Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

3 Categories in the Sermon on the Mount

1. that wise discernment fuels godly flourishing.

2. to live in Jesus’ righteousness in relation to the world.

3. that God is with us, for us, and God provides for us.

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…

Matthew 6:4

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

3 Encouragements from Jesus

1. Pray requests

Matthew 7:7–8

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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

> a. Prayer is not a and done activity.

Luke 18:1–8

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.

> b. believer who calls on the name of God receives the promise.

> c. Our persistence should .

“Prayer is the great blessing that puts our impotence in touch with God’s omnipotence, our lack in touch with His supply, and our needs in touch with His riches. Our negligence in this vital spiritual discipline is an evidence of beggars’ foolishness. Prayer is an invitation to an extravagant banquet where everything we need is present. But like fools we often send back the word ‘I’m too busy, Not to-day, but maybe later.’”
— Sinclair Ferguson

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

James 4:2

You do not have because you do not ask.

2. Trust the faithful Giver

Matthew 7:9–12

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

> a. God .

> b. God has resources.

> c. God in blessing his children when they ask, seek, and knock.

James 1:7

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.

“Infinite love is the well out of which God’s good gifts always flow to His children.”
— Danny Akin

“It would be a terrible thing if God always gave us all that we asked for. Our heavenly Father Himself knows how to give far better than we know how to ask.”
— Charles Spurgeon

3. Live with vision

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Sermons

Golden Vision

Follow Along with the Message