Our Expectations Produce Actions

 

We all have expectations of what we “EXPECT to happen either on the job, in our marriages, our church, our vacations, whatever!

• We plan and act according to our expectations
• A deer hunter will find a spot to wait for his prey in a place where he EXPECTS the deer to travel.
• A golfer will look down the fairway, pick out a spot 200 yds ahead and EXPECT to hit the ball to that spot.

As a pastor, I’ve learned a long time ago if someone is not moving forward and making progress in the Lord, it’s usually because they don’t expect to change;

they don’t want to change or they don’t believe things can change! They don’t expect much!

Another word for expectations is planning or even visualizing.

If you expect something to happen, you will move in that direction.

Your expectations produce actions and plans. You set the wheels in motion.

Let’s read in Acts 3 about a man that went to the church steps and sat there with expectations each day….

Acts 3:1-9

1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being 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 of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: 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 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

Key verse is vs. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

• One thing I love about the Lord is that he exceeds our expectations!

God always goes above and beyond what we expect to happen.

• If you give God just a little bit of faith, he can turn your world around for you!

Eph. 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

On other occasions, Peter had probably given this lame man some money. Peter had passed this way to church many times and this lame man had been sitting there for years. Day after day as was his routine, but this day was different!

• The lame man “was laid daily at the gate of the temple”and he asked “Alms of them that entered into the temple”
• He had expectations! He expected money! He expected food! He wanted a handout!
• He expected something from all these church people as they walked by him on the way to church that day.

Tell your neighbor: “He had expectations”

• His expectations caused him to be carried to the church doors each day.
• His expectations caused him to take his offering bucket and lay it down in front of him.
• His expectations produces certain actions just like our expectations produce certain actions! Right?

I expect to go to heaven someday, so I do what it takes to get there!

My main goals and my expectations allow me to say no to the devil and

say yes to Jesus.

If you expect something to happen, you will be looking for it; you will take actions towards that wanted outcome.

Ever been driving down the road looking at the clouds thinking that the Lord was coming back? We look up and we expect him to split the clouds at ay moment!

Dictionary def. of expectations means “the act of looking confidently for something, expectancy; anticipation; a good prospect; the presence of a probability, to faithfully wait for it”

Our expectations show up in our actions!

• Our actions are a dead-give away of our true feelings of what we think will probably happen!

I proposed to me wife in May of 1974. We were in Bible College and it was the last night of the graduation services and I bought a new suit, got a fresh haircut and had cleaned up my car and made plans to take her to the Minnehaha Falls city park in St. Paul and propose to her standing on the bridge at the bottom of this beautiful waterfalls.

I expected her to say yes but “I was so nervous” and it’s the only time in my entire life I had hives on my stomach. They are 10 times worse than poison ivy! It’s a temporary nervous condition.

My expectations caused me to make some plans and she said YES! And I’ve been a lucky man since July of 1975 when she said yes in front of her pastor.

• It will 40 years this next July. Hard to believe!

There is great power in expectations!

• Our expectations cause us to make plans, have goals and move forward!

As kids we heard some old sayings about expected results of spanking….

• “Its gonna hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt you”
• “If you don’t quit crying, I’ll give you something to cry about”
• “You just wait until your father gets home”
• “I expected more of you”

An expectation: is at the end of the week when its payday, we expect a paycheck.

• Our expectations of someone’s behavior are based on their past or present behavior.
• You go and eat at certain restaurants because you have expectations of good food and good service or someone you trust recommended it.
• Each and every day , we live and make decisions based upon expectations!

One of the most quoted verses today is;

Jer. 29:11

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.

• The first Wal-Mart in 1962 in Benton Arkansas.
• The founder of Walmart lived by the following quote:

“High expectations are the key to everything”  Sam Walton

• Walmart is now the largest employer in the world. It has 12,000 stores in 30 countries.
• It has the largest revenue of any retail store and is still controlled by the Walton family.
• The last study that was done in 2009, said that Walmart was the largest grocery store in the US and it supplied 51% of all the food sold in the USA.

So now you understand WHY they greet you with a “Welcome to Walmart” when you walk into their stores.

• Sam Walton’s high expectations produced action and it brought about an end result!

Our Expectations Produce Actions

When you expect something to happen, you will take the proper actions to make it happen…right?

• If you don’t believe or expect anything….then you do nothing!
• Our actions are a dead-give away of our true feelings of what we think will probably happen!

It’s easy to tell in the church who really believes what the Bible says and expects it to come true by their actions.

Mark 5 we read about a woman that had been sick for the last 12 years.

• She had a personal feminine problem, an issue of blood for a dozen years. She had been to every doctor and it only grew worse.

Mark 5:24-30

24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

• Someone had to have told her about Jesus and his healing power.
• Someone had to have been bragging on Jesus and telling her about Jesus coming to town that day and she needed to go see him.
• She had expectations when she showed up that day and saw the large crowd so she made plans to crawl thru he crowd and if possible just touch his clothes as he passed by.

The end results we read in vs. 34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Our Expectations Produce Actions

Acts 1 the disciples of Jesus had high expectations! Their source of information was a trusted one…Jesus himself!

Acts 1:4-8

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

That was a high expectation! When Jesus said it….they believed it!

“You are going to receive power, the HG is going to come upon you”

• They rented a room on an upper level of a certain bldg. they had used for prayer mtgs before and started praying. 10 days later we read what happened…because they expected something to happen!
• People that expect something to happen have a prayer life and people that don’t expect anything to happen…don’t pray! It’s that simple!
• People that expect Jesus to come back, will tell others about the Lords return and share gods plan of salvation. Our actions speak louder than our worlds!

Acts 2:1-4

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

• We believe and preach the same thing today that Peter preached on that same day.

Acts 2:38-40

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

• 3,000 people believed him!
• 3,000 people responded and acted on what they heard.
• 3,000 people had high expectations and were born again!
• Our Expectations Produce Actions

If you expect to go to heaven then you will repent; you will be baptized in Jesus name and you will receive the gift of the HG. It’s that simple!

• Expectations causes you to change some things in your life.
• Expectations of the Lords return at the Rapture causes us to act right,

be right and live right.

• Expectations causes me to be faithful, to live holy and be right with God.

I Pet.1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls….(how?)  in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

I John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

• If you believe it. You will live it!
• Just expecting the blow of the trumpet… to call Gods church to heaven at any second helps keep me pure!
• We are surrounded by a world and its media trying to corrupt us but the HG within us helps us make the right decisions to purify ourselves.
• I stand in this pulpit week after week and try my best to convince you to get saved, live right and be faithful because JESUS is coming BACK.

Ladies, if you are expecting company, you clean up the house, you do the dishes, you run the sweeper and move things around so the house looks nice…right!

Our Expectations Produce Actions

• If you are expecting a baby and are 6 months along, you go out and buy a crib, you start stocking up on pampers and go to yard sales getting all the baby clothes you can get….because you are an EXPECTANT mother!

Our Expectations Produce Actions

• Men, if you ride with someone to work and do some carpooling, you wait by back the back door in the mornings and listen for the honk of the horn because you are expecting your ride at any moment.

Our Expectations Produce Actions

WE all need to make some permanent preparations for eternity.

It takes more than just coming to church for 2 hrs on a Sunday morning!

• We live it and breathe it each and every day because we expect Jesus to come soon and very soon.

I Thess. 4:16-18

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Our expectations show up in our actions!

• Our actions are a dead-give away of our true feelings of what we think will probably happen!

Old song written years ago and the lyrics went like this:

(What would you do what would you do if Jesus came to spend some time with you)
If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two
If he came unexpectedly I wonder what you’d do
When you saw him comin’ would you meet him at the door
With arms outstretched and welcome to your heavenly visitor
Or would you need to change some things before you let him in
Like burn some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been
Oh I know that you’d give your nicest room to such an honered guest
And all the food you would serve to him would be the very best
And you’d keep assuring him that you were glad to have him there
That serving him in your home was a joy beyond compare
But what about your family conversation would it keep up its normal pace
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace
Would you be glad to have him stay forever on and on
Or would you sigh of great relief when finally he had gone
You know it might be interesting to know the things you’d do
If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you
(What would you do if Jesus came to spend some time with you)

Our Expectations Produce Actions

• II Kings we read about the Shunamite woman and her husband that wanted to build a room on the side of their house for the preacher to come by any time he wanted to and get some rest and some fried chicken.

Lord knows he needed it!

• She wanted him to feel welcomed for more than just 2 hrs a week at church so she had some extra money set aside to bless the man of God.
• He usually went from house to house teaching during the week and slept in the woods, in tents and in barns and she wanted him to know that he could come anytime he wanted to and have true shelter from the storms, find protection and get some food in his belly.
• They didn’t have cars back then to buy him one and he walked everywhere so they just made a pit stop for him to relax and take a vacation!

You never go wrong by blessing the man of god!

II Kings 4: 8-11

8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. 9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; (side of the house or most likely on the roof) and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. 11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

The neat thing about this story, she had no children and couldn’t have any but after she and her husband were kind to the preacher, God allowed her to become an expectant mother and she had a son.

• She expected the preacher to come by and get some rest and food and prepared accordingly by building an extra room on their house and in the end, God answered their prayer and blessed them with a son.

You can never out give God!

One of our missionaries from Ghana, Africa had to leave during a time of war. It was unsafe for him as an American to stay in Ghana and he told his faithful housekeeper that he had to leave but he would be back.

Her name was Mary!

• 9 months later, he returned unannounced to find the yard mowed, a garden growing, the house was clean with fresh flowers on the kitchen table. Freshly washed and clean sheets on his bed and a refrigerator full of food.
• He asked her “Mary, how did you know when I would come?

She said “I don’t know what day it would be but that you would return like you said so I kept up the yard and the house, knowing you could back at any moment”.

• Her expectations of his return caused her to make daily preparations to be ready. Every day could have been the day he came back so her actions proved she believed what he had told her 9 mths before.
• She acted! She prepared! She was faithful to her boss…even after 9 months.

Jesus told us in John 14:1-3

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

(believe what I’m telling you) 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

• If we really believe he’s coming back, it will cause us to be prepared!

It will cause us to have high expectations.

• I’m going to remain faithful; I’m going to keep myself pure and holy.

I’m going to make sure I’m born again and stay in the church.

• It will cause me to pray and worship more!

His soon return will cause me to make some changes in my life.

II Pet. 3:10,11

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.

Matt.24:40-42

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Jesus is coming back, are you ready?

Have you been born again of the water and the Spirit?

• Have you made things right with each other and with God?
• Are you living right? Dressing right? Treating each other right?
• Are you really realy really expecting him today?
• What preparations have you made for his soon return?

Our expectations show up in our actions!

• Our actions are a dead-give away of our true feelings of what we think will probably happen!
• Abraham’s expectations caused him to leave his home town and go searching for a city whose builder and maker was God.
• Noah’s expectations caused him to obey God and build an ark and it saved his family during the flood.
• Zacchaeus heard Jesus was coming to town and his expectations caused him to climb up in a tall tree so he could see Jesus and in the end Jesus went to his house.
• Rahabs expectations caused her to hang a long scarlet rope out her window on the wall of Jericho as a sign of her belief in Jehovah God and it saved herself and her family
• Peter’s expectations caused him to step out of the boat as he was about to drown and walk on water towards Jesus.
• Blind Bartemaus expectations caused him yell out “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me” and Jesus restored his sight and his soul.
• The expectations of 3,000 hearers of the word on the day of Pentecost caused them to leave their customs behind and were baptized in Jesus’ name and were filled with the HG.
• The expectations of Moses and the rewards of heaven caused him to leave the wealth and power of Egypt behind and to walk with God in the wilderness towards the promise land.

Our Expectations Produce Actions

The writer of Hebrews went on to say it this way in (New Living Translation)

Heb. 11:32-40

32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, [some were tested,] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind…….

Our expectations should cause us to get ready, to make any sacrifice, to get saved and stay saved and stay ready for the Lords soon return.

• Are you ready? Let your actions prove your beliefs right now!