Mediocre Expectations

Mediocre Expectations

March 4, 2012 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: God has so much more to give than for what we ask. God expects great things from us, too.

Focus Passage: Acts 3:1-10

Supplemental Passage: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:7-11 NASB)

Introduction: In some countries you have to watch your P's and Q's. In Mexico, however, when you take a bath or shower, better watch your H's and C's as well. An "H" on the faucet means Helado -- cold. A "C" means caliente -- hot. For the unsuspecting, the result can be a bit surprising. Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 3.

I. Expectations for Church

a. Do we expect to grow in numbers?

b. Do we expect to grow spiritually?

c. Do we expect God to use us in Wagoner? In Oklahoma? In America? In the uttermost parts of the earth?

d. Or do we not expect God to do anything at all?

e. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8 NASB)

II. Expectations for Family

a. Do we expect God to be at work in others?

b. Do we expect God to change them? (Jesus cleans His own fish)

c. Or do we not expect God to do anything at all? Do we not expect God to save someone for whom you’ve been praying for years?

d. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25 NASB)

III. Expectations for Self

a. Do you expect God to use you?

b. Do you expect God to change you to be more like Jesus?

c. Do you expect God to be at work in you for His Kingdom purposes?

d. Or do you just expect God to ignore you or make you do it alone?

e. for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 NASB)

IV. What does God expect from us?

a. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB)

b. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter 1:14-16 NASB)

c. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Psalms 51:16-17 NASB)

d. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB)

Invitation:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, (Ephesians 3:20 NASB)