What does God say is your eternal calling and purpose? All of us have the same eternal calling and purpose. There is only one eternal calling which can transcend all dispensational lines, individual gifts, talents and abilities, and that is to rule and reign with Jesus Christ for all eternity.
Rule and reign over what? Two or three square feet of terra firma? No. Over a universe populated with untold billions of galaxies containing billions of suns which contain billions of planetary bodies.
And I will assure you there is other life there, not just because the odds almost make it a certainty mathematically, but because God says so in His Word. He talks about winged creatures and four-headed beasts, not to mention the angelic host.
So we know there is a universe so broad and so wide that we cannot even conceive of the boundaries intellectually. And He said that one of the main reasons He created you is so you can rule and reign (or manage and administrate) the vastness of this creation with all of its life forms on His behalf.
God put us on this earth to learn these lessons so we don’t do any damage on a cosmic scale. Then when we have learned these lessons, we graduate to our eternal calling. That’s what the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is all about.
A lord goes on a journey to a far country and entrusts his estate and all of his belongings to three servants, each according to his ability. In Verse 15 it says: “And onto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.”
If you cannot learn how to influence a few people in your neighborhood, if you cannot learn how to lead in an environment as limited as it is now, how will you ever handle what comes later?
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries
Mac and Lynne Hammond are senior pastors of Living Word in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, which they started in 1980. Many outreaches and ministries have launched from Living Word since that time, including Maranatha Christian Academy, a Pre-K through grade 12 school with nearly 900 in attendance, and Living Free Recovery Services, a licensed outpatient treatment program.
Most recently, Mac and Lynne have launched a vision to plant fifty churches across the globe in the next five years. As of August 2024, nine churches have been planted in the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala with construction underway for seven more churches in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Prior to becoming a pastor, Mac was a pilot. He served in the Air Force, served two tours of duty in Southeast Asia, and was honorably discharged in 1970 with the rank of Captain. Between 1970 and 1980, Mac was involved in varying capacities in the general aviation industry, including ownership of a successful air cargo business serving the Midwestern United States. A business acquisition brought the Hammonds to Minneapolis, where they ultimately founded Living Word. Currently, Mac is the host of The Winner’s Way and The Winner’s Minute broadcasts and the author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.