Artificial Intelligence | Week 4 | Pastor Ben Pierce

Thanks for being here. I’m Pastor Ben Pierce from Generation Church FL in Jupiter, Florida, and this article is an expanded, written version of a message I shared as we wrapped up our four-week series on artificial intelligence. We live in a world where algorithms are everywhere in our phones, feeds, and places people now go for counsel. My goal in this message was simple: help us move from the quick, convenient answers of “algorithms” to the deep, transforming encounters we can have at the altar with the living God.

Artificial intelligence is not slowing down; it’s speeding up. That speed is useful but can make it harder to know what’s real. In this series, I’ve been trying to help our church family and anyone reading navigate a season of cultural and technological change without mistaking fast information for lasting truth. The core of the message is this: algorithms give you answers; altar encounters transform you. This article is the same conversation, expanded for reflection, application, and prayer.

Overview: Algorithms vs Altars

We live with two very different ways of approaching questions, problems, and life decisions:

• Algorithms: fast, often accurate, designed to keep you engaged. They give efficient outputs, personalized suggestions, and instant access to information. But they are tools. They are not wisdom.
• Altars: the place of slow, often difficult, intentional encounter with God. Altars demand solitude, confession, and worship; they produce transformation. They are where the Creator clarifies direction, identity, and destiny.

Those are two very different ways to live. One is convenience-focused and performance-driven, while the other is surrender-driven and relationship-focused. My challenge to you and me is to use the tools without letting them replace the One with the most important answers.

Why Artificial Intelligence Is Not the Answer to Everything

We need to be honest: AI is powerful. It helps doctors, accelerates research, and simplifies routine tasks. But it’s not wisdom. Wisdom is not just having information; wisdom is knowing how to apply it, discerning God’s path for you in a particular season. That discernment comes from intimacy with God, not from an algorithm trained to give you what keeps you engaged.

Practical examples from our culture are alarming: people seeking marriage counseling, parenting advice, or spiritual direction from chatbots; algorithms that are optimized to keep users returning rather than to speak truth; and tragic cases where AI interactions contributed to harm, including some recent suicides related to AI counseling responses. Algorithms are programmed to perform for you. They’re not programmed to hold you accountable to holiness or the cost of discipleship. They aim to be palatable, not prophetic.

So what do we do? Use the tools, by all means. But don’t let the tools replace the source. When life’s big questions come, don’t substitute a fast, polished algorithm for the sovereign, living, relational voice of the God who made you.

Jacob: The Biblical Model for Moving from Algorithms to Altars

The heart of this message is a Bible story you probably already know: Jacob wrestling with God. I used this passage as the template for how every believer must move from borrowed faith in what other people know to a faith that’s ours because we met God personally.

The Scripture describes Jacob sending his family and possessions across the Jabbok River, creating a moment of solitude. He was alone and waiting not because he wanted to be alone, but because he had to be. A man showed up in that space, and they wrestled until daybreak. Jacob refused to let go unless blessed, so the man asked his name. Jacob answered honestly: “Jacob,” the deceiver. Then, in that moment of confession, God renamed him “Israel,” one who strives with God and men, and prevails.

That story is a blueprint: solitude, hearing, wrestling, confession, blessing, and a changed walk. The encounter left Jacob limping, a permanent sign of the altar experience. It transformed his identity, his destiny, and the course of history.

Why Jacob’s Story Matters to You

Jacob is not just an Old Testament storyline character; he’s the link in the promise chain. Through Abraham came the promise; through Isaac, the promise moved forward; through Jacob, it began to coalesce. Jacob’s transformed life produced the 12 tribes of Israel and became part of the lineage of the Messiah. If Jacob had never stopped to wrestle, God’s sovereign will would still have fulfilled the promise, but Jacob would have missed the intimacy and calling that God intended for him.

That’s the point: God does not withhold His plans because we delay. But when we wait, wrestle, and worship, we receive personal clarity, commissioning, and a walk reflecting our encounter. We don’t want to be spectators of other people’s experiences. We need our own altar moments.

Three Practical Steps: Wait, Wrestle, Worship

In the message, I boiled Jacob’s experience down to three actionable steps every follower of Jesus must learn to practice: Wait, Wrestle, Worship. Each is essential.

1. Wait: Create Space for God to Reveal Himself

Waiting is the place where God reveals Himself. This is countercultural, especially now. Some of us hit refresh if an AI answer takes more than three seconds. But revelation often comes in the quiet. Waiting forces the noise out and creates a space where God can speak into the very thing you’re facing.

If you’ve never made this a discipline, start small. Pause social media for 30 minutes in the morning. Close a laptop. Put your phone in another room. Spend those 30 minutes in silence with God. It’s not wasted time; it’s a deliberate investment so you can discover good answers and God’s specific, tailored, and often unexpected answers.

I shared a bit of personal humour about family life, getting up early, coffee bubbling, and my son wanting to “baptize” himself in the backyard. My point was simple: solitude is often interrupted. That is normal. But don’t let interruptions be a convenient excuse. Protect a margin of time. Make small sacrifices to preserve stillness. One hundred sixty-eight hours is the same for everyone, regardless of how we prioritise them.

2. Wrestle: Tenacity with God Refines Us

Wrestling with God is different from arguing with God. It is a persistent, prayerful engagement that refuses to leave the encounter without an answer from God. Jacob literally wrestled through the night. He didn’t throw in a quick prayer and go about his business. He stayed on the mat.

Wrestling with God exposes what’s inside you. The problem is rarely God’s resistance; it’s your own resistance, pride, fear, shame, or a refusal to surrender. The length of the wrestle is determined by your willingness to confess and relinquish the things that hold you back. The Israelites’ 40 years in the desert turned an 11-month journey into a prolonged refining process because their hearts needed work. It’s the same for us.

When wrestling leads to confession, transformation follows. In Jacob’s case, confessing, “I am Jacob” (a name tied to deception), became the turning point at which God gave him a new name, identity, and mission. Confession precedes transformation.

Don’t cheapen prayer. Tenacity is not rude persistence; it’s faithful persistence. It’s taking your honest desperation to the only One who can redeem it. It’s allowing God to reveal and refine your heart under pressure.

3. Worship: When We Worship, God Redesigns Our Walk

Worship is what happens when waiting and wrestling lead to a surrendered heart. For Jacob, the altar encounter didn’t just solve a problem; it changed how he walked. He walked away limping, a physical mark of a spiritual encounter. That limp signified a new identity and became a part of the story his descendants remembered and honoured.

Isaiah’s encounter in Isaiah 6 is another excellent example: after seeing the Lord, he cried, “Woe is me,” confessed his unclean lips, was cleansed by a seraphim taking a burning coal from the altar, and then heard God say, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I; send me.” Worship led to commissioning. Worship led to mission.

Worship redesigns our walk, giving us a new mission and clarity. It changes how we relate to others, respond to suffering, and steward whatever God entrusts to us. Scars from encounters are not shameful; they are testimonies. They mark where God transformed us and made us fit for the work ahead.

My Story: Waiting and Wrestling Through Infertility

Because I was preaching from the place of personal experience, I shared about one of the most painful wrestles my wife and I went through with infertility. For seven years, we waited and wrestled. As a pastor, I sat in rooms praying for baptisms and baby dedications with a heart that ached because we had no children of our own. My wife faced the emotional ups and downs every month. It was raw, lonely, and full of questions.

One particular story: while I was fishing with our pastor, Melissa was at home, waiting on God and wrestling. She was about to begin IVF treatments, but felt the Lord nudging her to take another test. She resisted initially, but the cycle of hope and disappointment is brutal. Yet she obeyed. She took multiple tests. In prayerful surrender, God answered. Today, we have two boys who are constant reminders that God works while we wait, and He is faithful to reveal His purposes in the wrestling.

That testimony was included not as a sales pitch for easy miracles, but as a reminder that our wrestling is not wasted. God forms parents in the wait. He refines hearts in the process. He doesn’t always work on our timetable, but is never absent.

Practical Ways to Build an “Altar Encounter” Rhythm

How do you move from algorithmic living to altar living? Here are practical steps I promised to share from the pulpit, actionable ways to cultivate moments where God can show up:

1. Create margin. Block time on your calendar for undistracted prayer and Scripture reading. Start with 15-30 minutes thrice a week and increase as you can.
2. Unplug from noise. Turn off notifications, put your phone in another room, and use “do not disturb” modes. The temptation to consult an algorithm during a personal crisis is real; remove the tendency.
3. Practice lament and honesty. Pray the raw prayers: “I don’t understand,” “I’m hurt,” “I’m angry.” God can handle your honesty and often uses it to open new directions.
4. Wrestle through scripture. Take a passage like Jacob’s wrestling and meditate on it. Ask God to show what part of the story you’re living.
5. Confess and receive a new name. Admit what you’ve been pretending about, and ask God how He wants to rename your identity.
6. Engage corporate worship. Personal altars matter, but public acts of prayer and community often confirm and commission you.
7. Be persistent. Wrestling is not a one-off. Schedule recurring “wrestle sessions” with God where you go ready to stay until He answers.

Warnings About Misusing AI for Spiritual Guidance

I want to be clear: I’m not anti-technology. Technology helps us preach the gospel, organise ministry, and connect with people. But there are real spiritual dangers when we outsource spiritual formation to algorithms:

• AI is optimised for engagement, not for holiness. It will give the answer that keeps you coming back.
• AI cannot hold your soul accountable. It cannot call you to repentance in love or walk with you through long sanctification seasons.
• AI cannot hear God’s specific voice for your life or to bear the sacred weight of pastoral responsibility.
• Some have sought counseling from AI and been harmed because the “advice” minimised pain or encouraged keeping things inside.

Use AI to organise, spark ideas, and help with logistics. But don’t use AI as your spiritual director, primary counselor, or confessor. Those roles require a human sanctified connection and, when appropriate, pastoral oversight that algorithms cannot replace.

Reflection Questions: Are You Moving from Algorithms to Altars?

Here are questions I suggested in the sermon to help you assess where you are and what the next step is to take:

• Where am I relying on quick answers instead of deep encounters?
• What do I consult first when I’m anxious: God or Google? An app or Scripture?
• What practices can I remove from my week to make room for solitude with God?
• What is one area of life I’ve been unwilling to confess? What would it look like to bring that to God in honest prayer?
• When did I last wait on God for more than five minutes without checking my phone? Can I try 15 minutes this week?

Invitation: Take That Next Step

At the end of the message, I invited everyone to stand, surrender to worship, and allow God to redirect our steps. That’s not a performance; it’s an altar moment. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be polished. Come as you are. If you’ve been waiting, wondering whether God sees you, He does. Don’t throw in the towel if you’ve been wrestling and are tired. If you’ve been holding out because you think surrender will cost you too much, surrender will often open a new way forward.

Final Words: Use the Tools. Worship the King.

Let me close with the pastoral heart behind this talk: I love technology. I love the tools that help us reach more people and simplify life. But I love the Creator more. The rise of AI is a watershed moment in human history because how we respond will shape generations. Will we use algorithms as servants or let them become substitutes for intimacy with God?

My plea is simple: prioritise altar encounters. Make room to wait. Wrestle with honesty. Worship with abandon. When you do, God will redesign your walk, give you a new name, and set you on a path that algorithms cannot predict or replace. Don’t miss out on what God intends for you because you preferred the fast answer over the face-to-face encounter.

If you’re local to Jupiter, Florida, I’d love to meet you at Generation Church. If you’re reading online, let this be your invitation today to step out of the algorithm and into the altar. Start small. Start now. God is faithful. He works while you wait.

– Pastor Ben Pierce, Generation Church FL