Speaker 1: Greetings and praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: We thank God for his continued grace and favor over your life and in this particular month, where our focus is on the impartation of uncommon reception, spirit-led believing, my prayer for you is that you will walk under this grace.
Speaker 1: It's the receiving grace, and today, let me introduce this week by letting you know that receiving is a promise.
Speaker 1: Receiving is a promise.
Speaker 1: One of the promises of God to you, as a child of God, is that of receiving.
Speaker 1: And so the Bible tells us in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 7, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.
Speaker 1: And this is the teaching of Jesus.
Speaker 1: He goes ahead in verse 8 to say for everyone who asks receives, and he who knocks it will be opened to him or to her.
Speaker 1: In fact, jesus goes ahead in the two other verses, verse 9 and 10 and 11.
Speaker 1: He makes a comparison.
Speaker 1: He says who among you, as earthly fathers, when your children ask for bread, you will give them stone, or when they ask for fish, you are going to give them a snake.
Speaker 1: And then he says you being wicked, you being fathers and mothers who have fallen short of God's standard, who have fallen short of God's glory.
Speaker 1: You have the capacity to give good gifts to your children.
Speaker 1: He poses the challenge how much more?
Speaker 1: And that's in verse 11.
Speaker 1: He says if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?
Speaker 1: How much more your father, your father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask him?
Speaker 1: And so I want you to know this month, as you ask, ask.
Speaker 1: It is not only a privilege, it is not only you know you're not just asking for probability sake that perhaps I want you this month to encourage you that, as you, you ask, ask, knowing that it is a promise God has promised that you will receive.
Speaker 1: So what kind of promise is this?
Speaker 1: Three things that I want to mention about this promise to encourage you in your asking.
Speaker 1: The first one is that receiving is a promise to those who ask.
Speaker 1: Receiving is a promise to those who ask.
Speaker 1: Don't sit down hopeless this month, because you have a promise that is triggered by your asking.
Speaker 1: Jesus tells his disciples how much more will you receive from the Father, your heavenly Father, when you ask?
Speaker 1: In another passage, jesus tells his disciples you have not received because you've not asked and therefore there are things that you haven't received because you haven't asked.
Speaker 1: This month, may your faith be lifted to know that the things is the promise of the Father.
Speaker 1: It is the promise of the Father.
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying how much more will your father?
Speaker 1: It is not a promise from somebody without a relationship.
Speaker 1: It is a promise from a very close relationship, the promise of a father.
Speaker 1: This father has risen above and goes far, much beyond our earthly fathers.
Speaker 1: Though our earthly fathers have given us good gifts, this father supersedes them.
Speaker 1: He surpasses them as the father who gives you good and excellent gifts.
Speaker 1: But finally, this is the promise of good things and sometimes, when we think about good things, the things we refer to as good are not necessarily the things that God refers to as good.
Speaker 1: But God's good is above our standard of good.
Speaker 1: It is not only good, but it is the right things.
Speaker 1: So I want to encourage you that our Father doesn't mock.
Speaker 1: Our Father in heaven will not mock your asking.
Speaker 1: Our Father in heaven will not be disappointed at your asking.
Speaker 1: Our Father in heaven will not be limited by your asking.
Speaker 1: Our Father in heaven will give, on a timely basis, that which you ask.
Speaker 1: It is the promise of asking for those who ask.
Speaker 1: It is the promise of the Father, but it is also the promise of that which is good and therefore, I encourage you this month, make good use of this promise by asking, by asking the Father and by asking that which is good in Jesus' name, and as you ask, ask indeed.
Speaker 1: May the Lord come through for you in a very mighty way.
Speaker 1: May this be your month of testifying what God has given you as an uncommon reception.
Speaker 1: God bless you.