Aligning Your Trajectory with God's Purpose

Jul 26, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Building Towers or Building God’s Name?

The people of Babel chose bricks and mortar over obedience, prioritizing their legacy above God’s command to fill the earth. Their defiance wasn’t merely architectural ambition—it was a rebellion against divine purpose. Like mortar hardening between bricks, their self-focus cemented a trajectory away from God’s heart. Yet God intervened, not to crush but to redirect, scattering them into His greater story. Their unfinished tower stands as a warning: what we build for ourselves cannot rival what God builds through surrendered hearts. [35:16]

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4, ESV)

Reflection: What “tower” are you constructing in your life right now—a project, relationship, or goal—that risks eclipsing God’s glory? How might obedience to His call require laying down your bricks?

Day 2: The Weight of Words Unshared

At Pentecost, God reversed Babel’s curse by empowering His people to speak grace in every tongue. Where Babel’s pride fractured unity, the Spirit forged kinship through gospel truth. The disciples’ fear dissolved as divine words bridged divides, proving God’s heart beats for all nations. Yet this miracle demands participation: withheld testimonies become unlit lamps in dark places. Every unspoken word of hope delays heaven’s reconciling work. [59:58]

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1–4, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life needs to hear God’s story in their “heart language”? What fear or assumption keeps you from speaking it today?

Day 3: Friends as Wind Resistance or Wings

The stomp rocket’s flight hinged on unseen forces—air either propelling or hindering its path. Similarly, friendships shape spiritual trajectory. Babel’s builders fueled one another’s rebellion, while Pentecost’s disciples huddled in expectant unity. Toxic alliances anchor souls to earth; Christ-centered friendships lift them toward eternity. To ignore this is to risk crashing mid-flight, tangled in well-meaning but earthbound relationships. [52:31]

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20, ESV)

Reflection: Which friendships consistently pull you closer to Jesus’ heart? Which ones subtly drain your passion for His mission?

Day 4: Holy Spirit Velocity in a Stomp Rocket Life

The rocket’s force determined its reach. For believers, this power flows not from willpower but the Spirit’s indwelling presence. Babel’s builders strained upward through human effort; Pentecost’s disciples waited for divine wind. Velocity comes not in striving but surrendering—letting the Spirit’s rush carry us further than formulas or force ever could. [59:16]

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been relying on self-propelled effort instead of Spirit-empowered surrender? What would it look like to “stomp” less and listen more?

Day 5: Awakening the Trajectory of a Sleeping Heart

Complacency creeps in like rust on a rocket’s frame. The church at Laodicea forgot their mission, trading fiery purpose for lukewarm comfort. Yet Jesus knocks, not to scold but to reignite—to recalibrate hearts toward eternal impact. A sleeping trajectory still moves, just toward lesser horizons. Awakening begins with a whisper: “What is My will for your days?” [01:08:38]

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20, ESV)

Reflection: What area of your life has drifted into autopilot, coasting on past passion? How might Christ’s knock today invite a course correction?

Sermon Summary

Genesis 11 begins with the whole earth sharing one language and one vocabulary, and the reality of different languages turns out to be God’s idea, not just a random human accident. The Tower of Babel is not really just about languages. The Tower of Babel is about life, about what human beings do when they decide to build a world around their own name.

The people of Shinar settle down, build a city, and use a technological breakthrough, oven fired bricks, to make something bigger than anything around them. The city is not the problem by itself. The tower is not the problem because it is tall. The problem is the heart behind it: “Let’s make a name for ourselves,” and “otherwise we will be scattered.” The people resist the very command God gave Noah’s family, to fill the earth and multiply. The people want to gather around their own identity, their own power, their own prestige, and their own story.

God comes down and sees not only what they are doing, but where they are going. God says that if they continue as one people with one language, nothing they plan will be impossible for them. The issue is trajectory. God cares about where a life, a family, a friendship, a church, and a city are headed. A thing may not look sinful in the moment, but a path can carry a person to a place of deep regret, broken witness, and distance from God.

The stomp rocket picture makes trajectory plain. Angle, resistance, and velocity determine where something goes. The Word of God gives the right angle, because Scripture is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path. Friendships create either help or resistance, because the closest people around a person shape spiritual direction. The Holy Spirit supplies the velocity, the power of God in the life of the Christian.

Acts 2 shows Babel reversed. At Babel, humanity reaches up to make its own name, and God confuses the languages. At Pentecost, God comes down by the Holy Spirit, and people from every nation hear the gospel in their own language. Babel is about the name of man. The gospel is about the one name under heaven by which anyone can be saved, the name of Jesus. The call is for Christians to ask God to show their trajectory, to change what needs changing, and to help someone else’s life turn from self-renown to the name and renown of Jesus.

Key Takeaways

1. God cares about trajectory God is not only looking at what a person is doing right now. God is also looking at where that path is taking the heart, the family, the witness, and the future. A direction can feel harmless in the moment and still lead toward ruin if it is aimed away from His purpose. [44:37]
2. Scripture gives the right angle The Word of God does not merely add religious information to life. Scripture angles a life toward God’s purpose when personal wisdom is too small, too biased, or too tired to see clearly. God has not stayed silent; He has written down what is needed and preserved it for ordinary obedience. [50:36]
3. Friendships create spiritual resistance The closest relationships are never neutral. Friends either help a soul love Jesus more, or they slowly make compromise feel normal and obedience feel strange. Choosing godly friends is not social preference; it is spiritual stewardship over the future. [53:16]
4. The Spirit supplies real velocity Christian effort without the Holy Spirit has direction but not power. The Spirit is not an optional upgrade for unusually spiritual people; He is the presence of God in every believer. Jesus said His departure would be better because the Spirit would not merely be near His people, but in them. [59:16]
5. The gospel reverses Babel Babel is humanity reaching upward to secure its own name. Pentecost is God coming downward to proclaim the name of Jesus to every nation. The gospel does not erase peoples and languages, but it gathers scattered sinners under the saving rule of Christ.

## [60:42]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[30:09] - Church Updates and Student Camp
[33:24] - Prayer for God’s Power
[34:26] - Languages and the Tower of Babel
[36:11] - Genesis 11 Reading
[37:33] - From Noah to Babel
[38:31] - Building a City and a Name
[40:52] - Why Babel Was a Big Deal
[42:39] - Resisting God’s Command
[44:37] - God Cares About Trajectory
[49:32] - Angle, Resistance, and Velocity
[50:36] - Scripture Aligns the Path
[52:15] - Friendships Shape Direction
[58:45] - The Holy Spirit Gives Power
[60:42] - Pentecost Reverses Babel
[64:27] - Choosing a New Trajectory

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 11:1-9
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.’ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” [36:11]

Acts 2:1-12
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.’ And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” [01:00:04]

Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” [50:36]

Observation questions

In Genesis 11, what reasons do the people give for building the city and tower, and what do those reasons reveal about what they want? [42:39]
What does the Lord do in response to the building project at Babel, and what are the two results mentioned in the passage?
In Acts 2, what happens when the Holy Spirit comes, and how do the people from different nations respond? [01:00:40]
What three parts of trajectory were used to picture spiritual direction: angle, resistance, and velocity? What did each one stand for? [49:32]

Interpretation questions

Genesis 11 shows that the problem was not simply a city or a tower, but a desire to “make a name for ourselves.” What is the difference between building a life responsibly and building a life around personal renown? [43:08]
God says, in effect, that Babel is only the beginning of where these people could go. How does that help explain why God cares not only about present actions but also about direction and momentum? [44:37]
Psalm 119:105 says God’s word lights the path. Why is Scripture necessary for a person who wants the right trajectory, instead of relying only on instinct, sincerity, or effort? [50:36]
Acts 2 does not erase different languages, but it does unite people around the mighty works of God and the name of Jesus. What does that show about how the gospel answers the pride and self-made identity of Babel? [01:00:42]

Application questions

Where does life currently seem most shaped by the desire to “make a name” for self—work, family, relationships, reputation, online presence, or something else? What would repentance look like there? [42:39]
God cares about trajectory, not just isolated moments. Is there a habit, mindset, or pattern that may not seem dramatic right now but is quietly taking life in the wrong direction? [44:37]
Scripture gives the right angle for life. What is a realistic next step for becoming more consistent in God’s Word this week—not the ideal version, but an honest and sustainable one? [50:55]
Friendships are not neutral. Which relationships are helping love for Jesus grow, and which ones make compromise feel normal? Is there any friendship that needs stronger boundaries, a harder conversation, or less closeness? [53:16]
If the closest people shape direction, what kind of friend is being offered to others right now? Would close friends say that this life makes obedience easier or harder for them? [01:05:08]
The Holy Spirit supplies real power, not just religious effort. Where has Christian life started to feel mostly self-powered? What would it look like to ask the Spirit for help in something specific this week? [59:16]
Someone nearby may be headed on a trajectory away from Jesus. Who is one person that comes to mind right now, and what is one simple, faithful step that could help point that person toward Christ? [01:06:07]

Sermon Clips

51s

#GospelUnites

“``We find in acts two is a reversal of Genesis 11 where instead of looking down and confusing languages, comes down and unites people. And every single person can hear what is being said in their own language, which is so interesting about the gospel. The gospel is a reversal of babble. Babel is us saying, we wanna find our own name, our own identity, our own self, we're gonna reach up to the heavens by building something, but in Christ, we find God coming down and living among the people so that we can have one name under heaven given unto men by which we can be saved.”

52s

#ReadScriptureDaily

“``So here's what I want you to consider. If you're not somebody that spends time with God every day reading your bible, that's the number one thing that you can do today to increase the wisdom in your life, to know God's purpose and his plan, because knowing God is best found in the scriptures. Funny thing is I think hear people all the time, like, nah, I just wish that God would speak to me. And God's like, I literally wrote it down for you. I wrote it down, and I preserved it, and I made it the best selling book in the whole world, and you have access to it on your phone and on your in your Bibles. It's everywhere. If you simply would go spend time with me, I wanna meet with you and I wanna help you align your life with me.”

62s

#AimForGodsPurpose

“``Because that may mean that I actually have to think about my trajectory. So what is your trajectory in life? What are you aiming at? Are you aiming at just a few years of fun and a great vacation? Are you aiming at just raising your kids and making sure that nothing goes wrong till you go to heaven? Or are you aiming at God's purpose, which is to see every single person know Jesus? Are you aiming to, like, be as close to Jesus as you possibly can? That's out there for you. What kind of resistance are you putting up in your life? Are you surrounding yourself with people that just kinda lukewarm, not really pursuing Jesus? Or you find the most white hot group of believers that say, man, we can go take the city for the gospel. That's the kind of people I wanna be around.”

39s

#HolySpiritEmpowers

“``And then lastly, when it comes to exit velocity or velocity, that's I think the missing component for many of us in Southern Baptist life. You know, when I think about velocity, when the rocket you know, you could tell the difference when Sean barely tapped it and then when he stomped on it. That power as a Christian, where does that kind of power come from? Well, the bible tells us that actually comes from the holy spirit. The holy spirit is the power that empowers a Christian to live like Jesus Christ.”

36s

#PowerInYouBySpirit

“``But Jesus says, it's gonna be better that I go away. Why? Because the holy spirit's gonna come and he's gonna fill the heart of every Christian. He's gonna not just be near you, he's gonna be in you, and you're gonna have the power of god in your life. And I think a lot of us hear that. We're like, cool. I hope that pastor Mike has that power or I hope that a friend of mine has the power, but I'm scared to know that God has given me the power of God in my life.”

48s

#FriendsShapeFaith

“``As a group, they are resisting God's plan and purpose for humanity, and God's like, not gonna do that. And what I found for almost everybody in this room, and it's true for me in my life, is that the friends that we surround ourselves with have the ability to either make us go far or they will stunt our spiritual growth. The friends that you have have incredible influence on your life, and it can be in a great way. Like, Christian friends allow us to fall in love with Jesus more because they believe in us. They call us to follow him. There's incredible power in Christian friends. But the same thing is true when we have influences on our life that are not following Jesus.”

28s

#BibleIsTheLamp

“``Now here's the thing. You can't just figure that out by simply just being like, man, I'm gonna try hard enough. I'm just gonna be wise enough in my own understanding. The bible says that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It gives us wisdom and understanding, and if we align ourselves with the way that God is pointing us, we can have incredible impact.”

61s

#WordCommunitySpirit

“``People are like, man, I love Jesus with all my heart. I want every single person to know him. I wanna know as much as Jesus. I wanna have my heart as tender towards Jesus as I can. That's the kind of friends we should aspire to be and to have around us. Velocity. Are we people who say, holy spirit, what is it that you want from me? What do you want from me? I wanna do whatever it is available. God, use us. That's what we want here. We want the holy spirit of god to be so heavy on this place. When people step in the parking lot, they experience the power of god. moving in us. Because I think if we have people, all of us, say we wanna do these three things, we wanna be in the word of God, we wanna have great community, and we wanna have the holy spirit use us, we can change Spartanburg forever.”

52s

#DontBuildYourName

“``So they go directly against what god told them. They said, we don't wanna fill the earth anymore. We don't want to be scattered. We want to gather, and we want to create a name for ourselves. They begin to become people who are fully immersed in their own name, their own identity, their own power, their own prestige. They want to be the main character of the story. And god's like, I told you to scatter, to fill the earth. You're going against that. In fact, you're also trying to make yourselves the primary character in the story when you're not. It's me. So there's a direct opposition to what god had called them to do.”

57s

#ReawakenMyHeart

“``Right here. We just got a minute before the service is over. I just wanted to encourage you, challenge you to consider your trajectory. Where are you headed? I think there's some of us as Christians we've gotten in a rut, and we're not even thinking about this anymore. But God cares about it. if that's you, just pray this. God, I want you to reawaken my heart. I want you to reawaken the desire of my heart for you, and I want my trajectory to look like the one that you have for me.”

50s

#ShowMeMyTrajectory

“``So I would say this, God, show me my trajectory. You care about trajectory. What is my trajectory? And how can I, through the power of the Holy Spirit, spend time in the word, be in a community, do what you want in my life? Christian, this is what we should be constantly asking. Like, God, what do you want me to do with my life? Then there's the second question. I I didn't have this one written down, but I I just feel that this is probably good for us to consider. The question is, is there somebody that can help change their trajectory?”

30s

#BabelIsAboutLife

“``You know, many times when we hear the story, we're like, oh, that's cool. It's a cool fact that god confused the languages, and that's how we have languages today. And if you're into hearing how the bible describes the phenomenon we see in our life, this is an interesting story about how does this actually change my life? And what if I told you today that this story will? Because the story of the Tower Of Babel isn't really about languages, it's about life.”

40s

#TrajectoryAffectsEverything

“``So all that's a lot of fun. Right? But here's where this kinda comes to our life. All of us have a trajectory in our life, and god cares about it. And all of us are going somewhere and there are elements in our life that if we're not careful, will directly affect the future for us, for our marriage, for our children, and for our career. And if God cares about trajectory, so should you.”

73s

#PrayForThatOne

“``Maybe you have a son or daughter who's lost. They haven't been to church in a long time, don't care about the things of the Lord, but your heart breaks for them. Maybe you have a friend at work and you see them, you're like, man, they have so much potential, and I love them so much. But I know that they are are not the Lord's. They're gonna spend an eternity without God. You know, everybody has somebody. They have one person that they're praying for. They're like, man, I want that person to be in heaven. I have a person like that in my life. Actually have many. But when I think of this one particular person, I'm like, Lord, would you just let that person greet me in the new heavens? God, would they just fall at the face of Jesus? Everybody has somebody, a person, the one person that they're praying for. And I've burdened for those people. I want you to have the same burden, that we would change trajectory of people's lives from being about themselves and their name and their renown to being about the name and renown of Jesus.”

58s

#FriendsDriveTrajectory

“``what does that mean for us? There are things in your life that can help you accomplish trajectory, and there are things that'll hold you back. And the primary one of those are the friendships that you have. Your friendships will help you get closer to God or they will hold you back from following Jesus. And we even say this in this story where the people are like, hey, let's stay together and let's spread out and fill the earth. Together, as a group, God says, together, there's nothing that they can't do. And what he's meaning is he's meaning that there's nothing they can do to thwart his will. They're looking to overthrow God's rule and reign. They're looking to create a reality where they're building up a name that is not God's name and his renown. Do you see where I'm going here with this?”

52s

#YouAreYourFive

“``Friends define who we are. And I believe almost every single person in this room is a compilation of their five closest relationships. Those people shape you and make you who you are. This is why it's so important to choose wisely when you get married to somebody. Right? Like, when you marry somebody, you spend more time with them than anybody else. They have a great influence on their life. I've seen so many young women and young men choose people that seem to be really fun, and they seem to have a lot of resources, and they're very attractive, but their heart is not God's, and they bring down a young person who wants to please the Lord because that union is not aligned fully with God.”

79s

#WisdomFromTheWord

“``There are, again, many things in life that are not necessarily bad, but they affect your trajectory. And I don't know about you, but I want to be the kind of person that has the maximum trajectory that I can have in my life, and I think you would do too. I want that for you. So how do we get there? Let me just take us through three ways to get there that correspond to all three of these elements of trajectory. If there we can basically plot things out, what are those three things? So let's take them one by one. When it comes to the angle, remember, like, alright, let's angle this thing. Angling it straight up, didn't go very far. 45 degrees, maximum trajectory. How do we know how we can have the maximum trajectory for our life? I think the only way we can do that is to have the wisdom of God, to be people who are in the word of God. When he speaks to us, we can align ourselves not just with our own trajectory, but with where God is going and the trajectory of God's message and the gospel, God's purpose for your life.”

41s

#BringOneAug23

“``So on August 23, we're having one Sunday where I want you to bring your one person that you're praying for to come one time and hear the gospel. And I know that it could be scary, but you have an opportunity to change the trajectory of somebody's life forever. But you can't change theirs if yours is not fully committed to him. So let me just take just a moment. And I just want you to just consider, what is your trajectory and commit.”

25s

#YouCanChooseFriends

“``And here's here's what I think you just need to be thinking through when it comes to the relationships that you may have. You go, man, I man, may I I have great friends and they're helping me. Or maybe you're like, man, I don't have great friends. I'm I'm really kind of feeling the weight of that. I don't know what I can do about it. The most interesting thing about friendships is that you actually do have agency over the people that you let close to you.”

50s

#DecideToChange

“``So here's here's where I'm kind of wanting to land the plane. I want you to consider two things. Number one, I want you to think about about your trajectory. And, Kellen, why don't you come up? I wanna create a moment just for us to just just think about this. Here's the question I want you to think about. Where is my trajectory? What am I doing? Where am I going? And if you're you're not really doing these three things, if you're not in God's word, if you're not really pursuing great friends that love Jesus, if you're not being that kind of friend to somebody else, if you're not saying, holy spirit, what is it you want me to do? I want you to make a choice today to change.”

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What does Babel reveal about human ambition?

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Aligning Your Trajectory with God's Purpose

Devotional

Day 1: Building Towers or Building God’s Name?

Day 2: The Weight of Words Unshared

Day 3: Friends as Wind Resistance or Wings

Day 4: Holy Spirit Velocity in a Stomp Rocket Life

Day 5: Awakening the Trajectory of a Sleeping Heart

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Aligning Your Trajectory with God's Purpose

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