Filtered | Pastor Chris Kouba

Good morning, chat.

It's good to be back with you.

Uh, you know we're long-lost friends.

We talk all the time.

Uh, I want to uh introduce you, though, to the audience that you are actually talking to today.

This is the 10 o'clock service at United City Church.

We're also glad to be here on the greatest day of the year, Father's Day.

This is really what it's all about, whenever we get the opportunity to celebrate dads as they should be celebrated.

Chat, do me a favor, if you would, would you just introduce yourself to the audience and give them a warm welcome of greeting?

Well, good morning, United City Church.

I'm so glad to be a part of this moment with you.

I'm here to be a helpful voice for you all today, and I just want to say, dads, we celebrate you.

Whether you're here in person or tuning in, you're appreciated, and we're here to make this day extra special.

So let's have a fantastic time together.

Chad, I already feel honored.

Thank you so much for that.

I appreciate that.

You always do a good job of making me feel important.

I just got a couple of questions for you.

I just kind of thinking things through when it comes to Father's Day and how we should kind of process this kind of stuff.

Let's just ask this first question.

Why do dads always fall asleep in the movie that they themselves chose for the family?

You know, it's almost like a superpower.

I think when dads pick that movie, they feel like they've already accomplished the mission.

So the couch is comfy, they hear the laughter, and they think, my work here is done.

Next thing you know, dad nap.

I agree with that.

I also think that they uh, you know, they just work so hard all day.

They want to pass along the values of the movie to their family, but then they can just kind of snooze out.

Okay, let's just let's just ask this question.

This is always the case.

Uh, why do dads give the same three pieces of advice, no matter what the situation actually is?

It's because they've found their golden nuggets of wisdom.

Those three lines have worked for them for decades.

Whether you've got a flat tire or you're making like decisions, dads figure those gems are universal.

And hey, it's efficient.

Why reinvent new advice when those trusty three have stood the test of time?

That's pretty good.

Anybody in here have the same situation where basically dads get the Okay.

Uh last question.

I think this is the most important, all, especially on Father's Day, because Mother's Day gets all the attention.

Uh church goes crazy, they make a big deal of it.

We always do something super nice and encouraging for the moms.

But who actually works harder?

Moms or dads?

You know, I think they each have their own superpowers, and it's probably wise not to start a friendly fire in the room.

Truth is, moms and dads both carry unique loads.

And the magic is when they team up.

So today we'll just say, dads, it's your day to shine, and we honor all the effort you put in.

That's the most politically correct non-answer that I've ever heard.

And I don't appreciate that, chat.

Last thing I need you to help me do, this is a little bit awkward because I just did a little Father's Day deal with everybody here, but I'm actually preaching a message today in the series that we're doing called Taboo, talking about those topics that most people don't hear about in a church.

And I've got to somehow transition from Father's Day to now talking about technology, AI.

What does this look like in the life of a Christian?

I have no idea how to make that transition.

Could you do that for me right now?

Absolutely.

You could say something like this: As we honor fathers for their guidance and wisdom, we also realize we're navigating a world they never had to.

A world of technology and AI.

Just as a dad teaches us how to navigate life, today we're going to talk about how we as people of faith navigate these modern tools while staying grounded in our values.

Grab your Bibles, Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Can't beat that.

Romans chapter 12 is where we're going to start.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

We're going to kind of be all over today.

Today is we're going to talk about that topic of technology.

We're going to talk about AI.

Let me just tell you, this is not one of those things that most churches avoid because they're not interested in it.

This is instead one of those topics that most churches avoid because they don't know what to say about it.

Even in the midst of repairing this, I was trying to kind of think through okay, what does it mean to be able to be a Christian and to be able to talk through what this looks like when it comes to AI, when it comes to technology, when it comes to all of these things that are bombarding us on a constant basis.

And we just heard from a chat bot, which I did not tell it what to say.

That was literally live.

It was different than what it gave me the last service, okay?

But it does a pretty amazing job of making life much simpler, right?

It settled the debate for us, sort of basically by not answering the question, right?

Uh it helped that transition.

There's so many things that we can see about technology that all of us embrace and all of us use.

But a lot of times we go into the idea of technology, and our first thought is either I'm all for it no matter what, I'm an early adopter, I'm gonna get the beta version of everything, or somebody who thinks, man, I am scared to death of it.

I want nothing to do with it.

I want to go back to the days when things were simpler and I feel like AI is gonna ruin everything, it's gonna replace my job.

Whatever perspective that you are, my goal is that in the midst of this series, like we have every single week, is that we can put on some lenses of a biblical mindset that allows us to see the things that everybody's talking about in God's eyes and to let the Bible speak.

What I want to do is introduce to you this concept uh of water.

And I want you to think about the idea of water uh being something that no matter what water looks like, not all water is the same.

I experienced this a couple of years ago.

I went on a mission trip to Dominican Republic, and whenever I landed, the folks pulled us aside, all of our group, and they said, Hey, I want to make something super clear.

The water is not safe to drink here.

They said you're allowed to bathe with the water, but you're not allowed to use the water to brush your teeth.

You're not allowed to use the water to drink.

It's gonna look the same as it does from the faucets that you have back home.

But you need to know this: even though the water looks the same, it is not the same.

It is not safe because it contains things inside of it that if you don't put something as a filter that filters out all of those impurities, then it's going to mess up your system.

Same exact water.

The difference was one had a filter and one did not.

I want to argue this that we experience technology with such massive momentum, with so much stuff coming at us nonstop.

The question is not whether you're affected by technology, the question is, do you have a filter?

Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

Let me describe it, what it looks like to you.

It says this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The word conform there means being pressed into a shape by something outside of you.

That's the algorithm.

You see, everybody in this room has an algorithm working on them designed to allow you to see things and to experience things and to have things pop up.

Have you ever noticed when you start talking about some product?

Let's like, for instance, have you ever talked about Home Depot?

Don't text me, but this afternoon you're all gonna get stuff about Home Depot, all right?

Because I've said it out loud.

You've seen these kind of creepy things that take place.

The question is not whether technology is coming at us, the question is do we have a filter installed that allows us to be protected from the dangers of technology while at the same time being able to use technology for kingdom purposes?

What I want to do is I want to give you three things today to help you install a filter so that you can embrace technology and use it in a safe, godly, biblical way.

First one is this.

Turn with me over to Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 1, and I want to read for you a few verses and then tell you what the first filter is.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Uh I'm gonna read verses 26 through 28, and if you would, would you stand in the honor of the reading of God's word with me?

Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 through 28.

Genesis 1:26–28

It reads like this: Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

You may be seated.

First thing I want you to see that you need to install is the image filter.

It's the image filter.

There are two things that we need to know about the image of God that we just read about.

First, you and I were made in the image of God.

From the very beginning, humans are creators because we bear the image of the creator God.

And so therefore, we celebrate when we see people excelling in their creation.

Whenever you see someone being able to use the gifts and the skills that God has placed in them as an image-bearer of God, we celebrate and we marvel at what humanity is able to do.

AI is the latest thing that we've seen, which is truly amazing to be able to see something that has been created that now gets to do more and more things that are created.

It's truly a remarkable thing and one that we in all areas celebrate.

Exodus chapter 31, verses 3 through 5 says this, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, and bronze, and cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood to work in every craft.

Exodus 31:3–5

Please know the idea of technology bearing itself out in the image of God is not just in things that we might call a digital device or something like that.

It's when we see a finance person excel in their finances and excel in helping other people in their finance.

It's when we see a teacher who has the ability to connect to students and to be able to teach them concepts and allow things to be light bulbs going off in their minds and being able to do that in an exceptional way.

That is the image of God where He's given them the gifts and the skills and the technology and the ability to express that in a God-given way.

What he's telling us here in Genesis is that we are more than just what we do.

We also have our identity based upon who we are, and it's telling us something else about everyone else as well.

The second part of the image filter is that everyone else is also made in the image of God.

That means every single person that you'll ever meet, every person in your home, every person in your workplace, every person on the other end of your screen also bears the image of God.

Here's why that matters for you and I personally.

Because we are living in a moment in a culture that is starting to measure human value the same way that it measures technology by output, by efficiency, by what you contribute.

But that's not what it means to be distinctively Christian.

Your value is never in what you produce, it's in the one who made you.

And so, in light of that, that is why the sanctity of human life is one of many expressions of our belief in the image of God, because we believe that your value is because of the creator, not because of what you can or cannot do.

And so, therefore, we celebrate that.

We celebrate whatever it is that you bring to the table.

We believe that God has birthed that in you, and so in light of that, we see you as incredibly valuable.

But you need to know this: no algorithm can assign or take away your value.

For example, AI can produce a sermon.

By the way, it did not produce this sermon.

I want to make sure you know that, okay?

Full disclosure.

But AI cannot uh cannot allow someone to be reconciled to God.

The Imago Day, the image of God, is more than what we can produce.

It's who we are made by and who we are made for.

I need you to hear me.

I am not anti-technology.

Like I am totally uh a guy that's got an app for everything.

I do the beta version of all the software updates because I want to get them before anybody else.

Uh, I'm someone who literally spends time in my calendar trying to figure out how to do better at AI.

I am not anti-technology, but we've got to make sure that we don't allow efficiency to replace the dangers that are inherent in it.

Because the more we interact with screens instead of people, the easier it is to start seeing people the same way that the screen sees them.

As data points, as users, as content, as an audience.

Have you ever noticed that social media does not show you a person, it shows you a profile?

Do you realize that AI does not talk to a human being?

It proposes, it processes a prompt, and if we're not careful, we start treating people the same way we do AI.

How can I give you the right prompt to get you to give me what I want?

And we're taking out the human relationship in all of it.

Please know that AI and technology was never meant to make it easier for you to ignore the image of God sitting across from you in the life of a person.

And we instead should not make sure that we don't allow our devices to do all of the relating for us, but instead we embody life together.

Practically, what does this mean?

Before you use the tool, ask this Am I using this to extend my humanity or am I using this to replace my humanity?

There are things that only you can do, not because AI can't approximate them, but because the person doing them is the point.

Like your presence, your voice, the way you look someone in the eye and make them feel like they matter, those are things AI can never do.

Those things are not features, they're the fruit of what it means to be human, and no algorithm could ever grow those things in you.

So please, in the midst of efficiency and productivity, do not lose what it means to be distinctively human and to treat other people as distinctively human, made in the image of God.

So we were made to create, that's a gift.

We were made to see each other, that's a calling.

But here's where Genesis also tells us every gift that has been given is broken because of the sin and because of the fall.

Turn with me to Genesis chapter 11, and I'm going to show you the first time that technology made an appearance, and we see it corrupted.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse 1, it reads like this.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.

And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.

Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.

Underline that phrase.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of the man had built.

And the Lord said, Behold, there are there are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there was the there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Second filter that I want you to make sure to install is the evaluation filter.

It's the evaluation filter.

Not all water is safe to drink.

In the same way.

Not all technology is safe to absorb.

The story that we read in Genesis 11 is called the Tower of Babel.

And it's the first time that we see technology moving on the scene where these people who are made in the image of God who begin to get together and they're trying to make a name for themselves.

Folks, technology and the advancement of technology, it's the same temptation with new tools.

How do we make a name for ourselves?

How do we get further along than everybody else?

And it says there that God dispersed them over all of the earth because these image bearers were making something in their own image instead of using their image-bearing capabilities to make something in the image of God and to give Him ultimate glory.

Here's a nobody in the tech industry is going to put on the box when they give you the iPhone or when they give you the tool or when they give you the new software.

They're never going to say, hey, these things are neutral, as though they're just sitting there waiting for you to use them for good or waiting for you to use them for bad.

They are already moving you somewhere the moment that you download the device, the moment that you download the software.

Every platform that you open, every app that you use, every device that you pick up was designed with an end in mind.

And almost never is that end meant to be human flourishing.

It's instead your attention, it's your data, it's your engagement.

And the longer you stay, the more it works.

Don't miss this.

You are not the customer, you have become the product.

So the question is not, can I use this?

The question that a biblical thinking believer should be asking is, should I use this?

And if so, at what cost?

The internet did not just give us information, it rewired how we think, how long we can pay attention, what we feel entitled to know instantly.

Social media platforms were engineered to maximize engagement, not human flourishing.

Even the founders have come out and they have said that the people became the product.

Don't miss this.

The algorithm is not your friend.

Like it is not trying to help you.

That discover page on Facebook, that discover page on Instagram, whatever it is, whatever version of that, and whatever social media on TikTok, whatever, it is not your friend.

It is not trying to give you things that are gonna make you a better believer in Jesus.

They are giving you things that are gonna make you more addicted.

So they're gonna pry on your anger, they're gonna pry on your outrage, they're gonna pry on mindless, numbing things that just keep you coming back for more, or they're gonna pry you on things that you should not be looking at in the first place.

They find your mind being corrupted instead of a renewed mind, it is a conformed mind.

Please hear me.

It's an attention economy that profits from your outrage or your insecurity or your compulsions.

AI is already at a scale where it's producing deep fakes, AI-generated content, and misinformation at a level that we've never seen before.

If you don't believe me, just ask the great American historian Abraham Lincoln, who was quoted as saying this.

Don't believe everything that you read on the internet.

Folks, unfiltered water.

It makes you sick.

So when you just consume whatever the algorithm gives you without a filter of evaluation, you're gonna get sick.

And you may not see it right away.

It may instead make you sick so slow over time you don't even realize how sick that you actually are.

Let me give you some evaluation questions.

Before I do that, though, this is a key verse that's a principle.

1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 12.

1 Corinthians 6:12

It says this you say I am allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you.

And even though I am allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything.

Are you a slave to your technology?

Let me give you three diagnostic questions that you should help that help you run every app, every platform, every device through this evaluation filter.

Number one, who built this and what do they want from me?

Who built this and what do they want from me?

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's good.

So we've got to be honest.

Like, what is it that they're what what do they want from me?

What are they trying to get from me in this?

Number two, what is what is it actually doing to me, not just what it claims to do?

What is it actually doing to me, not just what it claims to do?

I have a love-hate relationship with social media.

Uh I love it in the sense that I get to connect with other people that maybe I wouldn't be able to be connected to otherwise.

I love it being able to celebrate friends and other people in other ministries and seeing what God's doing in their life and in their church.

I love it for ideas, to be able to gather new ideas and again to be able to use it as a way to just inspire me.

Uh I also just love it because it's a form of digital discipleship.

It's a way that I can still connect with you even after the Sunday morning and be able to give you content and things like that that can maybe encourage you or help you or be a supplement to what you may see in God's Word.

But can I be honest with you?

I also hate social media.

I hate it because I know what it does to my soul.

I know that for me, whenever I get home on a Sunday afternoon and I just begin to mindlessly scroll, it leads me down a path that is not good for me.

It leads me down a place of comparison.

It leads me down a place of kind of anger.

I begin to get outraged and mad about stuff.

At the end of the day, I don't even care about this stuff.

But it's but it's feeding me all of these things.

And so therefore, for me, I know that if I'm gonna engage with something like social media and be able to take the good and spit out the bad, I've got to put limits on myself.

Like I've got to have time limits that I can I can handle a little bit of this, but I can't handle unlimited of this.

Because I know what it begins to do.

Let me ask you have you evaluated what some of the tools that you use, which are great and perhaps helpful, are also doing as a side benefit, as a side negation to your soul?

Like, are we actually going there and being willing to evaluate and say, what is not just what are they telling me this is going to do, they're gonna tell you all of the positives.

They're not gonna mention all of the addiction.

They're not gonna tell you the way that it causes you to disengage with those that are around you.

Third question you should ask in the evaluation filter is this what am I quietly giving up in order to use it?

What am I quietly giving up in order to use it?

I read a statistic that 68% of parents feel distracted when they're on their phones away from their kids.

68%.

Yeah.

I think we have to ask the hard question.

What am I giving up to do this?

I got a daughter that just graduated, she sent it off to Baylor next year.

Uh all I think about is regret.

What did I not do?

Like, what could I what could I have done?

What could I have done?

I I wish I would have thought about it a lot sooner than now.

But I instead recognize that look, I'm not saying it's bad to engage and watch some Netflix and hang out.

I'm not, I'm not saying that it's bad for you to scroll social media.

I'm not saying it's bad for you to spend some time learning about how to use AI to be more proficient in your life and your business and all that.

I'm just asking you, do you realize how much you're on it?

When I get that little screen notification thing that tells me my screen time, it's the most depressing point of my week.

Because I'm thinking I wasn't on it that long.

Surely it's like counting stuff overnight that I'm not seeing or something, right?

The reality is we always grade our paper up.

But the reality is we are giving up real face-to-face relationships whenever we engage in technology without an evaluation filter installed.

Third thing I want you to see, because I want you to know this there is good news.

You're not left without a filter.

God did not just diagnose the problem, he gave us tools to navigate it.

Third filter to install is this it's the kingdom filter.

It's the kingdom filter.

The filter is not a wall.

Romans 12, 2 says it's a mind that's renewed by God.

I don't want you to think AI or technology is all bad.

Like, think about it.

The printing press made the reformation possible.

The fact that we have a hard copy of God's word is as a result of the gift of technology.

Radio and television have spread the gospel to places that missionaries could never be able to get to on foot.

Technology has always been a kingdom tool when it's wielded by people whose minds are being renewed.

The question is not whether we should engage with technology, the question is who is doing the engaging and what is shaping their judgment.

Please hear me.

As a church, I think AI is going to do wonders for us.

Like I honestly believe it's going to help us with efficiency and creativity and accessibility.

I have told our team I want to be a leader in using AI to reach Northeast Houston and beyond.

I firmly believe this is an opportunity that is before us that has never been before.

And we can leverage and use this to be able to advance the kingdom of God in profound ways far beyond we could have ever possibly dreamed.

But please hear me.

AI and technology can never replace presence, it can never replace community.

God did not send a memo to us, he sent his son.

Like the gospel is always embodied and never changes even when tools do.

AI cannot do what a room full of believers does for your soul.

Jesus did not disciple people over a screen.

He ate with them.

He showed up at their houses, he sat at their tables, he got in a boat with them.

The early church did not gather virtually, and I don't think that's just because they didn't have the technology to do so.

I think that they instead gathered in presence with each other because that's always been the point.

That's always been the goal.

We are wired for presence, not connection in the abstract.

Followers, likes, comments, but actual presence, the kind where somebody's able to walk in in your group, see your face, and know what's going on before you ever say a word.

AI can do so much, but it cannot do that.

It can generate a response, but it cannot show up.

And here's what I've noticed: the more we outsource relating to our devices, the lonelier we actually become.

My wife's got a few thousand followers on Facebook.

I don't have any idea how many followers that I have on Instagram, but I can assure you of this: we do not have that many friends.

We do not have that many friends.

We've got a lot of friends, but we don't have nearly as many friends as it says on our social media that we have.

Here's how I know there's certain people that we're, quote, friends with that if I was to see in public, I wouldn't go out of my way to go talk to them.

And don't, some of you are like, what's wrong with you?

You do the same.

Don't look at me like that.

You do not have nearly as many friends as you claim that you do on social media.

It's all a mirage, and we've got to be careful that we don't let our friend count replace real friendships.

We've instead got to realize that God has made us for more than just a platform.

God has made us for personal relationships.

Please know whenever you try to replace embodied relationship with a digital version, it looks like water, but it doesn't hydrate you, it just makes you sick.

What's the answer?

Go back to Romans 12, 2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I want to give you a few practical things that you should do to help you renew your mind and have the kingdom filter.

Okay?

Number one, read your Bible.

Devotion before digital.

Bible before breakfast.

Whatever mantra you want to use, please let me encourage you.

I'm doing it right now.

I'm literally spending time every week learning how to use AI more efficiently.

I'm taking classes, I'm doing all the stuff, trying to get really, really good at it.

But it is a mistake for me to figure out how to get more information in me and through me and miss out on the fact that we are invited to speak to the source of wisdom.

The Bible is the most important way that you can use AI and technology for kingdom purposes.

Otherwise, you will just become more ignorant with more information.

But instead, if I allow God's word to shape me, to speak to me, to talk to me, to allow it to be the place where the true depth of real wisdom comes, then I begin to discover how I can use all of the resources out there to accomplish his glory instead of trying to build a tower of Babel for myself.

Number two, pray.

Pray.

Sounds so simple.

But how often do we neglect it?

Why?

Because guess what?

A notification pops up and reminds us of an email that we have or reminds us of a calendar appointment that we have.

And then guess what?

We're off to the races and we remember, oh yeah, we were we were praying.

Don't miss.

I don't know what your father is like, I don't know what your situation is like.

Father's Day is a great day for me.

I got a great dad, I got a great father-in-law, I've come from a legacy of great dads.

But for you, it may be a hard day.

This may be a difficult day because you of a dad that maybe has been absent, and maybe the dad that's not there.

Can I just tell you though, whatever your situation is walking in here, you have a father in heaven who loves you, who chooses you, and wants to hear from you.

Don't miss the gift because you're trying to be more efficient, to spend time with a father who's proud of you no matter what you produce.

Who loves you because he made you, he chose you.

He wants to be with you.

Number three, show up in person.

Show up in person.

I for sure mean that with the church.

I think technology is one of the greatest things.

Streaming our services has allowed us to get into prisons that we could have never possibly imagined, and it's just incredible the way that God's used that.

Technology is something, whenever you're traveling and you're missing, you're able to stay connected.

There's no question about it.

That's great.

But technology was never meant to replace showing up.

And I think too often we not only do that in the church, we also do that in our homes at dinner.

And we do that in the way that we interact with each other.

We just we show up digitally, we we let ourselves know on a on a on a uh some kind of message board or something, and we miss the reality that God tells us that we should be embodied people.

We're gonna have a couple thousand people here this weekend.

Praise God for that.

We're continuing to grow.

God's doing some amazing things.

Can I tell you though, what's way more important is the 20 people that you do life with in your small group.

That's the most important group.

And that's what you need to get involved in and to be with because God doesn't just want you to have more information, even if it's good information.

He wants you to live it out in relationship with other people.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25 says this, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as in the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24

Technology can be helpful when you miss, but it shouldn't be the reason why you miss.

We'll just sleep in today and we'll watch it online.

This is the reason that we embody these relationships.

Number four, practice silence and solitude.

AI can help you be a thought partner, but it can't replace intentional time away from all of the noise to be with the person who created the thoughts.

That's gone.

I'm headed on a sabbatical today.

I'm so grateful for you as a church affording this to me, and I'm looking forward to it.

Um but I'm also really nervous about it.

Uh they're taking, they shut off all my email and they're giving me a burner phone that only has a few numbers on it.

Which I don't really know what that says about their trust in me to be able to stay away, but I'm most nervous about being alone with my own thoughts.

Because I do everything in my power to avoid it.

Music, show, email, whatever it is.

I'm convinced the greatest way that we can use AI and technology for kingdom purposes and build up the image of God is by intentionally setting aside time when we don't use any of it.

Elijah, it says.

He didn't hear God in the fire, he didn't hear God in the wind.

He heard God in still small.

Proverbs four twenty-three says this guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Everything flows downstream.

If I don't have my filter installed, guess what?

That technology is gonna go right through me and it's just gonna go all the way down to everybody else around me, and it's gonna become whatever it is that the creators made it and wanted it to be.

But man, if I put the filter on of the image of God, if I allow myself to actually evaluate what I have in front of me, if I begin to begin to pursue kingdom purposes, it allows me to not see it as a thing that's gonna replace me and I gotta be angry and I'm gonna be mad at it and I gotta avoid it.

But also not the thing that's gonna save me and the thing that's gonna allow me to experience all of the flourishing in life that I ever thought I could.

Instead, I can see it as a gift that's been given, it's processed and received to go reach more people for Jesus.

Would you bow your heads in prayer with me all across this room?

If you're joining me online, please do this thing.

Lord, would you guide?

Would you lead us in this area?

It feels so often overwhelming.

How do we get ahead of it?

How do we stay on top of it?

We know technology can be a tool and has been used as an important gift in advancing your kingdom, so help us, help this church be a place that utilizes the gift of technology for your glory.

I pray that you would reveal clearly to us areas in our own personal lives where we've crossed the line.

Would you help us to walk with you?

Would you help us to seek you more than the temporary highs that technology promises?

Would you help us restore and recover our image before you as the creation who brings honor and glory to the creation, to the creator?

Continue to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed.

Some of you are early and quick adopters of any new technology because of what it promises you.

Some of you are skeptical and fearful that it's going to replace you or even harm you.

But I want you to know that the ultimate joy and the ultimate safety come not from something that technology has or ever will give us, it comes through a relationship with your creator.

Bible tells us that all of us are sinners, which means that all of us are broken.

The world that we live in, the technology that we use, it's broken.

We try so many things to fix that brokenness.

But ultimately, the only thing that could possibly heal is a relationship with God's Son.

Came to this earth, lived a perfect, sinless, obedient life, got a real sacrificial death on a cross, and now offers you the opportunity to experience both abundant life here and now, and eternal life in the future.

You give your life to Jesus today.

If you've never done that, you want to experience the freedom that that provides in just a moment.

Our team's gonna be up front, they're gonna be at the bottom of the steps and the risers.

I'm just gonna ask you to come.

Let us lead you through a simple prayer that can change your life forever.

Maybe others need to come and join the United City Church.

God's leading you to be at this place to identify, to believe, to belong with us.

Would you come and lead the way?

Maybe others need to be baptized, like these seven that we saw earlier.

This is your next step of obedience.

Would you come?

Let us talk to you about it.

Maybe others of you need prayer.

Would you come and let us have the gift praying for you?

Father, in Jesus' name, we come before you and we ask that you would take these moments we have left.

Use them for your glory.

I pray, God, that you would speak.

I pray God that we would respond.

Thank you for leading us in these moments.

It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Man, what an amazing time that we had today.

Hey, if you know of someone that needs to hear this message, we'd love for you to share that on socials.

We'd love for you to actually go and check out our socials so you can stay up to date on everything happening in the life of United City.

And if you need to take the next step, we'd love to help you do that as well.

Love you guys so much, and we'll see you next week.