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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! -Matthew 7:7-11

Check out last Sunday’s sermon here.

Pastor Mike shared a formula that should help us think through and apply the Sermon on the Mount.

Value #1: You are absolutely weak and needy.

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Value #2: Jesus has weighty demands of you.

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Sum: ???

If not for the grace of Christ, certainly despair would be the only sum/result of our combined need and Jesus’ demands. What is the sum, the solution then? Maybe, it would be better to ask, what is the solution that will not end in despair?

Solution #1: Change the values.

I must not be as weak and needy as it seems. Otherwise, why would Jesus have such weighty demands of me? Therefore, value #2 must imply that I (value #1) am certainly strong enough to obey Him, otherwise He is a tyrant, commanding me to do that which is impossible.

Or...

Jesus certainly cannot be expecting this of me. He speaks in hyperbole of some sort. Thus, the sharpness of value #2 is dulled. If I am truly as weak and needy as the Word says (value #1), then there must be something in Jesus’ demands (value #2) that I need to reinterpret in order to follow him.

Consider the Sum: Go to God With Your Needs

“Our persistence in prayer cultivates an awareness and a sense of our dependence on God.” -Pastor Mike

You are needy. The demands are weighty. So, turn to the Lord in dependent hope, asking him to meet your needs. The solution Jesus offers neither minimizes his demands nor inflates your abilities. What do people truly needy need, with weighty demands? Jesus says, “Ask…Seek…Knock”

In other words, surrender your needs to him by asking. He has ample bread and fish for your soul.