Sept. 17, 2024

AI and the Christian Life

AI and the Christian Life

A look at technological advances and how they impact the life of a Christian

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A look at technological advances and how they impact the life of a Christian

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good

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afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, September seventeenth, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently one forty two pm Central time, and

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I am coming to you live from the Theology Central

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studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. And I apologize.

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I said that it's one forty two pm, but if

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we want to be correct, if we want to be exact,

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it is actually one forty three pm Central time. I

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was a little distracted because when I got ready to

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officially come in live, I was sitting here clicking, and well,

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the microphone wouldn't turn on. I just kept hitting the

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button and hitting the I'm like, why will the microphone

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not turn on? And that's referring to the spreaker software

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for the recording, not for you listening live. I came

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in immediately at the right time, or I think I

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came in at the right time, not the exact right time,

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but I think it came in pretty good. So yeah,

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so I was a little distracted, and so I was

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trying to do my intro by not looking at the screen,

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and well then I give you the time that was

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not exactly right. But do you really care and do

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you care to know whether the microphone came on or

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didn't come on. You don't really care at all. You

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just want me to get to the point and provide

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you something, hopefully that is beneficial. But I point all

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of that out because, well, everything that I'm using here

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will refer to it as technology. Right. I'm using a microphone,

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I'm using a MacBook Pro. I'm connected to the Internet.

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I've got different apps open, different software that I'm utilizing

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so that I can push a button, go live and

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speak to people who can listen to me around the

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world on a tablet or their phone or a web browser.

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And there's all these different ways that I can get

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my message out to people. Once I'm done, I will

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upload it to all of these different podcasting apps, or

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it will be on the cermonadio platform. All these different

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ways people can hear and access the information, and they

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can listen to it either live where they can listen

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to it whenever they want, by downloading it or by

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streaming it. All these different things. All of that relates

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to technology, and that's exactly what I want to talk about. Today,

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and I want you to really really think about this.

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How has We'll use the term technology, I'll have to

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explain it, but I'll use it in the initial question,

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and then I'll try to explain how has technology impacted

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your Christian life? And I really want you to think

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about this. How has technology impacted your Christian life? And

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would you say it was for the better or for

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the worse? Would you say that it has helped you

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tremendously or it has hindered you? When it comes to

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your spiritual life, when it comes to your spiritual growth,

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how has technology different developments and technology, how has it

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made things better? Or how has it actually made things

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worse for your Christian life your spiritual growth. Now, in

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a sense, we've talked about something kind of related to

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this because I've asked the question before that I wanted

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everyone who listened to the podcast to contact me and

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to tell me, Hey, when it comes to your Christian life,

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what has helped you the most? Where? What would be

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the source of your the thing that's helped you the

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most with your spiritual growth, with your learning, with your understanding,

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with your knowledge? Would it be church or would it

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be something other than? And every I think maybe one person,

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but I think it was it was it was absolutely

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the majority.

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I mean it was almost it was almost. It was almost,

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you know.

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I feel like in some ways I'm still trying to

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think about maybe there was just one person, but I

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think it was unanimous. I think I think that it

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was almost unanimous that everything person said, no, it wasn't

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my church, it was this, and it was this, and

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those things that they point to, will we'll we'll will

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classify them as technological advances that has impacted their Christian life,

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and they would say for the better. So let's let

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let's take a trip back for my Christian life, right,

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all right, So this will date me a little bit,

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but you'll kind of get an idea of how things

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have developed over time. Right, Okay, So if I look

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back over my Christian life when I first became a Christian,

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here was the big technological things that I had access

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to to somewhat help or you know, add to my

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Christian life, for to assist me in my Christian life. Obviously,

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we have church, so church has been the standard. Right,

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you get and some means of transportation or you walk,

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you go to a building, you walk into a building,

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and there you hear the word of God read, you

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hear it preached, you hear it taught. There's prayer, there

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may be singing, there may be the ordinances, whatever the

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case may be. That's obviously that's been the norm. So

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that's kind of like the baseline, right, go to church,

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hear the word of God preached. But what has been

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developed since then that has had a profound impact on

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the life of individual Christians. And we'll call these technological advances.

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So when I became a Christian, obviously we had church.

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But the big thing that we had at that time,

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and because it was easy to access anyone, almost everyone

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had access to it, which would be Christian radio. Right,

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you had Christian radio, you had you had a radio

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in your car, you had a radio at home of

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some sort, right, everyone did, and you would turn on

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Christian radio station. And what would you get on that

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Christian radio station. Well, you would get some teaching, right,

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teaching programs. So at a specific time three A, three thirty,

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seven PM, seven thirty, you would have certain teachers. Right,

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we could go back to that time and name some

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of those teachers. You would probably know many of the programs,

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but they were on the air. They also was music,

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but there was scripture reading, there was devotional programs, there

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was maybe thoughts added to, hey, we're going to be

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playing this song and say something about a thought or

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something related to it. So you would have twenty four

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hours a day, seven days a week. You would have

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Christian radio stations. Now some depending on if they were

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an AM versus FM, that wouldn't be twenty four hours.

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They'd go off the air. But you had sometimes Christian

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radio stations on AM which would be broadcast most of

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the day. Sometimes you had FM stations that were twenty

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four to seven, but you had Christian radio and you

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could turn and if you figured out their schedule, you

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would be like, Okay, at this time, this will be

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this individual preaching. At this time, there'll be this individual preaching.

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And so for me, I've told the story multiple times

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that had a profound impact on me. In fact, Christian radio,

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if I'm going to be just brutally honest, Christian radio

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discipled me. Not the local church. The local church did

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not disciple me. All of my theological growth, all of

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my theological understanding, was primarily via Christian radio. And then

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we'll get to the other technological advance, right that advance

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meant at the time. But Christian radio was was probably

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the most profound thing. It was simple, it was easy.

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I just grabbed a notebook, opened a Bible, you know,

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turned on the hit the power button, turned on the radio,

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maybe move the tuner down to the right station, and

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then boom, there we go, and then I'm listening to

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this program. Remember I had notebooks. I had one for

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swind All, one for MacArthur, one for Chuck Smith. And

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I would just take those notes and I would hear

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the preaching of the Word of God. I would hear

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different preaching styles, you name it, you go on and

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on on, I would hear. Sometimes it was more like

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a kind of informative program, news programs talking about current events.

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Whatever the case may be. Christian radio had probably I

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don't think there's even any way to get around it.

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It had the biggest impact on me, not the church.

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I don't know if my Christian life would have looked

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much much different if I would have just removed church

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from the if I would have just removed church. To

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be honest, if I know this is gonna sound very negative,

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but I'm just gonna be brutally honest, if I would

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have removed the local church from the equation, just thrown

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it out. Other than the short time I was a Lutheran.

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A Lutheran had some pro profound impact on me theologically,

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because I would I think they did a pretty good

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job teaching me. I mean, I was handed Luther's Catechism,

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and so I think there was a little a little

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part of that. But even that, even with the Lutheran Church,

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we basically only had church Sunday morning. So I was

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already supplementing the Lutheran Church with the Lutheran Radio hour.

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So I was already so I was already again Christian

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radio came into play. But I think, and I think

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this is fair to say, if I would have removed

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the church for my Christian life, boom and all I

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had was Christian radio. Just just that. I think, I

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don't think my Christian life would have been much different,

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except for I would not have had all of the

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very negative things that played out in local churches, the politics,

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the fighting, the arguing, the backstabbing, all of the just

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messed up stuff you see go on. I wouldn't have

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had any of that. So Christian radio had a profound impact,

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at least in the early stages. So that was the

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first technological advance advancement that had a profound impact on me.

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The second, obviously was the Christian book store, which was

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very profound in my Christian life, right. I mean I

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talk about going there the very first week. So you

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have the writing of Christian books. The writing of Christian books.

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Now that's been around for a very long time, so

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it wasn't like a new advancement, but it was rather profound.

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Now you had to have money, so you know. So

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what I did to supplement that is then I would

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go to the local library and that could get theology

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books that way, or the university libraries. So I started

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utilizing that. That had a profound impact on me. So

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Christian radio and Christian bookstores. If I would remove the church,

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it would literally my Christian life. My knowledge would not

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be impacted at all. If you remove the church. When

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I say the local church, now obviously the things I

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was listening to were being produced by churches, but I'm

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just saying a local church. I could remove my entire

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experience in that and all of my knowledge and almost

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everything that I gained came from Christian bookstores and Christian radio.

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Christian radio and Christian bookstores. Even when I left Texas

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and I arrived in Nebraska. The very first thing I

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encountered when I got off the Greyhound bus and I

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got in the car with my spouse. I was in

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the United States Military and they provided a sponsor when

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you arrive at your first duty station. I got in

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the car with sponsor and what did he have? On

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Family Radio? And then that was when I was introduced

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to Harold Camping. Right, Well, we know that all went

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horribly bad, But guess what through that I was a

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student at the Family Radio School of the Bible. I

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mean I went I saw all of that craziness developed

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with him making prediction that the world was going to

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come to end in nineteen ninety four. But all, I

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mean all hours and hours of the teaching that was

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provided by that radio network again had a much more

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profound impact on me than any church that I attended

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while in Nebraska. So the bookstores and Christian radio. The

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bookstores and Christian radio, those were the major developments at

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the time. Now some other things that were now this

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would go more towards the Christian bookstore was there was

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the Bible on cassette or just that's why I could

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listen and listen and listen and listen and listen. So that,

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I mean, that's really the two worlds that had the profound,

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the biggest impact. And then we know what happened. Come on,

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you know what, what's the next big technological advancement that

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changed the world. The Internet became available to everybody around

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and we could start looking up anything and everything. And

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then what I started discovering was, wait a minute, I

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can listen to sermons online. I can listen to some

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of these programs that I used to listen to on

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radio and I had to wait as specific time, and

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I never forgot. We got this device known as web TV, Right,

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So it was like an internet. It was like a keyboard. Right,

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It was like a keyboard, and basically it turns your

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television into an Internet connection, right and so and so

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you could sit there, you know, on the couch with

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your keyboard and you could search anywhere on the Internet.

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But what it was done, because my television was connected

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to my sound system, then I could play whatever, you know,

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whatever program it was that I was listening to, James Montgomery, Boyce,

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whatever it was I could hit play, it would play

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the audio on web TV and guess what, Because it

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was connected to my stereo equipment, I could record the audio.

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So then I would have all these like all these

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cassettes I didn't have to purchase. I was recording the

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messages the programs on cassette, so then I could listen

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to them wherever I went. Right, Because you know, even

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though you have Internet, you didn't have these mobile devices.

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You could just you know, pull up the Internet anywhere.

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So that was like, oh, this is awesome. So then

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you had all of the preaching, all of the teaching.

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And then as the Internet developed and became faster and quicker,

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and you had more, and you had more, and you

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had more, and you had more and you had more.

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Well then we know the next big developments, right, the

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next thing you know, now we have tablets, now we

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have phones, and the Internet became much more full of content. Right,

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so now think about what you can do on your

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phone and all of the spiritual content available to you.

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Like it's hard, it's hard for me to even remember

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what it was like before I had all of this.

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Now I have all of it. It's so easy just

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to take it for granted, right now, I can remember

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the days using a Strong's concordance trying to look up

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the Greek and you had very limited Greek and Hebrew tools.

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Now with just say the blue letter Bible app I

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mean cross referencing Greek Hebrew, everything is so, everything is

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just at your fingertips. It is instantaneous, it is quick,

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it is there. So all of these things outside of

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the local church to me, has I can say dogmatically

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for my Christian life, That's what discipled me. That's what

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I mean. And then of course you add then obviously

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for me, you know, Bible colleges, Bible institutes, seminary, all

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the schools that I went to obviously had a profound

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impact on me. And once again though most of those

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were outside well, the Bible institutes were part of local churches,

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but many of those other things where again outside of

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the local church. Bible college or a seminary was outside

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of the local church church. So once again it was

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not the local church doing what I would say the

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local church is supposed to do. So if I think

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I can say this, I think I can be fair

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to say that I really I wouldn't be any I

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would know as much as I know, and my theological

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understanding would be the same whether the local church existed

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or didn't exist. Other than from this perspective, a lot

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of the content that I benefited from came from local churches.

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So I'm saying my local church could have not existed

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and it would not have impacted me negatively. Those churches

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not existing it would have impacted me negatively. That's really

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kind of difficult in how we I've got to state

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that the correct way. I've got to try to be

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very careful in how I state that, But it's kind

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of depressing. I didn't I didn't really need the church.

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Now if I say that, I know people will get mad,

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but I think it's very true. So where are we today,

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How has technolo how of those technological advancements, How of

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those things impacted your Christian life. You've got your own

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story and what you're impacted by, and I think a

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lot of it just raises the question what is the

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church doing? Like what? And I don't even know if

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the church can compete at that. And at the same time,

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the church is somewhat responsible for it, because it was

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the church who said, hey, look these technological let's put

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all of our content out there. Well, once you put

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it out there, you're kind of then destroying the whole

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concept of the need for the local church in the

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first place, right, I mean, aren't you really kind of

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I think that in some ways the church has done

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it to itself. At the same time, I don't blame

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the church for using that technology. So those all those

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are I could probably go through some other developments at

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the time, it would just you know, get boring going

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through every little development. But you can kind of see

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now we are reaching We're at a threash. We've reached

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another major development point in church history when it comes

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to technology, because we are now standing at the door

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of artificial intelligence and AI, I think now going to

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begin to become the technology that's going to shape, influence,

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and impact the next generation of Christians. Just as Christian radio,

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Christian books, the Internet impacted me. AI is the next

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big thing, and I think AI is going to take

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this in a direction that is that we have never

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I don't know if we've quite wrapped our minds around

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it yet. I don't know if we really know where

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this is going to go. Now. The reason I'm mentioning

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all of this as I was thinking, so, you know,

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haven't been able to get a lot of broadcasts done recently,

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really bothering me, really irritating. And I always hate where

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there's kind of a gap, right, because it's like, how

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do you get back into where do we begin? Once

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we get into the flow of things, the program kind

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of takes its own twists and turns and it just

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kind of carries us wherever it goes. And I like that,

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but sometimes when there's kind of a break, it just

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seems like, you know, okay, where do I go nowhere?

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Where do I get started?

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Now?

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So I was sitting here and I'm like, well what

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do I do? And I had some ideas and then

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I looked over and I saw, well, you heard me

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tapping it on the table here, Feature a Daily Bible

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Study Guide, one of the devotional booklets I get. I

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receive this every quarter and this was the April through

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June twenty twenty four edition of Feature a Daily Bible

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Study Guide. So it was just laying here and I

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picked it up, and I'm like, you know, thank Goodness

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for some of these kinds of materials. I was just

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kind of thinking about, you know, how many how long

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I've been using devotional materials, and I started thinking about it,

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and then I was like, hmm, I wonder because you know,

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I've talked about my love hate relationship with devotional materials.

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I've offered lots of criticism from how devotions have greatly

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impacted Christians negatively when it comes to exegeting scripture and hermoneuticts.

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We talked about all of that. I'm not going to

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rehash all of that. We talked about it a million times.

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So I was just sitting here looking at it, and

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then I thought, hmm, I wonder if artificial intelligence. I

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wonder if AI could provide me daily devotionals. I wonder

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if it could, And I wonder what would the quality

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be of an AI generated devotional versus a devotional written

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by people? Right, because I can take this feature a

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daily Bible study guide.

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I can you see? I think, is it at the

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beginning or is it at the beginning? Maybe at the end?

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We see here. If it's at the end, let me

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see here right at the beginning. Yes, it gives me

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the name of the contributors. All of the contributing writers

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are pastors who are dedicated to the proclamation proclaiming the

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inerrant word of God without compromise. All scripture texts are

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taking from the King James. Then it gives the names

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of all the individuals who contributed to this quarter's devotions

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or the devotional for April through June. And we've got MH. Reynolds,

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Dennis W. Costella, Matt D. Costella, John E. Dody, Gary D. Fril,

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George W. Zeller. Right, so these are the individuals who

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put these devotionals together. They're human beings. So I've been

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you and I have been, you know, looking at using

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reading human generated devotionals for most of our Christian lives.

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But we've reached a point now I don't need a

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human being. I don't need I can get a AI

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generated daily devotional every single day. So I'm like, well,

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let me grab you know, chat GPT, and let's have

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a discussion and let's talk about well it providing me

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daily devotionals. So I've got a long back and forth

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and the devotionals that IT generated for me, so we

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will we will look at them in a minute. But

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before I got there, I basically asked AI some questions, right, well,

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mainly one major question, and I said, can you summarize

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and outline how technology has impacted Christianity and the individual

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spiritual growth of Christians. Now, I've kind of outlined some

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of the technological developments and advancements in my life and

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how has impacted me. And my conclusion is, if the

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church didn't exist a local church for me, in other words,

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I never even walked into a church, my spiritual development,

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my understanding of doctrine and theology would be identical to

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what it is today because the local church gets literally

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no credit for basically anything other than when I say

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the local church a church I would attend. Now, obviously

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all of the content being put out were being put

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out by local churches, so they would get the credit.

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But my local church no. And that is a very

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you may say, negative thing. But I'm just being very,

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very brutally honest with everyone. So I wanted to see

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how AI would handle this. So this is what AI said.

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It gave me this first summary the impact of technology

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on Christianity and individual spiritual growth. All right, here's what

400
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:30.640
it says. Technology has profound has profoundly affected Christianity and

401
00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:37.559
individual spiritual growth in both positive and negative ways. I'm like, okay,

402
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:41.000
so AI is going to give me the positive and

403
00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:48.240
the negative. On one hand, it has enabled widespread access

404
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to religious content, online sermons, and Bible study tools, thus

405
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expanding opportunities for learning and growth. Social media platforms, Christian

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00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.319
apps streaming services have allowed Christians to stay can conected

407
00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.640
to their faith communities, especially during times of physical separation

408
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like the COVID nineteen pandemic. All right, So on one hand,

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I'll focus on the part that we have the most

410
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profound impact on me making all of that available, all

411
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of that content, Bible study tools, devotionals, Bible studies, hermeneutical principles.

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I mean, just all this content, sermons, just on and

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on and on, and all the content that is just

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easily accessible and available. Now, however, AI here provides me

415
00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:42.200
the flip side. However, the pervasive presence of technology also

416
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has introduced challenges. Distractions from digital content can detract from

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personal reflection and time spent in prayer.

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All right, So the first thing is that this basically

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becomes a distraction and it basically removes you from per reflection.

420
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Right. You just have so much content, You just have

421
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so much this this that you don't really have time

422
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to take that one thing and just really reflect on

423
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that one thing. Like you know, I can go from

424
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one sermon to another sermon, to another sermon, to another

425
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simon to another simmon, on and on and on. It

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just never stops. Even back when I had access to

427
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.920
a lot with say Christian radio, you would get one

428
00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:27.400
program and you may not get the next teaching program

429
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.160
for two hours, three hours, four hours, and depending if

430
00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.400
you're a busy you may not get it for the

431
00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:37.680
rest of the day. So you would have that one thing. Well,

432
00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:41.039
when it came to devotional materials, it's whatever you could afford.

433
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Right now, if you were rich, you had access to more,

434
00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:47.960
But if you weren't, you may have one devotional, one

435
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.160
devotional book. That's all you have. So you do that

436
00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:56.279
one devotional that day, all right, then you may spend

437
00:25:56.359 --> 00:25:59.640
all day reflecting on it. Now I can go from

438
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devotion to devotional to devotional to sermon, sermon, sermon, Christian podcast.

439
00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.880
I could, like I literally I could not listen to

440
00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:11.440
everything available and and ten lifetimes. So it's it's harder

441
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to just take that one thing and reflect on it,

442
00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.039
all right, And we know this to be true. This

443
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is the this is the problem, and the culture in

444
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:19.880
which we live. You can say it's a it's a

445
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:21.960
curse and a blessing. Right. The blessing is we have

446
00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.759
so much available. The curse is when you have so

447
00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.200
much available, then nothing really becomes worth very much. It

448
00:26:28.359 --> 00:26:31.920
all seems very disposable. Right again, If you, I don't know,

449
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I don't know which, I don't know if this will

450
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relate to any of you. But if you, if you,

451
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if you were a big music fan, like if music

452
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played a major part in your life, like for me,

453
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you would buy that one album and then you would

454
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live with that album until you had the money to

455
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buy another one, which maybe maybe you've got it in

456
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another a week or two, maybe you had to wait

457
00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:53.640
a month, depending And because you spent money on that

458
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individual album, you spent a lot of time with it,

459
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and you listen to it and listen to it until

460
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almost it became a part of your DNA. It became

461
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.000
a part of you. You touched it, you felt it,

462
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and now you just you can go from one album

463
00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:08.039
to another. You may start listening to three songs like

464
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:10.319
a We'll skip that, go to it because you're just

465
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paying for access to everything. And when you pay access

466
00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:16.839
to everything, no individual thing really means much. Well, the

467
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.839
same thing can happen in Christianity. I've got I got

468
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:22.119
the feature a daily Bible study guide. Now, if I

469
00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:25.119
would have received this every quarter when I was younger,

470
00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.880
this would have been I would have I would have

471
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.680
kept this thing with me. It never would have left me.

472
00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:32.920
It would be marked up, written in highlighted. I would

473
00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:35.839
have fed on this like a starving man needing food.

474
00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:38.440
Now it's kind of like, well, it's here. Yeah, maybe

475
00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:40.000
I'll look at it. Oh, maybe I want to look

476
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.079
at this. We'll see I also got this. And well,

477
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:44.240
I've got this, and I got this, and I'm just

478
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:46.319
looking around the room. I've got so much here I

479
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:53.440
wouldn't even know where to even begin. So it does

480
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.079
become a distraction where you're not really reflecting, and you

481
00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.279
really may not be spending any time in prayer. It

482
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.119
says the raw of consumerist and celebrity driven faith practices

483
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:08.839
online may also undermine deeper spiritual development. While technology offers

484
00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:12.799
valuable tools, its overuse or misuse can weaken the contemplative

485
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:16.599
aspects of the Christian faith, leading to superficial engagement instead

486
00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:19.880
of meaningful spiritual growth. So do you think we have

487
00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:23.960
reached a point in Christianity where there is more superficial

488
00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:28.440
engagement and very little meaningful spiritual growth. Have we reached?

489
00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:34.039
Have we reached the era of superficial engagement, but the

490
00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:38.359
era of meaningful spiritual growth died? Do we need to

491
00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:42.119
have a funeral service, Ladies and gentlemen. Here lies meaningful

492
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.279
spiritual growth. It was a product of the past. But

493
00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:48.200
because of what we have available today, we have given

494
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:57.400
birth to superficial engagement. This is what Christianity is today.

495
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:02.079
So then AI provided me an outline of technologies impact

496
00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:06.400
on Christianity and individual spiritual growth? All right, So it

497
00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:13.640
says positive impacts. So it says accessibility to resources online sermons,

498
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:18.079
podcasts and Christian websites providing sermons and teachings, Bible apps, commentaries,

499
00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.920
and study tools easily available for free or at very

500
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:25.319
low cost. So the difference between now and then is

501
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.079
not only how much we have available, but how much

502
00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:32.240
we have available for free or basically very low cost,

503
00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:34.599
where back then it may have been much more difficult

504
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:37.960
to access it because it actually costs more money. Yet

505
00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.119
you go to an actual Bible bookstore and a Christian

506
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:44.119
bookstore and pay money. Now I can access things for

507
00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:54.079
very cheap or free. So now I'm just gonna I'm

508
00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:56.039
not going to go through everything AI provides here because

509
00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:59.920
it's an extensive amount of information here, but which again,

510
00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:02.640
just please not I used AI to do this. Just

511
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:04.960
keep that in mind here, all right. So, but it

512
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:07.359
talks about online sermons and all of that. It also

513
00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:12.559
says innovative tools for personal growth. What we have available

514
00:30:12.599 --> 00:30:16.920
today because of technological advancement is meditation and devotional apps

515
00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:21.759
helping Christians incorporate daily spiritual practices, online theology courses, and

516
00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:27.880
Christian education for deeper learning. Now, I remember early on

517
00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:31.119
once we started getting the I guess we'll kind of

518
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:35.720
say the emergence of we'll call it podcasts. I don't

519
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:38.359
think the term podcast was being used yet, but we

520
00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:42.240
had iTunes, and we had iPods and MP three players, right,

521
00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:44.960
and then I begin to realize, wait a minute, there's

522
00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:49.000
now these universities are putting all their lectures online and

523
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:51.319
I can download them to my iPod or I can

524
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.079
download them to my MP three player. And I was like,

525
00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:56.960
this is the greatest development in the history of mankind,

526
00:30:57.160 --> 00:30:59.319
because now I can take this with me so I

527
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:03.680
would have let from Notre Dame Creighton, I mean from

528
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.319
any Dallas Theological Seminary southwest, and I mean any school

529
00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:10.960
that put their stuff on. I was listening to historic

530
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:16.440
lectures on history, they called it at Concordia Theological Seminary.

531
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:18.839
I believe in Saint Louis they had a thing was

532
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:21.319
it called lectionary at lunch and they would take the

533
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:24.960
reading for that particular day, and then they're at lunch.

534
00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.920
You could hear the people like eating. The person would

535
00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.759
kind of give a lecture about the text for that day,

536
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:35.119
going into the original language, the Greek or the Hebrew,

537
00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:38.839
breaking it down exegetically hermoneutically. And I used to have

538
00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:42.559
that downloaded every day to my MP three player or

539
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:45.319
iPod at the time, because these were the things that

540
00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:50.519
this was the new development. Well those I mean when

541
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:54.759
you're listening to lectures from massive major universities, right just

542
00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:57.440
on a daily basis, right you're taking you're listening to

543
00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:02.079
entire courses on hermoneutical develop throughout the ages or this

544
00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:06.440
particular whatever the case may be. Listening to how Augustine

545
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:10.200
approached scripture or how Calvin like all these deep academic

546
00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.119
lectures and you're not even having to go to school.

547
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:15.559
I don't know how the local church was ever going

548
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:18.039
to compete with that. I mean, that's what I was

549
00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.480
just listening to on my way to work or coming

550
00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:23.440
home or on my lunch hour. I was getting, like,

551
00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:26.880
you know this in depth, exegetical breakdown of scripture in

552
00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:30.599
the original languages. And then you're going to church and

553
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:33.519
get a Sunday school teacher who I mean not trying

554
00:32:33.559 --> 00:32:35.359
to be mean in any way, shape or form, but

555
00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:37.440
in many cases some churches you get a Sunday school

556
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:40.279
teacher who's probably never even been to seminary and they're

557
00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:44.920
just using the churches quarterly. Now that may be that

558
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.880
works great in some cases, but when you become an adult,

559
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:52.680
like what do you do with the adults? And I've

560
00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:55.440
talked about my frustration as I became a teenager going

561
00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:57.960
the Sunday school teacher here, I don't think is really

562
00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.200
that prepared. Now, I became an arrogant jerk, and I

563
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.279
you know, I was not very nice about it, But

564
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:07.759
that's that's because I was utilizing all of these things available,

565
00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:10.240
and I was contrasting what I was getting in Sunday

566
00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:12.880
for Sunday for what I was listening to, and so

567
00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:16.720
I became in many cases very critical. I'm like, I

568
00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:20.759
came to church for that. I heard better on the

569
00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:25.559
way here. Now I know that's not the way you see.

570
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:28.880
That kind of creates a consumer mindset. You could see

571
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:31.559
I'm a product of some of it, my a lot

572
00:33:31.559 --> 00:33:36.119
of my a lot of my negative spiritual development. I'll

573
00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:38.720
call it negative. I'm developing spiritual, but there was a

574
00:33:38.759 --> 00:33:42.079
negative aspect to it. I became arrogant, condescending, and judgmental.

575
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:44.160
Was because I was looking at it more from a

576
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:48.440
consumer based mindset. Right, Like I could sit at home

577
00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:51.519
listen to a sermon better than what I'm getting by

578
00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:53.640
getting in my car driving all the way here for

579
00:33:53.799 --> 00:33:59.960
this or for this Sunday school what is this? Now,

580
00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:01.640
I'm not seeing a Sunday school teacher has to go

581
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.559
to seminary, go to Bible college. You're missing You're misinterpreting

582
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:07.880
my perspective. What I'm saying is that those Sunday school

583
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:12.199
teachers when they're teaching adults, when they're teaching adults, is

584
00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:15.079
they have to consider, well, wait a minute, what am

585
00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.119
I going to bring to these adults that's not already

586
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:19.119
available and they should have been thinking about that, going

587
00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:21.440
all the way back to when I first became a Christian,

588
00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:25.119
but they weren't. They felt like, and I think many

589
00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:27.760
pastors kind of felt like, this is what the people get.

590
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:30.239
I'm like, well, I don't need this. I can I

591
00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:34.280
can be reading a systematic theology, you know, all my

592
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.400
sitting in the backseat if someone else is driving on

593
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:44.159
the way here. So it talks about all of these things.

594
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:48.280
Now it goes on to say this some challenges posed

595
00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:53.960
by technology, constant digital stimulation, competing with time for personal

596
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:57.079
prayer and reflection, risk of a quick fix or shallow

597
00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:00.719
approach to faith via bite sized content and so social media.

598
00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:04.960
So it says it can again they go after all

599
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:07.840
of this being available, can get rid of deep reflection.

600
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:10.679
It becomes very surface level, and I think maybe there

601
00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:15.000
is a problem there. Now the commercialization of faith. Now

602
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:22.119
this is interesting, the rise of Christian influencers, prosperity, gospel messaging,

603
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:26.360
and consumer driven faith. The danger of placing emphasis on

604
00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:31.000
external performance likes followers over internal transformation. Well, I think

605
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:34.400
there is a commercialization that happens, right, I can think

606
00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.880
of consumerism. I think you almost look at it as

607
00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:39.880
I'm the customer, I'm going to go to where I

608
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.880
get the most and not because in some ways, even

609
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:47.280
before the rise of technology, Christians were already thinking that way.

610
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:50.480
Let's be honest with that, right, As more and more

611
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:55.440
we think of this technological advance advancement, right, I know

612
00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:57.519
we may not classified this way, but just for the

613
00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:00.159
sake of argument, follow me. There was a time time

614
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:04.639
you may have one church in your little town, one

615
00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:08.840
church and kind of your neighborhood, and you really didn't

616
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.039
have the means or the ability to just go look

617
00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:15.599
for another church. That was the church that was provided.

618
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:20.559
But then as more and more churches became available, and

619
00:36:20.599 --> 00:36:25.320
as transportation became more available and cost effective, you could go, well,

620
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:26.960
I can drive all, I can drive all the way

621
00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:28.920
to the other side of town. And then how did

622
00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:31.719
you base which church you went to the one you

623
00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.159
got the most out of? Right? Almost very as a consumer,

624
00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:38.559
you're a consumer. You go to church, You're not giving

625
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:40.719
me what I want, but they will. Just like you

626
00:36:40.760 --> 00:36:43.039
go to one store that don't give you what you want,

627
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:46.400
You're going to go to another store. Well, church became

628
00:36:46.519 --> 00:36:49.840
viewed the same way. It's one of the negative aspects

629
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:53.840
of the advancement of well transportation that makes it easier.

630
00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:55.639
So hey, I can just go here, I can go here,

631
00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:57.280
And so guess what happens? You go to church and

632
00:36:57.280 --> 00:36:58.760
when you don't feel like you're getting as much out

633
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:01.119
of it, you go to another church. You already do

634
00:37:01.239 --> 00:37:05.400
that with churches. So was it such a big step

635
00:37:05.639 --> 00:37:07.679
that people would be like, well, then why even go

636
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:18.360
to church? I can get better sitting right here. I see.

637
00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:23.360
I don't think the church ever realized the how this

638
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:28.320
was going to play itself out. Then now listen, they

639
00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:33.800
say isolation. Here we go the risk of virtual communities

640
00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:42.159
replacing in person congregations and church fellowship. Now churches should

641
00:37:42.199 --> 00:37:46.159
have realized this is kind of the weird thing churches did.

642
00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:50.000
On one hand, I understand new technology. Let's use the

643
00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:53.880
technology so we can get the message everywhere, all right,

644
00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:58.320
you got to applaud that, But there was an inevitable negative,

645
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:03.400
negative consequence. I don't think anyone foresaw when everyone's putting

646
00:38:03.400 --> 00:38:06.400
their content out there, and you already have a consumer

647
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:10.800
minded church goer, which they're already consumer minded, You give

648
00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:12.440
me what I want, or I'll go to another church

649
00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:16.039
that's already built in. Well, now you're putting all the

650
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:18.800
content online. I can understand why you're doing it. But

651
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:21.519
now people can be like, well, I'm just shop around online.

652
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:27.760
Why go to a local church where you have politics

653
00:38:27.800 --> 00:38:33.159
and personalities and conflict and different agendas and et cetera,

654
00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:35.159
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I could just stay

655
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:41.480
right here and avoid all of that. So there is

656
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:45.480
a risk of virtual communities replacing in person congregations. I

657
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:50.119
believe we're there. I think it's been developing over years.

658
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:52.199
A lot of people keep saying, well, look at the church.

659
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:57.159
Attendants continues to decrease, church attendance continues to decrease. There's

660
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:00.719
not a decrease in the availability of spiritual content online.

661
00:39:03.639 --> 00:39:05.480
People are not going to be going to church, but

662
00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:08.119
they're still listening to Christian podcasts, they're still listening to

663
00:39:08.199 --> 00:39:12.039
online sermons, they're still by looking at online Christian material.

664
00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:18.599
So maybe churches being replaced. I know nobody ever wants

665
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:21.920
to discuss that, and it's being replaced by the material

666
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:24.920
put there by the church. So it's kind of a

667
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:29.360
catch twenty two in that sense. All Right, digital engagement

668
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:33.360
possibly undermines the need for physical local churches. Even AI

669
00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:38.880
acknowledges that digital engagement undermines the need for physical local churches.

670
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:41.679
You can be all worried about local churches, but when

671
00:39:41.719 --> 00:39:44.159
you have a website like Sermon Audio, where there's what

672
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:47.840
a couple of million sermons, now those are being produced

673
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:51.599
by local churches, but they're producing sermons that really undermine

674
00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:53.639
the need for the local church other than for you

675
00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:59.719
to continue providing the content. Now you could say, well,

676
00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:01.920
this is not meant to replace your local church. You

677
00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:04.280
can get I know, some ministries will kind of give

678
00:40:04.280 --> 00:40:07.760
that little, you know, little statement. I don't know what

679
00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:10.599
it actually means. You can say that the point is

680
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:14.079
the content is replacing the local church to some level,

681
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:16.800
even if the even if that person is still going

682
00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:21.639
to church, they may actually be learning growing through your content,

683
00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:24.480
not the local church. So in some ways you've replaced

684
00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:26.679
it even though the person's going to church. And that's

685
00:40:26.679 --> 00:40:29.280
exactly what happened in my Christian life. It was the

686
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:33.000
online not online stuff, Christian radio then the online stuff

687
00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:35.760
that really, I mean I just looked at it like

688
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.960
I mean, I used to complain about that, probably in

689
00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.199
the car and the way to church. Why am I

690
00:40:41.239 --> 00:40:43.760
even going, I could have listened to something better before

691
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:44.719
I even got in the car.

692
00:40:50.679 --> 00:41:01.440
Now, they well, let's see here, Well they just they

693
00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:06.599
they name some things here, technical technologies, role in spiritual disciplines,

694
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:10.199
prayer and meditation, apps that provide guided prayer and help

695
00:41:10.239 --> 00:41:11.639
with regular devotional habits.

696
00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:16.360
Potential for these tools to compliment or hinder personal offline

697
00:41:16.400 --> 00:41:20.840
spiritual disciplines, right, so they so they say, hey, these

698
00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:23.679
tools are great, but then there's the potential for these

699
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:29.440
tools to either compliment or hinder personal offline spiritual disciplines.

700
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.559
In other words, all of your spirituality becomes based off

701
00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:36.039
online things, and offline thing kind of kind of takes

702
00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:41.880
a back seat, which would make sense, all right. They

703
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:45.480
talk about the availability of biblical and philological education through

704
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:48.480
online courses. You've got all of these things available online,

705
00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:50.519
all of the all of this education you can get

706
00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:53.400
the you can get I've said before, if you if

707
00:41:53.400 --> 00:41:54.960
you're really willing to work at it and take a

708
00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:57.559
Bible in some notebooks, you can get basically a seminary

709
00:41:57.639 --> 00:42:01.119
level education by just listening to everything hosted on sermon audio.

710
00:42:02.360 --> 00:42:04.960
You can break it down into certain courses and everything else.

711
00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:09.079
So they say the challenge of discerning the reliability and

712
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:11.760
depth of online content. That there is a challenge when

713
00:42:11.800 --> 00:42:15.360
everything's available online. Well, then how do you know what's

714
00:42:15.480 --> 00:42:17.480
right and what's wrong? What we could get into some

715
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:22.639
of some deeper unintended consequences from all of this. All right,

716
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:31.280
So they go on add some more. The point is

717
00:42:31.880 --> 00:42:36.119
technology has had a profound impact, and that's really what

718
00:42:36.199 --> 00:42:40.280
I want to get to. But well, I really wanted

719
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:42.400
to get to the devotional. We still will get there,

720
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:44.960
but all of that stuff I think is very, very important.

721
00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:48.280
So after having that back kind of that conversation with A,

722
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:50.599
I was really me asking a question. It provided a

723
00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:52.480
lot of this. I didn't even get a chance to

724
00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:54.920
read half of it because there was so much there.

725
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:57.960
But then I decided to ask Ai this question. I'll

726
00:42:58.000 --> 00:42:59.199
go all the way back to the top of her.

727
00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:01.800
This is long. We could spend a couple of weeks

728
00:43:01.880 --> 00:43:06.000
on this, or here's what I said. Throughout church history,

729
00:43:06.519 --> 00:43:10.000
devotionals have played a major part in the lives of

730
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:13.480
many Christians. There are famous devotionals, for example, Morning and

731
00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:16.679
Evening by Charles Spurgeon. Do you have the ability? This

732
00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:20.360
is what I asked AI to produce a daily devotional

733
00:43:20.599 --> 00:43:25.960
for me, So AI responded, Yes, I can certainly help

734
00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:29.519
create daily devotionals for you. Here's a format for a

735
00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:35.719
sample devotional. So it gives me day one trusting God,

736
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:42.239
trusting in God's timing. Trusting in God's timing, it gives

737
00:43:42.280 --> 00:43:48.559
me the scripture of Psalm twenty seven fourteen. Psalm twenty

738
00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:57.960
seven fourteen. Psalm twenty seven to fourteen. It gives me

739
00:43:58.000 --> 00:43:59.880
the scripture, but it's from the ESV. I'm gonna read

740
00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:04.760
it the King James, Psalm twenty seven fourteen. And we

741
00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:09.079
read these words, Wait on the Lord, be of good courage,

742
00:44:09.199 --> 00:44:12.639
and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on

743
00:44:13.239 --> 00:44:19.239
the Lord, Psalm twenty seven fourteen. So it gives that scripture.

744
00:44:19.559 --> 00:44:24.800
Then it gives me the reflection. And a fast paced world,

745
00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:31.639
waiting can feel like a burden. Yet God often works

746
00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:35.320
in the moments of waiting to strengthen our faith and

747
00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:38.960
deepen our trust in Him. Like David, in this Psalm,

748
00:44:39.159 --> 00:44:42.440
we are encouraged to wait for the Lord with courage,

749
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:45.440
knowing that his timing is perfect. Whether you're waiting for

750
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:48.440
an answer to prayer or for a change in circumstance,

751
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:51.400
Remember that God is faithful and his plans for you

752
00:44:51.880 --> 00:44:56.159
are good. Then it gives me the prayer, Heavenly Father,

753
00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:58.639
help me to trust in your timing. When I grow

754
00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:01.239
wearier inpatient, remind me that you are working all things

755
00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:03.920
together for my good. Strengthen my heart to wait with

756
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:08.880
faith and courage. Amen. Then Ai asked me, would you

757
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:13.199
like this devotional style or would you prefer something more

758
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:16.880
in depth or on a specific theme. Let me know

759
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:20.239
your preferences now, just please. No, I don't know how

760
00:45:20.280 --> 00:45:22.280
any local church is going to be able to compete

761
00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:24.559
with this, right so not not only that, I don't

762
00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:27.199
even know how devotional publishing publishing houses are going to

763
00:45:27.239 --> 00:45:29.840
be able to compete with this. I can get a

764
00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:32.440
devotional and I may like the style, dislike the style.

765
00:45:32.639 --> 00:45:35.199
I can keep looking for devotionals. But with Ai, I

766
00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:37.039
don't even need I can just tell it I don't

767
00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:39.639
like your style. Give me a new style. This is

768
00:45:40.280 --> 00:45:45.320
you think consumerism and Christianity is already bad enough, you know,

769
00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:47.840
give it to me my way right away. This burger

770
00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:51.039
king mentality that's been talked about within Christianity for a

771
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:53.800
very long time, that it's a problem. It's now going.

772
00:45:53.639 --> 00:45:56.960
To just explode, because now you can get Christianity exactly

773
00:45:57.039 --> 00:45:58.639
the way you want it. So I was like, okay,

774
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:02.599
twenty seven four fourteen, Okay, that's I mean, that gives

775
00:46:02.599 --> 00:46:03.800
me something to think about.

776
00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:06.000
Okay, what is going on in this verse? Weight on

777
00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:08.440
the Lord who's being told to wait? Why are they

778
00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:10.519
being told the way? Or do we have the historical

779
00:46:10.599 --> 00:46:12.719
I could, in fact, I could start talking to AI

780
00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:16.199
about Psalm twenty seven to fourteen and really build it out.

781
00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:19.559
With a discussion back and forth with AI over Psalm

782
00:46:19.639 --> 00:46:22.559
twenty seven fourteen, I could probably within fifteen to twenty

783
00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:26.760
minutes develop a very in depth study of it. So

784
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:30.079
I was like, Okay. It asked me what I wanted,

785
00:46:30.119 --> 00:46:32.039
and I said, well, I want more in depth. You

786
00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:34.199
know that's the way I was going to go, right,

787
00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:36.000
you know that's what I was going to ask for.

788
00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:41.480
So I says, great, here is more in depth devotional.

789
00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:44.960
Here is a more in depth devotional for you, expanding

790
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:48.920
on scripture, reflection and prayer while adding some additional application

791
00:46:49.239 --> 00:46:53.039
and philological insight. So AI tells me exactly what it's

792
00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:56.119
going to add. It gave me a very simplistic devotional.

793
00:46:56.239 --> 00:46:58.719
Now AI's coming along. Oh, you want something more, here's

794
00:46:58.760 --> 00:47:01.039
what I'm going to do. What I'm going to add.

795
00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:09.000
So here's day one, all right, trusting in God's sovereign timing. Now,

796
00:47:09.039 --> 00:47:12.159
remember the first one it gave me was trusting in

797
00:47:12.199 --> 00:47:15.239
God's timing. Now it's going to expand it's going to

798
00:47:15.280 --> 00:47:19.599
make it a little deeper, trusting in God's sovereign timing.

799
00:47:20.039 --> 00:47:22.519
So now it's going to be like, okay, waiting on

800
00:47:22.639 --> 00:47:25.119
God his timing, but now we're going to do so

801
00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:27.599
based off the concept that God is sovereign. So it's

802
00:47:27.639 --> 00:47:31.800
already adding a philological element to this that was kind

803
00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:34.760
of missing from the first one. Now it gives me

804
00:47:34.840 --> 00:47:37.000
a different scripture. And I remember the first one gave

805
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:39.960
me twenty seven fourteen a Psalm twenty seven fourteen. Weait

806
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:41.880
on the Lord be of good courage, and he shall

807
00:47:41.880 --> 00:47:44.400
strengthen thine heart weight on the Lord. Well, if you

808
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:48.159
know that verse, you know that sounds very similar to

809
00:47:48.239 --> 00:47:50.840
a verse in Isaiah. So when I asked for I'm

810
00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:54.079
more in depth. It's left Psalm twenty seven and it

811
00:47:54.119 --> 00:48:04.800
went to Isaiah. They went to Isaiah. I just went

812
00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:09.639
right past Isaiah. Here we go Isaiah, chapter forty Isaiah

813
00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:16.920
chapter forty, verse thirty one Isaiah chapter forty, verse thirty one.

814
00:48:17.159 --> 00:48:18.719
And it gives me this or I think you know

815
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:21.639
it right. But they that weighed upon the Lord shall

816
00:48:21.679 --> 00:48:24.320
renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

817
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:26.599
They shall run and not be weary, and they shall

818
00:48:26.679 --> 00:48:31.360
walk and not faint. So the devotion the Ai decided, Okay,

819
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:33.079
I'm going to give you the same kind of I'm

820
00:48:33.079 --> 00:48:35.119
going to give you a devotional on the same theme

821
00:48:35.159 --> 00:48:37.360
of waiting, but now I'm going to make it more

822
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:39.920
in depth and add some theological element to it. So

823
00:48:40.239 --> 00:48:45.559
this is how Ai starts this one reflection. Waiting on

824
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:50.079
God is a theme woven throughout scripture. Now I could

825
00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:53.400
stop right there. See this is the beauty about Ai

826
00:48:54.480 --> 00:48:58.320
that no devotional can can compete with. I got this

827
00:48:58.360 --> 00:49:00.559
paper devotional, I'll just throw it over to the I

828
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:03.079
don't even need that because I could stop right here

829
00:49:03.079 --> 00:49:06.079
and go Waiting on God is a theme woven throughout scripture.

830
00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:09.280
So then I could ask Ai please summarize and outline

831
00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:12.599
the theme of waiting on God as it is found

832
00:49:12.679 --> 00:49:15.239
in both the Old and New Testament, and Ai would

833
00:49:15.239 --> 00:49:17.599
provide me in a summary and an outline of everything

834
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:20.000
about waiting on And I could turn it into an

835
00:49:20.079 --> 00:49:24.599
end depth Bible studies, sermon or anything I want podcast episode.

836
00:49:25.119 --> 00:49:28.679
But it says in Isaiah forty, the prophet speaks to

837
00:49:28.920 --> 00:49:33.519
a people weary from exile, reminding them of God's sustaining

838
00:49:33.559 --> 00:49:35.880
power and the promise of renewed strength for those who

839
00:49:35.960 --> 00:49:39.199
wait on him. Now, a couple of things it provides me, now,

840
00:49:39.280 --> 00:49:41.639
some context. Now it doesn't get name, but it tells

841
00:49:41.639 --> 00:49:46.599
me profit people who are weary from exile. Now I

842
00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:49.239
could ask some clarifying I can ask Ai for clarifying

843
00:49:49.320 --> 00:49:52.760
questions or information here, and I could ask Ai that

844
00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:55.559
whenever it provides me a devotional could you add these

845
00:49:55.639 --> 00:49:57.960
kinds of content, this kind of information and not leave

846
00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:01.000
it out. But all right, so I know enough about Isaiah.

847
00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:03.760
I already have a good idea. Okay, we know Israel,

848
00:50:03.880 --> 00:50:08.000
we know or Judah exile, which is it the Northern

849
00:50:08.079 --> 00:50:11.920
Kingdom of Southern Kingdom exile, Babylonian captivity. Yeah, we could

850
00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:14.280
ask some basic questions here, but we already have a

851
00:50:14.320 --> 00:50:17.840
pretty good working idea of what's going on. Right, So

852
00:50:18.079 --> 00:50:20.880
reminding them of God's sustaining power and the promise of

853
00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:23.159
renewed strength for those who wait on him. But this

854
00:50:23.280 --> 00:50:26.719
waiting is not passive. It is an active trust in

855
00:50:26.760 --> 00:50:30.159
God's sovereignty, a trust that he is in control even

856
00:50:30.199 --> 00:50:35.679
when circumstances suggest otherwise. Oh no, that's really good. That's

857
00:50:35.719 --> 00:50:36.719
really good.

858
00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:38.079
Right.

859
00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:43.159
When the Bible speaks of waiting, it's not passive. It

860
00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:49.000
is an active trust in God's sovereignty, a trust that

861
00:50:49.079 --> 00:50:54.800
he is in control even when circumstances suggest otherwise. All

862
00:50:54.880 --> 00:50:56.440
we talked about this in our study, I think it

863
00:50:56.559 --> 00:51:00.559
was Psalm eighty three. Right, we believe even a God

864
00:51:00.599 --> 00:51:03.960
and whom we cannot see while surrounded by circumstances which

865
00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:06.599
we see and feel, and those circumstances that we see

866
00:51:06.679 --> 00:51:11.199
and feel scream that there is no God. Waiting means

867
00:51:11.239 --> 00:51:14.559
trusting in God's sovereignty even and that he is in

868
00:51:14.599 --> 00:51:20.199
control even when the circumstances would say otherwise. The Hebrew

869
00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:23.400
word for weight in this passage carries with it the

870
00:51:23.480 --> 00:51:28.079
sense of binding together or collecting one's strength. It's not

871
00:51:28.199 --> 00:51:32.480
just about the passage of time, but about intertwining, intertwining

872
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:36.639
our hope with the promises of God. All right, So

873
00:51:37.039 --> 00:51:39.639
they say that the Hebrew word here for wait is

874
00:51:39.719 --> 00:51:42.280
not just about the passage of time. We're just waiting

875
00:51:42.320 --> 00:51:45.159
for the passage of time. But in reality, it's about

876
00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:49.119
intertwining our hope with God's promises. So I'm waiting for

877
00:51:49.199 --> 00:51:51.760
God to fulfill a promise, and so I'm placing my

878
00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:55.079
hope in his promise. Well, in this particular case, Isaiah

879
00:51:55.159 --> 00:51:57.400
forty thirty one would be for people waiting for a

880
00:51:57.440 --> 00:52:00.079
specific promise, what promise could they be waiting for? Or

881
00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:02.039
in Isaiah forty thirty one, see, I could already start

882
00:52:02.039 --> 00:52:07.039
developing this big time right But to see the difference

883
00:52:07.119 --> 00:52:09.360
is with a paper one I would just have to

884
00:52:10.159 --> 00:52:13.679
with Ai. I could literally engage AI with this devotional

885
00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:17.079
right here. I could start asking them questions or asking

886
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:22.199
it questions. All right. It goes on to say, while

887
00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:24.639
we wait, we are being spiritually strengthened, our faith is

888
00:52:24.719 --> 00:52:28.280
being refined, and our dependence on God is deepened. In

889
00:52:28.320 --> 00:52:31.119
times of waiting, we often wrestle with doubt. We might

890
00:52:31.159 --> 00:52:33.159
wonder if God has forgotten us, or if he's working

891
00:52:33.159 --> 00:52:36.000
behind the scenes. Yet Scripture assures us that God's timing

892
00:52:36.079 --> 00:52:40.760
is perfect, his delay is never his delay is never

893
00:52:40.880 --> 00:52:43.920
neglect but rather a preparation for something greater. But in

894
00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:47.800
our lives and in our relationship with Him, waiting therefore

895
00:52:47.840 --> 00:52:51.039
becomes an exercise and trust and surrender. Then it gives

896
00:52:51.039 --> 00:52:54.239
me application. In our lives, we face seasons where God

897
00:52:54.280 --> 00:52:57.079
seems silent. Perhaps you are waiting for healing, guidance, or

898
00:52:57.079 --> 00:53:01.199
a breakthrough. In these moments the challenges yeah in these moments.

899
00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:04.000
The challenge is not to allow in patience or discouragement

900
00:53:04.039 --> 00:53:07.400
to dictate your actions. Instead, embrace the process of waiting

901
00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:11.119
as a divine appointment. It is an opportunity to lean

902
00:53:11.199 --> 00:53:13.840
into the promises of God, to remind yourself of God's

903
00:53:13.840 --> 00:53:18.079
faithfulness in the past, and to develop perseverance. Isaiah's vision

904
00:53:18.159 --> 00:53:20.360
of mounting up with wings like eagles paints a picture

905
00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:25.360
of strength and resilient resilience. The eagle, in its majestic flight,

906
00:53:25.480 --> 00:53:28.639
rises above the storms, carried not by the frantic effort

907
00:53:28.719 --> 00:53:30.599
but by the wind, and the same way we are

908
00:53:30.599 --> 00:53:32.400
carried by the spirit, not by our own strength, but

909
00:53:32.440 --> 00:53:34.239
by the grace and power of God. In the midst

910
00:53:34.280 --> 00:53:38.719
of waiting, to seek to live in this reality, knowing

911
00:53:38.719 --> 00:53:42.239
that the same God who sustains creation will sustain you.

912
00:53:42.480 --> 00:53:45.239
Now again, I could get into a discussion here with

913
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:49.000
AI going, well, wait a minute, how much of Isaiah

914
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:51.559
forty thirty one can I pull for me? Because as

915
00:53:51.559 --> 00:53:55.400
an Isaiah thirty one spoken to people who have very

916
00:53:55.440 --> 00:53:58.480
specific promises that are not promises given to me. I

917
00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:01.920
could engage AI on this if I wanted to, and

918
00:54:01.960 --> 00:54:03.800
we could have a discussion. I can't do that with

919
00:54:03.880 --> 00:54:07.199
a paper devotional. Right then it gives me a prayer,

920
00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:09.679
then it says for further reading. It gives me a

921
00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:13.199
lamentations three twenty five through twenty six, and so I'm

922
00:54:13.199 --> 00:54:16.639
thirty seven to seven, so it gives me a lot

923
00:54:16.679 --> 00:54:19.119
there to work with. I mean that one devotional could

924
00:54:19.199 --> 00:54:21.920
keep me busy for a week, and that was produced

925
00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:29.039
by AI in literally five seconds. That's like, I don't

926
00:54:29.079 --> 00:54:37.719
know if you understand the significance of that. That Basically,

927
00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:40.639
that gave me enough that I could spend two hours

928
00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:46.119
just dissecting that going back and forth with AI. In fact,

929
00:54:46.199 --> 00:54:48.440
I may go back and have a conversation with AI

930
00:54:48.639 --> 00:54:53.880
about this very devotional. So then AI explains how it

931
00:54:53.920 --> 00:54:55.880
produced the devotional or why it did it this way.

932
00:54:57.119 --> 00:54:59.199
It says this format. Remember I asked for a more

933
00:54:59.239 --> 00:55:02.599
in depth format. This format allows for a richer exploration

934
00:55:03.119 --> 00:55:07.360
of the themes, inviting deeper reflection and practical application. Let

935
00:55:07.360 --> 00:55:09.360
me know if you would like more devotionals like this,

936
00:55:09.480 --> 00:55:11.679
or if you have a specific focus you would like

937
00:55:11.719 --> 00:55:14.000
to dive into. So I could ask it for a

938
00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:17.039
specific focus. But then I said, would it be possible

939
00:55:17.639 --> 00:55:20.119
for you to provide me a daily devotional every day

940
00:55:20.159 --> 00:55:23.079
at a set time or is that beyond your capabilities?

941
00:55:24.480 --> 00:55:27.960
AI responded, well, I can't send devotionals at a specific

942
00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:32.039
time every day automatically. I can certainly provide you one

943
00:55:32.519 --> 00:55:36.960
for you daily when you request it. You can come

944
00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:39.360
back at the time you would like your devotional and

945
00:55:39.400 --> 00:55:42.480
I will be ready to provide it for you if

946
00:55:42.519 --> 00:55:45.599
you would prefer. I can also prepare a week's worth

947
00:55:45.599 --> 00:55:48.679
of devotionals in advance for you to use on your

948
00:55:48.719 --> 00:55:52.159
own schedule. So I literally can have AI provide me

949
00:55:52.400 --> 00:55:59.039
a week's worth of devotional every single week. Like do

950
00:55:59.079 --> 00:56:08.320
you not understand where technology is taking us? So then

951
00:56:08.320 --> 00:56:10.760
it asked me, would either of these approaches work for you?

952
00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:13.239
If you prefer the week ahead option. Let me know

953
00:56:13.320 --> 00:56:15.840
any specific theme or scripture you would like to explore

954
00:56:15.880 --> 00:56:20.599
so I said, well, prepare a week's worth. Not sure

955
00:56:20.599 --> 00:56:23.519
how you will choose without me offering theme or scripture,

956
00:56:23.639 --> 00:56:25.639
but I would like to see how you produce them

957
00:56:26.000 --> 00:56:28.920
on your own. Hey, don't ask me for a scripture,

958
00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:31.719
because I could come up with ideas. But I like

959
00:56:31.800 --> 00:56:34.400
the randomness of it, so hey, go ahead. So I says,

960
00:56:34.440 --> 00:56:37.719
here's a week's worth of devotionals I'd prepared for you,

961
00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:42.079
without any specific themes or scriptures provided. Each devotional is

962
00:56:42.119 --> 00:56:45.480
designed to explore different aspects of Christian life and theology,

963
00:56:45.639 --> 00:56:50.440
rooted in scripture and reflection. And then it gives me

964
00:56:50.519 --> 00:56:59.559
an entire weeks, an entire week's worth of devotional content.

965
00:57:03.800 --> 00:57:06.400
And then what it did. It gave me the first

966
00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:08.679
It gave me the first week's worth, and I was like, well,

967
00:57:08.719 --> 00:57:10.920
this is more. This is more in line with the

968
00:57:10.960 --> 00:57:13.760
simplistic approach. I want the more in depth approach. Then

969
00:57:13.800 --> 00:57:16.719
it immediately gave me a week's worth in an in

970
00:57:16.840 --> 00:57:26.719
depth way. This is like and just remember the great

971
00:57:26.719 --> 00:57:32.079
thing about AI at least open AI. Does it have

972
00:57:32.119 --> 00:57:35.360
a thiological acts to grind? Does it have ahilological team?

973
00:57:35.679 --> 00:57:39.800
Does it have a theilological side? And I can engage it,

974
00:57:41.199 --> 00:57:46.320
So I'm gonna go back here. So it said, so

975
00:57:46.440 --> 00:57:47.360
let's go through here.

976
00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:51.239
I'm gonna I'm gonna engage it really quick. I'm going

977
00:57:51.280 --> 00:57:54.239
to engage it. I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna say,

978
00:57:55.400 --> 00:58:01.440
I'm gonna say, going back to your devotional.

979
00:58:03.320 --> 00:58:22.000
On Isaiah forty thirty one, can you provide who the

980
00:58:22.159 --> 00:58:35.960
verse was originally? Four? What were there circumstances? All right,

981
00:58:36.159 --> 00:58:37.800
so here we go. So I'm just asking it a

982
00:58:37.800 --> 00:58:46.559
basic question, Okay, So all right, here we go. Isaiah

983
00:58:46.599 --> 00:58:49.320
forty thirty one was originally directed to the people of Israel,

984
00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:52.920
specifically to those living during a time of great difficulty

985
00:58:52.920 --> 00:58:55.880
and uncertainty. The context of Isaiah forty is a message

986
00:58:55.880 --> 00:58:58.960
of comfort to the Israelites were either already in exile

987
00:58:59.280 --> 00:59:02.039
or would soon be facing the Babylonian exile, which occurred

988
00:59:02.039 --> 00:59:05.480
around five eighty six BC. This period was one of

989
00:59:05.519 --> 00:59:09.000
the darkest moments in Israel's history. Isaiah prophesied to the

990
00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:11.840
people of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel. The people

991
00:59:11.840 --> 00:59:14.360
of Judah had strayed from God's covenant, and as a result,

992
00:59:14.400 --> 00:59:18.400
they face God's judgment through Babylonian invasion and subsequent exile.

993
00:59:18.639 --> 00:59:21.400
Many of Isaiah's prophecies in the early chapters of this

994
00:59:21.480 --> 00:59:24.920
book of one through thirty nine contain warnings about impending

995
00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:27.920
judgment because of the nation's sin idolatry and failure to

996
00:59:27.920 --> 00:59:32.159
trust God. The exile would be consequences of their rebellion. However,

997
00:59:32.360 --> 00:59:36.239
starting in Isaiah forty, the tone shifts dramatically. It's as

998
00:59:36.280 --> 00:59:38.760
though God is now speaking to a future generation of

999
00:59:38.800 --> 00:59:42.039
Israelites would be living in exile or soon returning from it.

1000
00:59:42.239 --> 00:59:45.039
These chapters contain words of comfort and hope, as God

1001
00:59:45.079 --> 00:59:47.679
reassures his people of his ongoing care even in the

1002
00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:49.760
midst of their suffering and judgment. Now, please, now, just

1003
00:59:49.800 --> 00:59:53.559
with one question, Now I get an immediate expansion of

1004
00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:56.559
the entire concept, so that now I have a better

1005
00:59:56.679 --> 00:59:59.960
understand No devotional can compete with this, nothing can come

1006
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:03.920
peat with this. Right their circumstances, the Israelites during this

1007
01:00:04.039 --> 01:00:08.719
time were experiencing despair, exhaustion, and hopelessness and exile. Removed

1008
01:00:08.719 --> 01:00:11.159
from their homeland and taken to Babylon, they were living

1009
01:00:11.239 --> 01:00:13.599
in a foreign land under foreign rule, cut off from

1010
01:00:13.599 --> 01:00:16.039
the Temple, the center of their worship and identity, as

1011
01:00:16.039 --> 01:00:19.360
God's people feeling abandoned by God. Many likely felt that

1012
01:00:19.400 --> 01:00:22.320
God had forgotten them or abandoned them due to their circumstances.

1013
01:00:22.679 --> 01:00:25.840
They had been uprooted from Jerusalem, the city that symbolized

1014
01:00:25.880 --> 01:00:31.000
God's covenant promises. Weary and weak physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

1015
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:34.159
the exiled people were exhausted. They were not only suffering

1016
01:00:34.199 --> 01:00:37.519
the trauma of defeat and displacement, but also questioning their future.

1017
01:00:37.840 --> 01:00:40.320
Many wondered whether they had any hope of returning home

1018
01:00:40.519 --> 01:00:44.199
or seeing God's promises fulfilled. God's response in Isaiah forty

1019
01:00:44.239 --> 01:00:47.119
thirty one, in response to their discouragement and weariness, God

1020
01:00:47.159 --> 01:00:50.280
speaks through the prophet Isaiah to offer comfort and reassurance

1021
01:00:50.440 --> 01:00:52.800
as a part of a larger section that emphasizes God's

1022
01:00:52.840 --> 01:00:55.679
power and greatness compared to the frailty of humans. Verse

1023
01:00:55.719 --> 01:00:57.760
twenty eight through twenty nine reminds the people that the

1024
01:00:57.800 --> 01:01:00.880
Lord is everlasting. God does not grow weary. Though they

1025
01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:04.039
may feel exhausted, God's strength is never diminished. Versus thirty

1026
01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:07.760
to thirty one specifically contrasts human weakness with divine strength.

1027
01:01:07.800 --> 01:01:10.079
Even the young and strong will grow tired, but those

1028
01:01:10.079 --> 01:01:12.519
who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. The

1029
01:01:12.639 --> 01:01:15.159
message here is that although the people of Israel physically

1030
01:01:15.199 --> 01:01:17.760
and spiracually weary, those who wait on the Lord, trusting

1031
01:01:17.800 --> 01:01:20.840
in God's promises and timing, would find their strength renewed.

1032
01:01:21.159 --> 01:01:24.079
The renewal is depicted poetically as mounting up with wings

1033
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:27.039
as eagles, a vivid image of rising above trials and

1034
01:01:27.079 --> 01:01:32.360
difficulties with divine assistance. Then it says the application to

1035
01:01:32.440 --> 01:01:37.159
their circumstances renewed strength, hope for return, trust in God's sovereignty.

1036
01:01:37.320 --> 01:01:39.679
Then it gives me a summary of it all. Now,

1037
01:01:39.719 --> 01:01:43.079
remember all of that was put together in literally five seconds.

1038
01:01:43.440 --> 01:01:46.559
That's an entire Bible study right there. That's an entire

1039
01:01:46.800 --> 01:01:53.119
sermon put together by Ai literally in five seconds. This

1040
01:01:53.159 --> 01:01:56.760
is the new technological advancement that's going to, I think,

1041
01:01:56.880 --> 01:01:59.239
is going to change the future of Christianity. And I

1042
01:01:59.239 --> 01:02:02.199
don't know if anyone, well, we're really willing to acknowledge this.

1043
01:02:02.679 --> 01:02:05.119
We the church doesn't want to acknowledge it because the

1044
01:02:05.199 --> 01:02:08.199
Church wants to hold on to it requires the building

1045
01:02:08.239 --> 01:02:10.360
and the people and the money. But I'm saying that

1046
01:02:10.440 --> 01:02:13.000
even going all the way back to my time, technology

1047
01:02:13.159 --> 01:02:17.519
was already making the church obsolete in many ways. Well,

1048
01:02:17.599 --> 01:02:19.760
I don't know how any church can even compete with this.

1049
01:02:23.760 --> 01:02:25.960
So I'm gonna now, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask Ai

1050
01:02:26.000 --> 01:02:40.519
another question. In your original devotional devotion on as Ay

1051
01:02:40.599 --> 01:02:51.079
of forty thirty one, you you spoke of waiting, not

1052
01:02:53.159 --> 01:03:09.159
being passive, but that it's interwove, it's interwoven and trusting

1053
01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:33.239
in God's God's promises in Isaiah, the original, the original

1054
01:03:33.280 --> 01:03:47.400
recipients of these words of the words Words of Isaiah

1055
01:03:48.119 --> 01:04:03.440
forty thirty one had specific promises and covenant promises.

1056
01:04:05.920 --> 01:04:16.360
That would give that that makes.

1057
01:04:18.239 --> 01:04:31.880
Sense in light of the promise of Isaiah forty thirty one.

1058
01:04:32.159 --> 01:04:47.559
Would wouldn't that wouldn't that make it difficult, difficult to

1059
01:04:47.800 --> 01:04:57.079
specifically to specifically apply this to us? All right, hopefully

1060
01:04:57.079 --> 01:05:01.599
I we're trying to do that while talking is difficult. Okay,

1061
01:05:01.840 --> 01:05:04.280
So this is what AI says. All right, here we go,

1062
01:05:05.559 --> 01:05:10.280
All right, okay, here we go. All right, hang on,

1063
01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:12.800
give me one second. Here, it's typing out. It's gonna be,

1064
01:05:12.800 --> 01:05:15.599
it's gonna be. It's typing out a lot. So once again,

1065
01:05:15.920 --> 01:05:19.719
just notice my engagement for a devotional AI is the

1066
01:05:19.719 --> 01:05:22.639
perfect devotional companion, because not only do I get the

1067
01:05:22.679 --> 01:05:26.079
devotional it right, I can I can literally talk to

1068
01:05:26.119 --> 01:05:29.119
it and go back and forth. Oh, it's written, it's

1069
01:05:29.119 --> 01:05:31.440
writing a book. It's writing a book, I asked, I

1070
01:05:31.440 --> 01:05:33.920
asked a question. I mean literally, this is so long.

1071
01:05:34.760 --> 01:05:37.719
This is literally this would probably be a couple of pages. Okay,

1072
01:05:37.800 --> 01:05:40.079
just finished typing. Okay, I'm gonna go all the way

1073
01:05:40.079 --> 01:05:42.239
back to the top. Here. Wow, here we go. So

1074
01:05:42.559 --> 01:05:45.480
I said, in your original devotion on Isaiah forty thirty one,

1075
01:05:45.480 --> 01:05:48.400
you spoke of waiting, not being passive, but that it's

1076
01:05:48.599 --> 01:05:52.320
interwoven and trusting in God's promises. The original recipients of

1077
01:05:52.360 --> 01:05:55.800
the word of Isaiah forty thirty one has specific promises

1078
01:05:55.800 --> 01:05:57.920
and covenants and promises that make sense and light of

1079
01:05:57.960 --> 01:06:00.480
the promise of Isaiah forty thirty one kind of written

1080
01:06:00.559 --> 01:06:04.000
very weird. Wouldn't that make it difficult to specifically apply

1081
01:06:04.079 --> 01:06:06.960
this to us? Now, this is what Ai says. You

1082
01:06:07.079 --> 01:06:10.719
bring up a crucial point. The promises in Isaiah forty

1083
01:06:10.760 --> 01:06:13.760
thirty one were given to a specific people, Israel, with

1084
01:06:13.840 --> 01:06:18.159
a particular historical context. With their unique covenanial relationship with God.

1085
01:06:18.360 --> 01:06:22.159
The Israelites had clear covenantial promises that shape in their

1086
01:06:22.239 --> 01:06:25.400
understanding of God's deliverance and restoration, such as the promise

1087
01:06:25.440 --> 01:06:28.480
of returning from exile and the eventual coming of the Messiah.

1088
01:06:28.639 --> 01:06:33.400
These were tangible historical realities grounded in specific context of

1089
01:06:33.440 --> 01:06:38.440
the Old Testament Covenant covenant contexts in Israel's promises. The

1090
01:06:38.519 --> 01:06:42.639
promises to Israel included number one land and nation. God

1091
01:06:42.639 --> 01:06:45.159
did promise Israel the land of Canaan and the continuation

1092
01:06:45.239 --> 01:06:48.480
of their nation Genesis twelve fifteen, which was threatened during

1093
01:06:48.519 --> 01:06:51.199
the exile. Number two the Dividic Covenant, there was a

1094
01:06:51.239 --> 01:06:53.440
promise that a descendant of David would reign on the

1095
01:06:53.480 --> 01:06:56.800
throne Second Samuel, which the people look forward to. And

1096
01:06:56.880 --> 01:07:01.800
number three restoration from exile. Prophets like Amah and Isaiah

1097
01:07:01.880 --> 01:07:03.880
spoke of God's plan to restore the people to their

1098
01:07:03.960 --> 01:07:07.400
land after the exile. The people of Israel therefore should

1099
01:07:07.440 --> 01:07:10.199
wait on the Lord with a specific expectation that their

1100
01:07:10.199 --> 01:07:13.840
exile would end and that God would restore them. As

1101
01:07:13.920 --> 01:07:17.440
these promises were clearly outlined and the covenant made to them,

1102
01:07:17.679 --> 01:07:20.760
so AI acknowledges what I'm saying is, wait a minute,

1103
01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:22.920
we can't we just go to Isaiah forty thirty one,

1104
01:07:23.079 --> 01:07:25.239
and we all just grab on to that, which is

1105
01:07:25.239 --> 01:07:27.800
what typically devotions will do, and which is a little

1106
01:07:27.800 --> 01:07:30.760
bit what Ai itself did. So I had to challenge

1107
01:07:30.760 --> 01:07:33.800
it a little bit right, so it says you're right

1108
01:07:34.119 --> 01:07:37.840
and saying that. Applying this passage directly to us can

1109
01:07:37.840 --> 01:07:40.360
be challenging because we do not share the same covenantal

1110
01:07:40.599 --> 01:07:44.079
promises as the original audience. However, the broader principle about

1111
01:07:44.079 --> 01:07:46.760
God's character in his ways are timeless, and here's how

1112
01:07:46.760 --> 01:07:50.440
we might bridge the gap to apply Isaiah forty thirty

1113
01:07:50.440 --> 01:07:54.000
one faithfully to our lives. God's unchanging character. While the

1114
01:07:54.000 --> 01:07:57.320
specific of the promises differ between Israel and Christians today,

1115
01:07:57.519 --> 01:08:01.000
the underlying truth about God's nature remains the same. Isaiah

1116
01:08:01.079 --> 01:08:05.320
forty emphasizes God's sovereignty, strength, and faithfulness. These attributes are

1117
01:08:05.360 --> 01:08:07.840
still true for Christians today. Just as God renewed the

1118
01:08:07.840 --> 01:08:10.199
strength of his people when they trusted in him, he

1119
01:08:10.239 --> 01:08:12.000
does the same for us. In the context of the

1120
01:08:12.039 --> 01:08:15.480
New Covenant through Christ, the principle of trust and dependence

1121
01:08:15.559 --> 01:08:19.720
upon God New Covenant promises for believers and a broader

1122
01:08:19.840 --> 01:08:24.000
view of waiting and then the universal struggle with weariness,

1123
01:08:24.720 --> 01:08:28.079
waiting for redemption and during in trials, trusting in God.

1124
01:08:28.159 --> 01:08:30.560
I could go on. I mean, it goes on forever,

1125
01:08:30.800 --> 01:08:34.039
finding different ways to bridge the gap between the original

1126
01:08:34.119 --> 01:08:38.199
historical context and us. But it acknowledges well, there is

1127
01:08:38.239 --> 01:08:42.720
some difficulty here. That's all. That's what you witness that

1128
01:08:42.880 --> 01:08:48.399
unfold literally within minutes. And I could like to read

1129
01:08:48.439 --> 01:08:50.319
all of that. To go through all of that would

1130
01:08:50.359 --> 01:08:53.119
turn into an hour long program in and of itself. It

1131
01:08:53.119 --> 01:09:01.359
could turn into multiple sermons. Now, you may not utilize AI.

1132
01:09:01.560 --> 01:09:04.000
You may not be utilizing it, but let me tell you,

1133
01:09:05.760 --> 01:09:09.720
the next generation is going to AI is going to

1134
01:09:09.800 --> 01:09:13.000
be integrated into everything. AI is going to be integrated

1135
01:09:13.039 --> 01:09:16.760
into everything. It's happening. Apple's trying to get it all.

1136
01:09:16.800 --> 01:09:19.359
I mean, with the iOS eighteen, they're going to be

1137
01:09:19.399 --> 01:09:23.000
doing the Apple Intelligence that they're going to be rolling

1138
01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:25.560
that out in October to the end of the year,

1139
01:09:25.920 --> 01:09:28.760
and then the every Apple device is going to have

1140
01:09:28.800 --> 01:09:31.920
Apple Intelligence built in and it's it's just going to

1141
01:09:31.960 --> 01:09:34.199
be integrated in everything. You're not even going to even

1142
01:09:34.520 --> 01:09:37.720
realize it. AI is going to be integrated into everything.

1143
01:09:38.800 --> 01:09:42.520
And once it's integrated into everything, now here comes the challenge.

1144
01:09:42.560 --> 01:09:45.520
It's always been the challenge to the individual Christian. What

1145
01:09:45.600 --> 01:09:48.800
are you going to do? You have We've all you've

1146
01:09:48.800 --> 01:09:52.119
always had these things available. Some Christians use the things

1147
01:09:52.119 --> 01:09:54.000
that are available. They make use of it.

1148
01:09:54.119 --> 01:09:56.760
They're using radio, they're using books, they're using the internet,

1149
01:09:56.760 --> 01:09:57.920
they're using podcasts.

1150
01:09:58.000 --> 01:10:00.880
They use it, right. And then you have others who'd

1151
01:10:00.880 --> 01:10:02.399
just be like, well, I'm going to church on Sunday

1152
01:10:02.399 --> 01:10:06.000
and that's it. That's all I care to do. So

1153
01:10:06.039 --> 01:10:08.479
it's going to be available. Well, christians use it. I

1154
01:10:08.479 --> 01:10:13.560
don't know. I've been talking about AI for a long

1155
01:10:13.600 --> 01:10:15.800
time and just like right here, you just I mean,

1156
01:10:17.600 --> 01:10:20.600
I could have my devotional time with A every day.

1157
01:10:20.640 --> 01:10:22.239
I could just sit down with AI. I'm like, okay,

1158
01:10:22.239 --> 01:10:24.239
I'm ready for my morning devotional, what do you have

1159
01:10:24.319 --> 01:10:27.199
for me today? And then immediately look at it, read it,

1160
01:10:27.479 --> 01:10:30.000
read the text, start doing my own work, then come

1161
01:10:30.039 --> 01:10:32.079
back to AI with all of my follow up questions,

1162
01:10:32.079 --> 01:10:35.479
my challenges, my concerns are asking for and for more information,

1163
01:10:35.640 --> 01:10:37.840
asking it to break it down into greater detail, and

1164
01:10:37.880 --> 01:10:40.960
my fifteen minute devotional could turn into probably two hours

1165
01:10:41.119 --> 01:10:48.560
and I wouldn't even have to try. I could probably,

1166
01:10:48.960 --> 01:10:51.319
I hate to say it, you could probably get more

1167
01:10:51.359 --> 01:10:53.760
from a sitting down with your cup of coffee, a

1168
01:10:53.800 --> 01:10:59.880
Bible notebook, and chat GPT than you could by getting

1169
01:10:59.920 --> 01:11:01.680
in your car and driving to church and listening to

1170
01:11:01.720 --> 01:11:11.920
a sermon. Now here's what I would challenge you to do.

1171
01:11:12.039 --> 01:11:16.520
If you're using chat GPT, what did your pastor preach

1172
01:11:16.560 --> 01:11:23.039
on Sunday? You got your sermon notes, go ask AI

1173
01:11:24.079 --> 01:11:28.039
to generate a sermon, or to generate a Bible study,

1174
01:11:28.359 --> 01:11:32.119
or to generate a devotional based on what the passage

1175
01:11:32.239 --> 01:11:36.239
was at church and compare the two. Compare the two,

1176
01:11:37.199 --> 01:11:40.039
and if it's not in depth enough, ask AI to

1177
01:11:40.079 --> 01:11:42.199
make it more in depth that you need more information

1178
01:11:42.399 --> 01:11:45.319
or you need more and just give it within fifteen minutes.

1179
01:11:45.439 --> 01:11:49.159
Just see what AI has produced contrasted to what your

1180
01:11:49.159 --> 01:11:54.520
pastor produced. Now, this is not a condemnation or a

1181
01:11:54.600 --> 01:11:58.399
indictment against your pastor or any other pastor, because this

1182
01:11:58.399 --> 01:12:00.279
would apply to me as well. What I'm trying to

1183
01:12:00.279 --> 01:12:04.920
say is I think, ultimately AI can produce better, more

1184
01:12:04.960 --> 01:12:26.159
in depth content than your church can or any person can. Now,

1185
01:12:26.159 --> 01:12:27.960
what does that mean for the future. I don't have

1186
01:12:28.000 --> 01:12:32.199
any good ideas I'll let you tell me all right,

1187
01:12:32.680 --> 01:12:34.560
that went seventy two minutes. It was not supposed to

1188
01:12:34.600 --> 01:12:36.399
go that long. We went through a lot of different things.

1189
01:12:36.439 --> 01:12:38.680
I do apologize at the beginning, I don't know what

1190
01:12:38.760 --> 01:12:41.399
it was. I got stumbled on and I kept trying

1191
01:12:41.399 --> 01:12:43.319
to say it. I think I was trying to say.

1192
01:12:43.680 --> 01:12:45.439
I don't remember what word I was trying to say.

1193
01:12:45.479 --> 01:12:48.720
I don't remember I was getting I got a little

1194
01:12:48.720 --> 01:12:51.000
distracted from the beginning when my microphone wouldn't turn on.

1195
01:12:51.039 --> 01:12:52.760
I'm not going to make any excuse, but see, if

1196
01:12:52.760 --> 01:12:55.239
it was AI, it wouldn't have made any of those mistakes,

1197
01:12:55.560 --> 01:13:02.239
right anything I tried to explain if I was struggling

1198
01:13:02.239 --> 01:13:04.439
for the right word A, I wouldn't struggle with that.

1199
01:13:04.520 --> 01:13:06.479
It would just it would move right along. It would

1200
01:13:06.479 --> 01:13:08.880
provide the right word at the right time. Now, it

1201
01:13:08.920 --> 01:13:12.479
would remove the human element absolutely, and the human element

1202
01:13:12.520 --> 01:13:15.199
I think sometimes is a good thing. But what I'm

1203
01:13:15.199 --> 01:13:17.479
trying to say is we've reached a point in our

1204
01:13:17.479 --> 01:13:20.880
spiritual lives. We're there. Well, it's not the future, it's here,

1205
01:13:20.920 --> 01:13:26.840
it's right now where literally just me and AI could

1206
01:13:26.840 --> 01:13:30.000
spend the day just talking, spending all day like A

1207
01:13:30.159 --> 01:13:33.399
I's giving me the concept weight on God. Okay, now

1208
01:13:33.560 --> 01:13:35.600
I could just really work and work and work and

1209
01:13:35.640 --> 01:13:37.840
work with Ai, back and forth, back and forth, just

1210
01:13:37.880 --> 01:13:40.119
going back and forth, and we could we could spend

1211
01:13:40.119 --> 01:13:44.439
the day and deep theological discussion and hermoneutical discussion. We

1212
01:13:44.479 --> 01:13:47.920
are and it even acknowledged my hermeneutical challenge to Isaiah

1213
01:13:48.000 --> 01:13:50.279
forty thirty one. I could even expand a little bit

1214
01:13:50.319 --> 01:13:52.439
on that. I could ask you some follow up questions.

1215
01:13:52.600 --> 01:13:55.520
I literally I could spend two three four hours just

1216
01:13:55.600 --> 01:14:00.760
on this subject with Ai, and then I could take

1217
01:14:00.800 --> 01:14:02.960
all of my work then go to the sermon's two

1218
01:14:03.000 --> 01:14:05.560
point Oh app find me a sermon on Isaiah forty

1219
01:14:05.640 --> 01:14:08.119
thirty one, and guess what I may find myself by

1220
01:14:08.159 --> 01:14:10.640
the end of that sermon. You know what I may find.

1221
01:14:10.680 --> 01:14:15.239
I may find myself frustrated, irritated, and just utterly confused

1222
01:14:15.399 --> 01:14:17.760
and how it had the person handled the text of

1223
01:14:17.800 --> 01:14:22.680
scripture and in many cases obliterated historical context, textual context.

1224
01:14:22.840 --> 01:14:26.760
And just remember we've done that countless times where I'm like, well,

1225
01:14:26.840 --> 01:14:28.600
let's go listen to sermons on this, and You're like,

1226
01:14:29.079 --> 01:14:31.680
why is no one dealing with the issue? And in

1227
01:14:31.720 --> 01:14:36.680
many times you will hear me in real time. I'll

1228
01:14:36.680 --> 01:14:38.960
tell you I'm searching for something and I'm asking AI

1229
01:14:39.039 --> 01:14:40.840
boom boom, boom boom, and a I will be like,

1230
01:14:41.399 --> 01:14:43.079
here's the problem with that, here's the problem with that,

1231
01:14:43.119 --> 01:14:51.159
and it's like in real time. Now. I know nobody

1232
01:14:51.199 --> 01:14:53.239
wants to acknowledge No, I don't think anybody wants to

1233
01:14:53.239 --> 01:14:58.600
address this, but we already have now AI programs that

1234
01:14:58.880 --> 01:15:04.880
are that that will write sermons for pastors. So it's

1235
01:15:04.920 --> 01:15:07.840
not going to be long before your pastor's sermons. The

1236
01:15:07.920 --> 01:15:12.119
younger the pastor is, the younger the pastor is, there's

1237
01:15:12.159 --> 01:15:14.319
going to be more likely that their sermons are more

1238
01:15:14.359 --> 01:15:18.119
generated by AI than it was hours and hours in

1239
01:15:18.159 --> 01:15:22.159
the study. I guarantee you. I mean, we've already had

1240
01:15:22.199 --> 01:15:26.039
those issues, remember the big plagiarism controversy that was going on.

1241
01:15:26.279 --> 01:15:34.800
It's going to be AI generated sermons now. But see

1242
01:15:34.880 --> 01:15:37.319
do you see where that goes? If your pastor is

1243
01:15:37.359 --> 01:15:40.800
getting his sermon from AI, you can get the same

1244
01:15:40.920 --> 01:15:59.800
sermon on your AI app, making not only the church obsolete.

1245
01:16:00.279 --> 01:16:03.439
And I really have been struggling with this, why do

1246
01:16:03.520 --> 01:16:11.760
you even need this podcast? I've really been asking that

1247
01:16:11.840 --> 01:16:18.840
question deeply lately, if I'm putting together something and I

1248
01:16:18.880 --> 01:16:20.840
look something up, and I'm doing a lot of work

1249
01:16:20.880 --> 01:16:24.199
with AI, why do you need me. You can look

1250
01:16:24.199 --> 01:16:27.279
it up yourself, you can do it yourself. You don't

1251
01:16:27.319 --> 01:16:43.399
need me. Will the first thing that becomes obsolete because

1252
01:16:43.399 --> 01:16:53.560
of AI? Will the first casualty of AI be Christian podcasters, pastors,

1253
01:16:54.479 --> 01:17:06.159
Bible study leaders, Sunday school teachers, the church. Thanks for listening, everyone,

1254
01:17:06.159 --> 01:17:09.359
Have a great day. God bless