Introduction:     I am finding it increasingly true that God never disappoints me.  He usually does for me and gives me exactly what I expect. God always meets his people at the level of their expectation Every promise Jesus made to me, every encouragement Jesus gave to me, every command Jesus uttered to me was really a promise for great expectations. Over and over again, Jesus encourages us to pray and use language like this:  ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone who keeps on asking receives; everyone that keeps on seeking finds; and everyone who just keeps on knocking, that door will be opened.  Jesus is saying? I will meet you at the level of your expectation. Do you know what I think God wants in Southside Baptist Church?  I think He wants men and women who will stop insulting Him by their low level of expectation.  I believe it is insulting to God for us to limit Him by a lack of expectation. What do you expect God to do in your life?  What do you expect God to do in your home life? I don’t care what the situation is; God will meet you at the level of your expectation. What did you expect God to do this morning when you came to church?  Here is the truth. You will get exactly what you came expecting. If you came expecting God to speak to you, for Jesus to confront you, He will do just that. But if you came expecting little or nothing to happen, I promise you that you probably will not be disappointed. God meets us at the level of our expectation. There is a very close relationship between what I expect God to do and what I believe God can do. Jesus, when He went to His home town, came away saying He was not able to do much there because of their unbelief—because of their low expectation.  I think what God wants us to do is raise even higher the level of our expectation.  I want to say two things about our expectation.

I.          THE LEVEL OF OUR EXPECTATION OUGHT TO BE MEASURED BY GOD’S ABILITY.

How much am I to expect God to do. What can I expect God to do?  Our expectation is not to be measured only by what you pray for, or even by what your mind can conceive.  Notice what Paul says, God is able to do exceeding abundantly above not only all that you ask but all that you imagine. The word imagine means what the mind can conceive.  Stop for just a moment and let your mind go. What can you conceive or imagine God doing in the City of Palatka?  I’ll tell you what I can conceive, and this is what I am praying for, that such a revival will descend upon the City of Palatka that people will stop their cars and get out on the side of the road and get down on their knees calling on the Lord for mercy. That is what my mind can conceive. But Paul says, oh, you are aiming too low! God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or can even imagine, even. If I am going to measure my expectation by God’s ability, I need to investigate that ability.

A.                 It Is Resurrection Power

What kind of power is he speaking of in verse 20?  He says, according to that power that works in us. That power identified in verse 19 of chapter 1. It is resurrection power. That is plenty of ability. 

·        Think about what God needs to do in your life whatever your problem, your expectation, or what your mind can conceive, Let me ask you?  Is it more difficult than raising someone from the dead? I can’t think of anything harder than raising a man from the dead. Don’t you imagine if you had the power to raise somebody from the dead that you would have power available to do anything?  That is what He says. You measure your expectation by God’s ability and his resurrection power. 

·        The greatest demonstration of what God is the resurrection. God says if you want to know how powerful I am, there it is. 

·        Why didn’t God use creation as a demonstration of his power?  The reason God chooses the resurrection instead of the creation is because the devil nothing to do with the creation. God decided He would create. There was no opposing power in creation. But there was opposition in the resurrection. Jesus was crucified by the evil of this world. On that cross the devil did his worst.  In the resurrection God did his best. God is saying whatever the devil can do when he has done his worst in your life, is to remember His resurrection power. Just as Jesus was raised out of the grips of Satan and the bands of death, God is able to break you away and liberate you from the worst the devil can do in your life. 

B.         It Is Released Power

I am so glad God didn’t keep this to himself.  Notice what he says in verse 20:  “According to the power that worketh in us…” God has not confined this power to himself, but He has released this power within me.  Did you know that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is living in me this morning?  God has placed resurrection power at my disposal.

C.        It Needs To Be Recognized Power. 

Some of you are walking around living defeated lives unable to break the chains of habits?  It is because you don’t recognize that power.  This is why Paul was praying in chapter 1, verse 19, that God might give to us a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  Why don’t you just pray?  Lord, open my eyes this morning to see the power that is in me. That is what is needed.  It doesn’t do any good to have resurrection power resident within us unless we recognize it.  Don’t you know that God has placed this rich deposit in your life?  Why don’t you pray right now? Recognize it.  When you recognize it, three things will happen.

• You’ll pray bigger.
• You’ll plan bigger.
• You’ll praise bigger.

Look at verse 21. I promise you this one thing.  If God ever opens your eyes so that you can see the power that is indwelling you, that power which is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think, you’ll come away praising the Lord. 

II.         THE LIMIT OF OUR EXPECTATION IS MEASURED BY OUR AVAILABILITY.

If you will look again in that twentieth verse God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, BUT what God is able to do is according to that power that worketh in us. Don’t expect God to do anymore than you are willing to let him do through you. 

A.                 God Will Do No More Than You Are Willing To Let Him Do Through You

The only limit of what God will do in your life is your willingness and cooperation to allow God to work through you. The bottleneck, the barrier, the clogged channel is with us. 

B.                 The Only Limit To My Expectation Is My Availability

God will do through me in proportion to how much I make myself available to Him.

Conclusion:       What are you expecting God to do for you?  What do you want God to do through you? Are you willing to say, Heavenly Father, I don’t want to put any limit on what you are able to do. As best I know how, I make myself totally, one hundred percent available to you.  If there is sin that needs to be confessed, if there is reconciliation that needs to be made, if there is restitution that needs to be made, whatever the price, whatever the cost, Father, I want to make myself absolutely available to you.  That simply means that you will be willing today to let God do whatever He wants to do in you, through you, and for you. Are you willing? My willingness meets God’s willingness, and the result is always miraculous.