Well, let me answer that with what I didn't expect from members - and yet got caught up in myself. I didn't expect the disagreement, disunity, disharmony, and disaccord - you know, those things Paul repeatedly scolded the churches for. Honestly if I was an on-the-fence believer and I heard what I read here, I'd think 'wow if these people who are steeped in it can't agree on what it means, what chance do I have?' Just as one young man is currently pondering in another thread. Paul's answer to the problem was elegantly simple... 1, stick with what he taught us, and 2 if anyone teaches anything different from what he taught us, we are to refer back to rule number one and stick with what he taught us. But evidently even what he taught us is up for dis-play. So I find myself, and a whole bunch of other good people, spinning our wheels getting nowhere doing the first thing we were told not to do. And I cringe when I think of who that benefits.
What do I expect from members? Well, if we were doing what the Lord told us to, and what Paul told us to, I expect the Prayer Request forum would be the most heavily visited, and the Bible Discussion forum would be a quiet place of learning not debate. I expect we would be in one accord, as He tells us to be. But we're not. Again I cringe...
I think the turning point for me was a word I got not tooo long ago. A bunch of cessationists had questioned why, if healing still worked today, were we not going out and emptying hospitals? And I prayed long and hard on that, because it's a valid question. And what came back to me, loud and clear is this: "If all My people believed we could, We would." And ever since then this effort to convince the unconviceable has seemed as such a waste of time and effort. Time and effort better spent on those who believe enough to seek.
People it's time, we all know it. We need to discern where our efforts go, and use them best we can to grab the last few from the drain. Those who know the meaning of Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil must stop squandering their gifts on meaningless exchange, and pursue God's glory in the practice thereof upon the hurting. And so many of us are hurting; actually aren't we all? So let us pray for one another, instead of bickering with each other; that those who fence-sit may see us and say Praise God!