Something Old, Something New: Bible Study on Prayer

Luke chapter number 11.

We'll begin our reading here in just a moment in verse number one.

We're following in the footsteps of our Lord.

And a great a great study today on the subject of prayer.

Luke chapter 11, verse 1.

Luke 11:1

It came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend?

And shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves.

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.

And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee.

I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given.

Seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

Now that's a figure that comes from the old country of Ireland.

Something old.

It speaks of the continuity of a marriage with the past, a connection to family, something old.

And then they would say something new.

It spoke of hope and optimism for the future.

Something borrowed, good fortune or blessing, shared from someone happily married, and then something blue.

Spoke of fidelity and love and purity.

In this passage, we have from the Lord Jesus a lesson on prayer.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something even blue.

This is not the first lesson that Jesus has given his disciples on prayer.

As we've discovered, they don't often pass the test the first go-around.

They have to be reminded.

How many of us could say, I often need to be reminded if I am going to pass the test?

There's some reasons that they're not passing the test on prayer, we'll talk about in just a moment.

There's some reasons that we're not passing the test either, but maybe for different reasons than they.

So let's look in our text this morning at something old, something old, or what we call a familiar pattern.

Notice, as he was praying in a certain place, and Jesus did have places that he often prayed.

As he was in his prayer closet, I love the little phrase here, when he ceased, there's one thing the disciples did right.

They did not interrupt the Lord Jesus as he talked to his father.

They waited for him to complete his prayer, and when he had ceased, one of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And what will he say?

Dr.

Ed Rees, does anyone have a Reese chronological Bible?

Does anyone have one of those?

The Reese Chronological Bible.

Dr.

Ed Rees back many years ago took a Bible, he cut it apart, he copied and pasted the Bible in chronological order.

The Reese Chronological Bible was a really leading copy of God's Word for a very long time.

He was an eccentric person, kind of a nutty professor type of person.

But he taught a lesson or a whole class on prayer.

And so we come to the class not knowing what to expect.

And Dr.

Reese's test and lectures were quite strange because Dr.

Reese didn't ask questions that were typical.

I often joke, but not too far from it.

What color hair did John Bunyan have, and how many children did John Wesley have?

And these types of kind of eccentric silly things.

But we came into prayer class.

He gave us a copy of Power Through Prayer, the collected works of E.M.

Bounds.

E.M.

Bounds was a pastor in Washington, Georgia, a little place in the middle of nowhere.

E.

M.

Bounds.

And Bounds began to pray.

Bounds began to write about prayer.

Maybe you have a book on prayer by E.

M.

Bounds.

E.M.

Bounds was so famous for prayer that Charles Spurgeon, who was the most prolific pastor in the world, knew of the prayer and the writings of E.

M.

Bounds.

And Charles Spurgeon said of E.

M.

Bounds that E.

M.

Bounds from Washington, Georgia, has prayed a hole in heaven.

Isn't that amazing?

How do you teach prayer?

Well, he said, turn to page 96, second column.

Three lines down.

Mark that phrase.

Page 115, second paragraph, fifth sentence.

Write that.

Mark it down.

That's a class on prayer, but that's not really how you learn how to pray.

How you learn how to pray is to pray.

It's a spiritual discipline, learning how to pray.

And it's not so much that they're just learning how to pray, they're wanting motivation and discipline in prayer.

If I could say to us this morning, many of us have been saved for a very long time.

I think we all know how to pray.

We know the mechanisms of prayer.

Would you agree with that?

Okay, but how many of us struggle in our prayer life?

It's not the knowing, it's the doing.

It's the doing of it, being faithful in our prayer.

Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples to pray, and Jesus goes now back to that old pattern.

They've heard this before.

When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Now let's hold our places there.

Let's go back to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Now, there in Luke 11, we have a consolidated form of the Lord's Prayer.

But in the Sermon on the Mount, we have the entirety of the Lord's Prayer.

Now, there's things that Luke doesn't add here as part of the prayer, and maybe some speculation about how many parts were added or that were missing from Luke's telling of the Lord's Prayer.

But there's some principles I want you to see here.

If you're maybe thinking about the mechanics of your prayer life, I just wanted to talk just a few minutes about something old.

Notice Jesus is talking on prayer.

He's kind of told them how not to pray.

Don't do it publicly to be seen of men, don't give your alms before men.

The Pharisees made loud prayers on the street corners.

Remember that?

Don't do that.

If you do that before men, you'll not have a reward of your father.

But he says, When you pray, after this manner, pray, verse 9.

After this pattern, therefore pray.

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Had a secretary years ago, her name was Dot.

Dot was secretary to the president of Emory University in Atlanta.

She was uh a Southern Belle, a perfectionist, and a really dear friend.

Her son, her grandson was marrying a Catholic girl.

Maybe I've told you this story before.

And uh she went to the rehearsal at the Catholic Church, and she she wasn't she wasn't too keen on that, but she was there.

And so the priest was running through everything he would say in the wedding, and he began to recite the Lord's Prayer, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And he stopped.

And she said to her grandson, I noticed that the priest didn't finish the Lord's Prayer.

Oh no, grandma, he's not going to finish the Lord's Prayer because the Catholics don't pray that because they believe the church is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

And she said, You tell that priest.

If he doesn't finish the Lord's prayer at the wedding tomorrow, I will stand up and I will finish it for him.

That's good stuff right there.

That took some guts.

Look at these principles.

After this manner, pray, our father, which art in heaven.

It's a principle of faith.

Prayer begins with faith.

Our father, which art in heaven.

I have a father in heaven.

Though I've never seen him, I know him.

I know him.

I've been born into his family.

It's the principle of faith.

Prayer begins with faith.

Which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

To hallow, to separate, to sanctify, shall we say, to worship?

Now I want to ask you a question.

In your prayer life, how many of your prayers begin with worship?

Adoration and awe of God.

If we're not careful, our prayers kind of go like this: Dear God, I really need you today.

I got this problem and this problem and this problem and this problem and that thing and that thing, and I have this bill that needs to be paid, and I have this health need.

And Jesus gives us a pattern and a principle here.

Begin with faith and continue with worship.

Just relish his presence for a moment.

Stand in awe and sin not.

Be still and know that I am God.

And I've discovered in my own heart, when I pause to meditate on his presence, his power, his provision, my prayer naturally changes because now I'm not just begging, I'm worshiping.

I'm reminded of the greatness of our great God.

The principle of faith, the principle of worship.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is the principle of submission.

Submission.

Begin with faith, I continue with worship.

I move to submission.

If it be possible, yet not.

Let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.

I'm declaring to God my absolute submission to his will.

Is his will done in heaven?

Yes.

May it so be on earth.

I submit myself to the authority of the King.

He's the King.

Notice this.

Give us this day our daily bread.

This is now a recognition of daily provision.

Daily provision.

So now we're entering into that petition.

We've stopped to think of God.

We've worshiped Him.

We have adored Him.

We have submitted ourselves to Him.

And now we say, Lord, bring into my life this day what is best for me.

There's the principle of confession.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Notice, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

There's now a prayer for spiritual power.

Lord, give me strength, not just praying for bread.

I'm praying for victory.

I recognize I'm in a spiritual battle and I need the power of God.

Deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

That's something old.

They've heard this before.

Did it register fully with them?

Probably not.

But it gives them this lesson again because this is important, because this is not the Lord's prayer.

Now, I know that's a sin against 2,000 years of church history.

That is not the Lord's prayer.

That is the disciples' prayer.

When ye pray, say.

And number two, it's not a prescribed prayer, though it's not wrong to pray the Lord's prayer.

After this manner, pray.

After this pattern, pray.

He's giving us a model in which we can pray.

Now, I love the Lord's Prayer several years ago.

I was asked to pray at the County Commission in Pelusia County.

I'd prayed there several times, and I got there one day and I decided I'm going to just throw them a curveball.

I said to the uh the coordinator, I said, Would you mind if I sang the Lord's Prayer?

She said, We've never had anyone ask us to do that.

And uh so I gave a little lead-in regarding the Lord Jesus.

I quoted the passage and then sang the Lord's Prayer, and uh and then we talked to the Lord for just a moment.

I think we ought to use the Lord's Prayer, but let's see it as a pattern when ye pray, say, this is the disciples' prayer.

So he gives them something old.

Think of the priority of his name, the prospects of his kingdom, the provision of our needs, the pardon of our sins, the protection that we desire from temptation.

That is something old.

Have you heard that before?

Raise your hand if you've heard that before.

Yeah, but we know this.

We've known this many of us since we were children.

So, Lord, teach us to pray.

Okay, all right, let's review.

Let's move from the known to the unknown.

Let's build something new on a foundation of knowledge that's already been set in your life.

This is just good teaching, right?

I'm going to give you something new, but you can't absorb that yet.

So let's let's let's go back and review just a little bit.

So for us Bible teachers and preachers and Sunday school teachers and Christian workers, let's never assume that people know what we're talking about.

He gives them something old.

Okay, do you understand that?

Yes, I got that.

Okay.

Maddie might do a little better than Ethan, okay, but I think we all got that.

So something old.

Number two, don't tell him I told you that.

Something new, a fresh perspective.

So he goes through, back in back in Luke 11, he goes to the Lord's Prayer, and he goes right into giving of a parable.

And verse 5, he said unto them, maybe Peter looked at John or Andrew, looked at others, and said, We've already heard that before.

And he continues speaking.

Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves?

For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me.

I have nothing to set before him, and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee.

I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth, something new.

There's a friend with the need, a friend who is inconvenienced, and a friend who persists in asking something new.

Now, let's go to something borrowed, because now we're going to see really what he's talking about.

Look at again in verse 1.

And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray.

Now, by the time we get here to Luke chapter 11, the disciples have already walked with the Lord Jesus, they've witnessed his power, they've listened to his teaching, they've participated in his ministry.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

In other words, they're probably in their third year of Bible college.

I do find it interesting, this is totally ancillary, that we we send young people to four years of college and the disciples are with Jesus three and a half years.

I think I don't know what to make of that.

Maybe someone in higher ed would have a better explanation than me, but there may be juniors in college at this point.

They're training for ministry, they've seen the Lord do a lot, and it's at this point.

Now they're interested in asking this question.

Lord, we need a fresh course on the subject of prayer.

Now they've learned a lot about serving, but still they want to learn how to pray.

Jesus will say to them in not too many days, John 16, 24, hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.

How could that be?

Not only that, certain periods that were probably most notable for Peter, James, and John called to go with Jesus to pray, they fell asleep in a prayer meeting.

As we were teaching through Mark a few weeks ago on the Mount of Transfiguration, in Mark chapter 9, we discovered that as Jesus was being transfixed in their presence, Peter, James, and John were sleeping.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Jesus was praying.

They were sleeping.

They fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane as they were in three separate occasions asked by the Lord Jesus to pray.

Now, these men would not truly pray until Jesus was absent from their lives.

Mark chapter 2, verse 19 says, And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Mark 2:19

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and they shall fast in those days.

What is Jesus saying?

As long as I'm around, you won't fully recognize your need of God in your life.

So where are we here in Luke chapter 11?

Luke 11 · chapter mention

Well, if we're just thinking about the Gospel of Luke, his early Galilean ministry is chapters 4 through 8.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

In chapter 9, his ministry begins to expand.

He sends out the 12, he feeds the 5,000, he's transfixed in their presence.

He increases in his preparation of his disciples to recognize his coming suffering.

He begins his journey towards Jerusalem at the conclusion of chapter 9.

He's setting his face toward Jerusalem.

He sends out the 70.

He teaches the parables of the Good Samaritan.

He visits Mary and Martha, and boom, right here in Luke chapter 11, he's now asked about the work of prayer.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

Following this, our further instructions and preparation in chapter 19, Jesus makes his way to the city of Jerusalem.

Now, why is this significant?

Significant because we're getting late in the ministry of Christ when they ask this question.

Now, look at verse 1 again.

Teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

Now, inquiring minds want to know, so I look this up.

When did John die?

John hasn't been around, and now he's been dead for quite some time.

It's hard for us to exactly put this in chronological order, but we might say that John has been dead for a year and a half, or maybe two years at the time they ask this question.

Now that's interesting.

Something has stuck in their memory bank regarding what John taught his disciples in doing.

And it says in the Gospel of John that John taught his disciples to pray.

So John's been dead for a while.

Not only that, they've already heard Jesus teach on prayer through the Sermon on the Mount, and it's at this point that they asked Jesus this question.

They had clearly missed something from Jesus' prayer life that would be essential in their own prayer life.

Curtis Hudson would say, we instruct people by what we say, we inspire people by what we do.

That's why Ed Reese, with the collected works of Ian Bounds in a classroom at the Crown College, couldn't really teach young men how to pray.

We instruct people by what we say.

We inspire people by what we do.

And is it is this not the problem with this question?

Has Jesus instructed them?

Oh yeah.

But has he also inspired them?

Absolutely, he has.

Let's look at some verses.

The Bible says in Mark 1.35, and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there he prayed.

The gospels tell us that Jesus' habit was to rise early, go to a solitary place, away from the crowd, and to enter into prayer.

Luke 6, verse 12, it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.

Luke 6:12

The second thing we learn here is that Jesus continued all night in prayer meeting before choosing his twelve disciples.

Luke 5, 16, and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.

And then in John 17, which is before the Garden of Gethsemane, that's the Lord's Prayer.

John 17.

When Jesus in the upper room prays to his Father.

It's called the high priestly prayer of Jesus.

We have the recording.

Prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ on the night of his arrest, the night before his crucifixion, as he prays to his Father.

And the disciples have been privy and audience to all of these lessons on prayer from the life of our Lord.

He teaches them, think about this, he teaches them on the mount, when he gives them the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount, he gives them an example of rising early and praying, departing from the crowd and praying, going into a solitary place to pray.

He has so infused this in their minds that on the night he's arrested, Judas takes 30 pieces of silver from the high priest, and he knows exactly where to find Jesus.

Where is Jesus?

He's in the Kidron Valley.

Where is he?

He's in a garden.

What is he doing?

He's praying.

He goes there all the time to pray.

You see, it was not mechanics that the disciples are struggling with.

It's motivation to pray.

The habit of prayer is good.

The spirit of prayer is better.

What have they missed by way of Christ's inspiration?

There is a difference between knowing how to pray and learning to pray.

And may God teach us that lesson.

Lord, teach us to pray.

Okay.

Let me give you something old.

You remember the Lord's Prayer?

Yeah, we remember that.

Let me give you something new.

A friend, notice it again.

A friend comes to a friend at midnight.

He says, Hey, I need to borrow three loaves.

I'm not asking you to give them to me.

I'll go to the bakery in the morning.

I'll bring fresh bread back to you.

All my kids are in bed, the man says.

Everyone's asleep.

I can't rise and give you what you need.

And the man won't stop asking.

Notice it again.

Verse 6.

For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.

Can I just stop and say?

That phrase right there in verse 6 is the very thing God often has to bring us to before we pray.

I have nothing.

If we feel like we have what we need, what do we tend not to do?

To pray.

When we're sick, we pray.

Right?

When we're in financial straits, what do we do?

We pray.

When all of our relationships are whole, what do we not do?

We tend not to pray.

It's this secret, I have nothing.

I have nothing.

Verse 7, he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not.

The door is now shut, my children are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give thee.

He's not living in a four-bedroom house with a formal dining room, formal living room.

Kids are asleep upstairs.

They're in a small place.

Children are sleeping near or with the parents.

Everything's been shut down for the night.

There's not a light switch you can just turn on on the wall.

So there's two friends here.

They're living in an eastern culture.

And the most important thing for an eastern culture is to be hospitable.

So we have friend one who had a friend come at midnight and he's hungry.

And his culture tells him, I'm supposed to take care of my friend.

If you want to see the land of the Bible, you go to Israel.

If you want to meet the people of the Bible, you go to Jordan.

It's still like that today.

It's a culture of hospitality.

So friend one says, I will do everything I need to do to take care of my friend.

It was unexpected.

I have nothing.

I didn't go to the store.

I didn't know I needed to.

But I have a friend who's hungry, and it's my duty, yea, it's my honor to care for him.

God brought this need into my life, and I need to satisfy this need.

Well, what should I do?

Oh, I'll go talk to my friend.

Well, friend two is in bed.

Kids are asleep.

Maybe they're young children.

We had stair-step kids, so if I had Phoebe was eight, we'd have eight, six, four, two.

If Phoebe was five, we'd have five, three, one, and one on the way.

And I remember bedtime was sometimes very difficult.

We'd have to put the kids to sleep, and we would fall asleep trying to put the kids to sleep, and it's a whole thing, right?

And uh we don't really like midnight visitors when all the kids are in bed.

Not to mention, we're living in a in a hotel room, and the kids are asleep.

And friend two says, I it's not worth it to wake the children and create a problem here in the house, and and uh I can't rise and give you.

And friend one knocks on the door again.

He says, No, no, no.

I had a friend who came at midnight, and it's my duty, my honor, my honor's resting on my facilitating my friend and meeting his needs, and I need some help, and I know that you can help me.

Friend one says, I have nothing.

Friend two didn't say that.

I need help.

I can't rise and give it to you.

The kids are asleep.

My wife's asleep.

If you keep, if you come to my house at midnight, my dogs will lose their minds.

Can't rise and help you.

And over and over and over and over and over again, friend one says, I have nothing.

And I need some help.

So notice the word in verse 8, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend.

I love that.

He didn't do it because he liked him.

No, no, no.

He did it because he won't shut up.

That's new, that's new English.

The word is importunity.

The word, the word is shamelessness.

Because of his shamelessness.

He's willing to embarrass himself to save his honor.

I remember when I was a kid, uh, my dad was a deacon, and we would take up food.

We had these little services in the church I grew up in.

We'd have candlelight services.

There were six candles on that side and six candles on this side, and they'd have two teenage girls manning the candle obras, and we would bring food to church.

And the one would over here, she'd say January.

And if your birthday was in January, she'd say January, she'd blow the candle out.

And if your birthday was in January, you'd come and you'd bring food to the front of the church.

Has any anyone ever seen that before?

I I don't yeah, I know.

I haven't either.

It's the only place I don't know where they got the idea.

We did it every year, Christmas and Thanksgiving.

December, blow the candle out.

Everybody with a birthday would come, bring their food, and we'd collect that, we would distribute it, and so we'd take huge boxes of food for Thanksgiving, Christmas to needy families.

And I remember a guy's name was Emmanuel.

Big man.

I mean a monster of a man, Emmanuel.

Had lost his job, and someone had get given us his name.

His family needed help.

And I mean, this is we're bringing the kitchen sink, not just a little box of food.

I mean, we're bringing everything you need and don't even want to your house: a turkey, a ham, milk, bread, cheese, butter, everything you need for a huge meal.

And we knock on the door.

And when he sees us, he gets angry.

He's angry.

This man hasn't worked, he has no money, he has no food, and he's angry.

Why is he angry?

Because he hates being in need.

Sends us back to our car.

I don't need help.

And I don't want yours.

Shamelessness.

I have nothing to set before them.

Importunity.

Because of his importunity.

He gets out of bed.

He gets him what he needs.

And I say unto you, verse 9, ask and it shall be given you.

Seek and you shall find.

Knock and it shall be open unto you.

Ask, ask, ask, ask.

If he doesn't answer, seek, seek, seek.

If you don't get through asking and seeking, knock, knock, knock, he says, it shall be open unto you.

Everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

One more lesson.

So we have that, right?

We have the parable, we have the progression, importunity, shamelessness.

Now he talks about a patriarch.

Okay, if you don't get the figure of the friend at midnight, if you don't understand that one, if you don't understand the progression of asking and seeking and knocking, and that just the power of that analogy escapes you.

Think about a father.

Verse 11.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father.

Oh, I got that one.

Ethan's on the college soccer team.

And uh we uh we we lived for many years of our lives at the sports, at the sports complex, soccer fields, football fields.

I mean, that's and we loved it.

I remember what those gloves smelled like.

Those football gloves that go soaking wet into a closed bag in his gear bag.

You know what I'm talking about?

Those soccer goalie mitts that go into that bag.

There's living organisms in those things.

He called last week.

He says those gloves, and these are not cheap.

We got cheap ones.

Cheap ones are probably$60.

They're not cheap.

My my gloves have disintegrated.

I bet they, I bet they did.

Nature reclaimed its own.

I've got to have some gloves.

If a son shall ask his father, I've got to have these.

I've got to have these.

Hey Dad, um, not been smelling too great.

I was down at Dillard's and saw some Gucci cologne.

No, go down to Walmart and grab some old spice, right?

No, I've got to, I've got to have these gloves.

What would a father say?

Send me some links and I'll look at them and I'll find the best deals, what he said.

If any of you shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, and he would he give him a stone?

Or a fish, would he give him a serpent?

Or if he asks an egg, would he offer him a scorpion?

No.

He would give him what he needed, wouldn't he?

Now watch this.

This is one of my favorite parts, this whole text.

If ye then, I don't like the next part, if ye then being, what's the word?

I don't like that word.

If ye then, in comparison with the father being evil, evil is the absence of goodness.

If ye being evil in comparison with the Father in heaven, know how to give good gifts to your children.

Now time out.

How many of you know how to give good gifts to your children?

Yeah, we love that.

Love that.

We know how to do that.

How much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

That's a whole other text right there.

He'll give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

Oh, no, no, no, no, God.

I I came asking for bread.

No, no, no, no, no.

I came asking for healing.

No, no, no, no.

I came asking for a new set of gloves.

No, no, no, no.

I came asking for protection from a temptation or yeah, I know.

That's why he gave you the Holy Spirit.

It's through the Holy Spirit.

God provides his power, his provision, his presence, his instruction, his empowerment.

Every good gift that comes to us comes through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

We know how to give gifts to our children, and our Father knows how to bless his children when they ask and seek and knock.

And sometimes at midnight, when we have nothing to set before them, we recognize our need, and God sees our heart, and he gives us in something blue, our formidable persistence.

When we here's the 21st century analogy.

I don't know if this is how Jesus intended it, but I've asked you till I was blue in the face.

Persistence.

And he'll provide for us.

Don't we have a great God this morning?