Upside-Down Kingdom Pt. 6: Ask, Seek, Knock - 8/18/2024

Pastor Dale BensonMatthew 7:7-14 (NLT)- In this passage, Jesus parallels God and loving parents who want to give good things to their kids. God is not up there waiting to trick us. He wants to give us what we need.- I can remember praying for my marriage to be restored. It didn't happen. I prayed to be taken out of the pain, but instead, God promised to be with me and strengthened me through the pain.Those are beautiful stories, but what about when your prayers are not answered how you thought they needed to be? What about when you are seeking and still haven't found what you're looking for? What if you keep knocking to break the door down, and it still isn't opening?James 4:1-3 (NLT)- This teaching of Jesus is in the middle of a much larger sermon— a sermon in which He teaches us to pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done, where we are taught to seek His kingdom and righteousness above all else, and then we will have all that we need.- Not necessarily wants but needs. - Sometimes, we ask for snakes when we should ask for fish and stones, when we should ask for bread. Our Heavenly Father knows what we need. - We should not be selfish and look out only for ourselves, but perhaps we should look out for others. Perhaps we should do to others what we would have them do to us.We want the easy and wide way with the broad gate, but Jesus also notes that this path leads to destruction. It seems good now, but it leads to death. There is a way that seems hard, but it leads to life.So, keep asking until He answers, seek until you find it, and knock until He opens.Jesus invites us to a place where we keep asking and knocking, where we keep seeking. It's a place where we continue to treat others as we would have them treat us, and He promises it's not going to be easy, but nothing worth doing is.God has not always answered my prayers the way I had wanted them answered, but as I kept asking, I received more than I could have asked for.When I sought Him, I didn't always find Him where I was expecting, but I found Him — often amid the most painful places. When I knocked, He might not have opened the door I was knocking on, but He opened the door I needed to open (even if I thought it should have been another door).I want to invite you to a new life. A new path. A new way of living. One where you keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and one where you find a narrow, hard path. It is not the way of the world but a path that leads to life.It begins with asking God to do the very thing He has promised to do. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to clean us from all unrighteousness. The path may be hard, but He has also promised He will never leave or forsake you. It is a life that begins with dying to your old way of life.