AI, Tech and Human Progress

Devotional

Day 1: Lifting Eyes to the Mountains, Not Monuments

When ancient Israelites lifted their eyes to the mountains, they saw temples to false gods. Today, skylines boast towers of human achievement. Both horizons tempt us to trust created things over the Creator. Psalm 121 redirects our gaze to the One who shaped every peak and pane of glass. True help comes not from systems we build, but the God who builds us. This posture turns us from self-reliance to divine dependence, not as a backup plan but a first instinct. [35:06]

I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you instinctively turn when overwhelmed—to productivity hacks, financial security, or God’s presence? How might pausing to “lift your eyes” shift your daily rhythms?

Day 2: Building Walls, Not Towers

Human history oscillates between two building projects: Babel’s pride-driven towers and Nehemiah’s community-restoring walls. One seeks glory, the other fosters belonging. Technology, like AI, amplifies both possibilities. The question isn’t whether we’ll build, but what kind of builders we’ll be—those chasing godlike status or cultivating God-honoring stewardship. Our tools reveal our hearts. [57:04]

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins. Come, let us rebuild the wall.” They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. (Nehemiah 2:17-18, ESV)

Reflection: What “building project” consumes your energy—something aiming for personal glory or communal good? How does Christ’s humility recalibrate your ambitions?

Day 3: Hackable Animals or Image-Bearers?

Some reduce humans to biological machines—hackable, upgradable, disposable. Scripture declares we’re imprinted with divine worth, not just data points. Being God’s image-bearers means our value isn’t tied to productivity or problem-solving. Even as AI outperforms our processing power, it cannot replicate the sacred spark of a soul known by its Maker. [47:08]

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27, ESV)

Reflection: When have you felt reduced to a “problem solver” or “resource”? How might embracing your identity as God’s image-bearer change your relationship with technology?

Day 4: Grace, Not Algorithms

AI operates on inputs and outputs: right prompts yield desired results. Faith thrives on backward math—undeserved love given first. The gospel isn’t a cosmic algorithm to hack, but a gift to receive. Where technology demands performance, Christ whispers, “It is finished.” Our worth isn’t earned through perfect queries, but secured through His cross. [59:48]

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you subtly believe God’s love requires perfect “inputs” from you? How might resting in grace free you from spiritual performance anxiety?

Day 5: Flesh, Blood, and Resurrection Hope

Silicon Valley seeks immortality through tech mergers. Christianity celebrates a resurrected Savior who walked out of a grave. Jesus didn’t avoid mortality—He transformed it. Our future isn’t digital abstraction but renewed creation. Every ache for permanence finds its answer not in code, but in the living Christ who knows our frailty and offers eternal flesh-and-blood hope. [01:04:32]

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. (1 John 4:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: How does the resurrection’s tangible hope comfort you more than vague promises of technological “immortality”? What earthly struggle feels lighter when held in light of eternity?

Sermon Summary

Psalm 121 lifts the traveler’s eyes and asks a blunt question: Where does help come from. The mountains offer options, ancient altars dotting the ridgeline, but the Psalm answers with a bigger horizon. Help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The text refuses last resort spirituality and trains a first response. The Lord does not slumber. The Lord is shade at the right hand. The Lord keeps a life, coming and going, now and forevermore. That cadence of watchful care becomes the plumb line when a modern gaze lifts not to hills but to skylines, towers, and data centers. Humanity builds things. Humanity builds better things. In this moment, AI looks like the brightest tower.

AI, like a sharp scalpel, can heal or harm. It can speed medical discovery, steward resources, and amplify communication, even help truth travel. But a tool is not a teacher of meaning. Pattern recognition explodes, yet meaning still requires a human person made in the image of God. When voices claim humans are hackable animals and that soul and freedom are over, the image of God answers with flesh and blood, spirit and reason, given by the Creator. Omniscient databases are not merciful. Omnipresent networks are not kind.

Ambition aims to turn platforms into religions, demanding allegiance and offering belonging at scale. But who gets to be in charge. Corporations, nations, end users, or the machine itself each lead into dystopias that echo Babel, a tower to self. Scripture redirects the project toward Nehemiah’s wall, a modest build for shared safety, dignity, and community. That is a better north star for technology.

Grace tells a different story than algorithms. A cookbook says perform first to be accepted later. The gospel says acceptance comes first by Christ’s finished work, then freedom and growth follow. A former engineer calls the coming system a god. But what is missing is goodness, lovingkindness, tender mercy. Humanity does not need a small g god with the biggest brain, but the big G God with an infinite heart. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, already cracked the code of immortality by walking out of the grave. The Spirit of God is recognized where Jesus Christ is confessed as having come in the flesh. So use AI as a tool, but cling to incarnation. The church’s block is flesh and blood people gathered around the Word, receiving grace, seeing one another face to face, and being kept by the Lord who does not sleep.

Key Takeaways

1. God becomes the first response. Turning to God first reorders the heart before productivity, anxiety, or novelty set the pace. The Psalm does not deny danger; it names a Keeper who does not sleep. Beginning with prayer is not retreat but alignment with the Maker of heaven and earth. First response shapes every next response. [29:12]
2. The image of God stands. Silicon dreams shrink a person to data, but Scripture names a human as flesh and spirit, reason and conscience, loved by God. Dignity does not come from capability or connectivity but from bearing God’s likeness. Any tool that forgets this will use people instead of serving them. [47:08]
3. AI cannot teach meaning. Patterns at scale are still not purpose, and speed is not wisdom. Meaning lives in relationship, covenant, holiness, and hope that algorithms cannot generate. A Christian receives truth not only as data but as a Person who speaks, calls, and keeps. [51:30]
4. Build community, not Babel. Ambition that reaches for the heavens ends in confusion; humble building creates space for shared life and guarded joy. The future worth wanting looks like Nehemiah’s wall, not a tower to self. Technology should become a trellis for love, not a monument to pride. [57:31]
5. Grace, not algorithms, secures belonging. Performance-based acceptance turns people into producers, but grace gives acceptance at the start and frees a soul to love. Jesus does what no system can do by granting pardon, welcome, and rest. That is belonging a heart can live and die on. [59:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:45] - Turning to Psalm 121
[29:12] - First response, not last resort
[33:10] - New series: We’ve Got Issues
[37:08] - AI marks our cultural moment
[41:14] - AI as tool for good
[44:31] - Three frontier quotes to test
[45:34] - Harari and hackable humans
[47:08] - Image of God reasserted
[52:58] - Altman and digital religion
[56:30] - Babel versus Nehemiah’s wall
[58:30] - Lennox: grace over cookbook law
[60:35] - A machine-god without mercy
[63:48] - Church as embodied community
[64:32] - Jesus and immortality’s code cracked

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Psalm 121 (ESV)
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

- Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV)
The Tower of Babel narrative, where human ambition to “reach the heavens” leads to confusion.

- Nehemiah 2:11-18 (ESV)
Nehemiah’s humble project to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall for community safety and dignity.

- 1 John 4:2 (ESV)
“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”

Observation questions

Psalm 121 repeatedly emphasizes God’s “keeping” (e.g., “he who keeps you,” “the Lord will keep your life”). What specific actions or attributes of God does the Psalm highlight in this care?
In the sermon, how does the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) contrast with Nehemiah’s wall-building project? What different motivations drive these two endeavors? [56:30]
According to 1 John 4:2, why is confessing Jesus’ physical incarnation (“come in the flesh”) a key marker of truth? How does this relate to the sermon’s emphasis on human dignity? [01:05:05]

Interpretation questions

The Psalmist asks, “Where does my help come from?” and answers by pointing to God rather than the mountains (which held pagan altars). Why might people today still look to “mountains” (symbols of human achievement) for help instead of God?
Genesis 11 warns against human ambition that seeks self-glorification. How does AI, as described in the sermon, risk becoming a modern “tower of Babel”? [56:30]
Nehemiah’s wall was a modest project focused on community safety. How might this model shape our approach to technology differently than pursuing “bigger and better” innovations? [57:31]

Application questions

The sermon argues that turning to God should be a “first response, not a last resort” when facing challenges. What practical step could you take this week to prioritize prayer before leaning on technology, productivity hacks, or anxiety? [29:12]
If human dignity comes from bearing God’s image (not capabilities or connectivity), how might this truth change the way you interact with someone who feels reduced to their productivity or online presence?
The sermon warns that AI cannot teach meaning. Where have you noticed emptiness in “answers” provided by algorithms or data? How could intentionally seeking wisdom in Scripture or Christian community fill that gap? [51:30]
Nehemiah’s wall prioritized shared safety and face-to-face community. What’s one way you could use technology modestly this month to strengthen real relationships rather than replace them? [57:31]
Grace offers acceptance before performance. How might believing this truth free you from the pressure to “prove your worth” in areas like work, parenting, or social media? [59:48]

Sermon Clips

36s

#FleshNotCyborg

“Not a machine, not a giant brain, but flesh and blood like you and me. That is the solution to the future of humanity. For people who are wondering how do we crack the code of immortality, we're gonna die. I'm gonna merge with a machine. Jesus cracked the code of immortality two thousand of years ago when he rocked out of the grave on Easter morning. Like that is our future, not merging with some kind of cyborg thing and getting all the data merged somehow downloaded into our organic brain. The future is where Jesus has already gone in front of us.”

63s

#MadeInGodsImage

“Now there is a leading edge in AI technological development that is starting to deny or diminish or reduce who we are as human beings, as created biological beings, and to diminish and say that all is a thing of the past. What all of this thinking is missing is a healthy concept that we are made in the image of God. If we reduce ourselves to mere biological accidents or start to disdain the fact that we have this mortal existence, we are in for serious trouble, friends. If we look at machines and computational power as the aspirational peak to which we are headed next and that's the goal, that's the inevitable end of human beings and human civilization, we do so at our own peril.”

43s

#SoulNotAlgorithm

“Friends, scripture teaches very clearly, we are made not in the image of a machine, but in the image of God. And being made in the image of God means that we are flesh and blood, that we have a spirit, that we have a soul, that we are in all of the created world as far as we know given this unique gift of reason and consciousness. Now part of being a reasonable and conscious being is recognizing patterns. Like this is a big way that human beings build stuff and build better stuff. Like we're great at pattern recognition, but it turns out that machines are way better at pattern recognition than we are.”

46s

#ChurchIsCommunity

“Like, are we gonna have like, are we gonna put a data center up on the roof? Maybe if the price is right. No. No. We're not. We are not gonna do that. Like, what we have is coming together around the book, around God's word. What we have is people to look in the eye and talk about deeper things as we search for meaning. We have people that we can cry with and pray with be with together in Jesus' name. This is the secret sauce of the church of Jesus Christ that we get deeper meaning and grace through God and through the incarnation of Jesus Christ who didn't just stay God at a distance, but became a human being.”

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AI, Tech and Human Progress

Devotional

Day 1: Lifting Eyes to the Mountains, Not Monuments

Day 2: Building Walls, Not Towers

Day 3: Hackable Animals or Image-Bearers?

Day 4: Grace, Not Algorithms

Day 5: Flesh, Blood, and Resurrection Hope

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

AI, Tech and Human Progress

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