WEBVTT 00:00:02.745 --> 00:00:04.870 Speaking of prayer this morning. 00:00:04.870 --> 00:00:16.411 Jesus is talking about prayer, so we're going to listen to his words about prayer this morning, and he's already taught some in this Sermon on the Mount about prayer. 00:00:16.411 --> 00:00:17.925 He's always spoken to us about it. 00:00:17.925 --> 00:00:25.807 If you remember, in chapters 5 and 6, he said Don't pray to be seen by men, but pray secretly. 00:00:25.807 --> 00:00:33.189 But today we're going to find out that secretly doesn't mean timidly, okay. 00:00:33.189 --> 00:00:41.691 He also said don't pray using repetitive phrases, thinking that the more you say them, the more you're going to be heard by God. 00:00:41.691 --> 00:00:49.990 So so maybe, maybe I don't know, it's not for everybody Maybe you're using too many words when you pray. 00:00:49.990 --> 00:00:53.810 It's possibly, but probably you're not using enough. 00:00:53.810 --> 00:00:55.767 But maybe you're using too many. 00:00:55.767 --> 00:01:01.868 But the more words, the more repeating it doesn't make God hear you more. 00:01:01.868 --> 00:01:05.054 Your father knows what you already need before you ask. 00:01:05.054 --> 00:01:05.661 He said right, but we're going to learn today that that doesn't make God hear you more. 00:01:05.661 --> 00:01:06.049 Your father knows what you already need before you ask. 00:01:06.049 --> 00:01:10.510 He said but we're going to learn today that that doesn't mean he doesn't want us to ask. 00:01:10.510 --> 00:01:11.986 He does want us to ask. 00:01:11.986 --> 00:01:16.811 And then Jesus gave us this Lord's Prayer to show us exactly how to pray. 00:01:16.811 --> 00:01:19.319 But Jesus is not through with prayer. 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:27.147 He is pressing us on the matter of prayer in this sermon, and so I think we need to listen to him. 00:01:27.147 --> 00:01:33.629 If we're going to learn to live in the culture of the kingdom of God, we're going to have to press in in prayer. 00:01:33.629 --> 00:01:35.466 So let's listen to the words of Jesus. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.971 This is Matthew, chapter 7, verse 7 through verse 11. 00:01:39.971 --> 00:01:50.527 And our Lord said Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. 00:01:50.527 --> 00:01:53.725 Knock and it will be opened to you. 00:01:53.725 --> 00:02:00.784 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. 00:02:00.784 --> 00:02:03.759 And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:13.614 Or which one of you, if his son asked him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asked for a fish, will give him a serpent? 00:02:13.614 --> 00:02:27.653 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? 00:02:27.653 --> 00:02:32.449 So, father, we need you to help us, we need you to open our eyes. 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:51.626 This morning, lord, we ask you that, in each of our contexts, right where we're at here this morning, you would speak directly to our needs, and we ask you that your thoughts about prayer would become our thoughts about prayer, and we want to be changed. 00:02:51.626 --> 00:02:55.168 This morning, lord, we ask for this in Jesus' name, amen. 00:02:55.168 --> 00:03:05.185 I think this is a word especially for everybody who just came back from camp, because here you are, you've been encountering the Lord this last week and now what do you do? 00:03:05.185 --> 00:03:08.840 And I think he wants to take you up a level in how you're asking and seeking and knocking. 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:17.254 So Jesus is speaking here in the sermon to people who followed him up this mountain. 00:03:17.254 --> 00:03:28.665 So they're actually seeking enough to follow him, enough to follow him, and they followed him because he's saying things that were really unlike. 00:03:28.685 --> 00:03:37.271 They had heard anything they've ever heard before, and so their religious leaders of their days were not saying anything like this to them. 00:03:37.271 --> 00:03:39.037 And their context. 00:03:39.037 --> 00:03:40.281 We have to understand where they lived. 00:03:40.281 --> 00:03:43.150 They lived in a really difficult context. 00:03:43.150 --> 00:03:46.741 They had a really difficult political situation going on. 00:03:46.741 --> 00:03:50.229 Their political climate was far worse than ours is today. 00:03:50.229 --> 00:03:53.645 I know it's hard for you to believe that, but it's true. 00:03:53.645 --> 00:04:03.034 I mean, they were ruled by a foreign country that were oppressing them and took advantage of them and they were looking for deliverance. 00:04:03.034 --> 00:04:04.937 But their religious leaders have nothing. 00:04:04.937 --> 00:04:05.429 They're like impotent. 00:04:05.429 --> 00:04:06.043 They have nothing to give them and they were looking for deliverance. 00:04:06.043 --> 00:04:06.389 But their religious leaders have nothing. 00:04:06.389 --> 00:04:06.584 They're like impotent. 00:04:06.584 --> 00:04:08.509 They have nothing to give them, no direction to give them. 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:14.393 Sadducees were hopelessly entwined with Rome, the government. 00:04:14.393 --> 00:04:24.052 They were so caught up in the government that was overseeing them, that was ruling them, that they were paralyzed, spiritually paralyzed. 00:04:24.052 --> 00:04:26.607 They did not represent God at all. 00:04:26.607 --> 00:04:32.786 The Pharisees wanted to preserve their Jewish identity, but with them God was this distant. 00:04:32.786 --> 00:04:35.413 It was distant. 00:04:35.413 --> 00:04:39.689 There was no relationship with him, and their understanding of God was performance. 00:04:39.689 --> 00:04:43.968 It was performing a bunch of rules and so and then here comes Jesus. 00:04:44.139 --> 00:05:11.507 Jesus comes with this refreshing and radical message that God is a Father who actually cares for us and actually wants us to ask on a journey of knowing God and knowing how to please God and how to operate with men in a way that pleases God as well. 00:05:11.507 --> 00:05:13.947 So what does it mean to please God? 00:05:13.947 --> 00:05:31.709 Well, in the Sermon on the Mount, we see that we really can't follow Jesus very far without being confronted with the importance of prayer, because prayer is connection with God, prayer is relationship with God, and Jesus really leaves no mystery here. 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:34.442 You know, when you're studying the Bible, you're really trying to find out. 00:05:34.442 --> 00:05:39.447 What is it that God was saying to them originally, there then and then? 00:05:39.447 --> 00:05:41.232 What is he speaking to us today? 00:05:41.232 --> 00:05:44.350 This is not a mystery at all. 00:05:44.350 --> 00:05:48.045 In fact, this is one of the biggest no-brainers of everything Jesus said. 00:05:48.045 --> 00:05:56.052 Of all the confusing things or things we don't understand that Jesus said, this is one of the things that is most clear. 00:05:56.713 --> 00:06:00.302 It's like a literal three-point sermon. 00:06:00.302 --> 00:06:01.646 This is a preacher's dream. 00:06:01.646 --> 00:06:06.274 The three points are laid out for you Ask, seek, knock. 00:06:06.274 --> 00:06:06.795 It's awesome. 00:06:06.795 --> 00:06:09.906 If you can't, this is really low hanging fruit. 00:06:09.906 --> 00:06:12.932 If you can't reach this one, you're in bad shape. 00:06:12.932 --> 00:06:19.136 Not only that, but it literally makes an acronym Ask, seek, knock, ask, a-s-k. 00:06:19.136 --> 00:06:23.187 And I'm sure Jesus was thinking about the English language when he said this. 00:06:23.187 --> 00:06:25.091 And all those people? 00:06:25.091 --> 00:06:27.206 2,000 years from now, they would be sitting around. 00:06:27.206 --> 00:06:28.790 How can I remember how to pray? 00:06:28.790 --> 00:06:30.862 How can I make this easy for them? 00:06:30.862 --> 00:06:33.185 Okay, a-s-k. 00:06:33.185 --> 00:06:34.367 Pretty easy? 00:06:34.367 --> 00:06:40.641 Probably not, but the point is, it's really simple. 00:06:40.641 --> 00:06:43.343 It's really simple Ask, seek and knock. 00:06:43.384 --> 00:07:01.293 And he's urging us who follow him to action, specifically the action of prayer, urging us to prayer and toward actively participating in his kingdom, and I think he was trying to change the mindset of the people who were listening to him, probably changing the mindset of us today as well. 00:07:01.293 --> 00:07:09.360 Maybe their concept of God was like some of our concepts of God, you know. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:24.312 Maybe they saw him as uninterested, disconnected, stingy, close-fisted, demanding God who just gives you a list of rules and then gives you no power to actually do it. 00:07:24.312 --> 00:07:26.675 You know, but that's not what Jesus said. 00:07:26.675 --> 00:07:40.846 Jesus' revelation of God was a wise father who already knows what you need and who knows how to give good gifts to his children, and he's waiting for us to ask. 00:07:40.846 --> 00:07:43.745 In fact, he's asking for us to ask, waiting for us to ask. 00:07:43.745 --> 00:07:45.288 In fact, he's asking for us to ask. 00:07:45.288 --> 00:07:55.567 In fact, just before, in this chapter before, he said your father in heaven knows what you need before you ask him, and yet he urges us to ask. 00:07:55.567 --> 00:08:00.163 Why does he urge us to ask If he already knows what we need, why does he urge us to ask? 00:08:00.163 --> 00:08:03.853 I think it's because he's interested in relationship. 00:08:03.853 --> 00:08:06.206 I think he wants to walk with us. 00:08:06.206 --> 00:08:17.853 Would you allow me to share maybe the most astounding thing I've ever learned in my 40 years of walking with Jesus? 00:08:17.853 --> 00:08:18.334 Can I do that? 00:08:18.334 --> 00:08:27.334 It's this that God invites me me into his heart and into his mission. 00:08:27.334 --> 00:08:34.046 That's crazy and that's beautiful. 00:08:34.046 --> 00:08:44.086 God invites you into his heart and into his mission, and Christianity is not about rigidly obeying rules. 00:08:44.086 --> 00:08:51.067 It's always, only ever, in the heart of God being about relating to us. 00:08:51.067 --> 00:08:53.667 That's why the heart is first. 00:08:53.667 --> 00:08:56.587 The mission is second, but the heart is first. 00:08:56.587 --> 00:09:00.370 He always wanted us to know him and partner with him. 00:09:00.370 --> 00:09:03.923 In fact, do you remember when he called his disciples, mark, chapter three? 00:09:03.923 --> 00:09:07.171 He called his disciples and it says very clearly it says that he called them to be with him. 00:09:07.171 --> 00:09:08.695 In fact, do you remember when he called his disciples, mark, chapter three? 00:09:08.695 --> 00:09:14.932 He called his disciples and it says very clearly it says that he called them to be with him and then that they would go forth and preach and gave him authority to cast out devils. 00:09:14.932 --> 00:09:18.946 And so the first step was to be with him. 00:09:18.946 --> 00:09:27.826 Jesus invited them into his heart, first, to be with him, but also into his mission. 00:09:27.826 --> 00:09:32.966 That's amazing Heart and mission. 00:09:32.966 --> 00:09:35.764 That's the way it is in this kingdom, so let's think about that. 00:09:35.783 --> 00:09:46.788 Just a second Prayer is an invitation into the heart of God, the heart God Almighty wants you and I to walk with him. 00:09:46.788 --> 00:09:49.192 That's where this thing begins. 00:09:49.192 --> 00:09:56.110 And he removed every barrier that stood between us and him in the cross. 00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:58.335 He took it all away. 00:09:58.335 --> 00:10:11.232 He took all of our sins, everything that was screaming out against us, and he nailed it to his cross so that we who were far off are now brought nigh by the blood of Jesus. 00:10:11.232 --> 00:10:14.303 This is the heart of the Father. 00:10:14.303 --> 00:10:21.412 He wants to have an ongoing relationship with me and as I abide in him, he changes me so that I begin to be like him. 00:10:23.780 --> 00:10:29.150 And that's the first step to knowing God and to knowing God and walking with him in prayer. 00:10:29.150 --> 00:10:34.445 It's this first prayer is Father, forgive my sins. 00:10:34.445 --> 00:10:38.190 Father, I trust and I believe what you've done in Jesus. 00:10:38.190 --> 00:10:50.245 Father, I see that you've done a finished work in Jesus, that all my sins have been laid upon him, and I trust you that you've made a way for me to come and be one with you again. 00:10:50.245 --> 00:10:55.426 That's the first step and if you don't take that step, you can't go further. 00:10:55.426 --> 00:10:58.094 But it's all about relationship. 00:10:58.094 --> 00:11:04.289 You see that it's not about performance, it's not about how well you're doing or what you're doing. 00:11:04.289 --> 00:11:05.952 It's about knowing him. 00:11:05.952 --> 00:11:12.726 In fact, jesus said this is eternal life that you may know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. 00:11:12.726 --> 00:11:17.884 This is it Knowing God, being with him as a believer. 00:11:17.884 --> 00:11:25.010 We've been adopted into his family and, by faith in Jesus, we're sons and daughters. 00:11:25.010 --> 00:11:29.605 That's where we start, this is the place we start. 00:11:29.605 --> 00:11:34.841 So let me just share one more thing that was a big blessing to our whole family this year. 00:11:34.841 --> 00:11:36.144 There's a little picture here. 00:11:36.144 --> 00:11:38.109 I don't know, I don't know, I was gone. 00:11:38.109 --> 00:11:52.840 I was gone, you know, but I always watch the sermons online and I know that Tyler slipped a picture in of one of his grandchildren because this is the way he is and they're really cute kids. 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:54.405 I gotta say they're really cute kids. 00:11:54.405 --> 00:11:58.057 They are, but so are my grandkids. 00:11:58.057 --> 00:11:58.720 This is incredible. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:00.287 This is Emma. 00:12:01.663 --> 00:12:21.873 Emily Jade Seipel came into the Seipel family, was adopted into the Seiple family, was adopted into the Seiple family and as a nine-month-old she came to live with them, with Noah and Allie, and already already scarred from her experience with her birth mother and her father. 00:12:21.873 --> 00:12:30.142 She was unresponsiveive, basically unresponsive, she said. 00:12:30.142 --> 00:12:33.849 She just sat in her little car seat and just and just stared. 00:12:33.849 --> 00:12:50.650 She was afraid she was not developing in a healthy way as she should, and there are many developmental challenges that she's overcome through the love and care of Noah and Allie, and Luke and Micah as well, but this is the kind of healing that happened. 00:12:50.650 --> 00:12:51.373 I mean, look at her now. 00:12:51.373 --> 00:12:52.601 It's incredible. 00:12:52.601 --> 00:12:53.924 Look at those eyes. 00:12:53.924 --> 00:12:57.732 Come on, those are great eyes, those are eyes of wonder. 00:12:57.732 --> 00:13:01.738 She has a personality, she's growing, she's developing in every way. 00:13:01.738 --> 00:13:02.240 It's beautiful. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:03.542 This is what happens. 00:13:03.542 --> 00:13:08.650 This is the kind of healing that happens when we're invited into a loving, safe family. 00:13:08.650 --> 00:13:11.159 And this is what we've been. 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:12.803 This is the beauty of it. 00:13:12.803 --> 00:13:15.549 Behold, even now we are the sons of God. 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:18.120 It does not yet appear what we shall be. 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:20.225 This is beautiful. 00:13:20.225 --> 00:13:25.193 God has sent into our hearts the spirit of adoption that we should cry out Abba, father. 00:13:25.193 --> 00:13:26.644 Here's where we start. 00:13:26.644 --> 00:13:28.563 This is where we start with prayer. 00:13:28.563 --> 00:13:30.570 It's beautiful. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:35.231 So when Jesus speaks a prayer, he uses this word Father a lot. 00:13:35.231 --> 00:13:44.972 He even uses this in this little analogy he gives you know how many of you who are fathers have a son who needs bread and would give a stone? 00:13:44.972 --> 00:13:46.326 Well, no, you wouldn't do that. 00:13:46.326 --> 00:13:53.471 Even you wouldn't do that, but how much more your father is going to give what you need to you. 00:13:53.471 --> 00:14:01.232 And he says this that delight is a result of a life of prayer. 00:14:01.232 --> 00:14:05.350 In John 16, he said until now you wouldn't ask anything of me of a life of prayer. 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:07.818 In John 16, he said until now you wouldn't ask anything of me. 00:14:07.818 --> 00:14:14.075 Ask, ask, so that your joy will be filled. 00:14:14.075 --> 00:14:17.466 So there's this intended joy that is missing in the life of a believer. 00:14:17.466 --> 00:14:23.486 If you're not praying, if you're not asking, you're missing something. 00:14:23.486 --> 00:14:27.514 Imagine a father who has unending riches. 00:14:27.514 --> 00:14:28.937 If you're not asking, you're missing something. 00:14:28.937 --> 00:14:37.419 Imagine a father who has unending riches, who is so generous that he asks us to ask him to give us his riches. 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:40.068 That's his heart. 00:14:40.068 --> 00:14:43.750 He's saying just ask, would you just ask? 00:14:48.702 --> 00:14:56.429 So maybe the Lord is like raising our expectations this morning to ask when you love someone, you want to spend time with them, right, yeah, and that's where it starts. 00:14:56.429 --> 00:14:59.913 If you're convicted about your prayer life, okay, probably. 00:14:59.913 --> 00:15:02.856 I don't know of anything that's more convicting than prayer. 00:15:02.856 --> 00:15:13.253 This is a tough topic, right, because all of us know we ought to be doing it and most of us have a sneaking suspicions that we're not doing enough of it or doing it correctly, right? 00:15:13.253 --> 00:15:20.639 So when you say prayer, there's almost automatically a feeling of condemnation, right? 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:26.092 But if you feel that condemnation about your prayer life, relax. 00:15:26.092 --> 00:15:31.269 This is the way we grow you love first and then the actions come. 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:33.442 You love. 00:15:33.442 --> 00:15:39.677 First, relax in the love of your Father, come into this heart of Jesus. 00:15:39.677 --> 00:15:45.226 He invites you into his heart and when you come into his heart you begin to feel his heart for you and for others. 00:15:45.226 --> 00:15:50.434 And then prayer begins to come, and that's where it goes from heart to mission. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:16:00.191 Prayer is an invitation into the mission of God, because when you love someone, what they're concerned about becomes what you're concerned about. 00:16:00.191 --> 00:16:10.830 Their stuff becomes your stuff when you love them and you start kind of kind of owning their stuff, in fact, and we're co-laborers together with God. 00:16:10.830 --> 00:16:23.110 So I think Jesus seems to be challenged us to become proactive here, like to see God as interactive and become proactive like inviting us into his mission. 00:16:23.110 --> 00:16:26.649 It's the opposite of proactive. 00:16:26.649 --> 00:16:36.755 Whatever Some people live their life like whatever, whatever it's just going to happen, whatever will be will be. 00:16:36.755 --> 00:16:49.154 That's not what we're hearing Jesus say here, right, and so I think God wants not only to work in me, but work through me to expand his kingdom and his purposes on this earth. 00:16:49.154 --> 00:16:50.058 That's amazing. 00:16:50.058 --> 00:17:03.917 Through you, through your unique gifts and your abilities, and the heart, passion or the burden that he's put inside of you and the context that you're living in, where he's placed you right now, the people around you right now. 00:17:03.917 --> 00:17:10.038 He wants to invite you into his mission and work through you, not just in you, but through you. 00:17:10.038 --> 00:17:14.296 So Jesus gives three point sermon right, three actions and three results. 00:17:14.296 --> 00:17:17.942 So he challenges us to ask. 00:17:20.371 --> 00:17:36.034 So I think, if you look in the whole, the overall picture of the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus started with the Beatitudes, I think that ask is the attitude, the heart attitude, or the response of someone who is poor in spirit. 00:17:36.034 --> 00:17:38.720 We ask because why do we ask? 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:47.037 We ask because we don't have, or we ask because we don't know, or we ask because we need something right. 00:17:47.037 --> 00:17:55.097 It's a heart attitude, a position, a posture of I need, so I need and so I'm asking. 00:17:55.097 --> 00:17:57.517 But why do we not ask? 00:17:57.517 --> 00:18:07.304 And I thought about that this week personally, and I think in my own life, I don't ask for things because of pride. 00:18:07.304 --> 00:18:11.953 I can take care of it myself. 00:18:11.953 --> 00:18:15.059 Thank you, I'm a man. 00:18:15.059 --> 00:18:18.432 I should be able to bear this burden alone. 00:18:20.955 --> 00:18:28.374 You know, it is kind of it is, it is kind of the thing that that is said about us men, guys, that we don't ask for directions. 00:18:28.374 --> 00:18:30.077 You know that you. 00:18:30.077 --> 00:18:34.840 You know, and I don't know if it's true for all of you, but it's true for most of you, I'm pretty sure about that. 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:40.776 It's true said and all the women said it's so funny. 00:18:40.776 --> 00:18:42.700 In fact, I heard it said. 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.903 I don't think it's necessarily correct. 00:18:44.903 --> 00:18:58.461 I'll have to study it more, and I I'm not saying this as as gospel here this morning, but I've heard it said that the reason that children in Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years is because Moses wouldn't ask for directions. 00:18:58.461 --> 00:18:59.615 I don't think that's right. 00:18:59.615 --> 00:19:02.796 I just want to tell you right now I don't think it's correct. 00:19:02.796 --> 00:19:10.192 Could be, if a woman was leading the children of Israel, would they have gotten there quicker? 00:19:10.192 --> 00:19:11.115 That's the question. 00:19:11.115 --> 00:19:16.676 Oh no, ladies, we're not lost. 00:19:16.676 --> 00:19:19.538 We just like to take the scenic route. 00:19:19.538 --> 00:19:24.575 We're enjoying things, don't we look like we're enjoying things? 00:19:24.575 --> 00:19:29.355 All right, okay, no, I can handle this. 00:19:29.355 --> 00:19:30.734 I can handle this on my own. 00:19:30.734 --> 00:19:31.217 I'm a man. 00:19:31.217 --> 00:19:34.099 I should be able to do this by myself. 00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:37.596 Maybe your father doesn't want you to do it by yourself. 00:19:37.596 --> 00:19:40.123 Maybe your father is a father. 00:19:43.611 --> 00:19:47.301 And he wants to help you, maybe. 00:19:48.351 --> 00:19:54.740 When did you last ask your father for something you need, instead of trying to gain it by your own strength? 00:19:54.740 --> 00:20:02.733 Maybe he's raising the bar, he's just asking us to ask and the result? 00:20:02.733 --> 00:20:05.474 He says there's a result If you ask, you will receive. 00:20:05.474 --> 00:20:06.779 You will receive. 00:20:06.779 --> 00:20:08.897 Your father wants to give to you, you will receive. 00:20:08.897 --> 00:20:12.460 Oh, but, mark, we don't always get what we ask for. 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:17.698 I'm glad you brought that up, because we're going to talk about that later. 00:20:17.878 --> 00:20:29.782 Okay, hang on to that one, because the second point is Jesus challenges us to seek, seek, and I think seek is the response of someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. 00:20:29.782 --> 00:20:31.815 It's a hungry person. 00:20:31.815 --> 00:20:33.411 Why do I seek? 00:20:33.411 --> 00:20:36.376 I seek because I'm yearning to find something. 00:20:36.376 --> 00:20:40.834 I've lost something, or I don't have what I need, or I had it but I lost it. 00:20:40.834 --> 00:20:46.374 I'm seeking, or I want it, I'm hungry for it, I'm searching, I'm longing. 00:20:46.615 --> 00:20:50.742 So I think Jesus is speaking of a holy kind of discontent here. 00:20:50.742 --> 00:20:52.809 So I think Jesus is speaking of a holy kind of discontent here. 00:20:52.809 --> 00:20:56.923 You know there is a holy discontent. 00:20:56.923 --> 00:20:59.032 Yearning is not a thing to be ashamed of. 00:20:59.032 --> 00:21:07.358 In fact, I think yearning or knowing there's more, is part of the human experience and it says that God has put eternity in our hearts. 00:21:07.358 --> 00:21:09.094 There's something we know. 00:21:09.094 --> 00:21:15.474 Eternity in our hearts there's something more than what is just in front of my eyes. 00:21:15.474 --> 00:21:19.643 I know there's more, there's all, there's this thing inside of us. 00:21:19.643 --> 00:21:24.019 We know there's something beyond just what we're, what we're currently experiencing, right. 00:21:24.019 --> 00:21:32.116 So yearning is not a thing to be ashamed of, hungering, searching, knowing there's more, this part of being human. 00:21:32.116 --> 00:21:36.038 But aren't we supposed to be content with what we have? 00:21:36.038 --> 00:21:38.535 That's a good question. 00:21:40.211 --> 00:21:51.380 So, as I understand it, the Bible teaches contentment in material things, but it teaches discontentment in spiritual things. 00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:59.720 Okay, you remember Paul said to Timothy 1, timothy 6, that carnal men say that gain is godliness. 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.579 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:07.878 We brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out of it. 00:22:07.878 --> 00:22:11.420 So, having food and clothing, let us be content. 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:13.757 That's a holy contentment. 00:22:13.757 --> 00:22:17.680 But with spiritual things it's a different thing. 00:22:19.691 --> 00:22:25.059 Paul says in Philippians 3, brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own. 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:37.049 The one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:39.679 And let those who are mature think this way. 00:22:39.679 --> 00:22:43.876 Do you see those words there? 00:22:43.876 --> 00:22:48.058 It's like straining forward, pressing on. 00:22:48.058 --> 00:22:54.374 There's a prize, there's an upward calling, there's something calling you up up above. 00:22:54.374 --> 00:22:56.818 There's a bar being raised here for us. 00:22:56.818 --> 00:22:58.563 There's something more. 00:22:58.563 --> 00:23:00.575 There's a holy kind of discontent. 00:23:00.575 --> 00:23:10.553 That's what I'm saying this morning, and also I would like to say that there's a difference between discontent and malcontent. 00:23:12.233 --> 00:23:14.455 Discontent is one thing. 00:23:14.455 --> 00:23:20.680 Discontent is not being satisfied with something and so pushing on to more. 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.262 Malcontent is never being satisfied with anything. 00:23:24.262 --> 00:23:26.284 It's a troublemaker. 00:23:26.284 --> 00:23:31.428 It's the person who always sees the bad and always tries to stir it up. 00:23:31.428 --> 00:23:37.971 Malcontent is a person who really needs Jesus. 00:23:37.971 --> 00:23:40.613 A malcontent is somebody who needs an adjustment. 00:23:40.613 --> 00:23:43.575 It's a chronically discontented person. 00:23:44.715 --> 00:23:51.859 But the fact remains that it's crucial to living in the kingdom of God to seek, to want more, to long for more. 00:23:51.859 --> 00:23:57.683 So maybe you've been asking, but that's all you've been doing is asking. 00:23:57.683 --> 00:24:03.508 Maybe God is saying he wants you to seek, he wants you to put a little more effort into this. 00:24:03.508 --> 00:24:07.292 So why do we not seek? 00:24:07.292 --> 00:24:08.675 Maybe we're not hungry anymore. 00:24:08.675 --> 00:24:11.821 Maybe we used to be hungry, but we're not hungry anymore. 00:24:11.821 --> 00:24:15.605 I don't have that same kind of drive in me that I once had. 00:24:15.605 --> 00:24:19.653 Or maybe we just resign ourselves to our situation, which is okay. 00:24:19.653 --> 00:24:20.375 Nothing's going to change. 00:24:20.375 --> 00:24:20.932 We're just going to. 00:24:20.932 --> 00:24:22.038 We've got to cope. 00:24:22.038 --> 00:24:24.957 We've got to cope with the way things are. 00:24:24.957 --> 00:24:33.319 So my question to you is when did you last seek God's word and his will with an urgency, urgency? 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:41.498 I've got to know this, I've got to have this, and I don't think we ever really change without that. 00:24:41.498 --> 00:24:45.157 And so God is stirring that up in us. 00:24:45.157 --> 00:24:53.351 Sometimes, if you're feeling uneasy about the way things are, it could be that God is tearing up your nest so that you'll learn how to fly. 00:24:53.351 --> 00:25:09.259 He's messing things up here because and you feel that you can feel that change Sometimes, when there's transition, there's rumblings before a transition, god wants to take you to a new place and you feel so, not at home in this place. 00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:11.663 You feel like there's something wrong here. 00:25:11.663 --> 00:25:16.579 There's some place God wants to bring us to, so he wants us to get started seeking. 00:25:16.579 --> 00:25:17.795 This is why Jesus is saying it. 00:25:17.795 --> 00:25:18.532 And the result? 00:25:18.532 --> 00:25:19.195 There's a result. 00:25:19.195 --> 00:25:22.259 If you seek, you will find it's a promise. 00:25:22.259 --> 00:25:25.178 And then there's a third one, and that's knock. 00:25:25.178 --> 00:25:36.112 And I think knocking is the response of someone who is salt and light in the world, because knocking has to do with getting somewhere that you're not. 00:25:36.112 --> 00:25:46.443 There's a place I need to be, there's a place I need to enter a new realm that I need to be in, and there's a door or an obstacle. 00:25:46.443 --> 00:25:48.006 And so we knock. 00:25:48.006 --> 00:25:53.000 We knock Something between where you are and where you're supposed to be. 00:25:53.289 --> 00:25:55.558 You remember the prayer that Jesus told? 00:25:55.558 --> 00:25:59.333 And he actually the scripture literally says he told a parable. 00:25:59.333 --> 00:26:01.160 He told a parable about prayer. 00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:06.737 He told a parable so that men, to teach men that they ought to always pray and not faint. 00:26:07.159 --> 00:26:12.717 Okay, and remember that it was about a widow, just a little widow, and an unjust judge. 00:26:12.717 --> 00:26:23.116 And so the widow kept coming to the judge saying give me justice, give me justice, I've got a situation that needs justice. 00:26:23.116 --> 00:26:28.753 The judge, it says, did not fear God and did not respect man, and he didn't listen to her. 00:26:28.753 --> 00:26:32.144 But she kept coming and she wouldn't shut up. 00:26:32.144 --> 00:26:34.510 It's a holy discontent. 00:26:34.510 --> 00:26:38.878 A holy discontent. 00:26:38.878 --> 00:26:42.424 She wouldn't shut up, she kept coming and he said you know what? 00:26:42.424 --> 00:26:52.040 I don't fear God, I don't respect man, but this lady is wearing me out and if I don't answer her, she's never going to stop. 00:26:52.040 --> 00:26:59.340 Literally, it says I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. 00:26:59.340 --> 00:27:05.779 Come on, I need justice, give me justice. 00:27:05.779 --> 00:27:11.019 She's beating me down and this judge gave her justice. 00:27:11.510 --> 00:27:15.182 And then God says well, look at the evil judge, the unjust judge. 00:27:15.182 --> 00:27:28.003 If he would do that, how much more will your just Father in heaven give you what you asked for, give what they asked for to his elect, who cried to him day and night? 00:27:28.003 --> 00:27:41.320 So there's this knocking and continual knocking, and come on and don't stop and don't faint, and when you get discouraged, knock some more. 00:27:41.320 --> 00:27:49.903 Maybe you've been asking and maybe you've even been seeking, but God wants to encourage us this morning to not stop knocking. 00:27:49.903 --> 00:27:52.196 Keep knocking on the doors. 00:27:52.196 --> 00:27:57.133 When were you last so desperate for something that you would not quit knocking? 00:27:57.133 --> 00:28:00.501 That's the question. 00:28:00.501 --> 00:28:02.875 But why do we not knock? 00:28:02.875 --> 00:28:05.479 Maybe because we're apathetic? 00:28:05.479 --> 00:28:07.777 Maybe because we're just lazy? 00:28:07.777 --> 00:28:13.356 Maybe because we're binging Netflix? 00:28:13.356 --> 00:28:21.338 Possible Apathy, fear, comfort is our idol. 00:28:21.338 --> 00:28:24.175 Maybe we think it's not supposed to change. 00:28:24.175 --> 00:28:25.380 I don't know. 00:28:25.380 --> 00:28:26.974 Maybe there's a lot of reasons. 00:28:26.974 --> 00:28:31.334 But Jesus is saying knock, and not only to say knock. 00:28:31.334 --> 00:28:32.980 He says keep on knocking. 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:34.132 This is the tense of the verb. 00:28:34.132 --> 00:28:36.737 Literally ask keep on asking. 00:28:36.737 --> 00:28:38.361 Seek keep on seeking. 00:28:38.361 --> 00:28:39.951 Knock keep on knocking. 00:28:39.951 --> 00:28:44.621 That's the tense of the verb there, and the result is it will be open to you. 00:28:44.621 --> 00:28:50.817 So I think there's like a growing intensity, like a progression of intensity here. 00:28:50.817 --> 00:28:59.719 Right, because I can ask from the quietness of my own heart, but to seek, I got to get up out of my bed and do something. 00:28:59.719 --> 00:29:06.720 Right, there's some effort required, and to knock is still more intentional, still more forceful. 00:29:07.782 --> 00:29:13.582 Okay, so he's just continuing to raise the bar on us. 00:29:13.582 --> 00:29:15.426 Why not? 00:29:15.426 --> 00:29:17.352 Because he wants our performance or we? 00:29:17.352 --> 00:29:28.950 You know we need to pray longer and louder, that's not the point but because your father wants to give to you and your father wants to invite you into his heart and into his mission. 00:29:28.950 --> 00:29:31.375 He wants you to co-labor with him. 00:29:31.375 --> 00:29:35.010 So what doors do you need to knock on? 00:29:35.010 --> 00:29:40.040 In what ways are you not where he wants you to be? 00:29:40.040 --> 00:29:41.784 What are the obstacles? 00:29:41.784 --> 00:29:46.696 Maybe the doors are not opening because you're not knocking. 00:29:46.696 --> 00:29:49.342 It's interesting. 00:29:49.402 --> 00:29:54.251 Paul said to the Colossians pray for me that a door would be opened for the gospel. 00:29:54.251 --> 00:29:55.575 Pray for me. 00:29:55.575 --> 00:29:58.038 Imagine that. 00:29:58.038 --> 00:30:03.788 Paul, such a powerful man, but he knew there needed to be doors that are open. 00:30:03.788 --> 00:30:13.944 Right, and just a little aside, if you, if you're not content with your present state of your walk with God. 00:30:13.944 --> 00:30:17.240 Please remember that you are the one responsible for it. 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:20.755 You can change it. 00:30:20.755 --> 00:30:25.179 Okay, there you go, let's take it. 00:30:25.179 --> 00:30:32.240 I'm not saying you can control everything in your life, but the things that you do have control over are more than the things that you don't have control over. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:35.045 And Jesus says ask, seek, knock. 00:30:35.045 --> 00:30:37.048 So he urges us to prayer. 00:30:37.209 --> 00:30:40.997 So here's my question why does Jesus have to urge us to prayer? 00:30:40.997 --> 00:30:48.717 I mean, why is it that prayer is not our first reflex, like it should just be knee jerk, right, something happens. 00:30:48.717 --> 00:30:51.842 Pray I've got to be honest with you. 00:30:51.842 --> 00:30:55.493 That's not always my first reflex. 00:30:55.493 --> 00:30:57.638 Prayer it's like what can I do? 00:30:57.638 --> 00:31:03.058 Well, maybe it's complain, and then it's what can I do to help or who can I look to? 00:31:03.058 --> 00:31:10.563 But my first reflex should be going to Him in prayer. 00:31:13.010 --> 00:31:15.259 Maybe there's some reasons why it's not our first reflex. 00:31:15.259 --> 00:31:18.439 Maybe because we're looking to ourselves or to others to meet our needs. 00:31:18.439 --> 00:31:22.880 Possibly Maybe because we become comfortable with status quo. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:27.541 This is just sometimes staying the same is more comfortable. 00:31:27.541 --> 00:31:31.256 It's not better, but it's more comfortable. 00:31:31.256 --> 00:31:33.896 We're lazy or we're passive. 00:31:33.896 --> 00:31:36.638 Or maybe because we don't understand the heart of our father. 00:31:36.638 --> 00:31:40.198 Surely he couldn't be interested in my request, right? 00:31:40.198 --> 00:31:41.400 Surely God's not. 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:42.403 What would God want? 00:31:42.403 --> 00:31:44.036 Why would he want to do something for me? 00:31:47.490 --> 00:31:49.278 Okay, so let's get to the heart of the question. 00:31:49.278 --> 00:31:51.798 Why is it that when we do ask, we don't receive? 00:31:51.798 --> 00:31:53.817 Every time we ask, we don't receive. 00:31:53.817 --> 00:31:56.075 So what's up with that? 00:31:56.075 --> 00:31:58.920 Because Jesus said ask and who you ask will receive. 00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:11.855 And he said how much more will your father, relationship in heaven, who's mighty and sovereign, give good things because he loves and he cares to those who ask him? 00:32:11.855 --> 00:32:23.959 So that's a real legitimate question, because all of us have prayed and have not seen an answer, or at least it doesn't seem like it's been answered. 00:32:26.250 --> 00:32:28.652 Well, there's right and wrong asking First of all. 00:32:28.652 --> 00:32:34.196 James says this in James chapter four, verse three and four you do not have because you do not ask. 00:32:34.196 --> 00:32:36.095 That's the first part of it. 00:32:36.095 --> 00:32:41.782 But you ask and do not receive because you ask, wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 00:32:41.782 --> 00:32:46.059 So there's a right and a wrong motivation for asking things. 00:32:46.059 --> 00:32:53.340 Am I asking for me and for my own desires, or am I asking for the glory of God and for the purpose of God? 00:32:53.340 --> 00:32:57.519 And how can I make my desires His desires? 00:32:57.519 --> 00:32:59.336 How can I make those two line up? 00:32:59.336 --> 00:33:01.212 And it's interesting. 00:33:01.252 --> 00:33:09.935 There's a Psalm, psalm 37, verse 4, and it says that when you delight yourself in the Lord, he gives you the desires of your heart. 00:33:09.935 --> 00:33:19.244 When I first came to Jesus I thought that meant if I serve God, then whatever I want and ask him for, he'll give me. 00:33:19.244 --> 00:33:25.761 But as I grew in the Lord, I realized that's not even the way we raise our kids. 00:33:25.761 --> 00:33:38.095 When you raise kids, you can't do it that way Because you know better, you're wiser and you're more loving than that than to give them everything they want. 00:33:38.095 --> 00:33:53.077