Receiving From God Series

The Great Commission

Part 18 – Sermon on the Mount – Receiving from God

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith – www.PS127.org

WELCOME

INTRODUCTION TO SERMON

† The Sermon on the Mount – The Beatitudes

† We are the Salt, staying pure with God’s Holy Word

† We are the Light, showing that Word to the World

† Hate is same as murder

† Lust the same as adultery

† Divorce, Oaths

† The Law of Love, Giving

† How to Pray

† Fasting

† Treasures in Heaven

† Worry & Anxiety

† Judge Not

INTRODUCTION

Matthew 7:7 – 11 Receiving from God

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

I. ASK AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU

a. Ask and it will be given to you

If we ask for wisdom to settle a dispute, it will be given.

If we ask for the Holy Spirits leading in a decision, it will be given.

If we ask for our needs to be met, such as bills to be paid, it will be given.

Jesus says, Ask, and it shall be given.

John 16:23 – 24 Jesus speaks to the Disciples

23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

In that day…The Day of Pentecost, NOW, we have the Holy Spirit!

Jesus says in that day we will no longer as Him anything (He means personally, face to face), but we ask “In His Name”, and the Father will give us whatever we ask for.

Because of Jesus, we have been placed in direct relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.”

WHY? Because Jesus had not completed the work on the cross, and therefore no man had a right to the name of Jesus yet.

When we ask by His name, we first must belong to Him.

Second we realize that all we receive is only because of Jesus and the cross.

b. Seek and you will find

If God answered immediately every time we pray, would we have to seek?

We do not always receive the moment we ask.

But we are promised that if we seek an answer, we will find that answer.

If we pray for something, and we do not receive what we are praying for, we need to SEEK why that is.

This goes with what Jesus was talking about in the previous versus about examining yourself.

Are you at odds with God and expecting to receive?

c. He who seeks finds

Jesus tells us, if we seek we will find. It’s a promise!

d. To him who knocks, the door will be opened

Jesus says that if we knock, the door will be opened. Not that WE open the door, but that the door WILL BE OPENED for us!

Being doers of the word doesn’t mean we accomplish any good work, it means we allow ourselves to be used by God and the Good Work from the Holy Spirit may come from us.

But we are not the ones opening the doors in life, but the hand of God to those who are doers, obedient self-examining followers of Christ. For them, the door will be opened.

If your heart is sincere, when you seek you will find.

If you are a doer of the Word, when you seek you will find. (YOU must seek)

The door will be opened for you.

II. EXAMPLE OF GIVING GOOD GIFTS

a. Would you give a stone for bread?

Even a sinful man knows what is good for his child.

b. Would you give a snake for fish?

LISTEN, if what we are asking for in our lives is not God’s Will, and would turn out to be a stone or snake, He will guard us from receiving what we ask, and during this time, if we seek WHY we did not receive what we ask for, God will show us, we will FIND out why. And if we seek, He will show us what we NEED.