This is Not What I Expected
It's A Lot
John 11:20-44
What if the greatest source of disappointment in our lives is not what happened to us, but what we expected God to do for us?
The pain of discipline vs. The pain of disappointment-
Discipline can be painful, but the pain of discipline prevents you from having regret in the future.
Many of us are not struggling in our walk with God because we stopped loving Him, but because we stopped understanding Him.
Christianity is not the absence of pain, but the addition of promise.
Most of us never get to promise because we quit in the process.
Be mindful of being surrounded by unprocessed people.
What if God never planned to meet your expectations, but to exceed your expectations? -This is what we see in the text.
God is faithful, even when He’s not fast. -A Word!
Sometimes we aren’t struggling with God’s character, sometimes we’re struggling with His timing.
God’s delays are not proof of His absence, but often preparation for our abundance.
What if God is using the delay for your development?
Sometimes the delay reveals dysfunction in you.
Martha approached God out of entitlement, not faith.
Just because God didn’t do what you expected, doesn’t mean He won’t do more than you imagined.
Worrying doesn’t move Jesus, but worship does.
Sometimes God allows what we expected, to die, so that He can introduce us to something we never expected to live.
Release your disappointment- Are you the strong friend or the numb friend?
Remove your stones- vs.39 ; Forgiveness is the process of removing stones. Don’t have a hardened heart by carrying stones.
Revive your expectations- vs.43 ; What is your Lazarus? What do you need to call out by name that Jesus needs to resurrect in your life? Be specific.
Release your residue- vs.44 ; “Take off the grave clothes and let him go” ; we can’t walk into the future, wearing the past. Release your old mindset! Shake the dust from your feet- don’t take old dust into new seasons.
Lazarus reveals to us that God doesn’t just resurrect people, He resurrects perspectives. He can revive the way we see a thing.
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