Bro Gary Sunday Evening 3/25/12

Bro Gary Sunday Evening 3/25/12

Luk 11:9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Luk 11:10  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

It is wonderful how God sends His messengers and his words.  There are many good things in store for us here and in eternity.  We can let the dark things that happen here obstruct our vision or we can be challenged to press on. 

God has the answer for us in His Word.  If God will help you and me, we can receive definite answers in His Word.

Luk 11:1  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luk 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Luk 11:3  Give us day by day our daily bread.

Luk 11:4  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Luk 11:5  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

After leaving an example of prayer Jesus expounded on praying.  Suppose company came unexpectedly to visit a man and his wife hadn’t made bread.  As a result he goes to a friend and says, “Please allow me to have some bread.” 

I don’t question if the people of God pray.  You are well taught and I believe that God’s people pray.  There is a lesson here that Jesus wanted His disciples to have.  When we have a need or if we are praying for the needs of others, importune before God.

Luk 11:6  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

Our prayer requests leave us without specific answers to some that are needy.  This isn’t bad.  People need what only God and His Holy Spirit can give unto them. 

Luk 11:7  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

The neighbor answered that the time wasn’t right.  He was put off. 

Luk 11:8  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

The lesson that is on my heart tonight is when we are praying it is important to have the attitude.  “I’m going to ask and keep asking.”  My mother told that for nine years she requested prayer for her husband to get saved every service.  One day he got saved.

There is no foolish prayer request that comes from a burdened heart. 

Luk 11:9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Asking is one thing, but greater effort is put into seeking something.  Everyone has experienced losing something and trying to find it.  Sometimes it takes a lot of seeking to find what we need.  Some answers to prayer that you and I need from God may be difficult to find.   

You may be wondering if there is something that you can say to your wayward son or daughter.  We want to, as parents, say something to our children and their spouses that will carry the weight of the Word of God and will be there tomorrow and the next day, something that God can bring back to them. 

The son of God has given us marvelous instruction.  Ask, Seek.  There may be several things in the meeting that God has brought conviction on.  God may want to purge you.  When we seek God we get more diligent then just saying, “God if there is anything I need, please add it to me.”  We actually tarry before God and seek Him.  “God we don’t want any dross in our life.” 

Everyone came into this world with a carnal nature and a personality that is affected by whatever.  We have traits that need to be purged from us.  God is not only the God that showers blessings, He also is the God that shows us “I want you to measure here and to measure there.” 

If there are unanswered things and situations in your life they will not just go away.  The way to handle them is to seek God, look in the scripture, ask, seek, and knock.

The neighbor man was so affected by his importunity that he said, “You can have more than just three loaves.”  God wants to supply our needs in a big way. 

God knows how diligent we are in our asking, our seeking and our knocking.

Luk 11:11  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Luk 11:12  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

Luk 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

We would want to feed any that is hungry not only a son.  The heavenly father is going to supply that need. 

God told Moses that even if the people would turn from him to idol worship that if they would turn back and seek Him with all their heart and all their soul that He would be found of them.

Deu 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

What you desire from God spiritually, as a humble man or woman desiring from God spiritually, when we seek God with all our heart and soul, God has promised He will give it to us.

However far away from God someone has gone:  I was asked to visit with a mother yesterday she said, “Pray for my daughter, she says that she is an atheist.”  You may have a son, daughter, a grandchild, a friend that has a strong wall that they put up to you saying that they don’t even believe that there is a God.  That doesn’t change God a bit.  It doesn’t change God and it doesn’t change truth. 

God says that when the prodigal comes to their senses and begins to seek God with all their heart and soul, they shall find God.  That is absolutely wonderful.

Psa 105:1  O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Psa 105:2  Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.

Psa 105:3  Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.

Psa 105:4  Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

There will be times when you and I are going to need God and His strength in order to seek Him in a greater way.  We will need the divine intervention of the strength of God to carry that burden until the individual you are burdened for is saved.  We may need to pray for the strength to climb that mountain.

We know that the Bible teaches us that God has a plan described in the scripture as a refining of silver.  The refiner stays there gathering the dross off until he can see the perfect image of himself in the silver.  God wants you and me to stay in His word until we see God in his word. 

When God witnesses to your heart, “I have heard your prayer; I’m giving you this promise.”  You can rest assured and enter into the rest of faith.  God has always and always will keep His word.  You can rest assured that He will keep His promise.

Hos 10:1  Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

Hos 10:2  Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

Hos 10:3  For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

It is awful to think of being an empty vine, not having the life flow coming into our life.  It is terrible to have a divided heart.  It is time to break up the fallow ground.  Sin and difficult things in life harden hearts.  God has a way of bringing men and women to a position of being alarmed in their soul that their heart has become hard.

I remember before I was a pastor I was somewhere where there were things happening that weren’t good.  I became slothful and started drifting.  God spoke to my heart that I wasn’t worshipping.  I came so close to losing out with God. 

People don’t always get back when they leave.  I don’t want you to think that you can play with your soul.  Take no chances. Seek His face and seek it continually.  Seek him in between Services and be true to God.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

This word of God frees us and keeps us free.  We need to continue therein.  When you and I stay in this word of God then it acts as a shield and protection against the missile of the enemy.  Stay and continue so that your discernment is keen and you recognize the accusation as an enemy missile that would try to get you thinking something that you are not guilty of. 

The enemy loves to shoot those missiles. You can worry yourself sick over some of the things that someone else may shoot into your camp.  It is the only desire of God’s people to help, encourage, and strengthen one another. 

We get distracted.  We are going to be shot at spiritually.  People will try to get arrows into your atmosphere so that instead of you thinking of God and what He wants you to do.  Pretty soon your mind is distracted.  When you and I get distracted is when the enemy of our soul begins to move in.

When you don’t have strength you can ask God for strength to climb.

Look into the perfect law of liberty and have the attitude that “I’m going to stay here.” 

Having sought and keep seeking; asked and keep asking; knocked and keep knocking.