Hot Takes | AI and a Pro-Human Future | Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt

So good to see you here today. And today we are beginning a brand new series called Hot Takes. Okay, get this. We're going to talk about what the Bible says about AI, aliens, apocalypse, and a world that's getting weird. That's what we're going to talk about this month. This is like unlike any other sermon series I've ever done in my entire life. I'm going to tell you right now. So what I've decided to do is I decided to talk about what the world is talking about right now, what culture is talking about, what your coworkers are talking about, your fellow students are talking about. And if the church is not talking about it, then it almost looks like we might be ignorant to it. And so today we're going to talk about a topic and this is going to be like no other church service you've ever been to in your entire life. I guarantee you. We're going to have fun this month. We really are. And even though the Bible doesn't specifically address some of these current issues, the Bible has 40,000 foot truths that can inform us on how to live and navigate the complexities of our current world. So this month we're going to tackle some of these hot topics and some of them that they're on the forefront of not only our minds, but our culture's minds. And I would just start out by saying this. We are living in what I would call an extraordinary moment. Change is happening so quickly, quicker than any other time in human history. The speed and the scale of change right now is like nothing that we've ever experienced as humans before. If you look back even less than 20 years ago, you know, Steve Jobs and Apple came out with the iPhone.

It ushered in a brand new era of smartphones that we now have the world in our pockets. And then even more recent, COVID, that pandemic, there was unprecedented change. Like literally within weeks, world economies reshaped people's thoughts. It altered our everyday life. I've said this multiple times. It literally changed the psyche of our nation. And since COVID, there's been high tension. Now don't get me wrong. I don't think it's the most tension our world has ever seen. There are other periods of time that maybe we as a world lived in greater tension than we are right now. But in our lifetime, there's been great tension. I mean, there's the war in Ukraine that just keeps on going on and on. On October 7th, Hamas attacked Israel and now it is spun into another volatile Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has people divided all over the world. Anti-Semitism has rose its ugly head, reared its ugly head again in a new way. On top of that, we have the war in Iran that is going on. In fact, you may not know this, but in the last two years, there have been 61 state-based armed conflicts around the world. That is the most since 1946. In other words, there are wars going on of those 61-13 are categorized as full-blown wars. Now, there's soaring fuel costs, there's energy costs, there's food costs, which are putting a real strain on people's pocketbooks. Can I get an amen on that, right? And here's the thing. And then on top of that, there's this thing called AI or artificial intelligence. And some of you recently bought maybe a washer or a dryer or an electronic toothbrush and it says it has AI in it, all right? Here's the thing, there's a greater conversation going on that we are just going to talk a little bit about today.

I still remember November of 2022 is when chat GPT became available to the general public. And we were actually, it was a Sunday, it was in between services. And Kayden, our oldest son, came to where Jen and I ran into the room and said, "Hey, we're on this laptop," he goes, "Have you heard about this chat GPT thing?" And we're like, "No." And he puts it down, he gets online, and we start putting in prompts and bam, it's spitting out answers. It's almost like we're having this conversation. I was like amazed. I'm like, "Wow, this is a game changer." And in less than four years, AI has begun to reshape how we work, how we learn, how we I communicate. AI is now beginning to replace workers and employees in many industries. It is accelerated change like crazy. In fact, some of the leading scientists and even the developers of AI are beginning to sound an alarm that maybe AI and its advancement and how quickly it is growing and mutating, you could say, that it is outpacing ethical boundaries to keep it in check. In fact, just last month, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the leading AI developers in the world, actually developing what is now called Super AI, just did a voluntary slowdown of the company saying that you know what, they are creating something, I mean, I'm gonna put this in the layman's terms, they're creating something that they may lose control of. Like AI is advancing so quickly that it can start operating unilaterally

outside of its boundaries, outside of its cage, you could say. It could seize control of internet connected computers. It could like hack into secured systems. It could start manipulating national economies. It could start having a mind of its own. And all of these things are creating what some psychologists are calling anticipatory anxiety. In other words, that term means fear of potential future events. So are we on the verge of this? Or are we on the verge of this? (audience laughing) Terminator, Wally, hopefully I think all of us would say we don't want either of those futures, right? So we could spend days, weeks talking about all of the what-ifs of AI. We could, for those of you that geek out on this, you can go online and there's plenty of people that have opinions and thoughts, have done studies. There's a ton of conspiracy theories out there, trust me. And all kinds of passionate beliefs about what is going on and where the future is going. And I would encourage you, I would say this. As Christians, I think we should encourage or we should educate ourselves about AI, but make sure that you are going to credible sources, all right? Not everything that your grandma forwards you from YouTube is a credible source, okay? All right?

And here's the thing, we aren't gonna do this today. We're not gonna get all fearful about the future. I personally believe that AI and technology can greatly help our world and it can greatly help our individual lives. However, we must navigate the future carefully and wisely. This is what I wanna talk to you about today. And I believe today the thing, there's all kinds of topics we could talk about when it comes to AI, but this is what I wanna drill down on. I believe one of our biggest challenges when it comes to AI is this, is that we cannot let artificial replace what is eternal. All right? We can't do that. And I'm gonna dive down into this a little bit. And today, for some of you, you're like going, well, I don't use AI, yeah, but is AI using you? Oh, here's the thing, you can't avoid it. It is inevitable. I don't care if you live on a commune in the middle of nowhere. AI is inevitable. So therefore, you and I must educate ourselves on this. And we also need to look at it through the lens of what the word of God says regarding various parts of it. And so there is a brilliant man by the name of John Lennox. And I would say this, especially if you like kind of more the academic kind of heady stuff.

Read John Lennox. He's a Christian. He's a mathematician. He's a philosopher of science and a bioethicist. And this is what he says in his book, God, AI and the end of history. He says technology, especially computer technology, has now replaced religion in many minds as the provider of incredible hope of saving humanity in the future. This is why the pope, even recently about four months ago, came out with a paper on AI and he says, be careful, we could be creating a modern day tower of Babel. The oldest temptation in human history-- We can even be God. In fact, if you look at Genesis chapter 3, as serpent who is Satan is talking with Eve, this is what he says. He says to the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman, "For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God." This is the oldest temptation. This is the temptation that every generation since has been tempted to fall into the trap. The thought that we can look to something to give us what only God can give us, and many times that's something we look to as ourselves. Israeli author and well-known atheist, he's an atheist, Yuval Noah Harari. He writes in a book called Homeodious, A Brief History of Tomorrow. This is what he says. Every technological problem has a technological solution. We don't need to wait for the second coming in order to overcome death. That's a shot at Christianity, by the way.

He says this, "It will be necessary to change our biochemistry and re-engineer our bodies and minds. It will involve re-engineering Homo sapiens so that it can enjoy everlasting pleasure." Notice the goal. Having raised humanity above the beastly level of survival struggles, we will now aim to upgrade humans into gods, and turn Homo sapiens into Homo deus. Homo sapiens into Homo deus, that's a Latin term, deus means God. In other words, we are going to go from just being at the struggle level to now being little G gods. As we re-engineer ourselves, as we re-engineer the future through technology yikes, I feel like I've seen this movie before. It's like Victor Frankenstein, the scientist, who tried to create life, and what he created was an uncontrollable monster. While artificial intelligence may eventually become too powerful, the greater danger is humanity's desire to play God. So the technology is new, the temptation is as old as Eden, and you know what, it doesn't work. Lord Jonathan Sack, who was the chief rabbi in the United Kingdom, said this, "Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. Science and technology are important. In fact, I'm a little scared as I look at the American church. There's some pastors and some churches that are preaching that we should disregard science and only embrace faith. I will tell you that science and faith don't have to be enemies. Science is the study of God's creation. Now we don't believe everything, all the theories of science necessarily, but here's the thing, as people of faith, we can also embrace science. We can embrace technology. We can embrace AI.

I believe they're incredibly important and beneficial, but these things will never give you real meaning. AI can imitate humanity, but only humans can practice humanity. You are made in the image of God. He created us. He knows how we function, and he instructs us how to live. In fact, in Genesis 1, verse 27, it says this, "So God created mankind in His own image." We're created in the image of God, Imago Dei. In the image of God, He created them, male and female, He created them. So here's the thing, your value, your future, your ability to thrive is found in a Creator. And as my friend and author, Kerry Newhough, said in his latest book, "As the world becomes more artificial, the church is calling is to become more human, more human, more of God who God created us. Do you know that God has a pro-human future? And so I want to talk about this. I want to talk about some ancient biblical truths for a new technology. Now I realize for some of you today, I'm talking at things and you're like going, well, this is a little bit above my head. No, no, no, it's not. We're gonna make this bite-sized, all right? First of all, I want to say this, our greatest problem cannot be solved by human ingenuity. That's the first thing we got to understand. You and I need to realize that our greatest problem as human beings cannot be solved because of human ingenuity. Humanity keeps developing new ways of accomplishing extraordinary things,

but our greatest need still remains spiritual. We have a spiritual need. Sin has separated us from God. Reconciliation to him is our greatest need. AI, science, and technology cannot solve this problem. It cannot solve this problem. (audience applauding) All those things have tried to solve the problem, but I love what John Lennox says. Again, later on in his book, he says this, Christ had triumphantly created what one totalitarian regime after another, such as those of the Nazis and the Soviets have tried to create in history a new kind of human being. They failed because they tried to build utopia without a solution to human sin. And attempts are still being made using technology in the hope of designing a new type of human or even a trans human being. Think Robocop, think six million dollar man, for those of you that are old, all right? Using artificial intelligence to produce one with abilities transcending what we have now. However, scripture would warn us that they will fail for the same reason, failure to take human sin into account. The problem is sin. The problem is the human heart, but God provides a solution to this. In fact, Jesus is quoted in the book of John

as saying this, "I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus said. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? He asked. Yeah, I believe that. See, our ultimate hope is not in what humanity creates and it's in who Jesus is. And technology and science might be able to repair the human heart that cannot fix sin in the human heart. Forgiveness and purpose and lasting happiness and joy are only found in the person of Jesus. These things are not found in human accomplishment or self-sufficiency. Second thing we need to know is this, is that we gotta realize that having knowledge is not the same as having wisdom. The world is getting smarter, but are we getting wiser? See, here's the problem. The problem is we know more information than ever. I don't have the time to talk about complex thinking versus complicated thinking. I don't have time to talk about these things, but this is what I would say that we still struggle. Even though we have more knowledge, we still struggle with the same brokenness. We still are searching for meaning. We know more about how life works, but less about why life matters.

You see, we have knowledge of everything in the world and very little understanding of the world. Technology can help you master the mechanics of life, but you can still miss the meaning of life. So here's the thing, true wisdom is not found in technology, it's found in a relationship. The Apostle Paul says this in the book of Colossians. He says, "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ." Now listen, Christ in whom, in whom, in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You want to have true wisdom and knowledge. It is found in Christ. It's found in Jesus. (congregation applauding) Life's deep dreams. That's not the answer. It's knowing Jesus who gives us divine revelation and divine wisdom. Third thing is this knowledge isn't enough. You need discernment. And oh, I'll tell you what, city first dial in on this one. Even if I've been a little, giving you a little glassy-eyed look lately, okay? In the last few minutes, dial in to this one. Those Christians have been stereotyped as gullible. And we as Christians must be people who have wisdom and knowledge. You and I, though, need Holy Spirit discernment in these days to know what is really right and what is not right. Says in Thessalonians, it says this, "But test everything."

Do you test everything? And what do you hold on to? What is good? Truth will be challenged in the future. It is already being challenged right now. How many of you look online, you look at the news, you look at different outlets or social media and you're like going, "This isn't true." And yet everybody's believing it. This is why understanding God's word is so vitally important because you don't, if you don't know truth, you don't know how to discern a lie. It's so important. It's the way like back in the day when they used to train bank tellers how to discern counterfeit money or to feel counterfeit money. What they did is they trained them with real money. They had them get used to feeling and using real money so much that when a counterfeit bill came, it didn't feel right. And in the same way, you need to know truth well enough that when a lie comes, it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right. John 14, it says this, it says, "But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name Jesus says, 'We'll teach you all things and we'll remind you of everything I have said to you, but listen, you can't be reminded of something you don't know." Do you hear what I just said? The Holy Spirit cannot remind you of something if you don't know it. So here we got to do, we got to seek truth from the word of God. We need to take in the word of God because it's true. And then we say, "Holy Spirit, give me discernment because discernment will help you from chasing tangents or believing lies or getting distracted or becoming deceived or being gullible." Says in 2 Timothy this, Paul is writing, he says, "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching.

They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear." Welcome to 2026. We must be discerners of truth holding on to what is good. Next point is this, you're well-being and this is big. This is big, especially I want to just speak to the younger generation too. It's not just younger, it's older too, but all of us, but the younger generation especially, your well-being depends on human interaction. We were designed to interact with humans. In a 2025 study, this is only a year ago, in a 2025 study of common sense media, 31 percent of teens said conversations with AI companions or chatbots are satisfying or more satisfying than conversations with real people. That's one out of every three. One out of every three teens right now at CityFirst in the world. They're saying one out of every three would rather have a conversation with a chatbot, they find it more satisfying than with a real person. We become connected to technology and less connected to one another, smartphones, social media, fundamentally changed everything, how we connect with one another. What was once face-to-face interaction, playing as children, talking, experiencing life together has now increasingly shifted to hours of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. And as MIT professor Sherry Turkles has said, we are now for-- We're not present. We're not with people. AI can simulate a conversation. Hear me. It can simulate a conversation, but it cannot replace the need for human companionship. AI is a tool. It is all it is. It is ones and zeros. It is a program. It is not your friend. It is not your mentor. It is not your shepherd. AI is none of those things. Again, I have so much packed in this sermon. I didn't even have time to tell you the studies about people who are romantically engaging with AI now. Having conversations. Listen, AI is not your lover. AI is not your leader. You must interact with other people to grow yourself. This is why at City First we believe what it says in the book of Hebrews. It says this, let us think of ways to motivate one another, to acts of love and good works, and let us not

neglect our meeting together. In other words, we come together for church. We don't have church by ourselves. We come together as some people do. Even back 2,000 years ago, some people were like, "I'm just going to have church by myself." But encourage one another, especially now, that the day of his return is dry near, which, by the way, I am in a few weeks, you're going to talk about the return of Jesus, the apocalypse. That's going to be one of our hot takes that we're talking about. Next week, I'm talking about aliens, whether they're real or not. We're going to have some fun. Bring friends. Church, life groups, face-centered friendships are necessary, face-to-face interaction, where we can grow, where we can do life together. Fifth thing is this. This is another thing that I think is a challenge when it comes to AI. You, yes, you can do hard things, so do them. All right. I'm sorry. What do you mean by that? Well, there is this new term. We're going to be tempted more and more, and people are already doing it. It's called cognitive offloading. In other words, I don't have to think I can just ask chat. I don't have to read. I could just ask Claude. You see, I could do all of these different things. We have more information available to us than any generation in history, but access to information is not the same as having the ability to critically think. So the more we allow technology to do our thinking, the more we develop an ability to become dull in our minds. We become dull because this little thing up here is a muscle. It has to be exercised. You have to exercise it. So this is what I want to encourage us to do, City First. I encourage us to work. I encourage us to read. I encourage us to think. I encourage us to process and meditate on things, and I encourage us to grow. Philippians 4.13, I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Don't take the easy road all the time. I'm not saying you shouldn't use AI to help with your work or your life or whatever. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is, is this thing is not your mind. You have a mind. So use it. Don't take the easy road. Otherwise, you will cheat yourself out of the chance to grow and experience God's strength flowing through you. You can do hard things. Do them. You can do your homework students. Don't have chat, do it for you. You can do things, adults. Don't have Claude or Huggyface or any of these other AIs. Don't have them do everything. Instead, exercise that muscle of your mind. And the last thing I want to leave with you is this, your ultimate source for help and hope is God. It is not technology. It is not becoming your own God.

Here's a huge temptation, which is why people go to technology or they even go to AI for solutions, is because the answers are immediate. That's the reason why. You know, I can, I can, Now it's sourcing things. You realize it's sourcing things. Like when you ask it a question about what is true, it's sourcing things. The question is, what is it sourcing to give you back an answer? And on top of that, programmers can determine what it sources. So here's the thing. I mean, it's kind of scary. There's like five CEOs on the planet right now that are determining AI's future and by the way, your future. So here's the thing. Technology has a place. I am pro-technology. I am pro-science. I am pro these things, but I'm more pro-human and I am very much pro-God. So here's the thing, faith, many times doesn't give you immediate answers. You got to wrestle. You got to wait. In fact, there's a story I don't have time to go into it, but in Genesis chapter 32, there's a man by the name of Jacob, very strange story. He wrestles with God through the night. All through the night, he's wrestling with God. And finally, at one point,

Jacob looks and says, "I will not let you go "unless you bless me." There will be nights in your life, the night of life, and that isn't a physical night. Could be what you're going through in your heart, in your emotions. Could be going through in your circumstances, the nights of life, that there are no easy answers. You just wrestle. You just wrestle and wrestle and wrestle. Nothing that chat or clod or anybody that is out there that you could type in a question to, none of these things can answer the questions that are in your soul. Because AI can give you instant answers, but only God can give you lasting strength. So here's the thing, as we look into the future, I'll be the first to admit, the world is getting more weird, and things are a little unstable right now. And technology is changing faster than we can keep up, or even ethics can keep up at this point. And nobody really knows what the future is gonna look like, but here's what I do know. I don't have to know the future and what the future holds, because I know who holds the future.

I know who holds the future. So therefore, I don't have to fear. I need to be aware. I need to be cautious. I need to be wise, but I don't have to fear. I don't have to have anticipatory anxiety, because the same Jesus that conquered sin and defeated death and walked out of the grave is the one that can be trusted for my future. He could be trusted for my tomorrow's. Jesus is speaking, he says this, peace, I leave with you, my peace, I give you. Now listen, I do not give to you as the world gives. So listen, we are made in the image of God. AI is made in the image of man. So here's the thing. AI and technology cannot give you the same peace that Jesus gives you. He even says the peace the world gives you is not real peace. So do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. See, the future may be uncertain, uncertain to us, but it's not uncertain to God. So don't put your hope in what humanity is creating. Put your hope in the one who created humanity. So as we close, this is not an anti-AI sermon. This is a pro-human future, pro-God sermon. This is a sermon that says that technology is going to give you the illusion

that you can look to it as your source, or you could even look to yourself as small G-God. And I'm here to say that it's the same problem that we've had since Eden. We look for quick answers. There's a God that's bigger than us that still, like the song says, has the whole world in his hands, and we can trust him with our futures, our presence, and we can even give him our past. So this is what I know. I know that God has great plans for us in the future. I know that we can trust him. I know that the peace that passes all understanding is sourced from heaven, not your screen. And I know this, that God is with us to the end of the ages, he says. So here's what we do as a church. We study up. We use technology to the degree that is ethically right. We allow it to benefit our lives, but we also say this. On top of all that, Jesus, you are truth, you are peace, you are my source, you are my Savior. I will look to you. I serve you with every head bowed, never eye closed. Glory Father, thank you that God, you hold the future, you hold our present. Lord, thank you that you created us to function in a certain way. Lord, I pray that as we talked about today, that we would do that, that we would get face-to-face with brothers and sisters in Christ, that we gather together as your church, that we lift up your name, that we would look to you, not human ingenuity. We look to you as our source. Lord, you hold the whole world in your hands, you know the future. You are not bound by time. So therefore, Lord God, you're already there, you know what's going to happen. And Lord, you are going to lead us, you're going to guide us. Lord, I pray that we'd embrace wisdom, and that God, that we would hang on to truth, to your word.

That Jesus, we'd be discerners, that your Holy Spirit would guide us and lead us into the days ahead. And God, we have, we have hearts full of faith. We believe that our tomorrows are going to be full of your presence and your provision and your strength and your blessing. So Lord, we are grateful to you that you lead us and guide us. We love you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Can we give God a huge round of applause? What a great message we hope and pray that that encouraged you in your faith journey today. And before we go, we just want to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the leader and the forgiver of your life. And we want you to know that God loves you, has a plan for you. And part of that plan is to have a relationship with you. And the Bible talks about that we've all sinned, that we've all missed the mark. And that in order to have a relationship with God, all we have to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins. And that because he rose again, we can now have a new life in him. So if you would, would you pray this prayer after me if you want to make that decision to follow Jesus today? Just say, "Dear Lord, I know that I've made mistakes, and I need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sin, and now I invite you to be the leader in the forgiver of my life." In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And if you prayed that prayer, best decision that you will ever make. And we want to let you know now only our Adam and I celebrating with you here at City First, but all of heaven celebrates because of that decision. And here's what's exciting is that you don't have to figure out your faith journey on your own. We want to partner with you as you grow in faith. So I want to encourage you, let someone know about the decision that you just made. Because faith isn't meant to be lived out alone. Also, super important, make sure you get the new beginning resource. In this resource, there's a 14-day devotional, very quick, easy to read, but really helpful that will help you understand the decision that you just made. That's right. And when you sign up for the new beginning resource, you're actually going to get access to a few videos from our pastors, Jeremy and Jen, and they're going to show you and teach you how to pray, how to read the Bible,

and most importantly, how to also have Christ-centered relationships. You know, if you have questions at all about faith, you can drop them in the chat, or you can always shoot us a DM on social media, and we would love to answer the questions that you have. And another great next step is we have GrowthTrack that's available the first Sunday of every month. When you are a part of GrowthTrack, not only you're going to discover your purpose, but you're going to grow in the future. This is available online or in person, so you can find that more information on our app. You can scan the QR code, but we would love to see you in GrowthTrack. - That's right, and around here, we believe in the power of prayer. So if you're navigating something and you desire prayer, we would love to take a moment and pray with you. DMS on social media, or you can drop it in the chat, and we would love to take a moment to pray for the requests that you have today. - That's right, God sees you, He hears you, and we are praying with you, and also, we want to encourage you to keep coming back to church, make it a priority to meet with God in a faith community each and every week, and don't just keep it to yourself, send the link to somebody, invite someone that you know who needs encouragement to join you at City First Church. Well, City First Anywhere fam, we love you, you know we're praying for you,

we can't wait to see you next week, and we're praying God's blessing on your life. We'll love you, and we'll see you next time. Great Week!