A Different Way-Ask Your Good Father Matt 7:7-11

A Different Way-Ask Your Good Father Matt 7:7-11
Sermon by Nick Shock

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Wow. You guys okay? It's good to see you guys this morning. Uh glad that you're here. I have the opportunity to preach from Jesus' words in Sermon on the Mount. So if you've got a Bible, I encourage you to pull that out, Matthew chapter 7. And we are going to jump right in. Before we do, if you're on the left end of the row, my left, you're right, actually, there's a little black pad, we call it the connection pad. If you wouldn't mind just filling that out for us and passing that down. So the way we know who's with us, we can follow up and uh have an opportunity to say thank you for being our guest. If you are a guest, we have a gift for you, a small gift for you that's at the back left of the room on your way out today at the Connection Point. And I say this I think almost every week, but if you would like to get more connected here at Point, Alex already mentioned that tonight at 5 o'clock right here, we have an opportunity to just connect and pray and talk about who we are, what we're uh what we're sensing God's calling us to do in the days ahead. I'm excited to share some of those things with you. Um, even just about the summer. I think the summer is going to be really uh key for us as a church family. And then uh I would love to meet you immediately following the gathering today if that's something that you would like to do. Uh or with some of our leaders, we'd just love to say hi and connect and get to know you a little bit, your story, and how we could help you get more involved in community here at Point. Uh so we are very thankful that you're here. Um Matthew chapter seven, verse seven. We'll just jump right in and start reading here. Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be open to you. For every one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be open. What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good git good things to those who ask him? Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them. This is the law and the prophets. So this morning, we come to the Sermon on the Mount again, and we come to a spot in the sermon where Jesus just starts uh and and I should say, remember that Matthew uh is recording the words of Jesus, and he's summarizing this message because uh we can read this whole sermon in a very brief time, and this was a lengthier message, and so we're getting this idea that God has by his Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to write down these particular words and summary of Jesus' teaching, okay? And uh, we're gonna refer to it later, but in Luke, uh we also see some of the same words, some of the same under message that Jesus was teaching here in Matthew chapter 7. And as he's doing this, uh we come to a place in the sermon where he says, ask and seek and knock, and it seems like he just kind of jumps right in, especially reading it today, because we just walked right into that and started saying, ask, seek, knock. And I actually like the way that the Holman translates it there, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, because that's consistent with what the original language would have said. But the reason why I think it's appropriate at this point in the sermon is because if you were listening to this message, by this point, you had to be feeling a little bit of overwhelmedness, if that's a word. You had to be feeling like, whoa, what Jesus is saying here is hard. It's difficult. I mean, think about some of the things we've covered so far in this teaching section from Jesus. Things like be poor in spirit. Blessed are those that are poor in spirit, humble, humility, like the uttermost humility. Uh love your enemies. In fact, pray for them. Pray for your enemies, bless them and pray for them. Uh, don't love money, don't treasure the things on the earth. Uh don't be anxious. Don't worry, right? Uh seek first God's kingdom. Don't judge others, as we heard last week. Now, again, I could mention others that are in this teaching, but by this point, these guys are hearing Jesus say these things and they gotta be going, who can live this way? This is impossible. I mean, who can actually do this stuff? And I just want to say this morning, if that's how you feel when you read these words, you're in a good place. Okay? Now let me tell you why. Because we need to understand that Jesus in this sermon is meticulously picking apart self-righteousness. And he is painting a picture that is drawing a stark contrast between what it means to be the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. And he's showing us that to be in the kingdom of God is a supernatural work of God. To be kingdom of man is just normative. He's saying to this crowd and to us today that we need more than superficial religion. We need more than behavior modification. Uh, we need more than just righteous deeds. We need a savior. We need a heart change, a heart transplant, if you will, where he takes a heart of stone and he turns it to a heart of flesh miraculously by his spirit. And so Jesus is doing, I mean, he's literally beating the stuffing out of self-righteous mentality. And it's a healthy, healthy thing because he wants to destroy and dismantle anything where we as human beings think we can earn our way into his approval. Where we can basically work our way into his grace, which is an oxymoron because you can't work your way anyway to God's grace. It's silly because God's grace is unmerited, it's unearned favor. And yet many Christians, myself included, hand raised on this one, default back to trying to earn what God's given to us as a gift that we receive by faith. And so at this point in the sermon, these people are feeling a little bit of desperation, I'm guessing. And so what do we do? Do we ignore it? Do we say, man, it's just too hard? And we walk away. Actually, that happened when sometimes when Jesus would teach. It says in other places that even in the book of Mark and John, that Jesus would speak and he would finish, the crowd would just walk away and say, we can't do that. But listen, if we don't feel like we need God to live life, then chances are we aren't living the life God intended. Let me say it differently. If we don't feel like the Christian faith is bigger than our ability to do it, then we haven't yet understood the Christian faith. Are you still with me? You see, the Christian faith is a call to die to our own self-help, our own works, our own ability, and to come and to live in Christ by his ability. This is why I would say to you that not only is it offensive when we hear God give us commands and we don't like them because we want to be in charge, but we're also offended by his grace. We're offended by his grace because he says, You can't do it on your own and you need my help. And I picture my kids when they were little and they had some, or maybe still when they're big, um, when they had a moment where they were doing something, and I was going to try as a parent to help them because I knew I could help them, and they're like, I got this. And they didn't, you know? And I think that's how we are with God. I got this. And then crash and burn. You see, Jesus is telling us, He's not just commanding us, he's inviting us to ask and seek and knock. It's an invitation to ask and seek and knock because we need help. We need help. We can't do this on our own. I'm not capable, you're not capable. And even in a couple of weeks, when we talk about the broad and the narrow way, we will again be reminded of the contrast between these two kingdoms. One which we try to do our own thing, both through religion and rebellion, and the other in which we actually come and we just surrender and we trust in God and we follow him as a response to his grace and goodness. So, I want us to look back at this text, and I want to actually work our way backwards through it and answer two questions today. Okay, there's a lot more here than we can address, but two questions I want to answer. Why should we seek God's help? Why should we ask him for help? And two, how do we actually ask him for help? Okay. First question, why should we ask God for help? Second question, how should we ask God for help? Verse 11, he says, if you then who are evil, this was the last verse we read, one of the last verses we read, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him? I would say that a primary roadblock to people coming and asking God for help is that we're not convinced that God is good, that he's our Father, and that he has good gifts for us. Now, there's a lot of reasons why. And in a room like this, all of your experiences have accumulated for you and have given you a picture of God. And many of those pictures you have of God are not actually accurate. They're actually not actually biblical, if you will. They're not founded in Scripture, they're based on your experience. But I want to kind of look at each of those pieces just for a second. We need to understand who God is and that we can actually come and ask him. You see, um stop and think about this for a second. The authority with which Jesus is speaking is Jesus is not just a good teacher, okay? He's not just a good man. He was God, made flesh. And so when he stood on that hillside and he spoke, when he opens his mouth, that's the same mouth that opened that said, Let there be light. The same mouth that said, Let there be animals and trees and fish, and even breathed into that little clay creation called Adam from the dust and formed man and breathed him to life, and human beings exist now. And when he's speaking on the hillside, I'm sure, like, I mean, I can't wait to get to actually hear Jesus speak. But I can picture like being on the hillside, and you're it's not just that Jesus was a good teacher, he was an awesome teacher. It's that when he spoke, people felt it in their heart. Because he spoke with a weightiness that came from a spiritual power that was there on him. Have you ever been around someone like that? As a believer, as a follower of Jesus, guess what? We have the Holy Spirit in us. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. And there's a way that when we speak in the Spirit, like we can feel like there's more than just words being said. And it's impacting us more than just in our head. When Jesus spoke these words, they came out with power. That's how he was described. He said he spoke as one with authority, real authority. And so these people are hearing these words, and he is saying to this group of people, listen, you have a good father who wants to give you good gifts. Now, I'm going to be completely honest. I have what I like to call awe amnesia. Every single day I lose sight of who God is and forget how amazing He is. There's something in us, in our humanness, that we get complacent. And it's and it's a lot of things. I mean, even a couple of days ago, I was before bed, I was talking to my wife, and I was just reminding her, I was like, babe, I just take you for granted too much. I forget how much of a gift you are. Brownie points for me, right? No. Seriously, I was just having this moment where I was like, I forget, like, you are such a gift. It is such a joy to be married to you. I'm so thankful that God graciously gifted me with a wife who is a helper and my best friend and a partner in parenting and ministry and life. And I'm so thankful. And I forget to just stop and say thank you, God, and even say that to you. But even greater is I forget how good and awesome God is. Like, let's just stop for one second, just take a quick review. Some of you were here in the fall, and we did a Knowing God series, and we talked through God's attributes. And I just want to rename some of those attributes. All right. One of the attributes we said was God is holy. God is He is set apart. He is unlike anything else that exists. God is not human. God is not like us and confined by time or space like we are. God is something other. Okay? God is completely righteous. Everything that he does, everything that he says, everything that he thinks is completely right. It's never wrong. God is omnipotent. He's all powerful. I mean, everything he does, he does by this power that is unlimited. He is unlimited in his ability and capacity. He is omniscient. He knows everything. There's not one thought that you've thought that he doesn't know. There's not one person on this planet who's obscure to him. He knows everything. And then he doesn't just know about them. He knows every detail of them. In fact, he knows how they were put together in their mother's womb. Psalm 139 reminds us of that truth. He's all-present. He's here right now. He is completely with us in this room. He's moving and working. He's the immutable God, which is just a big word for He's unchanging. He doesn't do one thing and shift and become something different. He stays the same. He's always the same. He's eternal. Okay, I can like, I can come to a place where I can understand he doesn't have an end, but he doesn't even have a beginning. Are you tracking here? This is, he is mind-blowing. And I, in my little finiteness, I wake up out of my bed and I'm like, not even aware that he's working, not even acknowledging him. And yet, this God, who is all of these things and so much more beyond our comprehension, Jesus says these words, He is your Father in heaven. Oh, what? That God is my heavenly father? And it's not just that we chose him, but he actually said, I'm gonna choose you, you little rug rat. You little rebellious punk. I love you. I'm gonna pursue you. I created you, I formed you, and before you were even born, in fact, before the earth was born, Ephesians 1, I chose you. I'm your father. Do you think that would reshape the way we pray? I mean, it does in my life. When I actually for just a moment stop and think about who I'm praying to, my prayers change. It's a lot less of me telling what God's doing, a lot more a lot more of this. Oh God, how do you love me? How do you, how do you even, how do you even not just just wipe me out right now? I know my foolishness and my pride and my arrogance and my gosh. It completely changes the way we approach God. And he says you can call him Father. That's how Jesus in his model prayer said the stars. Our Father in heaven. What a privilege. What a gift. And Jesus says, if you then who are evil, ouch, Jesus. Well, it's true. Let's call it what it is. We human beings are evil. We're rebellious. We reject God. We think we know everything. We think we got it. He says, if you were evil and you know how to give good gifts to your children, I feel like I'm a decent dad. I mean, I blow it a lot. I have to seek their forgiveness a lot. I feel like I'm a decent dad. I love giving my kids good gifts. He says, how much more does your heavenly father want to give you good gifts? Imagine the kind of gifts the heavenly father who owns everything, who's over everything, who's more powerful than anything, the kind of gifts he can give. Wow. Listen to what Luke says as he records these words in verse 11 of chapter 11. He says, What father among you, if a son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? That doesn't sound very nice. Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion. That's really not nice. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give what? The Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Now I love this because he doesn't just say give good gifts. He actually gets more specific and he says, give the Holy Spirit. Who's the Holy Spirit? God. He is God Himself. I know some of us grew up in churches where we didn't hear about the Holy Spirit a lot. I realize that he's kind of like the stepchild of the Trinity somehow, which is weird. I don't even know how that works. Or he's just like this spooky thing we don't really know how to talk about. But here's the fact the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is God. And he says in this passage that what God gives us as his children is the best gift we could ever receive, and that is himself. Wow. He doesn't, he's not just a good father, but he gives us himself. He, in fact, Ephesians 1, I referred to earlier, it says he deposits his Holy Spirit in us. So now we have the Holy Spirit, the living creator, savior, sustainer, God living inside of this body with us. He is God with us in us. So any requests, any asking, seeking, knocking, we're going to be doing, we're coming to a God who is a good father, who gives good gifts, namely himself to us. Which is incredible. Now, um, I am so thankful that God has not given me everything that I've asked for. Easy illustration, right? Raising kids. Um, if if I gave my kids everything they asked for, they would not be here today. Okay? I think my kids ask for candy 500 times a day. They would have no teeth, they would have diabetes, we'd be in the doctor's office a lot, we have a lot of issues. Why do I not give my kid a piece of candy every time they ask for it? Because I know what's good for them. I know what's good for them. I know as a good father, though evil, limited in my goodness, that there's things that are good for my kids and there's things that are not good for my kids. And when my kids come and ask me, I don't just give them everything they want. Praise God, he doesn't just give us everything we want. We would hurt ourselves badly. We would do a lot of bad things because we see it through a particular lens that isn't the big picture that God has. It's not the same level of wisdom. In fact, Isaiah 55 says this God's ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As high as the heavens above uh the earth are God's ways above our ways. Like, really, there is no comparison, right? Just it's God is so much more awesome and so much greater, and and he sees the big picture. And so in our lives, we don't come to God uh, you know, many times because we think, and this is where it's important, we think we we already know what's best, right? And and so we come to God, not believing that he's a good father, or we don't come to God because he's not a good father. But when we do, we don't think he's gonna give us good gifts. And we need to understand and trust that he actually is a good father who knows better than we do what we really need. And he'll give us what we truly need. Because the fact of the matter is, we need God more than we need any of these earthly things that we long for. We do. We need God more. I know for some of us we're still in process in that, but we need God more. So why should we ask God for help? We should ask God for help because he is the perfect Heavenly Father who wants to help us. And when he helps us, he's going to help us in the right way. He's going to help us in the right way. How should we ask God for help today? Well, he says in the passage, he says, keep asking, it'll be given. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened. For everyone who receives, uh whoever who asks, receives, who searches, finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be open. Now, in my mind, just because again, I as a parent, I I can't help but but think about this, if I'm in my house, and I a lot of times I office at my house, and so it took me a little while to sort of adjust to that. Some of you guys who work from home, if you've got kids, you kind of know this. But I've learned, like, you know, like kind of a I've got to have my good set of headphones, and I gotta be able to like get in there, kind of in the zone sometimes and get away. But I can hear the other end of the house, I can hear somebody say, dad, dad, dad, dad. And then I can hear the dad start to move through the house. And I can hear it in the kitchen. And I can like even sometimes out the door. And then eventually they realize I'm in my room. And then I hear knock dan. I know you're in there. And I'm like, just give me three bloomin' minutes, okay? Let me just have a couple of minutes of peace and quiet. I gotta finish this thought. And I think about this ask and seek and knock. It's like this starts with just a calling out, and then it's a I'm gonna go find you, and then it's like, I'm at the door. Like, don't ignore me. I really need to know. Can I watch this show right now? It's like it's an emergency. No, you cannot watch Dude Perfect again. Stop. No, it it's it's funny, it's humorous to me because that's exactly how we are. You know, like he's saying, ask, seek, knock. And he emphasizes, he says, when you really keep asking, you will receive, and when you keep seeking, you will find, right? And when you really knock, the door will be opened. It's a it's a promise as it's an invitation. It will happen. But here's the thing: like, God is working in all of that. Um, notice what James chapter 1, verse 5 says. He says, Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should be, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. Let him ask in faith without doubting, for the doubter is like the surging sea driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. So one of the first ways that we can actually seek and ask and knock is with confidence, that confidence that we have a good Father, like we just talked about, that He is capable of handling our problems better than we can. That He will provide, He wants to provide. That's God. And so we can pray with confidence in a God who is good and a God who is able. And when He says, keep asking and it'll be given, keep searching, you'll find it, it's gonna take persistence. It's gonna take emphasis on patience. Because God's working in our prayer. And I would say that the reason that people don't pray is not because we're just so busy. It's because we're arrogant. It's actually because we we're too self-reliant. We we think we've already got it. But we we pray with a sense of humility, and we come and we we pray, God, help me. God, work, move, um, and and I'm gonna keep asking, I'm gonna keep keep knocking, I'm gonna keep seeking. Listen to this. This is from Luke chapter 11, same chapter I quoted from earlier. He says this in verse 5. He also said to them, suppose one of your friends, this is an illustration within the same context of the the teaching. He says, Suppose one of your has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I don't have anything to offer him. First off, if you come to the shock house, we won't have three loaves of bread. My kids have eaten it all. But if you come to a house at midnight asking for food, okay, probably gonna send you home. I'm gonna ignore that you're there, right? He says, Because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I don't have anything to offer, then he will answer from inside with his grogginess because he's already asleep. Don't bother me. The door's locked, my children have gone to bed, and I can't get up to give you anything. But notice what verse 8 says. I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend's persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs and send him on his way, right? Eventually it's like, okay, look, I gotta go to sleep. Here's the stuff. Just go, please. Just go. I gotta go back to bed. Now, seriously, if you do need something, you can come to my house, all right? I don't want to act like we can't. But in this illustration, he's saying persistence is key, like pressing in, keep on going, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. God is more concerned about what he is doing in us in the waiting than he is giving us the gift that we think we need. I've learned this lesson a lot over my life because there's things that I've asked for, and as I said, thankfully God doesn't just give us everything we want, but also he doesn't give it us when we think we need it. He gives us, gives it to us when he knows we need it, when it's the right timing. And again, his wisdom is best because as a good father, he sees, and so he's like, you're not ready for that, you're not ready for that, you're not ready for that. Let me help you with your character first so that you will be able to receive that and not worship that, but keep worshiping me. Are you with me? Now, sometimes we find in ourselves this uh this desire where we try to shift over and like we ask God, he doesn't give it, and so what are we gonna do? We're gonna go get it anyway. You ever done that? If you've done that, then you know that doesn't turn out well. Because when we try to circumvent God's plan, it's not going to end well. And God, as a good father, um every move in a sense. He gives us this weird, mysterious freedom to like do what we want. And then we we find that it's it doesn't lead us to life. It doesn't lead us to what we had thought it would. So we wake up and we go, why I'm in so much debt now? Why do I have no time in my schedule now? Why is my relationship with my spouse and my family struggling now? Well, you got things that you thought you needed and thought you wanted, and it didn't turn out the way that you thought it would, because again, that's the way life works when we operate outside of God's plan and his agenda. God, he shows us who he is when we really press into him in prayer. We learn to lean on his wisdom. And it's a process, by the way. Learning to lean in his wisdom and his understanding. We learn through that waiting. We learn through that process of surrender. And that's really the third thing is not only we need to pray with confidence or with persistence, but we also have to pray with surrender. What were Jesus' uh words in his model prayer? Your kingdom come, your will be done, right? Your will be done. God, I'm pressing in, I'm asking, I'm seeking, and I'm knocking, but ultimately I'm surrendering to you and to your agenda. Now, this is really sneaky, okay? But I want to be fully disclosed with you guys. There are times that I pray, and the only reason I'm asking God about it is I just want him to confirm what I've already decided. So I've already made a decision in my head. This is what I'm gonna do. God, I just need you to make me feel good about that decision. That's not surrendering to his will. The way Henry Blackaby, I remember back when I was just a teenager, and he wrote this knowing God study way back in the day. And it and he said, so much of the time, we are just people who are, we're asking God to bless our plans rather than saying, God, what's your plan so I can do that and I know it'll be blessed. Proverbs 16 reminds us that we commit our plans to the Lord and they will succeed. And by the way, in case we've lose sight, again, he says in that same exact chapter, he says that man makes plans, but God determines steps. God gets the final laugh anyway, right? Because he is working even when we think we're in control, even when we think we're in charge. So we can surrender or we can fight him for control. And in the end, he still wins. Because he's God and He's good and He's sovereign. But we have to learn how to wait upon Him, how to press in and perseverance, but with a heart that is surrendered. Listen, while we can't know all things, we can know the God, our Heavenly Father, who does hold all things. While we can't be certain of the future, I mean, if anybody in here thinks they know the future, you're not being honest with yourself. You don't know what even will happen to you this afternoon. You can make plans, but you don't know. I don't know. And while we can't be certain of the future, we can trust the one who holds the future. And while we might feel helpless and hopeless, we have access to a God who says he will give us help in our need and actually has the capacity to do something about the things that you and I are facing, that you are and I are struggling with and wrestling with. Listen, I understand that some of you have given up on prayer because God hasn't done what you've wanted him to do when you wanted him to do it. My encouragement to you today is to remember who this God is, that we serve and that we love and that has called us his child, and remember that we can come to him as his children and call on him, and we can trust his heart for us, and we can trust that he's gonna give us good gifts. In fact, James also says, he says, every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above. Do you believe that? I want to believe that fully. There's times where I just feel like God's holding out on me, or I feel like God's just not, he's not doing it what I the way I want him to do it. And he's teaching me how to trust him, he's teaching me how to let go, he's teaching me how to surrender to him and to his agenda. Listen, we can come to a Father who is good, and we can come and know that he's gonna see things better than we can see things, and he's gonna give us exactly what we need when we need it, how we need it. And we can keep pressing in and say, God, if there's a reason you're not giving it to me yet, if there's a reason you're not answering in the way I want you to, it's because you see it better than I do, right? You know what I need better than I do. And as I mentioned earlier, it's more about what God is actually trying to do in us sometimes than just giving us the gift, because the practical reality is that sometimes those very gifts that we get can be the things that really bring just a lot of destruction and pain in our lives. Over the last year or so, I've found myself praying prayers of desperation over some situations that we've been in. Um, some relationships with my family, some relationships with other people, some situations and circumstances that have just been hard. And, you know, it's it's really interesting how God uses hardship to grow our prayer life. And that's a real good fruit of hardship, suffering. I mean, sometimes when things are going really well, we we don't pray. We don't seek God, we don't ask and and knock, and and we we stop like we kind of get complacent. But when things are hard and we're suffering or difficulty happens or relational struggles happen, um hopefully, hopefully, it doesn't always work, but hopefully we we press into God and we we say, God, we need your help. Even if initially it's just simply like, God help me, you know? This is crazy, help me. But we learn how to pray in those times, in those valleys, right? And God has used a song in recent days that's really ministered to my heart. And it's a song that I've actually quoted to several people that I know here at Point. But I was driving home from a meeting one day, and I heard this song, and I think I probably had heard it before, but for whatever reason, it just landed. You ever had those moments? Something just lands on you, and you're just like, whoa. That was for me right now in this moment. And I felt like God's spirit, just right there in my little truck as I'm driving home, just felt God's presence like just come over me and say, This is what I want to speak to you right now, Nick. And it's a song that's called Seasons by Hillsong, and it says this, like the frost on a rose, winter comes for us all. Oh, how nature acquaints us with the nature of patience. Like a seed in the snow, I've been buried to grow, for your promise is loyal from seed to sequoia. You ever seen a sequoia tree? Massive. Take a long time to grow. I know though the winter is long, even richer the harvest it brings, though my waiting prolongs even greater your promise for me, like a seed. I believe that my season will come. Lord, I think of your love like the low winter sun, and as I gaze, I am blinded in the light of your brightness, and like a fire to the snow, I'm renewed in your warmth. Melt the ice of this wild soul till the barren is beautiful. And this is where I really lost it. In fact, I I I couldn't, I mean, just being honest, I I I broke into tears. The the bridge says these words I can see the promise, I can see the future. You're the God of seasons, and I'm just in the winter. If all I know of harvest is that it's worth my patience, then if you're not done working, God, I'm not done waiting. You can see my promise even in the winter, because you're the God of greatness, even in a manger. For I know of seasons, all I know of seasons is that you take your time. You could have saved us in a second, but instead you sent a child. And he closes with this like a seed you were sown for the sake of us all. From from Bethlehem's soil grew Calvary Sequoia. And I think about the words of that song, and I it just ministered to my heart because there's so much of the time I want to see God do what I think you should do right now. And God is working in the waiting, and we can trust him. And some of you today, you came and you feel like God has given up on you, or you've given up on him. And he's saying, Don't stop asking, don't stop seeking, don't stop knocking. I'm your good father. I know what you need, I know what you're looking for, I know what you're longing for, and it's me more than it's that thing. It's me more than health, it's me more than money, it's me more than whatever you fill in the blank. I have what you need. I don't know where you are today. And maybe not everyone in this room is in a tough spot. If you're not, praise God for that. Don't lose your awe as you're in the midst of good seasons. And if you're in a hard season, don't give up. Your father has not given up on you. He even says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's good to know today. What is it that you need God to do right now in your life? Ask, seek, knock. What have you given up praying for? Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. God will either provide that or he will change your perspective in the process. And he will sharpen and refine you, and it'll be for your good and for his glory. What have you assumed on God to do rather than surrendering to his wisdom and his way? Maybe a start today for you is just to lay down control to him. Say, God, I'm not God. I'm not you. So I surrender to your will. Let me pray for us. Father, I thank you that you don't give up on us. Help us have the strength to not give up on you. That by your spirit, you would lead us to be a people who keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking. Like that pesky friend in the middle of the night. God, I thank you for this group of people here in this room today. That we don't have it all together. We don't have it all figured out. But we, God, come knowing that you are the solution to the challenges and the difficulties of this life. God help us to learn how to trust you with all things. Not to just pray to get you on our page, but God, to pray and surrender to get on your page. And God, I would even pray that right now in this moment, when I think about asking and seeking and knocking, one of the first things we do as human beings in terms of coming to you and asking is to ask you to save us. And if there's anyone in this space today, God, who's never asked you to rescue them, to save them, I pray that today would be that moment for them. That they would call on the name of Jesus and be saved. Because your scripture says there, everyone who asks. Everyone who seeks, everyone who knocks. God, may everyone in this room be in that group today. We love you and we thank you that you love us. Praise your name, Jesus. Amen. I want to invite you to respond. Uh, first and foremost, just in the next few minutes. We don't, as a culture, know how sometimes to be still and listen. Um, we're accustomed to a lot of noise, a lot of movement. But I would invite you, if you just take a few minutes and be still, and just listen and say, God, is there something you want to say to me? Sometimes the reason I don't want to be still is because I'm afraid he's gonna say something I don't want him to say. Like, I don't want to hear that I need to change this, or I don't want to hear I need to do this, or I don't want to hear I need to wait. But listen, your father is good and he's wise. And he's not saying it to hurt you, he's saying it to help you. So, whatever it is, you can trust him that if you follow him, if you obey him, there's blessing on the other side of that. Okay? There's good gifts. So I want us to sit for a minute and listen as these guys begin to play. And then as you feel led, uh, we invite you to take communion. Uh, communion tables are set up around the room, and at those tables you can simply go and remember that that represents Christ's body broken for you and his blood shed for you. When he said, Not my will, but thine be done, God, in his humanness, he laid down his desire for comfort so that he could be broken, so we could have life. And we reflect on that and we remember that today. In fact, that is the reason why we can have the gift of himself in us, is because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection. If you also need prayer, uh you could write a prayer request on the cards that are in the back of the seats, but also there's a way that you can get prayer right now, today, in the moment. Um, we'll have some of our team in the back of the room. And it's not because we're super Christians or super holy, it's just because we're available and we just want to pray. And we want to ask God to move in your life if there's something that you need him to do. Let's ask with you. Let's agree on it and ask in his name, okay? We love you, and we want every one of you in this room, whether you're a first-time guest or you come every week to experience the goodness and the power of a God who is very personal. He's not far off and distant today. He's right here, right now, in this room, and he's speaking. And he wants to speak to you. So listen. He has something to say. And then obey him. Whatever that is. Okay, let's do that together.