Riverside Community Church
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Take a moment this morning and think about what question or questions you would have for Jesus if he were here, in this place, right now. What question would you ask, and what would you ask Jesus for?
(think for a moment -what’s your question, what’s your request of God?)
The most often asked questions to God are twofold:
1-we ask for some need to be met or
2-for some explanation of life, some special circumstance question.
*Some examples of need questions,
Such as, God, I need tuition money, food money, relief from stress.
God, I ask you give me a spouse, or heal my body, heal my marriage.
There are so many need questions we can ask God🡪 do you have one.
*Some explanation questions or a special circumstance question.
Like God, why did my spouse die, why won’t you save my loved one.
God, I don’t understand what’s happening or why -please tell me.
Or maybe something has happened, and your question is what to do.
-some of you might be tempted to think that a Pastor has more access to God than you might have. That God will answer my questions and He’ll answer them more quickly and thoroughly. Nay. Nay. I don’t have any more privilege, than you, no Pastor or leader experiences more opportunity than other believers. You have access equivalent to any other Christian as to asking questions of God Almighty.
-What I find undeniably true, is that God, is patiently waiting for you to talk to Him, to ask Him your own personal question, to ask of Him your own personal request. God is waiting for your question.
So, go ahead and ask - ASK God.
--Did you know that God is wanting you to talk to Him and to ask Him whatever question you have or to ask of Him, whatever is on your heart.
Here are Christ’s very words where He looks at you squarely in the face, He holds your chin in place and looking deeply into your eyes Christ says to you -go ahead, ask me.
Matthew 7:7-12
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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your 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.
-Christ not only taught us how to pray in the Lord’s prayer, but also taught that our loving Heavenly Father graciously welcomes and anticipates our prayers our ‘asks’. When you ask God for something, you’re communicating with God, you’re praying. And ‘ask’, in the context of Matthew 7, is written in the present tense, meaning:
to keep on asking. (an action word, to be repeated)
Seekt o keep on seeking.
Knock to keep on knocking.
So, ask, and ask again the King -you Kingdom citizen.
And don’t forget you can ask God for the impossible!
And don’t forget you can ask God for the improbable!
We’ll talk about ‘what’ you ask for shortly, but the main point is we need to ASK -we need to ask in PRAYER!!
-our patient Heavenly Father God waits with attentive ears bent towards His children because He sees our many needs and He knows our many questions.
And surely, we have many needs and questions and so praying, our asking, acknowledges our limitations to help ourselves. In fact, our many needs should motivate us to pray and ask.
On more than one occasion I have shared a difficulty or a question I have with someone, and they have asked me, ‘did you pray about it?’. To my chagrin, I had not. BUT to my delight that was the answer I needed. You see my Heavenly Father knows everything and can do anything, I’m His child! So, I ask away knowing He hears me.
*Many never receive because they don’t ask, they never ask God.
*Many do not receive what they ask, because God knows their motives.
James 4:2-3 Amplified Bible
2 You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; … You are envious and cannot obtain;… You do not have because you do not ask [it of God]. 3 You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your own desires.
The Words of Christ to you today are:
ASK
In John 16:24 Jesus had just told the disciples about His impending death and then He explains some prayer promises.
Amplified Bible
‘Until now you have not asked [the Father] for anything in My name; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be full and complete.’
-so, ASK, do you have a need to ask God for help, do you have a question for God to answer?
You must ask, our part is to ask God in our prayers. SO, ASK.
ASK AGAIN
Matthew 7:7. “Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for, keep on seeking . . . keep on knocking”
ASK BOLDLY
John 14:12-13 “Anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works . . . ask for anything in My name, and I will do it.”
-you may ask boldly and in confidence but realize this, that it is Jesus that does it.
ASK IN FAITH AS YOU ABIDE IN CHRIST
John 15:7 Ask as you abide or remain in Jesus. “If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted”.
ASK SUBJECT TO HIS WILL AND TO HIS GLORY
-don’t ask for frivolous things, selfish things for your own sake. God knows how shallow that stuff is and it’s not what you need to have fulfillment in your life.
ASK FOR FRUIT IN YOUR LIFE
-ask that God would bear fruit in your life (fruit of the Spirit is love joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness …) -that you would grow to be more like Jesus. Fruit is character growth.
-and ask that you would bear fruit in other people, that would come to know Christ and that others would also grow to be more like Jesus.
John 15:16
“Go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask”.
ASK OBEDIENTLY
1 John 3:21-22, NLT
“We come to the Lord . . . and get whatever we ask for because we are obeying Him and doing the things that please Him”.
Christianity is not ‘single obedience’ but rather ‘lifestyle obedience’ with an attitude of wanting to please God.
-this passage of Scripture also adds keeping on seeking and keep on knocking. These two, seeking and knocking, is an outcrop of asking. You’ve asked God for an answer -now seek His response -look for the answer, see the answer. Keep knocking to see which door God opens in response to your asking.
When you ask God for help, when you ask God a question be specific and be persistent. And ask in faith, believing He will answer.
No appointment is necessary when approaching God to make an ‘ask’.
So, take a moment right now and think about what question or questions you would have for Jesus if he were here, in this place. Wait a second, He is here! Therefore, what question do you have? What request would you ask of Jesus?
What’s your question, what’s your request of God?
GO AHEAD AND ASK.
