Teaching How to think and not just WHAT to think

Learning to solve problems when alone

 

This is a Biblical Idea

Called Wisdom
Proverbs 3

1 My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands;

2 for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.

3 Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
Romans 12: 1-2

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
This has been my goal this entire series

To help you

Identify Bad Theology\Ideas

Wrestle With complicated Ideas

Build a STRONG base of Understanding and faith
Final week of series – PROSPERITY GOSPEL
THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL:

That individuals who exercise true faith in Christ will surely attain physical, material, and financial prosperity in this life.
Must be able to Identify ANY false Gospel Idea
Today, let me first establish an idea of Prosperity Gospel

 

That if you Ask God for something

Believe ENOUGH you can Obtain it
More Faith UNLOCKS a NEW LEVEL of God granting your request

Not backed up by scripture
But that doesn’t mean we SHOULD NOT ASK
What did Jesus say about AKSING…
Matthew 7:7–12

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Prosperity Gospel Says…

This means all I have to do is ask God, and I can get what I want

Jesus said it himself

 

Not fully wrong, but not fully right either

1: Asking God MATTERS

 

Jesus gives 3 INVITATIONS

ASK – Will be given

SEEK – You will find

KNOCK – It will be opened
This is an INCREDIBLE INVITATIONS

Jesus is saying, “ASK! SEEK! KNOCK!

Come to the FATHER!
Jesus is teaching us that God is CLOSE, CONCERNED and CAPABLE in answering our prayers and meeting our needs

 

These statements are both DEFINITIVE and CONTINUAL

Ask God, and he will give

Seek God, and you will find

Knock on his door, and he will open it

 

How differently would you approach these people?

Dictator

Fear

May not ask at all

Boss

Respectfully

Distantly

Loving Father

Ask with confidence
For some, your father was either a dictator/boss/not present

“Father” isn’t a good word to you

 

God is a GOOD FATHER

A Good Father gives Good gifts

If he is a father, let’s treat him as a father, not a bureaucrat or dictator who wouldn’t want to be bothered with our trivial and irrelevant concerns. – Tom Wright

But if God is FATHER, who are WE?

HIS CHILDREN

 

Key Question

Do you trust God enough to pray to him as your father?

A father who truly cares

That truly loves

That sees you and all your messed up parts but loves anyway

 

2: How You Ask MATTERS

 

The Spoiled Child says: I DESERVE

The Thankful Child says: I TRUST
A spoiled child EXPECTS the good things that it thinks it deserves

A thankful child is CONFIDENT that what it gets is GOOD
For most of us, the problem is not that we are too eager to ask for the wrong things. The problem is that we are not nearly eager enough to ask for the right things.

 

That’s the heart of the issue

 

Jesus knows us

Knows we ask complacently (Half Hearted)

When we do ask, it is often not what we really need

 

Jesus is inviting us to the active activity of pursuing the heart of our God, and he says, “When you do, you will get it!”

But don’t expect powerful results from ANEMIC PRAYERS

 

Pray like:

You are invading heaven

You have no other option

The very air you breathe is dependent on God’s answer

Fast

Set Aside time daily

Go for long walks

 

3: What You Are Asking For MATTERS

Matthew 7

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

 

Am I asking for this because…

I want it

I need it

I deserve it

Because God Desires it for me?

 

What do we do when God says no?

 

Jesus in the Garden

Matthew 26

39 Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
When God says NO, it’s because of what he KNOWS
Thanking God for unanswered prayers

– Trusting God in prayer is knowing that he give you what you would ask for if you knew all he knows.

 

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