Colossians 4:2-4

We'll read to you Colossians 4, 2-4.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

! 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,

that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.

This is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Now, as we've been working in Colossians through chapter 3 and into chapter 4,

we've seen Paul lay out for the Colossian believers and now for us as recipients of God's Word,

the way in which the new life will look.

Having put off the old self, having been changed in Christ,

the doctrinal word for this would be regeneration.

Those who have placed faith in Christ are now new creations.

No longer the old, now the new.

And Paul lays out this listing of exhortations for how the new life should look.

The new self shouldn't look like the old self.

It should now look differently.

And he's been working in this kind of ever-narrowing way as we go through 3 and into 4.

Chapter 3, verses 5-17 are particularly exhortations for how the new self should function in relationship with the church.

Those who also are in Christ, the Christian church.

Verses 18-4-1 for how the new self should function in the Christian household.

And then for our context regarding slaves and masters in the workplace.

And then here we find in 4-2-6, for us today 2-4,

an ever-narrowing scope for the individual.

How then is each of us as individuals meant to live?

And how should we be connecting that to the mission of God?

And so you can see how it narrows down here at the close of his letter.

Now over the next two weeks, as we look through verses 2-6,

there will be basic four activities, lifestyles of the new self.

And they are this, and we're going to cover just the first two,

maybe a bit of the fourth today as we get into verse 4.

But they are the prayer of the new self, found in verses 2-3.

The opportunity of the new self, found in the last half of verse 3.

The activity of the new self, found in verse 5.

And the speech of the new self.

You can see this in verse 4 and in verse 6.

So today let's look at the prayer of the new self.

Verse 2 through the first part of 3.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

At the same time, pray also for us.

And there's a simple overarching exhortation for this beginning to one and a half verses.

And that is pray.

He starts off verse 2 by saying, continue.

So, the Colossian believers are, in fact, praying.

And every believer should be given to prayer.

It is the right and proper activity of the Christian person that they should pray.

Here we find, before Paul's exhortation to pray,

Remember, the church at Colossae is not a church that was established by Paul.

It's not a church that was visited by Paul or ever was that we know of.

But he's merely writing to them to correct some doctrine.

And he finds already that there are prayers.

He says, continue steadfastly in prayer.

So, all of us who are found in Christ should be given to prayer.

The quote on the front of your bulletin this morning by Spurgeon.

I have a new quote book by Spurgeon, which is why you're going to get a lot of those in the coming months.

In case you're wondering, I also love Spurgeon.

We love the babies.

Truly.

Spurgeon said, we cannot all argue, but we can all pray.

We cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders.

We cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer.

You see, God designs His purposes, the way that God is functioning and working in the world,

to be dependent on the prayers of His people.

He designs His purposes to be dependent on the prayers of His people.

Now, our God is sovereign.

Our God can do whatever He pleases.

And He does not need us for any of His purposes in this world to be accomplished,

except that He has decided to use us to that great end.

He has decided to enact His plans in this world through the prayers of His people.

And this is because He loves us.

Without developing that entirely for you this morning,

you need to know that the invitation for the Christian to pray

is an invitation into a relationship with God

because He loves to work through the prayers of His people

that His people might experience Him,

that they might know Him.

The story we read to the children this morning,

the great tragedy of that story

is that when Adam sinned,

death was ushered into this world in a final way.

At the end of their lives, they would die.

We see that experience that all around us.

Things are degenerating.

They're falling apart.

They will die.

But the greater and higher tragedy of that

is that the wonderful union they had with God,

the ability to walk with Him

and to talk with Him was severed.

They were cast away from God.

And now we find in Christ that being redeemed,

the ability again to be in relationship with our Creator.

And the way we do that is through the reading of His Word.

He speaks to us and we pray to Him.

It should be a major activity of the Christian life to pray.

God draws us in to the things that He's doing through prayer.

And let me just say, in past experience, recent experience,

I hope that many of you enjoyed this with me,

we were able to be brought along in God's work

in the funding of the Zwimpies heading to Germany.

There's a family in our church that just recently,

a few weeks ago, headed to Germany

to work for a boarding school for missionary children there.

And they had a great deal of funding to raise,

to be able to go and to do this thing.

In fact, the school itself was very, very doubtful.

Those of you who experienced and walked through that with them,

when they actually raised the money,

there was no housing available for them

because the school didn't actually think

that they were going to be able to meet the funding goal

because it takes most families 18 to 24 months

to raise the funding necessary to come.

In this case, it only took nine.

And many of us were invested with the Zwimpies in prayer.

The only thing that Sam and I could do physically for them

was a little bit per month, right?

We devoted to give a little bit to this huge sum

to be accomplished,

but we also gave ourselves in prayer.

And what a joy it was to see God move and work

through His people, both here and beyond,

to see the Zwimpies able to go.

That we could rejoice in them with that

was a wonderful invitation from the Lord

to be in relationship with Him

and to witness His work in the world.

Now, prayer is an incredibly difficult thing.

I find that American Christians are not given

to tackling difficult tasks.

If it's easy and attainable,

we'll throw ourselves at it.

But if something is of challenge to us,

we tend to not do so.

It's very difficult to pray,

to devote ourselves to prayer.

There are things working against us

for us not to be prayers.

The world, our old selves, and Satan

do not want us praying.

God enacts His purposes,

uses the prayers of His people

to put His purposes in motion,

and everything that is said against God

does not want God's people to pray.

You have to recognize this

and oh how often we hand victory

over to these elements.

We just give it back away.

We ignore altogether that prayer

is of great importance.

John Piper once said,

when we pray,

we kneel in a hornet's nest of evil.

It stirs it up.

And for those of you

who work on this property some,

you'll know there's a huge hornet's nest

on the eve way down here,

which has not been affecting

the coming and going out that bottom door.

So we've just been trying to figure out

exactly how we're going to get it down

and deal with it.

But the other Saturday morning,

a group was up here mowing the grass.

The leadership of Parker White

was doing that,

and Parker had a little bit of spray with him,

a little bit of spray in the can.

In fact, I picked up the can

and went,

this is not going to be enough.

And he said,

let's just give it a shot.

So we put a huge ladder up

on the side of the building,

and Parker bravely climbed up there

and went,

pssh,

and quickly climbed down the ladder.

I know not all of you were there,

but just if you can picture

this scene happening,

and the nest got stirred up.

It was just enough

to really make them mad,

and they began to come out.

In some coming weeks,

maybe you can be up here

when we actually take care of the whole thing

with finality, right?

But prayer is powerful.

It is effective, right?

God wants his people praying

so that he can accomplish things

through his people,

and I wonder so often

if things aren't happening

in our church

and in churches around us

because God's people don't pray, right?

He's just asking.

He's just saying,

come into this relationship with me.

I have such wonderful things

I want to do,

and I want you to be part of it, right?

The invitation is there

for us to pray,

and it should be a major part

of the life of every Christian.

But not just to pray,

as the overarching exhortation

here in the text.

So certainly pray, right?

You walk away one thing, right?

If you're a believer,

if you're found in Christ,

pray.

Put an exclamation mark on it

in your notes.

Pray.

But there are some ways

in which we're meant to pray.

Firstly, we're to pray persistently.

He says, continue steadfastly in prayer.

Steadfastly means with devotion.

Some of your translations may say that.

The Greek word,

most rightly rendered,

means with courageous persistence.

Persistence.

Which is why this point is to pray persistently,

with courageous persistence.

We're elsewhere instructed to pray at all times.

You'll find that in the parallel text

in Ephesians 6, 18.

1 Thessalonians 5, 17,

Paul says to pray without ceasing.

This doesn't mean that we go away someplace

to a quiet hilltop,

and we never stop praying,

that we become monastic,

and we don't engage in the world,

but rather that we carry about us

a spirit of prayer.

We connect everything that we're doing

as we're walking through the world

to God's good purposes,

that we're constantly talking to Him.

We're constantly aware that He exists.

He does.

We're just cognizant of that.

We look through this lens

of God's activity in the world,

and as we're going through the day,

we're asking that He would bless

a particular conversation,

that He would change something for His glory.

Constantly in the spirit of prayer.

But also, we're meant to be

in particular times of prayer.

I think this is what Paul means here

when he talks about continuing steadfastly,

that there's this encouragement

to particular times of prayer,

both corporate and individual,

that we gather as God's people

together to pray,

and that we spend time

in the closet of prayer,

that we get on our knees

before the Lord

in a persistent manner.

Jesus tells two parables,

one of which is found in Luke 18,

in order to illustrate

the importance of persistent prayer.

If you will, turn to Luke 18.

This has the potential

of being a familiar parable to you.

It's the parable,

it's often called,

of the persistent widow.

Chapter 18, verse 1,

it says,

And He told them a parable

to the effect that they ought

always to pray

and not lose heart.

And I so love Luke's writing

because he so often gives us

the commentary for the text itself, right?

Why does this parable exist?

So that they ought always to pray

and not to lose heart.

And so we dive into it

with that in mind.

He said,

In a certain city there was a judge

who neither feared God

nor respected man.

He wasn't a good judge.

And there was a widow in that city

who kept coming to him and saying,

Give me justice against my adversary.

For a while he refused,

but afterward he said to himself,

Though I neither fear God

nor respect man,

yet because this widow

keeps bothering me,

I will give her justice

so that she will not beat me down

by her continual coming.

And the Lord said,

Hear what the unrighteous judge says.

And will not God give justice

to his elect

who cry to him day and night?

Will he delay long over them?

I tell you,

he will give justice to them speedily.

Nevertheless,

when the Son of Man comes,

will he find faith on earth?

So you see that there's this unjust judge,

doesn't fear God,

doesn't respect man,

but because he no longer wants to be annoyed,

he will do what is right.

And what Jesus is doing,

he's juxtaposing this unjust judge

against God who is just,

who does do what's right.

He's not suggesting that if we have

something we desire,

and we just pester God to death,

he'll give us what we want.

What he's saying is,

that if you ask for things that are just,

if you ask for justice,

if you seek justice in your prayer,

surely God will answer.

We are to persist in prayer.

We see another wonderful example of this

in Acts 1.

Jesus is walking now.

He's been crucified.

He's resurrected.

He's walked now for 40 days

amongst the disciples.

In Acts 1.8,

we see a command.

He says,

But you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

and you will be my witnesses

in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea,

and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth.

And with that,

he ascends.

So this is the last thing

that is recorded

that Jesus says to them,

and then he ascends.

And can you imagine

living in that day,

being the apostles,

and not knowing what to do next?

He's given us a command.

We're meant to be witnesses

in these varying places,

these varying spheres of influence

that we have.

We're going to receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes.

What do we do?

So they go back to the upper room.

And we find them there

with a number of others,

about 120 in total,

in verse 14 of chapter 1,

doing what?

devoting themselves to prayer.

They went and they consistently,

they persisted across the span of time

where the Spirit had yet to come

in prayer.

And the Spirit comes.

And you know the story, I hope,

of Pentecost.

If not, read on in your text.

What a wonderful thing

that God works in them by the Spirit.

And thousands and thousands

come to faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But they don't stop there.

They don't go,

oh, we have the Spirit now.

Now we can stop praying.

You see the activity of the early church

in chapter 2, verse 42,

still devoting themselves

to the prayers.

We never outgrow our need

of the Lord's intervention.

It is God who works.

It is God who can accomplish.

It's by His power

that things happen in this world.

So we never outgrow it.

So we are to pray persistently.

Persistently.

Secondly, we are to pray watchfully.

He says later there in verse 2,

being watchful in it.

Keeping alert in your praying.

In the most basic sense,

I think there is some understanding here

of physical alertness.

That we are to stay awake.

That we are not to get distracted.

Matthew 26, 40 and 41.

It's seen as the Garden of Gethsemane

before Jesus' arrest

and His later crucifixion.

Verse 40, it records,

And He came to the disciples

and found them sleeping.

And He said to Peter,

So could you not watch with Me one hour?

Watch and pray

that you may not enter into temptation.

The Spirit indeed is willing,

but the flesh is weak.

How often do we go into times of prayer

and fall asleep?

I'm guilty.

How often do we go into times of prayer

and we're so very easily distracted?

Beloved,

one wonderful subset of benefit

to gathering together with God's people to pray

is the practice of focus.

Gather with a group of people

for an hour or so

and pray together.

And I hope

you're not looking at your phone.

There's nothing distracting you

that you're engaging in what's going on

because you're not simply taking turns praying,

but you're praying together.

We as a people

are losing our ability to focus.

Two years ago

at our men's retreat,

we were off and away

at this incredibly tiny cabin

for how many of us there were.

We were packed into this little space

and we required as part of that time in the morning

that all of the men

take some time to themselves,

some time to study,

some time of prayer.

And I had gotten up extra early.

A couple of us did.

Some of the elders,

we got up extra early

and we did that time

and then we were cooking.

So we were trying to be quiet

in this little kitchen

cooking up bacon

and biscuits

and some other things that we had.

And I cannot tell you

how many times

I looked out across

a group of men

who were meant to be taking time

to study their word

and pray to God

and how many of them

were on their phones.

Put it away.

Throw it away

if you have to.

Some wonderful features

on your phone

where you can just tell it

not to bother you.

It's a fantastic thing.

So in the most basic of senses,

you need to learn

to devote yourself to prayer.

Being watchful in it.

Setting aside the distractions

and devoting yourself in it.

In the broader sense,

and I think this is what Paul

particularly means.

He's primarily aimed at saying

that believers should be aware

of the things

that they should specifically pray for.

They should be watchful.

They should be looking around

at the world around them

and aware of what it is

they ought to be praying for.

I hear so many prayers

that are so grossly general.

Catch-all prayers.

And the greater includes the lesser,

but the exhortation here

to be watchful

is to pray specifically for things.

Paul gives us an example

of a specific thing

to be prayed for.

It's very difficult

to pray persistent prayers

that are vague.

I found that to be true

in my own life.

If I'm only asking

that God would do

these huge general things.

God, work in our church

for the sake of your glory.

It's a wonderful thing to pray.

Please, Lord,

work in our church

for the sake of your glory.

But if this is all I ever pray,

it's very difficult

to persist in that.

But if I say,

God, work in our church

for the sake of your glory,

and here's the ways

that I believe

you need to work.

These are the ways

that I think you want to work.

Will you use these prayers

to do this work

in our church?

And he so often answers

those prayers specifically.

So pray persistently.

Pray watchfully.

Pray thankfully.

Pray thankfully.

Thankfully.

Last part of verse 2 says,

with thanksgiving.

With thanksgiving.

Pause for a moment

just for a quick aside.

I'm told that I mispronounced

the word thankful

because I say it

the thankful

instead of thankful.

It's one of the things

that I get picked on

by my wife,

so I'm really,

my mind is self-conscious

as I'm about to say.

Thankfully

and thanksgiving

a thousand times,

so I'm just not going

to worry about it.

But pray thankfully.

I'll say it the way

I want to.

With thanksgiving.

This is the fifth time

that Paul has mentioned

thanksgiving in Colossians.

The fifth time.

It's developing here

thematically.

Those of you who have

been here have seen me.

I've talked about this

a couple of times.

You see it in chapter 1,

verse 12.

Chapter 2, verse 6.

Chapter 3, verse 15.

And in verse 16.

So for the fifth time,

he's talked about

being thankful,

the importance

of being thankful.

Why?

I believe it's because

thanksgiving has

perspective-shifting power.

It reminds us

of who our God is.

And not only just

who He is,

but who He is

to us.

We're reminded

that God is faithful

and just,

that He is loving,

that He cares about us

when we're thankful,

when we think about

all of the things

that He has accomplished

for us.

When we stop

and ponder those things

and when we approach Him,

we begin with these

hearts of thanksgiving.

Lord, You have done

so much on my behalf.

We could just

pray prayers of thanksgiving

for the rest of our lives

and never run out of things

to thank God for.

But thanksgiving helps us.

It encourages us

to turn and pray

bold prayers

before our God.

Prayers of thanksgiving

thanksgiving are fuel

for asking for

the supplication

for what God would do

in our world.

And there are some things,

specific things,

that we ought to be

thankful for.

Generally thankful for

and thankful for

in our prayers.

Five kind of

all-encompassing things.

And I'll just

thank John MacArthur

for making these,

this alliteration work.

So, they are

God's presence.

We ought to be thankful

for God's presence.

Psalm 75.1 says,

We give thanks to You,

O God.

We give thanks

for Your name

is near.

We recount

Your wondrous deeds.

We have a relationship

with God.

He is near to us

and we are near to Him.

We can, in fact,

go to Him

because of the work

of Christ.

Because Christ

intercedes for us.

When God looks at us,

He sees Jesus.

We can enter into His presence

and we can pray.

We ought to be thankful

for God's presence.

Secondly,

we should be thankful

for God's provision.

This includes

many specifics,

but generally

for God's provision.

When Paul was adrift

at sea

in the midst

of a storm,

he was thankful

for the food

that God provided

in the midst

of a scary,

horrible situation.

Acts 27.35

records,

And when he had said

these things,

he took bread

and giving thanks

to God

in the presence

of all,

he broke it

and began to eat.

Thankful for the things

that God provided

even in the midst

of a situation

that was terrifying.

Thankful for the food,

for God's provision.

Thirdly,

we are to be thankful

for God's pardon.

Romans 6.17.

Paul writes,

But thanks be to God

that you who were once

slaves of sin

have become obedient

from the heart

to the standard of teaching

to which you were committed.

We have been delivered

because of the work

of Jesus Christ.

Right?

We have placed faith

in that

and therefore

we are saved

and we are to be thankful

for God's pardon.

Fourthly,

for God's promises.

2 Corinthians 1.20.

Paul writes,

For all the promises of God

find their yes in Him.

That is why

it is through Him

that we utter our amen

to God

for His glory.

We are to be thankful

for His promises.

And beloved,

if you don't know

your Scriptures,

you don't know

His promises.

Right?

You don't have

the undergirding

and the great encouragement

of who God is to you

if you don't know

your Scripture.

Get in it.

Saturate yourself with it.

Know God's promises to you.

You can walk through

so many difficult things

in life

just simply by meditating

on that.

And what a fuel

then it becomes

to ask that God

would deliver you through

whatever it is

that you're dealing with.

Know God's promises.

Many of you who know me well

know that one of my

spiritual heroes

is a man named

George Mueller

from Bristol, England.

My father introduced me to him.

I'm so thankful

that he did.

An amazing man of faith

did so many things

for the kingdom of God.

The primary thing

that most people

know him for

is he ran

a number of orphanages.

Cared for thousands

and thousands of kids

across his lifetime.

But he saw

his primary ministry

was to show

that God was a God

that could be trusted

for his promises.

That we could place

faith in God

and that that faith

would never be disappointed

if we believed

in God's promises.

So he did some

very peculiar things

with this ministry

to the orphans.

He did many other things.

He was a pastor of a church.

Many people forget

that he did that

across his life.

He had an organization

that was a funding organization

for missionaries

all over the world.

Did some wonderful work

in that regard.

And he oriented

the way he did things

in a way

so that he could always

easily trace

the monies that came

and the other resources

that came directly

to answer prayer

from God.

I can't get into

all the particulars

of that for the sake

of time.

But a wonderful example

of this.

He saw that as his

primary ministry

to show the church

that we can believe

the promises

that God makes.

And the very best

biography written

about him

was written by a man

named A.T. Pearson

and this is from

that biography.

He wrote,

Thus,

under his great teacher

being God,

did this pupil

early in his

spiritual history

learn that supreme

lesson

that to every child

of God

the word of God

is the bread of life

and the prayer of faith

the breath of life.

That we are sustained

by these things.

Feasting on the word of God

and breathing in

and out

through prayer.

Fifthly,

we're to be thankful

for God's purpose.

Romans 8.28

Hope it's familiar to you.

And we know that

for those who love God

all things work

together for good.

For those who are called

according to his purpose.

So we're to pray

with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving will change

the way

that you pray.

Take a quick look

at this.

When the disciples

ask Jesus

how should they pray,

he responds

like this.

This is so cool.

I think you're familiar

with this.

Matthew 6.9-13

This is Jesus' answer.

Christ, Lord,

teach us how to pray.

And he says,

Pray then like this.

Like this,

not this.

I'm going to make

that distinction for you.

There's nothing wrong

with repeating

the Lord's Prayer,

but pray then like this.

He's giving us

a pattern for prayer.

Notice the things

that I've said

that we ought to be

thankful for in that.

Our Father in Heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Presence.

Our Father.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth

as it is in Heaven.

Purpose.

Verse 11,

Give us this day

our daily bread.

Provision.

Verse 12,

And forgive us our debts

as we also have forgiven

our debtors.

Pardon.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Promises.

How cool that is

that that works together

in that way

as Jesus explains to us.

So we get some further

fleshing out,

some further understanding

as we read the rest

of the Scriptures.

What is it that we're

supposed to be praying for?

What is it that we're

supposed to be thankful for?

It's all running together

in this way.

So we're to pray persistently.

We're to pray watchfully.

We're to pray thankfully.

And we're to pray

intercessory prayers.

I desperately wanted

this point to be

pray intercessory.

But it is not a word.

And I really looked.

I was really hoping

somewhere,

some source out there

would tell me it was okay

to say intercessory.

But if you care

to make up a word,

you can pray intercessory

or pray intercessory prayers.

Verse 3,

the very beginning,

says,

at the same time,

pray also for us.

So he's not negating here.

Paul's not saying that

all of your prayers

have to be for others.

Right?

Because he says,

at the same time,

so as you're praying

these prayers,

pray also for us.

So pray for yourself.

Pray for those circumstances

that you're walking through,

that you're in the midst of.

Pray for your community.

And at the same time,

pray also for us.

Intercessory prayer

or intercession

is just that.

It's praying on behalf

of someone else.

It's praying for someone else.

It's praying for a lost friend

or a family member

or a co-worker.

It's praying for other believers.

It's going to God

on their behalf.

It's expressing

kingdom-oriented desire

for them.

It's a very wonderful way

to serve others.

Please pray for me.

Number one on my list

of things you can do for me,

pray for me.

Pray for me.

Put me on the top

of your list

of things that you're praying for.

Those specific,

persistent things,

I want to be on that list.

I need your prayers.

It's a wonderful way

to serve me.

I find so often

that people's prayers

are altogether consumed

with themselves.

Experience that,

praying with people.

And they never pray

for other people.

They only pray for themselves.

giving prayer requests.

Prayer requests

are all about them.

They're never about

what's happening

in the world around them.

And it's a shame.

So many of us

are so selfish.

If you will begin

to think about others,

if you will begin

to look at the world

around you,

look at the hurts

of others,

it so draws

ours own

into perspective.

I just find that

so often,

one thing I try

to make a clear habit

of doing is praying

for the pastors

in our area

and meeting with pastors

in our area.

And the more I do that,

the more thankful

I am for this church.

You guys are great.

How many of these guys

are walking through

some challenges around us

that I don't even know?

I don't know

how I would bear up

under some of the things

that they're going through.

And so I pray

for those men.

And it's such

a wonderful reminder

that God's at work

in our congregation.

It shifts my perspective.

And I know

that those men

appreciate the prayers

that I offer up

on their behalf.

We ought to be praying

for those around us

and beyond.

Both abroad

and home.

Your bulletin,

I know it doesn't change

from week to week,

but your bulletin

reminds you of some things

that we need to be praying

for together

as a church.

The Whetstones,

the Stewards,

the Zwimpies,

you guys ever look

at any of this over here?

I hope.

I'm making a list for you.

I'm starting a list

off for you.

You should be in prayer

for those things

that are happening

around the world.

I hope you know

more and more

people who are out

and beyond

that we can be praying for.

Praying for those things

that are happening

at home.

Our community outreach groups

are a place

that should be places of prayer.

You should be investing

in one another.

You should be remembering

each other throughout the week

and praying for one another

in this way.

Praying for others

shows a maturation

in your Christian life.

You know,

when we have babies,

those of you,

especially with really young ones,

we don't really expect

a lot from them

in the form of communication.

We get a whole lot

out of them.

Some of us will teach

our kids sign language.

They could tell us

simple things like

more,

thank you,

little sign language

things that we do.

They begin to develop

their words.

We want them

to be communicating with us,

but we don't expect

a whole ton

out of them

in that regard,

but we definitely

expect them to grow

in their ability

to communicate to us.

God wants to see the same.

Last Sunday evening,

we had our welcome home dinner.

If you weren't here,

I'm sorry.

It was a lot of fun.

You should have been.

And at the very end,

we were playing a game

called Inception Duck,

Duck, Goose,

where you have

a big game of

Duck, Duck, Goose going

and the people who get tagged

have to go to the middle

and then once there's enough people,

they get a game

of Duck, Duck, Goose going,

going the opposite direction

and pretty soon you have

these multiple games

of Duck, Duck, Goose.

It's kind of maddening,

happening in the middle

of the room.

And I was so very,

very thankful

that my sons decided

they wanted to play

Cade 5, Judah 3,

sitting in this big circle,

primarily of college students.

And everyone's running around,

going insane.

And I just jumped in

on the game

because Cade hadn't been tagged yet.

I know he was kind of

sitting there itching,

ready to go.

And so I tagged him.

We ran around the circle.

He caught up to me.

I let him catch up to me

and tag me.

Okay?

So I'm out of the game

and it's Cade's turn

to go around.

And I was so proud of him.

Beaming father,

my five-year-old,

decides to tag

his little brother.

So he tagged Judah.

And off he goes

and very clearly

let him catch him.

Like he very clearly

let Judah catch up to him

and catch him

to make Judah feel good

about the game.

It was a wonderful,

wonderful thing

to experience him

giving up winning

for the sake of his

little brother.

So that's Cade.

He's five.

Then Judah goes around

and I think,

I think was it

Hannah McDonald,

I think?

Oh, you want to hear?

I don't remember

who he tagged then.

He tagged somebody.

Judah did.

Did not try to let

be kind.

He was,

but at three,

I was really proud of him.

He was full,

he was leaning into it.

He was going as fast

as he possibly could go.

And the gracious person

he tagged

let him get back around

to the other side,

which was also wonderful

to see.

But there should be

this maturation, right?

Like,

cool for Judah

to full on out and go.

Right?

Great that Cade

grew up a little bit.

Thought of someone else

in this process

of this game.

We should be growing

in our prayer process.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

wrote a wonderful book

called Life Together.

And he said this

of praying for one another.

A Christian fellowship

lives and exists

by the intercession

of its members

for one another

or it collapses.

I can no longer

condemn or hate

a brother for whom

I pray,

no matter how much

trouble he causes me.

His face that hitherto

may have been strange

and intolerable to me

is transformed

in intercession

into the countenance

of a brother

for whom Christ died.

The face

of a forgiven sinner.

So you see how

this perspective

even changes

in our life

together

in a Christian fellowship.

We need to be praying

for one another.

Turn to the Old Testament

book of Nehemiah.

I'm going to show you

an example.

A biblical prayer,

a record of prayer

that contains in it

all of these elements,

all of these things

that I've said.

Persistently,

watchfully,

thankfully,

and in an

intercessory fashion.

Nehemiah is after Ezra

before Esther.

That helps you.

If you only have

a New Testament with you,

you only have

one-third of your Bible.

Nehemiah is a Jew

living in exile.

Israel was punished

for their unfaithfulness

to God.

They were judged

by God

through a war

with Babylon.

Babylon came,

captured,

carried away.

This is now

some generations later.

Persia is now

the world power.

Power has shifted.

Persia has conquered Babylon

and Jews are now

living in exile

under Persian rule.

There have been

some Jews

that have returned

back to Israel,

but an edict

has been passed

by the current king,

King Artaxerxes,

in this state,

the son of the King

Artaxerxes.

He's passed this edict

that they cannot

rebuild Jerusalem.

Cannot rebuild Jerusalem.

But all the same,

it seems that Nehemiah

expects that those

who have gone back

would have rebuilt it anyway.

That they would have

disobeyed the command

of the king

and they would have

rebuilt Jerusalem

all the same.

Because he receives word

at the very beginning

of Nehemiah 1

that it hasn't happened yet,

that the city still lies

in shambles.

And I'll pick up

in verse 4.

Nehemiah writes,

As soon as I heard

these words,

I sat down

and wept

and mourned

for days.

Now he did so

because God's glory

in those days

was manifest.

It was seen

by how God's people

were doing.

Right?

By the wealth,

the might

of how God's people

were doing.

And so he

warns this.

Right?

Not because he cares

so much about the Israelites,

about his people,

but he cares about

God's name.

He goes on,

And I continued fasting

and praying

before the God of heaven.

Right?

You see the persistence

found in there?

He continues

fasting

and praying.

In fact,

he found out

in the month of

Chislev

and he addresses the king

you see at the beginning

of chapter 2

in the month of

Nisan.

This is roughly

four months.

Four,

four and a half months

that he

continues fasting

and praying

before the God

of heaven.

Verse 5,

And I said,

O Lord,

God of heaven,

the great and awesome God

who keeps covenant

and steadfast love

with those who love him

and keep his commandments.

You see the giving of thanks.

Right?

Like I know who you are.

I know how you interact

with your people.

He's thankful for that.

Verse 6,

Let your ear be attentive

and your eyes open

to hear the prayers

of your servant

that I now pray before you

day and night

for the people of Israel,

your servants,

confessing the sins

of the people of Israel

which we have sinned

against you.

Even I and my father's house

have sinned.

We have acted very corruptly

against you

and have not kept

the commandments,

the statutes,

and the rules

that you commanded

your servant Moses.

Do you see the intercession

on their behalf?

Praying on behalf

of the entire nation

of Israel.

Verse 8,

Remember the word

that you commanded

your servant Moses

saying,

If you are unfaithful,

I will scatter you

among the peoples.

But if you return to me

and keep my commandments

and do them,

though your outcasts

are in the uttermost

parts of heaven,

from there I will gather them

and bring them to the place

that I have chosen

to make my name dwell there.

They are your servants

and your people

whom you have redeemed

by your great power

and by your strong hand.

You see the giving of thanks

once again?

Oh Lord,

let your ear be attentive

to the prayer of your servant

and to the prayers

of your servants

who delight to fear your name

and give success

to your servant today

and grant him mercy

in the sight of this man.

He's referring to the king.

He's praying watchfully.

He knows what it is

and how it is

that he ought to pray.

And up in verse 6,

you'll see that he's doing so

day and night.

That he's physically

being watchful as well.

And the last verse,

verse 11,

ends,

Now I was cupbearer

to the king.

God had,

in his sovereignty,

placed him

to be a servant

to the king.

He drank the king's wine

to be sure that the wine

wasn't poisoned.

So he had access

to the king.

And you see in chapter 2,

the king asks him one day

what's bothering him.

You see a repetition,

a brief,

so I prayed

in chapter 2.

And then he spills it.

Ask the king to go

against this edict

that he had delivered,

which this was not a thing

that you asked a king to do.

For a king to undo

something he had done

would be to admit

his own fault

and his own failure.

So this is a major deal.

Nehemiah,

likely from

the human perspective,

stood to be killed

for the thing

that he asked the king

to do.

Falsify yourself,

is what he was saying

to the king.

Make yourself

less than you think you are.

You're not the king,

you're just a guy

who made a decision.

It was a bad decision.

This is an offense

that would have been

punishable by death.

And so he prays.

And he prays this persistent,

watchful,

thankful,

intercessory prayer.

And God gives him

great success.

He's able to return,

rebuild the wall.

Read the rest of the book.

It's one of my favorite

Old Testament stories.

So we see here

the prayer

of the new self.

We are to

pray persistently,

watchfully,

thankfully.

And we're to pray

intercessory prayers.

Secondly,

and in closing,

you see the opportunity

of the new self

in the last part

of verse 3.

That God,

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.

You see,

often in the New Testament

this idea of a door

equals opportunity.

An example of that

is in 1 Corinthians 16,

8 and 9.

Paul says,

but I will stay

in Ephesus

until Pentecost

for a wide door

for effective work

has opened to me

and there are many

adversaries.

So door equals opportunity.

So there's an opportunity

for the new self

which we see expressed

in Paul's life

even as he's

in prison.

And the overarching

exhortation here

is to seize

every opportunity.

You see here

that Paul is in prison.

He declares that

at the end.

We're not

100% sure

on which imprisonment

is happening.

Some commentators

will say it

with confidence

but we don't know

for a fact

that this is his

Roman imprisonment

but it likely is.

Most of the evidence

adds up to that.

So he's more than likely

in his Roman imprisonment

and he's seeing

that even this

is an opportunity.

His primary concern

is that he would be able

to declare

the mystery

of Christ.

How many of you

would ask

for others

to pray for them

found in such a situation

that they would just

be able to share

Christ

with those around them?

Seems to me

that most of us

would ask

that the church

would pray

that we be set free

from prison.

This is not where

I want to be.

This is not a situation

I want to find myself in.

Pray for that.

Pray for me

and the things

that are going on

with me.

But here Paul says

no, pray that I'll

have an opportunity

to share

the mystery

of Christ.

The mystery of Christ

as we saw earlier

in the book

is simply referring

to that which was

hidden in the Old Testament

but now is revealed

in the person and work

of Jesus Christ.

It's the gospel.

He just wants

an opportunity

to preach the gospel.

Open up this door.

Pray that God

would open it.

That I would have

opportunity

to do so.

Believers are to pray

for open doors

as it is God

who opens them.

It's God who brings

about these

divine

situations

where we are able

to preach

the good news

of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 3-7

describes Jesus

as the one

who opens

and no one

will shut

and who shuts

and no one

opens.

An example of this

is found in Acts 16

Acts 16:9

verses 9 and 10.

Luke records

that a vision appeared

to Paul in the night.

A man of Macedonia

was standing there

urging him and saying

come over to Macedonia

and help us.

And when Paul

had seen the vision

immediately we sought

to go on

into Macedonia

concluding that God

had called us

to preach the gospel

to them.

They took it

as a door

open for going

and preaching

the gospel.

If you read on

in Acts

there was a great

deal of people

turned to God

by their work there.

Paul's Roman

imprisonment

was not the end

of his ministry.

Just like wherever

you are now

is not the

preparing point

for your ministry.

If you are found

in Christ

if you are a disciple

of Jesus Christ

you are to invest

in the things

that Jesus Christ

cares about.

The redemption

of souls

the redeeming

of his church

the gathering

in of that

number.

The summation

of Paul's

Roman imprisonment

is found in Acts

Acts 28:30

28 verses 30

and 31.

Luke writes

he lived there

two whole years

at his own expense

and welcomed

all who came to him.

It was a house arrest

that he was under.

Proclaiming the kingdom

of God

and teaching

about the Lord

Jesus Christ

with all boldness

and without hindrance.

So there's this

wonderful opportunity

laid before him

and he has the eyes

to see that this

is the case.

God has brought me

by his good plan

and his good purposes

to this place

to share the gospel

to seize the opportunities

that God has placed

before me

and the same

is true

of us.

While we don't

find ourselves

in prison

UNG might feel

like a prison

it's a place

for you to serve

and to work

for the sake

of our King.

Colossians 3

1-4

This is the very

beginning of this

entire dialogue

that Paul's been

taking us to.

He says

if then you have

been raised

with Christ

if you are found

in Him

seek the things

that are above

where Christ is

seated at the

right hand of God

set your minds

on things that are

above

not on things

that are on earth

for you have died

and your life

is hidden

with Christ

in God.

And then verse 4

when Christ

who is your life

appears

then you also

will appear

with Him

in glory.

You see that the new self

is entirely reoriented.

We no longer serve

the world

we no longer serve

ourselves

but we serve Christ.

Christ

is our

life.

Paul certainly

saw this to be

the case.

Willing to go

anywhere

and always

seeking an opportunity

to share

the mystery

of Jesus Christ

and beloved

our lives

do not line up

to this

in so many

ways.

I want you

I want me

in the moments

of our days

as we walk out

into this next week

to be able to

echo

what Paul says

in Philippians 1.21

for to me

to live is Christ

and to die

is gain

because I get more

of Christ.

That we treasure

Him to the degree

that all that we do

is oriented

in that direction.

We're going to

hold verse 4

into next week

for the sake of time.

So let me

conclude with this

kind of summary statement.

As new creations

in Christ

we are given

great opportunity

to share Him

with the world.

The blessing

of getting

to carry out

His mission

in the world.

This ought to be

the great desire

of the redeemed.

To share the work

of our

Redeemer.

And as such

we should be

pressed

into prayer.

Asking,

pleading with God

that He would work

in our efforts

for the sake

of His name.

So pray

and seize

every opportunity

to experience,

proclaim,

and display

the supremacy

of Jesus Christ

in all things

to all peoples.

Let's pray together.

Let's pray together.