Recommended For You—God is Recommending God - Louie Giglio

0:25 I don't know if you might not have known that because the algorithm didn't like it when I posted about it, that's for sure. I have 603,000 Instagram followers. And if I were to post a photo of, you know, like a cat chasing its tail, that would just be a hit. But I posted about the new collection that we're starting today, and 323 people liked it. And you're like, well, that's pretty good. I'll take the 323 people liking something. Well, yeah, it is great. But I'm like, what was it about me posting about, hey, we're starting a new collection called Recommended for You that nobody wanted to recommend to you.

1:17 So thank you to the 332 people in the world. I'm not a mathematician, but somebody will come up with that percentage of whatever that is of 603,000. The algorithm didn't love it. And the algorithm is strong. The goal of the Christian life is discipleship. Hello? Does anybody remember that word? the goal of the Christian life, according to the person who is an expert on the Christian life,

2:00 Jesus, the goal is discipleship. He called his crew his discipleship. disciples. And then he said to you and me,

2:21 as he's letting us in on the story, Matthew 16, if you have your scripture, and then Jesus said to his disciples, not to his bros, not that they might have been his bros, not to his crew, Not to his pack, not to his buds. He said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my, say it with me, disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Now we're gonna get to that in a later message in this collection. I know everybody will be excited about that talk. whoever wants to be my disciple now what does the word disciple mean it literally and simply means pupil that's what the word means whoever he said to his pupils whoever wants to be one of my pupils must do what they must deny themselves take up their cross and follow me in other words i'm going to show the way and as my pupil you're going to learn the way i'm going to teach you the way. And as my pupil, you're going to learn the way. I'm going to model the life. And as my pupil, you're going to learn the life. And then you're going to know the way you're going to know the truth and you're going to know the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life, but I'm going to teach you the way and teach you the truth and teach you the life. And you know want to do that so that you can turn around and teach somebody else who wants to be a pupil the way, the truth, and the life. And at the end of the day, that's what Christianity is.

4:22 That's the heart of it. So we could do a whole other collection today, go a whole different direction today. But the question is hanging out there, who's discipling you? and then the other one that's hanging out there is who are you discipling and if the answer to both of those questions is I don't really know then we might be missing the essence of the Christian life he said if anyone wants to be my disciple some translations maybe your translation says, if anyone desires to come after me. In other words, I'm going, Jesus is saying, does anybody want to come after me, come behind me, follow me? Not follower like with us. Oh, click. I want to follow you. No, literally, I want to follow you. I got my eyes on you.

5:23 I'm studying you. I'm a learner of yours. I'm a pupil of you. And then the goal at the very end of his time on earth in Matthew 28, he says, this is the end. This is the money right here. Therefore, go and make what? Make pupils. Where? Everywhere.

5:53 Baptizing them in the name of the Father, we're going to talk about that at the end, the Son and the Holy Spirit, this community of God, this triune God, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. In other words, what you learned from me, you teach that to them. Everything I told you, you tell them everything that I told you.

6:19 And here's the good news, I am with you always. In other words, this is not just an assignment. Although it is an assignment, this is about a relationship with Jesus. I'll be with you to the very end of the age. Disciple making is the way. But disciple making right now is the algorithm. And I don't want to really get too far down in this because you can go obviously down in any of these rabbit holes and stay down there for a long, long time. And I'm not really here today to make anybody feel bad about anything. I just am trying to understand discipleship in the modern world. And discipleship in the modern world is mostly happening by our screens. Kerry Newhoff is a leading voice for pastors and church around all things leadership.

7:20 But he says the difficulty that pastors are having, and I'll just include all of us, is that everyone, quoting him now, in your congregation is being discipled all week long by different algorithms. By the time your congregation arrives at church ready to be discipled, they've already spent 49 hours of screen time that week being formed by algorithms, each click reinforcing whatever caught their attention. A 30-minute message and two hours of small group hardly stand a chance. all this means that by the time this disparate group walks into church on Sunday still quoting Kerry Newhoff they're already primed to hear what you say through a filter someone else created for them except they don't even realize it's happening 49 hours on a screen, and then we come and gather for a 30-minute message.

8:33 And pastors, we got to get a right-sized view of the impact we're making in people's discipleship. The average American spends seven hours and four minutes per day looking at screens. Now this is when some of the folks in the room, especially the dads on Father's Day, are like, I'm not on any of that stuff. My wife shows me something on Facebook every now and then. And you're like, amen, that's not me. Average though, average, average, the average American.

9:07 Not the gold standard award winner. Seven hours and four minutes. And Gen Z, obviously, in terms of demographics, is leading the way, averaging around nine hours per day on screens. Now, I say this again. I always think about Ben Stewart in this moment. To quote him, that might not be your fault, but it is your problem. it might not be our fault that we're on screen seven hours, five hours, nine hours, 10 hours a day, but it is our problem. And if we want to be a disciple, a pupil of Christ, we're going to have to think about it. So I was digging around about the algorithm because it's this mystery, you know, that everybody talks about the algorithm. I'm like, I got to find this thing.

10:05 So I started looking around and I learned this was so fantastic. That part of the algorithm, there is a mechanic in the algorithm that is actually called a recommender system. And I went, we already had the title recommended for you. I got the title off Netflix because it said you might also like this. in other words, we've been watching what you're watching.

10:36 And we know which ones you watch to the end, which ones you watch for two minutes. We know which ones you've watched 22 times. And we got some suggestions for you. Some you never heard of. You might also like. So we already had recommended for you, But then I learned, and I'm quoting now, that a recommender system, also called a recommendation algorithm or a recommendation engine or a recommendation platform, is a type of information filtering system that suggests items most relevant to a particular user. Now, we're going to come to the word of God. So we're not off on a trail here. I'm just trying to set a table for where we're going. The value, quoting again, of these systems becomes particularly evident in scenarios where users must select from a large number of options, such as products, media, or content. Major social media platforms and streaming services rely on recommender systems that employ machine learning, AI, to analyze user behavior and preferences, thereby enabling personalized content feeds.

11:53 end of quote. So I dug around on my Instagram to try to find the algorithm. Well, I learned something. I learned that I can go over to my settings on my Instagram, the little three bars up there on my homepage, click on there, scroll down a good ways to content preferences. And then it shows me all kinds of ways that they're showing me all kinds of things. and at the top of the of content preferences it says at the top of these options in this particular area it says algorithm and I I was like okay and I clicked on it and there it was it said based on recent activity this is me lately you've been into college football spirit loyal furry friends and soulful sermons It's not even college football season.

12:58 But I get a post from Auburn football every 45 minutes. And I guess it thinks I'm loving them. So I ask ChatGPT, how does the algorithm control my life? and it said, I'll read in part, and I'm almost through here. Algorithms control your daily life, ChatGPT told me, by acting as invisible digital curators that shape your habits, curate the information you see, and make automated decisions about your future. They influence what you buy, what you watch, how you work, and the opportunities you receive. They manipulate your daily experiences through several core mechanisms.

13:56 And then I'm just going to quote two of them. Number one, curating your reality. Algorithms limit and personalize the content you consume, building customers. This is so great. This was the first answer. I didn't even have to prompt it again.

14:17 Algorithms limit and personalize the content you consume, building customized echo chambers that shape your personal philosophy and worldview. By repeatedly showing you certain perspectives, they can exploit the illusionary truth effect, making you desensitized to or more accepting of extreme ideas. The second way they do this, ChatGPT said, is by capturing your attention. To maximize ad revenue, platforms are designed to be addictive. algorithms learn from your unconscious behavior tracking exactly how long you linger on a post when you swipe away and what time you scroll to feed you a continuous loop of engaging relevant content I said thanks for that.

15:34 And now the machine knows I'm asking questions. So, the algorithm is a mirror. and it knows what you like and it knows what you want. and what is its goal? Well, according to ChatGPT, its goal is to own you, to control you, and to sell you,

16:29 and I am working on a talk for Summer in the City, spoiler alert if you're coming, called Not For Sale. And this is a new mindset for those of us who on average are looking at screens seven hours a day. The mindset is, I'm not for sale. and the reason I'm not for sale is because I've already been bought.

17:05 Do you not know, Paul wrote, that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Now, this is in a context of debauchery and all kind of crazy, unholy living, and he's coming down to make a conclusion in 1 Corinthians 6. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Now that's a whole collection for another day and another time. That's recommended for you, by the way. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. In other words, well, the algorithm is studying me like a hawk, trying to learn every tendency I have, trying to learn about every weakness, every potential way I can be exploited, every way that I can be enticed.

18:11 It is watching me like a hawk. It is not neutral. It has a purpose and a plan. And mostly the purpose and the plan is to sell me to somebody so that I will click on something and pay somebody some money at the end of the day. and to have a mindset that says, I'm not for sale. I have already been bought at a price, and therefore I want to honor God in my life. That's a big opening approach to the recommended for you idea. So knowing that the algorithm is perpetually recommending things for me, at an end that isn't necessarily my best self, then what would God recommend for you so that you could have a healthy heart and a full and abundant life? What would God recommend? That's what we're going to talk about over these next few weeks. If God was the algorithm in your life, what would God be recommending to you?

19:30 Number one, God is recommending God. Come on. Come on. Are you telling me, are you telling me, 515, that you're going to stand up here, do all that setup for that? Yeah. If God started as the algorithm recommending to you what is best for you, he would start by saying, I recommend me. you're going to preach that to people who actually got up mostly took a shower got dressed got here got in seats got kids in bloom kids and passion kids found a parking space rode a shuttle and you you that's what you're going to give him today is god Yeah. God is recommending what you need most. And can I tell you what you need most today?

20:45 You need God. And if that sounds like a backwards thing to say to a bunch of people who came to church to worship God, I'm telling you it's not. Because the enemy is so crafty that he can get us in the flow as followers of Jesus in the church to come and worship him and totally miss God. but Jesus said again in Matthew chapter 22 he said, when asked, what is the greatest commandment? He's got a bunch of lawyers backing him into a corner.

21:29 And he just quotes Deuteronomy. Love the Lord your God with, I know you know it, but can we just say it? With what? With all your heart. And with what? All your soul. And with what? All your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. In other words, this is the good and the bad of being broken people, being redeemed and healed by God. is that God loves us so much but we ignore him so amazingly that he had to command us to love him.

22:27 We're just not prone to do it on our own. we are not prone on our own. Hello, get ready. And this is not our fault, but it is our problem. We are not prone to spend seven hours on average talking to, listening to, fellowshipping with God. we read so many more news headlines than we read this book. We know so much more detail about the game than we do about this book. There are people sitting in this gathering right now and you don't know jack about the book of Daniel.

23:22 but you know who made the cut line yesterday at the U.S. Open and what the score on the cut line was. That's not me pushing in. I watched that thing like a hawk yesterday. Got those two kids out there playing. This 17-year-old kid out there playing with grown men at Shinnecock Hills. Are you kidding? A 17-year-old kid.

23:51 Got an Auburn guy. an amateur. They played together yesterday. Oh, I know all about it. They're both plus seven. Four over yesterday. I know all that. So I'm not pushing in on anybody's world. I'm just making a commentary of the fact that God is saying the greatest commandment, the most important thing, the first thing, if you're pushing me in a corner and wanting me to boil it all down, is love God with everything you've got. Why? Because God is who you need most. don't come to God as an add-on or as a trinket, but come to God as the thing that fills your heart. Knowing that Jesus is not a way, he's not a helper, he's not an answer, he's everything.

24:48 And I'll tell you, the one thing the algorithm doesn't know is it doesn't know why you were created. now it's read and listen to all the sermons bless his heart and listen to every sermon it's read every book it's read the bible and so if you prompt it right and say from a christian perspective why was i created it will know what to tell you Thank you. but left to itself, it didn't know why you were made.

25:34 It didn't know how or why you were made, but I do. This is an anchor text in our house. The son, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. That's who Jesus is. and in him, in Jesus, all things were created. Things in heaven, things on earth, things that are visible, things that are invisible, whether they're thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things, all things.

26:10 You have been created through or by him and there it is, for him. In other words, you were made... for God. And so God is recommending today he's recommending to you. God, I recommend me. I recommend that you get back to me. I recommend that you just give me one hour of the seven. Just give me a look, a want, a desire. Just include me.

27:13 because I made you, and when I made you, I made you for me. I love the way Jesus said this at the end of the age. he says, go and make disciples of all nations. Now that's work, people. That's a mission.

27:46 That's not for preachers, by the way. That's for everybody. go baptize them. I mean, get them saved. take them under the water and raise them up to new life. And when you do it, do it in the name of the Father. I think that's important on Father's Day. This God who made you, he's a perfect father. Do it in the name of the Son. that's Jesus Christ who is life raised up from the grave and when you do it do it in the name of the Holy Spirit this is a very person of God through Christ living in us and animating us he said that's the relationship some of the moments in the day you're going to need a heavenly father Some of the moments in the day, you're going to be more focused on the resurrection life and the victory of the Son.

28:53 In some of the moments of the day, you're going to need the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. And all of us together, Father, Son, and Spirit, we want to have a relationship with you. that's who you were made for. And yes, it's an assignment, but it's also a relationship. I am with you. Not go do it. Go do it. You got it? Go do it. No, go do it. Oh, and by the way, I'm going too.

29:28 I'm going too. And that's another talk for another day. But the reason why some of us don't maybe sense the presence of Jesus and the reality of that relationship with him is because he's on his way to make disciples of all the nations and we're not. You know, I just don't feel Jesus right now. Well, have you thought about the nations in the last week or two? No, not at all. Well, that's where he is. He's on the way. So if you want to get close to him, get on the way with him. It is an assignment, but it's also a relationship. Does anybody have, at Cumberland, really fast, I don't close. Anybody have one of those really big water containers? Anybody have one that I can borrow just for a minute? It needs to be a big one, though. I don't really know how you size them. That one looks a little skinny. I'm talking one that if it fell over here, they'd hear it at Trillis. Anybody got, like, it's a workout.

30:23 It's also, it's hydration and a workout. Yes, yes, that one. May I borrow that? I promise I won't touch it. I won't sip on it. Can you just pass it to a man that can bring it? It's Father's Day, thank you. Not that you couldn't, but you're a few rows in. Thank you so much. Wow. That's what I'm talking about.

30:46 It's got furry friends on it, too. One of them's in a martini glass. Doodle-teenie. You've heard of a tiny doodle, that's a doodle-teenie. You're supposed to give me, oh, we don't have a drummer.

31:11 Man, that is, that's strong. Now, please, I know this is a risk, but I've already, you know, annoyed most everyone here. I know this is a risk. I am a fan. but this is the picture I want you to walk away with today. I left home, but not without my water. I have it with me in church, just in case. The guy might preach for a week.

32:01 And if he does, I will be hydrated. I will not die. I wouldn't have yours just sitting on a seat like that because things go crazy in here and the power goes out. Somebody will come take that from you. I just want to recommend to you that you think about God and you go everywhere with him. to go everywhere with him, even if it annoys people. Excuse me, do you mind? I bring God.

32:47 I know he's large. and I know you're thinking well you know they actually have running water at 5 15 and it Trillith and Cumberland things go down here we have filtered water here I don't care I'm bringing my water I don't know maybe special water I don't know and I'm not knocking that already drank my potion today It wasn't quite that big, but it was close.

33:18 I'm just trying to give you a picture. God is recommending God. You're like, well, what's the application? What are the three points? What's the walk away? That's it. Thank you so much. I don't know now two people have touched it that water's done man I can tell you right now thing a sanitary wipe is coming out thank you okay one last thing I said that was going to be it but that just I'm sorry was spontaneous and not planned so this is not so that big storm came through a few days ago, the one that we were going to have all the high winds and the flooding and the terrible stuff happen, and so every time that happens, we, we, you know about the lightning that struck the tree, there's just always stuff, and so on our driveway, this massive limb comes off this tree, I mean, big, big as this, you know, just all across the driveway, but not too big that it can't get moved off.

34:39 And there's just debris all down the driveway. And so I'm walking down the driveway, kind of just sizing up how long this cleanup is going to take. And then when I get down to the end of the debris, and there was that guy. Yeah, that's what I did. I don't know the rhythm of birds. I know they build the nest in the spring, have eggs and babies in them. I don't know if they fly off somewhere else after that. I don't know. We've had a lot of nests around and they don't come back and do it again the next year. The nest is sitting there. So I'm not really sure, but the first thing I thought was, what are the birds going to do?

35:33 and that is a I'm telling you a piece of work that thing right there it was perfect so much energy And I thought, what if the bird comes back after the wind came through and went to the limb, and the limb wasn't there? and that bird's just sitting in another tree tonight going I'll sleep here there's a nest that you may have lost track of. it's what you were made for.

36:34 Storm may have come. Wind may have come. Trials may have come. Diagnosis may have come. Divorce may have come. Failure may have come. And you lost track of the nest that God is. And what he's saying to you today is, you belong here. You belong with me. and you can have screen full of life but that's not the nest that's not the nest that you were made for I am the nest where you belong I recommend me.