Top 4 Ways Christians Can Unleash People’s Expectations

Today at Abundant Life Church, our Student Pastor, Donnie Culpepper, asked parents to release their expectations on their children so that God could unleash the potential of this next generation.

The statement about expectations really took hold of me because throughout this past month the message has been about saving our city. Pastor Hennigan challenged the church body to step out and take an active role in delivering God’s message. Based on independent studies, church bodies will dwindle away to almost nothing in the years to come, and 2050 marks a date that would see significantly less people in the Word of God.

I believe a key part to reaching out to people is an understanding of expectations.

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Ye of Little Faith

Greetings dear readers. The holiday season is upon us, and I hope this post finds you in good company & happy times. As much as I want to flush out a new design for the blog, part of my journey towards life improvements (health & office for late arrivals), includes getting back to regular blog posts.

I haven’t quite come up with a weekly theme (Firgs is spot on with daily scheduled themes), but I am going to try to get a post schedule down. I have been able to do that on Twitter, and if you’re following me then you’ve probably seen I post daily Adobe tips at 9AM & 9PM Monday through Friday.

In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to share how I’m getting my house in order, and that will include a behind the scenes peek here.

Now that we’ve gotten business out of the way, I wanted to share today’s lesson from church. Actually, I wouldn’t do Jeff Manning’s sermon service by trying to break it down (subscribe to Big God Podcast on iTunes), but it did speak to me. It was Mark 6:6 that got my attention. Jeff talked about how Jesus returned to Nazareth, and here he stood amongst folks in their unbelief.

To me the sermon was a testament to faith in the midst of crisis. As we look at the current state of the world, things are lookin’ a bit glum. Here in the U.S. we are perhaps looking at the end of the industrial era as we know it.

As I sat in church this morning, my heart weighed heavy. It’s hard to empathize with the plight of others when you’re facing you’re own adversity. Maybe it’s easy for some, but I find myself feeling guilty whenever I feel bad about my situations. Guilty you ask? Well sure, I know that despite my crisis, there’s someone else who has it worse. Maybe it’s a human defense mechanism, “Well, yeah we’re short on funds, but did you here about Bob – he got fired today.”

Really, I think it comes down to needing a release valve. Everybody needs an outlet to vent. I know there are times when I’m down & out, I don’t want you to relate to me being down & out, I just want you to shut up & listen THEN if you should choose to speak choose your words wisely. I’m a pragmatist, I want constructive support not speeches. (But hey, God bless you for your support)

But I digress, we were talking about unbelief & Jeff’s sermon – faith as it were. I realized today, sitting in church, listening to Jeff Manning speak, that you really don’t know if you have faith or not until it’s tested.