GOD’S DREAMS FOR YOU
Jer. 29:11
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: NOT FORGIVING, GOING FISHING
1. There was a little boy in the grocery store with his mother. He’d already gotten in trouble for touching things, and was forbidden to touch anything on the shelves.
2. When his Mom had her back turned, she heard a huge crash, and turned to see her son had pulled a can from a large display, sending hundreds of cans tumbling down.
3. Embarrassed and angry, they finished shopping and got into the car. After a few minutes, the boy said, “Mom, do you remember the other day we read that when God forgives our sins, he buries them at the bottom of the deepest ocean?” “Yes.”
4. “And you said God would never drag those them up again?” “Yes son.” “Well mom, I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me. So when we get home, I hope you’re not planning on going on a fishing expedition!”
B. TEXT
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jer. 29:11.
C. THESIS
1. Because of their gross sins and idolatry, God allowed the Israelites to be carried away into captivity for seventy years to give the land rest for the 490 years the Israelites hadn’t kept their Sabbaths.
2. As they sat in a foreign land, many of the Israelites felt like they had so messed up that they would never be in God’s favor again (discouraged, hopeless). But God sent them a powerful word of encouragement that speaks to us today.
3. The title of this message is “God’s Dreams For You” because the Hebrew word translated “plans” in Jer. 29:11 (machashabah) means “imaginations” (Prov. 6:18; Lam. 3:60-61, KJV). So it could read, “I know the imaginations I have for YOU…”
4. So we’re going to look at the 3 revelations of this verse: 1). the marvel that God is thinking about you, 2). that God desires to bless you, and 3). the great Hope and Future God has planned for you!
I. GOD IS THINKING ABOUT YOU
A. FOCUS OF THE DIVINE MIND
1. It’s noteworthy, first of all, that God DOES think of us! The KJV translation quotes God as saying, “For I know the THOUGHTS that I think toward you….”
2. It’s a happy thought that God is constantly thinking about you! God was thinking about you before the first mountain were formed. There’s never been a time when God wasn’t thinking about you.
3. God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you.”
4. David realized what a privilege this is; “I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me” Ps. 40:17. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” Ps. 8:3-4. It’s stunning!
5. It’s wonderful to be thought of by your friends; such thoughts indicate their love for you! How much more amazing is it that GOD is thinking about you at this moment.
6. The Lord never forgets us, for He has engraved us upon the palms of His hands. It’s incredible that though He has the whole universe to rule, WE are the center of His thoughts!
B. ILLUSTRATION: HIS THOUGHTS NOT RECOGNIZED
1. It’s easy for us to underestimate God’s vast intellect. As a human example, the Kansas City Star Newspaper once fired a cartoonist (in 1919). Their reason? Because his editor felt he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
2. Who was this cartoonist? He was Mr. Creativity himself, Walt Disney! Years later Walt Disney bought the Kansas City Star!
3. Just like the editor didn’t realize the depths of Disney’s imagination, so we don’t realize the depths of God’s thoughts toward us! You are the object of God’s dreams!
4. The 2nd revelation of this verse is that:
II. GOD WANTS TO BLESS YOU
A. GOD LOVES YOU, IS ON YOUR SIDE
1. The Israelites, because of their sins, feared that God had turned His back (in disfavor) on them. But God through Jeremiah 3 times assured them that God is for them, not against them.
2. If THEY could have confidence in God’s promise, how much more can You who’ve made peace through Jesus Christ? You have been ransomed by the death of God’s Son; You’re the apple of His eye, God’s own dear children.
3. The very hairs of their heads are all numbered; He’s aware of all your ways. He knows when you sit down & when you rise; He knows your thoughts and every word you say.
4. Paul affirmed, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. [Those] He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” Rom. 8:28-29, NKJV. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
5. YOU’RE A WINNER, NOT A LOSER. In Adam you were born a loser, but in Christ you’re born a winner! In Adam you had a dark future; but in Christ you have an awesome future! In Adam you were separated from God; in Jesus you were reconciled to God!
6. ILLUS.: THE SEEING-EYE DOG – LOOKING HIGHER
a. Seeing as God sees is similar to the purpose given to seeing-eye dogs. During the time they are trained, a seeing-eye dog is taught to lift its vision to the level of his master’s eyes. If it didn’t look upward, it couldn’t restrain its human master from walking into things up higher, like tree branches.
b. So the dogs are trained to raise their vision up to what their master’s level – up higher.
c. This is a good objective for us. We should aim to see things as God sees them. His higher vision has a better perspective over the difficulties of life than our earth-bound vision.
B. WHAT IF WE FAIL OR HAVE BAD CIRCUMSTANCES?
1. The Israelites failed God, but God’s will prevailed – they still entered the Promised Land, though it took them 40 years longer than necessary. God often uses our mistakes, sins, and heartaches to take us to our destiny. God can make people more useful at the end of their lives, in their weakness, than they could be in their strength.
2. Think of SAMSON. Even though he let his passions get the best of him and disobeyed God, he’s still in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 because he trusted in God. God helped him to fulfill his destiny (Judg. 16:28-30; Heb. 11:32).
2. DESTINY LOOKS FORWARD. When we’re driving in our cars, we don’t spend a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror. Instead, we spend most of our time looking forward, through our windshield. Remember: where we’re going is much better than where we’ve been.
C. ILLUSTRATIONS: SKYSCRAPER DEVELOPMENT
1. When architects and engineers are designing a skyscraper, the height of the building determines the depth and width of the concrete footings and the size and number of the steel reinforcements put in its foundation.
2. Imagine yourself as a building. How tall are you? A 1-story structure? A 10-story structure? Or a 50-story skyscraper? Your height determines how deeply God must dig before laying the proper foundation.
3. Think of JOSEPH. He was a skyscraper. God spent 13 difficult years digging and laying the foundation before his life-building began going up vertically.
4. Satan wants to keep you a 1-story building! Usually God has to demolish the old before He can establish the new. Do you want to be a 1-story person with a shallow foundation and a convenient, comfortable, predictable Christianity?
5. You’ll be like Lake Erie which is so shallow that even moderate storms create great disturbance on it. You’ll be tossed to & fro, unless you get some depth through trials and tests. Realize that God is in our trials for good!
III. HIS PLANS: FIRM HOPE, AWESOME FUTURE!
A. BEGINS WITH CHRIST’S IMAGE IN YOU
1. “I have a dream,” God says. God’s dream is for you. He made you for a purpose. He has a plan for you, a dream for you. And when you discover the dream for which God has made you, and begin to live God’s dream for you—look out! You’ll BE what you were made to be; You’ll DO what you were made to do; You’ll be happier than you’ve ever been. And you will change the world. God is in the people-building business.
2. ILLUSTRATION: POTTER & CLAY VESSEL
a. Imagine a potter throwing a pot. He begins with a dream, an idea; the pot exists in his mind first. Then he starts to spin the wheel and shape the pot.
b. But then he runs into a problem: there are imperfections in the clay, small pebbles. Sometimes he has to stop the wheel and dig out a pebble. He may be able to keep going, but sometimes the gouge is deep, and he has to smash the clay and start over.
c. A friend might walk into his shop in the middle of this process and say, “Man, that’s an ugly pot.” But the potter just smiles and says, “I’m not done yet.” The friend sees what is right now, but the potter sees what it will be, what he dreamed.
d. God is the potter, and you are the clay. He sees not just what you are right now, but what you can be.
3. YOU MIGHT FEEL VERY ORDINARY. “What could God do with me?” But God sees beyond the ordinary to inside you, and if you’re willing to say yes, God can do extraordinary things with ordinary people. God has dream for you; to give you “a hope and a future.” We see only the beginning; God sees the ending.
4. The GREAT ARTIST’S MASTERPIECE – WE are the piece of rough marble. We are only aware of the chippings that fall to the ground; we’ve felt the edge of His chisel, and the weight of His hammer. Our memory is only filled with trials, but oh, if you could see that glorious image when He has put His finishing stroke to it, you’d accept the trials better!
B. ILLUSTRATION: The ABC’S OF SUCCESSFUL VISION
1. Chuck Swindoll outlined his “ABC’s of Successful Vision.” “A” is Attitude. The way we think & act. People of vision are not negative or pessimistic, instead they are enthusiastic and positive. Don’t let yourself say, “It will never work!” You’re on the wrong track if you do.
2. “B” is belief. People of vision are people who believe that what God promises He will provide. Their confidence is in what God has said, not in what they see.
3. “C” is capacity. If we are people of vision, we can count on being stretched. The goals God has for each of us are not attainable within our own power and capacity.
4. One writer states it so accurately, “We must not ask for tasks equal to our power, but for power equal to the tasks that Christ assigns us.” Our prayer should NOT be, “God, give me something I can do,” but “God, give me something that You can do through me!”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: HOPE GIVES MOTIVATION FOR IMPROVEMENT
1. Years ago, a small town in Maine was proposed for the site of a great hydroelectric plant. Since the dam would be built across the river, the entire town would be submerged. When the project was announced, the people were given many months to arrange their affairs and relocate.
2. During the time before the dam was built, an interesting thing happened. All improvements ceased. No painting was done. No repairs were made on the buildings, roads, or sidewalks. No mowing or hauling away trash. Day by day, the whole town got shabbier and shabbier.
3. A long time before the waters came, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though the people had not yet moved away. One citizen complained, "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power for the present." The town was cursed with hopelessness because it had no future. [Ty Tamasaka, Dare to Dream Again, 9/9/2011]
4. Some of us have lost hope in the future. We think that God can’t do anything with our life. We think, “I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m not trained or prepared or gifted. I’m not a leader or a visionary or a warrior or a world-changer (you fill in the blank).” Or maybe you’re looking at your failures.
5. But you’re looking at what you are, a half-finished pot on the wheel or the partially chiseled piece of marble. God sees the finished product, what you shall be.
6. John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” 1 Jn. 3:2.
B. THE CALL
1. How many want to know what God’s dream is? It’s God’s dream for you to be BORN AGAIN, TO WORK FOR HIS KINGDOM, TO SURPASS YOUR NATURAL CAPACITY, and to keep doing these until He calls you home.
2. Will you SAY YES TO GOD’S DREAMS for you? Will you make a DEEPER COMMITMENT than you’ve ever made before?
3. Let’s pray, “Lord I surrender my life to your call. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Take my life and make me your spokesman and disciple, in Jesus’ name!”
[Ideas were gleaned from Charles Spurgeon, Tony Evans, Chuck Swindoll, and Pastor Joe (Life Center)]
