future

TI not AI in the coming Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

According to a recent CNBC report, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will invest 60-65 billion dollars in AI research in 2025. Add in Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon and the scope of what lies ahead in Artificial Intelligence is unimaginable. Everything from our banking to our how our refrigerator works will be affected. Our children’s education, what we see on television, listen to on the radio or receive in the mail will be driven by forces far greater than any Madison Avenue marketing firm could have imagined even a decade ago. So, unless we plan on entering a monastery or joining the Amish community, we Christians need to determine now rather than later how we will respond.

First, let’s all, take a deep breath and remember that the beginning of wisdom, (True Intelligence) is the fear of the Lord. Our God, who with one word spoke light into existence, filled the universe with stars and created our each of our bodies with 30 trillion cells, is a lot smarter than any Artificial Intelligence anyone can come up with! Living for Jesus means trusting in Him, and bringing our problems, fears, and questions to Him every day, including every challenge the world throws our way. We don’t have to figure everything out. God already knows the future and He has promised an eternal kingdom to those who place their trust in Him.

Secondly, God is not surprised. In the last chapter of Daniel, God tells Daniel that in days to come, people will run faster and faster and that knowledge will increase. (Sound familiar?) But then God tells him to go about his business, assures him of His peace, reminds Daniel that as he takes a stand, he will be blessed. (Daniel 12:13 KJV). I am confident that this promise was reassuring to the aging prophet Daniel, but it is also great advice for us today. It is easy to lose our head, worrying about what might happen tomorrow, but we don’t need to worry about tomorrow today. We just need to focus on what God has given us for now. God knows what is coming and already has a plan in place. So, let’s trust Him as we do what He has given us today, and trust that He is smarter than anything the world will ever come up with!

Last, invest time, energy, and resources in people, not things. Jesus was far less impressed by Herod’s spectacular temple complex than He was by the heart a poor widow who gave two pennies into its treasury. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, stripped of His clothing, and nailed to a cross to purchase what mattered most to Him: the salvation of you and me! Let’s get our focus off of the latest gadgets being marketed to us and ask God how to follow the True Intelligence of Jesus Christ by serving hurting people in His name. Compared to the power of AI, the ways of God may sound foolish, but the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God and His glory can shine brightest through cracked clay jars filled with the light of Jesus Christ.

Our Future Hope

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

This month I made a new friend. His name is Marcos and he is a resident at a local nursing home.  His room-mate can’t remember any family coming to visit and the aide who helps bring people in to our church service asked if I would have time to stop in. People like my  friend Marcos are everywhere. What hope do we have to offer them?

“How sweet to hold a newborn baby – And feel the pride and joy he gives”

Go the lines from the Gaither song “Because He Lives” The sweetness of holding a baby is nowhere seen more powerfully than in a nursing home. Sadly there are few people willing to bring their babies in so the staff provides lifelike dolls for the residents to cradle. They gently rock their baby and their faces light up with smiles. It is almost as if God has built into us a response of hope for the future every time we see a tiny baby.

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Whether sitting in a nursing facility or standing in a cap and gown waiting to graduate from high school our future hope is always in the love of God. His plans for us are to give us hope. His plans for our future are always for our good. We can trust Him till our final breathe here on earth, knowing that in a moment we will be breathing in our first breathe of heaven!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.     Jeremiah 29:11

 

Are your bags packed?

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19 NKJV

Because we are in the middle of moving our lives are more than a little topsy-turvy. Deciding whether to rent or sell our current home and choosing what to keep and or leave behind is really stressful. As Rex Harrison once sang, “I’ve grown accustomed to her face.. ” we have grown comfortable in the familiar sights and sounds of our home. But nothing really stays the same in life. All things at all times are in flux – except God. He alone is unchanging and if we will follow Him we must always be ready to pack our bags and go where He is calling. He delights in doing new things. He saw darkness and decided to create the light. He saw Adam alone then created Eve. The God who designed planets and filled the oceans is at work in you and I at this very moment. He says through the prophet Isaiah to get ready for change. Stop thinking long melancholy thoughts about the “good old days” and get ready to move forward. No matter how good those days were God is at work on something better. We can either mope in the back seat of the station wagon looking behind as we drive off or we can eagerly examine the road map for our journey ahead. Our destination is God’s choice but our attitude is ours. We need to be sure to pack our bags with everything that He has done in our hearts, then leave behind the keys with Jesus to close and lock the doors!