Philip Anthony Mitchell - Meaning in the Journey (01/25/2026)
Introduction to the Series on Meaning
You know, if you’re here for the first time or you’re watching me on podcast, we—we are, yeah, in a series about meaning. We are talking about how to find purpose in one’s life. And the truth is that all of us, every single person in this room, whether we admit it or not, through our pursuits—people who are pursuing things, pursuing sexual exploits, pursuing money, whatever the case may be—there is an innate desire in the heart of every human being to find meaning, to find a sense of worth, a sense of purpose.
We are so desperately pursuing the search for meaning. It is a global search, a global phenomenon. All human beings, all races, all faiths…
Solomon’s Quest for Meaning
I shared with you about a man named Solomon, an ancient king of Israel, who set out on a quest to find meaning. He padded his life with everything that a human being could ever want. By today’s standards, the wealthiest man that ever lived: 700 wives, 300 concubines—he had a thousand-plus women in his harem. He built mansions, palaces, had slaves, hired servants.
He spent his entire life in search of meaning and purpose. He came down to the end of his life and found he was empty—that sex could not satisfy the longing that was in his soul, that his palaces could not satisfy the longings that were in his soul, and that his money and his resources could not satisfy the longing that was in his soul.
Ecclesiastes and the Vanity of Life
He comes down to the end of his life in a place of misery and tragedy, writes a memoir called Ecclesiastes, and in it makes a case that everything is meaningless—and everything that you can touch is meaningless: houses, cars, fame and status, having a hundred million followers on IG—you fill in the blank.
He came down and said all of it was meaningless, a chasing after the wind—something you feel for a moment and then it exits your life. He spent his whole life in search of something, to come down to the end of his life as an old man to realize, «I was foolish. I missed it.»
Meaning Apart from the Creator
He will go on to argue that we who are creations cannot find meaning apart from the Creator. The atheist will argue differently, and other faiths will argue differently. Those of us of Christianity have bought into the truth of God’s Word—that we know that meaning is found inside the context of a relationship with God Almighty.
And last week I challenged you with a thought that was revolutionary from the life of Jesus. I showed you how He valued meaning, and I told you that there were four big ideas—four big things that God has taught me—that when we lean into these things, when we give our attention to them, that our everyday lives would begin to explode with meaning.
Meaning Not in Tangible Things
And I made an argument for you last week that you’re not gonna find meaning in anything that you can touch and that you’re not gonna find meaning in anything that you can amass. Because if meaning can only be felt in accumulation, then what about the poor man? And if meaning could be felt in entertainment, then eventually we will be betrayed.
But I did make an argument that there are four big ideas in which bring meaning and purpose to the life of the human being. And I challenged you last week to find meaning in your moments—that every day your life is filled with moments from sunup to sundown. God gives you moments.
Finding Meaning in Moments
And that when we are foolish and that when we are unwise, when we are so busy that we run past these moments without leaning into those opportunities to squeeze more meaning out of our moments—moments to connect with God Almighty, moments to touch the lives of others, moments to be touched—and humankind is fresh in the mundane. We are so busy that we don’t slow down long enough to find meaning in our moments.
It’s playing with my child instead of pushing him away and keep telling him that I’m busy. It’s how our children’s pastor Jeff was upstairs with your children right now—shedding tears in our staff meeting this week, saying he was thinking about the sermon when his boy was jumping on the bed. And instead of pushing him off the bed to fold clothes, tears welled up in his eyes and he jumped on the bed with his son. And he said, «I’ve never jumped on the bed before, but I thought about the significance of this moment. I just jumped on the bed with his son.»
Everyday Examples of Moments
It’s the moment one of our creatives named Jordan, who’s in the back on the camera, says he was working on a project at his computer. He said in a meeting, and his son comes near him and he would normally push him away, say, «Stay away from me, I’m working right now.» And was thinking about that moment and instead leaned in and invited his son to see what he was doing: «Climb up on my lap. Stare at this computer. See what I’m doing.»
It’s a single mother who feels like she has no purpose because she’s not on a stage—while she’s washing dishes, her babies are running around, and she takes time to just stare at her babies and maybe come away from the sink and just lean in for a moment to play with her babies. As reading a book to a child at night. Stopping at the light on the way home from work, turning off the radio, just connecting with God in these valuable little moments. And when we keep leaning into them, they add value and purpose.
Story of the Young Woman with Cancer
I read a story of a woman. She was 24 years of age, married, and was planning her whole life—vacations, how many children they would have with her husband. She had plans. She was having headaches on a consistent basis—headaches, migraines that would not stop. They were unrelenting. And she went to a doctor for headaches. Finally, they took an MRI of her brain and saw she had a massive tumor in her brain—cancerous. The report: you will die in X amount of time.
And all she fought, but medication could not help her. There would be no turning back. I know she had come to grips with the fact that her days were numbered and she had X amount of months to live. And say, «Maybe I’ll check myself into a hospice and die in a room by myself.» But she was drowning in misery and thought about this: «Man, I have X amount of days to live, but I’m not going out like that.»
And she said, «You know what?» She decided to do: she said, «I’m gonna take the days that I have left and I’m gonna get everything out of the days that I have left.» She said, «I’m gonna love my husband like I’ve never loved him before. I’m gonna spend time with people I love like I never had before. I’m gonna try to travel and see things I never have before.»
And as soon as she knew that her days were numbered, something came alive on the inside of her. But she realized that because my days are numbered, I don’t have much time to waste. What a wisdom! She wasn’t a Christian, but she was in a jam that gave her wisdom to count the number of her days.
Moses and Eternity
There was a man named Moses, and Moses was staring out over the people and thinking about the eternal God that he served. And Moses was kind of praying in his heart about eternity and about the frailty of human beings—how frail we are and how finite, and yet there is this infinite Being that is far greater than us, and how eternity wraps itself around our present reality, and how so many of us don’t know that and we don’t think about it.
And Moses, staring out over a nation of some 2 million people, is thinking about this, and his heart is broken. And he sits down and he writes a prayer, and it has been preserved for us in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms—Psalm 90.
Prayer
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Moses writes this in Psalm 90, and in verse 12 of Psalm 90, Moses said this in the psalm. He said this—he said this in the psalm—he said, «Teach us to number our days.» He’s praying this over about 2 million people. He says, «Lord, ” he says in his prayer—go read the whole Psalm 90—he’s praying, „Lord God, please hear my cry. God, I’m staring out at 2 million people that don’t get it.“
And he cries out and prays, „Lord, teach us—teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.“ Wisdom: the knowledge of knowing what is right from wrong and the ability to apply that knowledge. And he’s praying that our hearts grow with increasing wisdom as we learn to number our days.
He’s crying out to God, „Help them to see that they’re not gonna live forever.“ He’s crying out for the young and for the old, for the teenager and for the senior citizen: „God, help them, please, Lord, to see that they’re not gonna live forever.“
In other words, God, help them to see that, that they may have wisdom—wisdom to use each day more wisely, wisdom to not take each day for granted, wisdom to be thankful for every morning you open your eyes, wisdom for your first breath, wisdom for your feet touching the floor, wisdom to know that you laid your head in bed tonight and God gave you another day, with the hope that you will see tomorrow—'cause you have plans, but God has plans.
David’s Prayer for Wisdom
Another man of God who was so wise and crying out to God—his name was David, the king of ancient Israel—and he too was crying out for wisdom. In this verse he says this—in Psalm 39, David says he’s sitting someplace and he’s thinking about God. He’s in a moment alone, in a moment of prayer.
David cries, „Lord, show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.“ We don’t pray prayers like that. „God, give me the house”—that’s all my prayers. „Give me the car, give me the man, give me the woman, give me the increase, give me the money.“ We keep praying for all these tangible things that betray us, and there’s nothing wrong with them, but when do we pray for the intangible things that bring the heart wisdom?
„Lord, show me my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.“ Lord, show me how fleeting is my next breath. Show me, God, that I’m only—every single point, even right now as I’m talking to you—only one breath away from eternity. One day away, one week away.
You got plans for your summer vacation, and you may not see them. You got plans for your career, and you may not finish them. That at any given moment you could be driving in a car on the way home today and be hurled into eternity.
That every single person—myself included, Philip Anthony Mitchell, God’s man—every one of us only one breath away from eternity all the time, all the time, all the time.
So David is praying, „Lord, that I may capitalize on every day that you give me, that I may not take for granted every sunrise and every sunset. Lord, give me wisdom to realize that life is short.“
Yeah, I’m 24 and my face is tight and my booty is right and I’m gonna go after everything I want until it all falls down to a different place. You may not have those decades. „So, Lord, that I may have wisdom even from a young age that I would not waste my weeks, my months, my years, my decades—so that we’re not old and wasted our life. Teach me, Lord, how fleeting my life is, how weak I am. Teach me, Lord, to number my days.“
Job on Determined Days
Job—a man who was wealthy, a man of God who in one day lost almost everything: he lost his children, he lost his businesses, he lost servants, he lost his employees—all of it in one day. And fell down in grief and cried out to God, slipped into a depression for about nine months, theologians believe, arguing with friends about life and meaning.
He says this—Job said, „This man’s days are determined. You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.“
„I don’t really understand that.“ Okay, let me give it to you in another translation: „You have decided the length of our lives. You, God, know how many months we will live, and we are not given one minute longer.“
Right now in this room, watching me on podcast—God knows the exact minute He will take your last breath from you, and you cannot live not one minute past what God has ordained—not one.
Eternity in the Human Heart
And so if eternity is real and if God has already numbered my days—if eternity is real, Kenny, if there is a world beyond this one, if the Scriptures are true, and if eternity is real and my days are numbered—if that’s true (and it is true)—if what Solomon said is true in Ecclesiastes 3:11, that God has put eternity in the hearts of every human being.
If God has put eternity in your heart and God has put eternity in my heart, then that means there is nothing in this life that will ever fully satisfy the deepest longings of the human soul. That means we can’t find meaning in anything tangible.
And so if God put eternity in your heart, that means you are headed for eternity. God would not put eternity in your heart if we were not headed for eternity. So if God put eternity in the heart of every man, that means we’re headed toward eternity.
And if your days are numbered—Lord, help me—if your days are numbered and if you’re headed toward eternity, then this can’t be your home.
We Are Sojourners
What else brings meaning to life? I want to put a statement up on the screen for you: The realization of numbered days and the reality of eternity should bring awareness that you are a sojourner.
The reality that your days are numbered and the truth that eternity is real—if the Scriptures are true—this should awaken men and women to realize that this is not your home. You are only a sojourner—a person that travels through a place for a temporary period of time, but that place you travel to is not your home.
That means if God is true and if the Word of God is true, that every single one of us is a sojourner. You are just passing through earth for a fixed period of time.
You know what brings meaning to life? Recognizing that this is not my home and that my time here is fixed and it is limited—that I was not born to be here forever. So there must be something that God put me here for—that I have to learn to find meaning in eternity.
Because as I am a sojourner, then I can’t build permanent monuments in a temporary place. I would be foolish to take my emotions and wrap them around a temporary place. I would be unwise to take my heart and invest all of my heart into a temporary place.
I would be an idiot to take everything in my house and try to make a permanent place in a hotel downtown Atlanta. Nobody goes to a hotel and brings everything from their house. Why? Because you intend to leave the hotel. So you only do what is necessary while you’re there, because you know checkout is coming.
And my brothers and sisters, this is what I’m about to tell you—it’s not sexy, and nobody’s gonna get excited. You know why? Because we’re Americans, and this grieves my heart about us, brothers and sisters—that we Americans build lives so firm down here on the earth that we don’t even miss Jesus. We don’t even long for Him.
Longing for Jesus
We don’t long for Him. We’re not desperate to see Jesus. You know, we’re so comfortable right now with permanent mindsets on a temporary place that we’re not even longing to see Jesus. We’re not longing for eternity. We’re not longing for our rewards. We’re not longing for glory.
You know why we’re not longing for that stuff? Because in our hearts we’ve built permanent things in a temporary place. My home—so attached to it that I don’t want to see Jesus. My career—so attached to it that I don’t want to see Jesus. My cars—so attached to it that I don’t want to see Jesus. My wife—so attached to her that I don’t even want to see Jesus.
Then the New Testament teaches us that we should be longing for the Lord, longing to see His face, longing to be with Him. But we don’t have that longing. You know why we don’t have that longing, my brothers and sisters? Because our hearts have created permanent dwellings in a temporary place.
You know you have, and I have. When I was 25, I wasn’t longing for Jesus—I just wanted my ministry, I just wanted a stage, and I just wanted glory.
I’m in my late 30s now. I mean, when I kneel down to pray, I am not praying to be some big whatever. When I be at home at night in my office in my basement, I stretch out on the floor, I stretch my hands—I’m not gonna just imagine like the woman with the issue of blood—I can imagine me holding on to His ankle and don’t even feel worthy to look up at His face and just say, „Lord, I love You, Jesus. You saved me out of darkness when I was a wretched man, when I was dealing drugs and destroying lives, when I was in and out of prison, when I was driving home from clubs drunk, when I was in shootouts and bullets grazed my ear—when I think about every time I could have died, but God, You came and You rescued me. You gave my life purpose, You gave my life meaning, You gave my life direction.“
And the Lord, the longer I live on this life, the longer I spend time on the earth, the more I just want to leave it, the more I just want to see Him.
Then my heart is betwixt—that a part of me is so desperately wanting to see the Savior, so desperately wants to stumble into the loving arms of the Man who rescued me for eternity. I so desperately want to see His face. I so desperately want to take the crown off my head and lay it at His feet: „God, these are my rewards for my labor in this life, but they belong to You.“
And half of me wants to go to be with Him, but on the other half of me thinks, „Man, I have family members who are not saved. I have friends who are not saved. If they died today, they would be eternally separated from God for eternity.“ So I must remain to preach this glorious gospel. I must continue to fight for the spread of this glorious gospel. I must continue to give up my income for the spread of this glorious gospel. I must continue to kneel down and pray for them while they’re still breathing, while there’s still the air of grace, while there’s still a little bit of time left.
Paul’s Perspective in Philippians
Paul talked about this in Philippians chapter 1. I don’t know if I have time to read it—it’s not in my notes. Can I just read to you something? It’s not in my notes, but it’s in my spirit.
„So desperately want to see Jesus—not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining toward what is ahead of me.“
Come hell, come attacks from the devil, come crucifixion, come they like me or they don’t like me, they trash me or they love me—I will press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
And I understand my days are numbered, so I’m fixed on something above this temporary life that brings my days more meaning.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things—how? See life as numbered, see life as temporary, see yourself as headed toward a Savior.
And if at some point you think differently, God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say it again with tears in my eyes, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.
Living with Eternity as Soundtrack
You know what gives life meaning—and I’m almost done—what gives life more meaning is not only leaning into your moments (why are you here? How about to God maybe 300 of you get this revelation)—do you know what else gives life meaning? It’s living with eternity as a soundtrack playing in the background of your life: eternity, eternity, judgment, rewards, judgment, rewards, judgment, rewards, judgment, rewards—temporary, temporary, temporary, temporary.
That this life is a dress rehearsal for what is coming next. That this life is temporary compared to what’s coming next. And if we live with that in the background of our lives as a never-ending soundtrack, man, your days will start having more purpose and more meaning.
Either one, because you’ll start saying, „I will not waste today. I will squeeze every ounce of meaning today. And I will love my husband and wife as best as I can today. I will stop at the gas station and talk to somebody today. I will give all I have for the spread of the gospel today. I will make sure that if I pillow my head tonight and don’t get up tomorrow, I have left some legacy worth following.“
If you die tomorrow—because God knows your days are fixed—what legacy would you have left? What lives would you have impacted? What difference would you have made? Where would you have changed?
You are a sojourner passing through this life on your way to glory.
Three Things for a Meaningful Journey
And I just want to give you three things really quick that make your journey more meaningful—because you can fight me, but you are on a journey, a journey toward eternity.
Now I’ma tell you three things that give more meaning to your journey. Okay, and I’ll be done. Can I share these with you? I’m almost finished.
You are on a journey toward eternity. You’re just passing through earth toward eternity. So God didn’t allow you to be alive for you to just live aimlessly. He wants you to squeeze meaning out of your journey.
How does our journey look more meaningful?
One: You’re on a journey of process. You’re on a journey of becoming. You’re on a journey of being transformed. God fully intends that the day you die—if He’s given you time—you will look more like the image of the Son than when He found you.
That He may have rescued you at 24—I’m gonna call you home at 46. And my intention in your journey through trials and tribulations and circumstances and situations that put pressure on your life to change your character—losses, gains, mountaintops and valleys—you’re gonna find meaning with your days if you realize that you’re on a journey, a process: that I saved you at 24, your days are gonna end at 46, and when your days end, you’re gonna look more like Jesus than when I found you.
And everything I’m doing in you—from the frustration you went through last year to the pain you’re feeling even right now today—it’s all Me putting you through a process, pressing on you and shaping you and keeping you on My wheel as the Potter, molding you into a piece of clay. Then eventually I stick it in a fire and pull it out, and I see My reflection in it like pure gold.
And so there’s some of you—you think, „Man, ten years, twenty years, thirty years—I don’t have what I’ve been praying for.“ You think your life has been wasted. No, my brother and sister, your life has not been wasted.
But if you can look back over your shoulder and say, „You know what? I’m more mature today than I was 10 years ago”—then you have had meaning in your journey.
If you look back over some, „Man, huh, and I’m more wise today than I was five years ago”—then you’ve had meaning in your journey. Although you may not have put your hands on everything you desire.
This is for somebody—and although you may not have the job you want, you may not have the career you want, you may not have the income—but if you are wiser today and look more like Christ today than you did when He first found you, your journey has already had meaning because you have been walking through a journey of becoming like Jesus.
I told you all these four things I’m gonna give you in a series—we see them in the life of Jesus, so you know I’m not a heretic. Jesus—what came into the world through the womb of a woman. And Luke wrote something very powerful about Him: from the time He was a little boy till the time He was a man. And Luke 2:52 it says, „And Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men.“
So even Jesus was on a journey of process. How powerful is that? Jesus grew. He did not stay the same. So when you saw Him at 12, He was a different Man than when you saw Him at 30—because He was growing. He found meaning in personal development in four areas.
He grew in wisdom—that is growing in intellect, ability to discern right from wrong. If you’re still making the same stupid mistakes you made five years ago, you’re not growing—so you’re robbing yourself of meaning. I should not be making the same mistakes now that I was making 10 years ago. How are you 44 making the same mistakes you were making when you were 24?
So Jesus grew in intellect. And it says He grew in stature—that’s His physical body. He took care of His temple. He knew how to fast, He knew what to eat and what not to eat. He didn’t kill Himself with red meat. He took care of His body. Why? Because „I’m gonna do the Lord’s work—I need a body to do it.“
He grew in favor with men—that is, He valued His relationships. He grew socially in how He interacted with people, caring about relationships, loving other people—so He grew in favor with people.
He grew in favor with God—how He grew spiritually. We see Him slipping away in prayer, opening up the scrolls.
He grew intellectually, He grew physically, He grew with men, He grew with God.
So you’re on a journey of process—a journey of becoming, of growing and development.
Journey of Pouring
You’re also on a journey of pouring. This is what gives your life more meaning.
Your life will have more meaning when you recognize you’re on a journey and that every day God is trying to conform you. When you recognize you look back over your years you’ve been growing in a process.
But your life will have more meaning when you realize you’re on a journey of pouring.
The person who will have a meaningless life is the person who has a selfish life. The person who will have a meaningful life, a purposeful life, is a person who lives to add value to the lives of other people.
A servant will have a meaningful life. A servant will have a purposeful life. A person who lives to give and a person who lives to add value to the lives of other people will always feel purpose in every day.
You’ll take one day and have a conversation with a homeless man at the gas station, and you will walk away from that feeling purpose and meaning.
When I live with eyes to serve others and when I live with a heart to add value to others—when I think, „I’m gonna do all I can to make Lina’s life better. I’m gonna do all I can to make Malachi, Israel, Josiah, and Izzy’s life better. I’m gonna do all I can to help the leaders around me.“ When I wake up in the morning thinking, „Who can I help today?”—and when you live that way, your life explodes with meaning and purpose.
When you don’t drive by the homeless and have a conversation: „Let me pray for you”—and not just only give you a dollar. When you slow down long enough to know, „Who can I serve today?“ When you join a team in the V unit, when you show up every Sunday to serve—those who add value and meaning and purpose to your life.
Those who live to serve will have the most meaning in their life.
The disciples arguing about who’s gonna be great—Jesus said to them, „Listen, don’t argue about who’s gonna be great.“ He said, „For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.“
The Son of Man—I came to serve. Why? 'Cause He was finding meaning. Jesus was drawing meaning from serving.
Journey of Path
And then this last one—I made them all P’s so you can remember, right? You’re on a journey of path.
Last one—I’m done. You’re on a journey of path. Now this one is profound. It’s profound.
Can you give me my verse in Hebrews? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 and 2 says this: „Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses”—who’s the cloud of witnesses? In Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith, where the writer lists a laundry list of people who lived by faith, following after God, had given everything they had to go after God and to make a difference in their world.
So „since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything and every weight and every sin that so easily hinders us and cumbers us and slows us down, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.“
You know what that means? God has already chosen your race. He has already chosen your path.
And your life will start taking on more meaning and purpose when you surrender to the path that He has already marked out for you.
Some of us—our hearts don’t feel like we have meaning because we’re on a path we chose but not the path He chose. You’re in the career you want but not in the career He chose. You’re watching me—you’re in the church you want to be in but you listen to this podcast every week—but God is calling you to be here, right?
It’s what I want to do against what He has already marked out for you.
And your life will start taking on more meaning when you surrender to the path He has already marked out for you.
It could be you’re flourishing in your career and hear the Spirit of God saying, „Leave that thing—I’m calling you to be here.“ And you walk away from that, not even knowing how you’re gonna pay your bills, but you feel that He’s calling you over here: „This is the path You’ve marked out for me—I’m gonna trust You on this path.“
Doing music—or feel a burden for the local church. Corporate America—or feel a burden for ministry. Moving to this state—but God says, „No, stay here—the path I’ve marked out for you.“
And as soon as my feet land on the path that He has marked out for me, then it doesn’t matter what I face on this path—and I’m gonna be talking about that next week—it doesn’t matter what I face on this path. I will find meaning and purpose because I know in my heart there is an assurance between my spirit and God’s Spirit that I’m on the path that He has marked out for me—that on my journey I am not detouring.
You know, like when you set the GPS—it says you’ll be here at 8 o’clock—and you think you know a smarter way, although the satellite is a hundred miles above the earth, it can see everything you can’t see. And so I’m gonna make this left when the GPS is saying go right—but I’m smarter than the satellite that can see down the road. So I make the left because I want to go on my own path.
But I thank God that He’s gracious, and when He sees us in our foolishness, He’ll whisper in your spirit: „Recalculating.“
„How far are you gonna keep running down this road of meaninglessness? Didn’t I call you to be faithful at Victory? Get back on this path. Didn’t I call you to leave that thing and start this thing? Didn’t I call you to step on nothing and trust Me? Get back on this path.“
And He recalculates—you now arrive at 8:15, but I’m back on my journey.
Did I have another statement? If I have it, just throw it up there. Find more meaning in your journey—your life will take on a greater sense of meaning and purpose when you capitalize on your moments, but when you also recognize that you’re on a fixed journey heading toward eternity: a journey of process, a journey of pouring, a journey of path.
And the more I yield to the process of development, the more I give my life for service, the more I surrender to the path that God has chosen for me—the more my life will explode with purpose and meaning.
This is what Jesus did: Jesus grew, Jesus served, Jesus surrendered to the path that God had for Him—even when He said, „Lord, if there is any way that this cup can pass from Me”—nevertheless, He surrendered to His path, even to the point of execution.
Living with Eternity in Mind
What would happen for you in your life if you start living with eternity playing in the background?
You know what would happen? Every day will start being more meaningful to you.
This is so difficult for us as Americans because we’re so attached to tangible things that we don’t think about the fact that eternity is coming. We’re not thinking about eternity.
I want to preach better sermons when I think about eternity. I want my prayer life to be more meaningful when I think about eternity. I want to serve harder when I think about eternity. I want to give away more money to help the poor, to help other people when I think about eternity.
I want to finish with a good marriage—I started with a bad one. I want to finish with a good one when I think about eternity. I want to raise four righteous seeds that when I die, hopefully they will run after me and serve Jesus with their whole heart.
When we think about eternity, I want my life to matter. When I think about eternity, I think about my epitaph—when they put me in the ground, what will they say at my funeral?
They want to say, „This man right here, this Negro, this dude right here—he gave everything he had for a cause that was much bigger than himself. He had some problems and he had some anger and a little bit of road rage, but that dude right there died—dude, he cut some people off on I-75—but that dude was a man of God. He served with everything in him. He gave generously. He prayed for people. He shed tears. He sacrificed. He stayed up late. He arrived early. Man, he gave it all.“
That’s a life worth living. That’s a life worth following. That’s the life that Jesus lived.
Find meaning in your moments, my brothers and sisters. Find meaning in your journey—your temporary journey. Make your journey count for something and not just accumulating and attaining stuff.
Somebody saying, „I’m gonna make my journey count. I will make my journey count. I will make my journey find meaning.“
Closing Prayer
Great eternal God of heaven and earth, Creator of all things, the Author and Finisher of our faith, the One to whom we will give an account, the One who has fixed our days and knows the very moment that we would leave—You, God.
I pray over the minds and hearts of these my brothers and sisters, these men and women. I pray over our children upstairs who are learning the same thing. I pray for the one that’s watching or listening on podcast—Victory family abroad, my friends in Toronto, Florida, and all across the country—especially in these turbulent times when things are growing so dark, the earth is groaning for the rise of the sons of God and the daughters of God. People are searching for models; they’re searching for light. The world is hungry.
May we, Your sons and daughters, God, arise in this hour. May You give us an awareness. May we be woke like never before. May we have an awareness that we are just sojourners, and may You cause the soundtrack of eternity to constantly keep playing in the background of our lives and our hearts.
May You increase in us wisdom, and may we capitalize on the moments that You give us and find more meaning in this temporary journey. May You help us not to live life aimlessly. May You help us, God, Lord, to squeeze every ounce of meaning out of our days.
God, would You open our eyes to see opportunities all around us to make a difference. For some of us, would You deliver us from being attached to money so we can’t even serve You in that area of our life. For some of us, God, would You deliver us from being so prideful that we’ve made ourselves our own gods.
Help us, God, not to despise our experiences, but when we look back over our shoulder, may we be thankful that You have caused us to mature and we’re growing into the image of Christ. May we be thankful for our process. May we give our lives, God, to pour value into others.
May You help us to be so sensitive to the guidance of Your Holy Spirit that we would yield our hearts and minds to the paths You’ve already chosen for us.
God, and as we grow and as we serve and as we walk the road that You’ve chosen for us, as we lean into every moment to connect with You and touch the lives of others—will You help meaning and purpose explode in the lives of those wise enough to take these teachings seriously.
I pray for the unbeliever in the room—maybe they’ll be drawn to You. Maybe they’ve been searching. Maybe there’s someone in this room right now, somebody watching, listening—that maybe they’re an atheist, maybe they believe something different, maybe they are far away from You—and the Spirit is stirring. God, would You draw them to Yourself right now. Would You rescue them like You rescued me. Would You open their eyes and help them to see that that emptiness will remain till they put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Will they find meaning in You.
I pray, my brothers, my sisters, that our lives will explode with purpose as we live to grow, as we live to serve, as we live to be obedient to You.
I thank You for this timely message. Sink it deep into our hearts. Let it radically transform us. Open eyes. May You tattoo it on our hearts. Maybe some of us would get a real tattoo. Maybe we’ll put a script on our wrist that we are sojourners. Maybe somebody would name their next daughter Sojourner. Help us to remember that we are just sojourners and this is not our home.
I feel something else must burn. Would You break our grip from being attached to things where we’re trying to put our emotions in permanently—that in the end we will not be betrayed. But You break our grip from trying to build a permanent empire in a temporary place.
May we live to build up our rewards in heaven where we will not be denied that. I pray that over these Your people in the mighty name of Your Savior. Amen.
I pray over the minds and hearts of these my brothers and sisters, these men and women. I pray over our children upstairs who are learning the same thing. I pray for the one that’s watching or listening on podcast—Victory family abroad, my friends in Toronto, Florida, and all across the country—especially in these turbulent times when things are growing so dark, the earth is groaning for the rise of the sons of God and the daughters of God. People are searching for models; they’re searching for light. The world is hungry.
May we, Your sons and daughters, God, arise in this hour. May You give us an awareness. May we be woke like never before. May we have an awareness that we are just sojourners, and may You cause the soundtrack of eternity to constantly keep playing in the background of our lives and our hearts.
May You increase in us wisdom, and may we capitalize on the moments that You give us and find more meaning in this temporary journey. May You help us not to live life aimlessly. May You help us, God, Lord, to squeeze every ounce of meaning out of our days.
God, would You open our eyes to see opportunities all around us to make a difference. For some of us, would You deliver us from being attached to money so we can’t even serve You in that area of our life. For some of us, God, would You deliver us from being so prideful that we’ve made ourselves our own gods.
Help us, God, not to despise our experiences, but when we look back over our shoulder, may we be thankful that You have caused us to mature and we’re growing into the image of Christ. May we be thankful for our process. May we give our lives, God, to pour value into others.
May You help us to be so sensitive to the guidance of Your Holy Spirit that we would yield our hearts and minds to the paths You’ve already chosen for us.
God, and as we grow and as we serve and as we walk the road that You’ve chosen for us, as we lean into every moment to connect with You and touch the lives of others—will You help meaning and purpose explode in the lives of those wise enough to take these teachings seriously.
I pray for the unbeliever in the room—maybe they’ll be drawn to You. Maybe they’ve been searching. Maybe there’s someone in this room right now, somebody watching, listening—that maybe they’re an atheist, maybe they believe something different, maybe they are far away from You—and the Spirit is stirring. God, would You draw them to Yourself right now. Would You rescue them like You rescued me. Would You open their eyes and help them to see that that emptiness will remain till they put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Will they find meaning in You.
I pray, my brothers, my sisters, that our lives will explode with purpose as we live to grow, as we live to serve, as we live to be obedient to You.
I thank You for this timely message. Sink it deep into our hearts. Let it radically transform us. Open eyes. May You tattoo it on our hearts. Maybe some of us would get a real tattoo. Maybe we’ll put a script on our wrist that we are sojourners. Maybe somebody would name their next daughter Sojourner. Help us to remember that we are just sojourners and this is not our home.
I feel something else must burn. Would You break our grip from being attached to things where we’re trying to put our emotions in permanently—that in the end we will not be betrayed. But You break our grip from trying to build a permanent empire in a temporary place.
May we live to build up our rewards in heaven where we will not be denied that. I pray that over these Your people in the mighty name of Your Savior. Amen.