Towers of Disappointment, Part 2

JD Greer, the broken towers that God is love where he really tasted disappointment was it in a broken relationship may be a failed marriage is in drug addiction what you want to think about the disappointments in your life. The broken towers not as God's harsh judgment on you. What is God's mercy towards you say you can't pursue that goal. We disappoint you, one that satisfies you good life, financial security, happy marriage, successful career vacationing at the beach three times a year. Thankfully, none of those things are wrong on their own. But today on Summit life pastor JD Greer explained that they'll never truly satisfy us fully titled today's message towers of disappointment and it's part of our new teaching series called the whole story. If you like to hear any of the previous messages there available free of charge. JD Greer.com right now. Here's pastor JD describing the only real source of security and significant let's get started or had one language of the diamond same words as people migrated from the East Lake on the plane and blemishes are settled there one another, let us build ourselves a city and a tower stop in Evans, let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Now what is it specifically that they want. They want a city. The city as a whole were a place to belong. They want a tower whose top reaches the heavens think about is significant. They want to do something that matters. They want some level of permanence in their lives doing something that is going to endure a great name they want to be connected to greatness.

Having rejected God date feel this boy this vacuum where created for the things they don't have sin is an attempt to find something or someone else. Something that you should've found the God trying to get back with a one-sided got a call this tower babble, babble, which means literally the date of God. So there's your first point number one sin, attempts to build towers. Devon their desires for belonging for security for greatness. Those desires are not role. That's where they're choosing to look for them is where it is wrong we are.

Several thousand years later you will have a change that much. We still desire the same things that we want to see what a group that we really felt like we belong to. What were cherished and loved and respected. We want security we want something that guarantees our safety. We want our lives to matter is why some people stress out so much over their careers or lack of progress in their career, we want to be connected to greatness.

You are that's what you name drop whatever you met somebody famous are in the same room with somebody famous now. There's nothing wrong with the desires for security and for belonging even significance and greatness. If where we chose to look for them. Primarily that became law. Sam attempts to build towers that have a that's number one.

Let's keep moving.

Verse five.

So the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men to build the Lord said, behold, there one people and they all have one language, and this is only the beginning. What they will do nothing that they propose to do now will be impossible for them what he saying is from this from this heart that is expressed in building this tower is going to come every kind of corruption every kind of wickedness, every kind of evil to grow out of this. So there's your second point, there number two. Since roots all sense the route is by my will and my strength for my glory since route is by my will, in my strength for my glory again with the looking for security significance. Greatness is not wrong.

This is what they were supposed to get those things they depending on God. But now, instead of depending on God for the things they want to do it for themselves in their own way by their own strength and so they get the glory. Let us build a tower for ourselves for the glory of our name and it is from that attitude that all simple corruptions are going to emanate since wickedness begins not with the immorality of the act, but with the heart of pride behind the act. That's why God says this tower to become a source of immeasurable amount of said all sin goes back to this posture about Satan himself saying something say became Satan because he said I want to do it by my will and my strength for my glory Summit is ask you for a minute to the core of your heart as well. You live in by yours or God's strength you attempt the meeting today with you attempt the beach that we door strength of God. Three glory. Are you more concerned about is your glory of God. When I was in Sunday school of thought it this way in every heart there is a throne and across if you're on the throne. Jesus is going to have to be on the cross but Jesus is going to be on the road you're to be on the cross was keep moving right now in verse seven, let us go down and confuse their language so they may not understand one another's speech to me to match. When this happened, what chaos verse eight Lord disperse them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Number three sin leaves rotting towers of disappointment in your life interesting to me that God does not tear down the tower. I thought I would on a 20 down the God leaves in their decaying falling apart rotting as a message this deal here were he scatters them and leave their towers to the case is that judgment or is that mercy both its judgments, but it's a judgment with amount of judgment with a pound of mercy is what God is doing to try to wake them up before they make decisions that they can never come back from and that are eternally too late.

You understand that every judgment before the ultimate judgment is actually mercy is what God is trying to do is wake you up off of a path to get you to come back from it before you can't. That would change how you saw a lot of what happened in your life if you started to see that the towers of disappointment in your life were left there by God as monuments to tell you go down that path. So with that let me ask you, what are the rotting towers of disappointment in your life. One of the broken towers that God is left where he really tasted disappointment was it in a broken relationship may be a failed marriage is in drug addiction medicine, humiliation you've gone through recently lost a job, maybe maybe you got caught cheating and you got kicked out of school again. I'm absolutely revolutionary thought. What if you want to think about the disappointments in your life. The broken towers not as God's harsh judgment on you, but is God's mercy towards you say you can't pursue that it will disappoint only one that satisfies you, and I recently met Ashley Madison scandal broke number that thing has medicine with the website were facilitated adulterous relationships.

When the leak came out all these email addresses got exposed. There were a number of Christian leaders who got exposed and that kind of thing. I was very disturbing and tragic in one nationally known Christian leader whose email address was part of the database and is as you know, he said. I signed up for the website in a moment of weakness and he said it was a dark time in my life is but I never acted on it.

I just signed up and had the account. He said everyone filled out the profile he said, so I never pursued a relationship. He said it. When these addresses came out a look at that light. God was harshly judging me for my sin to the board came to me and said you can't, you know, the leader of this ministry since is another was the harsh judgment of God is about a wide in the last couple months of come to see that it was actually the sweet mercy of God toward me, but is about a got away from it. I would've just glossed over it and God cared about me so much that he was willing to publicly expose me so that he could deal with this part of my heart that had not learned to depend on trust him in. What if you started a look at some of these humiliating broken towers in your life has God's message to you that you want to get on that path.

I'm trying to try to pay you back.

I'm trying to bring you back I'm trying to wake you up. Tim Keller says when you face the inevitable disappointment of a broken tower is what you say and I don't whenever you face the inevitable disappointment of an idle residual of one of four reactions morning blame the idle itself chose the wrong thing. Next time I make a better truth. We were so young. We got married we did know what we were doing we were na�ve and stupid.

That's why we chose the wrong person. And that's what were so unhappy is a really good divorce and now are older, wiser, and this time I choose better because I know that out there there's a soulmate who is just going to fit me perfectly to make all my romantic dreams come true.

Sure, that's right, you stand right over there, next to the unicorn and a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. That's where you should look for blame the idle itself. Just think I got a cheese battery said the second option is you can blame yourself.

That's a lot of people do love you well on the property were hard enough I'll do better next time you turn over new leaf working or does it does it New Year's resolutions people doesn't review whatever made you fail the first time in some reappearing everywhere with every failure you go through you feel more like given up talking number three blame the idle blame yourself often are three people in the world blame the world you just give up on being happy. You become a mean cynical old person who mocks all those na�ve young people just didn't know it numb to it. All you Medicaid to what is alcohol or drugs or shopping or some hobby that you consider yourself with men. You quit the world altogether blame yourself. Blame the idle blame yourself, blame the world to the fourth option is you can realize you were created for a different world that's the right option. Again, CS Lewis, if I find myself a desire which nothing on earth can satisfy, the only possible acclamation is that I must of been created for another world you want to be safe you want to belong. You want to have a home you want beauty and significance you want to be connected to greatness. There's nothing wrong with those desires. It's more you're looking for them. It's what's wrong these things rolling.

God reminded me as we go to my favorite songs on 139 listen to the Lord you have searched me and known me, you know, when I sat down when I rise up my thoughts from afar you searched on my path and my lying down your acquainted with all my ways. Even before word forms on my tongue, behold, the Lord, you know what altogether. You him again behind them before you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge seems too wonderful for me if so high like again attain it. Where should I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence. If I ascended into heaven, you be there course, but if I made my bed in hell you'd be there but the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand should leave me in your right hand would hold me up if I say in despair, surely the darkness shall cover me in the light about me is turned in the night. Even the darkness is not dark to you the night for you is as bright as the noonday darkness is as light with you you for me in my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. Before I had a name and they just call me a fetus. You knew who I was and you knew what I was going to become high praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. There I saw my unformed substance when I was just a fetus in your book all my days were written every single one of them. The days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them on my mom did know she was pregnant yet how precious to me are your thoughts. Oh God, how fast is the sum of those thoughts. If I could count them they would be more than the sand of the seashore wake up and I think surely that the dream is too good to be true, but when I wake well with you.

Do you know how much and how often God thinks about you this so you and before your mom even knew that she was pregnant.

God knew your name. He had designed. You knew all the daisy and plan for you teachers. Every one of them. He assigned his angel to watch over you in good times and bad. When it fell to you like darkness was going to overcome you, God, like that was the light of day for me also. Everything was happening never lost control before the word even born on your mount Weatherly was in prayer or whatever you expressed to me. I knew it was no one here fell from your head without me knowing about it when I made my bed and how he said and that's not poetry is literal.

You and I had made our bed in hell, God set out go to hell for God to going to hell and took the bed not made for myself what he absorbed hell into himself what he died on the cross and was taken by God for me so that he could buy me back on itself so I would not stay there. They said I could be run from you and help you cared about me too much.

You chase me the hell enjoyed hell at my place is no wonder that David said how precious are these thoughts to me how fast of the some of them if I could count them to be like the sand of the seashore wake up too good to be true but not too good to be true. It's happening with the dream and never wake up from. You want to be known to be valued. You want to be approved. You are in the love and the approval she was richer and deeper and last longer than the love of any man or woman he just can't stop thinking about you. You trying to be special to somebody special to him. Trying to matter in life. You matter to him beyond you been searching for in romance correctly, his arms, the security that you are working for in your life can be found in his promise. The beauty that you craved in pornography is found in his presence fullness.

You yearn for in all your pursuits is going to be found when you walk with him which leads to the last point person on their fourth name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all your home or play on words. Babel you can just reaction an Hebrew Bible becomes Blau please confuse genetic always confused because there the Lord confused the language of all your help. Chapter 11 ends comes after Chapter 11 12 want this now the Lord said to go to your country. Get out your kindred father's house to the city. The land also.

I'll make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, shall become a blessing. How bless those who bless you, and images are you I will curse in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed is your four point God is building a better tower man's attempts to build a tower back to God to regain what he lost to God have failed. So, in Genesis 12 God starts to build his own tower, but he starts in a really odd place he chooses a sterile frail old man, and he says that this sterile frail old man named Abram. I'll give you a home Abram and to be better and more secure than any home that they can build on the Tower of Babel and Lena Babel. How did you significance Abraham greater than any tower you can bill you have a role in blessing the whole world how make your name great Abram is out of the greatness of your name. The greatness of my name and one day Abram all the scattered families of the earth with their new languages are going to be reunited around the tower that I build because of what I do for you and so we fast-forward to the whole Bible to the very last book of the Bible, Revelation 7 and we see this incredible see word where were John the writer Revelation said after this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that nobody could number from every nation, all the tribes and movie peoples and languages that were scattered Babel. All of hard now back together, standing before the tower that God built the throne and before the lamp and they were all crying out loud voice. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne into the land and so you have what was dispersed in Genesis 11 brought back together but this time they're not standing around a tower that they built proclaiming their awesomeness.

This time there standing around the throne that God has built and they are worshiping safe salvation is not about how awesome we work.

Salvation belongs to our God and they are united not in praise of their strength, they are united in adoration of the grace that God has extended to them and so the message of the whole Bible is God going to build this tower you can hit little glimpses of it throughout the Bible. For example, the very middle acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit falls Holy Spirit falls on the on the earth. The first time the Holy Spirit comes the first thing that happens only people from speaking the languages was going on. There is a magic trick. Note God is basically flashing neon sign saying I'm reversing Babel all the stuff they couldn't competent Babel I'm can accomplish through my spirit about the Abram's life and you realize that he's not able to get his wife pregnant so God puts his spirit in Abraham and then to the spirit. He's able to do it. What you see throughout the Bible. Is that what man can do. God does in his place and gives him as a gift to man can't live a life that's pleasing to God through Jesus was in our place. Man can't die the death that we are commanded.Jesus dies in her place, and certainly can't resurrect himself from the dead.

God by his spirit brings out Jesus's dead body as I will now live in you.

I give you that is a gift, the whole Bible cover to cover screams. One thing salvation belongs to our God and one day around the throne will not be proclaiming how awesome we are what we accomplished were not to be demoting our failures. Quarter to declare the glory of the God built this thing through us, which is no wonder why in Revelation, John points out that, relishing 24 and God will write a name on our foreheads and that name that he writes could be his name is a Jesus what it means is that the most important name that I have attached to me is Jesus because I'm going to do what I do.

I'm going to become what I become, not because I have the internal strength, but because God has determined that he is going to do it through me some churches is what God is been doing for the whole Bible 20 been doing every age of the church.

He will accomplish. It is surely a Sarah Abram's wife got pregnant and as surely as Jesus walked out of the grave. He is driven the church forward by the power of the spirit in every age and he's the one driving this church forward in this day he's building his church. These what is doing something amazing for your life.

He's a oneness determine he's going to make your life a blessing and not cursing you need us to build the charts and I need you to do something amazing. I need you to overcome addiction need you to be an awesome parent needs you to be a perfect spouse, he just want you to yield yourself to him, something amazing through you. That's it. Christian life is not about ability is about availability and letting God go back to our there one of two towers that are being built in your life. Want to either.

Genesis 11 build a pretty impressive tower by your will and your strength for your glory revealed yourself fully and completely without restriction to let Jesus build his tower of grace, and you switch to rebuild judiciary building whose will is well are you living according to your severe regards to how religious you are just require that cares not asking you how more you I'm asking of you ever given Jesus a blank check and said it's all yours. Everything you see what you have now your time to treasure your talents do you see those things as belonging to you that you give God some of her you seem as belonging to him.

That is when a huge difference I see happening you come and you think like okay I will be generous and give God some of my money is not time and at some point some of you woken up eventually limits on money or my time to begin with a big difference in like you if it is if you have $10 in your pocket on Mike and I have some sum of $10 and you think what how much cannot spare you know is in the JD, but if you got my wallet in your pocket with $10 and somewhat $10. It's not how much I want to give JD if that's you want to leave any of it with me to see that every second you live every breath you take every penny you have is actually his research is a Jesus what you want me to do with this money what you want me to do this time when you omitted it with these talents you see what you have as belonging to you or him are strength you get up and face each day with don't tell me it's God's if you don't have a daily time to meet with God and pray registers it's totally off your radar. Everything's about your strength glory. Are you concerned about yours or God's mission you pursue your kingdom. His mission don't tell me I'm pursuing God's of all you do is come to this church and we can sit in the audience to be involved in God's mission means you involving God by God didn't put you here.

She'd come here with religious couple once a week for me this is a church is an organization of ministry that we extend the kingdom of God through his kingdom was how are you building by your will and your strength for your glory or not my will but thine be done not by might or by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord God is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Tower work on today when were you live out God's mission and build his kingdom for your own for some of this might be time to grab the sledgehammer and got down a few bricks we been piling up for sure a challenging message from Pastor JD Greer here on Senate life if he's missed any of the previous messages in this series, you can listen again online, free of charge, or you can download the edited message transcripts@jdgreer.com today. You can be one of the first to get Pastor JD's newest book titled just ask in Scripture. Jesus promises you have not because you cannot and whatever you ask in my name, I will give consider God's word to Jeremiah call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not now, it's an invitation.

It seems like the entire thrust of the Bible is God is here. Just ask in this book Pastor JD shows us how prayer was an nonnegotiable daily staple in Jesus's life more essential to hand in eating or sleeping, and therefore is why we need to praise well. He shows us how we can enjoy the same source of power as our Lord and the early church. When we learn to just ask and depend on our heavenly father as they get giving specific practical tips for growing in prayer every day. This book leaves readers wanting to pray rather than just fearing that the content we'd love to get you a copy of this powerful resource comes with our thanks when you donate to support this ministry request. Just ask my Pastor JD Greer when you donate today by calling 866-335-5220 866-335-5220 easier you can get and request the book online. JD Greer.com rather mail your donation, address it. JD Greer ministering PO Box 12293 during NC 27709 four eclipse let me remind you that if you sign up for our email list is the best way to stay up-to-date with Pastor JD's latest plot. Also make sure you resource for theory. It's quick and easy to sign JD Greer.com I'm only inviting you to join us again tomorrow and were looking at the story of Jacob and Rachel every doing listen Friday to Senate life JD JD Greer ministering