What Were You Expecting? Great Expectations for a Great Service
Every Sunday morning you have expectations. You expect everyone to show up. You expect the sound board to work, the lights to come on. You expect the guitars to be in tune. You expect the worship team to do their best. You expect people to be prayed up and ready to go. And that’s okay, but our expectations tend to be man-centered. What do you expect God to do on a Sunday morning?
Proverbs 29:18 says ‘without a vision the people dwell carelessly’ or as the Message says ‘If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.‘ What is your expectation (or vision) for God to do during your worship? Greater than a great song service, powerful songs, skilled musicians, flawless technology and a huge offering – our greatest expectation should be for Him! Our worship teams should be filled with this expectation every Sunday.
Consider what you can expect from God when you gather to worship Him:
1. Expect His presence to be among you
- ‘For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Mat 18:20 KJV
- ‘And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.’ 1Cor 14:25 NKJV
2. Expect His voice to sing along with you
- ‘The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.’ Zep 3:17 NKJV
3. Expect His Spirit to change you
- ‘But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.’ 2 Cor 3:18 KJV
4. Expect His mercy and grace to help you
- · ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’ Heb 4:16 NKJV
5. Expect freedom from all that binds you
- ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor. 3:18 (NIV)
- ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NIV
6. Expect His joy to fill you
- ‘In His presence there is fullness of joy’ Ps.16:11 NKJV
Expect God to show up and don’t be surprised when He does great things on Sunday morning!
Dr. Tim Smith
©2009 SongSmith Ministries