Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Asking and receiving from God Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA November 6, 2005 Main Scripture text: Matthew 7:7-12. Walking with God is living with Him in a relationship of love, trust, and obedience. We grow in our faith as we trust God and He proves Himself to be trustworthy. It is through this process of trusting seeing God act that we grow in our faith. Our faith, rooted in Scripture, becomes fortified and strengthened by experience. In our text from Matthew 7, the words "ask," "seek," and "knock" are in the present imperative tense, which implies a constant and continual action. It is "ask and keep on asking," "seek and keep on seeking," "knock and keep on knocking." This two things: 1) Our need for God is constant and continual. We need Him for guidance, direction, wisdom, strength, and patience every minute of every day. 2) We must be persistent in our praying. This not because we have to beg God, but because there are forces trying to hinder our prayers and block our receiving from God. James also tells us that we have to be careful about asking with wrong motives. We have this idea that God's ultimate concern for us is our personal comfort and happiness. But holiness, not happiness, is God's ultimate concern and objective for us. This passage from Matthew 7 concludes with what we have come to call the "Golden Rule." At first glance it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the text, but it actually is a further illustration of what it means to live in a vital relationship with God. Jesus has given us marching orders: Whatever you would have others do to you, do to them. This is a broad sweeping imperative, a mandate to positive action. Suppose you're a businessman. You've climbed to the top of the corporate ladder, and now you know what they meant by it's lonely at the top. You're disenchanted with the success and are wondering, "Isn't there more to life than this? Isn't there a better way?" Suppose you heard of someone who had found a better way. Would you want them to come to you and share it with you? Then, "do to others what you would have them do to you." Imagine that you are a skid row bum, mind blown with years of guzzling cheap wine. Used to have a good job and family, now it's all gone. There must be a better way! Is there anyone, anywhere, with the power that can set me free? If you heard of someone who knew of a person with such power, would you want them to find you and tell you? Friends, Jesus has that power. "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." When we are living this way, as God's children, His representatives in a fallen world, then we can ask and receive, seek and find, knock and find the door of God open to us. Supporting texts: Matthew 21:22 | Ephesians 6 | Daniel 10:12-14 | James 4:2-3 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (31:00). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 051106a: Asking and Receiving From God. © 2005 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us