The David Alliance

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

Luke 11

The David Alliance

[email protected] 

Garth Heckman

ASK

John F. Kennedy - ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what can you do for your country…. Great line, too bad it wasn’t his… but it still screams the idea of asking….

JFK’s head schoolmaster in catholic chapel actually came up with that line… and JFK modified it. 

Title Idea: "The Divine Exchange: What Asking Reveals”

Im going somewhere with this question…

A simple question: What is your theology?

Simple answer: I believe in Jesus as the son of God. I believe he died for my sins. I believe He rose again. I believe I am a sinner, I have asked him to forgive me of my sins, and I have chosen to live my life for him.

My Basic theology: Right?

NOT EXACTLY what your theology is based on…. ITS IN THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK AND THE QUESTIONS YOU ANSWER?

The tension in scripture is in the questions: BUT NOT IN WHAT YOU ask, BUT IN HOW YOU ACT!

QUESTIONS - “ASK” - DEMAND BEHAVIOR! 

Gods questions to us demand alliance

Our Questions to God reveal compliance 

How far is too far… ahhhh that question reveals your lack of compliance and your lack of heart for alliance. 

The real question is “What is the best way to honor this person in you and in their future marriage?”

CFNI - PINK ELEPHANTS 

Special speaker - asks again and again =who is in rebellion, refusing to repent and be used by God.

      We wait…..

Finally a man in his 30’s stands up - its me.

We pray for him.

The speaker says you have a word for someone -

The man says yes - someone here is afraid of pink elephants

     We wait….

A young man bursts out of his seat.. it’s me, it’s me

IT WAS…

A SERIES OF UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS! 

Jesus asks impossible things ("you feed them"), 

  -  and people ask Him impossible things (water-walking).

Jesus asks us uncomfortable questions (Why give to the dogs what was meant for the children)

   -  We ask him questions we can rationalize (God I know you understand, I know you are a forgiving God)

Jesus asks improbable questions: (Why would you call me good?, do you want to get well?)

   -  We ask self serving questions (Isn’t everybody doing it? But isn’t it just easier this way)

Pose the question: What if the way we ask, and the way we respond to being asked, exposes our actual theology—not our stated one?

Because it does. 

THOUGHT: Jesus's Questions Expose What We Believe, Not What We Know

LUKE 5     Jesus first ask of a disciple - makes no sense.

Peter objects but obliges.

**What Jesus exemplified - He stood in the boat and preached, and it drew a multitude of fish to him. 

APPLICATION: Jesus: “Follow my ask and watch what I can do.”

5 YEARS AGO I WAS FILLING OUT PAPER WORK FOR PATENTS… GOD SAID GO FOR IT.

    Now understand everything that I want to go after will cost me a lot of money. I was explaining to God why this is a dumb idea - I don’t have the money… but he said “be greedy, go for it”.

I objected, but obliged… it paid off! 

12,000 HAPPY MEALS

Text: Matthew 14:16 — "You give them something to eat.”

This isn't a logistics question. Jesus already knew what He was going to do (John 6:6 says as much—He asked "to test" Philip, "for he himself knew what he was going to do"). The command wasn't functional; it was diagnostic. He's not asking the disciples to solve a math problem (5 loaves ÷ 5,000 people); He's asking them to locate their trust.

Theological insight: When God gives an "impossible" instruction, He's rarely asking you to be sufficient. He's asking you to bring what's insufficient to Him. The miracle happens in the disciples' hands, not before them—they distribute what they don't yet have enough of, and it multiplies in the giving, not before it.

Application: Every "you feed them" moment in our lives (a marriage we can't fix, a ministry we can't sustain, a grief we can't carry) is less about capability and more about direction—will we hoard the five loaves in fear, or hand them over in obedience?

A young man comes to Christ. He was a fun, crazy partying teenager, then 20 year old… now 25 and he comes to Christ. He slept around… but now knew if he was going to call him self a Christian he had to practice abstinence… no excuses - 

But he was admittedly unsure - to him it seemed impossible. He could do it for a few dates…but then what.

I EXPLAINED TO HIM - you bring your 3% and God will cover the other 97%. 

To most people - especially the 15-30 year olds that seems like an impossible ask: 

Point 2: "Why So Little Faith?" — The Question That Isn't Really a Question

Text: Matthew 8:26 The storm,

Jesus asks this three times in Matthew, always after the disciples have witnessed power but respond in fear or doubt

Oli-GO-pistos - “you do realize I have the power if you have the faith”. 

Application: The question isn't accusatory—it's an invitation to memory. When we're afraid, Jesus isn't asking us to defend our fear; He's asking us to recall what we already know about Him.

HE IS ASKING SO WE REMEMBER! 

Point 3: When People Ask Jesus — The Syrophoenician Woman's Bold Request - what about the crumbs! 

Text: Mark 7:24–30 / Matthew 15:21–28

Her response wins the exchange trusting in his character and goodness with humility and cleverness.

She asks - and does not get the answer she wants.

She asks - again with humility and candor

The David Alliance

THOUGHT: Jesus's Questions Expose What We Believe, Not What We Know

LUKE 5     Jesus first ask of a disciple - makes no sense.

Peter objects but obliges.

**What Jesus exemplified - He stood in the boat and preached, and it drew a multitude of fish to him. 

APPLICATION: Jesus: “Follow my ask and watch what I can do.”

5 YEARS AGO I WAS FILLING OUT PAPER WORK FOR PATENTS… GOD SAID GO FOR IT.

    Now understand everything that I want to go after will cost me a lot of money. I was explaining to God why this is a dumb idea - I don’t have the money… but he said “be greedy, go for it”.

I objected, but obliged… it paid off! 

12,000 HAPPY MEALS

Text: Matthew 14:16 — "You give them something to eat.”

This isn't a logistics question. Jesus already knew what He was going to do (John 6:6 says as much—He asked "to test" Philip, "for he himself knew what he was going to do"). The command wasn't functional; it was diagnostic. He's not asking the disciples to solve a math problem (5 loaves ÷ 5,000 people); He's asking them to locate their trust.

Theological insight: When God gives an "impossible" instruction, He's rarely asking you to be sufficient. He's asking you to bring what's insufficient to Him. The miracle happens in the disciples' hands, not before them—they distribute what they don't yet have enough of, and it multiplies in the giving, not before it.

Application: Every "you feed them" moment in our lives (a marriage we can't fix, a ministry we can't sustain, a grief we can't carry) is less about capability and more about direction—will we hoard the five loaves in fear, or hand them over in obedience?

A young man comes to Christ. He was a fun, crazy partying teenager, then 20 year old… now 25 and he comes to Christ. He slept around… but now knew if he was going to call him self a Christian he had to practice abstinence… no excuses - 

But he was admittedly unsure - to him it seemed impossible. He could do it for a few dates…but then what.

I EXPLAINED TO HIM - you bring your 3% and God will cover the other 97%.

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

IT WAS…

A SERIES OF UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS! 

Jesus asks impossible things ("you feed them"), 

  -  and people ask Him impossible things (water-walking).

Jesus asks us uncomfortable questions (Why give to the dogs what was meant for the children)

   -  We ask him questions we can rationalize (God I know you understand, I know you are a forgiving God)

Jesus asks improbable questions: (Why would you call me good?, do you want to get well?)

   -  We ask self serving questions (Isn’t everybody doing it? But isn’t it just easier this way)

Pose the question: What if the way we ask, and the way we respond to being asked, exposes our actual theology—not our stated one?

Because it does. 

THOUGHT: Jesus's Questions Expose What We Believe, Not What We Know

LUKE 5     Jesus first ask of a disciple - makes no sense.

Peter objects but obliges.

**What Jesus exemplified - He stood in the boat and preached, and it drew a multitude of fish to him. 

APPLICATION: Jesus: “Follow my ask and watch what I can do.”

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

ASK

John F. Kennedy - ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what can you do for your country…. Great line, too bad it wasn’t his… but it still screams the idea of asking….

JFK’s head schoolmaster in catholic chapel actually came up with that line… and JFK modified it. 

Title Idea: "The Divine Exchange: What Asking Reveals”

Im going somewhere with this question…

A simple question: What is your theology?

Simple answer: I believe in Jesus as the son of God. I believe he died for my sins. I believe He rose again. I believe I am a sinner, I have asked him to forgive me of my sins, and I have chosen to live my life for him.

My Basic theology: Right?

NOT EXACTLY what your theology is based on…. ITS IN THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK AND THE QUESTIONS YOU ANSWER?

The tension in scripture is in the questions: BUT NOT IN WHAT YOU ask, BUT IN HOW YOU ACT!

QUESTIONS - “ASK” - DEMAND BEHAVIOR! 

Gods questions to us demand alliance

Our Questions to God reveal compliance 

How far is too far… ahhhh that question reveals your lack of compliance and your lack of heart for alliance. 

The real question is “What is the best way to honor this person in you and in their future marriage?”

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

EVERYONE WANTS TO MAKE THEIR DAD PROUD.

How? By being creative in how we perform. 

John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 both identify Christ as the one through whom all things were created. This connects creative imagination directly to the person of Jesus, not just an abstract "God"

Quit thinking “I’m not creative”. As a follower of Jesus you have THEEEE creator living inside you. Everything that God has created… that force is in YOU. 

Every kid who's ever built a blanket fort, drawn a picture of a purple dinosaur riding a skateboard, or invented a game with rules that make sense to absolutely no one but them — is doing something profoundly theological. They're being and acting and operating in exactly who they were made to be.

Point 3: God's Creativity Is Extravagant, Not Efficient

GOD’S MIRACLES WERE ALWAYS ABUNDANT.

Fish and Bread - more

Peter catches the fish in the net - more

Creative Miracles are always MORE! 

Psalm 104 is an extended poem celebrating creation, and verse 24 is the summary line: "How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”

Here's what's easy to miss: God didn't need this much variety. He could have made one kind of tree, one kind of bird, one kind of fish, and called it "sufficient." 

THATS WHY….

there are over 350,000 known species of beetles alone — and that's before you get to everything else crawling, swimming, and flying on this planet. Every snowflake that's ever fallen has had a unique crystalline structure. No two fingerprints on earth are identical. God didn't design creation efficiently. He designed it abundantly.

Here’s a brain drop… he wants your creativity to produce abundance! 

GOD DOES NOT ASK US TO CREATE PERFECTLY OR EFFICIENTLY - JUST CREATE AND WATCH HIM MAKE IT ABUNDANT WHEN IT IS TO SHOW OFF HIM! 

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

CREATE

We see the success, but I think we all enjoy the “early create” stage. Any success starts with creation. 

BE LIKE DAD

Humanity is made in God's image, including creative capacity Genesis 1:27 — being made in God's image includes reflecting His nature, and part of that nature is creativity itself. 

humans build, invent, compose, and imagine because we're stamped with the image of a Creator God.

It runs through out the bible.

Gen. 1 Creation / Curse

John 1 Jesus is the creator / came to break the curse

The REZ is framed as a “Re-creation” not just resuscitation 

2 Cor. 5:17 anyone in him is a new creation

The curse and redemption are bookend in OT-NT

Rev. 21,22 speak of a New Heaven and New Earth

CREATION IS STAMPED ALL OVER THE BIBLE! 

…And we are called to emulate that trait of our Father! 

HOW DID DAD CREATE

Proverbs 8:30 describes wisdom as being beside God "like a craftsman" (or "constantly" depending on translation), rejoicing in His presence and rejoicing in the inhabited world. Some translations render this as wisdom being God's "delight" day by day. This has strong creative/imaginative overtones — a Creator who delights in the process of creating, not just the outcome.

Psalm 104: 24 "How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." The sheer variety of creation (over 350,000 known species of beetles alone, if you want a modern illustration)

God does not expect perfection - just creation! 

THERE IS NO 1 PERFECT BEETLE

True creativity does not focus on one perfect solution… one perfect beetle. But rather numerous solutions

**How to get great ideas by Jack Foster: 

They asked students to come up with on great idea for a Swiss knife, they had all week to do it. They stumbled, its hard, its frustrating… they wrecked seeking perfection.

So they changed their strategy. You have to come up with at least 10 and you only have your lunch break to do it.

THEY ENJOYED IT

MORE CREATIVE 

MANY CAME UP WITH WAY MORE THAN 10 IDEAS

HOW DO WE CREATE - AS SEEN IN SCRIPTURE

We create what’s in us…

**Remember when people hate you - they don’t hate you, that just what’s in them.

When people gossip

When people attack your character

When people steal

When people posture above you

When people feel insecure around you

When people judge you

ITS NOT YOU - THAT IS WHATS IN THEM

When we create - we create what is in us. 

So make sure you are IN CHRIST! 

The most successful people are not the smartest - they are the most creative… proven! 

YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

WHY DO WE CREATE

Its what we were made for…

In any activity that we find ourselves aligned/focused/flow

**it is because we are operating something we were created for.

AND WHEN WE CREATE - IT IS A DOUBLE BONUS - because we are creating - which is what we were created for. 

NOW WATCH THIS

Exodus 31:1-5 — God tells Moses He has called a man named Bezalel by name, and then says this: "I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills — to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.”

Stop and let that sink in. The first time scripture explicitly says someone was "filled with the Spirit of God," it's not a prophet, a king, It's not a warrior. It's a craftsman. An artist. A designer. God fills a man with His Spirit specifically to carve, engrave, and build beautiful things for the tabernacle.

NOW - here is the trifecta: We were created to create to bring attention to the creator! 

**Lou Little, a football coach at Georgetown and later Columbia University tells the story of a young player. Not very gifted, but always tried hard. He sat on the bench most every game, but the coach was fond of him. This young mans father came to every game… one day the coach gets a telegram that this young mans father had passed away in the night. He tells the young man to take that game off - The boy refuses. Their team in the middle of the 3rd quarter is getting killed, the boy kept asking to go in, at this point the coach says… what can it hurt. The young man goes in and plays like he is an NFL superstar. After the game the coach asked him the difference. The young man said even though my dad came to every game he was blind - so today was the first day my dad could actually see me play. 

What if we looked at creativity this way: God is watching us create so that we can bring him attention.

In business

In art

In technology

In agriculture

In social sciences

In finance

In music

In sport

What if we looked at it as if we are creating attention to the father.

EVERYONE WANTS TO MAKE THEIR DAD PROUD.

How? By being creative in how we perform.

The David Alliance

[email protected]m

Garth Heckman

CREATE

We see the success, but I think we all enjoy the “early create” stage. Any success starts with creation. 

BE LIKE DAD

Humanity is made in God's image, including creative capacity Genesis 1:27 — being made in God's image includes reflecting His nature, and part of that nature is creativity itself. 

humans build, invent, compose, and imagine because we're stamped with the image of a Creator God.

It runs through out the bible.

Gen. 1 Creation / Curse

John 1 Jesus is the creator / came to break the curse

The REZ is framed as a “Re-creation” not just resuscitation 

2 Cor. 5:17 anyone in him is a new creation

The curse and redemption are bookend in OT-NT

Rev. 21,22 speak of a New Heaven and New Earth

CREATION IS STAMPED ALL OVER THE BIBLE! 

…And we are called to emulate that trait of our Father! 

HOW DID DAD CREATE

Proverbs 8:30 describes wisdom as being beside God "like a craftsman" (or "constantly" depending on translation), rejoicing in His presence and rejoicing in the inhabited world. Some translations render this as wisdom being God's "delight" day by day. This has strong creative/imaginative overtones — a Creator who delights in the process of creating, not just the outcome.

Psalm 104: 24 "How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." The sheer variety of creation (over 350,000 known species of beetles alone, if you want a modern illustration)

God does not expect perfection - just creation! 

THERE IS NO 1 PERFECT BEETLE

True creativity does not focus on one perfect solution… one perfect beetle. But rather numerous solutions

**How to get great ideas by Jack Foster: 

They asked students to come up with on great idea for a Swiss knife, they had all week to do it. They stumbled, its hard, its frustrating… they wrecked seeking perfection.

So they changed their strategy. You have to come up with at least 10 and you only have your lunch break to do it.

THEY ENJOYED IT

MORE CREATIVE 

MANY CAME UP WITH WAY MORE THAN 10 IDEAS

HOW DO WE CREATE - AS SEEN IN SCRIPTURE

We create what’s in us…

**Remember when people hate you - they don’t hate you, that just what’s in them.

When people gossip

When people attack your character

When people steal

When people posture above you

When people feel insecure around you

When people judge you

ITS NOT YOU - THAT IS WHATS IN THEM

When we create - we create what is in us. 

So make sure you are IN CHRIST! 

The most successful people are not the smartest - they are the most creative… proven! 

YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

WHY DO WE CREATE

Its what we were made for…

In any activity that we find ourselves aligned/focused/flow

**it is because we are operating something we were created for.

AND WHEN WE CREATE - IT IS A DOUBLE BONUS - because we are creating - which is what we were created for. 

The David Alliance

[email protected]

Garth Heckman

CREATE

We see the success, but I think we all enjoy the “early create” stage. Any success starts with creation. 

BE LIKE DAD

Humanity is made in God's image, including creative capacity Genesis 1:27 — being made in God's image includes reflecting His nature, and part of that nature is creativity itself. 

humans build, invent, compose, and imagine because we're stamped with the image of a Creator God.

It runs through out the bible.

Gen. 1 Creation / Curse

John 1 Jesus is the creator / came to break the curse

The REZ is framed as a “Re-creation” not just resuscitation 

2 Cor. 5:17 anyone in him is a new creation

The curse and redemption are bookend in OT-NT

Rev. 21,22 speak of a New Heaven and New Earth

CREATION IS STAMPED ALL OVER THE BIBLE! 

…And we are called to emulate that trait of our Father! 

HOW DID DAD CREATE

Proverbs 8:30 describes wisdom as being beside God "like a craftsman" (or "constantly" depending on translation), rejoicing in His presence and rejoicing in the inhabited world. Some translations render this as wisdom being God's "delight" day by day. This has strong creative/imaginative overtones — a Creator who delights in the process of creating, not just the outcome.

Psalm 104: 24 "How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." The sheer variety of creation (over 350,000 known species of beetles alone, if you want a modern illustration)

God does not expect perfection - just creation! 

THERE IS NO 1 PERFECT BEETLE