Our passage today deals with God’s invitation and God’s generosity…we are given 3 commands:
--To Ask
--To Search
--To Knock

We are invited to continually and persistently ask, search and knock
Friends, wear God out with your prayers!

This Ask passage, as Frederick Dale Bruner calls it, is noteworthy because of the unconditional character of its promises.
Ask What, we may wonder?

The promises are open-ended…
As Bruner says, “whenever this passage is read with simple faith, it will take one’s breath away.”

But what about those other times…
--First, Jesus is making a point to his audience and calling out their lack of faith
--Second, our prayers are never not answered…we either get a “yes," a “not yet,” or a “no”
--Third, God’s ways are better than ours and God gives even better than we ever could give.


Do not carry the burden alone…
Oh what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer

The Golden Rule…our ethical guide to how we treat all

“Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.” —Rabbi Joachim Prinz

“Imitate the God of Love.” —John Wesley