Apostolic Algorithms for Advancement

Discipled by Distraction

In the modern age, the reality of media is stark and sobering.

The truth of our modern lives is that, in some way, shape, or form, to exist in modern culture, we must engage with media.

Whether it is social media, internet browsers, streaming platforms, or simply email, modern people must engage with media to some degree. This is the harsh reality of our lives.

The trouble with this is the old adage, "You are what you eat."

What you consume will be what you produce.

The modern manufacturer and marketer are banking on the neuroscience behind this perceived truth.

The Bible speaks of this often:

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

The biblical precedent has been set: what we invest in is what we will get in return. This is the Law of Harvest.

It is a strong biblical truth, and modern media is striving to produce consumers.

The process of discipleship is formation through exposure, teaching, and experience. Most of these things are now happening through online media content.

Whether it be reels, shorts, or docu-series—pick your poison—the development of a person's disciplines and lifestyle is happening through a screen.

This discipleship is taking place through the distraction of our phones and media devices. The most alarming part is that the content you consume is largely being picked for you.

Your attention helps decide, but, for the most part, the algorithm is picking for you.

The Algorithm is for Appetites

The algorithm is the term that explains the machine-learning method by which a data profile is made on an individual based on watch time, click-through rate, and other patterns of engagement.

It is masterfully curated to suit you and what you want to watch.

It is developed through web browsing, text conversations, personal conversations, social media engagement, and many other forms of interaction with the World Wide Web.

Whatever you consume is what it feeds you.

In other words, the algorithm is controlled by your appetite, and it is designed to create a greater appetite in you for the content that keeps you "doomscrolling" for as long as possible.

The methodology of modern marketing is to target things that cause you to linger. There is no consideration for what emotion or response they are evoking in you—only what keeps you looking, watching, or shopping.

More Means Money

This approach to modern marketing comes from a simple principle: more time online means more money in ad revenue.

The main money-making scheme for most of these large entertainment companies, predominantly social media companies, is ad dollars and subsequent purchases. If they can keep you looking, they make more money because more ad run time is happening. There is also a level of "kickback" if a user clicks through and purchases whatever was advertised.

Money Means Your Brain is for Breakfast

Money is the main motivator for any business, and so it makes sense that these media companies would log hours of research and development into how to keep a user engaged on their platform. This has a direct impact on your brain.

Facebook was one of the first to lead the charge in these initiatives. They began to study and understand the psychology and brain chemistry behind social media engagement, and they began targeting neurological responses as the key to their algorithm and content.

The direct link between how your brain engages with content, its ability to become hyper-focused and not break away from the reels, and media companies' bottom line means your brain is proverbially for breakfast.

Companies like Meta, X, YouTube, and major marketing and data brokerage companies are not interested in the well-being of the user, but simply in the user's appetite and addiction to the algorithm.

The danger screams loudly when we understand the principles and reality behind their motives and structures. All humans everywhere should be raising the red flag on the addictive and manipulative nature of these marketing gurus, but all the more so for disciples of Jesus Christ.

As followers of Jesus, the nature of their endgame—to rob our minds of their capacity for intimate relationship and to shift our focus toward laying up treasure in earthly, corruptible content and goods—should give us pause and cause us to carefully consider our use of all media outlets.

It is a war for our appetites, and I believe God is calling us to a different algorithm.

The Apostolic Algorithm

The Apostles believed in the diet of our lives and the pursuits of our entertainment. Many of them reiterated the need for our lives to focus and be intentional about engaging with God in relationship through prayer, fasting, and study of the scripture.

If the algorithm is what feeds us content and consumption—in other words, if it controls our engagement so that our appetites are developed—then I believe the Lord is calling us to have Apostolic Algorithms. I believe the Lord is calling us to be Spirit-led in our engagement with media.

It is a call to make honest our integrity when it comes to engaging with social media and all media outlets as they dictate what we think, how we feel, and what we dwell on. If we are not intentional with our engagement, then the algorithm will begin building appetites in us that are contrary to God's character, nature, purpose, and plan for our lives.

We must ensure that the algorithm we keep develops an appetite for God and His purpose for our lives.

Our algorithm is one of spiritual disciplines and keeping with the Word of God. They are prayer, fasting, Bible study, good works, and serving in the local Church.

An Apostolic Algorithm is the intentional pursuit of God through prayer, fasting, and the reading of His Word until our appetites are formed by His Spirit instead of by the world.

They are Kingdom-minded development focused on growing our character for the purpose of bearing the image of Jesus to all we meet. Apostolic Algorithms foster an appetite for the deep things of God.

Apostolic Appetites

The Bible speaks of our appetites very clearly throughout the entirety of scripture. It speaks about the appetite of our lives for something higher or greater than an earthly means—it speaks of Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

Jesus preaches this in His Sermon on the Mount. There is a call to pursue something greater: a hunger for the purpose and pleasure of God in our lives.

5 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Isaiah 55:1-3

The Old Testament prophet paints a picture of the appetites that come from God and the algorithm it develops. When we hunger and thirst for spiritual things that do not cost but are rewarded through intimate knowledge of God, then we will reap covenant and mercies with Him.

Isaiah was proclaiming that as we become desperate for God and consume His Word and His presence, it increases our hunger all the more and causes us to seek after more of Him!

More prayer, more Word, more serving opportunities, more fruit of the Spirit, more maturity. It is the law of harvest at play in the spiritual realm of believers instead of in the earthly realm of the flesh.

When our algorithms become Spirit-led, they even affect the algorithms of our media accounts. The algorithm becomes curated by a hunger for God and provides teaching resources, powerful testimonies, and encouragement to get off the devices as consumers and produce great works for the Kingdom of God.

2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:1, 10-11

When our maturity increases by the Spirit, our appetites become apostolic, and our authority is given by our intimacy with Jesus. We reap Apostolic Authority.

We operate according to God's purpose and His thoughts because we are determined to have an appetite only for Jesus. The product of that hunger is a deep knowledge of Him and His Spirit. He shares what He is doing.

We must realign our appetites with Jesus and His purposes by aligning our algorithms to the spiritual disciplines we know draw us close to Him.

Apostolic Authority

It is the stories of the book of Acts in conjunction with the elders of our faith that build an appetite in me for the deep things of God.

The stories regaled of miracles of great healing and deliverance. Wheelchairs no longer needed, blinded eyes opened, teeth restored, limbs grown back. These are not fairy tales but the signs of the Kingdom that follow those who believe.

It is not just the testimony of the scripture itself, but the lives of the Apostles. We read of Peter's shadow healing those who were sick, not by his ability or holiness, but because he was so hungry for God that the Spirit was operating through Peter even when Peter was not doing anything but walking.

Because when we have an appetite for the promises of God, our algorithm is consumed with prayer, fasting, and study of the scripture, which allows us to walk in the authority of Jesus' name by the power of His Spirit. Not by our goodness, but by being close to Him.

My admonition to you today is to purge your algorithm. Restart with a fresh slate so the appetites it has been trying to develop in you can die. Then begin building a stronger hunger for the things of God, so His algorithm can operate in you and we can be transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit of our God.

Great exploits are waiting for the people of God, but they can only be obtained through Apostolic Algorithms: lives ordered around prayer, fasting, and the reading of the Word until our appetites belong fully to Him.

Let's build together.