Mathew Seven- Seven People (Part 3)
Seek And You Shall Find
Mathew 7:7-8 Pastor Ken Crow
7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
The last couple of weeks we have looked into the word of God and we have seen the importance of asking him, asking him not only for our needs but also for direction and guidance in life.
To be a Mathew Seven – Seven person we must also be a seeker of God.
I want as we get started this morning to share a very important quote of Jesus Christ regarding seeking. It is found in Luke chapter twelve verses thirty through thirty two.
30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
When Jesus becomes our priority our life falls into place. The kind of person Jesus is talking about in Mathew 7:7 is the one that invokes verse 31 of Luke into their daily life.
In the book of 2nd Kings there is a man that sought God. In fact he sought God to a degree where everything else in life became contingent on him finding God .
Before we get into that I want to make a statement that I am very comfortable making to you this morning and if you remember one thing from this message please remember the following.
Our life in this world and the world to come is contingent on us finding Jesus Christ. Our quality of life in this world depends on our relationship with him. Our eternal destiny certainly depends on our relationship with him.
Let’s turn to 2nd Kings chapter 2 starting in verse one .
2 Kings 2
1And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
3And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
4And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
5And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
6And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
7And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
8And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
9And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
10And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
11And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
Elisha knew what he wanted. We must know what we want. We must determine in our heart that we are going to be a seeker of Jesus. We will never find what we are looking for by being wishy washy. Once Elisha determined he was going to go full speed ahead he never looked back.
Luke 9:62 (King James Version)
62And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
We must be honest this morning in our own hearts and with God . Are we looking back? Is Jesus our priority? Are we moving full speed ahead in seeking the kingdom of God?
Is church our priority on Sunday morning or is it just somewhere we go when we have nothing else more important to do? If you answered honestly to yourself that church is not your priority on Sunday morning then there lies the answer to most of your problems. We can pray, look for answers, seek out some famous counselor but until Jesus Christ and his gospel and our part in it is taken seriously we will never prosper in our spiritual life and probably not in life in general.
Elisha purposed in his heart to follow Elijah and seek the power of God in his life no matter what it cost him. He knew that what ever he had to lay aside in his life that God would repay in amounts he could not even fathom.
I want to tell someone here this morning that if you will lay aside that thing and set your face toward seeking God that he is going to multiply you in every area of life!
Elisha faced discouragement .
As we read this in 2nd Kings 2 we see that at every point of this journey even Elijah told him to quit and stay behind!
We have people I know I heard it this week. “Oh a Mathew 7:7 person , how funny.” We will have those even in church who will try and get us to stop at every turn. We will have the dream killers! If it is one thing I do not like it is a dream killer.
You know one thing a lot of Christians need to do is stop doing the devil’s work for him! That is his job to kill dreams! To discourage! But he does not even have to do it a lot of times because we do it for him!
He just sits back in his easy chair with his feet propped up and a soda turning from channel to channel watching Christians fight, fuss and kill their own wounded. He don’t have to do anything!
We must determine if we are going to be a Mathew 7:7 person that no matter what is said, what is done or what the situation looks like that we are going to seek more of Jesus everyday of our life.
Elisha in his seeking asked in verse 14 , after Elijah is taken up this . “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?”
A lot of times in our seeking if we will just ask that question God will reveal himself to us.
2nd Chronicles 20: 7-9
Jehoshaphat is speaking here and seeking God .
2 Chronicles 20:7-9 (King James Version)
7Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
Again we know that we will only ask those for help that we have confidence in and know.
This morning it is time to turn our lives around. It is time to seek all that heaven holds.
I will close with a couple of thoughts that Jesus spoke.
Matthew 13:44-46 (King James Version)
44Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Amen
