God's Expectations For Us | Rev Paul White

hallelujah praise the lord one more time for that tonight hallelujah blessing and honor wisdom and power belongeth unto him tonight amen thank you singers for helping out amen doing such a great job amen of singing and praising the lord tonight amen it's just an honor to be in the house of lords it's an honor and privilege to be up here amen i give honor to pastor carpenter and his wife i thank god for pastor carpenter sister carpenter for speaking into my life into my family's life into our lives collectively and individually i thankful for that that god loved us enough you know god loved israel enough to give them david as their king god loved marvel enough to give us pastors such a carpenter to be our leaders and the pastoral staff the ericksons the hammonds the other carpenter family the young carpenters and all the staff amen but i'm especially thankful for the blood of jesus christ that cleanses us and washes us amen you know that anything can happen tonight i know it's wednesday night and i know that the crowd is down but that doesn't affect god god doesn't look at us all collectively he looks at us individually he's come tonight to say what are you going to bring me in worship and what i'm only what am i going to give you in return amen and anything is possible we're so glad for all of our visitors that are here tonight amen we're thankful that you would take time to be with us in the presence of the lord jeremiah the 29th chapter if you would turn with us tonight those of you in sevierville last night you got a head start on the rest of us amen as i was able to minister to you last night so act like you haven't heard before just holler and yell amen those of you that were in several jeremiah chapter 29 i knew i'd be ministering uh for the last uh two or three weeks or so and i struggled and struggled had a thought worked on a thought tried to piece it together but could not come together and uh could not put anything anything together and uh come saturday night it gets a little scary when you know you got to get ready to preach wednesday and you're working you know tuesday and wednesday and and so sunday morning before sunday school when i was at the house you know the thought came to me just look at some of your notes you have on your phone so i picked out my phone like that and there was just a couple of the lines i had put in there from a time a few a few weeks ago back and it just struck me i'm like thank god that something came to my mind but the reason i mentioned that is because pastor sunday night if you remember he said that he was praying and just couldn't get anything together for sunday night and then the lord just kind of spoke to him sunday night and his title was really interesting to me because his title was along along the lines of what i believe that god spoke to my heart for sunday morning so we're excited about that god is just kind of confirming to our hearts and minds jeremiah the 29th chapter and reading the 11th verse this is god speaking to his people a well-known scripture the lord says for i know the thoughts that i think toward you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end for i know the thoughts that i think toward you says the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end i'd like to bring to you tonight just a few moments god's expectations for us god's expectations for us you know god has some expectations for you tonight uh-huh yeah we're going to look a little bit about it tonight in the word of the lord jesus we thank you for your word we thank you for your power and your presence god right now we need the visitation of the holy ghost god this is more than just a collective body of people just gathered to fellowship god we need the holy ghost to set free to deliver god i need the spirit of god to flow through me in a mighty way god there are lives that need a touch of the spirit of god there are chains that need to be broken there are decisions that need to be made the holy ghost just needs to visit with us god and let your word go forth god let me do a good job delivering the word of god let it set free god let the anointed god word touch lives touch hearts and god we're going to believe you for it we'll give you praise for it and give you thanks and somebody said in jesus name amen you may be seated in the house of the lord tonight amen you know i'm just excited to know that god is for us and not against us and let me say it again because god is here anything anything can happen it just depends on our faith and belief in him jeremiah the writer writes it's concerning the lord's thoughts and he says i have thoughts toward you i'm thinking about you one of the transliterations of that is for i know the plans that i have toward you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope i'm glad tonight to know that if god is thinking anything towards me i'm glad to know that the bible says god's thoughts are toward us and not against us there's enough thoughts against us already there's people who think against you there are family members who may be thinking against you you may even be thinking against yourself a lot of times but i'm glad to know that god thinks toward us that word thoughts is plans as a few weeks ago i was sitting in the service and i i don't remember why i was thinking that but or thinking these thoughts but i was just sitting there looking at this magnificent building and all the beautiful pieces of it and and all the architectural design and and the things that went into it and of course some great costs that this was to build and i began to think you know if this is the house of god as we know that it is i wonder where i would fit into this house and i began to think about that you know i probably would be somewhere in the back closet upstairs probably a sheetrock screw in one little corner that no one will ever see no one will ever know about i'm just a little little sheetrock screw probably somewhere up there no one will ever know and i began to think about that you know it doesn't matter where i'm at in this building as long as i'm in this building somewhere in this house in the plans of god it doesn't matter if i'm a piece of carpet if i'm a part of a pulpit or if i'm a piece of a tape mudded tape back there somewhere in the back i just want to be a part of the house of god so it doesn't matter exactly where you are in this house you're still part of the house of god and you're still part of the plans because god has plans for us you know when you're when you're looking at this beautiful building or a house that you may live in you don't see a lot of what it took to build this place now i am not a contractor we have contractors here thank god now i have helped build a house before in time past thank you brother hawkins for giving me some of these house plans to look at uh for this service but uh the lord says i know the plans that i have for you i saw the plans briefly for this building it was pages and pages of plans of this for this building and when it comes to plans the interesting thing about plans is when you're looking at plans you see what you cannot see when it's finished in other words when you're looking at plans and the contractor or builders going through plans we may drive up to a house and we see the beautiful columns we see the pretty grass we see the lovely front doors from painted a red color or we see the bricks on the side but when you look at the plans you see a whole lot deeper than that because in the plans you see the steps it took to build this house there is the hvac system that someone had to look at and measure out there's the plumbing that had to be laid just right so that the pipes and lines can be laid down so the mortar and the brick and all that can be placed in the spots that should be placed in then you have all the electrical grids and the wiring that goes behind the walls that you'll never see the thermostats and all of these things it takes to build a building so when a builder looks at this building he sees things that we don't see he knows the details and intricacies that it took to build this platform and the stability that it took to build this and the the security system that some of us had the ability to run wires behind the wall so it could reach to a keypad and to a door things you'll never see as you walk in this building but the master builder and the architect he can see things in the plans that we don't see when we walk in and every part is dependence on another part for example there's no need to have the sheetrock guys there if i haven't poured the foundation yet there's no need to be picking out well you can pick out your chandeliers but if you don't have the electricity ran also going to do is just sit there until you get the electricity ran so there's a lot of things that are dependent on other things now of course i know sometimes there's some parts of the plans in the contractors who don't feel like they need anybody else the plumbers may not feel like they need the hvac guys and maybe the electricians don't feel like they need the plumbers because they're doing their own thing but when it all comes together it all builds upon one another so when you look at this building when you look at this house of god there's a whole lot to it that we don't see with the natural eye such it is with us as individuals when you look at a brother or sister or you look at a neighbor or a friend there's a lot more to them than what you can just see from the externals there's a whole lot more than their jacket or their tie or their skirt or their hairpins there's a whole lot of development and building that you may never see but there is one that knows the plans that he has for us there is one that knows exactly how you were designed exactly how you were built and when he looks at you he doesn't look at you like i look at you because i don't see what it took for him to build you oh yeah i know you don't like that guy over there paul but you don't know what it took to build that man oh yeah i know that she's got some issues over there and and all you make and see is how frustrated she is or how she's acting but i go deeper than what you can look at and i see what it took to bring her here i see what she went through as a child i see what she went through as a teenager i see the heartache and heart the aches and pains of the heartbreaks that he went through to bring them here sometimes all i can see is just a man or a woman walking down the aisle sitting on a seat but somewhere there is a guy that says you know what i've been watching you a long time i've been studying how i made you and i know what you've been through and i know what you've been going through and i more than anyone else the lord says i'm glad you are here the lord says he knows the plans that he has for us so you may not feel like you're very important in this house of god maybe in this even kingdom of god you may feel unimportant but i tell you everything is important to the builder if i leave you may say who will notice will it matter it will it will matter to god as i mentioned last night the lord looks at us individually when i i liken this to the choir when i listened to the choir scene and sometimes i'm out there in the crowd listening maybe i was late i wasn't feeling good or had a bad attitude and didn't want to sing i'm kidding are you all here you're here okay so sometimes i'm out there in the crowd and i hear the crowd the choir singing i can just get moved by all the voices and the harmony and the sopranos and tenors and and how they split and do this and then i can just get moved by how it sounds but do you know how god hears it i think god hears it as 120 individual singers he's not swayed by the sound of 120 at one time he listens to each man and each woman yup you're off key but i still love you yeah you made a mistake yesterday but i don't hate you yeah i know you got problems at home and you're wondering how it's going to work out just keep singing and while you're singing i'm just going to visit with you and as we sing collectively to the crowd that listens there is one who listens to us individually and he knows exactly what it took to get us where we are that's how important we are to him so it matters not how big this congregation gets you're still important to god that's like the writer said can the body can a member of the body say to another i don't need you can the eyes say to the ear i don't need you can the hand say to the kidney i don't see him i don't need you can the foot say to the nose i don't need you it cannot the bible says every part even the un scumly parts are made more precious because we are all a part because we are all part of his plan so the lord says i know the thoughts or the plans that i think toward you thoughts of peace and not of evil tonight i've just come simply to tell you that god has some expectations for you and i want to let you know up front quickly as i began it's not bad his expectations are not bad now the devil will sometimes make us think it's bad well you messed up you made a mistake you've done wrong so pretty much god's waiting to bop you in the head god's waiting to give you some guilt and shame because you deserve it god doesn't look at us in that way doesn't mean god condones nor dismisses sin but god has us through levels of his love and character so you say brother white god says he thinks about me what does all that mean well let's look at what the bible has to say a little bit about god's thoughts again this is not our thoughts this is what god's thinking about you psalms chapter 40 verse 5. the writer says many o lord my god are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us word they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if i would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered that's what the psalmist said lord your thoughts are more than i could imagine you think about me more than i even understand or could acknowledge now i'm going to be honest with you i'm not that very entertaining person i'm not that very likable at times there's not a lot a lot about me that would entertain somebody to think upon me more than just a couple of minutes but the writers said god you think about me so much i couldn't even imagine counting up your thoughts toward me it's pretty impressive that god would think about you that much what does isaiah 55 say about it isaiah 55 verse 6 seek ye the lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our god for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts that ought to make us excited right there to know that god does not look at things the way we do he doesn't think about things the way we do he looks at us for an opportunity to help finish what he has started i'm glad god doesn't think about me the way i do sometimes you ever have negative thoughts toward yourself yeah you ever just thought to yourself man you are just one big dummy you blew it you made mistakes you're as bad as they say you are you're as bad as i think i am you know i am just and i've called myself many a name thinking about myself and so because i think about myself sometimes that way i think god probably looks at me like that sometimes well god you know i messed up i'm a dirty rotten scoundrel i'm a dirty dog i know you hate me just as bad as i hate myself but the writers said my thoughts are not your thoughts let the wicked forsake his way unrighteous man his thoughts let him let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts and let him return unto the lord he will have mercy because his thoughts are not our thoughts his ways are above our way so what does god think about you tonight what is god's plans have you have you thought about it lately god just talk to me what do you think about me huh what do you think about me today what are your thoughts toward me when you get up in the morning do you ever just say god what are your plans today for me what's in your mind for me to do today what are we going to do god we're going to heal the sick raise the dead we're going to get fired what's going on what's going what's going to happen today no matter what it is god's going to be with you no matter if you get a raise you get fired you have good day or a bad day his thoughts are with you and his thoughts are for you psalms 139 i'm going to read several verses psalms 139 to the chief musician a psalm of david now we talked about plans a little bit ago god is so involved in his thoughts toward us god knew us of course before we were born right god knows us better than we know ourselves he knows us better than our spouses our children he knows us better than pastor knows us but sometimes he shares what he knows with pastor that makes people nervous sometimes because god knows us how well does god know me how much does he think about me what kind of thoughts does he have me psalms 139 oh lord thou has searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising thou understandeth my thoughts are far off thou compassest my path and my lying down and arts acquainted with all my ways good and bad for there is not a word in my tongue but lo oh lord thou knowest it all together thou has beset me behind and before and lay thine hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high i cannot attain unto it god you're blowing my mind just to think that you would take time to think about me whether shall i go from thy spirit or whether shall i flee from thy presence god i want to take a little vacation from your mind god i don't want to be on your mind so much so i'm just going to run away and hide from you for just a little bit i want to get away from your thoughts he said but where can i go where can i flee if i ascend up into heaven thou art there if i make my bed in hell behold thou art there there are some days when we feel like we're touching heaven and there are some days when we feel the heat of hell but it matters not whether you're high or whether you're low god is still thinking about you if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me if i say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be lights about me yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee and then it gets real real personal verse 13 for thou has possessed my reigns that has covered me in my mother's womb i will praise thee for i am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee when i was made in secret this is him talking about being in the womb of his mother he says while i was in the secrecy of the womb my substance was not hidden from you and when i was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them how precious also are thy thoughts unto me o god how great is the sum of them the writer in psalms 139 says god you think about me as a matter of fact you are so personal in your planning of my life while i was in my mother's womb you saw me before my fingers had fingerprints you knew who i was before my hair came in blonde red or bald you knew what i was going to be before my parents called me junior or whatever you knew who i was you had my days planned out while i was still in my mother's womb he said god these thoughts are magnificent and how great is the sum of all of these if i should count them there are more in number than the sand when i awake i am still with thee this is god's thoughts tonight toward you it matters not if you've been in church 122 years or if you just came for the first time tonight god is thinking about you god's not thinking about ways to punish god's not thinking about ways to hurt god's thinking about how he can fulfill his plan and his design in our lives that's what's so wonderful about grace and mercy as i mentioned last night the great thing about preaching and why pastor preaches and sometimes he gets on our feet he steps on our feet and we feel guilt and we feel bad what is that that's god's mercy talking to us it's god saying hey i've got some plans for you i need you to do a little adjustment here and there if god wanted us lost he would say nothing if god didn't care if you were lost or not he wouldn't whisper a word to you but when you feel that convicting hand of god when you feel your conscience ah i shouldn't have done that or i need to do that what is that god that's god just speaking his thoughts into your heart into your mind i know you you're better than that i made you for more than that i don't care what man has said i don't care what kind of label they put on you there are people in the bible who were labeled you know he's the blind man she's the harlot he is the leprous man he's the lame man they had labels given to them by men and by women but when we walk in this church and in the presence of god god does not look at us by the label that man has given us god does not look at us by the label our parents have given us he doesn't look at the label by what we've given ourselves god says i've got some plans for you i've got some designs for you and you may they may call you this they may call you broken they may call you divorced they may call you leprosy they may call you unfit and unwed and embarrassment but i've got a hope and i've got a promise for you and i've got some plans and thoughts for you that's how god thinks about you that all makes somebody just clap your hand just a little bit tonight amen i'm not worthy of his thoughts i'm not worthy of his time that's what's so great about grace and mercy why is it so wonderful god because when we were alcoholics when we were drug addicts when we were mongers and prostitutes and liars god came to us and said hey i've got you a better life than that i've got more plans for you than that i can change you and when we got in the presence of almighty god repented of our sins got baptized in jesus name god filled the holy ghost god said i can make out of you what i originally saw in you god has thoughts toward us he has plans to give us an expected end so in jeremiah 29 when the lord writes these verses to his people he is not writing to a victorious group of people he's not writing to people who are woo singing and dancing having a sunday night hoedown worship service he is writing to the exiles in babylon these are those who have been taken captive by nebuchadnezzar they've been carried away from jerusalem to babylon these are captives of an enemy host that has now taken them from their homeland and has revis resettled them into a land not their own because they have been disobedient to god because they had turned their back on god they are now suffering the judgments of what was to happen and in jeremiah 29 the lord writes a letter by the hand of jeremiah and says to the people you are going to be in this land for 70 years while you're in this land build houses let your sons get married let your daughters get married build up and grow and develop in your land of captivity he says you're going to be here for a while and there's going to be compete there's going to come people that are going to be diviners and they're going to say say to you god's going to do this god's going to do that you're going to get out early and all this the lord said don't believe him you're going to be here for 70 years but while you're here develop yourselves grow and replenish so he tells them all of that man god you're telling me i'm going to go through a hard time for a long time you're telling me i'm going to be held captive for 70 years are you kidding me you're telling me just to go ahead and and live while i'm in captivity to the best of my ability to do the best i can god said that's what i'm saying god said i know you're going through a hard time right now i know you're going through troubled times i know you may feel guilt and shame for some of this because it might have been some of the things that were done that you did that caused this and i know it don't look good right now and in the middle of all that god slips in verse 11. he says i know it's tough right now he says but i know the plans that i've got for you i know the thoughts that i've got for you to give you peace and not evil right in the middle of their captivity right in the middle of everything going wrong god steps in and says well wait a minute before you give in in discouragement and in despair before you think this is the final final straw and i've turned my back on you i just want to tell you right now in the middle of your demise i've got plans for you so tonight what i've come to tell you this no matter what you're going through no matter what you're facing it may be dark it may be bad it may be gloomy but right in the middle of your trying time god will step right in the middle say hey by the way i won't let you know i'm not done with you i'm not giving up on you you might be making mistakes you might be having problems right now you may not understand why you're going through what you're going through but god steps up and says hey i've got plans for you it might not be tomorrow you see it it may not be next week when you see it but i've got some thoughts i've got some plans for you and i just wanted to come by in the middle of your captivity to tell you don't throw in the towel don't give up and don't quit because i've got an expected end for you so to a motley crew of individuals suffering and hurting and complaining god gives them a promise not to a church on fire on a sunday night but to a man to woman to a family member who was struggling and banging their hand upon their bed tonight god where are you god why am i going through this i don't understand and just in that moment god whispers and says i'm thinking about you job said if i could just find where he is i look on my left where he works i can't find him i look before i look behind i look to my right and i can't find him job said if i can just know where he is if i can just know that he knows where i'm at i can make it through anything and in the middle of their captivity the lord says i am thinking about you he says i know the thoughts the plans that i have for you for peace and not of evil and then he says this he says to give you an expected end god has some expectations for us pastor preached tonight about us having a spirit of expectation but you know god has expectations for us to give me an expected end what does that mean i looked it up and that word is a hebrew word meaning tikvah t-i-k-v-a-w tick ball you guys use that word a lot no i didn't think so me either tikvah so i thought what the world does that mean so i looked it up and uh i saw what the literal meaning of the word expected is that word expected literally means a line or a chord well that's kind of weird so you know god is thinking about me he's got plans for me he knows the layers of my life he's thinking about me he's got plans for me to give me a a rope to give me a cord i thought well that's kind of interesting you know literally it means cord or rope figuratively of course it means it means hope i began to think about that and i and i realized that that word is used somewhere else in the bible joshua the second chapter the children of israel are crossing over into the promised land and now they find themselves facing a city by the name of jericho walls so thick you can't get over it you can't go through it you can't go around it a city builded with this strength and with this power a city that stands there and mocks the children of israel dares them to endeavor to try to knock the walls down so joshua sends a couple of spies in in joshua chapter 2 joshua sends a couple of spies there to spy out the city see what's going on find out what the lay of the land is so to speak and so they're ready they're looking around and they get found out and someone somehow finds out that the children of israel have a couple spies the king gets all up in arms the leadership gets all in a tizzy they're all scared and worried you know and they're all going crazy and uh those are looking for these spies my god let's find these who these guys are the children of israel they're going to be coming out here trying to mess with us that's just fine as they start looking for them and these two guys end up in a in a house on a roof of a name of a woman named rahab again one of those titles rehab the you know it rehab the harlot interesting place for those guys to find themselves and but they find themselves hiding in her place she allows them to come in and she takes them and hides them on the roof while while the men are searching the city and someone says i think i saw him go down to the heartless house rehab go look and see i think that's where they are and they come knock on the door bang on door hey are those guys here those israelite guys she said oh yeah they came by they were they were trying to find a way out and i think they went out through the gate of the city and if you go chase him you'll find him and so they went left and she began to talk to these two spies rahab lived on the side of the wall when he looked up somehow and looked up that wall her house was on that wall and so she's talking with these spies to get them out of the city safe and sound and so as she's talking to them she begins to relay to them how jericho feels about them now i know we've heard stories and it's probably is possibly true and funny we've often heard stories of how jericho made fun of the children of israel right we've often heard stories how they laughed at him they mocked them i'm not really sure that's exactly what happened because rahab as she tells them about the knowledge of them coming she says to them that as soon as we heard how the lord dried up the water before you in the red sea and how you came over she said our hearts did melt and there remained no more courage in any man i believe jericho was quite frankly scared here is a group of people who just left egypt the biggest power in all the world pharaoh's army has been defeated they've defeated the kings on the other side og and all of a sudden there's three million people come across walking toward your city and then they're gonna start marching around your city and not say a word i imagine i'd probably be terrified and so she's telling them all this stuff how fearful they are of them how scared they are of them and she lets them down this is a scarlet cord it may look purple but it's really scarlet and it may look like a bathrobe but it's really a cord okay that's probably what she used anyway but the bible says that those men spoke to her and said our lives for yours if you let us go and you let us escape we will remember that when we come back to fight we come back and god gives us a city we will remember you and the bible says that she let them down by a cord through the window for her house was upon the town wall that she dwelt upon and the men said to her when we come back what you need to do is tie this scarlet cord in the window and when we come back and the walls start to fall and we come in to destroy every living thing if you will hold that scarlet cord in the window god will remember what you have done for us you and your family will be saved so the bible said in joshua chapter 2 verse 18 behold when we come into the land thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window that cord is tikvah expected what she had was a visible token of the expectation that god was going to come through with what he promised she had in that scarlet cord the expectation of god that he knew who she was where she was and if she would tie that scarlet cord out the window can you imagine her house is on the wall jericho walls fell right i began to think about that i wonder if that one section where she lived at where the cord was hanging down i wonder if that one section of the wall stood still when the rest of it went tumbling down i don't know i've never heard anybody preach about it maybe a good preacher could but i don't know i just wonder if maybe that one section with a expected hanging out of the window stood saw it stood tall while the rest of the walls crumbled down and her and her family were saved are you hanging on what do you what do you got out there rahab what's hanging out your window i tell you what it is it's it's my expectation that god is going to keep his word what is it what is that cord out there flailing in the wind getting sun drenched and faded by the sun that's my expectation that god will do what he promised he would do tonight how many ever heard that phrase i'm just hanging on by a thread how many ever heard that phrase tie not at the end of the rope and hang on those didn't come from the bible that's not hebrew or anything those are just statements but when i began to think about that when someone says what are you just barely hanging on by thread you know what i'm hanging on to i'm hanging on to that scarlet cord of expectation it may look like i'm just hanging on by a thread it may look like i'm just tying a knot at the end of my rope and hanging on for dear life but you know what this is to me that's god's promise that he'll never leave me nor forsake me this is my expected end this is my hope this is my tikvah that god said if you'll put your trust and faith in me when those walls come down and the enemy comes in like a flood if you hold on to that blood-stained banner called faith and hope i will come through for you what do you have rahab the harlot what do you have hanging out i've got an expectation that when the walls come tumbling down and they kill your brothers and sisters and they take everything you've got i've got an expectation that everybody in my house is going to be saved because god gave me an expected end so when the city was fallen all around her chaos wasn't suing the bible said that everyone that was in her house lived and they delivered her and her house out of the city alive because she had an expected end tonight you may have walked in this congregation and you may have been holding on to your last bit of hope you may have came tonight and said man if this church service don't do something for me i'm in big trouble i'm i'm a bad shape but you may have just enough tonight to hold on to to say god i'm going to hang on just long enough for you to come through on my behalf i'm going to hang on just long enough that what you have said you would do that you will do she had an expected end psalm 62 says it this way my soul wait thou only upon god for my expectation my cord my tikvah my hope my expectation is from him in jeremiah it was the lord speaking the lord says i know the thoughts i have to you to give you an expected end psalm 62 the writers said my soul waits upon you god for my expectation comes from the lord what i've come simply to tell you tonight is this your hope doesn't come out of a bottle your hope didn't get dropped off at the front door by amazon today your hope didn't come because your boss man didn't fire you today your hope didn't come because you have a nice car you bought a nice house your hope didn't come from any of the externalities that this life has to offer the world didn't give it and the world can't take it away my hope cometh from the lord my expectation cometh from him that's why you can walk in this church when all hell is breaking loose in your life and you have no reason to shout no reason to dance you walk in here holding this rope holding this cord what are you doing i'm telling you what i'm doing the world didn't give me my hope the world can't take it away boss man can't take it away sickness can't take it away i'm holding on to what god gave me this is the hope god gave me and if he promised it he will complete it it doesn't matter what anyone else says what anyone else does if you have a promise from god he will complete that which he has started that's how come you can walk when all hell breaks loose in your life that's how come you can walk in this church walking home and faith believing driving to work loving and believing god i'm just barely hanging on you may be barely hanging on but you're holding on to that expectation that god gave you and he that promise will perform that which he has said my hope cometh from the lord not from anywhere else and that's why when the walls come tumbling down and trouble befalls us all around we can hold on to the knowledge god's thinking about us he knew you before you went through the storm he loved you before you committed that act of sin he loved you after he loved you and me enough to convict us of that lifestyle you may say hey you know what brother white i i as all sounds well and good but the plans of my life are pretty chaotic right now i made a lot of mistakes when i looked at my house it looked nothing like the plans that were supposed to look like you ever started to build something and when you got halfway down like my god this is nothing like i thought it's going to be maybe it's just me have you ever tried to build a swing set from the store it kind of looks like it's supposed to and most of the parts were there that i used i don't know what the other parts were for but uh hopefully you know it would stay you know and sometimes we look at our lives we look at our plans and we say god surely the goodness you didn't plan this for my life surely the goodness this isn't what you know what's going on here this can't be you know what you intended for my life i know maybe somewhere i've messed up somewhere you know i was that little nail that plopped out of the floor got kicked outside and ran over by a truck you know maybe i'm not even a part of this plan anymore god surely what you had designed for me is not including what i'm going through today maybe just maybe i've messed up so bad so much so long that god just folds up the plans and says ah man lost case i tried sorry but you know as i mentioned before god is not in the business of condemning he's in the business of convicting we are already condemned by our sinful nature when we were born we were condemned to die lost so god doesn't desire to heap upon us condemnation and say yeah you know you really messed up your life you you you've done things you shouldn't have done i'm going to wash my hands of you you're an embarrassment to me i've given you more than one chance you've you've stumbled and failed people talked about you you know i just don't have time for you and sometimes we may look at our lives and think man i am so askew from what i thought god wanted me to be and if we're not careful guilt and condemnation and shame disappointment a lot of people walk out of the out of church doors not because they're they don't love god not because they're necessarily anger the pastor a lot of times people leave because of disappointment disappointed in themselves disappointed that maybe god didn't do what they had hoped he would do god please just change and help me and if it didn't work out that way people leave disappointed thinking i've messed up i've made mistakes surely there is no more hope for me but if we look in isaiah excuse me jeremiah the 18th chapter as musicians get ready to come as singers tonight jeremiah tells a story about a a prophet that went down to the potter's house remember that story that's one of them old sunday school stories the man of god went down to the potter's house and there he saw a potter working with some clay and the bible says that the clay was marred in the potter's hands and so the potter he just wad up and threw it away is that what it says he just said i forget you you're just a mistake perhaps the potter had planned it to be a beautiful vase or some of the sophisticated people say of oz maybe it's going to be a lovely picture to pour for the king maybe it's going to be a you know whatever but somewhere along the way that that clay got marred it got it got messed up it got something in it that was supposed to be in it so the bible says that when jeremiah went down there he looked at that potter and the bible says that the potter was working with that car that clay that was marred in his hands so when the clay was marred you know what the potter said the potter said i'll just make it into another vessel it may not be the exact same as i had originally planned maybe there's a divorce in that life and maybe there's some kids who are now living separate maybe there's some disease or sickness that's caused them to to have to quit their job or something or maybe there's some sins that have been committed that's caused them to to live some uh lifestyles that have consequences with it god doesn't say well you know what you fall in that category of i don't want to mess with you too much god didn't say that the potter didn't say it potter said you know what i'm going to take this clay and i'm going to make it another vessel you may look at your life tonight and look at the plans and think to yourself god i don't know what your thoughts were for me originally i know your plans have been for me but surely goodness the mistakes i've made the things i've done are too great for you to look beyond but i tell you tonight the potter is wielding his hands upon our clay tonight to shape us and make us what he wants us to be if you stand with me in this room together god thinks about us the psalmist wrote the psalmist wrote i am poor and needy but he thinketh on me as i mentioned last night you know what you may not be in the president's thoughts today you may not be in the mayor's thoughts today you may not even been in the government governor's thoughts you may not even been in your boss man's thoughts but you know whose thoughts you were in yes and the devil in a guilty conscience and a life of past mistakes and sin will cause us to think you know god if i don't think much about me surely you can't think much about me but the bible says that if our heart condemneth condemns us if our heart condemns us god is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things what do you mean he knows all things he flips back to page 12 and he sees the plumbing the hvac he sees the electrical wiring he sees all the things he put into you and yes you may have made a mistake and yes he knows that that you're tempted in this area and yes he knows that you struggle because of past situations sometimes when we walk in this room the one person who knows the most about us is the one who loves us the most the good the bad and the ugly and it's him he knew us when we were on the mountaintop he knew us when we were making our worst mistakes and he loved us and he still loves us you may ask how can i see how can i know exactly what he thinks about me i close with this john chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god that word there that word word is logos that's the word thought thoughts that are spoken it's the collective thoughts of god in the beginning was the thoughts of god in the beginning was the word and verse 14 says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth do you want to see what god's thoughts are you have to look no further than in the face of jesus christ jesus christ is the embodiment of god's thoughts so when jesus came up to a prostitute and he wrote up on the sand he didn't he didn't condone it but he looked at her and said neither do i condemn you go and sin no more when he came up to a lazarus a tomb that had that held a dead man the bible said jesus wept he was compassionate he had enough humanity to weep but he had enough god to say lazarus come on out there jesus walked on the water raised the dead healed the sick what was jesus jesus was the thoughts of god on parade that's what god thought about you and tonight it is no different when the spirit of the lord ministers and touches you in your life and in these services it is the thoughts of god coming to you the angel looked at gideon if you remember in the old testament the angel came to gideon gideon's family was the least of the least of the tribes they were held captive they were bound by their enemy every time they raised food the food would get taken by the enemy so they'd have to secretly raise their food and hide their food so the enemy wouldn't come and take it and on one night as gideon's there and the angel of the lord appears to him and gideon is startled by the angel and the angel looks at gideon who is hiding food hiding from the enemy least of his family who's the least of the tribe in a kingdom that has been taken captive and the angel looks at him and says hey you mighty man of valor gideon's like me you talking to me i don't i don't think you're talking to me do you know what that was that was heaven talking to gideon as heaven saw him as a mighty man of valor how do you know that well because the angel had just came from the throne room of god and when the angel saw gideon the angel looked at gideon thought wow this is the guy that god says going to deliver all his people this is the guy that god says gonna set free and take hold of the enemy of all god's people and so when the angel saul get in the angel said whoa dude you're a mighty man of valor because the angel greeted him as heaven thought of him tonight in this place as we get ready to come and pray if you would like or pray where you are in this place i've simply come to tell you god has expectations for you and that's for you to be blessed for you to prosper for you to be saved number one his number one goal for you is to be able to look at us and say well done thou good and faithful servant enter into life so tonight god's thinking about you god loves you god has plans for you no matter what the enemy says no matter what the enemy does no matter what you have said and done god's thoughts and plans are for you as they get as you come up to sing tonight i'm asking does anybody have just a little bit of rope of hope tonight is anybody just holding on just saying god i don't know how it's going to end up i don't know how it's going to work out or turn out but i've got just enough hope and faith to believe you're going to do what you said you would do as they begin to sing would you slip your hands across this congregation tonight across this crowd lord jesus i'm glad you're thinking about us tonight i'm glad god you think about us god i'm glad your heart is toward us your mind is toward us and i may have walked in tonight with just a thread of hope but i believe if i hang on to that hope you're going to come through you're going to answer when i don't know how you're going to answer you're going to resolve the situations i don't know how i want to let this rope hang out of my window saying god i believe that you're going to give me an expected in you've got expectations for me tonight if you don't mind i know it's just a few minutes before 9. if you wouldn't mind would you just take a moment just to come down to the front and just begin to thank god for what he's thinking about your life maybe there's some things in your life you don't understand maybe you're questioning god god how is this going on in my life how's why is this happening my life i don't understand it all but i want you to know that god's thinking about you god didn't give up on you when you made mistakes when your day turns upside down god didn't leave you he's still here he's still for you he's still on your side god thank you for grace and mercy thank you for loving me god thank you for caring for me thank you for giving me a plan of salvation as a matter of fact that's what we call it the death burial and resurrection what did we call it we call it the plan of salvation because he's the one who set the plan up he's the one who was buried crucified buried and rose again that's what we call the plan of salvation tonight he's got plans for you he's got expectations for you that you're going to make it that you're going to be on his roll of your names called up yonder hallelujah your love comes to me oh is my this is yours holy oh holy this is my one visa and only this i seek to be a living fire consume completely this is this is come on right is hallelujah can we lift our hands across this room tonight and thank him that he's thinking about us thinking for his love hallelujah satan you're defeated hallelujah god's on our side god's for us he's not against us god is believing i'm going to make it he's got expectations he's got a hope and a future he's got plans for us god is for us who can be against us tonight god is on our side aren't you glad that god's on your side tonight hallelujah aren't you glad god loves you in spite of everything god loves you he cares about you that's why we praise him that's why we sing that's why we shout and dance that's why people run around this church on sundays and wednesdays why because god changed them god saved them delivered them there's nothing like being delivered there's nothing like not having weights of sin god is faithful god is a savior and deliverer tonight amen that's why we're here god thought about us god loved us enough amen while we were yet sinners christ died for us amen i'm glad that god thinks about us and so this week when you're having good days or bad days and you just don't feel really good just remember god's thinking about you remind yourself sometimes you gotta say i believe sometimes you just gotta say i choose to believe because sometimes faith doesn't come easy but if i can believe the bad surely i can believe the good amen we thank you for coming we appreciate all your help singers musicians amen did a wonderful job tonight amen we thank you for being involved thank you for coming all of our guests and visitors i mean