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Do Not Rebuild Babel – The Formed Future · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here, a quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Genesis, chapter 11, verse 4.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: They said, Come,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: let's build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the sky,
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: and let's make a name for ourselves,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Babel is often remembered as a story about pride.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is true, but there is another layer worth noticing.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: The people in Genesis chapter 11 are capable.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: They can organize.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: They can cooperate.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: They have learned to make bricks where stone is scarce.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: They can imagine a city and then begin building it.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Human creativity is alive and well in Babel.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is not that they know how to build.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is the center from which they are building.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: They finally say it out loud.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's make a name for ourselves.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Their ability has become detached from the God whose image gives human life its meaning.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: The project turns inward.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Their gifts become a way to secure identity, significance, and control.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: That makes Babel surprisingly contemporary.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a time of extraordinary human capacity.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We can communicate across the world in seconds.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We can automate work that once consumed hours.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: We can analyze enormous amounts of information.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can build systems, businesses, platforms.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Communities and technologies with reach previous generations could barely imagine.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: None of that is the enemy.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Creativity is a gift.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Intelligence is a gift.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Technology is a gift.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Organization, leadership, wealth, influence and skill can all serve life.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: The spiritual danger begins when those gifts are asked to tell us who we are.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Achievement becomes identity.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Technology becomes security.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Influence becomes significance.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Productivity becomes worth.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Human capacity becomes both the builder and the object of worship.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: But you are more than your capacity.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: You are physical, relational, emotional, intellectual, creative, and spiritual.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Christ does not come to make you a more efficient machine.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: He restores the center of your humanity so that every other part
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: of your life can be ordered toward love.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That changes the question we bring to the future.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not only what can I build, it is also who am I becoming while I build it?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: What is this project doing to my soul?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is my work drawing me toward love, wisdom, humility and neighbor?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it quietly turning me inward around my own name, security and control?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: You do not have to reject your gifts to stay faithful.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Offer them.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let love influence the goal.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let wisdom influence the method.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let humility influence the way you measure success.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let prayer keep your work connected to a center larger than yourself.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: The formed future will need people who can do remarkable things
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: without worshiping their own capacity.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: It will need people whose tools remain tools,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: whose achievements remain gifts, and whose identity remains rooted in Christ.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So today,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: look at one thing you are building,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: a project, a plan, a relationship, a body of work, a future you are trying to shape.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ask where God is in the center of it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then let the image of God in you shape what comes next.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, restore the fullness of your image in me.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Keep my gifts from circling around my own name, security or control.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Give my work,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: creativity,
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: technology Let love shape what I build,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: wisdom shape how I build it, and humility shape the way I measure success.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: As you take this message into your day, carry this prayer with you.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Restore your image in me.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Shape what I build with you.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Restore your image in me.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Shape what I build with you.
• 5:47
  [music]
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.
• 6:17
  [music]