WAHT DOES GOD EXPECT OUT OF ME?

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT OUT OF ME?

Video sermon links of "What Does God expect out of me?"

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT OF ME? - PART 1

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT OF ME? - PART 2

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT OF ME? - PART 3

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT OF ME? - PART 4

WRITTEN MESSAGE

“LET US HEAR THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER: FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN”

(ECCLESIASTES 12:13)

What does God expect of us?  The words “trust” and “belief” are the answer to that question.  The words often translated into “belief” occur over 220 times in the New Testament alone.  The meaning of belief is “to put one’s faith in and to trust.”  Belief and trust are verbs - something you do, not something you think or feel.

Fear can mean many things to many people.  In Ecclesiastes to “fear God” can have the meaning of  “reverence” and “respect”.  This means to value and believe what God says.  It is obvious that “keeping His commandments” means to keep His commandments.  When our Lord and Savior, Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, He replied.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it.  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  ( Matthew 22:37-38).  That leads us to the question on “How do we love God?”.  We can love Him the same way we love others, and that is through “trust” and “belief”. 

When Jesus was asked this question:  “What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them:  This is the work of God, that you believe on Him, who God has sent.”  (John 6:28-29).  This is our daily work, the work that God has asked you to do - to trust in the Lord Jesus to help you make it through each day.  When you can do this you will receive results from your prayer and in turn receive joy in your Christian life.  There is no joy without trust.

Can you see yourself through the eyes of God?  You can if you read His Word.  “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”  (Romans 8:32).  If God didn’t withhold His very own Son that He gave on the Cross for you and me, then will God withhold anything else we need?  The answer is no.  If trust must be earned, God has earned that trust through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is thanksgiving that shapes a theology of trust.  The Bible is a book of memories recounting the results of many different groups of people and individuals who put their trust in God.  God reveals Himself in rearview mirrors.  At the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus Christ asks us to remember by giving thanks.  “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them saying: This is my body which is given for you: This do in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22 19).  If Christ gave thanks for His broken body and shed blood, we can show our trust in Him, by thanking Him during difficult times of our lives.  We can trust that even in suffering and pain, He will allow us to have a resurrection.   “Behold I make all things new....”  (Revelation 21: 5).  Even though God never changes, He can change all things, and that includes working miracles in our lives when necessary.

Another meaning for the word “fear”, is failure to believe.  If saving faith is trusting, then the opposite of faith is not just doubt, but fear.  A failure to be thankful and trust is a failure to believe.  A lack of being thankful and a lack of trusting is both doubt and fearing that God will fail.  Fear and doubt are the ideas that God’s love ends.  Fear and doubt believes that  there is not going to be enough love and miracles for you because you have failed so many times.

There is a desire the Holy Spirit puts into God’s children, and that desire is to please our Heavenly Father.  There is no mystery into pleasing our Heavenly Father.  It is a simple word called “faith”.  We have already described “faith” with the synonyms of “trust” and “belief”.  There is a whole chapter in the Bible dedicated to examples of faith.  One verse in Chapter 11 of Hebrews summarizes the importance of these words.  “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6). 

What does God expect from you?  He expects you to believe in Him and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He expects you to believe that He loves you and has your best interest in mind. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a good future.  Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will listen to you.  And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29: 11-13).

Why would the children of God live in a life of doubt and fear when he has given us this promise?  Jesus said: “If you can believe, all things are possible to the person that believes.”  (Mark 9:23).  This includes eternal life; healing; help with material needs; deliverance from harmful habits, worry, stress; and wisdom and strength to solve daily problems.  

The Lord has many wonderful things planned for your life on Earth and in Heaven.  He is not asking you to live a perfect life or achieve some unrealistic goal.  There may be times when the Lord Jesus asks you to change some things in your life.  “If any person will come after me, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23).  Believing is acting upon what you know, think and feel.  It is not just words.  “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26).

Thanksgiving is another way to demonstrate your “Faith”.  Just tell God ahead of time “thanks, for helping me in this situation”; “thank You for what You are going to do”; “let Your will be done, and I will trust You, even if it wasn’t the answer I wanted”.

Today, you have been taught what it is that God expects of you as one of His children, as a born-again believer, and as someone He loves very much.  If you are having trouble with trust and believing in what God can do for you, pray the prayer of another person who came to Jesus and said:  “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24). 

LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTION

                           LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTION
Watch Video of this sermon
LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTIONS - PART ONE
LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTIONS - PART TWO
LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTIONS - PART THREE

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Loving one another with action, is doing things for others that you would want them to do for you. Our Lord and Savior said this: "Therefore, whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).  You can show your love to others by doing things for them.  Love is not just a feeling, it is action.  “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Loving one another with action is doing something the Lord Jesus Christ both demonstrated and taught us to do. “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” (John 13:12-14).  Today, in our society, we do not demonstrate or love for each other with this custom,  but there are many ways we can “wash each other’s feet” through loving each other with tangible acts of love and service.

Many people are locked into “gender” gaps and “generational” gaps which identify and limit them in the types of service that they are willing to give to those they love.  For instance, some men will not wash the dishes, because their dads never washed the dishes.  They view that service as something the wife should always do.  Some women feel that it is the husband’s job to take out the trash and wash the car.  When we allow ourselves to think and live the way our parents did, we limit our capacity to show our love to others with acts of service.  “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:3).  “Remember there are no rewards for maintaining stereotypes, but there are tremendous benefits to meeting the emotional needs of those you love.”  You may do a lot of things right, but if you don’t do it with love, you will not meet the needs of those who need your love. “And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Loving each other with action is not limited to the husband and wife relationships.  This command of “loving one another” applies to our friends, fellow Christian brothers and sisters, children, and grandchildren. It is a love language that should be spoken by each of us to each other.  Love is a choice and cannot be demanded or manipulated.  Each of us must decide daily to love or not to love each other.  This is true in all our relationships.  We also can choose to demonstrate our love with our actions.  Good intentions are not enough.  Things we have done for each other in the past cannot substitute for showing actions of love today.  Each day is a new day in which we have the opportunity to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by our actions of love. 

One of the best ways to express our love to the Lord is with our actions toward Him.  “Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.” (Psalms 100:2).  This includes attending worship services, giving, praying, and giving testimonies of His goodness.  “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalms 107:8).

Random acts of kindness are ways to show love at unexpected times.  This kind of love can be done without the other person even knowing who is doing it for them.  You can pay for someone’s meal or send them some flowers or a fruit basket.  They do not need to know that it comes from you, but that someone loves them.  It can be as simple as giving a piece of candy to a child or taking a magazine or newspaper to an elderly shut-in.  Random acts of kindness is the way the Lord gives to you and me -often unexpected and with no preconditions.  It is not the kind of love that says that I want something back in return for my kindness. “For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed," Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10)

Remember, love is something you do because the Lord has already done it for you. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).  Demonstrating your love for others is not a matter of them deserving it or not, it is a matter of God’s grace in you.  “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19).   Family and friends can express actions of love for each other in many ways.  If you are not sure what another person would want or need, simply ask.  Another practical way to do this is for two people or a family to write down two to three things they can do for each other to make each one feel more loved.  You can show your love for God by doing meaningful things for one another.   "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."    (John 13:35).  When people see you demonstrate your love with actions, is a testimony to your family, your friends, your church family, and most of all to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”    (1 John 4:7).

One way to demonstrate your love, is to give gifts to each other.  Gifts may be purchased, found, or made.  They do not need to be expensive nor do you have to wait for a special occasion.  To develop a better and more meaningful relationship with your spouse, your children, or your friends, you need to give physical things to the person you love.

Another action is something that cost nothing, but means so much to those that need our love is kind words and encouragement.  A smile is a gift that cost nothing but will give encouragement to those who are sad and lonely. “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24.)

The most important action of love you can demonstrate is giving of self, or the gift of your presence.  Your time is something that only you can give.  Your undivided attention is a gift that those you love will appreciate and cherish.  The Lord Jesus appreciates your presence at worship services and the time you spend with Him in prayer and Bible reading.   

Let’s love like our Lord Jesus did with our lives and our actions.