Where are your expectations.

The world wants our worry.

I. The Bible tells about how we should put our hope/ expectations in the Lord.

A. We worry too much about the world.

Ex. - Have you heard about what happened in the news today? Have you seen the new style of clothes from Macy’s? Have you seen the new iPhone?

B. We get into the mindset of expecting the world to fill the category of “What’s New” in our life.

C. It is easy to read the news headlines and become discouraged about what is going on around us.

D. How can we keep our life’s gaze pointed in the right direction?

(Psalm 62:1-2 )

Psalm 62:1–2 (KJV 1900)

1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God:

From him cometh my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

A. Verse one tells us about what our soul should be waiting on.

Why can our soul wait on the Lord?

a. God gave us Salvation, and not only that!

God is my Rock

God is my Salvation

God is my Defense

B. Why is this important?

a. When we put our expectations in the Lord, expecting that He is our Rock, that He is the source of our salvation, that He is our defense, Vs. 2 says “I shall not be greatly moved.”

II. We can expect God to work in our life because He promises to be faithful to us, when we are faithful to Him.

A. Psalm 110:1-4

Psalm 110:1–4 KJV 1900

1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness From the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.

B. Ps 110:1-4 records an oath God swore to a Davidic Ruler. The oath took place in Jerusalem. The reason was covenant.

i. What is Covenant?

Covenant is an agreement between two parties that specifies requirements for at least one party, and includes blessing and curses for obedience or failure.

ii. In the passage we just looked at you can see the covenant God made with King David.

“Sit at my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool.”

iii. God kept His covenant to David throughout the Bible, and we can rest assured that this same covenant to us.

C. The world is trying to get you to give up on waiting on the Lord by delivering “quick fixes” that do not satisfy.

i. As we have seen through David’s life though, God is faithful to those who persevere.

III. We can Persevere in the waiting by living on full reliance on Christ.

A. What is perseverance and what does it look Like?

Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts.

Morning And Evening, Page 295

Charles Spurgeon

i. Spurgeon makes a good point here, that the Christian life is a continuance of the same. This “same” is living for Jesus day in, and day out. which we see in verse 3 of Psalm 110:3 “3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness From the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.”

The key phrase = “From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth.”

ii. While the giving or withholding of rain is generally seen in the Bible as a sign of God’s favor or disfavor, in the OT, the terminology “early/autumn” rain or the “latter/spring”—or in one case “later/spring” rain appears. The significance of this terminology lies in the fact that for an agricultural society, it is not just the presence or absence of rain that is important, but its timing as well. Thus, Jeremiah says: “Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest” (5:24).

iii. Waiting on the Lord can be hard, and sometimes, in a sense, painful. but it is important to remember that God does not want the waiting to be painful, rather informative.

Dr. David Jeremiah puts it this way -

4    He [God] doesn’t exult in your pain, but He delights in your tighter embrace.

David Jeremiah

A Bend in the Road (2000)

David Jeremiah

Take away

Here is what I want you to leave here with.

We can put our Hope in the Lord.

2. We can expect God to work in our life because He promises to be faithful to us, when we are faithful to Him.

3. We can Persevere in the waiting by living on full reliance on Christ.

Discussion Questions:

In what ways in your everyday life can you hope in the Lord?

What does it mean to expect God to work in your life?

How can you cultivate perseverance in your own life?