Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Key Passage: John 16:22-23
Date: June 7, 2024
Bibles, if you would, to John chapter number 16. John, chapter number 16 in God’s word this morning. We have been focusing on the subject of prayer in the month of September on Sunday mornings, and we’re going to finish this out this morning. The title for the internet would be, “Ask and Ye Shall Receive.” “Ask and Ye Shall Receive” would be the title today.
I’m just thrilled you’re in church. This is awesome. It’s wonderful. We’re glad you’re here today, every single person. And praise the Lord, you’re in God’s health. Do you want to hear something from the Lord? Do you want the Lord to speak to your heart this morning? Yes, yes, yes. If you’re hungry, he promises he’ll fill you. And that’s his word, and he always honors his word. So I hope you’re just hungry and wanting God to speak to your hearts this morning; that’s the key.
We’ll be in John 16. Jesus here is having what we call the Last Supper with his apostles, his disciples. He’s teaching them so much during this time. Some of the things he’s telling them is, “Look, I’m about to go away.” He’s telling them about his death and his burial, and then his resurrection. He’ll ascend, and they’ll be on their own, if you will—not fully on their own; he’ll send his Spirit, the Comforter. But he’s teaching them about all that. Part of his lessons, his last-minute instructions, if you will, is about prayer. We will just kind of get an ear in on this conversation, and we’ll just take a couple of verses this morning about Jesus and prayer here when he’s talking to his apostles.
John 16, and we’re going to start with verse number 22. If you’re able, would you please stand out of respect to the Word of God? John 16, verse number 22.
John chapter 16, verse number 22: “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again.” They’re sorry because he said, “I’m going to leave you,” but he said, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” We’ve already mentioned that this morning about the Lord’s return in coming back for his own. That’s what he’s speaking of right there. It doesn’t matter how wicked and how sinful this world gets; no one can take your joy away. Jesus is coming again. All the atheists and liberals—he didn’t say whatever—but Jesus is coming again for him, and they can’t stop him. No man can take that joy from us.
Verse number 23: “And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing.” Just pause for a moment there, if you will. He’s talking about the day that he’ll be gone, he’ll ascend. Jesus was with them for three, three and a half years.
If they needed to feed the crowd, “Jesus, what are we going to do?” And Jesus said, “Go get that boy’s little sack lunch over there. He’s got some bluegills in there and a couple catfish biscuits over there. Bring them to me.” And Jesus took that, and he blessed it, and they broke it, and they fed the 5,000 plus women and children. If they needed some money to pay the taxes, “Hey, Jesus, we got to keep up, Sam, off our back, you know, the IRS is coming.” And Jesus said, “Go down there and get a fish, look in its mouth. It’ll be the money you need.” Anything they needed, Jesus was there, and they could go straight to Jesus, see. He said, “I’m about to leave, and you’re not going to be able to come to me directly like that to Jesus. We’ll go to him a different way.” Well, that’s what he’s speaking of here, all right?
In verse number 23: “And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Now, when we say our prayers, we put that little tag on the end, “In Jesus’ name, amen.” I don’t think that’s wrong to do, but if I just say that and I don’t understand what it means, I’m just going through a ritual. I don’t really mean what I’m saying, and it’s really not getting the job done, if you will. It has to be meaningful.
I often explain it with a check. Years ago, I got a bank check from my bank in Florida. I was going back up to college in Chicago, right outside of it. It was a cashier’s check. I thought, man, this thing’s good. I deposited it in the bank and began to write checks, and they all began to bounce, bounce. I thought, what in the world? I just put a big old check in there, at least for me it was big. I came to find out that teller in Florida had not signed the bank’s name to it. I had to read a sign, and boy, I was in trouble. Bouncing checks is not a good thing. I like to bounce the basketball every once in a while, but not checks, you know.
We had to get that cleared up, and praise the Lord, we did. Here’s the thing when you’re praying: you don’t put your name on the check; you put Jesus’ name on it. By the way, there’s some protection in there. Jesus isn’t going to put his name on a check that’s not worthy of his name being on it. See? That’s what he’s speaking of there. It’s more than just the tag we put on there. I’m guilty of it from time to time, but we ought to mean that: “Father, I’m asking this based on the merits of Jesus, what he earned for me on the cross.” He earned all the grace we have. So that’s what asking in the name of Jesus means. Just a little side note. I’ve got to hurry along because you don’t want to get out at 3 p.m.
Some get really staunch about this thing: “Well, you can only pray to the Father through the Son by the Holy Ghost,” and so on. I understand there’s some truth to that; that’s what he’s speaking of there, in the name of Jesus. But I think there’s a lot of wisdom in not getting caught up too much in being too technical. I remember when I was in Bible college, I went to a preacher and said, “Man, help me out about this.” He said, “Don’t get caught up too much in that,” and that was very helpful for me.
I remember John Rice. How many of you know of John Rice? There’s a road in Murfreesboro named for him, right in front of Sam’s Club there. He was a great preacher; he’s in heaven now. He had prayed one time, and he had prayed to the Father, if you will, and he mentioned something to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit for just a moment. Afterwards, a young preacher boy came up: “Hey, you did that all wrong! You’re supposed to pray to the Father through the Son by the Holy Ghost.” Old John Rice, he was an older man. He did like all old men—hung his glasses down his nose—and he looked over at the young man. He said, “Son, when you know the family like I do, you can talk to any member you want to. They’re one anyway” (1 John 5:7). Don’t get caught up too much in that. Worry about all those things. The thing is, you’re asking based on Jesus’ merit, not on your merit. That’s the big thing. That’s what he’s teaching.
Verse number 24: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Now we want to look at three words in this verse here—three words.
A little over a year and a half ago, we started looking at possibly—it was a stretch for us—to buy the 15 acres over there. We had seen the real estate sign up there. We’re trying to build here, but most of the property we can’t build on because it doesn’t perk. So we began to look elsewhere. I emailed the real estate agent who listed the land. I knew it was way above us; we’re just an old country church, amen. That’s all right; God’s in that country church, there’s a lot of power there, amen. But I was nervous, and I wanted to do everything just right, so I was trying to be businessman-like. That’s hard for a country preacher to do, you know, and be real proper. Of course, you know, my grammar is always exceptional. I’m trying to get my spelling right even writing the emails, and I’m trying to do everything just right. I emailed them, “Hey, we’re interested,” and so on. He emailed me back pretty quick with some information about the land. So I thought, well, let me try to go the ministry route. I began to tell him a little bit about our church. After several days of emailing back and forth, I told him the church was 18 years old at the time, and I’d been the pastor from the beginning, just trying to build some credibility or something, you know. I began telling him our future dreams a little bit: we want to have a Christian school, and we want to edify the saints and reach the lost. Just trying to make it sound real flowery, real nice. You know what I’m talking about? I was trying to build it up and make it super-duper nice. Then he gave me some more information. It was listed at that time for $1.75 million. I got that information and thought, man, that’s way above us. So I tried to put a little bit more of this sugar and honey out there, you know, all this nice, flowery stuff, everything I could think of just trying to… We emailed for several days. Finally, he popped the question. It was almost like he was tired of all this emailing about nonsense, man. I had put in some emails asking, “Would you consider giving us this kind of rate because of the ministry?” Man, he just puts it out there: “How much are you thinking?” This was before we did a lot out in front of everybody.
I was praying about it. I didn’t want to get to that point; we hadn’t even voted on it formally. But he wanted to know. I was praying about it, and I just felt like the Lord kept saying $350,000. Well, I know he’s going to laugh at that. Lord, have you ever talked to the Lord about something and he gives you an answer, and you’re like, “Lord, are you sure?” That’s the way it was. But he was like, “Put it out there.” In fact, this is exactly what he emailed me: “Thanks for your note.” That was after all my flowery stuff in the last email. “Thanks for your note. If not $1.75 [million], what purchase price figure do you have in mind?”
Well, I had to go ahead and tell him what the Lord said. So I emailed him back—I don’t know how many days this all took—and I said, “$350,000?” The next email came with red letters. No, it wasn’t fire, but it felt like it. He did say something like this: “The bank’s already underwritten for $2 million on the property. It’s already discounted from that $1.75.” That’s what he said. He said, “It’s not in the realm of consideration,” was his wording.
Now here’s the wonderful thing: We got it for $1.3 million. We’re selling two acres for $1.15 million. So actually, the Lord’s giving it to us for $150,000 less than I asked. But I give this illustration to say, you know, I was just really talking to him a lot, trying to butter him up the best this country preacher can do. But he just got the point. He was like, “Well, I ask.”
God, the first word we want to look at is “ask.” Part of prayer is many things: worship, praise, thanksgiving, and confession. But friend, part of prayer is just asking. God puts it out very clearly many times in the Bible: ask. Did you notice in the verse we read right there, that last verse we read, verse number 24? “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask.” God wants you and I, in our prayer life, just to ask.
Last week we preached from James 4:2. What does it say? “Ye have not because ye ask not.” He wants us to ask. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” The next verse, I love the next verse, verse number 8, it says, “For every one that asketh, receiveth.” God just tells us to ask.
We have a little plaque in this room over here. If there are donuts in there, we go back to eat donuts, but we do pray. There’s a little plaque over there. I’ll get it for you real quickly here. I want you to see one word of it. I’m not leaving, all right? Don’t fall asleep. I’m gone. There it is. I hate to take it down because it’s hard to get back up, but it’s a great promise. Luke 11:13: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Friend, I’m just saying it’s all over the Bible; we are to ask. The Lord’s Prayer, part of the Lord’s Prayer we call it a model, an outline of prayer. He says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Just ask him. Philippians 4:6 says, “Let your requests be made known unto God.” If I had gone around with that guy for three years and never asked, praise the Lord, he got the point. He was kind of like, “Hey, stop beating around the bush and just ask.” And God wants his people asking.
Part of your prayer life should be asking. Sometimes, because of our lack of faith, we just have a little fear, and we’re just not asking. Hey, look, if I go to God and say, “Oh, our gracious heavenly Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the other fathers, God of the universe,” and I just go about all this—and that’s part of it, you ought to praise and worship God—I’m not trying to say that’s wrong. I think every Christian ought to have a concert to God every once in a while. You sing to him. If you’re like me, make sure the windows are up in the car when you do it. Get away from everybody. You know, one of the dogs in the neighborhood starts howling. But sing to God. All of that I think is great. But if I do all that, I go to God and I say all these things, but never ask, something’s missing. God is telling me here to ask. That’s what he said right there. Friend, it’s a shame. Sometimes we do everything in the world, but we just simply don’t ask, and God wants us to ask.
Luke 11:9 is very similar to Matthew 7:7. He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”
Here’s the thing about that: right before that passage, he gives this parable of a man who had a friend come visit him very late. How many have ever had somebody you didn’t expect come late at night? How many have never answered the door when they came? They were coming to visit him, and they were going to stay—very typical for Eastern custom. He came late, and the guy didn’t have any food, any bread for him. Do you remember that story? At midnight, it was late. At midnight, he went to his friend (who represents the Lord) and he said, “Lord, would you lend me three loaves?”
He said, at first, he said no: “I’m asleep. My kids are in bed. I don’t want to make everybody up in the household.” Actually, he says he would not give it to him because he’s his friend. But the Bible says, “As yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as much as he needeth.” Now, that importunity has to do with continually asking. Sometimes God wants you to ask and ask and ask and ask and ask. Somebody said, “Preacher, I’m praying for my relative to get saved, and it just seems like it’s always going through my mind, and I’m just continuing to ask him, ‘Lord, help Uncle Joe to get saved, help Uncle Joe.’” Is that vain repetition? Friend, there’s nothing vain about that. If you’re asking God to save someone and you mean that, there’s not vain repetition for you. Sometimes you must continually ask and ask and ask and ask. Matthew 7 and Luke 11, he’s talking about asking in the continual sense: ask it, ask it, ask, and ask.
Very interesting, Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.” It’s not in the continual sense. It’s a “boom”—you call, you’re saved. It’s a one-time deal. But asking, friend—are you asking God in prayer?
I have an Uncle Johnny Frank. He’s in heaven now. Uncle Johnny Frank was the oldest of my mom’s siblings. Praise the Lord, my mom got saved, and my dad did too. My parents witnessed to their family for years, and I watched them slowly lead them to the Lord. Uncle Johnny Frank was a very—I don’t want to be mean—but he was a mean man. Not a bad man, but just… that would get him a lot. I remember at a family reunion seeing his wife come in with black eyes because they had been fighting before. I remember my dad trying to win his son to the Lord, and his son was listening a little bit to my dad witness to him. Frankie, his son, looked over at his dad, Uncle Johnny Frank, and his dad shook his head no. His son said, “Steve, I’m not interested.” That was just Uncle John Frank. He was somewhat the leader of the family and didn’t want anything to do with the Lord, just put it that way.
My parents, over the years, had been praying for year after year after year after year after year. They were going to visit him; they lived hours away. I was living in Indiana at the time. They called me and said, “Paul, we’re about to go visit Uncle John Frank, and we’re going to try to witness to him again. Would you pray?” Now, here’s the shame on your pastor—my great faith, you know. I didn’t say it, but inside I thought, “Man, how many times have you all tried with him? A guy doesn’t want to hear it, doesn’t want anything to do with this, give it up.” But I tried to look good on the outside at least. That’s what I’ll pray. I prayed, but I probably didn’t pray in faith like all those years they had been praying. They went down, and he had cancer. They had no witness to him, and he wanted to hear at that time. Praise the Lord, Uncle Johnny Frank got saved. They say when he was in the hospital, relatives would come in, and he would say, “Y’all don’t cuss around me anymore. I’m saved now. Tell Stephen Nine to bring the Bible and read the Bible to me.” Just say this: It took them years and years and years. I remember right, 34 years of praying and just asking and asking and asking and asking.
Are you asking about anything? Is there anything you’re going to God about and asking, and you’re not just beating around the bush? Are you saying, “Lord, would you work in this situation? Would you change this person? Would you bless my finances, maybe? Would you heal so-and-so? Would you let so-and-so get saved?” Are you praying? Are you asking? The first word we want to look at is simply, just plain old, God says, “Ask.” Sometimes we get caught up in everything else, and those things aren’t bad, but we’re not asking. Part of prayer is asking.
Let’s look at another word here real quickly. The first word is “ask.” Go back to that verse there, verse number 24, I believe it is. I want you to see another word there, all right? Y’all with me? Y’all in verse number 24, amen? Good deal. He says, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall…” What’s the next word? “…Receive.” Now let’s just talk about that word for a moment here.
Sometimes we pray so generally that we wouldn’t know if we received it or not. Sometimes—and I’m not saying it’s necessarily all the way bad—but I’m for praying specifically so you know if you’ve received it or not. Sometimes they’ll say, “Lord, bless all the missionaries in the world.” Well, how would you know if you received or not? “I ask,” well, “ye shall receive.” “Lord, bless Joe over there.” Well, how do you know if Joe got blessed or not? “Well, he’s still breathing.” Okay, he’s blessed somehow, yeah. He may have choked on a steak the night before, but he’s still breathing. I mean, how do you know if he really was blessed or not? Maybe he would have lived without your prayer. But I’m saying, here’s what I’m getting at: When you can, as much as you can, pray specifically so you’ll know if you received or not. Again, same thing: sometimes we don’t pray specifically out of lack of faith.
Pretty specific: Cameron B. Thompson, a great, great preacher years ago, had three girls. One of his girls was named Joy. By the way, can you imagine him trying to get in the restroom to get ready for church with three girls? And one of his girls, little Joy, had seen a doll. Of course, he didn’t have the money for it, and it cost $4.98 back in the day. Little Joy told Mom and Dad, “I won that doll.” They said, “Did you pray about it?” So she asked Mom and Dad, “How many pennies is $4.98?” They said, “Joy, that’s 498 pennies.” So Joy started praying for 498 pennies.
Sure enough, a while down the road, there was a knock at the door. Someone in the church had been collecting their change for a while, putting their pennies in one of these—I believe it, if I remember right—one of these water tubs, you know, you put it upside down, the old water tanks, a five-gallon jug, and they’d been throwing all their pennies in there. Both of those things were heavy, and they brought that, and they said, “We felt like the Lord laid it on our heart to give all these pennies to Joy.” They poured out all those pennies on a bed, they said, and they started counting them up: 100, 200, 300, 400, 498 pennies. Now, friend, pray specifically.
He said, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” Now, sometimes you won’t be able to pray specifically because you don’t know what to pray for. That does happen. Look, if you will, over in Romans chapter 8, if you would please. The Bible talks about sometimes you don’t know what to pray for, and it gives some instructions about that in Romans 8. When you look in verse number 26—Romans 8:26, God’s word—pray specifically when you can. Oh, let me encourage you to do that. That way you’ll know when you receive. Sometimes you don’t know how to pray. Romans 8:26 talks about that: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” That’s our weaknesses, our infirmities, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” But the Spirit—that’s capital S, the Holy Spirit—but the Spirit itself maketh intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So sometimes I don’t know how to pray specifically, and I don’t know what to pray for, and the Holy Spirit, he intercedes for us. He goes to the Father on our part.
I thought about years ago, we were looking at buying land in LaVergne before we were here. You know right where Old Nashville Highway and Jefferson Pike come together? There’s a light there now, there’s a gas station there now. It wasn’t there. We were going to buy several acres there on that corner section, with a house back there up to where the gas station is; we were going to buy the whole thing. We were excited, we were pumped about it, and we were saving money. We were in a storefront, looking for a place to go. The man who lived in that house went to our church, and we thought we were going to get a good deal. Boy, I was just excited about it. But there’s a creek that flows through there, right in the middle of it. So I went to the city of LaVergne to make sure they guaranteed we could build there. Well, the city said that’s a FEMA zone. How many know FEMA isn’t fun to mess with? You try to get something changed, it’s like an act of Congress. So basically, we were turned down. Oh, I was down in the dumps. I was sucking on my thumb that day. It was just a sad day. We were in a storefront over here in Smyrna, and we were praying. That was our prayer, but we didn’t know how to pray as we ought. God had a different plan.
So we were praying, but the Holy Spirit took those prayers and went to the Father, if you would. He said, “Hey, I’ve got a different plan.” That very same day they turned us down, that afternoon, the phone rang back in my office. Brother Bill Dillon was on the other end. He said, “Hey, how about you coming over here? We’ve got 12 acres with a building already.” I’m saying, look, I was praying one thing, but I didn’t understand the whole picture. God did. The Holy Spirit did, and the Holy Spirit interceded for us. Intercession is going between, if you will. He was interceding to the Father for us, but part of intercession, you deal with both parties. Sometimes the Holy Spirit goes to the Father and says, “Hey, Father, if they were to get that brand new Corvette, they’d get 40 tickets in the first week. They don’t need that, Father.” He intercedes for me sometimes. Then sometimes the Holy Spirit comes to me also. The Holy Spirit is my prayer partner. See?
My wife and I, when we have the opportunity, like to play pickleball. I’ve been mentioning it; has anybody ever played pickleball in here? Brother Marlin played with me one time. Good. How many even know what it is? Oh, maybe half of you. You put a pickle in your mouth and let people hit on it? No, that’s not pickleball. It’s a crazy name, I know. It’s a little bit like tennis, but on a smaller court with a wiffle ball, not a football. But I like it when I have a good partner. Sometimes I’ll tell my partner, “You’re going to have to make me look good today. I can’t make myself look good; you’ve got to make me look good.” We won! How many points did I score? None, but they scored them all, and they were on my team. That’s a good thing: to have the Holy Spirit as your prayer partner. He intercedes; he goes to the Father for you, but he also guides you in your prayer life.
I think about a father who had seven kids. Poor guy, he had a lot of bills, amen. Seven kids. He decided he was going to spend at least five minutes every day praying for every one of his kids. Five minutes, no big deal, but seven kids—that’s 35 minutes just praying for kids.
I remember as a teenager, my youth director challenged us to pray for five minutes, and I thought, “I do that all the time.” I went home, got my watch out, and I prayed about everything I could think of. It was like two minutes. It was a great challenge in my prayer life. But this father prayed five minutes for each child. He came to one of his daughters and said, “Holy Spirit, you’re my prayer partner. Would you guide me how to pray for this daughter today?” The Lord led him, his prayer partner led him. He prayed about specific things for her life.
When they were getting ready to leave for school, he told his daughter, “Hey, I prayed for you this morning. I prayed about such and such and such and such…” And the girl started crying, a teenage girl. She said, “Dad, I needed those exact things. That’s what I need today.”
Friend, your prayer partner, the Holy Spirit, knows how you ought to pray. As you listen, he bears witness with our spirit for a child of God. He can speak to you, not audibly, but in your heart. He can lead you to the Father, yes, and guide you on how to pray. He’s your prayer partner.
I was in an accident years ago on my hand. You’ve heard me talk about it; my fingers were cut off in a machine. I went to the hospital that night. At first, I was in Indianapolis, my relatives were in Florida, my sister in Michigan. I thought, “Don’t wake anybody up; they can’t do anything about it.” Then the doctor came in and said, “Well, possibly we can reattach them.” I said, “Call them all! Wake them up, amen!” My sister over in Michigan, by that time I was in Chicago, Illinois, started praying, “Lord, would you help them reattach his fingers?” And the Holy Spirit said, “We’re not going to reattach them.” The Lord clearly led her, and so she changed her prayer. She started praying, “Lord, would you give Paul grace when they tell him they can’t reattach them?” Friend, it doesn’t matter how far away you are from someone; the Holy Spirit is everywhere, and he can guide you in your prayer life. So you ask, and you receive. Pray specifically, as much as you can, about those things. Why? So you know when you receive.
By the way, just this thing of asking specifically: How many of you like your children to be hard workers? Would you like that? Do you pray about it? Do you say, “I like my children to be in church every time the doors are open”? Do you pray about that? Do you say, “I would like my son or my daughter or grandchildren to be wise with their money”? Do you pray about that? I’m just saying, get specific in your prayer life. You say, “I would like some things.” Do you pray about those things? “Lord, I’d like to handle my spirit, my attitude, better.” Do you pray about that? “Lord, I need a little bit of knowledge and wisdom.” The Bible says if you lack wisdom, ask. Do you ask for wisdom? I would encourage you every day to pray for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, at least those things. But do you ask specifically about some things? What do you pray about? Sometimes we’re just so general: “Lord, bless so-and-so, bless so-and-so, bless so-and-so,” and so on. I’m not saying that’s bad, but somewhere along the line, you ought to get specific: “Lord, make that child—let them be a soul winner one day.” Pray specifically so you can receive.
This week I was praying a little bit, probably not as much as I should, and not just in my prayer time but throughout the day. I said, “Lord, I need a good book.” Now, I’ve got tons of books over there in my office—books all over the place—but for me, I was talking about a book that would speak to my heart. That’s a little bit tough for me, to be honest. It’s usually a biography or autobiography. I said, “Lord, man, it’s just hard. Lord, it’s been a while since I found a good book that speaks to my heart.” I was at home praying, “Lord, give me a good book. I need something that will speak to me.” And I forgot all about it.
I was in my office—I don’t know if it was the same day, maybe that afternoon, maybe the next day—but I was in my office. I had a book there; I’d put it over on a side shelf. Brother Warren, don’t hit me because I’m still in your songbook! He’s got his cane; he’s going to get me with that cane in a second here. But I had put a book over on the side, and I forgot all about it. It’s been there for months, literally. I don’t know how many hundreds of times I’ve probably been in and out of my office and just laid it on the side, and I forgot all about it. Remember I prayed that prayer, pretty specifically? In the office a little while later, I was looking over there, and that book just seemed to draw my attention. I forgot about the prayer. The Lord said, “Hey, you asked for a book? Does it speak to your heart? That’s the book.” I forgot all about it. That book has been such a blessing to me. It’s spoken to my heart; it’s given me encouragement. I’m going to tell one of the stories for just a minute here. But praying specifically—and I’ll be honest with it—man, it was such a blessing. The Lord heard my prayer. I prayed for a book.
The first word we were talking about was what? Ask. What’s the next word we’re talking about today? Receive. Let’s get the third word in, and then we’re going to go eat fried chicken somewhere. Somebody say amen right there. Here it is. Verse number 24. Would you go back there, please? Verse number 24. We’ve got to hurry along. Would somebody turn that clock back about 15 minutes on the back wall?
Verse number 24: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your…” What’s the next word? “…Joy may be full.” Oh, friend, when you ask and you know you receive because you asked, it’ll do something to you. It’ll put some gas in your tank, some spring in your step. “Woo-hoo! God heard my prayer!” That’s what he’s speaking of. That’s your joy. It’ll give you joy. It’ll increase your faith. You know the Bible talks about a grain of a mustard seed. Luke explains that. That’s just a tiny seed, but it grows to be one of the greatest bushes or herbs, if you will. It’s about faith that grows. You know one of the ways it grows? You pray, and God answers, and you look back: “Boy, God answered that prayer! God answered that prayer! God answered that prayer!” And it grows your faith, see, that mustard seed. And it gives you joy. By the way, it doesn’t have to be anything big. “Well, if I’m praying for $100 and God gives it to me, I’ll have joy for sure.” It can just be little things.
How many, be honest, how many of you battle heartburn? Anybody out there like me? Oh my goodness, getting old is not for wimps, that’s for sure. You know, when you’re young, you eat anything—eat some nails and you’re all right—but nowadays it’s not quite the same. I was battling heartburn this week. Chewing gum helps heartburn. Anybody know that? It helps, but it’s not everything. I’m trying everything when I have heartburn—baking soda, whatever we need. I don’t like it. I have a drawer at the house where I try to keep gum in there. Earlier this week, I looked in that drawer—you know, anybody have a junk drawer? You’ve got everything in that junk drawer. You need a muzzle loader? It’s in there. The muffler for the car? It’s in there. It’s a junk drawer. When I looked in that drawer, there was no gum. I mean, I needed some gum.
Later, I was in the same predicament. It had nothing to do with eating the wrong food, nothing—don’t even think that! I can’t believe you’re thinking like that, friend. But I went there again, and I prayed. I said, “Lord, I know I looked there a couple days ago. In fact, I think I prayed a couple days ago. I didn’t find any in there, but I’m going to look one more time. Would you let there be some gum in there?” You probably won’t. That’s honestly how faithful I was, how much faith I had. Shame on me. God is so gracious, though. I pulled that drawer out, started throwing staple guns out and paper out and ink pens out—no, I didn’t do that; my wife started throwing things at me when I did that. Sure enough, I looked back in there. There was a pack of gum in there.
It was no big deal, just gum, but man, it gave me so much joy. For the rest of the day, man, God heard my prayer. I prayed for gum, and it was right there. I had looked a couple of days before and looked all through that drawer. Gum was right there. I’m just saying, a little bit of prayer, but when God answers, you know God answered your prayer. It brings joy.
Friend, you ask and you receive. Sometimes receiving is God giving it to you. Sometimes he says no, and he changes your heart. Sometimes he says wait, but you receive. You ask, you receive. And then what’s the last word? “Your joy may be full.”
God is talking to his disciples here. You cannot be a disciple of Christ unless you are His child. The way you become His child is you get saved. That’s a Bible word.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith.” That’s a Bible word. You’re saved. You’re lost, going to hell. Boom, you’re saved. Pretty clear. Bible word, right? Born again. There is a moment and instant when you are born again. It’s not a process. Boom, you’re saved. Pass from death into life, John 5:24 says. It’s a done deal.
Now, I can’t be his disciple until I’m saved. How do we get saved? “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” I don’t earn it; he gives it to me. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” There must be a time you put your faith in Christ, and you’re saved, you’re born again. Then you become his disciple. Then you ask.
Help me out with those three words. Number one, what do you do? You ask. Number two, what? Let me say a word about receiving. Sometimes receiving is God giving it to you. Sometimes he says no, and he changes your heart. Sometimes he says wait, but you receive. You ask, you receive. And then what’s the last word? Your joy may be full.
I encourage you to pray specifically so you know when God answers your prayers. The book I was speaking about was written by Pastor Carter. He was my pastor for years. He married my wife and I 28 years ago. Pastor Carter pastored Landmark Baptist Church for 50 years, recently resigning at the beginning of this year. Great man. Years ago, he and the youth director started praying for a camp of their own because the camps they were sending kids to were too worldly. Finally, a man visiting the church offered them land for free and offered to pay the lawyer fees to transfer it to the church. The joke is that Pastor Carter said, “Glory!” because the camp is called Camp Glory.
They needed a well, but the health department rejected their shallow well. Pastor Carter hired the oldest well digger he could find. He told the digger he needed an artesian well because they had no permanent power for a pump. The digger laughed, saying you can’t order an artesian well. Pastor Carter said, “I’ve talked to the Lord about it, and I believe He’s going to give us one.”
The digger asked how deep to drill. Pastor Carter couldn’t afford deeper than 300 feet. The digger asked where to place it, and Pastor Carter pointed randomly. The digger asked again if he’d pay even without an artesian well. Pastor Carter confirmed he would.
Three days later, the digger returned, looking furious. He asked, “What are you going to do with all that water out there?” Pastor Carter asked if they hit an artesian well. The man replied, “We’ve got a lake out there, preacher! We drilled down exactly 300 feet and hit an artesian well.”
Friend, that answer to prayer still brings joy. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
We’ve got a young man that’s such a blessing. When his family started coming to our church, he was at Pensacola Christian College, going for IT, computer science and software engineering. He graduated top of his class, a 4.0 student, literally. Since he’s been home, he’s been contemplating where God wants him to work and what God wants with his life. His grandfather has been involved in full-time fair ministry for years, setting up booths and leading people to the Lord. Brother Gregory has helped him over the years. His brother Chip and Ms. Tamer have been involved in the bus ministry for 18 years.
Brother Gregory says, “I feel like God’s calling me into the full-time Christian ministry.” He’s giving up that career; he says, “I want a career with the Lord,” and he’s surrendering to the ministry today. If you’re excited about that, would you say amen? Praise the Lord for that. We’re excited about it. He was just in Knoxville with his grandfather at a fair, and they gave the gospel about a hundred times. High numbers of people got saved. It’s exciting. I’m not saying all hundred got saved, but many of them did. They are very thorough when they witness to people.
He’s saying, “I feel like the Lord’s leading me that way.” So he’s going into the fair ministry right now, and then just as the Lord leads in the ministry, he’s going to follow the Lord’s plan for his life. I asked him to come forward to make it public, partly because I want you to pray for him. If a young man says, “Hey, I’m going to serve the Lord,” we’re on the winning side, amen. Brother Gregory, would you come up front? I want you to come by and shake his hand once we dismiss. Tell him you love him and you’ll be praying for him.
Original File: Ask and Ye Shall Receive - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday AM 92621