Ephesians 3:20, Acts chapter 3 1-8
Today I want to talk briefly about “The God who exceeds our expectations”.
We all have expectations in life, things we hope will happen, things we dream about, thing we just expect.
We may have problems we want fixed, health matters we want to disappear, relationships we want to make better, a financial situation we want changed.
All of us have ordinary expectations, but we serve a God who wants to respond to us in an extra-ordinary way.
God thinks Beyond what we think, more than we think, higher and wider and greater than we think.
Ephesians 3:20: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
Of course that power is the power of the Holy Spirit, that lives and works within us. If the Holy Spirit lives within us then we can have greater expectations.
We think, “Let me have enough to get by,” God thinks I will give you an abundance.
We ask for the possible when God wants to do the impossible.
God specializes in exceeding our expectations, and what he has in store for you is bigger, more rewarding, more fulfilling than you can imagine.
He can open doors you never dreamed would open.
He can take you further than you can imagine.
He can give you freedoms you never thought possible.
One day you and Mirror Alliance Church will look back on these days and think, “I never dreamed we would be so blessed, never dreamed we would be in this position, never dreamed things would turn around the way they have.
Never thought for a minute we would see miracles like what has happened here.
This is exactly what happened to a man in Acts chapter 3 1-8. Take a minute and read this short story
He’d been crippled his whole life, and every day his family would carry him to the temple and set him outside by the gate.
As people came to worship he would ask them for money, day after day. Could you think of a better place to beg than outside a church.
People would come by, he would beg, they would throw a few coins in his bag. This is how he survived.
One day, Peter and John came to the temple. The man went through his same speech, “Can you spare some change? Will you help me out”?
Peter stopped and said to the man, “Look at us”,
They were poor travelers, probably dirty dusty old clothes on,” Do we look like we have money”?
The scripture says the man looked up expecting to receive a few coins.
He wanted money but money couldn’t heal him, it couldn’t buy him Salvation money no matter how much he had couldn’t make him walk again.
It was only by the power in the name Jesus Christ that allowed this lame man to get up and walk.
Our Ephesians text said, according to the power that works within us,
Acts 3: verse 6-7 Peter took him by the hand, pulled him up, and said In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene…. Walk.
The man was expecting a few coins. He was expecting the ordinary, the same thing that had happened day after day, but God showed up and exceeded his expectations.
He thought he would have to lay by that gate and beg the rest of his life, he had certain expectations but Jesus far exceeded them.
I believe if we stay faithful, stay obedient and stay focused God is going to do more in the next few years than any of us expect.
If we continue to honor God in our giving, in our attendance, in our involvement, in our faithfulness, God will show up in ways none of us expect.
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ALLIANCE HISTORY AND THOUGHT.
In 1927 Reuben Pearson from Gwynne, Alberta got permission and support from the Christian and Missionary Alliance to start a Christian Radio station. His equipment came from the USA, was set up in Edmonton and he began Broadcasting Christian music. Unfortunately finances caught up to him and he eventually sold the radio station (1930) to our then Premier William Aberhart, who had the nick name “Bible Bill”. This radio station changed hands a few more times and is known today as 1260 CFRN or TSN 1260.
