Ask Seek Knock
Ask Seek Knock
Pastor Michael unpacks the meaning behind Jesus’ words in Luke 11:9–10: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Rather than treating these commands as repeated phrases, he presents them as a deliberate three-step process in prayer and faith: asking reflects our dependence on God as our loving Father; seeking shapes us as we pursue His will; and knocking calls us to take bold, faith-filled action. Drawing from personal experiences—including humorous moments from his youth and his journey to marriage—he illustrates how prayer involves both trust and persistence. He reminds the congregation that while not all prayers are answered immediately or in the way we expect, God delights in relationship and wants us to live lives that reflect dependence, spiritual growth, and courage. Pastor Michael also challenges believers not to treat God like a passive provider but to position themselves actively for His provision. The message concludes with a call to renew our devotional lives and trust God’s timing. Live a life marked by daily engagement with God through asking, seeking, and knocking.
Related Bible Verses
📖 Luke 11:9–10 (NLT)
🔗 Read on Bible.com: https://www.bible.com/bible/116/LUK.11.9-10.NLT
"And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
📖 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)
🔗 Read on Bible.com: https://www.bible.com/bible/116/2CO.3.18.NLT
"So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."
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ASK, SEEK, KNOCK: Understanding Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
Have you ever read Luke 11:9-10 and wondered why your prayers don't always get answered? Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." These words sound definitive—like a guarantee that whatever we ask for, we'll receive. Yet our experience often tells a different story.
So how do we reconcile this promise with reality? Is there something deeper Jesus is teaching us about prayer?
What Does "ASK" Really Mean?
When Jesus teaches about prayer, He isn't just repeating Himself three times with "ask," "seek," and "knock." Instead, He's giving us a three-step process for approaching God with our requests:
A - Ask
S - Seek
K - Knock
This isn't just a word; it's an acronym that reveals how prayer works in our relationship with God.
Asking: The Simplicity of Our Relationship with God
The first step is asking. This reflects the simplicity and dependency of our relationship with God.
Think about children—they constantly ask their parents for things. "Mom, can I have this?" "Dad, can you drive me here?" They do this because they trust in the relationship. They know their parents can provide for them.
This is exactly how God wants us to approach Him. When we ask God for things, we're acknowledging our dependency on Him. We're recognizing that He is our provider.
The Greek word used here is "ateo," which has an active voice. This means it's not a one-time request but a continuous action—a lifestyle of constantly asking God for things throughout your day:
When you wake up: "God, give me strength today."
When stuck in traffic: "Lord, help me love these people."
When facing a difficult conversation: "God, give me wisdom right now."
How much we ask God directly reflects our relationship with Him. When we stop asking, we're essentially saying, "I can handle this on my own." But a heart that continually asks shows dependency on our Heavenly Father.
Seeking: A Lifestyle That Shapes Us
The second step is seeking. This is about allowing God to shape our hearts through consistent time with Him.
Have you ever been to a Christian conference or camp where you felt on fire for God? But then Monday comes, and that fire starts to fade? This happens when we don't have a consistent devotional life.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, writes: "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become." Each time you spend time with God, you're casting a vote for becoming more like Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 confirms this: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory."
This is why seeking is so crucial. As we consistently seek God, our hearts align with His. Our immature or selfish requests begin to change. Either what we're asking for changes, or we receive what we're asking for because our desires have aligned with God's will.
Knocking: Taking Steps of Faith
The final step is knocking, which is about taking action.
In biblical times, if you wanted to see someone, you couldn't text or call. You had to physically go to their house and knock on their door. In that culture, it was considered rude not to welcome someone who knocked.
Many Christians treat God like Amazon Prime—we place our order through prayer and expect next-day delivery to our doorstep. But that's not how God works.
Sometimes God is waiting for us to get up, go to where the provision is, and start knocking on the door:
Praying for a job? How many applications have you filled out?
Asking for financial blessing? Are you being wise with your money?
Wanting to reach a family member? Have you taken steps to share your faith?
Knocking is about positioning ourselves to receive God's provision. It's taking a step of faith, saying, "God, I'm ready to move, I'm willing to act."
Life Application
God wants us to come to Him with our requests—no matter how big or small, mature or immature. He delights in our asking because it shows we trust Him as our provider. But true prayer doesn't stop there.
This week, I challenge you to implement the full ASK process:
Ask God for what you need throughout each day, acknowledging your dependency on Him.
Seek God consistently through His Word, prayer, and worship, allowing Him to align your heart with His.
Knock by taking practical steps of faith toward the provision you're seeking.
Ask yourself:
What am I currently asking God for? Am I approaching Him with childlike dependency?
How consistent is my time with God? Am I allowing Him to shape my desires?
What step of faith do I need to take to position myself for God's provision?
Remember, God isn't a distant deity who randomly answers prayers. He's a loving Father who wants to provide for you—but He also wants to transform you through the process. When we understand prayer as ASK (Ask, Seek, Knock), we'll experience not just answered prayers but a deeper relationship with the God who loves to give good gifts to His children.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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For those of you that don't know who I am, my name's Michael. I'm the youth pastor here at Connect Frankston. And, you know, if this is your first time to church, hey, can we just say a massive welcome to you? Can we just give a round of applause for those that have come here for the first time and maybe you're joining us online as well for the first time. Welcome.
It's good to have you here this morning, but, you know, just want to. Again, every time I come up here. I love to thank you guys for all your love and support with what's happening in youth, because we couldn't do it without all of your prayers and all of your encouragement. I know the team. Super appreciate it.
And can I just encourage you, church, that we're really seeing some awesome growth in our youth program. I mean, one thing that was really been on the hearts of everyone in the team is. We didn't just want to make Friday night a social night or just somewhere where people could come and hang out and play games. And those things are good. Those things are awesome.
But more than that, who knows that we need a generation to rise up that are big Bible believers. Amen. You know, we need kids that are going to rise up that are anchored onto the word of God. And you know, one thing that's really been just warming my heart is on a Friday night, we've been seeing, seen teenagers come with books in hand. Who would have thought, who would have thought we'd see the day where we've gone full circle?
They don't want to be on their phones anymore. All of our kids, they're bringing their Bible. Not all of them, but a lot of them are bringing their Bibles on a Friday night. And I see some of them are bringing out highlighters and highlighting different Bible verses. And it's just awesome to see.
But again, we couldn't do that without your support. So why don't you give yourselves a big round of applause and a hand. Thank you, church. But who wants to get into the Word this morning? Awesome.
Do we have that microphone there somewhere? I need a volunteer to come read the word. Athena, I bet you've got a great reading voice. Come on. Why don't we make some noise for Athena as she comes up?
And if you guys want to open up your Bibles as well. That's it. Come up here. We're going to be turning to Luke chapter 11, verse 9 to 10. And we've got it on the screen there as well.
Thanks, Athena. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives the one who seeks, finds.
And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Come on, let's make some noise for Athena. Thank you. Great job. Athena, if you don't know, is one of our awesome youth leaders coming every Friday night to speak into the lives of our young girls, which is awesome.
I'll read that again. Luke 11, 9, 10. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Everyone say ask. Seek and you will find.
Everyone say seek. Knock and the door will be open to you. Everyone say knock. God, we just really thank you for this opportunity this morning, Lord, to just get around your word, Father God. God, I just pray this morning that my words would not be my own words, but God, that they would be your words, Father God.
Holy Spirit fueled. Lord, and I just pray for any of us that have walked in today with burdens or with stress or anxiety. Father God, would you just really, just cut through all of that and just really come to our heart, Father God, and would you just speak to us in a new way, in the exact way that we need this morning, Father God? Lord, our eyes are open, our ears are open, our hearts are attentive to hear the word this morning. And everybody said, amen.
Amen. Luke 11, 9, 10. So I say to you, ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Hey, hands up if you've ever heard this Bible verse before. A lot of us, right, you don't need to be in church for more than, let's say five minutes before you kind of come across this verse and you hear it at least once in your life. But who knows that? This is actually a pretty confusing verse, isn't it? Because this is very definitive, isn't it?
There's no if, buts or maybes. The language that we get here is ask and it will be given to you. Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you.
I mean, I don't know about you church, but that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Deal. If all we need to do is just say to God, hey, God, this is what I want, I'm asking for it. You said in your word that you'd give it to me if I simply ask for it. Who knows?
That that sounds like a pretty good. Sounds a good deal, right? So I know what we're all gonna do. We're all just gonna go straight home and we're gonna go, God, I ask for a million dollars, God, would you make me rich? God, would you make me famous, Lord?
And Lord, I will use that platform to bring glory to your name. So God, you can trust me. Just make me famous, make me rich and I'm gonna bless your kingdom. Hey, can we be honest? Who's ever prayed that prayer before in their lives?
Come on, show of hands. I know I've done it. I've done it. You know, we've all done it before. We've all prayed these prayers that are prayed with boldness, but maybe not prayed with maturity.
Amen. You know, if you would go back to 16 year old Michael, there was, and I'm embarrassed to say this, but there was one prayer that was constantly on his mind. It's very embarrassing. 16 year old Michael, God would You just give me a girlfriend. God, would you just give me a girlfriend?
And I'm a bit of a. I'm a bit of a. I'm an emotional guy, right? I'm a bit of a SAP. Can I tell you the most embarrassing prayer I ever prayed to God in my life?
I would even say things like this. And you can laugh. This is embarrassing. I would say, God, you've given me such a big heart. It would be criminal for not me to love on someone with it, right?
Yuck. That's disgusting. Yeah, you're right, Justin. Big, big thumbs down on that one. Suffice to say, that's not what we're teaching young people in our youth program these days.
But you can understand the misunderstanding, can't you? Because. Because when we read a verse like this again, it's very definitive. The language is very final. Ask and it will.
Everyone say will ask and it will be given to you. But you and I, we both know that when we ask God for things, we don't always receive what we ask for. Is it. We can't just go home today and go, lord, would you give me a million dollars? And suddenly our bank account's just going to skyrocket.
It's not what's going to happen, right? You and me, we both know that. And so how do we reconcile this verse with what we know to be the actual reality in which we live in? How is it that we can keep faith in God and we can keep pursuing him, knowing that this is actually not altogether correct if we read it on a surface that level? Because we're not going to go home and pray for a million dollars and get that million dollars.
And so how do we go that? Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. It's something that all of us, we have to wrestle with, all of us, no matter if we've been a Christian for 10 minutes or 10 years, you're going to come to this place in your life where you realize that it's not as simple as maybe what you and I understand this verse to mean.
And so I want to look at that today and I want to look at how exploring this verse and talking about what I think it actually really says. And so we'll get into it. But I need everybody to say the word ask anytime you think of the word ask. I don't want you to think about the actual word. I want you to think of an acronym.
Who knows what an acronym is? Everyone understand what Acronym I've got to check for Justin. Oh, cool. You know, that's good.
Sorry, man. You're in the front row. You're going to get all the firing squad today. I want you to think of ASK as an acronym because ask is not just asking God for something. Ask is a three step process.
Step one is ironically asking A for asking, but then the S is seeking and then the K is knocking. It is awesome that that conveniently fits into the acronym ask. But I want you to think, anytime we think about asking God for something, we're not thinking about the word ask. We're thinking of ask, seek, knock. Everyone say ask, seek, knock.
It's a three step process. You, you see, when we read this verse, sometimes we can come to the conclusion that Jesus here, because these are the words of Jesus directly, Jesus is just repeating himself in three different ways. But I want to give you the idea this morning that that's not actually what's happening. And in fact, Jesus is giving us a three step process on how to ask God for things in your life. Because this verse, it's a part of a larger teaching that Jesus is doing on prayer.
Who sometimes struggles with prayer in their life, or is it just me? We've got a lot of holy people in the room that are much better Christians than me because we can struggle with praying, can't we? It can be difficult to kind of like make that time in your life to pray and seek God. And you know, it's one of those things that I find in the Christian life. It can go up and down.
We can have moments where we're really good at at it and then other moments where we're not so good at it. And you know what, that's okay, but we're always getting better and that's the main thing. But here Jesus is teaching about prayer and he's telling his disciples, here is how to pray. And he's bringing up things like the Lord's Prayer, you know, our God in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the same passage that we're getting that scripture from.
He's talking about how the Father in heaven likes to give his children good gifts. And a part of that gift, one of the greatest gifts he gives is the Holy Spirit. And all you need to do is pray for it. And so he's giving us this big teaching in prayer. And right in the middle of it, he gives us this three step process on how to ask God for things in your life.
So we're gonna jump into it. Everybody say, ask. Ask. I wanna propose to you. No, that was good.
That was good. Nah, that's my fault. I set you up. Yeah, you're very good, asking. I want to present to you the idea that asking is all about the simplicity of our relationship with God.
It's all about the simplicity of our relationship with God. Hey, who's got kids here this morning? We've got a lot of parents in the room. I'm a new parent myself. My daughter, you probably heard her screaming up the back there before.
She's getting very vocal. She's 15 weeks old. Is it 15?
That's all right. The wife doesn't know either, so we're clear on that one. Awesome. We both can't remember. That's it.
That's New Parent brain right there for you. But who knows that? Kids, more than anything else, love to ask mom and dad for things, don't they? Mom, can I have this? Mom, can I have that?
Hey, I'm hungry, Mum, come on. Can you make me some food? Dad, can you drive me to this place? Can you play basketball with me? That was one I always ask my dad for.
I'd be like, dad, could you just play basketball with me, please? Please? And then he would beat me. I'd be like, I don't want to play basketball with you anymore. But who knows?
The kids are always asking for things. Amen. You know, I made the bad decision a little while ago at Youth, where I gave a kid a free chocolate bar. They were a new kid. We do a Snack Shack and we charge for chocolates on a Friday night.
We give them a free meal. But if you want chocolates or, like fizzy drinks and stuff, you gotta pay extra. That's fair enough. But this kid, he was a new kid and he didn't have any money with. And he was looking at the chocolate, and I was like, oh, you know, you're all right, mate.
Have a free Mars Bar. That's all good. Hey, welcome to Connect Youth. As soon as every other kid found that out, they came swarming. It suddenly became like a room of seagulls.
Everyone's like, can I have a chocolate bar? Can I have a chocolate bar, please? Michael, can I have a chocolate bar? And who knows that the reason kids do that is because they have a trust and an understanding in the relationship that they have with you. Amen.
Kids ask their parents or other people in positions of leadership over them. They will ask them for things because they trust that the heart and the character of that person is to provide for their life. Amen. And who knows that this is the exact way that God likes to operate in our life? God loves to give gifts upon you.
If we were to read further in Luke, after the verse that we just read, the very next thing that Jesus says is that the Father loves. He loves to give his children gifts. It is a sign of the relationship that we have with him when we go and ask God for things. It is a recognition that we know that he can provide those things. Amen.
We wouldn't go to anybody, we wouldn't ask anybody anything if we didn't already think that they could provide that thing for us. You know, nobody's going up to a stranger and going, hey, mate, can you give me a. Can you just give me a bit of money for lunch? You know, no one's going up to a stranger and doing that. But you go to your parents as a kid and you go, hey, Mom, I don't have any lunch.
Can you give me a bit of money? You know that there's a good chance that they will bring provision in one way or another. Amen. Can I suggest to you this morning that God loves operating in this way with us? He absolutely loves it.
And I think that's part of the reason why in the Bible, we as Christians are often described as the children of God. It's really dictating the sort of relationship that we have with Him. But who knows this, right? We've all probably experienced this in our life. I guarantee it.
When you grow up, when you move from being a child and you're living with your parents and start getting a bit independent, independent, you move out of home, you move away from your parents. Who knows that there's a little bit of pride that's taken in. I don't need my parents anymore. I'm my own person. I'm independent now.
I don't need to ask my parents for anything anymore. You know, this was me as a kid. I loved being independent. I loved being independent. I love doing things myself.
I love getting in there and learning new things. And so I was always like, very much growing up, I was. Was like, mom, the sooner I don't need you, the better. I want to make all my lunches. I'm going to do all my laundry.
I'm going to cook my own food. I'm going to. I loved it. If there was a way I could be independent, I loved doing it. But, you know, that was a sign of a relationship that is changing.
Because once we were dependent on our parents, we would freely go and ask them, but as we became more independent, we would ask our parents for things less and less and less and less. Right? And so I want to present to you this morning the idea that really the amount that we are asking God for things directly shows the sort of relationship that we have with Him. See, if we live our life and we are constantly asking God for things, it shows us that our heart is still positioned in the world way that we know that we are dependent on a heavenly father. But if we stop asking him for things, that is a heart that is positioned to say, I can do it all in my own strength, I can do it all under my own control.
And come on, Church, who knows that that might work for a little bit, but we all need to be dependent on Jesus. Amen. We all need to be dependent on God. You can try and go do things by yourself for a while and maybe it works for you, you, but you'll get tired, you'll get bitter, you'll get angry at God about certain things because who knows that we all need to be dependent on Him. Amen.
I'm going to embarrass one of our youth guys, Tyler, a little bit and I hope you don't mind me sharing this. Just start shouting if you, if you don't want it. But, you know, we had youth on Friday and we took a bunch of the older boys, we got some KFC and we did a Bible study around kfc. You know, really whole holy stuff, really holy stuff.
And Tyler actually said something that I thought was like quite profound and he might not have realized he said something really profound. But I was really taken back by it because we were doing a study on sowing and reaping and what that means for us in our daily life. And Tyler shared and he said, we were talking about our devotional life and Tyler had mentioned, he said, you know, I am so dependent on God every single day, day. I have to get up in the morning, I have to do my devotion because if I don't, I'm directly affected later in that day. My attitude is worse, my outlook on life is worse.
I am super dependent on God, man. Who knows that that is a heart that is seeking God. Let's give a round of applause for Tyler. What a champion.
But you know, church, isn't this the way that we're all meant to be living our lives? Amen. Amen. We are all meant to be living a life where we are super dependent on God and we are asking God for everything. And you know, I want to quickly share, if we could pull that verse up again, that would be awesome.
Says ask and it will be given to you. Do you know the Greek word? Because the original words that Jesus was speaking was in Greek because he was speaking to Greek people. The original Greek word that is used here is a word called ateo. Everybody say ate.
Athena, how was that Greek pronunciation? Did everyone pass? All right, as a resident Greek speaker, Athena says, you guys did good. So give yourself a round of applause. Or don't, you know, whatever.
Nobody, everyone's like, all right, just get on with it. Ateo. The Greek word is ateo. Do you know this word in the Greek has something called an active voice? Basically what that means is that this is not talking about, about a one time deal.
It is talking about something that you live out actively. It is something that doesn't end, it doesn't stop. It is something that continually keeps on going. And see, when it says here, ask and it will be given to you, it's not saying, make your prayer or your request known to God by writing down a letter, one time thing, send that up to heaven and then maybe you wait a couple of weeks to hear back from them. No, what this is talking about is, it's talking about a lifestyle where you are actively asking for things every single moment of your day.
Just like Tyler was where he's going, I must seek the Lord. I must have devotion with him. This is what that sort of heart looks like. You wake up, you get out of bed. God, would you just bless me today?
Lord, would you just come and give me strength today? Who knows that coffee is pretty good at getting us up in the morning, but who knows that God is a lot better? Amen. We can't just rely on coffee. I'm preaching to myself, I love coffee.
But we're going to have the heart where we get up out of bed and we go, God, would you bless me? God, would you give me strength? Maybe we get in the car and now we're stuck in peak hour traffic, starting to get a bit stressed. Oh, God, would you just, would you just help me to love on these people? Because that's not what I naturally want to do right now.
But God, would you help me to love on these people? Maybe you get to work and things are going good and you say, God, thank you, thank you. Would you continue this blessing to be on my workplace? Would you continue to have your hand of blessing upon my life? But then maybe the manager comes in and they're Stressed, and they're taking a little bit out on you, and you just, you know, under your breath in that moment, you're just saying, God, would you help me to have wisdom?
Give me the right words right now. Come on. Who knows that when you ask God for things, you are showing that you were dependent on a heavenly father? Amen. You're not.
You're saying that you can't do it in your own strength. You're recognizing that in everything that we do do, no matter how small, no matter how large it is everything, we need the grace of God in our lives. Amen. It is a sign of our relationship with him. Either we're asking him for things and we're showing we're dependent, or we're not asking, and we're just kind of comfortable knowing that we can do it in our own strength.
Amen. Asking. Everybody say seek.
Now seek. I want to present to you the idea that seeking is all about a lifestyle that shapes us. Remember, ask is not a word. It's an acronym. A, S, K.
Asking. Seeking. Knocking. Seeking. It's a lifestyle that shapes us.
You know, when I was growing up in youth, I loved going to youth camps. Who's been to some great youth camp camps in their life? We just had one. So every youth should be putting up their hand as well. Thank you, guys.
Appreciate that. Thank you. Up the back. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Yeah, we. You know, if you've been around a Christian block for a while, you'd know that. Grant, growing up in the church, you go to a youth camp or, you know, maybe in your adult life, you go to a conference or something like that, and you just get that moment where you're on fire for God, aren't you? And it's like you've just drinking 10 spiritual cups of coffee and you're zinging. You're like, yes, God, thank you.
Come on. This is awesome. I love Jesus. You pretty much act like how Steve acts every single day. That's what it's like when you get that conference experience.
But who knows that more often than not, you can have that moment where you're super on fire for God. You feel really on fire. You feel really excited to share the gospel. But then you get back to your work on Monday and things start to cool down. The stresses start to come in a little bit more, and you start to.
That fire that was inside of you just starts to die a little bit. Right? I remember growing up, this is something I would. I would struggle with a lot because I'd go to These youth camps, and I'd be like, yes, I'm on fire for God. Awesome.
But if I'm really honest, I didn't have a great devotional life when I was 13 and 14, as I would come back from those camps. And even though I was playing guitar at church at that time and serving him in different ways, I was on the kids ministry at that time. And I thought I was being a good Christian because I was serving him and I was going to these camps and I was getting on fire for God because I wasn't seeking God in my everyday life. Everything else started to fade. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself back in that position of just like.
Just a lukewarm Christmas Christian, just a mediocre Christian, you know? I love this quote. It's by a guy named James Clear. He wrote a book named Atomic Habits. Has anyone ever read that book, Atomic Habits?
Oh, a few people. Hey, can I encourage you? Atomic Habits is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It is basically a book on how to establish habits and how to kind of rewire the brain in order to make establishing new habits easier. It's a phenomenal book.
But James Clees has this amazing quote in it. I'm going to read it. It says, every action that you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. I'll read that again. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
No single instance will transform your beliefs. But as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. Man, I love. I love that. So does the evidence of your new identity.
This is the one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change.
Basically, what James Clear is saying here is that every action in your life is a vote for the type of person that you want to be. And so every time you spend time with God, every time you open up your Bible or you pray or you have a moment of worship, you're casting a vote that you want to be more like Christ and Amen. But then when you get home and the new season of Andor comes out and you spend 10 hours binge watching that, that's a vote for something entirely different, right? And really, it's not saying that that's a bad thing, but at the end of the week, all of those votes are gonna tally up, and the one that is more consistent, that is going to be your new identity. That is gonna be your new identity.
You know, and it says this in the Bible as well. It says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, 18. And I think we got it on the screen there, it says as well says this verse 18. And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory. All that means is that it's talking about the unveiling of ignorance of God.
So for those of you that have seen and experienced God are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. What this is telling us, Church, is that every time that we spend a moment with God, Jesus Christ is changing us to be a little bit more like Him. Every moment that we do that, just like James Clear is saying with the votes, every moment we're casting a vote for the new identity that we want in Christ. And you know what that does, Church, is that over time that aligns our hearts with Him. So you know what, 16 year old Michael that's at the front of Church with his arms raised going, God, I just want a girlfriend.
God, would you give me a girlfriend? As he's seeking God, you know what's happening? His heart is being realigned with the Spirit. And then he comes to the realization that, you know what mate, you're not actually ready for that. You think you want that, but you do not want that at the moment.
Mainly because your wife's still in England and there's no way that you're going to meet her yet. But this is what happens church. This is why it's so important to take this three step process. A S K, ask, seek, knock. Because yes, we should ask God for things.
And even if those things are immature or selfish, it doesn't matter. I didn't say it before, but actually the word in the Greek, ask, it can be translated to also mean demand as well. So either you're asking God for things or you're continually demanding him for things, it doesn't matter. Jesus is saying both are fine. He just wants you to come before him and make your requests known.
Amen. Because what happens is, is that you're going to come and you're going to ask him for things. But as you seek God, your heart and God's Spirit are going to become more in alignment. So either the things that you are asking for change or you get the thing that you're asking for. This is why we can have confidence that ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find. Because when your heart is in line with the interest of God, everything starts to unlock in your life. Can I tell you, I have never not had a provision from God. I've asked for things that are ridiculous before, of course, we all have. But when my prayers and my interests have become the interests of the Father, things start to change in your life.
Amen. Things start to happen. Amen. Everybody say knock, Knock. This is the last one of the three step process that Jesus gives us.
And knock and the door will be opened to you. The important thing to remember about knock is that you have to understand the historical context in which Jesus is giving this teaching. Because back in the day, in the Bible times, I know it's very hard to believe, but they didn't actually have iPhones. I know you tell the youth that and they're like, what? I can't imagine a life without my phone.
What are you talking about? Jesus didn't have TikTok. That's crazy. They didn't have any way to instantly communicate with each other. And so, you know, if you wanted to hang out with someone, if you wanted to spend time with someone, you couldn't just call them on the phone or text them and say, hey, are you free today?
Do you want to hang out? Out? Do you know what you would have to do? You would have to get dressed, get up out of bed, get out of your pajamas. Everyone that you knew lived within a 10 minute walk of your house.
So you would leave your house, you would go down the street. Doesn't matter if it's good weather or bad weather, you would get out of your house, you'd go to their house and you would just knock on their door and you'd say, hey, Steve, are you free to hang out? I'd love if we could help. And you know, in that culture they would consider themselves to be a hospitality culture. And what that meant is that it was actually considered rude if you didn't answer the door and invite them in to share in hospitality.
Didn't matter what you were doing, whether you were cleaning the house or sorting something out, didn't matter. The culture of that day was that if someone's knocking on your door that you're going, you're bringing them in. And there's a trust there that if you go to someone's house that you will be provided for. Do you know what this means for our lives, for you and for me? Because I know how we all think, right?
We can pray to God, like, God is like the amazing Amazon. Next day delivery. Let me tell you, my wife Gabs, she is loving Amazon at the moment. She's at home a lot with our new daughter, Raya. And, you know, she needs things, baby things.
And so I'm just finding more and more that there are people knocking on our door and delivering us packages. And I go, oh, I didn't know we were expecting a package. And I just hear my wife say, whoopsie. Oh, I forgot to tell you about that one. Yeah, fool knows what I'm talking about.
Yeah. Any other husbands know what we're talking about? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We've had a lot of packages come to our door, and it's awesome.
It's so convenient. You just get on your little phone, you just click on Buy it now. You don't even notice the money's gone out of your bank because it just happened so quickly. And then the next day, someone rocks up your door, knocking at your door, here's your package, here's your delivery. Here's the thing that you wanted.
And who knows that we can really treat God like this? Sometimes we pray to God like it's an Amazon on order for it. You know, I've got my spiritual card details here. I've got salvation card details. Put those in Buy.
Awesome. Thanks, God. Wait for it in the mail. But this is not how God works. And I want to propose to you that maybe some of you are here this morning and you've been waiting for your prayer to be delivered to your door.
But actually, in fact, God is encouraging you today to get up out of your house, go to where that provision is, and start knocking on the door. Come on. Maybe you're here today and you've been waiting for this parcel to come to you, and God is saying to you, I need you to get up out of bed spiritually, go down to where that provision is and just start knocking on the door. Amen. Come on.
God wants us to move. I've talked to too many Christians where they've said, I'm just. I'm really praying for financial blessing. I'm really praying for a new job. And I asked them the question, well, how many job applications have you filled out this week?
Are you being wise with your money, or are you just expecting God to fund whatever your lifestyle is? Are you actually living within your means? Because it's very easy for us to get all this over here and then just go, God, what am I doing? But really what God is asking is this. We need to ask him.
We need to seek Him. But then we also need to get up, start knocking on the door of provision and saying, God, I'm trusting that you're coming through. I am physically positioned Ready to receive. Amen. Ready to receive.
We got to get up, we got to get out and we gotta go. You know, one of the biggest provisions that God has ever put in my life is my amazing and beautiful wife, Gabrielle. She is an awesome wife, but do you know, I'm really grateful for this. Do you know, when I found out that she had a crush on me, I was way too scared to go ask her out. I was way too scared to go ask her out.
I was terrified because I didn't want that rejection, I didn't want that awkwardness. And actually one of her friends had actually come and told me, hey, she likes you, she's into you. If you ask her out, she will say yes. Even with that sort of confirmation, I still felt terrified. And I was just.
I didn't want to go actually do it. And one of my friends, great man, who's one of our fellow youth leaders, a man named Ryan Hudson, he came to our house one day and he basically heard all this as I was telling him. And he just looked me in the face of the. And he's like, are you an idiot? What are you doing?
Call this girl now. He was like, do you like her? And I was like, yeah, I really like her. And wait, what? So.
And she likes you. You know that for sure? I was like, yeah, I know that. Yeah, a friend told me. So what are you doing?
Get on the phone right now and call her. And that man would not leave me alone until in that moment I called Gabriel Gabrielle. And you know, I actually did. I was like, oh, yeah, you're right. All right, cool.
So with him in the next room, I went into. This is so embarrassing. I went into my room and I was too afraid that he would hear our conversation. So I actually went into my closet and I was like, I was sitting in my closet so he wouldn't hear my phone call. And I had my hand up like this, so I didn't want anyone to hear.
And I called her and I asked her out. And who knows, man? One thing led to another. Now it was been married six years, you know, now who knows Sometimes here's the thing. 16 year old me, oh God, I want a girlfriend.
God, I want a girlfriend. God had to tell me, hey, buddy, just chill out, all right? You're not ready. Was asking, even though it was immature, I was asking. But then in seeking God as I got better in my devotional life, my heart and the heart of the spirit in alignment.
And I realized, you know what? Okay, I'm not ready. I'M gonna wait. I'm gonna wait. You know, Gabrielle is the only girl I've.
I've held hands with. She's the only girl I've ever kissed. I'm super proud of that. But, you know, it might not have been that way if I wasn't seeking God and coming into alignment with his spirit. And then in that, even when the provision had presented itself and God said, hey, there's a knock on, there's a door that's gonna be open for you, I had to get.
Get up out of my comfort zone and just start knocking on that door. Amen. And I want to encourage you all here today, maybe some of you are here today and you've stopped asking God for things.
Maybe previously you've asked God for things and it hasn't quite worked out the way that you wanted. And so you thought, oh, is God really my Jehovah Jireh? Is he really my provider? Maybe you've said, stop asking God for things. Can I encourage you?
God wants you to keep asking him for things. It's a sign of your relationship. You are the child, he is the parent. He wants you to ask him for things. He delights in it, actually.
And we can sometimes think that we've got to get right or we've got to get clean, or we've got to get holy before coming to God for these things. But can I tell you, you, God does not care if you're righteous. He just wants you to be real. Keep asking God for things. But then in that asking, don't just stop there.
Don't just ask and then expect God to just deliver whatever it is that a million dollars, that promise to be famous. You got to seek God. You got to get in your word Church. You got to meditate on his word. You got to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
You're gonna let the Holy Spirit talk to you and start changing some of the ideas that you've got in your life. You're gonna be able to come to him real and just go, God, I'm open for you to change my life. You're casting those votes, spending time in the Word. I'm casting a vote. I'm spending time in prayer.
I'm casting a vote, just like James Clear says. And then the evidence, those votes tallied will be the evidence of your new identity and Christ. Amen. Your heart, the spirit's will coming in to alignment.
But then, church, you've got to be brave. Knocking is all about taking a step of faith. It's acknowledging that God is not just like the free Amazon delivery that comes and knocks on your door. You actually got to leave your home and start knocking on the door. That, you know, provision is on the other side.
Position, position yourselves as a step of faith to say, God, I'm ready. I'm willing to move, I'm willing to act. That job promotion that maybe I'm a little bit too scared to go for, hey, I'm gonna position myself to ready to receive that blessing. Maybe there's that family member that isn't saved in your life at the moment and you're a little bit too scared to show the gospel. You gotta take that step of faith to see the provision come.
Amen. You gotta be willing to, Willing to share, willing to come out of your comfort zone and start knocking on that door of that provision. Amen. So if we could just do something real quick, if everyone could bow your heads and just close your eyes where you are.
You know, I never want to leave an opportunity like this without asking this question. Because you might be here this morning and you might not have actually known that there is a God in heaven that thinks this way about you. That there is a God that actually delights in giving you the things of your heart. Can I tell you this morning that. That God is real, that God is ever present, that a lot of us in this room, we are experiencing God right now, we have an active relationship with God.
And maybe you're here this morning and you don't have that active relationship. And I want to give you the chance this morning to accept him into your life. Because our God, our loving God, was separated from you by sin. And so what he did is he sent his only son, Jesus, to come to this earth who died on a cross, died a vicious, vicious death. Died.
But then three days later, under the power of the Holy Spirit, rose from the grave, conquered death, conquered death so that you could have relationship with God as well. In doing that, he became the sacrificial lamb that paid for all your sins. The one that had never committed a sin himself said, I want to take on the punishment of every other person's sin. I will die for it, but then I will rise again, conquering death, conquering, conquering the shame, conquering the punishment that came along with your sin. So maybe you're here this morning and you don't know that for yourself.
Can I encourage you? It says in the Bible that if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that he will save you from that Same punishment of death, separation from from God. And on top of that, everything I've said just up to this point, God is a God that is a loving God. He is not a distant God. He doesn't forsake you.
He doesn't pass you by. He loves you deeply and he wants to bless you in your life. And if maybe you're here this morning and you don't know God or you haven't accepted Jesus, but you would like to do that this morning while nobody's looking around, everybody's heads bows, everybody's eyes closed, if you're here this morning and you want to make that decision for the first time in your life, could you just raise your hand where you are? Because I would love to pray for you today.
Don't be afraid. I'm not asking if you've been to church before. I'm not asking if you got everything figured out. I'm just simply asking do you have a relationship with God or not this morning? Have you ever accepted him into your life?
You want to do that? Awesome. Thank you for that hand.
Come on. We're all going to pray this prayer. We're going to do the confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord part. And in doing so, we're going to accept his salvation for our lives. So we're all going to pray this prayer together.
So everybody repeat after me, say, dear God, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Would you help me right now choose you every day in my life? God, I accept your salvation. I accept Jesus death on the cross and make him my Lord and Savior. Believe this in my heart and Jesus, Jesus name and everybody said amen.
Come on. Can we give a round of applause for those that prayed that for the first time this morning? Awesome.
Now we'll do one last thing and then we'll finish up. If everyone could just stand to your feet, you know, can I say to you that what I was been what I've been preaching about this morning, it's not some good idea, it's not some insight into the human brain. This is spiritual truth. This is factual. There's no if, buts or maybes.
We ask God, we seek God, we knock on the door and things will move in your life. And I know that there are some of you here today where you are really believing God for provision. There are big prayers that you're asking in your life and maybe something I've said to you. Whether it's the asking, recognizing that relationship or the seeking living the lifestyle where he changes you or knocking, taking that step of faith. Maybe you're here this morning and one of those things is speaking to you.
I would just love, as we begin to worship, if you just lift your hands where you are right now, because I would love to. To pray for you. If you're saying I need to improve in one of those things, I need God to move. Come on, don't be afraid. He's saying, come on, I want you to move, God.
Come on, I need you, God. I'm asking for you to move again, God. I'm asking you for provision, Lord. I'm seeking you, God. I'm knocking on that door.
God, give me the strength to knock on that door. If that's you this morning, just raise your hand because I'd love to pray for you this morning.
Come on, God. We just really pray for every single person here, Lord. We just pray that you would help them, Lord, to not just keep this word here in their heart, but Father God, I pray that would follow them home, Lord, then when they get home, that they would start to live a lifestyle that is asking you for things, God, that is recognizing that relationship. But more than that, God, they're seeking you. They're seeking you.
They're chasing after you. They're getting in their word, they're getting in prayer, they're getting in worship and really just seeking you, God. And Lord, I pray that in that moment that you would reveal to them what is of your heart. And in that moment that you would give them a strength and a boldness to go and knock on that door, Lord. And so, Father God, I just thank youk for what yout're doing in these lives of these people.
Come on, why don't we just sing this out as we worship?
Come on. Who knows that when we praise the name of God, things start to change. Amen. Come on, let's lift our voice.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Throw up my head. Praise you again and again, God. We just thank you, Father, that you are not a distant God, but you are a God. God that deeply cares about the things that we're going through, Father God, I just pray today that as we leave this place that you would go with us in power, Lord.
And that we would know that all we need to do, God, is ask you, seek you, knock on the door and you will provide as we pray these things, Lord, that you will move in our life. And come on, everybody in this place said amen.
Well, church, hey, that's all that we've got time for. This morning. Can I get everybody to do one thing? Turn to the person next to you and say, let's get a coffee.
Ra.