Sermon Tone Analysis

*EXPECTING THE BEST*

!! 50 Days of Faith

!! Part 1 of 2

!! January 14, 2007

 

/ /

/“According to your faith will it be done to you."  /Matt.

9:29

/“Faith assures us of things we hope for~/expect…”    /Heb.

11:1 (NIV)

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      EXPECTING THE BEST:  is the confident assurance that God is ___________________ of the future and that   

      He plans ___________________ for my life because He loves me.

“/I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I’ll advise you and watch over you.”

/Ps.

32:8 (NLT)

 

 

!! WHY EXPECT THE BEST?

1 Samuel 17 (David faces Goliath)

 

*1.

IT ______________________________________________*

            “/This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down … and the whole world will know that there is a God!” /1 Sam.  17:46 (NIV)

 

 

*2.

IT ____________________________________  *

/      “David hurled a stone from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead.

The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face downward to the ground.”

/1 Sam 17:49 (NLT)

/ /

/ /

3.      IT ____________________________________

/“Then the Israelites gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines, chasing them as far as Gath.”/         

                                                                                                                                                       1 Sam.  17:52 (NLT)

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*EXPECTING THE BEST*

!! 50 Days of Faith

!! Part 1 of 2

!!                                                                  January 14, 2007                                                               1959 words

 

Today we’re asking the question: ‘*Why Expect The Best?’ *and next week we’ll follow that up by considering ‘*How To Expect The Best When Facing Giants’*.

To help you remember what I have said this morning, and bearing in mind what I said last week about 95% of what I say being forgotten within 72 hours, I’ve put brief notes on the back of your Orders of Service that you can fill in as we go along.

So you’ll need a pen or pencil at the ready!

How do you get God's approval?

Is it by being more good than bad?  No.

By keeping the Ten Commandments?

No.

By promising to be perfect?

No.

By being religious and going to church?

No.

The Bible says there’s only one way to get God's approval.

There’s only one way to get God's blessing on your life.

In Hebrews 11 it says, /“Without faith it is impossible to please God.”/

The only way you can get God's approval is by faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.

You may be a great person but without faith it’s impossible to please God.

You may do all kinds of great things in your life but without faith it’s impossible to please God.

Would you say that faith is a pretty important issue?

Yes, it is.

It is vital that you learn how to live by faith.

That you strengthen your faith.

So over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at the topic of ‘Faith’ and hopefully over the period, when we look at it together, your faith will be stretched, challenged, deepened and strengthened and the result of that, if you do your part, will be spiritual growth.

How do you get more faith?

You say, “I’d like to get more faith.

How do I get it?”

The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God.

Faith comes from this book – this is faith-food – and the more you get into this book, God's word, the Bible – the more your faith will develop.

Matthew 9:29 /“According to your faith will it be done to you.”/

Jesus is talking.

This is one of my favourite verses in the Bible because God says it’s your choice.

You get to choose.

/“According to your faith it will be done to you.”/

You get to choose how much God blesses your life.

You get to choose how many answers you have to prayer.

You get to choose how much God gets to use you in His plan for the world.

How?

/“According to your faith will it be done to you.”/

God says, “If you’ve got a lot of faith, we’ll get a lot done in your life.

If you’ve got a little faith, we’ll get a little done in your life.

If you’ve got no faith, you get nothing done in your life.

/‘According to your faith it will be done.’”/

Faith is the key that unlocks the door to heaven.

It is very important that you grow, develop, that you strengthen your faith.

The next verse, Hebrews 11:1 says, /“Faith assures us of things we hope for = expect.”/

If you’ve got a pen or pencil with you, circle “things we hope for~/expect”.

If I had to summarize faith: faith is expecting the best.

Let me explain that.

Some of you might say, “That’s just being optimistic.”

No, it is not.

Faith is not positive thinking.

Positive thinking is good.

I like to be around positive thinking people.

What’s the alternative?

Negative thinking people.

I’d much rather be around positive thinking people than negative thinking people.

Positive thinking is good but it is very limited and it certainly isn’t faith.

I could put you out in the middle of a snowstorm in nothing but your pyjamas and you could have positive thinking all you want but you’d still be freezing to death.

All the positive thinking in the world wouldn’t make you warmer.

So positive thinking is a good thing but there’s some things it just can’t effect.

When I’m talking about expecting the best, I’m not talking about wishful thinking like “I hope I don’t have any problems in life.”

because you’re going to have problems.

You’re going to have difficulties.

Expecting the best is not saying, “I hope everything goes just the way I planned it.”

Because almost nothing is going to go just the way you planned it in life.

So what am I talking about when I say faith is expecting the best.

Expecting the best is the confident assurance that God is in control of the future and that He plans what is best for my life because He loves me.

That definition is based on the next verse, Psalm 32:8 /“I will guide you along the best pathways for your life.

I'll advise you and I'll watch over you.”/

Circle “your life”.

This is customized.

It’s talking about your life.

The pathway for your life is tailor-made.