Proverbs 8:17-18, 21

17 I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor,
enduring wealth and prosperity.

21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me
and making their treasuries full.

Proverbs 22:4
True humility and fear of the lord lead to riches, honor, and long life

Proverbs 2:3-5

New International Version (NIV)

3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 9:7-9
7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
rebuke the wise and they will love you.
9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

Proverbs 15:14
A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.

Proverbs 15:22
Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

Proverbs 18:15
Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.

Proverbs: 24:16
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

Proverbs 28:1
The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.

Proverbs 22:4
True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.

How can we grow and prosper throughout our lives?
1. notice the warning signs of becoming a mocker. Feeling hurt or offended when someone gives us feedback. Feeling unrecognized.

Proverbs 25:27
It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

2. Ask for lots of advice and feedback.

Proverbs 15:22
Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.

3. Recognize how little you know and eagerly learn more.

Proverbs 15:14
A wise person is hungary for knowledge while the fool feeds on trash.

4. When things go wrong ask why.

Proverbs 26:16
Lazy people consider themselves smarter than seven wise counselors.

5. Shoot to become a level 5 leader.

Proverbs 14:16
Fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence

Proverbs 27:2
Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth – a stranger, not your own lips.

Psalm 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

John 12:12-32

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna![a]”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”[c]

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Jesus Predicts His Death

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[d] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Footnotes:a.John 12:13 A Hebrew expression meaning “Save!” which became an exclamation of praise
b.John 12:13 Psalm 118:25,26
c.John 12:15 Zech. 9:9
d.John 12:32 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted.

How can we experience Jesus in this most profound of ways?

1. With Jesus, embrace your story right now.
2. Hold your current situation loosely, but with great gratitude.
3. Invite Jesus to befriend you in a fresh way in your difficulties.
4. Be very open to the resurrection Jesus brings.

2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

An implication of this big dream:
This could be a place where your biggest dreams could come true.

Three elements to empower your biggest dreams:
1. Faith
2. Help
3. Partnership

Matthew 17:20-21
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [21] [a]

Footnotes:a.Matthew 17:21 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 9:29.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Matthew 18:19-20
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Luke 9:49-51
49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”

50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Samaritan Opposition

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

No matter how we got here, we should consider ourselves sent.

Jeremiah 29:4-7

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

What might be ways you could join in with these two core dreams?
1. Delight in meeting strangers for God
2. Invite people to join in experiencing God.
3. Work toward justice.
4. Consider staying in Worcester.

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[b] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Footnotes:a.Luke 11:8 Or yet to preserve his good name
b.Luke 11:11 Some manuscripts for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for

Ask
Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks, receives

Asking puts us in touch with our desires.

Seek

Everyoe who seeks, finds

Seeking implies that there is something to be found or discovered.

Luke 11:11-13

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[b] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Knock

Knocking is specific and comes with conviction.

1. Pay attention to your heart’s tugging.
2. Take time to consider where you are at in the

Ask seek knock season of life

3. Invite others to pray with you in the Ask seek knock journey of prayer.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹ Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Matthew 18:19-20

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them ^A)’> Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. ^C)’> ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, ^E)’> —

Hebrews 10:25

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.

Hebrews 13:2′