New feature: Sermon Assistant
Sermon Assistant is an AI-powered tool that helps preachers overcome creative block and makes it easier to create materials to help the congregation better engage with the message. There are two parts to Sermon Assistant.
The Illustrations Generator suggests several short sermon illustrations you can use to explain doctrinal or other concepts. The illustrations aren’t intended simply to be copied and pasted into your sermon but rather to help overcome creative block by stimulating fresh ideas.
The Discussion Questions Generator takes a completed sermon and creates a series of discussion questions based on the sermon that could be used in a church bulletin or small group study. The questions could help ensure the hearers understand the sermon's message and theology, or they could help them apply the sermon to their own situations. Pastors have told us that writing appropriate questions could take them 30 minutes or longer – now, it can be done in just a few seconds!
Sermon Assistant is available to some users today via our early access to Logos Pro subscription. It will be more widely available later in the year. It's available on desktop, web, and iPad.
For more information about the Sermon Assistant, visit our support page.
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- Questions ... so far, this is the best of the three Sermon Assist AI features. If I were using the Sunday sermon as material for a small group study later in the week, this would be a tremendous help. It's amazing how well it analyzes the content of the sermon and generates good questions.
- Illustrations ... I feel these are average at best. I was hoping (1) that just as the AI search analyzes your books and gives results, this feature could utilize the "sermon illustration" books in our library to provide illustrations so that it would function more like the "Quotes" feature and provide actual illustrations from our library. If it fails to find any, then it could generate some ideas. (2) Also, it would be nice to have the option to highlight a section of the sermon or use the entire sermon as the "Questions" feature does and have it suggest illustrations without typing in a prompt.
- Application ... This is a good start, and I hope it is developed further. I noticed that currently, when you check the various applications, it's pretty much the same content other than the location "in the workplace, at home, at church, at school, etc." Again, allow it to analyze the entire sermon like the Questions section, and instead of generating questions, have it generate applications or action points.
Sermon Assistant is an AI-powered tool that helps preachers overcome creative block and makes it easier to create materials to help the congregation better engage with the message. There are two parts to Sermon Assistant.
I've been imagining how Logos was going to incorporate AI into the software. I thought the behavior would be like having a local ChatGPT, using the library and responding with that devilish naturalness (literally:). It seems to me that what they offer is very little. And is it by subscription? I did a brief test:
ChatGPT 3.5 Prompt: How does the story of Jesus cleansing the temple challenge our understanding of the nature of God and His presence?
Response from ChatGPT
The story of Jesus cleansing the temple challenges our understanding of the nature of God and His presence in several ways. This incident is recorded in the Gospels, such as in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, and John 2:13-17. Respuesta de chat gpt
1. **Holiness and Righteous Indignation:**
Jesus' actions in cleansing the temple demonstrate a righteous indignation against practices that were inconsistent with the holiness of God's house. The temple was meant to be a place of worship, prayer, and reverence for God. Jesus, by cleansing it, emphasizes the importance of maintaining the sacredness and purity associated with God's presence.
2. **Challenge to Ritualistic Practices:**
The incident challenges a purely ritualistic understanding of God's presence. Jesus critiques practices that reduced worship to mere external rituals without a genuine connection to God. His actions highlight the need for sincerity and a true heart of worship rather than just conforming to external religious customs.
3. **Accessible Relationship with God:**
By cleansing the temple, Jesus emphasizes the concept that God's presence is not confined to a physical location or a ritualistic system. Instead, He points towards a more personal and accessible relationship with God. This challenges the notion that God's presence is limited to specific sacred spaces and rituals.
4. **Prophetic Role of Jesus:**
Jesus' actions in the temple align with the prophetic tradition in the Old Testament, where prophets often challenged religious practices that had deviated from God's original intentions. In this way, Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, challenges the status quo and calls for a return to the true essence of worship.
5. **Focus on Mercy and Justice:**
Jesus' cleansing of the temple underscores the importance of mercy and justice in God's nature. The sellers and money changers were exploiting worshippers, turning a place of prayer into a marketplace. Jesus' actions emphasize the need for justice, fairness, and compassion in the worship of God.
In summary, the story of Jesus cleansing the temple challenges us to rethink our understanding of God's nature by highlighting the importance of genuine worship, the accessibility of God's presence, and the alignment of our practices with principles of justice, mercy, and holiness.
I've been imagining how Logos was going to incorporate AI into the software. I thought the behavior would be like having a local ChatGPT, using the library and responding with that devilish naturalness (literally:). It seems to me that what they offer is very little. And is it by subscription? I did a brief test:
ChatGPT 3.5 Prompt: How does the story of Jesus cleansing the temple challenge our understanding of the nature of God and His presence?
This example is probably more directly related to Smart Search as opposed to the Sermon Assistant
And, using your query there, it does return some interesting suggestions for articles to explore. And this demonstrates one of the differences I see between the approach Logos is taking and how a chatbot would function. Logos is seeking to identify articles in your resources (or in the case of the All Search, their entire catalogue whether you own the books or not) that discuss the question raised in the search string.
So it isn't trying to come up with its own answer to questions but to point to articles that discuss it
This example is probably more directly related to Smart Search as opposed to the Sermon Assistant
All I did was to take Mark's question and ask Chatgpt directly and compare the results with what Mark got in his example. It seems to me that the answer I got from Chat has more content than Mark's example. Smart Search or Sermont Assistant, I don't think the term is that important.
Many programs have supposedly integrated AI into their systems, but in reality there is no such integration. You don't get more than what you get by making promts directly to ChatGPT.
In my opinion the most useful thing would be to apply AI to Logos searches, restricted to each Lgos user's libraries (and suggested resources in their store), without having to resort to extensive and complex search constructs using braces, brackets, parentheses, *, /, @, etc.
I’m afraid I’m missing something
All I did was to take Mark's question and ask Chatgpt directly and compare the results with what Mark got in his example.
I think Mark’s screenshot is showing an AI-generated question from a sermon, not showing the results of asking the question
In my opinion the most useful thing would be to apply AI to Logos searches, restricted to each Lgos user's libraries (and suggested resources in their store), without having to resort to extensive and complex search constructs using braces, brackets, parentheses, *, /, @, etc.
And this is what Logos are trying to do in their All and Book Smart Searches
Many programs have supposedly integrated AI into their systems, but in reality there is no such integration. You don't get more than what you get by making prompts directly to ChatGPT.
Integration of AI can't the compared to prompts into a chat bot. AI is much more than the large language model of a chat bot. In the case of Logos search, AI is used to prioritize the results so that the most meaningful results appear first. It is not based on number of matches, frequency in context, etc. as in a normal search but rather is based on the "meaning of the text" as determined by AI.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
I have a workflow I'm comfortable with using Microsoft Word as my primary sermon editor, so I don't use Sermon Builder. It would be great to be able to access these features outside of the Sermon Builder. Maybe separate Sermon Assistant from Sermon Builder? Or provide access that is not fully integrated into Sermon Builder?
I agree. I was hoping I might find the same options in Notes. Then I could copy/paste what I wanted into my sermon.
The change to the way the Sermon Assistant generates questions (in Logos Bible Study 33.0 Beta 3, 33.0.346) has eliminated its usefulness to me. Before, it would generate questions based on the sermon text; now it just gives boilerplate responses to what I type in the idea box.
The change to the way the Sermon Assistant generates questions (in Logos Bible Study 33.0 Beta 3, 33.0.346) has eliminated its usefulness to me. Before, it would generate questions based on the sermon text; now it just gives boilerplate responses to what I type in the idea box.
Gregory, I hope my clarification in your other thread helps.
The AI feature is a valuable addition to Logos and serves a useful purpose. One area that could be improved is the text length limitation in the AI summary, which renders the tool less effective for topics with longer texts. Having the option for the AI to summarize only selected text instead of the entire section would greatly enhance its usability.
When prompted to generate illustrations in Spanish the results come back in English.
I'm really excited where this tool and the implementation of AI into Logos could go. I'm a youth minister. I love that "youth" is a selectable audience for discussion questions. Is there a way to generate discussion questions solely from a selected bible text (or any resource, really) outside of a sermon document? Even if it's only aggregating my own library's resources of available questions.
Is there a way to generate discussion questions solely from a selected bible text (or any resource, really) outside of a sermon document? Even if it's only aggregating my own library's resources of available questions.
Not yet. But it's something we're very keen to do.
Are there plans to allow follow up questions through a chat box to the outline assistant? This would prove to be helpful in refining it to a person's contextual needs.
I was brought to this forum when I clicked "Feedback" on the Sermon Assist feature. Here are my thoughts and questions...
Thank you for the work that's been done so far, and I look forward to future enhancements.
Chris H.
Has the questions feature been disabled? Or is there something wrong with mine? Right now it only shows the "new" outlines feature, and the applications.
I was rather enjoying the questions generated as starters towards turning them into better questions.
Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you.
On the sermon assistant it would be real good if I could highlight a certain part the text that I want assistance with and get results just from that section if that is what I need at at that time.
Just a comment on the audience and theme selections options. It would be more obvious which choices I have made were the check mark itself toggled on or off. The background colour behind the selected text is too faint to be stand out to me.
This seems to be the only extant thread in the Forums, started by a Faithlife employee, that is for feedback about the functioning of the new Logos Pro AI features ... it's nominally about Assistant. We need similar threads for each of the new AI features ... Search and Sidebar Summaries, in addition to Sermon Assistant. I posted elsewhere, under Suggestions, that we really need a new CATEGORY for "AI Features".
Anyways ... while doing some testing with Pro this morning, I decided to see if I could get either the Search or the Assistant to correctly identify the three places in Acts where Peter was present to witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on three incremental people-groups (2:38 Jews, 8:17 Samaritans, and 10:44 Gentiles ... the completed "use" of the Keys of the Kingdom, btw).
I was totally unsuccessful. I tried several variants of:"When was Peter present in Acts, to see people get baptized with the Holy Spirit?". I used other words such as the Holy Spirit "coming" or "falling", or the use of the Keys (more debated issue of course) ... but none of the hits to any of the searches, or to any of the Assistant requests for Serious Biblical Illustration to Adults, yielded any more than one or two of those instances. I have a large 14k+ library that includes many Theologies and Commentaries which potentially could have addressed this.
PLEASE let me know a specific Smart Search query, or Assistant Query, that yields clear mention of all three of those events in Acts ... and does so within, say, the first 20 "hits" in the Search, or the first 5 tries with Assistant.
If there is no such query, then please IMPROVE the AI so that it correctly identifies those three. Thanks.
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Redeeming the time (Eph.5:16+Col.4:5) ... Win 10, iOS & iPadOS 16
Jim Dean
In the Ai Sermon Assistant, on the iPad I was unable to scroll down.
Hi Rev. Sharon,
Thank you for your report and sorry for the inconvenience. As you mention, Sermon Assistant has a bug that prevents scrolling on touch-specific devices. We have a fix lined up and it should be working properly once our next stable version of the app is released (v. 34).
The latest addition of "outline" for a text that a message is being crafted is very helpful. The suggested outline Ai offers allows for a lot more research of the passage and leaves a lot of room for the Holy Spirit's leading in crafting the message. Again...knowing it's a suggested outline give a lot of options in crafting a message. Way to go!
The Discussion Questions Generator takes a completed sermon and creates a series of discussion questions based on the sermon that could be used in a church bulletin or small group study.
I don't use Sermon builder for sermons, I use it for building small group lessons. Usually my studies are on Bible books, not topical, and are verse by verse or by passage section. As part of our studies we incorporate a methodology for learning to study the bible, teaching observation, interpretation, correlation, and application skills. If there are any questions about what those categories are many How to Study the Bible books in Logos have adequate definitions.
Today I tried out the Sermon Assistant and it's question generator to see if it would be something that I could use for my small groups studies.
As suspected and by design, I found the question types to be selected, and those questions generated mostly applicational in nature, which is fine since the pastor has already prepared and exposited the observations, interpretations and correlations in his sermon.
I would like to have this same tool available where we could select for a verse or set of verses question types; observation interpretation, and correlation, as well as application types, and have AI generate questions appropriate to those types.
This would be helpful because, sometimes...many times, I need suggestions in forming questions in a way that would be more concise or understandable to the students than what I planned or had written. Thinking of a question is one thing, forming it on paper understandably is something else.
Secondly, a second set of eyes, even AI's would be helpful in possibly seeing thoughtful ideas for questions I had missed in my own study
Slightly off topic;
As far as AI in general is concerned. My personal opinion is, if it is confined within the Logos ecosystem I do not have a problem with using it for searching, for suggested books or thought jump starters, for summaries and the like, it can be helpful and I can take it or leave it's results just like what I read in some of the books in the system. So far I have found it particularly helpful in searching in Logos.
Too soon old. Too late smart.
Some feedback specific to the Verbum edition of this tool:
1. The name "sermon" should be changed to "homily" throughout the tool, and in the instructions given to the AI bot.
2. The AI bot should know that it is preparing a homily from a Catholic perspective in the Verbum edition, to be able to adjust its language and emphases. For example, in one outline it gave me it invited me: "in this sermon, consider diving deeper into the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone as a basis for our assurance of eternal life." While I could make that phrase work as a Catholic without too much difficulty, it isn't something a Catholic would say, and if the bot knew it were preparing a Catholic homily is something it would have expressed differently this idea.
Another feature I wish that this had, which would apply to anyone preparing a homily or sermon from a Lectionary... I wish there were an easier way to input the passages from the Lectionary day. For example, the readings from the Catholic lectionary for today are:
First Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1–3, 6–12
Response: Psalm 123:1b
Psalm: Psalm 123:1b–2f
Gospel Acclamation: John 11:25a–26
Gospel: Mark 12:18–27
Typing all of these into the AI Sermon Assistant is rather difficult, and in the case of the first reading, I actually needed to add it twice, as it skips some verses.
One idea that might have applications in other areas is if we could select the text with the verse references and right click and choose an option to "Copy verse references", where it would create a format we could just paste directly into the field and it would work. And a function like that could be useful in other areas as well. (it would take the same information that is used to create a Passage List, and just format it and put it in the clipboard).
Another option could be to add an option in the Lectionaries themselves to copy the verses in a format that works. Or to open up the Sermon / HOmily Assistant with the verses from this liturgy already loaded.
Yes, my thots were also running in this direction. If this were made possible it could/would also solve the previous question of BIAS, as we would filter in or out resources from the Library accordingly. Or am I also missing something?
If this were made possible it could/would also solve the previous question of BIAS, as we would filter in or out resources from the Library accordingly.
Seems to me this pushes the fallacy of confirmational bias as well as building in all the same biases you used to build your library. Appropriate for indoctrination i.e. discipline and sacramental preparation, inappropriate for study whether for personal growth or academic. Note I treat bias as a descriptive term not an evaluative one unless explicitly may so by context.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
I am a Lutheran pastor; I study for discipline and sacramenetal preparation. I am not occupying the "ivory tower," and I have determined that my personal growth takes place better in a Confessional Evangelical context than a Reformed, Roman, Radical, Anabaptist, or Enthusiast context. The congretgations whom I serve as pastor expect me to preach as a Lutheran, not as a unionist, a Crypto-Calvinist, or an enthusiast.
So I want AI, if I use it, to give me information that is consistent with my Confessional position, not information that disagrees with it, unless I am using that information to explain why we do not support such positions.
I'm leaning more towards "free grace", "provisionist" and not Calvinist, Arminian, Catholic, Campbellite, or Ruckmanite.
I asked for passages refuting any of the positions, and it refuses. But, when I ask what a passage means, if it can be misinterpreted to be calvinist, it gives me a calvinist perspective.
The AI only manages to find calvinist, determinist, decreeist answers unless it is the kind of question that compares two perspectives on a passage. Then, it might give calvinist and arminian views, but never free grace or provisionist.
" what does romans 8.28 mean "
The above question brings back a synopsis based on three calvinist authored books.
I don't think it means to be calvinist, but it's primary library seems to be calvinist.
I am also noticing that out of my 8000+ resources, I rarely find an answer in any of the books I own. I am wondering if this is a promotion tool to sell more books by Logos...
The Calvinist, "Got Questions" book, which I own, seems to be the most popular book I own that the AI references.
I am also noticing that out of my 8000+ resources, I rarely find an answer in any of the books I own. I am wondering if this is a promotion tool to sell more books by Logos...
This thread is discussing Sermon Assistant, not Smart Search, and I don't want to derail the thread. But I'll respond quickly, and perhaps you can create a new thread if you want to take the discussion further.
If you want to restrict the search to books you own, use the Books Search, rather than All Search. A lot of users haven't realized that's an option, so we'll be making that clearer in a future version.
The Calvinist, "Got Questions" book, which I own, seems to be the most popular book I own that the AI references.
Got Questions is a website that has spent years optimizing to rank highly in Google searches. As a result, it often ranks highly in Smart Search, too. This shows their team has done great work with their SEO, but it does give the book a higher prominence than some users would like. We've already applied some simple improvements, but ranking algorithms are notoriously difficult to tune. If you're desperate, you can hide the book, and then it won't show up at all.
Got Questions is a website that has spent years optimizing to rank highly in Google searches. As a result, it often ranks highly in Smart Search, too. This shows their team has done great work with their SEO, but it does give the book a higher prominence than some users would like. We've already applied some simple improvements, but ranking algorithms are notoriously difficult to tune. If you're desperate, you can hide the book, and then it won't show up at all.
I hope you can achieve a good middle ground for this resource; I like it a lot but do also understand that others may not appreciate its prominence in the search results.
Would prioritizing it make it show more of your fix starts hiding it?
Aside from whether prioritizing has any impact on the smart search, can we prioritize monographs?
In order to keep the AI from using the book "Got Answers", I would have to hide the book from the Logos Library on the Logos computers. I don't think the powers that be there will allow that. When I do an AI search, it does not consider any resources on my computer or in my account. It searches the resources at logos.com. Even if I never owned a particular resource, the AI shows the link to the resource. If it is not on my computer, it shows the price to buy it and the standard sample pages from the book that you get from the sales page.
The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"
Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"
Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.
But isn't Verbum heavily Catholic biased?
xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".
Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!
The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"
Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.
But isn't Verbum heavily Catholic biased?
Actually not. MJ will probably explain that it's more geared towards ACELO churches (Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Oriental), but unless Logos trains or prompts the AI explicitly towards use of a larger canon and different recognition of church fathers, there is no relevant difference between the two. In those cases where the AI considers the user's library, there might be differences, but those would be within Logos as well.
Have joy in the Lord! 
The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"
Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.
Maybe we can get an official comment on this, but I don't think it's this simple. A lot of the type of response that an AI gives you is based on the prompt. For example, ChatGPT or Claude are perfectly capable of giving answers that are geared towards Catholics, Lutherans, or just about any other Christian group, as long as it knows that is what the user expects.
I was of the idea (maybe incorrect) that the AI that we are using is not an in-house AI trained and run by Faithlife. That would be incredibly expensive and difficult for a company the size of Faithlife. Rather, they are sending the petitions and context to ChatGPT or some similar service, using their API.
That means they can solve these difficulties by simply adjusting the prompt. They could allow users to choose a theological tradition and simply mention that in the prompt (invisibly to the user). ChatGPT or Claude and most other large models would adjust without any difficulty.
Even if it were a locally trained model, it should still be possible. It would be a fine-tuned model based on Llama or something like that, and would include bothe the general knowledge of that model as well as the enormous library of Faithlife, which inludes enough of each tradition that it should be able to respond from the perspective of any of them, if the prompt is well done and the model is correctly fine-tuned.
I was of the idea (maybe incorrect) that the AI that we are using is not an in-house AI trained and run by Faithlife. That would be incredibly expensive and difficult for a company the size of Faithlife. Rather, they are sending the petitions and context to ChatGPT or some similar service, using their API.
That means they can solve these difficulties by simply adjusting the prompt. They could allow users to choose a theological tradition and simply mention that in the prompt (invisibly to the user). ChatGPT or Claude and most other large models would adjust without any difficulty.
This is correct. What I meant is that we, as users, cannot "train" the AI. We live with the Logos prompt results ... and ask Logos for changes.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
Mark,
I know there is a lot of craziness going on about the new subscription models and everything. So I hope you find this encouraging. I have just returned to the pulpit as senior pastor of a small church, going back to preaching 52 Sundays out of the year. So, while I have fiddled with the AI sermon assistant a bit in the past, I have only really begun using it regularly in the past couple of weeks (this coming Sunday will be my third official Sunday back behind the pulpit), and I am LOVING it. I have always struggled with coming up with strong illustrations and good practical application points. The Sermon Assistant has been such a blessing these past few weeks. I love it and look forward to using it more.
-Jonathan
Pastor, Mt. Leonard Baptist Church, SBC
I try to generate a structure with the AI to any text. unfortunately every time I get an error message. does anyone have the same Issue and resolve this Issue?
What do you mean by structure? The Sermon Assistant outlines?
Pastor, Mt. Leonard Baptist Church, SBC
I just quickly did an outline for a sermon I'm working on already (I admittedly haven't used this feature much, as I just realized it was there!) I did not have any problem generating the outline and then copying and pasting it into Word. I also was able to hit the insert button to put it into the Logos Sermon Editor.
Can you post a screenshot of the error message? Also, can you post logs so that someone smarter than I can look at them to see if there's an error through that? Here is how to get logs and post them to the forums.
Pastor, Mt. Leonard Baptist Church, SBC
You also might consider starting a new post in the desktop app forum noting a bug that you are having.
Pastor, Mt. Leonard Baptist Church, SBC
Please note: The newly announced three tiers have some AI features missing from some tiers.
the Max tier has all AI features.
the Pro tier has all in Max except auto-translation and fewer books
the Premium tier has all in Pro except SERMON ASSISTANT, and some books, and fewer AI use tokens.
So, if you are subscribed to Premium, you don’t have Sermon Assistant, and you might run out of AI tokens before the end of the month.
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Redeeming the time (Eph.5:16+Col.4:5) ... Win 10, iOS & iPadOS 16
Jim Dean
Are you also planning to integrate a kind of rewriting function that helps the author of a sermon to formulate the sentences differently and more comprehensibly? Applications such as DeepL Write or others have this.
Are you also planning to integrate a kind of rewriting function that helps the author of a sermon to formulate the sentences differently and more comprehensibly? Applications such as DeepL Write or others have this.
Welcome to the forums ... Not disagreeing with you but offering some food for thought. Given that a student has already been charged with plagiarism simply because she depended too heavily on Grammarly (see Student put on probation for using Grammarly: 'AI violation' (nypost.com)) do we really want the AI writing within Logos or do we want to make it a user conscious choice requiring they move to another tool?
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
A feature I tend to use AI for in my writing is something like a feedback assistant. Instead of asking it to be the writer, I do the writing and ask it for feedback on how to improve what I've written. I wonder if something like this might be available for the sermon editor.
A feature I tend to use AI for in my writing is something like a feedback assistant. Instead of asking it to be the writer, I do the writing and ask it for feedback on how to improve what I've written. I wonder if something like this might be available for the sermon editor.
Interesting Idea. But what should be the criteria to improve the message? Structure? Easy wording? Length of the sentences? Content?
One thing that I really miss is an IA Filter depending on my sermon which search a good illustration from my ressources. The function which is now included is to simple. The assistants deliver to much results so that I have to read to many stupid illustrations. The both included functions doesn’t realy help…
I think Logos should keep their original ideas about the AI Assistant. And I see lazy people, people I suspect are not preaching or teaching personnel at all or people who are more concerned about how much spare time they can get through using ai. Ihsve to say I don’t know much about ai but I don want it to know me too well either. we can get what we want from ai by posting different question /themes or questions/ themes differentl. it would help if one print these out. So far in my use ai hasn’t produced any erroneous answers as far as the sermon assistant is concerned; I can’t say the same for the search assistant. I asked what kind of sin Adam committed, parabasis, or hamaRita and I get some weird answers, maybe it doesn’t recognize Greek transliteration; that’s something you can work on. I would also like to put the generated question results in the handout and not in the body of the sermon. Ai has a hidden feature that is being ignored, I.e. it gives ideas for something you didn’t finish or ideas for ne sermons or Bible classes. For instance it answered my first request for one thing “ overcoming temptation,” and lo and behold the second generation was on repentanc, I guess based on the scriptures I inserted. That is another important aspect, one needs to put in much “suspected “ scriptures and save the ai generated help in maybe MS Word. Last thing ai works best in Old sermons especially the Application section. you can use the theme at the beginning of the sermon and the applications to modify your endings. Thank you Logos, keep me focusing on the learning aspect of teaching and preaching
Is there a way to have the sermon assistant access and utilize your favorite version of the Bible?
I have become adapt at using models of ChatGPT to create sermon titles, ideas, and even outlines just as the AI Sermon Assistant does. One of the things I like vs. Logos use is the ability to come back to previous generations for review and usage. Logos doesn't maintain any previous AI generations. Here's an example of why. I'm working on my laptop which has a touch screen. I use my finger to scroll through the response that was generated. Wouldn't you know it...I miss the touch area are cause what was generated to go away. I can't get it back. And as is the case with AI, when I run the generate again, it is something entirely different. I can't get back to where I was. Very frustrating.
Hello, the questions generated by the AI are always the same. I have copied in Mark 11:1-11 as the sermon text. I wanted to get theological questions. But no matter which option I choose, I always get the same questions.
Compare the meaning of repentance in today's society with the meaning of repentance according to the Bible.
How can we apply the teachings from the sermon on loving our neighbor in our daily lives?
Why do you think Jesus used parables to spread his message instead of teaching directly?
What passages from the Bible were quoted in the sermon and how do they help us to better understand the topic?
What concrete steps can we take to live up to the calls for reconciliation in the sermon?
Not a single question really addresses the text theologically. What does Mark 11:1-11 have to do with repentance or reconciliation?
Unfortunately, I cannot yet see the benefit of this function.
Hello, the questions generated by the AI are always the same. I have copied in Mark 11:1-11 as the sermon text. I wanted to get theological questions. But no matter which option I choose, I always get the same questions.
Compare the meaning of repentance in today's society with the meaning of repentance according to the Bible.
How can we apply the teachings from the sermon on loving our neighbor in our daily lives?
Why do you think Jesus used parables to spread his message instead of teaching directly?
What passages from the Bible were quoted in the sermon and how do they help us to better understand the topic?
What concrete steps can we take to live up to the calls for reconciliation in the sermon?
Not a single question really addresses the text theologically. What does Mark 11:1-11 have to do with repentance or reconciliation?
Unfortunately, I cannot yet see the benefit of this function.
The Questions function of sermon assistant is designed to create questions on sermons, not on biblical passages. Nonetheless, it looks like we have a bug in that some passage blocks are being ignored, and therefore you're only getting generic questions.
As a temporary workaround, if you edit your passage block by clicking on the pencil, you'll then be able to get some reasonable questions on the passage.
I have the Pro subscription, but in Sermon Assistant I do not have the "outline" button. I only have options for Illustrations, Questions, and Applications. Is anyone else having this issue?
I have the Pro subscription, but in Sermon Assistant I do not have the "outline" button. I only have options for Illustrations, Questions, and Applications. Is anyone else having this issue?
Can you check that your version of Logos is up-to-date?
Hi I've just been trying out the Questions feature in the Sermon Assistant. Loving, by the way, the Sermon Outline function. but where you can select 'children' for the Questions, the wording of the questions is far too complex to lift these and use for example in a quiz after a talk. Is there any way that for the 'Children' the wording of the questions can be pitched at their level?
An example of a question I got based on a sermon outline generated on 'How God saves us'
Explain the concept of justification by faith in relation to God's unfailing grace, as taught in the sermon. How does this concept help children comprehend the unconditional nature of God's love?
What would be great would be if the question were pitched at the child and in childlike language: 'What does justification by faith actually mean?' (not the best version of this, hence I'd love more help!)
I'm impressed. I'm just playing around with and learning about it. I haven't done sermons, but I'm following along MPs video. I don't know where else the Sermon Assistant tools work, but this is great for finding quotes and illustrations for papers or for my commentary.
I'm looking forward to learning more.
Shabbat Shalom
It would be super helpful to mark the question (color change, star, check, etc.)in the list when it is added to the sermon—something to denote that I have already inserted it.
Can this bew adjusted to fit your theological perspective? I am a Lutheran (LCMS). How can I avoid getting AI input that would be contrary to Lutheran teaching?
Can this bew adjusted to fit your theological perspective? I am a Lutheran (LCMS). How can I avoid getting AI input that would be contrary to Lutheran teaching?
This is not currently possible in the Sermon Assistant - and I don't know if there are any plans to provide it.
On a related topic, if you are using a Books Search for an AI-assisted Smart Search, you can restrict the search results to a particular subset of books (such as a collection) that would enable the functionality you are looking for there.
Can this be adjusted to fit your theological perspective? I am a Lutheran (LCMS). How can I avoid getting AI input that would be contrary to Lutheran teaching?
I have been surprised by the disparity between the sophistication of ChatGPT, or meta-AI, in comparison to the current Logos offerings. I understand something of the complexity involved in the task, but nonetheless, I have found that tasks, such as those undertaken by sermon assistantusually are far better handled by ChatGPT, then by the native Logos AI. I am hoping that will be dramatically improved in the not too distant future.
Usually are far better handled by ChatGPT, then by the native Logos AI. I am hoping that will be dramatically improved in the not too distant future.
Because of my curiosity about this, I posed a question to ChatGPT about it. I got a very interesting and quite detailed reply. my question was:
My question was: I am interested in examining a hypothetical integration. I own over 16,000 theological books in the Logos environment. If somehow access to all of those books was made available to the ChatGPT engine, could ChatGPT be directed to answer all of its queries from a given person only using the sources from those books? … here is the reply …
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Redeeming the time (Eph.5:16+Col.4:5) ... Win 10, iOS & iPadOS 16
Jim Dean
I have been surprised by the disparity between the sophistication of ChatGPT, or meta-AI, in comparison to the current Logos offerings. I understand something of the complexity involved in the task, but nonetheless, I have found that tasks, such as those undertaken by sermon assistantusually are far better handled by ChatGPT, then by the native Logos AI. I am hoping that will be dramatically improved in the not too distant future.
Usually are far better handled by ChatGPT, then by the native Logos AI. I am hoping that will be dramatically improved in the not too distant future.
Because of my curiosity about this, I posed a question to ChatGPT about it. I got a very interesting and quite detailed reply. my question was:
My question was: I am interested in examining a hypothetical integration. I own over 16,000 theological books in the Logos environment. If somehow access to all of those books was made available to the ChatGPT engine, could ChatGPT be directed to answer all of its queries from a given person only using the sources from those books? … here is the reply … (the original formatting still seems to be there, if I try to edit this text, but I’m not sure it will show up cleanly to other readers. If so, the editor feature of this forum needs to be improved.)
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Redeeming the time (Eph.5:16+Col.4:5) ... Win 10, iOS & iPadOS 16
Jim Dean
Sorry, but I am firmly on the go slow approach to the use of AI despite my heavy use of it in my TIP of the Day series. I will continue in this position until the workers in companies producing AI products and the researchers providing the framework for AI products have a similar view of what has been achieved.
I have been surprised by the disparity between the sophistication of ChatGPT, or meta-AI, in comparison to the current Logos offerings.
That is because they have very different goals. So far, and I hope into the distant future, Logos is taking a conservative approach to the use of AI. This limits the hallucinations - I use Perplexity because it has a much lower rate of hallucinations than ChatGPT - and minimizes doctrinal bias. Essentially, neural networks lack judgement when it comes to alternative understandings. Furthermore, the information science behind the chatbots knows that they degrade/self-implode when too much of their own work is fed back through as training materials The Disinformation Dilemma: The Inevitable Degradation of AI Chatbot Data | by The Brykman Predicament | Geek Culture | Medium. From my personal perspective, the primary purpose of Bible study is to change me through an intimate conversation with God -- what I often refer to as reading a love letter. AI is currently far from the wise mentor needed to enhance that.
I asked Perplexity:"Do LLMs and chatbot technology have the capability to train on 100,000 theology books then provide the logical inconsistencies of particular positions on topics and identify the presuppositions inherent in those positions?"
To which it replies: [quote]
Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots have significant capabilities when it comes to analyzing large volumes of text and identifying patterns, but there are some important considerations regarding their ability to deeply analyze theological positions:
Capabilities:
1. LLMs can be trained on vast amounts of theological literature, potentially including 100,000+ books.
2. They can identify common themes, arguments, and terminology across different theological positions.
3. They can compare and contrast different viewpoints on theological topics.
4. They can potentially identify logical inconsistencies within individual arguments or between related positions.
5. LLMs may be able to surface some of the underlying assumptions or presuppositions behind theological stances.
Limitations:
1. LLMs do not truly "understand" theology in a human sense - their analysis is based on statistical patterns in text.
2. They may struggle with nuanced interpretations and the full context behind complex theological positions.
3. Identifying logical inconsistencies in abstract theological arguments requires sophisticated reasoning that current LLMs may not fully achieve.
4. Surfacing implicit presuppositions, especially those deeply embedded in a theological worldview, is challenging even for human experts.
5. LLMs can be biased based on their training data and may not fairly represent all theological perspectives.
6. They lack the ability to engage in original theological reasoning or critique beyond what is present in their training data.
While LLMs are powerful tools for analyzing large bodies of theological literature, their ability to deeply critique theological positions or uncover hidden presuppositions is likely still limited compared to expert human theologians. They are best used as assistive tools to aid human analysis rather than as standalone arbiters of theological consistency or validity.
Citations:
[1] https://thethink.institute/articles/presuppositions
[2] https://globalpastorinstitute.com/presuppositions-in-theology-by-paul-wright-ph-d/?v=36b03dc28b10
[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/theology/comments/1b8hp44/anyone_know_how_to_articulate_the_difference_of/
[4] https://answersingenesis.org/presuppositions/presuppositions/
[5] https://cbtseminary.org/5-presuppositions-of-apologetics-dewey-dovel/
[6] https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/557/Name.htm
[7] https://christoetdoctrinae.com/articles/av2c9sy5houybcx04mdz1vzs8nbqyc
[8] https://www.breakerministries.com/blog/2019/5/10/the-prophetic-potential-hidden-in-a-name
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
I think I'll stick with Claude 2 by Anthropic... for now anyway. I predict by the end of the year there will be many more "A.I." programs... It seems inevitable to me with everyone and their brothers all getting into A.I.
As far as use with a bible program like Logos... I appreciate Logos going slow and being conservative about the whole matter... personally.
xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".
Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!
[Perplexity] They (AI) are best used as assistive tools to aid human analysis rather than as standalone arbiters of theological consistency or validity.
If we recognise the limitations of AI it then becomes a great tool. If we don't, then we will make many mistakes and blame AI for all of them.
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Brilliant reply, which also sums up where/to what extent we use AI & where we rely on individual contemplation, prayer & human debate/exchange.
Honestly, I find the alliteration of the generated Sermon Outline titles highly annoying. Too often they are a distraction from the message rather than adding real value.
Hi Lee - and welcome to the forums
Honestly, I find the alliteration of the generated Sermon Outline titles highly annoying
I hadn't remembered that the outlines generated were alliterated - so just ran a test generating an outline for John 1:1-14. This gave me these headings:
I'd be interested to know what you are doing to get the alliterated titles. Could you describe the steps you are taking and post some screenshots showing the results (please use the paperclip icon in the forum editor)?
Graham
I'd be interested to know what you are doing to get the alliterated titles.
Alliterated headings will often, but not always show up. For example, for John 1:1-14, I got:
1. Proclaiming the Eternal Word
2. Participating in the Light
3. Pondering Our Acceptance
4. Presence of God Among Us
It seems like a useful AI tool would be for Logos to summarize the text of my sermon. That would let me see if the points I want to make are clear enough (at least for a robot to pick them out.)
I have a use case, but i'm unsure if it is in the scope of what this Ai is seeking to accomplish. OR potentially i am doing it incorrectly. Below is my input, but i got an error message. I work with muslims abroad, and have the privledge of being able to faciliate very open conversation groups and studies about all areas of faith. From Sacrifice to Prayer. I would love for this system to be able to aid me in producing pertinent questions and applications for these groups and our classes. Is this possible, or would i need to structure it like a sermon to recieve a helpful output?
I would love for this system to be able to aid me in producing pertinent questions and applications for these groups and our classes. Is this possible, or would i need to structure it like a sermon to recieve a helpful output?
I have been copying chapters of books and pasting them into Sermon Builder which has a feature that looks at sermons and generate questions based on the text. So I pasted your text in there just now and it generated the following question. So if you created a more comprehensive block of text you could certainly get what might be useful questions generated that.
How does the speaker intend to facilitate discussions about worth and value during the love feast?
What theological beliefs underpin the idea of human worth and identity as discussed in this sermon?
In what practical ways can we demonstrate love and value to others in our daily lives?
How can understanding our innate worth from God influence our interactions with others, particularly in an interfaith context?
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That’s very helpful thank you. This seems like it will be a huge blessing. I really appreciate it!
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I finally used this feature today, and I'm amazed at the results.
I wrote my sermon with the general structure that I normally used and then turned to the Sermon AI feature to see what questions it would develop.
At first I used it to generate questions that were Life Application questions for Adults and Teens. I then went through the questions and selected a few of them to be the "Heading" slides that will be displayed as I preach different parts of my sermon. I was also able to revise one of the questions to become my Sermon Title (I have struggled for decades in creating sermon titles.)
Then I used it to generate questions that were Life Application questions for Children. I then selected one question to ask the children who would be part of our Children's Message time. After I added a bit of context before the question, my Children's Message was completed very quickly (I've struggled also in trying to figure out appriate tie-ins between my sermon and the children's message, so this is a great help.)
The fact that this was done based on my already written sermon is so helpful. The questions pick up my themes very well, and I don't feel like I'm presenting someone else's work, or trying to fit my thoughts and someone else's together.
Whoever guided the development of this feature has done a great job.
Thanks!
I finally used this feature today, and I'm amazed at the results.
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I would like to be able to give the sermon assistant more direction in what I'm looking for. I've tried putting in very detailed language and specific directions but it seems to only be intent on the theme. As a result, I have to generate multiple outlines (sometimes up to 6) before I get one that has what I am really looking for in an outline. As I understand it, each outline generation is one AI credit so I've wasted 5 credits to get the one I wanted had it followed my directions. I used to have an AP like that.
I love the sermon assistant !! It really helps me think outside of the box and it expands my view even wider and deeper of the passage I am studying!! thank you for adding this and changing to a subscription setup. I am able to expand my use of logos, and I am learning new ways to expand my use of logos and the AI has helped with all of this!!
I downloaded the New Era Logos yesterday, and my Sermon Builder hasn't the AI Sermon Assistant. How can I get it please
I downloaded the New Era Logos yesterday, and my Sermon Builder hasn't the AI Sermon Assistant. How can I get it please
I think you have to subscribe to Logos Pro for that to become part of your system Christie.
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
Thank you Mike. You are right, I have Logos Premium without Sermon Assistant 🥹
I like the Sermon Assistant and I admit I like some of the questions generated better than the ones I find for the small group studies. I'd like to be able to generate a sheet of those questions WITHOUT having to include questions in my sermon. For instance, this week I'm preaching on God's response to Job in chapters 38-41. Obviously I can't cover all 4 chapters in my sermon, but would like to give my congregation questions to consider while at home.
Do I need to copy those questions from the sermon to a "Bible Study" page, or can I create a separate sheet that would accompany the sermon?
The personal AI generated illustrations rubs me the wrong way. I know they're AI generated and the disclaimer is given to verify them. They're not genuine or personal and it's between the preacher and the Lord should one use one of the illustrations to lie to the congregation. If possible, I think greater consideration should at least be given to the phrasing of the disclaimer, possibly even the POV from which they're written/generated. I think I'll stick with the hypothetical or historical illustrations for now.
Super helpful feature! Thanks for the roll out.
By way of improvement. I find, putting sermon series outlines together to be some of the most time consuming work in my responsiblities. It would be asweome to have a feature to put a 4 week series together on a topic and/or a book series together to exegecitcally preach through a book of the bible.
I've used Chat GPT to help with some of this. Recently I used it as a very starting place to build a 12 week series on the life of Paul, but again, GPT is trained on the logos library. AI will never take the place of study, prayer or Biblical education, but if I'm doing that stuff already it can help speed up a few of the processes. Thanks for the tools you're building to help us more efficiently and effectively preach the word. May God water it and produce fruit through it!
hi there,
so far the AI functions are good, not epic yet but good. I don't personally want it to take over my studying and reliance on the Sprit so that's a good thing I suppose. would be amazing t get it to summarize bible story's as reference material. For instance summarizing the pass-over story (ie. Exodus 1-12).
Nice.
go well
Are there any plans to implement things like "improve," "shorten," "convert to bullet points," or things along the lines of what PulpitAI does? I know there are other external AI tools for this, but having them self-contained within Logos would be nice. Chris
Is there any thought to the future versions taking into account the "tradition" of the account to shape the illustrations more along the lines we would create for ourselves? I am not using the tool for sermons as much as building notes for a class over selected text and have enjoyed the idea of it, but thus far the AI generated illustrations are super short and slanted a bit away from my preferred reformed tradition. I think a local LLM approach that truly was limited to the books in our collection option might be wonderful in addition to the existing larger often times from the store references I am getting.
I think this tool got quite some potential, but it is really lacking more comprehensive configuration. Like providing information that shall be considered: Context of church, culture information, focus on exegetical accuracy and hermeneuticts, thematic focus and so on.
Would be great to textually add extra context to requests.
I am exploring this feature and see great potential for it! I am currently using the prompt, "What does Ignatius of Antioch say is required for the church to exist?" I love the results. However, it would be great if they also included a way to read some of the points of the results in the texts from which they are being pulled.
Question on the future development of AI tools in Logos with respect to the sermon editor. I have seen some other tools on the internet that will create an AI chatbot based on your specific sermon. You can ask it questions to help refine your sermon. For example, you can use prompts like: "Does this sermon effectively point people to Jesus and their need for Him to be their Savior?" or "Give me advice for better transitions between my main points."
I think there is a TON of potential here. You could have a small library of categorized prompts to help preachers refine their sermons. You could even have different prompts based on material from great preaching books like "Christ-Centered Preaching" by Bryan Chapell.
One other AI tool I've seen is the ability to generate a complete small-group study guide based on a particular sermon. Again, you could have different prompts available based on the type of study you prefer (OIA, etc.). Many services will also generate a five-day devotional based on the content of your sermon.
I put in a LOT of work each week preparing sermons. Tools like these would greatly help my congregation interact with and apply the Sunday sermon throughout the rest of the week.
Have there been any discussions about incorporating tools like these directly into Logos?
Yes, please!
I subscribed earlier today and have started using the sermon assistant. So far the illustrations it provides is too brief to catch people's attention. ALso, when I click, "More Results," the new results are blank.
did you read this carefully- The Illustrations Generator suggests several short sermon illustrations you can use to explain doctrinal or other concepts. The illustrations aren’t intended simply to be copied and pasted into your sermon but rather to help overcome creative block by stimulating fresh ideas.
I share that view. The AI-created (?) illustrations have only a few sentences and are therefore not to be used for a sermon. It lacks depth.
I tried the questions generated by the AI twice in a row for the same sermon - and got an error message.
Unfortunately, something went wrong. Please try again later.
The third attempt yields a result, but I am not satisfied: often the questions are closed questions and therefore does not help for discussion, e.g.
Do you find it difficult to humbly accept the sovereignty of God?
Do you find it difficult to share the burden of your life with Jesus and obey him in everything?
On mobile, one needs to be able to scroll. Currently this seems to be missing.
The questions generated by Gemini are looking really good. I asked it to give me discussion questions on a Piper sermon and got the following.
Discussion Questions for "A Final Prayer" by John Piper
Focus on the Sermon's Structure:
Content and Theology:
Reflection and Application:
Additional Discussion Prompts:
I kind of like it so, it would stop us from having AI do our sermon on its own. When it comes to idea I find it benefiting to ask questions in different ways or forming the "ideas" differently. it would also benefitting to field different ides and questions