Elements City Church
Sermon on the Mount - Week 11 - Ask Seek Knock
The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon Jesus ever preached. It derives its name from the place where Jesus preached it; a mountainside that acted as a natural amphitheater along the shores of Galilee. The Sermon on the Mount, preached to ordinary people, covers a wide range of topics like prayer, fasting, money, worry, forgiveness, anger, lust, judging others, and more. But the theme that unites it all is Jesus explaining the heart of God behind His given Law. It is one of the most challenging biblical texts to interpret properly because the Sermon goes far deeper than promoting external obedience to God’s moral imperatives or simple behavior modification. Every line of the Sermon goes to the heart of discipleship. The Sermon offers a clear understanding of what a blessed life that is pleasing to God looks like from the inside out. What Jesus taught often runs counter to mainstream thinking, but every lesson is brimming with heavenly wisdom and practical instruction that leads us into a flourishing life.
Locations & Times
Elements City Church
1825 N Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712, USA
Sunday 5:00 PM
Thanks for joining us!
Whether you're on-site or online, we are praying that tonight will be an encouragement to your soul. May God whisper to you and help you in taking your next steps in a journey with Him. If you're new, we'd love to have you fill out our connection card.
https://connect-card.com/yr4Y0g8VLBSqzKXeubjbIt's here in the Sermon on the Mount -- found in Matthew 5-7 -- that King Jesus gives us a radical picture of what life in His Kingdom looks like. And it’s our hope that, as we meditate on Jesus’s words, we might become people who more closely follow His Way and experience a life that truly flourishes in the process.
“I think the Sermon is a piece of wisdom teaching from Jesus that invites people into true human flourishing through wholeness centered on God and his coming kingdom. Jesus’s Sermon invites us to see the world in a certain way and to be in the world in a certain way that accords with God’s nature, will, and coming reign upon the earth; in short, “righteousness” (cf. Matt 5:20). It is a call to faith‐based discipleship in Jesus, the Son of God.”
- Jonathan T. Pennington
- Jonathan T. Pennington
Supply ________ Issues
(fill in the blank)
In this next section of the SOTM, Jesus returns again the invitation of prayer and the deepening reality that there are never supply chain issues in the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father:) We're to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking...
(fill in the blank)
In this next section of the SOTM, Jesus returns again the invitation of prayer and the deepening reality that there are never supply chain issues in the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father:) We're to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking...
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK…
The verbs are in the present tense, = indicating continuous activity.
Jesus’ followers are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking, indicating the importance of persistent, consistent prayer in our lives.
It’s only through prayer that we as believers can stay in contact with God, know what he wants us to do, and then have the strength to do God’s will in all areas of life.
The verbs are in the present tense, = indicating continuous activity.
Jesus’ followers are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking, indicating the importance of persistent, consistent prayer in our lives.
It’s only through prayer that we as believers can stay in contact with God, know what he wants us to do, and then have the strength to do God’s will in all areas of life.
As believers == prayer IS NOT a magical way to obtain whatever we want!
God is not our genie who grants us unlimited wishes.
He’s our Heavenly Father - who has out best in mind…
Prayer IS about communing relationally with our Maker and getting His heart to be formed more and more within us…
…our requests must be in harmony with God’s will (“your will be done,” 6:10), we’re to willingly accept his will above our desires.
God is not our genie who grants us unlimited wishes.
He’s our Heavenly Father - who has out best in mind…
Prayer IS about communing relationally with our Maker and getting His heart to be formed more and more within us…
…our requests must be in harmony with God’s will (“your will be done,” 6:10), we’re to willingly accept his will above our desires.
Jesus explains that his followers can depend on God to answer their prayers (7:7–8) by arguing “from the lesser to the greater.”
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!
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!
We ask Because God is highly relational.
-asking isn’t always only about getting something, it’s about being with someone
Prayer is about participating with God and what He’s doing in the world…
Quote:
William Barclay: “True prayer is asking God for what He wants.”
-asking isn’t always only about getting something, it’s about being with someone
Prayer is about participating with God and what He’s doing in the world…
Quote:
William Barclay: “True prayer is asking God for what He wants.”
Ask, Seek, Knock is about activating our faith in God…growing our faith in Him!
We’re depending on Him to be alert, available, and able…
The writer of Hebrews calls us to live with faith - Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
We’re depending on Him to be alert, available, and able…
The writer of Hebrews calls us to live with faith - Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
A - S - K (ask, seek, knock)
Ask with simplicity
See with intensity
Knock with persistency
Reality statement:
We are to come to the Father to receive, not exchange.
Prayer is not approaching God, in order to barter with him, it’s a posture of connection with and replenishment from our Good Heavenly Father.
Ask with simplicity
See with intensity
Knock with persistency
Reality statement:
We are to come to the Father to receive, not exchange.
Prayer is not approaching God, in order to barter with him, it’s a posture of connection with and replenishment from our Good Heavenly Father.
Jesus wraps up this section with a declaration most know as the 'golden rule'.
Rabbi Hillel said this:
Do not do to your fellow what you hate to have done to you.
This is the whole law; the rest is explanation.
You’ll notice that Rabbi Hillel states this in a negative manner – “Do not do…” And if you examine the “Golden Rule” as it is taught by almost every other religion, you will find that it is almost always stated in a similar negative manner.
And when religion is taught in that negative manner - with a whole list of “Thou shall not’s” – it attempts to compel people to behave in a certain manner with the fear of the negative consequences that will occur if one fails to refrain from those activities.
Jesus takes the negative teaching that was familiar to His audience and He turns it completely upside down by commanding us to follow a “Golden Rule” that…IS – A positive ethic compelled by love.
Rabbi Hillel said this:
Do not do to your fellow what you hate to have done to you.
This is the whole law; the rest is explanation.
You’ll notice that Rabbi Hillel states this in a negative manner – “Do not do…” And if you examine the “Golden Rule” as it is taught by almost every other religion, you will find that it is almost always stated in a similar negative manner.
And when religion is taught in that negative manner - with a whole list of “Thou shall not’s” – it attempts to compel people to behave in a certain manner with the fear of the negative consequences that will occur if one fails to refrain from those activities.
Jesus takes the negative teaching that was familiar to His audience and He turns it completely upside down by commanding us to follow a “Golden Rule” that…IS – A positive ethic compelled by love.
There is to be a:
PERSISTENT RHTHYM TO PRAYER
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK…
PERSISTENT RHTHYM TO PRAYER
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK…
What is something you are asking, seeking, knocking for God to do in your life? What is something you'd like to ask, seek, knock for God to do in the life of someone else?
Let's all ASK, SEEK, KNOCK for God to move this week...
Let's all ASK, SEEK, KNOCK for God to move this week...
Thanks for partnering with us!
Thank you for enabling us to be the Church in our city! Your gifts help fuel the mission of Elements City Church, as well as our capacity to share His love with as many as we can. You help us bring the HOPE and LIGHT of Jesus to our city! You can give online at the link below or through the Elements app.
http://elementscitychurch.org/giveWhether you joined us on-site or online, thanks for being with us tonight!
May you have a blessed week ahead!
Join us next week as we continue our series in the Sermon on the Mount.
Be sure to check the Elements app for all of our upcoming events, like Family Night at the Zoo, this Saturday!
We look forward to gathering again next weekend!
May you have a blessed week ahead!
Join us next week as we continue our series in the Sermon on the Mount.
Be sure to check the Elements app for all of our upcoming events, like Family Night at the Zoo, this Saturday!
We look forward to gathering again next weekend!