This is the third in a series of seven posts explaining and applying GFA’s seven core values. The first two posts highlighted the values of biblical and conservative.

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” GFA’s core value expectant includes wording from that statement by William Carey summarizing his 1792 sermon from Isaiah 54:2–3.

Core Value #3—Expectant: We trust God’s promises to provide the resources, strength, and wisdom for everything He leads us to do, fully confident that Jesus Christ will continue to build His Church as we persevere in attempting great things for God.

Carey preached his famous sermon approximately one year before sailing for India. Now, read what Carey wrote almost two years later on April 19, 1794, after he had been in India for five-and-a-half months:

When I first left England my hope of the Conversion of the Heathen was very strong, but among so many Obstacles it would entirely die away, unless upheld by God—nothing to exercise it, but many things to obstruct it for now a Year and 19 Days, which is the space since I left my dear Charge at Leicester._¹

Carey’s journal entry continues to outline some of those obstacles: five months on board a ship with wicked men (which he refers to as an “imprisonment”), his helper not understanding enough English to translate his preaching, the opposition of his own family, the loss of a coworker, little opportunity to gather with believers, and no chance for real solitude (he writes that he can’t go into the woods “like Brainerd” because at least 20 men had been hauled off by tigers in recent months!). He summarizes his condition in these words: “no Earthly thing to depend upon, or Earthly Comfort; except … Food and Raiment.”_²

But then Carey exclaims with exultant faith:

Well I have God, and his Word is sure; and [although] the Superstitions of the Heathen were a Million times more deeply rooted—and the Examples of Europeans, a Million times Worse than they are; if I were deserted by all, and persecuted by all. Yet my hope, fixed on that sure Word will rise superior to all obstructions, and Triumph over all trials; God’s Cause will triumph, and I shall come out of all trials as Gold purified by fire.”_³

No earthly thing to depend upon. No earthly comfort except food and covering. But I have God, and His Word is sure! And even if things were far worse than they are, God’s cause will triumph!

How we need the Lord to engrave this on our hearts at the very core: We are in a cause that cannot fail! Here is the assurance of Jesus Himself: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The glorious day will come when God is all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

We believe the promises of God. We are convinced that He will provide all that we need for what He gives us to do. We are absolutely certain that Jesus will continue building His church. So we persevere. Away with pessimism! Away with a dour, complaining, fretful spirit! Away with small ambitions! We desire to attempt great things for God. Not great so that we are well-known or admired, but great because our hearts long to see Christ well-known and adored by every kindred, tribe, and tongue. We need to raise our ambitions. We shouldn’t settle for frittering away our days and hours as the world gets darker and people perish. Jesus, right now, this day, is building His Church, and He is not going to stop until “all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more!” He can’t fail, so we must attempt great things for God!

Every disciple of Christ can and should live with this faith-filled, expectant spirit. When we speak a word for Christ to an unsaved neighbor, or gather children at a Bible club to show them the love of Christ and teach them the Gospel, or walk hours to a new village where Christ has never been named, or meet a friend again at the same coffee shop to keep sowing the seed, or step into a classroom to start a new week, or drive to a place of employment to shine as a light in this world, or gather our family at the dining room table to lead in family worship, or go to hand out tracts on a busy street, or invite a family into our home for a meal, or offer music in a worship service to help God’s people exalt Him, or stand behind a pulpit and proclaim God’s Word, we want to do it all with a heart that expects God to work.

There is an oft-repeated anecdote about Charles Spurgeon, who, as he ascended the many steps to the pulpit at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, would repeat to himself, “I believe in the Holy Ghost.” That is an expectant spirit. Jesus is building His Church, and we get to be a part of it. We ought to serve expecting Him to save sinners and transform His people, and then we can go to bed at night believing that He did. That’s a great way to live! At GFA, we want this expectant spirit at the core.