Jesus's Invitation to Prayer
Notes
Transcript
01-12-2020
Welcome
We are excited to be here this morning
What a joy this weather is
For those of you who journeyed out be safe for those who elected to stay home and watch online we are glad you were able to join us this morning
Last week we continued in our Sermon on the Mount Series
We talked about judgement vs accountability and how it is all in our approach to each other
If you and I go to each other with a condemning attitude then they won’t hear us
We also saw last week how we are to not judge each other but we are to hold each other accountable
If you are a child of God then you and I are on the same team
And as teammates we have the right to hold each other accountable to be at practice, to know the play book, and then to run your routes during game time!
This morning we will continue on by sitting on the side of the mountain this morning to hear what Jesus has to say
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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This is where we will be this morning
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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
We have heard this verse before and most times we glance over it
Sometimes we see people miss using the verse as a way to force the hand of God
I am asking God therefore you must give it to me God
OR God have I have been seeking you, see I have been to church for a few months so you must give me what I am asking for
Those are all flat wrong and I believe all of us here would agree that is not what Jesus is saying
Rather Jesus is inviting those people sitting on the side of the mountain to a prayer relationship with God the Father
Some of you might be sitting there saying but Jesus has already talked about prayer
That is right because Jesus is reminding them prayer is a central point to a relationship with God the Father
Some of you were here at the business meeting
Wow how exciting that was because that was not your grandma’s church business meeting
For those who missed it we met to pray and then once the prayer was over we conducted some business
We see throughout the entire Bible that communication with God is key to a growing relationship with Him
Church if Jesus revisits prayer again in the same sermon in my line of work we call that a clue
you might want to write that down because it might be important
But Jesus is inviting those sitting on the side of the mountain once again to fellowship with God the father through prayer
One author puts it like this Richard Glover
That a child, if his mother is near and visible, asks; if she is neither, he seeks; while if she is inaccessible in her room, he knocks.3 Be that as it may, all three verbs are present imperatives and indicate the persistence with which we should make our requests known to God.
So kids if mom or dad are near and you can see them we simple ask, but if they are not near or we can’t see them what do we do
We go and search for them, and once we have found them we ask them
But if we still cant find them in the immediate area, then we start to open closed doors, and knock on mom and dad’s door so that we can find them so that we can ask them
God I don’t believe is a play a big game of hide and seek rather I think you and I get very very distracted and change course without knowing it
Church I do believe that Jesus is calling us to ask God
But God will only give according to His will and for use to know his will we must be seeking him so we know what to ask
It is through prayer or knocking that we enter into this prayer relationship with God and it is through seeking him that we learn what God’s will is
Then when we learn what God’s will is we begin to ask
See this ask, seek, knock is not about change God to conform God to me but rather conforming me to God
I want to camp here for just a few more minuets because God brought prayer up twice in the same sermon
Do we know what it looks like to seek God
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Everything else should be behind God on your priority list
The problem with a lot of us is first thing is not first anymore
But to seek God in your life you will have to make sacrifices and give things up to follow after God but church I can testify that it is so worth it
You have to get up early, you have to go to bed early, maybe you stop hanging out with a certain group of so called friends because you know they only bring you down
To seek God church is to come to practice, to study your play book,
Do we know what it looks like to knock?
prayer
17 pray without ceasing;
Church you and I cannot expect to grow in our personal relationship with God unless we are willing to spend time in prayer
That means church taking those notes cards and praying for people and situations
Church when we are seeking God and when we are praying we know what to ask for
And church we ask for the things that are in God’s will not our own
But these are a promise from God that when we make Him first in our lives we receive from Him
Don’t be confused that if you seek God He will give you what you want but will give you what He wants for you!
Jesus goes on to explain how good the Father really is
9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
Jesus uses the picture of a parent child relationship
Parents in the room if you child comes to you and asks for a sandwich for lunch you will no give him a rock will you
I mean that just makes sense even to us right
As parents we want to give our kids what is best for them
Story of icing with the girls
I decided I wanted to make monkey bread with cinnamon rolls and in the cinnamon rolls there is some icing
Well the girls kept asking if they could eat it and kept on asking if they could eat it
I finally had to explain to them that we have never let them sit down and eat and entire pouch of icing and we wouldn’t because that wouldn’t be good for them
See persistent does not always get you what you want but from the Father you will get what is best for you
Like a parent child relationship
Jesus again asks the question about a fish and snake
I mean that makes sense to us right
But just in case it doesn’t Jesus goes on to explain
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Jesus wraps this us with the explanation of what he was talking about earlier
This world is an evil world and you and I have talked about it
You and I understand that we are mean nasty horrible human beings and if in that state you and I can give good gifts to our children
Think and dwell on that fact the Father is perfect and what sort of gifts the father gives
Church this is a call a reminder to run to God in prayer
Just because you are persistent in praying for a specific thing doesn’t mean you will get it
But church when you and I are persistently seeking after God then we are the ones who are changed no God and then we begin to ask for the things of God which are better than we could ever come up with because He is good and we are not
Finally Jesus says
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The Golden Rule
You and I are to treat each other as you would want to be treated
I believe we talked about that last week that it is all the way in which you and I approach people
If you want to be shamed and guilted then that is how you should approach people but I know that no one wants to be treated like that
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
You want to know what we just talked about today
The 2 greatest commandments
The entire law wrapped up into 2 commands
To Love Jesus with your entire being is to seek Him
And then church to love others as you love yourself
This is how you and I should run our routes tomorrow and then next day
What a great verse to wrap things up this morning
If you want to know how to seek Jesus it is to love Him with your entire being
If you want to know how to treat others, love them like you love yourself
CLOSING
As the band comes forward this morning
if you are here today and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus we would like to invite you to the front and someone will be down here to walk you through what the Bible says about beginning a personal relationship with Jesus
They will show you in scripture how Jesus loved you enough to die on the cross for your sins and how 3 days later walked out of the grave
Or maybe you are here and you have a personal relationship with Jesus and you know that God is calling you to be obedient this morning
In whatever way would you be obedient this morning
The altar is open