Those who know me well have probably heard me over and over again on this subject but I felt compelled to jot it down anyway. It started with a sermon that I heard from Pastor Greg at The Crossing, but has grown into somewhat of a personal montra.....LOL
John 6:1-2 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
Throughout the New Testament we hear about Jesus drawing crowds and crowds following Him. They had seen or heard testimony of His teachings and the miracles He performed. In some cases they had also heard or seen the friction he was starting in the Jewish community especially among the Pharisees and Leaders.
John 11:45 - 48 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
John 12:42 - 43 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
We know they followed because of the things they had witnessed, but what about their future? What expectations did they have? Could they possibly know what the future held? There had to be an air of uncertainty among His followers. He did not play by the rules set forth by earthly leaders, and He certainly was NOT predictable, yet they followed. Some of them even faced persecution and they followed.
We often times look to God with expectation. We pray for God to heal this person, or to mend this relationship or to grant us something we feel we need. The problem with this expectation is that often we can miss what God has in store for us because we are so focused on our expectation.
When the Israelites cried out to God in Egypt for Him to save them from their captors, He sent Moses. Moses wasn’t at all what they were expecting, in fact at one point they rejected him and asked him to leave them so they could remain in captivity.
Exodus 14:10 - 12 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
This happened directly before God parted the waters for them and delivered them from their enemy FOR GOOD. The Pharaoh and his armies were completely destroyed. The Israelites never had to look over their shoulder wondering when Pharaoh would catch up to them. God had a plan greater than anything they ever anticipated.
In this same way they rejected Jesus…
John 7:42 Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?"
We look to God with our earthly expectations. God sees a perfect picture. One not clouded by judgment or by limits. He can do things for us that we cannot even fathom. He can open doors we consider locked.
Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
This is the difference between expectation and expectancy…..We know that God loves us. We know that He will work all things to the good of those who love Him. We know he wants to prosper us and not to harm us. We know that He is all powerful. Look to Him with expectancy, not expectation. We need to stop expecting our version of what we see to be the answer to our troubles and be open to a greater vision. We may be praying for a change in others, when it is us that He wants to grow. (I find that often to be the case with me at least.) We need to stop sitting in the church thinking, “boy, I wish _____ were here to hear this message” and listen to what God has in store for us. We do not know that the future holds when we follow Him, but we do know it’s going to be good!
1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
John 6:1-2 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
Throughout the New Testament we hear about Jesus drawing crowds and crowds following Him. They had seen or heard testimony of His teachings and the miracles He performed. In some cases they had also heard or seen the friction he was starting in the Jewish community especially among the Pharisees and Leaders.
John 11:45 - 48 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
John 12:42 - 43 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
We know they followed because of the things they had witnessed, but what about their future? What expectations did they have? Could they possibly know what the future held? There had to be an air of uncertainty among His followers. He did not play by the rules set forth by earthly leaders, and He certainly was NOT predictable, yet they followed. Some of them even faced persecution and they followed.
We often times look to God with expectation. We pray for God to heal this person, or to mend this relationship or to grant us something we feel we need. The problem with this expectation is that often we can miss what God has in store for us because we are so focused on our expectation.
When the Israelites cried out to God in Egypt for Him to save them from their captors, He sent Moses. Moses wasn’t at all what they were expecting, in fact at one point they rejected him and asked him to leave them so they could remain in captivity.
Exodus 14:10 - 12 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
This happened directly before God parted the waters for them and delivered them from their enemy FOR GOOD. The Pharaoh and his armies were completely destroyed. The Israelites never had to look over their shoulder wondering when Pharaoh would catch up to them. God had a plan greater than anything they ever anticipated.
In this same way they rejected Jesus…
John 7:42 Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?"
We look to God with our earthly expectations. God sees a perfect picture. One not clouded by judgment or by limits. He can do things for us that we cannot even fathom. He can open doors we consider locked.
Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
This is the difference between expectation and expectancy…..We know that God loves us. We know that He will work all things to the good of those who love Him. We know he wants to prosper us and not to harm us. We know that He is all powerful. Look to Him with expectancy, not expectation. We need to stop expecting our version of what we see to be the answer to our troubles and be open to a greater vision. We may be praying for a change in others, when it is us that He wants to grow. (I find that often to be the case with me at least.) We need to stop sitting in the church thinking, “boy, I wish _____ were here to hear this message” and listen to what God has in store for us. We do not know that the future holds when we follow Him, but we do know it’s going to be good!
1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
No comments:
Post a Comment