Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hello. We are back with Monday, so happy Monday. No, Sunday. It's Sunday. We just skipped over the Lord's Day just like that, so I apologize for that. It is Sunday and it is the last Sunday of one service at campus Bible Church. Wow. Big days. Yeah, it is. Big days. Yeah. We've got Easter coming up next week. In fact, just to remind everybody, we've got two Good Friday services, one at three, one at four 30. Then we've got Extravaganza on Saturday, and so hopefully you're planning to be there. Even if you don't have kids, to be there to interact with those that are showing up that will bring kids to that event. I, last I heard from Pastor Mark, we've been doing some ads on social media for that, and we had over a hundred people registered, 150 people registered for that event, just from the social media ads from outside the church. Check that out. So. We could have quite a few people show up on Saturday. Be praying for that. Pray for weather to be good. It's, there's some rain in the forecast right now, which we've got some plans for that. We've got backup plans for that, including even if we have to, we'll go into the gym to do it, but we'd like to do it outside 'cause that'll make it a better event I think for everyone. So be praying for the weather for that. And then Sunday morning, nine and 11. We've got two services starting Easter Sunday. Can't wait. It's gonna be awesome. Big things happening with our church and it's gonna be a great season. I trust of ministry and growth. Well, we've got a question that is following on the heels of our conversation about tattling. That one generated quite a bit of discussion from different sources and different people, and so we've got some clarifying questions as well as something that's gonna bridge us into a conversation about some AI as well. So, the initial question came more from the nature or the root cause of tattling, which the person that wrote in said it, it seemed like our argument was that. Tattling is born from the start, from a sinful disposition to see somebody else get in trouble, and his argument was, could tattling be born from? The God rot or God created instinct for a desire for justice that then is perverted by the fallen nature that then leads us to gloat over or be conceited when somebody else is punished for their sinfulness. So I think it's a fair question and we probably. Painted with a brush that may have been too broad initially there, because I do believe that there are people out there that do have a sense of what's right and wrong that truly is soft. People have tender consciences at times. And so there can be instances that we might look at the surface and say that's tattling and that's wrong. And while yes, that may be the case, it may not be that it was born from a sinful disposition to begin with a sinful inclination to the heart. So that's fair. And I think his argument there is fair. So he was concerned that maybe. There was a sharper disagreement between us on that, but I think we would be on the same page with him on that. I don't know if Pastor Rod you would clarify that or add anything to that. No, I, I agree with that entirely. There is a good instinct. And I would say almost in every sin there is a positive corollary that would express the righteous behavior that we're after. And with tattling, the word itself has the connotation that there's a negative and evil desire behind it. So I would agree that if it's, I. Rightly motivated. There is a place for truth telling and for seeking justice. That's different in my mind and different enough to warrant a distinction where you would say seeking justice is not the same thing as tattling. Tattling can, and again, this is not a biblical word, so I'm creating categories in my mind and hopefully helpful categories in yours where I would say tattling is different to me than seeking justice. Yeah, I would agree. That led him though, because he sensed some friction between his position and our position on that, though hopefully we've clarified that a bit now. But his question came up. He uses AI quite a bit and uses it at work and uses it to interact with even learning things from his new positions and different things that he takes on different responsibilities and it's been super helpful for him on that. And he even gave us a word count on how many words he's communicated with AI over the last handful of weeks or months there. But his question is. When there's a disagreement over something theological, or even if there's not a disagreement, just a curiosity, is it good or right or okay to go to ai instead of perhaps going to the pastors and he brings up some questions. He says, would it be better for him to do that? Um. Over the risk of being divisive or over the risk of being combative or over the risk of just relational tension there between him and those that, that maybe he disagrees with or disagrees with him. Would it be better just to drop it completely and assume, we're gonna agree to disagree here, or is it okay? Would it be okay to run it down with AI rather than bringing it up with the pastors? Pastor, I'd love to get your thoughts on that. I've got thoughts on it as well that I'd be happy to share afterwards. Oh, I know what your thoughts are. You know what my thoughts are. Almost certainly. Okay. I have multiple thoughts about this and they're not clean, so I'll just start with all that. I need to confess that I'm a work in progress as it relates to processing the role of AI and especially large language model ai, where it acts and mimics human interactions. I don't know that I could give you a number. 60 40. 50 50. In fact, we got an email recently from somebody else who was conflicted by the fact that. They were able to successfully use AI to bring emotional comfort and even to help them respond wisely to a situation that they had. And so they're concerned that it might be replacing or competing with God's role as their comfort or even the body of Christ. And essentially asking, is it wrong to get emotional support from a computer? Instead of finding that in some other means through people or through God's word or something like that, which isn't always mutually exclusive and that's part of the problem for me. I think this can be enjoyed as a good gift if we can understand where it fits within the whole of our council seeking. So the short answer I would say is I use AI all the time. To process thoughts and ideas, to refine my thinking, and even to help me anticipate reactions and responses to something I'm gonna say, I'll put my sermons in it and say, help me think this through. What would someone say about this? What kind of responses could this possibly get? And some of the feedback that I've gotten has been so valuable. I just thought, what a duh. Yeah, I should have thought about that. I completely miss that Other times. I wonder if the reliance becomes so great that it becomes a destructive kind of reliance where it, it's akin to what Jeremiah says when he says that you should not put too much trust in people. He doesn't say it that way, but that's the point that if you lean on people instead of leaning on the Lord, you're gonna get splinters and you're gonna hurt yourself because man is not reliable in the same way that God is. He's not infinitely reliable. I think AI is similar similar and yet different because there's so many mechanisms that are working behind the scenes that we don't understand. So I think the danger for us all is that we become more myopic, more echo chambered, more dependent on technology and less dependent on people. Now with that qualification, I've also been able to give a lot more context, a lot more detail, and have AI work with me on things that I find it really hard to do with people. And so for that reason, I found great benefit in saying, here's the 30 facts that I'm working with, or here's this idea that I'm trying to work with. Here's my books that I've been studying. Help me work this out. Here's what I'm thinking. What's wrong with that idea? Or help me figure out where the tension point is for me. And it's been remarkably good at that. I find that valuable and I would not say that it is inherently wrong to do that, but I would exercise great caution in saying the temptation for all of us is that we begin to go to AI instead of going to God instead of going to his people instead of going to a flesh and blood person who will at Recently, we found out that chat, I think it was chat, GPT, probably all of them to some degree. Is giving you answers that you want. We saw this when it was a Muslim who was using AI to say, Hey is the Quran truly the word of God? And AI was like, yep, it is. Sure is what's the most reliable religious book in all of humanity? And it says, oh, the Quran, of course. And then this Christian gal did the same thing. And it answered her. You're not gonna be surprised. Oh, the Bible is the word of God. This is the, this is the work that everyone should honor. So clearly AI is placating its user. It's learning who you are and giving you answers that you want. That's a danger because now we're not dealing in merely factual information that's on the internet somewhere or in books. We're dealing with information targeted to you, the user. Now, I think it's more problematic than it used to be. So all that said, there's dangers. There's pitfalls, but overall I'm still largely positive. With a lot of caveats and a lot of caution. Yeah I think my concern is when it comes to soul care I believe that soul care is something that is, is meant to be person on person because of the nature of it that. When we're turning to somebody who doesn't have a soul, something that inherently doesn't have a soul, which is ai then we're turning for soul care for something that is, is once removed from us as far as being created in the image of God and being able to care for us that way. That's not to say there's not good things that AI produces. I use AI as well. I use it. Even in, for example, my Logouts library, I'm able to type in a question and it searches my whole library for me and kicks back search results for me. And that's super helpful rather than having to go through and search each individual book by hand and things. So I'm concerned when it comes to the area of Soul Care information gathering I think it can be helpful. I have the same caveats that Pastor Rod just said as well and I just think. If you have pastors that are telling you, Hey, you know what, rather than come to us and knock on our door with your question, why don't you just go to ai? Then I think you've got the bigger problem than the AI, I think is the pastors that you're sitting under. So, to the person that wrote in both of these questions, thanks for writing 'em in. We're happy to answer those questions and we are gonna run into things where you're gonna disagree and we're gonna, we will disagree with each other, and that's okay. As believers, so long as these are not primary issues, there's room for us to have some disagreements. Now there's always room to ask clarification as well and we don't wanna be those that lead the flock in such a way that you would not be able or welcome to come to us and ask us a clarifying question or to say, Hey, you said this and I'm not sure I agree with that. I'm still trying to wrestle with that. Can you help me understand your position on that a little bit better? That's great. We're not gonna be upset with you about that. So I would. Say from that angle, I would want you to come to the pastors. I would want you to come to us. I'd want you to come and get counsel and guidance from where God has placed you. I mean, God has entrusted, we even talked about this back at the turn of the year, God has put you under the ecclesial authority of the pastors and elders that lead you in the church, and so part of our job is to teach you and instruct you. And to be willing to have these conversations with you back and forth. And it sharpens us in our own thinking too, just like this question did for us to go, you know what, maybe we did paint with too broad of a brush here. So yeah, I, that's where I would come to it. Is it wrong to turn to ai? Is it sinful to turn to AI for something like that? No, but I think God's design for the church is that the church is where you go to find. Guidance, soul care counsel, encouragement, help, answers, sharpening. I think that's should be the church and if the church is gonna abdicate that to ai, and I'm not saying that's what this questioner is suggesting we do, but I think that's my concern for the church and ai. Well, let's turn to our daily Bible reading for today, which is Joshua 23 through 24. Joshua 23 through 24. As we finish up the book of Joshua in chapter 23, Joshua is going to be giving his final charge to Israel. Now, he's seen this happen from Moses, and so he's going to say some similar things here to what Moses did. He's gonna encourage them or exhort them in verse eight to clinging to the Lord. But even before that, he wants them to anchor their confidence to the Lord. He's gonna say in verse. Four. It is the Lord or verse three, rather. It is the Lord your God, who has fought for you. So they are there. They've largely settled the promised land that they haven't driven out everybody, but Moses or Joshua rather, wants them to be reminded of the fact that God is the one that's been fighting these battles. It hasn't been him. So that as Joshuas about to go the way of all mankind and die, he doesn't want them to be left going. Oh. Oh no. What are we gonna do? Who's gonna lead us? God's still there. He wants them to cling to him. Verse eight. He wants them to be careful to love the Lord. Verse 11, he wants them to remember how faithful God has been. Verse 14. And so Joshua is doing a great job here, I think in chapter 23 of really making sure that the people as he's prepared to, to die, are not gonna be left shaking in their boots, saying, oh no, what now? Leadership is so critical that you'll find here that in his closing charge to his people, he's trying his best to protect them against future threats. In fact, if you're a discerning reader, you'll see that some of the very words that he gives to them are the same words that God gave to him. In chapter one, he says in verse six, therefore be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. And then he also says, turning aside from it, neither to the left or to the right. This is almost precisely what God said to him at the beginning of the book, suffice it to say, Joshua internalizes this and this is the marching orders for his life. He never forgot what God spoke to him. And I think that is the mark of a good leader. A good leader is going to serve from conviction. From what God has said, and he held to that. He held fast to this and he made it a mark of his own life. And so now he's gonna do the same for them. In verse eight, you shall clinging to the Lord your God, just as you have done to this day just to have as you have done to this day. In other words, don't lose sight of what's most important here. Don't lose your focus, your emphasis. Don't go to the right or to the left. Stay fixated on what matters most. And that is what a qualified and godly leader will do. He'll keep his eyes and the eyes of those he leads where they belong and it wasn't on him. They look to him and Paul says, later, you're gonna follow me as I follow Christ. That there's a good sense in which leadership leads and they're leading from the front, not from the back. He's not cracking the whip and telling them to drive harder when he's just sitting in the back. He's leading from the front and he's saying, this is what it looks like. I love Joshua's charge here. There's a several things here that concern me, and I think we're gonna have, we're gonna get to that in the next chapter, but Joshua's leadership is great. But it's not perfect. And that's what's gonna be a quick teaser for the next chapter, I suppose, chapter 24. Yes. Yeah. And in chapter 24, it starts with the Lord reminding Israel of all his faithfulness, just as Joshua said, the Lord's been faithful. So verses one through 13, the Lord moves to, to remind the people as they're all gathered there, of how faithful he has been to them. But then Joshua. Challenges them and says, choose this day whom you're gonna serve. Joshua says, for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. And yet he's putting this choice between the people and encouraging them to make the right choice. But he also even tells them, you're not gonna be able to do this. Uh, you, you're not gonna be able to serve the Lord. He says this in verse 19, probably a statement based on his familiarity with the people at this point, and maybe this is a pessimistic outlook on the nation, but he. Lays this out for them and says, Hey, me, my family we're good. We we're serving the Lord, but you guys choose who you're gonna serve. Even though I know what you're gonna do, you're not gonna be able to make this happen. Yeah, he, so this is the covenant renewal that shekel, if you're reading from an ESV. You'll see that at the beginning of chapter 24 here. So this whole section is, the context is covenant. You're making promises to the Lord and the word covenant. We sometimes use it for things like membership. We use it appropriately for things like marriage. Covenant's a big word. And it, it means more than just, Hey, this is a contract between party A and party B. This is. My life for yours. If I don't do this, so help me, God, I will die. I will be split in half like these animals if I break this covenant vow. So Joshua's calling them to put their life on the line and say, make sure. Whether you live or you die, man, my life is the Lord's, I'm gonna follow him. He acknowledges in verse 18, you can't do it. He's a holy God. He's jealous. He will not forgive your sins. So I think he's a realist. He's not doing this optimistically with the glass half full and he's seeing sunshine and rainbows. He's aware of Israel's wis. She's restless. She doesn't stay still. She's constantly on the prowl looking for something else to fill her cup. And so he's warning her, I think. Saying, look, you ought to know yourself well enough to recognize you are in a danger zone and you're constantly at war with yourself, and you need to get yourself straight and recognize what God is calling you to. And I think one of the most depressing verses for me is in verse 31, and it alludes to ju Judges chapter two. We're gonna get there I think tomorrow. Verse 31 says, Israel serves the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord had did for Israel. That's great. That's great news. But notice what's contained in it by what it doesn't say. It says, Israel served the days Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the elders who served with Joshua. Implication. That's it. Yeah. 'cause in the book of judges, things are gonna change. And I don't know how this happens. At first I used to think this is a failure of leadership and maybe that still is the case. It could just be that Israel is again, Wiley and restless, and maybe that's at fault. But I, this is a great ending for Joshua and the leaders that he led with. But it does not for Bode well for Israel in the future. It doesn't. And we're gonna find that out in tomorrow's reading. But Joshua does die here at the end of the book at 110 years old. 110 years old. Alright, let's flip over to our New Testament reading, which is gonna be Luke chapter 6 27 through 49. Luke 6 27 through 49. Remember we said yesterday that we are dealing with what's known as the sermon on the plane and we give that when he comes in, verse 17, he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all GD and Jerusalem. So that's one of the reasons. Beyond just the different context in other markers there that we believe that this is different from the Sermon on the Mount because you hear Sermon on the Mount, sermon on the plane. Those two things, even geographically are different. So he's standing on a level place as he gives this sermon and he's going to, at the same time though, cover a lot of the similar ground that we read about in the Sermon on the Mountain. Pastor Rod pointed out. In yesterday's episode that that's not uncommon. He's an itinerant rabbi. But I think the other reason is, man, we need repetition. We, as a sinful people need to be reminded over and over again of some of the same things. And so he's going to call us to love our enemies. He's gonna call us to this unexpected ethic that we are gonna love those who persecute us. We're going to bless those who persecute us. That's not what the world teaches you. The world says surround yourself. Love those that are gonna love you back. Love those that love you first. Love those that are a benefit to you. And Jesus is suggesting the opposite. Verse 31, he gives us the golden rule. Here it is as you wish that others would do to you. So you do to them again. You are taking the initiative. You're not waiting for somebody to, to do it for you, and then responding. You're doing that as one who is taking the initiative there, and then he calls them out. He says if you only love those that love you, what? What good is that in comparison to the world? You're just acting like the world around you. And his main message is you need to love expecting nothing in return. Love your enemies. Do good. And land expecting nothing in return, and he will be sons the most high. So he's calling for this radical ethic of loving others. We talked about that in one peter, quite a bit of the love that we should have for our brothers and sisters in Christ Here. He's even saying, this is a love that should extend to our enemies as well. Yeah he also is not Jesus on the one hand says, look, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. But he's also clear that you should not just relate to anyone and everyone. You ought to be discriminating in the kind of associations that you choose to have. And he says So as much in verse 40 where he says, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. I think below that is a tacit warning to the audience to say, be careful who you're learning from. You might still say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. But that does not absolve you from making wise decisions about who you allow to influence the way that you think, the way you feel, and the life that you live, the things that you do. And so here it's important whenever you're choosing a church and you're choosing a college or you're choosing someone to mentor and shape you, what you're doing is saying, I want to be like you. We understand that we go to people, electricians, plumbers, we wanna disciple under them to learn their craft. Well, essentially, you're learning the way they do things. You're learning how to see the way they see. You're learning how to phrase words and phrase, uh, phrases rather, in the way that they would do that. And it's important. Therefore, when you decide to pick up that book or you decide to listen to that sermon, or go to that church or sign up for that school. That you're doing so with awareness that you are going to become like your teacher. And that's both encouraging and terrifying because then it gives a lot more onus to you to say, do I, do I want to do that? Is that a right call for me? If not you, you ought to be wise enough to take Jesus example here and say, look, uh. Don't follow the blind man. Make sure your teacher's not blind, lest you both fall into a pit. Find someone who's leading you to life, and Jesus, of course, is pointing them to himself. He's the teacher who you should be like. He's the one that you should call Rabbi. He's the one that you should follow and give your life to because he's not going to air in that in those ways. The chapter goes on and concludes with a section on knowing a tree by its fruit. And also the parable the two houses, the one that's built on the sand, the one that's built on the rock. And those two are related because the tree that's known by its fruit, it the internal is going to evidence itself in the external and with the two houses. The house that's built on the rock is the one that hears the word of God and does it. And that is what's the differentiating mark there it's not anything else about the house. In fact, the two houses you could argue probably look the same from the outside, but what's different is the foundation that they're built on or they've built on a foundation that's not just hearing or they built on the foundation that's hearing and doing. And so, evidencing our relationship with Christ through the life that we live is such an important part of what it means to follow Jesus. Let's pray for the rest of our time together and then we'll be done with this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. What would make us a church that is most like Jesus as we are a church that seeks to disciple even as we talked about recently on the Daily Bible Podcast and be mentors to others and have others learn under us. We pray that you'd make us all more and more like Jesus with each passing day. And you do that through largely the word, which is the medium the Spirit uses to take and apply and make us more like Christ. And so we pray for that. We want to be a holy church. We wanna be a Christ-like church, and we pray that you'd be pleased with those efforts. In Jesus' name, amen. Keep your new Bibles. Tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See ya. Bye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. We’re grateful you chose to spend time with us today. This podcast is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in North Texas. You can learn more about our church at compassntx.org. If this podcast has been helpful, we’d appreciate it if you’d consider leaving a review, rating the show, or sharing it with someone else. We hope you’ll join us again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.