Kingdom instruction: Perseverance
Kingdom Instructions for Kingdom Dwellers • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 23:17
0 ratings
· 63 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
From Personal to personal
From Personal to personal
From addressing personal relationships with each other, Jesus now changes to personal relationship with the Father.
After Jesus has dealt with not be judging (discriminating) one another, nor casting pearls before pigs to helping with the right heart, attitude and not being hypocritical. It is hard to be these things without the help of the Heavenly Father, hence why we pray.
Why do some people succeed in having their prayers answered?
Why do some people have better understanding of the Bible?
Why are some people able to reach more souls for Christ?
Hum, interesting questions huh?
Calvin Coolidge in speaking about perseverance said this.
“Press on! nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not;unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.”
As we continue to look at the Sermon on the Mount; Kingdom instructions for Kingdom dwellers today we are looking at virtue of perseverance.
As relevant to prayer
As motivation to perseverance in our service to God
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Mt7:11-12
Perseverance in the passage
Perseverance in the passage
Perseverance, this is not the only place you see perseverance in the Bible nor even perseverance as it relates to prayer.
Maybe we better start with definition of perseverance:
per·se·ver·ance
Perseverance (N) -persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. synonyms: persistence, tenacity, determination, resolve, resolution, resoluteness, staying power, purposefulness, firmness of purpose; patience, endurance, application, diligence
Perseverance (N) -persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. synonyms: persistence, tenacity, determination, resolve, resolution, resoluteness, staying power, purposefulness, firmness of purpose; patience, endurance, application, diligence
______________________________________________________
In passage you see perseverance implied (Mt7:7-8)
Jesus is saying, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking
In passage you can see the progression of the terms, ask, seek, knock
In the passage you can see the relevance of perseverance (Lk11:5-8; Lk18:1-8; Ps1:1-3)
________________________________________________________
patience, endurance, application, diligence
/ˌpərsəˈvirəns/nounpersistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
In the Greek of the words, ask, seek, knock, it is in present tense, which implies, stresses “continuous action” look at what the AMP version says.
7 “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.” AMP
Being a continued action I think the AMP version helps us get the picture, we need to keep on keeping on in persistent prayer with perseverance.
So we see the frequency (keep on); now how about the progression.
Ask, seek, knock.
(illustration) Richard Glover said it like this, if a child, and the mother is visible, asks. If she is not visible or near then the child seeks the mom. Finally if the mom is in her room and the door is closed the child knocks. Heaven help us if the mom doesn’t answer the door, lol
Then you can see the relevance in prayer; or the persistence, the perseverance in prayer.
You have again it being implied here in (v.11)
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
and in other teachings it is stressed by Jesus
5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
Lk11:708
7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
On in the case of the persistent widow found in Lk18:1-8
1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
3 “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Other areas that we as kingdom dwellers need to practice perseverance.
In studying God’s Word (Psm1:1-3)
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Want blessings, study Gods Word
Want protection, study Gods Word
Want prosperity, study Gods Word
Always be teachable and reachable
For in His Word we find salvation we find wisdom, and we find God’s promises and God’s directions.
In evangelism (Mt28:19-20; Rom1:16-17; 1Pt3:15; Gal6:7-9; Isa55:11)
________________________________________________
Commissioned (Mt28:19-20)
Unashamed (Rom1:16-17)
Prepared (1Pt3:15)
Encouraged (Gal6:7-9)
Promised (Isa55:11)
__________________________________________________
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
So as we “go” through this world, we are to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them with the promised assurance that Jesus is with us as we do.
Not all are evangelists but all are called to evangelism, share the best news ever. Create opportunities for people to hear about Jesus.
Look what Paul said
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Jesus commands it, Paul proclaims it, Peter instructs us
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Don’t give up; don’t give up on studying with someone, or asking them to study. Don’t give up living out the gospel before them or sharing it with them. Don’t write them off for you were not written off.
We will reap what we sow, so sow abundantly, sow lovingly, sow graciously!
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
For the word tells us in the O.T.
11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
Why were we given the Word?
To have an account of the Savior
To have the plan of the Savior
To give understanding of the Savior so all could be saved
But it takes perseverance, and may our perseverance start in prayer. God has good gifts to give and does not want to hold back from us, and through prayer we open our communication line with God to receive the blessings that He has for us.
So why pray? Why pray persistently, consistently and with perseverance when God knows our needs before we ask? Because He wants us to ask.
We have the model in Lord’s prayer of asking
We have illustrations we have already looked at about asking with perseverance.
We have another example of not getting because of not asking, not asking with the right heart (Jam4:2-3)
2 You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Pray, pray for God’s will to be done, in your life and the life of others, God wants to bless. God calls for us to pray, so pray.
As we see the illustration Jesus uses.
Gifts of a father, an illustration
Gifts of a father, an illustration
Who does not like a good illustration to prove a point? Jesus does and He makes it plain. (Mt7:9-11)
9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
Jesus uses the illustration from the lesser to the greater, from the earthly to the heavenly father. Oh wait, Had not given you that verse yet
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Earthly father, who is evil, gives good gifts, think about what the heavenly Father wants to give. Give to those who ask Him.
Our motive for perseverance in prayer, study, evangelism should not just be to get, but to give too. Jesus “all will receive” is not unconditional, that would make Jesus “Genie” instead of the Son of God.
Jesus promises the apostles; when they ask they will receive (Jn15:7)
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
(expand on this)
Asking needs to be in accordance to His will (1Jn5:14-15)
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
(expand on this)
Not asked for personal gain (Jm4:3)
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
(Encouragement slide 1)
May our prayers that we offer persistently, consistently, with perseverance be asking in accordance to God’s will for God’s purpose and God’s glory. May we not only practice perseverance in prayer, but in study and in evangelism too.
One more quick point to make in looking at our passage the promises we find
Keep asking; you will receive
Keep seeking; you will find
Keep knocking; doors will be opened to you
Have you been asking, seeking, knocking?
(Encouragement slide 2) prayer (exit slide)