Following Jesus in the Age of AI | Bellevue | July 19, 2026

Yes, it was an amazing week this last week.

I'm still tired from camp.

That was it was amazing, though.

My name's Bill.

I am one of the pastors on staff.

I'm the downtown campus pastor.

It's always a treat to get to come back to Bellevue and preach here.

Um we are gonna continue on in our series called Uncomfortable, where we're talking about uncomfortable topics, and today we are talking about artificial intelligence.

But before we really launch into that, can we just take a moment and recognize the moment we're in?

We live in a very weird moment in history, don't we?

It is so strange.

We live in a weird world.

There's days where I feel like I'm actually living in a science fiction novel.

I read science fiction growing up, and I feel like I wake up and I'm like, what?

That's a thing now?

That's crazy.

Um there are deep fake videos and images that can be hard to distinguish from reality.

I read this story about this person who was scammed out of$2,000.

It was an older lady, she was a grandma, and the way that they did it was they cloned her grandson's voice and then called her with her grandson's voice and said that they were in trouble, and she sent them$2,000.

That's wild to me.

She had no idea.

How would she know that it wasn't actually him?

Perhaps more alarming is that AI has gone far beyond just chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini or those ones like that, and they have begun to act like humans.

AI can now complete complex workflows and tasks on our behalf.

They can do almost anything you can do on a computer.

And in the next five years, AI is predicted to be combined with robots.

And so we'll have super intelligence in bodies.

And I keep thinking, maybe you feel like this too, I've seen this movie before, right?

And also, it doesn't end well, right?

That's what it feels like.

Has anyone seen Terminator?

It's a small movie, maybe you didn't see it, it's kind of niche.

No, it doesn't end well, right?

And so maybe, maybe that's why that this subject is so uncomfortable for people.

Everything is moving so fast and quickly surrounding AI, and our world is changing so quickly that we look at our kids and our grandkids and we think they're gonna grow up in a world that is completely different than the world that I grew up in.

And to make matters worse, people are worried that AI will steal their jobs, AI will steal their data and their privacy, AI will make some companies rich and the rest of us destitute.

Whenever the future is uncertain, we have a common response.

It's fear.

And so I would expect that there are probably some expectations that you have when you heard that we were preaching a sermon on AI.

Like you probably had some things in your mind.

Some of you would probably like me to get up here and share how evil AI is, how Christians should stay away from it.

Some of you may want me to say that it's summoning a demon, that actually it's linked to the book of the Revelation and the Mark of the Beast or the Antichrist.

And then there's probably people on the opposite side of that spectrum who are just curious about AI.

Maybe you've played around with it, you've seen how powerful it is, and you're just looking for some biblical insight.

And so it brings up this question: how should we think about AI as a follower of Jesus?

Well, let's just get some of this out of the way right away.

No, I did not use AI to write this sermon, okay?

I know you're all thinking it, you were picturing me in my office, ChatGPT, give me a sermon on AI, make it perfect, go, right?

No, I did not do that.

Second, if you haven't heard this, the way that AI works at a base level is basically researchers took these large data models, think like the whole internet, and they put them into a computer model, and they use um basically they told it to like predict what comes next.

All right?

They use probabilistic, that's a fun word, probabilistic um compute to really decide what comes next.

And so you can kind of think of AI as an autocomplete feature.

It's guessing the next word.

You know, like on your phone nowadays, every modern smartphone you're typing and you get those little suggestions above the top, and it says, like, do you want to say this?

That is what AI is doing.

Now, why is that important?

Because we need to understand that AI is human technology made with human intelligence.

In other words, it doesn't have a soul.

It is not alive, it doesn't feel, it's not a person, it's not created in the image of God.

But also, I don't think it's not a demon, okay?

And though I do suspect that the forces of evil could use it to deceive us just like they use any other thing, um, but the point is AI is artificial.

It's simulating human intelligence.

And that probably seems really obvious, but honestly, because the technology is so good, people are being fooled by it.

There are people who have AI girlfriends and boyfriends.

There are people who have become attached to their AI chatbot as a coach or a counselor or a friend.

When something feels so real, and you're actually getting from it what you're missing in your human relationships, you can get sucked in to forgetting that AI is simulated.

It is artificial.

We use the term AI, we've shortened artificial intelligence.

Do not forget the artificial part of that.

It is artificial.

There is no man or woman behind the curtain.

It is a machine.

Now, I could say a lot of things about AI, but we only have one sermon.

And so as I was praying about teaching about AI and asking the Lord what would be helpful for the congregation, I realized what we really need is a framework.

In fact, what we really need are some guardrails because whether we like it or not, we live in an age of AI.

Now, there's some of you who are like, I've never even opened ChatGPT.

I don't even know what that is.

I don't use AI, I'm a purist, right?

No, guess what?

It's being integrated into every human system that we have.

You have a package shipped to your house.

Guess what was involved with that?

Artificial intelligence.

And so we're all exposed to it or on some level or another.

And so instead of getting fearful and or getting sucked in without thinking, I want to give you some biblical guidance about following Jesus in the age of AI.

So if you have a Bible, you can open it to Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12, that's where we're gonna be.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And as you do, I'm gonna pray for us.

Lord, we come to you and uh we recognize, Lord Jesus, you are above all.

You are King of kings, you are Lord of Lords, you are sovereign over this world.

And in a time of immense change and craziness, where it feels like we're truly living in science fiction novels.

Lord, we need to recognize and remember that you are in control, that you are God.

And Lord, we pray that you would help us through the work of your Holy Spirit and the truth of your word to understand what we need to understand about this.

Lord, we pray you would give us discerning minds when it comes to this.

Help us to listen well this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Romans 12, 1 and 2, here's what it says.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Now, within this passage are real three really helpful guardrails that are going to help us follow Jesus in the age of AI.

The first one is this in the age of AI, surrender everything to Christ.

Look back at that first uh verse.

It says, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.

I've always loved this idea of a living sacrifice.

In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of an animal meant that the animal had to die.

It was a dead sacrifice.

Hebrews 9 22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

So the animal has to die.

That was part of the process.

Uh, the animal was sacrificed in place of people.

We call that atonement.

But fast forward to the New Testament, believers already have the ultimate, all-sufficient sacrifice in Jesus.

His blood has covered us once and for all.

Death has been conquered.

This is what Paul means by saying, in view of God's mercy, he's calling you back to that all-sufficient sacrifice.

In other words, when we think about God's mercy in sacrificing his son, our response is to offer ourselves, our whole selves to be living sacrifices.

And when you do that, when you offer your whole self, you are worshiping God.

Now, you might ask already, okay, Pastor Bill, thanks for the theology lesson, but what does that have to do with AI?

Well, the picture here in Romans 12, 1, is that the entirety of our being is supposed to be under Christ as Lord.

He is supposed to be over all of our lives.

And to be honest, I don't think we always understand the depth of that.

Yes, I think we think this, that, you know, my Sunday self is when I'm here, Jesus is Lord over everything.

Right?

Or we think when I pray, Jesus is Lord in that moment, or when I sing worship songs, or when I meet with my life group, or when I'm serving at church.

But we have a hard time realizing that Christ must be Lord over all of my life, over my job, over my time, over my choices, over my desires, over what I watch, over what I eat, over my phone use, over my possessions, over all of it.

In order to be a living sacrifice, Christ must be Lord even over my technology and the tools that I use.

The reformers put it this way: all of Christ for all of life.

Or the Apostle Paul says this in Philippians 1.21.

He says, To live is Christ.

To live is Christ.

And so here's the point.

The first and foremost guardrail to follow Jesus in the age of AI is to intentionally bring its use and interaction with AI under the Lordship of Jesus.

Before we ask this question, can I use this?

Or is it efficient or will it save me time?

Before we ask, is everyone else doing it?

We have to ask this.

Can it be brought under the authority of Jesus?

Can I use it in a way that honors Jesus?

Why?

Because Jesus is Lord.

Now, let's pause for a second because some of you are hoping that I would answer that question, no, because you hate AI.

There's a lot of people who hate AI.

A lot of young people, actually, surprisingly, hate AI.

They do not want anything to do with it.

And I've seen this in Christian circles a lot.

Christians go, AI equals bad, it equals immoral, it equals wrong.

And to be fair, I think there are some solid arguments for why AI could be problematic.

A big one is intellectual property.

There are systems, the systems that they used to train these were actually borrowing from real people, like people like writers and artists and musicians and researchers and creators.

And Christians should care about that.

Like saying everyone's doing it is not a good Christian ethic.

And so I believe these companies building these tools should be honest and accountable and fair to the people whose work helped make it possible.

But here's where I also want us to be careful.

The fact that there are real ethical concerns with AI does not automatically mean every use of the tool is sinful.

The truth is that we already live in a really morally complicated society.

And we have morally complicated systems that we deal with every day.

Think about this for a second.

The phones you use, you're like, well, my phone's not morally compromised.

Really?

I mean, there's been reports for years that slave labor and indentured servitude was used to build your phone, right?

And so as Christians, you have to ask, um, what do I do with that?

But it's also in the clothes we wear, the food we buy, the platforms we use, the companies we support.

Are you on board with the moral standing of every company you shop from?

No, probably not.

I'm not.

And when we discover that something is complicated like this, our response shouldn't be naive approval, but it also isn't automatic rejection either.

Instead, our response should be discernment.

There is a difference between saying this tool exists inside of a broken system and saying that every use of the tool is wrong.

And there's a difference between saying, I can use this and saying, I can use this however I want.

And honestly, that moral complication is not the first time that Christians have had to think this way.

Paul deals with something similar in 1 Corinthians.

See, the issue was that meat had been sacrificed to idols.

And so for some Christians, eating meat felt unthinkable.

Like it had been connected to idol worship.

And so they're like, how could I eat something that's connected to idol worship?

I can't do that.

But there were other Christians in that society who said, you know what?

An idol isn't really a thing.

Like we know that an idol doesn't actually exist.

There's only one true God.

And so I can eat this meat with a clean conscience.

And what's interesting about that, when you look back at that, what's interesting is that Paul's response to that is not a black and white rule.

He doesn't flatten the issue.

He does not say, everyone must eat meat.

But he also doesn't say no one must eat meat.

Instead, he gives them a deeper way to think about it.

He says this he says, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up.

In other words, Christian freedom is real, but Christian freedom is not the same thing as Christian wisdom.

Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should do something.

Just because my conscience is clear doesn't necessarily mean that my motives are pure.

And just because something is useful doesn't mean that it is forming me in Christ.

And so when it comes to AI, I actually think it belongs in this category.

For some people, their conscience might say, I cannot use this in good faith.

And if that's where you are, you shouldn't violate your conscience.

For others, their conscience may say, I can use this, but I have to use it with biblical parameters in mind, only with honesty, only in ways that serve people, only in ways that don't replace things like prayer or wisdom or creativity or love, the things that God created me for.

And I think that's actually the right frame to think about AI.

AI is not first a matter of trendiness or efficiency or fear, it's a matter of Christian conscience and discernment under the Lordship of Jesus.

And so the question is not simply, am I allowed to use it?

The better question is this is it beneficial?

Does it build up?

Does it help me love God?

Does it help me love people?

Does it make me more truthful?

Does it make me more wise?

Does it make me more faithful?

Or is this slowly training me to outsource the very things Jesus wants to form in me?

And that's actually where I want to go next because our next guardrail is this.

In the age of AI, resist what's shaping you.

Resist what's shaping you.

If you go to verse 2, it starts out like this.

It says this do not be conformed to the pattern of this world.

I want you to imagine two basketball players in a gym.

And a coach comes in, he says, I want each of you to make 100 shots.

Not take 100 shots, I want you to make 100 shots.

You can use the scoreboard to track each other.

And so one person's shooting, the other person's at the scoreboard, and every time the person makes it, they hit the button.

And at first they do what they're told, right?

One shoots, the other operates the scoreboard, and it's a make and a miss and a miss and a make and a miss and a miss and a miss and a make.

And so the number slowly climbs.

But then they get tired.

And tired people are often more creative than honest.

And so one of them notices something.

Guess what?

The coach is not here right now.

He's just not here.

And all he wants to see at the end of this is that the scoreboard says 100.

And so what happens?

Temptation appears.

Why keep shooting?

Why keep shooting when you can actually make the scoreboard move with just the button?

Why would you sweat?

Why would you correct your form?

Why would you bend your knees?

Why would you follow through and miss and reset and shoot again when one little button can accomplish your result?

And so what do they do?

They start pressing the button, and the scoreboard says 100 at the end.

But guess what?

No one became a better shooter that day.

The scoreboard didn't lie, it did what it was told to do, it counted, but it also couldn't tell the truth that mattered the most.

It could not tell whether practice had happened.

It could not tell whether the player had actually been trained.

The point was never merely to make the board say 100.

The point was to become the type of player that could make 100 shots.

You see, the repetition was not the obstacle to the goal.

The repetition was part of the goal.

The missed shots weren't interruptions for their goal.

They were teachers.

The sweat, the frustration, the correction, the boredom, the focus, the learning to breathe and begin again, those were not unfortunate costs on the way to formation.

They were the road by which formation was supposed to come.

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world.

That word conform carries with it the idea of being put into a mold.

You know, when I was in college in order to make money in the summer, I worked at a rotational mold factory.

It was riveting, tell let me tell you.

I also worked third shift, so I was working overnight.

And what you did was you took this mold, this big metal thing, and you took petroleum product and you poured it in there and you clamped it all down and you put it on a machine and you hit the button and it cooked it, and then you waited it for it to cool, and out came from me, boat bumpers.

Okay?

And it looked just like the inside of that mold.

That's what Paul is talking about here.

Paul is acknowledging in this passage that the world we live in is constantly shaping you into its mold, it's forming us.

And specifically in our context, the world we live in is constantly trying to shape us into efficiency as the highest good.

In fact, that's what we largely worship in our society.

We worship efficiency, getting things done with the least amount of cost and time possible.

And so I want you to think about this for a second.

It's been a long day.

And your friend uh texts you and says that they're going through a really hard time.

But you've had your own day with your own problems.

You've had a lot of things going on in your mind.

You're at the point of your day where you're ready to sit on the couch, veg out, and not think about anything.

You're not ready to be emotionally available for somebody.

And so what do you do?

You actually take out your phone and you give it the text from your friend and you ask Chat GBT to respond and get and you get back a brilliant, empathetic, sounding result to send back.

Wow.

You were so much more efficient.

You served efficiency, right?

That was so easier and frictionless than thinking it through and maybe not responding as well as ChatGBT could.

But what did you lose in the process?

What did you lose in the process?

One of the biggest dangers of AI for Christ followers is using it without realizing that it's actually forming you every time you use it.

It can give you answers without wrestling.

It can give us paragraphs without thinking.

It can give us apologies without humility.

It can give us prayer without the ache that is supposed to come in our prayer.

That does not mean AI is automatically evil, but it does mean the question is serious.

What happens when we keep getting the result while skipping the formation that the result was meant to produce?

What happens when we can sound wise without becoming wise?

What happens when we can do things like create and answer and summarize and plan and respond, decide faster than ever before?

But patience and discernment and prayer and honesty and love begin to shrink inside of us because we're not exercising those things.

You see, in order to follow Jesus in the age of AI, we have to be super careful how we use it and how much we use it.

We have to be sober-minded that this technology is actually forming us, it's shaping us.

And we actually need some guardrails.

And I want to give you some examples, and this is not exhaustive, I can't talk about everything, but I want to give you some guardrails that I think should be in our lives.

For example, AI should not replace your voice in relationships.

If your friend texts you and says, I'm really struggling, listen, be careful about outsourcing your compassion to a machine.

You can use a tool to help you think, but do not let it love your friend for you.

Your friend needs you.

They need the Holy Spirit working inside of you to love them and to respond to them.

They don't need a perfect paragraph.

They need you.

AI also shouldn't replace our repentance.

If you need to apologize to a spouse, your child, your friend, your coworker, don't ask AI to generate the right words so that you can escape the discomfort.

You see, the discomfort may be part of what God is trying to do to form you into a person who has humility.

The wrestling is part of the repentance.

AI should not replace spiritual wisdom.

If you're carrying around a deep wound, a hidden sin, a marriage crisis, a parenting fear, a major decision, do not let a chatbot become your pastor, your counselor, your best friend, right?

Don't replace me or any of the other pastors with AI, please.

That's really what I'm saying here.

But talk to a mature believer, talk to a pastor, talk to a counselor.

Do not confuse information from a machine with true shepherding.

AI should not replace the work that is supposed to train you.

If you have an assignment that is meant to teach you to think, do not use AI to avoid thinking.

If a conversation is meant to teach you to love, do not use AI to avoid presence.

If prayer is meant to teach you dependence on God, do not use AI to avoid silence before God.

Because with AI, the danger is not only that it might give us the wrong answers, and it does give you the wrong answers sometimes.

The danger is that AI might give you the right sounding answers while actually you become less patient, less prayerful, less honest, less present, and less wise.

And so maybe one of the best questions we can ask is not only did this help me get the right result, but what kind of person is this forming me to become?

And so the guardrail is to resist what is shaping you, but there's a third guardrail too.

It's this in the age of AI, renew your mind to discern God's will.

Verse 2, it says this don't conform with the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.

There's been an interesting development with AI.

Even though AI is intended to make you more efficient in your job in life, researchers have actually found that it has caused workers to spend more time working, not less.

And the reason why is this it turns out that getting things done, actually getting things done in a frictionless way, can become addicting.

And so you do a task, and instead of stopping there, you're like, well, I got that done, now I can get this done.

And so people are working more than ever before.

Work begets work, or more specifically, frictionless work begets work.

The world of what's possible right now to create and analyze and research and organize has just greatly expanded for the everyday ordinary person.

And so because of that, we're getting sucked into the technology more than ever before.

And if you're really into this or you just live in our world, you can feel it already.

Just think about your mind and where it's been.

Between work and phones and streaming devices and AI, our minds are full.

They are fatigued, they are overwhelmed.

And in this passage, Paul identifies that in order to know the path that God wants you on, we have to focus on renewing our minds.

And as I thought about this over these last few weeks, I kept coming back to this one idea.

In order to renew your mind, you actually have to do the exact opposite of artificial.

You have to do real.

And so let me give you some ways this looks like.

Number one, being quiet before God in prayer.

Like setting time aside without your phone, um, without distractions, without screen, without media, to be with God.

Listening, worshiping, praying, the world is so loud, you need to be quiet with God.

Now, I'm gonna be honest with you, this has been a struggle at times for me because what I do, I'm a super curious person.

I'm like, my brain's always going.

And so if I sit down on my couch in the morning, no one's awake, and I and I'm gonna pray and I spend time in the Bible, what eventually happens if my phone is anywhere near me is that all of a sudden, without me knowing, I find that I'm back on my phone because I look something up or it prompted me to do something, and now I'm like clicking on my phone all the time.

Listen, turn off your phone.

Do you know your phones can shut off?

Like legitly, the other day somebody said to me, they're like, Don't like I was having a problem with my phone, and they're like, Do you ever turn your phone off?

And I was like, You could turn it off?

I just plug it in at the end of the night.

No, listen, turn off your phone and spend time with the Lord.

Don't let it be by you when you're spending time with God.

Number two is God's words, soaking in the truth, wrestling with it, discovering the wisdom and the grace that can only be found in Scripture.

Again, I'm guilty of this.

Sometimes I just want to know the answer to things.

And so I'm reading the Bible and I'm I'm trained.

I'm biblically trained, I know how to get answers in the Bible.

But there are some times where I'm like, I wonder what this word means, or I wonder what the history of this is, or what the parallel verses are of this.

And I start clicking on my phone and I'm like, oh, that's really good.

Da-da-da-da-da.

No, sometimes you're supposed to sit and wrestle with the text that's before you.

You're supposed to not have the answer.

And what I found is when I stopped trying to go to my phone for everything with this, I would find that in a few days, God would bring the answer through a relationship or a conversation or something that he wanted to do in another person, and he brought them into my life because that's how God works.

You don't have to go to your phone for everything.

Another one is this family and friendships.

We need face-to-face, undistracted time with those closest to us.

Your chatbot is not your friend.

Amen?

Your chatbot is not your friend.

You know why?

Because your friends are your friends.

I know, it's 2026, but I have to say these things, okay?

I have to say these things because people have started to believe that their chatbot is their closest friend.

Another one is this nature.

We need time in God's creation.

And some of you are going, I don't know, that's kind of woo-woo, Pastor Bill.

Like, you want to be out in nature?

Listen, there's a Bible passage.

The heavens declare the glory of God.

The heavens declare the glory of God.

That means that creation is speaking to you of God's existence.

You need to go out into your yard and touch grass, people.

And I mean that literally.

Like, take your socks and shoes off and like walk in your yard.

Take a deep breath, but not today, it's pretty smoky, okay?

And I know those things.

You're I know what you're thinking right now.

You're like, they this is super simple.

Like you just gave me prayer, scripture, friendship, creation.

Like, duh, Pastor Bill, right?

But maybe part of the problem is that we've started to assume that the simple things are the weak things in our lives.

They are not.

They are the primary ways that God uses to renew us and renew our minds.

They slow us down, they reorient us, they remind us that we are not machines, we are not content engines, we are not meant to be endlessly optimized.

We are people made in the image of God.

And so in an artificial age, do not underestimate ordinary faithfulness.

Be quiet before God.

Open your Bible, go outside, touch grass, people.

It's then when you will start to be able to see that God, God's path and his plan for your life.

Okay, so I obviously have so much more to say.

There are so many angles and thoughts, but here is what I want to leave you with.

Everything in your life belongs under the Lordship of Jesus.

Amen.

And I say that really specifically because of this.

In the Bible, when you see somebody meet a heavenly being, the first response is often fear and worship.

And so you have where angels are telling people, no, don't worship me, I'm not God.

Uh, but I'm I'm a I'm a glorious being, but I'm not God.

And I say that because people are beginning to worship AI.

They see a super intelligence that can answer any question, solve any problem, and they've begun to worship AI.

Listen, church, only Jesus is Lord.

Amen?

Also realize that you are being shaped every time you use this technology.

It's not only is AI good or bad, it's how is this shaping me?

How is this forming me?

And lastly, your mind and your psyche are under assault, and so you have to renew your mind.

You have to be before God without technology.

Open your Bible, go outside, look someone in the eyes, share a meal, take a walk.

Look, I know it feels like we're living in a science fiction novel, but don't forget we can trust the one who is truly in control of this world.

You don't have to be fearful and you don't have to shrink back because Jesus is Lord.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, we come to you and we recognize that you are King of kings and that you are Lord of Lords, and that even though we live in the society we live in, the time in human history we live in, Lord, even though it's scary and we don't know what the next year holds, five years, ten years, we can't even imagine, Lord, we know that you are king, and we pray, Lord, that you would help us to worship you and you alone.

Lord, help us to do the simple things to renew our minds.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said.

Amen.