The 5 Cultural Lies That Are Destroying Your Faith

Speaker A00:00:00

Let me drop you into a normal moment. This isn't some moment in church. You're just right there on your phone.It's late at night, your house is quiet, and you're just doing what a lot of us do. You're just sitting there scrolling. And you're not scrolling because you're bored, but because your heart really feels loud.And as you scroll and you see a quote, and this quote says this. It says, you are enough. You keep scrolling and another one says, follow your heart. And then another one says, live your truth.And it all sounds comforting, doesn't it? Sort of like a warranty for a tired soul. But let me ask you something, friend. What if the comfort is a trap?What if the words feel healing to you, but they're slowly draining your faith? What if the air you breathe has something in it? Now, I'm not talking about obvious poison. More like this slow drift.That kind you don't notice right away until you look up and realize, man, I'm farther from Jesus than I used to be. Let me ask you, have you ever felt your faith thinning out quietly? Not in some big rebellion, just in a thousand small compromises.Maybe a little less Bible and a little more self. Maybe a little less prayer and a little more panic in our lives. A little less Jesus is Lord and a little more I'll just handle it.Let me tell you right now, if that's you, you're not crazy and you're not alone. And the best part of today, you're not beyond God's reach. So today we're going to do something simple, but it's going to be super deep.Today, I want to name the lies and I want to replace them with truth. Now, I'm not talking about Internet truth, not trending truth, not cultural truth.I want to share the kind of truth that holds you steady at 2am when you can't sleep. Because what if the strongest attack on your faith isn't hatred, but actually harmless advice? Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr.Here, and I just want to welcome you to Truth Unveil with Ralph. This is my weekly fireside talk for people who feel the pressure of culture and listen, it's loud all around us.But if you're feeling that and you still want to walk with Jesus, that's why I do this show. It's not about hype. It's not about shame. It's really about truth. But bigger than that, it's about hope.So if your faith has felt tired lately, you are absolutely in the right place. So let's let God steady all of us today. If we're being honest. Here's the tension we live in. Culture is discipling you every single day now.It's not doing it with sermons. It's doing it with slogans like the ones we talked about earlier. There's not some fancy altars. It's doing it with algorithms. What you're getting fed.And culture's gospel is pretty simple. Look inward, trust yourself, define your truths, protect your comfort, and chase your happiness.But the Gospel of Jesus says something completely different. The Gospel of Jesus says, deny yourself. It says, take up your cross. And it says, follow me. So let me lead your heart right now.Let me renew your mind. Because, friend, those two things are completely opposite directions. See, culture tells us you are the center. But what does Jesus say?Jesus says, I am the center. Culture says to us, you're enough. But what does Jesus tell us? Apart from me, you're empty. Culture tells us that truth is personal.It's what I believe. But Jesus says something super bold. He says, truth is a person. So here's the real question for today. Who is forming you right now?Because the truth is, you don't drift towards holiness. I wish I could say that's where we end up drifting, but we don't. We drift towards comfort. We don't drift towards truth.If we're being honest with ourselves, we drift towards whatever feels easy. And that's why we've got to wake up today. And it's not about sending fear out there. It's just about understanding, clarity.It's not about shame, but it is about having some courage. Let me give you two simple snapshots. Now, these aren't meant to scare you. These are just meant to sort of sober you up. Here's the first one.Pew research reports that 29% of US adults are religiously unaffiliated. Now, you might be saying, ralph, that's a big word. Unaffiliated. What does that mean? They have no connection to faith whatsoever.And as a Christian person, as a believer, that makes me sad. Does it make you sad? It's just a sad situation, isn't it? And see, that's not just statistics. You'll be free to say, okay, 29%. That's not me.But that's your neighbors. That's your co workers, maybe even your family. These are people who decided that faith didn't feel necessary anymore.Maybe as you're watching or listening right now, you're like, ralph, that's me.Here's the Second thing, and we've talked about this on the show the last couple weeks, the US Surgeon General warned that about half of us adults report experiencing loneliness. Friend, do you hear that? Yeah. We're more connected than ever. We've got connection all around us, but more feeling alone than ever.And the problem is, in that loneliness, those lies sound so much louder. They're deafening. They're all consuming. Because what I have learned is pain makes you vulnerable.And culture, culture loves vulnerable people because it sells quick comfort and it calls it freedom. So let me ask you this. Could it be that some of that self help is actually soul harm? And I just want to share a story with you.I want to tell you about a guy named Chris. Now, that's not his real name, but that's what I used here because I don't want to expose him. Now, Chris was a guy. He loved Jesus.He really loved Jesus. But life hit Chris hard, like so many of us. Work pressure, family stress, the bills. Chris had some health scares.You're probably saying to yourself, yeah, Ralph, that's. That's life, right? Yes. But slowly his faith became background noise. He did he still believe?Sure, he still believed, but he just stopped leaning on Jesus. And slowly he replaced prayer with planning and worship with worry and scripture with scrolling.And then one day, he said something that stuck with me. It sticks to me to this moment. He said, ralph, I don't think I walked away. I think I just faded away.And see, friend, that's the danger in all of this. Faith doesn't die in a fight. It doesn't die overnight. It doesn't die in one day. It dies in a drift. And that drift is fueled by lies all around us.So let's start with God's Word together, because this isn't about winning an argument. My goal today is really to save a soul. So let me ask you this. Are you fighting sin anymore or are you just floating with culture?Let's get right to the word of God. We're going to start with Jeremiah chapter. Chapter 17, verse 9.Now, Jeremiah preached to God's people while they were trusting themselves more than they trusted God. So I want you to understand the context of this. This is who Jeremiah was talking to.These are people who trusted themselves more than they trusted God. Yeah, they had religion on the outside, but inside there was a strong rebellion. And God names the problem a heart of lies.So again, this is Jeremiah 17, verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Now, that's a Harsh verse, isn't it? The heart is deceitful.Who can understand it? The first takeaway I feel here is number one, your feelings are real. You are feeling what you're feeling.But just because you're feeling something doesn't mean it's true. So that's one of the problems of culture right now. People say, well, I feel this way or I feel this way. That doesn't mean your feelings are true.They are indeed your feelings. Yes, you're feeling those. It's not for me to say you're not feeling them. But just because you feel something doesn't make it true.And what does scripture tell us? Our heart is deceitful. And see, here's the problem. The second point of this, your heart can want something that harms you.I can still think back to my first girlfriend. I had a heart for this girl. Well, I was a young kid, right? I had a heart for her. My heart was telling me to do something that would harm me.This person wasn't the right person for me. I think God saw that. But my heart wanted it.How many times have you been in a situation where your heart really wants something, but then when you got out of it, you look back and like, man, that really harmed me. It just defines what the verse is telling us, right? Which leads me to this. If you follow your heart blindly, what becomes sin?What looks like self care becomes sin. And I know that's kind of harsh, but listen, I love you and that's why I'm saying this to you.If you just follow your heart, how many people have you heard it say, well, I'm going to follow my heart. This is self care. But if the heart is deceitful, is it leading us to sin? See, what if your heart isn't a compass but a courtroom?And what happens in courtrooms? Always defending itself. Well, let's move on to our second scripture. This one comes from the book of Proverbs 3, 5, 6.Now, Proverbs, in case you don't know it, is what I call wisdom literature. This is God teaching his people how to live steady in a shaky world. We're in a shaky world, aren't we?This is why almost every week I'm giving you some proverbs because this is our toolbox. But. But God gives us a path here. He tells us not to look inward, but to look upward. So again, this is Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6.And you've probably heard this one. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight. Now, you notice I enunciated those words really clearly because there's some things that really stick out here.First thing, God doesn't say, trust your heart. What is he telling us? Trust the Lord. He's not saying, oh, Ralph, trust your heart because your heart's going to lead you in the right direction.How many times have we heard that, oh, my heart's leading me this way. But that's not the admonition that God gives us. He says, trust the Lord. Which leads me to the second thing.A lot of people say, wait a minute, Ralph, what you're saying is submission. That's oppression. No, submission isn't oppression. It's actually protection.If we've got a heart that is deceitful, if we've got a heart that has the capacity to do us harm and lead us in the wrong way, then submitting to God and trusting in him is not living in oppression, it's living in protection. Here's the third thing. Straight paths don't come from strong feelings. They come from surrendered direction. So let me ask you this.Are you asking God to guide you, or are you begging God to bless your decisions? That one hurts a little bit, doesn't it? Really answer that question right now to yourself. Speak out loud if you have to.Put it in the comments if you want to. If you're watching this, are you asking God to guide you? Are you quietly begging him to bless your decision?Are you saying, God, you know, I made this decision. Oh, I really want you to say this is the right thing. God, my heart's telling me to do this. But are you asking him to guide you?Are you asking him to give you approval? And again, I love you. I'm just saying to you that you've got to have your head straight on that one. Let's go to our third scripture.And this one comes from the Book of John, chapter 14, verse 6. Now, little backtown context, Jesus is in the upper room. This is hours before he was taken to the cross.Now, the people around him, his disciples, are anxious, they're confused, they're afraid. Think about it. If you were them here, you know, Jesus is telling you what's fixing to happen. And you're his, the central people around Him.And you're just wondering, what is the next thing you know, where are we going here, Lord? And it's in this moment that Jesus doesn't give them a technique. He gives them himself. And let's get right into the bible. Verse John 14:6.What does he tell them? I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Wow. He laid it all out for his disciples, didn't he?He knew what was going to happen. And what do we learn from this? What do we learn is truth isn't something you invent. Truth isn't something, oh, I have a heart for this.This is what I think is the right thing. What is Jesus telling us? Truth is someone you follow. I am the truth. I am the life. I am. Nobody comes to the Father except through me. Truth is someone.It's something you invent. It also tells us this. When you're lost, you don't need options. You need a savior.If you're out there, you're traveling, let's say your GPS stops working at that point, you don't need options. You need somebody to show you where to go. That's what we need in our lives. We need a savior. And here's the problem. Culture says, create your truth.Just go out and live your truth. If it feels good for you, if your heart's leading you there, that's what culture tells us. Create your truth and live in your truth.But, boy, Jesus is telling us something completely different, isn't he? He's saying, come to me. Because think about this. If Jesus is the truth, what happens when you treat truth like a preference?Again, that one stings a little bit. If you're rejecting Jesus, you're rejecting the truth. That's what Jesus says he is. It's your choice. Listen, I'm a free will guy.It's your choice to choose whether you follow the truth. But when you start to treat truth like a preference, what happens to truth? Let's go on to our fourth scripture for today.And this is first Peter, chapter one, verses 15 and 16. Now, this is Peter. Peter is writing to other believers who are living under pressure. I mean, talk about pressure. The early church.These are people that were being killed. These are people who being maimed. These are people who are being misunderstood, mocked and squeezed by the culture of the day.I mean, they were ostracized. Pick 15 different adjectives for the same thing. These people were in the crosshairs. And what is Peter saying to them?Think about how countercultural this is. I'm gonna get to the verse in a minute. But Peter says, don't blend in. Don't assimilate. Don't be one like them. He's telling them, be holy.So first Peter, chapter one, verses 15 and 16. This is what he says. But just as he who is called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy because I am holy.What is this telling us? And you might not like what I'm getting ready to say here, but God's goal is not your comfort.Peter wasn't saying to the people who were being mocked, to the people who were being ridiculed, to the people who were, dare I say, being persecuted. He's not telling them. God's going to give you comfort. God's going to give you a big goal. That's not what he's saying.He's saying it's your Christ likeness. How do we. What do we take away from that? See, holiness is not being better. You're never going to be better by being holy. It's being set apart.Don't be like them. Set apart yourself. Be holy and see when culture shifts. I'm 53 years old, man. I have seen culture shift in ways that I never believe would happen.That holiness keeps you anchored in truth. That truth is Jesus. Jesus said himself, I am the truth. So let me ask you another difficult question.Do you want God to make you happy, or do you want him to make you holy? Just ponder that for a second. Just. Just stop what you're doing for a second. Do you want God to make you happy? I've heard this.God, oh, I'm praying today. God, just please show me some happy. Make me feel happy.I'm sorry, my personal opinion, if that's what you're praying for, you're not praying for the right thing. God wants you to make. He wants you to ask to be made holy, set apart. And I know that's a tough question, and this is something I'm battling myself.God, wait a minute. I don't feel so happy. I was just on a call with somebody yesterday. They're going through a really tough time in their lives.And they said, ralph, why is it that God can't just let me be happy? And I had to show them something. Tough love. I said, God never promised you you're going to be happy. God wants you to be holy.Well, let's get into the lies. Because I promised you at the beginning we're going to talk about lies. And I'm going to name them one by one. Now, these aren't meant to shame you.This is really meant to free you. Here's the first lie. The first lie is, you are enough. Culture says it all the time. Be all you can be. You're enough.And friend, when we hear that, it feels kind, doesn't it? It feels empowering. I'm enough. I can do this. The Little Engine, it could. I know I can. I know I can. Yeah, that's what culture's telling you.But here's the spiritual danger to living like that. If you are enough, guess what? Jesus is optional at that point. Jesus is a checkbox. Jesus is a preference. If you are enough, guess what?The cross was unnecessary, didn't matter because you can do it on your own. If you're enough, then grace, well, that's just a decoration. So think about that. If you're enough, what's the point of Christ?But see, the gospel says something completely, drastically different. Not with you can do it. The gospel says you need a savior. Not, not. You can do it. You can do it. You can. No, that's not what it's saying.It's saying you need a savior. Because here's a truth bomb. You're not enough to heal your sin. You can't do that on your own. You're not enough to carry your shame.I'm not shaming you, but guess what? You're not enough to carry that. And dare I say, you're not enough to rescue yourself. You can't be your own savior. And I'm not trying to insult you.By no means am I judging you. This is an invitation. Because you know who is enough. And we'll talk about this a little bit later. If you don't know Christ. Christ is enough.Because when you're feeling weak and listen, in life, you are going to have times when you're feeling weak. I got up yesterday, I got two and a half hours sleep. I was feeling weak. I do recording in the morning. I'm on a live show in the morning.And I said to my. I said, God, listen, dude, you got to carry me today because I am feeling weak. And you know what he said to me at that moment?He said, ralph, don't worry about it, dude. When you're weak, I'm strong, Ralph. When you're empty, I'm full. And when you're stuck, he is the way.Let me ask you right now, are you exhausted because you're trying to be your own savior? Guilty. I'm believing that lie that I am enough. Guess what, friend? You're not enough. You need Jesus.Here's the second lie, and we hear this one all the time. Follow your heart. Culture says it. Follow your heart. Heart tells you. How many times have you heard that in the last seven days.What is Jeremiah telling us? It was very clear in the scripture. Your heart can deceive you. Let's make it plain as day. No, no ambiguity here. Your heart can crave attention.Your heart craves attention. That's what. That's what flesh does. Your heart wants attention. Your heart wants to be loved. Your heart. Your heart wants to be cherished.Your heart wants to be appreciated. And your heart calls that confidence. But at the same time, your heart can crave revenge. Think about that for a second.And now we call it boundaries, but that's revenge. Your heart can crave lust. Many times have you lusted after somebody or something, whether it be a person or money or success. And what do we call it?We call it love. Oh, I'm in love with this person. But our heart's just lusting after that. And there are times when our heart craves control. And what do we call it?Oh, that's wisdom. It's our heart. We need control. That. That's being wise. So what do we do? We don't follow our heart. We lead it.If the heart is deceitful, we can't trust it to take us where it needs to go. We've got to lead it. We lead it to scripture. What does scripture tell us? What does Jeremiah telling us, hitting us over the head with a mallet?Your heart is deceitful. We lead it to prayer. When I was feeling low yesterday, what did I do? My heart was telling me, oh, you can push through this, Ralph.But I went right to prayer. I went right to God and said, God, I am weak at this moment. And when you're really feeling like that, we lead our hearts to a local church.Friend, your feelings are passengers. That's where they got to remain. But Jesus Christ needs to be the driver.Because if your heart is changing daily, why would you trust it with eternity? If it's always changing? It's like lights on a switchboard. They're changing colors all the time.If your heart's doing that, do you trust that with eternity? I know I don't. Here's lie number three. How many times you've heard this one? God just wants you happy.This one slips into church language all the time. And it wears a cross necklace, doesn't it? How many times you've heard it? God wants me to be happy. But let me say something a little bold.God loves you too much to leave you unchanged. Because happiness is fragile. It depends on circumstances. But joy. And that's what I think we really need to get to.God wants you to experience joy because joy is deeper than happiness and joy depends on Christ. See, God's goal is not to give you a pain free life.Actually, I want to say something rather amazing here, but I. I actually think that the point of life is to experience pain. So that you go to God and say, God, I need you. God's goal is not to make you happy. God's goal is a transform life in him.So sometimes, you know, people say all the time, well, why would God allow this? I don't have the answer to that. But I know one thing in my life. God sometimes allows discomfort to break my addiction to comfort.Think about that for a second. Does he allow discomfort because he wants to break your addiction to that? Sometimes he allows pressure to build perseverance.He lets you go through storms, he lets you go through tough times because he's building up your perseverance. He's building up strength in him. And sometimes, yes, he allows loss. He allows us to lose things, to expose what we're actually worshiping.Think about this. What if the thing you're calling pain is actually God rescuing you? That pain you're feeling, it's like you don't realize what it is.But it's taken me to a place where I look up and I say, God, what is this you're giving me? Maybe that's the rescue all along. Let's talk about lie number four. Big cultural shouting this all the time. Success is what you have.We hear this all the time, don't we? Because culture measures success with numbers. How many dollars do you have in the bank? How much? How many homes do you have?What kind of car do you have? What kind of clothes do you have? What's your retirement account look like? Culture measure success with? How many followers do you have?How many people are liking your Facebook post or liking your TikTok post again? Money, titles, square footage of your home. That's what culture measures success. But wait a second. Jesus measures success completely differently.He measures faithfulness. How faithful are you to Him? He measures obedience. Are you submitting to Him? He measures integrity. Who. Who are you when nobody's watching?And he measures it in love. Not love for yourself, but love for others. See, the world lies to us. It says, just climb higher.And Jesus says, whoa, whoa, wait a second, come lower. Jesus tells us to serve, to give and lay down your life, because that's what he did for us. And here's the kicker. This one hurts.You can gain the world and still lose your soul, but you can lose everything and still be rich in Christ. Let me ask you this and another. There's a lot of tough questions today and I'm asking myself these same things.If you got everything you wanted right now, bam, you got it. Worldly riches, whatever that looks like for you. If you got everything you wanted, would you still want Jesus? Preference, right? Check the box.Oh, I don't need him now. I got everything. I got everything I ever wanted.I got health and happiness and people and stuff, and followers and money and all, you name it, whatever culture throws at you. But if you got everything, would you still want Jesus? See, I think you would, because I've been pretty close to that.I'm not being arrogant or bull, but I've been there. And when I was there, I was emptier than when I wasn't there. Let's get to line number five and we've got to hit this one with a baseball bat.Line number five says, live your truth. And see, this is the foundation of all lies culture tells us all the time, live your truth, Live out your truth. But Jesus didn't say that.Jesus said, I am the truth. He didn't say he was one. Truth. He didn't say he was a truth. He said, I am the truth. And see, that's an important distinction there, isn't it?Because if truth is relative, if truth changes, then the cross is optional. If truth is some personal preference, then repentance is unnecessary.And if truth is whatever you feel, like I said earlier, then sin becomes self expression. Because, friend, your truth can't save you, your truth can't forgive you, and your truth can't resurrect you. Only Jesus can do that.Truth isn't some vibe. Truth is a king. And when truth is a king, you don't edit it, you submit to it. One more tough question.Are you letting culture define truth or letting Jesus define you? Those are the lies. But now let's make this practical, let's make this usable.Because it's one thing to share the lies with you, it's another thing to tell you, how do we get past this? So when a lie hits your mind, I truly believe you need a simple process to get past that. Number one thing I want you to do, admit the lie.Bring it out of the dark. Name it. Name it out loud. People might say, oh, Ralph's talking to himself. No, that's a lie. Say that that's a lie.Or say something like, that sounds good, but it's wrong. Yeah, that sounds good. It sounds empowering. It Sounds like the right thing, but that's just wrong. Because lies lose power when they are exposed.What lie has been whispering to you lately? That's where it starts. Name, lie. Second thing. Notice the fruit.I remember as a kid, my grandfather always used to say to me, he said, you judge a tree by its fruit. So ask yourself this. What is producing in me? What is this lie? What is this belief producing in me? Is it producing more peace?Hey, if it's producing more peace, that's some pretty good fruit. I like that. But if it's producing anxiety, not good fruit. Is it producing humility? Or is it producing more pride?Go back to those things we talked about. Money and possessions. Is that making you feel more humble? Or is it making you feel more prideful? Name the lie.Is it making you surrender more or control more? Because Jesus said it. He said, you'll know trees by their fruit.Another thing I'm going to encourage you to do, number three, Compare the lie with scripture. Don't compare it with your feelings. What do we say? The heart is deceitful. Your feelings may not be true. Compare it with the word of God.What does God say? What does his word say? What does that mean? You got to get into God's word, not what culture says.Don't go look on YouTube and say, I got to figure out an answer. Don't ask ChatGPT or Grok or Claude or any of the other AIs and say, oh, I want to know what truth is. That's not the word of God.And see, this is where many believers lose battles because they never open up the Bible until after the damage has been done. Start with truth. What does God's word say? And then hand your heart to Jesus. This is where prayer becomes real.When you're in that lie, when you're feeling that lie, say something like, lord, my heart is loud. I'm hearing this lie, Lord, I'm feeling pulled. My heart is telling me something. My. My feelings are telling me something.Lord, I need you to pull me out of that. And maybe you got to be a little honest with God and say, lord, I confess that I want control. But that's not what it's all about, is it?You don't hide the struggle. You hand it over to God, and then I'm going to encourage you to obey. One clear step. A lot of people think, well, this is really hard, Ralph.There's 10 things I got to do. I got to do this, this, and this. I got all these lies you told me to talk about. The lies, man. I wrote a page of lies.I'm not asking you to take 10 steps. I'm asking you to take one step. One step today to counter lies.Maybe text your accountability partner or an accountability friend, somebody you can rely on, somebody that's been around, maybe somebody that's been where you are. Just text them and say, hey, you know what? I'm believing this lie. I'm really believing that I'm enough.Or I'm really believing that I can do this on my own. I gotta trust my heart. Hey, if it's an app that's causing you to do this, delete the app and be done with it. Maybe right now you got to apologize.Maybe a lie made you say something you shouldn't have said to somebody or treat somebody in a way that they shouldn't have been treated. Go to that person and apologize. Break that lies hold on your life.This is a great time to turn to worship, go to church, go take it in, open scripture. Because what I have, sound, is when you're living in this lie, obedience breaks the spell of those lies when you submit.And finally, the last thing practical advice is repeat this daily because culture doesn't stop speaking. I wish I could say here's a way to get culture to stop shouting lies and loudness to you, but it doesn't. So every day you've got to renew yourself.You got to keep anchoring yourself in the truth of Christ, the truth of the gospel. So every day, let's go back over those, Admit the lies, notice them compared to scripture, hand it to Jesus, obey, and then repeat it again.Kind of like a washing machine. Rinse, repeat, return, rinse, keep doing it over again. Because every day culture is going to attack you.Dare I say the evil one is going to continue to tell you lies. You've got to have that daily repeat. Going back to Christ, going back to the Word, going back to the people that you surround yourself with.Now, those are kind of big, broad things. Let's bring it home to real life. I'm going to give you some specific things that I truly believe you can do in your real life. Let's talk about home.First, number one thing, you're going to laugh when I say this one. Have a slogan, Audit with your family. What are the slogans that you believe in your family?Ask at dinner, Ask your family, your wife and your children. What messages did we absorb today? Did we hear that lie about, oh, I'm enough, Trust your heart, go with your feelings.And then say a real simple question. Hey, did these match Jesus name the lies, name what's going on in culture. Because here's what I'm finding.You're going to find your family is going to hear all these things around them. Break down those lies as a family to there's value in doing that together.Another thing I'm going to encourage you to do is start a five minute scripture rhythm. Just five minutes a day, just grab scripture, grab five minutes. I'm a firm believer in doing it.When you first get up in the morning, get right into the word because it starts the basis of your day in truth. Scripture is truth. Jesus says I am the truth. Scripture is the truth. But be consistent about it.You don't need to read a whole book of the Bible, just read a small passage, just pray three or four words or one sentence. But do it every single day. Build that rhythm because that culture is going to continue to attack you.But if you've got that anchored rhythm, you can battle this. But listen, it's an everyday battle, my friend. Here's another thing I'm encourage you to do. Practice digital boundaries as the discipleship.Here's the problem. We subject ourselves to this craziness.We subject ourselves to these lies and we do it with knowing that we're doing it, we're being intentional about it. You gotta start putting some digital boundaries in place. You probably come and listen to me.You're like Rob, you're always talking about social media bad, the phones are bad. I'm not saying that to you. But you've got to create boundaries for yourself because those things are making you believe lies that aren't true.Put your phone down during the meals, turn the screens off before bed. And maybe just embrace having tech free hours during the day. Now again, I'm not saying it because screens are evil.There are a great, listen, you're seeing me or hear me right now through a screen. That's not an evil thing. I am preaching the gospel of Christ. I am being indwelled by this Holy Spirit.But sometimes you need a break because your soul is valuable. Ask yourself, what's one boundary? Your home needs to breathe again, because that's what we're really talking about. We need to find breath.Let's talk about some things you can do at work. I like to make this super practical because we live at home and we live at work. Number one thing, choose your integrity over your image.Do that right thing even when it costs you. Kind of makes you feel like take up the cross, doesn't it?You see something going on around you do the right thing, even if it cost you a friend, even if it cost you a promotion, even if it cost you all those things. You got to do the right thing. Don't buy into the lies. Refuse that idol of productivity. You are a human being, not a human doing.You don't always have to be at 100%. And here's something real practical, even in your work. Pray one sentence before decisions.A lot of people don't think about that, but they leave God at the office door. Then they go into their office and they don't worry about that. But how about interjecting things like, lord, guide me in this decision.God, I got to make a very secular decision about something at my. It's going on at work. Guide me in this, Lord. Keep me honest, Lord. Make me faithful in this.Because what if your workplace became your quiet altar of obedience? Because you can make it that. And here's the best part of that.People around you are going to see it and they're going to say, oh, what's, what's Ralph up to? He's got a better way about him. You can be the light to somebody else. How about a church? We'll step on a few toes here.Number one thing, stop attending church anonymously. You got to be present. You can't heal in hiding. Join a group. Find a couple people.Be known in the church, not to be that person, but go introduce yourself to other people. Take a genuine interest in other people, and dare I say, ask for prayers of other people.I got an email Yesterday on a LinkedIn message from somebody in the podcasting community. And he said, ralph, what can I do for you today? And I knew he's another brother of faith. And I said, here's what you can do for me. Pray for me.Just that simple. I need to tell him what to pray about. Just pray for me. And I said, I'll do the same. Don't wait until you're drowning to ask for help.Don't wait till you're drowning to ask for prayers. And maybe right now things are going great. Here's something else you can do at church. Serve somebody else, even if it's small.Because when you serve, your faith is growing through obedience, not just information. And if, friend, if you're lonely right now, we talked about this at the beginning. A lot of people are lonely. That is not God punishing you.It might very well be God inviting you back into community. Because let me think about this for a second.What if the very help you need is waiting on the other side of being humility, being humble, being on the other side of humility. So I want to give you a really simple plan for the next seven days. So I'm encourage you to do.Day one, write down five lies on paper, just five lies that you hear every day. Things that you're learning, leaning into the social media message, whatever those are, and circle the one that just hooks you every time.That's day one. Just write those five things down. What are we doing? We're naming them, we're bringing them to light, we're taking them out of the darkness.But circle the one that hooks you and really focus on that. Day two, I want you to do this. Go back and read Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 slowly and just pray it back to God. Just have that communication with God.Just read it out loud to him. Day three, here's what I'm going to recommend. Do a media fast for one hour. Now, this might be hard. You're used to being connected to your devices.Set that egg timer and be like, for one hour, no media. And during that hour, worship. Now, I'm not telling. You have to sit there like and just pray and say, no, just worship.Sometimes worship is just being quiet. Sometimes worship is going to take a walk. I have a farm. I raise Black Angus cows here on the farm.Sometimes worship for me is I walk out to the pasture and just kind of look at the cows and maybe I'll have a little conversation with God. Like, I'm just amazed, Lord, what you've given me here. I'm just amazed. I see these cows. We just had five calves born in the last few months.That's God's handiwork.When I go out there and just sit there and just kind of look at them and they kind of give me the moo and they look at me and you know, you might think, well, that's kind of silly. You know what that is? That's worship. I'm looking at what God has brought to us even in the simple thing of a cow. What's your worship look like?Here's day number four. Text someone, can you pray for me? Or maybe text them and say, can I pray for you?Think about how many doors you can open and how many relationships you can build and to enhance. If you simply said to somebody, hey, can I pray for you today? You don't have to ask them for their life story.You don't have to judge them, don't you don't get into the details. Say, hey, can I pray for you today. And if you're struggling right now, ask somebody to pray for you.If you want me to pray for you, go to my website, truthunveilwithralph.com I would love to pray for you. I'd love to pray with you. And if you want to pray for me, here's what you can pray for me.Pray that I have the ability continue to reach one lost soul. That's why I do this show. You want to pray for me? I don't want your money. I don't need you to be a follower.I just want you to pray that other people will see or hear me and it will change them and they will accept Christ. Here's day number five. We're going to get a little sharp here. Ask yourself, where am I choosing comfort? Where have I decided that comfort works?And just repent from that. Say, lord, I got to stop this. I thought I could control this and I felt comfortable in that. Lord, I repent of that.Lord, I thought money was going to fill me. I got to repent of that. But just ask yourself that, where am I chasing comfort? And move away from that. Here's day six. Serve someone quietly.You notice I said quietly. This isn't the time to go on Facebook and say, guess what I did. I took such and such a meal and I did this and I did this.I don't want you to get any credit because guess what, you don't deserve any credit in the first place. Serve somebody because of Christ serving you. Christ laid down his life for you.Now his cross, you know, the crucifixion was gruesome and it wasn't quiet. But you can do things quietly. You don't need credit for that. And maybe day seven. I don't know what kind of church you have.If you have communion at church, take that communion with fresh gratitude. I'm not picking on people, but man, our church does communion once a month and I see people going up to communion and it doesn't affect them.Communion should affect you. What is the. What is the simple? The simple, the scripture of communion. This is my body broken and given for you.You're not just taking a piece of bread and ingesting it into your body. This is Christ broken for you. That's training. That's training your heart. That's not legalism. That's just training heart.So think about that, you know, and I'll put these things in the show notes today, but live that seven day, whatever that looks like for you. But now I want to Pivot a little bit. Friend, let me talk to you personally because.Because you might be right now thinking, man, dude, Ralph, you have hit me hard today. That's okay. It hits me hard sometimes too. And if you've been drifting, guess what? Right now is your moment. Jesus isn't angry at you.He's calling you right now. I can hear Jesus saying, come back, friend. Come close friend. Come home, friend.And if right now you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, guess what? You can do that today. You can be changed today. And you're never going to do it with cultural lie of being enough. But guess what?You can do it by trusting the one who is enough. See, the Bible says we are saved by grace through faith. What does that mean? It means it's a gift. You can't buy this. It's not a paycheck. It's a gift.So if you want Jesus, I'm encouraging. Whatever you're doing right now, stop what you're doing and just pray this with me right now. Just pray. Jesus, I confess that I have sinned.I've lived my way. I've trusted myself. But today, Lord, I turn to you and Lord, I believe. You died for me. You took the cross for me and you rose again.So Lord, right now, forgive me. Wash me clean. Be my Savior, be my Lord. I need you. I surrender my life to you at this very moment.Fill me with your spirit, teach me your truth, and help me follow you for the rest of my life, Lord. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen, friend, if you prayed that, welcome home. You're not alone anymore. You're not forgotten.And you're not meant to walk this road by yourself. And friend, here's what I want you to remember today. Culture is loud. It's all around us. But Jesus is true. And yeah, lies feel soothing at first.We've talked about those things today. But you know what happens over time? They hollow you out. But truth does the opposite.Yeah, truth might confront you and it might step on your toes a little bit, but in the end, it heals you. Yeah, truth might humble you, but in that humbleness, it's going to free you.And yes, like today, truth might be calling you to surrender, but it's there where you'll find peace. So today, don't just try harder. Anchor deeper. And listen, if you want help living this out, I want to invite you into our community.We have a community. It's at Truth unveiled with Ralph.com. join again. We'll put this in the show.Notes but it's truth unveiled with Ralph.com join and when you join that community, I don't want your money. If you want to support the show there, you can.But what you're going to get is free encouragement and we're going to give you a free resource for your home. It's called the Family Digital Wisdom Guide. This is something you can use.It's practical, it's simple, and it's going to help your family fight those lies with truth. And while I'm here, let me ask you this. Who could you share this episode with that's quietly drifting right now?If you know somebody as maybe the Lord has put on your heart, you know what, who could hear this? Just send them a message right now and say, you got to listen to this. You got to watch this.Just click the link in the show and send to them, say, listen, I'm not judging you, but I feel like you need to hear this. That could change a life. Well, let's pray together. This isn't about performance. This is just about surrender.Father, we confess we've breathed in these lies all around us. And yet we've repeated slogans more than we've repeated scripture, Lord. And yet we've trusted our feelings.We trusted our heart or deceitful heart more than we trusted your voice, Lord. So Jesus, forgive us where we are right now. Wash our minds, Lord, renew our hearts, Holy Spirit, make truth feel beautiful again.So right now we hand you our drifting places, Lord, we hand you our secret compromises, our tired emotions. We ask that you would just anchor us in Christ. Teach us to love being holy, not just being happy, but being holy. Teach us to hunger for your word.And Lord, give our families courage to stand out gently like Paul called us to stand out and to stand firm faithfully in what we believe. And we ask this in the almighty power of Jesus. Amen. Friend, here's your one sentence takeaway from today.The lies of culture shrink your soul, but the truth of Jesus brings you home. So Father, I just say right now, keep my friends steady.When lies get loud, make your voice louder, Lord, and when their heart feels weak, be their strength, Lord, and lead them gently, lead them firmly back to Jesus. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen. I'm encourage you again. Come join us at truth unveiled with Ralph.com so thank you so much for joining me today.I know I got a little deep and heavy, Lord today, but we need to hear this. We got to counter these lives. So may God bless you my friend. And I hope to see you again next week on the show. Take care.