2025: AI and the Church Pt 1

0:00 All right, if you have a Bible, First Chronicles, chapter twelve, it's where we're going to be beginning. It is the first Sunday of twenty twenty five, and for most churches, either last Sunday or this Sunday, all the typical New Year's sermons will be occurring. I've already heard some of them. Of course, many of them went to Isaiah forty three, and God's going to do a new thing type thing, which drives me absolutely crazy. I was listening to one late last night and I was like, this never ends, which makes sense. That's why we've been in Isaiah forty through fifty five. Other churches will do a little maybe not use that passage of scripture, but it's going to be a lot of the you know, let's make some goals and what are we going to do in the new year, and that type of thing. And there's probably positives in it, there's probably negatives in it. You can everyone has their opinion on those sermons. The main thing I think we can all agree is, no matter how great the sermon is put together, no matter how motivational the sermon may be, no matter how passionate the sermon may be, we all know by middle of January the end of January, nobody even remembers the sermon that was preached.

1:10 I think we can all acknowledge that even if the church outlines some really important steps for people to take in the new year, the reality is that it all gets forgotten. It all in some ways, it feels like vanity of vanities. So I was trying to decide, well, what do we do today? What do we do? It's the beginning of a new year. We definitely we know we have Isaiah forty through fifty five to continue to work on. But I'm like, well, if there's a time to do anything like this, it's probably this Sunday. So I'm a lot of this may ultimately move over to the podcast. I may turn this into kind of like a mini series or maybe an ongoing series that I just continue to add any relevant content throughout all of twenty twenty five. But I want to spend all of this hour and the next hour talking about artificial intelligence and what it means for the future of Christianity and for the future of the Church, because I don't think anyone is even coming close to understanding what is occurring.

2:14 So I want to talk about it. So that's what we're gonna do for two hours, and then it'll go way further on in the podcast. I've probably got thirty forty hours of notes, and that's probably not even that's probably an underestimate. So we will see what we can accomplish. But I want to begin by looking at a text that has often misused. I'm going to do my best not to miss use it. But first Chronicles, chapter twelve, verse thirty two. First Chronicles, chapter twelve, verse thirty two. You've probably heard this read a million times and used in a lot of different contexts. It's almost used always in a topical sense, and you can see why. But what do we see here, First Chronicles twelve thirty two of the sons of Issachar? Right, who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do? When it talks about the sons of Isacar, that speaks of two things about them. What are those two things? Number one?

3:16 They understood the times. Number two and knew what Israel ought to do. Right, there was two things they They were able to look at the times and say, this is what Israel ought to do in relation to these times. Now, it has a very specific context. So let's do this before we even begin to do anything else. Let's look at at least the historical context of First Chronicles twelve thirty two. I'm gonna look at the broader narrative, and then I'm gonna look at some other Well, we'll just look at more of the broader narrative for the context. All right, the broader narrative for First Chronicles twelve thirty two. This verse is part of a list. If you go back to you look at First Chronicles twelve, go back to verse twenty three, First Chronicles twelve twenty three, and it says that these are the numbers of the bands that were ready were ready armed to the war and came to David a hebron See that. And then what does it do starting from the next verse following yeah, it begins to list and detail the tribes of Israel who gathered to support David as king after the death of King Saul. Everybody got kind of the context, so it's just listing all these tribes and all these tribes are coming to support whom David. Everybody got that, all right.

4:44 The nation was in a period of transition, a transition was occurring. Everybody got that, all, right, And uncertainty. Whenever there is transition, there is uncertainty. Can we all agree with that? Right? We can go back through Let's be fair, if we go back through church history, have there been great periods of transition? Right? We could talk about the Apostolic time, moving into the Early Church, the rise of Roman Catholicism, we could talk about the Protestant Reformation. There's always and they're all with transition always comes uncertainty. Right, Saul's reign had ended in disaster. I think we can all agree that it did, and Israel needed a new united leader. I think we can all agree that that's true. Historically, this chapter celebrates how various tribes came together, each bringing their strengths to support David's rule. We all know the success of a leader is in many cases determined by what those who follow. Right, those who follow, they bring their strengths, their ability, what they have to offer that allows.

5:55 And we even know that within a church context, right, the pastor, it's going to be how the people in the church support it are doing things that's going to really determine so very much. So we see that content we see the narratives. Everybody any question about that context, I think we can understand it now when we come to the role of the tribe of Issacar. The sons of Isacar were noted for their wisdom, discernment, and understanding. That's how most people would say that the sons of Isacar were noted for their wisdom, discernment, and understanding. You want to write those three things down, what were they? Wisdom, discernment and understanding. Wisdom, discernment and understanding. But for the most part that wisdom, discernment and understanding most likely applied to the political and cultural landscape of that time that this tribe, that these men of Isacar could look and go, hey, politically, they could they had wisdom, they had understanding of the political and cultural situation at the time. I think that's fair to say, all right, understanding the times, that phrase, it's caught many sermons have been I think there's an entire ministry called understanding the Times that is built off this verse. Well, it most likely refers to their ability to interpret the historical moment that was occurring at that

7:25 time and recognizing that this was the right time for David to become king. They could perceive, hey, look at do we look at this situation. If David is going to become king, it has to be right now. And they could see that, they could discern that does that make sense? Their knowledge of what Israel should do highlights their strategic insight and how to navigate this pivotal moment in Israel's history. So they could see politically, culturally, they could see that it was time for David, and they could look at the landscape and go, Okay, this is what Israel needs to do right now. So this would be a good group of people to have on your side, especially in that historical context. Everyone okay with that? All right?

8:13 So we had Lou. We looked at the broader narrative. We looked at some of the specific role of the trump of Issacar. I'm going through this quick. I just want to put this all together. So then we would ask why would Issacar's role have been so important? While other tribes contributed military strength, Isacar contributed leadership and discernment. Their wisdom would have helped guide Israel through a time of uncertainty and ensured their alignment with God's plan for David's kingship. So other tribes may have had military strength, the sons of this car could in a sense offer insight, wisdom, discernment, helping and making the right decision strategy, and you always need you always need both, especially in this historical content.

9:00 Can we agree there? Now? What did understanding the times mean for Isacar? Most likely it meant political awareness. They recognized the fall of Saul's dynasty and saw that God was establishing David as king. Possibly spiritual discernment. They understood that David's kingship was a part of God's covenantal plan for Israel and possible strategic action. Their wisdom led them to align with David at a crucial moment, preventing further division in Israel. So most likely they had political awareness, spiritual discernment, and strategic action. Okay, so what can be taken from these men of Israel? Let me read the verse again? First, Chronicles twelve thirty two, and the children of Isacar, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do? Everybody see that? Yes, so what are some takeaways? Well, we discernment, like the sons of Isacar. The Church must be spiritually discerning, understanding the cultural moment and how it aligns or cot or is in conflict with God's purpose. So, just like the children of Isacar, just like the men of Isacar, way, the church needs that kind of discernment, all right. The Church and Christians must be spiritually discerning to understand the

10:32 times in which we live and how it either aligns or it is in conflict with God's purpose. We've got to be able to see that. We have to have wisdom and action. Knowledge should lead to action. Understanding the times means knowing how to live faithfully amid change. It's not just we understand the times. We've got to be able to come up with what should we do next? We have to be able to figure that out. Does that make sense? All right? So can we then apply this situation with the children of this car, the sons of this car, the tribe of this car. How can we take what they did and apply it to what we're going to be talking about today? All right? So for the next two hours we're going to be talking about AI and the future of Christianity and the Church.

11:25 And my thesis is this Christianity, and the Church is never going to be the same again. And if you want to leave it to me, and I'll be even more dogmatic. The church is no longer needed, the church is no longer relevant. You should burn all the buildings down. We no longer need it. That's where I'll go so far and say, I know nobody else is going to agree with that. But if you don't see what AI can do, then you're blind. You don't understand the time what AI can do. There's no point And even having a pulpit, there's no point in even standing here. There's no point in having a podcast, there's no point in preaching sermons. We it's irrelevant. It's finished, it's done. Just go ahead, it's ended, it's over. And if you don't understand that, you're completely not realize what's going on in the world in which you currently live. There's no point anymore.

12:26 There's no point I, I, they're me Standing here right now is a waste of everyone's time. And that's the reality. And I'm going to try to demonstrate that. So how can we apply this well? I think First Chronicles twelve thirty two provides at least a principle about the sermon in action, and I think we can see that they had the serment and they knew what to do. Can we agree with that? I think this can be applied to the Church's approach to AI and other profound societal shifts. Now, I'm I'm not going to be trying to bring in all the other societal shifts because there's a lot going on. I want to just talk about AI because I feel like I can speak about AI far more authoritatively than I could maybe other societal shifts. Now, let's make sure we remember this. The original context was about the sons of a sacar recognizing a pivotal moment and Israel's leadership and how it aligned with God's plan. Can we agree to that? All right? This principle of wise discernment and times of change is relevant to AI. They had discernment during a time of great transition. Can everyone agree with that?

13:46 We live at the very forefront of a great change, and I don't think any one of the church is catching on to what is happening. So let's I'm gonna apply this in a number of different ways, right, So number one, So number one, if you want to write these down. I want through all of that relatively quick. We need to talk about discernment and the face of technological change. Discernment and the face of great change from a technological standpoint, because technology is changing rapidly and dramatically. The sons of Visakar understood the times by recognizing how God's purpose intersected with their current reality. Now for them it was a little easier, right. All you really needed to know for for the David situation was what if you were trying to understand the Times about David, what did you need to understand the dividic covenant? If you understood God made a covenant with David, then you you're on your way to figuring it out, right, I mean, so many issues, so many issues back then all you needed if you knew the covenant, you could figure it out.

15:01 I believe so yeah, I mean because Saul is already dead and yeah, so yeah, right, so I think we can. I think then we can say that that would be a little easier to understand. So how does that apply to artificial intelligence? I want you to hear this. The rise of artificial intelligence represents a major I'm gonna say cataclismic societal shift. Everybody got that the rise of AI represents a major I'm gonna use cataclysmic just since how shaking it is. Societal shift it is. Some will say it's possible, some may say potential. I'm just gonna say it's it's gonna be completely transformative, probably more so than maybe even the printing press or the Internet, and both of those had profound impacts on everything. So this is what the church must discern. Is AI a tool that can be used to enhance ministry or a force that could distract distort biblical teaching? I'm going to add another one.

16:27 Or is AI a tool that's going to make the church completely irrelevant? I believe it makes it completely irrelevant. Well, I mean everyone's talking about it, but I'm kind of trying to be in front of it. Is what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to be in front of it. So I believe what we have to consider is AI going to make the church irrelevant? Now I know how it's going to play out. The older generation is going to be like, no, we need the church, the church, the church right, and they're going to all fight for it, and they're gonna view AI in a suspicious way. They're gonna push back, They're gonna be resistant. But the older generation is gonna be gone and it's not gonna matter. Right, So the older generation is gonna push back and fight it.

17:11 Who cares? The young younger generation is gonna be like, well they're gone now, and then well the future. So what I'm looking to may not be I don't even think we're gonna make it ten years. I think ten years is pushing it as fast as AI is developing. But ten years from now, yeah, yeah, ten years from now, I don't man, not give me a break. There's yeah, it's gonna be major things. So we need discern it in the face of technological change. Right, So we could ask some of these questions, how does AI align or conflict with the church's mission to teach and disciple believers. Now, this is where it comes down to. I'm gonna pose a different question in your minds. What is the purpose of church? What is the church for? Now? Remember, we are not Catholics, right, We're not Lutherans right. Okay, we're not Episcopalians right. In other words, were we are what we are? We just make sure we classify ourselves non sacramental.

18:29 That's important, right, because if the church has sacraments, sacraments are visible means of grace. You need those sacraments, and the sacraments belong to whom the church. You have to come to the church in order to receive the sacrament. You need the sacrament because the sacraments are means of grace either if even if you don't believe them to be salvafic, right, they're absolutely essential to for goodness of sin, spiritual strength, comfort, and all the things are supposed to supposedly do for you the minutes you're no longer sacramental.

19:10 That changes the role of the church, right, because if I'm here to distribute the sacraments, then you're here to receive the Lord's Supper. You're here for that time. But if it's not sacramental, then what from our non sacramental perspective coming out of the Reformation, what is the church supposed to be about? Typically, how do we understand it? Okay, Well, if you go that direction, that that sounds to me something far different than what came out of the Reformation. Well, just if we're non sacramental and we're coming out of the Reformation, what's the purpose of the church. Now, if you go with fellowsh and all of that, then you're right.

20:01 The church is gonna survive. You don't need AI for any of that. You just need to hang out with people and talk about the weather. Okay. Now, now that's where the issue is. If the church is about the equipping of saints and the preaching of the word, now that's where the church becomes irrelevant. Now if you want the church where you can hang out with people, talk to people, become friends, hold hands, sing kumbaya, all of that wonderful stuff, the church will live on for if for infanty it'll they'll never die because people like having friends and meeting people. They like this the social aspects. The social aspects will work, But the preaching and teaching, if that's the purpose of the church, burn it down.

20:46 You don't need the church. AI can do it better, and without fail, it can do it better, there's no question about it. So it really comes down to we're gonna have to discern what is the purpose of the church. If you like the fellowship aspect of it, then you're then church is going to be great for people. And I think that's where church is going to move to it's already been moving that way. Okay, Okay, now, well we'll get we'll get there. We're gonna get into all that.

21:28 We're gonna get into all of those weeds later, but for now, we're looking at the big picture. But so everyone see if the church is going to be about community, which oh man, that buzzworth and you can see the church was already moving in this direction right if you think about it, way before we got here. I mean, this was the This is so weird for me to watch in the eighties. What did I hear? The church is biblically illiterate, the church is illogically illiterate. We've got to do something. We got to do something. Nobody's reading, nobody is studying. And then it was like, small groups are gonna fix it. Small groups are gonna fix it. And we have small groups from one part, from California to New York and everywhere in between. Did it fix it? No? The church is still biblically illiterate, The church is still philologically illiterate. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? We gotta preach, we gotta preach, we gotta preach.

22:17 After all of that, where are we still today? Church? Still biblically and theologically illiterate. So nothing we've tried to do to fix it is fixing it. So but guess what the churches have caught and you could start seeing it. The churches became more about what, well you named all the things right from the beginning, fellowship, community, meeting, people, friendship. So I don't know what all the stuff people say, and that's what it became. And so then I was like, okay, well and that's what people want say. I thought I was under the impression that everyone was upset because Christians were so biblically and piologically illiterate. See this is I was stupid. I was like, oh, you're worried about a church people being biblically anthologically illiterate. Will just get out of my way. I can fix that. I will have a church where everyone will know Bible, will know theology better than anywhere. I will give them assignments, I'll give them home work, I will work, I will do, I will give them tests, will teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, and and here we are, so I know I don't even think the people in the church really want what they claim they want. I mean, that's what been my that's been my except everyone talks a big game until they're in a place where you really do theology. They don't really want it. They want the communal part. Well,

23:47 if you want the communal so let me make it very clear. If you want community, if you want to hold hands, seeing kumba yong, become good friends, do all of that wonderful stuff, the church will never die. Just you just need to remove the word church and just call it a community center because that's what it becomes. And if that's what people want, they're going to be happy, okay. But if you want something else, I think the church becomes irrelevant. So I think it really comes down to what is that going to do? Now? One could argue, can AI be utilized to accomplish the preaching teaching part, and then everyone else can kind of sit over here and do a lot of the community part. I don't know.

24:30 I don't know how. I don't know if the two can work together. I think the one makes the other irrelevant. But we're gonna have to see. So those are some questions that we should ask. So we talked about number one discernment in the face of technological changes, we ask some questions. Second, we have to recognize the new reality that AI creates. We have to recognize the new reality that AI is creating. Right now, as you're sitting here, a new reality exists, and most Christians don't even know the reality exis this. They're still living in eighteen hundreds or somewhere. The children are the men tribe of Issachar recognize that Saul's rein had ended and that it was time to support David as king. They didn't cling to the past, but embrace the future under God's leadership. AI is it. This is very important. I cannot stand this.

25:24 I've got to just like pound the pulpit on this. AI is not a temporary trend. It's a technological shift that will reshape how people learn, how people communicate, and how people engage with information. This is going to change everything. I'll just give you some simple ways on how it has changed. Right, Okay, So I was in a situation there was a plumbing problem and the toilet was doing something. People didn't know what to do. I simply went took a picture of what it was doing, sent it to Ai.

26:07 AI said, here's the problem. Someone came over. I said, that's the problem. They looked and they said, that's the problem. The dryer was doing some weird thing. I simply told Ai what the drawer was doing, said, it's this the problem. The dryer repairman came in, said that's the problem. My television was doing something. I took a picture of the message on the screen. AI told me exactly what the problem was. Three separate situations. AI was able to diagnose the problem it within five to ten seconds. Didn't need anybody else. Now. I needed someone else maybe to fix it, but it identified the problem. Those are three very real situations that have all occurred within the last six months.

26:49 Three situations. Yeah, that's that's insane exactly. So it's already there, all right. So I want you to hear that again. It's not a trend. It's a shift, and it's going to reshape how people learn, how people communicate, and how people engage with information. The church. Are you ready? Must avoid reacting with fear, which is what many will do, or nostalgia. Oh, I want the good old days where all we had was a pencil and a piece of paper and we had to drive to the library to get a book. Okay, those days are over. Okay, it's gone. Okay, it's done, and we must instead embrace the reality. We got to embrace the reality because the reality is the reality.

27:40 And at the same time, for the church, we have to somehow do this, but we have to anchor ourself to biblical truth and that those may appear to be in conflict at times, especially when it comes to the church, right, because many are going to say, well, God ordain the church. God ordained the church. God ordained the church, right, that's what you're going to heart, Well, how does that work when you don't no longer need the church? Look forget me preaching. When I'm sitting there doing the podcast there, especially through a good portion of twenty twenty four, there's times I'd be in the middle of a broadcast, like why am I even doing this? People can get this information in five seconds. They don't need this stupid podcast.

28:25 You know what, when I'll be preaching in Isaiah forty, I'm like, why am I even preaching? They could look all this, they can have all this information in five seconds. I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's ridiculous, and not only that, like I can take now, I can, like especially on sermon audio, because they have the transcript, I can download the transcript, upload the transcript to AI, say, please point out all the historical, textual, exegetical and factual errors and the message. It'll give me a list of everything the pastor got wrong. Within like ten seconds, I'll be like, well, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. And almost every summon there's like multiple errors, like the Hebrew word didn't mean that, the Greek word didn't mean that, This didn't mean that, that wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong wrong. Well, what if AI has to correct all the errors being preached from pulpits, what's the point of the pulpit And if you can simply do that while you're sitting in the pew. Hey, I'm gonna be today. I'm gonna be preaching on Isaiah forty. Before I get through my introduction, you can already have AI on your device give you an entire breakdown of Isaiah forty, the historical context, the textual context, the cultural Oh. Before I can even get done with my introduction, You don't need me, I'm wasting my time. That's the reality. How do we embrace that reality yet hold on to biblical truth. I don't have

29:55 the answer because I think it's gonna appear that they're gonna be what and conflict? Is it not going to appear that way? It's going to appear that way, And I don't have a good answer. But we're gonna have to recognize the reality. So discern it in the face of technological change. Second, recognizing the new reality. Now here's some key questions. Will the church adapt its discipleship methods? Will it adapt those methods to account for AI's influence, or is it gonna resist? What is the church going to do resist or say, well, how do we adapt all of our teaching and preaching and discipleship with AI.

30:38 I think it's gonna depend the older churches are going to resist it and just go whatever, okay, and then the younger are gonna just be like, I don't need you, I don't need you for anything. And younger have already kind of adopted that. What have we definitely seen church attendance all across the United States is doing well. COVID definitely didn't help, right, okay, but so we already are seeing this all right, now wisdom that leads to action. Third concept, The sons of Isacar didn't just understand what was happening. They knew what Israel should do and act decisively.

31:20 So who's going to be one of the sons of Isacar in our current reality and know what we're supposed to do. I don't know. I want to try to figure it out. And there's gonna be lots of voices trying to figure out what is going to do. I've got a news article here in a minute showing you what some are doing and it's absolutely crazy. But all right, we'll look at that in a minute. But we've got to figure out what to do AI. Okay, I'm let me state it this way. It's not enough for Christians simply to be aware of AI's potential. The church must respond wisely by equipping believers to use AI responsibly. Now, that's that's a big thing. Is the church's job now going to be, Hey, guys, I'm going to show you how to use AI? Is the pastor's job now simply going to be to train people how to use AI? Now, my thing is the minute I train you how to use it, I just as well go home. There's no point in me doing anything. But that's kind of where the church is going to turn into. It's going to just be training people on it. And I'm telling you, the church is becoming completely irrelevant here. So that's going to be a big that's going to be a big issue.

32:49 Do we just simply train? What do we do? And then we must respond by wisely equipping believers to use AI responsibly for spiritual growth rather than just a passive consumption or misinformation. So in other words, the argument is, we don't know what Because of this new reality, the church is going to have to train people how to actually use AI instead of just passively embrace information. Now, once we start actively, once we start actively trying to show people how to use it, and they're no longer passive. Again, I don't know when at that point the church becomes completely irrelevant. All right, So some practical applications again, some people say educate church members and how to use AI for sound biblical study. I guess I don't know. Some would argue create accountability structures for using AI and sermon prep ensuring pastors don't rely on AI to replace prayerful engagement with scripture. How are you gonna what what does that even mean? Like, are you gonna monitor, hey, pastor, how much time have you spent using AI? You've got to spend prayer full engagement with scripture to prepare your sermons.

34:07 To me, whenever I hear someone say that, that shows me that person's one hundred and seventy years old because they don't understand Christianity. Well, no, because if you think pastors have been prayerfully studying scripture to prepare their sermons, I'm sorry, I don't know what world you were living in, because you lived a lie. Pastors went to their studies, pulled out commentaries and built their sermons off their favorite commentary. That's what they did, or they purchased them through I mean, I did an entire podcast where I purchased a sermon and then I then I preached a sermon on the podcast, and then I went and looked up other sermons and guess what we found. Those other pastors were preaching the sermon word for word as I purchased it. And then famous pastors even came out that they're using subscription services where they tell those services what they want. And then those people and you know what those people were doing who they were paying to put their sermons together. Those people were using AI and then they were simply using AI to build the sermon, and then they were getting paid like one hundred dollars a month to produce sermon.

35:19 And famous pastors were busted for using those. So now we're worried about AI. Pastors have been taking other sermon. They give me a break, because especially now, if you hold your ar theological standard, what do we believe I can pray all day, do we believe God is gonna give me a sermon? No? No, it's gonna come from study. And guess how study is done. And most every pastor you learn it. You get commentaries. You look it up and you structure it off, and many cases you'll take your outline from the commentary. I've said it so many times. I can listen to a sermon and going, oh, give me a breath, page fifty six. The MacArthur, I know that give mem and I even way back, I told the story one day when we were getting ready to come here. Becca was small and we had the television on It was a church in Sweetwater, Texas. And I'm sitting in the other part of the house and I'm like, what in the world. I'm like, I know this sermon.

36:19 I went and I looked at the stage presentation and I told Becka, go to the computer, look it up. She looked up the sermon and I said, now, watch word for word. The man was preaching the sermon that he'd taken from some other site, and it was word for word. And I was like, that's what preaching is. But guess what that was in Sweetwater? And guess what That church was ten times bigger than we are, and we look at such a good sermon. He is reading you someone else's sermon. So why are we gonna worry about pastors using AI. Give me a break, they've been using everything. A Hey, it's just that's read. Unless you believe God is giving you a message, then yeah, So I don't even understand that. Now they says we need to facilitate discussions about ethical and philological concerns surrounding AI to foster thoughtful reflection. Now, I do believe we need discussions about AI, and that's why we're doing this. Now.

37:17 It's the beginning of a new year, twenty twenty five is going to be the year of AI. I mean, you just will be prepared for it. AI is exploding, so I mean it's already been there. So and we'll talk about all the ways you already use AI all the time, whether you know it or not. All right, So we'd have to facilitate it. And that's what we're doing now. That's why we're having this discussion today. All right. So I've got a number of other things here, I will I'll end this with this, okay, or at least this section here, all right? When we come to first Chronicles twelve thirty two, let's read it again, First Chronicles twelve for thirty two. And the children of asa Car, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. Right, they understood the times.

38:07 They knew what Israel's ought to do the story of these sons of Isacar reminds us that profound cultural changes require spiritual discernment, wisdom, and decisive action. Everybody want to write that down. The sons of Issacar, they teach us. They remind us that profound cultural change, profound cultural change are we not experiencing that right now with AI. Yes, they require that moment, requires spiritual discernment, it requires wisdom, and it requires action. Just as Isacar recognized their historical moment and align with God's plan, the church must understand the significance of AI and respond in ways that align with God's purposes. This means using AI as at to serve the mission of the church while guarding against its potential distort the truth or depersonalized spiritual leadership. The church's challenge is not simply to understand the times, but to know what to do to embrace technological advancements in a way that upholds the centrality of biblical truth quote unquote authentic community. Some who would say, I don't know what that exactly means and spiritual transformation. So there is where why we are talking about it, and that's why we are referring to the sons of Asacar because it fits perfectly.

39:41 All right. That raises a lot of issues, does it not. So here's what we're going to do. We're just gonna go ahead and press on and we'll we'll get ready for the next hour when we get there. Okay, So any questions about any of that. So what is my thesis? I is not only going to potentially change Christianity and the Church I believe, and I'm gonna be that AI makes the church completely irrelevant. We don't need the church anymore. You can just burn it to the ground. Right. I'm not saying that aligns with biblical truth. I'm saying that that's just the reality, and we've got to figure out how to work that reality. Unless your church is sacramental, AI can't fix that. Right, unless you believe the church is here primarily for what more of social features? Community, friendship, holding hand, singing, kumbaya, doing all that stuff. Right, then, then the church, the church functions if you don't focus it on those two things. If you just say the church is the place where you come to learn and hear the word of God, you don't need me, Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot compete with AI. AI. All of my years of school. Well, put it this way. First, let's just be honest. From a practical standpoint, all of my schooling, all of my theological training means what to people sitting in the pew means absolutely zero? Right, So

41:15 let's just go ahead and get out. We can pretend all day you say, oh, no, it's important, it's important to what Until you disagree, then it doesn't matter. Now you're smarter than me. Right the minute you disagree with me, you're smarter than me. So if already the pastor's knowledge is irrelevant, well again, guess what AI can do better than I can. So that's where we are. So, but here's what I want to do. I want to go backwards before we move forward. Right, So let's take a journey to kind of some important things. Right. I want to talk about how God provided illumination and discernment and the past. Then we'll move to the present, and then we'll try to figure out the future. All Right, before the completion of Scripture, God's guidance was given directly through profits, apostles, visions, miracles, and direct revelation. Can we agree with them? These were unique circumstances, and they were distinct and different from what we have today. I will argue that what they had then we do not have. Now that's a major point of our theology. Right. I know other people will disagree with that, but I can prove that their way is wrong. Right,

42:48 Because if God is giving us insight, illuminating us, giving us truth, leading us into truth. Then we wouldn't have thousands and thousands of denominations and nobody. We would have complete agreement. Right, So God is not doing that. I can prove that God is not doing that. So here's some biblical examples. You ready, all right, look at it? If you look at Exodus three through four if you can, if you want to just flip through, We're not going to read anything specific. I'm just gonna be showing you where I'm making my reference. Moses receives direct revelation from God at the burning bush. In this section, he speaks from the burning bush. That's direct revelation. Can everybody agree with that? That's direct revelation, specific, special revelation. God speaks directly to Moses. Yes, that's Exodus three through four. If you look at Isaiah six, we know this. Isaiah's calling involved a direct vision of God's glory. Everybody remember that.

43:50 Everybody can say Amen and Acts two. The apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with signs and wonders and Acts ten. Peter received a vision to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. In Galatians one, through twelve or Glacious Chapter one, verse twelve. Paul stated that the gospel was that he preached was received by revelation of Jesus Christ. This shows that in the Biblical times, God was speaking directly to people direct revelation, special revelation, visions, dreams. It was very specific. Once the Bible is complete, we don't have any of that, don't you? In some ways I wish we had that, because if God is speaking directly to Stephen, is speaking directly to Roberton, and to mister Goodley, is speaking directly to me, then what would be the outcome?

44:46 We would all agree? Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be the most awesome thing for every church, that God is speaking directly to everyone. That well, one you would be like, you don't really need a pastor, do you? That'd be AI? Can you imagine? That would be a the best AI. If God was speaking directly to you, giving you direct revelation, leading you into all truth, helping you understand the scriptures, you wouldn't need a pastor. But God obviously then assigned what pastors? Why did he assign pastors? Because obviously people are not getting direct revelation all right, you would think that would make sense. And then the way it's supposed to be designed is the people were supposed to be submissive to the pastor because the pastor was supposed to have some authority. And what blew that all up? The Protestant Reformation? And then now, well, then everyone knows more than everyone, so so at that point the whole system started falling apart anyway, All right, but those are examples of illumination and discernment that were directly tied to God's supernatural action in history. These moments were necessary because the full revelation of Scripture was unfolding. But so number one, we have how God provided illumination and discernment in the past. Can we agree that it was different?

46:03 I hope we can't. I know, Charismatics would say it's not. Well, what cracks me up is charismatics say, oh, no, God is speaking to me, and then they can't even agree with one another, so or they make false prophecies and all the rest. All right, So what happens with the complete revelation? What scripture is complete? What scripture is complete? What do we say? What's the cry of the Reformation? Starts with an S sola scripture and what does that mean? Scripture alone? This becomes the thing. So now the church becomes really about what helping you understand this? Because this is the final authority. That's the way it's supposed to be, right, can we agree? We got scriptures like two Timothy three sixteen through seventeen. I'm just going to read from the translation to heave in front of me. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teach, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The completion of the Bible marks the transition from direct revelation to reliance on the written word. The scriptures now serve as the sole authority for teaching, rebuking, and discerning. The scriptures are supposed to be the sole authority for what number one, teaching, rebuking,

47:35 and discerning. The scriptures are supposed to be that right, and the church is supposed to be the place where you come to be equipped to do that. That's what has supposed to happen. And what can we say, Well, almost everyone says the church has failed to do that. I'll just go from my lifetime from the nineteen eighties to twenty twenty four, because over and over and over every said says Christians are biblically illiterate, theologically illiterate, and they can't do it. So then it's like, how come the church can't get the people to do it? I don't know. I've never been able to figure that out. On one hand, it makes a little bit of sense, like when I was younger, I didn't understand this because I was doing it and I wasn't a pastor. Now after I became a pastor, then it was like, okay, well, these people don't want to be a pastor. They just want to live their life, so they don't really care to do all of that. But that's what makes the Protestant system so hypocritical, right, because they're like, I don't want to be a pastor. I don't want to be a theologian. I just want to be a Christian. But in our system, you're supposed to be the one discerning whether I'm preaching is true or false, meaning you have to be as knowledgeable or greater in knowledge than I am.

48:49 See nobody. Protestants don't want that responsibility, But when will they exercise that when they disagree, then they'll say, I'm the one who's supposed to be determined what is true or false? Well, how come you haven't been doing all the work that's necessary to be able to do that. You see, the contradictory part is what always drives me crazy about Protestants. They don't want to go home and spend hour after hour reading and studying. They don't want to be reading hermeneutical textbooks. I don't want to be reading systematic theology. They don't want to be doing any of the work. They don't want to be doing the Bible study methods. They don't want to do anything because I don't want to be a pastor? Why do I have to do all of this work? Because you're the one who's supposed to be determined with what is preached is true or false? How can you determine what what's preached is true with false when you've got someone preaching to you who's got seven degrees and theology biblical studies.

49:38 But guess what, you won't do the work, But what will you do? Tell me I'm wrong? The second you think I'm wrong. You see how contradictory that is? Like the whole Protestant system is so broken in that and is there a way to fix it? They're no going back. There's no going back. But obviously something dramatically changed because now this is supposed to be the authority that everyone is using. Everyone got that all, right now, So we have a historical shifty after the Apostolic age, follow the history. After the Apostolic Age, the church became fully dependent on this.

50:18 This is what was supposed to happen. Right before the completion of this What did you rely on direct revelation or apostolic authority? Right? Because the Apostles had an authority right now, This is where it gets confusing in church history, right, because some felt the apostolic authority. What happened to it Apostolic succession, which led to what magisterial authority Pope and the church, the church now having the authority. So it almost went to the way it kind of worked as you had come to this direct revelation. But even in the even in the Bible, God wasn't speaking to everyone, right, Okay, So even in the Bible, you don't have God speaking to every individual. He spoke to a certain individuals who then took on a role of authority. So if we follow the way it went, this stream said, okay, well, then that's the way it works. God is going to continue to guide and direct and speak to whom the church.

51:24 Now the church maintained the authority, and what were the people supposed to do? Submit to the church, and who then had the authority to interpret the scripture? The church and the people were to agree with the church, and they couldn't disagree with the church, because if they disagree with the church, what would the church then do to them anathematize. That was that system the other stream, and the other stream didn't really have a lot of wait for a very long time. Ultimately becomes what God gave us the Bible. He gives us the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit, it will help me interpret the Bible. And so I now can judge the church, and I can tell whether the Church is right or wrong. So you had a fight between the church and the individual.

52:16 Who who went out the individual? Now people will say, no, the scriptures went out. Forget the scriptures did not win the individual one. This is a major if you don't want to know a shift in history. Thus you got to understand that and what led to that shift? A lot of people think it was because of the Bible. No, what was happening within culture at that time? What was some of that? What was the word known for it? I'm waiting for Sarah to answer it. The Renaissance, okay, the rise and what the Renaissance gave? The rise humanism? Right, and what were some of the basic concepts here? The individual, the mind, reason, over the supernatural or over the church.

53:13 Which was perfect time for Luther to do what say no to the church? And what he said no to the church? Everyone was like, what we can say no to the church? Right? And that's where we got So we see the cult. I want you to see that shift. Right. You have God speaking in all these as Hebrews says, diverse ways, right, Okay, we see how that all plays out in the Bible. Then we ultimately end up with two streams, the church or the individual. Now everybody says it's the church versus the scriptures. No, became the church versus the individual. The scriptures kind of get lost in between both, right, because some felt that the church begin to do what corrupt the scriptures. Add to the scriptures, add theology and practices that weren't found in the scriptures. Right, that's what some would argue purgatory indulgences, right, Okay, that was some of the issue, okay, And then others was that we're gonna get back to the scriptures. But then the individual started doing the exact same thing the church did, so then everything kind of becomes lost. That's that's what happened in history. That was the historical shift. Now, when the Church was in power, what did they do? They called for councils, put forth creeds and did what offered anathemas.

54:35 Remember we looked at all the councils. You look those seven ecumenical councils, what are they filled with? Anathema? Anathema, anathema, anathema, anathema, anathema, anathema Because they felt that they were operating under the idea of apostolic succession and they had the authority to do so. Right, Does that make sense right? Now? So what but when we get further further, Not only we were already having disagreements during the time the councils, that's why they were having the councils then offering the anathemis. But then by the time we get to the Protestant Reformation, the damn just blows up. And now you've not only got to fight between the church and the individual, you've got to fight amongst the individuals. So what becomes the historical reality? Contradictions and divisions arose, and it demonstrated what human fallibility and interpreting scripture. Humans couldn't obviously figure it out because and no one could agree. And what did this demonstrate? Well, if nobody could agree, then God obviously where I'm speaking to all the individuals or there would be agreement. So now we were left with a Bible where all kinds of problems. So everybody see the historical shift.

55:49 So we have the church, we have the individual. The Bible is supposed to be somewhere here in the middle of all of this, right, I believe we're about to We're the whole reason we're doing this today is we have entered into a new shift, the church, the individual. Now what's the third stream artificial intelligence? We're living through that third shift right now as we speak, and we're out of time, all right, but all right, so do we have to see that? Right? So we have some of these we have differences in human reasoning and tradition we can agree with. That's true. History has shown us right, right, we don't agree in our human reasoning. We don't agree in our traditions. Right. We have cultural and linguistic biases as human beings? Do we not have that? We can't agree and we have our own biases based off our culture, our own language, our own traditions. Oh and what else do we have as human beings? A sinful nature which affect our judgment and discernment. We're fallible, we're sinful, and we're biased. Right. What are the three things about us? Fallible? Sinful, biased,

57:22 and we can't We want to know why we can't come to any agreement on anything in the Bible. That's the reason we can't. Those are three things that's massively profound. All right, we'll have to stop right there. We'll have to stop right there, and then we'll pick this up in the next hour. So in the first hour, we did a lot. We covered a lot, did we not? We covered a whole lot in one hour. I could have broken it down into smaller segments. What did we do? We went to first chronicles twelve thirty two. For those who just came in First Chronicles twelve thirty two. We looked at the sons of Isacar, right, and they were able to understand the times and know what Israel should do. We looked at the historical context of everything about them, and what I am making, my thesis that I am making is we are undergoing right now a profound cultural, technological change that's going to have a profound impact on the future of Christianity. And that change is the rise of AI. And I believe that, and I know no one else is going to agree. So you don't need to argue with me that I believe AI based on our type of Christianity. We're not sacramental, right, We're not sacramental.

58:32 We do not believe in an apostolic succession. Right, So I believe if the church is about the preaching and teaching of God's Word, and that's what it's about. It's not about a social club. That I believe AI now makes the church absolutely and totally irrelevant, and there's no point even having it. Now. That's a bold statement, right, and we'll go on. Now. I'm not saying that that's a biblical statement. I'm saying that that's a practical statement. All right, Now we're going to have to figure a lot of this out. So we went through a lot of concepts, a lot of the issues, and we started breaking it down. So what I wanted to do is we went back and we looked at how things were before the Bible was completed, how things were after the Bible's completed, the historical breakdown, and now we've added in AI.

59:25 We're going to see where this all goes and we'll try to break it down. We'll do that quickly in the next hour. All right, let's pray, Lord God. We come before you this morning. Lord, we are living in a very interesting time. How we understand this change, how we either embrace it, fight it, talk about it, condemn it. We have to make some very important decisions and we need that understanding. Lord. I pray that we will think carefully and logically through this concept, and that we as a group of people will have some site on where things are headed and what it means for all of this. And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said Amen.