Hot Takes | Are We Alone? | Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt

I'm happy to be here on the Ward's Day. I am excited that you're here. Thank you so much for being here, Jen and I. Our honor that you're a part of the City First Church family. Want to welcome all of our locations, whether it be Cape Coral, Jamesville, or our wonderful individuals at God Behind Bars. We love you very much. Come on, put your hands together for all of our locations that are joining us here today. And for those of you who joined us online, thank you for being here. Well, we're in a series called Hot Takes, but the Bible says about AI, aliens, apocalypse and a world that is getting weird. Now, this is a fun month. I've never done a series like this in almost 20 years of being the senior pastor. And you know what, we're having fun with it. And the reason why the genesis of this series is because I've been having over the last year conversations with many of you outside of church, whether I run into you at like Home Depot or wherever. And you'll ask me questions. And these topics keep coming up, like about AI and about aliens and things like that. I mean, all different types of people. I mean, business owners are asking it. You know, young adults are asking it.

So I thought, why don't we have a series where we're talking about all the things that culture's talking about, but let's talk about it in the context of faith within the church. I mean, when was the last time you came to church and you heard a sermon on aliens, right? Well, turn the person next to you and say, well, today's your day. Today's your day. There have been dozens and dozens of blockbuster movies throughout the years about extraterrestrial life in the universe. I mean, you could go back a century even, but throughout the decades, there's this infatuation in Hollywood with the possibility of aliens. Go all the way back to 1902. And he called this the very first movie about aliens. It was called a trip to the moon, 1902. It was mind-blowing. Like, I mean, you know, cinema had just been invented. And literally, people are going to the theater and they're seeing like a rocket ship landing on the moon and all this kind of stuff. Well, then in 1936, movies like "Flash Gordon" came. And then in 1956, the invasion of the body snatchers, you know? When Americans saw this, they were like, this is crazy stuff. And then the granddaddy of them all came in 1977,

close encounters of the third kind. This was like Steven Spielberg's like epic movie about aliens that come and make contact with us earthlings and such. I mean, people couldn't stop talking about this movie. And then pretty soon, other movies came. Other movies like "E.T." number or aliens or for those of you that love this whole like all the series "Star Wars," right? I mean, some of you silently hope that today, I'm going to verify the "Star Wars" is real. There's "Independence Day," "Men in Black," "Transformers," "Avatar," one of the highest-grossing movies ever. And then if you have kids like "Lilo and Stitch," I love "Lilo and Stitch." That was awesome. Even more recently, "Project Hail Mary." For those of you who haven't seen that movie, Jen loved it. I wasn't sure if it was because of the plot line or Ryan Gosling, but she loved it. [ Laughter ] But here, it's maybe a little bit of a spoiler alert. You actually like, you fall in love with a rock. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about, you got to watch it. It's actually a really good book. And then even lately, the latest version of Steven Spielberg's like "Arsonal of Alien" movies, "Disclosure Day." That came out this summer and such. And I'm barely scratching the surface. There are so many hundreds and hundreds of movies.

And on top of that, there are thousands and thousands of books that have been written about extraterrestrial life and aliens. My point is this. My point is the human race is infatuated with this idea that there may be intelligent life out in the stars. Like it's in a lot of the themes, a lot of the movies, a lot of the literature that we're reading. In fact, even on February 19th, 2026, President Trump stated that he was going to release classified government information regarding extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and UFOs. So even the president makes a statement about this. I mean, in other words, the government has been investigating and trying to discern stranger things in the universe for quite some time. Like are they hiding something at Area 51? of this year. And it was right before his movie Disclosure Day released. And he made a bunch of comments about it. And one of the things that I'm kind of summarizing something he said here, he said there's going to be a lot of fear, confusion, and a major disruption around the world. If we ever discover that aliens are real and the government has been hiding it for decades, he called it this, there's going to be an ontological shock and a social dislocation. Those are his quotes. And he raised the question, if such a thing is discovered that there is life in the stars, how is that going to shake people's faith in God or their view of who God is? In fact, as quote is this, is God our God only on this planet, on this planet? He's saying, you know, if there is a discovery of life out in the universe, then is that going to disrupt for Christians, the biblical narratives for, for, you know, Steven Spielberg is Jewish. And I'm not sure he's, he is a practicing Jewish individual with Judaism or not. But, you know, he grew up at least understanding the Old Testament is that going to disrupt that or whatever religion, most religions are based upon the idea that we here on this planet are the only ones here. So if there's life in the universe, how does that blow up people's idea of faith? Does it even blow up the Bible narrative?

Like did Jesus come to earth to die for us humans? And then he went to other planets to die for E.T. Like, are we, are we, we created an image of God, but also like there are aliens out there that are created in his image? I mean, it creates a lot of questions. I, I kind of think that Steven Spielberg's statements and questions are worth thinking about, you know, how does it change the view of God or the Bible narrative to know or to someday discover that there is life out there? Does some people even argue this? Some people say, if we discover life out there, it actually nullifies the Bible. It makes it look like a fairy tale. So would the discovery of life beyond earth challenge the existence of God or simply challenge the limits of our understanding of his creation? That's really the question. Like, let's talk about this today. You know, and the reason why I'm doing this is because I, I'm going to make a prediction here. This is Jeremy to work. All right. And I want you to listen real closely to what I have to say so that it's not misinterpreted so that when you go to Applebee's after lunch and you're talking about the sermon, you're not like, well, that pastor said that he tastes real, okay, or whatever. No, okay. Here's my prediction. All right. My prediction is this. I believe sometime in the future, whether it be in the next five years, 10 years, 20 years, I believe sometime in the future, someone who is credible, believable, is going to put forth evidence that there is life in the universe. Now, I did not say that I believe they're aliens, and I did not say I don't believe there's aliens. I'm just saying that I believe at some point somebody, I think it's inevitable, somebody who's credible is going to produce evidence, whether that evidence is legitimate or if it is fabricated, I don't know, but they're going to put forth convincing evidence that aliens are real. I think it's going to happen. Now, here's the thing. I also believe that at that moment, which is why I'm talking about this today, you need to understand your face so that you can have not only your own wrestling with that, but also conversations with others because most people are going to think if we discover aliens, the Bible isn't real. So I want to give you tools today to think about it and to think maybe for some of you out of the box, because I believe there are three explanations for aliens or extraterrestrial life. Now, there's more than three, but I don't have time for more than three. All right. So we're just going to talk about three, three of the biggest ones that I believe that I would like you to consider. First one is this, the first explanation for aliens is aliens are spiritual manifestations. In other words, the enemy is creating an illusion of intelligent life or beings out there.

We're talking about aliens the whole day's weird. Okay, can we just can we just be honest? I Mean this let's just embrace the weird for a moment But when I talked to Christians and we talked, you know, somebody asked me about aliens or what are most of the people I talked to have this opinion that really aliens don't exist But they are spiritual beings their demonic manifestations that that is not a real thing And and you know what the Bible is very clear that there is a devil Satan and the Bible is very clear There are demons now, you know, this makes sense because if there's good like God There is has to be evil and that's the enemy and and Satan and his demons are created beans They were created by God they were inhabiting heaven until they rebelled against God's authority and they got kicked out of heaven In fact, Jesus even talks about this in Luke chapter 10 verses 18 and 19 He says this I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven He's talking about a real factor. It's not metaphor. He's like I saw and I have given you he's talking now The believers authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the powers of the enemy nothing will harm you so so here's the thing he is saying I saw Satan get kicked out of heaven and And and and since that moment the enemy of our soul has been doing everything in his power to fight God and to mess With God's children you and I Now many people have theorized that the enemy is creating allusions of life in the universe Because it would cause great confusion for people who have faith in Jesus or would think about having faith in Jesus Like it's to the enemies advantage That they would say they would argue the enemies advantage that that it looks like there's life out there So it makes the Bible look irrelevant and call it on the question and and you know what? I Understand that I think there is some credibility to that argument some people would just say it's the enemies advantage And so these things are demonic Manifestations now to be accurate the Bible clearly says that Satan and his demons can interact with the physical world Can interact with the physical world? But it does not clearly say the Bible does not clearly say that the enemy can independently materialized into a physical human being or creatures so in other words the enemy can Manipulate a physical person but cannot all of a sudden manifest into a physical person

The Bible doesn't speak anything about that So what the Bible does speak about is this in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 It says Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light what that tells me is is that Satan has the ability to deceive and pretend To see even pretend well that would fit into this narrative that it's demonic manifestations Although I believe this this explanation of aliens Has has maybe some feet to it It's not something that we can confidently declare as fact like I can't sit up here and say yes aliens are demonic Manifestations, I can't do that so then that brings up a second explanation Aliens are not real But they are the idea Possibly of people or governments or whatever being used to manipulate individuals So this would be the crowd of people that believes when it comes to aliens that that this whole thing is kind of like a conspiracy And it's it's really it's just cooked up. It's something that's been made up by governments Organizations or groups of people so that they could manipulate the masses And I think this baby has some credibility, too I mean how many times do we know in history of governments creating false narratives to manipulate the masses I Think one of the reasons why this could be credible is this Why does every picture of an alien look like it was taken by a three-year-old and a 1987 Polaroid camera I Mean does nobody know how to tap the screen and focus the camera Right like out of all the technology in the world out of all the technology We're talking high-res cameras that have been around forever Are you telling me that nobody can get a clear picture of these things, right? So a lot of people look at that and go, you know what this whole thing is fiction. It's not real at best It is a made-up thing so that we can entertain ourselves at worst. It's a made-up thing If people can, in a sense, believe in extraterrestrial life, then that belief can help shape narratives that serve the interests of governments

and organizations and groups. So that's that belief. Some people have that as an explanation. Third explanation is this. You ready for this one? There is intelligent life in the universe. That could be it too, that they really are out there. Steven Spielberg made up those statements on TV, on CBS Sunday morning, and a friend and an academic mentor of mine named Dr. Leonard Sweet wrote an open letter to Steven Spielberg after that interview. And he called it Steven Spielberg. The church already had its disclosure day in 1277. Was the title of it. He put on sub-stack. And it's worth reading, by the way. I'm only going to give you a part of it. He basically said to Steven Spielberg, you are arriving a little late to a conversation the church has been holding since the generation after the apostles. So what Dr. Sweet is saying here, he's saying, hey, listen, actually ever since like Peter and James and like Matthew and all of these, like we're walking the face here at the generation right after them started talking about is their life in other places. Like it's been a conversation in the church for almost 2,000 years.

You may not know this. The claim he says, he goes on to say, that God is uniquely moved by humanity has never required a earth-sized God. Our oldest traditions assume the opposite. The Psalmist says, God numbers the stars and calls each one by name. A tenderness with no postal limit. Rabbinic tradition pictures God spending the night ranging across 18,000 worlds. So we're talking hundreds, even a couple thousand years ago. There are very smart God-centered Jesus-centered theologians that are asking the question, is there other life out there? And does that limit our God? This is what they're basically saying. Our God is not limited to just what we know. Our God is the God of the cosmos. He's bigger than anything that we can imagine. Here's a fun fact. If you go to the speed of light, which is 182,282 miles per second, not our miles per second, it would take approximately 46 billion years to reach the farthest regions of what now we call the observable universe. 46 billion, you're traveling at the speed of light is gonna take you 46 billion years to get to the end of the universe that we know. By the way, you're never gonna reach it

'cause the universe is expanding every minute. So here's the thing, what that saying is, the God that created all that holds that in his hand. Do you know the vastness of the stars, the universe, billions of galaxies, billions of stars, are all spun into space, created and held together by the God that we search. We make God too small. God is much bigger in fact. It says in Colossians chapter one, Paul says for in him all things were created, things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him, all things hold together. In other words, when you look, never been like out in the country away from the light pollution somewhere, he ever stood and looked at the stars and you could actually see the Milky Way. Ever seen that before? All of that and much more that we cannot see with the naked eye has been created by God, for God and is being held together by God. Our God is bigger than our understanding than our comprehension or even our ideas of him. You could go back all the way to 96 AD. This is right after the followers of Jesus died

and now the second generation of church leaders and Christians are alive. Okay, 96 AD bishops and fathers of the church were writing statements. You can go back and read them writing statements of a world beyond the world that we know. In fact, here's just one of them. It's the first epistle of Clement. Says this, he says, "The ocean, impassable for men." Now, again, remember this is 96 AD, no one had crossed the ocean yet, you know? So here's the thing, the ocean, impassable for men. What he is saying here is that the same God that rules the world that we know rules the worlds that we don't know. That's how big our God is. In 1277, 1277 Bishop of Paris condemned the beliefs of those who followed Aristotle. Because those that followed Aristotle believed there could only be one world because that's all that logic would allow. And the Bishop of the Christian Church said this. He said, "You know what? We can't say that because there may be worlds beyond what our logic can understand. Our God is not limited by our logic." In 1440, a Franciscan priest by the name of William Volagon said this. He said, "Ask the question, could Jesus' death redeem beings in other worlds? Could his death on the cross redeem beings in other worlds?" He's asking this question in 1440. And he came to the conclusion, "Yes, one cross has infinite reach." Even back in 1440, they're talking about it. And then even recently, the Vatican astronomer Father Jose Funas. He said this in a Vatican newspaper. This will be wrote in 2008, so this is recent. He said, "Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings even intelligent created by God."

This is not in contrast with our faith because we can't put limits on God. So here is an astronomer who is commissioned by the Vatican who says, "There may be life out there." And by the way, that doesn't change what we believe. Because if our God is too small to be able to create that out there, then he's not God. This is what he's really saying. In short, you can go generation after generation, after generation, since the very first Christ followers walk the face of your earth, the followers of Jesus. All right? And you will find that churches and theologians and Bible scholars have been talking about the possibility of life beyond the stars. And it doesn't change or shake the core belief of who Jesus is. In other words, our God is big enough to create what we can't understand. In fact, even some more recent authors, if you really want to get geeked out, you can read these guys. David Wilkinson, he's a British theologian and astrophysicist. He wrote a book called Science Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The gist of his book, I'll save you the 500 pages of reading it, all right? The gist of his book is this, the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence and serious Christian theology do not have to be enemies. In other words, if somebody someday does say we have credible evidence that there is life, that does not shake at all one iota of our belief of who Jesus is. It doesn't change anything. In fact, another individual, Dr. Andrew Davidson, he's a professor at the University of Oxford. And he wrote a book about astral biology and Christian doctrine. Who writes a book like that, right? But anyway, he did. He's a smarty pants. He states that our God is the creator of everything, not just merely the earth. He's the creator of everything. So if you want to create life out there, he could create life out there and it doesn't change anything in what we believe. There is room for extraterrestrial life within God's creation. Humans are special though, but being uniquely loved by God doesn't necessarily mean being the only creatures God loves. So here's the million dollar question you're waiting for me to answer. Are aliens real? My answer? Maybe. Maybe, but that doesn't change what we believe. That's the core of what I want you to hear today. Because I predict in the next five, 10 years, 20 years, somebody is going to give credible evidence of life and it does not change what we believe.

God is big enough to create other worlds and we don't have to understand them. So today I spent the majority of my time talking about thought provoking thoughts about aliens and stuff. But here's the thing, I want to kind of boil it down to where you and I live. For our remaining time together, I want to really talk about the core of what I'm getting at. It's not about aliens really. Because most of you are not going to. you're not going to count them. So you're like, okay, great. Well, I want to give you the tools to know what to believe in case someday it is proven, but this is what all of us, regardless of the conversation of extraterrestrial life, we need to embrace this. This is it right here. We will encounter uncertainty in our life, whether it be aliens or whether it be life. And this is the powerful takeaway for today that all of us need to understand, regardless of our circumstances or what even is in the news cycle or what we are personally experiencing right now in our life. Don't let what you don't understand or you don't know shake what you do know, because there will be things that will try to shake your face all the time, all the time. It's not just aliens, it's life. Some of us right now are encountering the unknown. Another word of saying that or no way of saying it is, God, why is this happening? It says in Deuteronomy 29, 29, it says the secret things belong to the Lord our God. There are some things that we just don't understand on this side of eternity. We don't get it. And if we need to understand everything about God before we serve God, then he cannot be God. Let me say that again, if we need to understand everything about God, if we will serve God, then he's not really God. Because us as very finite small beings in this universe, if we have the audacity to believe that we need to understand God before we'll serve him, well, then if we can understand him, he's way too small. We don't comprehend everything that happens in our life. We don't understand what's happening in our world, let alone other worlds. And you may not understand right now why your prayers are not being answered. You may not understand right now why your sickness has not been healed. You may not understand right now why the event that just happened happened. And you have a lot of questions and you've been staring into the stars at night and asking God, why? Why? See, I say this not in a trite answer. I say this for many of us right now that are navigating very confusing situations and unknowns. And this is something you need to

hang on to. We don't have to understand everything to trust the one who does. We don't have to understand everything. I'd like to. I'd like to know why. But we don't have to understand and we probably won't on this side of the term. How many of you know that there are things that happen in life that there are no good answers for, right? Paul was writing the church in Corinth about 2,000 years ago and this is what he said and we find it in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. He says, now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror. In other words, we're trying to look into our circumstances. We're trying to look into the questions we have about life, about what has happened, about what may happen. And we're trying to make sense of it and it's puzzling. There are no clear, perfect answers. But then Paul writes, in heaven, we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete. But then I will know everything completely just as God now knows me completely. What's going on here? Paul is saying, God knows what we're wrestling with. He knows me completely. He knows the questions I have, the hurts that I have. He knows the challenges I'm facing. He knows it all. And even though I'm looking at these things in my life and I can't discern why they're happening or how to get through them, there's all of this confusion. It's all puzzling. Paul says someday it'll make sense. On this side of eternity, sometimes a lot of things don't make sense. And you and I will walk through very confusing seasons. We're going to walk through very alien-like circumstances. We got to remember something. We're not alone. Don't let what you don't understand becomes something that you fear, because lack of understanding, When you're in our stance, you start getting anxiety, worry. You start thinking that you can't make it. You start wondering if God is real. You start thinking that he's asleep at the wheel. You start wondering if he at all loves me or loves you because of what we're going through, sometimes circumstances almost contradict the verses that talk about, he loves us. And you begin to question and your faith gets shaken and then you begin to feel fear and anxiety and the second Timothy 1-7, very famous verse that says

God has not given us a spirit of fear. Like when you feel that spirit rising up inside you of being scared and fearful and anxious, that's not God. He hasn't given us that, but instead power, love and self-discipline. He's talking to a group of people that are encountering persecution. He's saying, "I know you're scared." And I know there's all kinds of things in life that are big and hairy and scary, but listen, don't give into that spirit of fear. There's a God who loves you. There's a God who cares about you as a God who's with you and the middle of uncertain moments, we can allow our faith to turn to fear. But security is not found in understanding everything. It is instead found in the one who understands. So what are you going through right now? What are you facing right now? Remember, the one that holds all of those stars, the billions of galaxies in his hand is the one who also holds you. The Apostle Peter wrote this. He said, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Aliens may give you anxiety, but I'll tell you life gives you more anxiety. When life feels too big, you've got to remember that we serve a God who knows us and loves us. And as we close, I want you to remember something that we live in a universe so enormous that our minds cannot begin to comprehend it. Billions of galaxies and stars.

But there's a God. Some of you need to hear this today. You came for an alien message and you're leaving with this powerful truth you're going to be able to apply. There's a God that is big enough to hold all of the universe together and personal enough to know your name. He knows your name. He knows your struggles. He knows what makes you cry in your pillow at night, what makes you angry, what makes you frustrated. In fact, the psalmist wrote this in Psalms 8. He's having a moment where he's looking in the stars. He says, when I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, you set in place. What are mere mortals that you should think about them? Human beings that you should care for them. The psalmist is having a kind of a mind meld in a moment. He's like, I don't get it. I'm seeing all this. And I'm going, God, and you care about me? Yes. You may have walked in here for the very first time. This may have been the strangest sermon you've ever heard in your life. And I just want you to know, God cares about you. You may be coming to this church for decades. God cares about you. So, did God create intelligent life somewhere else in the universe? I don't know. But I know he created you. And you are not alone in this universe.

God is with you. Whatever you're going through. Whatever hurt. Whatever pain. Whatever confusing circumstances. Whatever mountain. Whatever chasm stands between you. And the life that you desire. Whatever it is. He's with you. Whether you feel him or not. Feelings lie. That's why we have faith. We hold on to the one that holds us in his hands. Let's pray. Heavenly Father. or watching at a location, that they are going through an unknown season full of confusion, full of loneliness, full of just distress or anxiety, maybe even anger. And Lord, I pray that today, that as we look into the universe, as our eyes are drawn up to the stars, we would remember that the God that created all that, the God that holds all of that in His hands, the God that is still in charge of not just this planet but every planet, that God, you know our name, you know what's going on, and you care. You walk with us, you carry us, you help us, you will never abandon us, the Bible says. You stick closer than a sibling, so Lord I ask that today, we would leave here knowing that the God of this universe is the God that holds our hand. We love you Jesus, in Jesus' name, hereby said, amen, amen, come on, can we give God our praise? Hey guys, we want to thank every person from being here and real quick before you go, we just want to take an opportunity for any person that listened to this message to make Jesus the leader and forgiver of your life.

Maybe you've been thinking to yourself, hey, maybe it's time I go all in on this God thing. Today, this moment right now is that moment. I would love to lead you in that prayer. Take a moment, close your eyes, and repeat this prayer after me. Dear Lord, I know that I've made mistakes, and I need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins. I now invite you to be the leader and the forgiver of my life. In Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed that prayer for the very first time, we just want to let you know that we are celebrating with you. It's the best decision that you could ever make, and we just want to let you know that you don't have to figure your faith out alone. So we have a couple next steps for you that I want to tell you about. So the first one is just tell somebody about the decision that you made. You know, faith isn't meant to be lived alone. If you want to know that you made that decision, second is this. We have a resource for you called New Beginning. It's a free 14-day devotional, and it's going to help you to start to grow your relationship with Jesus and explain the decision that you just made. That's right. And when you sign up for the New Beginnings resource, you're going to get access to videos from our pastors, and these videos are going to teach you how to pray, how to read the Bible, and have a Christ-centered friendships. And if you have any questions whatsoever, take a moment, drop them in the chat or DM us, and we would love to get back to you. You know, when I said we were not meant to do faith alone, we always have next steps for you here at City First Church. And one that I want to encourage you to take a next step in is by attending GrowthTrack. It's the first Sunday of every month. It's going to help you discover your purpose, your God-given design.

You can join us in person or online. So go ahead and check it out on the City First app, or even the QR code, scan that. Sign up for it. You won't regret it. And if you need prayer for anything, and I mean absolutely anything, we have a team of prayer warriors who would love to join beside you and pray with you and for you. Take a moment, head to the City First app right now, and let us know what you need prayer for. And lastly, we want to encourage you, keep coming back to church. It is only going to build your faith. And so we want to let you know, too, there might be somebody in your life that you're going, "Man, they needed to hear this message. Hear that link with somebody that you know needs encouragement." But we love you. We're praying for you, and we will see you next week. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] You You