[0:00] Well, we all heard you sing a song at the beginning of the service from Matthew chapter 7 about asking, about seeking, and about knocking. And I thought it might be quite good to just think a little bit about that song and what it means, because it's always good to know what a song means. Now, some songs don't mean anything. They're just fun to sing, and that's okay.
[0:30] One that I was thinking about when I was thinking about what I was going to say to you, a song that's fun to sing but doesn't really mean anything, is the Hokey Cokey. How many of you know the Hokey Cokey?
[0:42] Left foot in and right foot out and do the Hokey Cokey and turn around. That's what it's all about. Right. That's a fun song to sing, but I don't think it really means very much, as far as I know.
[0:53] I don't think so. It's just fun. It's fun to sing. But the song that you sang is also fun to sing. That's good. But it also means something very important. It means quite a lot. So we want to think about what the song means, and you're going to help me, because you know it better than I do.
[1:13] You know the song better than I do, so you can help me here, okay? So let's see. What we're going to do is we're going to go through the song, okay, and think about it. So what's the first thing that the song says that we're to do? The very first thing. You can just shout out, ask. There we go.
[1:37] Now, I'm going to come back to these, so I've got to make sure when I put them down, I don't get all muddled. So what I'm going to do is, let's see, if I go like that. Yes. Okay. So that's easy. That was an easy question. The first thing that the song says is that we've got to ask. We all know what it is to ask, isn't it? We know that. We ask a question. Maybe ask your teacher or your mom or your dad. But the song, what is it talking about? Who do we have to ask? What do you think? Yeah, what do you think? Yes. We ask Jesus, and we ask God the Father. We ask God the Son. We ask God.
[2:15] That's who we've got to ask. So, okay, that's the next thing. Yeah, let me put it down there. Hmm. Okay. So we've got to ask God. But how can we do that? How can we ask God? Well, how can we do that? Pray? Did I hear you say pray? You can just shout out, okay? Pray. That's right. That's how we can ask God. We can ask God when we pray. We just did that. We were asking God to help us. We were asking God for people who are sad. And so we can ask God by praying. Okay. So far, so good. Now, what are we to ask for? Okay. We can ask God, but what are we to ask for? Now, let me just give you a wee clue from the Bible verse, not the actual verse, but from the passage that we read that explains a little bit about that song. So let's see. Let's just read it. Ask, and it will be given to you.
[3:15] Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. And then a little bit further down. It speaks about God, our Father, and it says, your Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask him. So what is it that God gives us? What are we to ask for? Did you catch it there? Good gifts. Do you catch that? So what we've got to ask for are good gifts. I've just put the word good here because good gifts was going to be just too much work. So I just put good. We've got to ask for what is good for good gifts. Hmm, okay. But what is good? What good gifts can we ask for? Any ideas? Yeah.
[4:09] Food? That's good, isn't it? Yeah. What else? What other good things can we ask for? Yeah, what do you think? T-shirts? Oh, patience. Yes, that's much better. T-shirts is good, but patience is even better. Good. Yeah, what else?
[4:23] I was going to say something about asking for patience, but I'm going to bite my tongue. What do you think? What would be a good thing? Warm clothes to keep you warm in a Scottish summer.
[4:36] Quite right, Hannah. Yes. Yoshi. The fruit of the Spirit. Very good. Yes, we can ask for that as well. Okay. So we ask for good gifts. Hmm, let me just give you a wee example of asking for something that's good. Oh, there's so many examples. You've given me great examples, but let me give you a good one of sometimes you're wondering, well, could I ask for that or should I ask for that? How many of you have got a sports day this week or you had one already or you're going to have a sports day? Normally there's a sports day at the end of the school year. So lots of you have got a sports day. Well, imagine, I don't know what you're going to be doing in sports day if you're in a race or not. Some of you might be, but imagine you're in a running race on sports day and you love running and you're looking forward to the race.
[5:27] I wonder, is there anything you could ask God for to do with sports day in your race? Could you say, God, I really want to win this race because it's great to win and I want to have a medal.
[5:38] So please, my friend who's faster than me, if maybe he could just not do so well. Would that be okay? Would that be a good gift to ask? No, it wouldn't really, would it? No. But what you can do is you can ask God to help everybody in the race do their best. That would be a good thing to ask for, wouldn't it? And if you win, fine. If somebody else wins, well, that's okay as well.
[6:02] Not quite so good, but it's okay. So we've got to think about what God thinks is good. That's why the Bible's so helpful because there we discover what God thinks is good. And when we know that, we can ask for good gifts and we will be given good gifts. Now, from the song, if we ask for good gifts from God, what will happen? Think about the words of the song. Ask and you will, just shout it out, receive. There we go. Receive. That's a tricky one to spell, by the way. The E come first or the I come first in the middle there. Receive. That's right. So if you ask, you will receive. So let's do something now. Let's see if I got this right, if I put them in the right order. What I want to do is go through it again, this first word really quickly. What's the first thing you need to do? Good. Oh, now I've got to get this. I want to do it all at the end again. Who are we to ask? God. Very good. You can all just shout out, okay? How do we do that? Very good. What are we to ask for? Good gifts or yeah, what's good?
[7:20] And what will happen if you do? Receive. Excellent. Very good. Okay. That was the first thing, wasn't it? But that's not the end of the song. So what's the next thing that we need to do? Yeah? Just shout out.
[7:35] Seek. That's right. Now, maybe you need to think about that one a little bit because seek, that's not such a common word. Does anybody want to tell me what seek means? It's a tricky one. Yeah? Look for.
[7:50] Brilliant. That's what I had here. Look for. Look for really hard is what I put in the back of the card. So seek means to look for something, but really look for it. Something you really want. So, well, we got that, isn't it? That's the next thing. We need to seek. Okay. Now, so seek means to look for.
[8:11] What do we look for? Hmm. Had you thought about that when you were singing? What are you looking for? Hmm. That's a bit trickier, isn't it? Any ideas? Just shout out. What are we looking for?
[8:22] How to pray. Okay. What else? Any other ideas of what we're looking for? That's quite a tricky one. I don't remember what I've put on my bit of paper. It'll be a surprise for me as well. Let's see.
[8:35] What did I put? Oh, here we go. We're seeking to please God. Okay? Let's just think about this a little bit more. How can we do that? How can we please God or how can we seek in a way that will help us to please God? Well, let me just give you three words, okay? Because that's quite tricky. So, I'll just give you the three words and I'll talk through them. These are three things that are involved, I think, in seeking and in looking to please God. Praying, just like the first one, because really the whole song is about praying and different words to speak about praying. So, we pray to God and we ask Him how we can please Him, how we can pray, how we can live, how we can please God. And we also ask Him for help to do so. So, when we discover how it is that we can please God, God tells us as we read the Bible and as we ask, then we also need help to do so. And so, we pray, we read the Bible because there we're going to find out what pleases God and we'll know what it is.
[9:43] And then, what's the third thing I said? Do. Because once you know what you need to do, once you've discovered what it is that pleases God, you need to do it. It's not enough just to know it, you need to do it. And we please God by doing what He tells us and what He says is good for us.
[10:01] So, we seek to please God and we can do that by praying, by reading the Bible and by doing. And what will happen? If you seek, what will happen? Go back to the song. If you seek, you will?
[10:15] Very good. Find. We'll find, we'll discover a life that is pleasing to God and of help to others. And also, a life that's great for us. So, when we seek, we'll find what it is that God wants us to find.
[10:32] A life that is pleasing to Him. We got through that one quickly. Let's go through it again, okay? Because I don't want you to, let's see. We'll go through it really quickly, okay? So, what's the second thing we've got to do? Seek. Right. I think I can put that one there. What do we seek or look for?
[10:50] To please God. Very good. And how are we to do that? Three things. Pray. Pray, read, and do. And what are we reading? The Bible. Yeah, just in case you got mixed up there.
[11:10] Right. And what will happen? You'll find. Okay. Right. Have we got another word? Or is that it? Is that the end of the song? Asking, seeking? Or do we have another one? We have a green word.
[11:25] Green bit of paper. So, just shout out. What's the third thing that we need to do? Some of you are very polite and put your hands up. But just shout out. Knock. Okay. You have to knock.
[11:37] Right. Knock. Right. Now. Okay. That sounds fine. It's a great thing to sing. We knock and the door will be open. What does that mean? To knock. Well, we know what it means. But when we sing it, what's the idea there? What door do we knock on? Because we knock on a door, don't we? That's what doors are for. To knock on. Where do we knock? We knock on a door. But the door of whose house?
[12:02] Any ideas? That's right. Of God's house and of Jesus' house. That's right. God's house. That's the door that we knock on. Now. That sounds okay. But we've still got a bit of a problem. Or at least I do when I'm thinking about that. Hmm. How do we do that? It's not. God's house isn't in Aberdeen, is it? There's not a house in Aberdeen. Oh, this is God's house. So, how do we knock on God's door?
[12:32] Or the door of God's house? Any ideas? How do we do that? Yeah. What do you think? Good for you. That's right. By praying, that's how we can knock on God's door.
[12:44] And we knock on God's door because we don't just want to ask for things. That's good. But we want to be with Him. When we think of somebody's house and we visit somebody, it's to be with them because we enjoy being with them and because we love them. And we want to be close to them. So, we knock on God's door because that's where we most want to be with God. We want to visit and spend time with God. Now. So, if we knock on the door of God's house by praying, what will happen? Knock and back to the song. The door. What did I say? Open door. That's right. An open door. A big welcome. You'll get a big welcome and a big hug. And if you don't like hugs, well, you can skip the hugs. They're not obligatory. But you'll get a welcome because the door will be open for you. That's what happens when you knock. So, let's, shall we go through this one again quickly?
[13:45] Right. Third thing. What's the third thing that the song says you have to do? Knock. Knock. Okay. And what door do we knock on? The door of whose house? God's house. Right. And how do we do that? How do we knock on the door of God's house? I pray. That's right. And what will happen when we do that? Door will be open. Okay. Very good. Now, I was getting my, getting, I wanted to get my paper. Oh, no. I've still got another two here. Another two here. We don't want to miss another color. So, if we ask, we receive. If we seek, we'll find. If we knock, the door will be opened.
[14:31] And why does all this happen? How can we be so sure that all of this will happen? Well, let me just show you what I've put here. Because I'm sure you could give me a very good answer. But let me just put the answer I've given. You read it out. God is good. That's why. Because God is good.
[14:48] And he's good. Always. Okay. Now, this is what I was going to do a moment ago before I remembered there was two more bits of paper. And that was to go through the whole thing.
[15:03] Do you think you could do it? Breathe in. You ready? Do you know how many bits of paper there are? I don't. So, let's just go through them. Okay. What's the first thing that we're to do?
[15:18] Just shout. Okay. Who are we to ask? Okay. How can we do that? Good. What are we to ask for?
[15:31] Good things or good gifts. What will happen? Receive. Okay. Okay. Right. You're flacking. Come on. What's the next thing we need to do?
[15:43] Right. Everybody. What are we to ask for? Right. Okay. Seek. And what are we to seek or to look for? To please God. I couldn't remember that one. Well done. How do we do that? Oh, three things here, I think. Pray, read, do. Pray, read, do. Well done. What will happen?
[16:05] Fine. Yes. This is trickier than I thought. What is the third thing we need to do? Knock. Very good. On whose door do we knock? God says, oh, you're getting better. You're getting a second wind. Now, how can we do that? How can we knock on the door of God's house? By praying.
[16:30] And what will happen? Open door. Wait. And why is that all true? Because? When? Good job. Okay.
[16:46] Do you know what we've been doing? Do you know what we've been doing the last five minutes? We've been doing something you maybe think is a funny word you don't. We've been meditating on God's word. That's what we've been doing. We've been thinking about the meaning of what God says in the Bible and what it means for us and how it helps us. So, you can carry on doing that as you think about the song that you've been singing. Now, let me do something, okay? Are you up for this?
[17:15] And is Rob up for this? Can we sing that one again? Do the children want to sing that one again? Come out to the front and do it again for us, okay? And as you sing it, you can think about all the things we've been learning. A lot of them you knew already, but let's sing this one again.
[17:29] Thank you.
[17:59] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[18:11] Thank you.
[18:41] Thank you. Good job.
[19:13] Well, let's just bow our heads and let's pray again to God. Heavenly Father, we do thank you that our Father in heaven, you are the one who gives good gifts to those who ask him.
[19:28] And we thank you for that. We thank you that you do that because you are good. And all that you do is good. You are always consistent with your character as a good God.
[19:39] You do good things and you give good gifts. And so we pray that as we understand that, as we experience that, as we discover that to be true, we would be quick to come to you and to pray, to ask, knowing that we will receive as we ask for that which is good, that we would be those who are quick to look for you and to look to live lives that are pleasing to you, knowing that you'll help us and that we would be quick to knock on the door of your house as we pray to you, knowing that we will receive a warm welcome from you as we come in the name of Jesus.
[20:20] And we pray now in his name, in the name of Jesus. Amen.