Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Good morning, everyone. It is Monday, January the 13th, 2025. It is currently 1034 a.m. Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, what we are about to do should be extremely interesting. I'm somewhat excited to see how this plays out because what we are going to do is we really have artificial intelligence making a prediction about how a sermon is going to go, how a sermon is going to handle the text, how the sermon is going to put forth its ideas. And AI is making this prediction without analyzing the sermon. All I did was give AI the title of a sermon and the text and then AI just went crazy and it was like you need to watch out for this and you need to watch out for this and you need to look out for this because this could go this way and this could be this and just made all these predictions and I was like whoa that's this is I've never really had AI go here's the title of a sermon here's the text what do you think it's going to do incorrectly. What do you think it's going to do? And then AI is like, whoa, that title, that text, basically AI was like, that sermon has the potential of being an absolute mess. So I'm interested to see how correct AI's prediction is or how incorrect it is. Now, I'm not expecting it to be, well, I take it back. I'm kind of conflicted here. On one hand, I would think AI is going to get this way, way, way wrong, right? There's a part of it. But there's another part of me that when I look at the title of this sermon and I look at the text, I'm thinking it's going to be a complete train wreck as well. But let me tell you how we got there. So I had some things to do around the house and I was going here doing this and doing that. So I was carrying my iPad with me. And I was just like, you know, while I'm doing these things, I'll just go to the sermons 2.0 app and just start listening to some random sermons. So I was just looking and I found one sermon entitled, Ye Must, and based on John 3, Ye Must Be Born Again. And the pastor was making this point that Nicodemus was this, from a human perspective, this righteous man, this man that would have appeared to have been godly, trying to keep the law, trying to do all of these right things. He would have been moral. He would have been an upstanding person in his community. He would have been considered a good man, yet ye must be born again. He needed to be born again. And so I was listening to that, and then I stopped, and I'm like, well, wait a minute. This is interesting, right? Because within the non-Catholic Protestant world, we kind of have a logical fallacy, a contradictory message that often gets preached. When we're in John 3, we're like, you can be a righteous man, you can be a man that is moral, you can be a good man, yet ye must be born again, because all of your goodness, all of your righteousness that will not save you, you need Jesus. But on the other hand, we turn around and say, hey, if you're truly saved, how do you know you're saved? By this outward righteousness, by this outward morality. Well, wait a minute. Outward righteousness and outward morality is obviously not a proof of salvation if someone can be outwardly moral and outwardly righteous and yet not saved. That means you can be outwardly moral and outwardly righteous without salvation. So, therefore, outward morality and righteousness cannot prove one's salvation. It's a complete contradiction. It's circular reasoning. There's all kinds of problems with it. So, I was going to grab that sermon, download it, and just kind of use it to really get into this major theological issue that is so prevalent in Protestant, Reformed, Fundamentalist Church. On one hand, you can be righteous and not be saved, yet your righteousness supposedly proves you're saved. Well, righteous—no, it doesn't prove you're saved if an unrighteous—if a person who's lost can be morally righteous outwardly. Well, then moral—outward morality does not prove salvation. Oh, there's so much we could get into that. So that's where I was going to go. I'm like, okay, let me save this one and I'm going to do something. So I started typing out some notes and I'm like, okay, I think I'm ready to go. So I was going to come up here, sit down and say, ye must be born again. Okay, here's what this pastor says about Nicodemus. Now let's consider this in light of how Protestants typically teach and fundamentalists and evangelicals, et cetera, et cetera. And we can see the contradiction. We can point out the circular reasoning. and then we can look forward that, you know, the real proof of salvation is not my righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. I thought it would be an interesting conversation. And then something happened. I was sitting here and I was just, you know, continuing to just refresh the Sermons 2.0 app, the new sermons. And all of a sudden, I saw a sermon entitled, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well? How does Satan stop up your well? And I'm like, wait a minute, I don't have a well, right? Okay, I mean, I know, I used to, you know, when I grew up in Buffalo Gap, Texas, I grew up in Buffalo Gap, Texas, all right? And you know, it was what, population 260 people, 270 people at the time, all right? And right across from my house, there was a street, right? Now, if you go back into history, There was a time in Texas history that Buffalo Gap was trying to become the kind of the county seat, right? Kind of become the focus of the county, right? And there was an argument trying to have the railroad more in Buffalo Gap than in Abilene. And there was conflict between Abilene and Buffalo Gap and who was going to kind of become the county seat of Taylor County. And where was the railroad going to basically be? And there was all these issues. And on the street right in front of my house, at some point in there, supposedly there was like a shootout right there in the street where I lived historically. And there's historical markers around Buffalo Gap about some of the things that happened there. And right across the street from my house is this house that And it just been left there. I mean, it looked like it was built in the 1800s, man. It was just nobody was around it. It was abandoned, but it had this like 1800s feel. And there was a lot of things in Buffalo Gap at that time. Now, the town looks a little bit different and a lot of the older structures have been torn down, which is kind of sad. But we would sit there and, you know, when you would walk outside and see the house, it made you feel like you were, you know, back in the 1800s, or you were in a Western, and your imagination could go wild. So we would play all around that house. It was empty, it was abandoned, but it could give us this feel like we were in the 1800s. If you walked out my front door and looked at the house, I think it was to the left of the house, right on the left-hand side, you would go over there and guess what there was? There was a well. There were steps to go down into the well. There was a bucket you could drop in there. I don't know if it was where the well water was coming from, but you could pull the bucket out and get water. you know, we would play all around that. Like, you know, like we've been out riding our horse in the 1800s being, you know, attacked by bandits or Native American tribes, whatever the case may be. And then we're pulling up the bucket to get water. And so it was just, it was great for my imagination. I loved it. So that's my only dealing with an actual well. That's where it was. I never thought about Satan showing up to stop up this well. I never thought, Satan's gonna stop up this well. What does it mean that Satan stops up the well? So the title caught my attention, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well? But then what really got my attention was the text was Genesis 26. I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Genesis 26, now I got Genesis 26 in front of me. Genesis 26, there are 35 verses in Genesis 26. If we go with some just basic headings for Genesis 26, God's covenant with Isaac, Isaac's deception, Isaac prospers, disputes over wells, God appears to Isaac, a covenant with Abimelech. Now what I don't see anywhere in Genesis 26, I don't see Satan. So I'm like, wait a minute, how do we have a sermon? called, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well? Based on Genesis 26, when Satan doesn't even appear in Genesis 26. What is going on? So I'm like, okay, this is interesting. So then I took the title, I took the scripture, and I basically, I gave to AI, hey, I just stumbled upon this sermon entitled, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well? The text is Genesis 26, all right? And this is what AI said. The title, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well, and the choice of Genesis 26 suggests that the sermon will likely use Isaac's experience with the wells as a metaphor for spiritual life. Here are some possible hermeneutical and textual errors, as well as a prediction for how the text might be handled. So immediately, AI was like, hey, this is going to turn the well into some kind of a metaphor for the spiritual life. Then I guess Satan can stop up your spiritual life. Like, what is going on here, right? So here's what AI gives me. I'm not going to read everything it says. I will refer back to this, because what we're going to do is we're going to review the audio. But I don't want you to think that I'm feeding AI information as the sermon is going on. Now, I've already given AI the information. What I gave it was the title and the text. AI gave everything that I have right here in front of me. So, I'm going to kind of at least go through this briefly so you know that AI did this before the sermon. Like, I did not give it the transcript. I just gave it the title And the text, this is crazy, okay? And it gave me all kinds of things. So here's what it gave me. AI gave me possible hermeneutical errors. Number one, over-spiritualization. So you may want to write these down. AI is predicting that there's a probability, there's a possibility that the sermon we are about to review is going to over-spiritualize things. Number two, that the sermon that we are about to hear is going to really ignore the historical context. It may mention the historical context, but it's going to basically ignore it in favor, this is what AI says, in favor of an allegorical interpretation. Number three, AI predicts that eisegesis versus exegesis will occur. AI is predicting that they're going to read ideas into the text. The preacher may impose the idea of Satan into the text, even though the passage does not mention Satan or spiritual warfare. So the AI is predicting that the sermon we were about to review is going to use eisegesis. Number four, AI is predicting that it's going to be a moralistic application. Number five, AI is predicting that it's going to be a misuse of typology. Now AI is giving all these predictions. So then I said, so then AI predicted how the sermon will go. Here's AI's prediction. Number one, it will focus on the wells as symbols, not actual physical wells, but it's going to turn the physical wells into symbols. Number two, it's going to emphasize on Satan as the enemy. Satan is going to become the enemy here, not whoever the enemy may be. Number three, there's going to be an encouragement for me to re-dig My well, I don't even know what that means. AI is predicting that the pastor is going to encourage us to re-dig our wells. I don't know what that means. Number four, it's going to have possible some prosperity theology in it. Whoa, that's a big prediction. Number five, it's going to neglect the theme of the covenants. All right, so then AI gives me suggestions for a better approach. We will get into all of that later. So that's what AI did. AI broke this all down for me, even before we've even listened to it. That is crazy to me. So I can just give AI a title and the text, and AI will be like, well, here's where I think it's going. That's crazy. Predicting, that's AI. Almost thinking, I know maybe I'm giving it too much credit, but when you just give something basic information and it can provide all of this, that is something fascinating. I told you 2025 is a year of AI. We're gonna be talking about it over and over and over. So here we go, ladies and gentlemen. We're gonna listen to this sermon, How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well? It's on the Sermons 2.0 app. It was added today. Go find it, download it. but we're going to take it apart. I'm calling this Satan versus AI because the pastor put Satan into the text. AI is going to be like, AI seems to be implying, how did you get Satan into the text? So it's Satan versus AI, right? That's the way I'm going, right? And it's kind of a cool title, should get people's attention. Yeah, I mean, sometimes when you do a podcast, you do have to try to create titles that will at least hopefully get your attention, just like this sermon did. How Does Satan Stop Up Your Well immediately got my attention. So, I mean, that's what titles are there for. So, are you ready? Here we go. I don't know where this is going to go. What do you predict? What do you predict? Let's put our bets in right now. Taking bets right now, right? Are you predicting AI will be very accurate in its prediction about this sermon? Or do you believe AI is about to be very, very, very wrong in its prediction? Come on, let's put your bets in now. Put your bets in. What are you betting for? AI is going to be right in its prediction or AI is going to be very wrong in its prediction? What do you think? And if AI is right in its prediction, then that means AI... You know what that means? That means AI pulling from all of the information available to it knows that sermons tend to mishandle text over and over and over again. That's how I'm going to interpret this because AI is like, hey, that title, that text, you know it's gonna be a problem. So I don't know. How well can AI predict how a sermon will go or not go? I don't know, I don't know. This is interesting to me. Let's find out. I'm interested. Here we go. I've got all my notes ready. Let's listen. Go with me to, by the way, let me give you a little infomercial, please. I'm doing the book of Genesis. I just started, you heard me online if you listen Wednesday night, and I just started. This week will be a good week to be here out of Genesis chapter number one. But because I try to really be prepared, I've read the book of Genesis because I was preparing for this, this series, I read it 15 times. Just read, I did. And here's what happened to me. I love the Holy Ghost. As I was reading Holy Ghost, part me in Genesis chapter 26, that's where I want you to go. Okay, first, nothing but respect that he read the book of Genesis 15 times. Nothing but respect. Don't mean that in a sarcastic way. However, I hate to do this, but what we're going to have to ask ourselves, does reading the book of Genesis 15 times, does it guarantee that we will handle the text correctly? Now, in my mind, I want to believe the more you read, the more you see, and the more you can avoid eisegesis and metaphors and allegory and some of the major issues that AI is predicting this sermon is going to do. If AI is right, then what that means is reading the text 15 times does not fix these problems. Second, now I am concerned here because we have, I love the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost parked me in Genesis 26. So is the Holy Ghost about to be blamed for the content of this sermon? Because if he says the Holy Ghost is the one that showed him how he's about to interpret Genesis 26, then we are not able to criticize it because it's the interpretation of the Holy Ghost, which then would make his interpretation infallible. Oh, how I so loathe the way Christians play this game. I'm not saying he's about to play the game, but sermon after sermon, the Holy Ghost showed me this, the Holy Ghost laid down, the Holy Ghost opened my eyes, and the Holy Spirit, and you're like, well, You just claim that your interpretation is infallible. The guy over there across the street, he said the Holy Ghost led him to a completely different interpretation. So either the Holy Ghost is just messing with everyone and playing little games like, I'm going to give them a... Well, we were not going to ever say that because, well, that would be, we would be assigning deceit and sin to the Holy Spirit. So maybe when you come up with an interpretation instead of blaming God, you blame your own interpretive skills. All right, but here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. So do we, do we dare, do we call this the Holy Spirit versus AI? Let's see how much he includes the Holy Spirit in this. Maybe when I post this, I'm going to have to call this the Holy Spirit versus AI. That would be very controversial title. But if he's going to blame the Holy Spirit for what we're about to get, then AI is obviously sounds like going to possibly disagree. We'll just see where this goes. And first part, I'd be real great. Some of you might be a little tough on the last part, but it's a thought that I want to give you. I've been reading the Bible. I love the Bible. It's the inspired word of God. I'm not backing up from that. It's inerrant. Amen. And by the way, I'm not going to change preaching from the King James Bible. You know, I'm not going to get no fuss about it. You know, all these knuckleheads are online fussing about it all the time. Not me, I'm just going to preach out of what I preached on. And they can, whatever they want to do, go ahead. Genesis 26, if you're there, say amen. I'll use all the chapter tonight, but for the sake of time, let's dive in at verse 12, and I'm gonna read down probably to verse 22, about 10 verses. And there's one verse that popped out at me that I'm gonna preach on tonight. Then Isaac sowed in that field. and received in the same year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed him. By the way, if you're a child of God, God wants to bless your life. And the man works great and went forward. By the way, that's the only way we need to do is go forward. And grew until he became very great. You're already kind of getting a hermeneutical approach, right? You're already hearing the hermeneutical approach? Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed him. God wants to bless you. God wants to? Does God want to? But he can't. Like, okay, there's a lot of issues here. Am I not already blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ? Oh, we could have all kinds of conversations about that. And the man waxed great and went forth. That's the only way we're supposed to go. He's just taking phrases and just immediately making them about us. You see what he's doing? He's reading a phrase, immediately making it about us. Phrase, us. We're in Genesis 26, ladies and gentlemen. We're not here, we're not in this text. This is about Isaac. But okay, he's already, he's taken two phrases, blessed, forward, and made them about us. Now that, you can kind of get, that's kind of giving you a hermeneutical preview, I think. Let's see if this continues. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants. And listen to this, I'll cover this later. And the Philistines envied him. That's a sermon itself, but I won't do that tonight. For all the whales, which his father, Father's servant had digged in the days of Abraham, his father. Catch this, this is the important verse. The Philistines had stopped them. And here's how they'd done it. And filled them with earth. What they'd done? All the wells of Abraham that were so important, the Philistines filled them up with dirt. Because they hated God's people. Somebody help me preach. Now, question, did the Philistines stop up the wells because they hate God's people? All right, so did, I'm gonna ask AI, did the Philistines, hang on, where is the verse here? Did the Philistines, hang on, I gotta find it. Did the Philistines stop up the wells because they hated God's people? Let's see what AI has to say here. Let's see what AI has to say here. All right. Okay, AI immediately rejects this. AI says, no, the Philistines in Genesis 26 did not stop the whales because they hated God's people in a theological or spiritual sense. Their actions were more likely motivated by envy, territorial disputes, and economic rivalry, rather than a direct hatred for Isaac as a representative of God's covenant people. So he just made a dogmatic assertion, the Philistines did this because they hate God's people. Immediately AI is like, no. Now this is what I love about AI. Does AI just stop there? It's already answered the question. No, AI doesn't stop there. Guess what it provides me? the textual evidence. Wait, AI is going to actually use the text of scripture to try to justify its answer? Man, I wish Christians would do this. Okay, all right, here we go. All right. The Textual Evidence, Genesis 26, 12-22 Envy Over Isaac's Prosperity Genesis 26, 12-14 explains that Isaac became very wealthy, which caused the Philistines to envy him. His prosperity, flocks, herds, and servants would have created competition for resources like water and grazing land. The Philistines' actions were likely aimed at limiting Isaac's ability to thrive in the region." Nothing about God's people. This is just fleshly type of you know, economic concerns, resource concerns, and a fleshly, selfish approach. Territorial and political disputes. Wells in the ancient Near East were critical for survival, especially in an arid region. By stopping up wells, the Philistines were likely trying to assert control over the land and resources, signaling that Isaac was unwelcome. This was more about protecting their perceived territory than philological opposition. 2. No mention of hatred for God or His people. The text does not indicate that the Philistines stopped up the wells because they hated God or His covenant people. Instead, the motivation seems to be very practical and rooted in self-interest. The Philistines' envy, verse 14, and the subsequent quarrels over wells, verses 19-21, are described in relational and economical terms, not in spiritual or theological terms. The text, this man just made a statement that the text itself does not support. broader or Biblical context. Later in Biblical history, the Philistines become prominent enemies of Israel in the time of Samson, Saul, and David. However, in Genesis 26, the Philistines are not yet framed as the theological adversaries of God's covenant people. The conflict here is local and specific to Isaac's growing wealth and influence. The emphasis of Genesis 26 is on God's covenant faithfulness to Isaac, despite the opposition he faces. The Philistines' actions highlight the challenges Isaac encounters as he inherits the land promised to Abraham. God's continued blessing of Isaac, providing new wells and peace with the Philistines in verse 22-31, underscores his faithfulness to his promise. So immediately, remember what AI predicted? That this sermon would over-spiritualize things? Well, he just over-spiritualized. He just turned this whole thing into, they are doing it because they hate God's people. Nothing in the text proves it. The context disproves it. He's over-spiritualizing it. AI's prediction has already been perfect, and AI already just demonstrated a literal, basically, I mean, you can almost refer to it as a factual error. This is not even a, I mean, this is just a factual error. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. And listen what Isaac done. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them, heard that word again, after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a well of spring and water. And the herdman of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdman, saying, the water is ours. And he called the name of the well Essek, because they strove with him. And they digged another well. I'm going somewhere, this is gonna be good in a minute, woo. And they digged another well and strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sidna. And he removed from thence and digged another well. And for that they strove not. And he called the name, get this, called the name of it Sidna. Rehoboth. And he said, for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land. That's awesome preaching. I'm gonna try to get in this quick. Our father right now touches preaching. Lord, I feel like preaching, but I need the unction of the Holy Ghost. This year, Lord, I'm committing myself to you. I want to preach better than I ever have. Not for me, but for you. And I want to give my people something tonight. because it's so important, Lord, what I'm teaching them tonight. And I'll praise you and honor you in Jesus' name for his sake. Now you looked at the text. How many saw that in the text twice? That the Philistines stopped the whale up and they done it by throwing dirt in it. Now, Listen to this, if you read most of this chapter, Brother Jeff, some of you deacons, if you read most of this chapter, this chapter is talking about water and we're talking about wells. That's the whole subject. But here's what had happened. Isaac had set up his life in Philistine territory in Gerar. Now listen to me. And by the way, this area was hot and arid and rocky and dry. It was a terrible environment. But I want you to know something, there ain't nothing like when you're real hot and humid and when you really are real thirsty to get a good drink of well water. Some of you kids ain't never drank in your life, but it's the best thing since sliced bread. Amen. I remember, let me tell you this little story. I remember when I was a boy, and Brian, I don't know if they still have it there. I think he covered it up, messed it up. But up there in St. Mary's where, you know, up in there, there used to be a well up there when we camped up there. I remember one day, my dad brought me all over Middle Allen Creek, about three or four miles. He just had me doing stuff back and forth, and I was thirsting to death. I thought I was done, going to die. And I never forget getting into that well. I'm telling you what, I start sucking that well water. And it was good. I found some, by the way, I found some rest. Back there in these days where these wells were, it was a place of rest. It's also a place of relaxation. I'll tell you what they did at these wells. They put little booths over top of them where you could come at the well. There's a booth over there. You get out of the sun, drink the water. Somebody help me preach. I'm gonna get real happy here in a minute. as a place of relaxation and refreshment and reviving. It just really helps you. But I wanna get this to you. These wells of Isaac and these wells of Abraham is a picture, let me give it to you, of the church. Wow. The wells are a picture of the church? Okay, do you want me to ask artificial intelligence? Okay, are the wells, are the wells in Genesis 26 a picture of the church? All right, here we go. Here we go. Oh, wow. This is crazy. AI is emphatic. I love how AI is emphatic. No, no, AI is like, no, the wells in Genesis 26 are not a picture of the church. While preachers or teachers may sometimes use the wells as metaphor for spiritual truths or the church, such an interpretation is not grounded in the text itself or in the broader biblical narrative. Here's why the interpretation is problematic and how the wells should be understood. Number one, the wells in their historical... Now, please note, see how quickly AI is able to just take this all apart? He made a claim about the Philistines. Immediately, AI was no, and it gave me all the textual, biblical justification for that no. Here, it's no, the wells are not a picture of the church, and immediately, what is it? It's gonna break it down. Number one, the wells in their historical context. Wells in Genesis 26, are literal. They're not symbolic. They are essential for survival in the ancient Near East, providing water for drinking, agriculture, and livestock. In the narrative, the wells represent God's provision and Isaac's claim to the land as a part of the covenant promised to Abraham, Genesis 12, 7, Genesis 26, 3-4. By reopening the wells dug by Abraham, Isaac demonstrates his continued connection to the covenant and his rightful place in the land. The disputes over the well reflect practical and territorial conflict, not theological ones. The Philistines' actions stopping up the wells are about asserting control over resources, not about opposing God or his people in any spiritual sense. 2. Problems with interpreting the wells as a picture of the church. 1. There's no biblical warrant. There is no indication in Genesis 26 or anywhere else in scripture that the wells symbolize the church. The connection would be speculative and unsupported by the text. 2. Forcing allegory. Turning the wells into a symbol of the church risks engaging in allegory that imposes meaning on the text rather than drawing meaning from it. This is reading into the text, not pulling from the to the text. This is eisegesis. And remember what AI predicted? AI predicted that this sermon would use eisegesis and would not be exegesis. And literally everything AI has predicted about this sermon is coming true right in front of you. Turning the wells into a symbol of the church risks engaging an allegory that imposes meaning on the text rather than drawing meaning from it. This approach can obscure the actual message of the passage, which is about God's covenant faithfulness to Isaac. Number three, misapplication. If the wells are interpreted as the church, it can lead to misguided applications, such as seeing the Philistines as a representation of Satan or enemies of the church. This shifts the focus away from the historical theological themes of the passage. Now, you know, look what AI is predicting. If you make the wells the church, you'll then make the Philistines Satan. What is the title of the church? How does Satan stop up your well? I can't believe... AI has got this figured out even without even having access to the sermon. All right, and AI goes on. I could spend 30 more minutes going on with what AI does here. AI has predicted everything this sermon is going to do. It's even making a prediction about what's to happen. Let's see if it's going to be true. AI is predicting that if you make the wells the church, I think if I said, if you make the church the wells or the wells the church, you get the idea. If you say the wells are a picture of the church, then what you're going to do is turn the Philistines into basically a picture of Satan. And all of that AI predicts, and none of it is biblical. It's textually incorrect. It's eisegesis. But yet, here are the people. They're going to be saying, Amen. They're going to be applauding. They're going to get all excited. And we're going to have an emotional experience. And guess what is going to happen? I keep saying it again and again and again and again. Sermons are the death. to understanding the Bible. The sermon is the worst thing ever created in the history of mankind if people actually want to understand the text. And when I say the sermon, the sermon as it has become. It's a speech. It's a form of entertainment. It's not about the text. The whole sermon structure needs to be exploded and burned to the ground and we need to start over because, what is this? I appreciate their zeal. I appreciate their passion. I appreciate their desire, but this is... Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Let's see where it goes. Oh, somebody help me here. Of the assembling of ourselves together, because we're living in a dry, how many believe that? Human, ungodly, rocky world. This woke generation that we're living, this world doesn't have anything for us Christians. For the love of bubblegum, can we stop using the word woke, okay? It's like this buzzword. Woke! This woke generation! Woke! Woke! Woke! Woke! It's like older people. This woke generation! My goodness. Can we stop using that word? It's like we get a word, and it's like, oh, the boogeyman is woke. Woke is the boogeyman. You know, but he wants to be woke. What we want to be is asleep. We don't want to be woke. We don't want to be awake. We want to be asleep. Would we stop with that? It's always older people doing it. Woke, woke, woke, woke. It sounds like a Fox News on a loop. Can we stop it? Okay, if you have an issue with a specific ideology, instead of referring to it as woke, how about you just say, here's what the ideology teaches, and here's my opposition to said ideology. Doesn't everyone want to be awake? It's dry. It's a mess. But I am glad that God established a church where you can come and find some rest. Oh boy, so he's turning to, he's just, this is allegorizing the entire thing. The dry human land, that's the world we live in, and the church is where you come to get rest. And just a question, in your life, has the church been a source of rest and a source of refreshment? What has the church really been in your life? I'm just, seriously. Now, what I hear of stories over and over and over is, I was in this church, and the church split, and then there was this fight, and there was an argument about this, and then there was this, and then we got this pastor, and then we got a new pastor, and then there was this, and then there was that, and there was this, and then this, and then there was gossip, and then there was slander, and there was backstabbing, and then there was this scandal, and there was this controversy. And it was this, this, this, this. And then I have to do this. And then we had this activity. And then we had this activity. And we have to go here. We go there. And then the stress. And then there was all this. I always hear all the negative stories. And is the church the place where we get our rest and refreshment? Or is Christ where we find our rest and refreshment? Is Christ the source of rest and refreshment or the church, biblically speaking? Let's ask AI. Biblically, biblically, is the church the source of rest, hang on, the source of, if I can type right, of rest and refreshment, I'm just gonna use different words, refreshment and peace or is Christ. Is it a mistake to point to the church as the source of these things? Let's see what AI has to say. I'm sorry, it took forever to type that out. Okay, this is what AI says. Biblically, Christ alone—AI stresses the word alone, it puts it in bold type—is the ultimate source of rest, refreshment, and peace, not the Church. The Church plays a vital role in pointing believers to Christ and fostering a community where these blessings are experienced. Attributing those qualities to the Church as the source is a philological Error. Here's why. Number one, Christ as the source of rest and peace. Jesus explicitly invites people to find rest in him. Come to me, all who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Peace, Christ is described as the source of true peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Ephesians 2.14, he himself is our peace. Living water, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. Not the church, all of that comes from Christ. Dangers of pointing to the church as the source. I.A.I. says, Idolatry. Elevating the church as the source of rest and peace risks placing the institution above Christ. 2. Misplaced focus. Pointing to the church as the source of peace can shift the focus away from Christ's sufficiency. 3. Spiritual harm. Believers who are hurt. disappointed by the church might feel spiritually abandoned if they are taught to rely on the church rather than Christ. Now, if you are a, if you believe in the sacraments, now let's make sure we, if you are sacramental, right? Well, then the church is the source of these things because you believe within the source, the sacraments are a means of grace and the church is the only one who can distribute the sacraments. That's very Roman Catholic. He just made the church, the church is where we come to get our refreshment. The church is where we come to find our rest. No, Christ, Christ. Where you can come and find some relaxation. Where you can come, somebody help me preach, and get some refreshment. Where you can come and get some revival. Hey, this world dying, this world's gone, but I'm glad upon this rock I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Amen. Psalm 42 says, Everybody got ready to hear some clapping and all the amening. Unbelievable. The theological, I mean, Catholics would love this. Catholics would love this sermon, right? The church, you need the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, right? You got to have the church. As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after the old God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. Right. My soul thirsts for God, not the church. My soul thirsts after God, not the church. God is the source. God is the source of rest. God is the source of revival. God is the source of peace. God is the source of the living water. It's Him, not the church. I'll tell you what church is. It's an oasis in the wilderness. First of all, it's a well of the Word of God. I want you to know something. Somebody think, a preacher, you preach at me. I don't even know some of you real well. You know what happens is the Holy Ghost comes into your pastor and leads him on what to preach. I know you're thinking I talked to your wife last night. I actually didn't. You know what this place is? Hey, by the way, I still be even preaching line upon line, precept upon precept. Give somebody something from the word of God. I didn't bring y'all out here on a snowy day just to give you some sermon that the Christian had some smoke cigarettes. No, that's not what I done. Well, if the Holy Spirit gave you this sermon, then the Holy Spirit obviously, I don't know. We've got problems. We got problems right here. We have major problems. We got major problems. And you're preaching line by line, precept upon precept, are you? Because what you're doing is you're allegorizing a text, you're spiritualizing it, you're saying things that are just factually in error, and theologically this thing is a mess. And AI predicted all of this would happen even before we started listening. Came out here to preach! Forget that cigarette part, I didn't mean that. Yes, I did, but it's okay. Not only that, it's a well of, the word of God, it's a well of worship. I want you to know something. This is always, some people are shouting, some people are raising their hands. Some of you raised your hand today and worshiped a little bit. You know what this place ought to be? It ought to be a place of worship. I'll tell you what it's turned out to be. In some churches, it's just an entertainment center. All they do is have a rock Jesus and all this junk. Hey, by the way, I'm not against new music, Lois. I'm not against that. I ain't fighting against that, but I am fighting against this rock Jesus and some of this stupidity that's going on. By the way, We need to come and worship and get good wholesome music, good preaching and praise God. Do you not hear the irony? All this stupid stuff. He's condemning some of this stupid stuff. Are we getting preaching here? Are we getting the text? Are we getting an understanding of Genesis 26 in any meaningful way? We just had the church elevated above Christ. I know that wasn't the intention, but that's kind of what just happened. We've been, things have been allegorized, not the case. It's over spiritualization. Everything AI said was going to happen is happening. So you're going to condemn other, stupid stuff. These other churches are, other churches give entertainment. You do what you're doing. How do we measure which one is the good one? Which one is the bad one? Oh yeah, I'm preaching. And also, it's a well of witness. I want you to know this church is a witness. Let me tell you one of the reasons I know it's a witness. Two times this week, it was tough because nobody was here. Brother Jared's gone and it was a little tough. Those people, hear what they done, called and needed a little something. You know what they said to me, Lois? Two times. I don't know if it's talking to the same people. They said, we know something about your church that y'all love people. And I said, well, I said, well, who told you that we love people? And you know where that travel gas station is down here? What do you call it? PA. PA. PA? TA. I don't go there, so I don't even know what it's called. But evidently, there's somebody down TA thinks y'all something, and thinks this church doing something. This is Sermon on Genesis 26, ladies and gentlemen. What in the world is happening? What is going on? I don't even... Oh, man, man, man, man. I don't know anymore. I don't. I. OK, well, we just got to finish this. I. Oh, man. Well, I don't know where Satan's going to appear. He's only got like 10 minutes left. I don't know. Well, he's going to have to throw in Satan here quickly because He's got like 10 minutes. And they send them down here. And I try to help them. Can't help everybody, but we do our best. You know why? This is an oasis. Mark this down. Y'all mark this down. Anytime, are y'all listening? God's blessing. And you're getting fresh water out of the well. Mark it down. The devil's going to try to throw dirt in it. Oh yeah, you listen to me. I don't want to be a killjoy tonight, but I'm just going to tell you something. The enemy wants to throw dirt in what's happening at Taze Valley Baptist Church, because what's happening at Taze Valley Baptist Church ain't happening everywhere. But see, the church is not the source of the refreshment and the peace and all of that. So if Satan throws all the dirt and the world into the church and stops up the church, the refreshment and the blessing and the revival and all of that flows from Christ, not the church. So Satan can't stop all of these things coming from Christ. That's because in Christ, I have all spiritual blessings. In Christ, I have peace. In Christ, oh. The whole thing logically is just falling completely apart. If you make the church the source of it, then yes, Satan stops up the church, then that stops the flow of all of these things. Well, that is basically Catholic theology. You have to have the church. Without the church, there is no salvation. We could go back to some famous quotes in Catholic history about this. This is just form of Catholicism. man alive. If the church is stopped up, if the church is burnt to the ground, if there's not a church anywhere, the blessings, the peace, the rest, the refreshment, the revival, all of that does not stop because it flows from Christ, not the church! Most churches here don't even have church today, but it's not because of snow, they never have it. Aren't you glad you got an oasis to come? Where you can hear the word of God, where you can worship. Them songs you sing along with the choirs, I'm about ready to shout my head off. Is this an oasis where you're coming to hear the word of God? Because we're yet to hear anything about Genesis 26. What is the word that's being preached? AI, I guarantee you, AI could break down Genesis 26 far better than what we are given. AI could break down Genesis 26 in a chapter summary method, a chapter analysis, anything I want about Genesis 26, AI can give me within five seconds. I came to wash up. But I want y'all to notice something. I want you to hear this. The enemy wants to throw dirt. Taze Valley badnesses are well, but look at verse 14 and see why they wanted to throw dirt. And the devil wants to throw dirt. The Bible said this, and the Philistines, you know why they don't exact? And the Philistines envy them. You know what bothers me? Why are churches jealous of other churches? I pray for every church that preaches the Bible and uses the King James. Now the rest of my kind, Lord help me if you can. But I want you to know, a good solid church, I pray for them. I want every independent Baptist church in this area succeed. Amen. I want to tell you what, you said, you really believe a devil, Emory? Oh, I got verses. First Peter says the angels desire, and they was talking, the contest is talking about joy and the angels desire and look into it. And the devil was an angel. Uh-huh. Amen. I tell you, we don't want to lose what we got here. It's precious, it's powerful. Hey, by the way, it's worked over the generations. I've been here 46 years. I can't remember a year God hadn't blessed us. I can't remember a time God hadn't blessed us. Hey, listen to me, God bless in this place. He is, but don't watch out because he wants to stop it up. And not just us, every church around. let me give you three things and I'll be done." So Satan wants to stop up the church because the church is the source of all this stuff. Because if he stops at the church, we don't have access to See, this is what happens when you spiritualize a text. It has nothing to do with the church, nothing to do with Satan. It has something to do with a physical well, a physical, basically a fleshly, earthly dispute over territory and resources, and you're going to turn it into this spiritual metaphor. Once you turn it into the spiritual metaphor, theologically, then everything becomes a train wreck. This is a train wreck, theologically, because you're now making the church the source of all these things that the scriptures say comes from God, not the church. we could get into the whole thing about Satan. Satan wants to fill in the church with dirt because he envies us somehow. Even AI says there is no direct biblical evidence that Satan envies humans or the church. I guess we can just make that assumption. We don't need the Bible, but hey, we come to this church because it's an oasis. We can hear the Bible preached. I think I could have sat in the parking lot, asked AI five questions about Genesis 26 and drove off and would have heard the Bible preached better than this. That's my whole issue. That's why I keep pointing this whole AI thing out because AI It's giving us the tool to really demonstrate what I've been saying over and over. Is the church really worth anything when you take all of the money, all the effort to keep it going, and over and over and over, what you get handed to you from the pulpit is... I don't even know how to classify it. Am I alright? I promise I'm not going to be long. Why or how, how does the devil get it stopped up? Why are you worrying about going long? If the church is this oasis and this place of refreshment and revival, nobody wants to leave. Don't worry about how long you go. Preach for 10 hours. Oh wait, I bet you the people will want to go home and find refreshment. Yeah, okay, all right. Don't even get me started. It's the same when you over-spiritualize things. All right, but he's gonna give us these points. I know we're at an hour, but hey, come on, let's see. I mean, we're this close. Let's finish this up. So how does Satan stop? How does Satan stop up the church, right? Oh boy, this has nothing to do with Genesis 26, but let's see how Satan stops up the church. Is he gonna base it off Genesis 26? If he is, this is literally an annihilation of the text if that's where he's gonna go here. Hey, by the way, this building's not the church you are. So how does he stop your way up? Wait, the church is not the church. You are the church. So you are the source. See where this is now falling apart? If the church is the oasis, if the church is the source of revival and refreshment, and you are the church, then you are the source of the revival and the refreshment, not God. Now this just becomes even a major, the logical fallacies in this thing are so bad. The church is an oasis. The church is a source of revival and refreshment. You come to the church. Oh, but you're, no, the building's not the church. You're the church. Well, if you're the church and you're the source of all these things, then I guess I have to go to you. Like what is, I don't even understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. Okay, I gotta finish this. I just wanna quit right now. I'll show you. Number one, when you are more concerned with the world than you are with God, will you look at Genesis chapter 26 and verse one? Listen to this. And there was a famine in the land. besides the first famine that was, remember, in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went into Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. And look at verse number six. Now he's so turned there at first. Verse number six, and Isaac dwelt in Gerar. Y'all wanna know why the whale got stopped up? Instead of Isaac being near the whale, He is out in the world. Because he thought his supply came from the world. And it was a famine. And by the way, his daddy done the same thing. And that's why we got the Ishmaelites. And this Palestinian confusion, that's just because of Abraham's went out without faith. Somebody help me preach. Not only, It's bad enough that you make decisions to stay away from church because of circumstances. We ought to shoot down, we're not shooting, I ain't supposed to use that, but we ought to, every one of these people that told us all this stuff about COVID to stay out of church, they're all knuckleheads. No, for crying out loud. I don't even know where to begin this. And now, wait, so the church is the source for all this stuff, but you're the church, but you need to come to church. But why do I need to come to church if I'm the source of all of this? Oh, and now everyone who said anything about COVID is a knucklehead because, you know, he knows more than all of those knuckleheads. All those, all those knuckleheads. You know what they're saying now? Now I know it's helping you Anthony and your wife. You know what they're saying now? Masks never helped y'all. All that stuff never helped y'all. Boy, it's quiet in here. These are wildfires, help me. Oh, so now we're gonna get into the stuff about masks. Oh, okay. All right. This is preaching, ladies and gentlemen. I'm just gonna stop there. Because now I'd have to, guess what? I'd have to go look up and try to show you what masks could and couldn't do and all the... I worked in the medical world for 22 stinking years. We used masks for all kinds of things. Okay, but okay. Oh man. So, that's preaching. Everyone else is a knucklehead, but he's not a knucklehead. No, they, everyone else is a knucklehead. Everyone else doesn't understand. Everyone else, but he understands. Even though he just destroyed Genesis chapter 26 beyond any, can't even be recognized anymore. What he did to Genesis 26, he utterly annihilated it, destroyed it. And the philological implications are all over the place. And AI predicted all of this. AI predicted all of this. AI gave me, if I go here, if I go all the way back up, AI gave me so much stuff here. Hang on. Here we go. AI gave me, this is what AI said. If I can go back, I got things. Here's a list of questions and critiques you can use to evaluate the sermon on Genesis 26. Historical context. Does the preacher explain the historical significance of Wells and Isaac's time as a source of life, wealth, and territorial claims? No, he did not do that to any specificity. He may have mentioned it briefly, but nothing in any case. Are the actions of the Philistines explained in their historical context as a territorial or political dispute, or are they over-spiritualized? Does the sermon address the author's intent in including this account of Isaac's wells, showing God's covenant faithfulness to Isaac, and securing the land promised to Abraham? Not in anything that we heard. He didn't do any of that. Is there a clear explanation of the broader narrative within Genesis, such as how the story fits into the covenant promises? Absolutely, we didn't hear anything of that. Are any words or phrases in the text taken out of context or redefined to fit a spiritual or allegorical meaning? That's all the sermon was. Does the preacher stay within the text of Genesis 26, or do they introduce unrelated passages or concepts to support their points? That's all the sermon did. Does the sermon emphasize God's faithfulness to His covenant? Never even spoken of. Is there any acknowledgment of the theological significance of the Abrahamic covenant? Never even spoken of. Is Satan introduced into the text without biblical support? Does the preacher provide evidence for why the Philistines' actions should be interpreted as a satanic attack? How does the preacher balance the idea of spiritual opposition with the text's historical and theological context? Are the wells or Isaac himself presented as types of Christ or salvation without scriptural warrant? Is there a distinction made between legitimate typology grounded in the text and speculative allegory? I mean, AI gave me everything to look for. AI said the sermon is going to do all of these things. It said look for this and look for this and look for this. Every single thing AI says to look for, the sermon did. And AI was to do all of that, did all of this within five seconds and all it needed was the title and the text and knew exactly the train wreck it was going to be. AI predicted it to the letter. it goes on. It probably gives me three more pages of things to look for and consider and to be on the lookout for. How does that even happen? I don't know what to say, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what to say. I'm reaching a, I'm reaching just an absolute breaking point. Like I feel like I'm at the tipping point. I feel like I've been pushed to the edge and there's nowhere else to go except over the edge, over the ledge. There's nowhere else to go. I don't know what else to say anymore. I mean, I have not appreciated the sermon structure for basically 10 years now, maybe 15 years now. I've had issues with it. And the sermon actually keeps people from the text. So we're going to get into the actual text and we're not going to worry about philological allegiance. We're just going to try to figure out the text, figure out the text. And really started changing everything dramatically because I was becoming so bothered. And this is just bringing it. Now we have a tool that just within seconds can be like, what are you doing? What are you doing? I could have right now, I could ask AI for an exegetical in-depth study of Genesis 26 and guess what it would do? It would break it down for me instantaneously. I don't know. How do you, what do you do? How does this make you feel? What does it do for you? How does it, how does this impact you? It can't just be me who just has reached kind of like, just, I'm just exhausted over it. I just don't know what to say or do anymore. I just don't. I give up. I just, I give up. I literally, I just give up. I just don't know how to process this anymore. And I know that sermon right there, the way he handled Genesis 26, it's been handled that way 50 million times. I can't even tell you how many sermons I've heard on Genesis 26. I've seen it in books, I've heard it. The well, you got to re-dig your well. The well is your source of spirit. And logically, it all falls apart. Again, so what's the source? Can Satan plug up? Stop God as being the source of refreshment, revival, peace? The whole thing just falls completely apart. Oh man, I give up. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a... I was going to say, if you want to have a good day, just don't listen to any sermons, okay? Isn't that sad to kind of, that's where you kind of get yourself to? I know that's not fair and that's not an accurate thing to say, but sometimes, I mean, look, we're January the 13th. And so far, every time we've put AI with a sermon, What has been the end result? Every single time. Have a good day.