Cultivating PEACE Within #2 - Empty Myself

One of the major breakthroughs as we enter 2023 is the increasing accessibility to AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, especially for writing and painting. Many of you have heard in the news lately that you can type a subject or headline on the computer, and it will write a pretty well-researched essay for you. You can ask AI to write an article or a blog post in seconds.

My son told me that AI could probably write my sermons for me, but I doubt it because I write my sermon based on my personal enlightenment from the scriptures. I get the message directly from the Head Office. But if what he said were true, AI could replace me, and I will be out of my job soon. You have heard that AI will soon replace many jobs, including drivers and even doctors.

AI will affect everybody’s life, and your life will never be the same. The next car you buy might drive by itself. You get in the car, maybe in the back seat without a driver in the front seat, tell it where you want to go, “Hey Google, take me to the church,” and just sit and read your book or chat with someone on the phone, and soon you are at your destination. Would that make you nervous or give you peace?

For peace of mind, I decided to try it out to see if AI could really write a sermon for me. So, this week, I typed in the subject of my sermon on OpenAI, “How to empty yourself.” Immediately, a blinking cursor appeared as if it was thinking and researching from millions of sources on the Internet. I was extremely excited to see the outcome.

Unfortunately, it stopped and spat out a question saying, “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘empty yourself.’ Could you provide more context or clarify your question?” I was both disappointed and relieved. Disappointed because I thought it could assist me with my sermon research and save me some time. Relieved because I realized I am still not replaceable by AI. It has no access to the Head Office.

Now, I have peace! You know I am kidding! Actually, I have no worries at all because AI can assist us with thinking but cannot replace our wisdom. It can think for us but cannot attain enlightenment on our behalf because it has a brain but not a spirit. Peace comes from the Holy Spirit, as we discussed last week.

Today, I am sharing with you the second secret to inner peace. I began this new sermon series on “How to Cultivate PEACE Within” starting last week. There are five pillars of inner peace, and I am using the word PEACE as the mnemonic acronym to help you easily remember them. I hope this will kick off our new year on the right foot and probably make the rest of your life the best of your life.

P – Protect God’s Presence in You

E – Empty Myself

A

C

E

Last week, we shared that the first pillar of inner peace is “Presence,” by which I mean “God’s Presence” and that we must “Protect God’s Presence in Us at all costs.” If you have God’s presence, you have peace. We looked at how Joseph protected little Jesus from getting murdered by the tyrant Herod as an allegory for defending God’s presence in us.

Today, we will learn the second pillar of inner peace from Jesus. The Bible reveals that Jesus maintained his peace by “emptying himself.” (Philippians 2:7). What does it mean, and how does it help you maintain your inner peace? AI doesn’t have the answer, but the Bible does. So, let’s discover the secret.