God’s Dreams For You

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.