Are our expectations divinely appointed? Scripture presents a viewpoint we naturally resist: reality.
1. Many Christians experience dashed expectations.
a. We continue to struggle in the faith.
b. Non-Christians don’t respond to the gospel.
c. Prayer is not answered.
2. Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?
a. In Bible, struggle is usually portrayed as a normal part of life.
b. Many unseen variables, apart from us, determine how people respond
to the gospel.
c. What we view as problems are often the vehicles God uses to teach us
lessons we otherwise might never learn.
3. The fruit of faulty foundations.
a. Inventions of an evangelical subculture.
4. The blessing of Biblical expectations.
a. Reshaping expectations by Biblical criteria.
5. How to identify and re-adjust expectations:
a. Pray.
b. Objectively analyze and condense expectation into one sentence.
c. Assess the fruit of your expectation.
d. Study your Bible.
e. Restate the expectation.
f. Pray to internalize God’s expectation.
6. Is God enough?
Real question: On what or whom will I base and focus my expectations and hopes?