Ask Jesus Now For The Things That You Need (video) — Carter Conlon

Ask Jesus for What You Need

Ask Jesus now for the things you need. I wanna say it again. Ask Jesus now for the things that you need. Matthew chapter seven, please. If you go there in your Bibles, Matthew chapter seven. Now this doesn't seem like a prophetic message, but it actually is.

Now, Father, I thank you, God almighty. I praise you, Lord, that you always have a word in season for your people. And you'll take the frailty of humanity and you'll work with us. I thank you, Lord God, for overshadowing my frailty with your strength.

God, giving me your mind and heart and letting me deliver this in a manner that's pleasing to you. I ask you, Jesus, for the courage and strength to disappear that you may appear, that your word alone might be heard.

And that the people might know you have to put weight on the word this morning, Holy Spirit, so the people will know that they are indeed hearing from God. It's pointless for me to say I have a word from the Lord.

You are the one, Lord, that has to bear witness to yourself. I'm asking you, Jesus, to bear witness to what you've placed in my hand, what I'll be reading today, Father. And I thank you, God, that you're preparing us for this coming day.

Thank you with all my heart in Jesus' name. Ask Jesus now for the things that you need. Matthew chapter seven and verse seven. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.

Thank God for these promises. That's red letter in my Bible. That means it's right out of the mouth of Jesus. Ask, it will be given you. Seek, you'll find. Knock, it will be opened. Not might be, should be, ought to be, potentially will be, shall be.

For everyone that asks receives. Everyone, say that with me. Everyone, and that means you. Not just me, not just those that know the Bible better than you do, not just those that have been around the church longer than you have.

Everyone that asks receives. And he that seeks finds. And to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you whom, if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

For this is the law and the prophets. In other words, Jesus is saying everything is summed up, everything that the prophets have seen, everything that's written in the Old Testament, everything that's in the law, everything that was promised, everything that we long for is found in this one action that we do to other people just in the same manner as we would have them do to us.

Asking in Jesus’ Name Amid Coming Trials

Now, in John chapter 16, verse 24, Jesus said something to his disciples. And it was an interesting thought. He said, hitherto, or up to this point, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy might be full.

That's actually would be considered by those who are sitting at this, the scene actually of this is at the Last Supper. It's in between John chapter 13 and 30 where Judas has gone out into the night, his heart filled with the devil himself, fully intending on betraying the Son of God.

And John chapter 18, verse three, where Judas with a band of people that have been given him by the scribes and the Pharisees have come into the garden with torches and lanterns and weapons to take Jesus Christ captive and ultimately usher him to the cross on Calvary.

That's the scene. Now, John 16 falls right into the midst of these things. Now, to say that they had asked nothing till this time must have been somewhat perplexing to the disciples. For the, I mean, James and John, the gospels tell us that they had asked him to be seated at the right hand and the left hand of power when he came into his kingdom.

The disciples had asked at one point, Lord, teach us to pray. And so it must have been somewhat perplexing to them. What does he really mean, ask us? Up to this point, ask me rather, up to this point, you've not asked for anything.

Now, the very essence of discipling is a master-student relationship. And it's a relationship really of asking and receiving. When they left their nets, when they left the receipt of custom as Matthew did, all of them, as they began to follow, that was the basis of the relationship.

We ask, you give us, you tell us. Now, Jesus was in effect telling them at this particular time in the gospel of John that a time is soon coming when things around you will seem to spin completely out of control.

Now, they had him at that moment. They were at a banquet table as they saw it. He's speaking perhaps at greater length other than perhaps in an amount of beatitudes that they had heard him speak. He's praying directly to his father in these chapters in the gospel of John.

They're listening to mysteries. They're listening to revelation. But yet in the midst of it all, you and I know in retrospect that he was soon to be taken captive. They were soon to flee. Everything around, everything that the three years of walking with him had seemingly put into their hearts was about to be sent into a tailspin, a time of trial and hardship unprecedented, such as they'd never even imagined was coming there.

I don't think that any of them could imagine. He was trying to tell them that hardship awaited him, but it seems that there was a deep reluctance within them to hear it. And that's the way it is with human nature.

God can be speaking directly about days that are just ahead of us, but there's just something within us that doesn't want to hear it. We don't want to see it. We choose to be optimistic as we see it. Well, maybe, just maybe it won't be that way.

Maybe we'll just get through this. Maybe there won't have to be a cross. Maybe he won't be taken captive. Maybe he won't be delivered to the authorities and spit upon and mocked and crucified. He was telling them very directly, but it seemed to take them by surprise, ironically, when it actually came.

And he was telling them, you're going to be afraid and a sense of loss and sorrow will want to fill your heart, but I will be with you and give you an inner strength and joy and vision that's only available to those who love me and are willing to do my work in the earth.

Now, if you read these chapters in John, you'll see this thought very, very clearly presented in there to those disciples. You're going to be afraid. It's going to spin out of control, but I'm going to be with you.

And as you walk in the pathway that I've prescribed before you as my body, as my church, you're going to have hope. You're going to have vision. Matter of fact, you're going to have joy. He said, up to this point, you've not really asked for what is really yours.

But if now you're willing to ask, if now in the midst of your crisis, you're willing, and obviously they did on the day of Pentecost, they did in that upper room. They must have remembered these words, gone back to that upper room in their failure, in their confusion, in their lack of understanding of the hour that they were living in.

But they did remember this one thing that he said, if you ask me for what you need in that time, and you will receive it and your joy will be full. Joy, not just endurance. The Christian church is not just to endure difficult days.

We're to have the joy of the Lord in our heart. That is our strength. We're to walk in a place that common men can't walk in. The people who are focused on themselves know nothing about. We're to walk in a realm of joy that is hidden to those who are outside of the actual working of the kingdom of God.

Now, people can be in church, but they can be outside of the working of God's kingdom. And folks, it's imperative that you and I understand that in this hour. You can have been in church for years, but actually be outside of where the kingdom of God really is and how the kingdom of God works, where the power of God is actually found.

The Oil of Readiness Before Calamity

In Matthew 25 in verse four, Jesus himself gives an illustration of the day of Christ's return, that there were people who were foolish and the wise took oil in their vessels and in their lamps, but the foolish had no oil.

And when the crisis hit, they went to the wise and said, you seem to see something that we don't see. You're standing, you're saying, behold the bridegroom. We don't see anything but darkness and calamity.

We don't see anything but difficulty and distress and anguish and perplexity, the seas roaring, nations in turmoil and distress. We don't see anything around us, but here you say, look, the bridegroom is coming.

They say, give us of your oil, give us. You see folks, but the tragedy is they asked too late. Very hard to get the resources that Christ is willing to give in a time of calamity. Remember Noah's day, the floods came, but before the floods came, the scripture says that God closed the door of the ark and sealed Noah and his family inside.

And you and I can imagine those when the rain started and as they got to be a foot deep and two feet deep, the people are banging on the door, but they can't get into that ark because it's closed now.

The time of asking is over. The time of getting the strength that is needed has passed. And I believe that this oil represents the light and the life of Christ. And that oil is present in a body of believers that are doing his work on the earth.

It gives us the ability to see wondrous things in the present and in the future, which are hidden from the eyes of non-spiritual people. And the reason we can see is because we are doing the work of God in the earth.

The Character of Kingdom Disciples

Now, in order to understand exactly what Jesus was telling his disciples to ask for in our opening text, we need to understand exactly what kind of a testimony that he was asking them to have everywhere they went.

Now, keep in mind, Matthew 7, 7, it comes at the end of a very long discourse that begins in Matthew chapter five. The scripture says, he saw the multitudes went into a mountain, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them.

So now he starts in Matthew five and verse three to teach his disciples. And the text I read is in Matthew chapter seven and verse seven. There's a lot that he has said. It's one statement, it's one teaching.

Now, just take, I'm gonna paraphrase it. And the synopsis of these verses of scripture is mine. I encourage you when you go home to study it in detail, perhaps get this CD at some point and go through this yourself.

But here's what Jesus was telling them as his disciples. This is what you are being called to be in the earth. Matthew five, three, they were to know their need of God. Verse four, they were to long for God's ways to be known in the earth.

I'll just read them through as I've written them. They were to act with restraint, even when it was within their power to do otherwise. They were to hunger and thirst for inward purity. They were to be merciful.

They were to feel as God does about things. That's where he said, blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. They were to be at peace with all men and call others to peace with God and with each other also.

They were to be peacemakers. They were to call men. They were to walk in peace with all men as much as is possible, it says the scripture. And they were to be at peace with God and call other people to be at peace with God.

They were to endure persecution, even to the point of rejoicing because of it. Can you imagine? Enduring persecution is one thing, but rejoicing over it is an absolutely other thing. They were not to lose the fervency for the work of God.

They were to be of salt, which means that they were to bring flavor, create thirst, promote healing, and bring preservation into the earth. Jesus himself said, if the salt loses its savor, if the salt loses its purpose, if the salt does not bring the flavor of God into a situation, if the salt does not create a thirst in people for the things of God, if the salt does not promote healing among the oppressed and the wounded, if the salt does not preserve the truth as it is written in the word of God, Jesus himself said it's good for nothing and it's cast out and it's trodden under foot of man.

Folks, there is a gospel that is discounted by men in every generation and especially in ours. A gospel that is ridiculed and mocked because there's no power in it and even the world knows there's no power in it.

It's nothing but self-seeking with Jesus added to it. That's all it is. And the world knows there's no power in it, so it's literally trodden under the foot of men. They were to do things publicly that bring glory to God, but at the same time, do them without the motive of themselves being seen.

That's a phenomenal thought, isn't it? Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. But yet elsewhere in these chapters, Jesus also says, be careful that you don't do your good deeds to be seen of men, otherwise you have your reward.

Don't pray to be seen of men, don't do charitable works to be seen of men, don't stand in the synagogues professing to be holy to be seen of men or you have the full reward. So we're to do publicly, as a church, for example, we're to do things that bring glory to God, but we're to do everything in our power not to be seen.

They were to avoid religious hypocrisy at all costs. There was to be a quest for truth in your heart and in mine that I'm never willing to stand at any place at any time with the knowledge that I am just a religious hypocrite.

I act a certain way, but I do not embrace it in my own heart. They were to stay in right relationship with other believers at all costs, at every cost. They were to agree with God when he challenged their ways.

Remember, he said, agree with your adversaries when you're in the way, lest you'd be cast into prison and you don't get out of that prison till you've paid the full debt. Now, especially when God is your adversary, when you and I are in the way and it's the Lord actually who's standing and saying, this is not right, this is not who I am, I can't walk with you unless the two of us be agreed.

Agree with your adversary, especially when it's God. They were to understand the danger and to shun immoral sexual lust. He said, if you even look upon a woman in the scriptures with a lustful eye, you've committed adultery in your heart.

And if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off. Now he's saying, you have to shun this. He's not suggesting you physically pluck your eye out and cut your hand off. They were to remain true to their marriage vows.

Folks, when you and I stand before an altar, now I know there are circumstances, in some cases there are innocent parties where it's simply out of your control. There was nothing you could do about it.

But if your marriage is going through a rough spot, don't walk out because you stood before God and you said for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, till death do us part, so help me God.

That's a vow you made before God. It's a vow you made to another person and it's the closest type, Paul says in the New Testament, to Christ and his church on the earth is your marriage and my marriage.

And folks, Jesus doesn't walk out on us when we go through a rough time. And marriages are to be, our marriages are to be a representation of Jesus in the earth, especially in the Christian church. And we're living in an hour when the divorce rate in the church is very high and it's no glory to God.

That's for certain. They were to speak truth at all times. Jesus said, don't say I swear this is true. He said, don't do it. You can't make one hair on your head white or black. You can't change anything.

He said, just there's anything more than speaking truth comes from evil. Let your communication be yay, yay, and nay, nay. In other words, you don't have to swear and you don't have to say, now this is a true story.

You know, when you say that, what does it tell people about your other stories? Speak the truth. Just speak the truth. At all times, just speak the truth. They were not to respond in like spirit when treated wrongfully, but do everything in their power to respond in a godly manner.

They were to love and bless and do good to them, which were their enemies. Phenomenal thought. I can see Peter mulling it over in his mind. Maybe seven times, that ought to do it. Would that be good enough?

I mean, the eighth time, you're history. You do this to me. But seven times, that's got to be godly. And remember when he came to Jesus, how many times should I forgive? Seven times? I think he expected Jesus to say, blessed are thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.

It's been given to you, my father, in heaven. And Jesus said, no, not seven times. Seven, 70 times seven. Is it seven or 70? 70 times seven. That's 490, I wasn't very good in math, but that's 490 times.

And you can imagine Peter walking 490 times to forgive somebody who comes and does the same thing to me over and over and over again. Matthew six tells us that they were to pray that God's will be done, that supply be given to do it, that they might be ambassadors of forgiveness.

They were to ask not to be led astray and acknowledge that God alone has the power to help them do this. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. There's no other way this can be done. That I might be an ambassador, that I might stay on this path that God has for my life.

They were to be aware of the peril of seeking security in anything of this world and letting the fear of tomorrow's provision begin to consume their lives. They were to be aware of it, folks, and how much more in our generation we are going in to a worldwide economic storm.

Seeking First the Kingdom of God

But the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we are to seek first his kingdom with the promise that all that we will need will be given to us. Seek first his kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first the work of God.

Seek first to do the will of God. Seek first what the mandate of God is that was given to you and I in our generation. Seek it first and all these things shall be added unto you. Now, it may not be as glamorous as you'd like, but it will be added to you.

That is a red letter out of the mouth of Jesus' promise. Don't be consumed about where shall we live and what shall we eat and what shall we wear. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek first the kingdom of God. Folks, I can't overestimate it. I remember as a young Christian coming home from Eastern Canada having been out preaching at a conference, a small church conference, and my house was burned to the ground by a miracle of God.

My children were spared, but we had absolutely nothing for a season. And I remember coming out of a friend's house that we were staying in over Christmas time and I said, well, Lord, I've done my part.

I'm seeking first the kingdom of God. I don't even have a toothbrush to brush my teeth with. But I said, your part of the verse is to add to me everything I need. And I just remember I went out for a jog one morning and said, Lord, I'm completely in your hands.

I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but I know that you promised me that you'd meet all of my needs. And folks, he did miraculously. It was phenomenal to see how God met all of our needs, gave us another place to stay.

Not as big as the first one, but it was very nice. All the furniture we needed, the clothing that we needed, everything. And he said to me when it was all over, I just, I needed to show you, I can take it all away and I can give it all back.

Judging Carefully and Speaking Truth Wisely

Matthew 7, he says, they were to be careful in dealing with other believers. And folks, we need to be very, very careful. He says, be careful how you judge another, because you're looking at a speck in your brother's eye, but there might be a log in your own that you're not even aware of.

He said, once you've dealt with what's in your own heart, then you will see clearly. In other words, you'll see your brother as Christ sees him or her. And you'll deal tenderly, and you'll deal not for the purpose of being proven right, but you'll deal with the purpose of seeing that person restored to spiritual health.

And then lastly, in the final verse of Matthew 7, verse 6, before we get into our opening text, he says, don't give that which is holy to the dogs, and don't cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.

In other words, you and I need to learn when to share truth and when to be quiet. You don't have to unload a wagon load of scripture on everybody, because some hearts are simply not ready. Remember when Jesus was brought before his accusers, he knew what was in their hearts, and he didn't answer them.

There was no point in answering them, because the truth, if he would have spoken divine truth, they would have just trampled it under foot, and they would have just made a mockery of the things of God.

He knew that there was a time to share, and there was a time to be quiet. Now, now he says, ask. Like, this has been a lot of things have been shared with these disciples. This has been one sitting, one teaching, just like I've more or less paraphrased it for you today, and they're thinking exactly what you're thinking today.

How in the world am I ever going to do all these things? It's not possible. I don't have the resources. I can't do this. I mean, I could probably take a little paragraph in these three chapters and more or less focus on it and give it my best effort, but even my best efforts are going to fall short.

How am I ever going to do this? And they had to be thinking that. I mean, if they're just ordinary people like you and I, how in the world am I supposed to do this? How do I love my enemies? How do I be as kind as God towards people who fall short of what they're supposed to be, or the truth they're supposed to be walking in?

How do I stop thinking and worrying about tomorrow? How do I do this? I can't. That's why he comes to verse seven. It says, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Bread, Stones, Fish, and Serpents

Now in verse nine, he says something rather interesting. He says, what man is there of you whom if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Now these, and then the next verse he says, if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Now these are not just random examples, folks. Just a few chapters before in Matthew chapter four, he's been led into the wilderness of the Holy Spirit. He's been 40 days without food. At the end of that 40 days, the scripture says he was hungry.

And if I have read the book on fasting, if you read the book, it'll tell you at a certain stage in a fast, your body, you're not hungry after a certain point. I've gone on a, not a 40 day, but I've gone on a several day fast.

And it is true after a certain point, you're not hungry anymore. Because your body is consuming fat and toxins and everything else that's laid up in it. But the moment hunger returns, that means your body has begun to consume itself.

Muscle tissue, vital tissue in your body. You're in effect starving at that point. And the scripture says at the end of the 40 days, he was hungry. That means starvation technically, physical starvation has begun to set into his body.

Satan comes to him at that point and says, if you're the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. If you are God's son, do you have to go through hardship? If you are God's son, shouldn't it be easy?

Shouldn't there be like this constant, shouldn't it smell good? Shouldn't it taste good? Shouldn't it be soft to the touch? Shouldn't it be comfortable? If you are the son of God, you don't have to go through this.

You don't have to suffer. You don't have to be deprived. If you're the son of God, just command these stones to be made bread. And Jesus said to Satan, get behind me. He said, it is written that man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

In other words, I've been sat on a mission by my father, and I'm gonna fulfill that mission. And it doesn't mean that I'm always going to be comfortable. It doesn't mean that there's not going to be times of want and hardship, but I have a word from the father that I'm going to finish this journey and I'm gonna finish it in victory.

I'm not finishing it alone. Many are coming with me. And so I'm not looking for a soft journey. And many people in this generation have looked for a soft journey and have tried to use the power of God to turn every stone to bread, make every hard place easy.

And he said, what man is there of you if his son asked for bread, will he give him a stone? In other words, God will give you what you need to get you through every difficult place that you're going to face.

You don't have to try to change it. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. You don't have to spend your time trying to figure out a way out of your dilemma or your difficulty, or trying to use the power of God to make hard places easy.

He was on a redemptive mission. And then he says, if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? That's an incredible statement in itself because God the father had sent his son to become a fisher of my soul and of yours.

And consequently to call us into his work to become fishers of men. That's the call of God in the church. It's the redemptive purpose of God in the earth. And in order to accomplish that, it involved a cross.

It involved being rejected by this world. It involved having to endure the ridicule, the scorn, the absolute hatred of people who were opposing their own salvation. He said, if you ask for a fish, will he give you a serpent?

If you ask in your heart, Jesus, I wanna follow you. I wanna take up my cross. Lord, I wanna be given for this generation. I want people to find you through my life. I want my words to have weight behind them.

I don't want to be just a light testimony of who you are in my generation. I wanna be a fisher of men, just as the early church was. And that has to be a cry in the heart of an honest child of God. It has to be a cry in your heart if you truly are a child of God.

And yet before him stands the serpent. And the serpent says, look it, here's all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he says, look, all you have to do is bow before me. Just acknowledge that God's ways are not the only ways.

That the way God says it is not the way it has to be. There's other ways to do this. All you have to do is bend your knee and circumvent the cross, go around the hardship, and I'll give it all to you right now.

And folks, that's the original sin. That's what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with in the garden of Eden. He came down and he told them this. You don't have to listen to God. He doesn't know everything. You partake of what I give you.

Your eyes are gonna be open and you're going to know good and evil. In other words, you can chart your own course. And the very thing he tempted Adam and Eve with, he's now coming to the son of God in the wilderness.

And Jesus is saying to his disciples, I was sent to be a fisher of men. And that path involves a cross. And if you ask for a fish, God's not gonna give you a serpent. I was sent to the cross. I was sent for the purpose of redeeming humankind.

And the serpent appeared before me, professing that his ways were in measure equal to the ways of God. And if you ask for a fish, God the Father is not going to give you a serpent. In other words, he's not gonna come to you and say, no, life is meant to be easy.

Folks, I tell you, there have been serpents standing before much of the professed testimony of this generation. Say, no, you don't have to talk about the blood. No, the cross isn't necessary. No, the Christian life is all just about being happy and healthy and wealthy.

That's the Christian life. You don't have to be given. You don't have to be poured out. You don't have to go to the mission field. You don't have to suffer for the cause of Christ so that others may come to the knowledge of God.

No, sir, there's an easier way to do this. If all it is is just about ruling and reigning over people, then try doing it my way. Oh, no. Then he says in verse 12, therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do to them, for this is the law and the prophets.

The Golden Rule and Redemptive Love

It's as if Jesus was saying to them, if I were lost, I would want somebody to come for me. I'd want somebody to reach out to me. I'd want somebody to give whatever they had to to get me out. If I were lost, whatever you would want others to do for you do for them.

See, that's the key actually to all the resource that's spoken about in verses seven, eight, nine, 10, and 11. All the resource is found in this one key. Whatever you would want people to do for you if you were in a certain situation, do for them.

Go to them. That's the key to enduring the scorn of those who oppose their own salvation. That's the key to being kind to your enemies. It's this heart of God that says, I'm not willing that any should perish.

That's the key that allows you to have your face slapped and yet not retaliate in like kind. It's the key that gives you joy and love in the workplace in spite of how rude and nasty and ignorant the people are getting all around you.

That's the key. Oh Jesus, I could be just like one of them. Had somebody not come to me, had you not come and gone to a cross, I would be just as they are. Oh Jesus, would you let me represent you on the earth?

Would you stretch me out beyond myself? Would you take me beyond my own quest for personal comfort? Would you help me, God, to get rid of these feelings of desiring vengeance? Would you give me the mercy and compassion that God is willing to give to those who belong to him?

If I were lost, I'd want somebody to walk with me and help me never to go down that road again. Lord, would you help me to be patient with brothers and sisters in the Lord that are younger and weaker and more confused and haven't made the full break with the things of this world?

Instead of pointing a bony finger, would you help me to stretch out a tender hand? That's the key. And this is where life comes from. This is where light comes from. The promise at the end of the scripture, he said, therefore, whoever hears these things of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock.