Have You Asked?

1. The Hook

Purpose: Help everyone in the room feel, “This is for me.” Create tension or curiosity that

demands resolution.

Elements:

— On September 18, 1974, the second episode of a soon to be classic tv show aired. This particular episode of the Little House on Prairie is titled “Country Girls.” In this episode there is a famous moment that happens. Mary and Laura Ingalls have their first day at the schoolhouse in Walnut Grove. As they enter the school house they are stared at by the class and Miss Beadle has them come up and she puts their name down in the register. We find out some important contextual notes in that moment. Neither Mary nor Laura had ever attended school. This was all new to them. After their introductions were made they went and sat down so that class could begin.

— As class begins Miss Beadle has young Willy Olson go up to one of the blackboards and to write down the sums of 3. Laura had fixed her gaze on what Willy was doing she just blurts out “Ma’am, how is he ever going to get all those numbers off again?”

— The class bursts into laughter. They all thought what Laura had asked was dumb and ridiculous. Nellie ultimately says again see i told you they are just some Country Girls.

— But that question was not dumb at all. Laura had never seen a blackboard. She didnt know you could simply just erase the numbers and start again.

— Laura never would have gotten the answer if she had not asked that question.

— While growing up in school, I used to hear all the time that No question is Dumb question. Now to some your genuine question may seem dumb but they don’t understand your context in which you are asking. For instance, Laura had never seen a blackboard therefore she had never witnessed the ability to erase and start over.

— For a lot of us in here we have had to ask questions that probably seemed dumb to most but we asked because we genuinely didn’t know.

2. The Context

In Matthew 7:7-11. Jesus preaching on that same concept in regards to prayer.

Explain the context up to this point that would show that this would have been crazy for them to hear and now their heads are swimming. so he knew they were going to have a moment of wanting to ask a lot of questions.

Think about this…

Matthew 5:3ff you have these beatitudes that would have sounded very foreign to these people listening. I mean what do you mean the mourning are blessed????

Matthew 5:20 these people are to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees if they are going to enter the kingdom of Heaven…how in the world are going to accomplish that?

The rest of Matthew 5 the people are now being taught by Jesus about what His expectations are compared to the teaching they have heard from the Scribes and Pharisees.

Matthew 6 now these people are being told how to make sure they are not practicing their righteousness to be seen by men but rather to be seen by their Father who sees in secret…How can I be a light to the world but make sure I am not a spotlight blinding the world? But I am still seen by my father who is in heaven?

Matthew 7 kicked off with the last area of righteousness that we covered a couple of weeks ago. How not to judge someone and how to judge someone.

Now don’t separate this passage from the context!

These people’s heads are swimming. Just imagine listening to this sermon.

Now you are told to judge but not to do it wrong the way…

So naturally what are you going to do…You are going to ask HOW DO WE DO THAT?

But maybe you are scared too. Maybe you don’t want to ask the question…

ILLUSTRATION: Stick shift truck.

That will lead us into what Jesus has to say in this passage.

3. The Text

Matthew 7:7–11 “7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

11 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!”

The TEACHING from JESUS - (V. 7, 8)

3 Present Active Imperative verbs & 3 results promised by Jesus

Ask | Seek | Knock — Action is to be continued

Progression — Ask —> Seeking (asking plus acting) —> Knocking (Asking plus acting plus persevering)

ASK:

1 John 5:14–15 “14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

Its not that we are asking God to help increase in wealth or to remove the trial from our life

But rather we asking God to help us through those trials by asking for wisdom — James 1:5 “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

If you don’t ask you won’t be given.

SEEK:

This is the asking plus acting…I wonder how many prayers we have asked and not expected God to answer.

What are we looking for when we pray…Have you ever thought about that?

I often think about the narrative of the Ethiopan eunuch and Phillip the evangelist. I wonder if both of them were praying for an opportunity.

Phillip an opportunity to evangelize to someone and the eunuch was praying for wisdom concerning a passage he was reading.

Now what happens throughout the rest of this narrative is both prayers are answered

But just imagine this passage if neither of them were seeking the answer to their prayers…

Philip may not have listened to the Spirit who said to go join the Chariot

the Eunuch may not have allowed this man to come up and help them

Neither of them would have found the answer to their prayers even though God was answering it for them

I wonder how often that happens in our life…

We ask God for help but don’t truly seek the answer he is providing.

Knock:

This is the persistent factor. This is the we are not giving up moment.

We have asked…we have been seeking…now we are persisting

How long are you willing to pray for the same thing that is according to God’s will.

Maybe you are praying for wisdom of how to navigate a trial in your life…

Maybe you are praying to develop a forgiving heart toward someone who hurt you

Maybe you are praying for a stronger faith

Maybe you are praying for an opportunity to use your talents to serve God’s family

What if the answer to that prayer doesn’t come the next day…

The next week

How long are you willing to pray that prayer

Luke 18 “1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Are we bothering God with our persistent praying?

Are we knocking on the door?

The QUESTIONS from Jesus - (V. 9-10)

Matthew 7:9–10 “9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?”

The repetition hammers home the point there is no tendency to give those we love and who depend on us some unsatisfying or harmful thing when we are asked for something to satisfy a real need

The APPLICATION from Jesus - (V. 11)

Here is Jesus' argument:

If imperfect fathers know how to give good gifts…HOW MUCH MORE does your perfect heavenly Father?

This is an argument from the lesser to the greater.

We are flawed. Our wisdom is limited. Our judgment is imperfect. Sometimes we get parenting wrong. And yet we still want what is good for our children.

So Jesus says:

How much more can you trust God?.

Prayer isn't ultimately about getting what I want from God. Prayer is trusting that God knows what is good.

That's why 1 John 5:14 is so important:

“If we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

I'm not trying to bend God's will toward mine. I'm learning to bend my will toward His. And sometimes God's good answer may look different from what I requested.

I may ask God to remove the trial—

God may give me wisdom to endure it.

I may ask God to change another person—

God may begin by changing me.

I may ask God to open a particular door—

God may close it because He knows what is on the other side.

I may ask God to make the situation easier—

God may use the situation to make my faith stronger.

So my question is this?

Do I trust God's goodness enough to accept His answer?

Because sometimes we say:

“God didn't answer my prayer.”

When what we really mean is:

“God didn't answer my prayer the way I wanted Him to.”

Those aren't necessarily the same thing.

Jesus isn't promising in Matthew 7 that God will give us everything we desire.

He's promising something much better:

Your Father will give you what is GOOD.

And that connects beautifully back to your Ask → Seek → Knock progression:

ASK — because your Father hears you.

SEEK — because your Father is working.

KNOCK — because your Father can be trusted.

And then verse 11 gives you the foundation underneath all three:

KEEP PRAYING BECAUSE YOUR FATHER IS GOOD.

That could actually be the sentence that ties your entire section together.

5. The Invitation

This week. I want you to think about one area of in your life that is very specific and it is something you need God’s help

And want that to be your focus for at least this week! Make a note in your phone or in your Bible and put today’s date next to it and then I want you to put God’s answer date next to it.

Lets not just be people that ask for help and never say thank you or focus on His answer.