We continue this week’s sermon series, The Gospel of Luke, Part III: A Journey through Galilee, with the Lord’s Prayer post teachings from Christ (Perseverance and Promises in Prayer). The two short parables presented in the text teach us about what God is like and that we can trust Him. God is eager and able to meet the longings of our hearts. In all that we seek, God is to be our total joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction.

Tyler’s Main Points

• Father God is a ready friend who hears and responds to our prayers for spiritual help.

• Father God is a good father who delights to give Himself to us.

Key Takeaways

• Every single one of us is searching for happiness, true joy, peace, fulfillment,and wholeness in life.

• We are created to find wholeness in Christ-alone.

• Because of the fall, we (humanity) are constantly searching for completion/wholeness, joy, peace, and satisfaction in other places.

• The key to understanding the two post prayer parables is found in the context of the Lord’s Prayer.

• We are to ask God for His kingdom to come. This is both a lament and a request. We can experience His reign and rule in our hearts now.

• We are to ask God for our daily bread. More than our daily needs, thisrequest is for His kingdom and righteousness to be present in our hearts and lives. He is to be the satisfaction of our souls daily.

• We are to pray for the forgiveness of sins. There is total assurance that our sins are forgiven through Jesus (all sins past, present, and future).

• We are to pray against temptation and more so towards a willing submissiveand joyful obedience to God (the abundant life in Christ). 

• It is possible that we incorrectly view God like the reluctant friend in the parable. He is not put out by us and is ready and eager to hear and respond rightly to our spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.

• Our wrong views of God can sometimes lead us in destructive paths, where we try to find answers and create solutions for the longings of our hearts in much lesser and unfulfilling ways.

• We are never interrupting God. We are to be persistent and seek after Himwith all our heart.

• God is ready and eager for us to come to Him. He is willing and able to always answer our prayers.

• Prayer is the means of an abiding relationship with God.

• Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. We will find Him in these whole heart-based pursuits. God assures it.

• As we continually seek after and pray to God, we are pursuing an abiding fellowship with Him.

• The world can never provide us with what we truly need. Only God can satisfy our hearts.

• God gives us Himself, the Holy Spirit.

• Every soul longs for God. (As the deer pants for water, so our hearts long for God.)

• The abiding presence of God in our souls (the Holy Spirit) testifies with our spirits that we are children of God.

• God will make Himself known to us as we seek Him with all our hearts.

• Theologians R.C. Sproul and Jonathan Edwards quotes – Respectively, seeking after God occurs after conversion and is a lifelong pursuit of the Christian life.

• Where do you find joy, peace, and contentment? God is the ultimate answer for each of these things.

• Sometimes we need to be untangled by God, because we intertwine our significance and joy into our roles and involvements in other things vs. in God alone. Our identity and worth are found in God and not in other things.

• God is our Ready Friend and Good Father. He will provide all that we need.It is rigged in the most favorable way imaginable. (He gives us Himself.)

Discussion Questions/Application

Personal application:

• Where are you? (Not in proximity but of the spiritual nature) Are you seeking God with all your heart for total joy and fulfillment or are you running after other people and things to try and fill the longings of your heart?

• Like the Johnny Manziel story/quote, do you feel empty even though you might have all that you thought would make you happy? Reminder: You were created for God. Dwell on the question above. Where are you?

Discuss with your community group:

• How can we help and encourage each other to have in likeness the same joyful, dependent relationship that Jesus has with the Father?

• Do we have right views of God? Do we see Him as a ready friend and good father who is eager to meet our spiritual needs and fulfill us with Himself?

• Are we a safe place for one another? Can we share the most difficult things of life with one another without fear of judgment? God is and we want to be likewise with one another. See the Proverbs mentioned in this sermon series.

Passages Referenced

Luke 11:5-13; Psalm 122:6-9; Matthew 6; John 6:35; 1 John 2:1; Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 18:24; Proverbs 27:6,9-10; Mark 1:35; Genesis 3.

Worship Set List

Worthy of Your Name, Before the Throne of God Above, Jesus You Alone, Adore, I Surrender All