25th November 2024

25th November 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matt 7:7-14 focus 7-8)


Message (Alan Burke) 


What do you desire in this life? Is it wealth, fame, having all your dreams and wishes fulfilled? I meet lots of people who are living pursuing things that do not last, do not provide lasting satisfaction. The followers of Jesus are to be different though, we are not to be running after the things in this life, instead where to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt 6:32-33). We as believers are a seek the kingdom of God, we are to seek eternal reward rather than temporal, storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven not on earth (Matt 6:19-24). Jesus my bills on what he has already said, he takes the idea of the kingdom and the need to seek it and tells us to ask, seek and knock. Each one of these are pleas for God to act. Three imperatives that are given, we are to ask, we are to seek, we are to knock. What is being conveyed to us as the importance of continuing to do these things, that we are appealing to God to be gracious to us so that we may enter the kingdom. Jesus has already taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (5:3). 


Who are the poor in spirit, they are those who recognise that they are spiritual beggars with nothing to offer to God, the poor in spirit are those who come before God and know that they stand without any pretence, that before him they are stripped of all their own efforts or endeavours, they come with nothing. The poor in spirit are the ones who receive the kingdom of heaven, they know that it isn’t their own goodness that gets them there, they have shunned all confidence in their own efforts or works, they rely instead on what Christ has done, and it is those often who have nothing are able to see their need for salvation most clearly. 


Well, we come before the Lord, we are those who are poor in spirit, we plead for God to give us the privilege of entering into the kingdom and here Jesus tells us that if we ask it will be given, if we seek we will find, if we knock the door will be opened. Everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. This is like an open invitation, for all who will hear the invitation, if you ask for entrance into the kingdom, you seek the kingdom if you knock on the door then you will have salvation. While Jesus was teaching his followers there on the mount, the crowds were looking on and this is an invitation for all who were there listening to him that day, if you ask, if you seek, if you knock, and if you continue to ask, seek knock, then you will enter the kingdom of God. No one who desires to enter the kingdom will be excluded. There is a Comfort in this because God will here our prayers and if we seek his kingdom, we will enter it. If you're battling with feelings of unworthiness remember that it's not about our worthiness but about Christs’, because of what he has done, we can enter the kingdom. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, that because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.
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