AI in Preaching Part 3: Four Godly Uses (For Now)
By Dave Cook
Preachers have a long history of using technology to improve our preaching. We love commentaries, pay for tools like Logos Bible Software, click on keyboards, and scribble ink all over paper. We’re watching to see what new technology can help us in godly ways.
If you’re just joining us, the first two articles [First & Second] in this series focused on how not to use AI in your preaching. There are aspects of preaching like meditating on the text, praying, and knowing your people that no one and nothing else can do.
If you feel well-grounded in the foundations and aren’t particularly tempted by the thought of handing your job to Claude, there are some helpful ways to work AI into your preaching preparation, especially as a research assistant. And so this article, at risk of being outdated next month, considers four ways to use it to assist faithful sermon study.
When I add a new tool to my workflow, whether it’s a new book, a new device, or a new app, I tend to ask two questions. 1) What is this tool adding that I didn’t have before? And 2) What is it replacing? This helps me measure its value and guard the most important parts of my work. Along those lines, I’ve seen AI add a modest benefit to my workflow and replace a few mundane parts of my routine.
1) Questions that are Hard to Google
About an hour into my routine, I typically have a few pointed questions. When Ecclesiastes 9:10 refers to Sheol, does the author mean the literal place or just the concept of the grave? What does “the first and the last” mean in Revelation 1:17?
Using the search feature on programs like Logos or Accordance didn’t always work for these questions because resources don’t all use the same searchable terms. So I used to spend time scrolling through commentaries and other resources for answers.
AI’s ability to process concepts can speed up the research on specific questions like these. When I ask the Logos “Smart Search” feature a question like the ones above, it will point me to the commentaries and other resources in my library that address my question. I get the same answers in the same places I would have otherwise, but I get there without all the searching and scrolling. And sometimes I find one more in a place I wouldn’t have thought to look. This is the sort of use that people call “Google 2.0” because it works like a better search engine.
What is it adding? Sometimes, one more helpful answer from a trusted source. What is it replacing? Mundane time scrolling and searching. I count that a small win. But I would count it a loss if it moved my research from the reliable sources in my library to a free AI tool that accesses everything on the internet. So find a way to do it that only consults good resources.
2) Pointing Out What You Missed
After I have a good feel for my text, I typically scan a few reliable commentaries to see if they noticed anything I missed. If you manage it well, AI can help with this, too. Here are two prompts I give Perplexity AI near the end of my study phase using the Deep Research option.
What emphasis does the structure of [insert text] reveal? Please consider the sectioning of the text, development, rhetorical tools used, repeated words, and repeated concepts. How does this emphasis inform the meaning of the text?
How does the context inform the meaning of the passage? Please consider the literary context (its connection with nearby passages), the biblical context (quotes or references to other biblical texts), and the cultural/historical context (customs and situation of the original readers and writer). Please prioritize which of these impact the meaning more and less.
Consistently, the report it generates will make many statements I already agree with. But then it will point out one or two aspects I hadn’t considered. Two weeks ago, it pointed out how often Ecclesiastes 7:15–29 uses personal testimony to make its point. All the “I looked” and “I saw” felt so natural to me that I hadn’t noticed it. But considering that it was Solomon’s personal story helped me make sense of his puzzling words about a thousand women (verse 28).
Asking AI to analyze your text after you have examined it yourself can sometimes add an insight you’ve missed. If you aren’t careful, it could replace the precious time you spend in the text yourself. So be careful to use it only after you’ve done significant study on your own.
3) Finding Illustrations
I believe in the power of stories, but struggle to think of good ones to make my point. The ones offered in illustration collections never resonated with me. So stories have often been a weak point in my preaching.
The free AI tools online are helpful here because they can find illustrations that are specific to your point, far better than the generic illustrations in collection books. When I asked for historical figures who had grown stronger through adversity, it pointed out six I wasn’t interested in and one I was: Helen Keller. That got me started on ten minutes of research that turned into a fruitful illustration.
My advice here is to know the point you’re making and consider the types of illustrations you’re weakest at. Do you struggle to think of analogies, sports stories, historical examples, biblical examples? Let it give you an idea and then follow up with research from other sources.
Using AI in this way might add some good ideas to your illustration research. But it might also replace the important time you spend thinking of illustrations yourself. So again, be careful.
4) Biblical Cross-References
A preaching point will come across much more powerfully if you spend 30 seconds to a minute rattling off Scriptures from other genres that teach the same truth. The cross-references in many Bibles are helpful here, as is the New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. I’ve found that, after I’ve thought of a few myself, AI can help me find a few more. This is because of something I mentioned earlier: its ability to process concepts.
So I might run a query like this:
Ecclesiastes 9:1–12 teaches that our lives are in God’s hands. Where else does the Bible teach this? Please give 2–5 answers each from the Law, poetry, stories, the prophets, and the letters.
Consistently, it will list several Scriptures I had thought of and one or two that I hadn’t. The ones I hadn’t thought of are usually from places of the Bible where I’ve done the least memory work, which has rounded out my treatment of the Scriptures and kept me from quoting same passages over and over.
What is it adding? A few more references that I tend to quote less often than I should. What is it replacing? If anything, it may lead me to think that I don’t need to know the Scriptures myself. So the benefit comes at a risk.
As you can see, the beneficial use of AI I’ve found so far has been for research and has either sped up what I’m already doing or served as a check-and-balance. These gains are admittedly modest, but they do help some.
All this comes down to one simple idea. Let it help you do your work, but don’t let it do your work for you. To do that well, you’ll need a good understanding of what your work is. Yes, AI has the potential to unhinge a foolish preacher from what matters. But it may help a wise preacher get even closer to his roots.