What do you expect from God? What do you expect God to do in your life? When we realize that God is Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (all knowing), and Omnipresent (everywhere), why do we sometimes wonder if God is able to meet our needs? Even our greatest expectations?

I remember when I was a young pastor in a small town in Junction City, Kentucky. I had the privilege of pastoring a small church, running anywhere from 80 to 100 on any given Sunday. We met in a beautiful little church house that was full of history and rich in experience. However, the building needed much work. We needed to replace the lights in the worship area, along with several other important building updates. I said to the leadership, "Let's have a special offering." They agreed.

The next Sunday I stood up in front of the church and I explained we were collecting a special offering on "Expect Greatness" Sunday...and the offering goal was $4000. Since our regular weekly offering was around $700, I could see the shock in the people's expressions (I was told later, after the service that the most ever given in a "special" offering was $1200) I said quickly, "Don't let that amount scare you. Just pray about it, and come that Sunday expecting greatness."

When Expect Greatness Sunday arrived we passed the offering plates and I preached a sermon on God's Power. At the end of the service, our church treasurer came up front and handed me a note. I was happy to announce, "Today, our Expect Greatness offering was $4,180!" The people cheered, and we began to praise God who had met, and exceeded our expectations.

After the service, an elderly woman came up to me and said, "You know, when you announced we were going to set an offering goal of $4000, I didn't believe it would happen. But pastor, I believed you believed it would happen! Thanks for challenging us."

Why is it we serve such and amazing, powerful God, and yet we feel helpless and hopeless at times? We let doubt and fear fog the mind instead of victory and confidence.

We serve and amazing God, who is able to do more than we can think or imagine. Let's expect greatness!