Setting Low Expectations and Failing to Meet Them

"Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead? Acts 26:8  

On Sunday morning, faithful Christians will go into their churches for worship (or is it more correct to say “to worship”?). Imagine for a moment that sentries were posted outside the doors of every church asking each individual man, woman or child, “What is your purpose in coming here? What do expect to accomplish? What do you expect to receive? ” What would be your answer? Now, what if these sentries were to ask the preachers the same questions? Would the preachers answer differently than we would?

When we go to worship (the more correct saying; worship is a contact “sport"), preachers should expect that the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, will move through the preaching of His word in the hearts and minds of His people. And Christians should expect the same! That’s right; we should expect the Holy Spirit to do this. Unfortunately, a spirit of idleness, skepticism, and unbelief has so permeated the church that we expect little of the Holy Spirit. We probably have so little expectation of Him because we pray so little.

Thankfully, Paul and the other apostles did not have such low expectations; nor should we. We should desire and expect that the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin, and righteousness, and judgment. We should desire and expect that the Holy Spirit will comfort us that, indeed, our warfare against God is ended, that we have been reconciled to him through the Cross of Jesus, and that we will receive grace to walk before God in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. And we should expect conversions. Not one here or there, but conversions in the hundreds and thousands. However, if we pray little, we will have low expectations.

We desperately need a visitation from the Lord as he did in older days, and we should expect to receive one. So tonight, the evening before worship, and tomorrow morning before worship, pray for your pastor that God would bless the preaching of His word in ways we could not even think imaginable. If God has given us the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead, shouldn’t we raise our expectations beyond our meager limitations to level of the promises that God has made? Why should we think this incredible?