August 3, 2025 • 48 mins
Prayer often feels like the spiritual practice we “should” be better at and secretly avoid. In Red Letters, Pastor Mark Medley takes us into Matthew 7:7–11, where Jesus reduces the complexity we put on prayer to three verbs: ask, seek, knock. Mark shows that this isn’t a technique but an invitation. The Father already knows our needs, yet He tells us to ask because prayer is relationship with His heart and partnership in His mission. Asking confesses our poverty of spirit. Seeking pursues God with hunger. Knocking persists when doors don’t open on the first try, not to wring blessings from a reluctant deity but to stay near a generous Father. Mark addresses delayed or denied requests through the lens of adoption and abiding: the Father sometimes says no, slow, or grow before He says go, shaping us for joy. Through the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, we see that God remembers prayers we’ve forgotten and weaves answers into a larger plan. This message urges holy discontent in spiritual things, a renewed appetite to be with the Lord and then be sent by Him. In Jesus’ own words, the way forward is simple and sturdy: ask, seek, knock.
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Episode Transcript
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Mark Medley (00:02):
Speaking of prayer this morning.
Jesus is talking about prayer,so we're going to listen to his
words about prayer this morning,and he's already taught some in
this Sermon on the Mount aboutprayer.
He's always spoken to us aboutit.
If you remember, in chapters 5and 6, he said Don't pray to be
(00:22):
seen by men, but pray secretly.
But today we're going to findout that secretly doesn't mean
timidly, okay.
He also said don't pray usingrepetitive phrases, thinking
that the more you say them, themore you're going to be heard by
God.
So so maybe, maybe I don't know, it's not for everybody Maybe
(00:48):
you're using too many words whenyou pray.
It's possibly, but probablyyou're not using enough.
But maybe you're using too many.
But the more words, the morerepeating it doesn't make God
hear you more.
Your father knows what youalready need before you ask.
He said right, but we're goingto learn today that that doesn't
make God hear you more.
Your father knows what youalready need before you ask.
He said but we're going tolearn today that that doesn't
(01:09):
mean he doesn't want us to ask.
He does want us to ask.
And then Jesus gave us thisLord's Prayer to show us exactly
how to pray.
But Jesus is not through withprayer.
He is pressing us on the matterof prayer in this sermon, and
so I think we need to listen tohim.
If we're going to learn to livein the culture of the kingdom
(01:30):
of God, we're going to have topress in in prayer.
So let's listen to the words ofJesus.
This is Matthew, chapter 7,verse 7 through verse 11.
And our Lord said Ask and itwill be given to you, seek and
you will find.
Knock and it will be opened toyou.
(01:53):
For everyone who asks receives,and the one who seeks finds.
And to the one who knocks, itwill be opened.
Or which one of you, if his sonasked him for bread, will give
him a stone, or if he asked fora fish, will give him a serpent?
If you, then, who are evil,know how to give good gifts to
(02:18):
your children, how much morewill your father, who is in
heaven, give good things tothose who ask him?
So, father, we need you to helpus, we need you to open our
eyes.
This morning, lord, we ask youthat, in each of our contexts,
(02:38):
right where we're at here thismorning, you would speak
directly to our needs, and weask you that your thoughts about
prayer would become ourthoughts about prayer, and we
want to be changed.
This morning, lord, we ask forthis in Jesus' name, amen.
I think this is a wordespecially for everybody who
just came back from camp,because here you are, you've
(03:02):
been encountering the Lord thislast week and now what do you do
?
And I think he wants to takeyou up a level in how you're
asking and seeking and knocking.
So Jesus is speaking here inthe sermon to people who
followed him up this mountain.
So they're actually seekingenough to follow him, enough to
(03:25):
follow him, and they followedhim because he's saying things
that were really unlike.
They had heard anything they'veever heard before, and so their
religious leaders of their dayswere not saying anything like
this to them.
And their context.
We have to understand wherethey lived.
They lived in a reallydifficult context.
They had a really difficultpolitical situation going on.
(03:46):
Their political climate was farworse than ours is today.
I know it's hard for you tobelieve that, but it's true.
I mean, they were ruled by aforeign country that were
oppressing them and tookadvantage of them and they were
looking for deliverance.
But their religious leadershave nothing.
They're like impotent.
They have nothing to give themand they were looking for
deliverance.
But their religious leadershave nothing.
They're like impotent.
They have nothing to give them,no direction to give them.
(04:09):
Sadducees were hopelesslyentwined with Rome, the
government.
They were so caught up in thegovernment that was overseeing
them, that was ruling them, thatthey were paralyzed,
spiritually paralyzed.
They did not represent God atall.
The Pharisees wanted topreserve their Jewish identity,
(04:30):
but with them God was thisdistant.
It was distant.
There was no relationship withhim, and their understanding of
God was performance.
It was performing a bunch ofrules and so and then here comes
Jesus.
Jesus comes with this refreshingand radical message that God is
a Father who actually cares forus and actually wants us to ask
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on a journey of knowing God andknowing how to please God and
how to operate with men in a waythat pleases God as well.
So what does it mean to pleaseGod?
Well, in the Sermon on theMount, we see that we really
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can't follow Jesus very farwithout being confronted with
the importance of prayer,because prayer is connection
with God, prayer is relationshipwith God, and Jesus really
leaves no mystery here.
You know, when you're studyingthe Bible, you're really trying
to find out.
What is it that God was sayingto them originally, there then
(05:39):
and then?
What is he speaking to us today?
This is not a mystery at all.
In fact, this is one of thebiggest no-brainers of
everything Jesus said.
Of all the confusing things orthings we don't understand that
Jesus said, this is one of thethings that is most clear.
It's like a literal three-pointsermon.
(06:00):
This is a preacher's dream.
The three points are laid outfor you Ask, seek, knock.
It's awesome.
If you can't, this is reallylow hanging fruit.
If you can't reach this one,you're in bad shape.
Not only that, but it literallymakes an acronym Ask, seek,
knock, ask, a-s-k.
And I'm sure Jesus was thinkingabout the English language when
(06:22):
he said this.
And all those people?
2,000 years from now, theywould be sitting around.
How can I remember how to pray?
How can I make this easy forthem?
Okay, a-s-k.
Pretty easy?
Probably not, but the point is,it's really simple.
It's really simple Ask, seekand knock.
(06:43):
And he's urging us who followhim to action, specifically the
action of prayer, urging us toprayer and toward actively
participating in his kingdom,and I think he was trying to
change the mindset of the peoplewho were listening to him,
probably changing the mindset ofus today as well.
Maybe their concept of God waslike some of our concepts of God
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, you know.
Maybe they saw him asuninterested, disconnected,
stingy, close-fisted, demandingGod who just gives you a list of
rules and then gives you nopower to actually do it.
You know, but that's not whatJesus said.
Jesus' revelation of God was awise father who already knows
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what you need and who knows howto give good gifts to his
children, and he's waiting forus to ask.
In fact, he's asking for us toask, waiting for us to ask.
In fact, he's asking for us toask.
In fact, just before, in thischapter before, he said your
father in heaven knows what youneed before you ask him, and yet
he urges us to ask.
Why does he urge us to ask Ifhe already knows what we need,
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why does he urge us to ask?
I think it's because he'sinterested in relationship.
I think he wants to walk withus.
Would you allow me to sharemaybe the most astounding thing
I've ever learned in my 40 yearsof walking with Jesus?
Can I do that?
It's this that God invites meme into his heart and into his
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mission.
That's crazy and that'sbeautiful.
God invites you into his heartand into his mission, and
Christianity is not aboutrigidly obeying rules.
It's always, only ever, in theheart of God being about
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relating to us.
That's why the heart is first.
The mission is second, but theheart is first.
He always wanted us to know himand partner with him.
In fact, do you remember whenhe called his disciples, mark,
chapter three?
He called his disciples and itsays very clearly it says that
he called them to be with him.
In fact, do you remember whenhe called his disciples, mark,
chapter three?
He called his disciples and itsays very clearly it says that
he called them to be with himand then that they would go
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forth and preach and gave himauthority to cast out devils.
And so the first step was to bewith him.
Jesus invited them into hisheart, first, to be with him,
but also into his mission.
That's amazing Heart andmission.
(09:32):
That's the way it is in thiskingdom, so let's think about
that.
Just a second Prayer is aninvitation into the heart of God
, the heart God Almighty wantsyou and I to walk with him.
That's where this thing begins.
And he removed every barrierthat stood between us and him in
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the cross.
He took it all away.
He took all of our sins,everything that was screaming
out against us, and he nailed itto his cross so that we who
were far off are now broughtnigh by the blood of Jesus.
This is the heart of the Father.
He wants to have an ongoingrelationship with me and as I
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abide in him, he changes me sothat I begin to be like him.
And that's the first step toknowing God and to knowing God
and walking with him in prayer.
It's this first prayer isFather, forgive my sins.
Father, I trust and I believewhat you've done in Jesus.
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Father, I see that you've donea finished work in Jesus, that
all my sins have been laid uponhim, and I trust you that you've
made a way for me to come andbe one with you again.
That's the first step and ifyou don't take that step, you
can't go further.
But it's all about relationship.
You see that it's not aboutperformance, it's not about how
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well you're doing or what you'redoing.
It's about knowing him.
In fact, jesus said this iseternal life that you may know
the one true God and JesusChrist whom he has sent.
This is it Knowing God, beingwith him as a believer.
We've been adopted into hisfamily and, by faith in Jesus,
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we're sons and daughters.
That's where we start, this isthe place we start.
So let me just share one morething that was a big blessing to
our whole family this year.
There's a little picture here.
I don't know, I don't know, Iwas gone.
I was gone, you know, but Ialways watch the sermons online
and I know that Tyler slipped apicture in of one of his
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grandchildren because this isthe way he is and they're really
cute kids.
I gotta say they're really cutekids.
They are, but so are mygrandkids.
This is incredible.
This is Emma.
Emily Jade Seipel came into theSeipel family, was adopted into
the Seiple family, was adoptedinto the Seiple family and as a
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nine-month-old she came to livewith them, with Noah and Allie,
and already already scarred fromher experience with her birth
mother and her father.
She was unresponsiveive,basically unresponsive, she said
.
She just sat in her little carseat and just and just stared.
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She was afraid she was notdeveloping in a healthy way as
she should, and there are manydevelopmental challenges that
she's overcome through the loveand care of Noah and Allie, and
Luke and Micah as well, but thisis the kind of healing that
happened.
I mean, look at her now.
It's incredible.
Look at those eyes.
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Come on, those are great eyes,those are eyes of wonder.
She has a personality, she'sgrowing, she's developing in
every way.
It's beautiful.
This is what happens.
This is the kind of healingthat happens when we're invited
into a loving, safe family.
And this is what we've been.
This is the beauty of it.
Behold, even now we are thesons of God.
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It does not yet appear what weshall be.
This is beautiful.
God has sent into our heartsthe spirit of adoption that we
should cry out Abba, father.
Here's where we start.
This is where we start withprayer.
It's beautiful.
So when Jesus speaks a prayer,he uses this word Father a lot.
He even uses this in thislittle analogy he gives you know
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how many of you who are fathershave a son who needs bread and
would give a stone?
Well, no, you wouldn't do that.
Even you wouldn't do that, buthow much more your father is
going to give what you need toyou.
And he says this that delightis a result of a life of prayer.
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In John 16, he said until nowyou wouldn't ask anything of me
of a life of prayer.
In John 16, he said until nowyou wouldn't ask anything of me.
Ask, ask, so that your joy willbe filled.
So there's this intended joythat is missing in the life of a
believer.
If you're not praying, ifyou're not asking, you're
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missing something.
Imagine a father who hasunending riches.
If you're not asking, you'remissing something.
Imagine a father who hasunending riches, who is so
generous that he asks us to askhim to give us his riches.
That's his heart.
He's saying just ask, would youjust ask?
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So maybe the Lord is likeraising our expectations this
morning to ask when you lovesomeone, you want to spend time
with them, right, yeah, andthat's where it starts.
If you're convicted about yourprayer life, okay, probably.
I don't know of anything that'smore convicting than prayer.
This is a tough topic, right,because all of us know we ought
to be doing it and most of ushave a sneaking suspicions that
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we're not doing enough of it ordoing it correctly, right?
So when you say prayer, there'salmost automatically a feeling
of condemnation, right?
But if you feel thatcondemnation about your prayer
life, relax.
This is the way we grow youlove first and then the actions
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come.
You love.
First, relax in the love ofyour Father, come into this
heart of Jesus.
He invites you into his heartand when you come into his heart
you begin to feel his heart foryou and for others.
And then prayer begins to come,and that's where it goes from
heart to mission.
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Prayer is an invitation into themission of God, because when
you love someone, what they'reconcerned about becomes what
you're concerned about.
Their stuff becomes your stuffwhen you love them and you start
kind of kind of owning theirstuff, in fact, and we're
co-laborers together with God.
So I think Jesus seems to bechallenged us to become
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proactive here, like to see Godas interactive and become
proactive like inviting us intohis mission.
It's the opposite of proactive.
Whatever Some people live theirlife like whatever, whatever
it's just going to happen,whatever will be will be.
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That's not what we're hearingJesus say here, right, and so I
think God wants not only to workin me, but work through me to
expand his kingdom and hispurposes on this earth.
That's amazing.
Through you, through yourunique gifts and your abilities,
and the heart, passion or theburden that he's put inside of
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you and the context that you'reliving in, where he's placed you
right now, the people aroundyou right now.
He wants to invite you into hismission and work through you,
not just in you, but through you.
So Jesus gives three pointsermon right, three actions and
three results.
So he challenges us to ask.
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So I think, if you look in thewhole, the overall picture of
the Sermon on the Mount, asJesus started with the
Beatitudes, I think that ask isthe attitude, the heart attitude
, or the response of someone whois poor in spirit.
We ask because why do we ask?
We ask because we don't have,or we ask because we don't know,
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or we ask because we needsomething right.
It's a heart attitude, aposition, a posture of I need,
so I need and so I'm asking.
But why do we not ask?
And I thought about that thisweek personally, and I think in
my own life, I don't ask forthings because of pride.
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I can take care of it myself.
Thank you, I'm a man.
I should be able to bear thisburden alone.
You know, it is kind of it is,it is kind of the thing that
that is said about us men, guys,that we don't ask for
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directions.
You know that you.
You know, and I don't know ifit's true for all of you, but
it's true for most of you, I'mpretty sure about that.
It's true said and all thewomen said it's so funny.
In fact, I heard it said.
I don't think it's necessarilycorrect.
I'll have to study it more, andI I'm not saying this as as
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gospel here this morning, butI've heard it said that the
reason that children in Israelwandered in the wilderness for
40 years is because Moseswouldn't ask for directions.
I don't think that's right.
I just want to tell you rightnow I don't think it's correct.
Could be, if a woman wasleading the children of Israel,
would they have gotten therequicker?
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That's the question.
Oh no, ladies, we're not lost.
We just like to take the scenicroute.
We're enjoying things, don't welook like we're enjoying things
?
All right, okay, no, I canhandle this.
I can handle this on my own.
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I'm a man.
I should be able to do this bymyself.
Maybe your father doesn't wantyou to do it by yourself.
Maybe your father is a father.
Amy Medley (19:43):
And he wants to help you, maybe.
Mark Medley (19:48):
When did you last ask your father for something
you need, instead of trying togain it by your own strength?
Maybe he's raising the bar,he's just asking us to ask and
the result?
He says there's a result If youask, you will receive.
You will receive.
Your father wants to give toyou, you will receive.
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Oh, but, mark, we don't alwaysget what we ask for.
I'm glad you brought that up,because we're going to talk
about that later.
Okay, hang on to that one,because the second point is
Jesus challenges us to seek,seek, and I think seek is the
response of someone who hungersand thirsts for righteousness.
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It's a hungry person.
Why do I seek?
I seek because I'm yearning tofind something.
I've lost something, or I don'thave what I need, or I had it
but I lost it.
I'm seeking, or I want it, I'mhungry for it, I'm searching,
I'm longing.
So I think Jesus is speaking ofa holy kind of discontent here.
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So I think Jesus is speaking ofa holy kind of discontent here.
You know there is a holydiscontent.
Yearning is not a thing to beashamed of.
In fact, I think yearning orknowing there's more, is part of
the human experience and itsays that God has put eternity
in our hearts.
There's something we know.
Eternity in our hearts there'ssomething more than what is just
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in front of my eyes.
I know there's more, there'sall, there's this thing inside
of us.
We know there's somethingbeyond just what we're, what
we're currently experiencing,right.
So yearning is not a thing tobe ashamed of, hungering,
searching, knowing there's more,this part of being human.
But aren't we supposed to becontent with what we have?
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That's a good question.
So, as I understand it, theBible teaches contentment in
material things, but it teachesdiscontentment in spiritual
things.
Okay, you remember Paul said toTimothy 1, timothy 6, that
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carnal men say that gain isgodliness.
But godliness with contentmentis great gain.
We brought nothing into thisworld and it's certain we can
carry nothing out of it.
So, having food and clothing,let us be content.
That's a holy contentment.
But with spiritual things it'sa different thing.
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Paul says in Philippians 3,brothers, I do not consider that
I've made it my own.
The one thing I do, forgettingwhat lies behind, straining
forward to what lies ahead, Ipress on toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of Godin Christ Jesus.
And let those who are maturethink this way.
Do you see those words there?
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It's like straining forward,pressing on.
There's a prize, there's anupward calling, there's
something calling you up upabove.
There's a bar being raised herefor us.
There's something more.
There's a holy kind ofdiscontent.
That's what I'm saying thismorning, and also I would like
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to say that there's a differencebetween discontent and
malcontent.
Discontent is one thing.
Discontent is not beingsatisfied with something and so
pushing on to more.
Malcontent is never beingsatisfied with anything.
It's a troublemaker.
It's the person who always seesthe bad and always tries to
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stir it up.
Malcontent is a person whoreally needs Jesus.
A malcontent is somebody whoneeds an adjustment.
It's a chronically discontentedperson.
But the fact remains that it'scrucial to living in the kingdom
of God to seek, to want more,to long for more.
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So maybe you've been asking,but that's all you've been doing
is asking.
Maybe God is saying he wantsyou to seek, he wants you to put
a little more effort into this.
So why do we not seek?
Maybe we're not hungry anymore.
Maybe we used to be hungry, butwe're not hungry anymore.
I don't have that same kind ofdrive in me that I once had.
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Or maybe we just resignourselves to our situation,
which is okay.
Nothing's going to change.
We're just going to.
We've got to cope.
We've got to cope with the waythings are.
So my question to you is whendid you last seek God's word and
his will with an urgency,urgency?
I've got to know this, I've gotto have this, and I don't think
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we ever really change withoutthat.
And so God is stirring that upin us.
Sometimes, if you're feelinguneasy about the way things are,
it could be that God is tearingup your nest so that you'll
learn how to fly.
He's messing things up herebecause and you feel that you
can feel that change Sometimes,when there's transition, there's
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rumblings before a transition,god wants to take you to a new
place and you feel so, not athome in this place.
You feel like there's somethingwrong here.
There's some place God wants tobring us to, so he wants us to
get started seeking.
This is why Jesus is saying it.
And the result?
There's a result.
If you seek, you will find it'sa promise.
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And then there's a third one,and that's knock.
And I think knocking is theresponse of someone who is salt
and light in the world, becauseknocking has to do with getting
somewhere that you're not.
There's a place I need to be,there's a place I need to enter
a new realm that I need to be in, and there's a door or an
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obstacle.
And so we knock.
We knock Something betweenwhere you are and where you're
supposed to be.
You remember the prayer thatJesus told?
And he actually the scriptureliterally says he told a parable
.
He told a parable about prayer.
He told a parable so that men,to teach men that they ought to
always pray and not faint.
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Okay, and remember that it wasabout a widow, just a little
widow, and an unjust judge.
And so the widow kept coming tothe judge saying give me
justice, give me justice, I'vegot a situation that needs
justice.
The judge, it says, did notfear God and did not respect man
, and he didn't listen to her.
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But she kept coming and shewouldn't shut up.
It's a holy discontent.
A holy discontent.
She wouldn't shut up, she keptcoming and he said you know what
?
I don't fear God, I don'trespect man, but this lady is
wearing me out and if I don'tanswer her, she's never going to
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stop.
Literally, it says I will giveher justice so that she will not
beat me down by her continualcoming.
Come on, I need justice, giveme justice.
She's beating me down and thisjudge gave her justice.
And then God says well, look atthe evil judge, the unjust judge
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.
If he would do that, how muchmore will your just Father in
heaven give you what you askedfor, give what they asked for to
his elect, who cried to him dayand night?
So there's this knocking andcontinual knocking, and come on
and don't stop and don't faint,and when you get discouraged,
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knock some more.
Maybe you've been asking andmaybe you've even been seeking,
but God wants to encourage usthis morning to not stop
knocking.
Keep knocking on the doors.
When were you last so desperatefor something that you would
not quit knocking?
That's the question.
But why do we not knock?
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Maybe because we're apathetic?
Maybe because we're just lazy?
Maybe because we're bingingNetflix?
Possible Apathy, fear, comfortis our idol.
Maybe we think it's notsupposed to change.
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I don't know.
Maybe there's a lot of reasons.
But Jesus is saying knock, andnot only to say knock.
He says keep on knocking.
This is the tense of the verb.
Literally ask keep on asking.
Seek keep on seeking.
Knock keep on knocking.
That's the tense of the verbthere, and the result is it will
be open to you.
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So I think there's like agrowing intensity, like a
progression of intensity here.
Right, because I can ask fromthe quietness of my own heart,
but to seek, I got to get up outof my bed and do something.
Right, there's some effortrequired, and to knock is still
more intentional, still moreforceful.
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Okay, so he's just continuing toraise the bar on us.
Why not?
Because he wants ourperformance or we?
You know we need to pray longerand louder, that's not the
point but because your fatherwants to give to you and your
father wants to invite you intohis heart and into his mission.
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He wants you to co-labor withhim.
So what doors do you need toknock on?
In what ways are you not wherehe wants you to be?
What are the obstacles?
Maybe the doors are not openingbecause you're not knocking.
It's interesting.
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Paul said to the Colossians prayfor me that a door would be
opened for the gospel.
Pray for me.
Imagine that.
Paul, such a powerful man, buthe knew there needed to be doors
that are open.
Right, and just a little aside,if you, if you're not content
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with your present state of yourwalk with God.
Please remember that you arethe one responsible for it.
You can change it.
Okay, there you go, let's takeit.
I'm not saying you can controleverything in your life, but the
things that you do have controlover are more than the things
that you don't have control over.
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And Jesus says ask, seek, knock.
So he urges us to prayer.
So here's my question why doesJesus have to urge us to prayer?
I mean, why is it that prayeris not our first reflex, like it
should just be knee jerk, right, something happens.
Pray I've got to be honest withyou.
That's not always my firstreflex.
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Prayer it's like what can I do?
Well, maybe it's complain, andthen it's what can I do to help
or who can I look to?
But my first reflex should begoing to Him in prayer.
Maybe there's some reasons whyit's not our first reflex.
Maybe because we're looking toourselves or to others to meet
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our needs.
Possibly Maybe because webecome comfortable with status
quo.
This is just sometimes stayingthe same is more comfortable.
It's not better, but it's morecomfortable.
We're lazy or we're passive.
Or maybe because we don'tunderstand the heart of our
father.
Surely he couldn't beinterested in my request, right?
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Surely God's not.
What would God want?
Why would he want to dosomething for me?
Okay, so let's get to the heartof the question.
Why is it that when we do ask,we don't receive?
Every time we ask, we don'treceive.
So what's up with that?
Because Jesus said ask and whoyou ask will receive.
And he said how much more willyour father, relationship in
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heaven, who's mighty andsovereign, give good things
because he loves and he cares tothose who ask him?
So that's a real legitimatequestion, because all of us have
prayed and have not seen ananswer, or at least it doesn't
seem like it's been answered.
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Well, there's right and wrongasking First of all.
James says this in Jameschapter four, verse three and
four you do not have because youdo not ask.
That's the first part of it.
But you ask and do not receivebecause you ask, wrongly, to
spend it on your passions.
So there's a right and a wrongmotivation for asking things.
Am I asking for me and for myown desires, or am I asking for
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the glory of God and for thepurpose of God?
And how can I make my desiresHis desires?
How can I make those two lineup?
And it's interesting.
There's a Psalm, psalm 37, verse4, and it says that when you
delight yourself in the Lord, hegives you the desires of your
heart.
When I first came to Jesus Ithought that meant if I serve
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God, then whatever I want andask him for, he'll give me.
But as I grew in the Lord, Irealized that's not even the way
we raise our kids.
When you raise kids, you can'tdo it that way Because you know
better, you're wiser and you'remore loving than that than to
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give them everything they want.
So I think it's more like whenwe delight ourselves in the Lord
, he gives us the desires thatare in our heart and then, when
we turn those desires intoprayer, we begin to pray what he
wants.
We're praying his will.
When he says, whatever thingsyou ask according to my will, he
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will hear you and he will giveyou the things that you answer.
It's because as we grow closeto him, we know his heart more.
Jesus says something reallysimilar to this in John 15 about
asking and receiving, but it'sin the context of abiding in him
, it's in the context ofrelationship.
(34:23):
You know him, you abide in himand his words live inside of you
, and then you ask whatever youwill, because when his words
abide in you, your will beginsto change.
You love him and his stuffbecomes your stuff and your
(34:44):
heart changes from a badmotivation or a selfish
motivation to a God-centered,kingdom-oriented orientation,
and then your prayers are rightprayers.
So I believe every prayer isanswered from the heart of a
wise and loving God, justdifferent kinds of answers.
Maybe this will help a littlebit.
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If the request is not God's will, god says no.
But he says no from his lovingand wise and father heart.
If the timing is wrong, godsays slow, from his loving, wise
father heart.
If my heart is not right and mymotivations are wrong, god says
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grow from his loving, wisefather heart.
But if the request is right andthe timing is right and I'm
right, my heart is right, hesays go and he answers the
prayer in the way that we may bewanting it to be answered.
But some of us have asked andwe're in the process.
(35:53):
We're in the process and thepotter is molding us to fit the
thing that we're asking for.
We're not quite ready yet andhe's working in us first, and so
the timing is not always ourtiming.
And Amy shared something withthe pastors and the songwriters
(36:19):
while we were in Poland alongthese lines, and I want to ask
her to come up and just share itwith you.
Is there a?
Amy Medley (36:24):
microphone.
So, along the lines of thetiming of the Lord, there was a
story in Luke, chapter 1 thatreally has encouraged me in my
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prayer life.
I've dealt with a little bit ofwaiting in my own personal
experience, and there's a storyin Luke chapter 1 about when
Gabriel appears to Zechariah,and the first words that Gabriel
says to Zechariah are kind ofpeculiar.
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He says your prayer has beenheard, and then the next words
that he says are that Elizabethis going to bear a child.
And so Zachariah is probablythinking what prayers, what,
what prayers have been heard?
He's not.
Most likely he's not prayingthose prayers anymore because
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Luke, chapter 1 says that he isalready of age, he's well
stricken in years in the KingJames Version, and so they're
beyond the years of havingchildren.
But Gabriel comes to him andsays your prayer has been heard,
and so it's really powerful torealize that God remembers the
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prayers that we have forgotten,the prayers that we have
forgotten.
So there may be a promise inyour heart or a deep, deep
desire in your heart that justwon't go away and you keep
bringing it before the Lord andmaybe it seems like he's not
answering.
He's not answering, maybe am Ipraying wrong?
(38:11):
Am I asking from a wrong desire?
But in this situation there arecertain situations where it's
just a matter of God's timing.
It's a matter of His timing,and this was the case for
Elizabeth and Zachariah.
They wanted a baby, they wanteda son, they wanted a child.
There were probably manysleepless nights when Elizabeth
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was weeping and praying.
They probably fasted and reallysought the Lord about this and
then kind of maybe buried thatdesire because they didn't see
anything happening.
But they wanted a baby.
God was looking for a legacy.
You know.
He wanted to give them theforerunner of Christ.
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He didn't want to just givethem a child, he was going to
give them John the Baptist.
So if he had answered theirprayers in their timing, you
know, they would have had nopart in the story of Christ's
birth, you know.
So the timing had to line upwith Mary.
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Mary was pregnant with Jesusand Elizabeth was pregnant with
John.
It seemed like weird timing,you know.
Why would God choose a barrenwoman who's old and a virgin?
It's just, it's weird, it'smysterious, but the Lord had a
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purpose in that.
And so with time, god's delaysand God's denials become clear
to us.
We understand them more withage, as we get older, and so
Psalm 84 reminds us that theLord, god, is a sun and shield.
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He gives grace and glory.
No good thing will he withholdfrom those who walk uprightly.
And Elizabeth and Zechariahwere upright.
Luke, chapter 1, says that theywere righteous, they were
blameless.
So why did God make them suffer?
Why did God make them wait allof those years?
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Were they righteous?
Well, yes, they were.
So why was God withholdingsomething that was good?
Well, god is in the giving andhe's also in the withholding.
If he withholds something, itmeans that it's not good for us
at that moment.
And he has a bigger perspective, right With Elizabeth and
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Zechariah, again, it wasn't justabout their baby, their son, it
was about the universal plan ofthe birth of Christ and
fulfilling all of theseprophecies.
So maybe God has a bigger planin mind than we do, and his
design is greater than whatwe've asked for.
So if it's bigger than whatwe've prayed for, it's worth the
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wait.
Than what we prayed for, it'sworth the wait.
So just an encouragement thatGod remembers the prayers, the
desires that you have broughtbefore him.
He doesn't forget those prayersand he will fulfill them in his
time.
We saw this also in the OldTestament with Abraham and Sarah
, right, they had a promise andthen you know, about 20 years
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later that was fulfilled.
But Hebrews 11, 11 says throughfaith also, sarah herself
received strength to conceiveseed and was delivered of a
child when she was past age,because she judged him faithful,
who had promised.
So let's judge him faithful,who has promised.
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Let's be patient with God.
In a way, assume that there isa good reason for the delay,
that he has our best interestsat heart and he will answer them
at the right time.
We can continue to seek, we cancontinue to knock, and that he
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is our father.
The God of the universe is ourfather.
So weeping can endure for anight, but joy is on the way for
his children.
Mark Medley (42:30):
Thanks, Thank you, wow, for His children, thanks.
Thank you, wow.
Can we judge Him faithful?
Yeah, god's working.
It doesn't matter if we see Himor if it doesn't look like it.
(42:51):
He's working and process isprogress.
Sometimes we don't think it'sprogress because we don't see
what we're looking for, butprocess inside of us is progress
.
I think the ultimate point oftoday's passage that we're
reading is that Jesus is callingthose who follow Him higher in
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prayer, higher in abiding in himto discern his heart, and
higher in faith and expectancy.
So let's stand up and let'spray, let's respond.
If you're a follower of Jesus,it doesn't matter your age, it
doesn't matter how long you'vebeen in the Lord, it doesn't
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matter your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter your age, it
doesn't matter how long you'vebeen in the Lord, it doesn't
matter your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter your gender,
it doesn't matter what you'vebeen through.
Jesus is wanting you to learnhow to ask and press in and seek
and join his mission and knockEven you, even you right now,
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even you right now, even meright now.
So, father, we judge youfaithful this morning.
The things that we put in yourhands, you're faithful.
You're faithful to receive them.
(44:17):
You're faithful to hold themand to care for them.
You're faithful, to give themto us in the way that's best for
us.
Lord, we ask you that you wouldteach us how to ask Lord,
(44:37):
forgive our prayerlessness.
Lord, I just want to say thatI've been prayerless because I
feel like it's a duty sometimes,father.
So forgive me for that andteach me to respond to your
invitation into your heart, tocome into you.
(44:59):
Lord, reveal your heart to us,lord, give us the power of your
spirit to walk in thisrelationship and pray from that
Lord.
Lord, teach us how to seek you.
Seek your face, seek your word,seek your will, seek your power
(45:19):
at work in us, seek the truththat changes us.
Lord, teach us how to knock.
Lord, some of us are at a doorand there's a new ministry area.
There's effective doors thatyou want to open.
There's a new convergence ofpeople walking in their gifts,
(45:40):
lord, that you've worked so manyyears to pull things together
in streams into one river andnow you're bringing them into
something, lord, that'sdifferent than what they've been
experiencing before.
Lord, I pray for transitionalgrace, in that I pray for grace
to knock on those doors.
Lord, until those doors open, Ipray for endurance for us, god.
(46:03):
Help us, lord, to pray alwaysand not faint.
Lord, we pray for new converts.
God, we pray for your kingdomto come in our families, in our
church services, in ouroutreaches, in our community
groups, and we pray for, we askfor new ground, lord.
(46:25):
Give us new ground.
Let your kingdom come, god, andthat our hearts and our hope
will be turned back to you alonein this nation.
This is what we pray, lord.
Lord, turn us from a life ofdependence on ourselves.
Let us walk in that blessednessof those who are poor in spirit
(46:47):
.
Lord, teach us to be hungry.
Let us walk in the blessednessof those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness.
And, lord, teach us to realizethat you want more, to ask
bolder.
Would you just kindle our faithand freshen our faith, god,
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please, by your spirit, lord,I'm asking this morning that you
would just add fuel to the fire.
Lord, blow on those embers, god, and fan those things into a
flame.
Add your fuel to them, god.
Rekindle vision and give directnew vision, lord, for people in
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Jesus' name.
Lord, let us be those who livein the blessedness of those who
are salt and light in this world.
God, this is what we pray, giveus grace.
Give us grace to hear yourvoice, lord, and to understand
that you're raising the bar isnot for us to perform more, god,
(47:50):
but you're raising the bar isfor us to come into your heart
and join your mission and seeyour kingdom, for this is where
our joy is.
Lord so Lord, you said to thispoint, you haven't asked
anything, so ask, so your joywill be full.
Lord so Lord, this week, we askyou to put those things on our
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hearts that you want us to ask,so that the joy that you intend
for us is what we're walking in.
This is what we pray, and thankyou for the fruit that's going
to come from these prayers.
Lord, this kingdom belongs toyou, the power is yours and the
glory is yours forever and ever,and we ask these things in the
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name of Jesus, amen, amen.
Speaking of prayer this morning.
Jesus is talking about prayer,so we're going to listen to his
words about prayer this morning,and he's already taught some in
this Sermon on the Mount aboutprayer.
He's always spoken to us aboutit.
If you remember, in chapters 5and 6, he said Don't pray to be
(00:22):
seen by men, but pray secretly.
But today we're going to findout that secretly doesn't mean
timidly, okay.
He also said don't pray usingrepetitive phrases, thinking
that the more you say them, themore you're going to be heard by
God.
So so maybe, maybe I don't know, it's not for everybody Maybe
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you're using too many words whenyou pray.
It's possibly, but probablyyou're not using enough.
But maybe you're using too many.
But the more words, the morerepeating it doesn't make God
hear you more.
Your father knows what youalready need before you ask.
He said right, but we're goingto learn today that that doesn't
make God hear you more.
Your father knows what youalready need before you ask.
He said but we're going tolearn today that that doesn't
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mean he doesn't want us to ask.
He does want us to ask.
And then Jesus gave us thisLord's Prayer to show us exactly
how to pray.
But Jesus is not through withprayer.
He is pressing us on the matterof prayer in this sermon, and
so I think we need to listen tohim.
If we're going to learn to livein the culture of the kingdom
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of God, we're going to have topress in in prayer.
So let's listen to the words ofJesus.
This is Matthew, chapter 7,verse 7 through verse 11.
And our Lord said Ask and itwill be given to you, seek and
you will find.
Knock and it will be opened toyou.
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For everyone who asks receives,and the one who seeks finds.
And to the one who knocks, itwill be opened.
Or which one of you, if his sonasked him for bread, will give
him a stone, or if he asked fora fish, will give him a serpent?
If you, then, who are evil,know how to give good gifts to
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your children, how much morewill your father, who is in
heaven, give good things tothose who ask him?
So, father, we need you to helpus, we need you to open our
eyes.
This morning, lord, we ask youthat, in each of our contexts,
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right where we're at here thismorning, you would speak
directly to our needs, and weask you that your thoughts about
prayer would become ourthoughts about prayer, and we
want to be changed.
This morning, lord, we ask forthis in Jesus' name, amen.
I think this is a wordespecially for everybody who
just came back from camp,because here you are, you've
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been encountering the Lord thislast week and now what do you do
?
And I think he wants to takeyou up a level in how you're
asking and seeking and knocking.
So Jesus is speaking here inthe sermon to people who
followed him up this mountain.
So they're actually seekingenough to follow him, enough to
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follow him, and they followedhim because he's saying things
that were really unlike.
They had heard anything they'veever heard before, and so their
religious leaders of their dayswere not saying anything like
this to them.
And their context.
We have to understand wherethey lived.
They lived in a reallydifficult context.
They had a really difficultpolitical situation going on.
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Their political climate was farworse than ours is today.
I know it's hard for you tobelieve that, but it's true.
I mean, they were ruled by aforeign country that were
oppressing them and tookadvantage of them and they were
looking for deliverance.
But their religious leadershave nothing.
They're like impotent.
They have nothing to give themand they were looking for
deliverance.
But their religious leadershave nothing.
They're like impotent.
They have nothing to give them,no direction to give them.
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Sadducees were hopelesslyentwined with Rome, the
government.
They were so caught up in thegovernment that was overseeing
them, that was ruling them, thatthey were paralyzed,
spiritually paralyzed.
They did not represent God atall.
The Pharisees wanted topreserve their Jewish identity,
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but with them God was thisdistant.
It was distant.
There was no relationship withhim, and their understanding of
God was performance.
It was performing a bunch ofrules and so and then here comes
Jesus.
Jesus comes with this refreshingand radical message that God is
a Father who actually cares forus and actually wants us to ask
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on a journey of knowing God andknowing how to please God and
how to operate with men in a waythat pleases God as well.
So what does it mean to pleaseGod?
Well, in the Sermon on theMount, we see that we really
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can't follow Jesus very farwithout being confronted with
the importance of prayer,because prayer is connection
with God, prayer is relationshipwith God, and Jesus really
leaves no mystery here.
You know, when you're studyingthe Bible, you're really trying
to find out.
What is it that God was sayingto them originally, there then
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and then?
What is he speaking to us today?
This is not a mystery at all.
In fact, this is one of thebiggest no-brainers of
everything Jesus said.
Of all the confusing things orthings we don't understand that
Jesus said, this is one of thethings that is most clear.
It's like a literal three-pointsermon.
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This is a preacher's dream.
The three points are laid outfor you Ask, seek, knock.
It's awesome.
If you can't, this is reallylow hanging fruit.
If you can't reach this one,you're in bad shape.
Not only that, but it literallymakes an acronym Ask, seek,
knock, ask, a-s-k.
And I'm sure Jesus was thinkingabout the English language when
(06:22):
he said this.
And all those people?
2,000 years from now, theywould be sitting around.
How can I remember how to pray?
How can I make this easy forthem?
Okay, a-s-k.
Pretty easy?
Probably not, but the point is,it's really simple.
It's really simple Ask, seekand knock.
(06:43):
And he's urging us who followhim to action, specifically the
action of prayer, urging us toprayer and toward actively
participating in his kingdom,and I think he was trying to
change the mindset of the peoplewho were listening to him,
probably changing the mindset ofus today as well.
Maybe their concept of God waslike some of our concepts of God
(07:07):
, you know.
Maybe they saw him asuninterested, disconnected,
stingy, close-fisted, demandingGod who just gives you a list of
rules and then gives you nopower to actually do it.
You know, but that's not whatJesus said.
Jesus' revelation of God was awise father who already knows
(07:37):
what you need and who knows howto give good gifts to his
children, and he's waiting forus to ask.
In fact, he's asking for us toask, waiting for us to ask.
In fact, he's asking for us toask.
In fact, just before, in thischapter before, he said your
father in heaven knows what youneed before you ask him, and yet
he urges us to ask.
Why does he urge us to ask Ifhe already knows what we need,
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why does he urge us to ask?
I think it's because he'sinterested in relationship.
I think he wants to walk withus.
Would you allow me to sharemaybe the most astounding thing
I've ever learned in my 40 yearsof walking with Jesus?
Can I do that?
It's this that God invites meme into his heart and into his
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mission.
That's crazy and that'sbeautiful.
God invites you into his heartand into his mission, and
Christianity is not aboutrigidly obeying rules.
It's always, only ever, in theheart of God being about
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relating to us.
That's why the heart is first.
The mission is second, but theheart is first.
He always wanted us to know himand partner with him.
In fact, do you remember whenhe called his disciples, mark,
chapter three?
He called his disciples and itsays very clearly it says that
he called them to be with him.
In fact, do you remember whenhe called his disciples, mark,
chapter three?
He called his disciples and itsays very clearly it says that
he called them to be with himand then that they would go
(09:11):
forth and preach and gave himauthority to cast out devils.
And so the first step was to bewith him.
Jesus invited them into hisheart, first, to be with him,
but also into his mission.
That's amazing Heart andmission.
(09:32):
That's the way it is in thiskingdom, so let's think about
that.
Just a second Prayer is aninvitation into the heart of God
, the heart God Almighty wantsyou and I to walk with him.
That's where this thing begins.
And he removed every barrierthat stood between us and him in
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the cross.
He took it all away.
He took all of our sins,everything that was screaming
out against us, and he nailed itto his cross so that we who
were far off are now broughtnigh by the blood of Jesus.
This is the heart of the Father.
He wants to have an ongoingrelationship with me and as I
(10:17):
abide in him, he changes me sothat I begin to be like him.
And that's the first step toknowing God and to knowing God
and walking with him in prayer.
It's this first prayer isFather, forgive my sins.
Father, I trust and I believewhat you've done in Jesus.
(10:38):
Father, I see that you've donea finished work in Jesus, that
all my sins have been laid uponhim, and I trust you that you've
made a way for me to come andbe one with you again.
That's the first step and ifyou don't take that step, you
can't go further.
But it's all about relationship.
You see that it's not aboutperformance, it's not about how
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well you're doing or what you'redoing.
It's about knowing him.
In fact, jesus said this iseternal life that you may know
the one true God and JesusChrist whom he has sent.
This is it Knowing God, beingwith him as a believer.
We've been adopted into hisfamily and, by faith in Jesus,
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we're sons and daughters.
That's where we start, this isthe place we start.
So let me just share one morething that was a big blessing to
our whole family this year.
There's a little picture here.
I don't know, I don't know, Iwas gone.
I was gone, you know, but Ialways watch the sermons online
and I know that Tyler slipped apicture in of one of his
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grandchildren because this isthe way he is and they're really
cute kids.
I gotta say they're really cutekids.
They are, but so are mygrandkids.
This is incredible.
This is Emma.
Emily Jade Seipel came into theSeipel family, was adopted into
the Seiple family, was adoptedinto the Seiple family and as a
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nine-month-old she came to livewith them, with Noah and Allie,
and already already scarred fromher experience with her birth
mother and her father.
She was unresponsiveive,basically unresponsive, she said
.
She just sat in her little carseat and just and just stared.
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She was afraid she was notdeveloping in a healthy way as
she should, and there are manydevelopmental challenges that
she's overcome through the loveand care of Noah and Allie, and
Luke and Micah as well, but thisis the kind of healing that
happened.
I mean, look at her now.
It's incredible.
Look at those eyes.
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Come on, those are great eyes,those are eyes of wonder.
She has a personality, she'sgrowing, she's developing in
every way.
It's beautiful.
This is what happens.
This is the kind of healingthat happens when we're invited
into a loving, safe family.
And this is what we've been.
This is the beauty of it.
Behold, even now we are thesons of God.
(13:15):
It does not yet appear what weshall be.
This is beautiful.
God has sent into our heartsthe spirit of adoption that we
should cry out Abba, father.
Here's where we start.
This is where we start withprayer.
It's beautiful.
So when Jesus speaks a prayer,he uses this word Father a lot.
He even uses this in thislittle analogy he gives you know
(13:40):
how many of you who are fathershave a son who needs bread and
would give a stone?
Well, no, you wouldn't do that.
Even you wouldn't do that, buthow much more your father is
going to give what you need toyou.
And he says this that delightis a result of a life of prayer.
(14:01):
In John 16, he said until nowyou wouldn't ask anything of me
of a life of prayer.
In John 16, he said until nowyou wouldn't ask anything of me.
Ask, ask, so that your joy willbe filled.
So there's this intended joythat is missing in the life of a
believer.
If you're not praying, ifyou're not asking, you're
(14:22):
missing something.
Imagine a father who hasunending riches.
If you're not asking, you'remissing something.
Imagine a father who hasunending riches, who is so
generous that he asks us to askhim to give us his riches.
That's his heart.
He's saying just ask, would youjust ask?
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So maybe the Lord is likeraising our expectations this
morning to ask when you lovesomeone, you want to spend time
with them, right, yeah, andthat's where it starts.
If you're convicted about yourprayer life, okay, probably.
I don't know of anything that'smore convicting than prayer.
This is a tough topic, right,because all of us know we ought
to be doing it and most of ushave a sneaking suspicions that
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we're not doing enough of it ordoing it correctly, right?
So when you say prayer, there'salmost automatically a feeling
of condemnation, right?
But if you feel thatcondemnation about your prayer
life, relax.
This is the way we grow youlove first and then the actions
(15:31):
come.
You love.
First, relax in the love ofyour Father, come into this
heart of Jesus.
He invites you into his heartand when you come into his heart
you begin to feel his heart foryou and for others.
And then prayer begins to come,and that's where it goes from
heart to mission.
(15:51):
Prayer is an invitation into themission of God, because when
you love someone, what they'reconcerned about becomes what
you're concerned about.
Their stuff becomes your stuffwhen you love them and you start
kind of kind of owning theirstuff, in fact, and we're
co-laborers together with God.
So I think Jesus seems to bechallenged us to become
(16:14):
proactive here, like to see Godas interactive and become
proactive like inviting us intohis mission.
It's the opposite of proactive.
Whatever Some people live theirlife like whatever, whatever
it's just going to happen,whatever will be will be.
(16:36):
That's not what we're hearingJesus say here, right, and so I
think God wants not only to workin me, but work through me to
expand his kingdom and hispurposes on this earth.
That's amazing.
Through you, through yourunique gifts and your abilities,
and the heart, passion or theburden that he's put inside of
(16:57):
you and the context that you'reliving in, where he's placed you
right now, the people aroundyou right now.
He wants to invite you into hismission and work through you,
not just in you, but through you.
So Jesus gives three pointsermon right, three actions and
three results.
So he challenges us to ask.
(17:20):
So I think, if you look in thewhole, the overall picture of
the Sermon on the Mount, asJesus started with the
Beatitudes, I think that ask isthe attitude, the heart attitude
, or the response of someone whois poor in spirit.
We ask because why do we ask?
We ask because we don't have,or we ask because we don't know,
(17:43):
or we ask because we needsomething right.
It's a heart attitude, aposition, a posture of I need,
so I need and so I'm asking.
But why do we not ask?
And I thought about that thisweek personally, and I think in
my own life, I don't ask forthings because of pride.
(18:07):
I can take care of it myself.
Thank you, I'm a man.
I should be able to bear thisburden alone.
You know, it is kind of it is,it is kind of the thing that
that is said about us men, guys,that we don't ask for
(18:27):
directions.
You know that you.
You know, and I don't know ifit's true for all of you, but
it's true for most of you, I'mpretty sure about that.
It's true said and all thewomen said it's so funny.
In fact, I heard it said.
I don't think it's necessarilycorrect.
I'll have to study it more, andI I'm not saying this as as
(18:48):
gospel here this morning, butI've heard it said that the
reason that children in Israelwandered in the wilderness for
40 years is because Moseswouldn't ask for directions.
I don't think that's right.
I just want to tell you rightnow I don't think it's correct.
Could be, if a woman wasleading the children of Israel,
would they have gotten therequicker?
(19:10):
That's the question.
Oh no, ladies, we're not lost.
We just like to take the scenicroute.
We're enjoying things, don't welook like we're enjoying things
?
All right, okay, no, I canhandle this.
I can handle this on my own.
(19:30):
I'm a man.
I should be able to do this bymyself.
Maybe your father doesn't wantyou to do it by yourself.
Maybe your father is a father.
Amy Medley (19:43):
And he wants to help you, maybe.
Mark Medley (19:48):
When did you last ask your father for something
you need, instead of trying togain it by your own strength?
Maybe he's raising the bar,he's just asking us to ask and
the result?
He says there's a result If youask, you will receive.
You will receive.
Your father wants to give toyou, you will receive.
(20:08):
Oh, but, mark, we don't alwaysget what we ask for.
I'm glad you brought that up,because we're going to talk
about that later.
Okay, hang on to that one,because the second point is
Jesus challenges us to seek,seek, and I think seek is the
response of someone who hungersand thirsts for righteousness.
(20:29):
It's a hungry person.
Why do I seek?
I seek because I'm yearning tofind something.
I've lost something, or I don'thave what I need, or I had it
but I lost it.
I'm seeking, or I want it, I'mhungry for it, I'm searching,
I'm longing.
So I think Jesus is speaking ofa holy kind of discontent here.
(20:50):
So I think Jesus is speaking ofa holy kind of discontent here.
You know there is a holydiscontent.
Yearning is not a thing to beashamed of.
In fact, I think yearning orknowing there's more, is part of
the human experience and itsays that God has put eternity
in our hearts.
There's something we know.
Eternity in our hearts there'ssomething more than what is just
(21:13):
in front of my eyes.
I know there's more, there'sall, there's this thing inside
of us.
We know there's somethingbeyond just what we're, what
we're currently experiencing,right.
So yearning is not a thing tobe ashamed of, hungering,
searching, knowing there's more,this part of being human.
But aren't we supposed to becontent with what we have?
(21:36):
That's a good question.
So, as I understand it, theBible teaches contentment in
material things, but it teachesdiscontentment in spiritual
things.
Okay, you remember Paul said toTimothy 1, timothy 6, that
(21:57):
carnal men say that gain isgodliness.
But godliness with contentmentis great gain.
We brought nothing into thisworld and it's certain we can
carry nothing out of it.
So, having food and clothing,let us be content.
That's a holy contentment.
But with spiritual things it'sa different thing.
(22:19):
Paul says in Philippians 3,brothers, I do not consider that
I've made it my own.
The one thing I do, forgettingwhat lies behind, straining
forward to what lies ahead, Ipress on toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of Godin Christ Jesus.
And let those who are maturethink this way.
Do you see those words there?
(22:43):
It's like straining forward,pressing on.
There's a prize, there's anupward calling, there's
something calling you up upabove.
There's a bar being raised herefor us.
There's something more.
There's a holy kind ofdiscontent.
That's what I'm saying thismorning, and also I would like
(23:07):
to say that there's a differencebetween discontent and
malcontent.
Discontent is one thing.
Discontent is not beingsatisfied with something and so
pushing on to more.
Malcontent is never beingsatisfied with anything.
It's a troublemaker.
It's the person who always seesthe bad and always tries to
(23:30):
stir it up.
Malcontent is a person whoreally needs Jesus.
A malcontent is somebody whoneeds an adjustment.
It's a chronically discontentedperson.
But the fact remains that it'scrucial to living in the kingdom
of God to seek, to want more,to long for more.
(23:51):
So maybe you've been asking,but that's all you've been doing
is asking.
Maybe God is saying he wantsyou to seek, he wants you to put
a little more effort into this.
So why do we not seek?
Maybe we're not hungry anymore.
Maybe we used to be hungry, butwe're not hungry anymore.
I don't have that same kind ofdrive in me that I once had.
(24:15):
Or maybe we just resignourselves to our situation,
which is okay.
Nothing's going to change.
We're just going to.
We've got to cope.
We've got to cope with the waythings are.
So my question to you is whendid you last seek God's word and
his will with an urgency,urgency?
I've got to know this, I've gotto have this, and I don't think
(24:40):
we ever really change withoutthat.
And so God is stirring that upin us.
Sometimes, if you're feelinguneasy about the way things are,
it could be that God is tearingup your nest so that you'll
learn how to fly.
He's messing things up herebecause and you feel that you
can feel that change Sometimes,when there's transition, there's
(25:01):
rumblings before a transition,god wants to take you to a new
place and you feel so, not athome in this place.
You feel like there's somethingwrong here.
There's some place God wants tobring us to, so he wants us to
get started seeking.
This is why Jesus is saying it.
And the result?
There's a result.
If you seek, you will find it'sa promise.
(25:22):
And then there's a third one,and that's knock.
And I think knocking is theresponse of someone who is salt
and light in the world, becauseknocking has to do with getting
somewhere that you're not.
There's a place I need to be,there's a place I need to enter
a new realm that I need to be in, and there's a door or an
(25:46):
obstacle.
And so we knock.
We knock Something betweenwhere you are and where you're
supposed to be.
You remember the prayer thatJesus told?
And he actually the scriptureliterally says he told a parable
.
He told a parable about prayer.
He told a parable so that men,to teach men that they ought to
always pray and not faint.
(26:07):
Okay, and remember that it wasabout a widow, just a little
widow, and an unjust judge.
And so the widow kept coming tothe judge saying give me
justice, give me justice, I'vegot a situation that needs
justice.
The judge, it says, did notfear God and did not respect man
, and he didn't listen to her.
(26:28):
But she kept coming and shewouldn't shut up.
It's a holy discontent.
A holy discontent.
She wouldn't shut up, she keptcoming and he said you know what
?
I don't fear God, I don'trespect man, but this lady is
wearing me out and if I don'tanswer her, she's never going to
(26:51):
stop.
Literally, it says I will giveher justice so that she will not
beat me down by her continualcoming.
Come on, I need justice, giveme justice.
She's beating me down and thisjudge gave her justice.
And then God says well, look atthe evil judge, the unjust judge
(27:15):
.
If he would do that, how muchmore will your just Father in
heaven give you what you askedfor, give what they asked for to
his elect, who cried to him dayand night?
So there's this knocking andcontinual knocking, and come on
and don't stop and don't faint,and when you get discouraged,
(27:40):
knock some more.
Maybe you've been asking andmaybe you've even been seeking,
but God wants to encourage usthis morning to not stop
knocking.
Keep knocking on the doors.
When were you last so desperatefor something that you would
not quit knocking?
That's the question.
But why do we not knock?
(28:02):
Maybe because we're apathetic?
Maybe because we're just lazy?
Maybe because we're bingingNetflix?
Possible Apathy, fear, comfortis our idol.
Maybe we think it's notsupposed to change.
(28:24):
I don't know.
Maybe there's a lot of reasons.
But Jesus is saying knock, andnot only to say knock.
He says keep on knocking.
This is the tense of the verb.
Literally ask keep on asking.
Seek keep on seeking.
Knock keep on knocking.
That's the tense of the verbthere, and the result is it will
be open to you.
(28:44):
So I think there's like agrowing intensity, like a
progression of intensity here.
Right, because I can ask fromthe quietness of my own heart,
but to seek, I got to get up outof my bed and do something.
Right, there's some effortrequired, and to knock is still
more intentional, still moreforceful.
(29:07):
Okay, so he's just continuing toraise the bar on us.
Why not?
Because he wants ourperformance or we?
You know we need to pray longerand louder, that's not the
point but because your fatherwants to give to you and your
father wants to invite you intohis heart and into his mission.
(29:28):
He wants you to co-labor withhim.
So what doors do you need toknock on?
In what ways are you not wherehe wants you to be?
What are the obstacles?
Maybe the doors are not openingbecause you're not knocking.
It's interesting.
(29:49):
Paul said to the Colossians prayfor me that a door would be
opened for the gospel.
Pray for me.
Imagine that.
Paul, such a powerful man, buthe knew there needed to be doors
that are open.
Right, and just a little aside,if you, if you're not content
(30:11):
with your present state of yourwalk with God.
Please remember that you arethe one responsible for it.
You can change it.
Okay, there you go, let's takeit.
I'm not saying you can controleverything in your life, but the
things that you do have controlover are more than the things
that you don't have control over.
(30:32):
And Jesus says ask, seek, knock.
So he urges us to prayer.
So here's my question why doesJesus have to urge us to prayer?
I mean, why is it that prayeris not our first reflex, like it
should just be knee jerk, right, something happens.
Pray I've got to be honest withyou.
That's not always my firstreflex.
(30:55):
Prayer it's like what can I do?
Well, maybe it's complain, andthen it's what can I do to help
or who can I look to?
But my first reflex should begoing to Him in prayer.
Maybe there's some reasons whyit's not our first reflex.
Maybe because we're looking toourselves or to others to meet
(31:18):
our needs.
Possibly Maybe because webecome comfortable with status
quo.
This is just sometimes stayingthe same is more comfortable.
It's not better, but it's morecomfortable.
We're lazy or we're passive.
Or maybe because we don'tunderstand the heart of our
father.
Surely he couldn't beinterested in my request, right?
(31:40):
Surely God's not.
What would God want?
Why would he want to dosomething for me?
Okay, so let's get to the heartof the question.
Why is it that when we do ask,we don't receive?
Every time we ask, we don'treceive.
So what's up with that?
Because Jesus said ask and whoyou ask will receive.
And he said how much more willyour father, relationship in
(32:04):
heaven, who's mighty andsovereign, give good things
because he loves and he cares tothose who ask him?
So that's a real legitimatequestion, because all of us have
prayed and have not seen ananswer, or at least it doesn't
seem like it's been answered.
(32:26):
Well, there's right and wrongasking First of all.
James says this in Jameschapter four, verse three and
four you do not have because youdo not ask.
That's the first part of it.
But you ask and do not receivebecause you ask, wrongly, to
spend it on your passions.
So there's a right and a wrongmotivation for asking things.
Am I asking for me and for myown desires, or am I asking for
(32:51):
the glory of God and for thepurpose of God?
And how can I make my desiresHis desires?
How can I make those two lineup?
And it's interesting.
There's a Psalm, psalm 37, verse4, and it says that when you
delight yourself in the Lord, hegives you the desires of your
heart.
When I first came to Jesus Ithought that meant if I serve
(33:14):
God, then whatever I want andask him for, he'll give me.
But as I grew in the Lord, Irealized that's not even the way
we raise our kids.
When you raise kids, you can'tdo it that way Because you know
better, you're wiser and you'remore loving than that than to
(33:37):
give them everything they want.
So I think it's more like whenwe delight ourselves in the Lord
, he gives us the desires thatare in our heart and then, when
we turn those desires intoprayer, we begin to pray what he
wants.
We're praying his will.
When he says, whatever thingsyou ask according to my will, he
(34:03):
will hear you and he will giveyou the things that you answer.
It's because as we grow closeto him, we know his heart more.
Jesus says something reallysimilar to this in John 15 about
asking and receiving, but it'sin the context of abiding in him
, it's in the context ofrelationship.
(34:23):
You know him, you abide in himand his words live inside of you
, and then you ask whatever youwill, because when his words
abide in you, your will beginsto change.
You love him and his stuffbecomes your stuff and your
(34:44):
heart changes from a badmotivation or a selfish
motivation to a God-centered,kingdom-oriented orientation,
and then your prayers are rightprayers.
So I believe every prayer isanswered from the heart of a
wise and loving God, justdifferent kinds of answers.
Maybe this will help a littlebit.
(35:06):
If the request is not God's will, god says no.
But he says no from his lovingand wise and father heart.
If the timing is wrong, godsays slow, from his loving, wise
father heart.
If my heart is not right and mymotivations are wrong, god says
(35:31):
grow from his loving, wisefather heart.
But if the request is right andthe timing is right and I'm
right, my heart is right, hesays go and he answers the
prayer in the way that we may bewanting it to be answered.
But some of us have asked andwe're in the process.
(35:53):
We're in the process and thepotter is molding us to fit the
thing that we're asking for.
We're not quite ready yet andhe's working in us first, and so
the timing is not always ourtiming.
And Amy shared something withthe pastors and the songwriters
(36:19):
while we were in Poland alongthese lines, and I want to ask
her to come up and just share itwith you.
Is there a?
Amy Medley (36:24):
microphone.
So, along the lines of thetiming of the Lord, there was a
story in Luke, chapter 1 thatreally has encouraged me in my
(36:45):
prayer life.
I've dealt with a little bit ofwaiting in my own personal
experience, and there's a storyin Luke chapter 1 about when
Gabriel appears to Zechariah,and the first words that Gabriel
says to Zechariah are kind ofpeculiar.
(37:07):
He says your prayer has beenheard, and then the next words
that he says are that Elizabethis going to bear a child.
And so Zachariah is probablythinking what prayers, what,
what prayers have been heard?
He's not.
Most likely he's not prayingthose prayers anymore because
(37:28):
Luke, chapter 1 says that he isalready of age, he's well
stricken in years in the KingJames Version, and so they're
beyond the years of havingchildren.
But Gabriel comes to him andsays your prayer has been heard,
and so it's really powerful torealize that God remembers the
(37:50):
prayers that we have forgotten,the prayers that we have
forgotten.
So there may be a promise inyour heart or a deep, deep
desire in your heart that justwon't go away and you keep
bringing it before the Lord andmaybe it seems like he's not
answering.
He's not answering, maybe am Ipraying wrong?
(38:11):
Am I asking from a wrong desire?
But in this situation there arecertain situations where it's
just a matter of God's timing.
It's a matter of His timing,and this was the case for
Elizabeth and Zachariah.
They wanted a baby, they wanteda son, they wanted a child.
There were probably manysleepless nights when Elizabeth
(38:34):
was weeping and praying.
They probably fasted and reallysought the Lord about this and
then kind of maybe buried thatdesire because they didn't see
anything happening.
But they wanted a baby.
God was looking for a legacy.
You know.
He wanted to give them theforerunner of Christ.
(38:56):
He didn't want to just givethem a child, he was going to
give them John the Baptist.
So if he had answered theirprayers in their timing, you
know, they would have had nopart in the story of Christ's
birth, you know.
So the timing had to line upwith Mary.
(39:18):
Mary was pregnant with Jesusand Elizabeth was pregnant with
John.
It seemed like weird timing,you know.
Why would God choose a barrenwoman who's old and a virgin?
It's just, it's weird, it'smysterious, but the Lord had a
(39:38):
purpose in that.
And so with time, god's delaysand God's denials become clear
to us.
We understand them more withage, as we get older, and so
Psalm 84 reminds us that theLord, god, is a sun and shield.
(39:59):
He gives grace and glory.
No good thing will he withholdfrom those who walk uprightly.
And Elizabeth and Zechariahwere upright.
Luke, chapter 1, says that theywere righteous, they were
blameless.
So why did God make them suffer?
Why did God make them wait allof those years?
(40:21):
Were they righteous?
Well, yes, they were.
So why was God withholdingsomething that was good?
Well, god is in the giving andhe's also in the withholding.
If he withholds something, itmeans that it's not good for us
at that moment.
And he has a bigger perspective, right With Elizabeth and
(40:50):
Zechariah, again, it wasn't justabout their baby, their son, it
was about the universal plan ofthe birth of Christ and
fulfilling all of theseprophecies.
So maybe God has a bigger planin mind than we do, and his
design is greater than whatwe've asked for.
So if it's bigger than whatwe've prayed for, it's worth the
(41:12):
wait.
Than what we prayed for, it'sworth the wait.
So just an encouragement thatGod remembers the prayers, the
desires that you have broughtbefore him.
He doesn't forget those prayersand he will fulfill them in his
time.
We saw this also in the OldTestament with Abraham and Sarah
, right, they had a promise andthen you know, about 20 years
(41:36):
later that was fulfilled.
But Hebrews 11, 11 says throughfaith also, sarah herself
received strength to conceiveseed and was delivered of a
child when she was past age,because she judged him faithful,
who had promised.
So let's judge him faithful,who has promised.
(41:59):
Let's be patient with God.
In a way, assume that there isa good reason for the delay,
that he has our best interestsat heart and he will answer them
at the right time.
We can continue to seek, we cancontinue to knock, and that he
(42:21):
is our father.
The God of the universe is ourfather.
So weeping can endure for anight, but joy is on the way for
his children.
Mark Medley (42:30):
Thanks, Thank you, wow, for His children, thanks.
Thank you, wow.
Can we judge Him faithful?
Yeah, god's working.
It doesn't matter if we see Himor if it doesn't look like it.
(42:51):
He's working and process isprogress.
Sometimes we don't think it'sprogress because we don't see
what we're looking for, butprocess inside of us is progress
.
I think the ultimate point oftoday's passage that we're
reading is that Jesus is callingthose who follow Him higher in
(43:13):
prayer, higher in abiding in himto discern his heart, and
higher in faith and expectancy.
So let's stand up and let'spray, let's respond.
If you're a follower of Jesus,it doesn't matter your age, it
doesn't matter how long you'vebeen in the Lord, it doesn't
(43:34):
matter your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter your age, it
doesn't matter how long you'vebeen in the Lord, it doesn't
matter your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter your gender,
it doesn't matter what you'vebeen through.
Jesus is wanting you to learnhow to ask and press in and seek
and join his mission and knockEven you, even you right now,
(43:55):
even you right now, even meright now.
So, father, we judge youfaithful this morning.
The things that we put in yourhands, you're faithful.
You're faithful to receive them.
(44:17):
You're faithful to hold themand to care for them.
You're faithful, to give themto us in the way that's best for
us.
Lord, we ask you that you wouldteach us how to ask Lord,
(44:37):
forgive our prayerlessness.
Lord, I just want to say thatI've been prayerless because I
feel like it's a duty sometimes,father.
So forgive me for that andteach me to respond to your
invitation into your heart, tocome into you.
(44:59):
Lord, reveal your heart to us,lord, give us the power of your
spirit to walk in thisrelationship and pray from that
Lord.
Lord, teach us how to seek you.
Seek your face, seek your word,seek your will, seek your power
(45:19):
at work in us, seek the truththat changes us.
Lord, teach us how to knock.
Lord, some of us are at a doorand there's a new ministry area.
There's effective doors thatyou want to open.
There's a new convergence ofpeople walking in their gifts,
(45:40):
lord, that you've worked so manyyears to pull things together
in streams into one river andnow you're bringing them into
something, lord, that'sdifferent than what they've been
experiencing before.
Lord, I pray for transitionalgrace, in that I pray for grace
to knock on those doors.
Lord, until those doors open, Ipray for endurance for us, god.
(46:03):
Help us, lord, to pray alwaysand not faint.
Lord, we pray for new converts.
God, we pray for your kingdomto come in our families, in our
church services, in ouroutreaches, in our community
groups, and we pray for, we askfor new ground, lord.
(46:25):
Give us new ground.
Let your kingdom come, god, andthat our hearts and our hope
will be turned back to you alonein this nation.
This is what we pray, lord.
Lord, turn us from a life ofdependence on ourselves.
Let us walk in that blessednessof those who are poor in spirit
(46:47):
.
Lord, teach us to be hungry.
Let us walk in the blessednessof those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness.
And, lord, teach us to realizethat you want more, to ask
bolder.
Would you just kindle our faithand freshen our faith, god,
(47:08):
please, by your spirit, lord,I'm asking this morning that you
would just add fuel to the fire.
Lord, blow on those embers, god, and fan those things into a
flame.
Add your fuel to them, god.
Rekindle vision and give directnew vision, lord, for people in
(47:29):
Jesus' name.
Lord, let us be those who livein the blessedness of those who
are salt and light in this world.
God, this is what we pray, giveus grace.
Give us grace to hear yourvoice, lord, and to understand
that you're raising the bar isnot for us to perform more, god,
(47:50):
but you're raising the bar isfor us to come into your heart
and join your mission and seeyour kingdom, for this is where
our joy is.
Lord so Lord, you said to thispoint, you haven't asked
anything, so ask, so your joywill be full.
Lord so Lord, this week, we askyou to put those things on our
(48:11):
hearts that you want us to ask,so that the joy that you intend
for us is what we're walking in.
This is what we pray, and thankyou for the fruit that's going
to come from these prayers.
Lord, this kingdom belongs toyou, the power is yours and the
glory is yours forever and ever,and we ask these things in the
(48:35):
name of Jesus, amen, amen.
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