long for. He knows the things we lust for. And just like social media, he begins to bombard our senses with bait. Temptation. Advertisements. To lure us in. To draw us past temptation and into sin to make the purchase. That's what ads do. When they started showing me those holster ads, all these people said, hey, this guy's looking for a holster for his pistol. Let's send him a bunch of ads. But why? Because they want me to make the purchase. What is Satan wanting us to do? He's wanting us to buy. He's wanting us to fall for it. He wants us to make that purchase that will destroy us. Ephesians 6.12. Very familiar verse to all of us. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Oh, my friends. The devil has an algorithm from hell to run, to cipher, to figure out what is the best way to trip us up, to destroy us, to ruin our homes and ruin our families and ruin our character and ruin our integrity. And most of all, to ruin our ability to share the gospel. Man, he's so clever. He's such an opportunist. He's such a devilish lion that is just pacing around, looking for that gap, looking for that opening to come right in. I want to give you four things real quick to help us avoid temptation. There's a million things that could be said, but these are four simple things that I kind of drew up. So, listen, good ways to avoid temptation. Number one and foremost, know the word. When Jesus was tempted of Satan in the wilderness, he didn't fuss and yell. No, Jesus simply quoted scripture back to the evil one. So, how to avoid temptation? Know the word. You'll know what Satan's like. You'll know what he's up to. You'll recognize the bait and the hook. So, know the word. Number two, know yourself. What do you struggle with? What are you tempted by? You know, it's not rocket science. If you're an alcoholic, you don't need to hang out in the bar. And so, if you've got things that you struggle with, things that you are easily tempted with, your own desires that Satan would use against you, you need to know yourself and know how to avoid those things. So, know the word. Know yourself. Number three, know the enemy. Now, number three takes us right back to number one. If we're going to know the enemy, Satan, Lucifer, we have to know the word because that's where we learn about him. And God gives us all kind of descriptors and he gives us Satan's game plan to trip us up. So, we have to know the enemy, how he works, how he devises his schemes, how he uses people, places, and things to draw us in. So, know the word. Know yourself. Know the enemy. And know that there's always going to be an escape hatch. There's always going to be an escape route. God is going to always, he's promised us. Listen to this from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. In other words, don't think something strange has happened to you. This happens to all of us. And whatever you struggle with, there are many people that struggle with the same thing. No temptation has overcome you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But listen to this. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. So, temptation is common. It's not anything unusual. But our God is faithful and he always will provide a way of escape that we can endure the temptation. If we are aware of the game, if we know the social media apps and algorithms, what they're up to, it makes it a little easier to resist in making a foolish purchase, something we don't need to impulse buy. It makes me so suspicious and even angry sometimes at the ads. They'll pop up and they'll get in the way of maybe something I'm researching or something I'm trying to figure out. And it makes me mad that these ads we have to go through. And I get mad and I vow, you know, I would never buy this product just because of that. Because it's being forced on me. If I want to look for a holster, I know where to go look for a holster. Oh, that we would have that attitude toward temptation. That it would make us mad when we see the obvious things the devil does to tempt us sexually. That he does to tempt us financially. When he tempts us to be dishonest and tell that little white lie. It ought to anger us that we're not going to buy from him. We're not going to do business with the devil. We're not going to be fooled by his algorithms. So let's be smart, my friends. Let's be in the word. Know our struggles. Know this enemy of ours because he's real. He's just as real as you and I. And know that God always gives us an escape hatch. My friend, thank you for listening this morning. I hope you have a great week. Pass this along to some friends. Share it on social media. Let's build our audience as we try to reach out and encourage people every week. I'm going to pray for you and then I'll let you go. Father God, we thank you, Lord, for your word. God, thank you for exposing the devil, Lord, and all of his wiles and evil ways. Lord, we don't have to be caught off guard. We don't have to be hijacked in the darkness, God, that we can see what he's doing. Give us discernment, Lord, that we would recognize what the devil is up to. What he would love to do to us, to our families, to our church, to our nation. God, I pray for my friends that you will prosper them this week. That you would keep them safe. That, God, you would help them avoid the pitfalls and the traps that the devil is definitely going to set for all of us. God, I pray that you will give us all an opportunity to share the gospel with someone this week. To tell them how much you love them. Lord, at least, in the very least, God, give us an opportunity to tell people what you have done for us. Lord, thank you so much for loving us. And we love you. In Jesus' name, amen.