Expectation

we're going to look to his word this morning i'm not going to ask you to turn there i will ask you to watch the screen and here's the reason i'm going to be reading from luke axe luke wrote both books it's a volume 1 and a volume 2 and his last chapter of luke in his first chapter of acts he kind of covers some of the same material and so i'm going to conflate them together and i'm gonna kind of mix them up so i'll be reading from one and the other and back to the other so just follow along luke chapter 24 is where we're starting verse 50.

and he being jesus led them out as far as to bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed to them and being assembled together with them he commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith he you have heard of me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence and behold i send the promise of my father upon you but tarry ye in the city of jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high and their return they worshiped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and with mary the mother of jesus and with his brethren and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place

the lord we thank you for your word i'm thankful for the promises of your word i'm thankful lord for your spirit that is here to accompany that word and i pray god that your anointing would be upon us now lord know not only as your word goes forth but as it enters into our hearts and mind that it will stir us that will make us god what you want us to be in jesus name hallelujah hallelujah thank you lord and you may be seated

it was the 1960s and i was a small boy growing up in small town mid-america the idea of shopping malls really hadn't taken hold a whole lot there were a few being built not most mid-sized towns still did not have one toys r us was not everywhere or anywhere it was in a couple places really hadn't been around i had never seen one the internet of course did not exist of course neither did personal computers or google or facebook or amazon or walmart or any of the things that we're so used to today and if i as a young child wanted to shop for toys in the town i lived in there were two options there was a woolworths and there was a ben and franklin five and ten now broadcast tv if you know what that is that means you had to have an antenna rabbit ears put out a constant stream of advertising just to pick a kid's interest in toys but really some of those weren't even available in the community i lived in you could see oh this is so fun and exciting as they would make it seem but it really wasn't there however every year there was one bright spot for those of us in that situation because as thanksgiving drew near we would watch the mail with great expectation and what excitement there was when it finally arrived the sears wishbook some of you are laughing there it is 1968 i was six years old when it came in the mail now i understand young folks have no idea what i'm talking about let alone a sears catalog but the wishbook this was just a couple hundred pages it wasn't as big as the regular catalog but in the back half of it or maybe third of it there were just pages and pages of every toy a child could imagine and we would get that catalog and the hours we would spend just perusing the pages and looking i'd get out a sheet of paper and we'd start making a list i want this that's on this page and we would write it down and we would flip and find another i would like this item then we would go back through the list and make sure and erase and oh i'd rather have this and we'd make our christmas list and then we'd look at it and say well the most important one is this so i'm going to put it at the top and we'd redo the list and we'd finally get it just the way we wanted it

and we'd take it to our parents and say here's what i want for christmas the 10 speed spider bike the chemistry set and i want that jet pack that had like a propeller on the top so i could fly around the yard you know you're six years old you just think of these things it held so much promise and now the only thing to do was wait for christmas to finally arrive

i could just stop here because amber preached half of my sermon maybe most of it and i didn't even tell her what i was preaching about but i want to give us this idea or this thought today one simple word expectation expectation now in some ways i think the disciples were in a similar state of mind as i was looking for that wish book to come each year see easter for them had come and gone the initial excitement of knowing that jesus was alive had probably subsided in some ways as each tried to rationalize everything that had happened and that they were experiencing in those few weeks and they were probably trying to figure it all out and what does this mean and what are the implications of all this and of course there were still doubters among some people and there were people making up lies of what happened but the disciples understood that jesus had risen and and now he takes them out to bethany and they're probably wondering why did we come out here what has he got in mind as we we go outside of jerusalem and we take this sabbath day journey away to bethany and we're there and what's going to happen next and and so the disciples are all really wondering is he ready to start an insurrection is is he going to throw off the roman yoke is he going to establish himself on the throne of his father david is he going to proclaim himself to be the messiah that he is and and so they're all excited about and they ask him lord at this time are you ready are you going to bring in the kingdom and usher it in is this it and all the excitement and he looks at them and says it's none of your business well that's not quite the way luke wrote it but he did say it this way it is not for you to know the times of the seasons which the father has in his own power it's really not your concern don't worry about that but instead he offers them some instruction and that instruction is this here's what i want you to do go back to jerusalem and wait wait wait for what go and wait for a promise that is coming from the father go and wait for something that is coming you will be endued with power from on high not many days hence what does that mean what are you talking about jesus are you coming with us and what is going to happen and even as he's talking and explaining to him and they're looking upon him all of a sudden his feet are coming off the ground and they're talking to him and he's he's saying go and the promise is coming and he's getting higher and higher and they're watching as he's ascending into heaven and with awe they're wondering what in the world is going on and what is going to happen and they're watching and and maybe in shock they're staring into the sky like what's next and what's he going to do and maybe they didn't even notice the two men in white that had joined them and they're standing there and and all of a sudden the men speak up and what's that they're saying you mean at galilee what are you standing here looking for the same jesus which is taken up into heaven he's going to come again in like manner as you've seen him go now even that short statement when i read that and really thought about that probably still left him a little confused okay well he's coming right back let's just wait around a bit just as we seen him go he'll be back and they stood there for a little while no doubt and wondered and the bible really doesn't say how long they stood there and how long that they remain in bethany but i think after a little bit of time it probably became apparent well maybe he's not coming back right now maybe that's something's going to happen later maybe we should go to jerusalem after all that's what he told us to do a little is recorded of what took place those next few days in jerusalem there are some things luke does tell us in acts that they voted for a replacement for judas and that's kind of a part of the story but it really didn't tell us a whole lot because we don't hear a whole lot about the matthias that he that they picked to be along with the other disciples we don't hear anything else about him in the bible so it's really just kind of a non-event but

what else was happening and what else was going on all that we can say for sure that disciples had no idea what was going on and all we know for sure is besides picking another apostle disciple they gathered in an upper room and they waited and they prayed and they waited and they prayed you see we celebrated easter a couple weeks ago and we're looking forward in a few weeks to celebrate pentecost so we know what happens at easter we knew what happened and we know it happened at pentecost and we look back to that but they had no idea how the promise would come they had no idea when the promise would come and all that they could say for sure is yes the promise will come why because jesus said so and so they waited and so they expected now a couple things become immediately apparent the first is had they not expected the promise they would not have waited for it in jerusalem had they not come with an expectation and gone there waiting for something to happen they would just went back to galilee or went back to fishing or went back to whatever their lifestyle was before jesus was around and so that observation

leads me to ask the question this morning what are you expecting what did you come to church for did you come from a sense of duty do you come or did you come expecting an encounter from the almighty god what are we here for why did we show up you see it's all too easy to come at church out of habit it's all too simple to say well i've always done it that way that's sunday morning so i guess i better find a place to be in church it's even possible to come with good intentions and and good for good reasons yet really not come expecting anything to happen expecting to say well we've got a schedule and here's what we're going to do expecting to say well i'm going to sing some songs and we're going to hear the word of god and we'll probably have a little bit of prayer time and we'll go home and we'll dismiss and we'll do it again next week but what happens if god wants to move in your midst what happens if god wants to touch your heart well let me ask this what happens if god wants you to move what happens if god says you know what today i'm expecting are you expecting the spirit to sweep in and change your life did you come just to have another service or did you come saying you know what when i leave i want to be different than when i came here what are you expecting today what are you looking for today what is in your heart stirring what do you have need of what are you saying god i need you to take care of this and i'm expecting something to happen today

you see jesus went to nazareth his hometown and luke tells us this he went into the synagogue it was what he usually did when he came so that was that was the rope part of it the sabbath day we go to church well he came with a purpose a lot of other people came and joined him because it was the sabbath because they watched him as he stood up to read and they delivered him the book of the prophet isaiah and he opened the book and he found the place where it was written and he begins to read the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captive the recovering of the sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the lord now can you imagine jesus coming to our midst and saying the spirit of the lord is upon me and he sent me to preach healing he sent me to preach deliverance he sent me to preach recovering of sight to blind he preached sent me to preach liberty to those of you that are bound by something we'd have a shot down wouldn't we jesus is here and he came to heal and i don't know how long it took him but he finally closed the book handed it back to the minister and he sat down and rather than get a response of people just sat there and looked at him okay prophet okay jesus it's a synagogue it's a sabbath we're here and so you make these claims do something all the eyes of the synagogue the bible says were fastened upon him looking at jesus but not expecting anything nazareth knew jesus nazareth had watched him grow up they knew his parents they knew his siblings they had heard that he had done miraculous things when he left town and began his ministry yet they were skeptical because matthew said is this not the carpenter's son they said is this not is it not his mother mary and his brethren james and joseph and simon and judas and his sisters they're all with us whence then is this man all these things how does he think he's going to do this and they were offended in him we really don't believe jesus that what you say you can do you can do for me today yeah we've heard rumors we've heard that you've done it for somebody else we've heard testimonies we heard that you changed this person and you healed but lord you can't touch my need you i know who you are you won't touch my life i believe jesus chose that passage for at least a couple of reasons first he was identifying himself with israel's promised messiah he was showing them who he really was but i think more importantly he was giving them a chance to respond in faith i'm here to heal i'm here to deliver i'm healed or set free and he's waiting to see how are you going to respond what are you expecting he sits down and he waits nazareth was expecting business as usual and jesus was expecting faith matthew sums up his remembrance in these words and he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief they didn't come expect and i asked again this morning what are you expecting did you come today thinking today is the day i'm finally going to get the healing did you come today saying today i'm going to be delivered from this addiction that has got a hold of my life today i'm going to come and i'm going to receive the holy ghost that they talk about you see it all comes down to what you expect i said it all comes down to what you expect i've heard people preach that before and i've heard things said before and they said you know what you can have the holy ghost today and i know for those that have sought god sometimes maybe even for many years you'll say how do you know i'll get it today because my bible says today is the day of salvation if you'll hearken into a voice today is the accepted time today and he can do it today you see it all comes down to what you expect i've heard people say i went to church and i said i'm going to get the holy ghost tonight and you know what they did because they expected it what are you expecting today

the second thing we can glean from the disciples waiting for the promise is this what god has in mind might not be anything like what we expect you see jesus said you're going to be endued with power from on high now if somebody tells you that you're going to be endued with something today okay what's that mean what's that about i think they were expecting something and they were praying from something but i don't think they had any idea what pentecost was going to bring and they're praying in an upper room and i don't know what they're praying and they're in one accord and they're worshiping god and lord we're waiting for the promise whatever that promise is and all of a sudden a mighty wind it fills the house as a rushing mighty wind it fills all the house where they're sitting there appears unto them clothing tongues like a fire it sits upon each of them and they're all filled with the holy ghost as it falls and they begin to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance what in the world just happened in fact it happened and so to such an extent that that spilled out into the streets and people came to see what was going on and they're looking and say these people are drunk what is going on here we don't understand that we don't grasp it you see because what we expect might not come how we expect it and what you come looking for today may not come the way you come looking well i got it all figured out how it's going to work and god says no it is and i got a different plan

i love the story of naaman i love how it's written because his little servant girl we know naaman was a captain of the guard he was in charge he was a great general if you will in the army in fact he had helped conquer israel and so he was there in syria and he was a very important man at least in his own eyes and he had a servant girl that he had taken from israel and that servant girl realized that her master had leprosy and one of these day one day she was standing there and she said you know i just wish that my master could get to the prophet that's in israel because he would heal the leprosy somebody tells it to name and he said really this sounds great so he he calls the king of israel the king that is there and he says or he he came to see him and he said i have heard that if i come here i can be healed of leprosy and the king rent his clothes and said who do you think i am god i can't do anything for you we don't even allow lepers around us here in israel and here you come asking me to heal you get out well elisha hears of it and said well send them to me okay go see elisha see what can happen now here's what i like about the story naaman he's got his horses he's got chariots no doubt he had a bunch of people with him and they're all going and they go down to where elisha's living and they come to his house and he stands before the door and he knocks on the door expecting something to happen the bible says and elisha sent a messenger unto him saying go washing jordan seven times and your flesh will come again to thee and you shall be clean but naaman was wroth the bible said and went away and said behold i thought surely he will come out to me and stand and call in the name of his god strike his hand on the place and recover the leper now doesn't naaman sound a whole lot like us i've got it all figured out now here's what i thought would happen he said i'm standing before the door behold i thought so he walked to elijah already knowing what's going to happen here's what i'm going to go to his house i'm going to knock on his door i've got it all figured out he will come out to me he knows how important i am he knows where i'm at and when he sees my chariots and horses he's going to come running he'll probably bow down he's going to come out he's going to come right there before and instead elisha doesn't even answer the door i don't know he's back in his study doing something looking at a scroll and he hears a knock on the door and the servant says hey somebody says yeah go tell him to go dip in the jordan okay opens the door and there stands naaman whoa my master said for you to go dip in the jordan seven times he had it all figured out surely he'll come out he won't ask me to do something foolish he's gonna call on the name of the lord his god so elisha's gonna come and i've heard about this guy and the miracles that he's going to call in the name of jehovah and then he's going to strike his hand over the place and he's going to recover the leper and i'm going to be healed now doesn't name and sound like us i know exactly how it's going to happen i'm going to go to church i heard they're going to have a prayer line tonight and when that finally happens and i finally get to walk through that prayer line god's going to reach down and touch me i'm going to go up to the front and pastor's going to get out the bottle of oil and he's going to anoint me with prayer and pray and pray in jesus name and i'm going to be healed i'm going to come to church and i'm going to get the holy ghost because they've got a mighty evangelist and when he speaks the word of faith it falls and people get the holy ghost that's when it's going to happen i've got it all figured out

what are you going to do with what you're expecting is not what god has in mind what if you come to church and they say you know what we're not going to have the prayer line today what have you come to church and said there's this thing called covent now so i'm not going to lay hands on you i'm just going to pray and god's going to touch that ain't the way it's supposed to work i guess i'll come back you know when it's all over with and you can all take those masks off and he can go out and do it again what if pastor doesn't get the oil but and said you know what if you'll just stand right now god can heal you what if god wants to fill you with the holy ghost today even before this sermon is over what if he's saying you don't have to wait until we do an altar call you don't have to wait until what are you expecting what if god is talking to your heart right now and something says you know what i'm gonna get what i came for amen what are you waiting for there's a word of faith even right now if you'll receive it the power of god is working even right now i mean if you'll get beyond your expectations and say you know what i know god's going to do something i don't know what it is but i'm just going to believe it right now i mean if you came expecting god is offering you an answer if you come expect and he can do it right now amen naaman had to be convinced to go dip in the jordan but when he finally acted god gave an answer amen i said god gave an answer what are you expecting today so the disciples were expecting a promise and they were willing to wait for it second they did not come though it did not come the way they expected it but finally and here's the best part of it the promise went way beyond everything they were expecting i don't know if they thought well we'll stay here and he'll come back and maybe they really thought well he'll come back in this upper room where we're at and he'll come back on a white horse and he'll be ready to go conquer him to conquer and he's going to set up the kingdom and he's going to do it with great heavenly power and and this is you know it's going to be complete they were still no doubt looking because they never could get past that idea in in the first part of acts is it ready now are you going to set up the kingdom and so they're looking and well we'll go wait for jerusalem and you know i don't know maybe he went to get some angels to come with him i don't know what they were waiting for i don't think they expected the holy ghost to fall the way it did but once it did there was something in their life that completely turned them around something that changed their lives the promise went beyond all their expectations

you see we limit god for many reasons we can't get beyond our carnal thinking we're finite and god is infinite we know what we can observe and yet god knows all things he sees the end from the beginning we live in space and time and god he transcends all of that and we pray man-sized prayers here's something big god that you can do and god's looking in and say that that's nothing you know what i can really do the dilemma is for us it's difficult to pray beyond what we comprehend isn't it i mean the best outcome i can see is this right here god god's saying that's not the best outcome i can do more than that well i don't see how don't worry about how just expect him to do it and let him do it his way we quoted all the time in ephesians paul wrote now unto him that is able to do what exceeding abundantly above all that you ask well god here's what i'm asking you to do i can do a lot better than that or hear god here's what i think you ought to be able to do he said or abundantly above all you ask or think so think hard as you want you're not going to limit god figure it out in that big old head of yours and it's still god says i can do better than that he can do above all we aren't even capable of thinking what god wants to do i mean you can't even figure it out you can't say well i don't see how it's going to happen well of course you don't see how it's going to happen god does and you can't do it why don't you just say lord i'm just expecting you to take care of it god i don't know how and i don't know when and i don't know where and i can't figure it out but you're going to take care of it have you ever noticed god always goes beyond the ordinary consider these few verses he said i come that they might have life wow that's great you can have life john tells us that 10 10. i come that you might have life but he doesn't stop there not just life i'm coming that you can have it more abundantly we'd be good enough just for life and he said no i've got more hebrew says wherefore to him he is able also to save them by the skin of their teeth well i sure hope i can make it to heaven you know just barely going to get there now he said i can save you to the uttermost there can be no doubt in your mind and we're going to march into heaven victorious why because he's able to save you and you may not see the answer and you may not see how but if you expect it amen i believe he's gonna he that began a good work he's gonna complete it get a hold of that this morning amen and he will save you to the utter most john 8 36 he said if the sun shall make you free you're going to be well kind of free he'll knock off one of those chains and you can drag that other little one around it's no big deal no he said if you shall be free you shall be free indeed amen there's no bondage there's nothing this world has that can hold you down amen if you will come expecting amen he'll break the bonds of that habit he'll reach down and free you from the sin that you live in what are you expecting today john 15 11 he said these things i have spoken unto you here's why that your joy might remain in you yes that you'll have joy but then he said not only you will have joy but to that joy will be full not a little bit of joy amen but a joy that's unspeakable and full of glory amen a joy that can clean your life in any circumstance and anything knowing that god is in my life and he is in control

philippians 4 7 tells us this in the peace of god amen peace not just peace but it passes everything you understand i can't figure it out i don't know why but i just feel a peace from god he said it will keep your hearts and mind through christ jesus he does beyond what we expect the disciples of pentecost were expecting something from heaven they had no concept of the life-changing experience they were about to receive the key is to expect in faith and let god choose how he is going to do it

the man lay at the temple gate in acts chapter 3. he had been there i don't know the bible doesn't say how long he had been there they went they had to be carried there because he could not walk he could not get himself there and they laid him there at the gate he was there daily the bible says asking alms had his cup out man arms arms for the poor arms for the poor his vision was to lay there just expecting someone to walk by and say okay here you go drop a few coins in drop of pins drop a little bit here a little bit there and suddenly two men approach and look at look how they say this peter looks at them and he says look on us now that'll get your attention because most people say hey over here um yeah look here he was probably thinking wow this is my lucky day i bet these guys are loaded uh there's no telling what they're gonna put in my thing we've got your answer he's got my answer look on us and he gave heed unto them the bible said yeah he did when you're when you're out looking for something and they say hey over here you'll give heed you know what i think god's saying that this morning over here here's your answer don't be looking somewhere else look here but not only did he give heed but he was expecting to receive something from them yes he came with expectation but here's the thing he got so much more than he expected i don't know what all he thought was going to end up in that cup but peter looked at him said guess what silver and gold have i none there's nothing in there but such as i have i give thee in the name of jesus christ of nazareth wise rise up and walk he took him by the right hand he lifted him up his immediately his feet and ankle he didn't get up like this oh heaven haven't used these legs any how does this work muscles are all atrophied and i can't even walk and you know it's going to take some time to get no he went walking and leaping and praising god can i tell you when god does something he does it complete what are you expecting this morning i said what are you expecting this morning amen

why don't you stand and give praise to our god today why don't you lift him up why don't you exalt his name he's a god that is able to do exceeding abundantly he's a god that has your answer this morning hallelujah you see when we're willing to give god all of our inhibitions and we're willing to let him work in us the way he desires he will exceed all your expectations i once heard somebody testify about getting the holy ghost amen and they were a pretty emotional look-like person and always worshipping praising god and they said this he said i prayed god if you will fill me with you can fill me with the holy ghost but i don't want to be like one of those pentecostals you know just give it to me and i'll stand here and you know i'll get the holy ghost he said but when god filled me with the holy ghost he said he'd dance me all over the church man he probably rolled him on the floor all kinds of things happened in his life you know what because god did something in his life and took something out and put something in that he never expected why not god do the work in you that he desires to do

maybe you feel this morning like your life is stuck somewhere between easter and pentecost easter was the message and you heard there was a hope it was a new revelation it opened new possibilities easter brought a promise of what could be but then the glory seemed to dissipate and disappear out of your life jesus has gone up in the cloud and you're gazing in heaven wondering what is next and the only instructions are for you to wait but while waiting don't forget to expect the promise wait with expectation god is about to do something that will change your world i said he's going to do something that will change your world

i don't know if any of you have ever been to a symphony but if you will you've noticed this phenomena before the concert begins it almost seems like mass confusion there's people talking and talking and waving and whatever on the crowd the orchestra's on the stage and they're tuning instruments or maybe practicing some fingerings they're going to have to do later or whatever and it just sounds like just just a mess but then they dim the lights and it gets quiet and the conductor comes in they give him a hand clap and then quiet and he goes to the stage and he lifts a baton and there is an expectation in the air waiting waiting and when he drops it you hear that first note from the clarinet or the violin or whatever it happens to be and those expectations are fulfilled i tell you that this is where we are this morning you look at your life and it may seem you come in and it's nothing but confusion but the conductor has entered the room today amen and even right now he's got that baton up and if you will come expecting and if you will say god i don't know what you want in my life but i'm just waiting he is ready to drop that baton and do something far beyond what you can imagine far beyond what you expected when you walked in the doors this morning far beyond what you have ever experienced in your life if you will just let him move