Christian Living on Expectations

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May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing an...

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Our Loves Can’t Hold the Weight of our Expectations

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Timothy Keller

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John 4:4-26, Genesis 22:1-19, Luke 10:38-42, Mark 10:17-27, Matthew 6:33

The ultimate reason for our misery, however, is that we do not love God supremely. As Augustine so famously put it in prayer, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they fin...

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Expectations for the Messiah King

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N. T. Wright

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Revelation 19:16, Matthew 2:2, John 12:12-16

In this short excerpt, scholar N.T. Wright describes the expectations regarding the Jewish messiah king: The coming King would do two main things, according to a variety of texts and as we study a v...

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William Carey

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Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.

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A. B. Simpson

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Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited.

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Michael Horton

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American Christianity is a story of perpetual upheavals in churches and individual lives. Starting with the extraordinary conversion experience, our lives are motivated by a constant expectation for t...

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When Jesus came to earth, demons recognized him, the sick flocked to him, and sinners doused his feet and head with perfume. Meanwhile he offended pious Jews with their strict preconceptions of what G...

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Bryan Chapell

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Grace frees us from having to earn God’s acceptance by meeting others’ expectations, and it also frees us from the unholy pride and prejudice of determining others’ acceptance by God on the basis of o...

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Andrew M. Davis

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But what seems to happen in our lived practice of worship is that we don’t simply enjoy the stimulation; we expect it from God. We don’t just value “positive” emotions, but in our lived experience and...

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Hannah Whitall Smith

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No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disa...

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The Doubts of a Church Planter

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Peter Chin

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1 Kings 19:1–18 , Exodus 3:1–12, Lamentations 3:19–26 , Luke 7:11–17, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 , Psalm 73:21–26

In this first-person memoir, Pastor Peter Chin shares a story that most pastors can probably relate to, the reality vs the expectation of a church-planter or even the pastor of an established church: ...

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The Construction of Utopias

Author

Eugene H. Peterson

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Luke 16:10, Acts 17:26-27, Zechariah 4:10, Matthew 25:21, Colossians 3:23-24

One of the seductions that continues to bedevil Christian obedience is the construction of utopias, whether in fact or fantasy, ideal places where we can live the good and blessed and righteous life w...

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Who Didn't Make it Out?

Author

Jim Collins

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Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Proverbs 13:12, Numbers 14:, James 1:2-4, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great , interviewed Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Regarding the ...

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Author

John Ortberg

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Poor in Spirit

May your expectations all be frustrated, may all of your plans be thwarted, may all of your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and c...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

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Scripture

Matthew 18:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, James 4:6, James 4:6, Matthew 5:3, 1 Peter 5:6

Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our need, a joy in total dependence. The good man is sorry for the sins which have increased his need. He is not entirely sorry for the ...

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Almighty God, you have surprised us

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Scott B. Bullock

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Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 13:44, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 139:7-10, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Luke 2:1-20, John 4:7-26, John 21:1-14, Luke 24:13-35, Matthew 17:1-8, Luke 2:25-38, Luke 1:35-38, Hebrews 13:2, Isaiah 43:19

Almighty God, you have surprised us with your presence in unexpected ways. In the expectations of our routine, we have missed the treasure that you place before us. We come to worship you in community...

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Jesus Discerned Between Invitations

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

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1 Kings 19:11-13, Exodus 33:12-14, Isaiah 30:15-21, Mark 5:25-34, Mark 1:35-38, Psalm 46:10

Jesus knew his spiritual journey depended on responsiveness to God’s invitations. Although his job was the most crucial in human history, Jesus did not get compulsive, preoccupied or unable to practic...

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Jesus’ Hidden Invitations

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Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

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1 Kings 19:11-13 , Exodus 33:12-14, Isaiah 30:15 , Mark 1:35-38, Luke 5:15-16, Psalm 46:10

Jesus’ actions, in and of themselves, often make no sense unless we see them as responses to some hidden invitation—an invitation received from time spent alone with his Father. When Jesus was interru...

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Shame, Hypocrisy, and Empathy in The Scarlet Letter: A Pastor’s Take

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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The Puritans in American Literature “Welcome to Honors American Literature!” You probably haven’t heard that line since high school, right? After his first couple of weeks of school, my boy came home...

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Climbing the Pastor's Ladder: Holy Ambition and Escaping the Comparison Trap

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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We pastors don't drive fancy cars or rake in the dough (most of us, anyway). But there is still a temptation to a skewed version of "holy success" that we need to watch out for, the idea...

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The Church's Funeral

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9

The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...

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Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Charles Teixeira

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Mark 5:21-43, Mark 5:17-21, Leviticus 15:7

Intertwined Narratives Jesus’ encounters with Jairus’ daughter and the bleeding woman are sandwiched together with the intention that the two narratives would unlock and help to interpret the other....

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Holy Wednesday | John 13:21-32 | We Are All Judas

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Scott B. Bullock

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John 13:21-31

Reflection “I took the money, I spiked your drink, you miss too much these days if you stop to think… waves of regret and waves of joy, I reached out for the one I tried to destroy,” sings Bono of Ju...

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Almighty God, we confess our need of

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Almighty God, we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance. We each have our hopes and expectations for what lies ahead, but only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we need. In life...

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Gracious God, we've gathered this

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Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Gracious God, we've gathered this morning seeking forgiveness for the sins we've committed in our lives and to hear Your words of pardon and grace. We've fallen short of Your expectations ...

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Gracious God, in six days you created

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Mark D. Roberts

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Gracious God, in six days you created all things. On the seventh day you finished your work by resting. You also blessed and hallowed the seventh day, setting it aside as a day of rest. Teach me, Lord...

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Lord—we’re so anxious we can’t

Author

Richard Herman

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Scripture

Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 27:14, Romans 12:2, Matthew 1:23, John 11:25-26, Hebrews 13:3

Lord—we’re so anxious we can’t wait! Some of us can’t wait for Christmas to come, while (honestly) some others of us can’t wait for it to be over. We’re not proud of it—but that’s just the way it is ...

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A. W. Tozer

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The true Church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her mission. Her leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord's will and did it. Their people followed them - sometimes t...

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Preaching on Parables: A Simple Framework to Teach Them Effectively

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Matthew 22:null, Matthew 22:1

A Special Kind of Story Most Christians have some idea of what a parable is. Ask an adult Sunday school class and you might hear: “It’s a story!” Another might chime in, “with a moral message!” Mer...

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The Mess Serves a Purpose

Author

Matthew Kelly

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The Gospel doesn't reveal to us that life isn't messy. In fact, God, in the Incarnation, joins us in the mess. Consider this illustration to highlight how the Incarnation transforms our expe...

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