What Did You Expect?

Expectations are normal in every walk of life. They create problems for us, however, when they fail to be fulfilled. Especially are they problematic when they are unspoken or even unacknowledged. One way you can discover your expectations is when you become angry, depressed, frustrated, etc.... ask yourself, "What did I expect?" Answer the question in writing (I journal a lot for this reason) and be honest. The answers might surprise you.

When we get angry, frustrated, or disillusioned with God it probably goes back to our unmet expectations. As you write out answers you may discover something like the following:

• I expect God to allow me to maintain my standard of living.
• I expect God to keep me and my loved ones free from sickness, especially terminal illnesses.
• I expect God to keep my marriage happy.
• I expect God to make my children obey me.

On and on we could go. The list is endless. By acknowledging our expectations we can get honest with God about our disappointments. We can also invite him to help us develop expectations based on His Word (not what we assume he's said but what he's actually promised us.)

Living in the kingdom of God may be quite different from what we've thought it was. However, when we truly follow Jesus we can be assured that everything he has truly promised us will come to pass. The kingdom of God is indeed GOOD NEWS! Let Jesus teach you what that Good news actually is.

On a related note, I am excited to have so many join our weekly reading of Mark's Gospel. Send me your email address if you want to be included in reading this "short" Gospel each week for the duration of the sermon series.

The Beginning of the Gospel

The best comment I heard today about the sermon was from a visitor. He identified himself as an evangelist and said that the sermon made him want to do more study in the Gospel According to Mark. I say that was the best comment I heard because that was exactly the effect I wanted today's sermon to have. I want us all to have such a desire to know Jesus better that we dig deeply into Mark's Gospel and let him teach us what it means to follow Jesus.

Several people told me that they would read the Gospel of of Mark but no one yet has accepted the challenge I gave this morning of reading the Gospel each week for the duration of the sermon series. I have done this in the past when preaching through Mark and look forward to doing it again. Won't you join me? Let me know if you want to do this and we can keep each other accountable.

Finally, I want to express my sorrow over losing David Layman as my co-minister. David has truly been God's gift to me for the past nine years and his leaving saddens my heart. However, I am confident that he made his decision prayerfully and am thankful that he will still be an active member of the congregation even if I don't get to work beside him every day. May God's blessing be on his family in this transition and may God give us eyes to see the direction and opportunities He has in store for our church in the future.