Kick it in the ASSK!

The David Alliance [email protected]  Garth Heckman ASK   John F. Kennedy - ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what can you do for your country…. Great line, too bad it wasn’t his… but it still screams the idea of asking….   JFK’s head schoolmaster in catholic chapel actually came up with that line… and JFK modified it.    Title Idea: "The Divine Exchange: What Asking Reveals”   Im going somewhere with this question…   A simple question: What is your theology? Simple answer: I believe in Jesus as the son of God. I believe he died for my sins. I believe He rose again. I believe I am a sinner, I have asked him to forgive me of my sins, and I have chosen to live my life for him. My Basic theology: Right?     NOT EXACTLY what your theology is based on…. ITS IN THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK AND THE QUESTIONS YOU ANSWER?     The tension in scripture is in the questions: BUT NOT IN WHAT YOU ask, BUT IN HOW YOU ACT!     QUESTIONS - “ASK” - DEMAND BEHAVIOR!    Gods questions to us demand alliance Our Questions to God reveal compliance    How far is too far… ahhhh that question reveals your lack of compliance and your lack of heart for alliance.  The real question is “What is the best way to honor this person in you and in their future marriage?”       CFNI - PINK ELEPHANTS  Special speaker - asks again and again =who is in rebellion, refusing to repent and be used by God.       We wait….. Finally a man in his 30’s stands up - its me. We pray for him. The speaker says you have a word for someone - The man says yes - someone here is afraid of pink elephants      We wait…. A young man bursts out of his seat.. it’s me, it’s me   IT WAS… A SERIES OF UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS!      Jesus asks impossible things ("you feed them"),    -  and people ask Him impossible things (water-walking).       Jesus asks us uncomfortable questions (Why give to the dogs what was meant for the children)    -  We ask him questions we can rationalize (God I know you understand, I know you are a forgiving God)   Jesus asks improbable questions: (Why would you call me good?, do you want to get well?)    -  We ask self serving questions (Isn’t everybody doing it? But isn’t it just easier this way)     Pose the question: What if the way we ask, and the way we respond to being asked, exposes our actual theology—not our stated one?   Because it does.          THOUGHT: Jesus's Questions Expose What We Believe, Not What We Know     LUKE 5     Jesus first ask of a disciple - makes no sense. Peter objects but obliges.   **What Jesus exemplified - He stood in the boat and preached, and it drew a multitude of fish to him.  APPLICATION: Jesus: “Follow my ask and watch what I can do.”       5 YEARS AGO I WAS FILLING OUT PAPER WORK FOR PATENTS… GOD SAID GO FOR IT.     Now understand everything that I want to go after will cost me a lot of money. I was explaining to God why this is a dumb idea - I don’t have the money… but he said “be greedy, go for it”. I objected, but obliged… it paid off!          12,000 HAPPY MEALS Text: Matthew 14:16 — "You give them something to eat.”   This isn't a logistics question. Jesus already knew what He was going to do (John 6:6 says as much—He asked "to test" Philip, "for he himself knew what he was going to do"). The command wasn't functional; it was diagnostic. He's not asking the disciples to solve a math problem (5 loaves ÷ 5,000 people); He's asking them to locate their trust.   Theological insight: When God gives an "impossible" instruction, He's rarely asking you to be sufficient. He's asking you to bring what's insufficient to Him. The miracle happens in the disciples' hands, not before them—they distribute what they don't yet have enough of, and it multiplies in the giving, not before it.   Application: Every "you feed them" moment in our lives (a marriage we can't fix, a ministry we can't sustain, a grief we can't carry) is less about capability and more about direction—will we hoard the five loaves in fear, or hand them over in obedience?     A young man comes to Christ. He was a fun, crazy partying teenager, then 20 year old… now 25 and he comes to Christ. He slept around… but now knew if he was going to call him self a Christian he had to practice abstinence… no excuses -  But he was admittedly unsure - to him it seemed impossible. He could do it for a few dates…but then what. I EXPLAINED TO HIM - you bring your 3% and God will cover the other 97%.      To most people - especially the 15-30 year olds that seems like an impossible ask:      Point 2: "Why So Little Faith?" — The Question That Isn't Really a Question   Text: Matthew 8:26 The storm, Jesus asks this three times in Matthew, always after the disciples have witnessed power but respond in fear or doubt   Oli-GO-pistos - “you do realize I have the power if you have the faith”.    Application: The question isn't accusatory—it's an invitation to memory. When we're afraid, Jesus isn't asking us to defend our fear; He's asking us to recall what we already know about Him.   HE IS ASKING SO WE REMEMBER!      Point 3: When People Ask Jesus — The Syrophoenician Woman's Bold Request - what about the crumbs!    Text: Mark 7:24–30 / Matthew 15:21–28     Jesus Is Testing/Drawing Out Her Faith, Not Insulting Her     Her response wins the exchange trusting in his character and goodness with humility and cleverness.   She asks - and does not get the answer she wants. She asks - again with humility and candor