Great Expectations

INTRO: Good morning

A. Thanks for spending your Sunday with us

· Thanks for those who are watching the stream

B. Good Friday and Easter

· Good Friday at 7pm

· Easter 10am Right here we celebrate the resurrection

· Start off our Easter sermon series Risen

The Triumphal Entry

(CSB) When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her foal. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 5 Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and its foal; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.

I. The long-awaited Messiah

A. The people of Israel had been waiting for the King to come for years.

· Prophesied by many of the prophets.

· Think about how they felt. It was happening right in front of them.

· Multiply Kairee’s shot times 10,000 / You just couldn’t believe it happened.

B. This particular day was fore seen by Daniel.

· God has seven fingers / It’s the way I describe God’s using Heptads

o Jewish calendar is based on seven. Seven days of week, 6 days then sabbath

o 6 years and the seventh was sabbath year, year of jubilee.

o All these things are laid out hepatically

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy One. 25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses,[g] despite the perilous times.

· Seventy sets of 7=490 years

· The Command: , the command given by Artaxerxes to rebuild the walls and make it a city again. This command was given in 445B.C.

· When was Jesus crucified? 30a.d. to 33a.d.

· 445 + 30 = 475 That doesn’t work out. Suppose to be 490. 3 calendars. Gregorian calendar, solar calendar, Julian calendar. Get a good study bible and you will see that Palm Sunday is 173,880 days from the command in 445B.C.

· That is exactly 490, 360 day years.

C. The were waiting for their savior to come.

· The cried-out Hosanna, Save us, blessed is he who comes I the name of the lord.

· Palms branches used as a mark of rejoicing.

· The prophets were the heroes of Israel. They see the power of Jesus and see all he has done and now they have this Great expectation.

· He doesn’t save them in the way they expected. They wanted to be free from the Roman Empire. For Israel to be free.

They had this great expectation and when it wasn’t met the way they wanted these same people were there crying out crucify Him.

II. Unmet Expectations

A. One of the most crippling thing in a relationship is un met expectations

· Expectations are Important! It is where we get Hope.

· Expectations are those places where we say I just assumed you would. Did Jesus say he would liberate them from the Romans?

· Israel’s messianic hopes focused on the coming of a military conqueror who would rescue them from their geo-political enemies. That is why they sought to make Jesus king.

John 6:15 NLT

When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

· But Jesus reorients their vision by declaring, “My kingdom is not of this world” (). Jesus transforms the kingdom, showing it is holistic in its nature, redemptive in its mission, and cosmic in its scope.

· But Jesus reorients their vision by declaring, “My kingdom is not of this world” (). Jesus transforms the kingdom, showing it is holistic in its nature, redemptive in its mission, and cosmic in its scope.

It was a quick turn. Could they make that quick of a turnaround?

B. Unmet expectations cause personal disappointment and relational strife.

· One of the biggest problems in marriages is Unstated, unmet expectations.

· One of the biggest problems between Parents and children are unstated, unmet expectations.

· Although Jesus never said his goal was to overthrow the Romans that is what was expected.

· The had prophecies about Jesus coming to forgive sins,

Isaiah 53:8 NLT

Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.

– “From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He was suffering their punishment?”

· There expectation of God was narrowed into their own perspective.

– “From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He was suffering their punishment?”

· There expectation of God was narrowed into their own perspective.

· They just assumed that the Roman problem was the problem. They assumed that is why he came.

I wonder if that has happened to you. Sometime our problems our struggles become “The” problems and struggles. When we pray, we expect God to answer the way we perceive the issue. If you have been walking with God for any length of time you realize that God’s agenda always supplants our own. We recognize that God is God and we are not, but today I wonder if your relationship with your God has changed because of unmet expectation?

III. What can happen if our expectations, even if we know they are unreasonable, are not met.

1. Unmet expectations are easily exploited by the enemy.

· Social media often shows us the highlight reels of everything.

· So and so was healed. This financial need was met. We sit there in our despondency thinking, We’ll I guess God loves them better. Or their performance rated God’s intervention.

· The enemy loves to lure us into the comparison trap and delude us into thinking everyone has a better relationship with God then me.

· That is easily morphed into the “system trap” This system of faith is better. If I do this or say it like that I would have better results.

· This is very subtle, but Satan loves it. When we start relating to God like some kind of code to be broken, we lose the reality of His person.

ILUS: Some people say to pray specifically about cancer because if you pray for a person to be whole God might kill them because they can only be whole in heaven. God’s know us he is a person not a machine.

· Do you love your computer, or do you love what it can do? Do you love God or do you love what he can do for you?

· It is subtle but it leads people away a relationship into a capitalist type of faith. I do this.. You do that… A contract not a father.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

· Does this sound like a contract?

Many fall into this trap and don’t know they have. If our adversary can get you into this mindset he can dry up the love you have for God as begin to live life in a contract not a relationship.

2. Unmet expectations keep you from enjoying reality.

· When you think, “I’ll only be happy if ________,” you’re training your eyes to watch for only that thing, blinded to other potential blessings.

· I can only be satisfied if you meet this need in me.

· When need to learn to be satisfied in Him and Him alone so we can see the blessings around us.

· God works in an abundance of ways. He is creative in meeting our needs, often in ways that we least expect it.

· When I am satisfied with Him then His peace and Joy become evident I my life, not just to others, but to me.

3. Unmet expectations fuel bitterness and resentment.

· It’s our childish nature at play here. When we don’t get what we want, we pout.

· When it happens with God sometimes we rant, sometimes we just slide away

· We resent Him because we feel like He failed us or we feel He withheld the thing we thought we needed or wanted.

· The bitterness in our heart overtakes our vision of anything good about God or the situation.

· Bitterness and resentment can impede healthy communication. Not that God would stop listening to us but that we stop listening to Him.

IV. Learning to Live with Great Expectations

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

A. Trust His word about you.

· God is creating a fractal in you. Every good and bad piece of your life he is using to create a wonderful you.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago

· I know it doesn’t feel like it sometimes but God has a plan. He is going to make all things new.

· We have to learn to trust what he says about you.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

B. Trust His Love for you.

, Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

· You have been given overwhelming victory in Christ. Hmm… I am not overwhelmed..

· You may not be because you haven’t seen the end.

C. The Universe was rocked that day! When Jesus the creator laid down his life for His creation.

· When we look toward our glorious future we just get a glimpse of what he did for us that day.

· We haven’t experienced it yet,

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.hen he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

· The people that day rejected Him because of un met expectations. Because their expectations were too small. Jesus came to save us all and they could only see themselves.

· Look past you expectations of our almighty God and trust that He is going to do much more than we can ever realize

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

· One day we will be there and we will see what he has truly done and we will all be waving Palm branches because we will see what they all missed that week in Jerusalem.

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

Summary: We all have unmet expectations in our life. Everyone of those affect our relationships. Even our relationship with God. We can slip into contract living. What I called capitalistic Christianity. Some of us have lost our Joy. Some even our reason for living. Some have bitterness and resentment toward God because he didn’t do the things, we thought He should. You need to confess that. You need to free yourself from that. Sometimes we need willful Love toward God. That’s why when we call people to Christ, we called it placing your trust in Him. It is a willful act. We have to choose to trust Him.

If you feel like God let you down this is what I want you to do this week. Write the situation down in a letter to Him. At the end of the letter end it this way. Even so.. I choose to trust you and sign it. Bring it to good Friday service and there will be a red box up here on the stage for you to put it in. On Easter Sunday it will be Gone.