Encountering Jesus
Allen Snapp
Grace Community Church
August, 9, 2026
A.S.K. (Ask, Seek, Knock)
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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of 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 serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt 7:7-12
Prayer has always been a mixed bag for me. On one hand prayer has been a deep and important part of my life for over five decades. I’ve lifted thousands of prayers to God and seen Him answer countless prayers. On the other hand prayer continues to be a struggle for me. There are times when I get distracted and my prayers are scatter-brained. Times when I don’t make prayer a high priority in my life and it is one of the first things I jettison when life gets busy. And there are times, to be honest, when I just don’t feel like praying. When my confidence that it will make a difference runs low.
Ask I was meditating over our passage this week I found my faith to pray being encouraged and I hope and pray that your faith to pray and confidence in prayer is strengthened by our time in God’s word as well. Because that’s what Jesus is going for! He urges us to pray – not because it’s our duty – though it is! Not because we have to – even though we do! He urges us to pray because God answers prayer!
Let’s take a moment together and ask God to stir our hearts with a fresh confidence in the power of prayer. PRAY.
Jesus says ask, seek, knock. I never noticed this before but the first letter of each of these words spells ASK, ask, seek, knock. And because they are in the present imperative Jesus is saying keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Asking, seeking, and knocking is to be a way of life, a constant habit in our lives.
- The Power of A.S.K.ing
Jesus says if we ask, it will be given. If we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will be opened to us. When we ask we will get things that we won’t get if we don’t ask. When we seek we will find treasures that we may never find if we don’t seek. When we knock, doors will be opened to us that may well remain closed if we don’t knock.
Life looks different for those who ask, seek, and knock than for those who don’t. I couldn’t help but think of a time when the word “ask” completely changed my and my family’s life and trajectory. It was in 1998 when I was pastoring a church on Long Island and Janice and I, along with various leaders in our church had been attending the annual Sovereign Grace leader’s conference for the past 6 years and this one night after the message I felt a strong desire to see our church become a part of the Sovereign Grace network. The problem was SG planted their churches and weren’t at that time in the practice of “adopting” outside churches so it didn’t seem to be a possibility.
After the session I was talking with a SG pastor named Paul and I mentioned my desire to become part of the SG network of churches but knew that couldn’t happen. Paul asked me a simple question: have you ever asked? I said no, I don’t want to presume. He leaned forward and said one word: ask! I asked and that one word set events in motion that changed the trajectory of our lives in more ways than I have time to describe.
Don’t say, “well I don’t want to presume on God. I don’t want to bother God with my problems. I don’t want to waste God’s time – He has more important things going on than my life.” Ask! Jesus says you will get answers, find treasures, and have doors open up to you that you won’t get if you don’t A.S.K.
Notice Jesus doesn’t say ask God. He says ask your heavenly Father. He draws us close to God as His children and presses us to trust Him as our Father. As parents we love to give our children good things when they ask. We would never bait and switch a stone for bread or a snake for fish. We know how to give good gifts to our children, yet at our core we aren’t good. We are sinners who are terribly flawed and selfish and corrupt. Jesus says if we know how to give good things to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give us good things when we ask.
Jesus teaches us that there are three layers of prayer, ask, seek, and knock and each layer is more intense than the one before.
- Asking is a humble expression of need
Asking is admitting our need and asking our heavenly Father to provide. Asking declares our dependence on God. Asking is an expression of our need, dependence, and trust.
Jesus tells the parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector who go to the temple at the same time to pray. The Pharisee doesn’t ask God for anything, he just tells God things. Things like thank you God that I’m not like other men like that tax collector over there. He tells God how about all that he gives. I tithe and I fast. There’s no ask in the Pharisee’s prayer.
The tax collector prays a prayer that all ask: God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Jesus says ask and it will be given you. That tax collector went home justified. That’s the power of ask. The thief on the cross didn’t bargain with Jesus, he just asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom.
That’s really what faith in Jesus comes down to. Believing that he died on the cross for our sin. Believing that he rose from the dead on the third day. And believing that he saves those who believe on his name. Faith is asking Jesus, “please forgive my sin. Please come into my life. Please save me.”
Are you asking of God? Jesus says ask!
- Seeking calls us to pursue God’s kingdom
Asking is words, seeking is action. It’s looking, searching, pursuing. Jesus told us to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness rather than fleeting priorities of the world. Seeking means to pursue something that is a priority, of great value, to us.
Seek God! Go after God, look for Him, draw near to Him, make it a priority to know Him through His written word. See God’s will for your life! I think a lot of people have the mistaken notion that whatever happens in their life was the will of God for their life. That’s not a biblical view. The Bible tells us very clearly there are actions and paths that are God’s will and actions and paths that are not God’s will.
God’s will isn’t mystical and mysterious. He wants us to know and walk in His will. 1 Thess. 4:3 says it’s God will we should live holy and avoid sexual immorality. That’s not mystical or mysterious. It’s very practical. Should I live a godly life or an immoral life? God’s will is clear. It may not be easy, but it’s clear. Should I lie or tell the truth? Should I steal or not steal? Should I forgive that person who hurt me or grow bitter? Should I gossip about someone or cover their reputation by not spreading gossip about them? When the choices before us have one way going towards holiness and the other path goes to sin, God’s will for your life is clear. And as you choose His will that you be holy, Paul says it pleases God.
Sometimes the choices that lie before us aren’t between right and wrong. Door #1 is good and door #2 is good. That’s when we should ask God to guide us, keep our heart open to His leading, and trust that He will lead us in His good path.Don’t fret it. Don’t worry about it. Trust Him and do what you have faith and peace for.
If we want to get better at discerning God’s will, we need to be reading our Bible.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Rom 12:2
- Knocking encourages us to be persistent
If God doesn’t open the door at the first knock, Jesus says keep knocking! God sometimes withholds a good thing He wants to give us because He wants to teach us persistence. He wants to teach us not to give up the minute things get hard or we don’t get an answer. Keep knocking, be persistent!
The truth is most people who accomplish anything worthwhile didn’t do it on their first try or without adversity. They did it because they kept going. Kept knocking.
- Christian author Max Lucado was turned down by 15 publishers before one accepted him on one condition: they didn’t want a second book from him.
- Fred Astaire kept a memo on his mantel from his first screen test: the director wrote: “can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.”
- Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for a lack of ideas
- Thomas Edison's first teacher described him as "addled," and his father tried to convince him he was a "dunce."
- Albert Einstein's parents were afraid he was dull.In high school he performed so badly that one of his teachers asked him to drop out.
Don’t be too quick to interpret delay as denial. Keep knocking. Jesus says the door will open. It may not be the door we’re knocking on. We might be knocking on this door and that door opens up. God knows the best doors to open up for us. Just keep knocking, keep seeking, keep asking.
- The Golden Rule
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7:12
Jesus closes this section with what we call the golden rule. We know it’s connected to what he’s just said about ASKing because he says “so” or “therefore”. Because of what I’ve just said, therefore whatever you wish others would do to you do to them. This is what loving our neighbor looks like.
I think the connection is that if we have received God’s kindness and grace we will bend it outward to others. It’s called the golden rule because it’s really masterful. I’ve been in counseling sessions with husbands who are overbearing and domineering over their wives and I’ve asked them one question: would you want to be married to you? I know the answer because they hate being told what to do as much as they love telling people what to do.
It’s golden because it’s a rule made of pure gold. If you want to be treated with respect, treat others with respect. If you want to be treated with kindness, treat others with kindness. If you want to a friend, be a friend. We reap what we sow. Jesus is saying sow what you want. You may or may not reap it from that person, but you’ll reap it somewhere.
In our closing moments, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. By his atoning death on the cross Jesus made it possible for us to ask God to save us. Made it possible for us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And made it possible for us to knock on the door to heaven and see it open wide for us. If you don’t know Jesus, you need to know that he came to save you from your sin and for his kingdom. Ask Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life today.
Let’s pray.