Artificial Intelligence | Week 3 | Pastor Mike Stephens

This message comes from Generation Church FL and is delivered by Pastor Mike Stephens. Over the past two weeks, we’ve been wrestling with what this age of information and now artificial intelligence means for our faith. Week one was about needing godly wisdom over an ocean of information; week two focused on being authentic with God instead of performative. Today, in week three, we dig into a subject at the intersection of technology, culture, and the spiritual life: deception. Specifically, how artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and the algorithms that shape our days can create convincing counterfeits of truth and how we can live with genuine, authentic faith in a world filled with convincing fakes.

Why This Matters: AI, Deepfakes, and the Rise of Convincing Lies

Artificial intelligence is progressing at lightning speed. What used to be sci-fi is now everyday reality: AI-generated voices, images, and videos that can make someone appear to say or do things they never did. Deepfakes are AI-generated audio, images, or videos designed to impersonate reality. They’re not just entertainment curiosities but tools that can be used to deceive, influence, and confuse.

On the surface, deepfakes are convincing. They reproduce tone, inflection, facial expressions, and mannerisms. I joked in the message about a deepfake that had me speaking Spanish, complete with my voice inflections, and the crowd laughed, but it’s not just funny. Where AI makes deception look so real, the danger is subtle: we begin to accept the counterfeit instead of the original.

Deception has always been a spiritual problem.

Deception isn’t new. From the Garden of Eden to the present, Satan’s strategy has remained essentially the same: deception. Scripture is blunt about this. John 10:10 warns that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He doesn’t show up with horns and a pitchfork; he asks questions that sound almost true. That’s the pattern. He offers alternatives that look attractive, reasonable, or even holy, but that ultimately pull people away from the will of God.

“The thief Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10)

AI intensifies this problem by enabling deception at scale and with incredible realism. The broader cultural dangers are fake interviews, fabricated endorsements, films, and audio that never existed. Still, there are spiritual and relational consequences, too: the voices we allow into our heads, the images we binge on, and the social comparisons we fall into can all become instruments of deception that pull us away from God.

Three Places Deception Shows Up and How to Spot Real Faith

During the message, I broke down deception into three practical arenas where it often shows up: within ourselves, our friend circles, and the leaders we follow. For each area, I offered biblical guardrails and ways to test whether faith is authentic (genuine faith) or merely for show (real-feel, or re-eeel, a play on the word). Below, I unpack each area and the practical responses I shared.

1. Yourself: Trust God, not your algorithm

We live under the influence of powerful algorithms designed to learn what grabs our attention and feed it back to us. They’re helpful when they make life easier, but dangerous when they begin to shape what we want and even who we think we should be. I used the example of shopping at an outlet and then seeing targeted ads for the shoes I’d been looking at. Your phone feels like it knows you better than you. That is the algorithm at work: it feeds you what it thinks you want. But what you want and should have are not always the same thing.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15)

Paul reminds us that God’s will is holiness (see 1 Thessalonians Holiness). Holiness means being set apart from the current culture. That current works via algorithms that target three core temptations that scripture names:

• The lust of the flesh: cravings for immediate gratification, pleasure, indulgence. (Galatians 5:19 describes the acts of the flesh.)
• The lust of the eyes: coveting, chasing what looks attractive to the eye, yearning after possessions and status rather than contentment.
• The pride of life: craving power, recognition, and personal glory fuelled in modern life by social media’s applause and attention economy.

For each of those three “algorithms,” I offered a biblical antidote:

• Replace the lust of the flesh with self-control. Self-control is not a killjoy; it’s the brake pedal God gave you. Pressing the brake preserves you from wrecking your life by unrestrained impulses.
• Replace the lust of the eyes with contentment. Contentment isn’t settling for less; it’s trusting that what God gives you is enough. Paul said he learned the secret of being content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:12).
• Replace pride in life with humility and dependence on God. Pride looks for applause and crowns; humility says, “Look at God, see what He’s done.” Romans 12:3 cautions against thinking too highly of ourselves.

This is where faith shows its authenticity. Does your life display self-control, contentment, and humility? Or do algorithms and impulses drive you?

Practical applications for trusting God, not algorithms

• Be intentional with your attention. Where algorithms push for clicks, put boundaries around screen time, and the kinds of feeds you consume.
• Practice spiritual disciplines that strengthen self-control: prayer, fasting, sabbath rest, and accountability.
• Exercise gratitude and count your blessings daily to cultivate contentment.
• Search your heart for prideful motives; invite trusted people to speak truth into your life.

2. Your circle: Check fruit, not followers

We live in an era that confuses popularity with legitimacy. Numbers of followers, likes, and retweets can make a person seem credible, but Jesus gives us a different metric: fruit. In Matthew 7:16, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” Not by their follower count, their production value, or their Instagram aesthetic, but by the tangible character that their life bears.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

The people you allow into your inner circle profoundly shape you. Faith isn’t meant to be practised alone; church in rows is good; life in circles is essential. Being in groups, known, corrected, and encouraged in community, is how your life grows fruit. If you’re surrounded by people who consistently contradict the fruit of the Spirit, angry, bitter, unkind, self-consumed, then you can expect to be shaped by that environment. Conversely, healthy, fruit-bearing friends pull you closer to Jesus.

Fruit is not manufactured; it is produced when you remain connected to the vine. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” When your life is connected to Jesus, love, joy, and peace will flow naturally. When you’re disconnected, the appearances of faith, outward rituals, public declarations, and flattering talk can mask emptiness.

Practical steps for healthy circles

• Intentionally join a small group or community where people are honest, accountable, and spiritually growing.
• Choose friendships based on character and spiritual alignment, not social convenience or status.
• Invite feedback. If trusted friends notice patterns of selfishness or bitterness, receive correction with humility.
• Be the type of friend who bears fruit. Your example will shape those around you.

3. Leadership: Follow the shepherd, not the showman

Leadership matters. We are called to submit to godly leadership, but how do we tell a shepherd from a showman? A shepherd sacrifices for sheep, protects them, guides them, and leads humbly. A showman seeks applause. A showman chases influence, ego, money, and attention for their own sake. The difference is motive and fruit.

I told the congregation the story of Balaam from Numbers to illustrate how motives can compromise a gifted leader. Balaam had a reputation for prophetic power. God used him at times, yet his heart was susceptible. Balaam entertained offers of money and influence and ended up advising wrongdoing. In the end, his story is tragic. The lesson: spiritual gifting does not equal spiritual integrity.

“They…have left the straight way and wandered; they have followed the way of Balaam…” (2 Peter 2:15, paraphrased)

Not every leader who says spiritual-sounding things is a shepherd. Not every well-dressed, charismatic speaker is pursuing God alone. And social media magnifies both shepherds and showmen, so we must be discerning.

How to tell a shepherd from a showman

• Look at sacrifice: does this leader give themselves for the people, or do they expect the people to provide to build their platform?
• Examine protection: Does this leader protect the flock from harm and false teaching, or do they put their reputation first?
• Observe guidance: Does their teaching lead people toward humility, truth, and maturity?
• Check their humility: is there a posture of dependence on God, or is there a posture of self-promotion?

Practical guardrails when choosing leaders

I offered three practical things to protect yourself from showmen and false teachers:

1. Stay connected to God’s Word. If you don’t know the truth, you’ll fall for counterfeits. The FBI’s approach to counterfeits is instructive: they study authentic currency closely to spot fakes. Similarly, immerse yourself in Scripture to spot errors, half-truths, and manipulative teaching.
2. Choose who leads you wisely. Surround yourself with leaders and friends whose lives align with the fruit of the Spirit, not perfect people, no one’s perfect, but people whose lives consistently show the fruit.
3. Guard your own heart. Don’t make it a sport to drag people on social media and label them false teachers. That’s not the goal. The goal is a healthy life under healthy leadership. Protect your heart by making wise choices about submission and accountability.

Practicing these guardrails prevents deception by charismatic performance and encourages growth under shepherds who love and serve their people.

Three practical daily habits to combat deception

Deception often happens one decision at a time. That’s how chains are built, one weak choice at a time, so the antidote is daily, intentional habits that build spiritual resilience. Below are three habits I encouraged people to adopt:

1. Be in the Word daily

Knowing Scripture is the best defence against counterfeit teaching. You’ll be vulnerable to any good teaching if you don’t know what the Bible teaches. Spend time reading, praying, and meditating on Scripture. Make it normal, not just an emergency response.

2. Stage your life with community

Get into circles, not just rows. Spiritual fruit is cultivated in small groups, accountability partnerships, and recovery groups. We weren’t meant to do this alone. Let others speak into your life and allow yourself to be vulnerable.

3. Practice spiritual hygiene

Guard your heart by limiting exposure to toxic feeds, unhelpful comparisons, and flashy spiritual personalities. Replace unhealthy consumption with disciplines cultivating character: prayer, serving, fasting, generosity, and rest.

When the Enemy Doesn’t Show the Chain

I shared a line I heard from another pastor that sums up how deception operates: the enemy will never show up literally handing you a chain or a heavy weight to wear for life. You would refuse that immediately. Instead, he offers seemingly small choices one link at a time, each of which feels reasonable until you find yourself bound. Addiction, broken relationships, regret, and debt are often the result of a chain built link by link.

The remedy is straightforward: refuse the first link. Make a different decision today. Exercise the brake (self-control), whisper back to the noise with contentment and humility, and choose the right people to walk alongside you.

Invitation: Real Faith is a Daily, Courageous Choice

At the end of the message, I asked the church to make concrete decisions: choose self-control, choose to be content with what God has given, choose humility, choose to put healthy people in your circle, and choose godly leadership. Those are not one-off choices; they are daily acts of obedience. Authentic faith doesn’t live on the stage; it lives in the bedroom, in the office, in the living room, in the shopping cart, and in the moments when no one is looking.

If you’ve been drifting or the cultural currents have knocked you off course, today is a moment to re-anchor. If you’ve never surrendered your life to Christ or want a fresh start, an invitation is extended to make that commitment. Faith is a relationship; it grows by a thousand small acts of trust. It’s not primarily about technology or culture; it’s about living for the God who gave His Son for you.

Final Practical Checklist

To make this real, here’s a short checklist you can use this week to begin resisting deception and growing authentic faith:

• Limit time on feeds that provoke coveting or pride. Replace with Scripture reading.
• Identify someone who will speak truth to you and meet with them this week.
• Choose one area where you will exercise self-control (food, media, money, speech) and set a measurable goal.
• Pray through who you submit to spiritually, are they shepherds or showmen? If uncertain, ask wise counsel.
• If you’re not following Jesus, pray a simple prayer of surrender and tell someone who can disciple you.

Closing thoughts

We live in an age where technology can convincingly imitate reality. But imitation cannot replace the original. The fruit of the Spirit, humble service, daily obedience, and relationship with the Living God are authentic realities that no algorithm can manufacture. Deepfakes may imitate voice and face, but they cannot produce the fruit from a heart connected to Jesus.

Deception is active and clever, but it is not unbeatable. We are called to trust God, not algorithms; to check fruit, not followers; to follow shepherds, not showmen. If you practice these things, immerse yourself in Scripture, choose a healthy community, and guard your heart, you can live with genuine, authentic faith in an age of convincing lies.

If this challenge resonated with you, take one next step this week: join a small group, read a gospel, pray with someone, or simply hand one decision over to God and ask for His help. God wants to guide you away from counterfeit faith and into a life that tastes and looks like Jesus, salt that preserves and seasons the world, not laundry detergent that makes people sick.

May God give you courage to choose truth, humility to be shaped by His Spirit, and wisdom to recognise the counterfeit when it comes. Amen.