Big Plans
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Has anyone ever been to New York City?
There is a famous building in New York City. It was once the tallest building in the world. In fact, it was the tallest building in the world for 40 years! Does anyone know what the name of that build is?
It’s called the Empire State Building. And I’ve been to the top of that building. It’s so tall!
Now, in order to build the tallest building in the world they had to have a few things.
Can anyone name something that they would need to build the tallest building in the world?
Those are all true, but there’s something you didn’t mention.
The very first thing they needed was a dream. Someone had to have an idea that turned into a dream. They had a goal. It was a BIG goal, but with lots of effort they accomplished their goal and their dream became a reality.
Today I want to remind you God has big plans for your life!
You’re not a mistake.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t accomplish your dreams.
Set Big Goals
Set Big Goals
There’s a story in the Bible about the people set a big goal.
In fact it was probably the biggest goal in the history of humanity up to that time.
Let’s read it from the Bible.
4 Then the people said, “Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that will reach to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together so that we will not be scattered all over the earth.”
This goal was massive and really was impressive. Archaeologist have found what they believe to be the location of this massive building and estimate that it was 300 feet square and 300 feet tall. It was the worlds first skyscraper. It was build with bricks.
Did you know there is only one building in US that is made from brick that is 300 feet tall? It’s hard to build something that tall from bricks!
At the time these people had the idea to build they really didn’t have the technology to do the task. It had just never been done before. That didn’t stop them, they dreamed of a tower that could touch the sky.
They even wanted to become Famous because of it. If there was a Babylonian you-tube this was a chance to go viral and they were going to take it!
What I admire about these people was that they set a big goal.
If you are going to accomplish big things in your life you’re going to need to set big goals.
They had a chance to accomplish big things because they didn’t let anyone tell them they couldn’t get it done.
You should set big goals in your life. It might be to get good grades. To be the best in your sport. To keep your rooms cleaned up. I hope you have a goal of reading the Bible and spending time praying or going to church.
Whatever your goals are, they will never happen if you don’t first BELIEVE they can happen. That’s what I admire about the people in the bible who said, let’s build a tower that reaches into the sky. They had a dream.
Here’s the truth: It’s not enough to have a dream for your dreams to come true you are going to have to work hard.
Dreams take hard work
Dreams take hard work
Those people in the Bible who wanted to build the worlds tallest building had to work hard to get it built. Let’s how they did it:
3 Then they said to each other, “Let’s make some bricks of clay and bake them in the fire.” Then they used these bricks as stones, and they used Tar as mortar.
This verse might not seem like much to you, but to me it says a whole bunch because it shows a willingness to work hard or to make something from nothing.
When these people had the idea to build a tower to the sky they had no bricks to build with. They couldn’t just call the brick company and have them delivered. No, they had to make each and every brick by hand, harden them in a fire, make the mortar, and then start building!
Some estimate to build the tower the Bible describes they would have had to have over 15 million bricks.
I don’t even want to COUNT to 15 million let alone make 15 million bricks.
It’s one thing to have a good idea, it’s another thing to walk it out in your life. Big goals usually take big work if you are going to accomplish those goals.
These people had to show up day after day and do the same thing over and over to accomplish their goal of building the tallest building in the world.
Have you ever heard of a company named Amazon? Did you know that Amazon started as a dream? It was the idea of a man who didn’t have any money. He started selling books out of his garage. No one thought he was going to be successful, but now he’s one of the richest people in the world because he worked hard.
The Bible tells us that we shouldn’t think we are too small. God has the ability to use our lives for great things.
Remember David and Goliath? David took down a mighty giant with only small stones.
What about Moses? He didn’t even speak very well and God used him to save millions of people.
What about Samson? He was the strongest man in the world, but one time he was surrounded by a massive army. He sure was small compared to the army that was trying to defeat him. But with God’s help he defeated over 1000 men!
God can use you! You can do great things. Here’s the thing, you’ve go to work hard and trust God. In other words, you need to have faith!
These people building the tower set a goal, they put in the work, and guess what…They BUILT that tower!
Amazing. Incredible. Unimaginable.
But really, that’s not the whole story. See, you can have a goal, you can work real hard to accomplish that goal, but if it doesn’t line up to what God wants for you have made a massive mistake.
You need to get your Dreams from God
You need to get your Dreams from God
The people how were building that tower had a big dream, but that dream was not what God wanted them to have.
God told them to go out into the world and not stay in one place. But they didn’t listen. They stayed close together and decided they would build this massive building.
God put a stop to their dream because it wasn’t what he wanted for them.
8 So people stopped building the city, and the Lord scattered them all over the earth.
There’s an important lesson for us in the story, if we are going to set goals, if we are going to show up and put in the work, then we had better make sure that God is on our side!
36 It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost.
We can go through the list of the most SUCCESSFUL people who have ever lived and find something all of them have in common. They all have or had a limited time on earth. That’s right, if you don’t know, everyone will die.
We are all guaranteed to one day experience death.
Does that mean we don’t set goals, or we don’t work hard to accomplish those goals! No way!
What it does mean is that we need to make sure we are working first and foremost for what matters.
I want to share my very favorite verse with you today:
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
God wants a relationship with you. He invites us to seek Him. To know Him personally. The question is, does our HEART desire that relationship with Him? Or are we just setting goals and knocking them down one by one because if we work hard enough and long enough we can get them done?
Life is so much more than working for OURSELVES. If our vision is clear we can see that everything we do right now counts for eternity.
With the right perspective our goals change. Instead of wanting to build the highest tower, maybe we want to build the best relationships that will last for eternity.
What goals does God have for you? I mean, yes, set those earthly goals, God wants you to live life, but what are the things He wants most for you?
Maybe you’re struggling with temptation.
Maybe you feel alone.
Maybe you don’t know how to ask for forgiveness for the way you treated someone else.
Maybe you need to talk to your parents.
Maybe there’s someone who needs to hear about the Love of God.