NOTES: God is Near, Part 9
Sermon: God is Near 9- How Much More?
Date: Sunday, October 27, 2024
Text: Matthew 7:7-12
Matthew 7:7–12, “7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Let’s Connect:
Your last complaint?
Complaint with Faith vs. Complaint with Disbelief (Numbers 11)
Complaint with faith is to take all our problems, our negative situations and painful emotions before the Lord in prayer.
Psalm 142:1–2, “1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.”
Complaint with disbelief is to deny God’s goodness and distrust his sufficiency.
Disbelieving complaint blinds us to reality—
seeing Jesus as He is, and seeing others as He sees them.
How much more can I take?
Text Explained:
Jesus opens their eyes of understanding with:
The Golden Principle— The Golden Rule— The Golden Promise
Golden Principle: Keep on, keeping on
1 John 5:14–15, “14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Jesus comforts the cries of “How Much More can I take” with “How much more…will your Father in heaven give"
Consider deeply the nature of Father God:
NOTE: Let’s not confuse every happening in life with the gifts God gives (Rom 8:28)
Phil 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
The Golden Rule (a more complete understanding- vs. 11-12):
As we trust our Good Father to give good gifts, we live generously with others.
The Take Out:
The Golden Promise:
God is good— always!
Life is hard
The gifts of God are MUCH MORE!
Our Challenge:
Keep on asking, seeking, knocking: