I. Recap & Intro.
A. Series recap.
1. Part I: Dream of the pillars in the church, holding the ceiling down. The sledgehammer brought them down, the ceiling went up and the wall fell away, extending our vision.
2. Part II: Growing from Exodus faith to Conquering faith. Growing in the Lord means that we will have to cross some rivers and face some giants. We overcome by faith, so our faith will need to grow from just believing God for rescue into faith that produces confidence in the Lord for victory.
3. Part III: We learned about power & authority. We have to know our fighting identity and fight from that reality. The enemy will try to make us angry or afraid to make us fight in the flesh and not in our identity in Christ. But Jesus has given us the ability and the authority to stand against the evil one.
4. Part IV: We talked about friendly fire. The Spirit warned us to stop fighting each other and instead encourage and support one another as we take ground the Lord has for us.
a. Don’t be carnally minded and divisive.
b. Don’t abuse the other sheep, bully them with words & attitudes.
c. Don’t be an unmerciful servant by withholding forgiveness & mercy.
d. Don’t spiritual gatekeep by preventing others from growing in the Lord.
5. Part V: Four steps to Freedom. As the Lord reveals the things that are keeping us from maturing in the Spirit, He gave us four steps to remove them and lighten our load to move higher up the mountain of the Lord. Recognize, repent, remove and resist.
6. Part VI: The Whole Armor of God. Every spiritual battle comes from one of three areas: demons, principalities and powers or our own mind. Demons we trample, principalities and powers we wrestle with in prayer, the word and fasting and our minds we renew and cast down strongholds.
7. Part VII: Time & Rest. Time was created for us to be a context for life, not to rule our lives. As Adam was created last on the 6th day and rested before he worked, we learn that we are meant to rest in God before we do the works that he has prepared for us. When we get rest & work out of order, we suffer in our spirit, soul and body.
8. Part VIII: Redeeming the Time and the difference between fruitfulness and productivity. Productivity is what comes from our hands, fruitfulness is about what comes from our life.
9. Part IX: Four Shifts to Make with our Money. The Lord will lead us out of debt if we trust and obey Him. He will redeem our finances as well as our lives.
a. Renew our minds about money by focusing on God’s unlimited resources.
b. Speak to the mountain of debt.
c. Imitate the Lord’s generosity.
d. Affirm the covenant by tithing.
10. Part X: Living a Simple Life. We make it our goal to resist the influence of evil spirits in the world by living a simple life that is focused on Christ. Focus on one treasure, One Master and one kingdom, one day at a time.
11. Part XI: The Origins of Our Community. We swim upstream, beyond denominational differences, beyond individual callings and preferences to the source of our community— our new birth into the family of God. We stop identifying ourselves and one another by titles and talents and embrace each other as children, fathers and mothers and young men and women in God’s family.
B. Today— Part XII and the final installment in this series, Awaken Your Expectancy.
1. There is a concept that many of us have been taught to use to help up deal with difficult situations that is summed up in the phrase “Manage your expectations” or “Lower your expectations’.
2. What this means is that we should keep our hopes grounded in reality.
3. I think this is wise in our relationships with the people as long as we don’t let this turn into judgement and criticism of them. We simply shouldn’t expect someone to meet our needs beyond their ability. It’s not fair to them and it breeds disappointment in us. We should be thankful for what they can do and give them room to grow in the Lord.
4. I think this is also a wise concept to use with politicians and lottery tickets. We shouldn’t be naive, but hope for the best while keeping in mind that we live in a fallen world.
5. HOWEVER… we often take this too far and transfer this onto our Heavenly Father as well. Scripture tells is NOT to manage or lower our expectations when it comes to God’s willingness and ability to care and provide for us.
a. We have learned to manage our disappointments by lowering our expectations, but somewhere along the way, we started lowering our expectations of God.
6. We tend to put too much hope in finite things and not enough hope in God’s infinite love, wisdom and power.
7. Today the Spirit wants to challenge us to awaken our expectations of God. To let go of all disappointments and unmet expectations and embrace the truth that with God all things are possible.
II. The Lord is Leading us into Deeper Waters.
A. Vision: the old wooden sailing ship.
1. I saw TRC on an old wooden sailing ship with three masts. The sails were full with the wind and the ship was moving fast. Everyone was happy and excited about this voyage. I didn’t see anyone at the ship’s wheel because the Spirit was directing the ship.
2. I asked the Lord what this meant and I heard “I am taking you into deeper waters.” This means that the Lord is doing a new thing in His people, He’s taking us to a new place in the Spirit. This will overflow from our spirits into our souls and bodies.
3. He is taking us deeper into the things of the Spirit and taking us out of the soul, out of the flesh. Out of striving, anxiety and worry and into trusting, peace and joy.
a. Away from rigid productivity and into fruitfulness in the Spirit.
4. But we have to believe God for this. We have to be willing to get out of our little rowboat and let go of the oars to climb aboard His ship and let the wind of the Spirit take us. The wind of the Spirit will take us places our strength never could.
III. Two case studies.
A. Ministry visit to Nazareth.
1. Matt 13:54-58
54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57a So they were offended at Him.
2. They accurately recognized everything about Jesus except Who He Was. They knew His history, but they didn’t know His identity.
a. They were amazed at what Jesus was saying now, but wondering why He had never said this before.
b. These are the words of God, but we know Jesus, and He doesn’t talk like this.
c. Jesus comes to His own with fresh revelation and new works of God, and yet His
own are offended and reject Him because they couldn’t see past what they knew about Him to realize Who He Was— the Son of God.
3. The Lord is saying to us “Don’t forget Who I Am!”
a. Knowledge will help you recognize Him, but it takes faith to receive Him.
b. Familiarity is not the same as faith.
4. Vs 57b “But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
5. Vs 54 says that his homies were astonished (amazed, greatly surprised) and that they recognized that He spoke with rare wisdom. The heard of His miracles and mighty works in other places because they said “Where did he get these mighty works?” (these abilities)
6. But Jesus had never done a miracle in His hometown. Scripture says in John 2:11 that His first miracle was turning the water into wine at the Wedding Feast of Cana. (“The beginning of signs and manifesting His glory…”) His ministry began elsewhere and He came home for a visit after He was released by the Spirit into ministry.
7. Jesus did something new and people were offended by it. When He preached to them, it was a new revelation and they couldn’t accept it because of their unbelief.
a. unbelief is apistia, it means without faith or without trust
8. Their inability to believe God and trust in Him prevented them from experiencing the power of God.
a. Jesus was among them, but He didn’t do much.
b. Not because His power was diminished, not because He was tired, etc.
c. Because they refused to believe and trust Him.
d. They knew everything about Him expect Who He really was.
9. They had a form of godliness but they denied the power of God. (2 Tim 3)
a. Jesus was in the form of God, but took on the form of man. (Phil 2)
b. He showed us the Father and His works bore witness of Who He was.
c. But they missed the power of God because they couldn’t see Who He was.
10. The same is true of many Christians today. We know so much about Jesus, but we forget that He’s our Teacher, our Healer, our Commander. The Lord says “I’m doing a new thing.” and we think “What? I’ve been a Christian my whole life, you’ve never done a new thing before, why now?” We think we know all His ways and can predict what He will or won’t do. But we have forgotten Who He really is.
B. The Gate Beautiful.
1. Acts 3:1-10
1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate
of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
2. In this account we see some of the same things that we saw in the Lord’s visit to Nazareth.
a. A person who was known for something their whole life.
b. The surrounding people recognize something had changed about this person.
c. They were filled with wonder and amazement.
3. But there are also some great differences between this account and Nazareth.
a. A person who went to the house of God looking for something good.
b. We see a person who was expecting something, he kept hope alive.
c. He gave them his attention, because he expected something good.
4. He was expecting little but he was given much. The lame man expected money, but he was given healing.
a. He expected enough to get by, God gave Him enough to get up.
5. He expected money for today, he was given the ability to earn money and provided for himself. The shame of begging was taken away, the vulnerability of being dependent on other people’s finances and attitudes was taken away. By healing him, God empowered him. God gave him his life back.
6. This encounter with God took place at the Beautiful Gate. How fitting that a man lame from birth is touched by the power of God at the Beautiful Gate.
a. In the place of our brokenness, God wants to do something beautiful for us.
b. What good is a gate to a man that can’t walk?
c. But even though he was lame, God gave him the ability to walk through it.
d. It was not just a gate into the Temple, it was a gateway into the rest of his life as a man healed and empowered by the Lord Jesus Christ.
7. And did you notice what Peter said to him? “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.!”
a. This miracle and the power of God came through belief in the same Jesus Who visited Nazareth.
b. Nothing changed about Jesus or His power.
c. The difference between this man’s encounter with Jesus and the Nazarenes encounter with Jesus was their expectation, their belief, their faith and trust in God.
IV. How to Awaken our Expectancy.
A. Let go of past disappointments and unmet expectations.
1. John the Baptist was disappointed and discouraged when he was in prison. He had publicly declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God, and yet when he was in prison, he sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him if He really was the Messiah.
2. Why? Because Jesus wasn’t doing what John expected. Jesus didn’t come as a political and military leader, He came as a servant. John had the wrong expectations about Jesus and when those weren’t met, he became discouraged and doubted the Lord.
3. Sometimes our disappointments are the result of misplaced expectation. We have to be willing to admit that, let go of the disappointment and trust the Lord to do good things for us.
4. Don’t allow what God has done in the past blind you to what God is doing today.
B. Stop being mad at God for not doing what you wanted Him to do in the past.
1. Jonah was angry with God for not destroying Nineveh. Jonah had judged them in hisheart and wanted them dead. But God is so merciful that He saw this gentile city in their sin and sent a prophet to preach repentance. When they repented of their sin, God had mercy and stayed His hand. Jonah was angry why God because he didn’t get his way.
2. We have to be careful that we don’t presume to know more than God about what’ is righteous and just. We have to be careful of getting mad at God when we don’t get our way or when He is merciful to those we are angry with.
3. How can God work a new thing in our life if we are angry with Him over His past acts?
C. Stop trying to control the outcome.
1. Abraham & Sarah had grown so tired of waiting for God to fulfill His promise that they took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested that Abraham have a child with their servant, Hagar, and Ishmael was born. We are still living with the consequences of them taking control out of impatience.
2. When we do this, our expectation shifts from God to ourselves. We stop trusting in His power and we trust in our own. We stop living for His plans and we come up with our own. And when our plans ultimately fail, we get discouraged and our expectation withers away.
3. In faith we cooperate with God, but when we get impatient, we compete with Him.
D. Become like a child.
1. The people of Nazareth knew all about Him, but they couldn’t see Who He really was.
2. We can be so familiar with God that we assume we know all that He will ever say and do. We stop trusting and expecting anything great from the Lord and we’re just going through the motions.
3. Matt 18:2&3
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
b. converted: strepho, turn yourself from a course of conduct, change your mind
c. childlike: trust, wonder, anything is possible
d. childish: selfish, immature, lacking emotional control
4. Childishness demands that God do things our way. Childlike faith trusts Him to do things His way. Children don’t need to understand everything about their father to trust him.
5. We have to stop scowling and crying over the past. I’m not trying to diminish what anyone has gone through. I heard the Lord say “You went through fire and water, but I was with you.” Don’t stay in the past in your heart or your mind, acknowledge the suffering, praise God that He kept you throw it, but it was just a chapter in you greater story. Let the Lord write a new chapter in your life. He is the Author and Perfector of your faith.
6. Cynicism is just disappointment disguised as wisdom. Never let your experience determine your expectation.
E. Look to God expecting something good from Him.
1. The lame man at the Beautiful Gate “gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.” We need to look to the Lord with the same attitude of expectation in our hearts.
2. It will help to meditate on the scriptures of God’s goodness and power toward us who believe.
3. Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,”
4. Psalm 62:5 “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.”
V. Final thoughts.
A. Back to the beginning.
1. Twelve weeks ago, we began this journey with a vision of pillars that were holding down the ceiling of the church.
2. The Lord brought those pillars down, the ceiling went up, and the wall fell away. And suddenly, we could see farther than we had seen before.
3. God isn’t just removing the things that have limited us. He’s inviting us to believe Him for things we haven’t seen yet.
4. We’ve talked about growing in faith, walking in authority, loving one another, finding freedom, resting in Christ, redeeming our time, trusting God with our finances, simplifying our lives, and rediscovering who we are as the family of God.
5. But what good is removing the ceiling if we continue living as though it’s still there? What good is opening the door if we’re afraid to walk through it? What good is raising the sails if we refuse to trust the wind?
6. The Lord is taking us into deeper waters, and deeper waters will require deeper trust.
7. We cannot navigate this next season by relying entirely on what we’ve known, what we’ve experienced, or what we’ve accomplished in the past.
8. We have to recover the joyful expectation that our Father is good, that His wisdom is perfect, that His power has not diminished, and that His purposes are greater than anything we could accomplish on our own.
B. “Behold, I do a new thing.”
1. Isaiah 43:18&19
18 “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”