Expectations
A Biblical Perspective During Trying Times • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Intro:
Good Evening Parkside!!! I’m excited to announce that we will be re-opening Parkside on June 14th. We want you to know that we are operating according to the law. The law specifically states that churches can have worship services. You are more than welcome to wear a mask; however masks will not be required. Also, if you want to wear a mask please bring your own mask. We completely understand if you do not feel that it is not yet safe to attend. I applaud you for taking your health seriously. We will continue to provide services online on our Facebook page as well as post them on our website: parksideassembly.com. We will be recording the Sunday morning service so the service will be posted by 6pm each Sunday evening. Again I want you to know there is no judgment or condemnation if you feel that it’s in your best interest to stay home. When you enter Parkside we ask that you respect others and give them space in your best effort to practice social distancing. Sprouts and Parkside Kids will be available. I am looking forward to all that God has for us as we make this step forward. Would you continue to pray for God’s will to be done in each of our lives and for His will to be done in and through our church. I am so excited to have service together on June 14th at 11am.
Tonight we are continuing our series “A Biblical Perspective During Trying Times.” This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. The very first Pentecost can be found in the book of Acts chapter 2. Maybe you remember Jesus saying in the Gospels to his disciples that He was going away and when He did He would send a Helper, a Comforter. So in Acts 2 we read about that promised helper that promised comforter coming. But Pentecost wasn’t just for the apostles, Pentecost was for everyone, including you and I. Tonight in light of Pentecost we will explore expectations. Would you turn in your Bibles to Acts 2. We all have expectations, right? Of course we do. We have expectations about the weather, we have expectations about our families, our church, our jobs, our future, our health, and of course we have expectations about dinner. Have you ever had really high expectations and were let down. We have all been there. Just think when you were a kid, I’m sure there were times when you were let down, because reality didn’t match up to your expectations. Tonight we will look at two groups of people, people that responded negatively when encountering the unexpected, and people who responded positively when encountering the unexpected. See when the unexpected happens, the reality ends up being different than our expectations. We have two choices at this point on how to respond, we can respond negatively or positively, and by the way no response is a negative response in this case.
Negative Response
Negative Response
Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
So here we are, after this amazing move of the Holy Spirit, people, and not just ordinary people, were talking about Jewish people who, for their whole lives, have grown up learning about and knowing who God is, begin making accusations that the apostles are drunk.
I don’t want to pick on these people though. Because I don’t have to look very back in my own life to find where I myself reacted pretty close to the same reaction we see here in Acts 2. Why do you suppose people in general are so quick to discount or negate the supernatural? For most of us, we have grown up in a culture that says seeing is believing. But sometimes even when we see a miracle we quickly discount it or explain it away to be something else. The number 1 reason I believe people do this, is because if the supernatural does occur it becomes direct evidence that we are not in control.
For most people control is a commodity. It’s a resource for people to find comfort and pleasure. So when something happens that is evidence that control is not exclusively ours we begin to negate it or explain it away. Again most people if not all people struggle in some way with control so please there is no need to be hard on yourself if this is a struggle. However if this is a struggle that you have, then you are burdened to take action, to do something.
When we realize reality is different than our expectations control can be an issue, but also acceptance can become a real struggle. We can respond negatively when we feel that we wont be accepted. Here’s the reality you and I have been called to be different. The sooner we accept our calling from God to be different, to be set apart, the better off we will be and the better off the culture around us will be.
We started off our discussion tonight looking at the Day of Pentecost. We see Jewish people have responded negatively and have mocked the apostles by accusing them of being drunk. For us today our mockery of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit can take form in the way of denial, by ignoring it, by fear of what others may think of us, even by a lack of faith or trust in God. My encouragement to you is to surrender your expectations to God and allow Him to amaze you.
Positive Response
Positive Response
Now lets discuss a positive response. We have explored what happens when our expectations don’t line up with reality and we respond in the wrong way, but there’s good news we can, and have the ability to respond correctly with God’s help. Here in Acts chapter 2 we see that the apostles respond correctly when baptized by the Holy Spirit. Peter stands up and addresses the crowd, not to condemn them, but to call them into relationship with God through Jesus. Can you imagine being one of the apostles and you just experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Think about this for a moment, maybe somebody told you what to expect, maybe you had no idea what to expect, but at this point you are speaking in a language you don’t understand but others understand you. You heard what sounded like a violent rushing wind and seen what appeared to be tongues of fire rest upon your friends. Think about that for a moment, try to imagine what you might be feeling......
Talk about an experience that goes beyond not only our expectations but beyond our imagination. But this is the God we serve, we serve the Creator, who goes beyond our imagination.
At this point maybe some would say but pastor you’re talking about the apostles, I’m just an ordinary person. That person would be right. Let’s take a look at a couple ordinary people in the Bible, someone who for the first time encounters Jesus. Turn with me to Mark 5:21-35.
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
I know I said we would look at a couple ordinary people, but the truth is we are all created by God, so we are all extraordinary, including these people we just meant in our text.
Imagine for a moment that you are Jairus. You have just approached Jesus begging him to come heal your daughter because you believe that you she is near death. Imagine your excitement when Jesus agrees to go to your daughter. You are on the way and crowds are surrounding Jesus. I know I would be thinking come on people get out the way so my daughter can be healed. And then all of a sudden Jesus stops and says who touched me, and then you realize he isn’t going to go to your daughter until he finds the person who touched him. Can you imagine the anxiety, fear, and worry that this man might be feeling. Finally Jesus finds the woman who touched him but then he has a conversation with her. Again I can only speak for me but I would have been like come on Jesus we don’t have time my daughter is dying and needs you, you are our last hope, please come on lets go. And then someone comes from your house and says Jairus, there’s no point now your daughter is dead. Can you imagine? Again what is the response? Could the response go something like this “See Jesus if you would have just pushed through the crowd and not stopped maybe my daughter would still be alive.”
But Jairus’ response is not that at all. Lets look at his response.
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
We find that Jairus’ response is that of faith and trust. Jairus took Jesus at his word. Friends we are all created by the same God that created Jairus. Through our text tonight we saw the compassion Jesus had on Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus continues to have that same compassion on us today. Jesus still does miracles today. The question is not if Jesus will come through, the question is will we trust and have faith in Jesus. We will do will by responding with trust and faith.
The same is true with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the baptism of the Holy Spirit, lets believe. Let’s have faith and trust in the promises of Jesus.
I want to pray for those that need compassion in their lives. I want to pray for those of you that need a miracle. I want to pray for those who want to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, if you fit in any or all of those categories I believe God is going to move miraculously.
Lets Pray
I hope that you were blessed tonight and I can’t wait to hear the testimonies. Again I hope to see you June 14th for our re-opening of Parkside at 11am. God bless you and have a good night.