Let’s Hit Pause to Talk about Goals

You guys know what’s the worst thing that can happen to a football player? It’s to have no goal in life!

Set Goals that are Destined to Fail...

I know that doesn’t sound right, but if you stick with me you’ll figure out what I mean and hopefully you’ll be encouraged.

We are all programmed by God to set goals in our lives. Life is actually made up of a lot of little goals. Like when I wake up in the morning I have a little goal to read my bible and drink coffee.

There are also some goals that are really big. Getting our kids through school, doing the best we can at work, retirement...

Goals and setting goals can be a really good thing in our lives because I believe God wants us to achieve things. For His glory and our fulfillment.

The Bible makes it clear that it is important to set goals and to plan for the future, while at the same time having a humble attitude and trusting in God.

We are to be intentional yet also open—wise and diligent planners who know that our trust and dependence is ultimately in God and not ourselves.

We get into trouble when we leave God out of our plans. In fact, the part of the Bible I want to focus on is a story about people who had a plan, actually accomplished their goals, but they forgot one main thing and everything went wrong.

Here’s what I want you to think about during this message.

What goals do you have in your life?

Are they big enough?

How are you going to reach those goals?

I have a little piece of paper that has a phrase that came from a book I read. This is what it says:

Make Plans that are DESTINED to fail without Divine Intervention

We need to...

Set Big Goals

In the Bible there was a group of people who had a plan.

It was a big plan. It was a massive 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.

Genesis 11:4 NLT

4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

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.

You know what the first step is in accomplishing big goals in your life?

Writing them down.

Habakkuk 2:2 CSB

2 The Lord answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.

If your goals are important enough then you will write them out so that it’s clear what your plans are.

I’ve experienced this first hand in my life.

I once had the opportunity to start a lawn care company. We had some property that we were having mowed every two weeks which was costing about $3000 per month to maintain. I got the idea to high a full time guy and buy a mower instead of paying this other company.

Well, the guy would mow then he wouldn’t have anything else to do. So I thought, I will start my own mowing company! I met with my buddy and started dreaming about what it could be.

I came up with a concept of a Yard Sheriff who would be Keep’n Lawn in Order. I wrote up a business plan, bought the equipment, hired the people, we even paid for two $8000 mascots costumes, and within 2 years we were the largest lawn care company in Tulsa!

You know what I remember most about that time? I was pastoring a church and the president of an engineering company. I was busy. Some one told me that I didn’t have time to do anything else. What if I believed them?

Your dreams will never become a reality if you allow other peoples opinions guide you.

Once you write your plan, you may have to adjust, but keep that plan in your vision. Don’t allow people to tell you that you can’t accomplish your goals.

If you never set a goal in life then you might never accomplish anything.

The best thing any of my high school teachers ever taught be was this:

Time is going to pass whether you do something or not, so you might as well do SOMETHING.

Time is a thief, it will steal you life if you don’t plan.

Once you’ve written down your plans you’ve got to do something…you’ve got to...

Show up

People who are successful in walking out their goals in life are the people who show up.

Let’s look back to our examples in the book of Genesis 11

Genesis 11:3 NLT

3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for 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.

You see, it’s not enough to have big goals and write down a plan. There’s a point where the rubber must hit the road in life. You’ve got to show up and put in the work.

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.

It’s easy to be jealous of Jeff Bezos who has 186 billion dollars. It’s hard to be jealous of the guy Jeff used to be who had nothing and started his little book reselling company from his garage.

Can you imagine how annoyed he was to be reselling books online when it wanted to be rich and famous?

Do you know how he built one of the largest companies in the world? He showed up EVERY single day. He was small and insignificant. No one knew this man in his garage selling used books!

Never despise the small things in your life. Remember what the Bible says about small things:

Zechariah 4:10 NLT

10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.)

When David went out to face Goliath, all he had was a slingshot and five smooth stones. It looked insignificant, ordinary, and certainly nothing special. But God breathed on him, and he defeated Goliath and became the king of Israel.

All Moses had was an ordinary stick, something he found on the ground, yet when he picked up that stick and held it in the air, the Red Sea supernaturally parted.

Samson was surrounded by a huge army. All he had was the jawbone of a donkey. But he picked up that jawbone, God breathed on him, and he defeated a thousand men.

Don't despise the day of small beginnings. Don't look at what you have and say, "I can't do anything great. I don't have a lot of talent."

If you'll use what God has given you, He will multiply it. He will not only bring your dreams to pass, but He will do more than you can ask or think.

Your part is to SHOW UP - in other words - Have Faith! Put in the work!

We must turn away from procrastination, excuses, or fear of failure. Those things are dream killers.

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 must....

Know God’s Will

The unfortunate part about the people building that tower was that they weren’t doing what God wanted them to do…They set goals that were outside the will of God.

God had specifically told them to go inhabit the whole earth. Instead they chose to live together in one city and build this very amazing tower.

God put a stop to what they were doing because it wasn’t what He told them to do...

Genesis 11:8 NLT

8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.

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!

Mark 8:36 NLT

36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

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.

Remember my favorite little saying?

Make plans that are destined to fail without Divine intervention.

The most important part of that little phrase is “Divine Intervention”.

We need to dream so big that our dreams can only happen if God blesses it!

We need to trust in God and God alone. We need to seek him above everything else in our lives.

My very favorite verse in the whole Bible talks about this thought:

Psalm 27:8 NKJV

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 mend a relationship.

Maybe there’s someone who needs to hear about the Love of God.

I’m just wondering if there’s someone listening that needs to make a new goal of surrendering to God.

When I was a teenager I read that verse about seeking God for the very first time and it changed something inside of me. I didn’t want to live just for myself anymore. I wanted to live for God.

This verse came alive to me:

Matthew 6:33 NLT

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Seeking God’s will above everything else is the most important thing. I can tell you from experience that NOTHING can fill you more than God. Money, houses, cars, relationships…Nothing is greater than God.

Those people building the tower were amazing. I actually admire them for the tenacity to have a goal, work through the details, and then get after it and build it, but I am sad for them because at the end of the day because it wasn’t what God wanted for them and it counted for nothing.

If you want your life to count then you had better wake up to the fact that God has a plan for you. You can run from it, but you will be running into the wind, never feeling like you’ve arrived.

The only fulfillment you can ever have is found in our relationship with Christ. The only way to find out how to live a good life is found in the pages of His Word.

I want to encourage you. I want to build in you hope. Hope that you are destined to do great things.

But I want to also warn you with a scripture.

Psalm 127:1 NLT

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

Everything we do must be guided and directed by the Lord if its going to stand for anything.

When the Lord is on your side, all things are possible. We can dream the biggest dreams ever know that with Him it can be done.

So, let’s set goals that are Destined to Fail without His help. We need to rely on Him fully and completely.