Sermon 5.17.26 | "Ask, Seek, Knock

Like, if you concluded that he wasn't big enough to pull off what you were asking, of course, you stopped seeking him. If you concluded he didn't love you enough to do what was best for you, of course, you stopped knocking on his door. But the god who's actually there is a father who's enjoyable to bring requests to. There's no need for fear. Either he's gonna snap his fingers and direct his cosmic power toward giving me what I'm asking, or he's gonna hold back from what I'm asking him to do only because he's more wise than I am, and he knows he's got something even better for me. Either way, I win. [00:19:34] (37 seconds)  #GodKnowsBest

Have you ever thought about that as you pray, Jesus is receiving your prayer and then he's turning to his father and saying, oh father, would you hear her prayer on the basis of my shed blood for her? She's one of ours. Would you hear her? And the father, on his part, he's he's not turning to Jesus and saying in a grumpy fashion, I don't want to, but only because you say so, son. No. No. No. That would be more than we even deserve. But, actually, scripture paints a picture of something way better. The father turns back to the son and says, yes. [00:29:08] (38 seconds)  #JesusIntercedes

You might feel like the father is done listening to you because you botched the chances he gave you to return to him. But listen, it's not too late. Your track record was never the basis for his listening to your prayers in the first place. The basis for his listening to you was always the track record of the one who is praying on your behalf, and that track record remains perfect. So even when things look bleak, keep praying. For all you know, you could just be one prayer away from god opening the floodgates to shower his blessing on you. Let's pray. [00:30:03] (47 seconds)  #OnePrayerAway

So with the benefit now of knowing where Jesus was headed in verse 12, how he was gonna sum up the whole law and the prophets with this golden rule, We can zoom back out on our whole passage for today and restate the the emphasis of the whole thing, something like this. Hey. You can't just turn over a new leaf to become a golden rule sort of person. You can't just try harder tomorrow and turn your life into something that looks like the sermon on the mount. If you're gonna become this sort of person, you're gonna need god to do it. That's why god, in our passage today, has said, ask me to change you. [00:22:42] (47 seconds)  #AskGodChangeMe