TikTok Taught Me Week 2

The point of this series is to get closer to Jesus, to improve your relationship with him, to grow in your calling and purpose, to develop relationships that actually make the difference in your life. EVERY series is focused on this, but this one specifically is using TikTok to help make that a reality.

If you downloaded and tried TikTok out for the first time this week, please understand that TikTok works by algorithm. The more videos you watch, the more it learns, and the more the algorithm feeds you things it thinks you will like. The more time you spend on videos that you like, the more they give you.

This isn’t done overnight. TikTok’s algorithms cannot possibly discover your likes within just a few hours. It took about a month before I started seeing things I didn’t like less and less.

It’s kinda like development…

1 Development takes time
In fact, just like it takes time to see unliked videos less on TikTok, it takes time to see unliked actions less and less in your life.

I always found it fascinating how much time we will give toxic actions to grow but how little time we will give Jesus to change us. “I’ve gone to church three times. How come my marriage isn’t fixed yet?”

Nothing worthwhile happens in a second. And even if it does, we have a word for it: miracle.

If you downloaded TikTok this week and you can’t figure out what is so appealing about it, you just haven’t given it enough time yet.

If you’ve been coming to church and you just can’t figure out what is so appealing about it, you just haven’t given it enough time yet.

Or maybe you are expecting us to do all the work…?

2 Development takes engagement
TikTok uses a few tools to adjust content to what you like.
- Likes. If you like a video, it sends you more like it.
- Pauses. If you pause over a video, it notices, and then sends you more like it.
- Shares. If you share a video, it sends you more like it.

TikTok might guess at what you want to see without input, but the algorithm works quicker and more effectively when you engage with it.

Superficial engagement always gives you nominal results.
Translation: you get out what you put in.

We offer:
- Sunday services at 9 and 11 with worship, teaching, and kids ministry
- Serve teams with over 24 unique opportunities
- Sunday Youth group
- Monday quilting
- Monday Bible study
- Tuesday men’s group
- Wednesday women’s group
- Thursday worship team
- Friday supper club
- Saturday Chosen movie nights

If God calls you to another church another town another ministry, awesome. We want God’s best for your life. But you can’t say “no one developed me” if you haven’t engaged.

Until you like a video, TikTok is guessing to get it right., and until you engage, we are too.

Maybe you just don’t have the time…

3 Development requires opportunities
“The average TikTok user opens the app 8 times and spends an average of 95 minutes each day.” During those 95 minutes, TikTok is learning, probably way more than you’d like to admit.

What could God develop in you in 95 minutes daily?

Men’s group starts at 6:30 and goes til whenever. Men can go whenever they need to, but often, the guys hang out til after 10 pm. The closest relationships I have with guys in my life right now were developed on Tuesday nights. I hate missing men’s group. I need them and they need me. I challenge them and they challenge me. I develop them and they develop me. I disciple them and they disciple me.

Why do I go?
Because if I want the benefit of what the people around me have to offer, I have to embrace opportunities for those people to help develop me.

How did we get onto all of that?
By understanding that, just like the TikTok algorithm takes time, engagement, and opportunity, so does development.

A core value at Freedom is Development is Our Focus.
"God created you with a purpose for a purpose, and we believe that if you are breathing air, then you still have something great to do to move the Kingdom forward. One of our main roles is to do everything we can to help you reach your highest potential in Christ Jesus. Even Jesus was in a development process, and he engaged in developing every person he came in contact with. We want to do the same."

Development is something God absolutely wants for us.

Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream, and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.

In this verse we get both the process and the reason for development.
Process:
- Planted - that’s the start
- Extends roots - that’s the growth
- Leaves Green: healthy and ready to produce

Reason:
Development not only helps make your roots solid and your tree healthy, it kills fear and anxiety when the heat and drought come.

When the development is good, the fruit yielding doesn’t stop.

If you are ever going to be the person God sees in his mind when he thinks of you, it is going to require development. That is good news and bad news. The good news is that it is possible to be developed into who God made you to be. The bad news is that you aren’t always going to like it.

So what is development?
Improvement and development are not the same thing. Many times people start something new and see improvement and then they stop because they assume the improvement means development. River Ranch was improved with a nice concrete street, but it won’t be considered developed until every home is finished.

Defined:
Improvement: something that enhances appearance, value, or excellence
Development: to grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate.

What is the difference?
One is focused on enhancement. One is focused on maturity.

If you are going to develop, it means you have to embrace the process of maturing.

I want to give you three more components of development that will make the difference. These components come from the story of David, but can be found in so many others in the Bible who have gone through spiritual development. In fact, every successful character in the Bible faced these three components in order to accomplish what God had for them.

Refresher on the story of David:
- Samuel went to anoint a King.
- Jesse passed his sons before Samuel.
- Eliab was not the one. Abinadab, no. Shaman, no. All the way down the seven sons there.

1 Samuel 16:11-13
11 And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

As the story goes:
- Anointed King
- Kills Goliath
- Marries the King’s daughter
- Serves as a court minstrel
- Fired from the court but made commander in Saul’s army
- Saul tries to kill David. Twice.
- Flees to the land of the Philistines
- Lives in strongholds in the wilderness
- Has a chance to kill Saul but doesn’t. Twice.
- Is still on the run from Saul
- Allies with the Philistines
- Eliminates the people who were still inhabiting the land from the time of Joshua that the Israelites never eliminated
- Is abandoned by the Philistines
- Is attacked by roaming hoards who steal his women and children
- Wages war and war and more war
- And finally after 14 years is finally installed as king of all of Israel.

FOURTEEN YEARS from anointing to king.
There is another 14 in scripture that was exactly like this: Joseph. 17 when he had the dream and around 31 when he was made 2nd in Egypt. Between the two was attempted murder, slavery, a thirsty wife, a false accusation, prison, and abandonment.

Y’all…We can’t even take someone addressing a weakness in our life without getting bent out of shape and threatening to leave!!!

Both of these men spent 14 years from the call to the completion.
WHY?

When God called me to pastoral ministry I’d just turned 19. I told God, “I don’t want to be 40 before I am doing what you called me to do.” Freedom began as an organization June 26, 2019 and we moved to officially launch Freedom Church in 2020. I was 40.

I asked God WHY?!?!?!?
"I needed to work some things out of you, and I needed to work some things into you."

Development takes time. It takes engagement. It takes opportunity. Let me give you these 3 more components of development.

Development is going to challenge:

4 The Desire of Your Heart
Acts 13:22 referencing 1 Samuel 13
2 And when he had removed him (Saul), he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”

David was called a man after God’s own heart. Was it David’s faithfulness? He cheated and murdered. Was it his peacefulness? He was a warrior, putting 10,000s to the sword. So what was it?

David wanted what God wanted, in his life, in his nation, in the world. He was AFTER God’s heart. We always read that as “David’s heart was a copy of” God’s heart. But what if it simply means “David’s heart wanted what God’s heart wanted?” It makes more sense when you think of the fact that when David ran, when he struggled, when he was uncertain, even when he failed, he still wanted what God wanted.

David had plenty of reasons to question God during those 14 years, but David showed God that his heart, while it wasn’t always perfect, it was always AFTER the Father’s heart.

Sometimes in the process of development, you will have to go through some things that aren’t comfortable and that don’t make you feel very cared for, but God is using those things to create in you a heart that is after him.

A heart after God is willing to confess Psalm 51:10-19
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

There will be times in your development where what is in your heart is going to be sifted and evaluated. God will use situations and people and circumstances. God will allow offense to come against you and temptation to knock on your door. He isn’t being mean or doubting you. He knows this is how we are developed.

The warrior has to train for the battle. He doesn’t train with hope and dreams. He trains with real swords and real shields. And while the training battles might be mock battles, they are just as physical.

Same with development.

David asked God to create in him a clean heart and a steadfast spirit within him.

Don’t be surprised when your heart’s desires get challenged.
It means you are being developed.

What if the season you are in right now is all about determining if your heart’s desire really is in the right place?

5 The Dedication to the Call no matter what
David wrote 73 of the 150 psalms. Many of David’s psalms lack background information regarding their context, but a few do share details of their setting:
- Psalm 3: A Psalm of when he fled from Absalom.
- Psalm 51: A Psalm when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he sinned with Bathsheba.
- Psalm 56: A Psalm when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
- Psalm 57: A Psalm when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
- Psalm 59: A Psalm when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
- Psalm 63: A Psalm when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
- Psalm 142: A Psalm when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

Why am I telling you this?

Question:
How many times do you think David looked around at what was going on and asked himself, “Why am I doing this? Why am I in this situation?”

I think he remembered something. I think we can see it in Psalm 23.

Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

What did he remember?
He’d already been anointed king. He didn’t need the actual throne, the actual title, the actual kingdom to be king. He was being shepherded by God and that was enough for him.

He knew that what was needed in that moment was determination, to hold fast to the truth:
The castle didn’t make him the king. The anointing did.

How dedicated to God’s development are you?
Because even when things are the toughest, you have to dig deep and remind yourself of what is really going on:
God is trying to develop you.

Last one: components of development:

6 The Determination to See it Through and not give up
David endured 14 years of development. He never gave up.

We just read from Psalm 23, but flip back one psalm to chapter 22.

Psalm 22:1
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?

David wrote this in a gut wrenching time of his life. Look at the language:
v6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
v14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.
v15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.

David was at a moment where it would have been easier to give up.
Yeah he was king, but the development was too hard to endure.

YET he never gave up.

And when you read Psalm 22 in its entirety, you see David praised God like never before, even shouting his praise to the future generations.

Development can be hard, but don’t quit.

Development. It takes:
- Time. It isn’t overnight.
- Engagement. You have to go all in.
- Opportunity. You have to give it a chance.

But if you want to see development work its godliness and change in you, it is going to:
- challenge the desires of your heart to make sure they are pure,
- push to see how dedicated you are to what God has promised,
- and it is going to discover how determined you are to see it through.

It isn’t easy to have someone point out weak spots in your life.
Development says thank them.
It isn’t easy to dig deep into hurt and pain from the past.
Development says grab a shovel.
It isn’t easy to release unforgiveness and anger.
Development says let it go.
It isn’t easy to crucify the flesh so you can live by the Spirit.
Development says here are the nails.

At the end of the day, development is just a fancy word for getting closer to Jesus. But the closer I get to him the more I see sin in me.

Paul felt it, too, in Romans 7:24-25
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Maybe this is why you haven’t embraced development.
Maybe you are terrified of what it looks like behind the curtain of your life.

One more TikTok

I want to be more like Jesus.
I want to crucify the flesh.
I want to stop sinning altogether.
I want to let go of my past and the pain it hordes.
I want to forgive and give grace and abandon my need for justice.
I want to be selfless instead of selfish.
I want to be joyful instead of angry.
I want Jesus more than I want myself.
I want to be a man after his heart.

It takes time. It takes engagement. It takes opportunity.

It takes development.

it can start right now.

What do you need to do right now to start the process of development in you?

Salvation, baptism, being filled with the Spirit, yes.
But maybe forgiving, letting go, receiving grace, confessing sin.
Maybe you just need to have a talk with someone who loves you and loves God, knows you and knows God, and has your best interest in mind.

Here is your moment.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?