WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.040 Good morning. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:05.839 Today's reading is from Colossians 4, verses 2 through 6. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:17.039 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.079 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.879 Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:25.199 Make the most of every opportunity. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:31.440 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:32.159 Thanks. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:33.359 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:34.479 Please be seated. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:36.079 You're welcome. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.560 Thanks for joining us on this Labor Day. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:43.920 This is Labor Day weekend, right? 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:45.439 Yeah. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:46.960 So thanks for coming in. 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:49.039 You know, you could be up in the mountains right now. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:50.479 It's really pretty. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:52.000 Um out there. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.600 It's gonna be a nice, beautiful day, so I'll be sure to go extra long. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:03.119 There's this great Brad Paisley song from like his first album that says there's nothing that'll test your face like a long sermon on a pretty Sunday. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:04.719 Does anybody know that song? 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:08.400 So let's find out if that's true. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:10.400 Would you join me in prayer? 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:17.280 Holy Father, we thank you for the gathering of the saints, for our coming together to worship you. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:23.439 Lord, thank you that you have organized the world such that when we praise you, our own hearts are encouraged. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.159 Thank you for the singing of our church this morning. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.159 We pray that it would bless you. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:35.040 Father, we pray that you would attend us and that you would strengthen us and guide us by your words this morning. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:41.280 You would shepherd us and care for us, that we would know your presence through your word as we hear it this morning together. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.120 Lord, I pray for our children gathered outside or in here with us. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:54.719 Lord, we pray that you would attend the ways that they are coming to know you and understand you, that you would bless that, Lord, that we might grow together in our homes. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:13.439 And Lord, I pray that you would build us up, you would knit us together in love, and that you would guide us and help us to establish disciplines which allow us to draw close to you and to live in order in the order that you have laid out in the world, Lord, in closeness to you. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:15.599 Pray that you would attend that this morning. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.280 And Lord, we thank you for power. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:18.960 We'll stuff in Jesus' name. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:19.599 Amen. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.879 We didn't have electricity like a half hour before the service. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.800 So that was what I meant by thank you for power. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:36.560 Okay, so we're we're Zach was saying, like, it's why we, you know, glad James prayed for like the electricity to come on. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:40.639 And I was saying right beforehand, I was like, I should have prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.319 Like, if it, you know, if you're in one of those moments where you're just gonna get what you ask for, we have electricity. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.879 It's too late, though. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:59.360 We're coming to our last sections of Colossians as the summer winds down here on the unofficial last day of summer. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:06.000 And um uh we've got to keep in mind what Paul has established throughout this whole book. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:36.960 It began with him uh sort of explaining, but uh but explaining by showing his ministry to the Colossians, which is that he has been praying for them, he's been encouraging those that are ministering to them, he desires to come to them, he's explaining to the Colossians themselves, who have just received the gospel, what it is exactly that they have received, what it means that in their understanding of the gospel, it is taking root and spreading throughout the whole world. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:46.879 He sort of personifies the gospel as this thing which comes in and grows of its own accord insofar as the Colossians understand it. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.280 He's encouraging this young church to become mature in Christ. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:04:00.000 And the way that he shows that encouragement is not by saying, here's a special new tactic or here's a new religious practice. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.680 In fact, those are the very things that he was warning the Colossians against. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:16.240 Don't be deceived by the philosophies of our day, by the self-improvement tactics that are being ushered into your church as a as a means that actually just divides people and doesn't build up the body. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:24.319 What he says is that the path of Christian maturity is the same as the entryway into Christianity. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:29.600 It is Christ, an understanding of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:32.800 This is the path of Christian maturity. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:40.560 So throughout the whole book, Paul encourages over and over again this church, hold fast to Christ. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:45.519 The way that you started in Christ, continue in that way. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:57.439 He wants to inoculate them towards any innovations that might creep in that are other than Christ, because the path of maturity is holding fast to Christ. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:59.920 That's what unites us as a church. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:08.800 Now, the letter explains how households should be organized and how we, the church, should be relating to each other and one another. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:14.160 And the the letter has this real focus on the church understanding itself. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.800 But here in this last section, Paul kind of grabs their heads and turns them around. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.639 You know, like how you do with a little kid? 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.000 You just grab their head and turn them around, push them. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.680 There's go ask your mother. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:38.720 There's a uh uh that's what he that's what Paul does with this church, and he says, You've been looking inward with this letter, but now I'm going to shift your gaze. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.759 You need to know that your faith is an outward-looking faith. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:55.600 And what he does is he, in this section, he basically calls them to participate in the very ministry that they are receiving from Paul. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:03.120 So what Paul has modeled earlier in the letter, he now says, Now you go and do likewise. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:11.600 You come and participate, no longer just receive, but participate in the very mission that I am showing towards you. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:14.319 And that mission is simple. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:17.199 It's the very thing that Paul has shown. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:25.519 It is a ministry that is grounded in prayer, and then that is followed up with action. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:28.079 So his ministry is simple. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:29.680 It is prayer and action. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.680 And this action requires a particular disposition towards the Lord. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:44.720 Now, there are certain conversations that I find you have frequently in the church world, and there's one conversation in particular that uh Zach can probably attest to this. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:53.600 When a conversation starts to take this particular shape, my blood pressure goes through the roof, and I want to just go be a car salesman again. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.959 When this conversation starts happening. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:09.120 Are we doing this for the church or are we doing this for the people outside of the church? 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:17.680 If that dichotomy enters the conversation, to use a phrase I heard a comedian say, it makes me want to walk straight into the ocean. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:26.000 Because that dichotomy itself, just entering that dichotomy itself, is revealing, okay, we don't know what the church is. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:45.759 If we're saying that the church is either for the people that are in the church, for the Christians that are already in the church, it's either that or it's for the world around us, those folks who are not in the church, and that we've got to pick one or the other, that it's gonna be one or the other, then we've lost sight of the very nature of the church. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.519 The church is an embassy. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:08:01.279 And so it's kind of like asking: is the embassy for the nation that it's from, or is it for the nation that it's in? 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.839 Of course it's both. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.720 That's the nature of an embassy. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.879 It must be for the nation that it is in. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.079 Otherwise, why would you put it there? 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:18.879 Just build another building in your own home country and call it an embassy. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.439 I don't know what that exactly what that would be like. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:26.399 You would serve food that people in your country like or something? 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:27.279 You know? 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.600 Seems unnecessary because the restaurant down the street would likely be doing the same thing. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:32.480 Right. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:36.320 Not that embassies serve food, but you get the point. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:48.399 Or it's for, but also how strange it would be for the embassy to uh the opposite of whatever one I just said. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.519 We see that it has to be for both. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:56.159 It has to be for the country that it's from, and it has to be for the country that it is in. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:02.799 That is the nature of an embassy, and we are ambassadors, ambassadors for Christ. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:20.559 And so even our gathering this morning, it is the gathered church, and so that means we are participating in it in about as clear a way as we can participate in this side of heaven, on this side of Christ's second coming, we are participating in the kingdom that is to come. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:30.240 We are like an embassy who is sent from the future to the past, like a T1000 and Terminator. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:38.960 And we are sent here from the future to the past as a representative of this kingdom which will certainly come. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:49.759 And so we ought to honor in our culture and in our disposition and in the way that we are uh uniting together, the king that we are honoring is Christ. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:58.000 And we are doing that for the nation around us, for the community that is around us. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:05.759 So, Paul, at the end of this letter, he turns the gaze of his people to an outward-looking gaze, because that is the nature of the church. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:07.120 We are always both. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:12.559 We are always participating in the kingdom that is to come, and it is a universal kingdom. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.039 Christ is Lord of all. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.440 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:24.879 So that means that we are to proclaim that as we participate in it. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:32.080 Now, my favorite analogy for this, one that if you've been coming for a while, you've heard probably a half a dozen times before. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:39.759 For some of you, it's six, because it's six to some and half a dozen to the others. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:49.679 So the uh uh The Lord of the Rings, which is this Amazon Prime series that Tolkien wrote a book about. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:56.320 At the end, Aragorn uh is crowned king, that's giveaway the ending. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.879 And uh his his kingdom now is established. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.240 Aragorn is the king. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:03.519 Okay, it's settled. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:05.919 The hobbits try and bow, he doesn't let them. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:14.639 The steward was removed from the throne because of the way that he ate grape tomatoes, which was disgusting. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:18.559 And Aragorn is now on the throne. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:20.240 He's the king, right? 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.080 Who if you're wandering around Middle Earth, hey, who's who's the king? 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:25.120 Aragorn. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:27.919 Now the hobbits go back to the Shire. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:39.919 When they go back to the Shire, it still feels like the steward is on the throne and the wicked powers of Middle Earth are still ruling there. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:49.120 That's still what it feels like back in the Shire, because the word of Aragorn being king, although he is king, has not reached the Shire yet. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:12:09.759 And so there's this whole other bonus chapter at the end of Return of the King, where the Hobbits, except for Frodo, who just sails away, where the Hobbits are like, we're gonna, we've gotta make this kingdom, which is real, we it's our job to now participate in the reality of the new king's reign. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:17.200 And we proclaim that he is king, and then we order our lives in accord with his kingdom. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.600 That's the church age. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.120 This is the nature of the church age. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:31.120 Jesus is the king on the throne, and we go out into a world which says, no, he isn't. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:36.240 There, the old king is still operating on the throne, or I'm still the king of my life. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.360 And we say, No, Christ is the king now. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:44.399 So order your life in accord with who the true king is. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.399 That's the nature of the church age. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:47.679 So, how do we do that? 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.320 How do we turn our gaze outward? 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.039 By prayer and action. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:55.679 So, prayer and action. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.360 Let's begin with prayer. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:07.200 Paul's call to prayer is first a general call to prayer, and then it's a specific request that Paul makes for himself. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:09.759 So here's the first, the general call. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:17.039 Colossians 4 2, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:28.080 Now, much of our Christian faith, when you become a Christian, you convert to Christianity, you'll realize that this is kind of a lot in your life doesn't change. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:31.519 You still wake up and likely go to the same job. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:38.399 You see the same spouse and you have the same children and you drive the same car in the same city. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:44.159 And instead, what happens is there's not many, there's perhaps not many additions added to your life. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:54.000 Instead, those things just become reframed, and you understand them differently as they participate in the narrative of Christ's redemption in the world. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:01.600 But there is one necessary addition when you become a Christian, and that is prayer. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.799 This must be disciplined into your life. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:12.000 Because consider the oxymoron of a prayerless Christian. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.840 We'd say something like, Hey, congratulations, you're a Christian now. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.320 You have the Holy Spirit who intercedes on your behalf to the Father. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:26.000 The Lord has promised that his ear is ever turned toward your prayers. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.559 Jesus himself says, Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:35.519 Ask, and it will be given to you so that your joy may be made complete. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.000 Christ calls you his friend. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.399 And you say, those are wonderful things. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.399 I won't communicate with him. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:57.279 I'm not going to, my response to that would not be a conversation with the Lord or a prayer or actually entering into in the tangible way that we can do this, which is talking to God. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:01.039 I'm not going to participate in that relationship in any way. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.360 It'd be like, well, why do you have it? 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.639 Why do you have that relationship with them? 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:08.320 And certainly why do you sing about it? 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:09.120 That's strange. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:11.600 And why do you gather with other people and talk about it? 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.600 That's all that's just as weird. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:22.559 It's like you, you know, there's a there's a Ferrari parked in your driveway, and it's like, well, yeah, but it's for the driving. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.559 Not just for the reading about. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.960 You can read about it and not even own it. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:34.399 You have been given this immediate access to God. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.480 Immediate, unmediated, direct. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.120 Do you know who you must appeal to? 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:48.080 To turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:52.320 Who must you go through to access that person? 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:53.360 No one. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:57.759 Your voice can come into the throne room of God. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:02.480 You have immediate, unmediated access to Christ. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.879 Will you take advantage of it? 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:06.960 Will you walk in it? 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:09.120 What could that mean? 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:13.679 Has this hit your heart that this is the case? 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.440 You know, think of like the most famous person in the world. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.480 You'd think they'd come to mind quicker. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.879 There's a lot of people competing in my head. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:26.879 I don't know who that is. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:28.080 You'd think we'd know. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.159 Maybe it's still Michael Jackson. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.519 So it would be very hard, especially now, to get in touch with him. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.360 I should use a living example. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:43.440 Jacob, can you think of a famous person? 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:48.240 Oh bet good, good. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:51.840 Okay, Tom Cruise. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:54.480 Because everybody's loving Maverick. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:55.360 I haven't seen it. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.240 Think of how hard it would be to get in touch with him. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:00.080 Very hard. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:01.919 There'd be all these gatekeepers. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:06.799 There'd be, you know, you might get an assistant's assistant, and you just can't. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.480 You know, I'll don't want to spoil the ending, but it's not gonna happen. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.079 He's got other meetings. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.440 All authority in heaven and on earth. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.519 The famous one. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.440 The one who can help. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.960 Who has said he desires to for you. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.519 There's there's a senselessness to the prayerless Christian. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.640 So how ought we to pray steadfastly? 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:43.920 Prayer is something that is to be disciplined into our lives. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:57.279 This is something which is, if it is, if a pattern of prayer is not in your life, you need to work, put effort into disciplining a pattern of prayer into your life. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:08.559 Jesus, when he describes prayer, he gives us these analogies which point towards steadfastness, like Paul is calling us to here. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:14.240 One of them is somebody shows up at your house in the middle of the night and you need to give them bread. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:18.799 And so you just go to your next door neighbor and wake them up. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:27.279 And Jesus says, it's not because this neighbor cares about you that they're gonna wake up and give you bread. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:34.640 It's because of your persistence and even the sense of like, I just gotta get rid of this person because they won't stop bugging me. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.559 And then Paul says, that's what good prayer looks like. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.440 You won't stop bugging God. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:54.240 And it makes sense that he gives us these analogies and then blesses them, these ones that are kind of um uh, you know, it's oh what what's the word I'm looking for? 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:57.839 Where it's like uh they're not courteous. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:06.240 They're they show a complete lack of manners in the way that we're meant to be coming to the Lord. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:07.519 And then God blesses that. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:15.359 Because if you start to think about prayer for half a second, it's like, oh man, the throne room of God, I just need a parking space. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:18.160 You know, this is this is this is absurd. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:23.359 Like the the throne room of God, I just I just don't want to have this cold right now. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.759 I just need rent. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:34.160 You know, I just uh we're my wife and I are in an argument and we'll probably make it through, but yeah, I just want God's help in this. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:46.799 And so you won't go to the throne room of God for those types of things unless Jesus gives you stories, which he does, where he says, have no manners in the way that you pray to God. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:48.559 Be persistent. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:55.759 The other one that he tells is of a nagging old woman who goes to this judge who won't give her an appropriate ruling. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.400 And it is not because the judge cares about her or likes her. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.839 In fact, he doesn't. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:04.559 It's just because she won't stop. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:12.799 She's so persistent in the way that she comes to this judge over and over and over again. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:16.480 And Jesus says, that's good prayer. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:20.480 That's what our prayer ought to look like before the Lord. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:22.960 These are dogged examples of prayer. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:27.039 These are coffee is for closers only examples of prayer. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:32.640 These are don't come back until you've gotten three no's from the customer, examples of prayer. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:38.960 You must persist in prayer to the Lord. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:41.680 It is to be steadfast. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:43.039 Steadfast. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:47.039 This is so you see that Paul is calling us towards this disposition of prayer. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:51.519 And that's why it's something that needs to be disciplined into our lives. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.799 How many times that I just I I why do I not pray? 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.880 I don't want to right now. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:01.759 I want to just get to work. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:07.519 It feels it feels boring, and I'm not even quite sure what I'll say. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.559 And yet I I need to pray. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:12.960 And so I will pray. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:18.799 Sometimes to come doggedly to the Lord, we need to come doggedly to ourselves. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.000 If I were a mega church pastor, you guys would have clapped at that. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.319 Yeah, that's right. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.400 Because we need to discipline ourselves, saying, look, why am I coming to pray? 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:36.480 Because he's promised he'll intercede for me, because he promises he'll hear. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:52.400 There's this wonderful story in Acts when Peter is in jail and the uh uh his friends are praying for him together in the in their house while Peter is locked in jail. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:59.440 The angels come and they prison break Peter out of jail, and he shows up at the door. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.440 And one of the ladies who is praying there runs to the door and is like, uh, Peter's here. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:12.160 And she's so shocked that Peter is there that she forgets to let him in. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:24.240 So he's like stay- he's like a prisoner out there, you know, he's a fugitive on the run, like Harrison Ford, and he's stuck in front of this door, like, let me in, I need to hide out right now. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:25.839 And she's so shocked. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.240 And think of what she is shocked about. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:31.759 She's shocked her prayer was answered. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.559 Which means what was her prayer like? 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:36.799 It was half-hearted. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.319 It didn't have this faith of like, oh, I'm I there's a knock on the door. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:43.759 We're praying that it's Peter. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:44.960 I bet it's Peter. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.599 No, she's completely surprised. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.319 Which means pray half-heartedly. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:54.000 Don't wait. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:00.240 Don't wait to pray until you're like, you have this faith where you know you will certainly be answered. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.839 No, that is not what the answer to your prayer depends upon. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.559 The answer to your prayer depends upon the faithfulness of the Lord. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:12.480 And he has shown that he is faithful to the uttermost. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:15.839 And so pray because of that promise. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.400 And then see if he isn't faithful. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.119 Be steadfast in your prayer. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.160 The next thing that Paul calls us to is watchfulness. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:28.799 Remember the dual nature of the church age that we are in. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:31.759 Christ is on the throne and he is ruling. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:32.880 The kingdom is his. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:38.720 And yet we see that his kingdom is at the same time marching forward into enemy territory. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:42.880 And so we sit like an ambassadorship in another nation. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:48.480 That requires watchfulness because we live among enemies to the gospel. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:57.359 Now, a watchfulness in prayer means that your eyes are one of the main tools of prayer. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:02.480 You look out and assess the world as it is. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:15.599 And then you take these generic details of the world, and then you try and draw them into this kingdom of God by praying specifically about them. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:28.799 This is the way that we specifically participate in this general prayer that we even prayed this morning, that his kingdom would come, his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:31.680 You are watchmen on the posts. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:38.720 And so you must look out into your life, the particular place that you have been stationed. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:49.519 And as though you've been assigned for this kingdom of heaven, you say, you look out and you see, look at the difficulty of marriage in these friends' life. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:53.119 Lord, would you bring your kingdom here? 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.720 Look at the anger between my coworkers. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.400 Lord, would you bring your kingdom here? 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.920 Lord, look how your name is desecrated. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.799 Lord, would you bring your kingdom here? 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.519 And you look out using your eyes. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:16.000 And this even this is one of the most difficult parts of prayer because it requires you to even look into your life. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:35.680 And it requires you to try and see the world as it is in all its danger, in all its, in all the ways that it has turned hostily against the Lord, to see it in the badness that is really there. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.720 And that's that's a hard thing to look at. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:41.680 And prayer makes you look at it. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:49.440 You know, I will do all kinds of things to not look at and feel the realities of the world that I'm in. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:54.000 I would much rather listen to a comedian on YouTube. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:55.839 Do you know how many there are? 00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:59.359 Professionally funny. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:03.519 For free. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.400 Just watch an ad for Liberty Mutual. 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:16.799 And yet I ought to look. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.759 I'm being selfish with my avoidance. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:29.519 Perhaps this thing is making me feel sad because this is the type of thing that ought to make me feel sad. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:32.240 So I will pray about it. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:35.279 I will watchfully pray. 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:38.720 No longer do I just introspect. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:45.599 I pray with the Lord as I move into my heart and he shines lights in prayer. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:48.480 We have to see things as they are. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:27:06.480 But we can, and we can have the strength to do that, to see things as they are, as the Lord shines lights on them, because he promises that he is with us, that he will strengthen us, that he will help us, that he will uphold us with his righteous right hand. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:08.799 These are the promises of the Lord towards us. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:11.839 So we can confidently pray. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:24.559 So often we don't really pray for the kingdom of heaven to come into the places where we ought to be praying that it will come because we don't really want the light to shine there. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:30.000 Instead, we would rather just avoid the light being there. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:32.960 We don't want real reconciliation. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:34.880 We just want it to go away. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:38.720 Be watchful in your prayer. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:45.279 What I'm saying is it takes courage to be watchful in your prayers. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:47.440 But you can have that courage. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:56.000 And the way that Christ encourages us, the way that he comforts us, is by his promises that he is with us. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:02.160 Comfort, come with, fort, strong. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:04.880 He is strong with us. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.799 So be watchful in your prayer. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:11.839 And this watchfulness leads to thanksgiving. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:18.799 Now that's because you are now looking at your life as though it is falling into the narrative of Christ. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:30.000 And suddenly these things that you have prayed for that would have just been generic details before, now become things about which you're thankful. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:41.119 When you receive your daily bread once again, you can now be thankful for it because you've prayed to have received it. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:48.160 When you survived that brutal meeting that you knew was going to be catastrophic and yet you made it. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.000 Now you can be thankful to the Lord because of that. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:29:09.440 When you and your spouse actually reconcile and you get that thing that this magic that can happen in married conflict, where you actually have an insight into this person that you've known for years. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:12.559 How is there still something else to learn? 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.079 That's something now that you are thankful to God for. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:23.519 Because you've participated in prayer. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:25.039 Do you see how? 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:30.400 This is the sort of like, you know, magical thing that takes place. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.640 This call to watchfulness in prayer also gives you the eyes to be thankful. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:38.240 Isn't that cool? 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:40.640 He says, look out in your prayers. 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:46.799 And when you look out in your prayers, at the same time, he's giving you eyes to see the world as it is. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:52.960 Many of you think that God is not active in the world because you don't pray. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.039 Again, mega church pastor, you would have clapped. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.279 But instead. 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:15.200 But we're kind of a glass half full type of people. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:23.599 Paul's requests. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:28.480 Paul's general recommendations towards prayer now become particular. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:42.720 Paul says this at the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:48.799 So at the same time as you are praying these other things, pray also for us, Paul says. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:56.319 And he remember, he began his this letter, and it's just this long, glorious prayer for the Colossians. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:01.440 May you be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:16.000 That you might know this knowledge of God, that you might be strengthened according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, that you might bear fruit in every good work. 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:17.440 Paul praised this for them. 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:19.759 They know what it's like to be prayed for. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:22.720 And now Paul says, pray for us. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:26.400 Come into this ministry that I'm showing you. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:34.559 The life of the Christian cannot be experienced just in the receiving of it. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:40.400 It has to be experienced in the sharing of it, in the participating in it. 00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:47.119 Oh, Carolyn Kellum says this all the time. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:53.200 She says, the joy of the gospel is found in giving it away. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:56.000 I think that's so true. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:05.680 And so Paul knows that my discipleship for these people is half-hearted if I do not call them to a participation in this in the same way that I get to participate in this. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:16.720 And he says, Pray for us that God may open to us a door for the Word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison. 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:26.559 He prays, look, we're moving into the world, full of closed doors, to proclaim this king that many people don't want to be king. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:30.160 Would you pray that opportunities would present themselves? 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.759 He's in prison. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:37.680 Pray for an opportunity for the gospel to be shared. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:41.920 Charles Spurgeon was once asked. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:44.480 I think this is true, it might be apocryphal. 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:49.440 Charles Spurgeon was once asked why his preaching was so effective. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:52.799 Because it was very effective. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:55.039 So it sparked the question. 00:32:55.839 --> 00:33:00.480 And he answered, because my church prays for me. 00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:04.319 That's why his preaching was so effective. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:07.920 Because his church prays for him. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:24.079 So how do you contextualize something like this as I sit in my office and I think, all right, let's reach back into that first century and find an application from this text of Paul's that we can apply to the modern day in our modern context. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:25.279 Pray for me. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:34.480 Do you desire the preaching here from this pulpit to be effective? 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:37.920 Pray for me. 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:48.400 Pray for the elders of our church who come to share the word with you and who seek to share their very lives with you. 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:55.920 Pray for those who make it their work to proclaim the gospel. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:34:00.880 Pray that my preaching might be effective, that it might be in tune with the word of God. 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:03.440 Are you disappointed with the way that I share things? 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:07.440 Are you uh do you find my references absurd? 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:09.760 Are my jokes useless? 00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:12.480 Then pray. 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:24.320 Do you do you desire the word to be effective and actually bearing fruit and transformation in your life? 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:31.440 I saw a friend who uh posted on Twitter this week of how like we've actually been deconstructing for a long time. 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:33.760 He says, we don't have pulpits, we have stages. 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:40.559 We don't have sermons, we have talks, and then two other things, so that it sounded good altogether. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:44.719 But it occurred to me, look, I'm not giving a talk here. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.480 This is not a speech. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:48.239 I'm preaching. 00:34:49.039 --> 00:34:53.920 I'm sharing a sermon to the church. 00:34:54.239 --> 00:35:03.199 And the point of that is that our hearts might be transformed now, not that you just might just learn information. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:07.039 Now, how can something like that possibly happen? 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:12.960 The Spirit must attend his word in the hearts of his people now. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:23.840 So if this project that we're doing together is to be fruitful, we must pray for it to be fruitful. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:34.639