Vision 2021 – Fresh Start
Humans are meaning making machines
Humans needs meaning that will outlive us
Without transcendent meaning the secularism creates multiple meanings in the immediate – Charles Taylor
After chasing multiple temporary meanings our souls end up angry and empty
Matt. 25:14-15 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability.
Matt. 25:16-18 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Matt. 25:21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Matt 25:24-28 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.”
God has given everyone of us eternal meaning
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot)
Matt. 13:22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Normal things steal eternal things
Satan’s strategy is to make us unfruitful by distraction
Idolatry: trusting in people, possessions or positions to do for me what only God can do
Make God the Thing
Squander God’s money on eternity
1 Chronicles 29:14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
Squander God’s time on eternity
1 Cor. 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Throw yourself into prayer
1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Make God the Thing
