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If Christian YouTube Wasn't Slipping, I Wouldn't Make This Message · Off The Kirb Ministries

• 0:00
  This is why you should stop watching AI videos immediately.
• 0:05
  Now, today we're going to do something a little bit
• 0:07
  different. I've got a cup of coffee and I
• 0:10
  want to have a chat with you. If you don't know yet, I've got
• 0:13
  a Christian channel where every few weeks I sit down with you, I
• 0:17
  open up the scriptures and we just have an informal chat all
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  about Jesus and the Word of God. Well today I really want to talk
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  to you about 3 big problems that we have with the Christian world
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  of YouTube. So please go and get yourself a
• 0:34
  hot drink, whatever you want to drink, tea, coffee.
• 0:37
  I'm having a nice hot cup of Joe.
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  So hopefully you'll join me today for this.
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  OK, the first problem I see as a Christian YouTube who's been in
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  this game since 2015, the biggest problem I see is AI.
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  I think AI is going to be a massive problem for the
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  Christian world of YouTube. Let me put a scenario to you, my
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  words because I do believe this will happen in the future.
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  I really do think this will happen.
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  So just remember this video. But in a few years time you will
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  be driving to work and say your commute is 20 minutes long and
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  you think, right, well, I'd quite like to get some spiritual
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  edification is all you'll have to do is take your smart device
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  or whatever it is and say AII would like a 20 minute message
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  on the on the Trinity. And I'd like this message to
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  have a bit of humour peppered into it.
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  I'd like the preacher to be quite punchy at times, you know,
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  to be quite strong and authoritative.
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  And I'd also, by the way, like him to speak in an Irish accent.
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  AI, please do that for me. And within a matter of seconds,
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  you will have everything you want completely tailored.
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  Now guys, me, little old me and your other Christian Youtubers
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  that you watch, we cannot compete with that.
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  We can't do that. We can't tailor a message for
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  you. We can only do what we believe
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  the Lord has laid on our hearts each week.
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  And so I really do see this as being a huge problem.
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  Now the other question you might want to ask yourself is this, is
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  it wrong? Is it really such a bad thing
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  that we've got these AI robots, these AI machines that are now
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  preaching the gospel that are now making these channels?
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  Because by the way, you do know what I'm talking about when I,
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  when I say AI, I'm talking about these AI generative channels.
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  So you will get lots of different people now who are
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  running these AI channels. And because they know in our
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  Christian community, there's a couple of million of us, they
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  know, OK, this is a chance for me to make money.
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  So they will hit certain topics like the rapture or they will
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  take a video by a Christian YouTube that's got a number of
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  views and they'll literally take the transcript from that video
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  and then maybe do a ahead of research themselves, put it into
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  AI and they'll get their own script.
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  People have literally done that to me and I've had to reach out
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  to them, to the people running these AI channels and say this
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  is dishonest. You've literally just taken my
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  script, everything, title, thumbnail, and you've put it on
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  your own channel and now you're monetising it to make money.
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  So is there anything wrong in this?
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  I mean, you might say, well, no, there isn't anything wrong.
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  After all, didn't the apostle Paul say, you know, some preach
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  the gospel out of selfish ambition?
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  But I still rejoice because after all the the gospel's being
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  preached, well, I think there is an issue with it.
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  One of the things is this, imagine if all these AI channels
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  suddenly because they've got these machines, they know how to
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  scale, they know how to edit the videos and they've got all of
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  this intelligence. Suddenly they just remove all of
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  us Christian Youtubers, which if that's the Lord's will, we
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  should just take it. But imagine all of the Christian
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  Youtubers who I'd like to think if I don't know if you've got
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  some others that are in your mind right now, but these are
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  are men of God. And, and for you ladies, you
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  listen to the, to the women channels, you know, these are
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  women of God who are seeking to share the word of God with you.
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  OK, what happens if they're all removed and suddenly the only
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  voice on YouTube and on these social media platforms are AI
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  machines? We've got an issue there,
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  haven't we? Because suddenly, OK, they might
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  start telling the truth, but it's very easy for them to slip
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  in a bit of heresy, a bit of false preaching.
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  It's very easy for them to to tell lies.
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  And suddenly when there is no Christian voice there, these
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  undiscerning younger believers won't know what the truth is.
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  I just saw a little hair on on the microphone and it was really
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  annoying, annoying me. But you know, they won't know
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  what the truth is anymore. They won't know, you know,
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  where, where is where is the the true men of God.
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  And then the other thing is this, as ministers of the
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  gospel, we are called to really pray over our messages.
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  You see, something that an AI machine doesn't have is a human
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  soul. I've got a human soul.
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  You've got a human soul. And you see God in his infinite
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  wisdom has chosen to use these clay vessels, these human beings
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  who he's He's wide in a human soul, and he's going to use us
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  as instruments for his glory. He uses preachers to speak his
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  word. And so here is a man who who
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  gets on the floor and pleads before the Lord.
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  I pray before every video. Lord, show me what you want me
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  to say. Please give me the wisdom.
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  Please give me the creativity. Give me the ideas.
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  Lord, I come to you now because I have nothing.
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  And then God's and his mercy very often does turn up and give
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  me all of the ideas and all of the video.
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  And there we go. I make a video, but if that
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  process is completely missed out and an AI machine is just using
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  knowledge and just treating it like, you know how you would
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  learn how to, I don't know. I don't know, dig up the land
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  and and plant pumpkin seeds. If you're just going to use it
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  like a manual like that and make it so trivial, suddenly the word
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  of God isn't going to go out with the same power, is it?
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  If we're just using, if we're cheating, basically that's
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  essentially what they're doing and something else as I was
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  writing down, I've just got a few scribbles here.
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  That's how I work on my Christian channel.
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  I just write a few scribbles. It's very different to how you
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  know, the the normal videos I make on on this channel here.
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  But something I think that isn't good that I know for a fact some
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  pastors are doing because you're busy pastors.
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  I I get that because you're burnt out.
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  You think I don't have a sermon this week, AI and you go on
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  ChatGPT and you start writing. Please give me a sermon on
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  Romans chapter one and marriage and make it 20 minutes long and
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  suddenly blah, blah, blah, blah. You've got a message there
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  again, you as a pastor, you as a minister, a missionary
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  evangelist, whoever you are, you should be seeking the Lord, that
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  he will use you and your gifts because God doesn't need, you
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  know, we could just give them out textbooks.
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  We could just give God wants you as the preacher to take your
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  gifting and use it and to lead many souls to himself.
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  Or you might not lead anyone to it, to the Lord, but he wants to
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  use you as that vessel. I can't remember who said this,
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  but a preacher of the past said preaching is truth communicated
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  through personality. So we take the word of God,
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  we've got this truth, but then you've got a personality and
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  I've got a personality. There's ways I will phrase
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  things that you would never phrase and likewise, and yet so
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  many people again, this is the issue where we copy preachers
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  and we might want to copy their style.
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  No be you. That was one of the best pieces
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  of advice I ever got off an older preacher.
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  He said Joe, just be Joe because when you're Joe, that is when
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  God can use you the best. And that was actually a very
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  similar time when my channel started to take off, because
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  before that I was trying to be like a Leonard Ravenhill or even
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  a Billy Graham, just shouting the messages really loud, you
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  know, trying to be powerful. But actually I've got quite a
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  gentle voice. Actually, I'm a bit of a batter,
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  as some of my friends might, might call me.
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  And that's just me. And I don't need to try and
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  pretend I'm something that I'm not because God will use me best
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  in the way I try. I am to be myself.
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  And if you're watching this and you are an alpha male and you
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  know, you're really tough and you're really strong and be you,
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  you know, don't try and be some gentle preacher because that's
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  not you. We've just got to be ourselves.
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  You know where I'm going with this.
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  Now, this is something you would all be questioning, I think as
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  I'm going through this message. Is all AI bad?
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  Should we avoid it completely? Now, some of you would go all
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  the way and say, yes, let's avoid it all together.
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  I'm not going to take that line. I don't think it's totally wrong
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  to use it. And actually, yes, sometimes I
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  might use AI, for instance, if I wanted to check my grammar on
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  something. So I had a prayer letter
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  recently and I wrote the prayer letter out myself.
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  I didn't get AI to do it. I wrote it out myself and then I
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  just copied and pasted what I'd written, put it into ChatGPT
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  Chat, PT or whatever it is. And I asked it to source out the
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  grammar because I often get feedback from my newsletter
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  contacts. Joe, your grammar was awful.
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  You, your spelling was awful. You really need to work on this
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  a bit more. And anyway, it did the job and I
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  didn't get any comments back saying that my grammar was bad
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  on on that last newsletter. The other thing you might
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  notice, so not sure if you're aware of this, but since about
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  June 2022 all the way from then 2015 to June 2022, I edited all
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  of my own videos. But I quickly realised I
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  couldn't do this and go out on the street St. preaching and
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  preach on in churches doing itinerant preaching.
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  So I actually decided to delegate.
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  I've forgotten what the word is, but you know, give my outsource.
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  That's the word I'm looking for my video editing.
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  And I've now got a handful of different video editors who work
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  freelance and I work with them now.
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  One of them is a, a good friend of mine and he's a, he's a
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  Christian. And then the others who do a lot
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  of the motion graphics, they're actually not believers.
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  And I don't know what you think of this personally, I just think
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  it's great because they're going to hear the, the, the message
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  of, of the Bible. And you know, it's, it's all I
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  could afford. I couldn't afford to, to pay,
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  you know, someone really professional who's also a
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  Christian. Anyway, the point is this,
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  sometimes those guys, they'll use AI images.
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  So for instance, I was talking about Napoleon in one of my
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  videos. And this editor, he put Napoleon
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  in a in a classroom, as I was talking about Napoleon being in
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  this classroom, and he finished something like 11th, 11th in his
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  class out of 20. And the whole point of it was,
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  you know, he finished, you know, very mediocre in the class.
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  And yet look what Napoleon went on to do anyway.
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  So he put this in an AI image. Was that wrong?
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  Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it.
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  I think these are tools that we can use.
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  But what I do think is wrong is when we've got these people who
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  are pretending to be Christians who are trying to use the system
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  as a way of getting lots of money.
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  And yes, they're, they're just taking advantage of it and they
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  don't really care about the Lord.
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  They're just doing this all for money.
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  So problem number one is AI. What's the solution?
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  You don't have to write this in the comment box.
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  If you do, that's great. But I know you have other
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  Christian Youtubers that you watch.
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  I watch Christian Youtubers, you know, I, I've got people I enjoy
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  to watch and I learn from. Just make sure you support them.
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  Make sure you click on their videos and can I say this, avoid
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  the AI ones that are just voices that are artificial and they're
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  just made by people who even if you go on their channels, you
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  can see that their theology's all over the place.
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  They're just looking for what gets the most clicks in whatever
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  genre of Christianity that might be and that they're making
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  videos. So whoever your Christian
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  Youtubers that you watch, just make sure you support them,
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  watch their videos and just just love them basically and try and
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  avoid these AI channels. If I've said anything wrong
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  here, I hold my hands up and I apologise, but let me know what
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  you think in the comments section.
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  Guys. As you can tell, this is very
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  unscripted, but I've just realized I missed out one of the
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  Bible verses I'd I'd written down here.
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  Just listen to this Exodus 16 verse four.
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  Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from
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  heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a
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  certain quota every day that I may test them, whether they will
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  walk in my law or not. So in other words, the Lord
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  said, I want you to only take just the amount of manner you
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  need for that day, and then the next day I will give you manner
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  in the wilderness. You know the story well that
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  these people, the people of God, they wanted to eat, they were
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  hungry, so God provided for them, but He just said, just
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  collect the right amount of manner for today.
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  Why? Because freshness is important
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  to the Lord. And that is why it's so
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  important for us as ministers of the gospel to get into the word
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  to, to come up with new ideas. Because the people of God, they
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  deserve the best. They deserve a fresh message,
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  Not just something else that you've returned, not something
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  that you've taken from another minister, and certainly not
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  something that an AI machine has just pinched from lots of
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  different people put together. No, we need a freshness where we
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  seek the Lord God and say here I am, this is May 2024.
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  What do the people of God need to hear today?
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  What is the message you want them to hear on this Saturday at
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  2:30 in UK time? That's what time I post my
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  videos. Lord give me wisdom now and let
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  the Lord speak to you and give you that message.
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  OK, problem #2 the problem with YouTube, Christian YouTube is
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  even though, yes, as I said, I was doing it in back in 2015 and
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  really it was 2017 when I really started taking it seriously and
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  making, you know, a lot of videos back then.
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  And by the way, I've deleted a lot of them.
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  If you're wondering where have they all gone?
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  Because some of them were so embarrassing.
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  I just, I might put them back up one day, but yeah, I'm just
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  really embarrassed. Anyway, what is the issue?
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  It's how new Christian Youtubers, how there's a newness
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  to it and we're all trying to navigate this, this new land and
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  how do we do it? How are we wise with it?
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  Well, the first problem is this, and this has really happened
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  again since 2020-2021. A lot of people have stopped
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  going to church because they can get everything from their
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  laptop, they can get everything from social media, and they
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  think I've been spiritually fed and I don't need to meet a
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  church anymore. I know there are circumstances
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  that would prevent people from getting to church, but I just
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  want to speak to those people who are choosing not to go to a
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  local church and they are choosing rather to get all of
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  their fellowship online on online chat.
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  And also they're choosing to get their fellowship or their,
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  their, their teaching from 100% just men who are on the
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  Internet. I've got a Bible verse to share
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  with you, Hebrews chapter 10. If you've got a Bible there,
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  please turn to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25.
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  The Scripture says not forgetting the assembling of
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  ourselves together, as is the manner of some of some, but
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  exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day
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  approaching. What is this day?
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  The returning of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  In other words, I don't know who you believe wrote Hebrews.
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  Some people say it was Luke, some people say it was Paul.
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  I won't tell you who I think it was in this video, but the
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  writer was saying right here, don't, don't you know, stop
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  gathering together as Christ returns.
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  We need to have people gathering, meeting together as a
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  body, as a church, praying, breaking bread, hearing from the
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  word of God. We have to do that all the way
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  up until the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
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  And some of you, sadly, either it's laziness or maybe you've
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  been hurt. And just because you've eaten
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  one bad meal doesn't mean you never eat again.
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  So just because you've had one bad church experience and I've
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  had quite a few of my time, it doesn't mean you stop church
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  altogether. You don't throw the baby out
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  with the bathwater. No, we're commanded to gather,
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  to meet together. And whether you like it or not,
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  I'm saying this is a Christian YouTube.
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  Christian YouTube is not God's biblical method.
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  It's not God's chosen method. Yes, I I seek to share the word
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  of God and I believe the Lord uses it mightily and I've seen
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  great blessing and souls saved, but that is not God's favorite
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  method. His favorite method is through
• 18:36
  the church with local believers, whether you like it or not.
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  You can't argue that away. And you say, well, YouTube
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  wasn't around then, but there were other things.
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  And yet the Lord says, no, this is what I've chosen, men and
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  women, all ages, all backgrounds, all pedigrees, all
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  coming together from different parts of life and meeting and
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  worshipping me, the living God. That is God's chosen method.
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  The other thing is this, you know, we, we can be sort of
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  quick to judge, can't we? I think the problem with YouTube
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  is this. Everyone gets an opinion.
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  Now that's a great thing in one sense, because again, lots of
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  people have been kept silent and and you know, you know, I
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  believe in freedom of speech massively.
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  But the same time when everyone gets an opinion and everyone
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  gets to voice their opinion without actually qualifying
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  where they're coming from and you don't know who they are, it
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  can create a real mess in the comments section.
• 19:36
  I'll give you an example a couple of weeks ago, well a
• 19:40
  month ago or so when the eclipse was going down, Do you remember
• 19:44
  the, the solar eclipse that was on April the 8th?
• 19:47
  I decided to make a video. I was seeing lots of Christian
• 19:51
  Youtubers coming out saying that it's the sign of Jonah because
• 19:56
  as the eclipse went across America, it it met in in a cross
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  and as it went across, it went through all of these towns
• 20:04
  called Nineveh. And people were saying this,
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  this is a sign of Jonah. And also the the Constellation
• 20:09
  was like a whale shipe. A whale shaped constellation in
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  the sky. And everyone was saying this is
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  it. It's the sign of Jonah.
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  That's the sign of the coming of of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  He's coming again. And so I decided to make a video
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  about this because anyone who takes just a few minutes to read
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  the Bible will see the sign of Jonah.
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  The sign of the prophet of Jonah was Jesus Christ's resurrection.
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  Just as as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days
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  and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the
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  earth for three days and three nights.
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  It was a sign that Jesus Christ was going to rise from the dead.
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  He was saying that that is the testament of me, that I'm
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  living. I'm alive.
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  OK, So I decided to make a video about it.
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  But I can't just come in here straight away and just say it's
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  wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. I have to, you know, do their,
• 21:01
  if you like their story, justice.
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  And so I told the story and I even said, you know, I don't
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  believe this from the beginning, but people didn't even take the
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  time to watch 30 seconds. And this isn't just a one off
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  example. This happens so much on YouTube.
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  People will watch literally a few seconds or just see the
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  title on the thumbnail and write a negative comment.
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  This person's a false prophet or the verse that gets quoted all
• 21:27
  the time. Whenever I talk about the end
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  times, it's always no man knows the day or the hour.
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  And I just wish that if you're going to write a comment down
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  and I know other guys on YouTube will probably feel the same,
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  please watch the video through. Please watch it, especially if
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  it's going to be a -1 make sure you know what the video is
• 21:49
  about. Because if we're so quick to
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  judge, you know, this is one of the, the weaknesses again, of,
• 21:55
  of, of YouTube over the church. When I stand in a pulpit and I
• 21:58
  preach for half an hour, I can develop my points, I can develop
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  my message. And I know the people in front
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  of me, they're there. They're going to stay with me
• 22:08
  for the full 30 minutes. So no one can accuse me of
• 22:11
  taking anything out of context because they see as I, as I come
• 22:14
  along to my conclusion. And that's really what I want to
• 22:18
  say is it's something we've got to be aware of, not to be so
• 22:21
  quick to judge. And I've done it at times.
• 22:23
  So I'm not, you know, pointing the finger.
• 22:25
  I'm just saying that's one of the something we need to
• 22:28
  navigate is this this world of YouTube, which again, I just
• 22:31
  want to reiterate is a wonderful thing, but we need to be
• 22:34
  careful, OK? And here's another thing.
• 22:40
  The strength of YouTube is its weakness.
• 22:43
  Also. You see, the beautiful thing
• 22:50
  about YouTube is suddenly the gatekeepers are gone.
• 22:54
  All these guys who held the gates, you know who said you
• 22:58
  cannot come on our radio station, you cannot come on our
• 23:02
  television set? You can't do that unless you
• 23:06
  have money or unless we've invited you.
• 23:08
  And suddenly YouTube is just this one big party and everyone
• 23:13
  is invited. This is an incredible thing.
• 23:15
  In fact, I'm not going to go into details, but last year, and
• 23:19
  please, I'm not saying this to boast in any way.
• 23:22
  I just want you to know something that I think people
• 23:25
  should know. Last year I met with a a very
• 23:29
  well known Christian television network and they told me, and
• 23:34
  again, I'm not going to name names, but for instance, one of
• 23:37
  these big preachers that every single one of you will have
• 23:40
  heard of pays $1,000,000 every year on average so that he can
• 23:46
  be on that television network and get the prime time and be
• 23:50
  there in front of millions of people.
• 23:54
  Does that not concern you a little bit?
• 23:56
  So in other words, it's not the fact that this preacher is
• 23:59
  really gifted, he's a really great communicator.
• 24:03
  It's the fact that he's got money and he's pushed himself in
• 24:06
  front of everyone on all of these because that's how people
• 24:09
  used to hear about preachers was through cable television over
• 24:13
  all these years. And that is how he's got famous
• 24:17
  by paying for it. And often these big false
• 24:20
  teachers, if you notice them, they're actually pretty bad
• 24:23
  communicators. They're not that gifted and they
• 24:26
  just tickle ears. They just tell you what you want
• 24:28
  to hear. So that's interesting.
• 24:31
  The next thing, they actually still do this on YouTube now.
• 24:33
  And the way to test this is this.
• 24:35
  If you see one of these false teachers, and again, I could
• 24:38
  give you names and not in this video, but you know, they, they,
• 24:43
  they basically they'll get a couple of million views on a, on
• 24:45
  a video. And you can tell they've paid
• 24:48
  through adverts to get this video out in front of people.
• 24:52
  Because if they've got a couple of million views, but then
• 24:54
  they've only got like, say 2000 likes on the video, you know
• 24:58
  that that video has been paid for to reach many different
• 25:02
  people. So here we are.
• 25:04
  We've got the gatekeepers. Again, it's the same with
• 25:07
  conferences. Very often at Bible conferences
• 25:11
  these days, it's not the best preacher, it's not the most
• 25:14
  anointed preacher that gets invited.
• 25:16
  It's the man who fits into a certain mould or who is in a
• 25:21
  certain club. And that's why when you go to
• 25:23
  these big conferences, it's the same speakers year after year.
• 25:27
  And some of them, please don't misunderstand me, some of them
• 25:30
  are wonderful preachers and I enjoy going to conferences
• 25:33
  myself. But again, it's, it's the
• 25:36
  gatekeepers. But the wonderful thing about
• 25:39
  YouTube is this, for the most part, it basically if a video's
• 25:44
  good, if the message is good and it's clear and you know the
• 25:48
  Lord's blessed it, sometimes it doesn't get loads of views.
• 25:51
  Please don't. Again, don't misunderstand me on
• 25:53
  that. But the point is this.
• 25:54
  Suddenly we all get an opportunity to reach people and
• 25:58
  we all get an opportunity to, to reach the World without these
• 26:01
  gatekeepers saying, no, you're not in our club, we don't allow
• 26:05
  you here. But then the weakness to that is
• 26:09
  this. Suddenly everyone without any
• 26:13
  vetting can put up a video. Suddenly everyone can come up
• 26:18
  and decide, you know, I want to be a Christian YouTuber.
• 26:21
  I want to get some money off Adsense.
• 26:24
  I want to do this. And they do.
• 26:27
  And often they just copy and paste titles from popular
• 26:31
  Christian Youtubers. They take thumbnails.
• 26:33
  They, you know, maybe even take full scripts.
• 26:36
  And they just put themselves out there and suddenly there's all
• 26:40
  these people. And some of them, we've got
• 26:42
  young guys who are like 20 odds and they've blown up on shorts
• 26:46
  and they've got a couple of million subscribers and they're
• 26:50
  not ready for it yet. Why?
• 26:51
  Because they haven't gone through, again, the biblical
• 26:55
  method. If you look through the Bible,
• 26:57
  the way men and women were sent into ministry was always through
• 27:02
  the local church. They were raised up.
• 27:04
  Even Paul, who was raised up all of a sudden out of nowhere, he
• 27:08
  then went through the church. He witnessed, yes, but then he
• 27:11
  was, if you like, welcomed into the church.
• 27:13
  And that's when his ministry really took off right across
• 27:16
  Europe, right across the world. That is the biblical methods.
• 27:21
  And you know, again, I won't name if I'm not going to name
• 27:25
  names in the negative sense, I won't do it in the positive
• 27:27
  sense. But some of these Christian
• 27:29
  Youtubers who I watch personally, I know they're,
• 27:32
  they're pastors. I know that they've been
• 27:34
  trained, they've gone to Bible college and they've been sensed
• 27:38
  by their church. They've been loved and they've
• 27:39
  been, you know, welcomed in and they served in ministry before.
• 27:43
  I myself, I worked for for churches before I started making
• 27:47
  YouTube full time and I still serve in churches now.
• 27:51
  That's what I'm trying to say. We shouldn't just be free agents
• 27:54
  just stepping up and doing whatever we want.
• 27:57
  No, because the church keeps people accountable and if a man
• 28:02
  is saying things that are wrong or a man is going too far, they
• 28:05
  need accountability because we can so often be wise in our own
• 28:09
  eyes and think I know best, I know what I'm doing.
• 28:12
  Hey I'm getting 100,000 views every video.
• 28:15
  Who are you to tell me what to do?
• 28:18
  No, we do need to to be held accountable.
• 28:23
  If I may just share one, one other verse on this before we go
• 28:26
  to #3 I don't know this verse off by heart.
• 28:30
  So if you want to Google this, but it talks about in Jeremiah,
• 28:34
  these false prophets who ran. You see, they ran, but the Lord
• 28:39
  says I didn't send them. And just because you're running,
• 28:42
  just because you've got so much success in ministry, it doesn't
• 28:47
  mean the Lord sent you. And these are questions we've
• 28:49
  always got to ask ourselves and stay close, stay accountable,
• 28:53
  stay humble, and then the Lord can continue to to be with us
• 28:58
  because the moment we get too big for our boots and try to
• 29:01
  seek the glory for ourselves and try and make ministry all about
• 29:05
  us. And very sadly, again, an elder
• 29:08
  at church I used to go to who I love very dearly once said, many
• 29:11
  people go into ministry to try and make a name for themselves
• 29:15
  because it's so easy, isn't it? For, for you to get, you know, a
• 29:20
  bit of credibility if you get a few 1000 views on on YouTube,
• 29:23
  you know, wow, you've got so many.
• 29:25
  None of that matters in God's world, none of that matters.
• 29:28
  What matters is, is that man sent.
• 29:32
  What's that man sent? And they're evangelists.
• 29:35
  Right now as I speak, it's raining outside.
• 29:38
  I'm going out tomorrow to do some St. preaching, but here I
• 29:41
  am. I'm in this comfortable office
• 29:43
  but right now as I speak, I know there are men in Liverpool
• 29:47
  preaching on the streets right now and very few people know
• 29:51
  their name. But they love the Lord and they
• 29:54
  do it obediently because they've got their eyes on the Shepherd
• 29:58
  and they can see the lost and they can see the great need.
• 30:01
  And so they preach and I believe, I really do believe
• 30:05
  they will have their reward. Whilst guys who've got all this
• 30:09
  success, now we've had our reward here, haven't we?
• 30:14
  So just let's make sure we fix our eyes, think biblically and
• 30:18
  not think it would work with a worldly mindset.
• 30:22
  OK. The third problem I see in this
• 30:25
  new world of Christian YouTube is the problem of disunity.
• 30:30
  I hope you're enjoying your coffee.
• 30:31
  I'm really enjoying this. And I will warn you, actually,
• 30:34
  I'm just going to say the ones that we do on my other channel,
• 30:37
  the Joe Kirby channel, they're normally a bit smoother than
• 30:40
  this. I've got a little bit nervous
• 30:41
  about doing this one today because I know it's completely
• 30:44
  different to what I put out on this channel.
• 30:46
  But I just really wanted to, to share this message today.
• 30:49
  And actually, if I let you into a secret, I'm going away
• 30:53
  visiting family for a couple of weeks.
• 30:55
  So this just is a very easy way to make a video and make sure
• 30:59
  that I'm, I'm getting a video out every week for you.
• 31:01
  Because that's been sort of my only goal for ministry this year
• 31:04
  is to make sure I get a video out every single week.
• 31:09
  So there is a problem with disunity.
• 31:12
  Now, I don't want anyone to misunderstand me here.
• 31:15
  It is important again, if we want to be biblical, if we want
• 31:23
  to be scriptural, the apostle Paul, the men of the church,
• 31:27
  they were calling out false teachers all the time.
• 31:29
  They were saying these men, they should be avoided.
• 31:32
  They're evil. They're, they're seeking after
• 31:34
  their own ways and they didn't mince their words.
• 31:36
  They were straight to the point, weren't they?
• 31:39
  OK, so it is important for us to call out false teachers.
• 31:45
  And again, if I go back, I don't want to be, you know, nostalgic,
• 31:48
  but in those early days of Christian YouTube, you just knew
• 31:51
  who each person was. And there was the channel who
• 31:54
  did do that regularly. And that was if you like their
• 31:56
  bread and butter. But all of a sudden, again,
• 31:59
  because of this desire for more views and more monetisation, and
• 32:04
  I'm not saying that money's always the reason behind these
• 32:06
  things. Please don't.
• 32:07
  Again, just, yeah, I'm not saying that at all.
• 32:10
  But what I am saying is this, because there's a lot of views
• 32:14
  and there's a lot of interest in what's this person done and that
• 32:17
  person's done this and he said this and and it gets lots of
• 32:22
  clicks. Suddenly we've got this world
• 32:25
  where YouTube is just filled with let's heresy hunt.
• 32:29
  Let's call this person and let's name that false teacher.
• 32:35
  Now, why does it bother me this so as you know, I'm an
• 32:40
  evangelist. My job is to introduce people to
• 32:43
  gods. I'm a Fisher of men.
• 32:45
  I want to win souls. And YouTube, again, it's
• 32:48
  strength is it's weakness in in the public square.
• 32:53
  We go out and St. preach because the people aren't coming into
• 32:56
  the streets. And it's the same reason why I
• 32:58
  go on YouTube because, sorry, we go out onto the streets because
• 33:02
  people aren't coming into the church.
• 33:04
  And it's the same for YouTube. People aren't gathering in
• 33:07
  churches. Unbelievers, the churches are
• 33:10
  getting smaller and smaller in numbers, aren't they?
• 33:14
  And so that's why I come on YouTube.
• 33:16
  But that also means that all of the unbelievers are seeing what
• 33:20
  I'm doing, how I'm reacting. They're watching me.
• 33:23
  They want to see if this Lord Jesus Christ really is as
• 33:27
  wonderful as I say. They want to know if these
• 33:29
  Christians are as genuine as I say and I've just got to wonder.
• 33:33
  I really asked myself this question.
• 33:36
  What do unbelievers think when they might want to just dip
• 33:41
  their toes in the Christian YouTube world and they're seeing
• 33:44
  this false teacher has done this.
• 33:47
  This person here are channels to unsubscribe from do this and I
• 33:52
  just think is this what the Lord wants us to be doing does this
• 33:59
  Is this commendable to the gospel?
• 34:01
  And again, I do believe there's a place for that.
• 34:03
  And I do believe people should make those videos because at the
• 34:06
  same time, there are new believers or there are
• 34:08
  unbelievers who might start listening to one of these false
• 34:11
  teachers and think that they're telling the truth.
• 34:14
  So it is good to call them out. But I'm just saying, I wonder if
• 34:17
  we, we, there was someone who did a pie chart and they took
• 34:20
  all of the videos that have been produced in the last couple of
• 34:23
  years and see how many of them that reached the widest
• 34:27
  audiences were about false teachers and, and, and naming
• 34:31
  all of these people. And then there's also the whole
• 34:34
  problem with we're always falling out with one another.
• 34:38
  Two genuine believers might disagree on a part of scripture
• 34:42
  or on a certain gift or a certain theological system.
• 34:46
  And they debate and sometimes and again, I was talking to a
• 34:51
  friend about this over lunch and they were talking to me about
• 34:56
  the whole topic of have the gifts ceased?
• 34:58
  And there was a cessationist and there was a person who was a
• 35:02
  continuist and they were having a debate.
• 35:05
  And this was back years ago, you know, we're going back ten years
• 35:08
  ago. And my friend was saying she
• 35:11
  watched that and she remembered seeing them.
• 35:13
  They both had a love or respect. It was a gentle conversation
• 35:17
  whilst both laying out their points.
• 35:19
  But now when you go and watch one of those debates, they're
• 35:22
  shouting at one another, they're angry.
• 35:25
  They just want to make the other person look stupid and prove
• 35:29
  that they're right and the other is wrong.
• 35:31
  And again, what kind of message does this send out to the world?
• 35:36
  Who's watching? Does this show us that we are
• 35:39
  Christians and we all love one another?
• 35:42
  If you've got a Bible there, please would you turn to John
• 35:44
  chapter 13, John 13 verse verse 35.
• 36:01
  This is Jesus talking and he says by this all will know that
• 36:07
  you are my disciples If you have love for one another.
• 36:16
  And I guess if there's one thing I believe this is really the
• 36:20
  reason I've made this video. I believe the Lord has been
• 36:23
  showing me something quietly in my own mind.
• 36:27
  When you look at the other religions, yes, that there are
• 36:31
  sects, yes, there are divides, but it seems every single
• 36:36
  religion, they all seem unified. They all seem to have each
• 36:41
  other's back. But as Christians, because we've
• 36:44
  got so many denominations, because we've got so many
• 36:46
  different points of view, we are actually the ones who are
• 36:49
  dividing one another. We're the ones who are going for
• 36:52
  one another. And again, one of the reasons I
• 36:54
  didn't name names in this video, because if I tell you some
• 36:57
  preachers I like, you'll say that person's faults, that
• 37:00
  because they don't fit in with our narrative, they don't fit in
• 37:03
  with our denomination. But guys, are these people truly
• 37:09
  born again? Have they truly rested upon the
• 37:12
  blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed on Calvary?
• 37:16
  Do they truly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ rose my dead
• 37:20
  and he has handed out eternal life to them and they know that
• 37:23
  they live for Him and He is their all?
• 37:26
  If they do believe that, then all of these other things, yes,
• 37:30
  they might be important and you might not want to say they're
• 37:32
  secondary issues, but really, if they have believed on the name
• 37:37
  of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are brethren and we should love
• 37:42
  them and receive them. Now, if there's something
• 37:46
  serious like they're, you know, trying to demote Christ and say
• 37:49
  that Jesus isn't God, for instance, or they're denying a
• 37:52
  core tenants of doctrine, a core tenants of Scripture, yes, they
• 37:57
  are false. But for the most part, some of
• 38:00
  these arguments that I'm seeing, this is your brother Christ died
• 38:04
  for this brother, this sister that you are tearing to pieces
• 38:08
  in front of 10s of thousands of people.
• 38:11
  And that is not what we're called to do.
• 38:15
  And then, you know, again, we can also want to seem like we
• 38:19
  have the biblical knowledge, you know, that we're better than
• 38:23
  other people and we can be judge mental.
• 38:27
  Now, if I say Sneako to you, if I say I show speed and you're
• 38:33
  someone who is on YouTube a lot, you'll probably know that these
• 38:37
  two people converted to a particular religion.
• 38:41
  And as soon as they converted, all the people of that religion
• 38:44
  welcomed them in loved them and said, this is wonderful news.
• 38:47
  And yet when we had Nala who was saying, you know, the, the, the
• 38:52
  lady with red hair who said she was now coming to the Lord Jesus
• 38:56
  Christ. And you know, there's been some
• 38:58
  other, other famous influencers and then there's been Russell
• 39:02
  Brand who's been public and, you know, Joe Rogan's making a bit
• 39:06
  of noise that he's interested in Christianity.
• 39:08
  As soon as that happens, we're suddenly, and we're right to be
• 39:12
  sceptical, but we suddenly, we're not just sceptical in our
• 39:15
  own minds, we suddenly just run down there and write all of
• 39:19
  these comments and make these videos.
• 39:21
  And, and I just think it's just, it's not a good witness to the
• 39:25
  Lord Jesus Christ. I am so glad that when I came to
• 39:28
  the Lord, my first months of being a Christian weren't in the
• 39:34
  public eye. I mean, I will just say that,
• 39:38
  you know, when I first became a Christian, the first month I
• 39:41
  had, I'd paid for something and with a group of friends and
• 39:45
  because I'd paid for it, I decided I'd go on a camping
• 39:49
  holiday with them a weekend away.
• 39:51
  And I, I, I did, I, I sinned greatly.
• 39:54
  And that was in the first month of being a Christian.
• 39:58
  And if that was in the public eye, everyone said I wasn't a
• 40:01
  believer. But time is told that now I I've
• 40:04
  turned from that and, and the Lord has done it a work of
• 40:07
  grace, just like a child. You know my little boy We we, we
• 40:10
  have my his Papas house and his grandpas house.
• 40:15
  On his shed door, we've got a little pencil and we draw a line
• 40:18
  of how tall he is and he grows. And that's what happens with
• 40:21
  Christians. They grow.
• 40:22
  And some of these people, I do not pretend to say that they are
• 40:26
  not just using Christianity. They're not just again, milking
• 40:29
  the system so that you know, we all say well done and we'll buy
• 40:32
  your merch and we'll do this and we'll subscribe to your channel
• 40:35
  and all of I know that, but just keep it to yourself because it
• 40:39
  does just send out this message that we are just, we're quick to
• 40:44
  judge all the time anyone who who doesn't line up to our
• 40:48
  particular doctrine or our particular way of thinking as
• 40:51
  Christians. And we just need to be gentle.
• 40:54
  That's really what I'm trying to say.
• 40:57
  And I hope I've not gone too far with this because I do want you
• 41:00
  to know this. And this is where I hope you've
• 41:02
  watched till the end. We should never choose unity
• 41:07
  over truth. We don't want to just join
• 41:10
  everyone together. That's the problem with the
• 41:12
  ecumenical movement is they'll just welcome everyone in.
• 41:16
  No, no, we're not. And and if there are particular
• 41:19
  sins that people are saying are completely fine, they are false.
• 41:23
  They need calling out. We need to separate ourselves
• 41:25
  from them. I'm not saying that, but I think
• 41:28
  you understand what I am trying to say from this.
• 41:31
  And because this is my main channel, just as I wrap things
• 41:36
  up, I have shared the gospel a little bit in this video.
• 41:38
  But I just want to say if there is anyone who is an unbeliever
• 41:42
  and you're watching this now, we've got loads of videos on
• 41:45
  this channel all aimed at you particularly.
• 41:48
  That's what this channel's for. But I want you to know there is
• 41:52
  a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he loves you to
• 41:56
  pieces. And if you don't believe anyone
• 41:58
  loves you, just look at the cross and you'll see the great
• 42:02
  lengths that Jesus Christ went to to save you, because Jesus
• 42:06
  wants you in heaven more than you want to be in heaven
• 42:10
  yourself. And that's why He was put on
• 42:13
  that cross. And the wrath of God went upon
• 42:16
  the Lord Jesus Christ, and it burned on Christ until all of
• 42:21
  the sin of you, all the sin of me, all the sin of the world was
• 42:25
  burnt away. And Christ endured that so that
• 42:29
  you and I can be forgiven if you turn to him, if you come to him
• 42:33
  in repentance and faith, he'll wash away all of your sins and
• 42:36
  give you eternal life. So those are some things I just
• 42:41
  wanted to get off my chest and let me know you found this,
• 42:45
  whether you'd like me to have a cup of coffee with you again on
• 42:47
  this channel. I'll definitely be doing it
• 42:50
  again on my Christian channel, the Joe Kirby channel.
• 42:53
  And if you'd like to check that out, I'll, I'll leave a little
• 42:56
  link here. And if you haven't yet
• 42:58
  subscribed to this channel, please do.
• 43:01
  But God bless you all. And it's really been a blessing
• 43:04
  to talk to you today. Thank you for watching.