GIGO

GIGO! Garbage in, garbage out. The garbage you let in will eventually come out.

When we put on Hose-A-Palooza this year….we brought in some huge semi trucks to bring in the water for the days' events. Unfortunately, the couple of days before Hose-A-Palooza we pretty much had a monsoon blow through the Troy Grove/Mendota area bringing us buckets of rain; and because of it the ground was softened and the trucks tires sunk into the ground fairly deeply making lots of ruts and big grooves. The lady who mows the area is NOT REAL happy; needless to say. It makes it much harder to mow an area when it isn't level so John still even today is hauling black dirt to the field and filling in the cracks to fix up the ground. There are a lot of ruts in the ground.

I have used the analogy of ruts in the road to describe my patterns of my thought and speech life before I was saved and then still after I became serious about following after Jesus. I have told people that I likened my language to those ruts when something would go wrong and it would be so easy to fall back into those grooves of bad language and behavior. I needed to do some reprogramming to change it.

A mind is a kind of naturally occurring computer – it processes information.

 It comes with its own method of computation, using a system of symbols that literally makes a language of thought and every day we process thousands of thoughts. Scientists say that these repeated thoughts actually create grooves in our brain. They have found that when we practice a skill, learn something new, or study a topic, a new groove is actually carved into our brain tissue. That is why they say that it is so hard to break a habit. They say that a habit is not just psychological but also physical and that we have to actually create new brain grooves to be successful in breaking it.

Our bad thoughts over time will create grooves in our brains and we can develop things in our lives that grow into bad habits and lifestyles too. So this week, I'd like to have you think about what ruts you may have carved into your brain thus far? Think about all the thoughts that go through your brains on a normal day. It's said that a person has about 60,000 of them a day. A lot of them can be crazy, random thoughts; that can be quite bizarre or negative. Because of those thoughts they can make us begin to form bizarre or negative feelings toward ourselves and others around us and then they in turn they can develop into fears, doubts and even hatred over the long haul. These thoughts have carved grooves into our brains and created habits that are destructive to our lives and to those around us too.  Let me ask you…What in the world are you thinking about?

There is a word you may or may not have heard before … it is GIGO. It stands for garbage in – garbage out. It is a computer term. A computer is an amazing thing….but ultimately it can only do what it is told to do; whatever is programmed into it will have an effect on what is produced and more importantly, it's the programmer who will determine the final output and results.  What is inputted into our brain can either limit or expand as to the quality of the data that is actually programmed into it. Day after day after day we have so many negative, destructive thoughts that flow through our brains that cause us bad output. If you program into your brain hatred, unbelief, jealousy, lust, greed etc… you will get garbage for output. But on the other hand, if you put in faith, hope, generosity, selflessness and contentment you will get a high quality output.

Could it be that simple?

Yes, it could and it is.

Philippians 4:8 finally dear brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

Listen, if we can believe what these scientists say about grooves into our brains isn't it then wise instead of inputting all those bad things inside our brains – that we should instead make grooves or ruts with good things? Pastor Steve has mentioned over the years a phrase…"what you are in your mind; you will do in time" Our minds – our thoughts have great power in who it is that we are and eventually who we will become.

This world thinks and acts in ways that is normal to them but I believe that we as Christians should find offensive. It is my firm belief that as a Christian we are to be different and that begins with what we put into our minds in the first place. And with that I'd like to talk to you about media.

Media is everywhere around us; it shapes our culture and guides us in the ways that we think, act, dress and watch. It is a billion dollar industry and it has a huge effect on us.

Today -If you watched television, turned on the radio, rented a movie, read a magazine, logged on to the internet, played video games or read the newspaper you have opened yourself up to the influence of today's media. Influence is the definition of the word leadership – so what happens is that every day we take our marching orders by what media offers up to us. And there is much wrong with that.

First off the media gives us a wrong view about reality. Everyone in TV ads or print ads looks pretty happy – basically telling us that all you have to do is buy a certain product and you are to automatically grow happier. For a lot of people they look to find that one product that will make them attractive to the opposite sex, make them connect with the cool kids and give them hope for their future. Those ads are not real people. They say that even the beautiful models in print ads still get their thin legs stretched longer to make them look more beautiful – they airbrush all the flaws off their faces and give them prettier features. Sadly, for a lot of men they hold to that ideal and look for that perfection in a mate. Also in media it tells people that they should choose actors, musicians, athletes or comedians to be their heroes. It's more about following a celebrity than it is in having a true role model. Then because these people pick people to imitate they fall lock step in following their opinions on the world, politics and religion.

The constant flow of action packed movies and television shows also give us a distorted view as to what this world actually looks like. We are living in an MTV generation… it's high tech and fast paced and when we look at our own lives in comparison we think there is something wrong with them  because our lives don't  look like that. Our lives just seem boring and dull.

There are things that will be offered up to us from the media but a lot of it is trash. Don't be like Oscar the Grouch and love trash.

On the Grammy awards, the American Music awards and the MTV awards there will be those performers who when they receive their awards who will thank God…but let's more so look at what a person actually believes and lives than just more empty words. There has to be a matching up.

I read this article on the internet and it talked about 3 Christian guys who weren't afraid to tell everyone that they were Christians and that they attended bible studies and played in a Christian band and wrote all this music about God.

Sean who was 18 said that when he was in junior high that all the people called him church boy.  So, you can imagine that these 3 guys would not be unlike all the others who are out there trying to live among all the media that's trying to trip them up but you may also be surprised to learn that these 3 boys were then drawn to the blockbuster movie American Pie a few years back; which was a movie about 4 average guys who were trying to lose their virginity before Prom. These guys though didn't just go pay to see the movie but they were paid to star in it. Most confusing and alarming is that none of them saw anything wrong with it. They didn't see any inconsistency in saying that you were following God but still taking a lead in a movie that was just about as disgusting as it gets. This movie had over 50 curse words and rampant sexuality that left about nothing to the imagination.

There is this idea in our culture that we can separate who we are spiritually and be a Christian at church or a youth group but then we can be a different person when we are with another group. That of course DOESN'T MATCH UP with God's word. Also there are a lot of people in the media who speak about spirituality but it has NOTHING to do with God or Jesus. Seriously, pay attention! Not too long ago there was an ad in the USA weekend paper that surveyed teens and they said that religion was their second strongest influence in their lives – only behind their parents. But what kind of faith do they really have IF it hasn't changed  their behavior?

Garbage in – garbage out.

On television there is so much sexuality and violence and it is thrown at us while we are comfortably kicked back in our chairs at home.

Listen to the statistics:

In 1946 there were 10,000 TV sets in the USA.

But by 1950 there were 10.5 million, 1960 54 million and by 1995 99% of American homes owned a TV and most of those actually owned 2 or 3 of them. 

A lot of people eat their meals by them, fall asleep by them – and most people turn on a TV when they get home whether they plan on watching it or not just for the company.

It is said that the average teenager watches over 22 hours of TV a week. By the time they have graduated they will have watched 23,000 hours of television.

In the 2001-2002 television season, "two thirds (64%) of all shows included some sexual content; one third (32%) of all shows have some sexual behaviors, and one in seven (14%) have sexual intercourse"

Evidence exists which suggests that what adolescents see on television, whether or not they know fantasy from reality, is what they assume society expects of them as a typical sexual being.

In 1952 they were not allowed to use the word pregnant on TV even though Lucy was obviously pregnant. In 1961 on the Dick Van Dyke show the characters not being in the same bed together. In 1965 they wouldn't allow Barbara Eden's belly button to show in I dream of Jeanie. But by the 1990's we were showing TV's first R rated show NYPD Blue which featured nudity, violence and sex. In 1994 the comedy show Roseanne showed an up close lesbian kiss and in the late 90's we saw most of the younger people in the shows on TV losing their virginity and having sex with their classmates; even Simon on 7^th Heaven. Nowadays sadly even that stuff is tame. Today we have Teela Tequila who is bi- sexual and we have men and women competing to sleep with her. Old rock stars who are on where women will do what they can to sleep with them and be with them. Sex has gone from a dirty word to a regular event and when we say it's unacceptable we are just labeled as old fashioned. Not true; we just are staying in tune with what God's word says is acceptable.

Today premarital sex on TV outnumbers sex within marriage 8 to 1.During the prime time hours of TV we can see a sexual act or reference every 4 minutes.

What is normally shown on television is not normal Christ follower behavior.

Now let's take a look at violence.

By the time the average teen graduates they will have watched 40,000 televised murders and 200,000 acts of violence. Some of it disguised as humorous and shown in cartoons.

Now, tell me it doesn't bother you okay.

I know it doesn't bother you… sadly enough. But it's supposed to bother you. You haven't gotten older or wiser… you haven't matured past that point… it's just that you have just become numb to it.

Yes, life can be ugly and violent but should we really be entertained by it?

Habakkuk 1:3 Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.

Jonah 3:8 Everyone is required to wear sackcloth and pray earnestly to God. Everyone must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.

We live in a society that is in love with violence. It craves it. Take a look at the plugged in reviews for the movies that are playing that I put up every week – most of them are filled with violence and sex. These violent TV shows and movies make us numb to the horrors of violence, yet somehow this is an acceptable thing for us to see on a daily basis.  We need to become aware that what we set our eyes on – what we input and think about is what eventually makes us into who we become.

Garbage in = Garbage out.

Could it be that is why so many people are messed up in this world?

What kind of person could you turn out to be if you set up boundaries in your life?

What if you did what God says to do instead?

Philippians 4:8 finally dear brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

Watch your input because eventually it will determine your output.