Lord, Teach Us How To Pray (Part 3)

To see you this morning. Thank you for being here.

If you have your Bible, it's turning with me to

Luke chapter eleven. This morning, Luke chapter eleven, it's all

over my sermon. The Lord teaches us how to pray.

The last few weeks we've been doing a serious on

prayer and Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray, and

that's been our goal, is to the Lord to teach

us how to pray. As we kind of walked through

the last few weeks, it's almost the Lord kind of

giving us a little pattern. He kind of begins as

teaching us what to pray by teaching us the Lord's prayer.

Last week he kind of teaches us how to pray

and what our attitude should be in prayer. And this

morning he really evaluates why we should prayer and talks

us through why we should pray.

To the Lord. You know, I don't know if you

ever ask questions about yourself and why you do certain things.

Maybe you have certain habits and maybe every wonder like

why do I do what I do? Why do I

do these same things when I have these habits? And

you know, one thing that I have a habit of

you've heard me talk about is I like to run,

and I have the habit of doing that.

I'll probably do it three or four times a week.

And I even have a habit of how I get

ready for the run, things that I carry when I'm running.

I kind of follow the same pattern. I run the

same track, I've run the same path. And yesterday I

was running my little pattern, right, my little habit of running.

On Saturday mornings, I ran and on my I was

crossing every Alexander in one seven and I tripped on

something in the road and fell. Well, so now I'm

evaluating my habits. Why do I run? I'm getting too

old for this, you know?

Why should I do?

Well?

What should I do? Should I continue to run? Should

I change my habits?

And so I have come to conclusion today that I

am going to continue to run, but I'm changing my

habits and the future runs gonna carry a niaspor.

And band aids with me on every run.

But over the as we come to Luke chapter eleven,

I'll joke aside the Lord is as asking us to consider.

What spiritual habits we have? What are things that we have?

It like, do we have that habit of prayer. That's

one of the things he's teaching us.

And he's really wanting us to evaluate this morning.

Okay, when you pray, why do you pray? Why should

you pray?

And this morning he's teaching us why should we pray

to the Father? Why should we have this habit of prayer?

And why should we pray to the Father? So I

pray this morning.

The Lord will teach you and I what spiritual habits

you and I are to have together, and why should

we have these habits?

And why should we pray to the Father. Let's stand

together and let's read God's word together. It's Luke chapter eleven.

When we're starting verse nine this morning, and just go

through versus thirteen.

This is what it says here.

He says, I tell you ask and it will be

given to you. Seek and you will find knocking. It

will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and.

The one who seeks fine, and the one who nods

it will be open. What Father among you if his

son asked for a fish, instead of a fish, gives

him a serpent, Or if he asked for an egg,

would you give him a scorpion? If you then, who

are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children?

How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy

Spirit to those who ask him. Let's pray together, Lord,

we love you. Lord.

I pray today as we come into this place, Lord.

To meet you, to be in your presence, to hear

your word. Lord, I pray, and we ask today as

a congregation that you.

Meet us in this place. Lord.

We have sent your presence already in song and worship,

and God, we ask the Lord that you'll continue to.

Move within our hearts, move within our thoughts.

Lord, that everything we say and do this morning would

bring you honor and glory. That God, you would use

the things that we hear today, the word that we

hear today to.

Draw us closer to you. Lord.

I pray that you would that I might decrease and

you would increase in Lord, the words of my mouth

and meditation of my heart would be.

Pleasing Lord to you, and Lord.

Today you would use your spirit to take your word

and to speak to our hearts.

So Lord, lead us.

Now we pray, Amen, maybe seated, So this morning, the

Lord's teaching us why should we pray?

Why should we have the habit of prayer. And first because.

Because he is a good father who responds, why should

we pray? Why should we have their habit of prayer?

Because he is a good father who responds. You know,

last few weeks, as we're walking through this kind of

the first week he was talking of, he kind of

gives us an instruction zone how to pray, kind of

a pattern, a model, a prayer we would call it.

In the first part of this his instructions. Last week

he talked about our kind of our attitude of and prayer,

and he gave us a parable to kind of give

us the idea of what our attitude what should be about.

And he gave us a parable about traveling become a

Visit's a friend and it's in a mill of the

nine and he doesn't.

Have any bread.

And so this homeowner goes to his friend in the

middle of the night, and his friend is who is

inbadded to his children. He's a little grumpy that he

woke him up, but he gets up and he provides

bread because he boldly asks. And so the Lord taught

us how when we pray, we should have the attitude

of being bold ass to the Lord. This morning he's

taking that parable and he's applying it, and he kind

of gives us some instructions or better, yeah, let's say commands.

He tells us, there are some things that you and

I should do.

We should boldly ask of the Lord. And this is

what he says. He says in verse nine, He says,

I tell you right, because of this gruppy neighbor answer,

because of the boldness of his friend, he tells you

and I therefore, yeah, I tell you listening, He says,

ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find, knock and it will be

open to you. I encourage you.

He gives us three commands in this passage of scripture

where these these words in the Greek are imperatives, so

that means commands, and they're in the Greek present tense,

and it means like to continue. This is not just

a one time thing, but this is something that we

are continuing to do. He gives the idea of an

ongoing thing that we should continue to do aka habit.

And he says to you, and I should ask, seek,

and knock. So I would even encourage you.

If you're taking notes, right, there's in your notes or

write that near your Bible.

God commands us to ask, seek, and knock.

If you think about these three imperatives, they all kind

of have different approaches. Asking is Jesus' invitation for us

to pray. You ask things in prayer. Seek is the

invitation for us to pursue God and to pursue his will.

You know, if you I don't know about you, I'm

notorious for losing my keys or something, my AirPods or

something in the house. And when I do that, I

go on a search mode. Right, I seek and I'm

looking around trying to find that. And that's the imagery.

God wants you and I to ask him for things.

But there he also wants to to seek him for things.

He wants to seek him to know him. He wants

to just seek him in knowing his will for something.

And then third, the last invitation that he tells us

commands us is to knock.

And that's an.

Invitation to ask or to ask for God's presence. You know,

if I go to your house and and I go

visit your house, I knock on the door. If you

open the door, I'm gonna be in your presence. It's

an invitation Lord, come and open the door, allow me

to come in and be.

Present among you.

I wonder sometimes, as we think about these habits of prayer,

that this, this desire for the Lord, commands us.

He wants us to continue to do these things right.

He doesn't say ask one time, or pray one time,

or seek one time and move on, or keep or

just knock one time.

No, he wants us to continue to have these as

a habit.

I wonder sometimes is one of our issues while we

don't hear maybe God answer prayers, or maybe we don't

find what we want from the Lord, or find God's will,

or find God's plan, or even understand who God is,

or maybe we don't maybe feel God's.

Presence in our life, and the result is because we're

not in a habit of doing it. We don't daily pray,

we don't.

Daily search search for God's will or God's plan or

to know God. We don't daily really want God's presence

in our life. Heard of a woman one time, and

she had lost a she'd went to a hotel and

stayed at a hotel overnight, and she had this really

nice piece of jury. It was a diamond piece of jurry.

And she went home and she realized this was back

for a email and different things text message. She realized

that she left it at the hotel, so she called

the hotel.

You know. The guy at the desk took her call

and she says, hey, I left this in this room

to something, and it was this very expensive diamond piece

of jewelry. Would you go look for it? So the

guy the counter kind of put the phone down. You're

back in the day. How hold you just laid it down,

you know. He goes and he searched and went into

the safe and he found the piece of jewelry that

she was talking about.

When he got back to the phone to pick up

the phone and says, ma'am, I want to tell you

I found your She was there. She was not patient

enough to wait for him to go search that she

never found out.

That he had her piece of a jewelry.

I think sometimes I says, right, well, you go to

the Lord in prayer and we're asking God to do

something in our life, or maybe we're searching for God

to show us what his plan for us is, or

her searching didn't know who God is, or maybe we

maybe not on a Sunday morning, God, I really want

your presence in my life like you are here on

Sunday morning. I want your presence of my life on

Monday morning. God, I feel you here in the sanctuary.

I want to feel you moving and working in my

life on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. But we ask and we not,

and we only do it once, and so therefore we're

not We're not patient enough to.

Wait on the Lord.

You know. One of my favorite passages of stories in

Scripture is Jacob in Genesis thirty two. There's one thing

Jacob wanted his whole life, and what was it.

He wanted the blessing of God.

There's nothing more than he ever wanted from the Lord

was God's blessings in his life. So much so he

deceived his brother for a bowl of suit to get

the birthright, which was the blessing right.

And even that it wasn't enough.

So much he would go on later to deceive his

father right to get the birthright and the blessing from

his father.

But it wasn't enough.

All the deception, all the manipulation of deceiving his brother,

deceiving his father, he still didn't have God's blessing in

his life.

One night, he was on his way home, and he

was went down for bed that night.

And scripture tells us in Genesis third two, God met

Jacob that night and he wrestled with Jacob all night long.

Scripture says they wrestled back and forth all night and

at the end of the at the end of the night,

the morning was coming. It was about the son was

about to rise, and the Lord said to Jacob, let

me go. You know what, Jacob says, I will not

let go into what you bless me. So much so

that the angel of the Lord or God himself, touched

Jacob's hip and his hip came out of socket, and

he says, let me go. And Jacob says, I will

not let you go unto you what blessed me. I

wonder where you are this morning when you think about

this and you're evaluating who you are. You're evaluating whether

you pray, or whether you seek God, or whether you

ask for God's presence. Which one of you were in

the story? Are you Jacob? That says God? I really today, God,

I really need you to provide something in my life. God.

I'm really looking for your provisions in my life of God.

I really need to know your plan for me and

what you're doing in my life or what you're gonna

do in the life of my family, or God.

I just I really, really really want your presence.

Are you the lady who calls God and leaves God

on Sunday morning here, but you never.

Seek Him the rest of the week?

Or you Jacob and says God, I am not gonna.

Let you go. God. I'm not gonna stop praying God.

I'm not gonna stop knocking God. I'm not gonna stop.

Seeking until God, I see you moving my life. You

see this, Jacob, I mean you see in this passage Jesus.

Inviting us.

To pray, ask, keep on asking, seeking, keep on seeking,

knock and keep on knocking.

I wonder today, where are you? Who are you? I wonder?

Is the Lord leading you? Just say?

You know what? I want to be an individual adjus

who keeps praying. I don't know if you heard the

story of a lady named Angela. Y'all, we've been who's

your One prayer this month and praying.

For our Who's your one? Who are lost loved ones.

Angela was a mom and her son was lost, and

she prayed for years. She would even spend thirty nine

consecutive days, fasting and praying that God would save her son,

not just once, but continually seeking, would.

Not stop praying until God answer her prayer to save

her sons. I wonder you, Todave.

Maybe you're here and you're like, I don't understand why

this happened in my life. I don't understand why this

suffering happened in my life. I don't understand why God's

allowed me to go through some things today. Would you say, like, David,

you know, David's a beautiful example. In Scriptures fifty six

through fifty eight, David so ought to understand why God

allowed suffering in his life, and he continually seek God

to bring judgment on those who hurt him, those who

attacked him, but also that God.

Would give him understanding of why it happened to him.

Where if that's you today, say God, I'm not gonna

stop seeking until I understand why this is happening in

my life today.

Word you just say simply, Lord, I maybe you're here

today and.

You just feel dry spiritually. I just God, I just

don't feel you moving in my life. I'll say you're

working in my life. We say, God, I'm not gonna stop.

Knocking until God, I feel your presence in my life.

Why why should we keep knocking? Why should we keep praying?

Why should we keep seeking the Lord? Why?

Because listen? Because of God is a good father who responds.

I love this because.

He tells us like ask, right, pray, seek, and.

Not why listen, because I will respond. The Father will respond.

Listen to the passage in verse nine. He says, I

tell you listen to for every imperative, there's a response

you see that ask. Listen to verse nine and it

will be given to you. Seek and you will find,

knock and it will be upen to you. For every

imperative there is a response by the Father. Can I

tell you God promises. Jesus promises according to his word.

In every way you pursue God, whether there's asking, seeking,

or knocking, God has a way to respond to your

every need. Now I want to I want to just

caution you, no is an answer right, Not now is

an answer. Sometimes God's answer to your asking or maybe

you're seeking is not now.

Maybe it just keeps.

For angela Yon, it was many, many months and months

and years of God saying not now, not now. But

God was answering, and God will answer.

Us if we continue to seek him.

I remember, I love this passage because look what it says,

and it gives a response.

But look at what it says in verse ten.

It describes even something else for us.

In Verse ten says, for everyone who asks receives.

And the one who seeks fines, and the one who

knocks will be open. He goes in further to tell us,

then not only will he respond, but who will he

respond to? First tells ten tells us he responds to everyone.

I don't know if you're if you have siblings, but

I know I have.

Two siblings that I'm the youngest of two, have two

older sisters, and and our parents were good. You know,

they really did not show much partiality much, but you

know they really were there.

They were very you know, they they did love us

all the same.

But but we also knew as kids, if you wanted

something from Daddy, you send Judith.

You send Judith to Daddy and then brown eyes.

You know Dady would give youth. So we've send Judith

as a courier to Dad. If you wanted something from Mama,

I'm your man. I was the youngest baby boy you know,

send Jonathan in to get it. And so I tell

you that because we know as individuals that.

Certain people you could go and you can get answers

from mom and dad. But listen, God is not partial.

God gives to everyone. He gives everyone.

And that's what Jesus is declaring in his Passion of Scripture,

that God the Good Father responds.

When we ask, When we keep asking, we keep praying,

we keep seeking, we keep knocking.

But your responsible all all who keep knocking, all who

keep seeking, all who keep praying. I wonder today if

you ever felt bad, and maybe in your life, sometime

throughout your life you kind of felt bad for asking

mom or dad or something.

Maybe it was your parent that maybe you got in

trouble that week and you're.

Like, I don't feel like I can go ask for

something because I've really been rotten. Maybe you said that

my parents wereally struggling right now to pay the bill,

so I don't really feel like I can ask for

something financial.

Or maybe you.

Feel like, you know what my parents have done so

much for me, I just don't feel like it's right

for me to ask.

Them for more. Maybe you would say your parents at

times struggled to do something for you.

Maybe they failed you in a certain way, and so

maybe you.

You doubted they would ever come through this morning. What's

your reasoning for not seeking the Lord?

What's your hesitation of saying, Lord, I'm gonna keep praying God,

I'm gonna keep seeking, I'm gonna keep knocking. Is it

that you feel like you've gotten in trouble when you're

not living for the Lord like you should. Is it

that you're feel like maybe the Lord won't provide for you.

Maybe today you feel like God's done so much for

you you feel bad to ask for more, or maybe

you doubt whether God will come through.

Can I tell you today He's a good.

Father who responds, and he responds for all of us.

So let's ask, let's pray, let's seek, Hey, let's continue

to knock. Once you see, as this passage continues, he

tells us that that why we should pray, seek, or knock,

it is because he's a good father who responds. But secondly,

because a good father provides. In verse ten, he does

something similar to he did last week. It's say it's

what we call it a lesser the greater argument. He

provides something that's a lesser example. And he says, if

if they provided something and they're lesser, how much greater

God is, it'll provide much more.

And so he does this. He did the same thing

last week. This way.

He says, in verse eleven, what father among you? If

this son asked for a fish, will instead of a fish,

give him a serpent?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him

a scorpion.

If you, then, who are evil, know how to give

good gifts to your children, how much more will the

heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask you?

Again?

It's he like last week, he makes the disciples the

subject of this illustration. He says, what father among you?

So imagine your Jesus, I mean Jesus is teaching.

He says that to us.

So there's fathers are in this room. Grandfather's in this room.

And he says, all right, what father among you? If

your son would ask for a common food chicken nugget, right,

or a mac and cheese, which one of you, instead

of giving him chicken nugget, would give him a copper

had snake?

None? None?

Father in here would do that. No, you know your chicken,

your son like a chicken nugget.

You would get him a chicken nugget or maybe a BBNJ.

Right, what father among you, if your son astray macaroni

and cheese, you'd.

Give him a brown recluse spider. You wouldn't do that.

And he says to disciples, he gives them same analogy.

Fish and eggs were as staples for food for children

at that time, and very dangerous animals at the time

for them were snakes and scorpions. He says, no father,

and here, no disciple here would ever give their son

who's asking for a basic need, give them instead a

deadly serpent or deadly something that's going to harm them.

And he says this, listen to the passage of Scripture.

He's given a very clear picture here. God knows what

your basic needs. You remember, as we looked at the

very first week, and he was teaching us what to pray.

One of the instructions he gave us.

The Lord's prayer, and one of the instructions in the

Lord's prayers, he said that when you pray, say Father, Hall,

it be your name, your kingdom, Come.

Give us each our daily read.

See, he's saying, like I taught you when you pray

to ask God to give you the basic needs of

your life, the basic provisions. You may ask for God

for an egg or for a piece of fish, and

God listen, just as you fathers know how to provide

the basic needs for your children, so much more if

He describes in this passage in verse thirteen, if you, then,

who are evil?

He calls the disciple is evil? What do you mean

by that? Are they evil? You are sinners? You who

are sinners?

If you know how to provide the basic needs for

your children, Listen, always says, how much more will the

heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those.

Who ask him?

If you, as a good father, knows how to provide

the basic needs for your children, how much more will

God know listen your base needs when you ask and pray.

Will he know just what you're seeking today? And he

knows you're longing for His presence, and how He too

will divide what you need when you.

Pray, when you seek, and when you not.

I ask you today, as you think about this, the

Lord knows what you as you come in today.

I really believe this, everyone in the sound.

Of my voice today, as you came in this room.

There's a something that you have, There's a request that

you've got on your heart that you want the Lord

to answer, a provision, the basic need of God. There's

something I need, and there's something that came in here today.

And there's really some answers that you really don't understand.

You don't understand some of the things that's happened to

you in your life. You don't understand what God's plan

for your life is right now. Or maybe it's just

simply God, I just I want to know you more

your heart as you came in, you're seeking that there's

some of you today, and you just feel, like I've

described earlier, just you feel spiritually dry.

You're in a dry season, and you just.

Feel like your prayers go up and hit the ceiling

and then come back down. You just really want God's

presence in your life. Can I tell you, as you

come into this room today, listen. The Father knows what

you've asked. The Father knows what you're seeking, and the

Father knows how you're longing for his presence. And if

we ask, if we seek, if we knock, listen, we

can be sure He will provide in his time.

Now he will provide.

The question is to you, will you keep seeking? There's

probably no greater example of this. Let me explain something.

I'll give you a story in a second, but I

do think it's important that we see in this passage.

One of the things that Jesus says, and this is

how much more will the hell Father give? Right the

Holy Spirit? To those who ask him?

He brings up It's nowhere else in this whole section

until the very end. He Jesus says, how much more

will the heavenly Father give? And he tells that He's

going to give us something? Right the father asked for

The son asked for our egg, and the Father gives

him an egg. Like the son asks for a fish

and the Father gives him a fish.

Right, you ask for certain things, he says, The Father

is going to give you something. What is it? He says,

He's going to give you an eye the Holy Spirit? Why?

Why is the Holy Spirit? Where did that come from? Well?

The reason why Jesus points this out is he knows

that after his death, the Father is going to give

what his followers the Holy Spirit, and it's through the

instrument or through the Holy Spirit, that God will provide

the answers to our prayers, that God will provide through

the Holy Spirit, the answers to our questions about His plan.

And it's through the Holy Spirit that His presence will

live in our heart.

Have you encourage you to write a few passive scripture

down in Romans eight twenty eight.

It shows how the Holy Spirit answers our prayers.

It says this, but the Spirit intercedes for us with

groanings too deep with words. In onse Corinthians two twelve,

the Holy Spirit leads us to understand God. It says this,

but the Spirit of God, I mean the spirit who

is from God, that we might understand the things freely

given to us by God. Listen lastly, Second Corinthians three

sixteen tells us that the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and

that God's Spirit dwells within you. Listen to Father when

we seek, when we ask, when we knock, He gives

us the Holy Spirit. And it's through the Holy Spirit

that he answers our prayers, that he leads us to find,

and that we feel his presence within us. Probably no

great example of someone who really lived this, this consistent

habitual knocking, seeking and asking.

Maybe George Mueller.

George Mueller was a man who started five orphanages. He

cared for ten thousand orphans throughout his lifetime in England. Bristol, England,

I believe was where he was and he did all

of that. He provided for ten thousand orphans. And he

never asked one person for anything, never did a fundraiser,

never asked one person.

He just simply prayed.

One story that is told about Mueller is one morning

they got up and the children got dressed, and we're

getting ready for school that morning, and they'd have food

and having food for.

The rest of the day.

The lady, the house mother, who was over the orphanage,

came to Mueller that morning.

And says, listen, they're ready, they're ready for school, but

we have no food.

George Mueller lit at her and says, I want you

to take those three hundred children. I want you to

take them to the dining room, and I want you

to have them all stit at the table and wait

for the Lord to answer. They went into the room

and he thanked God and he waited. George believed that

if he asked, the Lord would answer and would provide

for his children. Within minutes, somebody knocked at the door.

They went to the door, and it was a baker,

says mister Mueller. He says, last night I could not sleep.

Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning.

So I got up and I baked three batches for you.

I'll bring it right in.

A few moments later, another knock with him on the door,

and it was the milkman.

His cart had broke down just in front of the orphanage,

and he said the milk would spoil by the time

they got the wheel back on for him to be

able to do the rest of his delivery.

So he asked if he could give them some free milk.

That George smiled, and the milkman brought in ten large

cans of milk, and it was just enough for three

hundred and thirsty children. He believed. You know why he believed.

George Mueller memorized a passage of scripture. You know what

the pastor of scripture you memorized. He lived by this

passing scripture. It's Matthew seven seven.

Matthew seven says, seven seven says, it's actually.

The parallel verse of what we read just now, asking

it will be given to you.

Seeking you will find locking it will be upen to you.

He believed if he kept asking, he kept seeking, he

kept knocking, God would answer, listen, because He's a good

father who provides. I ask you today, do you believe that?

What are your spiritual habits? Do you have the habit

of prayer? Do you have a habit of seeking the Lord?

Do you have a habit of knocking and asking God's

presence to be.

With you today? Would you seek him? Would you wait

for him? Isn't it good? Jeremiah twenty nine eleven says.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares

the Lord plans for welfare, not for evil, to give

you a future.

And a hope. Tendor's going to come and lead us.

I ask today that the Lord, as the Lord, speaks

to you right now in this time that you seek.

He said, Maybe today is the morning today where you

knock and say God, I really need your presence of

my life. For God, there's something that I really need

your provision. I really need you to answer. Would you

do that today?

Let's pray. Lord. We love you God. I thank you

Lord for your word.

Thank you, Lord, that you are a good father, and

God you.

You respond to all who call upon you.

Lord, I pray right now in this place that we

would take this time, Lord, to.

To ask, to seek, and to knock.

Lord, I pray you can give us a heart to

know that we should do that, because God you are

a good father who responds, and God you are our

good father who provides for your children.

And Lord, you long for us to seek you today.

And so Lord, right now and this time, I pray

some would come and seek you right now, right in

their pews. Maybe come to this altar and pray. Lord,

maybe Lord, seek you for the salvation of others, or

someone that they love and they care for, or however

you lead us.

Lord, I pray that we will respond to you. Now.

In your name, we pray Jesus

To