Ask Seek Knock

Luke 11 jentenzen franklin

(v1) Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place. when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him,” Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

(v2) So He said to them,” When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

Then He shifts gears… this is how you’re to pray...

He give this illustration...

Luke 11:5-7 And He said to them,” which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him,” Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine as come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he will answer from within and say,” do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed (it took me two hours to get them to sleep, they’re are in bed); I cannot rise and give to you”?

Bread three loaves at midnight?…

Luke 11:8 - 13 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. “ so I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it ill be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

He will give it all to those who ask Him…

This story is centered around midnight the parable that Jesus taught about prayer is actually teaching us about the posture and position of what the church should be right at midnight, midnight, is a type of the coming of the Lord…

Midnight means that Jesus is on the verge of coming. And what is the posture of the church?

Jesus in His school of prayer in this text

Jesus teaches the Lords prayer, draws a beautiful mental picture of a desperate knocking at the door in the midnight hour.

The posture of the church is pounding on the door. Saying,” i recognize i don’t have bread (bread is Jesus, the bread of His presence… “this is My bread take it.”)

“I don’t have enough of You I need more of You in the midnight hour. Not just for me, but i have friends coming they’re on their journey, and if i am not full of You I can’t win them. If I am not sold out to You they won’t want what I’ve got...”

I need (knocking) the position of the church in the midnight hour is to pound on the door...

The University of Chicago has a clock they been keeping since the 1960’s when the nuclear weapons were developed the scientist that developed the nuclear weapons started this clock its called the dooms day clock and recently in the year of 2022, they move the hour hand has now been moved on midnight on 12 for a long time … the minute hand has been moving as they assess the conditions of the world and the dangers of the world of how close are we to midnight? and this year 2022 they voted ...

These are scientist, these are nuclear... these are cyber war experts, these are not preachers and prophecy preachers, these are some of the brightest minds in the scientific world, and they said that things are so dangerous from pestilence to all kinds of things…

They voted to move the hand 60 seconds from midnight…

60 seconds from midnight…

What should the position of the church the Body of Christ be this close to midnight?

I wonder how many of us recognize that Jesus is going to return to this earth, just like He promised? …

Jesus taught and He said there are two examples of prayer I am going to give you.

Number 1 there is the Lord’s prayer and He laid it our first, the Lord’s prayer, it’s grade school prayer it’s about personal needs you go through,” give us this day our daily bread, give me enough to get by today, give me bread for me it’s about me being full, me having what I need…”

first of all it tells us that God delights in meeting our needs…

He delights in you having home and clothes and car and jobs and blessing

He’s not in any way against you having your needs met, He wants to meet your needs.

A loving father doesn’t want to give you a stone when you ask for bread, doesn’t want to give you a serpent if you ask Him and simply acknowledge Him and believe in Him and trust Him.

He doesn’t want to give you a serpent when you’re asking for meet. And He say’s I delight in meeting your personal needs…

And it is good that you/we pray like that… That’s one example of prayer then He instantly shifted it…

In the same chapter and He said,” once you get your personal life straightened out and you have Bread and you’re in a personal relationship with Me ( you’re eating of the Bread of heaven you’re taking communion in Faith, you’re washed you’re cleansed )… I want you to shift gears at the midnight hour (because He starts talking about when we move into the midnight hour the signs of the times are happening there is a position … It’s grown up time now.)

You can’t be a casual christian no more in the midnight hour, you can’t have mommas religion and daddy and them really love the Lord.

You can’t do that, you can’t play that game, you will be, I am talking to people who will not be ready for the rapture… we have to know that we know…

And the posture of the church is not one, that is just trying to hold onto Jesus.

Once you get your daily bread. it’s a piece of Bread one piece…

He shifts and He starts telling a parable and He said,”It’s centered around midnight prophetic alert, prophecy alert… there was a man who went to the house at midnight and started beating on the door at midnight,”

When the world is reeling and rocking at midnight the position and posture of the church is it has grow from immaturity, of just bless me, just save me, I’m going to heaven I don’t really care about the world, I don’t care about these lost people I’m working with and yeah I got family lost but that’s God’s business He’ll save them, good luck...

But there has to be a spiritualness that comes into the church that shifts in the midnight hour that the church becomes that man pounding on the door!

“give me bread for my friends… “

“they’re going to die, they’re going to be lost, they’re going to go into eternity or even worse they’re going to be left behind when Jesus comes. And I know God has my friends on a journey.”

(notice they’re not brother’s… this is not for the family this is not for the kingdom… this is for the friends the people out their that are not brothers and sisters in Christ. They are lost and I am not mad at them they are my friends.)

I’m not mad at the gay community, I’m not mad at the people who disagree with what I preach, I’m not mad at people in other religions. They are my friends and God is going to allow their journey… “If I can get!” (and noticed he said give me three loaves for my friends)

We are in a time where we can’t just keep coming to church with the intention of keeping ourselves together…

God is saying i want you to get a burden for a lost world and ask Me for three loaves!

Not just enough for you to get by, but you’ve got enough that you can share it and people see what you’ve got and they want it and when they do you say,” yes here I was waiting on you...”

Friends looking for Bread… Friends looking for authenticity and realness and honesty and truth and integrity. They are going to come our way.

In the midnight hour the only question is will this house will this ministry have Bread?

Or will we be just another church having church service where people don’t have life and they don’t feel because that’s what that Bread is Jesus said,” I am Life I’m the Bread of Life I can fill that hole in your soul that thing that is missing that gnawing hunger that alcohol cannot take away that drugs cannot take away illicit sex cannot take away. I am the One who can fill the hunger of mans soul and I need a church that is pounding on the door saying,” Bread!Bread!”

Can you see it? pounding on the door at midnight … Asking for Bread for your friends… pounding in such a way that is so loud and overwhelming at midnight … pounding (prayer) for Bread! Bread! for my friends on a journey through life i need more Bread of Life for them. I’m okay but I need three loaves for my friends right now at midnight… amen

Why? what’s the urgency it’s the midnight hour if I don’t have Bread my friends are going to be lost…

It’s not just up to the preacher, Jesus said,” you will be My witnesses.”

You ought to be so full of Bread.

How do you get it? Pray

What was the whole lesson, What was the whole parable about? … Pray… Ask… Seek… Knock…

You don’t do it therefore you don’t have it…

In the midnight hour when we don’t have Bread… we must stir ourselves from slumber...

The 10 virgins were pure, they were holy, they were clean… but all 10 of them in the parable that Jesus told were a sleep…

And they all 10 had to be awakened…

I am … your wake up call…

We have to decrease even more so He can increase… we have to allow Him to increase so we can have even more spiritual pressure on the prayer life we have to the prayer life that has like the scripture tells us more then enough not just in tangible things but in the gift of the Holy Spirit working in and through us …

No matter what you’re going through immaturity maturity we are working out our salvation relationship with God … bottom line is we have to get a prayer life more so now then ever before…

It’s the midnight our the climax/consummation of the ages the end draweth nigh… there are no more excuses this is your generation…

What are you going to do when you see the world going to hell, what are you going to do when you see america or even your nation in decline?

It’s on your watch…

There 1st has to be some people that understand there’s no politician that can fix this nation there’s no intellectual answer, the answer is not in education the answer is not in politics, the answer is not in medicine the answer is not in technology

The answer is in getting on our knees and “IF. IF. IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES.HUMBLE THEMSELVES. HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY LIKE THEY NEED ME I’LL TURN THE NATION AROUND.”

AMEN! REVIVAL IS COMING! (TO?)

TO THE BODY OF CHRIST AND ESPECIALLY TO THE CHURCHES THAT ARE KNOCKING IN INTERCESSORY PRAYER!

CRYING BREAD! GET UP! BREAD! BREAD OF LIFE! THREE LOAVES!

We may think this is a little extreme… it is ...

Intercessory prayer is the secret weapon of the church…

If someone doesn’t want to hear your witness, intercessory prayer will go get in their car. Intercessory prayer will go get into their apartment where they’re shaked up. Intercessory prayer will go in a drug den. Intercessory prayer will go behind prison bars. Intercessory prayer will go into an ICU unit. Intercessory prayer will go beyond the division in your family and the wall of no communication. Intercessory prayer an invisible force of heavenly angels will begin to surround that property…

IF. YOU. WILL. PRAY.

Give God a real applause for that and say,” IT’S PRAYER TIME.”

“I’ve invited them and they didn’t come… well stop inviting them and pray…”

IT’S NOT THE WORK OF A MAN IT IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

and then they’ll call you and say I’ve got to come…

If you want Bread you’ve better be beating on the door at the midnight hour, that’s where God expects the church to be.

Listen to verse Luke 11:5 (what did he ask for?) beating on the door… in the midnight hour, “I want three loaves.”

Jesus previously in the same chapter said,” give me enough, give me this day my daily bread.”

Here’s this other guy he’s not just praying for himself, he’s thinking of others the lost harvest and he says,” give me three loaves.”

IT’S THREE LOAF TIME. It’s time to ask big requests

When you’re in the midnight hour and you’re seeing the signs of the times, you see prophecies and even in your soul your sitting there looking at me and you know you’re not ready you know you’re not living right you’re not even trying you know just in you natural mind you can see something is going on in this world something is just like those preachers preach something is about to happen.... it’s called the rapture.

And when we get raptured out the restrainer which is the Holy Spirit will instantly be taken out and the anti christ will instantly come on the scene. One world government, one world currency, one world religion…

you want us to get out when we’re out the Holy Spirit goes the Restrainer.

I’m so glad I’ve got the Holy Ghost cause He is the Restrainer.

Hell may want to destroy your family but there is a Restrainer, He’s the Mighty Holy Ghost of Heaven, He has the power to do what man cannot do, He’s Provider, He’s a Protector, He’s the Comforter, He’s the Healer. And He’s in us and He’s here right now.

WELCOME THE HOLY SPIRIT SOMEBODY.

One loaf meets my daily bread but I am into the midnight hour, begin to earnestly pray, give me three loaves let me be full of You and give me three extra loaves…

No more patty cake for Jesus…

It’s midnight. the world is reeling and rocking like a drunkard. There is no time for business as usual… It’s three loaf time…

When the hounds of hell are set loose and demonic forces are assaulting families and marriages and everything good and everything right…

“calling evil good and good evil.”

The Bible say… that the church is not to become more and more like the world, thinking like the world acting like the world…

But we are to move into a position of intercessory prayer where prayer starts taking over the church. Everything we do is bathed and saturated and marinated in prayer…

and we’re pounding on the door we know the friends are coming, we know the lost are on a journey they’re headed this way and we’re a ministry you can trust because we will pound the doors of heaven until you give us three loaves for our friends…

listen to what Jesus said (everybody say Jesus said) ,” if the church starts doing that in the midnight hour, though the master of the house would not give the bread to him because he was his friend, he gave it to him because of his persistence.” he gave it to him because of his persistence.”

He kept coming back and coming back and coming back… (v8) and pounding harder hitting harder...

and thats when Jesus taught that marvelous verse we know it “ask (39.34)