Sermon Study · Study Guide
Staying Human in the Age of AI
October 7, 2026 · Jon Noyes
The Big Idea
Our worth comes from bearing God's image, not from what we can do, so we use AI as a spotter, not a substitute, and look to Jesus, the real thing every counterfeit copies.
Remember the message
Sermon reminders
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Our value is not a list of things we can do better than a machine. We bear God's image, a gift no machine can earn or imitate.
Counterfeit Mind
AI offers information without wisdom. Use it like a spotter, not a substitute, and do your own reps.
Counterfeit Person
AI companions offer closeness without commitment. Real people require patience, forgiveness and sacrifice, and that is what builds us.
Counterfeit Savior (Transhumanism)
Transhumanism hopes to upgrade people into gods. As at Babel, God judges not the bricks but the project.
The Real Thing: Jesus
Jesus is the real thing every counterfeit copies. God became man, and he offers not an upgrade but a resurrection.
Wednesday’s conversation
Reflect & discuss
Read Genesis 1:27 together.
Spotter or substitute
Jon said to use AI "like a spotter, not a substitute." Where has a tool, AI or any other, helped you do your own work, and where has it started doing the work for you?
The commitment is the point
Jon said AI companions promise "intimacy without any type of commitment," but "the commitment is the point." When has someone's patience or forgiveness, at a cost to them, shaped you in a way no app could, and how could you offer that to someone this week?
AI and Bible study
Asked at Think Biblically: "Should we use AI in our Bible study?" What do you do now when a passage confuses you, and what has staying with a hard text given you that a quick answer would not?
A Tower of Babel moment?
Asked at Think Biblically: "Is this our Tower of Babel moment?" Where do you notice fear in yourself about where AI is headed, and what would living faithfully look like for you this week instead?
Children and AI
Asked at Think Biblically: At what age should children start using AI, and how should parents guide them? What have you tried, or seen work, with the children in your life?
Carry it into the week
Next Steps
From the sermon
- Reread Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, and notice what God judged: not the bricks, but the project.
- Before you hand a task to AI, ask, "Is this a spotter or a substitute?"
- Write your own words. Don't let AI speak for you.
- When a passage is hard, read it again, pray through it, check a commentary and talk it over with someone before you ask AI.
- Spend time with other believers face to face, in a small group or over dinner.
- Memorize Scripture.
- Parents: limit screen time, and teach your children to use AI well instead of keeping them from it entirely: "inoculate, don't isolate."
Application
Before next Wednesday, have one conversation in person or by phone that you would normally have by text, and pray for that person afterward.
My notes
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the October 7, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.
Sermon Study · Independent small-group resource · locsermonstudy.com