Expanding our Expectations
And pursue those expectations with anticipation
Psalms 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Ephesians 3: 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
This message was birthed out of prayer week. Specifically, when we gathered to pray concerning our church and church ministries.
As I began, to pray I found myself praying, “Lord expand my expectations of what church is about.”
I then found myself praying Lord help me to pursue you so that I might realize my expanded expectations.
It is all about pursuit. Productive pursuit is pursuing Him in obedience.
I.E. Trying to hunt a deer in downtown OKC. You can buy all the latest gadgets and guns but you will never find a deer in downtown cause its not the deer’s environment. You can have the prettiest voice and give the most in the offering and still miss God. God operates in the environment of obedience and if you want to catch Him you must pursue Him in obedience.
Once I am pursuing Him in obedience my expectations will begin to expand and continue to expand because verse 20 says
He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Said another way my expectations will never be so great that God is not able to more than meet them.
Matthew Henry adds this commentary
“There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace and mercy in God, which the prayers of all the saints can never draw dry. Whatever we may ask, or think to ask, still God is still able to do more, abundantly more, exceedingly abundantly more. Open thy mouth ever so wide, still he hath wherewithal to fill it.”
Considering the fact that no matter how big you dream (I use dream cause most ask far below what they dream) but if we would be so bold to ask for or seriously think about what only we dare dream about even that is far below what God can deliver. For the Bible says He can’t do a little bit better or even a whole lot better but ABUNDANTLY better. In fact the word exceeding implies that abundant is not even a word big enough in meaning to describe what He is able to do.
But our expectations limit what we receive from God. I didn’t say that our expectations limit God’s abundance because God’s got it whether you or I are getting it or not.
Before I go into specific areas I want to look at the two words expand and expectation so we are on the same page.
The word expand means to enlarge or spread out.
The word expectation means eager anticipation.
When I expand my expectations I am enlarging my anticipation.
I want to challenge you to expand your expectations in three areas and I believe that number will expand, if you will, as you explore other areas of your life.
First, I challenge you to expand your expectations of church. Now lets be honest for a moment and ask yourself about what you were thinking about before you got here and don’t try to make yourself feel good by thinking of the standard so called Sunday school answer. I suspect you as well as myself might have thought about or even said some of these things…I wish so and so would hurry up or I’m going to be late. I hope the doughnuts are good and the coffee is ready. I hope we sing this song and don’t sing that song. I wonder if so and so will be there and who will I sit by. I sure hope the pastor quits by noon and if he expects me to pray he better make it 11:45. Perhaps you came to church arguing or even thinking I would rather just stay home tonight and try to find something wrong with us or our kids to give us an excuse.
The list goes on and on but how many came anticipating somebody getting saved or healed. Now again I am looking for honesty not a pat answer to impress the pastor.
How many of us came tonight anticipating folks breaking through the roof lowering a lame man and the power of God touch and heal him.
In the story of the lame man in Acts chapter 3, one of the thing that stands out most to me is the fact the word says the man was laid there daily.
Every day the church crowd went right on past this man on their way to church to sing about how God is able to heal.
After they pursued God their expectations expanded greatly.
You say Mike you are crazy and out of your mind…Yes to expand our expectations requires us to think outside the box to begin to base our expectations on what HE IS ABLE TO DO and not what we are able to think or do. BECAUSE HE IS ABLE TO DO ABUNDATELY MORE!!
Church is more than a social club and a gabfest. It is more than a fashion show or a dating agency. Church is where the unsaved find salvation and the sick find healing and the saved lift their voices and praise and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and it’s a place where the pastor throws the life line for the unsaved and disciplines the saved. It is a place where we are challenged to go out into an unchurched neighborhood and compel folks to come meet a man called Jesus who is able to save their soul and heal their diseases and set the captive free.
Let us enlarge our anticipation of what church is about. Think right now about an idea church service what would it look like not what it looks like now but what would it look like and go crazy with it what do you see….NOW GOD SAYS I AM ABLE TO DO ABUNDANTLY MORE THAN YOU ARE THINKING RIGHT NOW
Secondly, Let us expand our expectation of what God is able to do in our lives. So many times we seem to feel as though if God had a totem pole we would be the low man or woman on the totem pole.
We dare not think big or dream big because big thinking can lead to big failure and big failure can lead to big embarrassment and big embarrassment leads to a pride issue…IMAGING THAT IT ALL COMES BACK TO PRIDE and sometimes pride is disguised as humility. There is a difference in being humble and being to proud to try. BELIEVE ME I KNOW THIS ONE VERY WELL.
I kind of mentioned this in Sunday school but I want to mention it again and that is Aaron was chosen to help Moses only after Moses pride got in the way. He was not an eloquent speaker and therefore He wanted a mouthpiece. God said He would be with Him but Moses continue to offer an excuse of why He needed a mouthpiece.
Moses was humble for believing he was unable in his own strength to convince pharaoh to let the Israelites go and convince the Israelites he was sent by God to deliver them, but He was prideful in not believing that God was able to work through him and give him the confidence and the words to say when the time came.
The point is this we need to be humble and know that without God we can do nothing but we must release our pride and know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Your age is not a prerequisite for doing something great for God. David was a young man when he single handedly defeated the philistines because when they saw what he did to goliath they took off running.
Your education is not a prerequisite for doing something great for God. Don’t think because you didn’t graduate from school that you could never do something great for God. David spent his time in a field-watching sheep not at Harvard.
God can do great things through ordinary people. In fact he prefers ordinary people because that way there is no debate over who is in control and deserves the credit.
I challenge you to go home and ask God what it is that He would have you do and not allow your limitations in life to hinder your expectations. He can do abundantly more than you could ask or think.
Finally, Let us expand our expectations of what grace is all about. First grace is not a genie in the bottle. It is not let me go and do whatever feels good and then I will rub the magic bottle and out will pop the grace genie and all will be forgiven and I can continue to do whatever I want as long as I have the bottle.
Grace is not grace to sin but grace to forgive sin in pursuit of perfection. You say perfection. Yes expand your expectation. We sing to be like Jesus, to be like him. Well guess what…HE WAS PERFECT and we should strive for nothing less.
Are you perfect Mike? Well yes but I am the exception ha-ha. But because I cant show you one perfect person on this earth does not excuse me from pursuing perfection. Because my example is not to live up to other people but to BE LIKE HIM!
Now that wasn’t even where I was going I just throw that in free of charge and postage paid.
When I say let us expand our expectation about grace I am saying let us enlarge our anticipation of the power and depth of grace.
Another words God’s grace is not just for the good ole boy it is also for a wretch like me.
When is the last time that you prayed the Lord save Sadaam Hussein or Fidel Castro or the person(s) who did you wrong so many years ago. When is the last time that you anticipated the drug dealer getting saved or the prostitute coming through the doors and receiving God’s grace.
You see we seem to sometimes reserve grace for those we love. Now you don’t have to say it or you can even say you don’t feel that way but many times actions or lack of action tells another story.
Think about Jonah for a moment. He was a guy who was big on God’s grace until that grace was afforded to the people who made it their goal in life to persecute Jonahs people.
The reason he fled was he didn’t want to see those people saved plain and simple. And I feel the conviction when I find myself saying there is no hope for so and so…Folks probably thought the same thing about Paul and some of you might of thought the same thing about me.
But lets expand our expectations lets start believing that God’s grace is for all people regardless of race, religion, creed, OR DEED. His grace is for all people. NO WONDER THE SONG WRITER CALLS IT AMAZING GRACE!
Right now think about the person you have a hard time seeing God save and know that HE IS ABLE TO DO ABUNDANTLY MORE another words He is able not only to save the person you have in mind but somebody 1,000 times worse.
In closing, All of this tonight hinges on our pursuit of Christ. If we want church to become something greater than what we could ever imagine it takes pursuit. If we want God to save those that seem to not even know he exists we must pursue Him. If you want God to use you like never before you must pursue Him. I invite you tonight to pursue God with expanded expectations.
