Triggered: When and Where - Pastor Clayton Tyner

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

All right, MetaCurch, how you guys doing?

Yeah.

Man, so good to uh to see you guys here.

We are in our third week of our triggered series.

If it's your first time with us, my name's Clayton.

I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch.

I'm so, so glad that you've joined us.

Uh now you have missed a couple of weeks.

We've kind of been building a foundation.

Um we're in the series trying to learn how to make meaningful, long-lasting change in our lives.

And so, uh, number one, if you want to get fully caught up, you can go to any of our digital platforms.

You can go to our website, metachurch.tv, you can download the app, you can go on our YouTube.

And this is new, but we now also have our sermons on podcasts.

You can go on Spotify or most other places where podcasts are listened to, and you can get it there.

And you can put it to like three times speed and see what I would sound like as a chipmunk and uh all those fun things.

So uh I'll kind of recap those, so we're all on the same page.

In week one, we tried to ask a better question at the beginning stage of determining the changes that we want to make.

The question is not, what do I want to change?

And this is often where we start.

We get to a new year, we want to make resolutions, what we're looking at our behavior.

What do I want to see shift?

What do I want to be different?

What do I want to change?

This isn't actually the best starting place for deep, long-lasting change.

The question is not what do I want to change?

The question is, who do I want to become?

What do I want to change is about behavior.

Who do I want to become is about your identity.

It is deeper and stronger and will root you into the picture of who God has actually created you to be in.

Once you can see that picture, you can start on the process to actually living out that life, that identity piece, seeing who you could be in Christ is so, so critical.

And once we see that picture, how do we get there?

And last week we started talking about that process.

And what we learned is that in order to really affect change in our life, we have to get an understanding of our habits.

Now, this is so important because research shows that about 50% of your life happens at the subconscious level.

That means 50% of the action that you take and the thoughts that you think happen at a level that you're not actually aware of, and this is the level of real habits.

If 50% of your life isn't enough motivation, the remaining 50% of things you do consciously are influenced, impacted, and some of them are completely driven by the subconscious habits that you already have.

And so last week we really deconstructed the idea so we could see these cycles that we get stuck in.

In order to break the cycle, we have to understand it.

And behavioral scientists have helped us by creating the habit cycle.

And it goes like this it starts with a cue.

This is the first part of the habit cycle, is a cue.

And a cue triggers a craving.

And we're gonna spend the next two weeks, do two weeks doing a deep dive into these triggers.

We're gonna really focus on the cue because if we can understand how to change the triggers in our life, we can interrupt the starting place of these cycles that we get caught in.

Cues in our life trigger a craving.

And what we learned last week is that once we get a craving in our mind, our mind will stop at almost nothing to satisfy that craving.

And that's why your cue moves you to your routine.

And the routine is the actual habit.

Like when you think about what needs to change in your life, unhealthy patterns, vicious cycles where you just keep digging the whole digger uh deeper and deeper and deeper in your life.

Uh, that's the routine.

It's the actual action or thought that you have.

And the routine leads to the reward.

And the Q triggers a craving and it deeply, deeply desires a reward, and the routine helps you actually obtain it.

The first thing a reward does is it satisfies your craving, and the second thing it does is it closes the loop.

Now, this habit cycle is very helpful in our life, and not everything is bad and unhealthy that is caught in these cycles.

Maybe some of you are like me, and your day really can't start until you've had one to six cups of coffee.

Anyone who's like, man, if I haven't had my coffee, just stay out of my way.

Don't wake the kids up before I've had my coffee, it's gonna get ugly up in here.

Don't talk to me before I've had my coffee.

Like, I've gotta, I've gotta start with it.

As a matter of fact, this is how lazy and just impatient I am.

It was so like taxing in my mind to wake up and then have to make coffee.

Like, I need coffee to energize me to make the coffee, you know?

So it's like I kind of got stuck in this thing.

So we bought one that has a timer, and I just wake up and it's already made for me.

It's amazing.

And I can just like get the coffee in me as fast as possible.

Well, that's the habit cycle.

And your cue is waking up and it triggers a craving to be more alert, less groggy, more animated, alive, kind of jumpstart your brain.

The routine is actually drinking the coffee, and the reward is getting that caffeine rush and becoming more alert, and the loop closes, and so now your craving becomes associated with the routine of drinking coffee because it gives you the reward that satisfies your craving.

Now we're gonna be attacking our cues and becoming almost investigators into what is causing us to move to these routines that we're so unhappy with.

Today we're gonna really see the impact that time and place have.

And my message today is simply called when and where.

When and where.

Before we get into it, would you guys pray with me?

God, we love you, and we're just amazed, you know, um, as I've kind of dug into some of this research and the science, you created us to be these just immensely complex beings.

And our minds are so powerful.

And I mean, the fact that we can automate half of our life, you did that, and God, we can use that for good, but we're also broken and we're sinful, and we get caught in these cycles that are so detrimental to the lives that you've created us to live, and we want to change that, God.

We want to shake out of those and break those cycles.

And so, Holy Spirit, I ask that you would speak uniquely to every person who's hearing this, every person who's listening online.

God, that you would show us something about how we can change these cues, change these triggers, break these cycles, and live the life that we are created to live.

We love you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

For the next couple weeks, we're gonna be talking specifically about triggers.

And I wanna kind of just briefly go over this.

Last week we spent a lot of time describing triggers.

These are uh oftentimes subconscious stimulants all around us that are going into our brain and driving us to action, and most of the time we're not even aware of it.

And when you're buying a product, which one you choose, more expensive, less expensive, the person that you're voting for for the next president, the conversations that you have, whether or not you're gonna gossip, whether or not you're gonna fall into this addiction or use again, all of those things start with these triggers.

And today we're gonna focus on two of the most significant triggers in your life: time and place.

You see, what happens is we're unhappy with our habits and the routines that we've fallen into, and so we tend to focus on the routine.

How do I change it?

How do I shift it?

If I'm overeating, I just look at it.

Maybe I'll diet again, maybe I'll go to the gym again, maybe, maybe, maybe you know what I'll do?

I'll buy smaller clothes and then I'll be motivated, and we just we focus on this routine and we beat it to death, and we can't figure out why we're not able to break out of those cycles.

And and until we can recognize and admit that there is a step before the routine, we're gonna continue to be stuck.

Time and place, where you are when these habits take place and when they take place are huge clues to those cues in your life that are leading you to these bad routines.

Your environment is so powerful, and most of us live not giving it the credit that it deserves.

During the Vietnam War, a very difficult time in the history of our country, the soldiers were over, they were dying in record numbers, they were losing friends that were fighting right next to them.

They were lonely, homesick, maybe embarrassed.

They were hearing back home that people didn't support the war.

So even when they came back, they weren't getting the hero's welcome that they got in World War I and World War II.

It was devastating.

And they also had access to kind of this new eastern drug called heroin, and many, many soldiers became addicted to heroin during their time in Vietnam.

And the military leaders saw this as a huge complication because not only were they waging a war that seemed unwinnable and was incredibly unpopular, but now they were going to take these young men who many of them were drafted out of their homes and they were gonna send them back as drug addicts, and it was gonna look really, really bad.

So they took an interest in this and they tracked it and followed it and tried to see how they could help, and what they found shocked them.

When the soldiers who were addicted to heroin in Vietnam went home, about 90% of those soldiers got clean and stayed clean.

Only about one in ten relapsed and continued to use.

They were blown away, they thought it was gonna be this big epidemic, and it kind of turned out to be a very small problem.

Around the same time, decades ago, there was a research that came out about rehab institutions in America.

And we are for rehab here.

Like if you are in a place and you have tried everything and you can't get the help, go.

I mean, it's a beautiful thing, but rehab addresses the routine.

And you don't start at the routine, you start at the trigger.

And so what happens is people go in, you have to detox for a while, it can be very painful, but once it's out of your system, you can start seeing clearly, and you're in a safe environment, and you have structure maybe for the first time in a while, and the other people around you are coming clean, and all of a sudden you can start seeing a picture again of what your life could possibly be.

Start finding a sense of identity.

The problem with rehab is that people leave their environment, they get clean, and then they go back to the same environment.

And coming out of Vietnam from the environment of war back to a new environment, there was one in ten who relapsed.

Coming out of rehab, it was close to nine out of ten.

About 90% of people coming out of rehab would relapse at least once.

And the difference is environment, and maybe you've been watching on Netflix the Aaron Hernandez documentary, this professional football player.

And I actually, just full disclosure, I haven't watched the documentary, but I know quite a bit about him, and he grew up in a very toxic environment.

And he was surrounded by crime, and he was surrounded by gangs, and he was surrounded by drugs, and then he got drafted to his hometown team.

I mean, that's like a dream come true to go and play for the team that's right in your own backyard.

The problem was he had a new lifestyle with the same environment.

And so before he just had motivation to be in this life, to be in the gang, to be in the drugs, to be in the crime.

Now he had the means, he had the resources, he had a multimillion dollar NFL contract, and if you know the story, you know it ends in murder and imprisonment, and ultimately even the life of Aaron Hernandez.

Your environment is so, so, so important.

And if we don't take the time to investigate where and when our habits are taking place, we might miss the very key to breaking out of the cycles that are continuing to spiral our lives out of control.

Today we're gonna look at one of the most famous people in scripture.

We're gonna be in the Old Testament, which tells the Jewish history, and we're gonna look at a guy named David.

And David, he was a shepherd boy when he was little, and he would play the harp, and he would like defend the sheep, and then one day a prophet showed up and he anointed him and said, You're gonna be the next king of Israel, and he was like a little bitty kid, and then so that didn't even make sense to anybody.

And then one day he wasn't old enough to go to war, but his brothers were in war, and so he came and like brought some like cheese, you know, like a charcuterie board.

He's like, Here you go, you know, let's let's hang out for a second, and there's like this giant, and he's just going and railing against the people of God, and he can't understand why no one will stand up to this giant, and so he's like, Man, I'll do it.

And he goes out there, he's barely hitting puberty, and he's like, Man, and and this this this giant named Goliath, he thinks it's gonna be like sword to sword, he's gonna like chop this little guy up, and and David's like, No, you don't know, bro.

I got some stones in my pocket, and he gets out of slingshot, and then he kills him, and then he goes and he cuts Goliath's head off.

And they don't tell you that in Sunday school, but he does it.

You can read it in the story, cuts this fool's head off, and man, he is like famous in all of Israel, and one day the king dies, and and man, he's put in just like the prophet had said, and now he is the king of Israel, and he's a man after God's own heart.

And he wrote most of the Psalms.

You know, there's a book right in the middle of your Bible called the Psalms, and it's all these amazing poems, and it's like, man, he walked with God and he knew him and he loved him and he served him.

And today we're gonna see one of the greatest men of God take one of the most significant falls in all of Scripture.

In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we're gonna start in verse 2.

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

We're gonna come back to verse 1, but verse 1's kind of the key, and I wanna hold it for right now.

So we're gonna start in verse 2.

It says, one evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace environment.

When and where?

It was evening, that's when.

Late in the evening, he's already in bed.

When is the evening and where is on his rooftop?

And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, a very beautiful woman.

Now, we have to be careful because sometimes we can read things into scripture that aren't there.

And what we don't know is his intention.

And so, what we do know is that in Jerusalem, almost everyone had an unfinished second story.

So you could like go up there, you could wash clothes, you could hang the clothes up, you could rest, you could host, you know, events on top of your roof, but it was just a finished roof, no walls, no ceiling.

People also bathed up there, but time and place are important.

People didn't bathe in the middle of the day because everyone could see them.

And so they would go late evening.

There was enough light, see what you're doing?

Not enough light to really be seen by the people around you.

That is, of course, unless you're on the roof of the palace.

The roof of a palace can see everyone and everything in the kingdom.

And so David goes up and maybe it's intentional, maybe he's creeping, maybe he knows that this is a time when people are out and they're bathing, and maybe he'll see something he wants to see.

We don't know that because it doesn't say maybe it's an accident, maybe he just happens upon him.

But what we do know is he sees a very beautiful woman and he doesn't look away.

In fact, he looks intently.

He's at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And David is about to go down a list of events that are so out of character.

I mean, everything we know about David, he's about to do the opposite of.

And maybe you've been there.

And maybe you're there right now, and maybe there are aspects of your life right now that you look and you go, This just isn't me.

This is just out of character for me.

I don't know why I keep doing this, I don't know why I keep saying this, I don't know why I keep taking this.

And sometimes it's hard to see in ourselves, right?

Sometimes it's easier to see in other people.

It's like, I just can't believe she cheated.

Like that is so, that is so not like her.

And that's what we say, man.

I just, I can't believe that that he's on drugs.

That is just so not like him.

I can't believe David would do this.

It was just so not like David.

And we look at the routine, and we look at the habit, and we look at the addiction, and we don't look at the environment.

In verse 3, David sent someone to inquire about her, and he said, Isn't this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah?

In verse 4, David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her.

And she had just been purifying herself from uncleanliness, and afterwards she returned home.

And in verse five, the woman conceived and sent word to David, I am pregnant.

So out of character.

And we all get in these cycles, and we all have these broken parts of us.

And maybe it's anger, and maybe it's lust, and maybe it's gossip, and maybe it's an addiction, and maybe it's an attraction, and maybe it's control, and I don't know what it is for you, but we all have these cycles, and it's like we can go and go and go and go, and we can ignore them and repress them and forget them and numb them and deny them until the bottom falls out.

She sent word to David, I'm pregnant.

And all of a sudden, it's like someone shines a light on the cycle that you're stuck in, and it becomes so painfully obvious.

And it all started being at the wrong place at the wrong time, on the roof, in the evening.

And so let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe it was an accident, maybe he was having trouble sleeping, he just thought he would take a stroll, get a little exercise in, get some fresh air, go back to bed.

Maybe that's all it was.

He was at the wrong place, wrong time, but sometimes that just happens.

Sometimes it's out of our control.

The key to understanding all of it starts in verse one.

So before he goes on the roof, before he sees Bathsheba, before he sleeps with her, in verse one it says, in the spring, when kings march out to war.

Where and when?

In the spring, when kings go to war.

David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel, and they destroyed the Ammonites and they besieged Rabbi.

And what had happened is the Ammonites were causing problems, and David said, Man, it's just the Ammonites, we'll just send this like little group of people out there, and the Ammonites beat them and embarrassed them and threw it in their face.

So they said, No, not this time.

We're sending all of Israel, we're sending all the troops, we will destroy them, we will wipe them off the face of the earth.

And in the spring, when the kings march out to war, David sent all of Israel to war, but David remained in Jerusalem.

And so David doesn't go where he's supposed to go, and we know why, because it's in scripture.

And people came together and helped David make the decision that now that he's getting a little older, he won't go to war anymore.

And David is the greatest warrior that Israel has ever known.

David killed Goliath when he was barely 13 years old.

David is a fighter, he's a man of war.

But you know, the president of the United States is the commander-in-chief, but he doesn't go to a war.

He's not on the front lines because if the president died, there would be a huge chain of events that it would cause, right?

And so we say, man, you can be in charge, but we're gonna keep you safe.

You drive an armored car, you got CIA, you've got Secret Service, because if you die, man, it's it's a hit to morality, it's it's a hit to the infrastructure of the kingdom.

That's the same thing they said to David.

You're too important, you gotta stay.

It was a conscious decision to not go where kings are supposed to go in the spring when kings go to war.

They made the decision together, it doesn't mean it was the right decision, and so David is at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And instead of being with his men in the battle, he is at home bored in the castle.

And all of his men who are you know in these positions of power and all the accountability structures he has in his life, they're gone because they're at war and he's in the castle.

And it's it's wrong place at the wrong time, and our environment is so powerful.

And David kind of gives us two categories to think through because he didn't go where he should have gone.

And because he wasn't where he was supposed to be, he went where he shouldn't be.

And a lot of times these things are tied together.

A lot of times one leads to the other.

And maybe you can even think in your own life when you had healthier rhythms and healthier patterns, and you're like, man, I I can remember like in 2015, I was going to the gym.

I mean, really regularly, like like three times a week, I was hitting the gym, and it was really, man, it kind of had this cascading effect because it was like I wanted to eat healthy because I knew if I didn't eat healthy, how I would feel the next day in the gym.

And it was like really easy to just kind of, you know, drive past the donut store and drive past the fast food and go home and try to eat clean.

It's like, you know, I've been a smoker for a long time, but uh, it was kind of easier to stop smoking because man, I know if I take down a pack of cigarettes, like I'm gonna struggle on the treadmill tomorrow.

It's like, man, I was just in this really healthy pattern.

I was going where I know that I should go.

And now when you stop, it makes it easier to go where you shouldn't go.

And if you don't have a workout waiting on you the next day, it's no problem to run by Dunkin' Donuts and run through half a dozen glaze donuts because they're delicious.

And it's like, man, now all of a sudden I find myself going where I shouldn't go because I'm not going where I should.

And some of you are like, man, my marriage is in disarray.

It's just so out of character for us, you know?

We were so in love.

And then if you try to think, like time and place, like, where should we be going?

Like, when's the last, when's the last time that we actually took time to go to a place on a date, alone without kids?

And all of a sudden you're not going where you should go to born into your marriage.

There's distance, and it's easy to start going to places you shouldn't go.

And there's tension, and one often leads to the other, and David should be in battle.

He's lost his identity the leader of God's army.

And when you lose the picture of who you're supposed to be, it's hard to follow the process to that life.

Bathsheba's pregnant.

It's a big deal.

And it gets worse.

In verse 6, David sent orders to Joab send me Uriah.

And so Joab sent Uriah, Bathsheba's.

Husband to David.

And when Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going and all this meaningless small talk in verse 8.

David said to Uriah, Go to your house and wash your feet.

And if you're wondering, that is a strong innuendo.

And Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him, but Uriah did not go.

He slept at the door of the palace with the servants.

And he did not, and he would not go to his house.

And when it was reported to David, Uriah didn't go home, David questioned Uriah, haven't you just come from a long journey?

Haven't you been on the front lines of battle?

Haven't you not seen your wife in a while?

Why would you not want to go home and have one night of intimacy before I send you back into the war?

And Uriah's answer is key to understanding.

How one man got stuck in a vicious, unhealthy cycle, and one man stayed true to a cycle of blessing.

Uriah answered David, the ark, which represented the presence of God.

All of Israel, all of Judah, they're dwelling in tents.

And my master Joab and his soldiers, they're camping in the open field, their lives are on the line.

And how could I possibly enter my house to eat and drink?

To sleep with my wife.

He says, King, as surely as you live, I will not do this.

And do you understand what Uriah's answer was?

He said, King, this is not the time or place for this.

And you have two men who are moving in polar opposite directions.

And you see, Uriah never lost sight of his identity.

He could see the picture of who he was supposed to be.

He was a commander in Israel's army.

He's known in scripture as one of David's 30 mighty men.

He could see it.

He never lost sight of it.

And so he could move in the right process.

And his cue wasn't a craving to go home and be with his wife.

His cue was, I'm a soldier and I should be with my men.

David had lost his identity.

He had lost the picture, a man of God, the king of Israel, the commander of Israel's armies.

And things only get more complicated.

Uriah is so stubborn, and so David's like, I need this to work out.

I've got to get Uriah to sleep with his wife, because if he sleeps with his wife, I'll send him back to war.

He'll come back in seven months.

She'll be seven months pregnant.

It'll be fine.

No second questions.

But Uriah won't go.

So David starts throwing parties.

Uriah just wants to go back to war.

Then it'll stay one more night and he keeps trying to get him drunk.

He's feeding him more and more and more alcohol.

And he's thinking if I can just get him drunk, he'll lower his inhibitions, right?

Look where we've gone.

We have gone from the wrong place at the wrong time to lust, to adultery, now manipulation, like trying everything he can to get this guy to be disloyal to the picture of what his life is supposed to be.

And Uriah won't budge.

And in a final act of desperation, the next morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and he sent the letter with Uriah.

He put the letter in Uriah's hand, and Uriah carried a letter all the way back to battle that said, put Uriah at the front of the fighting, withdraw everyone from him, so that he is struck down and dies.

And in the spring, when kings are supposed to go to war, David remained in Jerusalem.

Wrong place, wrong time.

He sees something he shouldn't have seen.

He allows his mind to wander.

He's triggered, he has a craving for lust.

And lust leads to adultery, and adultery leads to manipulation, and manipulation leads to murder.

And oftentimes when we get to the places and the points in our journeys where we feel like our life is falling apart, if we could just backtrack before the marriage fell apart, before we lost the rights to our kids, before we lost the job, before the addiction started, if we could trace it all the way back, we would find a trigger.

And sometimes it just seems small.

And we're so good at rationalizing, you know?

It's like I get it, it's just gossip.

And and and I know the time and place, lunch in cubicle H, when I go at lunch to cubicle H, I know we're gonna gossip.

But listen, my job sucks, and my coworkers are idiots, and I'm just venting, and I just gotta get it out, and I'm not like a drug addict, you know, I'm just gossiping a little bit.

And yet we know, and we probably all have known someone who is so affected by people talking about them behind their back.

They lose so much of their sense of worth that they take their own lives.

It's so easy to downplay our sin, to feel like we're just one degree off course.

We look at our routines and we think that the answer lies just solely in if I can just figure it out, if I can just light knuckle, if I can just get it.

It starts with a cue.

It starts with a trigger.

David had lost his identity, and oftentimes we get a distorted picture of who we were created to be.

How do we get there?

We get there through our habits.

And so I wonder if you think about the unhealthy patterns in your life, these vicious cycles that you might be stuck in, and you ask the question when and where do they happen?

When and where do you fall into these patterns?

When and where are you most likely to give in to the temptations?

And man, if we look at the habit cycle, it just makes so much sense.

You know, it's like there's a wrong time to go shopping.

They say don't go shopping when you're hungry.

You will buy more food.

And the way that they position things in the grocery store, you know why the expensive liquor's on the top shelf?

Because you literally have to reach for it.

Like you're reaching for the stars.

It tells you something.

It's a measure of success in your mind.

Lowest price stuff are on the bottom.

They're trying to guilt you for going against the name brand.

When and where matters.

It's all a trigger in your life.

If you struggle with pornography, there's a good chance that when and where you do that is not when you have a house full of family members.

People aren't just running through junk food in the middle of a gym.

When and where matters.

And if you can add a filter to your life.

And walk out of here this week.

And when you fall into these patterns, ask when and where?

How is my environment actually affecting my behavior?

Maybe you struggle with anger.

It's like, when?

When are you the most likely to get angry?

Is it early?

Is it late?

Is it right before you pick the kids up?

Is it right after your husband gets home, your wife gets home?

When does it happen?

They're all a clue.

When and where it is a clue to the cue that is triggering you and moving you into these harmful and negative routines.

And some of you are like, I just, I just can't sleep.

Man, I just, it's like I don't ever get any sleep at night.

And when does it happen?

It happens late.

And where is your smartphone?

It's plugged in right next to your face.

And I don't know what's triggering you.

It could be depression, it could be anxiety, it could be loneliness.

I don't know what it is.

But you want to numb it, you want to relieve it, you want to forget about it.

And so we scroll.

And man, I'm talking to some people today because this is you every night.

You just scroll and scroll 1 a.m., 3 a.m.

5 a.m.

And the next day you haven't got any sleep, and once again you're not productive at work, and you miss out on a promotion that you know you could have got if you just had a little bit more energy, if you could just show up on time, and now you didn't get the promotion, and now you're even more depressed and more sad and more lonely, and there you are in bed at night again.

And the thing that you know can distract you away from whatever you're feeling.

It gives you the reward.

You get to deny it, and you scroll, and you'll sleep again.

And what if you plugged in your phone in the kitchen?

And some of you are late to everything, and you're a great employee, but your boss does not trust you.

And it's like, I just I just snooze and snooze and snooze and snooze.

Yeah, move your alarm across the room.

Make yourself get up to turn it off.

Like, we don't understand that there are these small environmental changes that we can make that can have exponential impact on our life.

And some of you have been trying to read the same book for a year and a half, but you sit down on the couch and you get a paragraph in, and you remember someone telling you about a show on Netflix, and so you turn it on.

I'm just gonna watch one, I'll go back to reading.

Four hours later, Netflix is checking your pulse.

It's like, man, how did I get here?

And you don't even know that your couch is a cue that triggers a craving that Netflix rewards.

And you change your environment and you begin to change your life.

And some of you are social drinkers, and you're like, you know what I'm saying?

I can drink a couple beers, it's fine.

And the only time that you get hammered and angry and violent is when your team loses.

And if we put the lens on to say when and where, when and where am I falling into these, then you can make a real decision.

Is your God-given purpose and living the significant life that you were put on earth to live worth not watching your favorite team?

When and where?

If you can change your environment, you can change your triggers.

And if you can change your triggers, you can begin to see real changes in habits that it felt impossible for you to break.

And if you can change your habits, you can see real change in your life.

Would you guys pray with me?

God, we love you.

And uh we just thank you, God.

We thank you for loving us, we thank you for giving us purpose.

I just believe it.

I felt like saying it every single Sunday, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, that it matters that every person in this room, watching online, it matters that every one of them is here on earth.

Every one of us has work to do for your kingdom.

God, in this series, we're trying to get out of our own way.

I pray that we would leave this place, investigators into our own triggers, that we would find them and do whatever it takes to destroy them, God.

That we could see these real changes in our life so that we could be most useful and most impactful for what you want us to do during our time here on earth.

We love you, and we pray all these things in the powerful name of Jesus.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast.

You can rate and review or share it with your friends.

If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv.

There you can learn how to take next steps.

You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit, and you can also give financially to help push this movement forward.

Man, I love you guys and I hope you have a great rest of your day.