SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not very good at waiting for things.
SPEAKER_00: I think we all know that.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a world where if the website takes longer than five seconds to load, we start wondering what's wrong with the internet.
SPEAKER_00: If our food takes too long at a drive-thru, we start looking around thinking they forgot about us.
SPEAKER_00: We've gotten used to getting things quickly.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, without even realizing it, we bring that same expectation into our prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: We pray about something on Monday, and by Friday, we're wondering why God hasn't done anything yet.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for weeks, maybe even a few months or even years, and we start wondering: is God even listening to us?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this isn't going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should just give up and stop asking.
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, for the past several weeks, we've been looking at Jesus' teaching on the Lord's Prayer, and after he teaches his disciples what to pray for in the Lord's Prayer, he immediately teaches them something about how they should pray for it.
SPEAKER_00: We've all had things, prayer requests that we've prayed for and given up on.
SPEAKER_00: Things that we've brought to God that in our minds he took too long to answer, so we give up.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in our passage this morning, Jesus is teaching us not to give up.
SPEAKER_00: He is showing us that boldness and persistency is important in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And that maybe we are better served by not easily giving up on those prayers.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at this passage, what I want to do is I want to point out three things that I believe Jesus is showing us about prayer, or better yet, how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And they are these.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, that God hears persistent prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, that God answers persistent prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, that God's answers are not always what we think.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at that first one.
SPEAKER_00: God hears persistent prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Looking back at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves?
SPEAKER_00: For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.
SPEAKER_00: And he will answer from within, Do not bother me.
SPEAKER_00: The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot get up and give you anything.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
SPEAKER_00: In ancient times, hospitality was often viewed as a moral responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: So when a friend or a traveler came to your home, it was expected that you would provide food and lodging for them as they traveled.
SPEAKER_00: So this parable that Jesus sets before, or that he's telling the disciples, would have been something they would be very familiar with.
SPEAKER_00: He's having them imagine a friend coming to their home when they had nothing to offer him.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples would have heard this and would have hated to even think of such a possibility.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that is the case for this man in the story.
SPEAKER_00: He has a friend that has come to his home, but he has nothing to set before him.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes to his friend or his neighbor and asks if he could borrow three loaves of bread.
SPEAKER_00: Not an unreasonable request on its own.
SPEAKER_00: However, the request just happens to be at midnight.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's the dog's barking or the spouse barking, no one likes to be woken up in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: So it's understandable that the man says, Do not bother me.
SPEAKER_00: He he tells him, the door is shut, his children are in bed, I cannot get up and give you anything.
SPEAKER_00: But the friend refuses to leave.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps asking for the bread that he needs for his guests.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jesus says, because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
SPEAKER_00: Now scholars have had a difficult time translating this word that is used for impudence from the original language.
SPEAKER_00: The NASB translates this word as persistence.
SPEAKER_00: The King James uses the word importunity, but I like the NIV because it gives us a word that we can relate to or a definition that we can relate to in our day.
SPEAKER_00: It says it is shameless audacity.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a friend with shameless audacity?
SPEAKER_00: I think we've all had that one friend or family member who has no shame.
SPEAKER_00: You know that one person who will say anything and ask anybody anything.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's how this man who needed bread was acting.
SPEAKER_00: He had the nerve, if you will, to keep asking after his friend had told him no.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do we think that's shameless?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we think it's shameless when people do things like this?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we say, wow, he or she has some kind of nerve?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not normal.
SPEAKER_00: It's not normal for someone to keep asking after being told no.
SPEAKER_00: Most people, when they hear no, they give up.
SPEAKER_00: But not this man.
SPEAKER_00: This man was determined to receive something.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't leaving until his friend opened that door because he knew that his friend not only had what he needed, but there was really nothing hindering him from giving him what he needed.
SPEAKER_00: So what if it was late?
SPEAKER_00: The man was now awake.
SPEAKER_00: If he wasn't awake already, he is now.
SPEAKER_00: So what if the door was shut?
SPEAKER_00: He could have just opened it.
SPEAKER_00: So what if his children were in bed?
SPEAKER_00: It's not like they couldn't go back to bed.
SPEAKER_00: This man knew that his friend had the bread that he needed, but he also knew that it wasn't impossible for him to give it to him.
SPEAKER_00: Sure, there were a few obstacles to overcome, but nothing that this man couldn't overcome on his own.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, when you pray like this, God will hear you.
SPEAKER_00: When you bring these requests to God in this way, you will have his ear.
SPEAKER_00: Not that God gets tired of hearing you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to read too much into this parable.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not saying that God of the Father is like that irritated parent who buys their kid ice cream just to shut them up.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what Jesus is trying to get across.
SPEAKER_00: The point is the Father hears bold and persistent prayers.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're often prone to give up a little too soon on some of our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: We often pray for a season, but when we don't see things happening, we quickly move on.
SPEAKER_00: We say, well, God isn't answering this prayer, so I'm going to stop praying for it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in his sovereignty, there might be requests he refuses to give us.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe out of his will, maybe they're not in his will, maybe they're being withheld for our good or for our perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: We just don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Those secret things belong to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But those things which have been revealed to us belong to us.
SPEAKER_00: And what has been revealed to us is that God wants us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants us to pray with boldness and persistency.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to pray shamelessly, refusing to give up simply because the answer has not come yet.
SPEAKER_00: Will we ultimately receive that exact thing that we're praying for?
SPEAKER_00: That's up to God.
SPEAKER_00: But what's up to us is to pray and to keep on praying.
SPEAKER_00: Persistent prayer isn't twisting God's arm, it is boldly continuing to come to God because we know his character.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine says, if a man awakened from sleep is forced to give unwillingly in answer to a request, God who does not sleep but awakens us from sleep that we might ask, gives much more graciously.
SPEAKER_00: That's his character.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of you have probably been praying for something or things for a very long time.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to prolong in your asking.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to stretch your pleading and your imploring.
SPEAKER_00: Because though it might not seem like your prayer is getting answered, it is doing something in and through you.
SPEAKER_00: It is showing you and teaching you something about God.
SPEAKER_00: You're learning that God is like this man who had his friend, this man who knew his friend, that he has what you need.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why you're asking him.
SPEAKER_00: Because he has everything you need.
SPEAKER_00: You know that there's really nothing also capable of stopping God from giving him what you need.
SPEAKER_00: If he wanted to, he would give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: Your persistency shows that you truly believe that God is sufficient for everything, and that he is sovereign above all.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 50, verse 10 tells us, for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills, I know all the birds of the hills, and all the moose in the field is mine.
SPEAKER_00: If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God has no reason to tell you he's hungry to give him something.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need anything.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is his.
SPEAKER_00: We are the ones who need everything from him, and he has everything in his right hand to give.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that we need that God cannot provide.
SPEAKER_00: The question is not, is he sufficient?
SPEAKER_00: The question is, do we believe in his sufficiency?
SPEAKER_00: Do we truly believe that he has everything that we need, that we need not go anywhere else, because everything that we need is found in him.
SPEAKER_00: If we truly believe that, then we aren't going to give up asking so easily.
SPEAKER_00: Because not only do we believe that he has it, we also believe that he can give it to us if he wills.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing stopping him.
SPEAKER_00: His will cannot be thwarted.
SPEAKER_00: He is sovereign over all.
SPEAKER_00: Job 42, too tells us, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us is do we pray like this?
SPEAKER_00: Do we pray like God not only has the provision, but he also has the power?
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it looks like this man knocking at the door in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like a refusal to stop praying.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like you lingering in prayer when nothing seems to be happening.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like weeks and months or even years of crying out to the Lord, imploring him to answer you.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like long nights pleading with God over the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: These are the prayers that others might even ridicule you for.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say, look at him or look at her, praying for that same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't he or she know that God isn't listening?
SPEAKER_00: Don't they get the point that God is not hearing them?
SPEAKER_00: Don't they understand that God is saying no?
SPEAKER_00: Some might even call you shameless.
SPEAKER_00: Some might even say, What nerve?
SPEAKER_00: This is when we remember the only voice we're concerned about is the voice on the other side of that door we're knocking on.
SPEAKER_00: It is God's.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is showing us in this parable that that voice on the other side of the door is listening when we pray bold and audacious prayers with persistency.
SPEAKER_00: Next.
SPEAKER_00: God answers persistent prayers.
SPEAKER_00: He not only hears them, he also answers them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 tells us, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: Seek and you will find.
SPEAKER_00: Knock and it will be open to you.
SPEAKER_00: For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek verbs that Jesus uses here for ask, seek, and knock convey continuous action.
SPEAKER_00: It's not asking once or seeking once or even knocking once.
SPEAKER_00: It's continuing to ask and seek and knock.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is now explaining the meaning of the parable.
SPEAKER_00: It's this we need not abandon our prayers simply because the answer hasn't come quickly.
SPEAKER_00: What would have happened if the man who knocked on his friend's door walked away after hearing the first no?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he wouldn't have happened, he wouldn't have received anything.
SPEAKER_00: He would have had nothing to offer his friend to eat.
SPEAKER_00: He would have failed to be hospitable.
SPEAKER_00: Word would have gotten around the town that he didn't have food for his traveling friend and he would have been shamed.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't give up.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't give up after hearing the first no.
SPEAKER_00: He kept asking and seeking and knocking.
SPEAKER_00: He was persistent.
SPEAKER_00: And then he received what he asked for.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not only teaching us something about ourselves and how to pray, but he's also teaching us something about God.
SPEAKER_00: That God answers prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And I think there are times when that's easier said than believed.
SPEAKER_00: Because we've all had prayers that seem to go unanswered.
SPEAKER_00: We've all been through seasons of drought where it seems like God is even hearing our prayers, much more listening to them or answering them.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, in those times, our our faith can be tested a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And our confidence in our prayers might start to waver.
SPEAKER_00: Or we still might pray.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, our prayers might be those prayers where we're just kind of going through the motions, but we really don't believe that God will answer us or that he does answer prayers at all.
SPEAKER_00: And our prayers start to become faithless and they become vain.
SPEAKER_00: And that's when we have to be careful.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be reminded often that God is still in the business of answering prayers.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes you'll hear a sermon on prayer, and I've heard these and I've preached these, where we say the most important thing about prayer is how it draws our hearts to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that the more we pray and the more we come to God, our will is conformed to his will, and our desires start to become his desires.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that, I believe that the biggest change that comes by the way of prayer is the change that comes in our own hearts and our desires, as our desires are shaped by his.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer draws us closer to God.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is one of the ways we commune with God and have fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest benefit that we receive in prayer is the work that God is doing in our lives as we pray in our hearts and our minds and our wills as we pray.
SPEAKER_00: However, it is also in God's character to answer prayer requests that are brought to him.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we bring him to bring them to him in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: Because we know what kind of God he is, that he's a God who answers him.
SPEAKER_00: Why ask if he never answers?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is showing us.
SPEAKER_00: That we will receive answers when we ask, and we will find when we seek, and doors will be open when we knock.
SPEAKER_00: He's encouraging us to ask and keep asking.
SPEAKER_00: Because we will find answers.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture is a great reminder of this.
SPEAKER_00: Here are a few psalms that speak to this.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 34, 17.
SPEAKER_00: When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 62, 65, 2.
SPEAKER_00: O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 86 7.
SPEAKER_00: In the day of my trouble I will call upon you, for you answer me.
SPEAKER_00: We can also turn to other scriptures in the Bible where we read and find God hearing and answering the prayers of his people.
SPEAKER_00: When the Israelites were in bondage in the land of Egypt, they cried out to God.
SPEAKER_00: And what did God do?
SPEAKER_00: God hurt them.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 3, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.
SPEAKER_00: I know their sufferings, and I've come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: God heard the cries of the Israelites when they were in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They cried to him.
SPEAKER_00: He heard and he did something about it.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Samuel we read about a woman named Hannah, who was barren for many years.
SPEAKER_00: So she cried out to the Lord in deep distress, asking for a child.
SPEAKER_00: And we read this in 1 Samuel 1 20.
SPEAKER_00: And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, I have asked for him from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I could keep going.
SPEAKER_00: And I can mention others that you know of.
SPEAKER_00: King Hezekiah, who was given a few more years to live after he turned to the wall and prayed.
SPEAKER_00: Or Elijah, who prayed and saw God demonstrate his power over the prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Or Peter being released from prison and then showing up at the same home where people were praying for his release.
SPEAKER_00: On and on, the Bible gives us these remarkable stories of people praying and God answering.
SPEAKER_00: What does that do?
SPEAKER_00: It reveals his character, it reveals the heart that God has for his people.
SPEAKER_00: I just gave you a few examples.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we can find more in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And it's good to read them, and it's good to remind ourselves about how God answers prayers and how God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe many of us have our own examples that we can point to.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to look back at some of our prayers, we can point out many that were answered.
SPEAKER_00: We can remember the desperation and the long nights and the tears and the cries.
SPEAKER_00: But we can also remember how God came through during those times.
SPEAKER_00: We can remember how we didn't think or know how we would make it.
SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't think we would make it.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know how we were going to make it.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know how we were going to last through the night.
SPEAKER_00: But God in his faithfulness showed up with new mercies in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: And we're pro to forget the times when God heard those prayers or when God heard those cries, when he attended to those tears, when he listened to those pleas, and when he came to us in our distress.
SPEAKER_00: I believe each and every one of us can look back at some point in our life, at some prayer in our life, and say, that had to be God.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other explanation for that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the silence of today make you forget God's voice of yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: One thing that the Bible shows us is that He doesn't stay silent forever.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't ignore the persistent, bold prayers of his people.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us is are we going to be persistent?
SPEAKER_00: Are we going to be bold?
SPEAKER_00: Will we keep asking?
SPEAKER_00: Will we keep seeking?
SPEAKER_00: Will we keep knocking?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is teaching us that there's something for us if we do.
SPEAKER_00: Pray and ask God, because he answers prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings me to my last point.
SPEAKER_00: God's answers are not or may not always be what we think.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: What father among you, of his son ask for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asked for an egg, will give him a scorpion.
SPEAKER_00: If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us that God's heart is not just to give us things, but to give us things that are good.
SPEAKER_00: And consequently, to keep us from things that are bad or not for our good.
SPEAKER_00: As he shows us in this analogy of this son who's asking the father for a fish.
SPEAKER_00: Every father wants to give their children good things.
SPEAKER_00: No father wants to give their children things that will harm them.
SPEAKER_00: Who would give their son a serpent instead of a fish?
SPEAKER_00: Or a scorpion instead of an egg?
SPEAKER_00: It's a rhetorical question.
SPEAKER_00: The answer is no one.
SPEAKER_00: Well, neither will our heavenly father give us things that will harm us.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing, though, here's the hard thing for us is that we don't always know what will harm us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always know what that is.
SPEAKER_00: There are many things that God will keep from us for our good, so that they would not harm us.
SPEAKER_00: We're prone to think that we can handle anything.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed that the news is always giving us these stories of people who win the lottery and then they make a train wreck of their lives?
SPEAKER_00: Or they lose their that money in just a few short years.
SPEAKER_00: And when we hear those stories, we often think, how can they do that?
SPEAKER_00: Man, if that was me, I would do this and I would do that.
SPEAKER_00: We're always thinking, I would never do what they did.
SPEAKER_00: Or we hear these stories about these successful movie stars and these musicians who whose lives are now in shambles, and many of them losing wealth and they lose their family, and some even losing their life.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we think, how can they do that?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I had that, if God blessed me with that type of fame, I would I wouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't know how to take care of that.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't know how to steward that well.
SPEAKER_00: We truly believe that if we were in their position, we would handle it so much better.
SPEAKER_00: That's because we put a lot of confidence in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that we can master things when time and time again we've only proven that things can master us.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul had a good handle of what our flesh is capable of in Romans 7.18, where he says, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.
SPEAKER_00: For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is giving us some insight into the heart of men.
SPEAKER_00: It's deceitful, as we read in Jeremiah 17, 9.
SPEAKER_00: We can't trust it.
SPEAKER_00: It's prone to wander off, it's prone to lead us into many snares of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And you know who knows that better than we do?
SPEAKER_00: God does.
SPEAKER_00: He certainly knows what we can handle.
SPEAKER_00: And he certainly knows what we can handle.
SPEAKER_00: He knows where some of those things that we ask for might lead us.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how some of those things can turn into a burden rather than a gift.
SPEAKER_00: So in his sovereignty, he will keep the serpent and the scorpion away from us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see clear in our fallenness.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see that scorpion for what it is or that serpent for what it is.
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we need God to keep it from us.
SPEAKER_00: And we wonder why he's not giving us these things.
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, for our good.
SPEAKER_00: We get disappointed, we don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: God, why not?
SPEAKER_00: They seem so good.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you not give me this one thing when you know how much I need it, or you know how much joy it will bring to me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, have you ever considered that God, the creator of heaven and earth, all-wise, all-knowing, all-sovereign, whose wisdom and majesty and glory and knowledge transcends man and whose thoughts surpass ours, might know a little something better than we do.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever considered that?
SPEAKER_00: And look, I'm not saying that we're gonna understand that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna understand completely what's going on there, God.
SPEAKER_00: Why aren't you answering here?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have answers to why God keeps some seemingly good things away.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have answers to why God would allow someone to pass away when we prayed for their healing, or why someone was harmed when we prayed for their safety, or why that marriage fell apart when we prayed for it not to.
SPEAKER_00: Some of it, in fact, much of it we can attribute directly to sin and to a fallen world.
SPEAKER_00: But there are some things that we can say, God, I don't know what you're doing, and I don't know what you're up to.
SPEAKER_00: But I trust your word.
SPEAKER_00: And I trust your character.
SPEAKER_00: And I trust that you're a good father.
SPEAKER_00: And I trust that you must have some reason for why you did not answer this prayer the way I thought you would, or the way I expected you to.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but this I do know.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I know that you would never harm me.
SPEAKER_00: And even when I go through trials, and even when I go through the fires of this world, you're gonna keep me from being consumed.
SPEAKER_00: I might not ever know why you kept it from me here, but I look forward to that day when I can sit across the table from you in glory, and I can hear all about it.
SPEAKER_00: There's one last thing to point out about how God answers our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that Jesus, how Jesus ends his analogy, with a bit of a revelation.
SPEAKER_00: He contrasts earthly fathers with the heavenly father.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, if you earthly fathers who are evil, thank you for that reminder, Jesus, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, I mean, the natural reading would read a little differently.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, how much more will the heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him?
SPEAKER_00: If you earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, how much more does the heavenly father give good gifts?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he says, How much more will the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say how much more good gifts, but how he would give the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that doesn't mean he doesn't give good gifts.
SPEAKER_00: We've already seen he does.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what Jesus is pointing to.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the best gift you could ask for.
SPEAKER_00: And here's his promise for us he will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit has already been given to you.
SPEAKER_00: You have the Spirit living in you.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who keeps you spiritually alive.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who, as Ephesians 4.30 says, seals you until the day of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a second baptism of the Holy Spirit that you need to be looking for.
SPEAKER_00: You were baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit at salvation.
SPEAKER_00: However, the Bible does speak of being filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5.18.
SPEAKER_00: And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.
SPEAKER_00: But be filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It also speaks of having the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 15, 13.
SPEAKER_00: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so by the power of the Holy Spirit you might abound in hope.
SPEAKER_00: And it also speaks of walking in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 5, 16.
SPEAKER_00: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: So notice what the Holy Spirit does, according to just these three verses, there's more out there, but according to these three that I just read to you, He fills you so that you can be sober, so that you're not like a drunkard wandering around recklessly and aimlessly through life, but you are aware and you're sober-minded and you're aware of the devil's snares and schemes.
SPEAKER_00: He fills you with joy and peace, even when you're facing trials and hardships that come from living in this sad world.
SPEAKER_00: He strengthens you during those times.
SPEAKER_00: And he helps you believe and trust in God's word over the devil and his word and his circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: And he guides you so that you might walk in his ways rather than your own.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than gratifying the flesh through your sin, he is able to keep you.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is able to keep you from sin and have you walk in his paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Simply put, the Holy Spirit is who helps you live a Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: He is who makes you aware of your sin and temptation.
SPEAKER_00: He is who empowers you with supernatural joy and peace when you're going through storms.
SPEAKER_00: What good would it be if you had these great gifts but lacked the greatest gift?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is pointing out.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see why the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift?
SPEAKER_00: What good would it that healing be if in good health you gratified your flesh?
SPEAKER_00: What good would any gift be if it pulled your heart away from the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift that we rarely ask for, but He is the gift that we truly need.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the context here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is teaching about bold and persistent prayers right after he teaches us what to pray for in the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, how can we truly grab a hold, lay claim of these petitions?
SPEAKER_00: How can we truly hollow and honor the Father's name?
SPEAKER_00: Through the knowledge that comes by the Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: How can his kingdom come and rule our hearts and be advanced in the world?
SPEAKER_00: Through the work of the Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: How can our faith and trusting that he'll supply our daily bread when it seems like we don't know where our meal is going to come from?
SPEAKER_00: How do we have faith?
SPEAKER_00: Where do we get this strength to believe?
SPEAKER_00: Through the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: How can we be assured that our sins are forgiven when the devil, who is always telling us and condemning us and lying to us that we're not forgiven, how can we be assured that our sins are forgiven?
SPEAKER_00: Through the support of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: How can we be kept from falling into various sins and temptations?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, lead me not into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: How can we be led the right path down the right path through the leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying that when you petition for these things, they will be given to you by the aid and through the aid of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: When you petition for his name to be hollowed and his kingdom to come, your daily bread to be given, your sins to be forgiven, and not to fall into temptation, they will come by the work and the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is the bow that ties all of these petitions together.
SPEAKER_00: These things that we pray for in the Lord's Prayer are wrapped in the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's important to pray for that.
SPEAKER_00: And as we close, I have a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: Does your prayer list include the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: When you're asking for various things, Lord, help my marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, let me get that job.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save my kids.
SPEAKER_00: Great things to petition to the Lord for.
SPEAKER_00: But on that list, where is the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Is the Holy Spirit on that list?
SPEAKER_00: Look, God is not unconcerned about your temporal and physical needs.
SPEAKER_00: He truly does care about those things.
SPEAKER_00: He truly cares how you're gonna eat.
SPEAKER_00: He cares where you're gonna live.
SPEAKER_00: He cares about your marriage.
SPEAKER_00: He cares about your health and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: But he wants you to remember your most important needs.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to prioritize the supernatural and the spiritual needs and the eternal beings.
SPEAKER_01: Those things that will far outlast anything in this world.
SPEAKER_01: Those things that you think you can't do without.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants you to know that he's willing to give you those things.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian this morning, you're living proof of that.
SPEAKER_01: You're living proof that God has given you and He's provided for you your greatest need.
SPEAKER_01: You won't stop that your greatest need was food, or clothes, or health.
SPEAKER_00: Until by the power of the Spirit, you saw your sin.
SPEAKER_00: You saw your sin for what it is.
SPEAKER_00: And that your greatest need was for someone to pay for your sins.
SPEAKER_00: And what did God do?
SPEAKER_00: He provided for them.
SPEAKER_00: He provided by way of his son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You saw that your greatest need was a savior.
SPEAKER_00: And when you asked for a savior, God gave you his son.
SPEAKER_00: When you asked God to save you, he answered you by giving you Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God cares about all of your needs, but he also knows which ones are most important.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, do you your prayers reflect this?
SPEAKER_01: Do your prayers reflect that you know what your greatest need is?
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, ask yourself how bold are your prayers?
SPEAKER_01: Do you pray shamelessly?
SPEAKER_01: Do you pray with persistence?
SPEAKER_01: Do you pray for those things which are most important?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus teaches us the posture in which we are to come to God.
SPEAKER_00: Come to him with persistence.
SPEAKER_00: Come to him with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: Call out to him, cry out to him, plead with him, and implore him.
SPEAKER_00: These are the prayers he gave us.
SPEAKER_00: And those are the prayers he answers.
SPEAKER_00: And even when the answers are not what we thought they would be, the answers were always be for our good.
SPEAKER_01: How do we know this?
SPEAKER_01: Because we know he's a good father.
SPEAKER_01: And he wanted to prompt us.
SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.